THE POPULAR FRONT IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION OF 1789

BOOK REVIEW
THE COMING OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, GEORGES LEFEBVRE, VINTAGE BOOKS, NEW YORK, 1947
In my study of revolutions I have always been interested in two basic questions- what were the ideas swirling around prior to the revolution that compelled people to see the need for revolution and the related question of how those ideas played out in the struggle for power. The study of the French Revolution most clearly presents those two phenomena in all their manifestations. Professor Lefebvre was a well-known and in his time a pre-eminent bourgeois historian of the French Revolution. I have reviewed his major general work on the French revolution elsewhere (see July archives). Here, in this shorter work, he presents the events of 1789 as they unfolded and an analysis of what they meant in the period immediately before the revolution when all hell was breaking loose in French society.

If one can talk legitimately about a sociology of revolutions then Professor LeFebvre has dramatically vindicated such sociology by presenting all of the factors that goes toward such a study in the early period of the French revolutionary experience. Clearly the Old Regime, represented in the person of King Louis XVI, was no longer capable of ruling in the old way and the ‘people’ were no longer satisfied, for a myriad of reasons, with being governed under the premise of the divine right of kings.

The struggle to turn from subjects of a monarch to citizens of a republic, a question of capital historic importance in human experience, finds its most dramatic expression in this revolution. Furthermore, large segments of society from the liberal nobility and clergy to the nascent bourgeoisie to the working classes (the so-called sans culottes and other plebian urban elements) to the various layers of the peasantry each in their turn were willing to unite around that premise. As clearly, once each class (or part of a class) gained its ends it turned against further extension of the revolution and in the case of key elements of the nobility and clergy very shortly turned toward counterrevolution. Professor LeFebvre documents this trend very well, especially in the case of the peasantry that he had special knowledge of and charted closely throughout his academic career.

This writer always tries to analyze and review each book on revolutionary experiences he considers on the basis of what lessons militant leftists can learn from the study of the old historical experiences. With that task in mind I was once again reminded by reading this book that the notion of the Popular Front as a political strategy has a lot longer history than in the France of the 1920's and 1930's when it was first formally introduced by the French Socialist Party in an electoral alliance with the Left Radical bourgeois party.

What do I mean by Popular Front? The theory of the popular front has been presented by forces such as the Socialist parties and later the Communist parties as a step in the direction of revolution. The premise of the popular front revolves around a belief that various classes can come together around a minimum social program that will somehow make the plight of the oppressed classes involved less oppressive. Generally, in such political blocs the oppressed classes do the donkey work and the other classes reap whatever benefits accrue from the taking of power. This, moreover, is basically a parliamentary concept of the path to socialism. The long sordid history of this political device as an attempted sop by so-called leftist political leaderships to the working masses on the one hand and a betrayal of their class interests on the other are still with us today.

Even in the United States this strategy has been used and today is used by what passes for the left, on its own hook , when it blocs with the left-wing of the capitalist Democratic Party. Under the best of circumstances a popular front weakens and undermines the independence of the working classes. However, also remember that the Popular Front, as France and Spain in the 1930's, Chile in the 1970's and many other example show, can lead to bloody repression and destruction of the working masses for a long time. In the end that strategy also undermined the French Revolution. In modern times militant leftists say no to popular front ideology.

Well, that said, what does all this have to do with the French Revolution. The French Revolution of 1789 represents in almost pure form the concept of the popular front. The fight of the Third Estate for power represented the popular frony policy of that day. As mentioned above, several different classes were ready to take down the absolute monarchy and furthermore were generally ready to subordinate, at least for a time, their own interests to do this. This begs the question of what the attitude of militants should be toward that phenomenon in 1789. Today we say no to the popular front concept but then we would have supported such a concept with both hands. Why? At that time the nature of French society, the tasks that needed to be accomplished around the creation of a nation-state and the immaturity of the working classes both socially and politically precluded a socialist solution to the problems of the day.

Our sympathies historically go to the sans-culottes who then and later were the vanguard that pushed the revolution to the left and we honor Robespierre and after him Babeuf and the Conspiracy of Equals. However at the beginning of the Revolution militants then could have, and should have, politically supported the popular front against the absolute monarchy. Later, of course, under Robespierre we would have united with him and the left elements of the bourgeoisie but we would nevertheless still have fought under the sign of the popular front. Popular Front, 1789- Yes. Today- No. Read on.

Revised September 27, 2006

Marie Antoinette-Fashionista

Marie Antoinette-Fashionista  

 

 

Cultural fashions come and go. Apparently, of late, there has been a resurgence of interest in the life of Marie Antoinette, late of Austria and Queen of France during the period of the great French Revolution that began in 1789. Although you would not know that revolution was in the air from this film since it is very tightly focused on the alleged trials and tribulations of being a teenager, fodder in the dynastic politics of the period and unsuccessfully maturing in the late 1700’s. And it is also a quasi-feminist attempt to bring Marie into the ‘sisterhood’ of modern feminism. Someone once said that revolutionary periods create conditions where the old society can no longer rule in the old way (although they sure as hell try) and produce leaders particularly ill-suited to the tasks of the times. That is certainly the case here. Ms. Coppola’s attempt to create some retroactive sympathy for the character of not so sweet Marie simply does not work. Although Marie probably did not say “Let them eat cake,” off her performance here she certainly could have.  

