Showing posts with label leon trotsky defense fund. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leon trotsky defense fund. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Films to While Away The Class Struggle By-Dalton Trumbo's Anti-War Classic- "Johnny Got His Gun"

Click on the headline to link to a "Youtube" film clip from the film "Johnny Got His Gun" based on Dalton Trumbo's classic anti-war novel of the same title.


Clip From Trailer for Trumbo (2015)- the story of the black-listed writer who wrote the classic Johnny Got His Gun.

 

 



Recently I have begun to post entries under the headline- “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By”-that will include progressive and labor-oriented songs that might be of general interest to the radical public. I have decided to do the same for some films that may perk that same interest under the title in this entry’s headline. In the future I expect to do the same for books under a similar heading.-Markin

DVD Review

Johnny Got His Gun, Donald Sutherland, Timothy Bottoms, Jason Robards, directed by Dalton Trumbo, 1971


The first two paragraphs are taken from a review of Dalton Trumbo’s novelistic treatment of the film under review. The points made there apply in general to the film:

“The subject of war has had all sorts of novelistic treatments, the most successful usually treading lightly on the war action itself and delving into the personal choices and consequences of the characters as their central aim. In that odd sense the most compelling novelistic treatments are either pro-war (for some seemingly rational reason like defending one’s country, coming to the aid of a smaller, weaker country, etc.) or neutral to the more physical and psychological dimensions of the situation. A flat out, anti-war (or, to use a more vague term, pacifistic) treatment is usually not successful either because it has a “preaching to the choir” quality or strikes some false chord. That is not the case with Dalton Trumbo’s “Johnny Got His Gun”.


Although this novel was written under the sign of the Hitler-Stalin Pact in the late 1930s, reflected in Communist International and American Communist Party political line as one of intense opposition to Western war preparations it brings more home truths than merely another piece of ‘communistic’ propaganda and it would be incorrect even for staunch anti-Stalinists to dismiss it out of hand. Joe, the main character here, maimed beyond belief and repair, is every mother’s son, every American mother’s son. His interior monologue, as he remembers his past, his lost youth, his desires and the useless way he was used in the last days of World War I is almost unique in the way the story unfolds. It certainly is not for the faint-hearted, or the weak-minded. As steps are now being taken to up the ante in Afghanistan, another one of those wars to ‘defend’ democracy, or whatever the reason of the day is, this thing should be required reading for every mother, and every mother’s son and daughter who seeks to put him or herself in war’s way.”

The film pretty faithfully follows Trumbo’s, or at least the spirit of Trumbo’s, main point. Of course it helps that he directed the piece. Off a reading, or rather re-reading of the novel I thought that it would be hard to sustain a film based on the lack of “action” in the story line. That is dealt with two ways-flash backs by Joe to sunnier times and by “dream” sequences featuring the likes of Donald Sunderland giving his droll interpretation of Trumbo’s message. This is not an easy film to get through; certainly not for those who like their entertainments light, but the pathos of the scenes as Joe tries to make sense of his “new” world is cause for reflection. That said, could one find a better actor than Timothy Bottoms to play the role of Joe, the fresh-faced “dough boy” filled with illusions, filled with thoughts of invincibility, but also filled with dreams and sorrows as he goes off to war. Kudos here. And thanks, brother Trumbo.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

*From The Archives Of The “Revolutionary History” Journal-Raff Lee and the Pioneer Trotskyists of Johannesburg

Click on the headline to link to the Revolutionary History Journal entry listed in the title.

Markin comment:

This is an excellent documentary source for today’s militants to “discover” the work of our forbears, whether we agree with their programs or not. Mainly not, but that does not negate the value of such work done under the pressure of revolutionary times. Hopefully we will do better when our time comes.

Markin comment:

The articles from Revolutionary History are placed here as supplements to the comments that I made in my entry today From The Pages Of Workers Vanguard-The Struggle In South Africa Today.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

*From The Pen Of James P.Cannon- In Honor of Vladimir Lenin's Birthday

Click on the headline to link to a "James P. Cannon Internet Archive" online copy of his 1940 article, "Lenin, Trotsky and the First World War". An appropriate subject for today's communists to learn about on this day.

