Action Alert!!! The trial of the Dallas 6 is going forward on Monday August 24. PACK THE COURT for

Please circulate widely!
	Action Alert!!! The trial of the Dallas 6 is going forward on Monday August 24.  PACK THE COURT for Pennsylvania Prisoner Whistleblowers Stop the abuse and torture of prisoners!
	The Dallas 6 are six African-American prisoners who, while in solitary confinement in SCI Dallas PA prison, blew the whistle on & peacefully protested against abuse and violence by prison guards.  They were charged with “rioting.”  Without the benefit of cell phones that have exposed police violence on the street, we are dependent on whistleblowers to expose abuse by guards behind bars.  After dragging on for five years, the trial of the remaining three Dallas 6 members begins on Aug 24 in Luzerne County (infamous for the “kids for cash” scandal).	Why support the Dallas 6? They are whistleblowers who put their lives on the line by taking action to stop the rampant abuse and violence by guards at SCI Dallas and other PA prisons. We all depend on prisoners like the Dallas 6 to tell the truth about our society and to defend all our civil and human rights. They are part of a movement of prisoners taking action and speaking out through hunger and work strikes such as in Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia and California. Torture must remain illegal in this country.  Charles Graner honed his torture skills in PA where he was a prison guard before moving on to Abu Ghraib.  We should not have to go to Iraq to find out what is happening here, not when there are prisoners telling it like it is. Solitary confinement is torture according to Juan Méndez, UN Special Rappateur on Torture, who has called for an absolute ban on solitary for longer than 15 days. Mass incarceration has meant many prisoners are inside for non-violent offenses such as minor drug convictions, immigration and parole violations & not paying fines, or are innocent of any offense. But whatever the offense, the sentence does not include torture.  Their trial is taking place in the infamous Luzerne ‘Kids for Cash’ County where judges were convicted of kickbacks for incarcerating children. Legal help is needed to navigate those dirty waters.
	What can you do? ► Help to pack the court on Aug 24.  Sign up here if you are planning to come, need or can offer housing or transportation. ► Set up a speaking engagement for Shandre and Derrick who give dynamic presentations (see video below).   ► Sign the Petition to Indict Corrupt Luzerne County Officials. ►  Make a Donation!
	Your support is needed to ensure that these men receive a fair trial, that the abuses that they faced in prison do not continue, and, for the legal precedent that this court case will establish. If the Dallas 6 are justifiably cleared of all charges Pennsylvania prisoners will be able to speak up against abuse and torture without fear of retaliation.  Derrick Stanley of the Dallas 6 (at right) with Shandre Delaney (center), mother of Carrington Keys of the Dallas 6 and campaign coordinator
	For more information   Video from Press Conference outside the courtroom on Nov. 10th    Community Forum featuring Shandre Delaney, Derrick Stanley, and Isaac Sanchez    Shandre Delaney in Truthout: Torture and Retaliation Against Prisoner Whistleblowers    Victoria Law in Solitary Watch, On Trial for Protesting Conditions in Solitary Confinement    Mumia Abu Jamal, The Dallas Six and earlier commentary     Shandre Delaney’s Thursdays 9:30pm blogtalkradio
	Justice for the Dallas 6 Support Campaign: Abolitionist Law Center; Every Mother is a Working Mother Network; Fight for Lifers West; Germantown Friends Meeting Mass Incarceration Working Group; Global Women’s Strike & Women of Color@GWS – US; Human Rights Coalition – Fed Up; Human Rights Coalition – Philadelphia; Marcellus Shale Earth First; Mishkan Shalom New Jim Crow Study-Action Group; Payday men’s network; Peacehome Campaigns; Shalefield Organizing Committee.  Endorsements: Brandywine Peace Community; California Families Against Solitary Confinement (CFASC); The Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC); Decarcerate PA; Defending Dissent Foundation; Global Women’s Strike & Women of Color@GWS – UK; Human Rights Defense Center – Lake Worth, Florida; Jewish Voice For Peace - Philadelphia; Sin Barras – Without (Prison) Bars – Santa Cruz; T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; WHAT’S UP?! Pittsburgh; Welfare Warriors; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) – Philadelphia. Individual Endorsements: Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Patrice Armstead, Building People’s Power and Coalition Demanding Reinstatement of Dr. Monteiro; Malik Aziz, Founder, Men United for a Better Philadelphia and Chairman, National Exhoodus Council; Pastor Antoinette Johnson, King Solomon Baptist Church; Dr. Anthony Monteiro; Rev. Bob Moore, Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action (for id purposes only); Dr. Heather Ann Thompson, Professor of African American Studies & History, Temple University; Dr. Cornel West, Princeton University; Dr. Carla Willard, Africana Studies Program, Franklin & Marshall College.  Partnering with: AFSC Prison Watch.
	Phone: 412-403-6101  Email: sd4hrc@gmail.com   Website: scidallas6.blogspot.com
	Background
	Six African-American prisoners from the State Correctional Institute (SCI) in Dallas, PA are facing charges of “rioting” for blowing the whistle on the abuse of prisoners in solitary confinement. On April 10, 2010, illegal and barbaric conditions at the hands of prison guards at SCI Dallas led these inmates, held in solitary confinement, to stage a protest. For over a year they had suffered food deprivation, destruction of mail, beatings, neglect of medical conditions, use of a torture chair and the deaths of some other prisoners, including the coerced suicide of an older white prisoner with mental health issues. After guards kept prisoner Isaac Sanchez confined in a torture chair overnight, six protested by covering their cell door windows with their bedding. The prisoners demanded that the abuse stop, and requested access to their counselors, state police, the District Attorney and the Public Defenders’ Office. They had no access to telephones or computers and their incoming and out-going mail were being destroyed to undermine their ability to expose the corruption. Prison guards responded with an armed assault against the unarmed men locked inside individual cells. They attacked the six men with electroshock shields, tasers, fists and pepper spray. The guards involved suffered no injuries and initially no charges were filed against the Dallas 6, who were left bloodied, naked, burnt and in pain. Although some of the men were transferred to other prisons, they were able to file complaints and initiate civil actions against the prison guards and officials involved. Prison officials, state police and the Luzerne County DA retaliated four months later by charging the Dallas 6 with rioting. The Dallas 6 believe that they are facing these trumped up charges because they contributed to Institutionalized Cruelty, Human Rights Coalition Report 1, and, then subsequently stood up for their lives, which is documented in Resistance & Retaliation, Report 2. The US has the largest prison population in the world with Black and Brown communities disproportionately impacted.  Prisoners across the US are taking action and speaking out against their inhumane and tortuous conditions, including prisoner hunger and work strikes in Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia and California. As a result of their actions, prisoners are retaliated against by prison authorities.  The trial of the Dallas 6 will represent a moment of truth and exposure about wide-spread use of solitary confinement and torture in prisons.   We call on all who believe in justice and equality to support the Dallas 6.

