*From The Archives Of Bolshevik Anti-War Work- V.I. Lenin On Imperialist War And The Tasks Of Socialists

Click on the title to link to an important political polemic by Vladimir Lenin concerning the fight against imperialist war and the tasks of socialists.

*Barack Obama Ain't No Bolshevik, He Ain't Even A Menshevik

Click on the title to link to a "The Boston Globe" article, dated January 30, 2010, in which American President Barack Obama defends himself against Republican charges that his ill-fated (and totally inadequate) health care program is a "Bolshevik plot".


Markin comment:

“A specter is haunting Europe- the specter of communism … "(from the start of the Marxist classic, “The Communist Manifesto”)

Most of the time the entries in this blog, givens its purposes, require me to think about some long lost historical event that needs to be mentioned or to recall some political memory that may be of help in today’s struggle for our communist future. Every once in a while though, and fairly infrequently of late, the daily news serves that purpose. The latest internal capitalist ruling class squabble between President Barack Obama and a caucus of Republican congressmen down in Baltimore the other day is a case in point. As part of the proceedings Mr. Obama felt the need to defend himself from the crackpot old-time Cold War charges of being a “Bolshevik”. This comment will serve as a certificate of authenticity that, indeed, President Obama is not a Bolshevik, has never been a Bolshevik, and has never knowingly uttered the names Vladimir Lenin or Leon Trotsky in mixed company, or in his sleep.

Actually, my first reaction on reading the “news” of “comrade” Imperial Commander-in-Chief Obama’s conversion to hard communist politics was to question the quality of the drinking water in Maryland, or the quality of the dope and booze, or the air ventilation system down at that resort. The last time anyone used the word “Bolshevik” in American presidential politics was probably back in Woodrow Wilson’s time, around the time of the Russian October Revolution of 1917, and then only to justify running every known red, radical or Wobblie they could get their hands on out of the country. That happened in a capitalist reactionary panic but things settled down a little shortly thereafter as the American republic entered the “Jazz Age”. Today, twenty years after the demise of the Soviet Union, that characterization in “high” bourgeois politics is crazy, right? All this brouhaha has done is increased exponentially the number of hits on the “Wikipedia” site for the “Bolshevik” entry for those millions of people who are clueless about what the reference is all about.

I will just give, for the readers here who may not know, a very quick snapshot of what a Bolshevik is and see if the shoe fits the President. A Bolshevik is from that wing (the Leninist wing) of the pre-World War I Russian social-democracy that stood on the ground, one way or the other, that the workers, supported by the peasants, would lead the impeding social revolution. The Mensheviks, and I mean no dishonor to one of the left leaders of that wing of Russian social democracy, Julius Martov, who would, like Lenin and Trotsky, turn over in his grave to be compared to a two-bit bourgeois politician like Obama, preferred that the liberal capitalists lead the revolution in economically backward Russia. Does that dispute within the Russian social democracy over the stages of the course of REVOLUTION sound anything like any of the sound bites coming out of Maryland? Or Washington?

Additionally, the Bolsheviks, when the deal went down in 1917, stood for the expropriation of the banks, not bailing them out. For worker control of socialized industrial, leaving the capitalist owners to cooperate or leave. For land to the tiller including the breakup of the large landed estates, with or without the landlord’s consent. For free, quality health care for all, not a bonanza for the insurance industry. And, most importantly, for our immediate tasks here today in America, an end to Russian participation in the imperial slaughter that was World War I, not sending troops to all four corners of the globe in the interests of the American imperial state. Not only does one Barack Obama not stand for those political propositions I do not believe that he is intellectually or emotionally capable of, and certainly his Republican opponents are not, of comprehending such a program.

