As The 100th Anniversary Of The First Year Of World War I (Remember The War To End All Wars) Continues ... Some Remembrances-Poet’s Corner-German Jewish Poets   

EMMANUEL SAUL (1876-1915)

TO MY CHILDREN

When I left home to fight for Fatherland

Against the threat of danger and deceit

You, children, happily around me ran

Rejoicing in your father’s bravery,

His uniform and other warlike clothes,

And in his newfound worth and bravery.

All hid from child-like sight was what it means

When now your father leaves for war and death.

But later when you are mature and wise,

And when perhaps my bones far east may lie

Bleaching alone under a wooden cross –

Then dread and horror you may start to feel

And you will think about that far-off time

When we all said farewell for the last time.

The certainty will ease your private pain

That proud and joyful he did join the ranks

Who all fought for our Reich’s security.

And do you want to know why I went out,

Enthused and happy joining all the  rest,

My life by sweetest wife and love still crowned,

While you in childhood’s blossom sweet and pure

Appeared before me in your  beauteous youth?

I say to you, and listen carefully

I left you all because a German I,

No other way could I think, feel or act!

A German in each fibre of my heart.

Strong feelings  as a student came to me

Of noble, precious German worth and good.

My childish heart rejoiced when I did hear

Of German victories and greatness told.

But when each sudden blow my nation struck,

It shattered me deep in my inmost soul;

It penetrated me so deep in marrow’s core

That it became my life’s experience.

So moved was I deep in my heart of hearts

Because of tragic destiny that struck

And tried to kill the noble dynasty

The kingly breed of Hohenstauffens proud,

So deeply moved was I that, yet a child,

Still tied to school desk and not yet mature

It held the grip of written fantasy.

Then came a war with German forces strong

Not only against German pride and power –

But against German peoples,  German kind,

Consciously evil, devilishly conceived –

A war, not fought as knights with weapon bared,

But hunger’s ruin forcing us to yield.

With bold lies and the basest treachery

With despicable and immoral acts

They wanted to destroy our long-sought peace

Achieved by German peoples’ work and toil.

The blooming of our scientists’ research

Creations of our keen artistic Volk

The blessings of our culture most refined

The glorious and proud acts of German spirits

The sound of German poetry and bloom

Of happy lives created by hard work

The blessings of our work with brother’s hands

In company with values strong and good.

Yes, snuffed out and destroyed, removed from life

A world without our art they wished to see!

It is a war, heart beating strong in breast

With mindful thoughts and blood strong in the veins,

Proclaimed against a hellish evil beast.

And to what end? The merchants to enrich

And thieves hungry for gold to make more rich.

And then our holy anger was enflamed:

How else could I have  thought and felt right then

When German nation’s brave and brightest youth,

When I too loved our holy German art?

Could outrage not then fill my deepest soul

When German essence is now so defiled

When we are blamed for all outrageous acts

When  slanderous doubts of our nobility

Drag us all down in mud and dirt and filth.

Relief and not complaint rose in my soul

When fate chose me for battle’s severe test,

Vengeance to take on malice, lies, deceit

Defending German richness and fair bloom,

To fight for wife and child for my land’s sake,

Protecting them from Asiatic hordes,

That breed of tigers at our eastern gate

Who heinously with us in past has dealt.

What noble joy! Thus did I leave with hope,

A German, German borders to protect –

And yet another thing drove me to war.

I am a Jew, and faithful, true and proud

Of the tribe from whose blood  I take my source.

In time of peace we oft are spoken  of

With calumny about our Jewish faith.

We are called base cowards unfit to fight

And turned away from lofty goals of life,

Mean, low and selfish, gain-obsessed,

They curse us cruelly  – and this is the worst

The hard blow that strikes like the whip’s lash –

As foreign on the soil for which our fathers

Have paid both with their sweat and with their blood. –

My heart is now gripped with time’s urgency

One will have I, one single holy wish

That Jew and German bind themselves as one.

That we are German needs no outside proof,

The truth thereof shines clearly as the sun,

We Jews all leave for war of our own wish,

Joyful to throng around our country’s flag

To gain for ourselves – even if fate wills

That we pay with our blood – our Fatherland.

For Jewish kin have sadly called the land

In which we live Stepfatherland:

This was my last but well-considered wish.. .

That I and all of us will prove our strength:

Our Fatherland for which we have such love

That placed us at the back unjustly, wrong

And that we fight bravely when duty calls

To strike the foe like, once in days of yore,

The Maccabees, proud scions of our tribe  -

Who are our enemies in this just war,

The Judas,  old notorious foe of yore

The cruel old oppressor of our race,

The enemies of culture, freedom, right,

Who are our enemies now? – One hate

Unites us, finally, with freedom’s joy

Warriors for culture, German, Jew unite

And then will bloom one common destiny:

Defeat may lead to our destruction, sure,

But victory frees, ennobles, gives us joy.