A View From The Left-Cops Gun Down Protesters in Oaxaca-Defend Mexican Teachers Union!

Workers Vanguard No. 1092	1 July 2016

Cops Gun Down Protesters in Oaxaca-Defend Mexican Teachers Union!

We print below a translation of a leaflet issued by our comrades in the Grupo Espartaquista de México initially on June 16 and then updated with an introduction on June 20.

*   *   *

JUNE 20—Once again the bloody capitalist rulers have unleashed massive repression against the CNTE [opposition within the teachers union]. Yesterday [June 19], federal and state police attacked the teachers of Local 22 who were blocking a road in Nochixtlán, Oaxaca. The police used firearms as well as tear gas against the teachers and the local residents who were supporting them. According to official figures, six people died, more than 50 were injured and 21 were arrested. Below we reproduce a leaflet that we published on June 16 in defense of the CNTE.

Early last Sunday morning [June 12], the General Secretary of Local 22 of the SNTE/CNTE [National Union of Education Workers/National Coordination of Education Workers], Rubén Núñez Ginés, was violently arrested in Ecatepec, State of Mexico. Francisco Villalobos Ricárdez, Organizational Secretary of the same Local, had been apprehended the day before in the State of Oaxaca. These detentions come on top of that of Aciel Sibaja Mendoza, Financial Secretary, which took place on April 13. The charges against this CNTE leader [Núñez] include money laundering, the same crime that the PGR [attorney general’s office] attributed to Elba Esther Gordillo, the previous leader “for life” of the teachers union. Núñez has been transferred to the federal penitentiary in Hermosillo, Sonora, and the PGR has announced that 24 arrest warrants are pending against leaders and other members of Local 22. We Spartacists demand: Freedom now for all those detained! Drop all the charges!

In recent years, the teachers organized in the CNTE have been fighting tenaciously all over the country against the Education Reform, which attacks union control over hiring and threatens the jobs of teachers through continuous evaluations. Just since August last year, 9,200 teachers have been fired for not appearing for evaluations or for participating in protests. Faced with the mobilizations by the teachers, the federal and local governments, including the PRD [Party of the Democratic Revolution] government of Mexico City, have responded with brutal repression and violent evictions [from protest camp sites]. Aurelio Nuño, Secretary of Education, has threatened that “we will not tolerate any more intimidation” from the CNTE, while he orders the teachers “to get out of the way and not continue with this adventure.” The Grupo Espartaquista de México, section of the International Communist League, solidarizes with the teachers in struggle. The attack against the teachers and against public education is an attack against the workers movement and the poor as a whole. From the destruction of the SME [electrical workers union] in 2009 and the disgraceful “Pact for Mexico” in 2012, the government has sought to destroy the large unions in this country, and unfortunately it has made progress in that direction. Enough! It is in the interest of the working class to defend the teachers. The industrial proletariat should mobilize its powerful muscles through strike actions in defense of the CNTE!

The government of [President] Enrique Peña Nieto had already made clear that it was prepared to smash any opposition to the education reform when it arrested Gordillo at the end of February 2013, after she had declared herself to be against that reform. “La Maestra” [the teacher, i.e., Gordillo] was widely hated for her corruption and murderous violence against dissident members of the union. But these were most certainly not the reasons that the state, which she had so loyally served for decades, was prosecuting her. We had a unique position in opposing her arrest and explained: “State intervention into the unions has nothing to do with ‘democratizing’ them; the bourgeoisie’s goal is to place them ever more firmly under its control. Defending the union movement must include the demand for the immediate release of Gordillo and all arrested union officials” [see “Hands Off Mexican Teachers Union!” WV No. 1019, 8 March 2013]. It is the workers who must clean their own house, throwing out the pro-capitalist union bureaucrats and replacing them with a class-struggle leadership. In contrast, the logic of the declarations at the time by the dissident currents in the SNTE, including the CNTE, was to demand greater state intervention! This attack against the teachers union left Peña Nieto’s government in a much better position to continue with its privatizing and anti-labor plans.

In order to fight effectively against this onslaught, it is necessary to combat the widespread illusions in the bourgeois populism of [Andrés Manuel] López Obrador and his Morena [Movement for National Regeneration], that today pose as “defenders” and “allies” of the CNTE. This posture is transitory. The intention of these populists is to divert struggle and social discontent in the direction of illusions in the democratic reform of capitalism, in order to thus perpetuate this system of exploitation and oppression. López Obrador himself didn’t hesitate to use the bourgeois state to repress social struggle while he occupied the post of mayor of Mexico City. Morena is a bourgeois party, as much an enemy of the victory of the proletariat as are the PRI [Institutional Revolutionary Party], the PAN [National Action Party] and the now discredited PRD.

The proletariat, because of its strategic position in the productive process, has the objective interest and the social power to lead the oppressed masses in struggle for their liberation, putting an end to this inhuman and irrational system, which is based on the search for profits, and establishing a workers and peasants government. The Grupo Espartaquista de México fights to build the Leninist-Trotskyist workers party that is necessary to lead the working class to victory in a socialist revolution, the only way to finish once and for all with brutal capitalist repression against the workers and the poor.

