Scintilla: Alexandra Kollontai, Communist Revolutionary

Originally posted November 13th at:  piattaformacomunista.com/index.php/aleksandra-kollontaj-rivoluzionaria-comunista/ ; slightly edited.

Scintilla n. 149, November 2024

edited by Piattaforma Comunista – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy

Alexandra Kollontai, Communist Revolutionary

It is not easy to summarize the life and work of a woman like Alexandra Kollontai, who dedicated all her energies to the struggle against capitalism, the exploitation of the proletariat and the oppression of women, for socialism. A communist to whom women and feminist movements owe a lot.

She is deliberately cited as the proponent of "free love", thus reducing her work on the family and marriage to an erroneously libertine vision of relations between the two sexes, when instead the new communist morality always opposed bourgeois licentiousness and hypocrisy.

For Kollontai, bourgeois marriage is a chain that binds women to traditional values, values that oppress them and do not emancipate them. Marriage, which capitalism had transformed into a mere economic contract, would thus be transformed into the union of two people in love, ready to respect each other and with equal rights and duties in the family.

Aleksandra Kollontai was born into a wealthy family in St. Petersburg on March 31, 1872. She refused a marriage of convenience with a high officer who was the tsar's attendant and in 1893, against her parents' wishes, she married a distant cousin, the engineer Vladimir Kollontai, with whom she had a son Mikhail. They separated after 3 years because she considered an exclusive life as a wife and mother suffocating.

In August 1898 she moved to Zurich to attend lectures on political economy by Heinrich Herkner, a Marxist. Here she joined the social democratic movement. In 1904 Lenin called her to collaborate with a Bolshevik periodical and in November Kollontai definitively joined the Bolsheviks and also started courses in Marxism for the workers. On January 9, 1905, Kollontai was among the workers who marched to the Winter Palace and took part in the days that followed, where she distinguished herself as a brilliant orator.

In the same period she began to deepen her commitment to the question of women's emancipation and liberation by publishing "The Social Elements of the Woman Question". In 1905, in Mannheim, she participated in the Fourth Women's Conference of German Social Democracy and two years later in Stuttgart, in the Women's Conference of the Socialist International, with her friend Clara Zetkin, supporting women's right to vote. In 1908 she was tried twice on charges of anti-government activity among the textile workers and of calling for revolt in the pamphlet "Finland and Socialism". She was then forced to emigrate from Russia and go underground.

She spent her years abroad in intense political activity. In Germany she helped the Social Democratic Party in propaganda and agitation; in England she fought with the workers for universal suffrage; in Paris she organized a strike of workers for the Socialist Party; she took part in workers' struggles in Belgium, Sweden and Norway.

In 1910 she participated in the 8th Congress of the Second International. She wrote many works including "Woman and Motherhood" and "The Social Basis of the Woman Question" and worked intensively for the newspapers Rabotnitsa and Pravda.

At the International Socialist Congress in Basel in 1912, Alexandra Kollontai implemented a maternity care plan that was largely adopted in Russia in 1918. In 1915, at the outbreak of war, she took part in the Zimmerwald Conference advocating the need to boycott the war, and wrote the pamphlet "Who Needs the War?", intended for soldiers. Between 1915 and 1916 she traveled throughout the United States to plead the socialist cause and held anti-war conferences.

In February 1917, when the tsarist regime was overthrown, Kollontai returned from exile. Before leaving, Lenin sent her a pamphlet, "Letters from Afar", in which he explained that the events of February were only the first phase of the revolution and that the way to achieve peace was the seizure of power by the proletariat. She was therefore elected – first among women – to the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. It was she who organized Lenin's return to Russia and immediately supported the "April Theses".

She actively participated in the meetings of the Central Committee, including the one on October 10 in which the armed insurrection against the bourgeois government was decided. On the night between October 24 and 25 1917 she was in Smolny, the headquarters of the October Revolution.

With the seizure of power, Kollontai joined the revolutionary government and was appointed People's Commissar for Social Welfare, the first woman in the world to be a government minister.

During her tenure, she decreed the distribution of land belonging to monasteries to the peasants, the establishment of state nurseries, the creation of canteens, social laundries and maternity care. The socialization of housework would free women from gender oppression.

In 1918 Kollontai was one of the organizers of the First Congress of Russian Working Women from which the Żenotdel was born, an organization for the promotion of women's participation in public life, for social initiatives and the fight against illiteracy.

Thanks to her commitment, women obtained not only the right to vote and be elected, but also access to education, equal pay and in 1920 divorce and the right to abortion. Kollontai criticized the introduction of the "New Economic Policy" (NEP) and in 1920-21 with Alexander Shlyapnikov formed a current known as the "Workers' Opposition", which was dissolved when it lost the party congress.

After this defeat, according to the detractors of socialism, she withdrew from political life because she was no longer welcome to Lenin. In reality, since with the emergency of the civil war it was impossible for her to implement her political program, she responsibly considered it right to put herself at the disposal of the socialist cause wherever her skills were needed.

Thanks to her knowledge of languages, in 1923 she first became a member of the Soviet trade delegation in Oslo and, when Norway officially recognized the USSR, as ambassador, she became the first female ambassador in the world. In 1926 she held the same post in Mexico and in 1930 she was at the embassy in Stockholm. In 1933 she obtained from Sweden the return of the gold reserves that the anti-Bolsheviks had hidden there after the revolution. In the same year she was awarded the Order of Lenin for her activity. From 1934 to 1938 he was a member of the Soviet delegation to the League of Nations in Geneva.

The revisionists claim that she was disliked by Stalin and therefore sent abroad. She was certainly an extraordinary woman with a strong personality, who refused any relationship with the Trotskyites and other enemies of Soviet power.

It was to her that Stalin in 1939, while Nazism was about to enter the war and the USSR was still trying to negotiate with the British and French, entrusted these important words: "Many issues of our party and our people will be distorted and abused, especially abroad and, yes, also in our country. Zionism [Nazism?], in its desperate rush to gain world supremacy, will be hard on us and will retaliate because of our successes and achievements. They still consider Russia a barbaric country, a reserve of raw materials. And even my name will be calumniated; it is slandered even now. They will attribute many crimes to me".

Alexandra Kollontai died in Moscow in 1952, without ever having betrayed socialism and the Bolshevik Party, supporting the cause of the definitive emancipation of working men and women to the end.

To learn more about her person and her work, little known in our country, we recommend the following writings and books: Communism and the Family [1918, available from redstarpublishers.org ]; Conferences on the Liberation of Women (1921); Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Communist Woman; the novel Vassilissa (published in Italy in 1978) which tells the story of a militant communist worker, her path to emancipation as a woman and as proletarian revolutionary.

APK: On the practice of Trotskyism

Edited slightly.

En Marcha  #2027, November 30 to December 6, 2022  [ pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article12202 ]

Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador  

On the Practice of Trotskyism

The political practice of Trotskyism during its almost 100 years of existence has unmasked it worldwide as a counterrevolutionary current, usually linked to the police apparatuses in different countries. Its central purpose is to combat Marxist-Leninist positions, for which it uses a pseudo-radical language, full of infamy, lies and analysis that border on delirium. In our country, the organizational presence of Trotskyism is non-existent; when at a certain point it had an organizational expression it could not penetrate the workers' and popular movement, due to the nature of its approaches that were far from reality and – above all – contrary to the interests of the working class.  

To learn about some aspects of this opportunist current, we reproduce excerpts from the article "On the Practice of Trotskyism", written by Comrade Klaus Riis, leader of the Communist Workers' Party of Denmark, APK [ apk2000.dk/en/welcome-to-apk/ ].  

"Permanent hopelessness" 

A major component of Trotskyism is the theory of permanent revolution, which appears as the very key to the solution of the problems of the world revolution. In fact, it should be called the theory of permanent hopelessness, because it concretely denies the possibility of the victory of the revolution and the construction of socialism in a concrete country.  

In short, the basis of the theory of permanent revolution is the particular Trotskyist analysis of imperialism. This analysis claims that with the outbreak of the First World War the death knell of all national programs had sounded: the hour of world revolution had arrived and it must be understood as a world process, a global explosion or rather a chain in which capitalism is replaced by socialism on a world scale.  

According to this theory, imperialism has broken all national borders and has become a whole that cannot be broken step by step. This is justified by capitalism's objective tendency towards the internationalization of the world economy and the domination of all key positions of capitalism by the monopolies. A simultaneous world revolt against capitalism is therefore the necessary manner that the transition from capitalism to socialism must take. The task of revolutionaries is to wait and prepare for this situation, having created in advance a world-based revolutionary organization to lead the revolution, a "general staff of the world revolution."  

... Therefore, no concrete revolution can prevail, and socialism cannot be built in a single country or group of countries. A revolution in one country, such as the October Revolution in Russia, can at most be the spark that ignites the world revolution. Therefore, the construction of a socialist society over a period of time in one country or in a group of countries is, by definition, an impossibility. Trotsky described the world revolution as this all-encompassing global explosion, and Trotskyists have repeatedly proclaimed that world revolution is "just around the corner," "only a few years away." It has not appeared, of course, but Trotskyism acts as the religious doomsayers who set a date for the end of the world. Every time he doesn't succeed, there will always be another possibility in the future.  