Action Alert!!! The trial of the Dallas 6 is going forward on Monday August 24. PACK THE COURT for

Please circulate widely!
	Action Alert!!! The trial of the Dallas 6 is going forward on Monday August 24.  PACK THE COURT for Pennsylvania Prisoner Whistleblowers Stop the abuse and torture of prisoners!
	The Dallas 6 are six African-American prisoners who, while in solitary confinement in SCI Dallas PA prison, blew the whistle on & peacefully protested against abuse and violence by prison guards.  They were charged with “rioting.”  Without the benefit of cell phones that have exposed police violence on the street, we are dependent on whistleblowers to expose abuse by guards behind bars.  After dragging on for five years, the trial of the remaining three Dallas 6 members begins on Aug 24 in Luzerne County (infamous for the “kids for cash” scandal).	Why support the Dallas 6? They are whistleblowers who put their lives on the line by taking action to stop the rampant abuse and violence by guards at SCI Dallas and other PA prisons. We all depend on prisoners like the Dallas 6 to tell the truth about our society and to defend all our civil and human rights. They are part of a movement of prisoners taking action and speaking out through hunger and work strikes such as in Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia and California. Torture must remain illegal in this country.  Charles Graner honed his torture skills in PA where he was a prison guard before moving on to Abu Ghraib.  We should not have to go to Iraq to find out what is happening here, not when there are prisoners telling it like it is. Solitary confinement is torture according to Juan Méndez, UN Special Rappateur on Torture, who has called for an absolute ban on solitary for longer than 15 days. Mass incarceration has meant many prisoners are inside for non-violent offenses such as minor drug convictions, immigration and parole violations & not paying fines, or are innocent of any offense. But whatever the offense, the sentence does not include torture.  Their trial is taking place in the infamous Luzerne ‘Kids for Cash’ County where judges were convicted of kickbacks for incarcerating children. Legal help is needed to navigate those dirty waters.
	What can you do? ► Help to pack the court on Aug 24.  Sign up here if you are planning to come, need or can offer housing or transportation. ► Set up a speaking engagement for Shandre and Derrick who give dynamic presentations (see video below).   ► Sign the Petition to Indict Corrupt Luzerne County Officials. ►  Make a Donation!
	Your support is needed to ensure that these men receive a fair trial, that the abuses that they faced in prison do not continue, and, for the legal precedent that this court case will establish. If the Dallas 6 are justifiably cleared of all charges Pennsylvania prisoners will be able to speak up against abuse and torture without fear of retaliation.  Derrick Stanley of the Dallas 6 (at right) with Shandre Delaney (center), mother of Carrington Keys of the Dallas 6 and campaign coordinator
	For more information   Video from Press Conference outside the courtroom on Nov. 10th    Community Forum featuring Shandre Delaney, Derrick Stanley, and Isaac Sanchez    Shandre Delaney in Truthout: Torture and Retaliation Against Prisoner Whistleblowers    Victoria Law in Solitary Watch, On Trial for Protesting Conditions in Solitary Confinement    Mumia Abu Jamal, The Dallas Six and earlier commentary     Shandre Delaney’s Thursdays 9:30pm blogtalkradio
