Showing posts with label Russian history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russian history. Show all posts

Saturday, May 17, 2025

En Marcha on the anniversaries of the defeat of Axis imperialism in '45 and US imperialism in '75

[Commentaries on the shooting of four diplomatic staff from the Israel'embassy in DC, two fatally:


A Maoist neworganization:  theworker.news/2025/05/22/a-just-act-just-not-a-correct-act/  (I wondered that evening ithis event could be used to advance the repressive agenda of Trump-Vance and the supportive Democrats, similar to Bush-Cheney and 9/11, on a smaller scaleor Nazi Germany and the 1933 Reichstag Fire, and according to the article, the PSL is being blamed, though the alleged shooter was only a member briefly, in 2017, and not connected to the party since then, according to Wikipedia.  Federal hate crime and terrorism charges might be applied, in addition to murder.  An alleged manifesto from X/Twitter is online above and at:  www.kenklippenstein.com/p/the-israel-embassy-shooter-manifesto )


On individual violent actions in general, posted before May 21st redphoenixnews.com/2025/05/12/urban-guerilla-theory-the-role-of-violence-in-capitalist-crises/


[ caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/05/23/thoughts-on-the-israeli-embassy-staff-killings/ ]


[ www.algora.com/Algora_blog/2025/05/22/stinking-to-the-high-heavens-of-a-false-flag  [The shooting hacovered up the news thaIsraeshot at diplomatfrom several "Western" countries near Jenin (?) in the West Bank, Palestine and Israel was been threatened with consequences for starving Gaza.  Netanyahu is talking about "babykillers," etc. the evening o the 22nd and there wasomething from him or someone about "incitement" and "bloodlibels," by the EU (?) for daring to criticize Israel's war crimes and atrocities.  In the morning on the 22nd NPR had a headline, something about someone condemning Netanyahu's promise to 'end' the war in Gaza if the prisonerare released, Hamas surrenders (and ...?), and if Trump's "brilliant," revolutionary" plan to depopulate Gaza ifollowed, "tantamount to ethnic cleansing" someone said -- why add "tantamount?"  The liberal Town of Chapel Hill probably stands with the US, EU, UK, Canadian, Israeli, and other war criminals, to a greater extent than the City of Durham.]


[I'm sure there is interesting discussion on www.nakedcapitalism.com under the daily Links, etc.]


On the right:


envisioningtheamericandream.com/2025/05/22/murder-in-the-name-of-palestine/  (supporter of the Democratic Party?)


www.counterextremism.com/press/counter-extremism-project-condemns-murders-israeli-embassy-workers-capital-jewish-museum 


For background:  


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_killing_of_Israeli_embassy_workers_in_Washington,_D.C.  ]



[May 28th Israel claims to have killed Mohammed Sinwar (born September 16, 1975 in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza), said to be the leader of Hamas in the GazStrip and leader of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades; his older brother YahySinwar (October 29, 1962, also in the Khan Yunis camp – October 16, 2024):  the morning BBC radio newprogram , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Sinwar , and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Sinwar ]


[ samidoun.net/2025/05/77-years-of-ongoing-nakba-the-crumbling-zionist-project-and-the-revolutionary-road-to-liberation-and-return/ ]



There are also articlesuch as (machine translated):  



World Biological Diversity Day [May 22nd in Ecuador;  pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13778 ]

Joseph Stalin, leader of the Great Patriotic War 

Battle of Stalingrad 

Brecht, revolutionary poet and playwright

THE MOTHER, by Maxim Gorky

Dimitrov and the defense of communism in the Leipzig trial

The Fifth Congress of the Communist International 

Engels, thinker 

Dien Bien Phu, an example in the people's liberation struggle 

The PCMLE fights and denounces Chinese revisionism 

The 1970s and the development of the PCMLE 

The PCMLE disputes the political leadership of the masses 

6th Congress of the Tunisian Workers' Party 

Popular First Aid Brigade

May 29 [1969]: Student's Day 

Adolescence 




I received these two translated articles and added introductory parts that are machine translated: 


En Marcha #2136, May 7 to 13, 2025  [ www.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13762 ]

Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador

80 years since the victory of the epic struggles of the peoples against fascist barbarism

Commemorating the 1945 Victory from a realistic and objective perspective implies understanding that the fight against fascism is part of the broader struggle against the capitalist system that gave rise to it. It implies recognizing that the working class and oppressed peoples were the driving force of resistance and victory, and that we must strive to reclaim their emancipatory role.