President Obama can thus plead with a true heart “not guilty” (we will not accept that “no lo” plea that is the natural refuge of bourgeois politicians) to any such thoughts. In fact, the only nodding acquaintance that any of the parties in this current flare-up might have with Bolshevik practice is their version of the organizational principle of democratic centralism, that is once a decision is made by the group then publicly its stand behind that one line. The one line here that these two wings of the capitalist class agree on is- capitalism must be defended to the bitter end. So there is a little modicum of rationality to their worry about Bolshevism but it is not from the Obama White House. That will come from those red flag-draped masses, now beaten down, isolated, and frustrated, that will be coming to their doors if they decide to get in our way when the time for real Bolsheviks to show their stuff comes around.

*The Latest From The Lynne Stewart Defense Committee- Lynne Stewart Must Not Die In Jail

Click on the title to link to the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee.


Markin comment:

Lynne Stewart must not die in prison! Free Lynne Stewart and her co-workers now!

*The Opening Salvos Of The Spring Anti-War Offensive- From The New England United Website

Click on the title to link to a schedule of speakers and topics at the the New England United Anti-war Conference held on January 30, 2010 at MIT in Cambridge, Ma.

Markin comment:

I will be discussing the issues presented and the strategy, such as it is, agreed upon in later comments.

*From The Green Left Global News" Blog- On The American Policy On Gays In The Military- Dump It Now!

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline

*From The "HistoMat" Blog- On The Upcoming British Elections

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline

*From The "Renegade Eye" Blog- Alan Woods On The Heroic Anti-Roman Imperialist Fighter-Slave General Spartacus

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline

*From The "HistoMat" Blog- On The Passing Of Another Folkie- Alistair Hulett

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline

*Fron The "HistoMat' Blog- On Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline.

*From The Green Left Global News" Blog- From The Pen Of The Late Radical Activist Howard Zinn

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline.

*From The "HistoMat" Blog- On The Late American Radical Activist Howard Zinn

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline.

*From The "Green Left Global News" Blog - A Guest Commentary

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline.

*From The "Green Left Global News" Blog- A Guest Commentary

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline.

*From The "StevenLendmanBlog"- On Palestine

Click on the title to link to the guest blog entry mentioned in the headline.

*On The Question Of Organizing For A Major National Anti-War Rally This Spring – A Commentary

Click on the title to link to the "New England United" Web site, the umbrella anti-war organization that is a key regional sponsor of the March 20th rally in Washington, D.C. mentioned in the commentary.

Markin comment:

In a recent blog entry, “As The 2010 Anti-War Season Heats Up- A Note On "The Three Whales" For A Class Struggle Fight Against Obama’s Wars”, dated January 19, 2010, I put forth a few ideas, particularly around the concept of forming anti-war soldiers and sailors solidarity committees, that the circle of anti-war militants that I work with locally are committed to pursuing this year as the struggle against War-monger-in-Chief Obama’s Afghan war policies takes shape. The elephant in the room that was missing in that laundry list of tasks enumerated in the entry was any notion of supporting a national mass anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. this spring, now scheduled, as usual, for the anniversary of the start of the Iraq war in 2003, March 20th. And there is a good and sufficient reason for that omission. The circle is split on an orientation toward that event. Thus, the comment that follows in favor of organizing for and building such an endeavor and putting some resources and energy into the event is my own personal take on the question, fair or foul.

Certainly, given the priorities listed in that previous blog entry mentioned above, it would be quite easy to walk away from serious organizing for, getting transportation for, making housing arrangements for, and the thousand and one details that go into providing a contingent for a national march or rally. Moreover, as has been argued in the circle by a number of militants, to do so for just one more garden variety of a seemingly endless (and fruitless) series of mass marches over the past several years. And normally I would agree with that analysis, especially once it became clear that the main strategy of those groups who call such national marches is to make such events the main, and exclusive, point of extra-parliamentary opposition to the war. Or worst, see these things as an effective political tool for “pressuring” politicians, especially “progressive” Democrats (if there are any left, as of late). Pleassee...

