Click on the headline to link to an American Left History blog entry-From The "In Defense Of Marxism" Website Via "Renegade Eye"- On The British Labour Party- A Guest Commentary, dated Sunday July 18, 2010, for the article mentioned below and my comment.
Markin comment:
I had not intended my comment about the IMT leader Sewell’s “In Defense Of Marxism” British Labour Party article to be anything other than a short commentary. However, someone here has asked me to fill in the blanks a little about the task of revolutionaries in entering (or, alternatively, at least seriously challenging from the outside) the British Labour Party for leadership of its working class mass constituency. I mentioned in that previous comment (see linked article above)the notion of splitting that party into its component parts, reformist and revolutionary, in order to drive the class struggle in Great Britain forward. The following are a few thoughts on that issue:
Look, today, in the post-Soviet “death of communism” political landscape that we are just coming out of, despite the overwhelming objective economic situation which cries out, and cries out to high heaven, for socialist solutions we revolutionaries who follow the banner, seriously follow the banner, of Marxism, especially as it follows its Trotskyist line through the history of the international working class movement are as scarce as hen’s teeth. We pose, and rightly so, as champions of the historic needs (and historic destiny, as well) of the working class. In that sense we oppose, and oppose vigorously, all reformist roadblocks, both inside that movement and out, but mainly today inside. But our forces are small, our needs are great, and our maneuverability limited.
Nevertheless we are not without tactical possibilities. And here is where the notion of “entry” (as opposed to the formal, politically obligatory, membership of individual militants) into the British Labour Party comes into play, if such a tactic is warranted today given the political trajectory of that party. While, as stated in my previous commentary, it is not at all clear to me that there is any motion that warrants such “entry” rather than working from the outside I was asked about the rationale for doing so and that is what this comment is about.
In a perfect working class universe under conditions of bourgeois rule we would want, and we would expect, given the viciousness of our blood-drenched opponent, to have one mass party, one mass revolutionary, party to confront the enemy. The history of our movement, however, even before Marx and his seminal work, and clarion call, The Communist Manifesto, in the 19th century has, repeatedly, demonstrated that such a situation is the exception rather than the rule. (The Manifesto itself, in its third part, is a nothing less than an intense polemical battle against those other socialist tendencies of the time for the “soul” of the European working class.)
Periodically the great divide between the prevailing, essentially parliamentary, reformist notions of the working class coming to power and an understanding of the necessity of a revolutionary takeover has created conditions where the advanced workers (and others, in their wake) follow the revolutionary party. That is our great shining example of the October Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917. Even there, the Bolsheviks had to fight, tooth and nail, against the Menshevik tendency (the reformist branch of the Russian working class movement of the time, although they, at least some elements of it, were not necessarily aware of it at the time given conditions in Czarist Russia) to break the workers movement from bourgeois society.
So how do those lessons help serve revolutionaries in Great Britain today. Whether the “entry” tactic is called for, or not, today the hard reality, and the hard reality especially in Great Britain, given the dead weight of the Labour party as an obstacle to revolution (hell, even to reform lately), is that one cannot reasonably expect to split that party without a life or death fight against the reformist, no, sub-reformist leadership of that party. Trying to be an organic part of Labour, to merely attempt to push it to the left (a little) and be "militant", just will not do. Generations of British revolutionaries have broken their teeth on that concept.
And as a final caveat take this: Without a perspective, as broadly outlined above, history has also shown, and shown painfully at times, that merely trying to be an organic part of the Labour Party is the kiss of death, the "kiss of the spider woman” for revolutionaries and their organizations. Look to the example of earlier generations of British revolutionaries (and not that far back either, look at the 1980s) who were spit out, and spit out unceremoniously, when the deal went down. Whether those revolutionaries explained things to the workers, patiently and soberly, or not.
Friday, July 23, 2010
*From The Pages Of The Communist International- Reply To A Letter From The Joint Provisional Committee For The Communist Party Of Britain
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.
Markin comment:
This article goes along with the propaganda points in the fight for our communist future mentioned in this day's other posts.
*From The Pen Of Leon Trotsky- Writings on Britain: The Labour Movement 1906-1924: The Growth of the Labour Party
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.