[Photo]

On May 9, 1945, Nazi Germany signed its surrender in Berlin, after having provoked the bloody war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. Eighty years have passed since the roar of arms of the armies contending in Europe during the Second World War ceased and the red flag with the hammer and sickle flew over the Reichstag (Parliament) in Berlin. Eighty years since humanity, represented in the heroic struggle of the Soviet Union and the allied coalition, dealt a mortal blow to the bloodiest and most reactionary regime that history had known: Nazi Germany.

Commemorating this historic victory is not a mere exercise in memory, but a political and ethical necessity, especially at times like the present, when the ghosts of the past are trying to return. Analyzing this victory objectively allows us to go beyond the superficial and often distorted narrative, to understand the deep forces, class contradictions and material interests that clashed in the Second World War, revealing its true meaning and the defeat of Nazi-fascism as a victory of working and oppressed humanity against the most brutal expression of capital in crisis.

The Second World War did not come out of nowhere, its roots were sunk in the contradictions inherent in the capitalist system in its imperialist phase, as analyzed by Lenin, Stalin and other Marxist theoreticians. The Great Depression of 1929 exacerbated inter-imperialist tensions, leading to a bitter struggle for markets, resources, and spheres of influence. In this context of structural crisis, the bourgeoisie of some countries, especially in Germany and Italy, resorted to fascism as an extreme form of open terrorist dictatorship of monopoly capital. Fascism was not simply a crazy ideology, as some call it; it was the response of big capital to the revolutionary threat of the organized labor movement and to the very existence of the Soviet Union, the first socialist state in history. Hitler's National Socialism, with its racist delirium, its expansionist pan-Germanism, and rabid anti-communism, represented the culmination of this reactionary degeneration, seeking to annihilate the "inferior race" (Jews, Gypsies, Slavs) and crush any vestige of workers' organization or dissident thought. Its manifest goal was world domination and the enslavement of vast territories and populations for the benefit of German capital.

In the face of this onslaught of barbarism, the Soviet Union emerged as the main bulwark of resistance. Since its birth, the USSR had faced the hostility of the capitalist powers, but the fascist aggression of 1941 placed it at the epicenter of the global struggle. The Great Patriotic War, as this period is known in the countries of the former USSR and progressive sectors, was a feat of epic proportions, a life-and-death struggle for the defense of the first experience of socialist construction. The Soviet people, under the leadership of the Communist Party, led by Stalin, mobilized all their forces and resources to repel the invader. Soviet industry, massively moved eastwards in the face of the enemy advance, showed an astonishing capacity for resilience and war production, surpassing German in many respects, despite the enormous initial territorial losses.

The Red Army, composed of millions of workers, peasants and intellectuals conscious of what they were defending, fought battles of unprecedented courage and ferocity. The defense of Leningrad, subjected to a siege of almost 900 days that cost the lives of more than a million civilians; the bitter and courageous battle of Stalingrad, which marked a strategic and moral turning point in the war, destroying a large part of the German army; the gigantic tank battle at Kursk; and the unstoppable final offensive that culminated in the capture of Berlin, are milestones that testify to the supreme sacrifice of the Soviet people. It was not just a military struggle; It was an all-out war in which the civilian population, the partisans (guerrillas) in the occupied territories, the women who took up the work in the factories and the countryside, all contributed decisively to the victory. It is estimated that the Soviet Union suffered more than 27 million casualties, both military and civilian, a figure that shows the magnitude of its contribution and the price paid for victory. Without Soviet sacrifice, the defeat of Nazism would have been unthinkable or would have required an infinitely greater cost to the rest of the world.