Fellow Baby-Boomer Politicos We Have Some Unfinished Business From The 1960s To Tend To- A Struggle To The End- For A Workers and Baby-Boomers Government!- Then And Now

Markin comment:

The following is in the nature of a stream of consciousness reflection on recent political struggles and the slight breeze that I am feeling starting to push back against defeats of some forty plus years since we last had a shot at “seeking a newer world” and that old- time breeze that pushed me first into the political fray.

As fate would have it sometimes a certain conjecture just falls into place for no particular reason other than happenstance, or so it would appear. As noted below I have been on a tear of late trying to get, young and old, but mainly my baby-boomer contemporaries, to get back into the political fray, and if there already to ratchet up their activity, and their political drifts leftward away from the all too familiar liberal complacencies. But that happenstance business is just a front because while one strand of the memory jog occurred just recently with the struggle over the events in Wisconsin and those whispered conversations about olden day struggles another strand had been spent on a now extensive review of much of the music from our youth, the youth that came of musically age just at that moment when we began to call rock ‘n’ roll music our own.

And that jail breakout music got reflected, at some level, in the way we looked at the world we felt that although the world was not of our making, and not what we wanted it to be, it was up for grabs to go in our direction, at least for a cultural moment.

The core of that review of the music of our generation, strangely enough given its imprimatur, is a rather extensive compilation of CDs put out by Time-Life Music (you see what I mean) as its Rock ‘n’ Roll Era series. While the compilations give a wide selection of the most recognizable music for a number of years from about the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s (basically pre-British invasion time) the real draw for this reviewer was the cover art that accompanied each CD. Those covers, more than the bulk of the music (after all there was a musical counter-revolution of sorts in the late 1950s in reaction to the Elvis, Jerry Lee way to sexy implications of their music) , evoked in me (and I am sure they would in you as well if you are a baby-boomer), a flood of memories. Such subjects as “hot” 1950s cars, drive-in movies, drive-in restaurants complete with to-die-for cute car hops serving them off the arm, the high school dance scene. And so on. I have reposted one such effort below:

"This 1964 art cover piece with its drawing of a high school girl (school used as backdrop here to let you know, just in case you were clueless, that the rock scene was directed, point blank, at high school students, high school students with discretionary money to buy hot records, or drop coins in the local juke box), or rather her high heel sneakers (Chuck Taylor high tops, for sure, no question, although there is no trademark present no way that they can be some knock-offs in 1964, no way, I say). The important thing, in any case, is the sneakers, and that slightly shorter than school regulation dress, a dress that presages the mini-skirt craze that was then just on its way from Europe. Naturally said dress and sneakers, sneakers, high- heeled or not, against the mandatory white tennis sneakers on gym days and low-heel pumps on other days, is the herald of some new age. And, as if to confirm that new breeze, in the background scouring out her high school classroom window, a sullen, prudish schoolmarm. She, the advance guard, obviously, of that parentally-driven reaction to all that the later 1960s stood for to us baby-boomers, as the generations fought out their epic battles about the nature of the world, our world or theirs.

But see that is so much “wave of future” just then because sullen schoolmarm or not what Ms. Hi-Heel sneakers (and dress, ya, don’t forget that knee-showing dress) is preening for is those guys who are standing (barely) in front of said school and showing their approval, their approval in the endless boy and girl meet game. And these guys are not just of one kind, they are cool faux beat daddy guys, tee-shirted corner boy guys, and well, just average 1964- style average guys. Now the reality of Ms. Hi-Heel sneakers (and a wiglet on her head) proved to be a minute thing and was practically forgotten in the musical breeze that was starting to come in from Europe (British invasion led by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones) but it was that harbinger of change that the old schoolmarm dreaded and we, teenagers, especially we teenagers of the Class of 1964, were puzzled by. All we knew for sure, at least some of us knew , was that our class, at least for a moment, was going to chase a few windmills, and gladly.

That is the front story, the story of the new breeze coming, but the back story is that the kind of songs that are on this CD with that British invasion coming full blast were going to be passé very soon. Moreover, among my crowd, my hang-out crowd, my hang-out guy and girl crowd of guys who looked very much like those guys pictured on the artwork here, if not my school crowd (slightly different) the folk scene, the Harvard Square at weekend night, New York City Village every once in a while folk scene, the Dylan, Baez, Van Ronk, Paxton, Ochs, etc. scene was still in bloom and competitive (although that scene, that folk scene minute, ironically, would soon also be passé).

Thus 1964 was a watershed year for a lot of the genres, really sub-genres, featured here. Like the harmony-rich girl groups (The Supremes, Mary Wells, The Shangri-Las, Martha and the Vandellas, Betty Everett) and the surfer boy, hot-rod guys of blessed neighborhood memory (Ronnie and the Daytonas, The Rivieras, and The Beach Boys, a little). But it was also a watershed year for the guys pictured in the artwork (and out in the neighborhoods). Some would soon be fighting in Vietnam, some moving to a commune to get away from it all, and others would be raising holy hell about that war, the need for social justice and the way things were being run in this country. And Ms. Hi-Heel sneakers? Maybe, just maybe, she drifted into that San Francisco for the Summer of Love night, going barefoot into that good night. I like to think so anyway.