Markin comment:
This article goes along with the propaganda points in the fight for our communist future mentioned in this day's other posts.
*From The Pen Of Vladimir Lenin-Left-Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder -"Left-Wing" Communism in Great Britian"
Click on the headline to link to the Lenin 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.
Markin comment:
This article goes along with the propaganda points in the fight for our communist future mentioned in this day's other posts.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
*From The Wilds Of Cyberspace-The Latest From The "National Assembly To End The U.S. Wars And Occupations" Website-Troops Out Of Afghanistan Now!
Click on the title to link to the website mentioned in the headline for the latest news and opinion from that site.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
*Outrage- Darkness In America- People's Attorney Lynne Stewart Must Not Die In Jail-Free Her Now !
Click on the headline ot link to a SteveLendmanBlog entry Darkness In America:Lynne Stewart's Resentencing.
Markin comment:
The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee website has nothing up as yet about the situation, as of today. But check it, periodically, and donate money for further efforts to free Lynne Stewart (and her co-defendants).
People's Attorney Lynne Stewart Must Not Die In Jail-Free Her Now!
Markin comment:
The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee website has nothing up as yet about the situation, as of today. But check it, periodically, and donate money for further efforts to free Lynne Stewart (and her co-defendants).
People's Attorney Lynne Stewart Must Not Die In Jail-Free Her Now!
*A Pinprick At Modern American Capitalism- Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story - An Encore Note
Click on title to link to the Renegade Eye blog posting of a review in Socialist Appeal of the Michael Moore film, Capitalism: A Love Story.
Markin comment:
Originally, I did not intend to review Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story and was more than happy to let the linked article posted on October 29, 2009serve in that capacity leaving myself the short comment below:
"Thanks for saving me from having to review this work. While we can all appreciate the work of Michael Moore in tweaking the right (here in America) I would feel much better about his work, his person, and his politics if he didn't have that front row seat safely ensconced in the midst of the Democratic Party. Michael- Break with the Democrats! Enough said."
After a recent re-viewing of the film documentary I still do no feel any great need to review the film, although in addition to the quoted comment above, which I stand by and I believe is still good advise for Mr. Moore, I do have a couple of other comments to make:
First, although this documentary was just released last year it already has a dated feel to it, as governmental regimes have changed but not the greedy profit motive that drives the capitalist economy and which the twin governmental parties of capitalism, Republican and Democratic, each in their way, serve. Moore’s main object at the time, I assume, was to take advantage, easy advantage as the case turned out, of the villainous characters that ran the capitalist government under President Bush, under whose regime all economic hell broke loose, especially in 2008. That was then, and this is now though. The easily interchangeable cast of characters now look remarkable the same, the wars the same, unemployment still at modern day highs, Wall Street bonuses obscene, Congress still under that street's thumb (as Moore, in his great film-making capacity, really captures) under new “go to” guy Obama. Sure, plenty of people had (and still have) lots of illusions in Obama so Brother Moore was not alone, although some of the others had enough sense not to film their glee for the world to see and thus have to now shield their faces from public view after the inevitable shoe has fallen.
Second, one of the central motifs here is Moore’s notion that this country can turn itself around by going back to some form of Rooseveltian “New Deal" (his Second Bill Of Rights). But his big push is for social and political action by the “little people.” (Called by Moore, and others, the middle class, although it is really called the working class, brother, at least from the film footage interviews from such towns as Detroit and Cleveland. There is nothing wrong with calling a thing by its right name, okay?) Moore makes several plugs (including at the end) for people to “do something.” Unfortunately, such a vague statement in politics can be turned on you. In a racist-tinged, anti-immigrant, starve public services (part of which is directed at those same two groups) “Age of the Tea Bag”, political action by the “little people” is not always, without a program, a socialist program, the kind of clarion call to action that one is looking for. So political programmatic clarity, always in short supply with Moore, is a must.