Hear me out on this one though. President Obama made his dramatic announcement for a major Afghan troop escalation on December 1, 2009. That, along with a less publicized build-up in February 2009, and the odd brigade deployed here or there since has meant that the troop totals-I will not even bother to count “contractors”, for the simple reason that who knows what those numbers really are. I don’t, do you?- are almost double those that ex-President Bush nearly had his head handed to him on a platter for in the notorious troop “surge” of 2007. And the response to Obama’s chest-thumping war-mongering. Nada. Or almost nothing, except a small demonstration in Washington on December 12th with the “usual cast of suspects” (Kucinich, McKinney, et.al) and a few hundred attendees and small local demonstrations around the country.

Now this might seem like an slam-dunk argument for wasting no more time on the spring rally tactic. And that argument is enticing. But, as a veteran of way too many of these demos, and as a militant who has spilled no small amount of ink arguing against the endless rally strategy on many previous occasions, I still like the idea of a spring march. First, because Obama needs to know that those on his left, particularly those who supported him in the 2008 election cycle are more than just passively angry at him for the Afghan troop escalation. And that is important even if the numbers do not match those of the Bush era. Secondly, those of us on the extra-parliamentary left need to see who those disenchanted Obamians are. If we are going to be successful we have to get our fair share of these left-liberals before they ditch politics altogether. And lastly, as the bikers and gang members say- “we have to show our colors”. Large or small we need to see what we look like. All those may not be individually, in the end, sufficient reasons but I will say this to finish up. Unless you plan to have an anti-war demonstration outside the gates of places like the military bases at Fort Bragg, Fort Hood, Fort Drum, and Fort Lewis in which case I will be more than happy to mark you present and accounted for you should be in Washington on March 20th. And ready to fight around the slogan – Obama- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal of all U.S./Allied Troops and Mercenaries from Iraq and Afghanistan!

*Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By-Tom Waits' "I Wish I Was In New Orleans"

Click on the title to link a "YouTube" film clip of Tom Waits performing "I Wish I Was In New Orleans"

In this series, presented under the headline “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By”, I will post some songs that I think will help us get through the “dog days” of the struggle for our communist future. I do not vouch for the political thrust of the songs; for the most part they are done by pacifists, social democrats, hell, even just plain old ordinary democrats. And, occasionally, a communist, although hard communist musicians have historically been scarce on the ground. Thus, here we have a regular "popular front" on the music scene. While this would not be acceptable for our political prospects, it will suffice for our purposes here.

Lyrics to I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In The Ninth Ward) :

Well, I wish I was in New Orleans, I can see it in my dreams,
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy, a bottle and my friends and me

Hoist up a few tall cool ones, play some pool and listen
To that tenor saxophone calling me home
And I can hear the band begin "When the Saints Go Marching In",
And by the whiskers on my chin, New Orleans, I'll be there

I'll drink you under the table, be red-nosed, go for walks,
The old haunts what I wants is red beans and rice
And wear the dress I like so well, and meet me at the old saloon,
Make sure that there's a Dixie moon, New Orleans, I'll be there

And deal the cards roll the dice, if it ain't that old Chuck E. Weiss,
And Claiborne Avenue, me and you Sam Jones and all

And I wish I was in New Orleans, 'cause I can see it in my dreams,
Arm-in-arm down Burgundy, a bottle and my friends and me
New Orleans, I'll be there

*Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By-Tom Waits' "Small Change"

Click on the title to link a "YouTube" film clip of Tom Waits performing "Small Change".

In this series, presented under the headline “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By”, I will post some songs that I think will help us get through the “dog days” of the struggle for our communist future. I do not vouch for the political thrust of the songs; for the most part they are done by pacifists, social democrats, hell, even just plain old ordinary democrats. And, occasionally, a communist, although hard communist musicians have historically been scarce on the ground. Thus, here we have a regular "popular front" on the music scene. While this would not be acceptable for our political prospects, it will suffice for our purposes here.