	Justice for the Dallas 6 Support Campaign: Abolitionist Law Center; Every Mother is a Working Mother Network; Fight for Lifers West; Germantown Friends Meeting Mass Incarceration Working Group; Global Women’s Strike & Women of Color@GWS – US; Human Rights Coalition – Fed Up; Human Rights Coalition – Philadelphia; Marcellus Shale Earth First; Mishkan Shalom New Jim Crow Study-Action Group; Payday men’s network; Peacehome Campaigns; Shalefield Organizing Committee.  Endorsements: Brandywine Peace Community; California Families Against Solitary Confinement (CFASC); The Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC); Decarcerate PA; Defending Dissent Foundation; Global Women’s Strike & Women of Color@GWS – UK; Human Rights Defense Center – Lake Worth, Florida; Jewish Voice For Peace - Philadelphia; Sin Barras – Without (Prison) Bars – Santa Cruz; T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; WHAT’S UP?! Pittsburgh; Welfare Warriors; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) – Philadelphia. Individual Endorsements: Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Patrice Armstead, Building People’s Power and Coalition Demanding Reinstatement of Dr. Monteiro; Malik Aziz, Founder, Men United for a Better Philadelphia and Chairman, National Exhoodus Council; Pastor Antoinette Johnson, King Solomon Baptist Church; Dr. Anthony Monteiro; Rev. Bob Moore, Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action (for id purposes only); Dr. Heather Ann Thompson, Professor of African American Studies & History, Temple University; Dr. Cornel West, Princeton University; Dr. Carla Willard, Africana Studies Program, Franklin & Marshall College.  Partnering with: AFSC Prison Watch.
	Phone: 412-403-6101  Email: sd4hrc@gmail.com   Website: scidallas6.blogspot.com
	Background
	Six African-American prisoners from the State Correctional Institute (SCI) in Dallas, PA are facing charges of “rioting” for blowing the whistle on the abuse of prisoners in solitary confinement. On April 10, 2010, illegal and barbaric conditions at the hands of prison guards at SCI Dallas led these inmates, held in solitary confinement, to stage a protest. For over a year they had suffered food deprivation, destruction of mail, beatings, neglect of medical conditions, use of a torture chair and the deaths of some other prisoners, including the coerced suicide of an older white prisoner with mental health issues. After guards kept prisoner Isaac Sanchez confined in a torture chair overnight, six protested by covering their cell door windows with their bedding. The prisoners demanded that the abuse stop, and requested access to their counselors, state police, the District Attorney and the Public Defenders’ Office. They had no access to telephones or computers and their incoming and out-going mail were being destroyed to undermine their ability to expose the corruption. Prison guards responded with an armed assault against the unarmed men locked inside individual cells. They attacked the six men with electroshock shields, tasers, fists and pepper spray. The guards involved suffered no injuries and initially no charges were filed against the Dallas 6, who were left bloodied, naked, burnt and in pain. Although some of the men were transferred to other prisons, they were able to file complaints and initiate civil actions against the prison guards and officials involved. Prison officials, state police and the Luzerne County DA retaliated four months later by charging the Dallas 6 with rioting. The Dallas 6 believe that they are facing these trumped up charges because they contributed to Institutionalized Cruelty, Human Rights Coalition Report 1, and, then subsequently stood up for their lives, which is documented in Resistance & Retaliation, Report 2. The US has the largest prison population in the world with Black and Brown communities disproportionately impacted.  Prisoners across the US are taking action and speaking out against their inhumane and tortuous conditions, including prisoner hunger and work strikes in Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia and California. As a result of their actions, prisoners are retaliated against by prison authorities.  The trial of the Dallas 6 will represent a moment of truth and exposure about wide-spread use of solitary confinement and torture in prisons.   We call on all who believe in justice and equality to support the Dallas 6.