Finally, although I didn’t notice it as much on the first viewing, Moore’s worldview is informed by an almost Catholic Worker movement-like (formed in the old Great Depression days by Dorothy Day and others, and later included followers like the Berrigan brothers and many ex-priests and ex-nuns) sensibility. Now, as I, perhaps, have mentioned before Dorothy Day was revered in my childhood home, especially by my devout, pious poor mother. So I can thus sense the origins of the quest for justice in Moore’s work, as that spark also drove part of my own social education, if not for his conclusions. But Brother Moore that was long ago, and I was just I kid. Grownups fight, and fight hard, under the banner-Break with the Democrats! Fight for our communist future!
Markin comment:
Originally, I did not intend to review Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story and was more than happy to let the linked article posted on October 29, 2009serve in that capacity leaving myself the short comment below:
"Thanks for saving me from having to review this work. While we can all appreciate the work of Michael Moore in tweaking the right (here in America) I would feel much better about his work, his person, and his politics if he didn't have that front row seat safely ensconced in the midst of the Democratic Party. Michael- Break with the Democrats! Enough said."
After a recent re-viewing of the film documentary I still do no feel any great need to review the film, although in addition to the quoted comment above, which I stand by and I believe is still good advise for Mr. Moore, I do have a couple of other comments to make:
First, although this documentary was just released last year it already has a dated feel to it, as governmental regimes have changed but not the greedy profit motive that drives the capitalist economy and which the twin governmental parties of capitalism, Republican and Democratic, each in their way, serve. Moore’s main object at the time, I assume, was to take advantage, easy advantage as the case turned out, of the villainous characters that ran the capitalist government under President Bush, under whose regime all economic hell broke loose, especially in 2008. That was then, and this is now though. The easily interchangeable cast of characters now look remarkable the same, the wars the same, unemployment still at modern day highs, Wall Street bonuses obscene, Congress still under that street's thumb (as Moore, in his great film-making capacity, really captures) under new “go to” guy Obama. Sure, plenty of people had (and still have) lots of illusions in Obama so Brother Moore was not alone, although some of the others had enough sense not to film their glee for the world to see and thus have to now shield their faces from public view after the inevitable shoe has fallen.
Second, one of the central motifs here is Moore’s notion that this country can turn itself around by going back to some form of Rooseveltian “New Deal" (his Second Bill Of Rights). But his big push is for social and political action by the “little people.” (Called by Moore, and others, the middle class, although it is really called the working class, brother, at least from the film footage interviews from such towns as Detroit and Cleveland. There is nothing wrong with calling a thing by its right name, okay?) Moore makes several plugs (including at the end) for people to “do something.” Unfortunately, such a vague statement in politics can be turned on you. In a racist-tinged, anti-immigrant, starve public services (part of which is directed at those same two groups) “Age of the Tea Bag”, political action by the “little people” is not always, without a program, a socialist program, the kind of clarion call to action that one is looking for. So political programmatic clarity, always in short supply with Moore, is a must.
Finally, although I didn’t notice it as much on the first viewing, Moore’s worldview is informed by an almost Catholic Worker movement-like (formed in the old Great Depression days by Dorothy Day and others, and later included followers like the Berrigan brothers and many ex-priests and ex-nuns) sensibility. Now, as I, perhaps, have mentioned before Dorothy Day was revered in my childhood home, especially by my devout, pious poor mother. So I can thus sense the origins of the quest for justice in Moore’s work, as that spark also drove part of my own social education, if not for his conclusions. But Brother Moore that was long ago, and I was just I kid. Grownups fight, and fight hard, under the banner-Break with the Democrats! Fight for our communist future!
*Films to While Away The Class Struggle By-"The Molly Maguires"
Click On Title To Link To A Wikipedia Entry For The Molly Maguires. Note, as always, with these entries on this site there can be problems with facts and political perspective.