For what  can we expect from our cruel foe,

That now spills Jewish blood in their own lands,

Flowing in streams, and causes grief and woe

To Jewish children, women without fault?

Therefore I left for battle, as I am.

A German Jew to fight in holy war.

Emmanuel Saul  -  Translated by Peter Appelbaum

***Songs To While The Time By- The Roots Is The Toots

A YouTube clip to give some flavor to this subject.

Over the past several years I have been running an occasional series in this space of songs, mainly political protest songs, you know The Internationale, Union Maid, Which Side Are You On, Viva La Quince Brigada, Universal Soldier, and such entitled Songs To While The Class Struggle By. This series which could include some protest songs as well is centered on roots music as it has come down the ages and formed the core of the American songbook. You will find the odd, the eccentric, the forebears of later musical trends, and the just plain amusing here. Listen up-Peter Paul Markin

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Stop The Escalations (AKA "Mission Creep")- Yet Again Obama Sends More Troops- No New U.S. War In Iraq- Immediate Withdrawal Of All U.S. Troops And Mercenaries!  Stop The Bombings! –Stop The Arms Shipments …

Frank Jackman original comment August 10th:

As the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, U.S. President Barack Obama, orders more air bombing strikes in the North, sends more “advisers” to “protect” American outposts in Iraq, and sends arms shipments to the Kurds guys who served in the American military during the Vietnam War and who, like me, belatedly, got “religion” on the war issue might very well be excused for disbelief when the White House keeps pounding out the propaganda that these actions are limited when all signs point to the slippery slope of escalation. Now not every event in history gets exactly repeated but given the recent United States Government’s history in Iraq those vets might be on to something. In any case dust off the old banners, placards, and buttons and get your voices in shape- just in case.

***

Here is something to think about:  

Workers and the oppressed have no interest in a victory by one combatant or the other in the reactionary Sunni-Shi’ite civil war. However, the international working class definitely has a side in opposing imperialist intervention in Iraq and demanding the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops and mercenaries. It is U.S. imperialism that constitutes the greatest danger to the world’s working people and downtrodden.

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Obama Sending 350 More Troops to Iraq

collapse story

President Obama has authorized another 350 U.S. military personnel to be sent to Iraq, the White House announced on Tuesday evening.

The troops are being sent to "protect our diplomatic facilities and personnel in Baghdad, Iraq," according the White House statement.

   

The decision was made at the recommendation of the Department of Defense "after an extensive interagency review," it said, noting that the additional forces "will not serve in a combat role."

“This builds upon previous embassy security deployments announced on June 15 and June 30 and will bring the total forces responsible for augmenting diplomatic security in Iraq up to approximately 820,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby.

Military officials previously told NBC News that the early planning suggested that about 150 of the new troops would be Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is aboard the USS Bataan in the Persian Gulf.

   

Send The Following Message (Or Write Your Own) To The President In Support Of A Pardon For Private Manning

To: President Barack Obama
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

The draconian 35 years sentence handed down by a military judge, Colonel Lind, on August 21, 2013 to Private Manning (Chelsea formerly known as Bradley) has outraged many citizens including me.
Under Article II, Section II of the U.S. Constitution the President of the United States had the authority to grant pardons to those who fall under federal jurisdiction.
Some of the reasons for my request include: 

*that Private Manning  was held for nearly a year in abusive solitary confinement at the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia, which the UN rapporteur in his findings has called “cruel, inhuman, and degrading”

*that the media had been continually blocked from transcripts and documents related to the trial and that it has only been through the efforts of Private Manning’s supporters that any transcripts exist.

*that under the UCMJ a soldier has the right to a speedy trial and that it was unconscionable and unconstitutional to wait 3 years before starting the court martial.

*that absolutely no one was harmed by the release of documents that exposed war crimes, unnecessary secrecy and disturbing foreign policy.

*that Private Manning is a hero who did the right thing when she revealed truth about wars that had been based on lies.

I urge you to use your authority under the Constitution to right the wrongs done to Private Manning – Enough is enough!

Signature ___________________________________________________________

Print Name __________________________________________________________

Address_____________________________________________________________

City / Town/State/Zip Code_________________________________________

Note that this image is PVT Manning’s preferred photo.



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The Latest From The United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) Website- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops, Mercenaries, Contractors, Etc. From Afghanistan! No New War In Iraq! Hands Off Iran! -Hands Off Syria! -Hands Off Ukraine! No U.S. Aid To Israel !