Action Alert!!! The trial of the Dallas 6 is going forward on Monday August 24. PACK THE COURT for

Please circulate widely!
	Action Alert!!! The trial of the Dallas 6 is going forward on Monday August 24.  PACK THE COURT for Pennsylvania Prisoner Whistleblowers Stop the abuse and torture of prisoners!
	The Dallas 6 are six African-American prisoners who, while in solitary confinement in SCI Dallas PA prison, blew the whistle on & peacefully protested against abuse and violence by prison guards.  They were charged with “rioting.”  Without the benefit of cell phones that have exposed police violence on the street, we are dependent on whistleblowers to expose abuse by guards behind bars.  After dragging on for five years, the trial of the remaining three Dallas 6 members begins on Aug 24 in Luzerne County (infamous for the “kids for cash” scandal).	Why support the Dallas 6? They are whistleblowers who put their lives on the line by taking action to stop the rampant abuse and violence by guards at SCI Dallas and other PA prisons. We all depend on prisoners like the Dallas 6 to tell the truth about our society and to defend all our civil and human rights. They are part of a movement of prisoners taking action and speaking out through hunger and work strikes such as in Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia and California. Torture must remain illegal in this country.  Charles Graner honed his torture skills in PA where he was a prison guard before moving on to Abu Ghraib.  We should not have to go to Iraq to find out what is happening here, not when there are prisoners telling it like it is. Solitary confinement is torture according to Juan Méndez, UN Special Rappateur on Torture, who has called for an absolute ban on solitary for longer than 15 days. Mass incarceration has meant many prisoners are inside for non-violent offenses such as minor drug convictions, immigration and parole violations & not paying fines, or are innocent of any offense. But whatever the offense, the sentence does not include torture.  Their trial is taking place in the infamous Luzerne ‘Kids for Cash’ County where judges were convicted of kickbacks for incarcerating children. Legal help is needed to navigate those dirty waters.
	What can you do? ► Help to pack the court on Aug 24.  Sign up here if you are planning to come, need or can offer housing or transportation. ► Set up a speaking engagement for Shandre and Derrick who give dynamic presentations (see video below).   ► Sign the Petition to Indict Corrupt Luzerne County Officials. ►  Make a Donation!
	Your support is needed to ensure that these men receive a fair trial, that the abuses that they faced in prison do not continue, and, for the legal precedent that this court case will establish. If the Dallas 6 are justifiably cleared of all charges Pennsylvania prisoners will be able to speak up against abuse and torture without fear of retaliation.  Derrick Stanley of the Dallas 6 (at right) with Shandre Delaney (center), mother of Carrington Keys of the Dallas 6 and campaign coordinator
	For more information   Video from Press Conference outside the courtroom on Nov. 10th    Community Forum featuring Shandre Delaney, Derrick Stanley, and Isaac Sanchez    Shandre Delaney in Truthout: Torture and Retaliation Against Prisoner Whistleblowers    Victoria Law in Solitary Watch, On Trial for Protesting Conditions in Solitary Confinement    Mumia Abu Jamal, The Dallas Six and earlier commentary     Shandre Delaney’s Thursdays 9:30pm blogtalkradio