But the victory was the result of a combined effort. The anti-fascist coalition integrated capitalist powers such as the United Kingdom and the United States, despite their contradictions with the USSR and their own imperialist interests. The United Kingdom bravely resisted Nazi bombing during the Battle of Britain and contributed on fronts such as North Africa and the Atlantic. The United States, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, deployed immense industrial and military power that was crucial, especially on the Pacific front against Japan and in the Normandy landings, which opened a second front long desired by the USSR.

It is also essential to recognize the heroism of the resistance movements in the occupied countries. Communist partisans, socialists, democrats, and patriots fought clandestinely against the invader, sabotaged its operations, rescued victims of persecution, and kept the flame of hope alive. The resistance, more often than not led by the communists, played a vital role in weakening the enemy and preparing the ground for liberation. This dimension of popular struggle and resistance from below, often downplayed in official histories, is crucial to a full understanding of victory.

From a Marxist perspective, the anti-fascist alliance was a classic example of a united front, a tactical union of diverse and even contradictory forces in the face of a common enemy. While the USSR was fighting for the survival of its socialist system and the liberation of the peoples, the allied capitalist powers were also defending their own interests: to stop an aggressive imperialist competitor that threatened their possessions and trade routes. The tensions and differences in objectives between the USSR and its capitalist allies were palpable during the war and would become evident immediately afterwards, giving way to the so-called Cold War. However, at the crucial moment of the struggle against fascism, the need for unity prevailed.

The victory of 1945 had consequences of historic scope for the development of the 20th century. Fascism, as a state ideology, was discredited and defeated militarily. A period of decolonization began, as the European imperialist powers, weakened by the war, could no longer maintain their vast colonial empires in the face of the rise of national liberation movements, many of them inspired by the Soviet example and socialist ideas. The world political map changed radically with the formation of the socialist bloc in Eastern Europe and Asia, expanding the field of countries seeking to build alternatives to capitalism. The prestige of socialism and the international communist movement reached very high historical levels.

In addition, awareness of the magnitude of Nazi atrocities, in particular the Holocaust, created an impetus for the development of international humanitarian law and the creation of multilateral bodies such as the United Nations, aimed at preventing future wars and protecting human rights. While these institutions have often been limited and exploited by the interests of the great powers, their creation was, in part, a response to the need to establish safeguards against the barbarism that fascism represented.

Eighty years later, we cannot rest on the laurels of victory. The reactionary winds are blowing again. Capitalism in global crisis creates growing inequalities, social polarization and despair, a breeding ground for the resurgence of ultra-right ideologies, exclusionary nationalism, racism and xenophobia. The denial or minimization of the crimes of fascism, the attempts to equate communism with Nazism, and the glorification of fascist collaborators in some countries are red flags that demand our utmost attention and firm opposition.

Commemorating the 1945 Victory from a real and objective approach implies understanding that the struggle against fascism is part of the broader struggle against the capitalist system that engendered it. It implies recognizing that the working class and oppressed peoples were the driving force of the resistance and victory and that we must strive to salvage their emancipatory role. It reminds us of the importance of organization, unity of action and international solidarity to face the threats of the present. The struggle for historical memory is a political struggle; combating the unconsciousness and distortion of the past is essential to defend the rights and achievements of the present and to build a different future.

The victory over fascism showed humanity's ability to overcome barbarism when united around a common goal. The immense sacrifice made by the Soviet Union and all those who fought against the Fascist Axis, imposes on us the responsibility of not allowing history to repeat itself. The struggle for a world without exploitation, oppression, racism and war, a world of peace, social justice and labor, remains the fundamental task of our time. It is the best way to honor those who gave their lives for freedom.

80 years of the Great Victory over fascism! Honor and eternal glory to the heroes of the Red Army, to the communists, partisans, to the resisters, to all workers and to the peoples who fought and gave their lives! for freedom! Fighting fascism in all its forms is an obligation for the present! For a world without imperialist wars, or capitalist oppression!

[An added photo?]