On the basis of the profoundly anti-scientific and anti-Marxist theory of revolution, Trotskyism must necessarily reject and criticize the concrete revolutions and attempts to build socialism that are actually taking place and that the working class and its allies have carried out in a number of countries in this century. None of them has been the spark that would trigger the chain explosion of world revolution.

  

Revolution and class struggle  

The crucial problem for the Trotskyists is that reality, the revolution and the real experience of the international working class do not coincide with their theories and formulas. The working class has carried out the proletarian revolution in a large number of countries, and moreover there have been a large number of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist revolutions in this century. In reality, socialism has been successfully built in one country and, subsequently, in several countries.  

First of all in the Soviet Union, which according to Trotsky's predictions had no chance of survival, even for a few years. Before Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union, he predicted that the country would be crushed by the Nazi war machine. But socialism proved capable of withstanding the fascist war of aggression, the most brutal the world has ever seen.  

... Lenin's theoretical justification for the possibility of revolution triumphing and of building socialism in one country or group of countries was the uneven development of imperialism. The victory of the revolutions in Russia and later in other parts of the world and the construction of these countries as socialist societies have in practice refuted the Trotskyist theory of the impossibility of socialism (in one country).  

This is true regardless of whether they were former socialist societies in which capitalism has been restored. This is not because of the "impossibility" of socialism, but because the class struggle continues in socialist countries in the context of the pressure and subversion of imperialism and reaction to overthrow socialism.  

A revolutionary alternative?  

The Trotskyist theory of permanent revolution includes a wide range of aspects, in addition to the erroneous conception of the world revolutionary process, and the rejection of the possibility of the victory of socialism in a single country or group of countries. These other aspects of Trotskyist ideology are also fundamentally opposed to Marxism and the Leninist theory of revolution. The ideology is based on a lack of confidence in the victory of the revolution in a single country or group of countries and on distrust in the ability of the working class to rally allies for revolution, both in individual countries and around the world. It denies a development by stages of concrete revolutions and of the different elements of the revolutionary world process. It denies the need for a revolutionary strategy and tactic based on the stage of development of each country at any given time and on the objective revolutionary tasks it faces. Therefore, it underestimates the importance of general democratic tasks, the importance of the national, anti-imperialist and democratic aspect in the revolutionary development of the world. It substitutes a complex formulation of strategy and tactics based on the national and international balance of power – including the creation of the broadest possible class and popular alliances and a broad and concrete political program for the revolutionary movement in a given country – with schematic revolutionary formulas which, according to Trotskyists, are applicable everywhere."  

PCE (m-l): The Other September 11

Below is an article from the Communist Party of Spain (Marxist-Leninist) marking the anniversary of the September 11, 1973 military coup against the elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile and the white terror that followed.  The original article is posted here and this translation is from the PCE (m-l).    

The other September 11  

C. Hermida  

The mass media around the world today commemorate the 20th anniversary of the attacks suffered by the United States in 2001. Televisions have shown ad nauseam the images in which two planes were sent against the World Trade Center and the subsequent collapse of the so-called "twin towers", while the newspapers once again condemn Islamic terrorism. However, another September 11 is left in the shadows. We are referring to the coup in 1973 that, on that date, the Chilean army perpetrated against the government of Salvador Allende and that established a brutal dictatorship that murdered and tortured thousands of people. That coup does not get attention because of the direct role that the US administration had. There are many journalists who do not want to bother those who feed them. In a hypocritical exercise of double standards, the terrorism suffered by the United States is condemned, but the systematic terrorism exercised by that country against the peoples of the world is ignored.  

In 1970, after cleanly winning the elections, the socialist Salvador Allende, who headed the candidacy of the Popular Unity (UP), became president of Chile. His electoral program proposed the nationalization of key sectors of the economy, such as copper mining, until then in the hands of US companies, and the project of initiating a "Chilean road to socialism" based on respect for parliamentary institutions and multi-party politics. It was a question of building a socialist society by means of a model different from that undertaken at the time by Soviet Russia; a model that sought to use bourgeois legality to overcome it, without the need to break, according to the Leninist conception, with the state apparatus.  

Allende's victory was not only met with hostility by the Chilean bourgeoisie, which feared losing its age-old political and economic dominance over the country, but set off all the alarms in the US administration. After Cuba, the victory of Popular Unity meant a second breach in the control exercised by the United States over the Latin American continent, with the danger that the Chilean experience would spread to other countries in the area. President Nixon and the CIA, with the approval of the Chilean oligarchy, were unwilling for Allende to achieve his goals.  

Thousands of documents declassified over the years by the US administration itself show how the Nixon administration organized a plan of harassment and destabilization against Allende, which included economic and diplomatic measures and the direct use of terrorist activities. An attempt was made to suffocate the Chilean economy through an international fall in copper prices, and an immense media campaign was orchestrated accusing Allende of establishing a communist dictatorship in the country. A campaign in which the media of the Chilean oligarchy actively collaborated, especially the newspaper "El Mercurio", to which the Spanish press also contributed. At the same time, fascist groups, such as "Patria y Libertad", sowed terror throughout Chile. This was a strategy that had already been established by the Spanish right in 1936.  

However, as the popularity of Allende and Popular Unity was enormous despite the economic boycott, and it seemed an impossible task to unseat the government through an election, the coup d'état was finally chosen. The Pinochet dictatorship was the way out which the Chilean oligarchy and the United States government chose to end a government that was undertaking structural changes in the economic, social and political order in favor of the popular classes. That dictatorship exercised a relentless repression against the left to dismantle the powerful Chilean popular movement and established a neoliberal economic model that plunged broad sectors of society into misery.  

There is a parallel between the events that took place in Spain in 1936 and those in Chile in 1973. In both countries, the military coup d'état cut short a democratic experience that gave political prominence to the popular classes; and in both cases foreign intervention was decisive in the defeat of the left. For this reason, the Spanish left felt the overthrow of Allende as its own and the pain of the Chilean workers was also the pain of the Spanish workers.  

Forty-eight years after the coup against the legal and legitimate government of Popular Unity, we still remember with deep respect comrade Salvador Allende, who sacrificed his life in defense of popular interests. But we must also not forget that the so-called Chilean road to socialism proved unviable, and that is a political lesson that we communists cannot forget. The bourgeoisie will never peacefully cede its political and economic power and will only respect parliamentary democracy if the left agrees to maintain the capitalist economic order. Otherwise, as historical experience has shown, the ruling classes break the rules of the game and establish fascist forms of domination. There is no possibility of overcoming capitalism using bourgeois institutions. To build socialism it is essential to destroy the bourgeois state and replace it with a proletarian state. That is called the dictatorship of the proletariat.  

Commemoration of the October Socialist Revolution repressed; RCWP seeking international solidarity

The Russian Communist Workers' Party of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is seeking international statements of solidarity after a demonstration commemorating the Great October Socialist Revolution was repressed November 7th in Tyumen (a city in southwestern Siberia, near the Ural Mountains and Kazakhstan).  Local RCWP leader and journalist Alexandr Kipriyanovich Cherepanov is being charged with assault on the police, with the possibility of five years imprisonment.  The RCWP sent out the article below (I changed a few typos).  Organizations can send letters in solidarity to ak_rkrp /at/ mail period ru.  Letters have already been received from groups in Greece, Hungary, Italy, France, Belgium, and elsewhere.  The RCWP-CPSU's website in Russian and English is:    rkrp-rpk.ru/

Alexandr Kipriyanovich Cherepanov

Alexandr Kipriyanovich Cherepanov was born on January 21, 1950 in a working class family.

From 1991 to the present day  he is a communist of the Russian Communist Workers' Party. He is the first secretary of the Tyumen regional committee and secretary of the Central Committee for organizational and party work. He graduated from the Oil and Gas University and the Leningrad Academy of Civil Aviation. For 24 years he worked in civil aviation as an engineer, deputy head of the Roshchino airport. Was elected a deputy of the Tyumen City Council and a deputy of the Tyumen Regional Duma of 1-3 convocations. He is editor-in-chief of the newspaper Trudovaya Tyumen. He is a staunch Leninist-Stalinist, known as an implacable fighter against the arbitrariness of officials and for his active support of the Donbass people’s struggle.

Marital status: Married, has two adult sons, a granddaughter and 5 grandsons.

_____________________________

From Russia:

We accuse the authorities of fascism!

 

On November 7, the day of the 103rd anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, the city and regional authorities  of Tyumen got their test to pass. Constantly assuring us that they honour the history of the country and strongly oppose its rewriting, they simply deceive the people. And the events of November 7 very well confirmed this. Speculating on the dangers of the coronavirus, the authorities are completely brazen. Since the end of March this year, by relentlessly prohibiting the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU celebrating the memorable dates of the Soviet era, they are actually trying to erase the Soviet period and its great achievements from the memory of the peoples of Russia. They themselves rewrite the history of the country. Who gave them the right to do this?

 

The coronavirus somehow does not prevent them from holding trade fairs (as many as four at once in one day! And all on November 7!), opening hot springs, theaters, holding concerts in the Philharmonic hall and various mass events. It's not dangerous. But the Communists should be completely banned, which they were. Apparently, the well-known plan of A. Dulles is the inspiration for our authorities. Yes, the same Dulles, who planned to gradually, step by step, shake the foundations of Soviet society, destroy, and then erase the Soviet era from the memory of the peoples. To divide the nations forever into masters and slaves. Today, the Tyumen authorities are actually implementing the Dulles plan.

