tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16637660324534581452024-03-29T03:29:32.410+00:00Reddebrek's bowl of Saccharine GrumblingsA Jack of all trades, and Master of none.Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.comBlogger833125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-74700996901321978072024-02-04T15:16:00.001+00:002024-02-04T15:16:08.141+00:00Anarchy TV<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFn4Lgl243X3uH9WHtTeP1SQ9RvcZL1giXG7jRqX9eBJT-E-DnyqHVwYbP-yFVN7Kb6GelWf6LE7jEpYnxDOuFzRFFXkmSQzpRRDz9N4bEu1iTMbt2fqFdRvXxUQbgnagHvJ57FwOp2ctdpy_BDyIXd3yknvLdAlEB4_crboYX6vLcNhGp3kbEQ-NmUFHA/s394/AnarchyTVcover.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFn4Lgl243X3uH9WHtTeP1SQ9RvcZL1giXG7jRqX9eBJT-E-DnyqHVwYbP-yFVN7Kb6GelWf6LE7jEpYnxDOuFzRFFXkmSQzpRRDz9N4bEu1iTMbt2fqFdRvXxUQbgnagHvJ57FwOp2ctdpy_BDyIXd3yknvLdAlEB4_crboYX6vLcNhGp3kbEQ-NmUFHA/s16000/AnarchyTVcover.PNG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turns out the Revolution will in fact be televised<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>90s era Anarchists seize control of a public access TV station from its corrupt Televangelist owner and strip naked live on air to protest social conformity and get some ratings for their revolution. Jonathan Blank's independently funded 1998 film was a challenge to find, I discovered its existence looking up the filmography of George Wendt who briefly appears alongside Alan Thicke, Jessica Hecht and the Zappa clan. After finding out about the film and its premise, "Anarchists take control of a public access TV channel to protest a Televangelist and get naked to get viewers" I tried looking it up and could only find a <a href="https://archive.org/details/anarchy-tv-1998-movie">VHS rip</a>. </p><p>From the premise, I was worried I'd be wasting my time with another edgy comedy that littered the 90s indie scene. The kind of film that used shocking behaviour, nudity, sex and swearing as crutches for clever humour and plots that mean things and make consistent sense. I was expecting to waste 90 minutes watching some grainy not quite porn mixed with cheap sets and running joke skits. Luckily, Anarchy TV for all its limitations in budget does not disappoint. It does include nudity, sexuality, swearing and edgy satire, but they all have a point to make and serve the film and are not ploys to get audiences. The VHS rip is quite good considering the age, and I found the film noise and artifacting added to the movie's grungy aesthetics and public access television setting. </p><p>The cast is a bit rough but likeable, I was sympathetic to their plight, and they were refreshingly odd in ways that felt authentic. They're caricatures of 90s American activists, the conspiracy obsessive, the militant sex negative feminist, the free speech crusader who uses jokes and satire as weapons, the survivor of the New Left and civil rights movement who hasn't found their place in the new ideology free 90s. But unlike most caricatures of these types in media, they aren't the objects of scorn and were written and acted by people who were familiar with the real life examples. "Anarchists" and "Anarchy" appear a lot in media, it's just that usually those terms are synonyms for random violence and scary bad things. I was expecting Anarchy TV to be equally sloppy, but again I was proven wrong, these Anarchists might fail the Anarchist tests, they don't quote Bakunin or Emma Goldman, but they're close to the Anarchists that were around in the anti-globalisation fights of the period. They are openly hostile to capitalist society, its values and its power structures, and while they use the common Anarchist dressings and slogans they also make use of more obscure ones, and in ways that are appropriate to the satirical vibes.</p><p>Televangelism and business orientated religion is cruel, callous, hypocritical, corrupting, bigoted and reactionary. Anarchy TV makes this point through jokes, but the message is loud and clear. The police are also scum and active participants in repressing non-conformist voices. The TV studio group are arrested after a non-violent protest picket*, the police are openly racist and work with the Televangelist, both because he's in the legal right, and they're being paid by him for some extra muscle. The people that American society treats like trash, the odd balls who find self-expression and meaning through obscure art and performances on TV channels few people watch, sex workers and other criminalised poor people, ethnic minorities etc, can come together, share their depth and talent and value and cause enough disruption to force the proud and powerful to suffer a defeat. <br /></p><p>Now for what you've all come for, full-frontal nudity. Yes, there is indeed open and non-simulated nudity in this film. And to this film's credit, it does not fall into that double standard where female nudity is okay and male nudity is taboo, both men and women get naked, and we see everything. Also, the nudity is not actively fetishised, it's quite upfront and honest in how it handles nudity. And as an extra layer, while the nudity is a tactic to get people to tune in and pay attention to their hijacking of the station it is treated as a political act and is shown to have important effects on self-esteem and coming to terms with your own body. Nowadays, nudity is split off into a shocking action of perverts and maladjusted people or gated off in a small cluster of approved and regulated zones like nudist beaches. There was a time when behavioural non-conformity including nudity was considered quite a revolutionary break with societal norms that stifle self-expression and identity. Emile Armand, the French Individualist Anarchist, was an advocate of this tendency "Liberation from one of the main notions on which the ideas of “permitted” and forbidden, of “good” and “evil” are based. Liberation from coquetry, from the conformism to an artificial standard of appearance that maintains the differentiation of classes**." Anarchy TV has the discussion about this tendency and whether it can be a valid form of protest.</p><p>The film is not perfect, its jokes hit for me more often than they missed, but I didn't find many of them hilarious, more funny as in clever less funny as in "ha,ha". And there are some 90s context that hasn't aged well. Tamayo Otsuki plays my favourite character Tiffany. She's a sex worker who bounds with the TV crowd and overcomes some of their snobbery over her life, it's her act of solidarity, posting bail that gives the crew their chance to strike back at the man, and it's her openness towards nudity that kicks off the nudity stunt that succeeds in bringing and audience and rallying the community to foil the bad guys. She is depicted as a bit rough compared to Anarchy TV crew and their activist sensibilities, but she isn't stupid nor is she a dupe, she watched their show and is a willing and conscious participant. Unfortunately, as an Asian woman in a 90s comedy, she has one of those joke exaggerated Asian immigrant accents. </p><p>But overall I enjoy the film and believe it deserved a bigger audience. I think the nudity is what cost the film a wider release. As far as I can tell, it never received a DVD release and isn't on any streaming service I can find. The film's distributors were Asylum, yes, <i>that </i>Asylum, the company whose business model is tricking people into buying low effort rip-offs of popular franchises. Qualms about the quality of the final product can't have been the reason for the film's lack of support and distribution, it's far superior to the typical Asylum production. I think this is a rare case of an edgy satire that genuinely went too far for mainstream societies standards and got buried. Nudity, especially male nudity, is still very taboo with few examples outside open pornography.<br /></p><p> *Well, there is actually plenty of violence at the picket line, just that it's the studio staff fighting each other.</p><p>**<a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emile-armand-revolutionary-nudism"> https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emile-armand-revolutionary-nudism</a><br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-40588240220395091002024-01-31T20:36:00.005+00:002024-01-31T20:36:55.313+00:00We live in Pottersville; thoughts on It's a Wonderful Life<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEkZP-MlOFLP6P1rbs3MKo07DFS7z-heLx1zSbCH4-PofNKNKEi9Xi8CPMOfIUh91ROBMzq-DkxrCpbMdSsohiLcGNWKajrICYkZzxRYCyzn0rGn3FWF5qXtYUYcCOr2lqTSRCFGsZ0b7XfOAYM7FpJiI84jIKEsjmwmHMD84Aybw06ILqle3W5XxV4qrQ/s1395/2145525500-CAPRA_1946_It-s_a_Wonderful_Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1395" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEkZP-MlOFLP6P1rbs3MKo07DFS7z-heLx1zSbCH4-PofNKNKEi9Xi8CPMOfIUh91ROBMzq-DkxrCpbMdSsohiLcGNWKajrICYkZzxRYCyzn0rGn3FWF5qXtYUYcCOr2lqTSRCFGsZ0b7XfOAYM7FpJiI84jIKEsjmwmHMD84Aybw06ILqle3W5XxV4qrQ/w640-h486/2145525500-CAPRA_1946_It-s_a_Wonderful_Life.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Last Christmas, I scratched It's a Wonderful Life off my to watch list. It took me awhile, I suppose it was a combination of never being on TV when I was free at Christmastime and a case of absorbing much of the film via cultural osmosis due to the staggering number of other media spoofing, parodying and tributing the film. I learnt about the key plot twists as a child thanks to the Simpsons and an episode of Johnny Bravo. I was surprised to learn that the bits everyone knows about are only a fraction of the film, and that I still really enjoyed it despite popular culture spoiling nearly every key scene. Initially Jimmy Stewart's performance stunned me since I had been under the impression that his aww shucks and golly gee dialogue and put upon but dogged demeanour combined with that semi-warble line delivery was a product of exaggerated spoofs and not the performance of a Hollywood leading man.</p><p>It's a great film, has a good moral, the cast plays their roles excellently, I didn't feel its length and this is nothing new to anyone whose seen the film. All I'll say on that is that if you were like me and were in no rush to see it, give it a go, it'll be a pleasant evening. </p><p>So, with that out of the way, the reason I'm talking about this movie is politics. The film was controversial on release wayback in 1946, the FBI in an early move in the second Red Scare investigated the film on suspicion of it being Communist propaganda. </p><blockquote><p>There is submitted herewith the running memorandum concerning
Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry which has been
brought up to date as of May 26, 1947....</p>
<p>With regard to the picture "It's a Wonderful Life", [redacted] stated
in substance that the film represented rather obvious attempts to
discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a "scrooge-type" so
that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to
these sources, is a common trick used by Communists.</p><p> [redacted] stated that, in his opinion, this picture deliberately
maligned the upper class, attempting to show the people who had money
were mean and despicable characters. [redacted] related that if he made
this picture portraying the banker, he would have shown this individual
to have been following the rules as laid down by the State Bank Examiner
in connection with making loans. Further, [redacted] stated that the
scene wouldn't have "suffered at all" in portraying the banker as a man
who was protecting funds put in his care by private individuals and
adhering to the rules governing the loan of that money rather than
portraying the part as it was shown. In summary, [redacted] stated that
it was not necessary to make the banker such a mean character and "I
would never have done it that way."
</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20111229215857/http://www.wisebread.com/fbi-considered-its-a-wonderful-life-communist-propaganda#memo1">https://web.archive.org/web/20111229215857/http://www.wisebread.com/fbi-considered-its-a-wonderful-life-communist-propaganda#memo1</a> </p><p> Which is of course total nonsense. Yes, Mr Potter as portrayed by Lionel Barrymore is an absolute scumbag who you're supposed to hate with vehemence, but Jimmy Stewart's character is also a banker. The film isn't Communist at all, Capra the director of the film is throwing his weight behind small scale community oriented capitalism. Bailey Brothers Building and Loans is a bank and its importance as an institution in the town and the hope it provides to the residence of Bedford Falls is salvation through capital investment, the homes they're building and enabling the community to buy come from those investments. </p><p>Potter and Bailey are opposed ideologically, but it's an ideological divide <i>within,</i> the logic of capitalism. Potter represents old monopoly capitalism, he spends the film trying to destroy the Bailey Brothers because they are the one sole form of competition in the area, so he as the big established capitalist uses every advantage he has to break the rival bank, and when that fails he just steals from them to try and deal the killing blow. I think what really got the FBI and its informant [REDACTED] ornery was that Potter, the villain, is representative of the American system, he's the typical capitalist and so criticism of how he acts and behaves is criticism of officially sanctioned America. He also doesn't face any punishment for his many morally and ethically dubious but often legal actions. I don't know if Frank Capra was consciously aware of just how damning that is a judgement of American society. The film shows us that the established powers in America can use that power to crush the good in society out of personal spite or paranoia over a potential competition, and they can do that with impunity. </p><p>The real tragedy is that in the real world, the Potters won. Credit Unions, community and co-operative banks still exist in the present and some have grown to some size, but compared to the banks' ala Potter? Pebbles next to mountains. The successful stakeholder initiatives increasingly morph into or sell to the big banks, which are now so big and concentrate so much capital that they can plunge the whole global economy into recessions when they screw up. And closer to home, the Potters won the battle for the film. </p><p>It's a Wonderful Life didn't just annoy the FBI, it did poorly with the critics and was a box office disappointment. It languished in obscurity and was such a low priority that when the copyright was up for renewal in 1974 it was botched, pushing the film into the public domain. Thanks to that clerical error that led to the film's eventual rise to classic status and beloved fixture of American holidays. TV stations could air the film in exchange for royalties to the owner of the copyright of The Greatest Gift, the 24-page source material, which still made it much cheaper to show than most alternative films. This also probably played a role in why the film is so widely referenced, parody is protected under the doctrine of Fair Use, copyright can still provide grounds for offended rights holders to make it not worth the trouble. <br /></p><p>Republic Pictures used its ownership of the copyright to the source material to clamp down further on the distribution of the film, effectively forcing it back into copyright. Republic Pictures had closed down in the 1960s and was revived in the 80s due to business restructuring, shortly after reclaiming It's a Wonderful Life they were folded up into Viacom. No one who worked on the story or the film is connected with the royalties and fees that are accrued by the film today. The cinematic community has been robbed of the film thanks to the power of large corporations to influence the legal system of the United States with their large law firms and lobbying agents. </p><p>I suppose It's a Wonderful Life has some solace for us, in the film Potters triumph as bleak as it is not the end of the struggle, George Bailey doesn't give into despair despite the many trying obstacles, he earns his happy ending and we can too. <br /></p><p><br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-37423364327032968772024-01-05T20:41:00.002+00:002024-01-05T20:41:29.364+00:00Watching Tank Police in a post-2016 World <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMQGw6ntKjt3aDtSQ3ZSZzNbUhia2h1qJ1Ya4Sd1Z3MxOLekzHPgkmOyMeVEbxRMiIEfARh1Xurse0CK3q1zIItT7EFFzveeHefx79rWQHgqq4GFKYIB2ekF8qF7UBlk7KzAVgKYRDJtYzMFX_oGMdA_KPiSs7Um7ufTOwLkKkdMotgEZa7AuRnCGu2Oi/s1137/new-dominion-tank-police-complete-collection-dvd-box-set.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1137" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMQGw6ntKjt3aDtSQ3ZSZzNbUhia2h1qJ1Ya4Sd1Z3MxOLekzHPgkmOyMeVEbxRMiIEfARh1Xurse0CK3q1zIItT7EFFzveeHefx79rWQHgqq4GFKYIB2ekF8qF7UBlk7KzAVgKYRDJtYzMFX_oGMdA_KPiSs7Um7ufTOwLkKkdMotgEZa7AuRnCGu2Oi/w400-h351/new-dominion-tank-police-complete-collection-dvd-box-set.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>That's right, horrified at the way things are going I've embraced a period of escapism and watched a horrifying speculative future 2010s where the police have the firepower of militaries, the world is heavily polluted, the politicians only care about re-election and corporations believe employment contracts give them the right to control their employees own bodies. In hindsight, that wasn't the best plan I've authored. <br /></p><p>It's the holiday period, and I've caught several winter bugs over the past two months. So in addition to having time off, an erratic sleep pattern and semiregular periods of imposed isolation has led to quite a bit more time on my hands than I had planned for. And I filled part of the hiatus catching up on a backlog of films and television. I finally scratched a few things off my list, including <i>It's a Wonderful Life, </i>and also today's topic for discussion <i>Dominion Tank Police, </i>and its sequel (kinda) <i>New Dominion Tank Police. </i>The Tank Police OVAs have been on my list for some time, why the long wait? Well, a combination of them being in limited availability in my markets and a reputation for not being great pieces of entertainment. What fanbase they do have is largely thanks to being early action Sci-Fi anime that were licensed internationally, and being based on Manga by Shirow Masmune, the creator of Ghost in the Shell didn't hurt either. They also benefited by the existence of Anna and Uni Puma who are androids, sisters and Cat girls. </p><p></p><p>Apart from that, both shows have their issues, the first series from the late 1980s is quite cheap, the animation can be choppy and reuse of assets is obvious, the dubbing itself is also a bit spotty, some of the voice acting feels weak, and the dialogue sounds weird. It also struggles with tone, it's a rather cynical take on cyber punk futures and cop dramas with very crude humour and extremely hard to like protagonists. Only to drop most of the jokes and refocus attention on a comedic fool villain (Buaku) and his tragic past at the end. Oh, and it ends on a cliffhanger that is not followed up on in New Tank Police.</p><p>New Tank Police on paper has a lot more going for it. Released in the mid 90s, it looks more professionally made, the characters have more detail, the animation is smoother, and I didn't notice much reusing and recycling of previous footage. The dialogue sounds a lot more like things people would actually say, and the cast who are the same voice actors who worked on Tank Police either gained more experience and confidence in the years between releases, or they received a lot more support direction wise. And the action set pieces have more going on too, most of the action in the first series were basic chases with some gag stunts thrown in. In New Tank Police, there are clever escalations and use of vertical space. </p><p>And yet, and yet, I found myself having stronger feelings for the choppier and cheaper series. Which is a little odd since that show's four episode run goes from stealing jars of piss and anti-tank mines that are dick jokes - yes I am serious- to a sad look at the life of a hairy android crook for hire whose stealing a piece of fine art and risking his life, not for the massive pay-off, but because he was the subject of that painting, and it depicts his early life in a lab where he was physically and mentally tortured since creation by uncaring scientists who used him as raw material for experiments. So, as far as he (Buaku) is concerned it's his by right, oh, and it also contains hidden data that can prove the existence of that experiment and the existence of his fellow lab mates who did not survive and escape the lab. It's extremely sad, and it makes it perfectly crystal clear just how crooked, horrible and miserable this world is. </p><p>New Tank Police, well Lenoa Ozaki the female cop on the top image and the protagonist of the franchise has to investigate the murder of an old friend on the motorcycle police, and there's some corporate scheming going on with cyborg henchmen. It's perfectly fine sci-fi with a cynical edge where the protagonists are cops. It's perfectly fine, didn't get very engaged with it, wasn't put off by it. I did find it slightly amusing to learn that New Tank Police took place in 2016, well, I found it funny at first, now I'm a little sad.</p><p>Speaking of sad, I was surprised to see how different the Cat Women were to what I had been primed to expect from the marketing. The Puma sisters were the breakout characters of this franchise, most
marketing material I've found about these two series heavily pushes