En Marcha #2136, May 7 to 13, 2025 [ www.pcmle.org/EM/spip.php?article13768 ]

Central Organ of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador

Vietnam: 50 Years of the Vietnamese People's Victory over U.S. Imperialism

Since the Tet Offensive, launched by the Vietnamese Liberation Front in 1969, the initiative rested with the Vietnamese people. The liberation of Saigon in April 1975 marked the end of a political-military process that defeated US imperialism and its minions.

[Photo]

April 30 marked the 50th anniversary of the defeat of U.S. imperialism in Vietnam. This historic event is of great importance for the anti-imperialist and Marxist-Leninist communist movement internationally; seen in the heroic struggle of the Vietnamese workers and people; it affirmed the solidarity, brotherhood of peoples and the internationalist struggle; it meant the reunification of the country, the victory of its self-determination and independence.

Between March and April 1975, U.S. diplomats and military began fleeing Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. It was clear that the advance of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam was unstoppable. The withdrawal of most U.S. troops during the previous months evidenced the political-military defeat that the Vietnamese people had already inflicted on the U.S.

The victory was made possible by massive popular support for the troops of the Liberation Front and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnamese Army). "We had to use the small against the big, antiquated weapons against modern weapons", "In the end, it is the human factor that determines the victory" the revolutionary and head of the Vietnamese People's Army Vo Nguyen Giap would say. The fundamental element for the victory was the people in arms, the same one that allowed for the annihilation of the military forces of imperialism, thus allowing all its political and military maneuvers to be undone. In this process, the revolutionary forces combined guerrilla warfare, insurrection in the towns and cities, workers' strikes and boycott actions by the masses. The period of simultaneous offensives and insurrections, which began with Tet in 1968 and ended with the liberation of Saigon in 1975, was the result of the coordination of the military and political struggle.

How did this victory come about?

The workers led by the Viet Minh, the League for the Independence of Vietnam founded in 1941, by Ho Chi Minh and by the Communist Party, raised armed resistance to the Japanese and later the French invader. The latter, financed and supplied by the United States, were defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954.

In that same year, negotiators from France and the Viet Minh signed the Geneva Agreement to temporarily establish a territorial demarcation line that would divide Vietnam between French military forces and troops led by Ho Chi Minh.

In 1957, guerrilla forces fighting in South Vietnam and North Vietnamese troops took up arms to reunify the country. By 1963, reunification seemed imminent, so U.S. imperialism organized a provocation in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 to justify sending massive troops to Vietnam in 1965.

Nearly 600,000 U.S. troops were sent to Vietnam during the conflict to confront Liberation Front guerrillas, while the U.S. Air Force bombed Vietnam in a bloody and disproportionate way. According to some records, the United States dropped 7.5 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, a far greater amount than that used during World War II by all sides.

Vietnamese guerrilla tactics, supply routes, tunnels, traps, lightning attacks, etc., proved to be deeply resistant to the enormous technological power of the United States. During nine years of subjugation of the local population, the U.S. military never managed to break the will of the Vietnamese workers and people.

The My Lai massacres, in which U.S. troops murdered more than 700 men, children, and women (who were raped before being massacred), or the agonizing images of children with their skin melted by chemical bombs (white phosphorus, napalm, and Agent Orange), are examples of the criminal U.S. invasion. These actions of the Yankee army led to the indignation of the youth, workers and peoples of the world. Marches, rallies, festivals and other actions for Peace and in solidarity with the Vietnamese people, were generalized world-wide. To cite three examples, in 1968, millions of university and high school students in the United States staged a massive boycott in their schools as a show of opposition to the war; in 1969, thousands of U.S. citizens took the day off from work to participate in local demonstrations across the nation; in 1971, several groups of Vietnam veterans threw more than 700 medals down the steps of the Capitol. This movement in rejection of the Vietnam War was repeated all over the world.

Since the offensive carried out by the Liberation Front in 1969, called the Tet Offensive, the Vietnamese people took the initiative. The liberation of Saigon in April 1975 was the end of a political-military process that defeated US imperialism and its lackeys. This heroic deed of the Vietnamese people headed by their Communist Party shows the certain possibility of the defeat of imperialism.