	Justice for the Dallas 6 Support Campaign: Abolitionist Law Center; Every Mother is a Working Mother Network; Fight for Lifers West; Germantown Friends Meeting Mass Incarceration Working Group; Global Women’s Strike & Women of Color@GWS – US; Human Rights Coalition – Fed Up; Human Rights Coalition – Philadelphia; Marcellus Shale Earth First; Mishkan Shalom New Jim Crow Study-Action Group; Payday men’s network; Peacehome Campaigns; Shalefield Organizing Committee.  Endorsements: Brandywine Peace Community; California Families Against Solitary Confinement (CFASC); The Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC); Decarcerate PA; Defending Dissent Foundation; Global Women’s Strike & Women of Color@GWS – UK; Human Rights Defense Center – Lake Worth, Florida; Jewish Voice For Peace - Philadelphia; Sin Barras – Without (Prison) Bars – Santa Cruz; T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights; WHAT’S UP?! Pittsburgh; Welfare Warriors; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) – Philadelphia. Individual Endorsements: Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Patrice Armstead, Building People’s Power and Coalition Demanding Reinstatement of Dr. Monteiro; Malik Aziz, Founder, Men United for a Better Philadelphia and Chairman, National Exhoodus Council; Pastor Antoinette Johnson, King Solomon Baptist Church; Dr. Anthony Monteiro; Rev. Bob Moore, Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action (for id purposes only); Dr. Heather Ann Thompson, Professor of African American Studies & History, Temple University; Dr. Cornel West, Princeton University; Dr. Carla Willard, Africana Studies Program, Franklin & Marshall College.  Partnering with: AFSC Prison Watch.
	Phone: 412-403-6101  Email: sd4hrc@gmail.com   Website: scidallas6.blogspot.com
	Background
	Six African-American prisoners from the State Correctional Institute (SCI) in Dallas, PA are facing charges of “rioting” for blowing the whistle on the abuse of prisoners in solitary confinement. On April 10, 2010, illegal and barbaric conditions at the hands of prison guards at SCI Dallas led these inmates, held in solitary confinement, to stage a protest. For over a year they had suffered food deprivation, destruction of mail, beatings, neglect of medical conditions, use of a torture chair and the deaths of some other prisoners, including the coerced suicide of an older white prisoner with mental health issues. After guards kept prisoner Isaac Sanchez confined in a torture chair overnight, six protested by covering their cell door windows with their bedding. The prisoners demanded that the abuse stop, and requested access to their counselors, state police, the District Attorney and the Public Defenders’ Office. They had no access to telephones or computers and their incoming and out-going mail were being destroyed to undermine their ability to expose the corruption. Prison guards responded with an armed assault against the unarmed men locked inside individual cells. They attacked the six men with electroshock shields, tasers, fists and pepper spray. The guards involved suffered no injuries and initially no charges were filed against the Dallas 6, who were left bloodied, naked, burnt and in pain. Although some of the men were transferred to other prisons, they were able to file complaints and initiate civil actions against the prison guards and officials involved. Prison officials, state police and the Luzerne County DA retaliated four months later by charging the Dallas 6 with rioting. The Dallas 6 believe that they are facing these trumped up charges because they contributed to Institutionalized Cruelty, Human Rights Coalition Report 1, and, then subsequently stood up for their lives, which is documented in Resistance & Retaliation, Report 2. The US has the largest prison population in the world with Black and Brown communities disproportionately impacted.  Prisoners across the US are taking action and speaking out against their inhumane and tortuous conditions, including prisoner hunger and work strikes in Georgia, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Virginia and California. As a result of their actions, prisoners are retaliated against by prison authorities.  The trial of the Dallas 6 will represent a moment of truth and exposure about wide-spread use of solitary confinement and torture in prisons.   We call on all who believe in justice and equality to support the Dallas 6.