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
The Molly Maguires, Sean Connery, Richard Harris, directed by Martin Ritt, 1978
In a post in this space In The Time of The "Robber Barons" And The Early American Union Movement- The Molly Maguires, dated February 21, 2007, reviewing a book about these early labor militants, The Molly Maguires, Wayne Broehl, Jr., Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Ma, 1964, I hit the high points that I want to make about the Molly Maguires here and that are reinforced by this commercial film effort starring Sean Connery as a leader of the Irish coalminers in the Pennsylvania coal fields of the 1870’s, the age of the American “robber baron” capitalists, their “Gilded Age”. This film is also directed by 1950s “blacklisted’ director Martin Ritt (director of the Woody Allen film on the blacklist, The Front) so he has a feel for telling labor’s story (and providing some very naturalistic cinematography, as well). I will make additional points about the film below the repost:
“The tale of the famous “Molly Maguires” of the Pennsylvania coal fields in the period immediately after the American Civil War is another in the seemingly endless stories of the Irish diaspora triggered by the ruthless policy of the bloody English imperialists, who come what may, refused to part with their colony until forced to by the Irish national liberation fighters of the early 20th century. One can read the Molly Maguire story as one of the first attempts in the post-Civil War period to organize an industry-wide labor union in the coal industry, including its sectionalism, political immaturity and oath-bound secrecy. One can also read it as a story of atomized labor confronted by the consolidation of capitalism in the extractive industries linked up to the carrying trade of the railroads and financed by stockholders here in America and in Britain. Finally one can read the story as a police procedural, highlighting the role of the infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency and its founder Alan Pinkerton in bringing some of the alleged leaders of the “Mollies” to trial and execution on behalf of the railroad and coal bosses. That is the route the author of the book under review has taken…”
“Another point to make is how the mainly English capitalists of the area aggravated the already existing antagonisms between ethnic groups like the Irish, Welsh and Germans (and later the various Slavic groups) to their benefit in a classic example of capitalist “divide and rule” policy. Finally, the story points out the key role that privately-employed detective agencies, private police and ultimately state and federal troops played in bringing about the early defeats in the American labor movement (and continue to do so today as about one billion dollars a year is spent on keeping unions out or keeping them docile in the United States, one need only think of Wal-Mart)…..”
Sean Connery as a no-nonsense, level-headed, driven, militant labor leader of the benighted Irish Pennsylvania coalminers works here. (Of course, he also “worked” as British super-spy James Bond, but we will let that pass.) Jack (Connery’s role) tasks are not easy ones as he has to keep the younger hotheads in line, deal with the “peelers” (police), deal with planning some kind of strategy that will get labor out from under the thumb of the greedy, very greedy, coal and rail bosses who will stop at noting to break the union efforts. But most of all, and what forms the dramatic tension of the film, Jack has to deal with one James McFarland (played by Richard Harris), a willing, no, a more than willing, labor “fink” who is sent in by the bosses to round up the local labor leaders, and in the end settle scores in the only way that the “robber barons” really liked- execute the leaders. (Remember also “robber baron” Jim Fisk’s old saying-“I will hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.”). Well, in the end they got old Jack, but you know he fought them tooth and nail. We could use a few more Jacks and a few less labor skates these days as we fight the one-sided and uphill class struggle.
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
The Molly Maguires, Sean Connery, Richard Harris, directed by Martin Ritt, 1978
In a post in this space In The Time of The "Robber Barons" And The Early American Union Movement- The Molly Maguires, dated February 21, 2007, reviewing a book about these early labor militants, The Molly Maguires, Wayne Broehl, Jr., Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Ma, 1964, I hit the high points that I want to make about the Molly Maguires here and that are reinforced by this commercial film effort starring Sean Connery as a leader of the Irish coalminers in the Pennsylvania coal fields of the 1870’s, the age of the American “robber baron” capitalists, their “Gilded Age”. This film is also directed by 1950s “blacklisted’ director Martin Ritt (director of the Woody Allen film on the blacklist, The Front) so he has a feel for telling labor’s story (and providing some very naturalistic cinematography, as well). I will make additional points about the film below the repost:
“The tale of the famous “Molly Maguires” of the Pennsylvania coal fields in the period immediately after the American Civil War is another in the seemingly endless stories of the Irish diaspora triggered by the ruthless policy of the bloody English imperialists, who come what may, refused to part with their colony until forced to by the Irish national liberation fighters of the early 20th century. One can read the Molly Maguire story as one of the first attempts in the post-Civil War period to organize an industry-wide labor union in the coal industry, including its sectionalism, political immaturity and oath-bound secrecy. One can also read it as a story of atomized labor confronted by the consolidation of capitalism in the extractive industries linked up to the carrying trade of the railroads and financed by stockholders here in America and in Britain. Finally one can read the story as a police procedural, highlighting the role of the infamous Pinkerton Detective Agency and its founder Alan Pinkerton in bringing some of the alleged leaders of the “Mollies” to trial and execution on behalf of the railroad and coal bosses. That is the route the author of the book under review has taken…”
“Another point to make is how the mainly English capitalists of the area aggravated the already existing antagonisms between ethnic groups like the Irish, Welsh and Germans (and later the various Slavic groups) to their benefit in a classic example of capitalist “divide and rule” policy. Finally, the story points out the key role that privately-employed detective agencies, private police and ultimately state and federal troops played in bringing about the early defeats in the American labor movement (and continue to do so today as about one billion dollars a year is spent on keeping unions out or keeping them docile in the United States, one need only think of Wal-Mart)…..”
