*From The Archives Of "Women And Revolution"-In Defense of Homosexual Rights: The Marxist Tradition

*From The Archives Of "Women And Revolution"-In Defense of Homosexual Rights: The Marxist Tradition

Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for "Communism and homosexuality".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism_and_homosexuality

Markin comment:

The following is an article from the Summer 1988 issue 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 more such articles from the back issues of "Women and Revolution" during Women's History Month and periodically throughout the year.


In Defense of Homosexual Rights: The Marxist Tradition

Defense of democratic rights for homosexuals is part of the historic tradition of Marxism. In the 1860s, the prominent lawyer J.B. von Schweitzer was tried, found guilty and disbarred for homosexual activities in Mannheim, Germany. The socialist pioneer Ferdinand Lassalle aided von Schweitzer, encouraging him to join Lassalle's Universal German Workingmen's Association in 1863. After Lassalle's death, von Schweitzer was elected the head of the group, one of the organizations that merged to form the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). The SPD itself waged a long struggle in the late 19th century against Paragraph 175 of the German penal code, which made homosexual acts (for males) a crime. August Bebel and other SPD members in the Reichstag attacked the law, while the SPD's party paper Vorwarts reported on the struggle against state persecution of homosexuals.

In 1895 one of the most infamous anti-homosexual outbursts of the period targeted Oscar Wilde, one of the leading literary lights of England (where homosexuality had been punishable by death until 1861). Wilde had some socialist views of his own: his essay, "The Soul of Man Under Socialism," was smuggled into Russia by young radicals. When the Marquess of Queensberry called him a sodomist, Wilde sued for libel. Queensberry had Wilde successfully prosecuted and sent to prison for being involved with Queensberry's son. The Second International took up Wilde's defense. In the most prestigious publication of the German Social Democracy, "Die Neue Zeit", Eduard Bernstein, later known as a revisionist but then speaking as a very decent Marxist, argued that there was nothing sick about homosexuality, that Wilde had committed no crime, that every socialist should defend him and that the people who put him on trial were the criminals.

Upon coming to power in 1917 in Russia, the Bolshevik Party began immediately to undercut the old bourgeois prejudices and social institutions responsible for the oppression of both women and homosexuals— centrally the institution of the family. They sought to create social alternatives to relieve the crushing burden of women's drudgery in the family, and abolished all legal impediments to women's equality, while also abolishing all laws against homosexual acts. Stalin's successful political counterrevolution rehabilitated the reactionary ideology of bourgeois society, glorifying the family unit. In 1934 a law making homosexual acts punishable by imprisonment was introduced, and mass arrests of homosexuals took place. While defending the socialized property forms of the USSR against capitalist attack, we Trotskyists fight for political revolution in the USSR to restore the liberating program and goals of the early Bolsheviks, including getting the state out of private sexual life. As Grigorii Batkis, director of the Moscow Institute of Social Hygiene, pointed out in "The Sexual Revolution in Russia," published in the USSR in 1923:
"Soviet legislation bases itself on the following principle:

'It declares the absolute non-interference of the state and society into sexual matters so long as nobody isinjured and no one's interests are encroached upon

"Concerning homosexuality, sodomy, and various other forms of sexual gratification, which are set down in European legislation as offenses against public morality—Soviet legislation treats these exactly the same as so-called 'natural' intercourse. All forms of sexual intercourse are private matters." [emphasis in original]

—quoted in John Lauritsen and David Thorstad, The Early Homosexual Rights Movement 1864-1935

*From The Pages Of "Workers Vanguard"- Full Citizenship Rights For All Immigrants!- A Guest Commentary

Click on the headline to link to a "Workers Vanguard" article, dated April 27, 2007 in defense of full citizenship rights for all immigrants.

Markin comment:

In a country that has seen many successive waves of mass immigration from all corners of this earth the demand in the headline and as detailed in the article seems like the beginning of wisdom rather than the "red meat" issue that the right-wing yahoos have made it.

*Looking For America- De Tocqueville's 19th Century America- A Guest Book Review

Click on the headline to link to a "Sunday Boston Globe" article, dated April 18, 2010 reviewing Leo Damrosch's "Tocqueville's Discovery Of America".