In Memory of Leon Trotsky On The 75th Anniversary Of His Death

In Memory of Leon Trotsky On The 75th Anniversary Of His Death  Workers Vanguard No. 1072	7 August 2015

TROTSKY

LENIN

In Memory of Leon Trotsky

 

(Quote of the Week)

 

Seventy-five years ago, on 20 August 1940, Leon Trotsky was killed by a Stalinist agent in Mexico. Co-leader with V.I. Lenin of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Trotsky was an intransigent fighter against the Stalinist bureaucracy’s betrayal of that revolution, founding the Fourth International in 1938. Today, we in the ICL fight to reforge the Fourth International, destroyed by liquidationist forces in 1951-53, as the indispensable prerequisite for the victory of world socialism. We print below excerpts from a statement by the National Committee of the then-Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party on Trotsky’s assassination.

 

Leon Trotsky, organizer of the Russian Revolution and its true representative, has finally been done to death by Stalin, the betrayer of the Revolution and the mass murderer of the whole heroic generation that made it....

 

But the great fruit of Trotsky’s more than forty years of dauntless work and struggle remains imperishable. For Trotsky, who stands on a historical eminence by the side of Marx and Lenin, worked like them not for a day, but for eternity. The richest products of his genius are preserved in his writings. They constitute both a faultless analysis of the decay of capitalism and a clear program of struggle for the socialist future of humanity.

 

Armed with these weapons the oppressed of all the world will arise out of the bloody welter of the present society and fight their way to freedom. They have been deprived of the physical presence of Trotsky. But no power on earth can destroy the mighty inheritance he has left behind—the gift of his incomparable genius to the cause of humanity....

 

Comrade Trotsky was not only the teacher of the vanguard of the proletariat. He was also its organizer. He was the architect of the Fourth International, the new international association of revolutionary workers. It is arising on firm foundations in all countries of the world. The Fourth International will be the greatest monument to the memory of Trotsky. It will be the instrument for the final realization of the aim to which he devoted his entire life—the liberation of all humanity from slavery, exploitation and war.

 

—“Fight Now as Never Before, Comrades!” Socialist Appeal, 24 August 1940

 

Yeah, Listen To The Babies By Jasiri X-Black Lives Matter-Got It

Yeah, Listen To The Babies By Jasiri X-Black Lives Matter-Got It

 

 

 

From The Pen Of Sam Lowell

Sam Eaton turned about sixty shades of red when George Brent, a young friend of his and his old friend Ralph Morris from the anti-war and black liberation struggles of the past several years, told him to “pipe down” in his leading the chants at a Black Lives Matter support rally held in downtown Boston a few months back. That remark hit Sam hard. First because he had been a chant-master since the days back in the late 1960s when he had gotten “religion” on the anti-war issue during the Vietnam War after his boyhood friend, Jeff Mullins, from Carver had been killed in the Central Highlands of that benighted country and he had in letters back home to Sam begged him to tell the world (or the part the world that would listen) what a hell-hole the place was if he did not make it back.

That started the thing rolling and increased study about such issues and many conversations with his oldest political friend still standing Ralph had led to a life-time commitment as best he could to the “struggle.” And in the time honored task of giving spirit to various rallies, vigils, speak-outs and acts of civil disobedience he had with his droll voice cranked up the “troops’ with his sing-song chants from Bring the Troops Home to the current Hands Up, Don’t Shoot of the Black Lives  Matter. What was the matter with that.  

Now Sam had no problem with the fact that the BLM movement is being led, should be led, by the young, mostly black militants who have the most to lose, and gain. As an old white guy only getting older he had already faced that prospect when he attended his first such BLM rallies and noticed that the language of struggle among the young centered more on identity politics than the broader social struggle aspects that drove him and Ralph in their youths (not that the languages were naturally mutually exclusive but there was an emotive value to the difference in language that might turn out to be). But to be called to task by an old (younger) comrade closer in age to the young blacks organizing things these days seemed out of place. Particularly when some young black women militants enthusiastically helped him through a couple of chants when his voice faltered (not having had much occasion of late to chant for any purpose). So after some reflection he took George’s remarks with a certain amount of good grace at the time. Although in the back of his mind the question gnawed at him.

