Vejas Liulevicius

That's right. And the outcome here is a horrific man-made famine. Not a natural disaster, not bad harvest, but a man-made famine as a result of then the compulsion that gets used by the Soviet state to extract those resources, cordoning off the area, not allowing starving people to escape. You put very well some of the implications of...

That's right. And the outcome here is a horrific man-made famine. Not a natural disaster, not bad harvest, but a man-made famine as a result of then the compulsion that gets used by the Soviet state to extract those resources, cordoning off the area, not allowing starving people to escape. You put very well some of the implications of...

this case study in how things look in the abstract versus in practice. And those phenomena were going to haunt the rest of the experience of the Soviet Union. The whole notion that up and down the chain of command, everybody is falsifying or tinkering with or prettifying the statistics or their reports in order not to look bad and not to

this case study in how things look in the abstract versus in practice. And those phenomena were going to haunt the rest of the experience of the Soviet Union. The whole notion that up and down the chain of command, everybody is falsifying or tinkering with or prettifying the statistics or their reports in order not to look bad and not to

this case study in how things look in the abstract versus in practice. And those phenomena were going to haunt the rest of the experience of the Soviet Union. The whole notion that up and down the chain of command, everybody is falsifying or tinkering with or prettifying the statistics or their reports in order not to look bad and not to

have vengeance visited upon them, reaches the point where nobody, in spite of the pretense of comprehensive knowledge, right? There's a state planning agency that creates five-year plans for the economy as a whole, and which is supposed to have accurate statistics. All of this is founded upon a foundation of sand. That's inadvertent. That's not an intended side effect.

have vengeance visited upon them, reaches the point where nobody, in spite of the pretense of comprehensive knowledge, right? There's a state planning agency that creates five-year plans for the economy as a whole, and which is supposed to have accurate statistics. All of this is founded upon a foundation of sand. That's inadvertent. That's not an intended side effect.

have vengeance visited upon them, reaches the point where nobody, in spite of the pretense of comprehensive knowledge, right? There's a state planning agency that creates five-year plans for the economy as a whole, and which is supposed to have accurate statistics. All of this is founded upon a foundation of sand. That's inadvertent. That's not an intended side effect.

But what you described in terms of the internal dynamics of fostering conflict in a rural society was absolutely not inadvertent. That was deliberate. The doctrine was you bring civil war. Now, had there been social... tensions before? Of course there had. Had there been envies? Had there been differentiations in wealth or status? Of course there had been.

But what you described in terms of the internal dynamics of fostering conflict in a rural society was absolutely not inadvertent. That was deliberate. The doctrine was you bring civil war. Now, had there been social... tensions before? Of course there had. Had there been envies? Had there been differentiations in wealth or status? Of course there had been.

But what you described in terms of the internal dynamics of fostering conflict in a rural society was absolutely not inadvertent. That was deliberate. The doctrine was you bring civil war. Now, had there been social... tensions before? Of course there had. Had there been envies? Had there been differentiations in wealth or status? Of course there had been.

But a deliberate plan to bring class conflict and bring civil war and then heighten it in the countryside does damage. And not least of that is this phenomenon of a negative selection.

But a deliberate plan to bring class conflict and bring civil war and then heighten it in the countryside does damage. And not least of that is this phenomenon of a negative selection.

But a deliberate plan to bring class conflict and bring civil war and then heighten it in the countryside does damage. And not least of that is this phenomenon of a negative selection.

those who have most enterprise, those who are most entrepreneurial, those who have most self-discipline, those who are best organized, will be winnowed again and again and again, sending the message that mediocrity is comparatively much safer than talent. And this pattern, incidentally, gets transposed and

those who have most enterprise, those who are most entrepreneurial, those who have most self-discipline, those who are best organized, will be winnowed again and again and again, sending the message that mediocrity is comparatively much safer than talent. And this pattern, incidentally, gets transposed and

those who have most enterprise, those who are most entrepreneurial, those who have most self-discipline, those who are best organized, will be winnowed again and again and again, sending the message that mediocrity is comparatively much safer than talent. And this pattern, incidentally, gets transposed and

in tremendously harrowing ways also to the entire group of Russian intelligentsia and intellectuals of other peoples who are in the Soviet Union. They discover similarly that to... be independent, to have a voice which is not compliant, carries with it tremendous penalties, especially in Stalin's reigns of terror.

in tremendously harrowing ways also to the entire group of Russian intelligentsia and intellectuals of other peoples who are in the Soviet Union. They discover similarly that to... be independent, to have a voice which is not compliant, carries with it tremendous penalties, especially in Stalin's reigns of terror.

in tremendously harrowing ways also to the entire group of Russian intelligentsia and intellectuals of other peoples who are in the Soviet Union. They discover similarly that to... be independent, to have a voice which is not compliant, carries with it tremendous penalties, especially in Stalin's reigns of terror.