Watershed year or not, there are some serious non-invasion stick-outs here. Under The Boardwalk (great harmony), The Drifters; Last Kiss, Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers; Dancing In The Streets (lordy, lordy, yes), Martha and the Vandellas; Leader Of The Pack (what a great novelty song and one that could be the subject of a real story in my growing up neighborhood), The Shangri-Las; Hi-Heel Sneakers, Tommy Tucker (thanks for the lead-in, Tommy), and, the boss song of the teen dance club night, no question, no challenge, no competition, Louie, Louie by the Kingsmen

Note: Those familiar with leftist, Marxist-oriented politics are familiar with the slogan- fight for a workers government. If you will observe in the headline to this entry I have posited a workers and baby-boomers government. No, not to be silly or flip, although I know how to do both, but to make a point. A point that always bears a certain repetition when dealing with variants of this workers’ government slogan. In places like Egypt today, or better, in the old Czarist days, in Russia, the slogan would have been expanded to something like a workers and peasants government. And that gets to the real point. Although we Marxists argue, and argue strenuously, that when the deal goes down there are only two decisive classes in the modern era- the capitalists who own the means of production and the workers who produce the profits and emphatically do not own the means of production. But that begs the point, a little. In the age of capitalism other classes, and parts of classes, have been spun off. Thus, the question, even in the United States, of allies for the working class requires a broadly slogan (at times) than just the generic workers government slogan that graces these pages on most related entries. Today’s entry reflects the very real possibility that our best allies might be those who are coming of retirement age, the post- World War II baby-boomer generation.

Now back in the 1930s when there were many more small and family farmers than there are today the proposition of a workers and farmers government was posed as cutting-edge slogan by our political forbears. And, of course, somebody, some smart- aleck young Marxist who was trying to be silly or flip (probably a college student from New York City where young Marxists were thick as fleas) noted that there were more dentists in the United States than farmers at that time. Now, from painful personal (and expensive) experience, I actually could get behind the idea of a workers and dentists government. But that specific variant is just adding to the main point above, the algebraic nature of a workers and XYZ government as a fighting slogan. So for now my workers and baby-boomers government has a certain flare, especially until the grey beards are in the minority of most of the rallies that I have seen lately. Please though don’t expect me to take a job in the Commissariat of Elder Affairs when we win. No way.

From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin-Who Is That Rita Hayworth Is Dancing With?

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of a scene with Fred Astaire dancing in You’ll Never Get Rich.

The first paragraph below is taken from other reviews about Rita Hayworth although the male stars are different here, except they all have a similar feature; they all are smitten, very smitten, by Ms. Hayworth’s charms. Join the line, boys:

“Okay, let me bring you up to speed on the obscure meaning of the headline. See, a while back I was smitten by a film star, an old time black and white film star from the 1940s, Rita Hayworth. The film that sent me into a tailspin: the black and white noir classic Gilda where she played a “good” femme fatale who got in a jam with a no good monomaniacal crook. But that part is not important femme fatales, good or bad, get mixed up with wrong gees all the time. It’s an occupational hazard. What is important though is that I got all swoony over lovely, alluring Rita. And as happens when I get my periodic “bugs” I had to go out and see what else she performed in. Of course Lady From Shang-hai came next. There she plays a “bad” blondish femme fatale (against a smitten Orson Welles)."

[Dream sequel: Whiskey breath, whiskey fire breathe, in need of a shave, maybe a haircut trim, a cold shower wouldn’t hurt after last night slept along the skid row docks near Benny’s. He walks, walks shamble walks, along the cobblestone pavement with its rutted indentations bothering his worn out feet, and his life. He hears the sound of Mayfair swell horse hoofs beating their time on the Central Park cobblestones behind him. He turns around and there she is, blonde, naturally blonde he thinks but he is willing to wait on that.

Her carriage passes by almost tumbling him to the ground as it brushed beside him. He catches his balance just in time. She orders the carriage stopped, waves a slight very slight wave like she has being doing to men since about, about eternity. And like eternity he comes hither. She gives him a look, a look only a woman- hungry man can know. She asks for a cigarette, although he can see, can see clear as day, that she has a cigarette case right on her lap, probably filled with expensive exotic cigarettes of unknown origin. He also sees, sees clear as day, that she has a very, very expensive wedding ring prominently displayed on her finger. He hesitated for just a moment. Just that moment when he knew, knew, hell, knew as clear as day, that she was poison, well-wrapped poison but poison. And would lead him a merry chase, maybe to the gallows. He offers a cigarette, a Camel…]

And now this film under review, You Were Never Lovelier. We are caught up.

Now the plot line here, the never-ending boy meets girl plot line that Hollywood mass-produced (and mass-produces) is pretty simple, except that it takes place in Buenos Aires (although the twelve dollars spent on fake stage scene-settings made me think of little white houses with picket fences in Indiana, or someplace like that). When all is said and done, despite the machinations of Maria’s (Rita Hayworth) father (Adophe Menjou), Broadway show dance man Fred Astaire is smitten, very smitten (join the aforementioned line, the now long line, Fred) by her “Spanish” charms and her sweet coquettishness. And from there the hi-jinx really begin as all parties, wives, aunts, sisters, Christ, even grandma, and a much put upon father’s business assistant try to get this pair matched up. And as these Hollywood boy meet girl things often turn out, we will hear wedding bells before the end.