Tom Waits Small Change lyrics

(Got Rained on with His Own .38)
Well small change got rained on with his own .38
and nobody flinched down by the arcade
and the marquise weren't weeping
they went stark-raving mad
and the cabbies were the only ones
that really had it made
and his cold trousers were twisted,
and the sirens high and shrill
and crumpled in his fist was a five-dollar bill
and the naked mannikins with their
cheshire grins
and the raconteurs
and roustabouts said buddy
come on in
cause the dreams ain't broken down here now
now ...they're walking with a limp
now that
small change got rained on with his own .38
and nobody flinched down by the arcade
and the burglar alarm's been disconnected
and the newsmen start to rattle
and the cops are tellin' jokes
about some whore house in Seattle
and the fire hydrants plead the 5th Amendment
and the furniture's bargains galore
but the blood is by the jukebox
on an old linoleum floor
and it's a hot rain on 42nd Street
and now the umbrellas ain't got a chance
And the newsboy's a lunatic
with stains on his pants cause
small change got rained on with his own .38
and no one's gone over to close his eyes
and there's a racing form in his pocket
circled Blue Boots in the 3rd
and the cashier at the clothing store
he didn't say a word as the
siren tears the night in half
and someone lost his wallet
well it's surveillance of assailants
if that's whatchawannacallit
and the whores hike up their skirts
and fish for drug-store prophylactics*
with their mouths cut just like
razor blades and their eyes are like stilettos
and her radiator's steaming
and her teeth are in a wreck
now she won't let you kiss her
but what the hell do you expect
and the Gypsies are tragic and if you
wanna to buy perfume, well
they'll bark you down like
carneys... sell you Christmas cards in June
but...
small change got rained on with his own .38
and his headstone's
a gumball machine
no more chewing gum
or baseball cards or
overcoats or dreams and
someone is hosing down the sidewalk
and he's only in his teens
small change got rained on with his own .38
and a fistful of dollars can't change that
and someone copped his watch fob
and someone got his ring
and the newsboy got his porkpie Stetson hat
and the tuberculosis old men
at the Nelson wheeze and cough
and someone will head south
until this whole thing cools off cause
small change got rained on with his own .38
yea small change got rained on with his own .38

*Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By-Tom Waits' "Tom Traubert's Blues"

Click on the title to link a "YouTube" film clip of Tom Waits performing "Tom Traubert's Blues".

In this series, presented under the headline “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By”, I will post some songs that I think will help us get through the “dog days” of the struggle for our communist future. I do not vouch for the political thrust of the songs; for the most part they are done by pacifists, social democrats, hell, even just plain old ordinary democrats. And, occasionally, a communist, although hard communist musicians have historically been scarce on the ground. Thus, here we have a regular "popular front" on the music scene. While this would not be acceptable for our political prospects, it will suffice for our purposes here.

Tom Traubert's Blues
(Tom Waits 1976)

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did
Got what I paid for now
See ya tomorrow, hey Frank can I borrow
A couple of bucks from you?
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
And tired of all these soldiers here
No one speaks English and everything's broken
And my Stacys are soaking wet
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

Now the dogs are barking and the taxi cab's parking
A lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me, you tore my shirt open
And I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmill's I staggered, you buried the dagger
Your silhouette window light
To go waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

Now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her
And the one-armed bandit knows
And the maverick Chinaman and the cold-blooded signs
And the girls down by the strip-tease shows
Go, waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

No, I don't want your sympathy
The fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now
Manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories
They want a piece of the action anyhow
Go, waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

And you can ask any sailor and the keys from the jailor
And the old men in wheelchairs know
That Matilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred
And she follows wherever you may go
Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll go a waltzing Matilda with me

And it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
And a wound that will never heal
No prima donna, the perfume is on
An old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
And goodnight to the street sweepers
The night watchman flame keepers and goodnight to Matilda too

*Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By-Tom Waits' "The Ghost Of Saturday Night"

Click on the title to link a "YouTube" film clip of Tom Waits performing "The Ghost Of Saturday Night".