Sean Connery as a no-nonsense, level-headed, driven, militant labor leader of the benighted Irish Pennsylvania coalminers works here. (Of course, he also “worked” as British super-spy James Bond, but we will let that pass.) Jack (Connery’s role) tasks are not easy ones as he has to keep the younger hotheads in line, deal with the “peelers” (police), deal with planning some kind of strategy that will get labor out from under the thumb of the greedy, very greedy, coal and rail bosses who will stop at noting to break the union efforts. But most of all, and what forms the dramatic tension of the film, Jack has to deal with one James McFarland (played by Richard Harris), a willing, no, a more than willing, labor “fink” who is sent in by the bosses to round up the local labor leaders, and in the end settle scores in the only way that the “robber barons” really liked- execute the leaders. (Remember also “robber baron” Jim Fisk’s old saying-“I will hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.”). Well, in the end they got old Jack, but you know he fought them tooth and nail. We could use a few more Jacks and a few less labor skates these days as we fight the one-sided and uphill class struggle.
*Films to While Away The Class Struggle By-"Strike"- A Polish Film
Click on the title to link to a Wikipedia entry for the Polish film, Strike.
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
I have posted the information from Netflix's description on this one. I will make a couple of comments below.
Strike(Strajk: Die Heldin von Danzig) 2006 NR 104 minutes
Cast:Katharina Thalbach, Maria Maj, Andrzej Chyra, Andrzej Grabowski, Dominique Horwitz, Joanna Bogacka
Director:Volker Schlondorff
"Inspired by a true story, this powerful drama tells the tale of an ordinary woman who helps spark a revolution in Poland. Single mother Agnieszka (Katharina Thalbach) works as a shipyard welder. Concerned about dangerous working conditions, she speaks up -- to no avail. But after an accident kills several employees, and their families are denied pension benefits, she steps up her activities, laying the foundation for the Solidarity movement."
********
Markin comment:
The great Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky noted back in the early days of the Communist International in the 1920s that the German Communist Party was the biggest (outside of the Russian Bolsheviks) in that organization, but the Polish party was the best. That party, after all, was the party of Rosa Luxemburg (and Leo Jogiches), and of the three W’s. Some things, some very terrible Stalinist-driven (Moscow and Warsaw versions) things went wrong from the time of that statement to the time of the end of this film in the early 1980s and the solidification of Solidarity to drive the bulk of the historically pro-socialist Polish working class into the waiting arms of the Polish bourgeoisie, the Roman Catholic Church, and their international imperialist allies.
And in its, perhaps, unconscious, unintentional, oddball, eccentric, slice-of-life way this story of a single woman worker at the historic Lenin shipyard in Gdansk (a composite of a couple of real women at that site) this film, Strike, reveals many of the problems that, in the end the Stalinists refused to deal with, or were incapable of dealing with except with the police baton (or total capitulation to the pro-capitalist forces that emerged in the Polish labor movement and elsewhere in Polish society). To, I might add, the great loss of the international working class movement today as we try to come out from under the “death of communism” siege of the past two decades. And to the great loss of Polish workers now, for the most part the sons and daughters of those who renounced a socialist perspective (of some sort, as they understood it through the distorted prism of Stalinism), who find themselves in places like London, Paris, and Brussels providing those economies with low-wage, high-skilled labor for their troubles. But enough of that. This is a film to see, to ponder over, and to try to come to an understanding of the question of where the international left went wrong in its overwhelming support for Solidarity.