 

In fact, Tyumen banned Communists from all events and banned Communists in General. And the ban on Communists equals fascism. The Tyumen authorities inculcate the ideology of fascism. When they were eager for power, they "chattered" about multiparty, tolerance, and the diversity of forms of ownership. Where is it? They took power by deception and usurped it. They even managed to steal the Victory Day from the people!

 

On November 7, a mass of police officers, young and healthy, staged outrages at the Technocenter, where the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU gathered to march to the Central square of the city in honour of the 103 anniversary of the Great October. There were many elderly people among the Communists. But this did not bother the police in the least. They grabbed the first Secretary of the regional Committee A. K. Cherepanov and dragged him to the car. They threw him into the car on the floor, and a young "policeman" grabbed his hands from behind and did not let him get to his feet. I then found his photo on the Internet at night, this young, real "policeman". What was he thinking at that moment? I repeatedly demanded that he release Cherepanov's hands and let him get into the car normally. But he didn't listen. The desire to curry favour overshadowed his mind. Apparently, this new gendarme did not know that he was holding in his "claws" a Communist figure well-known not only in Tyumen, but also a well-known active figure in the international Communist movement. Alexander Kiprianovich is very well known abroad, and we will make every effort to make the outrages of the Tyumen police done with the blessing of the Tyumen authorities, known to the international community.

 

"Gendarme", apparently, does not know that Alexander Kiprianovich is far from a young man, a former Deputy of the Tyumen regional Duma of three (!) convocations. He is well known not only in the Tyumen region, but also in both Northern districts. People trust him. As a Deputy, he helped hundreds of thousands of people, without refusing to help anyone. Perhaps Alexander Kipriyanovich, helped the mother or father of this "policeman" to survive in the 1990s. The head is actually given to a person in order to think, and not just to stare. So, think "policeman", think.

 

Four police officers pushed me away from the car with A. K. Cherepanov. At this time, by some miracle, Cherepanov's wife T. N. Cherepanova managed to get into the car with Cherepanov. She firmly told the police that Cherepanov was ill, and she would not leave him, but would go with him. As it became known, a Protocol was drawn up for her under article 19.3 of the administrative Code of the Russian Federation "Insubordination to police officers". I immediately remembered the recent story of N. F. Trapsh, a woman, a veteran of the oil and gas industry, who was accused by the former Deputy head of Tyumen, M. Afanasyev, of attempted murder. This is an 82-year-old woman! So Tatiana Nikolaevna, this little woman, how could she cope with the police who tried to push her out of the minibus?

 

By banning us from holding demonstrations and rallies, the administration of Tyumen, Mr. Kuharuk and Malygin violated the decisions Of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. They are violators of the law, not Cherepanov and the Communists. And they are the ones who should be on trial, if the truth to be told.

 

None of this could have happened if the Tyumen authorities respected the people and agreed to give permission to the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU who have declared their intention to hold this event three times (!). Since this is a Holy holiday for every worker, it is simply impossible not to celebrate it. But the Tyumen authorities despise the people! And all the Soviet and red flags just infuriate them. The plans of Hitler and Dulles are much more closer to their heart. They forgot that after a new war with the people there will be a new Nuremberg trial. And that they will have to answer for all the atrocities!

 

 

In the Tyumen region, we have a  fascist dictatorship

 

November 7 is a day that is revered all over the world as the day on which the Great October Socialist Revolution took place, the day when the whole world changed and went along the path of confrontation with the power of capital to build socialism. All over the world, this holiday is revered and respected, but not in the homeland of the Great October. The bourgeois government, which seeks to silence the achievements of the socialist revolution by all possible means, removed the status of a holiday from November 7, replacing it with an incomprehensible "Day of Unity". And this year the administration of Tyumen in general committed an unprecedented act- it banned a demonstration and rally of workers on November 7. All under the pretext of fighting the pandemic. That is, it is normal to hold festivities on November 4  (the "Unity Day") or mass parties in honour of Halloween, or trade fairs with thousands oof people in Tyumen on November 7. But if people take to the streets on November 7, mass infection will immediately begin. This is the logic of power.

 

Representatives of the Communist party of the Russian Federation immediately agreed with the proposal of the Tyumen administration that laying flowers at the monument to V. I. Lenin would be enough for them on this day, but the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU understand all the significance and revolutionary essence of this day and therefore, until the very last moment, they proved to the Tyumen administration that they would hold a demonstration and rally on this day. But the city administration and law enforcement agencies really did not want such a demonstration to take place. That's why they were threatening with reprisals, forced to sign warnings and warned in every possible way not to hold a demonstration.

 

On November 7, 2020, the Tyumen authorities "distinguished themselves" throughout whole Russia by banning the demonstration of Communists of the RCWP-CPSU in honour of the Great October Socialist revolution. Even with the arrests of the Communists. Even in Moscow, where the coronavirus is rampant (according to official data), much stronger than anywhere else in Russia, and even more so than in the Tyumen region, where there are at most 150 cases a day – there the Communist party calmly held all the festive events, including a demonstration.

 

Why is this happening? Because in the Tyumen region and in the city of Tyumen, the most real fascists are entrenched, followers of Vlasov and Bandera, who fiercely hate the Communists, the red flag, Victory Day on May 9 and the October revolution. So don't be surprised, comrades. Hitler and Mussolini did the same, forbidding Communist marches, demonstrations, and rallies. They also threw Communists behind bars.

 

Tyumen's  Vlasov followers  in power did not invent anything new. A. K. Cherepanov (first Secretary of the Tyumen regional Committee of the RCWP-CPSU) writes directly to them in his letters: "Are Moore and Kuharuk ideological followers of Hitler and Mussolini?" And according to their deeds, it turns out that they are – they are ideological followers of Hitler and Mussolini.

 

As they, apparently, rejoice in the coronavirus – now they can create any lawlessness, break all the laws and nothing will happen to them. Because the coronavirus is rampant. Everything can be blamed on it- the refusal of medical care, and forcing everyone wear masks around the clock, and it gives an excuse to destroy the Communist movement by nipping it in the bud. In general, to eradicate any opposition, any dissent -this is their dream.

 

But at least one Communist party in Tyumen is still alive–  we will continue to fight for Soviet power, for socialism and against fascism, no matter how high in the government offices they hide.

 

Therefore, in Tyumen on November 7, despite the fact that the police blocked a demonstration of Communists of the RCWP-CPSU and detained three people, the March still took place, as well as a meeting with the laying of flowers.

 

On November 7, 2020, residents of Tyumen came to the traditional gathering place of the demonstration-the Tyumen Technopark. There were already a fair number of police here, and they looked as if they would not allow the demonstration to take place. Moreover, they declared several times that the demonstration was illegal and demanded to disperse. But the Tyumen residents who took to the streets that day were ready to go to the end.

When it was time to start the March, the demonstrators tried to cross the road to start moving along the sidewalk of Republic street to the monument to Lenin, but the exit was blocked by traffic police cars. The police seized A. K. Cherepanov, dragged him to the car, and threw him into the minibus. He had only been released from the hospital a couple of days ago, where he was suffering from pneumonia, with 64% lung damage. He has a bad heart, but no one was going to give him any help, they were even not going to allow him to get his pills.

 

Then the Chairman of the Tyumen regional Committee of Soviet women T. R. Tselykh and T. N. Cherepanova ran up to the car and tried to help A. K. Cherepanov, to give him medicine, but the police used brute force on them. They started pushing them out of the van. Cherepanov's wife was able to stay in the van’s doors, and the police, led by the Deputy chief of police of the Tyumen region, Lieutenant Colonel V. S. Volkovitsky, threw her out of the minibus. Other members of the RCWP-CPSU tried to block the exit to prevent the car from leaving the square. The police immediately attacked them, knocking several pensioners to the ground, and detained the Secretary of the Tyumen regional Committee of the RKRP-CPSU S. M. Tselykh.

 

As we learned already at the meeting, which took place on the Central square near the monument to V. I. Lenin, all three were going to be detained for 2 days for allegedly “attacking police officersQ. But neither A. K. Cherepanov nor his wife attacked the police. Nor did S. M. Tselykh. On the contrary, they were subjected to violence by the police. The whole process of police brutality and fascist lawlessness on the part of the authorities is captured on video and photographed. Anyone can view it on the Internet.

 

Let's go back to the procession and the meeting. The police were clearly going to escalate the conflict and intimidated people that if they did not disperse, they would all be detained. The people began to sing in unison: "Boldly we will go into battle." And we decided to go to the Central square. Then the police tried to forbid us going with flags and banners. To which they received the answer that fascism was defeated under these flags, and to carry these flags is a tribute to the memory of the real Communists who died. Some participants asked the police the question: what flag should be carried – the American flag or maybe the flag of Nazi Germany? Or shall we raise the Vlasov tricolor? To please all sorts of fascists, Vlasovites, traitors to the Soviet Motherland?!

After negotiations with the police, which were very stormy, the March along the sidewalk of Republic street began.