The heroic struggle of the Vietnamese people had a profound impact on popular culture, with music, film and literature reflecting opposition to the war. "The black eagles break their claws / against the heroic people in Vietnam" Quilapayun sang, and there were the great concerts for peace that would star figures such as Jimmy Hendrix, The Who, the Rolling Stones and John Lennon.

Vietnam was an encouragement for struggles for social and national liberation in the dependent countries. Algeria, Angola, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala were several of the places where the guerrilla struggle would have a great influence of the tactics and strategy of the Vietnamese workers. This victory strengthened the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial movement, which spread throughout the world, promoting the struggle of the peoples for self-determination and independence.

Thursday, April 17, 2025

April 2025 issue of Revolutionary Democracy published + NLG Federal Defense Hotline [+ news]

The current calendar post is at:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/03/unac-stop-attacks-on-palestinian-rights.html , but I hope to post a new one shortly. 




From the NLG:


Webinar: The Feds are Knocking: Federal Grand Juries [and] State Repression, Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 6:30-8 PM ET, Via Zoom

The NLG National Office is excited to announce a new webinar!

Federal agents use tactics like “door knocks” and grand jury subpoenas to target activists and surveil social movements. This training will cover how to support activists in federal investigations and grand jury proceedings. Attendees will learn about federal grand jury subpoenas and litigation, with a focus on representing witnesses who wish to litigate the validity of a subpoena. This training will provide guidance for attorneys, and help prepare activists and support teams for what to expect throughout the grand jury process.

Date and Time: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 6:30-8:00 PM ET Via Zoom.

Speaker: Mo Meltzer-Cohen is an educator, attorney, and abolitionist, serving overlapping communities of activists, queers, and prisoners. Their work includes criminal defense, particularly for those arrested in the course of justice struggles; representation of witnesses before federal grand juries; and advocacy for those seeking gender affirming and other necessary (but often withheld) health care while in prison.

NOTE: The NLG Federal Defense Hotline is also available to activists and lawyers in order to report verified incidents of federal repression, such as FBI “door-knocks” at activists’ homes, grand jury investigations and subpoenas, and any other federal law enforcement efforts to undermine civil rights, including federal grab squads and the use of unidentified federal agents to police protests. Hotline allows callers to have privileged conversations with attorneys and to receive attorney referrals, know-your-rights information, and resources for responding to grand jury investigations and subpoenas. The line is live at: (212)-679-2811.




[On the student protest April 16th at NCCU in Durhamtheworker.news/2025/04/17/student-housing-activists-arrested-in-durham-nc/




[April 17th iPalestinian Prisoners' Day 2025, with events in New York City, Cleveland, New Orleans, Denver, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Grand Rapids, Santa Ana, Toronto, Vancouver, Mississauga, Lima, Havana, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Toulouse, Nantes, Alpes de Haute-Provence (France), Brussels, Amsterdam, Manchester, Dublin, Berlin, Frankfurt, Halle, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Tuebingen, Gothenburg, (Sweden), Rome, Firenze, Beirut, Lalitpur (Nepal), and other places April 17th-21st:  samidoun.net/2025/04/palestinian-prisoners-day-2025-fighting-for-liberation-against-imperialist-zionist-genocide/ ]




[There will be a Department of People Who Work for a Living hearing, part of an ongoing series, April 17th in Asheville (see the NC AFL-CIO):  DPWL Public Hearing in Asheville




From the Haw River Assembly

 

"Burlington Tarheel Army Missile Plant (TAMP): Community Meeting Update

The Resident Advisory Board (RAB) for the Burlington Tarheel Army Missile Plant met yesterday (Thursday, April 17, 2025) at the Kernodle Senior Center with representatives from NC Department of Water Quality (NCDEQ), Burlington City Planning, researchers, scientists and the Army's remediation team.