Markin comment:

When I was nothing but a run-of the mill Americans For Democratic Action (ADA) left liberal youth in the 1960s I spent many an hour reading and figuring out ways to use deTocqueville’s “Democracy In America” in arguments with Goldwater Republican-types. The core of the argument centered on the collective plebeian experiences that de Tocqueville noted in his travels in the 1830s as quintessentially American and that I was foolish enough to believe still were operative in post -World War II America. Silly me.

Now, today, I do not cast aspirations on deTocqueville’s work, such as it was, because he was an outsider, a tourist really. Some of the most insightful and trenchant commentaries have come from such sources. But, rather, because whatever limited observations he made back in the day are indeed pretty well worn out by now. Thus, I become infuriated at later day devotees, liberal and conservative alike, who drag out his name and works, seemingly at every opportunity, to prove that American is the best thing since the invention of the wheel, or as Lincoln said “the last best hope of mankind”.

I will say two words that will put paid to that notion. Iraq and Afghanistan. If you need more I will be happy to oblige. Notwithstanding that if you have not read de Tocqueville and are looking for a different look at this tired old subject this does not seem to be a bad place to look. But, please, read something by Karl Marx to get the real ‘skinny’ on what modern American society is really all about.

Stand In Solidarity With The Egyptian People- Down With The Mubarak Government- Fight For A Workers Government!

Click on the headline to link to an Associated Press online article on a protest demonstration in Cambridge in solidarity with the Egyptian people.

Markin comment:

This is a swiftly moving story, and much is rather murky about what the forces in the street want beyond getting rid of Mubarak (a worthy goal in its own right). What does not look promising at the moment is the emergence of even a secular democratic movement much less a pro-socialist one. A lot of this looks an awful lot like Iran 1979 and we know where that led. But for now though-Stand In Solidarity With The Egyptian People- Down With The Mubarak Government- Fight For A Workers Government!

*From "The Rag Blog"- Harry Targ On Robert Gibbs And His "Professional Left" Comment- "The Spectre Of Communism Is Haunting...Obama?"

Click on the headline to link to a The Rag Blog entry on the flap over White House's Robert Gibbs' remarks on "professional leftists."

Markin comment:

I freely admire that, after great efforts, much medication (including more than one whiskey-soaked night), and a couple or twenty therapy sessions a few years ago I seriously tried to follow closely the arcane, and frankly boring, every day minutia of bourgeois politics, especially during the never-ending election campaign cycles. I also freely admit that I gave it up in “defeat”; I waved the white flag and returned to the warm comfort of communist propaganda writing. Apparently blogger Harry Targ has not given up on that ghost. My hat is off to Brother Targ, he has better nerves than I do. And also a tip of the hat for his commentary, although his political prospective seems rather murky and, well, totally electoral.

Now here is a view from the “professional left” that will really make old Robert Gibbs’ hair stand on edge. It’s that old “spectre of communism” tag in the headline that will really cause him a few sleepless nights. Let’s start with Obama-Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops And Mercenaries From Afghanistan and Iraq! And move on to fight for a workers party that fights for a workers government based on workers councils! So you see for this “professional leftist” it is not even about Obama (shocking, really shocking, as that might seem at the White House) but talking over their heads to the desperately-seeking-solutions working masses. Whatever made them (the Obamians) think it was about them. A couple of years ago we called it by the name Bush, so only the name has changed.

*The Latest From The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee- Free Lynne Stewart (And Her Co-Workers-translator Mohamed Yousry and paralegal Ahmed Abdel) Now!

Click on the headline to link to the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee- Free Lynne Stewart (And Her Co-Workers) Now!

Markin comment:

This is exactly the right day to call for freedom, a real call for freedom in 2010. This is a no brainer- Free our sister and her two co-workers (translator Mohamed Yousry and paralegal Ahmed Abdel Sattar)now!

*From "The Rag Blog"- Professor Bill Ayers On His Right To Free Expression- Let Him Speak Wherever He Wants To- A Guest Commentary

Click on the headline to link to a "The Rag Blog" entry by guest blogger, Professor Bill Ayers (yes, that Bill Ayers), on his trials and tribulations trying to exercise his basic right to free expression (and of those who want to hear him). Let him speak wherever he want to and wherever people want to listen to him. This is a no-brainer.

Markin comment:

I have already written about Professor Ayers problems when he came to, or tried to come to, Boston College in the Spring of 2009. I have reposted that entry below.