 

People went anyway. And they went with the banner of the party, the red flags of the USSR, the RCWP, the Rot Front, the Left front, with banners and songs. No matter what. And we reached the Central square, where the largest monument to V. I. Lenin in Russia stands. The column went along Republic street – the Central street of the city. People cheered and joined the column. Already at the entrance to the Central square, police officers tried to detain the Secretary of the Tyumen regional Committee of the RCWP-CPSU, M. A. Savelkov, allegedly for organizing a march down the street. But thanks to the activity of the marchers, it was repulsed.

 

The city administration "graciously" agreed to lay flowers for a small number of participants, after which the participants, according to the Tyumen administration, immediately had to disperse. But the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU held a full-fledged solemn meeting in honour of the 103rd anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, at which there were many bright speeches.

 

The meeting was opened by the Secretary of the Tyumen city Committee of the RKRP-CPSU V. N. Minina. After the election of M. A. Savelkov as the Chairman of the Assembly, the USSR Anthem with a Stalinist version of the text was played. After that, he gave the floor to A. K. Cherepanov, who was in the police Department No. 5. Alexander Kiprianovich congratulated everyone by phone, from the name of the Central Committee of the RCWP-CPSU and the Central Committee of the CPSU. But as soon as he started talking about the achievements of V. I. Lenin and the Soviet government, the police began to take away his phone, which he tried use to speak  for the meeting, and disrupted his speech.

 

Member of the Tyumen regional committee of RCWP-CPSU V. I. Belendir with a thunderous voice first congratulated everyone on the occasion of the Great October Socialist Revolution, and then asked, what right have the authorities of the city of Tyumen and the police to encroach on the red flag that saved the world from fascism. Our ancestors went into battle under the Red Banner, marched on Red square on November 7, 1941 to defend Moscow and the country. And now, if the authorities and the police think it shouldn’t be carried on the streets,  is it an outlaw?!!

 

Professor of the Tyumen Industrial University, doctor of technical Sciences M. Kh. Uteshev said that the revolution is beginning in the United States and is spreading to other countries of the world. And we will have a new socialist revolution in Russia. It will definitely happen.

 

Candidate of Historical Sciences L. A. Pashkova in her speech said that November 7 should be the day of national unity, if you refer to historical documents. It was on November 7 that the Kremlin was liberated from the Polish invaders (in the early 17th century) and not on November 4, as the bourgeois, anti-people government had invented. And today we need the unity of the people to expel this bourgeois power.

 

The Chairman of the Tyumen regional Committee of Soviet women, T. R. Tselykh, reported that in Tyumen, the authorities and the bourgeoisie are tightening repression against the people, introducing a ban on communism as the criminal Boris Yeltsin did. Since November 8, hot springs have been opened, so in fact the coronavirus is not as dangerous as officials write in letters in response to Communist requests. At the end of the speech, T. R. Tselykh read poems by Marina Strukova about heroes and those who stay at home:

   There are few who will get out of line

   Sleep, cowards, you will be saved by heroes -

   Three People for the whole country.

   It's easy for you – your way is to the window from the door

   And someone’s way is from fire to fire.

   Somewhere in the open field, animals howl,

   And Peresvet (Russian hero of 1380 Kulikovo Field Battle) approaches the horse.

   Sleep, cowards. On this dark night

   Candles light up in the distance.

   Your banner is torn to shreds,

   Someone picks it up out of the dust.

   There's a war going on for your tomorrow,

   There's someone who cares about faith.

   It is clear – someone protects from the enemy

   The truth that you have betrayed.

   In the muddy mud of a well-fed rest

   You're frozen forever anyway.

   Sleep, cowards, you will be saved by heroes!

   Freedom to the freedom loving ones and the bottom of shame to those who were saved.

 

This is just about those ordinary people who sit like mice in holes, huddled in their cosy apartments.

 

Chairman of the meeting, Secretary of the regional Committee of the RCWP-CPSU for youth policy M. A. Savelkov read out the draft resolution of the meeting participants. Among other requirements, it contained the demand of prosecution of the Chairman of the Committee on Inter-Ethnic Relations of Tyumen, R. V. Malygin, for illegally obstructing the Communists of the RCWP-CPSU in holding public events. Malygin, by the way, was present on the square, and the participants of the meeting together shouted to him several times " Shame!".

 

Shame on Malygin and the rest of the city and regional government officials who finally descended to fascism. However, what else to expect from those who sit in offices under the Vlasov flag. If they are sitting under such flag, then they share the ideas that the traitor General Vlasov preached, while faithfully serving the Nazis headed by Hitler. And the current Tyumen bourgeois authorities inherited this brutal hatred of the Communists and the red flag to the full extent. They jump even ahead of Moscow and its mayor Sobyanin. Hitler would have applauded them.

 

The participants of the meeting unanimously voted for the Resolution with strict requirements for the authorities to improve the social and political situation in the country and the requirement to take real measures to improve the medical situation in the region. The Resolution also included a requirement to release all detained participants of the March and not to bring them to criminal or administrative responsibility.

 

At the end, to the tune of the eternal song "And the battle continues again...", flowers were laid at the monument to V. I. Lenin. This would have been a fitting end to the day on November 7 in any other case. But not in 2020. Even during the meeting, the participants learned that the detainees A. K. Cherepanov, T. N. Cherepanova and S. M. Tselykh were threatened to be locked up in the police station for 2 days, allegedly for attacking police officers. Then many demonstrators moved to the police station to demand the release of the detainees. We managed to achieve our goal, and all three were released on the same day, at about 19 o'clock in the evening.

NC Rally to Protect Our Votes with Team Democracy November 7th in Raleigh - #CountEveryVote

There will be a rally at Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh (16 West Jones Street) Saturday, November 7th (which also happens to be the 103rd anniversary of the anti-capitalist Great October Socialist Revolution in the former Russian Empire in 1917) 1 - 3pm "to demonstrate mass, peaceful support for counting all the votes and respecting the results.  Join us in celebrating our democracy and protecting our votes."  Participants are asked to wear masks and maintain social distance.  This is being organized by Team Democracy, Carolina Federation, National Domestic Workers' Alliance, NC Association of Educators, NC AFL-CIO, UNITE-HERE Local 23, Fight for $15, Black Workers for Justice, Durham for All, Down Home NC, Carolina Jews for Justice, Sunrise Movement, Siembra NC, Piedmont Rising, United Electrical 150 - the NC Public Service Workers Union, Southern Workers Assembly, Triangle Showing Up for Racial Justice, Guilford for All, and others.  For more information see: 

 

www.mobilize.us/carolinafederation/

 

facebook.com/events/354726659170975

 

I think there were similar protests in Durham and Hillsborough earlier in the week and people are observing the vote counting.

 

The votes for each office should be accurately counted and the winners installed in office, and there should be action in the streets if that doesn't happen, not only in courts, to avoid a repeat of the 2000 election.  Once the election is safely over, holding the president's "feet to the fire" can begin (preferably from the start of his term, as happened in 2017), though I think many of the people fired up over the Trump administration will stay silent while the media and some prominent leftists will take a more friendly and cooperative stance towards the executive branch if Biden-Harris wins, and there are few national level organizations not coopted by the Democrats to organize resistance.  Whether the president is Biden or Trump there is likely to be continuing police brutality, repression, loss of civil liberties, corporate welfare, anti-unionism, austerity, climate crises, corruption, coups, and the current wars will continue and more might be started, but under Biden there would be fewer protests and the media would hide what is going on or they would cover it, but with less shared outrage and sympathy, to return things to Clinton-Bush-Obama "normal."  NPR even briefly referred to the US anti-war movement during the last four years, but I don't remember them ever saying those words under George W Bush or Obama.  I have yet to hear them refer to Green and Socialist candidate Howie Hawkins or any other 2020 third party candidate for president, though I did hear about two references to the existence of the Green Party, mentioning Democratic Party attempts to remove the Green Party from ballots and when saying that there were not any third party choices this year.  Four years ago they mentioned Green candidate Jill Stein by name only after the election was over.  If eight years of Obama-Biden imperialist neoliberalism and inadequate response to climate change resulted in the last four years, how will things stand after four to eight more years of neoliberal Democratic rule with inadequate resistance from the left, economic and health crises, ever more obvious climate change, and the rise of China and other competitors in an increasingly multipolar world?  In four years there will again be the demand that Americans vote for the supposedly "lesser evil," covering over what the Democrats have done, there probably won't be a strong third party challenger, and there is the possibility of someone like Trump, but more effective at governing, and possibly less "isolationist," coming up.  It seems naïve to willfully misleading to assert that Biden will change his spots much as president, and the Republicans will probably control the Senate, as well as the Supreme Court.  If I'm not mistaken the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress at the start of Obama's first term, and so had a free hand to carry out the sweeping progressive policies they supposedly want to implement now.  On the other hand maybe things are coming to such a point that public anger won't go back underground for long if Biden wins.             

 

November - December events and anniversaries

This is list of some upcoming protests and political, cultural, music, and art events, news, historical anniversaries, and sometimes oddities.  More items will be added during the month.

