S8 Ep114: Professor McMeekin states clearly that communism, specifically Marxist-Leninism, prospers only in conjunction with extreme violence and the disintegration of governance norms. The discussion covers the French revolutionary Babeuf, who advocated for the ov

Professor McMeekin states clearly that communism, specifically Marxist-Leninism, prospers only in conjunction with extreme violence and the disintegration of governance norms. The discussion covers the French revolutionary Babeuf, who advocated for the overturning of private property, centralized rationing, and "cleansing political violence" against "class enemies." Babeuf set a precedent for the centrality of political violence to the communist project. Marx later embraced the Paris Commune of 1871, even though he did not organize it, seeing the Commune's violence—including the killing of class enemies and throwing women and children into battle—as proof of the veracity and sincerity of a true communist revolution.