Tuesday, April 07, 2009

*Hands Off Professor Bill Ayers- Let Him Speak

Click on title to link to "Boston Globe", April 2, 2009, article on Professor Bill Ayers discussed below.

Commentary

Okay, Okay I know that I have invoked the word professor ironically and in a somewhat tongue in cheek manner in discussing controversial Professor Bill Ayers in this space as an object lesson about the career paths of 1960’s ex-radicals once they have reconciled themselves to bourgeois society. Naturally when his name came up prominently in relation to the emergence of then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama I could not resist sticking a few well-deserved barbs Ayers’ way. But they were rather politically pointed barbs from the left about why an ex-Weatherman would be hanging around with a bourgeois candidate on the make like Obama.

But now news (somewhat dated news as I have been out of town and did not pick up the controversy until after it was over) about Boston College’s thinly- veiled slap at academic freedom by refusing to let the good professor speak in person or via satellite has crossed the line, even for the very arbitrary and capricious of so-called “academic freedom”. This is, moreover, is not solely a case of right wing commentators having a field day with the issue, although a local “Rush Limbaugh” wannabe helped fan the flames. I am sure that the right-wingers were more than happy when the Boston College administration decided to keep the academy and the minds of their young charges there “pure” from the taint of any old time radical. However, this is just one more in an ever- growing line of cases (think of Ward Churchill and the Finklestein case) where a college administration was more than capable, as in the past, of putting the clamps on by itself.

Here are the facts. Apparently, Professor Ayers was scheduled to deliver some kind of lecture on urban education (his specialty) at Boston College during the week of March 29, 2009 at the invitation of some student groups, including the College Democrats of Boston College. Such lectures by newsworthy figures are not unknown events on college campuses and moreover are a rather lucrative proposition for professors on the academic lecture circuit. The Boston College administration balked at that invitation citing a groundswell of opposition from local neighbors. Why? It seems that there is some lingering animosity concerning the shooting of a Boston Police officer by people allegedly connected with Professor Ayers’ old organization, the Weathermen. Professor Ayers, however, has never been charged, much less convicted, with any connection to that crime.

Why the furor then? Well, the Boston College administration, bowing to those inevitable amorphous unknown forces (although we can guess what those forces are now, can’t we), expressed its profound concern for the safety of the student community and “respect” for the local community (where it has been busily buying up real estate in order to expand its campus). Well, ho hum we have heard that ‘justification’ before. The kicker here on this bogus ‘safety’ issue is that when a televised Ayers lecture by satellite was proposed that too was deemed too “hot” to handle.

What really gives here though? One of the students in the article I am using for information (“BC won’t air Ayers lecture by satellite”, Boston Globe, Peter Schworm, April 2, 2009) let the cat out of the bag. This Ayers controversy, while an easy one for the administration to raise holy hell over, is not the first time that the BC administration has vetoed speaking engagements for controversial figures on campus. That interviewed student did not state who else had been banned but we can figure that one out also.

Needless to say birthday boy Charles Darwin might find it hard to get invited to this august university what with his oddball quirky theory of evolution (BC is an old-time Jesuit school). Much less the heroic Kansas Doctor George Tiller, one of the few abortion providers in that state (they would probably have a lynch mob out for him). So much for that vaunted “academic freedom”. Fortunately we never took that profession of freedom as anything but a very vulnerable “right”, although we gladly use it to get our socialist message out when we can. We remember the “red scare” of the 1950’s here in America when the academy knuckled under without a whimper. And, left to its own devises, most of the academy would have loved to have clapped down during the anti-Vietnam war movement; it was just too big and got way beyond the ability of campus administrations to effectively curtail it. Let us not kid ourselves on that score.

But what about Professor Bill Ayers? Apparently this Boston College incident is not the first college where some furor that has dogged him. I do not, at this time, have the details of Ayers’ other problems at other campuses. However, I heard him last November, just after the 2008 elections when he was touting his revised memoir, on the “Terry Gross Show” on NPR (as any Boston College student could have done, as well). He seemed none too radical in his presentation of his current politics which were tired garden variety left-Democratic Party ones that we have become all too familiar with from repentant radicals, although to his credit he did not abase himself in denial of his revolutionary past. Nor should he have. We were dealing with serious war criminals then in the Johnson/Nixon wielding the most powerful military machine/police apparatus the world has ever known in case one has forgotten or wasn’t around then. For now though. Hands Off Professor Ayers! - Let him speak on politics, education or whatever the hell he wants to talk about. Anywhere.