Support the Venezuela Embassy Protectors; journalist Max Blumenthal Arrested

The Embassy Protectors, Americans who occupied Venezuela's embassy in Washington with the permission of the elected Maduro administration, to prevent the US government and coup supporters from seizing the building, were removed by the US and now face trials on various charges.  Some could be imprisoned for up to a year and fined $100,000 dollars.  They are seeking tax-deductible donations to pay $50,000 in legal fees and solidarity messages and actions by other groups.  For more information see:  defendembassyprotectors.org/

Journalist and author Max Blumenthal was arrested early in the morning on October 25th for alleged assault committed May 7th while delivering supplies to the Embassy.  Others were charged months ago and at the time people delivering supplies were attacked by coup supporters, with the complicit of the DC Police, or directly attacked by the officers.  Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting points out that this story has been buried in the mainstream US media, which likes to talk about defending journalists from governmental repression, and gives a lot of coverage to allegations against governments targeted by the US:  fair.org/home/max-blumenthal-arrest-exposes-hypocrisy-of-western-media-and-human-rights-ngos/

Still Spying on Dissent:  The Enduring Problem of FBI First Amendment Abuse

This is a report from Defending Rights and Defense (a merger of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the Defending Dissent Foundation) on FBI surveillance of political and social groups and movements over the last decade:   rightsanddissent.org/fbi-spying/

Chapel Hill Organization for Clean Energy vigils in Chapel Hill

CHOCE is holding vigils every Friday morning 8 - 10am outside UNC's coal-fired Co-generation Plant (at 504 Cameron Avenue [near the intersection with South Graham] west of the main campus [I think the municipal parking lots in Carrboro are free during the day and there is a paved trail along the railroad tracks to the UNC facility]).  For more information contact Richard (period) Gary 057 (at) gmail (period com).  [Climate Reality Orange County says a student filmmaker will be there November 8th, so they are hoping for a large group.]

There is or was a peace vigil for about 20 years or more every Friday afternoon 5 - 6 or 4:30 - 5:30pm, most recently at Village Plaza in Chapel Hill. 

Greta Thunberg in NC November 8th

According to the local NPR station, Greta Thunberg will be at a climate protest at the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Government Center November 8th.

Leaving fallen leaves

Durham is asking people not to put leaves in streets and they also shouldn't be dumped into waterways (of course leaves naturally enter waterways and support aquatic life, but dumping large amounts could cause blockages, carry in pollutants, and could degrade water quality later on as the leaves decay).  For biodiversity it would be best to leave them on the ground or use them for mulch.  For example, some charismatic large moths spin their cocoons attached to leaves while they are still up in the canopy and then spend the winter on the ground, leaf litter encourages earthworms and enriches the soil, and leaf litter probably also insulates dormant plants on the coldest winter days.  Here is one article on leaving fallen leaves:  globalnews.ca/news/6060276/dont-rake-your-leaves/

Petition to Save the Catsburg Country Store

This iconic building with a black cat logo has been a landmark on Old Oxford Road near Penny's Bend on the Eno in East Durham for 100 years, and is to be demolished for construction.  A petition is being circulated to support moving it a short distance to a site by the new Sandy Ridge Elementary School and renovate it as a community center.  Closer to the Eno there are several threatened plant species, and hopefully someone checked the Catsburg area before the new project was approved, though endangered plants have fewer protections than endangered animals due to legal history. 

Farmworker protests outside Greenleaf Nursery near Tarboro

The Farm Labor Organizing Committee and supporting groups have begun protesting outside Greenleaf Nursery near Tarboro in Edgecombe County.  FLOC has had problems with Barajas, the contractor that provides farmworkers for Greenleaf, and when organizers leafleted at the nursery Friday, October 25th they were forced out and the Sheriff was called, resulting in second degree trespassing charges.  FLOC says workers said they were being paid less than what is required by law.  I'm not sure if protest details are meant to be public, so call FLOC's NC office ( www.floc.com/wordpress/about-floc/contact-us/ ) or contact Triangle Friends of Farmworkers for information.  There apparently isn't anywhere to park at the site, so people are meeting elsewhere and there is carpooling from Durham. 

Ten years after the US-supported Honduran coup

School of the Americas Watch is urging support for HR1945, the Berta Caceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, to end "security aid:" www.soaw.org/take-action-on-the-10th-anniversary-of-the-military-coup-in-honduras/  There are currently 61 co-sponsors, but none representing North Carolina.  Demonstrations and deadly repression is going on in Honduras now, though it is not often mentioned by the mainstream media.   

For more information see:  www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/28/honduras-at-ten-years-after-the-coup-a-critical-assessment/

Also:  www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/11/the-honduran-coup-one-decade-later/

2020 Cuba Agroecology Tour

The Organic Growers School in Asheville organizes an annual tour looking at sustainable agriculture in Cuba, and the next tour will be January 7 - 16th, but the deadline to pay is November 1st:  organicgrowersschool.org/events/travel-to-cuba-2020.  Despite the Trump administration's efforts to chill improving relations with Cuba, the tour will still go on.

2019 NC Latin American Film Festival

This annual showing of film festival is October 20th into November and includes a showing of El pueblo soy yo: Venezuela en populismo | I am the People: Venezuela under Populism November 2nd at Durham Tech and Invasión | Invasion on the December 1989 Panama War November 4th at UNC (I can't vouch for the ideological basis of these documentaries, but they could be interesting, among others).  For more information see:  jhfc.duke.edu/latinamericauncduke/home/film-festival/

UNC Initiative on Poverty and Inequality

For more information about this new UNC student organization working on education equity, workers' rights, and food security, see:  bit.ly/ipi-signup  If Student Action with Workers (SAW, organized in 2003) no longer exists, this might be the only general student group with a focus on student-labor solidarity.   

Library booksales

The last Friends of the Durham Library sale of the year will be December 7 - 8th, and the hours for all of these sales will be 10am - 12pm members only and 12 - 4pm open to all on Saturdays and 1 - 4pm $10 paper grocery bag sales open to all on Sundays.  The sales are at Books Among Friends (Suite 252) inside Northgate Mall (1058 West Club Boulevard, Durham), formerly next to Sears (with Sears closed, people will have to enter through Entrance 8, between Foot Locker and Plato's Closet; Books Among Friends has a back service door, but it probably won't be left open).  There are small satellite sales inside the library branches daily ( durhamcountylibrary.org/friends/ ).

The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library's last 2019 sale will be December 6 - 8th ( friendschpl.org/FCHPLevents ).

Friends of the Lee County Library has occasional weekend book sales and a continuous book sale:  library.leecountync.gov/friends  

Elizabeth Warren will campaign in North Carolina for the first time the first week of November, in Raleigh.   

American Indian Heritage Month events

November is National American Indian or Native American Heritage Month in many places, or sometimes there is only a Heritage Day, November 23rd, after Thanksgiving or National Day of Mourning (or Buy Nothing Day).  The modern US Thanksgiving national holiday was declared during the Civil War, in 1863. 

There will be a number of events throughout UNC and at the NC Museum of History in Raleigh:  americanindiancenter.unc.edu/events/  and there are flyers at UNC's Davis Library. 

Awareness months and observances in November

According to Wikipedia, November is also Transgender Awareness Month, National Blog Posting Month, National Novel Writing Month, Academic Writing Month, Movember, Lung Cancer Awareness Month, Epilepsy Awareness Month, National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month, C. difficile Awareness Month (not from Wikipedia),  National Bone Marrow Donor Awareness Month, National Homeless Youth Month, National Adoption Month, National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, National Critical Infrastructure Protection Month, National Pomegranate Month, etc.

Big Sweep trash cleanups

There will be trash cleanups across the state this fall as part of the annual Big Sweep; Big Sweep in Durham is usually the first weekend in October, though the City/County will collect trash picked up and placed on the side of roads at other times as well (see keepdurhambeautiful.org/big-sweep/ for Durham events).  

The war for Algerian independence from France began November 1, 1954 and lasted until March 19, 1962.  The Battle of Algiers is a well-known film on the national liberation war, banned in France for years.   

November 2, 1917, during WWI, the UK issued the Balfour Declaration, promising support for Zionist goals in Palestine, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire, a Central power. 

The 25th annual Open Studio Tour, organized by the Orange County Artists Guild, will be November 2-3 and 9-10:  ocagnc.org/  The Third Annual Alamance Artisans Extravaganza 2019 was October 26 - 27th at the Vailtree Event Center in Haw River, and there was a Preview Exhibit at Chapel Hill's Frank Community Gallery September 28-29th.  For next year, see:  alamanceartisans.com/extravaganza

According to Wikipedia, National Bison Day is November 2nd, celebrating the official national mammal of the US, which almost became extinct and once lived even in North Carolina.

The 40th anniversary of the 1979 Greensboro Massacre is November 3rd.  KKK and American Nazi Party members fired on the Death to the Klan demonstration organized by the now disbanded Communist Workers' Party, killing 5 people and wounding others.  Some police were present and the local police and Federal agencies had infiltrated the KKK and neo-Nazi groups.  There will be events marking the 40th anniversary November 1st - 3rd:   www.greensboromassacrelessonstoday.org/ 

Día de los Muertos

There will be a celebration of this traditional Mexican and Latin American holiday Sunday, November 3rd 2 - 3:30pm in Dunn, Harnett County, organized by Student Action with Farmworkers, Western North Carolina Workers' Center, North Carolina Farmworkers' Project, and the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry ( www.facebook.com/events/2477957405591857/ ).  It will be at the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry 2989 Easy Street, Dunn, NC 28334-7994 ( episcopalfarmworkerministry.org/ ).   

