Christopher Hitchens interviews Eric Hobsbawm
Christopher Hitchens interviews Eric Hobsbawm
www.theguardian...
The sheer scope of his interest in the past, and his exceptional command of what he knew, continued to humble many, most of all in the four-volume Age of... series, in which he distilled the history of the capitalist world from 1789 to 1991. "Hobsbawm's capacity to store and retrieve detail has now reached a scale normally approached only by large archives with big staffs," wrote Neal Ascherson. Both in his knowledge of historic detail and in his extraordinary powers of synthesis, so well displayed in that four-volume project, he was unrivalled.
Hobsbawm was born in Alexandria, a good place for a historian of empire, in 1917, a good year for a communist. He was second-generation British, the grandson of a Polish Jew and cabinet-maker who came to London in the 1870s. Eight children, who included Leopold, Eric's father, were born in England and all took British citizenship at birth (Hobsbawm's Uncle Harry in due course became the first Labour mayor of Paddington).
But Eric was British of no ordinary background. Another uncle, Sidney, went to Egypt before the first world war and found a job there in a shipping office for Leopold. There, in 1914, Leopold Hobsbawm met Nelly Gruen, a young Viennese from a middle-class family who had been given a trip to Egypt as a prize for completing her school studies. The two got engaged, but the first world war broke out and they were separated. The couple eventually married in Switzerland in 1916, returning to Egypt for the birth of Eric, their first child.
"Every historian has his or her lifetime, a private perch from which to survey the world," he said in his 1993 Creighton lecture, one of several occasions in his later years when he attempted to relate his own lifetime to his own writing. "My own perch is constructed, among other materials, of a childhood in the Vienna of the 1920s, the years of Hitler's rise in Berlin, which determined my politics and my interest in history, and the England, and especially the Cambridge, of the 1930s, which confirmed both."
"Christopher Eric Hitchens (April 13, 1949 -- December 15, 2011) was an English-born American author, journalist and literary critic. He was a contributor to Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, World Affairs, The Nation, Slate, Free Inquiry and a variety of other media outlets. Hitchens was also a political observer, whose best-selling books - the most famous being god Is Not Great - made him a staple of talk shows and lecture circuits. He was also a media fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Hitchens was a polemicist and intellectual. While he was once identified with the Anglo-American radical political left, near the end of his life he embraced some arguably right-wing causes, most notably the Iraq War. Formerly a Trotskyist and a fixture in the left wing publications of both the United Kingdom and United States, Hitchens departed from the grassroots of the political left in 1989 after what he called the "tepid reaction" of the European left following Ayatollah Khomeini's issue of a fatwa calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie, but he stated on the Charlie Rose show aired August 2007 that he remained a "Democratic Socialist."
The September 11, 2001 attacks strengthened his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy, and his vociferous criticism of what he called "fascism with an Islamic face." He is known for his ardent admiration of George Orwell, Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, and for his excoriating critiques of Mother Teresa, Henry Kissinger and Bill Clinton.
Hitchens was an anti-theist, and he described himself as a believer in the Enlightenment values of secularism, humanism, and reason.
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The intellectual hero of my university-days and still a delight to listen to!
@janrobertkern5713
9 жыл бұрын
If you can look back on your own life with a critical eye, then that is indeed a kind of wisdom.
@janrobertkern5713
9 жыл бұрын
Socialism is like any other religion. You filter out the nasty parts and stick to the ones that suit you. Hobsbawm´s personal vision of a communist utopia and the official party-line in Moscow were never in accordance. Negating the wisdom of old age to someone like Hobsbawm for his beliefs would be the same as negating the same type of wisdom to a catholic for the crimes of the inquisition.
@janrobertkern5713
9 жыл бұрын
Well it seems to me, that you are loosing the grip on the argument by hiding behind the billboard "poisonous". Then tell me, what is so "poisonous" about his ideas? What`s wrong with wanting to ".. change the world" ?
