#295 – Richard Wolff: Marxism and Communism
Lex Fridman Podcast
Lex Fridman
4.7 • 13.6K Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2022
⏱️ 179 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Richard Wolff is a Marxist philosopher and economist. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– Skiff: https://skiff.org/lex to get early access
– Indeed: https://indeed.com/lex to get $75 credit
– Onnit: https://lexfridman.com/onnit to get up to 10% off
– Blinkist: https://blinkist.com/lex and use code LEX to get 25% off premium
– Linode: https://linode.com/lex to get $100 free credit
EPISODE LINKS:
Richard’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/profwolff
Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com
Contending Economic Theories (book): https://amzn.to/3HykPwT
Understanding Marxism (book): https://amzn.to/39qpm8b
Understanding Socialism (book): https://amzn.to/3Og9XG3
PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman
YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips
SUPPORT & CONNECT:
– Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast
– Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman
– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman
OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(07:12) – Marxism
(15:41) – Communism
(50:47) – Human nature
(1:03:03) – Economics
(1:09:54) – Capitalism
(1:42:18) – Governments and corporations
(1:53:13) – Stalinism
(2:07:12) – Nazis
(2:14:08) – Socialism vs Marxism
(2:21:48) – Bernie Sanders and AOC
(2:38:49) – Cultural Marxism
(2:45:49) – Darkest moments
(2:51:18) – Advice for young people
(2:53:37) – Mortality
(2:57:28) – Meaning of life
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The following is a conversation with Richard Wolfe. |
| 0:03.9 | One of the top Marxists, economists and philosophers in the world. |
| 0:07.8 | This is a heavy topic. |
| 0:10.5 | In general, and for me personally, given my family history in the Soviet Union, in Russia |
| 0:16.2 | and in Ukraine. |
| 0:17.8 | Today, the words Marxism, socialism, and communism are used to attack and to divide, much more |
| 0:26.2 | than to understand and to learn. |
| 0:29.5 | With this podcast, I seek the latter. |
| 0:33.0 | I believe we need to study the ideas of Karl Marx, as well as their various implementations |
| 0:38.5 | throughout the 20th and the 21st centuries. |
| 0:42.0 | And in general, we need to both steal man and to consider seriously the ideas we demonize. |
| 0:48.4 | And to challenge the ideas we doggmatically accept is true, even when doing so is unpleasant |
| 0:55.0 | and at times dangerous. |
| 0:58.8 | And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. |
| 1:01.3 | Check them out in the description. |
| 1:02.7 | It's the best way to support this podcast. |
| 1:05.3 | We got skiff for email, indeed for hiring, on it for supplements, blinkist for nonfiction |
| 1:12.0 | and linoid for cloud computing. |
| 1:14.9 | Choose wisely my friends. |
| 1:16.6 | And now onto the full ad reads. |
| 1:18.4 | As always, no ads in the middle. |
| 1:20.1 | I try to make this interesting, but if you skip them, please still check out our sponsors. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lex Fridman, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Lex Fridman and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.