From the Facebook announcement:

"Acompañe a los miembros de la Red Defensora de los Trabajadores Agrícolas (FAN) para celebrar la costumbre de Día de los Muertos y honrar el trabajo de los trabajadores agrícolas.

Aparte del programa, habra comida, bebida, y actividades para niños.

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

Join the members of the Farmworker Advocacy Network (FAN) to celebrate the traditional Día de los Muertos and to honor the work of farm workers.

Apart from the program, there will be food, drink, and activities for children."

Syndicalist writer Georges Sorel was born November 3, 1847 in Cherbourg, France.  His most influential work is probably Reflections on Violence, published in 1908. 

November 3rd is Culture Day (Bunka no Hi) in Japan, celebrating the arts, culture, and scholarship; the Apollo 11 astronauts are among the recipients of the Order of Culture presented on this day.  The post-war Japanese constitution, which the ruling rightist Liberal Democratic Party wants to amend, was announced November 3, 1946. 

Musician and recording engineer Malachi Ritscher burned himself to death in condemnation of the Iraq War November 3, 2006 near the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago. His final statement is included in:  chicago.indymedia.org/archive/newswire/display/74806/index.php and he wrote his own obituary at:  www.savagesound.com/gallery100.htm

Daylight Saving Time in the US ends early November 3rd.  The Federal government seems to control time standards, but local governments can opt out, though few do so, despite regular complaints. 

Jenny Elder Fitch Memorial Lecture:  A New Garden Ethic

The North Carolina Botanical Garden's annual Jenny Elder Fitch Memorial Lecture will be Sunday, November 3rd 2:30 - 3:30pm, featuring Dr Benjamin Vogt, a writer and owner of garden design company Monarch Gardens, speaking on "A New Garden Ethic."  This is a free event but registration is required:  ncbg.unc.edu/event/jenny-elder-fitch-lecture/  

NC WARN will hold a webinar on the proposed Duke Energy rate increase November 4th at 7pm; RSVP here.

British working class democratic reformer Thomas Hardy (not the famous author) was acquitted of High Treason on Guy Fawkes Day (November 5th) 1794, but at a high personal cost.  Subsequently the other arrested radicals were also acquitted or prosecution was dropped.  Who could vote or otherwise participate in British bourgeois democracy was very restricted until well into the 20th century.  For more information see an article in Monthly Review:  monthlyreview.org/2019/11/01/the-trial-of-thomas-hardy/ and Thomas Hardy's Wikipedia entry:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy_(political_reformer)

Eugene V Debs, a founder of the Industrial Workers of the World and presidential candidate of the Socialist Party of America, was born November 5, 1855.  He was imprisoned for advocating draft resistance during WWI, and sentenced to a decade in prison and loss of suffrage November 18, 1918, but ran for president again in 1920, from a Federal prison in Atlanta.  President Harding commuted his sentence in 1921 and he died in 1926.   

World Tsunami Awareness Day is November 5th:   www.un.org/en/events/tsunamiday/  Besides the impact of meteors, it is possible that a massive landslide in the Canary Islands or Cape Verde could send tsunamis to the Atlantic coast of the USA, and the Pacific is more tsunami-prone.

The general election for local races will be Tuesday, November 5th, and includes Durham City council races and a housing bond proposal.   

National Nachos Day is November 6th:  www.nationalnachosday.com/

The Union Sportsmen's Alliance will hold its Inaugural NC State Conservation Dinner November 6th in Charlotte:  aflcionc.org/union-sportsmens-alliance-to-host-inaugural-nc-state-conservation-dinner-nov-6th-in-charlotte/

Forest Theatre and Coker Arboretum public input workshops

There will be public meetings seeking input on the next century of these two UNC locations November 6th 11am - 2pm and 6 - 7:30pm, with light refreshments.  There is also a questionnaire online.  For more information see:  ncbg.unc.edu/event/forest-theatre-and-coker-arboretum-input-workshops/

According to Wikipedia French Catalonia's national day is November 7th while Spanish Catalonia's is September 11th.

The Great October Socialist Revolution was November 7 - 8 (it is called the October Revolution because it occurred in October under the old calendar). 

Don't Waste Durham meeting

Don't Waste Durham and other groups will be discussing a proposed 10-cent fee on single-use paper and plastic bags in Durham County and the City of Durham, November 7th at 1 - 3pm at the Emily K Center.  RSVP is requested; for more information about single use fees see:  www.dontwastedurham.org/resources ; contact information: crystal [at] dontwastedurham [period org]

Sea Level Rise

Orrin H Pilkey and Keith C Pilkey will talk about climate change and life along the USA's almost 90,000 miles of seashore during this century.  They argue that rising sea levels mean managed retreat needs to start now.  Their talk will be Thursday, November 7th at 7pm at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill (752 Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard).  For more information see:  www.flyleafbooks.com/sea-level-rise

The Communist Party of Albania (later renamed the Party of Labor of Albania) was founded November 8, 1941 through a merger of earlier groups.  At the time Albania was occupied by fascist Italy.   

Soviet revolutionary and statesman Vyacheslav Molotov died November 8, 1986.

Intersex Day of Remembrance or Solidarity Day is November 8th.

NC Comicon is November 8 - 10 at the Durham Convention Center:  nccomicon.com

The BBC and presumably other European state media are trumpeting about the fall of the Berlin Wall, beginning November 9, 1989, leading to the reunification of Germany.  Germany has a lot of power within the EU and demanded severe austerity in Greece a few years ago (some even called for Greece's "Grexit" from the EU), and Germany joins US military adventures [in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, etc.] and bullying of weaker countries for the neoliberal world order, even if it might be somewhat more interested in cooperative relations with Russia than the US. 

[For more information see:

www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/15/the-berlin-wall-thirty-years-later/

www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/12/the-wall-and-general-pyrrhus/

www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/24/why-did-the-east-germany-really-go-under/

www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/22/the-berlin-wall-another-cold-war-myth/

More negative on the GDR:

www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/12/walls-in-the-head-ostalgia-and-the-berlin-wall-three-decades-later/

And more negative:

www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/08/flying-leaps-30-years-later/ 

A view on the early years of the GDR: 

ml-review.ca/aml/PAPER/AUGUST2003/berlinBeria1953.html

[My post from November 2009:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2009/11/anniversaries-of-two-revolutions-and.html ]

Southern Labor Organizing in the Age of Trump:  A Forum

This will be Saturday, November 9th 9:30am - 1pm at the Fruit of the World Cultural Center in Raleigh (4200 Lake Ridge Drive).  To register see:  forms.gle/RqNQMAL2x5QBSsaj7  From the Facebook announcement ( www.facebook.com/events/427878361451345/ ): 

"~~Español abajo ~~
Coffee at 9:30am
Forum 10:00am-12:00pm
Lunch 12:00pm

REGISTER TODAY!

The South is on the move!

Social movement unionism is on a rise!

2018 was the year with the most worker strikes in over 30 years!

Help strengthen the labor movement by attending this forum where you will hear on-the-ground reports from worker organizers about the current strategic campaigns to #OrganizetheSouth. Are you looking for more ways to help build with the working class? This forum is perfect for you! Let's unite and strengthen our solidarity in action.

The forum will include presentations from the following worker campaigns:

Using the struggle for Medicare for All to organize Southern workers, by Southern Workers Assembly

Building city-wide worker resistance with local workers assemblies, by the Durham Workers Assembly

Why public sector non-collective bargaining organizing is strategic for worker power, by UE local 150, NC Public Service Workers Union

Migrant workers are organizing against state repression and deportation, by Comite de Accion Popular

Using tech initiatives to draw tech workers into the movement, by Raleigh-Durham Labor Watch

After the presentations, there will be time for discussion in response to the presentations, and also time for you to get more connected with the work. We'd also love to hear about your labor organizing work.

Share your work, learn from others and leave with with a new perspective.

REGISTER TODAY: https://forms.gle/RqNQMAL2x5QBSsaj7

Forum is co-sponsored by:

Black Workers for Justice
Comite de Acción Popular
Durham Workers Assembly
People’s World
People Before Profits Education Fund
Raleigh Labor Watch
Southern Workers Assembly
UE local 150, NC Public Service Workers Union

Spanish translation available.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Café a las 9:30 a.m.
Foro 10:00 am-12:00pm
Almuerzo 12:00 p.m.

¡REGÍSTRESE HOY!

¡El sur está en movimiento!

¡El sindicalismo del movimiento social está en aumento!

¡2018 fue el año con más huelgas de trabajadores en más de 30 años!

Ayude a fortalecer el movimiento laboral asistiendo a este foro donde escuchará informes sobre el terreno de los organizadores de los trabajadores sobre las campañas estratégicas actuales para #OrganizetheSouth. ¿Estás buscando más formas de ayudar a construir con la clase trabajadora? ¡Este foro es perfecto para ti! Unámonos y fortalecemos nuestra solidaridad en acción.

El foro incluirá presentaciones de las siguientes campañas para trabajadores:

Usando la lucha por Medicare para Todos para organizar a los trabajadores del Sur, por la Asamblea de Trabajadores del Sur

Construyendo resistencia de trabajadores en toda la ciudad con asambleas de trabajadores locales, por la Asamblea de Trabajadores de Durham

Por qué la organización de negociaciones no colectivas del sector público es estratégica para el poder de los trabajadores, por UE local 150, NC Public Service Workers Union

Los trabajadores migrantes se están organizando contra la represión y la deportación del estado, por Comité de Acción Popular

Uso de iniciativas tecnológicas para atraer trabajadores tecnológicos al movimiento, por Raleigh-Durham Labor Watch

Después de las presentaciones, habrá tiempo para la discusión en respuesta a las presentaciones, y también tiempo para que se conecte más con el trabajo. También nos encantaría saber acerca de su trabajo de organización laboral.