The question being mainly what role others had in the movement, whites, latinos, labor militants, Asians, women, the LGBTQ community, young and old in the burgeoning and ever-present BLM, especially his old white AARP guys in the movement. That question and how he (and Ralph) could impart whatever wisdom they had gathered over the years of struggle to pass on to the new politically awakened generation. Yeah, the kids would make their own mistakes just like he, Ralph and their generation of ’68 had done ignoring the older generations of their time but was it really necessary to re-invent the wheel every time a new generation rose up in arms against the same entrenched class and race enemies.     

Then one night Ralph and he were sitting in Jack’s a bar, an old-time radical hang-out over in Cambridge where Sam lives sipping high-shelf whiskeys and discussing how back in their respective working class youths in Troy, New York and Carver, Massachusetts they imbibed the racial attitudes of their time and white neighborhoods. Ralph confessed that he had stood shoulder to shoulder with his father, Ralph, Senior,  back then physically trying to keep black people from moving into the Tappan Street neighborhood where they lived (black people called the “n” word freely back then in that neighborhood without the ironic, desperate sense of today’s usage). Sam told Ralph that he had never even seen a black person in Carver and did not know a single black person until he went to work in Boston. So that night they began to sense something existed more than a generational gap between them and the youth of the BLM. A whole missing link about experiences.     

That new understanding came to a head when Ralph mentioned that he had heard on the radio one day a white woman talking on some talk show that she had been before Trayvon Martin, before Ferguson and Michael Brown, before Eric Garner clueless about the plight of black people in current time America, especially young black men. Ralph mentioned that she had said that she had lived in Barrington up in Podunk New Hampshire and so maybe she just did not get around enough. But her remarks got Ralph thinking that even with all their political experiences doing support work for the Black Panthers when they were under the guns of the state, the struggle to free Nelson Mandela in South Africa and support of the African National Congress they were probably now out of the loop about the black struggle.

Maybe Malcolm X was right that the gap between white and black experiences could not be bridged in this country together. Sobering thoughts, no question. Sobering too though that the BLM needed allies, many allies in this deeply bedrock racist slavery-born country. So they would study some more, get out more and try like hell to figure out what the words to The Babies above from YouTube really mean. 

Books To While Away The Class Struggle By-From The Pen Of Leon Trotsky-"Literature And Revolution"

Click on the headline to link to the Leon Trotsky Internet Archives

Recently I have begun to post entries under the headline- “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By” and "Films To While Away The Class Struggle By"-that will include progressive and labor-oriented songs and films that might be of general interest to the radical public. I have decided to do the same for some books that may perk that same interest under the title in this entry’s headline. Markin

Book Review

Literature and Revolution, Leon Trotsky, 1924
Trotsky once wrote that of the three great tragedies in life- hunger, sex and death- revolutionary Marxism, which was the driving force behind his life and work, mainly concerned itself with the struggle against hunger. That observation contains an essential truth about the central thrust of the Marxist tradition. However, as Trotsky demonstrates here, Marxist methodology cannot and should not be reduced to an analysis of and prescription for that single struggle. Here Trotsky takes on an aspect of the struggle for mass cultural development.

In a healthy post-capitalist society mass cultural development would be greatly expanded and encouraged. If the task of socialism were merely to vastly expand economic equality, in a sense, it would be a relativity simple task for a healthy socialist society in concert with other like-minded societies to provide general economic equality with a little tweaking after vanquishing the capitalism mode of production. What Marxism aimed for, and Trotsky defends here, is a prospect that with the end of class society and with it an end to economic and social injustice the capacity of individual human beings to reach new heights of intellectual and creative development would flourish. That is the thought that underpins Trotsky’s work here as he analyzes various trends in Russian literature in the immediate aftermath of the October Revolution of 1917. In short, Marxism is certainly not a method to be followed in order to write great literature but it does allow one to set that literature in its social context and interrelatedness.