@janrobertkern5713
9 жыл бұрын
If you care to listen to the interview again, you will find the passage where Hobsbawm says, that he can be as good as an historian as possible und that there are still people who reject him and his work because he simply is ".. a disgusting communist". And the more I converse with you the more I get the impression that you fall into that category. I admire Hobsbawm for his brilliant historical works such as " Age of extreme". I recommend it to you! On page 71 you will find a passage where he explains that being a communist outside of the USSR was ideologically something way different from living inside of it.
@janrobertkern5713
9 жыл бұрын
Ah, and one more about "changing the world". George Walker Bush also wanted to change the world. Was he wrong? Any ideology/ religion, that is convinced of being an unavoidable blessing to the rest of mankind, has the tendency of littering its way through history with countless dead bodies.
Discovered this guy yesterday and now I find out he was interviewed by The Hitch. 😃
Discovered this today, my day has now been made.
Hitch made a rare error here. He quoted Hegel's "cunning of history" idea, but actually Hegel wrote about the "cunning of Reason," not history. I believe Hitch would've appreciated the slight correction.
@vinm300
4 жыл бұрын
He would have appreciated and acknowledged it.
@1984isnotamanual
2 ай бұрын
Did anyone say cunning of history or did hitch make that up mistakenly?
His point about American friendships is something I had always thought and felt, but never heard articulated by anyone else. Very interesting, and quite insightful, even if it is not a historical insight as such.
Great men with great minds!They might not all ways agree,but they both where always gentlemen.Civil between two worlds can exist.Only if the participants are willing to.
I discovered Hobsbawn's THE AGE IF REVOLUTION while i was in high school.. I read it once while in high school and once as an undergrad. I was glad I did.
Thanks for uploading.
@ahmetkaraca8018
10 жыл бұрын
.
great pleasure for the guy talking with Christopher Hitchens.
@maxfedor1
3 жыл бұрын
The guy is considered one the 21century’s top historian. Christopher hitchens was no fan of calling anyone his hero, and would probably frown upon your fanaticism for him, and your rather lazy intellectualism to speak of Eric Hobsbawm as “ this guy” . A hint for you should’ve been the fact that Hitchens wanted and chose to interview one of the great historians.
@TheSpiritOfTheTimes
3 жыл бұрын
About 10 years onwards from the death of both and nothing remains from Hitchens except a few straddler fans online, sometimes it seems that even his brother has eclipsed him, while Hobsbawm remains the pre-eminent 20th century historian.
@Reel___
2 жыл бұрын
@@TheSpiritOfTheTimes I respect both immensely, and appreciate all the work they both achieved when alive, but what you just said was preposterous. Eric Hobsbawm, as amazing of a historian as he was, regretted and admitted how wrong he was on his praise of the Soviet Union and the atrocities they were responsible for. Hitchens (along with Dawkins, Russell, Paine etc) will go down as one of the greatest Atheists of all time. His plethora of essays, or books, such as: *"God is Not Great How Religion Poisions Everything"* along with the myriad of debates of him embarrassing theologians on the internet will be around forever. He's inspired generations of people to become liberated from religion. Both are legends in their own way, but you should put some respect on Hitchens name.
To think both have passed out not so long ago...Kind of surreal.
Two legends, this video is gem.
@richardverrall534
2 жыл бұрын
Tyler Murphy I Ihink you meant to say"a,gem". Sorry to be a pedant
Something in the description of this video about the Hitch is totally wrong and misrepresents him. “The September 11, 2001 attacks strengthened his embrace of an interventionist foreign policy”. This is not true at all, he had been for removing Saddam Hussein from power many years before 9/11 and he was in solidarity with the Iraqi opposition, particularly the Kurds. What 9/11 made him realize is that we were in a war with jihadists that most of us didn’t know we were fighting until that horrible day
Dude, this is awesome. Hitchens and Hobsbawm are my two favorite guys.