Comparte tu trabajo, aprende de los demás y vete con una nueva perspectiva.

REGÍSTRESE HOY: https://forms.gle/RqNQMAL2x5QBSsaj7

El foro es copatrocinado por:
Black Workers for Justice
Comite de Acción Popular
Durham Workers Assembly
People’s World
People Before Profits Education Fund
Raleigh Labor Watch
Southern Workers Assembly
UE local 150, NC Public Service Workers Union

Traducción al español disponible.

Hasta la victoria siempre!"

The NC Museum of Natural Sciences' Darwin Day will be November 9th, and this year's theme is Botany:  naturalsciences.org/calendar/event/darwin-day-2019/

The 78th Annual NC Gourd Arts and Crafts Festival will be November 9-10th in the Holshouser Building at the NC State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.  This year's theme is "Fun and Games with Gourds."  For more information see:  www.ncgourdsociety.org/festival

The 6th annual Durham County Pottery Tour will be November 9-10th:   www.durhamcountypotterytour.com/general-info

November 11 is Armistice Day, marking the truce that (more or less) ended World War I 100 in 1918.  In the USA Armistice Day has became the more pro-war Veterans Day.

Business interests and the local American Legion attacked an IWW hall in Centralia, Washington November 11, 1919, using an Armistice Day parade as cover, resulting in several deaths on each side.  Wesley Everest, a logger and IWW member, was taken from jail and lynched later that day.  Only the IWW and supporters were prosecuted and convicted of crimes.  Other attacks preceded the events of Armistice Day, including an attack on an IWW hall during a Red Cross parade April 30, 1918.  Here is a more detailed account:  www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/11/class-war-violence-centralia-1919/

Novelist Kurt Vonnegut was born November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis.

November 11, 1975 Governor-General Sir John Kerr, representing Queen Elizabeth II, removed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party, and installed a member of the Liberal Party.  There were allegations of US involvement, allegedly to prevent the Labor Party from closing US military bases in Australia. 

Sun Yat-sen, a founder of the Republic of China, created by the Revolution of 1911, was born November 12, 1866.

Silo Pruning Hooks

November 12, 1984 four people entered a Minuteman II ICBM silo operated out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Missouri.  Using a jackhammer and air compressor, they damaged the silo's lid, offered Eucharist and left Christian and Native American condemnations of the US government and mainstream Christianity over nuclear war.  An hour later they were arrested by military security authorized to kill and were held in preventive detention without bail.  In a Federal jury trial they were convicted of destruction of government property, conspiracy, intent to damage the national defense, and trespass.  They were sentenced to 8 to 18  years in jail, 3 to 5 years of probation, and each had to pay the government $2932.80.  A few months later the 18 year sentence was reduced to 12 years, but when the others appealed they were denied.

The German air force bombed the city of Coventry, England, UK multiple times during WWII, but the largest and most damaging air raid was the night of November 14 - 15th in 1940.  515 Luftwaffe bombers, using both explosive and incendiary bombs, virtually destroyed the downtown area and its medieval buildings, destroyed thousands of homes, and damaged 2/3rds of the city's buildings, as well as killing about 568 people and wounding many more.  Some have suggested that the UK knew the attack was coming but didn't give a warning so that the German military would not find out that its encryption had been broken.  Coventry had military value because of its industries, but it also might have been targeted for its cultural value, as revenge for the bombing of Munich a few days earlier.  The British used the attack as a pretext to start indiscriminately bombing or firebombing German cities, and later the US Air Force developed these techniques further, resulting in attacks such as the firebombing of Tokyo in March 1945 and the annihilation of entire cities with a single nuclear weapon. 

Plowshares Number Four

November 14, 1982 seven people entered the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut.  Three hammered and put blood on several of the USS Georgia submarine's ICBM hatches.  Four others hammered and put blood on parts in the south storage yard.  They were soon placed under arrest.  In a jury trial they were not able to make a justification defense and were convicted of criminal mischief, conspiracy, and criminal trespass, and sentenced to two months to a year in prison.

November 15th is America Recycles Day ( americarecyclesday.org )

The 15th (the third Friday in November) is also International Stand Up to Bullying Day (there is apparently another international day on the last Friday in February)

There was a National Day of Action against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) November 15, 2016.  According to Wikipedia, Bernie Sanders spoke in front of the White House and Robert Kennedy Jr visited the protest camp, among other high-profile endorsements.

The Yellow Vest protest movement (Mouvement des gilets jaunes) began November 17, 2018, and the anniversary was marked by further demonstrations in mid-November 2019.  

Close the School of the Americas

School of the Americas Watch is organizing a demonstration outside Fort Benning, Georgia (near Columbus and the border with Alabama) November 15 - 17.  November 16th is the 30th anniversary of a massacre at the Central American University in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1989.

November 16, 1989 El Salvador's military, specifically the Atlacatl Battalion, killed six Jesuits at the  (including the rector, vice-rector, and a dean), a housekeeper, and her 16 year old daughter at the José Simeón Cañas Central American University in San Salvador and tried to pass it off as an attack by the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), during the Salvadoran Civil War.  The Jesuits advocated negotiations and the military accused them of being on the side of the FMLN.  The Atlacatl Battalion was organized in 1980 at the US Army's School of the Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation and based at Fort Benning) and trained at NC's Fort Bragg by Special Forces and the 82nd Airborne Division and went on to carry out many large massacres and killings of civilians.  Several people were prosecuted in El Salvador and Spain, including one officer who had been living in Massachusetts for about 10 years until 2011. 

Robeson County Coalition to Protect Our Lands and Waters - March for Justice

There will be a march and rally against liquefied natural gas infrastructure and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, planned in the Robeson County homeland of the Lumbee Indians and near the majority black town of Maxton.  The demonstration will be November 16th 10am - 4pm:  www.ncwarn.org/event/robeson-march-for-justice/  This is being organized by Robeson County Coalition to Protect Our Lands and Waters and NC WARN. 

Tree Tour!

There will be a guided hike to see an exceptionally large white ash, reportedly almost as big as the champion tree for North Carolina, November 16th at 2pm (meet at the Parkwood Community Center, 1417 Seaton Road, next to the intersection with Revere Road, in Durham).  The tree is also a winner of the Durham's Finest Trees contest, in 2015 (as are a cottonwood and a catalpa also in the neighborhood, but I don't know if they are included in the tour).  The ash was also recently re-treated to protect it from emerald ash borer and the injection points can be seen.  The hike is off-trail in a publicly-owned woods but the area is relatively open and level.  For information call the Parkwood Association at 919 544 2161.   

What Are You Hiding Wendy's? march

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Alliance for Fair Food, and Student /Farmworker Alliance are organizing a march and rally for farmworker human rights in New York City Monday, November 18th 5 - 7:30pm:  www.facebook.com/events/1526715417470579/

[There was a rally against the rightist coup in Bolivia in Durham's downtown plaza, but I did not hear about it in time.]

Russian revolutionary Mikhail Kalinin was born November 19, 1875 and was head of state of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later of the entire USSR and a member of the CPSU's Politburo.  The Baltic port city of Kӧnigsberg was renamed Kaliningrad after his death June 3, 1946.  The city and its surrounding territory was formerly East Prussia, seized from Germany after WWII, and is now a Russian enclave cut off by NATO and EU states. 

November 20th is Mexico's Revolution Day (Día de la Revolución), a national holiday marking the beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1910.   

The Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz Island November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971.

Transgender Day of Remembrance is November 20th.

Africa Industrialization Day is November 20th:  www.un.org/en/events/africaday/

The 5th Democratic presidential primary debate will be Wednesday, November 20th, 9 - 11pm in Atlanta.

James Lewis Cates Jr, a lifelong black Chapel Hill citizen, was stabbed in The Pit area of UNC around 2am on November 21, 1970.  UNC Hospital is very close by and there are accusations that police actions contributed to his death.  That night the Durham-based Storm Troopers motorcycle gang, which used Nazi symbols, fought several times with black youths at an all-night interracial dance party during Homecoming weekend.  During a fistfight Cates took out a straight razor and was stabbed by one or more Storm Troopers.  May 25, 1971 no one was convicted of the killing, leading to the firebombing of several buildings over three weeks, for which people were imprisoned.

Here are some accounts that came up in a search, probably truthful:

orangepolitics.org/2005/09/the-legacy-of-james-cates

www.dailytarheel.com/article/2018/08/james-cates-silent-sam-0823

www.nytimes.com/1971/01/31/archives/slaying-arouses-chapel-hill-nc-sleepy-college-town-finds-itself.html

World Philosophy Day is November 21st (the third Thursday of the month):  http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/most-programme/humanities-and-philosophy/philosophy-day-at-unesco/

The Durham Night Market will be Thursday, November 21st 5:30 - 10:30pm at 307 South Roxboro Street with more than 40 local vendors selling handicrafts, live music, food trucks, alcohol and more: www.facebook.com/events/802005426904196/    

"Old Bolshevik" Lazar Kaganovich was born November 22, 1893 in what is now northern Ukraine and came from a Jewish family.  He had various roles in the Soviet government, including work on the Moscow Metro, membership in the Politburo, etc., but was sidelined under Khrushchev and died July 25, 1991.