them, sometimes to the exclusion of tanks and police. I suspect quite a few people who watched these two miniseries were quite disappointed. Yes the Puma sisters appear frequently, yes they wear costumes that are usually revealing, and they do a striptease. Just the one though, and it's depicted as very goofy if many cutaways to reaction shots of SWAT police behaving like the Wolf from those Tex Avery cartoons. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0dJUqK-Lg8IQX6qWe17lB2QXz2NDykMRJNA83SSDLJrPiea2f_2gxyZB_baYY0fDz_1ZTMF0JZUECYJ0s2ocPa_HoIcHHx1gNdSQCVdj8T2hEyte1DRlwRtMwqZZVgte27n0ZtbPRiZUx79ek5MPjzc52l8s4FbntXOCtwK9NoUkAtvdnRW51LAhS87lj/s1500/MV5BN2MwOTE1NmItY2ZjMS00ZWViLTlkZGMtODllZTI1MmEwM2YzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTAyODkwOQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1056_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1056" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0dJUqK-Lg8IQX6qWe17lB2QXz2NDykMRJNA83SSDLJrPiea2f_2gxyZB_baYY0fDz_1ZTMF0JZUECYJ0s2ocPa_HoIcHHx1gNdSQCVdj8T2hEyte1DRlwRtMwqZZVgte27n0ZtbPRiZUx79ek5MPjzc52l8s4FbntXOCtwK9NoUkAtvdnRW51LAhS87lj/w450-h640/MV5BN2MwOTE1NmItY2ZjMS00ZWViLTlkZGMtODllZTI1MmEwM2YzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTAyODkwOQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1056_.jpg" width="450" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, they don't wear anything like that in the show. And not to get into a slap fight with TV Guide, but the word sometimes is doing the heavy lifting in that quote. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> </p><p>There are raunchy anime OVAs, but the Tank Police ones are not in that number. The sister's main contributions were comedy and then some tear-jerking because as androids they are treated very poorly by society. They're in Buaku's gang because that's the only prospect of regular money that they can get that isn't stripping. And in New Tank Police where Buaku is completely absent, they sleep in an underground car park and have nothing going for them except more crime. Even when they move over into sort of doing the right thing territory, they get hassled and harassed by the Tank Police anyway. <br /></p><p>Having watched both, I now understand why it's largely been relegated as an artefact of the 90s-early 2000s.<i> </i>Though watching in 2023 I think it may have aged pretty well. It's a cynical franchise where the label hero doesn't fit anyone comfortably, and the protagonists would be denounced and avoided if they were real people, but here the violence and cruelty is softened with crude humour and a strong distrust of everyone and everything. Like how the Home Alone movies use slapstick sensibilities and heart string tugging to take the sting out of scenes of Kevin McCallister throwing bricks at Daniel Stern's head. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxRT-lc3s9zpkFnfK7TpHZTMTGO5oEobr7Jp0joCZ-Q2ECBQ5RpIZWEkAM2qtHZMrDg91M4XQPBolvR13LpVctQegeW7LfBqEjptvVc0r8aRrwEfzK8psMSW-blPAO2AQ2FwHJgL7NrZIie8I9kbN7M3yaMRztvh9dnAOLtZNEiZjqDD3A1tc36jCAJ94/s748/grenadefun.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="748" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxRT-lc3s9zpkFnfK7TpHZTMTGO5oEobr7Jp0joCZ-Q2ECBQ5RpIZWEkAM2qtHZMrDg91M4XQPBolvR13LpVctQegeW7LfBqEjptvVc0r8aRrwEfzK8psMSW-blPAO2AQ2FwHJgL7NrZIie8I9kbN7M3yaMRztvh9dnAOLtZNEiZjqDD3A1tc36jCAJ94/w400-h308/grenadefun.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grenade torture, Dominion Tank Police's first running joke<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Despite this, unfortunately, the march of time has shown that its depictions of cops as a bunch of self obsessed jerks and violent thugs barely qualifies as satire. The first four minutes of the first episode of Tank Police is a back and forth shouting match between two characters, the mayor and the Chief of Police, the Mayor is furious that the Tank Police are causing so much damage to the city while the Chief couldn't care less about that and is demanding even more dangerous and powerful weapons. Since the 1980s, police forces across the world have been showered with military grade weapon systems, including armoured vehicles, so Main Battle Tanks aren't so farfetched. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGuk-WR4_C-1WpbAttT5RYRt7dZZskyxIFj9ythS27hjpu9poT5QGR6tOmEm4DTbNE6k8opG4p3uOX7BHIXplGZt_SNiGE-ZFGQOEDmaE-4Kd_4zYZvc1Y5bF0ieUl3RQkXcO2RJH4AY5W9RdVOyCz9S4IKLM6bAyoYj300-0JbyvwKksT1UxaGUm0MNr/s709/policearmy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="709" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGuk-WR4_C-1WpbAttT5RYRt7dZZskyxIFj9ythS27hjpu9poT5QGR6tOmEm4DTbNE6k8opG4p3uOX7BHIXplGZt_SNiGE-ZFGQOEDmaE-4Kd_4zYZvc1Y5bF0ieUl3RQkXcO2RJH4AY5W9RdVOyCz9S4IKLM6bAyoYj300-0JbyvwKksT1UxaGUm0MNr/w640-h428/policearmy.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/why-are-some-us-police-forces-equipped-like-military-units">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/why-are-some-us-police-forces-equipped-like-military-units</a></td></tr></tbody></table>How about the attitude? Well, the Tank Police are depicted as selfish arseholes who only bother to fight crime because they view the activities of criminals as a direct challenge to them personally. In the first Tank Police episode, the captain of the force is lecturing Lenoa and another rookie on how the most important thing is to preserve their Tanks. There's a violent incident every 36 seconds on average in that city, and if they were too active in responding, they'd soon be worn down. He even overrules the rookies who which to answer a call for back up from the SWAT police, since he views his fellow police officers with contempt. He only bothers to try and stop Buaku's gang when they rear end his Tank and thus insult him personally. <br /><p>Lenoa is no better, unlike the Captain she doesn't subscribe to <i>How to Kill </i>magazine, but once her Tank gets scratched in yet another grenade "Interrogation" scene which she set up she tries to gun down an unarmed prisoner who is suspended from a game show spin wheel. She sort of sees Buaku as a person by the end of Tank Police thanks to how that plot line goes, but she's more than willing to kill and torture anyone who runs afoul of her. Many cop centred media products deal with abuse of power and usually covers for it with some appeal to pragmatism or threatening potential outcome, if the detective doesn't murder the child murderer the bill of rights and lawyers will set them free, or there's a ticking time bomb and people's lives are at stake so they had to beat the suspect until they can't walk any more, or show that the bad things made the police feel bad about doing them.</p><p>Tank Police throws all of that out of the window. The criminals who get the grenade treatment are bad people who admit to horrible actions, but it's crystal clear that the "interrogations" were excuses for the Tank Police to torture people for fun. One of them confesses to multiple murders, which they didn't ask him about because they didn't know anything about them. When they deploy they frequently level the City, they in fact do much more damage to than the criminals do, and they are fully aware of this and do not care about it. They don't even like supporting fellow police officers, Lenoa's dramatic climax is using her damaged Tank to shut a civilian jet out of the air, killing everyone on board. The passengers are shady corporate criminals, but she's avenging a friend and has no real interest in whatever their scheme was. Make the Tank Police into a rival gang with better connections to international arms markets and nothing much changes in how they operate. You could even keep the paperwork jokes and change them to being compensation payments that are deducted from their protection racket income. Which is functionally what taxes to pay for the police are.</p><p>So, surely this level of callous self interest must be a product of cynical imagination, right? Well, in the United States of America the doctrine of Qualified Immunity protects police officers in what are blatent examples of brutality. </p><blockquote><p>To push Brooks to step out of her car, one of the officers pulled out a Taser and asked her if she knew what it was. She didn’t, but told the officer she was seven months pregnant. The officers chatted in front of her, casually discussing which part of her body they would tase: “Well, don’t do it in her stomach,” one of them said, “do it in her thigh.” The officers twisted Brooks’s arm behind her back and tased her three separate times—first on her thigh, then in the arm, and then in the neck—before dragging her into the street, laying her face down, and cuffing her.Brooks sued the officers to hold them accountable for their conduct. Six federal judges agreed that the officers’ use of severe force absent any threat to their safety violated the U.S. Constitution. But those same judges dismissed her case, relying on a legal doctrine called “qualified immunity.” <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20191107200007/https://theappeal.org/qualified-immunity-explained/">Qualified Immunity Explained</a><br /></p></blockquote><p> And said actions of brutality are not uncommon. Furthermore, funding these police forces is draining multiple city budgets.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmH-cv1Vt2bTigZH1eLoYKrdTwhGp-n91rmPHZV_oYHFd52q0oqowlwLn8IsxsOshp6xx9gh4ki8tIrWDgS4KSyC3nvS-oh3z4ZaqTPHO6IP7fCgXpUw5Nni2FH8j-DaSAJjeaZQaWPO7udcl6xX6rJUuf-tLhJLp6_AhgB3-eqdGioAGpxYhSGAghtVj/s1500/10593.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmH-cv1Vt2bTigZH1eLoYKrdTwhGp-n91rmPHZV_oYHFd52q0oqowlwLn8IsxsOshp6xx9gh4ki8tIrWDgS4KSyC3nvS-oh3z4ZaqTPHO6IP7fCgXpUw5Nni2FH8j-DaSAJjeaZQaWPO7udcl6xX6rJUuf-tLhJLp6_AhgB3-eqdGioAGpxYhSGAghtVj/w512-h640/10593.jpeg" width="512" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/10593/how-much-do-us-cities-spend-on-policing/">https://www.statista.com/chart/10593/how-much-do-us-cities-spend-on-policing/</a></td></tr></tbody></table>And as for giving a damn about other people, well they haven't done that for a long time if they ever did. Currently as I'm writing this in the United Kingdom every month there's another reveleation that police forces especially the Metropolitan have been harbouring and covering for murderers and rapists within there ranks. And Uvalde Texas showed the world that over 400 police officers from multiple forces including special tactical response units with military grade equipment will just stay in cover listening to gunfire and calls for help from schoolchildren for over an hour before deciding they had enough strength assembled to intervene. The shooter entered the school at 11:30 am and wasn't confronted and eliminated untill 12:50. At the start of the attack there were 19 officers inside the school building the majority of the back up stayed outside for the duration. <br /><p>Practically the only thing that still science fiction about the Tank Police franchise is that we don't have fully sapient Cat Women gynoids and anti-tank mines that humoursly flip the tank over like a Chef's spatula only more phallic. We're stuck with weird walking dog leg robots and anti-tank mines that explode and maim or kill everyone in the vicinity. Once again reality has ruined a joke. <br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-74810963831256190622023-12-10T16:16:00.000+00:002023-12-10T16:16:50.691+00:00Some Comments on Plagiarism <p> <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZskx-k-CcfFTeQcZ9pWSTlZ2i03L1XXL_TL1hFDfxm6hWDZ0PzcTsOeeB0yiNetPxbJQZeNIe2Y9xsPhLQWqawP56nXyJc3CjX3uJqdM41eUe_OK0OQE0XzQ0HaBzhOuRPB2twneuJ_8R6X3TnLIKbPAkUJgydRotUHGaK4ZfhwD-SDh87ZiD5ysnnlQS/s1200/plagairism.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZskx-k-CcfFTeQcZ9pWSTlZ2i03L1XXL_TL1hFDfxm6hWDZ0PzcTsOeeB0yiNetPxbJQZeNIe2Y9xsPhLQWqawP56nXyJc3CjX3uJqdM41eUe_OK0OQE0XzQ0HaBzhOuRPB2twneuJ_8R6X3TnLIKbPAkUJgydRotUHGaK4ZfhwD-SDh87ZiD5ysnnlQS/w640-h360/plagairism.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Found the image on <a href="https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/plagiarism-types-avoid">this page,</a> the credits for the image are as follows "Paper Trident / iStock / Getty Images Plus"</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Big news on YouTube (YT), drama has ocurred that has effected several channels that I've watched on occasion. The main actors are <a href="https://youtu.be/yDp3cB5fHXQ?si=KK7w6pHLWvMda342">Hbomberguy</a> (Hbomb), with an important follow-up video by <a href="https://youtu.be/A6_LW1PkmnY?si=V1AvBPIZJVz1Rv57">Todd in the Shadows (</a>Todd), the main topic is misinformation and plagiarism and the main target of the criticism is another YT I've watched headed by James Somerton, the channel has the same name as its owner. I haven't James's video because the channel has taken down every video. </p><p>If you spend a lot of time on YT then chances are good you'll know the gist of this already, but if not I'll briefly explain. Todd has a channel on YouTube that reviews music, while James Somerton and Hbomberguy are what's called video essayists, which is just what it sounds like, essays in video format. <br /></p><p>Both videos are quite long Hbomb's is just under four hours, though James becomes the focus in the back half, the first part is a collection of other YT channels that muddy the information waters. I previously saw a rough draft of the first part some months ago, so I skipped that part in the finished video. They are both thorough and there isn't much in the way of padding, there is some minor griping in both videos, but they mostly document serious acts of foul play, and it's clear that the minor complaints are brought up out of personal frustration and anger and not out of malice for malice’s sake. I do recommend watching them not just for context on this blog but for general viewing. </p><p>Since both do such a good job of documenting James's many misdeeds I'm not writing this to add to them, the case is pretty well solved, I am writing this for a couple of reasons that are somewhat related. I'm a little saddened to learn about James actions, I watched his videos and was a bit of a fan. I'm openly Queer and have been looking for more queer information and content, Queer stuff isn't exactly obscure, but it is niche, gay media that isn't pornography isn't banned exactly, but it often gets stuck in a grey area where it is accessible if you put in some work to find it and can pay more, and books tend to be harder to find online, and you have to resort to out of print second or third hand copies or blogs that quote heavily from them or upload scanned pages. There's been more progress in giving queer material more mainstream exposure, but it can still be quite tricky. </p><p>I've turned to podcasts and blogs and YT video creators. James was a big fish in a small pond, his channel was doing very well with 200,000+ subscribers and videos often in the 100,000s to a million views range. You could avoid him, but you'd have to use a plugin that lets you block certain channels. The videos had a slick look to them, they came out regularly and in large quantities, and often related to topics I had at least some interest in. I wasn't a hardcore fanatic, though I was paying just enough attention to his channel that I can confirm that parts of Hbomb's video about James deliberately trying to fire up his fan base to side with him in his feuds with others was a thing. I saw the comments and community posts where he claimed he was being attacked, didn't know the context of them at the time, I just thought it was another example of toxic interactions with others that online platforms encourage. Which, with hindsight, was correct, just not in the way I thought at the time. Another thing that James used to do that was overlooked by the two big videos is that James wasn't shy of emotional statements of vulnerability that may or may not have been true, I have no grounds or place to comment on his personal life, but, in the aftermath of the revelations I suspect were used to further manipulate his audience. I certainly felt sorry for the guy. <br /></p><p>I can also confirm that James was very sloppy at citing sources, his videos gave the strong impression that everything he was saying in them were his own ideas or the results of his own investigations, or of someone he was collaborating with. And I can tell you first hand that he was effective at spreading misinformation, I found Todd's video harder to watch of the two because there are several points where he fact checks bits of the videos that I believed from watching those videos. I did not believe James's Gay Nazi comments which shocked me when I saw them in Todd's video because I'm already quite knowledgable on that subject, and because I was intimately familiar with the source for that video, Richard Plant's <a href="https://reddebreksbowl.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-pink-triangle-nazi-war-against.html">The Pink Triangle</a>. I transcribed the damn thing as a way to help more people find out about as at the time I could only get a second hand book and the web was full of Christian right wing sites promoting the Pink Swastika, a tract of propaganda that tries to paint the Nazis as a homosexual movement. Furthermore, I can't be certain, but the part where James says the SS was full of homosexuals probably comes from the Pink Swastika, I know the Pink Swastika makes that claim and Pink Triangle does not, and I can't think of a creditable source that also makes that claim. </p><p>I said I wouldn't join in the pile on, but that did, well, provoked some feelings. If you're curious why I didn't pick up on it at the time, I watched that video once and when I tried to watch it again to pay attention it had been removed. <br /></p><p>Anyway, I'm going to borrow Hbomb's trick and now pivot entirely to a different subject, and that is plagiarism and the Situationist International.</p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHq7lZJRNMpnxqExw5S0DCHYsJZi1U_wIKrVFWimFJ5_DcPBVfjBpxZc2ikmV5s4N_A-BavZlCemmSHwNF8EB7960IHZxGokZ42Fi3p0rBRUQc_McxWftc7LI2VlJePvnw5WNM11HLn_RqkVW4H-nuYWUtPMOJaRkxwQ0Le23eIjnf9OUskfSor6fFwFr/s1792/Sos-3d.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1792" data-original-width="1140" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHq7lZJRNMpnxqExw5S0DCHYsJZi1U_wIKrVFWimFJ5_DcPBVfjBpxZc2ikmV5s4N_A-BavZlCemmSHwNF8EB7960IHZxGokZ42Fi3p0rBRUQc_McxWftc7LI2VlJePvnw5WNM11HLn_RqkVW4H-nuYWUtPMOJaRkxwQ0Le23eIjnf9OUskfSor6fFwFr/w408-h640/Sos-3d.png" width="408" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><blockquote><p>Ideas improve. The meaning of words participates in the improvement.
Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it. It embraces an author’s
phrase, makes use of his expressions, erases a false idea, and replaces
it with the right idea.</p></blockquote><p>The above text is thesis 207 of the <i><a href="https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/debord/society.htm">Society of the Spectacle</a>, </i>by Guy Debord and the Situationists. It was plagiarised from Isidore Ducasse, according to the English translator of this <a href="https://libcom.org/library/users-guide-d%C3%A9tournement">Situationist text</a>. Debord has committed plagiarism, and it's sort of amusing that he plagiarised a thought on plagiarism. But, to me, the interesting part is that neither Debord nor Ducasse are talking about plagiarism. It's a statement about building off of the work of others and a rejection of the auteur and the belief that ideas are the property of one individual alone. If the thesis an advocacy of anything, it's the necessity of copyright infringement and a damning criticism of intellectual property as an obstacle to human expression and progress. </p><p>I'm going to take that thesis again and bold the parts that point to my interpretation.</p><blockquote><p><b>Ideas improve</b>. The meaning of words participates in the improvement.
Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it. It embraces an author’s
phrase, makes use of his expressions, <b>erases a false idea,</b> and <b>replaces
it with the right idea</b>.</p></blockquote><p>This is the act of adaptation and experimentation, by changing it and removing falsehoods and substituting a new "right" idea you have added your own work and altered it. Technically, plagiarism could still be present if you took credit for the whole thing including the original idea, but that isn't represented in the thesis. Going back to James Somerton and applying this thesis, we see that James does embrace many an author's phrase and makes use of their expressions, but I don't think he erases false ideas and replaces them with better ones. As Todd and Hbomb have shown, the opposite is usually true when he makes changes and inserts his own ideas. So, oddly, I think we've discovered a definition of plagiarism that James Somerton's work doesn't fall under. Perhaps a rebranding to 1950s French inspired anti-art is in store for James Somerton's future?</p><p>Generally speaking Debord and the Situationists were guilty of actual plagiarism on occasion, the thesis itself is an obvious example though there is a brief and opaque acknowledgement of where Debord got the idea within the User's Guide. As a group, they were openly contemptuous of art as a concept within capitalist society.</p><blockquote><p>It is in fact necessary to eliminate all remnants of the notion of
personal property in this area. The appearance of new necessities
outmodes previous “inspired” works. They become obstacles, dangerous
habits. The point is not whether we like them or not. We have to go
beyond them.</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://libcom.org/library/users-guide-d%C3%A9tournement">A User's guide to Detournement</a> </p><p> </p><p>But, most of the criticism and evaluations of this that I've seen associate the concept of detournement. Detournement is not just a pain to spell (I find saying it out loud helps) it's the official name for the Situationists most famous activity. The films, paintings and photographs that they altered are all examples of this. It's arguably the Situationists lasting contribution, there are still small groups and individual artists experimenting with the style and there are faint echoes of it in current internet meme culture. Yes, most examples of Detournement I am familiar with take pre-existing imagery and then change them to alter the meaning of the image. But they aren't passing themselves off as the owners of the original works, and I'm of the opinion that many of them don't work unless you are somewhat familiar with the original work and so not likely to think that Debord et al. were the original photographers. If you're not familiar with the original work, or it's one of the materials made by Situationists that were mostly or entirely original, then they often just come across as weird imagery. <br /></p><p>Plagiarism is taking others work and passing it off as your own, that's largely not what the Situationists were doing, and when they did that it reads to me as a part of their attempt to reject art and its conventions in totality, a task in which they failed, "Situationist art" and the "Situ style" is quite recognisable, the production of the User guide itself helped codify Situationist art styles and conventions. </p><p>For example</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHqqoe1yWat1AenDf5kyxZNfEBwgkry3cdKYrsyKbtlkU8yAunRTPnrzsrzPrKp1BebrE6hvWFwdHxIYVYE1O_9dT-GNAZz767TpJgieLXAXquIue7NHDg3w-IHiz6tQrCR3_MBCmmf0M6PJCuuPzeLij7H2HUDLI53OOSnVkRdjpfR2eSU0dKy31RLw7e/s3162/spinning%20top.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3162" data-original-width="2460" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHqqoe1yWat1AenDf5kyxZNfEBwgkry3cdKYrsyKbtlkU8yAunRTPnrzsrzPrKp1BebrE6hvWFwdHxIYVYE1O_9dT-GNAZz767TpJgieLXAXquIue7NHDg3w-IHiz6tQrCR3_MBCmmf0M6PJCuuPzeLij7H2HUDLI53OOSnVkRdjpfR2eSU0dKy31RLw7e/w498-h640/spinning%20top.png" width="498" /></a></div><p>As soon as I saw this on an image search I knew it was an original work by one of the British Situationists, and the link took me to the <a href="https://archives.ljmu.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=Catalog&id=JMS">John McCready archive</a>, which is a collection of British Situationist material. You can definitely plagiarise the Situationists, I wouldn't recommend it as you'd be caught pretty quickly, but it is definitely something that can be ripped off. And they are often parodied and given homage in mainstream works that aren't remotely interested in breaking the depoliticised working class out of their prisons of everyday life. Oh, and you may have noticed that this image has watermarks on it, in addition the search engine warned me that this image may be copyrighted. </p><p>To add to the misery, detournement have also become commodities. The Situationists were a deeply flawed bunch, they were very astute in criticising much of the apparently revolutionary microgroups and reformist tendencies, but they reflected much of what they criticised and while extremely knowledge about art and its conventions often fell into the same traps, if you look up the Situationist International now many of the admirers view them as a clever curiosity, what revolutionary potential they had is just gone. <br /></p><p>Going back to that thesis for the third and final time.</p><blockquote><p>Ideas improve. The meaning of words participates in the improvement.
Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it. It embraces an author’s
phrase, makes use of his expressions, erases a false idea, and replaces
it with the right idea.</p></blockquote><p>I disagree that this is plaigarism, but I fully agree with its intent. Progress does demand working with ideas that are not your own and allowing others to work with those that are. Copyright and the treatment of art and information as property that can be withheld dictated and traded is not only a personal failing of individual bad actors, its a direct attack on human interaction and intellectual and cultural development. This is what I get from thesis 207, <i>Society of the Spectacle </i>and much of the Situationist legacy is difficult to pin down into unambiguous statements of intent so I wan't say that my reading is <i>the </i>reading of it. I have read many of the works of the Situationists, mostly the French and British ones, but I have not digested everything they put out so these statements on the Debord and his small circle of friends are not to be taken as set in stone, they're what I think based on my experiences. <br /></p><p>To tie these two threads Situationism and James Somerton together I will finish up with this thought. Plagairism and copyright infringement are not the same thing, but they are related. James Somerton wasn't just ripping off other writers for giggles, he was monetising them as well, the work of others became "his" and so he was entitled to exploit it for money and influence. So, yes, capitalism should be abolished and while we're at it let's through social hierarchies in the bin too, and create a perfect and harmonious communal society were labours are shared, and we'll never have to worry about the scourge of plagiraism again. <br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-60782201120244450402023-11-12T15:18:00.000+00:002023-11-12T15:18:30.758+00:00HALTIGU LA BARBARECON ! - Stop this Barbarism the conflict in Gaza<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIGTlbbWVbpie_kogLpl0p9XTaZu7L8MkDhw9W2P6k_n9OjhkFc8bF8Mo44d3nsYDAFUaef8RujtqYJcxATqMz-I1DlRzi3lUUgTBoaPXx96D4zTLkHE74lyvyI_ltu3mqlO92P67qRMYomGmmsfZHjgDxnM6rYp4optZxOi45GMKRUF0OCmUD7hKbm4pZ/s1024/_131361326_gettyimages-1712266843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIGTlbbWVbpie_kogLpl0p9XTaZu7L8MkDhw9W2P6k_n9OjhkFc8bF8Mo44d3nsYDAFUaef8RujtqYJcxATqMz-I1DlRzi3lUUgTBoaPXx96D4zTLkHE74lyvyI_ltu3mqlO92P67qRMYomGmmsfZHjgDxnM6rYp4optZxOi45GMKRUF0OCmUD7hKbm4pZ/w640-h360/_131361326_gettyimages-1712266843.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Stop the Barbarism!</h3><p>Once again the flames of war have sparked into life in the Palestine/Israel region. This time Hamas took the inciative to start the atrocities. They did not act alone in this attack, militants from the PFLP also took part in the armed assaults. The pictures are unbearable: civilians murdered in the streets, and in their homes, the taken of hostages etc.</p><p>Although the Israeli government conducts a system of political Apartheid, which has even been acknowledged by Tamir Prado, the ex-director of Israel's Intelligence service. But that does not justify the conscious murder civilians. That is as condemnable as the murder of Palestinian civilans by the Israeli army! Without a doubt the response of the Israeli government will be just as terrible as it is blind. Already buildings in Gaza are being bombed and electricity has been cut throughout the whole territory. </p><p>We can only express our deepest fears and concern for the civilian inhabitants, Palestinian and Israeli both hostages to their respective governments in this conflict, and we must remember that during these past months the civilian populations had been demonstrating against their own governments and this lethal politics; over the past weeks, especially since the 30th of July thousands of people in Gaza have been protesting against the rule of Hamas under the slogan "We Want to Live!"</p><p>At the same time in Israel, tens of thousands had repeatedly took to the streets to oppose the right wing policy of the government which was no longer capable of controlling the protests and was heading toward collapse. </p><p>The attacks by Hamas therefore have occurred while on both sides of the wall of shame thousands of people had begun to organise themeselves against their rulers. </p><p>The violence unleashed by these attacks will unite the people with their corrupt rulers and strengthen the nationalist fervour, fueled by desires for mutual revenge.</p><p>In Gaza, Hamas is calling for the whole population to rally behind its flag in an united front. Already Netanyahu has formed a government of national unity. The thousands of reservist soldiers who have been striking for weeks after announced the break up of their movement!</p><p>This attack also has an international dimension. It happened after the leader of Hamas met with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the leader of Iran and while Saudi Arabia - an enemy of Iran- has begun building official relations with Israel. Hezbollah the terrorist puppet of Iran in Lebanon has already declared that "the attack by Hamas against Israel sends a message to anyone who tries to normalise relations with Isreal or hopes that the Palestinian struggle is dead".<span> </span> </p><p>In the aftermath it is the inhabitants of Israel and Gaza who will pay the price for this bloody game played between states in order to cement their own power.</p><p>Once again, those who decide to have a war are not those who die in it. </p><p>Once again, the civilian will suffer, from Sderot to Gaza. All ideologies of power, especially nationalism and religious fervour are the pillars of logic that encoruages people to kill each other for the benefit of the rulers of the world.</p><p>CNT-AIT</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMADSDjZali38JXDk2b5m0icNzvhRdIfUzUuO_Sj9-B782zIQl3zX9w-pIRplLsptVDZfTQmlgvLLtouvXTbfzizfqgc1JZl3pZLQGNsvYhTwL2V_lE5JdSz1kGgaWgYJoxWa3Qp12lDtwc6mo801ixoNB-_hOfnjDIugpEXJwN3sz8Ik0eBDHR4uYjikh/s477/unity.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="477" data-original-width="434" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMADSDjZali38JXDk2b5m0icNzvhRdIfUzUuO_Sj9-B782zIQl3zX9w-pIRplLsptVDZfTQmlgvLLtouvXTbfzizfqgc1JZl3pZLQGNsvYhTwL2V_lE5JdSz1kGgaWgYJoxWa3Qp12lDtwc6mo801ixoNB-_hOfnjDIugpEXJwN3sz8Ik0eBDHR4uYjikh/s320/unity.png" width="291" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">During the pandemic two nurses in Ramdam hospital display an essential message. <br />"We refuse to be enemies. For a just and lasting peace!" <br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p>HALTIGU LA BARBARECON !<br />Denove la milito ekflamas en la Palestina/Israela regiono.<br />Ĉi-foje la Hamaso prenis la iniciativon komenci la<br />barbarecon. Ĝi ne estas sola en tiu atako, ankaŭ sturmantoj<br />de la FPLP partoprenas la armitajn agojn. La bildoj estas<br />neelteneblaj: civiluloj murditaj sur la stratoj aŭ hejme,<br />ostaĝigoj.<br />Kvankam la israela registaro kondukas politikon<br />kvalifikitan apartismo, eĉ de la eks-direktoro de la israelaj<br />spionservoj Tamir Prado, tio tute ne pravigas plenkonsciajn<br />murdojn de civiluloj. Tio estas tiel kondamnindaj kiel<br />mortigo de palestinaj civiluloj fare de la israela armeo !<br />Sendube, la milita respondo de la israela registaro estos<br />same terura kaj blinda. Jam konstruaĵoj de Gazao estis<br />bombaditaj kaj elektro estas interrompita en la tuta teritorio.<br />Ni nur povas esprimi la plej grandajn timojn por la civilaj<br />loĝantoj, palestinaj kaj israelaj, ostaĝigitaj de la iliaj<br />respektivaj registaroj en tiu konflikto kaj tio, dum tiuj<br />loĝantoj manifestaciis de monatoj kontraŭ siaj propraj<br />registaroj kaj ties mortigaj politikoj: dum la lastaj semajnoj,<br />kaj precipe la pasintan 30an de julio, miloj da Palestinanoj<br />manifestaciis en Gazao kontraŭ la politiko de la Hamaso per<br />la slogano « ni volas vivi ».<br />Samtempe en Israelo, dekoj da miloj da israelanoj multfoje<br />surstratiĝis kontraŭ la politiko de la dekstra registaro, kiu ne<br />plu kapablis kontroli la manifestaciojn kaj direktiĝis al<br />kolapso.<br />La atako de la Hamaso do okazas, kiam – ambaŭflanke de<br />la muro de la honto – la loĝantoj komencis memorganiziĝi<br />kontraŭ siaj estroj.<br />La perforto senbridigita de tiu atako tute male unuigos la<br />loĝantaron ĉirkaŭ tiuj koruptitaj estroj, plifortigante la<br />naciismajn sentojn nutratajn per deziroj de reciproka venĝo.<br />En Gazao, la Hamaso alvokas la sakralan unuiĝon malantaŭ<br />sia flago. Jam Netanjahu anoncas registaron de nacia unuiĝo<br />; la miloj da rezervistaj soldatoj, kiuj strikis de semajnoj<br />anoncis interrompon de sia movado !<br />Tiu atako aliparte intervenas, dum la ĉefo de la Hamaso<br />renkontis la ajatolon Ali Khamenej en Teherano pasintan<br />junion, kaj ke Sauda Arabio – reĝimo malamegata de Irano<br />– interdiskutas kun Israelo por starigi oficialajn rilatojn. Jam<br />la Hizbulaho, terorisma marioneto de Irano, anoncis, ke « la<br />ofensivo de la Hamaso kontraŭ Israleo konsistigas mesaĝon<br />al tiuj, kiuj provas normaligi siajn rilatojn kun Israelo por<br />esprimi, ke la palestina lukto ne mortas ». </p><p>Post la israela loĝantaro, ja la loĝantaro de Gazao pagos la<br />prezon de tiuj sangoplenaj ludoj inter Ŝtatoj por certigi sian<br />potencon.<br />Unu plian fojon tiuj, kiuj decidas militojn ne estas tiuj, kiuj<br />mortas en ĝi…<br />Unu plian fojon, la civiluloj suferos, de Sderoto ĝis Gazao.<br />Ĉiuj ĉi ideologioj uzitaj de la potenco, nome naciismojn kaj<br />religiojn, estas la pilieroj de tiu mortiga logiko, kiu instigas<br />la homojn intermortigi sin por la plej granda profito de la<br />estroj de tiu mondo.<br />CNT-AIT<br /><a href="http://cnt-ait.info/2023/10/09/halte-a-la-barbarie/">http://cnt-ait.info/2023/10/09/halte-a-la-barbarie/</a><br />dankon al nia amiko<a href="http://neniammilitointerni.over-blog.com/2023/10/haltigu-la-barbarecon.html"> http://neniammilitointerni.over-<br />blog.com</a> pro la traduko</p><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-63409822982938165672023-10-29T13:19:00.003+00:002023-10-29T16:53:24.928+00:00Solidarity with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilX5f4OZtJKN0hIPc2FMyXLQccOJ4Wlt_QsdIwOyVosLXLruWSxCIU_dAa3DfPJtB0RXkwt5danmF0_ZjkfJOlqom69mYqnExFOGQOEXwKoGewHXWJVOawYvLSfBUYl56pP9ewpujTQCbxIjCLj-ba1SyAudJ44llClQ9kDTJ4CNDxOtaRNVB3CmLyO_5H/s235/download.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="214" data-original-width="235" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilX5f4OZtJKN0hIPc2FMyXLQccOJ4Wlt_QsdIwOyVosLXLruWSxCIU_dAa3DfPJtB0RXkwt5danmF0_ZjkfJOlqom69mYqnExFOGQOEXwKoGewHXWJVOawYvLSfBUYl56pP9ewpujTQCbxIjCLj-ba1SyAudJ44llClQ9kDTJ4CNDxOtaRNVB3CmLyO_5H/w400-h364/download.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>The IWW's Freelance Journalists Union (FJU) is supporting the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate PJS. Most Palestinian journalists have to source their own protective equipment, especially those who freelance or are employed by smaller networks or on a casual basis.</p><p><br /></p><p>As the attacks on Gaza escalate this has become a dire issue. As such their is an ongoing fundraiser to purchase protective equipment for PJS members.</p><p><br /></p><p>Link to that fundraiser is here <a href="https://gofund.me/bab101e9">https://gofund.me/bab101e9</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The FJU is also sharing statements prepared by the PJS for international ordiances. As a member of the FJU I will also do so here.</p><p>In light of increasing violence in Israel and Palestine, the IWW Freelance Journalists Union expresses its solidarity with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, a member of the International Federation of Journalists.</p><p><br /></p><p>The ongoing war has already claimed the lives of at least 10 journalists, per the PJS. This current wave of killings occurs in the context of hundreds of violations and crimes against Palestinian journalists perpetrated by the Israeli occupation every year, as reported by the PJS.</p><p><br /></p><p>To protect journalists, the PJS requires media outlets to provide safety vests, helmets and gas masks for employees, but this equipment is often unavailable to freelancers. The IWW PPWU-FJU is therefore fundraising to provide the PJS with 50 such kits for freelancers. We encourage all journalists, union members and others to support the PJS by contributing to this fundraiser and sharing widely both the fundraiser and the PJS’s most recent statement on the current war (below).</p><p><br /></p><p>Palestinian Journalists Syndicate: In Gaza, crimes against journalists: 10 killed, 20 injured, 2 missed, 50 media institutions destroyed, more than 45 violations have taken place in the West Bank and Jerusalem, while crimes extend to journalists in Lebanon!</p><p><br /></p><p>Ramallah, in a report issued by the Freedoms Committee of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, it was stated that since the beginning of the aggression against the Gaza Strip on 10/7/2023, 10 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli occupation aircraft missiles.</p><p><br /></p><p>The PJS indicates that journalists in the Gaza Strip face very dangerous situation as a result of the Israeli occupation bombing, which caused the killing of 10 journalists in Palestine and one journalist in Lebanon.</p><p><br /></p><p>In light with rapid developments during the brutal escalation in Gaza, the PJS has monitored the following crimes and violations since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip until Friday evening.</p><p><br /></p><p>Names of killed journalists:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Ahmed Shehab, program producer on Voice of Prisoners Radio</p><p>2. Photojournalist Muhammad Al-Salhi, photographer of the “Fourth authority” agency</p><p>3. Freelance photojournalist Muhammad Fayez Abu Matar</p><p>4. Journalist Hisham Al-Nawajha, photographer for “Khabar” agency</p><p>5. Photojournalist Ibrahim Lafi from Ain Media Foundation</p><p>6. Journalist Saeed Al-Taweel, editor-in-chief of the Fifth News Agency</p><p>7. Journalist Muhammad Jarghoun from Smart Media Agency</p><p>8. Freelance journalist Asaad Shamal</p><p>9. Journalist Muhammad Abu Rizq, Khabar Agency photographer.</p><p>10. Freelance journalist Salam Mema, whose death was announced after being pulled from under the rubble, three days after her home was destroyed</p><p><br /></p><p>Missing Journalists:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. Photojournalist Nidal Al-Wahidi, who works as a producer with Al-Najah TV</p><p>2. Journalist Haitham Abdel Wahed from Ain Media Media Foundation</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfQM5LgQsugXTvtQyfUbnKljjSbyt3nmWNwg47XxzY7rlaAUXlT4syHrn-_wclhJsi773QNLaaWAuacRAr04_q9Rz-0ET2G8c1hDbX46Wsv5m1V0TlLAQqq8GIQ3YKTQm7GBjKFjObsRoedFUcRAQlvAabmHZNDcqOKLucozKeU3R5AGUA_uNwww0S8wN/s1600/20231029_161758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1131" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHfQM5LgQsugXTvtQyfUbnKljjSbyt3nmWNwg47XxzY7rlaAUXlT4syHrn-_wclhJsi773QNLaaWAuacRAr04_q9Rz-0ET2G8c1hDbX46Wsv5m1V0TlLAQqq8GIQ3YKTQm7GBjKFjObsRoedFUcRAQlvAabmHZNDcqOKLucozKeU3R5AGUA_uNwww0S8wN/w283-h400/20231029_161758.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Serious and injuries among journalists:</p><p><br /></p><p>Due to the difficulty of movement and communication resulting from the abundance of missile bombardment, its intensity, and its spread in many locations in the Gaza Strip, the number of injured journalists may be more than this statistic that we have been able to monitor so far.</p><p><br /></p><p>About 20 injuries were observed, the most violent of which was in the Gaza Strip, where some of the announced injury was journalist Ibrahim Qanan, correspondent for Al-Ghad TV, freelance photographer Ali Hamad, journalist Saleh Al-Masry from the Palestine Today Agency, and photojournalist Mahmoud Al-Hams, photographer for Agence France-Presse.</p><p><br /></p><p>Moreover, the killing of the wife of journalist Sameh Murad, “a freelance journalist who worked these days with Al Arabiya during the aggression,” and the injury of the rest of his family as the displaced people who went out toward Khan Yunis were targeted while he was working to cover the events of the aggression in Al-Shifa Hospital.</p><p><br /></p><p>Destroying of journalists' offices and homes:</p><p><br /></p><p>About 50 headquarters and centers of media institutions and about 20 homes for journalists were completely and some partially destroyed as a result of the bombing, including the offices of the following news agencies and media outlets:</p><p><br /></p><p>Al-Aqsa Media Network, Ma’an News Agency, Sawa Agency, Shehab Agency, Al-Quds Newspaper, Radio Baladna, Zaman Radio, National Agency, Khabar Agency, Al-Ayyam Newspaper, Event Media Services Company, Fadl Shanaa Foundation, Holy Quran Radio, Shams News Agency, APA Agency, Al Jazeera Network Office, Palestine TV, “AFP” Agency.</p><p><br /></p><p>Additionally, many journalists were also subject to direct threats and incitement campaigns by Israeli pages on social media platforms, as happened with journalist Muthanna Al-Najjar from Gaza, as well as journalist Muhammad Turkman in the West Bank, apart from monitoring many Hebrew publications calling for the killing of journalists and describing them as saboteurs and terrorists.</p><p><br /></p><p>Violations in the West Bank and Jerusalem:</p><p><br /></p><p>Meanwhile, many Palestinian journalists were injured in the West Bank, and crews were beaten, detained, prevented from covering.</p><p><br /></p><p>As 8 shooting cases have been recorded, as a result of which 3 journalists were injured. Additionally, PJS documented 21 cases of detention and preventing from coverage, 8 physical assault cases, 7 cases of confiscating and destroying journalists’ equipment, and some other violations .</p><p><br /></p><p>Additionally, the Israeli forces have arrested 32 citizens who demonstrated for solidarity with Gaza.</p><p><br /></p><p>Israeli crimes against journalists extend to Lebanon!</p><p><br /></p><p>The Israeli occupation forces were not limited to targeting Palestinian journalists, but it extended to Lebanon, where the killing of Reuters journalist Issam Abdullah was announced and five journalists from Al Jazeera, Reuters and Agence France-Presse were injured in an Israeli bombing in southern Lebanon.</p><p><br /></p><p>Journalists threatening:</p><p><br /></p><p>Additionally, many journalists were also subject to direct threats and incitement campaigns by Israeli pages on social media platforms, as happened with journalist Muthanna Al-Najjar from Gaza, as well as journalist Muhammad Turkman in the West Bank, apart from monitoring many Hebrew publications calling for the killing of journalists and describing them as saboteurs and terrorists.</p><p><br /></p><p>Moreover, the Israeli Minister of Communications, Shlomo Karei, was quoted to take a decision to stop providing Internet services to Internet companies in the Gaza Strip, starting at 00:00 on 10/14/2023, and to ban all types of services provided by Israeli Internet service providers to Gaza.</p><p><br /></p><p>In this context, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate calls on the United Nations, especially UNESCO, to provide international protection for journalists from systematic killing and targeting, as well as to preserve their rights and their access to the Internet and other means of communication, so that they can deliver their media message to the Palestinians and the entire world about the war in Gaza.</p><p><br /></p><p>As combating misleading information is one of the pillars of the International Code of Professional Ethics issued by the International Federation of Journalists, which must remain the backbone of the professional principles of journalists, and access to correct information is one of the basic rights of citizens.</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, it is worth mentioning that the International Federation of Journalists and its trainers in its journalists’ safety network, in cooperation with the PJS, have updated the journalist’s safety guidelines for journalists in the field in line with the special situation of journalists in Palestine.</p><p><br /></p><p>General Secretariat</p><p>Palestinian Journalists Syndicate</p><p>Updates (4)</p><p>27 October 2023</p><p>by IWW Freelance Journalists Union, Organiser</p><p>EMERGENCY: PLEASE SHARE, ACT IMMEDIATELY!</p><p><br /></p><p>EMERGENCY CALL TO ACTION FROM PALESTINIAN JOURNALISTS SYNDICATE: Israeli bombings have severed all communications in Gaza, including for journalists reporting on war crimes — <a href="https://www.pjs.ps/the-palestinian-journalists-syndicate-pjs-expresses-its-deep-concern-for-the-lives-of-fellow-journalists-in-gaza/">https://www.pjs.ps/the-palestinian-journalists-syndicate-pjs-expresses-its-deep-concern-for-the-lives-of-fellow-journalists-in-gaza/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>CALL YOUR REPS IN CONGRESS NOW TO DEMAND A CEASEFIRE: <a href="https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/">https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/</a></p><p><br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-59869271971743665202023-09-19T19:56:00.005+01:002023-09-22T16:21:39.612+01:001915: Two Obituaries of Sifo (Shifu)<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX_0DRH77J28ptg3tYTbJNKRxcslZzWNFs8ozm-2p-7_yXC2I8pLW9TBkSV-pd-jBTe9kT-MtpXU2jeEQyyfZG7eM0aQyXfyHYWWEB7TnE6LcsbTKEU15rX1rnb78cQnasUnCZUPRjgr1PkH_qZQ0nEJY2h9oWh1nU8Mm5MShJT7Se5et8aiSvLHPcExzj/s2048/sifo%20tomb%2003.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX_0DRH77J28ptg3tYTbJNKRxcslZzWNFs8ozm-2p-7_yXC2I8pLW9TBkSV-pd-jBTe9kT-MtpXU2jeEQyyfZG7eM0aQyXfyHYWWEB7TnE6LcsbTKEU15rX1rnb78cQnasUnCZUPRjgr1PkH_qZQ0nEJY2h9oWh1nU8Mm5MShJT7Se5et8aiSvLHPcExzj/w480-h640/sifo%20tomb%2003.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shifu's gravestone. Photos courtesy of the <a href="https://twitter.com/CN_AnFront/status/1698232929703600268">Chinese Anarchist Front</a>.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <p></p><p>This notice first appeared in the Esperanto language journal <i>La Ondo de Esperanto </i>(The Esperanto Wave) in July 1915 and can be viewed online <a href="https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e3d&datum=19150057&query=((text:Sifo))&ref=anno-search&seite=7">here</a>. </p><p>Shifu was an influential Chinese pioneer of Anarchism. He changed his name on several occasions and was known as Shifu at the
end of his life, though in English he's remembered under the name Liu
Shifu. He was also an active Esperantist and used the pen name Sifo for Esperanto writings. I translated a short <a href="https://reddebreksbowl.blogspot.com/2020/05/sifo-liu-shifu-1884-1915.html">biography of his life</a> earlier, which may help explain some points. <br /></p><h3 style="text-align: center;"> Sifo</h3><p>Shifu (Liu Shifu) the editor of the Esperanto and Chinese language weekly newspaper <i>The Voice of the People, </i>died in Shanghai from tuberculosis. We take some biographical details about Shifu from his publication's 23rd issue. Sifo was born in 1884 in Hongsang* in the province of Canton. He was an extraordinarily talented boy in his youth. At the age of fifteen, he became a "Sin-Can"** the highest student in the local examinations. He participated energetically within the Chinese political movement and provided a lot of assistance to the well known Doctor Sun Yat-Sen. Sifo edited a progressive newspaper in Hong Kong and opened a school for women. <br /></p><p>He was gravely wounded by an explosion and had to have his left hand amputated. Furthermore, he was arrested and while in prison he wrote the text <i>On the reform of prison. </i>After reading this text, the city officials were so stunned by the talent demonstrated by the author that they ordered his release. In total Sifo spent three years in prison, while incarcerated he also wrote texts on linguistics, including a book on the Canton Dialect<i>.</i> In 1912 Shifu founded an Esperanto group and became a Vice delegate for the U.E.A (Universal Esperanto Association). In 1913 Shifu published <i>The Voice of the People,</i> an Esperanto and Chinese language newspaper. It wasn't long before the new newspaper was suppressed and Shifu had to flee to Macau (the Portuguese Colony***) but the Portuguese authorities also disrupted the publication of <i>Voice. </i></p><p>Shifu published <i>Voice, </i>until the money ran out. He was an editor, administrator and printer at the same time. That is why he grew weaker with the publication of each issue, the work finally consumed him totally. When he fell ill, his poverty prevented him from seeing a doctor for treatment. Friends begged him to sell his printing press (Shifu's press was operated by hand, or in his case one-handed) but Shifu refused.</p><p>Shifu adored Lev Tolstoy and founded <i>Conscience, </i>a group whose principles were as follows:</p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Against Meat eating,</li><li>Against alcohol</li><li>Against smoking</li><li>Against slavery</li><li>Against using human vehicles (I.e. Rickshaws and pedicabs)</li><li>Against marriage</li><li>Against families</li><li>Against deputation </li><li>Against political parties<br /></li><li>Against state officials</li><li>Against war</li><li>Against religion</li></ol><p>During his sickness, his friends begged him to eat meat, but he kept his principles until his death. </p><p>We acknowledge the highly civilized principles of Shifu, but express extreme regret over his death. China has lost one of the most fervent and sincere pioneers of the international language. <br /></p><p>*I have not been able to figure out what the modern name of the city is, the English language biographies just refer to him being born in the Canton area. <br /></p><p>** I don't know what that means, I believe this is an academic achievement, the second obituary by the British Esperantist goes into a bit more detail about this period of Shifu's life and I found a little more information in some brief biographies written in English. <br /></p><p>** Returned to the control of the People's Republic in 1999.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLiWwlc-KNiDUKX1JD25NiBg6sZBolUFDKSnSWtf5IqPP54IKoiueQ1A10DbGjkRVmuIZ6gpHA0D726lKZcrw4YTJaMUM0W8dSd_fAChn7N6x2RU15LN5nAI5g0I7QllsFF7-EPDvquplzISJZPXoSds-GZbSZ6U6qaQcmU3lcj6ORbs-HTky1RCjA-wRb/s2048/sifo%20tomb%2002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLiWwlc-KNiDUKX1JD25NiBg6sZBolUFDKSnSWtf5IqPP54IKoiueQ1A10DbGjkRVmuIZ6gpHA0D726lKZcrw4YTJaMUM0W8dSd_fAChn7N6x2RU15LN5nAI5g0I7QllsFF7-EPDvquplzISJZPXoSds-GZbSZ6U6qaQcmU3lcj6ORbs-HTky1RCjA-wRb/w640-h480/sifo%20tomb%2002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Obituary from the British Esperantist, published in 1915, the original article can be found online <a href="https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-plus?aid=e1d&datum=1915&page=149&size=45">here</a>. And continues onto the following page.</p><h3 style="text-align: center;">Mr Shifu</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Here is a biography of a remarkable man, excerpted from <i>The Voice of the People</i>, a weekly Chinese and Esperanto language newspaper. We present it here without changes.</p><h3 style="text-align: center;">Biography of Mr Shifu</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Mr Shifu was born in 1884 in the city of Hongsang in Canton province. He was an extraordinarily talented boy in his youth. At the age of
fifteen, he became a "Sin-Can" the highest student in the local
examinations. However, he did not want to submit to the institution which demanded he behave like a slave. Instead, he taught himself about many practical sciences and read every kind of book he could find. Although he learnt without a guide, he came to understand many subjects at a profound level. In 1901 an 18-year-old Shifu appalled by the suffering of the people and disgusted with the rot and corruption of the government organised a public speech in his home city to inspire a political revolution, it made a good impression. He later travelled to Japan. While in Japan, he met Sun Yat-sen who was staying in Japan to recruit supporters for his organisation "Tongmenghui" after the failure of his revolt in Huizhou (1900). Shifu assisted Sun Yat-sen for a time. Shortly after, Shifu returned to China and started publishing a progressive newspaper in Hong Kong and founded a school for women. In 1907 the revolutionaries attempted to resume their activities. At that time, the official Lee Tseng ruled over Canton and opposed the revolutionary movement. Shifu believed that the first step had to be the removal of this devil. Shifu lay in wait one morning with a suitcase for Lee Tseng to pass-by on the road, unfortunately the suitcase exploded before Lee Tseng had appeared. Shifu was wounded in the arms, head and chest. The police sent him unconscious to a hospital, after a month in hospital and a surgical amputation of his left arm he recovered from his wounds. Of course, he was tried in a courthouse. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Shifu defended himself on several pretexts, but due to suspicion was sentenced to prison. While in prison, a living hell, he wrote the text <i>On the reform of prison. </i>After reading this text,
the city officials were so stunned by the talent demonstrated by the