The Army has removed 460 tons of contaminated soil to contain groundwater contamination, primarily from degreasing agents and taken it to approved landfill sites. PFAS was detected at low levels and will require separate investigation and funding. Property responsibilities are split between the current owner (maintaining fencing, land use restrictions) and the Army (monitoring, remediation of contaminated soil). Northwind/Terracon contractors are managing cleanup with DOD funding.

Community members voiced concerns about transparency regarding well locations, testing and soil disposal sites (landfill locations). Residents requested comprehensive documentation of site risks, remediation plans and specific, clear information they could share with their community members about what is going on with the site. The meeting revealed a need for improved outreach to directly affected neighbors, as attendance from impacted residents was limited."]




[Durham Beer and Banjos is on third Thursdays, including April 17th.]




[From the NC Poor People's Campaign:



"On Saturday, April 19, 2025, thousands of North Carolinians will gather at Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh for “Forward Together: A March for Justice and Unity, a powerful demonstration calling for equity, democracy, and collective action. The event will take place from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at 300 North Salisbury Street.

What: "Forward Together: A March for Justice and Unity"

When: Saturday, April 19, 2025, 11:00 AM–1:00 PM

Where: Halifax Mall, 300 North Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27603 "



...



"Also on April 19, the Western Circle NCPPC is supporting the "People's Town Hall for Liberty" in Asheville's Pack Square Amphitheatre, from 12PM to 2PMClick here for more information, and to sign up."]




[There will be a weekly anti-Trump rally near the Chatham County Courthouse in central Pittsboro April 19th?]




[Local anti-Trump protests organized by the Democratic Party or front groups There was a "National Protests in 50 States: Durham protecting Democracy!" rally April 19th 11:30am-12pm at CCB Plaza, by Major the Bull; organized by Durham Democrats, Engaged Durhamites for Democracy, and Durham Progressive Democratswww.mobilize.us/durhamcountydemocrats/event/774615/  Another protest, "May Day Strong: National Day of Action" is planned for May 1st at 2pm:  www.mobilize.us/mayday/event/777716/  4-7pm at Halifax Mall in Raleighwww.mobilize.us/mayday/event/775016/ 3:30-7pm in the same place; organized by SURJ:  www.mobilize.us/mayday/event/777020/  A protest every Tuesday 8-9am at 147 and Anderson Drive in Durham? -- www.mobilize.us/durhamcountydemocrats/event/761258/    A protest every Wednesday, 4-6pm, at the ATT bridge over I-40? -- www.mobilize.us/durhamcountydemocrats/event/767509/   At a Tesla dealership in Raleigh (7101 Glenwood Avenue) every Friday 4-6pm? -- www.mobilize.us/durhamcountydemocrats/event/766727/ ]




[The Hemparoo 2025 hemp festival will be April 19th 12-6pm at The Plant in Pittsboro:  www.theplantnc.com/event-details/hemparoo-2025 ]




[The 15th Annual North Carolina ‘Cuegrass Festival will be April 19th 12-6pm in downtown Raleigh.] 




[Every Day is Earth Day will be April 19th 1-5pm at The Scrap Exchange in Durham (2000 Chapel Hill Road):  www.scrapexchange.org  For some other Earth Day celebrations see the March calendar post, linked above, and TriangleontheCheap.com ]




[The GCAP Holi Festival will be April 19th in Gibsonville.] 




[The RiverRun International Film Festival in the Triad area will end April 19th.]




[There will be a public hearing, during the triennial review of water quality standards in North CarolinaApril 22nd at 5pm at the Archdale Building in Raleigh.  The Haw River Assembly will hold a webinar to prepare Monday, April 21 at 7:00pm:  docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2E6u1XO7j1Q3f0dY3jW43vboElbv1djTTD2TcrTUCKizNEQ/viewform  The State will accept written comments through May 2nd.]




[There will be an information session with the TriRiver Water utility company and the Haw River Assembly Wednesday, April 23rd 6:30-8pm at Woods Charter School.]




[The first Biscuits and Banjos Festival will be April 25-27th in Durham; organized by Rhiannon Giddens.]