But forget the story line. This thing, like almost all Fred Astaire vehicles, and righteously so, is strictly about Fred’s dancing, dancing alone, dancing with a partner, dancing up a wall (oops that was another film) but dancing with so much style it is impossible to keep your eyes off him (saying how did he do that all the while). For style, grace, and physical moves every one of those guys you see on shows like Dancing With The Stars, well, just tell them to move on over, and watch a real pro. Hey, wait a minute, what about Rita? Ya, what about her. Here she is just along for the ride, although less so than in the previously reviewed You’ll Never Get Rich. She is more in synch here with Fred’s moves but it is still Fred's dancing which draws the eye. As I noted before, Rita, however, has other charms, okay.

Note: The music of Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer need no further comment, nor does the work of band leader Xavier Cugat. These are all pros from the old Tin Pan Alley music days of the American songbook. Enough said

From The Pen Of Joshua Lawrence Breslin- Who Is That Fred Astaire Is Dancing With?

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of a scene with Fred Astaire dancing in You’ll Never Get Rich.

Okay, let me bring you up to speed on the obscure meaning of the headline. See, a while back I was smitten by a film star, an old time black and white film star from the 1940s, Rita Hayworth. (Yes, the one who Tim Robbins puts son his lonely prison wall to hide his doings in The Shawshank Redemption. The film that sent me into a tailspin: the black and white noir classic Gilda where she played a “good” femme fatale who got in a jam with a no good monomaniacal crook. But that part is not important femme fatales, good or bad, get mixed up with wrong gees all the time. It’s an occupational hazard. We can discuss that matter more fully some other time. What is important though is that I got all swoony over lovely, alluring Rita. And as happens when I get my periodic “bugs” I had to go out and see what else she performed in. Of course Lady From Shang-hai came next. There she plays a “bad” blondish femme fatale (against a smitten Orson Welles). And now this film under review, You’ll Never Get Rich. We are caught up.

[Dream sequel: An obviously well-worn out working class lad just off the boats, maybe the banana boats working the Central American coast or some oil tanker steaming to some South American city port, lands on all four’s in Faro Jack’s casino half-drunk, half-dazed and half-crazed with lust, woman lust. Cleaned up, shaved-up-suited, white Panama-suited up, some manly fragrance lightly splashed for effect, he has left the stink, the rot, and the rut of his previous travels behind and for just that minute he is standing on the rim of the world.

As he walks to the bar, the smoke almost making it impossible to see despite the elaborate lighting although he too has a cigarette, Luckies, in his mouth he spies her up at the bandstand. Sitting on a piano bench which seems to hold her well enough as she sadly strums her guitar and sings, laconically torch sings there is no other way to put it, Put The Blame On Mame, to no one in particular. He is transfixed for the moment . Then she has just raised her head a bit in his direction and gave him a smile, no, the essence of a smile. A smile that promised adventure, hardship, romance, and hell but it promised something. He moved toward her, stopping the waiter on his way to order scotch, best scotch, straight up and whatever she was having. He continued to walk toward her, noticing her flaming reddish-brown hair, noticing her well-turned legs and ankles, noticing her deep-cleaved dress (and think about undress and it pleasures), noticing her ruby-red lips built for nothing else but love, noticing…]

Now the plot line here, the never-ending boy meets girl plot line that Hollywood mass-produced (and mass-produces) is pretty simple, except that it takes place in getting ready for World War II America and so military preparedness is part of the backdrop (although obvious this is before Pearl Harbor, after that event such shenanigans would seem unpatriotic). Broadway show dance man Fred Astaire is smitten, very smitten (join the line, the long line,Fred) by chorine dancer Rita who also has a string of other men eating out of her hand, the important one being Fred’s devilish Broadway boss, a married, a very married, skirt-chaser. And from there the hi-jinx begin leading to Fred’s departure for the army as a refuse, and eventually, as those old time Hollywood boy meet girl things often did to the altar (in an unusual way here though, I‘d say).

But forget the story line here. This thing, and righteously so, is strictly about Fred’s dancing, dancing alone, dancing with a partner, dancing up a wall (oops that was another film) but dancing with so much style it is impossible to keep your eyes off him (saying how did he do that all the while). For style, grace, and physical moves every one of those guys you see on shows like Dancing With The Stars, well, just tell them to move on over, and watch a real pro. Hey, wait a minute, what about Rita? Ya, what about her. Here she is just along for the ride. She almost looks “clumsy” compared to Fred. She, however, has other charms, okay.

Chelsea confirms health status with attorneys-Free Chelsea Manning Now!