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated November 22, 1963 in Dallas. 

International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day is November 23rd:  afsp.org/find-support/ive-lost-someone/survivor-day/

Passion, Politics, and Art in 20th-Century Mexico

There will be a seminar on the personal and political lives and work of Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Saturday, November 23rd 9am - 12:30pm at the NC Museum of Art.  There will be an optional lunch and tour of the Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection 12:30 - 2:30pm.  There is a $65 fee, discounted for UNC students, staff, and alumni.  The exhibit will be on display through January 19th:  ncartmuseum.org/calendar/series_parent/frida_kahlo_diego_rivera_and_mexican_modernism_from_the_jacques_and_natasha
This is organized by UNC's Carolina Public Humanities, the NC Museum of Art, and the Mexican Modernism exhibition.  For more information see:  humanities.unc.edu/event/passion-politics-and-art-in-20th-century-mexico/ 

The Global Holiday Festival and Market will be November 23rd 11am - 8pm in Raleigh's Moore Square (the International Festival will be March 6 - 8th and the State Fairgrounds, and there will be smaller events in October, such as an India-themed Pop-Up event in Moore Square on the 4th, 6 - 8pm):  internationalfocus.org/global-holiday-festival-and-market/

Griffiss Plowshares

November 24, 1983 (Thanksgiving Day) seven people entered Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York and proceeded to hammer and put blood on a B-52 bomber modified to carry cruise missiles and on some B-52 engines.  They left a statement condemning Griffiss and the US government for nuclear war preparation and condemned the violation of constitutional rights and punishment of acts of conscience under what they called the state religion of "nuclearism."  No one came to arrest them for hours, so they looked for the guards themselves.  This was the first Federal trial of Plowshares activists.  A justification defense and expert testimony were barred.  The jury found them innocent of sabotage but convicted them of conspiracy and destruction of government property, with prison sentences of two to three years and an appeal was denied.  This account and the others in this post come from Swords Into Plowshares:  Nonviolent Direct Action for Disarmament, edited by Arthur J Laffin and Anne Montgomery, and published in 1987.  There have been more recent actions. 

Never Again Action in Alamance County against ICE

There will be a march and rally against Alamance County's $2.3 million dollar contract with ICE November 24th 1 - 6pm, starting from the Center for Spiritual Living 309 South Maple Street in Graham.  It is being organized by #NeverAgain, Siembra, Southerners on New Ground, and Triangle Showing Up for Racial Justice.  For more information see:  www.facebook.com/events/481096502501999/

Sister Cities of Durham:  30 Years of Friendship

Find out about Durham's 30 years of friendship and exchanges with cities in China, Costa Rica, Greece, Japan, Mexico, Romania, Russia, Tanzania, and the UK Sunday, November 24th 3 - 4:30pm at the Southwest Regional Library (3605 Shannon Road, near the old South Square and a post office).  For more information see:  events.durhamcountylibrary.org/event/2175982

The modern US Thanksgiving holiday began under Lincoln November 26, 1863 (the last Thursday that November), during the Civil War, though there had been previous thanksgiving days around that time.  It has also been called the National Day of Mourning and Unthanksgiving Day because of the associations with colonialism.  Thanksgiving eclipsed Evacuation Day, commemorating the November 25, 1783 evacuation of the last of the defeated British army, through New York City.  Thanksgiving is followed by the unofficial Black Friday commercial holiday (also Native American Heritage Day since 2008), or Buy Nothing Day.  There is also Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday to continue the spending.  

UNC-Chapel's Hill 172-foot tall Bell Tower was dedicated on November 26, 1931 (Thanksgiving Day that year), and people will be able to climb its 128 steps between 4:30 and 6:30pm November 2nd.

Marxist philosopher and writer Friedrich Engels was born November 28, 1820 in what is now Wuppertal, Germany. 

Albania has two national days, November 28, 1912, when Albania gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, and November 29, 1944, when Albanian partisans drove out the German occupiers.  Subsequently the Albanians were unique in liberating their own country and then helping to liberate neighboring Yugoslavia. 

The Natchez and other groups rebelled against French colonialism in the lower Mississippi Valley, starting November 29, 1729.  Other indigenous nations fought on the side of the French.  The governor feared that a wider Indian and possibly slave rebellion was planned, so had a force of African slaves massacre the peaceful Chaouacha tribe living near New Orleans, for which he was apparently criticized at the time.  Ultimately the Natchez were driven out of their homeland or enslaved by the French, but still exist as a people. 

Russian Marxist Georgi Plekhanov was born November 29, 1856 and was upheld as a founder of the Russian Marxist movement, but was an opponent of the Bolsheviks. 

In the Sand Creek Massacre, starting November 29, 1864, Federal soldiers attacked peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians camped along Big Sandy Creek in what is now Colorado (where they had asked them to gather, displaying a US flag and a white flag), killing about 230 Indians, predominantly women, children, and elders, as well as committing torture and mutilation, before leaving the area December 1st.  Some soldiers refused to attack the village, but the perpetrators received little punishment and no criminal prosecution (from Wikipedia as well as www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/index.htm ).

The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is November 29th:  www.un.org/en/events/palestinianday/index.shtml

November 29th is also International Jaguar Day ( www.internationaljaguarday.org/ ); long ago these big cats included the Appalachians in their vast range while today a border wall could finish the job of exterminating jaguars in the USA ( www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/jaguar/ ; www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2019/jaguar-04-24-2019.php ; biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-bulldozes-new-wall-through-wildlife-refuge-jaguar-country-2019-10-31/ ) . 

Mark Twain (Samuel L Clemens), acclaimed author as well as vice president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, was born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri.

The Winter War between the USSR and Finland began November 30, 1939. 

The People's Republic of Southern Yemen (South Yemen) gained independence from the UK November 30, 1967.  North Yemen had been independent since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after WWI. 

Tens of thousands of people, many anarchists, protested the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle November 30th - December 1st, sometimes called the Battle of Seattle and N30.  It was a major event of the anti-globalization movement, later overshadowed by the need for anti-war organizing after 9/11.  There was a lot of organizing against globalization at UNC-Chapel Hill around then and some concessions were gained from the administration.  The Battle of Seattle also featured things like the black bloc, heavy police repression, bans on protesting, etc. seen in many large protests in the early 2000's. 

The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen), the first and so far only Arab Marxist state, was founded December 1, 1970.  It merged with the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) in 1990, creating the Republic of Yemen.  There is currently a civil war and armed intervention by other Arab states and the USA and there are Southern Yemen secessionist movements. 

The 2020 election filing deadlines are December 2nd - 20th:  www.ncsbe.gov/Elections/Candidate-Filing

Plowshares Number Seven was carried out December 4, 1983 in West Germany, and was the first in Europe.

Imprisoned Japanese anti-imperialist Tsutomu Shirosaki was born December 5, 1947 in Toyoma, Japan.  A few years ago he was released from US custody, but is now finishing a previous prison sentence somewhere in Japan.  It might be possible to write to prisoners in Japan, but I haven't come across any information about where he is being held.  For background, see a previous post ( durhamspark.blogspot.com/2015/01/tsutomu-shirosaki-japanese-anti.html ) and denverabc.wordpress.com/prisoners-dabc-supports/political-prisoners-database/tsutomu-shirosaki/ .  If there is any news, it will probably be posted at: throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com/tag/tsutomu-shirosaki/

Finland declared independence from Russia December 6, 1917 followed by a civil war between White and Red forces in early 1918. 

The 27th annual Chatham Studio Tour will be December 7-8 and 14-15:  www.facebook.com/events/chatham-county-north-carolina/2019-chatham-studio-tour/409473116262398/

Plowshares Number Two was December 14 [actually the 13th], 1980 in Groton, Connecticut.

The 6th Democratic presidential primary debate will be Thursday, December 19th in Los Angeles.  The other six official Democratic National Committee approved debates will be in early 2020, and independent forums with the candidates are ongoing.   

The winter solstice is December 21st this year.

Georgian revolutionary and Soviet statesman Joseph Stalin was born December 21, 1879 or 1878 in Gori, now in the Republic of Georgia, but at the time part of the Russian Empire. 

Thomas Sankara, called Africa's Che Guevara, was president of Burkina Faso from 1983 until he was assassinated October 15, 1987 was born December 21, 1949, in the northern town of Yako, in what was then the French colony of Upper Volta.

Sen Katayama, co-founder of the Japanese Communist Party and an official in the Comintern, was born December 26, 1859.  He was also one of the first members of the CPUSA and is buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. 

Chinese revolutionary and statesman Mao Zedong (or Mao Tsetung) was born December 26, 1893 in China's Hunan Province. 

The presidential primary elections for various parties will be on Super Tuesday, March 3, 2020, so North Carolina much more influence this time.

The NC Board of Elections now certifies voting machines that could steal the vote electronically, but Durham is still using machines that collect a paper ballot marked by the voter, leaving a voter-marked paper trail for manual recounting.