*The Latest From The "Daily Kos" Website- Know Thy Enemy

Click on the title to link to the "Daily Kos" home page. This site is valuable, mainly, to get the polls and other technical information that major American bourgeois party politics thrives on.

Markin comment:

This site is for bourgeois techno-politicos. At one time I would have stayed up all night to read this stuff. Fortunately, serious politics by Marx, Lenin and Trotsky saved my young hide. Still, "know thy enemy" (and what he or she is up to) is a good political policy, no matter the times.

*From The "SteveLendmanBlog"- "America's Permanent War Agenda"- A Guest Commentary

Click on the headline to link to the "SteveLendmanBlog" to read the above-mentioned entry.

Markin comment:

It is always good, and this is why I like this site to get the names and numbers of those who have created, and continue to create, the imperial hubris- and then move on to oppose them-hard.

*From The "Socialist Worker"- Updated Reports On The March 4th Day Of Actions- Guest Commentaries

Click on the headline to link to a "Socialist Worker" Website for updates on the events around March 4th-Defend Public Education Day Of Action.

*The March 4th Day Of Action Facebook

Click on the headline to link to the "March 4th Day Of Action" Facebook page

*From The "American Insurgency" Blog- "Oh, Brother"- A Commentary On Pat Robertson

Click on the title to link to an "American Insurgency" blog entry of note.

*Down With The Federal Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA)- The Legal Fights Steps Up

Click ON Title To Link To National Public Radio Segment On The Legal Fight By The Massachusetts Attorney-General To Challenge The Federal Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA). Needless to say, while we have a different strategic (and political) approach to this vital democratic question all avenues, state and local, legal and on the streets, to gain this right are supportable. Down With DOMA!

*Down With The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Anti-Gay And Lesbian Military Policy

Click ON Title To Link To National Public Radio's Segment On The Fight To Have The Obama Administration Overturn The Clinton-era Policy. This space is unequivocally opposed to every aspect of American militarism and the expanding American imperial presence in the world. That is a knock-down, drag-out fight to the finish. No question about that. Nevertheless, we uphold the democratic rights of those who are in the service. While in the military those who serve, whatever else, are entitled to the same benefits as anyone who serves. Down with this policy now.

*Oppose The Military Coup In Honduras, Ahora- A Guest Commentary

Click On Title To Link To Guest Commentary Concerning The Struggle Against The Recent Military Takeover In Honduras.

Markin Commentary

Some of the points I agree, some not. The situation there, especially from this distance, seems somewhat murky. Especially suspect are the leftist populist credentials of the deposed Zelaya and his actions to gain reelection (or at least run for reelection). But know this, we leftists (and here I mean socialists, anarchists and both branches of the communist movement (including the Communist International before its Stalinist degeneration), Stalinist And Trotskyist, have been sometimes too slow to oppose military takeovers of democratically-elected governments. And , on occasion too quick to support certain so-called leftist military one like in China and Bulgaria in the 1920's. Yes, we want our day but that does not mean that today we are indifferent to the norms of bourgeois democracy. In Honduras we oppose the military junta, if for no other reason than we can work better for our socialist goals and easier under bourgeois norms than the norms of military rule. I will have more to say on this later. For now though the immediate thread of our work (and slogans) should be to fight for the return of the democratic norms linked to the struggle for a workers republic-ahora.

*Guest Commentary-"The Future Of Same-Sex Marriage"- A "New York Review Of Books" Article By David Cole

Click On Title To Link To July 2, 2009 "New York Review Of Books" Article Entitled "The Same-Sex Future" By David Cole That Gives An Update On This Struggle And A Capsule Of The Various Positions On The Issue.

*The Other “Milk” Film- “The Times Of Harvey Milk”

Click On Title To Link To Wikipedia's Entry On Harvey Milk.

The Other “Milk” Film- “The Times Of Harvey Milk”

Originally reviewed in 2009 on the 25th Anniversary of “The Times Of Harvey Milk” documentary.