Click below to link to the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) website for more information about various anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist actions around the country.

https://unacpeace.org/

Markin comment

Every once in a while it is necessary, if for no other reason than to proclaim from the public square that we are alive, and fighting, to show “the colors,” our anti-war colors. While, as I have mentioned many times in this space, endless marches are not going to end any war the street opposition to the war in now fading Afghanistan or whatever else the Obama/Kerry cabal has lined in the Middle East, Ukraine or the China seas as well as protests against other imperialist adventures has been under the radar of late. It is time for anti-warriors to get back where we belong in the struggle against Obama’s wars. And his Drone strategy to "sanitize" war   The UNAC appears to be the umbrella clearing house these days for many anti-war, anti-Drone, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist actions. Not all the demands of this coalition are ones that I would raise but the key one is enough to take to the streets.

Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops, Mercenaries, Contractors, Etc. From Afghanistan! Hands Off Iran And Syria! No Intervention In Ukraine!

BostonUNAC.org | 781-285-8622 | BostonUNAC(S)gmail.com

From The Labor History Archives -In The 80^th Anniversary Year Of The Great San Francisco, Minneapolis And Toledo General Strikes- A Lesson In The History Of Class Struggle   

 

 

COMMUNISTS AND THE GENERAL STRIKE

By Leon Trotsky

The signal for a review of the international tasks of Communism was given by the March 1921 events in Germany. You will recall what happened. There were calls for a general strike, there were sacrifices by the workers, there was a cruel massacre of the Communist Par­ty, internally there were disagreements on the part of some, and ut­ter treachery on the part of others. But the Comintern said firmly: In Germany the March policy of the Communist Party was a mistake. Why? Because the German Party reckoned that it was directly con­fronted with the task of conquering power. It turned out that the task confronting the party was that of conquering not power, but the working class. What nurtured the psychology of the German Communist Party in 1921 that drove it into the March action? It was nurtured by the circumstances and the moods which crystallis­ed in Europe after the war.

In 1919 the German working class engaged in a number of cruel and bloody battles, the same thing happened in 1920, and during the January and March days of 1920 the German working class became convinced that heroism alone, that readiness to venture and to die, was not enough; that somehow the working class was lack­ing something. It began to take a more watchful and expectant at­titude towards events and facts. It had banked in its time upon the old Social Democracy to secure the socialist overturn.

The Social Democracy dragged the proletariat into the war. When the thunders of the November 1918 revolution rolled, the old Social Democracy begins to talk the language of social revolution and even proclaimed, as you recall, the German republic to be a socialist republic. The proletariat took this seriously, and kept pressing for­ward. Colliding with the bourgeois gangs it suffered crushing defeats once, twice and a third time. Naturally this does not mean that its hatred of the bourgeosie or its readiness to struggle had lessened, but its brains had meanwhile acquired many new convolutions of caution and watchfulness. For new battles it already wants to have guarantees of victory.

And this mood began to grow increasingly stronger among the European working class in 1920-22 after the experiences of the in­itial assault, after the initial semi-victories and minor conquests and the subsequent major defeats. At that moment, in the days when the European working class began after the war to understand clearly, or at least to sense that the business of conquering state power is a very complicated business and that bare hands cannot cope with the bourgeoisie—at that moment the most dynamic section of the working class formed itself into the Communist Party.

But this Communist Party still felt as if it were a shell shot out of a cannon. It appeared on the scene and it seemed to it that it need­ed only shout its battle-cry, dash forward and the working class would rush out to follow. It turned out otherwise. It turned out that the working class had, upon suffering a series of disillusions con­cerning its primitive revolutionary illusions, assumed a watch-and-wait attitude by the time the Communist Party took shape in 1920 (and especially in 1921) and rushed forward. The working class was not accustomed to this party, it had not seen the party in action. Since the working class had been deceived more than once in the past, it has every reason to demand that the party win its confidence, or, to put it differently, the party must still discharge its obligation of demonstrating to the working class that it should follow and is justified in following the party into the fires of battle, when the party issues the summons. During the March days of 1921 in Germany we saw a Communist Party—devoted, revolutionary, ready for struggle—rushing forward, but not followed by the working class. Perhaps one-quarter or one-fifth of the German working class did follow. Because of its revolutionary impatience this most revolu­tionary section came into collision with the other four-fifths; and already tried, so to speak, mechanically and here and there by force to draw them into the struggle, which is of course completely out of the question.

In general, comrades, the International is a wonderful institution. And the training one party gives to another is likewise irreplaceable. But generally speaking, one must say that each working class tends to repeat all the mistakes at the expense of its own back and bones. The International can be of assistance only in the sense of seeing to it that this back receives the minimum number of scars, but in the nature of things scars are unavoidable.

