/leftypol/ - Leftist Politically Incorrect

<Stephen Kotkin supports a centrist view of "normal politics," based on the premise that "problems arise at the extremes, the far left and the far right that don't recognize the legitimacy either of capitalism or of democratic rule of law institutions."[36] Several socialist media outlets have accused Kotkin of ideological bias against the Bolshevik Revolution, pointing out that Kotkin referred to American journalist and socialist John Reed, author of Ten Days that Shook the World, as "former Harvard cheerleader" in his book Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928.[37][38] When speaking about the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in an interview with Foreign Affairs, Kotkin suggested that a serious threat of regime change in Russia could ultimately motivate Vladimir Putin to stop the war. Kotkin also described Donald Trump's foreign policy regarding the war in Ukraine as unpredictable, and said he thought it was unlikely that Trump would succeed in becoming an autocrat, given the existing checks and balances in the United States' political system.[39]

>In an article in Foreign Affairs magazine, Kotkin proposed a series of policies to better prepare the American economy and society for international confrontation with China and Russia. He called for the expansion of STEM education, dismissing non-STEM education without a STEM background as students "majoring in themselves and their grievances." He likewise called for the expansion of community colleges and trade schools. In the article Kotkin also stated his belief that drastic cutbacks of environmental regulations and cutting housing construction subsidies would allow the free market to construct housing faster, and also called for mandatory national service for young Americans.[40]

This guy is just an anti communist right wing historian? why the fuck do we care what he said? didnt watch the video btw

>>2392417
that moron Dwarkesh Patel is responsible for popularising Sarah Paine
Bitch is the most mid Yankee propagandist ever and the comments in her videos are always simping how smart she is
I hate it

>>2392417
He's a conservative with a better critique of communism in that video because he takes it seriously.

>>2392591
I have a hunch he might have CIA association via the FPRI.

>>2392591
His Vol. 1 Stalin biography is pretty good. Even Grover Furr praised it. Seems like Kotkin went crazy with the anticommunism after that.

>>2392691
>vid
The white haired guy, what a retarded grifter, genuinely has worse analysis of China than Alex Jones, who at the very least knows to fear it because it isn't isolated, unlike this quack who thinks "US has all the allies, nobody in the world likes China".

>>2392417
Most of y'all are stuck in 1917. This is why MLs haven't adapted to the modern age of politics.

>>2392706
Its because Kotkin's narrative is that Stalin was a natural continuation of Lenin, that its not just "Stalinism" that results in evil 1984 Totalitarianism, but all socialism. So he spends the First volume, not just mapping out the revolutionary situation in Russia, but also debunking the Trotskyist narrative about Stalin being an aberration from Lenin's project. He basically thought before writing, "Leftists today are trying to rehabilitate Lenin by saying that Lenin was against Stalin, I need to debunk that to strengthen the Conservative project."
This is why Furr praises it, because he also is dedicated to establishing Stalin as a natural continuation of Lenin, but with the opposite conclusion in mind; that therefore the Soviet system was great even under Stalin.

>>2392591
hes like one of five right wing intellectuals in US that is capable of making shit that isn't just fox news tier brainrot or /pol/ tier racebaiting. I suppose one way you could look at it is out of all the anticommunist historian in the US he's one of the only ones I know of they will explicitly push against the double genocide holodomor narrative they've been trying to build up.

>>2392591
He has an interesting perspective on things and went to primary sources from the USSR for his research. I'd rather listen to him than you.

>>2392602
Is this the no-name jeet who inexplicably has access to top tier guests?

>>2393355
the anon is actually quoting other sources that tie him to right wing projects and viewpoints, and gives very little opinion himself, so i'm puzzled why you care about his viewpoint so much. If you are sympathetic to his views and his project, then just say it outright. Also, a historians' job is to investigate primary resources, that doesn't mean their interpretation is by default valid or free from bias; you can selectively interpret primary resources, or your limited access to particular types of primary sources can shape your narrative.

>>2393356
yes
there are some podcasters who just started and somehow get big names right from the start
another guy is Joshua Citarella
just started, 40k subscribers, but mostly big name guests

>>2392417
>I don't really know how he doesn't know that most of what he said applies to capitalism, the enacting of policies that ignore the consequences to labor and those at the lowest in society.
He knows. He just doesn't care at this point, and will paper over the immiseration of workers in this country and around the world with whatever talking points and memes are in vogue among his Hoover Institute accomplices. Watch this seminar delivered to a group of porky investors in Singapore where he goes full sicko on the threat of de-dollarization by the BRICS countries.
https://youtu.be/NtgWytCmulg?si=YHmbKPp2eFA57CuH&t=1620

>>2393679
>there are some podcasters who just started and somehow get big names right from the start
wonder how much there foreign policy views align with the US state dep. lol