Stephen Kotkin
👤 PersonAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Again, young people are attracted to
Impatient, quick, total transformation of the world.
Eradication of war.
Eradication of social injustice.
And there's a simplicity to the ideal.
It's kind of a total package.
It gets rid of everything bad just if you follow the precepts.
And so, sure.
things happen that shouldn't have happened.
There are some surprises.
There are some downsides.
But are you pro-capitalism?
Are you pro-imperialist war?
Are you pro-landowners having all the land and the have-nots having nothing?
So there's this constant threat where if you contravene
the ideology, you're in bed with the very evils that the ideology is trying to overcome.
So you become an accomplice in the persistence of the things that you're dedicated to overthrowing.
So it's not just that you're loyal to the party.
You're loyal to the outcome that the party is dedicated to achieving.
And you know that there are going to be mistakes and costs and bad things happen along the way.