Joseph Stalin: Waiting For Hitler (Part 2)

Did you miss part one? Listen to part one of the episode here

Recorded on January 25, 2018.

“If you're interested in power, [if] you're interested in how power is accumulated and exercised, and what the consequences are, the subject of Stalin is just unbelievably deep, it's bottomless.” – Stephen Kotkin

In part two, Stephen Kotkin, author of Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941, discusses the relationship between Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler leading up to and throughout World War II. Kotkin describes what motivated Stalin to make the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Hitler and the consequences of his decision.

Kotkin dives into the history of the USSR and its relationship with Germany during WWII, analyzing the two leaders' decisions, strategies, and thought processes. He explains Stalin's and Hitler’s motivations to enter into the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact even without the support of their respective regimes. Stalin’s goal was to defeat the West and he saw the pact as an opportunity to do so by driving a wedge between Germany and the capitalist West. Kotkin analyzes Stalin’s decisions leading up to the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and the disinformation Germany was feeding soviet spies to prevent Stalin from moving against Hitler first.

For the full transcript go to

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[davidgaugamela]

This interview is the internet at its finest. Thank you Hoover Institution.

[travisschwarzkopf]

Peter Robinson is by far my favorite interviewer of intellectuals. Insightful questions, honest curiosity, and a profound ability to listen. Brilliant

[tanler]

What Professor Kotkin says about Stalin in the last five minutes of this interview goes a long way to explain why Stalin remained so powerful for so many years.

[arturoalvarezkawai]

Loved part 1, loved part 2, but the way Kotkin closes the interview is priceless! Great job by Peter Robinson, as usual.

[mesyng]

As much as it’s a terrible time in human history. I find the Russian revolution fascinating. Stephen Kotkin is just the man to supply the knowledge.

[DaneNorman]

The last part of the conversation on how Stalin handled being a murderous fiend is heart wrenching when you think of the actual people that suffered, not just the statistics and raw numbers but that each person had their own life, taken from them.

[mwmace]

Motivated by a "dream of a better world." Sounds familiar these days...history rhymes.

[johnnantz]

Wow, what an amazing interview. Thank you Dr. Kotkin for your incredible scholarship!

[federicogottardo]

What an amazing interview! Kotkin eloquent description provides so many details without making the interview boring at any point.

[flatoutt]

peter, just love & appreciate your interviewing skills, you really allow stephen to open up and give us his best .

[ezequielstepanenko]

Kotkin's last remarks made me shiver

[vanderkonig]

Such an incredible interaction. Thank you Hoover, Mr Robinson and most of all the brilliant Stephen Kotkin. What a legend Mr Kotkin is! I'd love to meet him some day.

[strictlyunreal]

I don't understand how this didn't cross the minds of these people when talking about the motivations behind the non-aggression pact: if the Soviets didn't take half of Poland, Hitler would've had taken it. Those few hundred kilometers proved to be decisive in the course of the war, considering the germans reached within 100 km from Moskow. It was a necessary buffer space.
That is from a military standpoint. From a communist standpoint, all those lands meant more people that could be turned into communists and one day help advance the revolution.

[squamish]

There are a few signs that Stalin was very, very occasionally troubled by the evil things he did. He is known to have gone to confession in an Orthodox Church at least three times after taking power - once in 1938, at the end of the Great Terror, once in 1941, during Barbarossa, and once in 1950, when he was old and sick, and his enemies were circling and waiting for him to die.

[ConcernedResident_GiantStack]

Awesome interview. I can't believe I've spent so much time reading books about the Roman empire and WW1, but not enough about Stalin and Hitler.

[omair]

Seriously amazing discussion, honestly I could watch hours more on the same topic by these two. The professor is very articulate & has a rich vocabulary

[stevej]

Even better than Part 1! Damn I could watch these two talk for hours.

[eunit]

Wish you would've put the author's name in the title. Kotkin is brilliant.

[farhan]

@ 7:10 the fact that u can lift the book is already impressive

[mrshah]

The way that interview ended: "you will write that the previous question was the last question" that was Nothing like a dark gulag, forced confession joke at the end of an excellent interview.