DVD Review

The Times Of Harvey Milk, Harvey, George Moscone and others, 1984

In the recent hoopla over the commercial film “Milk”, about the political rise and assassination (along with the Mayor, George Moscone) of the first acknowledged openly gay politician, San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and the Oscar-worthy performance by actor Sean Penn this little film documentary has been overshadowed. This is unfortunate on two counts. First, this film won, on its own merits, an Oscar, as well, for the Best Documentary of 1984. Secondly, for those with a political perspective, especially those with a leftist perspective, this documentary is a more satisfying and instructive film about the limitations of electoral politics as a vehicle for the advancement of any oppressed sector of society.

(See "Honor Stonewall" headline on this date for the following article.)Below the headline for this review I have placed a link to a 2009 review of “Milk” by Amy Rath, editor of the Women and revolution pages of the working class newspaper “Workers Vanguard”. The points made there about the limitations of sectoral politics by segments of the oppressed are close to my own views and therefore I will merely make a few comments here about some other points of interest in the film.

This documentary is driven by footage of the events that led up to Harvey Milk’s political victory, his term of office, short as it was, the events surrounding the trial of his murderer, fellow Supervisor Dan White
And the outrage, justifiably so, of the gay community and others, over the jury verdict in the case (manslaughter). As is the nature of such efforts there are the inevitable “talking heads” who give their take on Milk, the meaning of his political life, some personal observations and comments by those who were influenced by, or worked politically with, Milk.

Two of the commentators stick out. One, a lesbian professor from San Francisco State (I think) gives an overview of what the Milk campaign meant for the gay community and the struggle for political power in one city. The other, an old time local labor leader (important in a big labor town, at least at that time), who, seemingly kicking and screaming, came to admire Harvey Milk. One should pay careful attention to his comments even a quarter of a century later as, despite some real gains made by the gay and lesbian rights movement, there is nevertheless still a ”culture gap” that he expressed very well about his attitude toward gays before working with Milk and that is not uncommon, if politically incorrect, in many neighborhoods today.

Twenty five years after the release of this film how does the legacy of Harvey Milk’s work stand up? I don’t mean the limitations of the parliamentary (and legal) road to social reform. That is covered in the Rath article on “Milk”. I have also dealt with the question in other contexts around the women’s liberation struggle, the black liberation struggle and other questions of strategic importance to the struggle for a more just society. Rather I want to finish here with a little comment about Harvey Milk, the gay man. From this documentary it is clear that he was very political, very committed to the struggle for gays rights, not afraid, as in the case of Proposition 6 (the 1978 effects by some right-wingers to exclude homosexuals from the public teaching profession), to tackle the yahoos and had a certain charisma. In short, all the attributes of any politico (at least a potentially successful one). But that is neither here nor there. What I think Milk’s short political life ultimately means was caught in the speech included in the film that he made after that Proposition 6 defeat where he called on all gays and lesbians to “come out of the closet’’ ( as seemingly quaint term now but very advanced then) and fight the yahoos wherever they are and wherever you are. That, my friends, despite my differences of political strategy with the late Harvey Milk is very good advise indeed.

*Hollywood's "Harvey Milk" vs. The Other Milk Film- “The Times Of Harvey Milk”

Click on title to link to a left wing review of the Hollywood-produced film starring Oscar-winner Sean Penn by Amy Rath in the "Women And Revolution" of "Workers Vanguard".

Markin comment:

I have decided to let the comments below stand for my appreciation of the Hollywood production of "Milk" starring Sean Penn. Politically there is much more to learn from the "other" Milk film although "Milk" had some interesting points and Penn certainly earned his Oscar.

************

The Other “Milk” Film- “The Times Of Harvey Milk”

Originally reviewed in 2009 on the 25th Anniversary of “The Times Of Harvey Milk” documentary.

DVD Review

The Times Of Harvey Milk, Harvey, George Moscone and others, 1984

In the recent hoopla over the commercial film “Milk”, about the political rise and assassination (along with the Mayor, George Moscone) of the first acknowledged openly gay politician, San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and the Oscar-worthy performance by actor Sean Penn this little film documentary has been overshadowed. This is unfortunate on two counts. First, this film won, on its own merits, an Oscar, as well, for the Best Documentary of 1984. Secondly, for those with a political perspective, especially those with a leftist perspective, this documentary is a more satisfying and instructive film about the limitations of electoral politics as a vehicle for the advancement of any oppressed sector of society.