author that they ordered his release. In three years of prison, instead of giving in to depression, he worked on the book "<i>Cantonese Dialect"</i>, a work so brilliant that even famous linguists admired it. After leaving prison, he met with some sympathisers and founded a group for assassinations. In 1911 a member of this group Lin Kaun-Si threw a bomb at Lee Tseng while Shifu wished to go to Beijing to kill the Qing Prince Regent Zaifeng. Shifu was in Shanghai when the Qing Emperor abdicated, seeing a good opportunity to promote his ideas, he returned to Canton and founded the Fui Min (The Cock crows in Darkness) school. </p><p style="text-align: left;">As you know, Chinese students of Anarchism in Paris had already begun publishing a Chinese language newspaper, <i>The New Times.</i> In its pages, many translations of different Anarchist ideas appeared, including Bakunin and Kropotkin. However, importing these ideas into China proved very difficult. Fui Min collecting <i>The New Times </i>and published them as small pamphlets that were easy to circulate, effectively becoming the soil seed of Anarchism planted within China. </p><p style="text-align: left;">In 1912 Shifu founded an Esperanto group and soon became a Vice delegate for the U.E.A. In the summer of 1913 when civil war broke out within China he witnessed with his own eyes the crimes of the warlords and fervently attacked militarism in articles that were published in both Esperanto and Chinese in the newspaper <i>The Voice of the People </i>Issues 1 and 2<i>. </i>As a consequence <i>The Voice</i> was suppressed and Shifu had to escape persecution to Macau which is ruled by the Portuguese. But the Portuguese authorities agreed with their Chinese counterparts to prevent the publication of Shifu's work. That is why <i>The Voice</i> has only reappeared now after two years of great hardship. In July of last year, Shifu founded the "Anarchist-Communist Group" in Shanghai, which is influencing the founding of regional groups to spread Anarchist ideas throughout China.</p><p style="text-align: left;"> Shifu was brave, tolerant, decisive and hard-working. He published <i>The Voice, </i>with no funds and very few assistants. He was also its editor and administrator, but none of this frightened him. It is true that he was also quite sickly, as such he would fall ill after every issue of <i>The Voice </i>appeared and would rest for a short time before working just as hard as before once he started to recover. Understandably, this consumed his young life. When he fell ill, his poverty prevented him from hiring a doctor. We begged him to sell his press (his printing press was operated by hand) but he refused, explaining that the press was the sole source of life for our ideas in the East. It would be futile to save one person by selling it. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Later with the help of some friends we were able to send Shifu to hospital, but alas! It was too late. The disease is incurable and so, at 10 o'clock in the morning of the 27th of March 1915 Shifu passed away aged 31. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Shifu adored Lev Tolstoy not just for his wisdom, but also for his morality. Together with some friends, he founded <i>Conscience, </i>a group whose principles were as follows:</p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Against Meat eating,</li><li>Against alcohol</li><li>Against smoking</li><li>Against slavery</li><li>Against using human vehicles (I.e. Rickshaws and pedicabs)</li><li>Against marriage</li><li>Against families</li><li>Against deputation </li><li>Against political parties<br /></li><li>Against state officials</li><li>Against war</li><li>Against religion</li></ol><p>During his sickness, his Doctor advised him to eat meat to keep his body strong, but he kept his principles until his death. <br /></p><p style="text-align: right;">K. Ch. San</p><p style="text-align: right;"><br /></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkh5Oizd9T5yidQ_SD692a9C9DAI2dLN_DJTaGHDGiKjxITVmqMnXAKliiUYjBFh33PLD6khh5SMtgr34H0XI4HzfGdkjH2Ga_22Ia2mAhWMWJ6uuw4gwAYLfylMBZNp_ZNb5TBHHOLDZW87xsyrTXm5RVzrWZHli6rqope40jExNEmI2_kw3RomtV_aqE/s1080/sifo%20tomb.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkh5Oizd9T5yidQ_SD692a9C9DAI2dLN_DJTaGHDGiKjxITVmqMnXAKliiUYjBFh33PLD6khh5SMtgr34H0XI4HzfGdkjH2Ga_22Ia2mAhWMWJ6uuw4gwAYLfylMBZNp_ZNb5TBHHOLDZW87xsyrTXm5RVzrWZHli6rqope40jExNEmI2_kw3RomtV_aqE/w640-h426/sifo%20tomb.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-77072549378495261862023-09-15T12:16:00.001+01:002023-09-15T12:16:00.139+01:00Tear Along the Dotted Line & This World Can't Tear Me Down<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmgTNdwBWrLY_Sg0o1l4YGYryuR4PW83Jp9Wy89VoFPGGj35DS2WBjO8v7V1iTejy0UKbzjiByMkpkWI9V9kzlznjYO8TSYXBje9JmN0yKxhvlPm6ullmc6xtYtV1g81KLBJ_CTH3A8ExV9uxdD7Rg-28pxQd367SVkn5zu2WVHfHshP1aIjz4xG4HPd0/s375/Tear_Along_the_Dotted_Line_(animated_series).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="267" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmgTNdwBWrLY_Sg0o1l4YGYryuR4PW83Jp9Wy89VoFPGGj35DS2WBjO8v7V1iTejy0UKbzjiByMkpkWI9V9kzlznjYO8TSYXBje9JmN0yKxhvlPm6ullmc6xtYtV1g81KLBJ_CTH3A8ExV9uxdD7Rg-28pxQd367SVkn5zu2WVHfHshP1aIjz4xG4HPd0/w285-h400/Tear_Along_the_Dotted_Line_(animated_series).jpg" width="285" /></a></div>In 2021, I was scrolling through Netflix and saw a trailer for some animated show about a mopey bloke bickering with an Armadillo. It's called <i>Tear Along the Dotted Line</i>, It scratched my curiosity itch, so I decided to give it a chance. I knew it was a European series, Italian to be more precise, and since Netflix usually has terrible dubbing of European content I made sure to pick subtitles with the Italian audio. And nearly abandoned the show in the first five minutes. I don't speak Italian, but I am familiar with some words and phrases and my reading speed is pretty good. The main character Zero spoke so fast I could not keep up. <p></p><p>Instead of surrender, I bit the bullet and switched to English audio, and was surprised because the dubbing was great. The protagonist Zero is a Roman working class type associated with lefty politics, the punk scene and the pop-culture of a 1990s childhood. So, whichever company did the dubbing figured out correctly that there is a British version of Zero out in the wild and cast him to do the voice. The monologue is very authentic, the slang used sounds like something a character like Zero would use in real conversation and avoids the trap of trying too hard to sound streetwise. The references that don't translate to an international audience or can't be replaced with a British equivalent are explained clearly and quickly, and each episode has an extremely snappy pace.</p><p>The plot of the series revolves around a shock revelation, so I won't spoil that. The premise though is the life of Zero, a real life Italian comic artist, and his struggles with his own emotional hang-ups. The Armadillo is supposed to be an imaginary representation of his conscience, but it seems more interested in manipulating him into negative behaviours. The show is autobiographical and uses a stream of consciousness narrative, Zero not only narrates the events and his emotional state but does all the voices of the other characters. It was surprisingly engaging seeing him struggle with imposter syndrome social anxiety and his slow, constantly halting progress towards a better place. </p><p>In short, I really enjoyed the show it had a lot for me to chew on, the jokes landed for me more often than not and despite guessing what the revelation was going to be I still felt an emotional punch once it was out in the open. It's the sort of thing I wished I had bothered to write about when it was new, I recommended it to some friends, all of whom agreed it sounded interesting and all promptly ignored it. And the series ended pretty conclusively, or so I thought. I was surprised to see that this year they had released a second series, <i>This World Won't Tear Me Down</i>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7V2EQMtbTPuvtKxqXEkbtmxAWZ5ZBbLZz6pdZiqOUzLiRf9I3h57XRWrIL6etmdMzQt6r6tGizLk3eSMgxB7tp01gAus_wmJkrfn-rmao8wylL2NYMVVfOgXEzPvoa5Jt0za_mCSKoKTACGkrtePfWgBiNF2i5qUhqSTw1WqzKs73J78CS0_g_ILZeQEd/s374/This_World_Can't_Tear_Me_Down_(animated_series).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="267" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7V2EQMtbTPuvtKxqXEkbtmxAWZ5ZBbLZz6pdZiqOUzLiRf9I3h57XRWrIL6etmdMzQt6r6tGizLk3eSMgxB7tp01gAus_wmJkrfn-rmao8wylL2NYMVVfOgXEzPvoa5Jt0za_mCSKoKTACGkrtePfWgBiNF2i5qUhqSTw1WqzKs73J78CS0_g_ILZeQEd/w285-h400/This_World_Can't_Tear_Me_Down_(animated_series).jpg" width="285" /></a></div><p>Which is why I'm finally getting off my proverbial backside to talk about the show now. Now strictly speaking <i>This World Can't Tear Me Down, </i>is standalone, you do not have to watch <i>Tear Along the Dotted Line </i>to understand what's going on. It re-introduces the characters and how the show works very well and while there are references to what happened in <i>Tear Along, </i>they are not crucial. I would strongly recommend you watch <i>Tear Along </i>first, though. Watching them out of order, you lose the sense of Zero's emotional progression. Zero is still the protagonist and a stream of consciousness is how the narrative progresses, but the voice cast is expanded, Zero only does other people's voices when he's explicitly recounting events, so he has finally learnt to let his friends take part in his world and doesn't treat them like props in his play. And the Armadillo while still a glass half empty grump has stopped trying to manipulate Zero into stagnation and does give advice that's more reasonable and leave it up to Zero to make the decisions without pressuring him.</p><p>Zero's narcissism has declined sharply since last time, though he is still struggling with a "the world rests on my shoulders" attitude and is still struggling with imposter syndrome thanks to his further commercial success. <i>This World, </i>also vindicates my choice as there are multiple jokes about how even Italians struggled to keep up with his motor mouth in <i>Tear Along</i>. <br /></p><p>Fans of <i>Tear Along, </i>will find plenty to like in <i>This World. </i>I certainly did, ended up watching the all six episodes in one night, though admittedly I was sick at the time so had difficulty sleeping and had nothing to do the next morning. </p><p>The story has expanded beyond Zero's personal life to looking at how his struggles are part of what's going on in Italy and the world. Much of the conflict this time revolves around the growing boldness of Italian Neo-Fascism. In <i>Tear Along, </i>Zero's disgust with the far right is noticeable, but it's part of the background of the world Zero lives in and what makes him tick. It was good to see that emotional issues aren't a barrier to opposing the forces of reaction, politically and socially, Zero seems pretty sound. However, the first series came out in 2021 and a lot has changed since then. Now fascist posters are littering the streets Zero walks down, and the police have been arresting Zero's friends for counterprotests against far right political groups.</p><p>I should stress these two series are autobiographical, the events they depict are true, it's just names and identities are changed. Half the new characters are represented by alias and drawn as some kind of Dinosaur to protect them. This creates a bit of a clash with the gritty street level of the events, but you get used to seeing a Triceratops deck a black shirt or a Pterodactyl slag off the local council for capitulating to an obvious strong arm tactic. <i>This World Can't Tear Me Down </i>is an open and overt Anti-fascist animation. And not just because of the baddies' goose-stepping into battle, their ideology and strategies are explored, exposed and condemned. </p><p>The Fascists or Nazis as Zero keeps calling them* are opportunistic thugs exploited the failures of the Italian state to rally the discontented to their banner to pressure a weak and complicit political establishment to make concessions which will strengthen them further to repeat the cycle. They're doing this in two ways, first in a deprived area of Rome the government shipped a number of refugees into a building that was abandoned. The Nazis are targeting this district with posters and other propaganda accusing the government of selling out the local population and "Pure" Italians for these foreigners, with a major source of tension being the proximity to a school. And the second case is how they recruit new members. A childhood friend of Zero's called Cesare has returned to the neighbourhood after a long absence and is having trouble reconnecting with the community. He was in a clinic for drug addiction and in addition to find readjusting to life outside to be a challenge, he resents how he and his family were treated by the authorities. He is not a true believer, but the Nazis are exploiting both his resentment and isolation to get him to join up. They seem sympathetic to him, and they've used the lack of support for him to stoke anger over the refugees. </p><p>In both cases, they're shown to be opportunistic deceivers. The refugees were placed there recently, but the district has been stagnating with a loss of services and employment opportunities for decades. Forcing a few dozen desperate people to move somewhere else will do nothing to fix that, it just makes life harder for people. And as for Cesare, encouraging an addict with a criminal record into further acts of violence isn't in his best interests, it will not help him reconnect with the world outside, it keeps isolated and in conflict with the few friends he had left, and their false comradery breaks down once Cesare fails to transition into a good malleable soldier. They abandon him to his fate after that. There is no happy ending here, the anti-fascists successfully break up this one attempt to divide the community, but the Nazis are still around and Cesare is free of the negative influence of the far right squadisti and probably won't go to prison because the only direct evidence of his actions was recorded by the anti-fascists who delete it rather than turn it over to the police, but he's still adrift and having to struggle with a community that in addition to difficulties understanding addiction now know he's associated with violent extremism. <br /></p><p>It's a tough watch, but it's important, this isn't fiction it's real life. I know first hand that society fails many of its members and leaves them isolated and resentful. The scenes with Zero visiting Cesare and his mother at the beginning were a little painful to watch as they reminded me of how I and my family treated several people who were addicts** at first, constantly torn between addressing it or just trying to ignore hoping they'll just tell us the boundaries without havign to be asked. The pitiful amount of resources set up to process refugees in conditions that are just bleak at best and prisons at best isn't sufficient to address that problem, but is more than enough to create footholds for opportunistic peddlers of hate, and the respectable political representatives who are supposed to improve society are completely incapable of addressing these issues and that's assuming they aren't directly complicit which increasingly is the case. </p><p>In a sense <i>This World Can't Tear Me Down, </i>is rather bleak, there is no magic cure all presented in the conclusion of the show. Italy (or the UK or France etc) is fundamentally broken, and no solution will come from it. However, despite that people can work together, reject the lies and resist the manipulation by outside forces and resist the reactionary turn. To drive that message home, there is a sequence where Zero makes conversation with some of the refugees who are grateful for the show of support but weren't worried too much about the Nazis, because instead of being the vulnerable victims Zero and the Anti-fash assumed they were they due to there experiences of violence and depredation were used to fighting and had formed a defence ring around the building and had built up an armoury or improvised weapons. The events unfolded with the Nazis failing to get inside the grounds (lucky for them I guess) so the refugees were relegated to spectators. The implication being that while what Zero and his friends did was important and a good thing, it would have been more beneficial had they communicated with the refugees and worked with them instead of just acting on their behalf.</p><p>Also this bit of dialogue from Secco really spoke to me.</p><blockquote><p>"Where did I grow up? I'm an orphan. I was on the streets from the age of 15. I've never had a job, no one to support me nothing. Everything I have, I got for myself and I've never taken anything from those who were worse off than me. I get that you feel guilty but do you think that Zerocalcare is the only enligthened one that knows right from wrong?"</p></blockquote><p>This was in response to Zero's handwringing about not judging Cesare for supporting the Nazis. It doesn't deny that Cesare has struggles but it shootsdown the idea that these are in anyway valid explanations or excuses for supporting far right bandwagons and lashing out at others. There's been a growing divide in anti-fascism for sometime over how to deal with the alienated recruits of the contemporary far right in Europe. Its a difficult issue to address but Secco is 100%, I also felt bad for Cesare but that isn't an excuse for what he's doing and not all addicts join up with the supporters of the new Reich. Throwing bricks through the windows of foreigners won't help Cesare or any of the alienated footsoldiers, and nor would it make what they're doing okay if it did somehow solve their personal problems. It treats Fascism and how to oppose it seriously and with nuance and years of experience, several episodes even explain tactics for street clashes and how to take precautions. </p><p>Its anti-fascist content is enough for me to recommend it as an educational tool, its emotional maturity and clever handling of personal drama and dark humour make it one of my favourite shows. <br /></p><p>*This is addressed directly. Fascism has managed to become semi-respectable in Italian society again, whereas Nazism is still a no-go area. So, in response, anti-fascists like Zero have resorted to using the Nazi label to describe the diverse ecosystem of far right grouplets to remind wider society of what the end game of these people are. </p><p>** If you're wondering why I keep referring to individuals who have been clean for sometime as addicts its because that's what the family and friends I know who have gone through view it. Addiciton and rehabilitation are complex issues with many different ways of working with it, I'm not an expert and just going off of what little I know, I apologise if this has caused offense. <br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-30087235056359664572023-09-08T11:39:00.001+01:002023-09-08T11:39:00.166+01:00The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7fSQxLOkwxWT_hceAzuYuWuRaiJI-jLJX-hf_DFwcntdFCcOYNJwBkJs4h_2oVl-S4XkllvtaRpbq9ixMEx1l5d6iIrbXqicmImsMe3KY_cEtSIgo_40dtHfNr-NytSqmVUtG0QBj3a56AQUt9j_GXHy3dZqtZAFCBFGfOK3HqzBPxnJ6t2iUcJe8-X1/s244/The%20Death%20of%20Stalinism%20in%20Bohemia%20paint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="131" data-original-width="244" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic7fSQxLOkwxWT_hceAzuYuWuRaiJI-jLJX-hf_DFwcntdFCcOYNJwBkJs4h_2oVl-S4XkllvtaRpbq9ixMEx1l5d6iIrbXqicmImsMe3KY_cEtSIgo_40dtHfNr-NytSqmVUtG0QBj3a56AQUt9j_GXHy3dZqtZAFCBFGfOK3HqzBPxnJ6t2iUcJe8-X1/w400-h215/The%20Death%20of%20Stalinism%20in%20Bohemia%20paint.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This short sequence says more about early 90s Eastern Europe than entire forests of books.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I'm reading a book on the history of <a href="https://archive.org/details/forbiddenanimati0000cohe/page/102/mode/1up?view=theater">censorship in animation</a>. The book covers many well known examples and also documents some lesser known ones. It also covers the filmography of Jan Švankmajer, a Czech director and animator who serves as an example of what it was like to work in the film industry in the Warsaw Pact. To get a film or program funded, scripts had to be approved by the responsible bureaucrats, Jan Švankmajer had some success for a time getting projects off the ground, but it eventually he got a reputation for making films that were pessimistic and individualistic, in short, bad art in the opinion of the Communist Party.</p><p>Jan Švankmajer is a committed Surrealist. In the popular parlance, surrealism is just an adjective to describe work that's odd. A painting that doesn't look much like something or a play that plays with the fourth wall or a film that has a sequence that breaks the rules of conventional cinema will be described as surrealist. However, the original <a href="https://libcom.org/article/1919-1950-politics-surrealism">Surrealists</a> were a group of political radicals closely associated with Anarchism and libertarian socialism. It's this political Surrealism that Švankmajer was inspired by. <br /></p><p>The opposition force Švankmajer to find new work as a puppet maker and painter. Fortunately for Jan Švankmajer he was noticed by the West German film industry who introduced his work to the rest of Western Europe. Several financiers including the UK's Channel Four and the BBC made overtures to fund some of his projects, which meant the Czechoslovak film authorities reluctantly allow him to return, though opposition continued. Jan Švankmajer's film Alice, an adaption of Alice in Wonderland, was made while he was supposed to be working on a different film and was only allowed to be completed after a bitter dispute in which the foreign funders threatened to withdraw if Alice wasn't completed. </p><p>So, with all those headaches, it's not surprising that once the regime collapsed in 1989 that Švankmajer would take the opportunity to comment on its demise. In 1990, with assistance from the BBC, he released a ten-minute animated short titled <i>The Death of Stalinism in Bohemia.</i> I've wanted to see this film for some time after seeing clips of his Alice. And now thanks to a YouTube channel I got my chance. It's simply excellent, the imagery is striking, the claymation animation is not only interesting to watch on its own, but it makes many of the film's points in itself. There's a sequence where clay workers in flat caps and overalls, the men who populated every Soviet poster from 1918-91 created via moulds, going through an assembly line and then hanged, after which their bodies fall into a bucket and turn back into clay which is then moulded back into workers which go back on the line and so on and so on, meanwhile the film juxtaposes imagery from Czechoslovakia's Five-Year plans with the production targets getting higher and higher. </p><p>Practically every sequence is like this, the imagery and transitions and movements work together to make the point crystal clear even if you can't read Czech. I could describe the entire ten-minute run time, the crumpling up of posters of old Czechoslovak/Soviet leaders followed by uncrumpling those posters to reveal their replacements, meet the new boss, mostly the same as the old, as a quick example. But I'll restrain myself and just discuss what for me is the most important sequence, the film has a bookend sequence, it starts with a creaky old Stalin bust having surgery, his skull is cut open to reveal his brain, the surgeon plunges both hands into the gory matter and pulls out a smaller bust of Klement Gottwald, ardent Czech Stalinist and leader of the 1948 coup that established the Communist party dictatorship. After cleaning up the blood and tying off the umbilical cord, the Gottwald bust comes to life, the birth of Stalinism in Bohemia. At the end of the film the chronology has entered the late 80s and the soundtrack is full of jubilant crowds and photographs of mass demonstrations in the streets. While this is going on, the hands that have been controlling everything throughout the film start painting everything with the Czech national flag. A new coat of paint on rusty equipment, including an old and dirty Stalin bust. This Czech national flag Stalin bust undergoes the same surgery and those hands plunge back into the brain matter, but the film ends before we can see what emerges from it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zjHADs025ZA" width="320" youtube-src-id="zjHADs025ZA"></iframe></div>The film is open about its existence as a form of Agitprop,
agitational propaganda and Švankmajer has stated that he thought the
film would age very quickly because it's a direct commentary upon
current events "Despite the fact that this film
emerged along the same path of imagination as all my other films, I
never pretended that it was anything more than propaganda. Therefore, I
think it is a film which will age more quickly than any of the others." To call a film Agitprop or propaganda is to insult in conventional circles. Art is supposed to rise above petty political statements, this film is the best rebuttal to that assumption I've come across so far. Removing the politics from this film is to leave it an empty husk, its politics is its art.<br /><p>Most political film animated or otherwise are frankly quite blunt and simplistic, there's a bad guy who demonstrates all the qualities the makers criticize, the good people eventually triumph etc. Here the villain is a system, it isn't the death of Stalin in Bohemia, it's the Death of Stalinism in Bohemia with a question mark. Stalin died in 1953 just days before Klement Gottwald died oddly enough. And even Stalin is manipulated by the hands of the unseen operator of the system, who is still around in 1990 and working hard to mutate into a more politically acceptable Czechoslovak national form to continue its work. <br /></p><p>The scepticism wasn't some paranoia from an artist who thinks too much, either. The book I'm reading that reminded me to look up Švankmajer's work was published in the middle of the 1990s several years after <i>The Death of Stalinism, </i>was released. It includes comments by Czech filmmakers that things haven't changed completely, many of the old Communist party bureaucrats were still in positions of power in the industry and not all of them had adapted to the changing times. Which is what the Stalin bust with the flag paint was about, the collapse of the old regimes removed some of the most high profile and infamous personalities, but left thousands of lower level authorities in place, and it was an open question just how far these authorities would be willing to change. </p><p>And of course, the reason much of the imagery is obvious despite cultural distance is that much of what is odious about the Stalinist regimes of Eastern Europe can be found in Western European capitalism. I've worked in factories with grimy walls covered in propaganda posters while sweating and aching to fill ridiculous quotas. The secret police are gone, but the regular police are quite capable of repression, the governing institutions are just as invested in keeping the population passive through a combination of restrictions and distractions.</p><p><span> I've been to Czechia and Slovakia, so I'm under no illusion that these two things are the same, there are differences, just not as much as the propagandists of both systems would like us to believe.</span><br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-9237949522943800782023-09-04T12:13:00.002+01:002023-09-04T14:31:57.421+01:00The Lone Gunmen's Lone Season<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdIJ4P-1G8DMdXvpfuUMZAsWvqAg5jzmOJ2xfXQ16W8ohWahh02h2h468CCQjdp8lbKV1rnYhknNuIKqmPEe9Z8Zeyz-qNXXFXPxR7--DoezpV3v0bfQOwgLhul4AjWA_5ZkiSpcpQo15w1-exbpZ38G8giQL0ApY7wFeJSGVUUD5S2NqfR7BBa4rvc2D8/s941/lone-gunmen.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="941" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdIJ4P-1G8DMdXvpfuUMZAsWvqAg5jzmOJ2xfXQ16W8ohWahh02h2h468CCQjdp8lbKV1rnYhknNuIKqmPEe9Z8Zeyz-qNXXFXPxR7--DoezpV3v0bfQOwgLhul4AjWA_5ZkiSpcpQo15w1-exbpZ38G8giQL0ApY7wFeJSGVUUD5S2NqfR7BBa4rvc2D8/w273-h400/lone-gunmen.png" width="273" /></a></div><br /> I've been watching the X-Files from start to finish, I had watched a handful of episodes on the BBC and Sky One back in the day, so a mix of its earliest episodes and bits of season 09, and I stayed up watching the first film on a school night. So, I've been enjoying going through it in order, discovering parts of the show for the first time and revisiting old memories. I'm pleased I did not imagine the episode with Brady Bunch obsessed psychic. I have completed season 09 and am up to the second film <i>I Want to Believe, </i>which has a reputation so poor that I decided to put it on hold and watch the spin off The Lone Gunmen.<p></p><p>The Lone Gunmen was a one season 13 episode spin off starring The Lone Gunmen, the trio of paranoid anti-government conspiracy theorists and investigative newsletter journalists. Technically I'm watching the show out of order since I had already watched season 09's Jumped the Shark which was the finale to The Lone Gunmen story line. </p><p>Disney now owns the X-Files franchise and that includes The Lone Gunmen, though curiously the show is absent on its streaming service despite everything else X-Files related being on there. I have an idea as to why that is, but I'll get to that later. Currently, no streaming service is running the show and I don't think it's re-run on television much. It's considered something of a blip, it didn't make much impact in the UK, though I do remember seeing adverts for it, I believe the Sci-Fi channel carried it over here, which would explain its lack of footprint here despite the X-Files fandom being a big hit over here. Sometimes, I think I'm the only one who watched that channel.<br /></p><p> Anyway, the only ways to watch it are to buy the DVD, or find it online, the whole series has been uploaded multiple times to many video hosting sites including YouTube. And with no attempt to hide what it is. That's usually a clear-cut sign that the owners of the property have zero interest in further commercial activity with it. And is often a damning comment on the properties quality. Though there are exceptions, and The Lone Gunmen is an exception.</p><p>It's not a classic killed in the cradle, there are problems with individual episodes and throughout the show, but there are some high points and parts that work well. The X-Files is a Sci-Fi drama that revolved around mysteries but would occasionally stretch to comedy, romance and open horror. The Lone Gunmen (TLG) commits fully to comedy with occasional action, dramatic tensions and very brief romance. Humour is subjective, we all find different things funny, I did not find TLG particularly funny, most jokes didn't land for me, and a few have aged poorly, the blind American Football team, the farce about a birthmark on an old ladies buttocks and the Matrix martial arts fight parody stick out.