This podcast episode discusses the Paris Commune of 1871 and the Russian Revolution of 1917, highlighting the similarities and differences between the two events.
The idea of free speech during a revolution is a controversial topic, as demonstrated by a conversation between a woman who got deported from the United States for speaking out against the government and Lenin, who believed that free speech was a bourgeois extravagance that couldn't coexist with revolution.
In this excerpt, Joe Rogan and Richard Clarke discuss the hierarchy of evil and the ability of those in power to stop it. They also reference Khrushchev's secret speech which acknowledged the truth about Stalin's atrocities.
The controversial life of Ivan Illich and the rumors surrounding his expulsion from Patrice Lumumba University as well as his alleged KGB involvement is discussed in detail by the host.
During a period of political upheaval, Herbert Hoover urged President Woodrow Wilson to re-examine the Bolshevik movement and recognize their social goals and grievances, which differed from the hard-line anti-communist attitudes held by many conservatives at the time.