Note: Agnieszka Kowalska, the Lenin shipyard worker who is the central character of this film, from the start of the film holds, and holds firmly, to her village-derived Catholicism. Although we do not attack personal religious belief, per se, it is clear that the capitulation of the Stalinists to the Polish church was factor, and not an unimportant factor, in undermining the workers state. A “vanguard” worker, at least that was the way Agnieszka was presented in the film, should have been fought with politically on that religion question. Also, as is the case for the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in defense of what, for Afghanistan, was a progressive government but which the international left overwhelmingly opposed isn’t it time, for those in the international left who supported Solidarity, to think through their support of that outfit. After all if we, as the old philosopher said, do not learn the lessons of history (and I would add reflect on them) we are condemned to relive it.
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
I have posted the information from Netflix's description on this one. I will make a couple of comments below.
Strike(Strajk: Die Heldin von Danzig) 2006 NR 104 minutes
Cast:Katharina Thalbach, Maria Maj, Andrzej Chyra, Andrzej Grabowski, Dominique Horwitz, Joanna Bogacka
Director:Volker Schlondorff
"Inspired by a true story, this powerful drama tells the tale of an ordinary woman who helps spark a revolution in Poland. Single mother Agnieszka (Katharina Thalbach) works as a shipyard welder. Concerned about dangerous working conditions, she speaks up -- to no avail. But after an accident kills several employees, and their families are denied pension benefits, she steps up her activities, laying the foundation for the Solidarity movement."
********
Markin comment:
The great Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky noted back in the early days of the Communist International in the 1920s that the German Communist Party was the biggest (outside of the Russian Bolsheviks) in that organization, but the Polish party was the best. That party, after all, was the party of Rosa Luxemburg (and Leo Jogiches), and of the three W’s. Some things, some very terrible Stalinist-driven (Moscow and Warsaw versions) things went wrong from the time of that statement to the time of the end of this film in the early 1980s and the solidification of Solidarity to drive the bulk of the historically pro-socialist Polish working class into the waiting arms of the Polish bourgeoisie, the Roman Catholic Church, and their international imperialist allies.
And in its, perhaps, unconscious, unintentional, oddball, eccentric, slice-of-life way this story of a single woman worker at the historic Lenin shipyard in Gdansk (a composite of a couple of real women at that site) this film, Strike, reveals many of the problems that, in the end the Stalinists refused to deal with, or were incapable of dealing with except with the police baton (or total capitulation to the pro-capitalist forces that emerged in the Polish labor movement and elsewhere in Polish society). To, I might add, the great loss of the international working class movement today as we try to come out from under the “death of communism” siege of the past two decades. And to the great loss of Polish workers now, for the most part the sons and daughters of those who renounced a socialist perspective (of some sort, as they understood it through the distorted prism of Stalinism), who find themselves in places like London, Paris, and Brussels providing those economies with low-wage, high-skilled labor for their troubles. But enough of that. This is a film to see, to ponder over, and to try to come to an understanding of the question of where the international left went wrong in its overwhelming support for Solidarity.
Note: Agnieszka Kowalska, the Lenin shipyard worker who is the central character of this film, from the start of the film holds, and holds firmly, to her village-derived Catholicism. Although we do not attack personal religious belief, per se, it is clear that the capitulation of the Stalinists to the Polish church was factor, and not an unimportant factor, in undermining the workers state. A “vanguard” worker, at least that was the way Agnieszka was presented in the film, should have been fought with politically on that religion question. Also, as is the case for the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in defense of what, for Afghanistan, was a progressive government but which the international left overwhelmingly opposed isn’t it time, for those in the international left who supported Solidarity, to think through their support of that outfit. After all if we, as the old philosopher said, do not learn the lessons of history (and I would add reflect on them) we are condemned to relive it.
*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
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.
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!
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!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
*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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, July 19, 2010
*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!
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.
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.
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