Vejas Liulevicius

So I think the answer that a historian can give is a historical answer, right? That we have to inquire into what has to happen in order to arrive at the past we are today. We have a regime that's claiming to be communist or has an even better version of Marx's original ideas in the form of a Korean adaptation called Yuche.

How does that mesh with the reality that we're talking about a dynastic government and a monarchy in all but name, but a communist monarchy, if that's what it is? I think that examining... As much as we can learn about a closed society that goes about its everyday in ways that are inscrutable to us is very, very challenging.

How does that mesh with the reality that we're talking about a dynastic government and a monarchy in all but name, but a communist monarchy, if that's what it is? I think that examining... As much as we can learn about a closed society that goes about its everyday in ways that are inscrutable to us is very, very challenging.

How does that mesh with the reality that we're talking about a dynastic government and a monarchy in all but name, but a communist monarchy, if that's what it is? I think that examining... As much as we can learn about a closed society that goes about its everyday in ways that are inscrutable to us is very, very challenging.

But the only answer, when an example like this escapes your analytic categories, probably there's a problem with your analytical categories rather than the example being the problem in all its messiness.

But the only answer, when an example like this escapes your analytic categories, probably there's a problem with your analytical categories rather than the example being the problem in all its messiness.

But the only answer, when an example like this escapes your analytic categories, probably there's a problem with your analytical categories rather than the example being the problem in all its messiness.

Yeah, I mean, there's... Realists see states following their own interests and prioritizing their own security. And there's probably not much that can be done to change that. But conflict arising as a result of misunderstanding or mixed messages or misinterpretation, those are things that policymakers probably do have some control over.

Yeah, I mean, there's... Realists see states following their own interests and prioritizing their own security. And there's probably not much that can be done to change that. But conflict arising as a result of misunderstanding or mixed messages or misinterpretation, those are things that policymakers probably do have some control over.

Yeah, I mean, there's... Realists see states following their own interests and prioritizing their own security. And there's probably not much that can be done to change that. But conflict arising as a result of misunderstanding or mixed messages or misinterpretation, those are things that policymakers probably do have some control over.

I think that there's internal processes that'll work their way out in even as opaque a place as North Korea. It's also the reality, just as we saw with the divided Germanys, that...

I think that there's internal processes that'll work their way out in even as opaque a place as North Korea. It's also the reality, just as we saw with the divided Germanys, that...

I think that there's internal processes that'll work their way out in even as opaque a place as North Korea. It's also the reality, just as we saw with the divided Germanys, that...

It's a precarious kind of twinned existence when you have countries that are across the border from one another that are derived from what used to be a single unit that now are kind of a real-life social science experiment in what kind of regime you get with one kind of system, what sort of regime you get with another kind of system. And that's a very unstable setup, as it turns out.

It's a precarious kind of twinned existence when you have countries that are across the border from one another that are derived from what used to be a single unit that now are kind of a real-life social science experiment in what kind of regime you get with one kind of system, what sort of regime you get with another kind of system. And that's a very unstable setup, as it turns out.

It's a precarious kind of twinned existence when you have countries that are across the border from one another that are derived from what used to be a single unit that now are kind of a real-life social science experiment in what kind of regime you get with one kind of system, what sort of regime you get with another kind of system. And that's a very unstable setup, as it turns out.

It's fascinating to observe this story because one longstanding commonplace had been that socialism has less purchase or radical socialism in the United States than in European countries. So to the extent that that was true, it was an uphill battle for the communists to get established in the United States. But it makes it all the more interesting to follow the development of the movement.

It's fascinating to observe this story because one longstanding commonplace had been that socialism has less purchase or radical socialism in the United States than in European countries. So to the extent that that was true, it was an uphill battle for the communists to get established in the United States. But it makes it all the more interesting to follow the development of the movement.

It's fascinating to observe this story because one longstanding commonplace had been that socialism has less purchase or radical socialism in the United States than in European countries. So to the extent that that was true, it was an uphill battle for the communists to get established in the United States. But it makes it all the more interesting to follow the development of the movement.

And there were two challenges in particular that played a role in shaping the American communist experience. One was the fact that to begin with the party was often identified with immigrants. The, the, that had come over across the Atlantic from Europe often had strong socialist contingents.