</p><p>However, despite this I found myself watching the show in two days and found a lot to like in its plot and character moments, and a few of the smaller jokes had me raising the corners of my mouth. In comparison to the X-Files, which often had some absurd leaps into magical nonsense to justify its plots, TLG stuck a lot closer to the ground. The bad guys here are arms dealers, poachers of endangered animals, corrupt businessmen, there are two episodes that deviate a bit from the formula, one involving a virtual reality behavioural reprogramming technology and the other a secret government program to create super smart Chimpanzees. The focus on more mundane conspiracies and bad guys was surprising to me, since in the show the three Gunmen Byers, Langley and Frohike often believed in things that even the X-Files world treated as nonsense. </p><p>The Gunmen reprise their roles from the X-Files with two additions, Jimmy played by Stephen Snedden is their intern and source of finances. Jimmy is introduced as a passionate moron who fails at even simple tasks like cleaning keyboards or shredding paper, frustrating the three seasoned hackers. Which runs thin pretty quick, fortunately they give the character a sort of intuitive intelligence, so he contributes more than just another body and receiver of exposition for the audience. The other addition is Yves Adele Harlow, played by Zuleikha Robinson. Yves is initially a rival but soon comes over to assist, though is still standoffish and her relations with the Gunmen remain fraught. TLG was released in 2001, so it isn't surprising how Yves is treated by the show. Zuleika Robinson is an attractive woman, and they remind you of that every second she's on-screen. Her hair and make up are always immaculate, the camera focuses on her figure, she speaks in a fake British accent that drips with cool aloofness, and she poses most of the time she isn't moving. Yves is an attempt at having an `empowered` woman via shortcutting. She's shown being cool and action orientated, and is smarter than the Gunmen. The problem is how this is done. When Yves is an ally to the Gunmen, she gives the key piece of the puzzle by conveniently knowing the information they want when she turns up. I'm not exaggerating, several episodes have the Gunmen mulling over a case and repeatedly hitting brick walls, only for Yves to walk in and know all about whatever it is they're dealing with. Though again, as the season progressed they seemed to get more of a handle on what they wanted from the character and were going in a new direction with her. I think both characters would've improved a lot in a second season, unfortunately that never happened.</p><p>I found myself liking most of the episode plots, and the core three Gunmen got some interesting character development. Likewise, I like what they did with Langley the most, apart from a long-running gag about his long blond hair getting him confused for a girl. Some of the jokes landed better than most for me, and it made sense that authoritarian jerks and establishment stooges would go for a cheap shot, it's just the constant returning to that well that diminished those returns. I'm not a big fan of the Gunmen on the X-Files, I enjoyed most of their appearances on the show, I just didn't place those episodes in my favourites list. I guess I prefer their depictions on TLG, on X-Files they seemed like kneejerk the government is behind everything for ridiculous reasons conspiracy theorists. On TLG they're motivated by civil liberties issues, wanting to save lives and even environmental concerns, with reasons for why they hold those commitments. So if you were a big Gunmen fan and this show passed you by, you'll probably find a lot to enjoy here. <br /></p><p>Overall, like most new TV shows, the start was a bit rough with room for improvement and some signs that steps were already being taken to get there. But alas we didn't get a chance to see the improvements, 13 episodes are all we got. So, speaking of those 13 here are some notes I had about several that I found very interesting. I'm going to spoil many of these, FYI. <br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The pilot. If this show has had any memorable moments, it is the plot of the pilot. It starts with Byers believing his father who worked for the government was murdered. And while investigating it, the Gunmen uncover a plot by a rogue faction of the US government to kick off a new climate of fear to replace the Cold War and its lucrative military budgets by crashing a commercial airliner into the World Trade Centre and have anti-American terrorists and dictators take the blame. And yes, we do get shots of the plane getting closer and closer to the twin towers before they save the day. When this episode went to credits, I paused it and immediately looked up when it had aired. I knew the show aired in 2001, but I wanted to know <i>when</i> in 2001. And, it released on the 4th of March. I quickly scrolled through the release dates for the rest of the show, and the last episode aired on the 1st of June, pretty close to 9/11.</li></ul><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O1Kic3E4N4o" width="320" youtube-src-id="O1Kic3E4N4o"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bond, Jimmy Bond. This episode introduces Jimmy, It's pretty forgettable apart from that. The reason I mention it is because of a sequence that demonstrates how TV shows were starting to mature in the 2000s. Jimmy is coaching a team of blind American football players, they use technology including footballs that emit sounds. The sequence is just a series of painful jokes about how daft and funny such a thing would be, blind people trying to play football. At the end of the sequence, Jimmy makes a passionate speech about how this isn't funny at all, and blind people deserve the opportunity to play sports if they wish and people who scoff at them aren't very nice. This attitude of having and eating cake was common for TV writing back then. The show's creative teams were aware that cheap digs about appearances and physical differences were nasty and harmful, but they were still expected, so shows would try and bridge the gap by having some jokes and then having a bit that says `actually, these people aren't freaks but people and should be respected` moments. I also bring it up because there's a later episode which I could've sworn they would do something like this, but did not.</li><li>Like Water for Octane. This episode is a race to find a car that runs on water before a corrupt oil company can get their hands on it. It's a bread crumb trail mystery, the physical comedy was tighter for me in this one, but the standout for me was the conclusion of the episode. The Gunmen foil the oil tycoon and secure the car, but decide not to release it to the public. The reason for this is because they are worried that the potential a car that runs on water would lead to an even more expansive productivity boom which would deplete the world's resources much faster and would not in fact lead to an end to oil dependency because oil is a key component in the manufacturing of roads, and plastic components. The evil oil tycoon did not want to destroy the car as was assumed, instead his plan was to capture the car and hold on to it until he could figure out how to control the release of it and profit heavily from it. He wants to pivot to water cars because oil is getting scarcer. </li><li>Three Men and a Smoking Diaper. This episode involves the Gunmen trying to expose a Senator for murder of a campaign worker before he's re-elected. This one ends with the discovery there was no murder, but the Senator's womanising did cause real harm and provoke the car crash. So, once he's confronted with the truth of the damage his behaviour has done he makes a public confession and acknowledges the son born from the affair. The episode ends implying he'll win re-election and the whole group cheer. This episode didn't leave me much to chew on until the final scene, I think the revelation was interesting and it shows that actions can have tragic consequences even without intentional malice. But the ending made me pause for a few moments. If Byers, Langley and Frohike were real people and not characters I doubt they would be enthusiastic that he got in he's not a friend or person they admired. But its a TV show and the politician did the right thing in the end and in America the system isn't perfect but it works gosh darn it!</li><li>The Lying Game. Yes, that's right, TLG a show that came out in 2001 had an episode that prominently featured a trans person. I was surprised it happened and how they handled it. Carol, a woman whom Byers knew in College asks the group to help investigate her brothers murder. As the episode plays out its revealed that the brother is alive, and isn't on very good terms with his sister. The reason for that becomes clear once he outs her to the Gunmen as Trans. Byers, who is the most ethical of the three and has refered to Carol by her name and used female pronouns apart from one slip up while arguing with her brother, something he immediately regrets eventually explodes at the brother who had outed he previously for his shitty behaviour and declares that everyone deserves privacy. The rest of the Gunmen come around and at the end of the episode Jimmy and Yves declare they don't have a problem with Carol being Trans. I was quite surprised at the episode, compared to the present it isn't perfect, they don't say Trans or transition they say used to be a man, but the intent is clear. I think the episode would stand favourably if it were released today.</li></ul><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/slNdy4r3WDM" width="320" youtube-src-id="slNdy4r3WDM"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Cap'n Toby Show. The last episode to be released even though it was supposed to air before the episode All About Yves which ends on a to be continued. Scheduling meddling aside this episode is about a Chinese spy ring operating within children's TV show. The epsiode features some misdirection, when the spy ring is discovered the TV shows main presenter and host Cap'n Toby is fingered as a fall guy and his guilt is widely beleived by the public because his wife is Chinese. In addition to proving the real spy was a CIA turncoat the show explicitly condemns racist profile and jumping to conclusion because of ethnic and national identity. </li></ul><p>And now that that is finished I'll wrap up with some thoughts that verge on speculation. The reason given for the shows early cancellation was low ratings, and compared to the X-Files there's a noticeable gap, and there was a drop from the pilot to the final episode. However the ratings didn't trend down constantly, some picked up and on a special feature about the show recorded in 2005 to tie in with the X-Files DVD releases the ratings were on par with early X-Files. This is 2000s Fox, so it is entirely possible they greenlit the production on TLG expecting a X-Files at its peak audience and then immediately canned it once it was clear it wouldn't reach those heights. </p><p>And I'm sure once 9/11 happened even the slimmest possibility of a revival was done. Having a pilot that tied very closely to the attack and effectively preempted several conspiracy theories about it couldn't have gone over well. Although I did find a 2002 TV Guide article marvelling at how little controversy this caused in the aftermath. </p><blockquote><p>Shockingly, this horrifying bit of foreshadowing was never widely reported until Thursday, when industry newsletter <i>The Myers Report</i> broke the story. How is it that virtually no one remembered this post 9/11? "I know! That's what I've been wondering," marvels <b>Frank Spotnitz</b>, who along with <b>Vince Gilligan</b> and <b>John Shiban</b>
wrote the episode. "I thought, 'Nobody noticed!' I guess so few people
saw the show. But it's strange too because that was the pilot and the
ratings were actually quite good for [that episode], and yet, we didn't
hear anything."</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.tvguide.com/news/sept-11-parallel-41409/"> The Sept. 11 Parallel "Nobody Noticed"</a></p><p>But it goes beyond that, the show itself has an atmosphere of distrusting authority, including governent and the military, many episodes involve the Gunmen casually cracking Department of Defence software to look for evidence of crimes and shady projects. The cliff hanger episode All About Yves involves the discovery of another secret government faction that is responsible for multiple acts of terrorism including the Kennedy assassination and the Lockerbie bombing. The Gunmen talk a lot about patriotism and the dream of America, but their sole reason for existing is because the entire system that is supposed to protect and nurture that dream has become corrupt and violent. Even Cap'n Toby a silly episode about how executives who don't get the shows they control and ruin them through chasing trends denounces profiling and assuming someone is a threat becuase they share a nation or ethnicity with bad actors. The post 9/11 years were extremely ugly and not kind to criticism or people who were Middle Eastern or Muslim or beleived to be so.</p><p>I cannot imagine a show like TLG would have been recieved positively in 2002. I suppose the proverbial smoking gun would be if I could find a definitive date of cancellation being made before or after 9/11. I couldn't find that, though I did find in the DVD special some of the creators of TLG saying that when they wanted to bring back the Gunmen on the X-Files to atleast tie up some plot threads and give the characters a conclusion they faced resistance from higher up. I can't imagine what the issue would be, they had appeared multiple times on the show so there wasn't a rights issue. Well, regardless, aside from a comic book and a cameo in the finale of X-Files season 09 and something in the later season's which I have not seen that was it for the Lone Gunmen. <br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-35990513113240011932023-09-01T12:09:00.000+01:002023-09-01T12:09:06.749+01:00Magic Pills <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT4j_oOsXmQHmtA-vc-wTUxSzCsvmS9UK8L6qTKdLNd_wZSdpYtsQw5PC_e213wzntc_JG8uY_BTwOC6a0gpz91IyBEDc-aJ3dZypZUhxEyAtkCsZHlhMuwmF95EJTrqRaS-pIy8Wj78BN7IU0S_T5-ObZ5uHaV6_PWfyHEuecmgrQNrb9rlwDHDueg6Hc/s2560/DocTemplates_ItemImage_1470930000007045258-2-scaled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1265" data-original-width="2560" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT4j_oOsXmQHmtA-vc-wTUxSzCsvmS9UK8L6qTKdLNd_wZSdpYtsQw5PC_e213wzntc_JG8uY_BTwOC6a0gpz91IyBEDc-aJ3dZypZUhxEyAtkCsZHlhMuwmF95EJTrqRaS-pIy8Wj78BN7IU0S_T5-ObZ5uHaV6_PWfyHEuecmgrQNrb9rlwDHDueg6Hc/w400-h198/DocTemplates_ItemImage_1470930000007045258-2-scaled.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> About a month ago, I paid a visit to the local chemist to pick up my stepdad's prescriptions while he was away on a trip. I got everything except Ozempic, they told me they had run out so if he was running low he should contact his Doctors to source a replacement. That's annoying but nothing new, there've been noticeable supply chain issues for a long time now, exacerbated by a protracted transfer of ownership of the chemists in my area. </p><p>The day after, I was watching the local BBC news station, and it was interviewing a man complaining about his difficulties acquiring Ozempic. I paid close attention to the story. It emerged that the reason for the scarcity of Ozempic over here isn't part of the normal supply chain issues, the COVID lockdowns, surge in fuel and cargo prices, war in Ukraine, ships getting stuck in the Suez Canal etc. No, the main cause for the rarity of the powder blue stabbers is apparently a massive celebrity and influencer (I hate that word) craze over a wonderful weight loss drug called... Ozempic. </p><p>After the report, which included clips from some California award show with Hollywood actors I didn't recognize making jokes about how Ozempic is the reason for that super skinny look that's popular in those parts, I got my phone out, went on several social media sites and searched #Ozempic. I was flooded with comments, tweets, videos, photos, gifs and memes all chiming in about this wonderful, amazing new weight loss drug. So, I can say that the news wasn't exaggerating, there is a real push to get in on the buzz.</p><p>I was left quite worried. Worried because my stepdad still hasn't been able to find a replacement that doesn't come with severe and unpleasant side effects, though he did manage to find another months supply, we've been told no one in the region can get more until August 2024. I'm also worried about the people who are buying it up in large quantities, because Ozempic is not a weightloss medication, it is prescribed for diabetic patients, they need to take it in order to live. I know it can be hard to lose weight, I'm one of those people who seem to be a roundabout, lose some weight one month only to get it back the next and changes in diet and exercise don't seem to make much difference. And yes, Ozempic can assist in weightloss as one of the effects is a suppression of appetite, but it's designed for diabetic patients who again need it to treat a life limiting condition. Diabetes will kill if not monitored and treated. There are many other things out there that can suppress appetite, my ADHD medication does that, and I've noticed some consistent reduction in weight, which is why I won't tell you what it is, it's difficult enough for me to source my medication already without some clout chasing instastreamer shilling it as the wonder drug of the month. </p><p>I was furious at the people who are taking it because it's the latest fad, and still am to a degree, their actions are playing a role in scarcity of an important resource. But, with reflection, there's more blame to go around. They are part of the problem and the ones who are pushing this for monetary gain or purely for social media popularity, which appears to be what the majority of them are doing this for, are worthy of contempt, but this is a symptom and not the cause. We're at a moment in history where the question of production is largely solved, there are few products that cannot be produced at scale and one of the supposed benefits of capitalism is the so-called law of supply and demand, which is a guarantee that needs (demand) will be taken care of (supply) with little delay. Well, we all can see that that is a lie and this is just one of the proofs. That's the true horror here, the vast majority of medical research and production is not done for need but for a profit on a market. While the terminology refers to the takers of medication as patients, the reality is that they are a consumer base. <br /></p><p>In this particular case, we have two conflicting consumer bases, diabetics who are long term customers, but numbers are limited, and the weight loss customers whose potential numbers outstrip the diabetics so most of the supply is going to the demand of the latter. It's not a new thing, I've spoken to friends and acquaintances that are on long term medications, and they've noticed that sometimes difficulties getting their medication correlate with some surge in popularity for some other effect. It's probably killed a lot of people and made others lives much worse. I wasn't being flippant when I said I will not disclose what medication I take, it took me years to get a prescription, and it's a constant hassle to get it every month, and while it's a controlled substance in the UK it isn't in parts of the United States where it's made, just one minor e-celeb recommending it to fuck me over completely. </p><p>And one other issue with this system we have, I didn't know where to place it, so I'm ending the blog on this point. Part of the reason this horrifies me is that I don't think most of the people buying Ozempic because of the hype campaign know what they're doing. When I was searching through the hashtags and such, I saw multiple posts "revealing" that not only is Ozempic the magic cure to an expanding waistline, but it also apparently has the ability to fix your heart. This alarmed me because it's not a secret that Ozempic has beneficial effects for people with heart conditions, it's on the packaging and is a major factor in why Ozempic is prescribed over other alternative Diabetic treatments. It's the reason my stepdad was put on it, he has diabetes and heart issues and thanks to Ozempic he doesn't have to juggle heart and diabetes medication. It removed a tonne of stress and worry over keeping on top of 20+ pills a week. </p><p>So, if lots of people are taking a diabetic medication that affects the heart without supervision, and they weren't even aware of these effects, then that is a very worrying sign. Medicine doesn't work like it does in video games, it isn't a totally beneficial for everyone who takes it. It helps my stepdad regulate his insulin and sugar levels and his heart, but that doesn't mean it will for you or everyone else. I would not recommend anyone take anything that affects your heart without some form of monitoring and supervision. My ADHD medication is controlled because it does very destructive things to normal people, over a 100mgs can kill you. For me, it gives me focus and aside from some light nausea it's been negative free. I'm the only one in my support group that's on it, everyone else is on other medications because mine didn't work for them, some of them have been on dozens with multiple changes in dosage, times of taking them etc, and some have had very nasty side effects. <br /></p><p> Treating medication as a commodity that can just be bought and used or abused is a very dangerous thing. This system doesn't benefit anyone except for the small few who own it. <br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-30264799845355014812023-08-25T16:35:00.003+01:002023-09-05T11:38:10.864+01:00From Russia; We Demand freedom for Azat Miftakhov - Ni postulu liberecon por Azat Miftakhov<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhui2vU_ek15WF0oFReE_D_iFYj2-qDF99_o52U6ZQuaIGMB5WtELYAEaScS0ESUCo13SLQ0VOOPc8JNlGZ7-KgR1AVOx7v61ZsSZUs3OxszLYS0ryizMTqfEmq-TtqTdHzUu4Lo0bG-4nKCHxTXiNDhu8gbqX3rhySg_t8wxfkWjjfrOkXoGvuc3nq-pom/s1023/free_azat.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="1023" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhui2vU_ek15WF0oFReE_D_iFYj2-qDF99_o52U6ZQuaIGMB5WtELYAEaScS0ESUCo13SLQ0VOOPc8JNlGZ7-KgR1AVOx7v61ZsSZUs3OxszLYS0ryizMTqfEmq-TtqTdHzUu4Lo0bG-4nKCHxTXiNDhu8gbqX3rhySg_t8wxfkWjjfrOkXoGvuc3nq-pom/w640-h360/free_azat.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Translated into English from an Esperanto language article hosted at <a href="http://neniammilitointerni.over-blog.com/2023/08/rusio-ni-postulu-liberecon-por-azat-miftakhov.html">Neniammilitointerni</a>. <br /><p></p><p> Since 2019 Azat Miftakhov has been imprisoned by the authorities of the Russian Federation. Azat is a young Mathematician and doctoral student at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, and an Anarchist activist. He was sent to pre-trial detention for two years before being sentenced to a six-year prison term on trumped-up charges based on false testimony acquired through torture. </p><p>In fact, one of the two accusers whose testimony alleged that Azat threw a smoke grenade through the window of the office of United Russia, the political party of Putin, was conveniently found to have died before a cross-examination could take place. <br /></p><p>A third "witness" is now a refuge in France and in March 2023 wrote to the online journal <i>Mediapart, </i>describing the torture he received by the FSB to secure a denunciation of Azat. Currently, that testimony has not been used against Azat, but it could form the basis of a future persecution.</p><p>Statements of support demanding Azat's release come from all over the world and have multiplied and include Non Governmental Organisations like Memorial and Human Rights Watch, intellectuals, Russian academics, over 2,500 Mathematicians from in 2022 and Mathematical societies in France, Italy, Brazil, the USA, and union activists in several unions including the Russian <i>University Solidarity </i>union. </p><p>While his release is supposed to happen any day between now and September 2023, we fear based on the information we have received that the Russian security services are plotting fresh charges against him to keep this university student in prison for years to come. </p><p><b>For freedom of expression in Russia<br />For Human Rights<br />Azat must be freed</b></p><p>The Russian Federation has invaded Ukraine and is increasing the risk of a widespread escalation. We, the defenders of peace, consider the freedom of expression of the Russian people and the freedom of expression of all people's involved in is the decisive question to find a way out for the peoples of Ukraine and Russia.<b> </b><br /></p><p> We, university students, intellectual, political activists, union members, elected representatives, association officials, journalists, citizens etc, in diversity of our opinions and activities - forewarned by the <a href="https://freeazat.noblogs.org/">Russian student group FreeAzat</a>, add our voices to those already expressed across the world. We solemnly demand that the government of the Russian Federation release Azat.</p><p style="text-align: left;"> Links to show support (in French)</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span face="Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif"><span style="color: black;">Please add your voice:</span></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span face="Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif"><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJfoCxgSOwFbmcQXwtzE1SIabfJLC4ud6B-WL1knrU_L73Ow/viewform?pli=1" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">ttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJfoCxgSOwFbmcQXwtzE1SIabfJLC4ud6B-WL1knrU_L73Ow/viewform?pli=1</a></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><b><span face="Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif">First list of signatories:</span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span face="Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif"><a href="https://blogs.mediapart.fr/solidarite-freeazat/blog/020623/liberte-pour-azat-miftakhov" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">https://blogs.mediapart.fr/solidarite-freeazat/blog/020623/liberte-pour-azat-miftakhov</a></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><b><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span face="Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif">Second list of signatories:</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span face="Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif"><a href="https://blogs.mediapart.fr/solidarite-freeazat/blog/230723/liberte-pour-azat-miftakhov-deuxieme-liste-de-signataires" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;">https://blogs.mediapart.fr/solidarite-freeazat/blog/230723/liberte-pour-azat-miftakhov-deuxieme-liste-de-signataires</a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span face="Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif">A video made by supporters of Azat explaining the case in greater detail.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span face="Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/59uzG7-kP4Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="59uzG7-kP4Q"></iframe></div><br /> <br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Some additional context</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Here is some additional information. Originally in 2019 Azat Miftakhov was arrested on a charge of manufacturing explosives. He was detained in a police station for three days and was tortured. Since he still refused to co-operate and maintained his innocence, he was released due to lack of evidence. But before his release was processed, new charges against him relating to allegedly damaging a United Russia party office were filed based on the testimony of several people who were also tortured. <br /> </p><p style="text-align: left;">Reddebrek</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Update</h2><p style="text-align: left;">On Monday, the 4th of September, Azat Miftakhov completed his sentence at IK-17, a Penal Colony in the Kirov region. Minutes later he was charged with a fresh allegation of justifying terrorism and after refusing to plead guilty was sent to another pre-trail detention centre to await sentencing. He had five minutes to talk to his wife and friends before being taken away by the FSB. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-53409166681675268362023-08-24T13:32:00.006+01:002023-08-24T13:32:53.368+01:00The Libertarian Society: A translation from the French Workers Movement <p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b></b></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7CmMF_sSJ6fAD3o4X3-rzqKiQ0G3-_p3J1sFjXV-gKs2g-q-DNyhMvU-9_k7G8Rs7088KX0BNG-gRFHc1LzL-UVfhe06JmNfRWLEHU8GqIfugJPakgPgira6XWLDGztH8ofJAiAsnockKtEqgOS87ooifhkYU0XDffslRuvIWlGOJn2DgqIrM_9O-IPPg/s500/Libertarian%20Society.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="314" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7CmMF_sSJ6fAD3o4X3-rzqKiQ0G3-_p3J1sFjXV-gKs2g-q-DNyhMvU-9_k7G8Rs7088KX0BNG-gRFHc1LzL-UVfhe06JmNfRWLEHU8GqIfugJPakgPgira6XWLDGztH8ofJAiAsnockKtEqgOS87ooifhkYU0XDffslRuvIWlGOJn2DgqIrM_9O-IPPg/w402-h640/Libertarian%20Society.jpg" width="402" /></a></b></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /> </b></span></span><p></p><p lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; text-align: left;">Available on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C9YPQYT2">Kindle</a> <br />Please support via <a href="https://ko-fi.com/reddebrek68500">ko-fi</a><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> <br /></b></span></span></p><p lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The
Libertarian Society</b></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">by</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">Georges Bastien</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Some
Words on Georges Bastien</b></span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">This pamphlet was written in 1926 by
Georges Bastien. Bastien (1885-1940) was a French
Anarcho-syndicalist, that is he combined his Anarchist beliefs with
Syndicalism. Syndicalism is the name of a school of socialism that
views the building of revolutionary unions amongst the working class
as the key to creating a revolutionary movement strong enough to
supplant capitalism and begin the construction of a better world.