Markin comment:

The name Lenin, the party Bolshevik and the revolution Russian need no introduction to readers of this space. We are still trying assimilate the lessons that Lenin drove home in the early struggles for socialism. Happy Birthday, Comrade Lenin wherever you are doing your revolutionary time.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

*Books To While Away The Class Struggle By-James T. Farrell’s “Studs Lonigan”-William Kennedy, Your Father Is Calling You

Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for the Irish-American writer, James T. Farrell.

Recently I have begun to post entries under the headline- “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By” and "Films To While Away The Class Struggle By"-that will include progressive and labor-oriented songs and films that might be of general interest to the radical public. I have decided to do the same for some books that may perk that same interest under the title in this entry’s headline. Markin

Book Review

Young Lonigan, James T. Farrell, Random House, New York, 1932


Over the past several years, as part of re-evaluating the effect of my half-Irish diaspora heritage (on my mother’s side) on the development of my leftist political consciousness I have read, and in some cases re-read, some of the major works of the Irish-American experience. Of course, any such reading list includes tales from the pen of William Kennedy and his Albany cycle, most famously “Ironweed”. And, naturally, as well, the tales of that displaced Irishman, the recently departed Frank McCourt and his “Angela’s Ashes”, a story that is so close to the bone of my own “shanty” Irish diaspora upbringing that we are forever kindred spirits. That said, here to my mind is the “ max daddy” of all the American disapora storytellers, James T. Farrell, and his now rightly famous trilogy, “Studs Lonigan” (hereafter, “Studs”).

Now my first kinship with James T. Farrell is not through literature, but rather through politics. For a period, and an important one at that, Farrell was a stalwart pro-communist, anti-Stalinist militant writer who served with distinction and honor on the John Dewey headed- Leon Trotsky Commission that tried to determine whether Trotsky was, or was not guilty, of serious crimes against his beloved Soviet Union during the height of Stalin’s Moscow Trials in the late 1930s. Farrell rendered further important services to the left-wing when he helped organize the defense of the leaders of the Socialist Workers Party during the beginning of World War II when the Roosevelt government had them jailed for opposition to that war. Thus, Farrell came with some good political credential in the eyes of this reviewer.

And in his storytelling of his people, the Chicago Irish, Farrell does not let us down either. “Studs” is only marginally concerned with political issues, and then only of the bourgeois kind rampant amount the Irish in the early part of the 20th century when they were taking over local politics in a number of cities from their former WASP guardians. However, he has hit so many “hot buttons” about “lace curtain” Irish sensibilities and the struggle against “shanty” Irishness that he, Kennedy, and McCourt could have easily compared notes for their respective works.

“Studs”, even at a young age, and this first book of the trilogy only goes up to his late teens, is already having his existential crisis at that tender age. And that crisis for him is the tension between that surface “lace curtain” Irish sensibility that both his father and mother are, in their own very familiar way (familiar to anyone who has had the least bit of traditional Irish upbringing), trying to instill and his natural inclination to go “shanty” (hang out on corners with the guys, drink, loaf, and chase girls, or at least dream of chasing girls).

For those who know, and even for those who don’t know, Farrell gives us a primer here of common Irish experiences; the central role of the Catholic Church in daily and weekly life, at least on the surface; the “virtues” of parochial school education received from the good battle-hardened sisters, amply loaded with words and weaponry; the need to keep the “dirty linen” of family life in the home, and away from inquisitive neighbors, especially those nearest; and, most importantly, the never-ending quest of what to do about girls (and for girls, boys, of course). That last point drives home, as it does for almost all of us, the real central problem of early teenage existence. Hey, all of this sounds to me like it could have been written today about Irish-American disapora kids, right? And that is what makes Farrell’s work resonant to our ears and our eyes ,and is such a good work of literature. More later, as “Studs” moves into manhood.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

*Writer's Corner- "Studs Lonigan's" James T. Farrell

Click On Title To Link To Wikipedia's Entry For Politics Of The Writer (Most Famously The "Studs Lonigan" Trilogy)And Left-Wing Political Activist. More, Much More Will Appear On This Writer At A Later Time, Including His Political Disputes With Various American Followers Of Leon Trotsky And His Contributions To The Socialist Workers Party's Political Defense Work(Especially, The Defense Of Leon Trotsky, During The Heart Of The Moscow Trials- When It Counted).