Prof. Alexander Buzgalin joins Paul Jay on Reality Asserts Itself; born two years after the death of Stalin, he talks about growing up in the Soviet Union
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Very interesting! Thank you! 🙂
Americans just can't stop pushing their belief that all of the Soviet Union was Stalin worship over the entire Soviet period. Even Jay here keeps pushing the idea. Buzgalin tells him that it wasn't true in his lifetime, but Jay still pushes him on it.
Under Stalin, hundreds of thousands of children were born in or sent to, the gulags. Children as young as three could be considered dangerous counter-revolutionaries and taken to the wilds of Siberia. Condemned for 'coming from the worst stock', these children were separated from their families, abused, neglected and starved. Over time, more and more babies were born into the hell of the work camps. They grew up never knowing their families or homeland, believing that every child in the world lived the same way. Gaelic title is "Clann nan Gulag".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDgWo1lkfxQ
Paul Jay get yourself to Russia with a good guide, you'll realize all the western nonsense was fake information in 90% of the case…. the world has been a constant economic and warfare massacre for since the beginning of time, especially the last 500…. great guest, great interviewer
I was a Marxist 3-4 decades ago, now I am not but still a great admirer of Karl Marx and his historical perspective, known as ‘historical materialism.’ Perhaps I am around the same age of Prof. Alexander Buzgalin and Paul Jay. (My same comment in the last 12/12 of this series).
My main break away from Marxism began when I started disagreeing from its labor (power) theory, as it proclaims that the human labor (power) is the only creator of value and wealth in the society. My contention was that Marxian labor (power) theory will be no more valid since the progress in the productive forces (specially the AI technology) will render the human labor absolute.
My book titled “An Alternative to Marxian Scientific Socialism: The Theory Reduction in Working Hours (RWH); ….” Published in the year 1981. Today I rename it as Zero Work Theory (ZWT) More of its details in the links https://bit.ly/2Id6eL0, http://bit.ly/2eARyEx http://bit.ly/2nR4MAP
To understand this theory, we need a broad minded HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE. THE EXPONENTIAL GROWTH IN THE A.I. TECHNOLOGY WILL RENDER MOST HUMAN LABOR OBSOLETE, SOONER THAN LATER. The emerging AI robot machines will become the new world working class of the future.
In my opinion, the rapid progress in the AI ROBOT automation provides the great historical opportunity that the humankind has been waiting since its beginning. To emancipate from the drudgery of human labor. The SERVITUDE, enslavement, humiliation that the majority of the population compelled to undergo by the minority in order to earn their living i.e. wages, salaries or income. Now, with the progress in the AI technology we can gradually get rid and finally abolish the human labor for wage system and replace it with an equitable income sharing system. It can begin with the Unconditional or Guaranteed Income popularly known as the Universal Basic Income or the UBI.
The gist of the theory is; “Labor” or work is the compulsion on humans (originally imposed by nature) to obtain their means of subsistence. The "human labor relation" is the ROOT-CAUSE OF EXPLOITATION on man by man. It results it all kinds of subjugation, injustice, inequality and corruption in the hitherto human society.
According to the RWH Theory, the AI ROBOTS are the EMBODIMENT of the mankind’s million years of historical struggle, technological endeavor, and dream to overcome their labor/work for SURVIVAL. Now it had culminated into complete replacement of the human labor, jobs or employment.
Its first stage began with the early humans primitive tools used as the replacement of their body, limbs in their day to day work for survival. It reached many levels of mechanical development and sophistication continued for hundreds and thousands years of ancient to medieval history. The second stage began at around 18th century with the advent of steam engines electrical motors merging with the machine tools popularly known as the Industrial Revolution . It most importantly replaced the human muscle power in the human labor equation with the unimaginable inanimate energy force unparalleled in the history. These machine tool although able to do the hard labor of hundreds of thousands of workers nevertheless always needed the humans intelligent brain cognitive power to perform, conduct the given work or duty.
The third and final stage began with the advent of Semiconductors or the microchip revolution. The Exponential growth of the microprocessors started the era known as the Artificial Intelligence. The 21st century AI robots automation started rapidly replacing humans (biological) intelligence with its human brain like neurological machine deep learning algorithms. AI today is getting far more superior to the humans biological brain in the performance of all human work. Its cognitive learning ability can supersede any intelligent human brain enabling the robots to render every “paid” human labor completely redundant or obsolete.
Now, the only way to progress towards the mankind’s destiny is; A Gradual Reduction in Working Hours aiming towards the complete abolition of the Wage labor i.e. jobs. However, considering the failure or stagnation of the reduction of working hour movement in the last decades and the present worlds rapid AI exponential technological progress and disruption, I realize that a guaranteed Basic Income or the Equitable Universal Basic Income fulfills the final objectives of the RWHT. Nevertheless, my views on the UBI not the same as many of the UBI proponent, who see it as mainly as an incentive to the poor workers to work more productively with the additional income and to supplement to their wages. I argue UBI needs to act as a complete replacement to the wage-labor. “UBI SHOULD ALLOW THE PEOPLE TO BECOME ECONOMICALLY INDEPENDENT, TOTALLY FREE FROM THE DRUDGERY OF WORK, OUT OF THE SERVITUDE, HUMILIATION OF WAGE-LABOR IF THEY WANT. This will also encourage a substantial portion of the laboring population to quit their jobs, which will positively result in the increase in the employment, wages thereby further rapid AI automation in the entire industry. The recommendation of an adequate amount of UBI without having the compulsion of wage-labor, mean ZERO WORK for the individuals which can achieve the overall Reduction in Working Hours in the society, thefinal GOAL of the RWH Theory. So now I prefer the name “Zero Work Theory” (ZWT). I have explained more about this theory in my blog.