@amandakelley4439
3 жыл бұрын
both are dead fish - and dead fish will only float in their own contaminated water pool
@amandakelley4439
3 жыл бұрын
@@Farukino everybody can think- not impressed unless they are speaking Truth, and yes, there is real Truth. The end.
@amandakelley4439
3 жыл бұрын
@@Farukino just saw your comment- everybody "thinks', but maybe you had no "thought" about that - and thoughts aren't truth- now, you can think about that
Hitch seemed a little upset about Hobsbawm's opinions on democracy, how can you propose to switch to jazz after that answer! Anybody would have go deeper on that subject I think.
Age of Extremes,the best history book ever written
great!
Hitch archives, not all heroes wear capes
@amandakelley4439
3 жыл бұрын
oh these have capes- red ones ..and horns. They point the unsuspecting how to take the alleviator down to he__
@tgmurphy
3 жыл бұрын
@@amandakelley4439 communism, as he says, needs to be understood as a historical phenomenon, particularly when the other dominant ideology doesn't acknowledge your existence as human being.
When was this interview?
@dbg144
8 жыл бұрын
It must have been circa 2002, when Hobsbawm's autobiography was published.
@ibyvrcrdd9903
8 жыл бұрын
+Duncan Gilchrist Thankyou, you don't get a great historian and a great intellectual together like this all that often
His answer to the question about whether he would advise his younger self to spy for Stalin was a dodge, and that's a shame.
Poor Eric Frogspawn, having his name so systematically mis-spelled all those years!
Around the 30th min one can hear a well observed truth about east german society (deadly boredom, yet genuine friendships as result of an absolute private life)!
I think the interview dates from 2002.
The story of the Hitch watching Doctor Zhivago at 39:30 is glorious.
The guy asking a question at 56:15 is Johan Harri. Successful writer these days.
@hazeshi6779
Жыл бұрын
He seems like a fraud
@1984isnotamanual
2 ай бұрын
@@hazeshi6779he’s sadly has a few plagiarism scandals. He stole someone else’s prose. THIS IS NOT OK. but also pathetic because he is a good enough writer that doesn’t need to do that.
Did that sound like Johann Hari to anyone else towards the end?
Seems like his reaction to the last question was purely emotional and just a dyed in the wool communist absolutely loathing ideologically that someone tried to use markets in an analogy. I thought the questioner had an interesting point, that bad ideologies tend to infect and ruin good ideologies.
"I suspect that the next victim isn't going to be Syria.... but Iran" - Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen. Granting the Golon Heights to Israel.The Eurasian axis; 'The Project for a New American Century'
The guy's question at 1:03:00 was beautiful. The old comrad's answer was weak.
@theoharvey9236
3 жыл бұрын
Did you even listen to his answer? Its a multidimensional response to a one-dimensional question.
Save
amazing
A Stalinist to the very end.
@1984isnotamanual
2 ай бұрын
Do you know when this was filmed?
What is it like of being on the wrong side of the fence? 😲😎🙄⁉️🚀🚀🚀💲💲💲
@liammcooper
2 жыл бұрын
idk ask the industrial capitalists, corprocrats, and fascists whose policies resulted in the holocene mass extinction.
@hazeshi6779
Жыл бұрын
What?
A true Stalinist. Well read and dull. The spark was never there. Marx noted that "Philosophers and Soothsayers observe humanity. Our task is to change it!" No Revolutionary here! Hitchen's supported the invasion of Iraq! Make a nice couple! A Stalinist and a renegade!
@Harry-zc8rg
2 жыл бұрын
I am quite sure that Hobsbawm denounced Stalin and was critical of the USSR; however the worship of Hitchens has always been a mystery to me. Many people lost their minds after 9/11 and he was one of them.
@donovanjones4175
2 жыл бұрын
@@Harry-zc8rg I see your point, I do not have Marxist leanings but listen to the other side to learn. Hitchens is a great orator, that’s why I’m a fan.