You will find no Deconstructionist or other fashionable literary criticism here. Quite the contrary. Trotsky uses his finely tuned skill as a Marxist to great effect as he analyzes the various trends of literature as they were affected (or not affected) by the October Revolution and sniffs out what in false in some of the literary trends. Mainly, at the time of writing, the jury was still out about the prospects of many of these trends. He analyzes many of the trends that became important later in the century in world literature, like futurism and constructivism, and others- some of which have disappeared and some of which still survive.

The most important and lasting polemic which Trotsky raised here, however, was the fight against the proponents of ‘proletarian culture.’ The argument put forth by this trend maintained that since the Soviet Union was a workers' state those who wrote about working-class themes or were workers themselves should in the interest of cultural development be given special status and encouragement (read: a monopoly on the literary front). Trotsky makes short shrift of this argument by noting that, in theory at least as its turned out later, the proletarian state was only a transitional state and therefore no lasting ‘proletarian culture’ would have time to develop. Although history did not turn out to prove Trotsky correct the polemic is still relevant to any theory of mass cultural development.

One of the results of the publication of this book is that many intellectuals, particularly Western intellectuals, based some of their sympathy for Trotsky the man and fallen hero on his literary analysis and his ability to write. This was particularly true during the 1930’s here in America where those who were anti-Stalinist but were repelled by the vacuity of the Socialist Party were drawn to him. A few, like James T. Farrell (Studs Lonigan trilogy), did this mostly honorably. Most, like Dwight MacDonald and Sidney Hooks, etc. did not and simply used that temporary sympathy as a way station on their way to anti-Communism. Such is the nature of the political struggle.

A note for the politically- inclined who read this book. Trotsky wrote this book in 1923-24 at the time of Lenin’s death and later while the struggle for succession by Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev was in full swing. While Trotsky did not recognize it until later (nor did others, for that matter) this period represented the closing of the rising tide of the revolution. Hereafter, the people who ruled the Soviet Union, the purposes for which they ruled, and the manner in which they ruled changed dramatically. In short, Thermidor in the classical French revolutionary expression was victorious. Given his precarious political position why the hell was he writing a book on literary trends in post-revolutionary society at that time?

***Artist's Corner- "Nighthawks " -The Work Of Edward Hopper

Click below to link to site that has information about the famous American realist (?) artist Edward Hooper. Tom Waits lyrics and Edward Hopper's art (at least his famous "Nighthawks At The Diner") definitely fit together.

The Specter Haunting….British Intelligence-With Heroic Soviet Spy Kim Philby In Mind

The Specter Haunting….British Intelligence-With Heroic Soviet Spy Kim Philby In Mind

Kim Philby via Wikipedia  




Click below to link to a BBC segment on alleged Soviet spy Cedric Belfrage:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34012395

 

From The Pen Of Sam Lowell

There is a specter haunting British intelligence, you know, MI5, MI6, the spooks, the James Bond wanna-be’s who wind up as cut-rate George Smileys. That specter has a name even seventy-five plus years later, the heroic Kim Philby. Oh sure there were others, Burgess, MacLean, Blount, the Cambridge Five boys, but Philby is the one that got under their skin, the one who still gets under their skin as the latest report out of BBC details. Philby’s fingerprints are over everything that touches British intelligence from the late 1930s until the 1960s when he got away, breezed right through their fingers.

Here is the beauty of what Philby knew, counted on. See he knew that when the deal went down, the good old boys clubs that dotted the upper edges of British class life (still do just ask David Cameron) starting back in early childhood would never ever do anything to do harm to his or her majesty’s realm. So the spy boys never thought, at least in time, even if they claim otherwise post hoc they had to worry about one of their own. (Forget all the lying subterfuge stuff by James Jesus Angleton to the contrary.) Never thought to worry about that six generations or more of being on top against the insurgent up-start Soviets. And so never know what hit them.

Yeah, no question, when the old Soviet Union was around, warts and all, it was good to have a “class traitor” like Philby on your side. Damn, wish we had some serious prospects these days of socialism (not of the necessary of that system that has been there since Marx’s time, maybe before)     in order to find some guys like Philby to defend it. Still I am willing to bet in another seventy-five plus years they will still be scratching their heads wondering how they “missed” the six million signs that Philby was working the other side of the street.