We saw this almost the other day in France. In the port of Havre there occurred a strike of 15,000 workers. This strike of local im­portance attracted the nation-wide attention of the working class by its stubbornness, firmness and discipline. It led to rather large con­tributions for the benefit of the strikers through our party's central organ, L 'Humanite: there were agitational tours, and so on. The French government through its police-chief brought the strike to a bloody clash in which three workers were killed. (It is quite possible that this happened through some assistance by anarchist elements inside the French working class who time and again involuntarily abet reaction.) These killings were of course bound to produce great repercussions among the French working class.

You will recall that the March 1921 events in Germany also started when in Central Germany the chief of police, a Social Democrat, sent military-police gangs to crush the strikers. This fact was at the bottom of our German party's call for a general strike. In France we observe an analogous course of events: a stubborn strike, which catches the interest of the entire working class, followed by bloody clashes. Three strikers are killed. The murders occurred, say, on Fri­day and by Saturday there already convened a conference of the so-called unitarian unions, i.e., the revolutionary trade unions, which maintain close relations with the Communist Party; and at this con­ference it is decided to call the working class to a general strike on the next day. But no general strike came out of it. In Germany dur­ing the (so-called) general strike in March there participated one-quarter, one-fifth or one-sixth of the working class. In France even a smaller fraction of the French proletariat participated in the general strike. If one follows the French press to see how this whole affair was carried out, then, comrades, one has to scratch one's head ten times in recognising how young and inexperienced are the Communist parties of Western Europe. The Comintern had accused the French Communists of passivity. This was correct. And the German Com­munist Party, too, had been accused prior to March of passivity.

Demanded of the party was activity, initiative, aggressive agita­tion, intervention into the day-to-day struggles of the working class. But the party attempted in March to recoup its yesterday's passivity by the heroic action of a general strike, almost an uprising. On a lesser scale, this was repeated the other day in France. In order to emerge from passivity they proclaimed a general strike for a work­ing class which was just beginning to emerge from passivity under the conditions of an incipient revival and improvement in the con­juncture. How did they motivate this? They motivated it by this, that the news of the murder of the three workers had produced a shocking impression on the party's Central Committee and on the Confederation of Labour. How could it have failed to produce such an impression? Of course, it was shocking! And so the slogan of the general strike was raised. If the Communist Party were so strong as to need only issue a call for a general strike then everything would be fine. But a general strike is a component and a dynamic part of the proletarian revolution itself.

Out of the general strike there arise clashes with the troops and the question is posed of who is master in the country. Who controls the army—the bourgeoisie or the proletariat? It is possible to speak of a protest general strike, but this is a question of utmost impor­tance. When a dispatch comes over the wires that three workers have been killed at Havre and when it is known that there is no revolu­tion in France but, instead, a stagnant situation, that the working class is just beginning to stir slightly out of a condition of passivity engendered by events during the war and post-war period—in such a situation to launch the slogan for a general strike is to commit the geatest and crudest blunder which can only undermine for a long time, for many months to come, the confidence of the working masses in a party which behaves in such a manner.

True enough, the direct responsibility in this case was not borne by the party; the slogan was issued by the so-called unitarian, that is, revolutionary trade unions. But in reality what should the party and the trade unions have done? They should have mobilised every party and trade union worker who was qualified and sent them out to read this news from one end of the country to the other. The first thing was to tell the story as it should have been told. We have a daily paper, L'ffumanite, our central organ. It has a circulation of approximately 200,000—a rather large circulation, but France has a population of not less than 40 million. In the provinces there is virtually no circulation of the daily newspaper, consequently, the task was to inform the workers, to tell them the story agitationally, and to touch them to the quick with this story. The -second thing needed was to turn to the Socialist Party, the party of Longuet and Renaudel with a few questions—no occasion could have been more propitious—and say: "In Havre three worker strikers have been kill­ed; we take it for granted that this cannot be permitted to go un­punished. We are prepared to employ the most resolute measures. We ask, what do you propose?"

The very posing of these questions would have attracted a great attention. It was necessary to turn to Jouhaux's reformist trade unions which are much closer to the strikers. Jouhaux feigned sym­pathy for this strike and gave it material aid. It was necessary to put to him the following question: "You of the reformist trade unions, what do you propose? We, the Communist Party, propose to hold tomorrow not a general strike but a conference of the Com­munist Party, of the unitarian revolutionary trade unions and of the reformist trade unions in order to discuss how this aggression of capitalism ought to be answered."