Syndicalism, which literally translates into English as Trade
Unionism, -from the Romance languages shared name for Labour Unions
which is a Syndicate- traces its origins to the 19<sup>th</sup>
century socialist movement. Its early strongholds being the nations
of France, Spain and Italy.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">In France, Syndicalism first rose to
prominence with the creation of the <i>Confederation Generale du
Travail </i><span style="font-style: normal;">the General
Confederation of Work (CGT). Georges Bastien joined the workers
struggle in 1904 in the aftermath of textile workers strike in
Amiens. In November 1904 he was one of the founders of the newspaper
</span><i>Germinal, </i><span style="font-style: normal;">and would
spend the rest of his life working as a journalist and Anarchist
militant within the workers Syndicates. He was also a committed
anti-militarist, in 1906 Bastien and a fellow Anarchist Jules Lemaire
were sentenced to six months in prison for cowriting an article in
</span><i>Germinal </i><span style="font-style: normal;">titled
“</span><i>L’antimilitarisme et l’antipatriotisme</i><span style="font-style: normal;">”
(Anti-militarism and anti-patriotism) and both were then sentenced a
second time on similar charges for producing another anti-militarist
pamphlet called </span><i>Aux Conscripts </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(To
the Conscripts). The sentences did not bar him from compulsory
military service and he was conscripted in 1907, however he remained
in uniform for just 45 days. He had been approached by his commanding
officer with an offer, shut up or desert, he chose the latter and
lived in exile for a time in Belgium and London, and at some point
after 1910</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Bastien went to South America and learnt the Spanish language. The
details on this period of his life are scarce though he translate
French Anarchist texts into Spanish during it. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">The
list of organisations Bastien belonged to is very long, the one thing
they all had in common was a commitment to revolutionary struggle and
the creation of a Libertarian Communist society. One of the important
events he participated in was as a signatory of the document that
became known as the Charter of Amiens in 1906. This Charter for the
CGT became its main guiding document for several years and represents
the height of Anarchosyndicalist influence within the CGT. The
Charter of Amiens secured the CGT’s independence from political
parties and focused attention on more overtly revolutionary aims and
goals for the union as a vehicle for class struggle.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;">In
the aftermath of the First World War Bastien returned to France and
worked to revive </span><i>Germinal </i><span style="font-style: normal;">and
support the French Anarchist movement. In reaction to the Russian
Revolution Bastien was an open and early supporter who opposed French
intervention in the country. “We are not Bolsheviks. But we will
fight for them because they represent sincere, honest and courageous
action”. Though it wasn’t long before the actions of the
Bolsheviks forced Bastien to distinguish between the revolution and
the Bolshevik party. </span>
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;">From
the 1920s to his death in 1940 Bastien remained an active and
important writer. In addition to the </span><i>Germinal </i><span style="font-style: normal;">and
other newspapers Bastien authored several pamphlets including this
one Libertarian Society, and was also a contributor to Sebastian
Faure’s </span><i>L’Encyclopedie Anarchiste </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(Anarchist
Encyclopedia) among many other works. He kept writing up to the year
of his death in Amiens. And in addition to speaking French and
Spanish he had some knowledge of Esperanto, he contributed a special
forward for the Esperanto language addition of the pamphlet. </span>
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;">I
chose to translate this pamphlet to add to the knowledge of Bastien’s
important contributions in the English speaking corners of the world.
There is a lot of information out there for French speakers,
including an article that manages to catalogue most of the names and
acronyms of the groups he founded or joined through out his life and
documents some of his activity in strikes and protests</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;">.
But not much in English. The work itself is also of value beyond the
connections to its author, its an early attempt to sketch out a
potential new society. Anarchists are often accused of being good at
destruction, riots, black blocks, assassinations, terrorism etc, but
having little to offer constructively. This in my opinion is a
mischaracterisation, but its easy to say that and just ignore the
criticism. This work addresses these charges in a general sense, it
is not a blueprint to be copied by the Anarchist revolutionaries
after successfully abolishing the old order, it is instead an
argument for the values, ways and means of a new way of life in
general, a direction marker rather than a map through a maze. </span>
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal;">I’m sure
the words Libertarian and Communism being stuck next to each other is
surprising to at least a few English speakers reading this, but its
an old idea with many advocates and Georges Bastien was one of them.</p>
<p align="right" class="western" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal;">
Reddebrek</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Foreword
to the Esperanto Publication</b></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">It is with great
pleasure that I received the news that the World Anational
Association SAT (<i>Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda</i>), wanted to
publish in Esperanto “The Libertarian Society” the short work
written to shed some light on the positive and practical concepts of
libertarian communism.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">First, I should make a
confession. I do not think that the libertarian organisation of
society, complete and definitive, is possible in the realm of regions
and nations, the interdependence of all human fractions would not
allow the new social regime to live for long and achieve its full
maturity if it is restrained and limited to an experimental field.
This new way would have only three paths open to it: to internalise
and isolate amongst the minority of the so-called civilised world, or
to join with the older neighbouring forces and stagnate, or to
disappear, suffocated by nearby hostile social organisations.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">I do not believe one can
get free of this dilemma though these three ways.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">I also conform to the
logic that every adept of social transformation in the sense of
freedom and well being for all must be convinced internationalists.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">A quick glance at the
world, across all the lands shows us a clear trend towards the
unification of human activity.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Even the most backward
lands tend, either by conquest or the influence of capitalism to
imitate the so-called civilised world. The mechanisms, the
industries, commerce, financial procedures of our regions penetrate
everywhere. The same social organisation implants itself bit by bit
on every continent. And everywhere we all work under the same
conditions. The competition that the capitalists implanted between
the poorly paid indigenous workers and more expensive domestic
labourers pushes the unification of existence.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Not even fashion both
male or female is an exception as it becomes international. The
cities have an accentuated tendency to become uniform, and in the
process lose their local character.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">We should not complain
about this inevitable progress of human unity. It is one of the
necessary conditions for social progress; its one of the foundations
of the free society of the future. To love each other well we must
respect each other. In order to appreciate each other we must have
understanding, we cannot be too different from each other.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">This is why I consider
an international language to be a necessity for buildings truly
libertarian society. And this is further proof that the libertarian
idea follows the evolutionary path, because everything tends toward
internationalism, people are trying to understand each other by
speaking a common language.
</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">A few personal words to
end this introduction.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">I traveled a little in
my youth. I had to learn English, and swallowed some knowledge in
German and Spanish, in order to “get around” in the countries I
passed through. Relatively easy work when one is young, but which
becomes difficult at a certain age. The assimilation skill is lost to
time and other studies.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">How sad I was to not
find comrades in every country who spoke Esperanto! It is for that
reason that I did not continue my study of the international language
despite feeling its urgent necessity<sup><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc"><sup>2</sup></a></sup>.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">So I wholeheartedly wish
for the international language to become the medium of communication
amongst all free spirits, and through them grows to become the
universal language of all humanity.</p>
<p align="right" class="western" lang="en-US">Georges Bastien</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
<br />
</p>
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<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction
to Georges Bastien’s</b></span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
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</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The
Libertarian Society</b></span></span></p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Foreword</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The remains and
discoveries from man’s ancient past have taught us that humanity
did not always live and behave as we do now. By a slow process of
development, which has taken many centuries mankind has grown beyond
the ancient animal tendencies. There is no reason why this progress
should be halted. The people of future centuries will not be the same
as the people of today. They will be evolved physiologically,
intellectually and morally.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">In the same manner the
techniques, the means of production, means of transportation and
travel etc, experience has been deeply transformed over the
centuries. Who can predict the capabilities of technology a century
or two into the future? Or just how far the development of machinery
will push the productive capabilities of the people? On these matters
we know nothing. However it is certain that the social question of
the future will not present itself in the same way as they do in the
present. Just as the solutions proposed one or two centuries ago are
not appropriate for today.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">With that in mind it
would be folly to try to predict the social structure of future
centuries, because despite the wishes of theorists, legislators and
builders of utopia, humanity will always be moving.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">That is not the goal I
set for myself, I do not wish to look too far ahead.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">By researching the
social question and the factors it demonstrates for the present, with
regard to the actually existing conditions and technical means
available to humanity today, <span style="font-style: normal;">I am
searching for the foundations of a libertarian society and the
physical conditions in which it could live.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal;">
If technology and science developed in a different way then the
principles which form the basis of human society would be very
different, and our movement would not exist.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal;">
It is not acceptable that with all that practical and theoretical
science has given to mankind, and the means at our disposal to build
a social organisation, that the majority of the population is still
forced to live at a level beneath that of dirt. We Anarchists
believe that if humanity rids itself of the stupid prejudices
inherited from past ages, rejected its cowardice, both morally and
intellectually, and if they get used to acting and thinking for
themselves then the obstacles that block human social development
would soon disappear.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal;">
The oppressed masses are afraid of leaping into the unknown, and this
fear is preserved and stoked by the few enjoyers of privilege and
those who wish to join their ranks.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The desire to banish
this state of spiritual stagnation is my sole reason for writing this
pamphlet.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">I do not pretend to have
explored and solved every social issue. Moreover the limited scope of
this pamphlet prevents me from attempting to do so.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">I merely wish to make
some use of the work of several Anarchist theorists, Proudhon,
Bakunin, Kropotkin, Malatesta and Sebastian Faure, combined with
fundamental ideas of the wider social movement to outline the general
features of how a libertarian society without gods and masters, but
based on the relationship between freely formed associations of equal
and fraternal people. In short, I wish to show that we are not just
simple demolitionists and utopians, but that we have a clear and
accurate social program.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Part
One</b></span></span></p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The
Libertarian Principles</b></span></span></p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">To
Destroy or to Build</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The Anarchists wish to
destroy everything: States, judiciary, police, army, private
property, money, commerce, exploitation,; morality, religion,
patriotism, the family.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">They are the systematic
destroyers of today’s society. So, why do they want to do this?</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The answer is simple.
The Anarchists believe that our current society has been built in
direct opposition to rationality, and every principle of equality and
humanity. All for a minority who know how to profit from and take
advantage. And nothing for the rest.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Today’s economic
institutions have built a dictatorship that rests on hunger, its a
system entirely for the benefit of a few parasites, and disadvantages
the producers who are subjected to misery and servitude.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The political
institutions combine into a vast Union that organises violence to
terrify the masses and keep them in servitude.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The official, religious
and patriotic morality completes the work of this monstrous
inequality, dumbing down their brains, worshiping their enemies,
filling their minds with prejudices so that they don't see clearly,
cultivating hatred in their hearts to divide the oppressed, because
their agreement would be dangerous.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Everything: All the
political, economic and moral authority, has been established little
by little, through the ages. They form a block in which they all,
every kind of authority supports the others. It is impossible to
break one without first destroying the rest. If any form of
leadership be it political, economic or moral survives after
revolution, then it will reconnect with and rebuild all the others…
everything would have to start over. This has been the fate of all
previous revolutions.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The experiments of the
past have taught us that we can not do things by halves, and be
satisfied by social outbreaks that keep the old rotten house intact.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">It is a new world that
we must create, with a social contract totally different from that of
the old. It is necessary that the leadership cedes its position to
the association of free people; for the development of a society
based on real equality, otherwise it will become the enemy of the
spirit and practice of solidarity.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">If you want to build a
house on the site of another, and if no other land is available, it
is certainly necessary to demolish the old one first. Because the
globe is almost entirely appropriated by the privileged, who
subjugate all humanity under their yoke, the only way the new
libertarian society can establish itself is on the ruins of
institutions that stand today.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
State</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We want to destroy the state!</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The state or the political leadership
is a coalition of bureaucratic, police, legal and military
institutions. Simply, it is oppression by violence. Its chief
function is the maintenance order, so that the privileged few can
enjoy their gains in peace. The state is bureaucrat, trustee, judge
and soldier, it is all these things combined for the purpose of
keeping the masses under the yoke of servitude using all means
available to it. Who in a free society, where everyone would be
equal, where misery and ignorance have disappeared, could make use of
this apparatus of compulsion? The social regime built on liberty and
solidarity cannot have any connection to those old institutions,
which are hated by the people on instinct. And how right it is to
hate the chains that bind them, and the whip that strikes them.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Study the court statistics. Nearly
every crime and misdemeanor has a cause, poverty, ignorance,
intoxication, the lust for wealth etc. or else they concern the
unfortunate people punished for not submitting to their masters.
Society should be organised in a way that everyone can enjoy a good
standard of living in exchange for a reasonable amount of work, in an
atmosphere of profound freedom; so that it is no longer possible for
one man to gain from the misfortune of another. By removing the
profit of crime and abolishing the conditions for its other causes
crime itself disappears, this evil will in effect vanish.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Regarding the few crimes caused by
passions and not profit the contemporary institutions are powerless.
A new moral environment, one where lives and freedom of others are
respected, idiotic prejudices have been overcome and where the merits
of solidarity are taught since childhood, this will have more effect
than any attempt to punish them into non-existence. Contemporary
society creates a hundred criminals while punishing one. The highly
pious and greatly respected in society, those honoured and protected
by the laws of the state are great evildoers.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The people of the future will be wise
enough to solve the anti-social cases themselves. They won’t be so
foolish as to maintain salaried executioners, who threaten us all,
under the pretext that society is threatened by the existence of a
few abnormals. They will solve these anti-social cases by eliminating
poverty, spreading education and improvement of living <span style="text-decoration: none;">and
- working conditions – the building of a new society that always
attempts to eliminate vice by removing the root of its creation. They
will only take drastic measures when the danger becomes great and
imminent. But what the period of revolution? It will be the task of
the revolutionaries in that time of social readjustment to overcome
entrenched resistance. For my part, I sincerely believe that the
idlers, narcissists and criminals are in greater number amongst the
bourgeois class than amongst the ranks of the people. But the
temptation to restore the organs of oppression under the pretext of
eliminating social evil must be avoided like the plague, as the
problem can be better solved directly. </span>
</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US" style="text-decoration: none;">
*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="text-decoration: none;">
The state departments and communes that are run as public offices,:
schools, post offices, roads etc. might be adapted and conserved.
Without anticipating the consequences of that study, let's say that
these organisms can work by local, regional or national organizations
of workers, through labor associations or federations, and that they
would work so much better if they were freed from the indecisive
bureaucracy, from the scheming hierarchy, from the centralization
that kills initiative and pushes corrupt policy.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="text-decoration: none;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Militarism</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Militarism has for a long time been
condemned by those with healthy spirits “The army is the school of
crime” said Anatole France<sup><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote3sym" name="sdfootnote3anc"><sup>3</sup></a></sup>.
The attempts to define a nation are all absurd. A country is just a
collection of slaves obeying the same masters. That’s all it is in
truth. The provinces merged into nations, and the same will happen to
nations that will one day unite in an International of peoples.
Militarism will no longer have a reason to exist.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">There are some revolutionaries who
are steeped in soldiering and still trust in the pillars of the
present social regime, believe in using the arguments of the
nationalists. They propagate the pretext that the revolutionary
nation will be threatened and attacked by the slave hordes of the
rest of the world. We on the other hand believe that the most
valuable revolutionary weapons are the power of infection. The
example given to foreign proletarians and most importantly the effect
of the real sentiment it encourage within the hearts of the rebels
and international proletarians that at last a new world is starting
to be born, a world built on good and freedom, and that finally
there is something worth defending.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">But if, in spite of everything the
counter-revolutionary attack still takes place, then the rebelling
populous will know that they must find new ways of fighting that
differ from those of the armies of the bourgeois patriots. Because if
they make the mistake of rebuilding military power than tomorrow it
will become the tool of social oppression.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Without going deeper into the
subject, let's say that the last short war proved the absurdity of a
professional army that the soldiers themselves trust more to the
method of an armed nation, than to that of the standing army. Should
we continue to be more backward, more militaristic than the
professionals of mass murder?</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Every bureaucratic, judicial,
military and financial institutions must disappear. Evil must be
uprooted entirely. The stubborn remains of the of the old world will
be destroyed by the direct action of the people; there will be no
need to place in the hands of a few the power to menace and threaten
both the good and bad alike. A power which would enable the gradual
rebuilding of the old regime.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Capital</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We want dissolve private property and
its consequences; capitalism and wages, commerce and rent, and all
other forms of exploitation of man by man which allow the few to
enjoy privileges at the expense of the many who produce.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Proudhon defined property as “the
right to payment of the work of others and from the circulation of
their products”. That is the truth of the matter.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Sheltered by the political
institutions of society and the slave morality preached to the masses
has enabled and emboldened the capitalists to declare that all the
natural riches of the earth – which no one created – and all the
social riches – created by the work of everyone – belong to them
alone. Leaning firmly on the concept of property rights they demand
rents, loans, profits, dividends etc, from the people.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We want to do away with this system
of organised theft. You must not misunderstand us; it is not the
material capital, the lands, the buildings, the factories, the
machines and the products that we wish to banish. It is the right of
exploitation from which our masters profit that must be done away
with.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"> We say to the people, take back your
riches, you who have been dispossessed through violence, trickery,
threats and all the other methods at the disposal of the ruling
class. Riches that have been created by your own <span lang="en-GB">labour</span>
and from your forefather nature itself.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">They should abolish the ugly system
of private property and communalize all property.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We are libertarian communists,
supporters of social property, because we think it is impossible to
attribute to a single person or group of people the whole labor
product, because, in our era of economic interdependence, in which
the production of the smallest object involves the whole social
mechanism, the product is social, not individual. And on the other
hand, it cannot be accepted that people declare themselves the sole
owners of something, taking the best part, while others have the
worst, or nothing at all. That would restore the curse of competition
and conflicts.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">When we declare ourselves opponents
of private property, we are not talking about the objects of
individual use and pleasure; clothes, personal objects, even a home.
The new social contract will respect the freedom of everyone in
regards to these things. The social property will be the common
ownership of the means of production, transportation, communication,
tools in other words.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Instead of being the instruments of
the owners, they will belong to everyone, and the associations of
producers, of workers from factories, from workers in the
countryside, from the technical staff, and from the organizations of
consumers and users society advantageously for the common good
replace the owners, renters, landlords, financiers, merchants, etc.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our
Morality</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We are against the moral authorities
whether religious, patriotic or familial. That does not mean however
that we are without morals. It is in fact the opposite.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Patriotism, religious faith, civic
pride, respect for the bosses of every stripe. These are all symptoms
of prejudices that exist purely so the masses submit, obey and reject
resistance and remain exploited by their masters. We reject this
morality of slaves, which is ill suited for free people. Our
propaganda aims to teach the servants that they are the equals of
their masters, and that there are not two species of humanity; the
rich and the poor.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We are opposed to the idiotic and
chaotic mess that is official morality, and promote the principles of
a human and rational morality. These principles are respect for the
freedom of others and total solidarity. Freedom is needed for a
society built for the good of all. And its inseparable brother is
equality, but not that brotherhood that is written on monuments, but
the concrete brotherhood of material life, equality of social
conditions.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"> The Libertarian society can be
nothing more than an association freely accepted and eagerly sought,
sought because its establishment brings nothing but benefits to its
membership. Society can be firm and rational only if all are equal,
only if it rests on the individual freedom of all, because otherwise
the friction and abuses will lead to conflicts, and coercion becomes
necessary to preserve the social classes.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The other great Libertarian principle
is solidarity, the great trait that has enabled humanity to rise
above the animal kingdom. By joining together man became what he is
today and continue to advance his civilisation. The struggle for
survival is the main source of all of our misfortunes. Man is wolf to
man only because he is not certain about the present or the future.