The principle behind the ZWT is that the fruits of the progress in the science and technological in the human society should not be appropriated or concentrated in the hands of only a few but it is their historical responsibility and every people concerned, to see to it that the benefit should be equally shared among all members of the society IN ABUNDANCE. This is inevitable future, the elite class should understand what is coming, whether they like it or not.
For anybody interested, i created a sequential playlist of this series.
Just copy/paste after the-> .com/
playlist?list=PLWLSesWEg5c7d6RhOrnCBJ8c62vGxpsfl
Does anyone know the titles of the Soviet fiction books he discusses? Is there any translated into a language different from Russian?
Great talk … but you must change the subtitles @ 1.14. Paul says ‘atmosphere' …. Not ‘pisser' !
Paul Jay I challenge you to read Grover Furr and/or J Arch Getty on the subject of Stalin👿. Western leftists are obsessed with him
Love this interview. Thanks prof. Buzgalin for sharing your story with us.
When I was a kid – (4 yrs old when Stalin died) – we were raised and brought up to hate and fear Russians. Was Alexander taught to hate and fear us? That is the question I would ask. Being taught to hate and fear backfired though when I was a sophomore in high school (the year Kennedy was assassinated) and our history teacher was droning on and on about how Soviet propaganda techniques brainwashed their people and how we needed to be ever-alert to those techniques so as to never fall victim. But as she was talking I daydreamed, and "Hey…I wonder if the U.S. government does that to us? In fact, I wonder if this history teacher is doing it to me right now??" Such a good lesson…5 years later I'd be living at the corner of Haight and Ashbury in SF. LOL!
Wonderful interview!
12:28 She had me mesmerised.
Google the book Khruschev Lied (I can give you a link to the pdf if can't find it)
Thank you TRNN and Aleksander. Beaituful!
Anyone who buys the Holodomor myth and other slanders against Stalin is a revisionist, anti-communist and reactionary. It has been refuted decades ago but still is told without question and without impunity and is projected by the far-right and consolidated by the McCartyist precognitive bias of decades of Cold Warrior propaganda.
It wasn't Communism. It was exactly a police state, oppression, terror, etc… Which is exactly why it wasn't Communism.
The Bolsjevik takeover of the Russian Revolution was the biggest disaster for Socialism in history. Before that, Socialism was almost universally equated with left wing libertarianism. After that it became more and more equated with suspension of democracy and workers rights, you know, unto that far off point in the future that seems to move along with the horizon. Never mind Stalin, Lenin was already a mass murderer of poor peasants. Look at what happened in Tambov. Oh and do enjoy the explanations by Lenin apologists below explaining us why these poor peasants had it coming. That'll teach them voting for actual socialists rather than the Bolsjeviks right?
lol, okay so the "democratic freedom" of this school they were at was that they were obliged to clean and repair the place, and that then your own free time was made subject to a collective decision.
Whow.
George Orwell would like a word with you I believe.
"What is Communism for us? First of all, labor is a pleasure. I'm glad I'm happy to have my work. I'm going for the work because I like it. Not because I must make as small as possible and to receive as much money as possible. Another motivation, another logic. Second, in the workplace, we have comrades not competitors." A. Buzgalin
I totally agree with Mr.Buzgalin. Lobor is our expression of our lives and to create something valuable for us. I don't want to be a mere slave of money. Money can't compensate for our lost time. Unless labor is a pleasure, we all miss most of our lives.
I believe commnism in the ussr, while not perfect, was great. It needed a political revolution like that advocated by Trotsky not the restoration of capitalism.
Fantastic interview. Enlightening and realistic
I am so much interested in watching these videos , but please do us a favor. Instead of 12 parts please put it there in 1 part. If it's not possible, then maybe 6 or 4 or 3 or 2 parts
12:26
His father was a dreamboat .
It wasn't so romantic for those polical prisoners sent to work/death camps in siberia. This blokes father was a scumbag who supported the bloodthirsty bolsheviks, that's why he had an okay life.
Thanks for telling the complete story, the west was determined to destroy Marxian political economic theory in the early 1900's and this is what shaped Russia's Communism. There is a reason that Fascism developed in Germany, Italy and Spain in the 1920's and 1930's. Germany actually formed a Socialist Government with out a revolution and Italy and Spain's organized labour groups waged strikes and started converting Enterprises into Cooperatives. Western Capitalism understands the internal contradictions inherent in Capitalism will lead to it's death and it's greatest contradiction it's ability to create so much wealth and yet have so much poverty.
Fascinating. Looking forward to the next.
Oh my God. Are there TWELVE videos?! (Or is that a typo?)
He talks about the workers entering University as if it was a bad thing.
Quite balanced for TRN video. Considered still relatively privileged life described in it, I'd recommend interviewing people who didn't live in big cities or weren't related to military industrial complex. Maybe even somebody who didn't speak Russian at home? Overall tone would probably be much darker.
BTW: I agree with book recommendations: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/331256.Roadside_Picnic for example.