Chelsea confirms health status with attorneys

July 11, 2016
Today, Chelsea Manning spoke with her attorneys for the first time since her hospitalization last week. They have released the following statement on her behalf:
For Immediate Release: July 11, 2016
Contact: Christina DiPasquale, 202.716.1953, Christina@balestramedia.com
Chelsea Manning Confirms Health Status Through Her Attorneys
Today, Chelsea Manning’s attorneys Chase Strangio, Vincent Ward and Nancy Hollander released the following statement jointly:
“After not connecting with Chelsea for over a week, we were relieved to speak with her this morning. Though she would have preferred to keep her private medical information private, and instead focus on her recovery, the government’s gross breach of confidentiality in disclosing her personal health information to the media has created the very real concern that they may continue their unauthorized release of information about her publicly without warning. Due to these circumstances, Chelsea Manning requested that we communicate with the media and her friends and supporters on her behalf.
“Last week, Chelsea made a decision to end her life. Her attempt to take her own life was unsuccessful. She knows that people have questions about how she is doing and she wants everyone to know that she remains under close observation by the prison and expects to remain on this status for the next several weeks. For us, hearing Chelsea’s voice after learning that she had attempted to take her life last week was incredibly emotional. She is someone who has fought so hard for so many issues we care about and we are honored to fight for her freedom and medical care.”
###

Just One Year With You That Is All I Am Praying For- Elvis’ Break-Out 1956- A CD Review

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of Elvis performing “Shake, Rattle And Roll/

CD Review

Elvis 56, Elvis Presley (who else), RCA Records, 1956



I have beaten myself over the head, eaten humble pie, been flash-flayed, said ten acts of contrition, in short, confessed, confessed publicly, that when I was a know nothing pre-teenager in the 1950s be-bop, doo wop, red scare cold war rock and roll at the creation night I did not like Elvis. (Do I really need to say Presley among this crowd? Come on now there is only one Elvis when it comes right down to it). Now a lot of this was due to pure jealousy, pre-teen style, around the question of, ah, girls. Or maybe not so much girls as male vanity. No actually it was girls and my budding interest in them. And their very focused interest on Mr. Presley.

See I did not look, unlike my best friend Billy Bradley, remotely, like Elvis. I would have been very, very hard pressed, to imitate his side-burn driven hair style with my growing up blondish hair (moreover worn for saving household money sake buzz short). I would have been even more hard-pressed in my Podunk working poor neighborhood, alright, my projects neighborhood, to wear clothes even remotely as cool as Elvis’. Christ I was lucky to get cheapjack denim brothers hand-me-downs from the bargain center and off-color, off-cool color shirts. Worst, much worst when the deal came down in that first blush of school dance church dance last dance time held every once in a while to “keep us off the streets.” I was unable to swivel my hips like the “king.” And worst, although in that case not much worst, was my voice sounded like a frog from the local pond that graced one corner of our projects home.

Moreover I did not like Elvis because I did not like his songs, for the most part. See I was hung up on what I would now call that primordial Bo Diddley sound, that sound from some ancient mist dance around the fireplace to keep the wolves away and rock, rock to perdition time of our distant forbears. (I did know how to sway, hell, anybody could sway.) Even more moreover I was hung up on those black rhythm and blues guys like Big Joe Turner and Ike Turner. That was due to the fact that I was able to catch a midnight radio station, The Big Bopper Show, out of Chicago on the weekends on my transistor radio by some miracle and heard all kinds of stuff that drove me crazy. (For those too young, or those who have forgotten, look up that ancient communications transistor radio reference on Wikipedia. Basically though it was a small compact battery-driven unit that had the virtue, the very big virtue that it could be taken up into one’s bedroom, placed close to young ears and one’s parents would be blissfully unaware of the “subversion” until, well, until the big break-out came in 1956 and then they were caught flat-footed. At least at first.)

The best way to explain that musical taste difference is on the song “Shake, Rattle And Roll, Big Joe’s signature song covered by everybody, including Elvis here (and everybody since from Jerry Lee Lewis on). Elvis is just okay on that one even to fifty years later ears. Big Joe ruled and always will on that one. But here is where the “confession” part comes in and I grant Elvis his pardon. Several years ago I, by happenstance, watched Elvis in the break-out rock film (although the story line is so-so and predictable) “Jailhouse Rock.” I was mesmerized. By the gyrations, but more importantly, by the voice. Naturally, as is my wont, when I “get religion” I went out and gathered up every (early) Elvis compilation I could find, including this RCA break-out album. Big Joe might have been the max daddy of rhythm and blues but when Elvis swiveled for that little pre-military induction period in the mid-1950s, the time of my time, he was the king. Sorry for the delay, Mr. King.

In Boston July 14-Protest Israeli Cuts to Water in Palestine

Protest Israeli Cuts to Water in Palestine

Thursday, July 14 at Noon in front of the State House

Join the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine to protest Israel’s shut off of water to parts of the West Bank

Many Palestinians are living without any water for days at a time. Water shortages and cuts have been reported in Palestinian towns and villages throughout the northern Jenin and Nablus districts. Animals and plants are dying. The health and lives of human beings, particularly the young, frail, and elderly, are at risk.
As the occupying power, Israel is obligated under international humanitarian law to ensure the dignity and well being of the population living under its control. We call on the Israeli government to restore full water access in all of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — at least to the 100 liter per capita minimum daily allowance mandated by the World Health Organization of the United Nations.
As the call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel reaches its 11th anniversary, we demand that BDS advocacy be protected as free speech as guaranteed by the US and Massachusetts constitutions.