[From the County government:



13th Annual Star Party


"NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. – Join Cape Fear Museum of History & Science, Carolina Beach State Park, Cape Fear Astronomical Society, and many other community partners for a fun-filled evening of stargazing and astronomy-themed activities on Friday, April 25 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Carolina Beach State Park, 1010 State Park Road. This year’s theme is Your Place in Space. Be part of an event that is happening statewide and bring a flashlight!" 


-- www.nhcgov.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=898 ]




[The Northside Festival will be April 26th 12-3:30pm at 512 Rosemary Street (between Roberson and North Graham streets) in Chapel Hill; organized by the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving and Making History.]




[There will be a Climate Action Fair Saturday, April 26th 1-5pm at The Plant in Pittsboro; organized by the Haw River Assembly www.hawriver.org/climate-action-fair ]




[April 26-27th 2-6pm:  www.carolinafarmstewards.org/piedmont-farm-tour/ ]




[The 2025 Haw River Festival and the beginning of this year's of Saturdays in Saxapahaw will be Saturday, May 3rd 4-8pm in Saxapahaw.] 




From the HRA:


"On May 7, The Environmental Management Commission (EMC) will hear a bad rule on PFAS minimization at the Water Quality Committee meeting. This rule as written will be worse than doing nothing, as it will create a shield for polluters to justify their lack of meaningful action and limit our ability to challenge permits or hold polluters accountable and enforce the Clean Water Act."


In preparation for this, we are asking the general public to make themselves seen and heard by these commissioners. Please join us May 7th in Raleigh to protest this rule at the EMC meeting. **We will hold a community action event outside of the building before the meeting begins and hope to have standing room only at the actual meeting for the commissioners. ..."


docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9NWQut0rHC2-t-aMTMjFOOMe-wXyp05vjkGc81EAP-TTJCw/viewform ]




[Against the Williams-Transco Southeast Supply Enhancement Project (SSEP) natural gapipelinewww.hawriver.org/news/organizing-against-pipeline-threats-and-building-environmental-justice , nossep.org , a report from an NBC affiliate about a recent Guilford County Commissioners work session on the pipeline:  www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=YhUpiriZoak , actionnetwork.org/petitions/greensboro-town-council-and-mayor-pass-a-no-ssep-resolution/ ]




[In addition to the regular weekend event next to the Carrboro Town Hall, there is now a Durham Really Really Free Marketsee Facebook.] 




The April issue of the English-language Indian Marxist-Leninist theoretical, political, and historical journal Revolutionary Democracy ( revolutionarydemocracy.org) came out by the 13th and can be ordered from Red Star Publishers ( redstarpublishers.org ) for $7 dollars, which covers the shipping cost within the US.  For more information about ordering see the website.  Their postal mailbox has been discontinued and payments to must be made through PayPal or by special arrangement.


Brick and mortar bookstores, organizations, and individuals selling copies in Canada, India, the UK, and the USA are listed at revolutionarydemocracy.org on the current issue page, linked at the top of the menu on the left.  Many of the articles are also posted there for free.




Contents:


Emergent Fascism and People’s Resistance in India
‘Fascism, the danger of war and the tasks of the Communist Parties’ ECCI, Comintern 1934
Corporate Driven War in the Most Interior Regions of Bastar Forests 
Police Crackdown on Peaceful demonstration by workers of Maruti, Maruti Suzuki Asthayi Mazdoor Sangh
Agrarian stratification in India as it emerges from NSO 2021 Report,
CN Subramaniam
RG Kar Movement – The Journey So Far, A Report by Comrades of Bengal
Commodity Production and the law of value under Socialism, K. Ostrovityanov
Lenin’s Criticism of Bogdonov’s Reactionary Sociological Views, Part II,
A. V. Shchegolov
July Uprising in Bangladesh, Badruddin Umar
Final Declaration of the XXIX Plenary Session of the International
Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations – ICMLPO
and Resolution of Solidarity with the Palestinian and Syrian People
The fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, Tunisian Workers' Party
Syria, Prey to the Imperialist Powers and their Servants,
Communist Platform for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy
Palestinian Ceasefire Accord, Joint Statement
Some Key Notes on the Victory of the Palestinian Resistance
Movement, Party of Labour of Iran (Toufan)
Abdullah Öcalan's call for laying down of arms by Kurds,
Labour Party of Turkiye      
Document: A Note of Self-criticism by Com. G Adhikari, 1946
Document: Ajoy Ghosh - CPSU b correspondence 1952
Document: Conversation of Comrade Zhdanov with Comrade Zachariadis 1947
Book Review by Karan Verma: ‘Japanese Management, Indian resistance’