@Harry-zc8rg
2 жыл бұрын
@@donovanjones4175 well this is probably the best interview with Hobsbawm because Hitch got it. Every question was not a variation of "how can you be so smart and call yourself a communist?" Gets tiresome.
@donovanjones4175
2 жыл бұрын
@@Harry-zc8rg that’s funny Harry, I’m gonna watch it again with your frame .
@Reel___
10 ай бұрын
@Harry-zc8rg Because we aren't monolithic thinkers, we can both admire his criticisms of organized religion, North Korea, Russia, fascism, and disagree with him on his view of the 2nd invasion of Iraq. He is one of the most brilliant writers ever imo.
Age of Extremes is a dreadful book. Hobsbawm is an apologist for Communist crimes. He could never bring himself to a disinterested perspective.
@abdullahhelbubun3261
3 жыл бұрын
lol you should read more
@charliechaplin5240
3 жыл бұрын
He literally says Stalinism has no future because it failed. so either you have not read but decided to criticise, or perhaps you suffer from a lack of marbles
@vinm300
3 жыл бұрын
@@charliechaplin5240 "Because it failed" isn't a criticism of Stalinism. One could say that about a theatre company - it failed. Hobsbawm is an apologist for communism. He knows a lot but is a poor analyst. Read Tony Judt "Postwar", that is much better analysis, with excellent illustrative examples, and well written. Hobsbawm stinks.
@charliechaplin5240
3 жыл бұрын
@@vinm300 Firstly, you are an idiot to think something failed is not a criticism of that thing. If I said, your mind is broken, I'm not praising your intellect. Second, he is a brilliant historian and well-respected by Marxists and non-Marxists alike. highlighting the communists fight against fascism when capitalism collapsed is important. I doubt you are aware of his writings on the peasantry as a class and of Latin American history. His writings on nationalism and the 19th century are extremely prescient today and meticulously researched. Third - his name will be remembered fondly long after you have consigned to oblivion.
@charliechaplin5240
3 жыл бұрын
@@vinm300 Also Tony Judt is tedious and Ian Kershaw is better. Not only is he an expert on Hitler and NAZISM but he has also written a comprehensive history of modern Europe. He likes Hobsbawm too, sorry for you. I think you just dislike his facts. That without the USSR Hitler would have steamrolled Western Europe is undeniable to anyone in possession of the facts. Love or hate the USSR, it did most of the fghting and dying to defeat Germany. Even Andrew Roberts, who hates communism, accepts this. ' 4 out of every 5 German soldiers were killed by the Soviets. We simply killed the last one ' Facts are stubborn things you know. so pardon his refusal to simply look at Soviet socialism as merely a black mark in the annals of history. History and one-sided reductionism becomes mythology.
They say he still looks the same, two years after his death. That even the maggots and worms find him too disgusting to eat.
@thedivinemrm5832
8 жыл бұрын
+Holdin McGroin Who is "they"? Embittered, delusional Christians?
@holdinmcgroin8639
8 жыл бұрын
TheDivine MrM What makes you think I'm a Christian? All it takes is a brain to hate a commie.
@thedivinemrm5832
8 жыл бұрын
Holdin McGroin Of course you are. White, American, under-educated and still in fear of the imaginary threat of communism. You're every bit Christian.
@holdinmcgroin8639
8 жыл бұрын
TheDivine MrM Nah, European in pursuit of a PhD. Try again. I also don't see how being white is in any way a bad thing. And i'm not afraid of communism either, but that doesn't mean that the death of anyone who still adheres to it is a good thing. After all, communism was a miserable failure
@thedivinemrm5832
8 жыл бұрын
Holdin McGroin I don't believe you any more than I do the God-myth. "but that doesn't mean that the death of anyone who still adheres to it is a good thing." So you were being a hypocrite when you slated Mr Hitchens? Unsurprising. "After all, communism was a miserable failure" It still didn't fail as hard as prayer.
When was this interview?