It was necessary to swing the working masses into motion. Perhaps a general strike might have come into it. I do not know; maybe a protest strike, maybe not. In any case it was far too little simply to announce, to cry out that my indignation had been aroused, when I learned over the wires that three workers had been killed. It was instead necessary to touch to the quick the hearts of the working masses. After such an activity the whole working class might not perhaps have gone out on a demonstrative strike but we could, of course, have reached a very considerable section. However, instead there was a mistake, let me repeat, on a smaller scale than the March events. It was a mistake on a two by four scale. With this difference that in France there were no assaults, no sweeping actions, no new bloody clashes, but simply a failure; the general strike was a fiasco and by this token—a minus on the Communist Party's card, not a plus but a minus.

(From the Report on the Fifth Anniversary of the October Revolu­tion and the Fourth World Congress of the Communist International. Moscow, October 20th 1922)

**********

James P. Cannon

The Militant

June 2, 1934

Victory in Minneapolis

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Written: 1934
Source: The Militant. Original bound volumes of The Militant and microfilm provided by the Holt Labor Library, San Francisco, California.
Transcription\HTML Markup:Andrew Pollack

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Minneapolis — The drivers’ strike conducted by General Drivers Union No. 574 was settled on the basis of recognition of the union, unconditional reinstatement of all strikers, and agreement to arbitrate the demands for wages and hours. Employers had previously granted substantial wage increases in the attempt to head off the strike and avoid recognizing and dealing with the union. The union is now presenting demands for further increases. Out of the six thousand men involved in the strike, only a few isolated cases of attempted discrimination had been reported to the union since the settlement of the strike three days ago. The majority of these men had already been reinstated on demand of the union.
Last night’s general membership meeting was a rousing affair. Thousands of newly organized workers, the majority of whom never belonged to a union before, crowded the big strike headquarters to hear reports on the execution of the settlement and further plans to strengthen and consolidate the union. The speeches of union leaders Brown, Skoglund, and Dunne reflected the spirit of the crowd, and every appeal for continued militancy and vigilance was cheered to the echo.
The spirit of victory and achievement was in the air, although no attempt had been made by the leadership to exaggerate the gains of the first battle. Recognition of the union, which, in the language of the Minneapolis striker, means “protection” of his job, is regarded as a great achievement for a new union. The workers are determined to hold on to this achievement.
And it is quite clear that the bosses, after the experience of the ten-day battle, are not anxious for another fight soon. This has been shown particularly by the readiness of the individual bosses to meet with the union officials and adjust any claims of discrimination in rehiring the strikers. It is further shown in the absence up to date of any threat of prosecution of the union leaders for the casualties that resulted from the strike battles. A stem warning that any such attempt will bring the workers into action again was sounded at last night’s meeting and brought a roar of approval from the workers.
The militancy of the drivers’ strike is known to the world. The efficiency of its organization and the quality of its leadership—which released this mighty wave of rank-and-file militancy with such telling effect—is also acknowledged on all sides in Minneapolis.
The prestige of General Drivers Union No. 574 and the group of militants at its head, is on the heights. There is little doubt that they will be a force for still greater accomplishments in wider circles of the labor movement. The strike brought a shower of telegrams from workers’ organizations and numerous invitations to the men at the head of “574” to come to other localities to lead organizing campaigns.

***“Bowling Alone In America?- For The NAHS Girls’ and Boys’ Bowling Teams, Circa 1964 and For “Chrissie M.,” Class Of 1964

 

By Sam Lowell

This sketch is based on a true situation related to me by a fellow classmate a while back who wished to remain nameless so I will use the name Joseph Bowdoin here. And, no, Chrissie M. is not the real name of the young woman from the Class of 1964 that he asked me to dedicate this sketch to because, well, because her husband, her very real husband, is some kind of ex-college linebacker and as a rule, a very firm rule, I do not mess with giants who might take umbrage even fifty years later. Hey, I am just the messenger here. If she reads this she will know who it is about. That said, transport yourself back to 1962 …    

 

Chrissie, Christine Anne McNamara, bowls. Chrissie McNamara, the “hottest” sweet sixteen quail in the sophomore class at North Adamsville High School bowls, bowls candlepins that take some skill to perfect. Oh sure Chrissie does other things, things like cheer-leading for the raider red gridiron goliaths in the brisk, bright, leave-filled fall, and doesn’t cheer-lead the basketball team because winter time is primo bowling time, participates in the school play, writes for the school newspaper, has a sweet what-you-see-is-what-you get personality, and is off-handedly beautiful. Not your drop-dead-remote-ice-queen-who-will- need-plenty-of-cosmetic-help-as-she-frightens-away-the-age-lines beautiful but whole package beautiful, looks, personality, intellect, that would have you, hell, has me scratching my head. Scratching and figuring as I watch her reading something just this minute about two rows over from where I sitting in this dead-ass last period Miss Shields’ study class.