And so, man must push away his good feelings and strengthen his
fighting instincts if he is to maintain his shaky position. Every
movement to improve development of humanity to a better and higher
morality has to suppress the spirit of division and strengthen the
spirit of solidarity to some degree. Philosophers have claimed that
once the social feelings will have become so strong that they will
become instinctual, and that we will practice solidarity the same way
as we breathe, eat and walk. It is certain that development is going
in this direction and will condemn the prejudices of today, the
sowers of discord and hate.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The religious, patriotic and
authoritarian prejudices of the present combined with other
impediments continue to methodically place obstacles, often bloody
and always painful to the normal and desirable development. All these
efforts and sacrifices are made for God, the country, the board etc,
and these sacrifices are made often against the public and there
removal would lessen greatly the problems facing humanity, By
challenging these obstacles and their false moralities, and by
strengthening the spirit of solidarity through moral and material
cooperation among the people, we can increase the pace of progress
and spin the wheel of humanity faster towards happiness, plenty and
liberty. It will praise the forces, initiatives, sacrifices, used for
the improvement of the moral and material conditions of humanity; it
will condemn the forces used to create misery and suffering.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">This morality places the individual
at its foundation instead of ignoring it. For the body to feel good,
it is necessary that every part that makes it up, even the smallest,
should be healthy. The sickness of one cell endangers the life of the
whole organism. For humanity to reach its maximum potential, it is
necessary that each individual find in it as much freedom and
goodness as is possible; it is necessary that all mans interests and
all his feelings should lead him to seek union with his
contemporaries, and not to take refuge in them. A perfect society can
only be the perfect harmony between the individuals that make it up,
in finding the means to maximize their enjoyment.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">This is the highly humane morality
with which the anarchists oppose the prejudices skillfully
perpetuated by the masters of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The
greatest freedom for all, the most intimate solidarity uniting
people, these are the great moral principles on which we want to
establish the libertarian society.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Intellectual Dictatorship</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The spirit of authority, or rather
the thirst for control and exploitation, ever persistent and feeling
that the state, religion, country, capital, etc., are shaking under
the blows of reason, tries to disguise itself under another face.
Alas! Before the people have fully learned to lead themselves they
will be manipulated into once again obeying, because they will still
not have the courage to say `No!` to those who want to be leaders,
the successors of that vile type.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">After the nobles, the kings, the
priests, the politicians have been dealt with, we find ourselves
being told about directing society by the intellectuals and civil
bureaucrats. We would see the graduates under the pretext of
competence capture the positions of social leadership. They would use
their positions and acquired knowledge to instruct the rest of us in
how to behave. Too often the diploma in most cases is just a license
to parasitism, a means to exploit the poor. Apart from a few
exceptions the intellectual professions are a business of a slightly
different type. That is enough for us to understand that the
intellectual authority, if it were to rule society, without delay
would grant to itself political and economic privileges and that a
caste of masters would soon be restored.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">It is the society that enables any
individual to study, to become a technician, it takes care of him, it
can provide him with what he needs. The simple logic indicates that
it is then the society that has acquired rights over the technician,
and not him over it.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"> The libertarian society will have
technicians: engineers, doctors, etc. even more than today, because
it will not make these positions a monopoly of caste, a privilege
reserved for a lucky few. Schools and universities will be
established everywhere. The child's education will be more
comprehensive than today. A better social organization will yield
more leisure, and those who will feel in themselves an ability and
desire for study will find libraries, museums and courses to realize
their aspirations. Instead warring against intellectual development,
the libertarian society will promote it to the maximum possible
extent. That will be its interest and its security.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The intellectual worker is as useful
as the professional technician. The first is as necessary as the
latter. It is better for man that he is not condemned to be one or
the other. But the relations between them must not develop into a
hegemony. Technicians are needed in all branches of human work. Same
- in all councils of groups or associations of the future that will
replace the current economy. Technicians are needed in all branches
of human work. The same is true- in all the councils, groups or
associations of the future that will replace the current economy.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">But those intellectual workers will
be equals with everyone else. There will be a specialization of the
work, nothing more. No privilege to some against the others. Everyone
will share in the hard work in a friendly manner according to the
particular abilities of each person.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We
are not Politicians</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Do not misunderstand the purpose of
our merciless criticisms. We are not a political party that after
exposing the defects in others, presents itself as a savior, the only
one capable of bringing goodness and freedom to the masses.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We do not demand the power to rule.
Thinking it a poison for others that we also consider it the case for
us too. Power corrupts its users as well as its victims. We want to
destroy it in every guise it presents itself, hidden or overt,
hypocritical or honest.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">It is not because the power to rule
is in the hands of others that we oppose it. We leave that thinking
to jealous revolutionaries. Anarchists wish neither to rule nor
coerce. Put simply the people in general are responsible for founding
and administering the new society.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The task of creating a new social
harmony will belong to an organisation established freely from among
the people. The Libertarian society is and can only be an agreement
founded on the principles of freedom and solidarity an association of
all kinds: production, transport, public offices, distribution,
teaching, art, etc. etc., which will form freely in all fields,
uniting in them all branches of human activity, being administered at
will, grouping together and later federating, always according to the
principles of freedom and collaboration.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We dismiss with contempt the idea of
being a party imposing its will on the people. We are satisfied with
a more modest role. But a role much more useful and more noble, to
constitute the active agitators, always ready for the struggle of the
people's revolution, which will sweep away all injustices and all
pressures.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
way to progress</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We have said that the economic
foundations of the society of tomorrow will be the regime of free
associations harmonising their efforts and balancing their needs and
federating as needed. This will not be utopia nor will it be founded
on the fragile ground of magic.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"> The libertarian society is already
embryonic today, and is starting to function in contemporary society.
The principle of the association replacing conflict is not an
unfounded dream. It begins to materialize, begins to develop, begins
to conquer society, before our very eyes.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The workers are organising into
Unions, some are forming associations of producers. Consumers are
setting up co-operatives, many have since formed federations out of
several co-operatives. There are also unions for tenants, artist
collectives, networks of scientists, even associations for tourists.
This impulse to unite for a common gain can be seen in every field of
human society. Already there are many societies promoting mutual aid
in existence. Even the bourgeoisie make us of associations, even
though the very concept condemns their way of life. Whether Unions
or agricultural co-operatives, industrial, commercial, even joint
stock companies etc. The practice of associating appears everywhere,
conquers everything, the routine spirit and stupid customs of work
fall into the past, and thus a collective property of some kind comes
into being.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The big businesses and their big
ideas are mainly the reason for these associations, to counter the
associations of their bosses who have used them to gain all the
profit from the work. One can even say that the many and varied
associations are above politics, in the ordinary sense, for they
promote countless initiatives, and they are almost always the ones
who drag the state behind and actively pushes human development
forward.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The association is everywhere on the
agenda. It is the great force of the future, perfectly constructive
in spirit, the most direct method for social improvements.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Authority and property inherently
hinder and oppose the way to fulfilling the principle of association.
The social revolution having swept away all these fences will open
wide the door of success and will enable association to become the
fundamental principle of future society, and will conquer all fields
of human activity.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Libertarian communism, which is based
not on the codification of social relations, but on the balance and
harmony of the many diverse associations of residents, consumers,
producers, artists, etc., in short of those interested in
participating. And so remain, therefore, on the path of human
development. It the forces themselves, which germinate and develop
before our eyes, it will nurture them into the elements constituting
the new social life and replace the decaying forms of contemporary
political and economic organization.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A
few numbers</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We do not expect miracles from the
people’s revolution. Later just as before society can only consume
what it produces. That should be obvious. Let those who laugh
absurdly at our "utopias" say nonsense. They are invested
in devaluing the concept of equality, because they benefit from
society as it functions in the present. The poor will not wish to
become millionaires. It is not among the people you find the
obsessive drive to live life solely through amusements and banquets.
For them the new society will guarantee well being and material
security, in exchange for work on a basis of rational need; they can
be free in the fullest sense of that word, this is what they want.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Does contemporary society as it
exists today produce enough to allow for a good standard of living
for all? Without hesitation we answer `Yes!`</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The official statistics for the year
1923 sum up the profits between 150-160 billion francs. Since then
they may have increased a little, because the means of subsistence
for the poor does not increase in proportion to the commodity costs,
whereas for the rich their share follows their rise. If the
consumption power represented by these benefits would be shared
fairly among all, the welfare resulting would present approximately
the standard of living that a family of 4 would have had in 1923
persons having an annual income of 16,000 Fr. Francs.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><i>Note from the translator</i>
[Alberto Orze]</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">In 1923 for an 8 hour working day a
skilled worker received an average wage of 40 ff. Multiplied by 300
working days that there are 2,400 working hours per year and a salary
of 12,000 ff. So, if all the able-bodied people cited by the author
worked usefully, even together with the homeless, we would have the
6-hour labourday and more than 53 ff as salary. In other words, the
working time would decrease 33- percent and there would be a 30
percent salary increase.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Relations to the working time do not
take into account the unemployed who existed in 1931, due to the
development of machinery; their inclusion too would lower the
working time, if it were divided equally.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">In France there are
around 40 million inhabitants. Many are absolute duds, digestive
tubers. Others do work that is wholly or partially unprofitable.
There are, according to official figures, approximately 10 million
wage earners in France, of which at least one million perform
functions that would disappear in a rational society. If you count 3
million useful workers, though not salaried (the number is a bit
excessive), this represents a total of 12 million useful workers, who
harvest, manufacture, transport, prepare the products for
consumption. Each of them works an average of 3,000 hours a year, the
French consumption therefore requires 36 billion working hours <i>with
the current poor technical organization. </i>
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal;">
The Libertarian society will be able to keep the children in school
up to the 15th year: 10 million children; and accounting for the
elderly over the age of 60 (though they will still be able to help,
or participate with their own advice to the common creative efforts):
4,900,000 elderly people; the mothers of children up to 4 years old
will need to take care of the little one: 2,500,000. And accepting
for argument sake that of the remaining able-bodied people there are
2 million for one reason or another unable to work, 20 million will
remain, who will be able to participate in the joint effort.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"><span style="font-style: normal;">If
they shared the work fairly and everyone could turn to where his
native abilities lead him and can develop them, then each person
would have to complete only 1,800 working hours per year to ensure,
</span><i>changing nothing from the current methods of work</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
the same amount of consumables, as exists today, that means comfort
for all, which the vast majority have never known.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal;">
There is no doubt that when the economic life would be more
rationally organized, the rate of production could to be much more
intense. The machinery is not used as it should be. The collective
work is not yet installed everywhere, where it could be useful. The
productivity of the proletarians is certainly inferior to what it
could be if they lived in better conditions and would feel like their
own masters.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal;">
On the other hand the current economic organisation often promotes
the unrestrained dispersion of products and compels useless work.
Manipulations, transportation advertising etc. All of which can be
removed or at least reduced by improved organisation.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="font-style: normal;">
That means that, the sum of good and freedom would continually
increase according to the degree of consolidation of the libertarian
society.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Errors</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We will talk only to remind ourselves
about politics, about this representative and parliamentary system,
by which the population entitles a few to rule the rest and do the
thinking for everyone, to lead society on our behalf. The example
that politics gives us, both the national and provincial, over the
past century, is conclusive. Incompetence, careerism, corruption, no
complaint is lacking in this record.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">On the other hand, the socialist
authoritarian schools predict the next state, tomorrow's economic
life centered in the hands of government. Experimental experience has
already given a verdict on this. Extreme centralisation of power
demands a strong hierarchical system, which must be enforced, and
soon to the rebuilding of all the institutions of social violence.
To subdue a nation under a common law, the rulers are forced to use
violence. Far above the people, far from all control and
accountability, the chiefs finally believe themselves to be a
separate caste, and a new aristocracy.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Both in the political field and in
the economic field, centralisation is condemned by simple wisdom and
reason. The last experiment in Russia proves this. They wanted to
centralize everything. It was a terrible failure. And the rulers, who
destroyed the people's initiative, were forced to turn to the
capitalists.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We condemn centralisation as a danger
to public liberty, as technical nonsense and economic error.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The libertarian society will throw
away those evil methods which have given their regrettable proofs in
the past.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">It will decentralize as much as
possible the offices of public interest. It will be based mainly on
the free associations that the individuals will found among
themselves. This is the only means to leave free the flow of all
initiatives, to stifle no aspiration, nor news, to allow society to
develop freely to an ever higher ideal, no longer having a need for
revolutionary violence.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"> There is another error
that we want to expose, to correctly explain our point of view. In
the explanation, which we shall do, we shall content ourselves with
sketching roughly the method of future association that seems to us
most practical and most capable of leading to the establishment of an
era of solidarity, respect to individual freedom.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">We do not believe that
the same kind of association will be practiced everywhere. That would
be a serious error; the experiments must multiple. Each method will
have to show the evidence of the positives and negatives that they
contain. And there is the differences of temperaments, the
characteristics of the various peoples, and preferences for this or
that practice.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The libertarian society
will avoid imposing a single type of association, because then it
would slip into centralisation, in other words to authority and to
all that comes from it.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">It will only require
individuals and groups to respect the new social contract, that is
balance and harmony between the principle of freedom and that of
solidarity.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The interest of the
people, conforming with the feelings of sociability, which develop
constantly, will establish a mutual agreement by which each
individual and group guarantees the others, between the invalids and
able-bodied, the old and the young, to men and women etc. the
material right to exist. That certainty and freedom from harm in
material life must replace the decaying forms of authority, to the
ending of every institution that takes away all possibilities beyond
themselves via justification or excuses.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Outside the practice of
this solidarity, whose positive name is Anarchist Communism, the most
absolute freedom must be left to all for the choice of the forms of
associating and for the ways of existence that they prefer.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Part
II<br />
Libertarian Communism</b></span></span></p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Libertarian Community</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The previous section may
be enough to indicate how we would begin to build a libertarian
society.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">However, in my opinion,
it is not useless to start a somewhat detailed scheme of the
structure of society as we see it, and as it could be realized, right
now, if the people really wanted it.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">We established, as a
fundamental principle, that the libertarian society will be the
material and practical organization of society, that is, in other
words, it will guarantee to everyone without distinction of age and
sex, of health and ability, the satisfaction of his needs: food,
housing, clothing, education, hygiene, etc. The new social contract
will be a guarantee for each individual that, from its birth to its
death, its livelihood will be secured.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">However, it would be too
risky, perhaps unwise to suggest, that there will be no limit, that
everyone will be able satisfy themselves without measure. As soon as
the future popular organizations have taken control of production,
and begun operating for the general well-being that the fruits of
labour will be able to be guaranteed to all. And a superior
standard of living to the one many working families have today will
be secured. But, it will not be unlimited. It will be necessary to
even, as a consequence of the resistance of the reactionary forces
who will strive to limit and prevent production during the
revolutionary period, to live more or less from the provisions of the
country and exercise some restriction, until the time of difficulties
is settled by the full triumph of the revolution.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">It will be necessary to
organize consumption on the one hand, production on the other, and
the circulation of the products.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">There is no one better
than the consumer groups and users, consisting of all interested
parties, more qualified to take care of the distribution of the
products.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">No organization,
political or not, will have the competence of the labor associations
in operating the factories, organizing the public offices,
undertaking cultural or any other type of work.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">On the one hand the
grouping of needs, on the other hand the association of efforts.
Accord, balance, harmony between these two coalitions, this is
roughly the structure of the libertarian society.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">For reasons we explained
above, when we talked about centralisation, we believe it is neither
wise nor practical to want to establish a vast social state,
encompassing one or more nations. If you no longer want to repeat the
mistakes of the past and face the dangers of centralization, it is
necessary that the core, the cell of the social organization be
directly controlled by its interested parties, this is the only means
to prevent authority from reestablishing itself, the only means also
for everyone to take an interest in the social functioning of the
economy and society, because they are connected to it, they know what
is happening, what is necessary, what is good or bad. An organization
too far from the individuals who make it up ultimately create a state
of mind of separation and disinterest. This distance and mindset
accounts for a lot of the actions of authoritarian bodies.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The libertarian social
cell will, therefore, be narrow enough, so that the direct
collaboration of each is not an empty expression. It will also still
be big enough, so that the practice of solidarity between individuals
can be effective compensating for flaws and shortcomings with their
strengths and talents, mutual aid in other words. Its vastness will
be sufficient so that the work and the organization can benefit from
the technical capabilities of today, from the mechanisms and
expertise, because too great a separation is ultimately too expensive
and hinders practical collaboration.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">We see this balanced
middle in the popular communes, groupings of inhabitants who combine
and interact directly with each other.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">In the countryside they
will be smaller, and larger in the cities. Inspired by the regional
needs and conditions, the residents will define the area themselves
of their community. And later, if it is thought necessary by the
interested parties, nothing will prevent them from transforming,
expanding, reducing, joining or separating their community.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">What exactly will that
community be like? Neither a caricature of a district government, nor
an administration acting on behalf of all. We do not wish to repeat
in detail the errors which we condemn on a large scale.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The community will be,
in our opinion, an agreement of solidarity contracted between all the
inhabitants, a kind of mutual aid association guaranteeing everyone
the necessities of life, material, intellectual etc.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Today communities supply
water, install streetlights, organise ridiculous institutions for the
provision of charity and hygiene. Official support humiliates those
who require it. Tomorrow, after the revolution society will not be
satisfied with these ridiculous methods and will instead guarantee to
all without prejudice or privilege, the satisfaction of the main
means of life. A minimum of welfare will be assured to all, which
will be the inalienable right of all. Guarantees that all will be
able to eat, be clothed and housed, and the people no longer knowing
misery and want, will soon free themselves from the state of slavery
that they have today. It is need that bows heads. When education is
given to all on a grand scale, the prejudices will fall together with
the spirits of resignation and inferiority which cloud the minds of
the poor. It has long been established that crimes and misdemeanors
spread according to the extent of poverty. If the latter disappears,
those will disappear as well. If life is assured to all, all pretexts
are taken away for the restoration of the authority.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">We do not persist in the
illusion that we would believe that everything will exist in
abundance. The possibilities of production will define what will be
distributed. The organizations responsible for ensuring the
distribution will have to apply a system of rationalization to some
goods. But we have already seen that the level of well-being feasible
even at the earliest stage will certainly be superior to the
miserable life of today's proletarians. Later, according to the
intensification of production through better working methods, by the
removal of contemporary wastages, then soon the level guaranteed to
all will be able to be raised, the rationalization of production will
leave room for the free distribution for number of products and will
increase with time and development.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">In exchange for this
mutual guarantee for the means of life, of the effects of solidarity
in practice, the community will require those able to work to join
one of the community’s production associations, leaving to them the
choice of affiliation to one or the other, according to their
preferences, their relationships and skills. The number of working
hours required for the needs of the community will be relatively few,
as we’ve shown before. It will be refused less than today, when the
work is arduous, unhealthy it is treated as dishonorable, is
considered a defect, a punishment.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Today's morality honors
the parasite, criticizes the worker, the one of tomorrow will be
quite the opposite. It will not be tolerated that a person lives at
the expense of another. We have more faith in this regard in the
opinion and action of the people than in the authoritarian
institutions led by the parasites themselves.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The individual who,
through his work accomplished in the terms of as much freedom as
possible delivered his share of labour to the common effort, will be
completely free to seek other pleasures later, alone or in a group
with those who have the same inclinations.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Communal Organisation</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Associations, as numerous and diverse
as the needs and ways of work, this is the organic basis of the
libertarian society. The commune is the harmoniously established
accord between the various associations.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The study of the associations that
are being created today, shows us that there are three paths open to
us:
</p>
<ol><li><p class="western" lang="en-US">the associations of consumers
and users, which joins together to fight against exploitation and in
some cases creates co-operative distribution organizations;</p>
</li><li><p class="western" lang="en-US">associations of producers.
Rural, industrial, transport; managers or workers; capitalistic
joint stock companies; labor unions, which tomorrow may transform
into groups of production;</p>
</li><li><p class="western" lang="en-US">the various associations:
artistic, tourist, sports, literary, school, etc., etc.</p>
</li></ol>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We will find these three tendencies
of association in the libertarian society developed, having hit their
stride and spread everywhere, having taken the place of the owners,
entrepreneurs, landlords, financiers, traders, transport companies,
etc. The revolution will make them grow. Expropriating the current
privileged few, it will be entrusted to the associations of the
interested parties to directly guide the various parts of the social
organism.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"> The number of these
associations cannot be estimated beforehand, nor can they be defined
for all regions accordingly in the same uniform way. An agricultural
community, or a mining community for example will have only one or a
few production groups while the central location of numerous
industries will have a larger number of them. A community of 3-4,000
inhabitants will be able to satisfy itself with one supply
cooperative, and a larger community will have one cooperative per
neighborhood or possibly one per Department<sup><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote4sym" name="sdfootnote4anc"><sup>4</sup></a></sup>.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">In addition, it is not
at all absolutely necessary that each individual resident must be a
member of a single group. The differences of temperament and
inclinations will be able to encourage the organization of
associations with the same purpose. It will be up to the interested
parties to judge whether the inconveniences of too great a division
are compensated by advantages in freedom for others. Let's trust to
the simple wisdom of the people to prefer the constancy and harmony
of efforts, for their self interest.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Outside the activity and
life in the Commune, the individuals will enjoy sufficient freedom to
satisfy the needs and feelings of independence. The libertarian
society will not be a barracks.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Moreover, this is of
secondary importance. When the consumption groups have their share of
products, this security will guarantee that all have the ability and
freedom to do as they please? The main thing is that the principle of
solidarity should be respected by all. It is in no way incompatible
with respect for individual freedom.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Consumption</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The consumption groups already exist
in the form of co-operatives, although very saturated by the
bourgeois spirit. The revolution will pass through them, putting them
into the hands of the rebels. Yes there will be created everywhere a
system to replace the businesses and to organize fairly the
distribution of the objects and products. Instead of the businessmen
and other brokers the people's revolution will support the growth of
groups of consumers who will take the resources of consumption and
will organize them.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The operation is simple. General
meetings defining the big questions; committees of volunteers
approved by those meetings, controlling the functioning of those
organisations and taking care of the detailed questions; the
workforce, grouped in a labor society, for the implementations, the
calculations etc. Among that workforce and its technicians of course.
If the spirit of freedom have penetrated well into the masses, the
relations between workers, the committees and meetings etc, will be
completely comradely. Each one of the interested parties will have an
equal right, as the others, to take care of the operation of the
creative labour. And then, the option is open for the dissatisfied to
found another association, if the interaction is difficult, this
freedom serves as a powerful brake against the spirit of authority.