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1763541997216700/


Co-sponsors: Boston Climate Action Network, Boston Workmen’s Circle, Cambridge United for Justice with Peace, College Students for Justice in Palestine, Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights, Cambridge Bethlehem People to People Project, Code Pink Boston, Dorchester People for Peace, First Church Congregational in Cambridge’s Task Team on Israel Palestine, Friends of Sabeel/New England, Greater Boston United for Justice with Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace/Boston, Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/Palestine, Massachusetts Peace Action, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East – MA Chapter, Western Massachusetts Coalition for Palestine.
For background: http://www.juancole.com/2016/06/palestines-prayer-israel.html

The Great Typewriter Affair-With The Film Populaire In Mind -A Review

The Great Typewriter Affair-With The Film Populaire In Mind -A Review 

DVD Review

By Sam Lowell

Populaire, starring Deborah Francois, Romain Duris, 2012

 

Who knew that back in the 1950s, back in the time of my coming of age, that using a typewriter fast, very fast was a blood sport. You just never know. By the way for those who have forgotten, or were too young to know, a typewriter was a machine with a keyboard just like today’s computers except you had to put paper on a roller and move a carriage to go from line to line rather than the ENTER button. You had to make your own erasures if you made a misspelling or something rather than the DELETE button with today’s word processors. How primitive. If you don’t believe me though look the term up on Wikipedia, okay. In any case the film under review, a French film with subtitles, Populaire has its plot revolve around the typewriter, or rather who was the faster typist in the West. That designation being left to be fought over by the female part of the human species since in those days the only ones who typed, mainly, were women called secretaries and now called things like administrative assistants and the like. If you don’t believe me on that look that up on Wikipedia while you are looking up typewriter.

Who am I kidding. That typewriter business is just a foil, window dressing for the real deal. As I will flush out below this film is a romance, maybe even a romantic comedy in spots and the typewriter is just the excuse to yet again produce a boy meets girl film of the old 1950s school. That old school being heavy on sexual allure, sexual attraction, and sexual promise but rather light on the act itself unlike today when sexual attraction almost immediately leads to the silky sheets. 

Here’s how this one played out in France in 1959 the great boy meets girl industry that drives the cinematic enterprise. Rose, a small sort of nondescript young woman had been fascinated by the typewriter since her childhood and when she came of age she applied to Louis’ insurance office to be a secretary (I assume you looked that up, right). The problem was that she was a terrible secretary and as far as her typing abilities went she was strictly “hunt and peck” like a lot of us. But fast. Louis seeing a potential champion fast draw typist begins to coach her to type correctly and use her fast hands to win typing competitions. That is where the blood sport comes in since these competitions actually had aficionados who cheered their favorites on. They were even betting on the thing, although I don’t know if they had point spreads and such.  Louis insisted that there be a strict separation between student and coach (even though she wound up living chastely in his house, a big 1950s film convention the chaste part anyway).           

But enough of that. These two have it bad for each other and if we could fast forward to 2016 they would already have been in the downy billows and done with it. But Louis has trouble committing, a not unknown quality among males of the human species, and as Rose keeps winning championships from the local level up to the national championship in Paris that sexual tension increases. Along the way, by the way, Rose turns from that non-descript small town girl to well “hot,” a not unfamiliar cinematic trope (why don’t guys get that same ugly ducking to prince transformation, its’ unfair, totally unfair). They finally “do it” (on camera unlike in the 1950s) but once Rose wins the national championship Louis doesn’t want to hold her back (that same commitment problem really). When Rose, after being feted in Paris as the champ, goes to New York to take on the vicious Yankees (not the baseball team that is a different blood sport but the reigning world champ) for the title of world’s fastest typist Louis finally has an epiphany and flies to New York to cheer her on and take what she had to give. See I told you boy meets girl, classic stuff except at the end I still wondered about who the heck would go to the mat to watch a typing contest. I’ll look that up and let you know. See this one.           

Justice for Alton and Philando! Socialist Alternative Statement

Frank Jackman comment:

Usually when I post something from some other source, mostly articles and other materials that may be of interest to the radical public that I am trying to address I place the words “ A View From The Left” in the headline and let the subject of the article speak for itself, or let the writer speak for him or herself without further comment whether I agree with the gist of what is said or not. After all I can write my own piece if some pressing issue is at hand. Occasionally, and the sentiments expressed in this article is one such time, I can stand in solidarity with the remarks made. I do so here.     

        


                        


                                    

                                

                                    






                                    



                                        
                                        

                                        




                                                                        
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JUSTICE FOR ALTON AND PHILANDO! BUILD MASS NON

VIOLENT PROTESTS AGAINST RACISM AND POVERTY
By Eljeer Hawkins


At least 136 black people have been killed by police in 2016 (The Guardian, 7/7/2016). On top of police violence, the black community faces disproportionate unemployment, poverty, a lack of access to social services and mass incarceration. Much-needed protests are erupting throughout the country against the two latest atrocities, the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

Unfortunately, five police have been killed by snipers in Dallas. These type of actions will not win justice against racism if that was the intention, and will only serve to strengthen the authority and militarization of the state and undermine the strength of Black Lives Matter mobilizations. Socialist Alternative will continue to participate in mass demonstrations against racism, poverty and police violence and put forward methods to broaden the movement and win victories.
Alton and Philando


Fifteen year-old Cameron Sterling could not hold back uncontrolled sobbing as he spoke on film after the death of his father. Alton Sterling was killed by law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 5 while selling CDs outside of a convenience store. Alton’s death and Cameron’s reaction at the press conference the following day is a stark reminder of what it means to be black in America today and losing your dad in a gruesome manner as the world watched. Alton’s death is painfully reminiscent of Eric Garner’s death on a Staten Island, New York street on July 17, 2014, by an illegal choke hold.