In this series, presented under the headline “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By”, I will post some songs that I think will help us get through the “dog days” of the struggle for our communist future. I do not vouch for the political thrust of the songs; for the most part they are done by pacifists, social democrats, hell, even just plain old ordinary democrats. And, occasionally, a communist, although hard communist musicians have historically been scarce on the ground. Thus, here we have a regular "popular front" on the music scene. While this would not be acceptable for our political prospects, it will suffice for our purposes here.

"The Ghosts of Saturday Night"

(After Hours at Napoleone's Pizza House)

A cab combs the snake,
Tryin' to rake in that last night's fare,
And a solitary sailor
Who spends the facts of his life
like small change on strangers...

Paws his inside P-coat pocket
for a welcome twenty-five cents,
And the last bent butt from a package of Kents,
As he dreams of a waitress with Maxwell House eyes
And marmalade thighs with scrambled yellow hair.

Her rhinestone-studded moniker says, "Irene"
As she wipes the wisps of dishwater blonde from her eyes

And the Texaco beacon burns on,
The steel-belted attendant with a 'Ring and Valve Special'...
Cryin' "Fill'er up and check that oil"
"You know it could be a distributor and it could be a coil."

The early mornin' final edition's on the stands,
And that town cryer's cryin' there with nickels in his hands.
Pigs in a blanket sixty-nine cents,
Eggs - roll 'em over and a package of Kents,
Adam and Eve on a log, you can sink 'em damn straight,
Hash browns, hash browns, you know I can't be late.

And the early dawn cracks out a carpet of diamond
Across a cash crop car lot
filled with twilight Coupe Devilles,
Leaving the town in a-keeping
Of the one who is sweeping
Up the ghost of Saturday night...

*Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By-Tom Waits' "Diamonds On My Windshield"

Click on the title to link a "YouTube" film clip of Tom Waits performing "Diamonds On My Windshield".

In this series, presented under the headline “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By”, I will post some songs that I think will help us get through the “dog days” of the struggle for our communist future. I do not vouch for the political thrust of the songs; for the most part they are done by pacifists, social democrats, hell, even just plain old ordinary democrats. And, occasionally, a communist, although hard communist musicians have historically been scarce on the ground. Thus, here we have a regular "popular front" on the music scene. While this would not be acceptable for our political prospects, it will suffice for our purposes here.

Tom Waits Diamonds On My Windshield Lyrics

Diamonds on my windshield
Tears from heaven
Pulling into town on the Interstate
Pulling a steel train in the rain
The wind bites my cheek through the wing
Fast flying, freway driving
Always makes me sing

There's a Duster tryin' to change my tune
Pulling up fast on the right
Rolling restlessly, twenty-four hour moon

Wisconsin hiker with a cue-ball head
Wishing he was home in a Wiscosin bed
Fifteen feet of snow in the East
Colder then a welldigger's ass

Oceanside it ends the ride, San Clemente coming up
Sunday desperadoes slip by, gas station closed,
Cruise with a dry back
Orange drive-in the neon billin'
Theatre's fillin' to the brim
Slave girls and a hot spurn bucket full of sin

Metropolitan area with interchange and connections
Fly-by-nights from Riverside
Black and white plates, out of state,
Running a little bit late

Sailors jockey for the fast lane
101 don't miss it
Rolling hills and concrete fields
The broken line's on your mind

Eights go east and the fives go north
The merging nexus back and forth
You see your sign, cross the line,
Signalling with a blink

The radio's gone off the air
Gives you time to think
You ease it out and you creep across
Intersection light goes out
You hear the rumble
As you fumble for a cigarette
Blazing through this midnight jungle
Remember someone that you met
One more block; the engine talks
And whispers 'home at last'
It whispers, whispers, whispers
'home at last', home at last