 

Best of all, even if all my scratching and figuring don't work out today, in less than an hour I will get to go past her house, after I have made sure she is walking in front of me, on the way to my own house, and will probably get a big Chrissie smile as I do so. And maybe a “Hi Joey-Bowey” from her as well. That’s me, Joseph Bowdoin, and the “Joey-Bowey” is from the kids back in middle school, and I don’t like it, don’t like it at all. Except from Chrissie it is okay, just fine. Yeah, it’s like that.

 

Yes, but here is the problem in a nutshell, Chrissie bowls, and if you want to get anywhere with Chrissie, as everybody knows, and has known since about fourth grade, way before I got here, you had better bowl too. You can be Paul Newman’s “Fast Eddie,” and “shoot pools” and have done all kinds of adventurous stuff but if you don’t bowl go slump-shouldered to the back of the Chrissie line. You could be the greatest running back in the history of football, breaking every record and every linebacker’s mean-spirited heart but no bowl-no go. Get, heart-broken, in back of Paul in that just-mentioned line. If you are a nerdy guy, as I am, somewhat, but you bowl, well, theoretically you have a chance, but let’s face it plenty of talented, good-looking guys, who under ordinary circumstances would give bowling the gaff, are, even as I speak, thinking about sharpening up their games to get a crack at those ruby-red lips. Damn.

 

Oh, did I mention that I have been in love, or half in love, or some percentage in love with Chrissie ever since she gave me an innocent kiss from those ruby-red lips at her thirteenth birthday party back when I first came to North Adamsville. Really the kiss was nothing but a good wishes peck on the lips that wouldn’t count for anything for older guys, or girls either, but for a shy thirteen-year old new boy I was in very heaven. Call me crazy, call me a nutcase ready for the funny farm, but every once in a while when Chrissie calls me “Joey-Bowey” from her front door I swear she says it in such a way that maybe that kiss wasn’t so innocent after all. In any case I have been plotting, maybe not every day, but plotting ever since to get a second, real kiss from her ruby-red lips. And to hold that slender hour- glass figure, to dance close to those well-formed legs, and to tussle with that flaming mass of red hair that goes with those ruby-red lips. And, and… well you get the idea.

 

But see Chrissie bowls and I don’t, although I have, lately anyway, spent a fair amount of time at the North Adamsville bowling alleys, the bowling place located downstairs across from my real hang-out, my corner boy hang-out, Salducci’s Pizza Parlor up the Downs. Now those lanes are  not the kind of bowling alley that Chrissie or any other foxy girl would hang out in at night because, honestly, it’s a creepy place where young junior high school wannabe hoods, real high school drop-outs, rejected no-go corner boys, and beer-swilling adults hang out and make noise. But, see, it is the perfect place for a non-bowling guy to hang out and “learn” bowls, learn bowls on the quiet.

 

Oh, did I also mention the other problem that I just recently found out about, the problem beyond my not bowling, my not yet being worthy of that second ruby-red lipped Chrissie kiss. I see that I haven’t now that I think back. Well, here it is if you can believe this. I can’t get to bowl with Chrissie, can’t get to bowl with her that is unless I ask her for a date which is way ahead of where my current plans for her have unfolded, because at school, at foolish North, the boys and girls have separate bowling teams that don’t even bowl at the same places.

 

Yes, I thought you would see my dilemma. See the idea was that I would start bowling with one of the mixed teams, Chrissie would notice me and notice that I could use a few pointers, would come over and give me those few pointers, and then when I walked by her house not only would she give me that big warm smile but probably want to talk about this or that, bowling this or that, and that would be my opening to ask her to go bowling, bowling alone with me. Foolproof, right? Except for that stupid school rule thing.

 

Now here is how I heard the story why there are two separate teams and why they bowl at different places, although I might be off on a few points, maybe more than a few and maybe the guys were kidding me along about it,. A few years back the North Adamsville alleys used to be the place where everybody, boys and girls, bowled after school for practice a couple of days a week and for competitions between the teams.  And that made sense because it only takes about ten minutes to get there from school. Now, like I explained to you already, this joint is nothing but a run-down place with about ten lanes, an ice cooler filled with tonic, that’s soda for you foreigners, a couple of food- vending machines, a few pinball wizard machines, a rest room I avoid using, if possible, and that’s about it. Small time stuff. Everything kind of dusty and seedy from the minute you head down the darkened stairs right on through. Good enough though, like I also said before for hoods, corner boys, and rookie bowlers.

