*From "The Rag Blog"-Class-War Prisoner Marilyn Buck Freed

Click on the headline to link to a The Rag Blog entry about the release of class war Marilyn Buck from prison


Markin comment:

On a day when I have to post an entry about the outrageous increase of sentence for people's attorney Lynne Stewart in New York at least I can report that we have one of own back, class war prisoner Marilyn Buck. Be well, Marilyn Buck.


**********

VERSE / Mariann G. Wizard : The Real Dragon (for Marilyn Buck)

People who come out of prison can build up the country.
Misfortune is a test of people’s fidelity.
Those who protest at injustice are people of true merit.
When the prison-doors are opened, the real dragon will fly out.

-- Ho Chi Minh, Prison Diary


The Real Dragon
for Marilyn Buck


I dreamed you came out ~
Young dragon, hit by unspeakable change
So long ago;
Fallout from bombs you never saw,
Hidden away in darkness, growing, glowing,
With a heart of fire.

I dreamed you came out ~
And swam across the ocean
And hatched your eggs at last
In the abandoned chambers of dreams
And named them Peace,
And Justice,
And Honor,
Joy and Brother;
Sister and Love;
Flower and Power;
And a hundred hundred more
Offspring without number
From your nuclear womb,
Your hero’s heart.
Others there were, too ~
Children of your siblings,
Who learned of you in the nest,
And longed to see your face,
And bask in your radiant shadow.

I dreamed you came out ~
Our dragon ~
And swam the mighty ocean
To this strange future
We never dreamed.

You walked down streets familiar with destruction
And where your feet touched down,
Mighty forests grew.
Your eyes brought forth health clinics;
Your talons, schools;
And your teeth were stained with the blood of lies.

I dreamed you came out ~
And all that had been sent against you
Poured off your silky-armored strength
Like that small silver rain,
And all the past was prelude
And all men heard your roar:

Marilynilla!
Free, free, free at last!

Then, picking up the pieces,
You’ll dance down Fifth Avenue,
Among your retinue
With music everywhere,
And a thousand tongues
Raised in praise.
You’ll stroll through Central Park,
Munching on the new green leaves,
And smile at Liberty,
And She’ll smile back.


-- Mariann G. Wizard
11/2002

*From The "Renegade Eye" Blog- On The 100th Anniversary Of The Mexican Revolution- A Guest Commentary

Click on the headline to link to the Renegade Eye Blog- On The 100th Anniversary Of The Mexican Revolution

From 'The Rag Blog- Jonah Raskin : 'Mockingbird' is Muddleheaded and Superficial- A Very Different View

Click on the headline to link to a The Rag Blog entry reviewing Harper Lee's To Kill A Mocking Bird on its 50th anniversary- Jonah Raskin : 'Mockingbird' is Muddleheaded and Superficial Different View.

Markin comment:

I, and most leftists, especially those about six of us still left from the 1960s, can appreciate the critique by Mr. Raskin. However, he has the advantage of 50 years of improving political consciousness on the question of race in America, formally anyway. At the time the book , and later the movie, had a powerful effect, if for no other reason that they were (and are) good literature and cinema. Beyond that, as literary critic and great Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky noted, one cannot reasonably go. The other stuff, the political fight for black liberation in "real time" stuff, was (and is) up to us-forward in the black liberation struggle.

Note: Needless to say any two pages of Richard Wright's Black Boy or Native Son or any of James Baldwin's work, especially The Fire Next Time has more truth about the racial core of American society than all of Lee's book. But that is a different non-literary question.

*From “The Rag Blog”- “Bob Feldman 68” Blog- A People’s History Of Afghanistan, Conclusion

Click on the headline to link to a “The Rag Blog” entry from the “Bob Feldman 68” blog on the history of Afghanistan

Markin comment:

This is a great series for those who are not familiar with the critical role of Afghanistan in world politics, if not directly then as part of the history of world imperialism. Thanks, Bob Feldman.

And, speaking of world imperialism, let us keep our eyes on the prize- Obama- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./ Allied Troops And Mercenaries From Afghanistan!

*From The Archives Of The “Revolutionary History” Journal- The Aylesbury By-election of 1938

*From The Archives Of The “Revolutionary History” Journal-

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 “discovery” 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.

*From The Archives Of The “Revolutionary History” Journal- Trotsky and the Second World War- An Exchange

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 “discovery” 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.

*From The Archives Of The “Revolutionary History” Journal- The Fourth International during the Second World War

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 “discovery” 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.

*From The Archives Of The “Revolutionary History” Journal- The Proletarian Military Policy Revisited

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 “discovery” 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.

*From The Archives Of The “Revolutionary History” Journal- "Revolutionary Defeatism"

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 “discovery” 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.

*Free David Gilbert! - Ex- SDS Member and Black Liberation Fighter

Click on the headline to link to a David Gilbert site for information about his case, his writings, and other materials. Also Google his name for a Wikipedia entry.


Markin comment:

The bourgeoisie does not forgive or forget its serious left-wing opponents, and we of the left should not forget our liberation struggle brothers and sisters behind bars. On a day when the name of SDSer Ted Gold, a fallen fellow radical associate of David Gilbert's, is posted in this space via a song from Bob Feldman's music blog the struggle for Gilbert's freedom comes to mind. Free David Gibert!

*For The Folkies From Muskogee And Elsewhere- The Bob Feldman Music Blog On "My Space"-His "Ted Gold's Wisdom"

Click on the headline to link to the Bob Feldman Music Blog( for lack of a better name) entry above on My Space.

Note: for the younger readers, Ted Gold was a member of the SDS Weather Underground and was killed in a bomb explosion, I believe, in a townhouse in New York City in 1970.