In a matter of twenty-four hours, in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, Philando Castile – along with his girlfriend and precious four-year daughter – was stopped by officers for a busted taillight. Philando would be shot four times as he reached for his license and died in the back seat of his car; his death was live streamed by his brave girlfriend,  Diamond Reynolds, to show the world he was innocent. Diamond was held overnight in police custody – without food or access to her traumatized daughter – after the murder of her boyfriend. This injustice was correctly met with mass protests and direct action that Socialist Alternative members participated in.
Racist Policing U.S.A.


The killings of Alton and Philando sadly confirm the reality described in the remarkable speech by actor and activist, Jesse Williams, at the recent BET Awards about law enforcement terror and systemic racism in our society.

The recent acquittals of the Baltimore law enforcement officers in the Freddy Gray case, and non-indictment decision in the Jamar Clarke case has confirmed for this generation that the American criminal justice system is rigged and stacked up against working people and people of color. There is one set of laws for rich white people like Hillary Clinton and another set of laws for black workers and youth.
Ferguson and Baltimore


The two rebellions in Ferguson and Baltimore in 2014 and 2015 respectively rocked the very core of U.S. society as hundreds of thousands of young people and black workers expressed their rage at law enforcement, the political establishment, and the black mis-leadership class. Over 40 bills were introduced to curb law enforcement terror and enhance police accountability to the community. The Department of Justice and Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing  reports acknowledged the numerous violations and police misconduct in police departments across the country.Yet, the racist police murders, mass incarceration, militarization of the police and rampant economic injustices continue.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) signed the “Blue Lives Matter” bill into law, making the state the first in the nation where public safety workers are considered a protected class under the hate-crime law. As USA Today highlighted over a year ago, “President Obama has signed into law a measure that will require instant nationwide “Blue Alerts” to warn about threats to police officers and help track down the suspects who carry them out. The city, state, federal governments fortify the “blue wall” with militarized law enforcement that mainly serves to protect the property, prestige and power of the 1%.

Since Ferguson and Baltimore, there’s a heightened class and racial polarization, along with a developing radical consciousness, in society due to the crisis of capitalism. Donald Trump has been whipping up racist rhetoric and attacks while Hillary Clinton defends the policies of her husband that led to mass incarceration and more militarized police. The times we are living through demands a concerted effort to challenge the system of capitalism and racism head on.
Black Lives Matter: Which Way Forward?


In several cities around the country, there were protests to express utter rage at the police killings in Baton Rouge and Falcon Heights. In Dallas, Texas, at a peaceful gathering and march, snipers fired upon law enforcement officers killing five and injuring seven.

If the perpetrators were politically motivated against police brutality  these attacks on law enforcement are totally counter-productive. It takes place in the absence of a strong workers movement to oppose the policies of big business and the racist violence that flows from it.

As Marxist and working-class activists, we oppose terrorist methods which have historically been shown to be a failed method of fighting back against oppression. It is a dead-end strategy that provides the state license to leave a trail of blood from the itchy trigger fingers of law enforcement. Support can be drummed up for institutions of the capitalist state when tragedies like the murders of random law enforcement officers take place.

Working people’s civil liberties and human rights will be further undermined by the state under the cover of pursuing the suspects. These acts can and will have a negative effect on the BLM banner and activists, putting the struggle against law enforcement terror on the defensive and criminalizing the movement and its activists. The deaths of New York police officers Rafael Ramos and  Wenjain Liu in December 2015 brought BLM protests to a halt at that time and allowed the right to viciously attack the movement.

To win victories against racism and poverty, we need mass demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of people on the streets disrupting “business as usual.” Union leaders should support Black Lives Matter in more than just words by mobilizing their members to attend protests with contingents connecting the fight against police violence to the struggles for good jobs, health care, education and public services.

As Shanelle Matthews, the director of communications for the Black Lives Matter Network stated in a recent interview in The Atlantic about organizing for the upcoming DNC and RNC conventions, “Because we’re decentralized, and all of the chapters work autonomously, to each of the chapters in their regions [conventions] mean something different.”

The recent police killings of Alton and Philando places an urgency to centralize and coordinate our movement’s actions, ideas, and message, especially since the corporate media, two parties of big business, and law enforcement will go on the offensive against the movement after the Dallas events.

A united working-class movement using the method of mass protests, non-violent civil disobedience, walk-outs and strikes, based on a program that puts people’s needs first, will be most effective in fighting back against racial and class oppression. As we approach the DNC and RNC, we need a massive mobilization to highlight law-enforcement terror, the agenda of Wall Street and the role of both parties in the rise of the prison state and endemic inequality. Our movement should prepare for marches and possible Occupy Wall Street-style occupations in Washington D.C. to demand justice for Alton, Philando, and all victims of law-enforcement terror as we head towards the general elections in November. The Time is Now!

 



    


    
    


            




                                

                                    

                                

                                    





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The Latest From Jobs With Justice In Massachusetts-The Fight For $15 Is Only The Beginning

The Latest From Jobs With Justice In Massachusetts-The Fight For $15 Is Only The Beginning