(See "Honor Stonewall" headline on this date for the following article.)Below the headline for this review I have placed a link to a 2009 review of “Milk” by Amy Rath, editor of the Women and revolution pages of the working class newspaper “Workers Vanguard”. The points made there about the limitations of sectoral politics by segments of the oppressed are close to my own views and therefore I will merely make a few comments here about some other points of interest in the film.

This documentary is driven by footage of the events that led up to Harvey Milk’s political victory, his term of office, short as it was, the events surrounding the trial of his murderer, fellow Supervisor Dan White
And the outrage, justifiably so, of the gay community and others, over the jury verdict in the case (manslaughter). As is the nature of such efforts there are the inevitable “talking heads” who give their take on Milk, the meaning of his political life, some personal observations and comments by those who were influenced by, or worked politically with, Milk.

Two of the commentators stick out. One, a lesbian professor from San Francisco State (I think) gives an overview of what the Milk campaign meant for the gay community and the struggle for political power in one city. The other, an old time local labor leader (important in a big labor town, at least at that time), who, seemingly kicking and screaming, came to admire Harvey Milk. One should pay careful attention to his comments even a quarter of a century later as, despite some real gains made by the gay and lesbian rights movement, there is nevertheless still a ”culture gap” that he expressed very well about his attitude toward gays before working with Milk and that is not uncommon, if politically incorrect, in many neighborhoods today.

Twenty five years after the release of this film how does the legacy of Harvey Milk’s work stand up? I don’t mean the limitations of the parliamentary (and legal) road to social reform. That is covered in the Rath article on “Milk”. I have also dealt with the question in other contexts around the women’s liberation struggle, the black liberation struggle and other questions of strategic importance to the struggle for a more just society. Rather I want to finish here with a little comment about Harvey Milk, the gay man. From this documentary it is clear that he was very political, very committed to the struggle for gays rights, not afraid, as in the case of Proposition 6 (the 1978 effects by some right-wingers to exclude homosexuals from the public teaching profession), to tackle the yahoos and had a certain charisma. In short, all the attributes of any politico (at least a potentially successful one). But that is neither here nor there. What I think Milk’s short political life ultimately means was caught in the speech included in the film that he made after that Proposition 6 defeat where he called on all gays and lesbians to “come out of the closet’’ ( as seemingly quaint term now but very advanced then) and fight the yahoos wherever they are and wherever you are. That, my friends, despite my differences of political strategy with the late Harvey Milk is very good advise indeed.

*The Way Forward In Iran- A Guest Commentary By Alan Woods

Click On Title To Link To Alan Wood's Guest Commentary On The Situation In Iran That I Thought May Be Of Interest To The Radical (And Progressive) Public. Some Points I Would Agree With, Others Not. One Thing Is Sure. We Have To Defend Those Who Today Are Fighting On The Streets Against The Mullahs. This Seems To Be The Dividing Line (Fight Or Conciliate With The Mullahs) Between The Murkily Defined Factions That Are Emerging From The Opposition.

*Defend The Iranian Demonstrators- Thirty Years Is Enough-Down With The Mullahs

Click On Title To Link To Associated Press Article, Dated June 20, 2009, Concerning The Continuing Demonstrations Against The Allegedly Fraudulent Recent Electoral Results In The Iranian Presidential Elections.

Commentary

From this distance it is hard to tell exactly what the aims of the demonstrators are other than to change the electoral results in favor of their candidate, Mousavi. The question of bringing down the Islamic Republic, at least by the main factions and certainly by Mousavi's actions, does not appear to be a goal today. However, the information coming out of Tehran is confusing at best and, moreover, coming from sources of unknown reliability (for us, not for the traditional world media).

One thing is clear though. We defend these demonstrators against the batons of the Iranian state, its religious hierarchy and its military and para-military agents. To the extend that these demonstrators, at least some of them, are calling for an end to the Islamic Republic we support that demand. Back in 1979 we called, at least those of us who were fighting against the Western leftist and progressive camp's illusions in the mullahs then, for "Down With The Shah and Down With The Mullahs!" Today's cry is "Down With The Mullahs!". For a Socialist Iran as part of a regional socialist federation! More, much more on this as events unfold.