 

But then, back in the mixed bowling team days, it was kept up better and was a magnet for kids, boys and girls alike, to come and bowl…and other things. Those other things being listening to the big oversized jukebox filled with a ton of records, rock and roll records to cry for, and three for only a quarter too. Dancing, close dancing, on the small dance floor that was set up then, and that you can still see all scuffed up and scummy now. And some off-hand hanky-panky, kid’s stuff really, from what I heard, the usual boys copping a “feel” and the girls letting them like has been going on since they invented teenagers, in a couple of small back rooms that Jake, sweet brother Jake, let the kids use.

 

You can see where this after school jukebox rock and roll, close dancing, and backroom thing is going, just like I could when I heard it. Murder and mayhem. No, not from the kids gone wild under the influence of communistic rock and roll, or libertine close dancing, or hell-bent backrooms but when the parent police heard about it. That part is foggy but it, as usual, involved a snitch by someone to his parents, or something overheard on the telephone by a parent, or something. And from there to the Principal police, and from there to the real cops. Nothing ever came of it from the real cops, which tells you automatically that the parent and Principal cops overreacted, as usual.

 

But now you can see what a fix I am in. So Chrissie tomorrow after school will probably be chalking up spares over at those Adamsville Boulevard Bowl-a-drome alleys and the guys will be over the other side of town at the North Adamsville alleys and never the twain shall meet. And you wonder why kids, including this kid, are ready to jump off the rails, and none too soon either. But I still hold on to my dream of bowling alone with those ruby-red lips. I just have to work out another fool-proof plan, that’s all.

 

See the Girls’ and Boys’ bowling teams on page 31 of the Magnet.

 

The Latest From The Justice For Lynne Stewart Website

 

Click below to link to the Justice For Lynne Stewart website

http://lynnestewart.org/

Although Lynne Stewart has been released by “Uncle” on medical grounds since last winter (2014) after an international campaign to get her adequate medical attention her case should still be looked at as an especially vindictive ploy on the part of the American government in post-9/11 America to tamp down on attorneys (and others) from zealously defending their unpopular clients. A very chilling effect as I have witnessed as a person who is committed to doing political prisoner defense work and have noted how few such “people’s lawyers” there around to defend the voiceless, the framed and “the forgotten ones.”

Lynne Stewart’s pressing continuing medical needs and the need for funds to get that attention is also of continuing concern    

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The following paragraph is a short description of the Lynne Stewart case from the 2013 Holiday Appeal  when she was a recipient of a stipend by the class-war prisoners’ defense organization, the Partisan Defense Committee, as part of their solicitation for funds to continue their work of seeing those of our people behind bars are not forgotten.

“Lynne Stewart is a lawyer imprisoned in 2009 for defending her client, a blind Egyptian cleric convicted for an alleged plot to blow up New York City landmarks in the early 1990s. Stewart is a well-known advocate who defended Black Panthers, radical leftists and others reviled by the capitalist state. She was originally sentenced to 28 months; a resentencing pursued by the Obama administration more than quadrupled her prison time to ten years. As she is 74 years old and suffers from Stage IV breast cancer that has spread to her lungs and back, this may well be a death sentence. Stewart qualifies for immediate compassionate release, but Obama’s Justice Department refuses to make such a motion before the resentencing judge, who has all but stated that he would grant her release!”

 

As The 100th Anniversary Of The First Year Of World War I (Remember The War To End All Wars) Continues ... Some Remembrances-Poet’s Corner

Philip Larkin (1922-1985)
"MCMXIV"

Those long uneven lines
Standing as patiently
As if they were stretched outside
The Oval or Villa Park,
The crowns of hats, the sun
On moustached archaic faces
Grinning as if it were all
An August Bank Holiday lark;

And the shut shops, the bleached
Established names on the sunblinds,
The farthings and sovereigns,
And dark-clothed children at play
Called after kings and queens,
The tin advertisements
For cocoa and twist, and the pubs
Wide open all day;

And the countryside not caring
The place-names all hazed over
With flowering grasses, and fields
Shadowing Domesday lines
Under wheats' restless silence;
The differently-dressed servants
With tiny rooms in huge houses,
The dust behind limousines;

Never such innocence,
Never before or since,
As changed itself to past
Without a word--the men
Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again.

Free Ruchell McGee- Free Mumia- Free All Our Political Prisoners Now!

In Cambridge

Thursday: "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners"

First Thursday Documentary Films Begins its Seventh Season at

Central Square Cambridge Library

45 Pearl Street Cambridge

 

Thursday September 4

6:45-9pm

 

FREE ANGELA

AND ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS

 

 

An Inspiring docudrama that takes a gripping look at the historical incidents that created an

International movement to free activist Angela Davis.