Markin comment:

This is great stuff for any music aficionado, especially of folk, social protest, and roots music. I am going to be "stealing" entries off of this site periodically but you should be checking it out yourselves. Kudos, Bob Feldman.

*For The Folkies From Muskogee And Elsewhere- The Bob Feldman Music Blog On "My Space"-His "They Killed The Rosenbergs"

Click on the headline to link to the Bob Feldman Music Blog( for lack of a better name) entry above on My Space.

Markin comment:

This is great stuff for any music aficionado, especially of folk, social protest, and roots music. I am going to be "stealing" entries off of this site periodically but you should be checking it out yourselves. Kudos, Bob Feldman.

*For The Folkies From Muskogee And Elsewhere- The Bob Feldman Music Blog On "My Space"-Barbara Dane And Songs Of G.I. Resistance

Click on the headline to link to the Bob Feldman Music Blog( for lack of a better name) entry above on My Space.

Markin comment:

This is great stuff for any music aficionado, especially of folk, social protest, and roots music. I am going to be "stealing" entries off of this site periodically but you should be checking it out yourselves. Kudos, Bob Feldman.

*From Wikipedia- On His Lordship, Baron Fenner Brockway

Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for Baron Fenner Brockway, a old time historic leader of the Independent Labor Party with a link to that party's history in the article.


Markin comment:

Sorry, I couldn't resist this entry. Baron Brockway, indeed!

This article goes along with the propaganda points in the fight for our communist mentioned in this day's other posts concerning the British Labour Party and its history.

*From The Pages Of The Communist International- Lenin's Sppech To The Second Congress-Speech On Affiliation To The British Labour Party

Click on the headline to link to the Communist International Internet Archives for an online copy of the article mentioned in the headline.


Markin comment:

This article goes along with the propaganda points in the fight for our communist future mentioned in this day's other posts on the British Labour Party.

*From The Pen Of Leon Trotsky- Once Again: The ILP (1936)

Click on the headline to link to the Leon Trotsky Internet Archives for an online copy of the article mentioned in the headline.


Markin comment:

This article goes along with the propaganda points in the fight for our communist future mentioned in this day's other posts on the British Labour Party.

*From The Pen Of Leon Trotsky-The Trade Unions in Britain (1933)

Click on the headline to link to the Leon Trotsky Internet Archives for an online copy of the article mentioned in the headline.


Markin comment:

This article goes along with the propaganda points in the fight for our communist future mentioned in this day's other posts on the British Labour Party.

*From The Pages Of "Workers Vanguard"-The United Front Tactic: Its Use and Abuse-One More Time- A Guest Commentary

Click on the headline to link to the Workers Vanguard website for an online copy of the article mentioned in the headline.


Markin comment:

This article goes along with the propaganda points in the fight for our communist future mentioned in this day's other posts on the British Labor Party.

*From The Pages Of "Workers Vanguard"-British Reformists in Action-When "Militant" Ran Liverpool- A Guest Commentary

Click on the headline to link to the Workers Vanguard website for an online copy of the article mentioned in the headline.


Markin comment:

This article goes along with the propaganda points in the fight for our communist future mentioned in this day's other posts on the British Labour Party. Ouch!

* From The "In Defense Of Marxism" Website Via "Renegade Eye"- On The British Labour Party- A Guest Commentary

Click on the headline to link to a In Defense Of Marxism Website entry via Renegade Eye- On The British Labour Party.

Markin commentary:

A very interesting article, at least theoretically and historically, especailly on the Fenner Brockway-led Independent Labor Party in the 1930s that gave Leon Trotsky fits as it tried studiously, and with every fiber in its centrist body (I am being polite here), to avoid committing to the Fourth International. I am a little perplexed though as to why the British Labour Party is a "happy hunting ground" for leftists now that it is out of office and is badly mauled which makes me question the IMT's motives for a rush to Labourism (seemingly having been previously "bad children" they want to "come back home" after a long hiatus- back to shades of Ted Grant time). Certainly there is no apparent leftward-motion this early on that I can sense at this remove, a movement which revolutionaries would most certainly try to take advantage of with both hand. On relationships, including "entrism", regroupment, etc. and other tactics within mainstream Labour that will depend on circumstances.

What is clear though is that every militant should belong to the Labour Party, just as in the United States every militant should belong to a trade union, if possible. The British Labour Party, like the German Social Democratic, and in the past the French and Italian Communist Parties, is the mass bourgeois workers party in Britain. In the future it has to be split into its reformist and , hopefully, then revolutionary wings if the class struggle is to go forward. But revolutionaries cannot go around Labour and by this I mean go around the fight for leadership of the unions(or try, as in the 1960s and 70s, to sidestep that task by entry in the "sandbox" plaything of Labour youth leagues or constituency organizations).

Whether one supports Labour (critically, "like a rope supports a hanging man," as Lenin stated in his commentary on the Arthur Hendersen-led Labour Party days of the 1920s) in elections is a open question, depending on the politics at the time. In 2010 there was no reason, no reason at all, to call for a vote for Labour, whether eight or eight million people voted for its candidates. A simple question on that one: How, after those well-defined 13 years of Labour rule, as lap dog for American imperialism, the City of London bankers, and Her Majesty's governmental apparatus, could any self-respecting leftist call for such a vote for Labour , except to create more confusion among the advanced workers. That is our, that is we "sectarians" (read: small propaganda groups), real target right now?

By the way, as a very simple first step, although only a first step in that process, would be weaning those advanced militants away for reformism by calls for the abolition of Her Majesty's monarchy, that moribund House of Lords, and the disestablishment of those state churches. "Speak" Oliver Cromwell to those workers, for openers. To the advanced British and immigrant workers (patiently and soberly, of course) now!