Sunday, November 17, 2024

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.


Scintilla: The women of the October Revolution

Scintilla #149 was posted November 13th at:  piattaformacomunista.com/index.php/leggete-scintilla-n-149-novembre-2024/ ; the article below was slightly edited.  Some of their works are available at redstarpublishers.org or elsewhere online, such as at marxists.org 


[October 23-24, 1923 in Hamburg, Germanyen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_Uprising ; there was an earlier uprising March 17-April 1, 1921 in the former Province of Saxony, Prussia:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_Action ]


[November 10-27, 1924 in Estonia:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_the_149  Jaan Tomp was executed November 14, 1924 in Tallinn:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaan_Tomp ]


Scintilla n. 149, November 2024

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

 



The Women of the October Revolution


In 1917, on the eve of the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks had about 2,500 women members, 36.8% of whom were workers or peasants. This is a remarkable fact, the reason for which is mainly to be found in the fact that for the Bolsheviks the equality of women and men was not merely formal. For Bolshevism, proletarian revolution and women's liberation were integrally connected.


The history of the Revolution is full of examples of dedication, enthusiasm and courage shown by Russian workers and peasants in those 10 days that shook the world, who gave their lives to defend socialism and the social and civil achievements won from the counter-revolution, but which today's narrative often forgets.


To pay tribute to them and express our gratitude, we will briefly talk about some of them. Nadya Krupskaya was not only Lenin's wife and an ardent revolutionary, she was above all a great pedagogue. During her years of exile around Europe she coordinated the various Bolshevik organizations and was editor of the newspaper Iskra. Close to Makarenko's ideas, she expressed her theories in numerous writings. She theorized that the "school of work" was to develop solidarity and collaboration through "working together", whose aim was to create the Soviet "new man".


Elena Stassova had mainly roles on technical aspects such as finding the place to hold clandestine meetings and in the distribution of the press that arrived in Russia clandestinely, an activity that continued even when she was imprisoned. After the Revolution she became secretary of the party's Central Committee and in 1921 president of the international Red Aid, a solidarity organization for revolutionary fighters that spread throughout the world thanks to her tireless work.


In the years before the Revolution, Inessa Armand became secretary of the Coordinating Committee of the Bolsheviks in Western Europe. In 1912 she was arrested in Russia while organizing the campaign for the election to the Duma. She was one of the founders of the newspaper Rabotnitsa, the Woman Worker. She took sides against the war and in 1915 organized the International Peace Conference of Socialist Women. She died in 1920 and was buried under the walls of the Kremlin, next to John Reed.


An Italian woman also participated in the socialist revolution: Beatrice Vitoldi. She had moved to Riga with her parents as a child. She was secretary of Proletkult, the proletarian cultural-educational organization. We remember her for the role of the mother who plays in the famous scene of the Odessa steps in the film "The Battleship Potemkin" by Eisenstein. In 1931 she worked at the Soviet embassy in Italy.


Many other names could be mentioned, but we remember them all with the words dedicated to them by Aleksandra Kollontai: "It is impossible to list them all, how many remain nameless? The heroines of the October Revolution were a whole army and although their names may be forgotten, their altruism lives on in the victory of that revolution itself and in all the achievements and results that working women in the Soviet Union now enjoy. It is a clear and indisputable fact that, without the participation of women, the October Revolution could not have brought the Red Flag to victory. Glory to the working women who marched under the Red Flag during the October Revolution. Glory to the October Revolution that liberated women!"