 

“For more than four decades the world renowned author, activist and scholar Angela Davos has been one of the most influential activists and intellectuals in the United States. An icon of the 1970’s black liberation movement, Davis’ work around issues of gender, race, class and prisons has influenced critical thought and social movements across several generations.”  From Democracy Now, March 6, 2014

 

Parking nearby Municipal garage on Green Street

Sponsored by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Cambridge Peace Commission

Light refreshments will be served

United for Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic justice.

 

In Boston Stand In Solidarity  

Fast food workers across the country are going ON STRIKE Thursday, September 4. We know that we have momentum on our side. We know that people like you have our backs. And we're committed to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation. Can we count on you to stand with us in Boston on Thursday? We will be meeting at 11:15 AM at the Irish Famine Memorial in Downtown Crossing. Click here to RSVP on Facebook and let us know that you'll be there. Me, I'm willing to do whatever it takes because I'm barely surviving on the poverty wages I make at Burger King. Even working two jobs, it's a struggle for me just to afford the bus fare to get to and from work.  I'm taking action because I know that if I don’t stand up and fight for what I believe in, for what’s right, that nobody else will and nothing will ever change. This is our moment. Fast food workers across the country are starting to experience that – what it feels like to fight for better pay and better treatment – and it’s amazing to see. We all hope that you’ll be standing right there with us on Thursday. It’s good to know we can count on you, Theresa Jordan PS. Fast food workers aren't the only ones taking action for higher wages on Thursday. Join the All Out for Low-Wage Worker Mobilization & March including a Home Care Worker Speakout for $15 at State House steps in Boston on Beacon St at 10:00 AM.     Fight for $15 and a Union -- New England fast food workers fighting for higher wages and a voice on the job.   150 Mt Vernon St, Dorchester, MA 02125   This email was sent to: jainhiggins@comcast.net To unsubscribe, go to: http://action.massuniting.org/unsubscribe

We Were Lied To About 9/11 - Episode 2 - Mickey Huff

The Latest From The Cindy Sheehan Blog

http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com/

A link to Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox blog for the latest from her site.

Markin comment:
I find Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox rather a mishmash of eclectic politics and basic old time left-liberal/radical thinking. Not enough, not nearly enough, in our troubled times but enough to take the time to read about and get a sense of the pulse (if any) of that segment of the left to which she is appealing. One though should always remember, despite our political differences, her heroic action in going down to hell-hole Texas to confront one President George W. Bush in 2005 when many others were resigned to accepting the lies of that administration or who “folded” their tents when the expected end to the Iraq War did not materialize. Hats off on that one, Cindy Sheehan.
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Additional Markin comment:
I place some material in this space which may be of interest to the radical public that I do not necessarily agree with or support. Off hand, as I have mentioned before, I think it would be easier, infinitely easier, to fight for the socialist revolution straight up than some of the “remedies” provided by the commentators in these entries. But part of that struggle for the socialist revolution is to sort out the “real” stuff from the fluff as we struggle for that more just world that animates our efforts.
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Thursday, August 28, 2014

We Were Lied To About 9/11 - Episode 2 - Mickey Huff

MICKEY HUFF is director of Project Censored and serves on the board of the Media Freedom Foundation. To date, he has edited or coedited six volumes of Censored and contributed numerous chapters to these works dating back to 2008. Additionally, he has coauthored several chapters on media and propaganda for other scholarly publications, most recently Flashpoint in Ukraine from Clarity Press (2014). He is currently professor of social science and history at Diablo Valley College in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he is cochair of the history department. Huff is cohost with former Project Censored director Dr. Peter Phillips of The Project Censored Show, the weekly syndicated public affairs program that originates from KPFA Pacifica Radio in Berkeley CA. For the past several years, Huff has worked on the national planning committee of Banned Books Week, working with the American Library Association and the National Coalition Against Censorship, of which Project Censored is a member. He is also a longtime musician and composer. He lives with his family in Northern California. He's also the associate editor of the forthcoming SAGE publication Encyclopedia of Censorship in 2017.

I apologize for the quality of the audio. One of our phones caused static. I did my best to fix it.

The song is "Killing In The Name Of" by Rage Against The Machine.

http://www.projectcensored.org
http://www.projectcensoredthemovie.com
http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com

From The Archives Of  Women And Revolution

Markin comment:

The following is a set of archival issues of Women and Revolution that may have some historical interest for old "new leftists", perhaps, and well as for younger militants interested in various cultural and social questions that intersect the class struggle. Or for those just interested in a Marxist position on a series of social questions that are thrust upon us by the vagaries of bourgeois society. I will be posting articles from the back issues of  Women and Revolution during Women's History Month in March and periodically throughout the year.

Women and Revolution-1971-1980, Volumes 1-20  


http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/w&r/WR_001_1971.pdf

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