Stephen Kotkin — How Stalin became the most powerful dictator in history

In this interview podcast, Dwarkesh Patel interviews Stephen Kotkin, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of a multi-volume biography of Stalin, about the nature of the Tsarist regime and the rise of Stalin. Kotkin argues that the Tsarist regime's repression of legitimate claims and the need to modernize while maintaining autocratic control created a system ripe for revolution, though the resulting regime under Stalin was far more unjust. The conversation explores the complexities of revolution, the role of ideology, and the surprising resilience of authoritarian regimes, comparing the Russian and Chinese cases, and examining the appeal of Marxism-Leninism to intellectuals. They also discuss the factors that led to the success of the Communist revolution in Russia, but not in Germany, and the geopolitical reorientation that led to China's economic miracle.