Let's repeat for the last time, it is necessary that the associates
of any organization should be completely structured so as not to
prevent any one member from having the ability to takeover leadership
of the association for themselves. Otherwise everything would have to
start over. The revolution would not be definitive.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">There will also be groups for food,
housing, clothing, the various public offices. The current tenant
unions, no longer needed for legal struggles over rent and right of
occupancy, will become groups that will manage the housing with its
architecture, working in collaboration with the construction workers
groups. The companies with monopolies, gas, electricity etc., will
have to leave and be replaced by the administration of user
committees.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">And the same for all forms of
consumption or public offices, although no compulsory form of
distribution should be imposed. There may be, for example, several
sections of a food cooperative: one for home distribution, another
for organizing restaurants. Same for the apartments. Someone in an
association will be able to create garden houses, canteen, another a
type of phalanstère (<sup><a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote5sym" name="sdfootnote5anc"><sup>5</sup></a></sup>),
etc.,</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The public offices will
be handled along the same lines. The users will be able to meet to
discuss and take part in the great management and delegating comrades
with needed skills.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The public offices will
be expanded and developed. They will gradually bring everyone
together and serve the main needs of the individual and community
life.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The communities, through
the associations, will spread education by all means, including the
creation of universities.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Hygiene and health will
no longer be the object of medical business, but will be organised by
a rational system.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">More and more people
will abandon the practice of isolated work and individual needs to
seek comfort, prosperity, even luxury, in common buildings, although
attention will be paid to the need for necessary isolation for
individuals, libraries, meeting rooms, parks etc. will be at the
disposal of the people.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">This practice of sharing
will benefit mainly the woman, slave of the home today. The society
of the future will try to eliminate the tiring work of the household,
through the arrangement of kitchen cooperatives, of washrooms, of
more convenient residences, nurseries, garden schools, etc. Freed
from the primal thinking, consequence of the current economic life,
the woman will become equal to the man, delivering her work to the
community according to her abilities, no longer having a need to make
a living. The agreement of solidarity to her will ensure, to her and
her children, if she is a mother, means of life equal to all. Her
emancipation is, as we can see, more of a technical problem than a
philosophical one. Love, like the rest will be free.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">We said that out of
respect for the agreement on common solidarity, a minimum well-being,
the basic needs will be guaranteed.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Other needs may arise:
new needs, personal needs, or needs that society will not be able to
guarantee to everyone.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">If the possibilities
allow it, if the opinion is unanimous, those needs will automatically
form a minimum of collective well-being.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">If it will be otherwise,
well, we will proceed as we must, but, with more facilities
available. Those interested will try to realize themselves, in
isolation or in groups, the satisfaction of these needs will be seen
to when possible.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">A sense of progress
prevailing in the future world, the sympathy and help of all will be
its spirit. The community will be able to provide the initiatives
with sites, resources to advertise, tools to research, etc. The
scientific researches will undoubtedly be considered equal to public
work. If 1800 working hours per year is enough for social life, there
will be time left for the initiatives of everyone’s goals that
please them, travel, sport, art, or simply an increase in well-being.
No impossibility exists, so that, in exchange for these additional
enjoyments, the interested parties should deliver additional work
under conditions quite easy to define.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Thus, on through the
collective, the individual will live in the fullest freedom. The road
to progress material, intellectual, artistic, etc. will be completely
unhindered to whoever wants to walk down it.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Work</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">For the organisms of production, the
method of the association also appears as the most advantageous, as
the method that leaves the most freedom possible, without disturbing
the productive operations. The associations of production will
replace the masters, and the exploiting companies.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Property must remain social, so that
the children, the elderly, the infirm, the invalids should have their
right to life! The conditions of work are different according to some
regions. There is no justification for someone to set themselves up
in a position in society, to the detriment of all, which would evoke
conflicts. “The land to the farmers, the factories to the workers!”
is a naive and unfair formula. It is necessary to say: “The land,
the factories, the machines belong to everyone. But the farmer and
the worker will be free to organize their own work as they please”.
In a word, the labour associations of agriculture, industry,
transport, public offices are managed by the workers involved in
those branches of the economy. They should be co-initiated to operate
a public office, run a factory, cultivate soil, the associations of
producers will manage themselves freely. Like the production
organizations, the consumption organizations will be able, according
to the limits of practical possibility, to divide and arrange
themselves at will.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"> Some types of work can be done
individually or in small groups: small cultivation, vines, etc. s.
Those individual jobs or the work of small groups, will still be
connected to society cooperatively through transportation and
logistics, even some difficult jobs can be done very well that well
that way. Other jobs on the contrary, will require a rather large
workforce; some offices require the staff to be present without
interruption. However these roles will be shared out in accordance to
absolute freedom. Everyone can find, as the saying goes "a shoe
for his foot", the craft that fits best to his temperament.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Interruptions in work may be planned:
closing of factories during the grain harvest, for example. In short,
in this multitude of working methods there will be the greatest
freedom for all. In addition, the labor associations, which will be
free organize the work as desired, will try to make it more pleasant,
more healthy, etc.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Every work association will naturally
be a whole: craftsmen, specialists, technicians, all with equal
rights, everyone's skills are valued by everyone.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">From time to time there will be
community meetings, where all groups will be represented, whether by
all members in the smaller population centers, or from delegations in
the big ones. In those meetings, the consumption groups will say what
they need, and so will the users of the public services The
production groups will describe the efforts needed. An agreement will
be made, an agreement defining what will be acceptable, defining the
workforce and the material needs of the working groups. These, whose
task has been defined, will be arranged as it pleases. All forms of
co-operative work will undoubtedly be used: guild, labor unions,
co-operative of individual workers, etc. Does it matter in any way to
the community the methods of work, if the goals are fulfilled in
satisfactory conditions, or the production need fulfilled punctually?</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Such will be, in its great features,
the internal organization of the community.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Intercommunal Life</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We have sketched out communal life in
a way that is precise enough so that one can understand our social
ideal and its practicability.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">But, the future life will not be
contained to the inside of a community, however completely organized
it may be. Regional, national, even global relationships are
necessary. Moreover, there must always be an aim to the development
of the interdependence of the regions and nations among themselves.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">On the other hand, although we will
try to live by our own powers as much as possible, industrial and
rural decentralization will have to coincide as much as possible with
the political decentralization, there are products that it are not
found in some regions or which ones are rare and difficult to obtain
locally.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The many covenants in all fields
which have been established throughout the world among people, are
currently hindered by borders, customs, codes, conflicts of interest.
The libertarian society will remove all those obstacles and establish
between the communities, the regions and nations relations, as free,
diverse and numerous as the individual relations within the
community.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">This is what we call libertarian
federalism, in opposition to central authority.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Each of the special
groups constituting the organizational base of the community will be
obliged to group with the groups with the same purpose and the same
composition from the other communities, to find out about the news,
to have notifications, directions, etc. c. The particular needs of
all those groups will encourage them to the creation of regional or
global federations for the organization of the circulation of their
materials, for the creation of centers manufacturing the necessary
equipment etc.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">So many groups in the
community, so many scattered networks of threads securing the bond
with the rest of the world.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**<br />
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Besides that, some of
these associations will not just have a purpose within one commune;
their field of action will be able to spread over several
communities. Some even, like scientific or tourist associations will
spread over a large part of the earth. The communities themselves
will often need to associate with each other, either directly or
indirectly through the agreement of the groups of users, to achieve
some goals.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">These unions of
communities or groupings will be formed directly, not needing the
consent of anyone other than that of the interested parties, they
will be very numerous and diverse.<br />
*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The great public
offices, like the mail, the sea and river transportation, the power
plants etc., will necessitate an organization that operates beyond
the individual communes.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">We will proceed as in
the middle of the commons. There will be a staff association that
will take over the administration, as it were, by cooperating with
the group formed by all the communities.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">In a word, instead of
local staff, there will be a regional, national, global even labor
federation, who would secure this office. The groupings of private
users would have become groups representing the communities.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Thus, for the railways,
a thousand communes agree to operate a rail network between them,
define how many trains they need for travelers and for goods. The
workers' federation of the railways defines in turn how many workers
and materials are needed. The needs for the staff and the material
will be supplied by those interested communities.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">In total, it will be
necessary for the realization of the fact that the existing labor
organizations expropriate the companies, and organize with their own
resources the operation of their offices, in agreement with the rebel
communities.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Exchange
Federations</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The communities will need to provide
themselves with products, materials and machines that they do not
harvest or manufacture. There is nothing easier for this than to
embrace the idea realized by the cooperative movement, by the central
cooperatives or federations of cooperatives.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"> Federations of exchange will be
created on points conveniently defined. The role of these federations
will be to first register and fulfill the orders of the communes, and
in addition, to receive from those communes, in return, the excess of
their production.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"> I don't think it's necessary to
immediately establish global communism for reasons mentioned above.
It's more likely that will be achieved later, with the development of
the means of production and the introduction of new customs? At
present it is too bold to believe it practicable.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The federations will establish,
therefore, at least for some time in the early days, a running
account for each community. On the credit side, the products supplied
by the community; on the debit side, the products ordered by it. The
two accounts balance.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">That system of exchange would allow
the communes to provide themselves with what they’re lacking for
the consumption of their population, for obtaining some materials,
raw materials, tools and machines.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Perhaps instead of a single
federation involved in all fields of productions, there could be
several departments, one for food, another for tools, etc. A system
of simple of rotation, as practiced among themselves by the banks,
could allow the communities to make use of their resources
indifferently or in accordance to their needs with several different
federations.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">When you consider the monstrous
commercial and financial complication of the present society,
occupying hundreds of thousands of civil servants in France, you can
see the huge saving, in terms of workers, calculations and
initiatives that could be achieved through this new system.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"> Through the system of
the federations the communes or constituent groupings could pay their
contributions to their debt directly to the large intercommunal
organisations: public offices, railways, etc. The same relation
applies to the contributions, which the various groupings of the
community would be indebted to their own federations.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">Some communities might
be favored, others disadvantaged by the nature of their soil, poverty
or wealth of their production: coal as an example. The principle of
solidarity will be important for the intercommunal relations. From
the beginning it will be able to apply practically the definition of
the value of the products circulated by the federations. Let experts
define the value of the products supplied by the community according
to the necessary working time. The commune delivering so many hundred
liters of wheat, for example, will see noted on its credit account a
value representing the work to produce, that amount of wheat. Later
the federation will determine the value for delivery of that wheat
setting a mean for the various and distinct values. Some regional
cooperatives, with many branches, will then practice this
equalization of prices. That is a means to establish now as far as
possible the balance between the various communities. There is also
means to improve transport and production in the most favorable
regions, making larger orders from them, which will encourage them to
increase their own population and perfect their gear.
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">This will not prevent
these communities from showing solidarity with the poorer communes or
regions affected by disaster and cataclysm. This is already the case
in our current bourgeois civil society. This will be all the more the
case in the libertarian society!</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">The exchange federations
will have another role to be played during the revolutionary period;
the role of serving as an intermediary between the rebel communities,
between them first, and then with the territories that have not
completed their social transformation or completed it according to
different methods.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"> In that particular case
they will be able to trade, exchange products with the aforementioned
untransformed regions. They will also prevent the rebel communities
from using money or any other monetary system.</p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US">*<br />
**</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">There are certainly
other means of bonding the people into more rational and human
groupings. We sketched those that seemed to us the main ones and the
most applicable at the beginning of social transformation. Others
continue this study, which is and can only remain incomplete.</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US">We simply wanted to show
that a libertarian society can function without a state, nor a
central power, that the principles of association can be immediately
applied. In the same way that God was reduced to the level of
historical accessory, so too will the idea of authority disappear
from this world. People will realise that they no longer need it.</p>
<p align="center" lang="en-US" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We know what we want. That to us
signifies our line of conduct in relation to current society, in its
entirety and in its parts.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Everything that is contrary to our
ideal, we fight against without mercy. A fight to the death with the
prejudices and immoral institutions.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Everything that contains future
promises, we’ll protect, develop and, if necessary, show the way to
the road of progress.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We do not pretend we’ll fall asleep
during an evening in today's society and wake up tomorrow in a
libertarian society. We know that it will take long, repeated and
energetic efforts to achieve it. We also know that the privileged,
the exploiters, authorities, all accustomed to using violence to
rule, will not hesitate to use these violent powers to defend
themselves. Let's prepare ourselves and the people for the inevitable
revolutionary battle.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">The spread of our ideal, which will
be the more cherished the more it is understood and will encourage
sacrifices. The education of the people and the preparations for the
Social Revolution, will complete themselves by constant activity in
the midst of contemporary society.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Every time we can weaken evil,
strengthen the good, hindering the forces of reaction on some
particular points, demanding improvements for the people, freeing
victims, reducing the amount of control and misery, this is what we
must do in the present.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Every time we can help to raise the
intellectual, moral and material standing of the people, and aid
organisations that will make up the elements of tomorrow, let's not
hesitate, let's act.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Contrary to the believers and
electorates who simply wait for happiness to be brought to them, for
us there is no to be found in the gods, nor from dictators, nor of
supermen.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">Happiness, prosperity and freedom
will be the property of the people only when they have the energy to
conquer and the wisdom to preserve them.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US">We are accused of being dreamers. At
least, let's dream awake, let's dream marching towards our ideal. We
will get closer to it continuously, and our descendants will reach it
one day.</p>
<p align="right" class="western" lang="en-US">Georges Bastien</p>
<p align="right" class="western" lang="en-US">August 1926<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US"><br />
<br />
</p>
<div id="sdfootnote1"><p class="sdfootnote-western" lang="en-US"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>https://maitron.fr/spip.php?article156151</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2"><p class="sdfootnote-western" lang="en-US"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a>This
inconsistency of comrade Bastien is not uncommon amongst the
internationalists, everyone is waiting for their neighbour to start!
The Anationalists on the other hand, use Esperanto as the foundation
of all their social activity, and to them the national languages are
only auxiliary languages whose disappearance they hope to see.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote3"><p class="sdfootnote-western" lang="en-US"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote3anc" name="sdfootnote3sym">3</a>Famous
journalist and novelist, winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize for
Literature. France was a social critic and socialist who joined the
Communist Party of France shortly after its founding. He is the
author of the famous observation "The law, in its majestic
equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg
in the streets, and to steal loaves of bread."</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote4"><p class="sdfootnote-western" lang="en-US"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote4anc" name="sdfootnote4sym">4</a>Administrative
division of the territory of France and its overseas territories.
Currently France is broken up into 101 Departments.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote5"><p class="sdfootnote-western" lang="en-US"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote5anc" name="sdfootnote5sym">5</a>Mansion
for multiple families according to theory of Fourier. — Trans. [To
expand, the phalanstère was a sort of self contained collective
living space for several hundred families who would live and work
together. The concept was popularized by Charles Fourier a early
socialist thinker.</p>
</div>
<p> Available on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C9YPQYT2">Kindle</a> <br />Please support via <a href="https://ko-fi.com/reddebrek68500">ko-fi</a><span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> </b></span></span></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-12207177772364184212023-08-10T22:07:00.004+01:002023-08-10T22:11:58.271+01:00Damning with Faint Praise - Watching G-Saviour<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYia_Cpt9lPJnVpnIFd-2YAoZezhcITRnXGObbOJEtRmI-rIxCnzXq2Cfr3dbVE-PuuzJeL_h51hSer5iy9HPnr84qqNh7rim3D4d2xI_9YRw5JZC_UcRVmigfB6IMAj9RLpvkzCVwRL8Ivi9O8m2ydnsRxen982hxO59D8lAsBFghSWoHJSVFrdawSRg/s314/G-Saviour_Cover_Art.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="220" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSYia_Cpt9lPJnVpnIFd-2YAoZezhcITRnXGObbOJEtRmI-rIxCnzXq2Cfr3dbVE-PuuzJeL_h51hSer5iy9HPnr84qqNh7rim3D4d2xI_9YRw5JZC_UcRVmigfB6IMAj9RLpvkzCVwRL8Ivi9O8m2ydnsRxen982hxO59D8lAsBFghSWoHJSVFrdawSRg/w448-h640/G-Saviour_Cover_Art.jpg" width="448" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> I had two hours of free time and nothing to fill it, while contemplating nothing my mind dug up the film G-Saviour, so I tracked it down and watched it. Writing about G-Saviour (I'm calling Saviour) is going to do my analytics any favours, despite a big push at the time of its release it's falling into obscurity and the few who know of it have few nice words to say about it. The G stands for Gundam, though the word Gundam is never said in the film at all. Saviour is a 1999 Canadian TV movie set in the Gundam IP, the Universal Century(UC)* timeline to be precise. That's a very strange sentence, it failed to find an audience in North America on its release and I haven't been able to find evidence that it was released in Europe before its 2002 DVD release, and I'm not sure whether that was just fans importing American region DVDs. </p><p>I first heard of it in 2019ish, when a several anime news blogs cause a mini-panic in the Gundam fanbase by reporting that there were feelers being put out to make a Gundam movie in Hollywood. </p><p>*The UC is the continuity that the first Gundam shows and novels were set in, and is considered the default Gundam continuity among fans and Sunrise, the company that makes most of the animated shows. American movies based on Japanese source material have some hits, like <i>Road to Perdition, but</i> there are many more duds. The news did give some exposure to the existence of Saviour, with most mentions using it as a warning of what to expect if the deal went through. And it's been kicking around in the back of my mind ever since. What little I had heard about the project left me morbidly curious and expecting a terrible 90 minutes. Instead, I got a perfectly fine experience. Not great, not terrible.</p><p>It's a fairly competent and typical 90s film pilot to pitch a sci-fi series. None of the actors convince you they're space marines, scientists, political leaders etc. But none of the performers come across as miscast, I would liken the experience to watching a stage play dramatizing real events, you know you're watching actors on sets, they just do their jobs of telling a story. Among the cast no one stands out as bad or good, Blu Mankuma comes closest to living his role as the benevolent leader of his space colony, but he doesn't have enough screen time and material to work with. Everyone else is fine, the weakest in the main cast is Saviour's Char Aznable, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Halle played by David Longren. He's serviceable as a military bad guy, but he falls flat when he's supposed to be swaggering.</p><p>Had this been taken on as a full series, I can see the cast ironing out the wrinkles and improving with more screen time and plot development. With what we got, it's perfectly satisfactory. The effects do not wow, the film is live action except for vehicles and mobile suits (the mechas). The CG animation is on par with what a production like Saviour could expect in 1999. Babylon 5's CG effects were usually better, though I've seen many productions, some made a decade later, that look worse. The main flaw with the CG effects isn't the graphics or the animation, it's the editing. There is one battle segment in the film, it is impossible to follow. The battle is outside a space colony, and all the shots are tight close-ups on one or two mobile suits and then a hard cut to an actor in a chair with an ill-fitting helmet shaking around trying to react appropriately to whatever was storyboarded for the CG bits. The whole sequence is confusing, you cannot follow the battle, and the few bits of action that are shown are slow and lack weight. </p><p>There is one exception I would like to highlight. The film starts underwater, there the mobile suit sequence looked at its best. I think the water filter masked the 90s computer glow that plagued contemporary CG animation, and being set underwater did a lot to justify the ponderous movement of the mechs. <br /></p><p>The plot is also serviceable, the setting is in the future, UC 0223 according to the opening credit voice over, which is in the future for most of Gundam as well. Mankind is still divided, the lines are roughly drawn between the Congressionals who control Earth and settlements in space, colonies including one called Gaea. The political situation is deteriorating due to a food crisis, the crisis is so severe that a radical plan to turn the seabed into agricultural zones. And agriculture and a scientific breakthrough are key to the conflict for the film. Scientists from the Congress and Gaea have cracked how to grow crops in the sea, and there's a conspiracy to control this key technology and resource.</p><p>Our Amuro Rey is Jack Curran (Brennan Elliot) can he rise above self-interest and fear and is what right? Will he successfully pilot the <strike>Gundam</strike> G-Saviour to save his friends and defeat the deadly Jack Halle? I won't spoil it, hell, chances are good you've already correctly guessed those answers. When the credits were rolling, I thought the Gundam connections were weak and could've easily been excised with original IP replacements. They don't even call the Gundam a Gundam, and it has no connection to any pre-existing Gundam storyline. I thought this was TV movie already in pre-production for a unique Sci-fi property, the genre was big business in the 90s, and Sunrise stepped in with some financial and technical assistance in exchange for using the film to promote its long-running franchise that still had trouble breaking into the North American market.</p><p>Everything seemed to fit that premise. The Canadian television production, the tacked on feel of the Gundam elements, the lack of connection or references to anything that came before, a setting so far away from the rest of the franchise there was no danger of it muddying the waters for other projects. The lack of follow up or push to include it or build upon it in following years. It ticked every box.</p><p>So, I was surprised when I went to the film's wikipages, both main and Gundam entries to double-check that my memory was accurate for Saviour, and discovered that I was completely wrong. The film had been in production for at least two years and was not only part of a multimedia project including a video game, novelisation and manga, but that it was part of Sunrise's 20th anniversary celebrations for the franchise, together with the anime series Turn-A Gundam. There went my theory, crashing into earth.</p><p>That was the last thing I expected. The film was released in cinemas in Japan, which didn't surprise me, Gundam is a massive property in that country. But all the rest of it, the tie-in video game, novels and manga were surprising, that meant Sunrise was heavily involved in this thing. Why make a multimedia project where the main property is made by another company, Canada's Polestar, and has little connection to greater franchise and all the rest of the project is Japan only? I do not understand the logic behind this at all, who was then was the target audience for Saviour? An international audience can't have been the main target, most of the products weren't available in their markets. And I can't imagine Japanese audiences already on board with Gundam got much out of the film. Making a Gundam film with little connective tissue to the wider franchise does make sense if the intent is to entice a new audience, and Sunrise had success with this before Saviour, creating new Gundam properties that could stand on their own, some that weren't even in the UC continuity. But apparently their main target was the audience they already had. </p><p>Saviour is extremely obscure, it doesn't have many fans. My faint praise puts me in that small camp. And even though I grew up on sci-fi shows with the feel and sensibility of Saviour, I wouldn't have bothered tracking it down without the Gundam connection. I don't understand much about the G-Saviour project, but I do understand why the film failed to catch an audience, its ram shackle construction leaves little for anyone. If there was a target audience for G-Saviour, it was probably me, just me. And I didn't live in North America nor Japan. I was busy watching Babylon 5, Star Trek, Sea Quest DSV, Sliders, X-Files, repeats of Doctor Who and Anime movies on a German language channel broadcast from Frankfurt. I'm reminded of an old saying, "try to please everyone, and you'll disappoint everyone". <br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-21018803675804238482023-08-01T19:09:00.002+01:002023-08-01T19:09:53.301+01:00Text of the Soviet acknowledgment of the existence of secret agreements with Nazi Germany<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDaTVsikzTiUMZzE4uglxe9I1bXjnJLQQFKJk9D0Yo7TrwJGn6seaqam8sa_o_BHYaG6OpYXwLJlwSGVCj7XVvmngZgDaXIi84gB8O-318S0_YwF5X2dqjzcdH_8z5uICLF833K4XAcLiwfzTy4hs1QuNIU6Z9NxVmdqomrRWfs31VThrWIFGeWcpvUmD/s1125/mol-ribb-territories%20map.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="1125" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisDaTVsikzTiUMZzE4uglxe9I1bXjnJLQQFKJk9D0Yo7TrwJGn6seaqam8sa_o_BHYaG6OpYXwLJlwSGVCj7XVvmngZgDaXIi84gB8O-318S0_YwF5X2dqjzcdH_8z5uICLF833K4XAcLiwfzTy4hs1QuNIU6Z9NxVmdqomrRWfs31VThrWIFGeWcpvUmD/w640-h452/mol-ribb-territories%20map.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Text of the Soviet acknowledgment of the existence of secret agreements with Nazi Germany</h3><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
CONGRESS OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES OF THE USSR<br />
DECISION<br />
of
December 24, 1989 N 979-1<br />
ON POLITICAL AND LEGAL EVALUATION<br />
OF
THE SOVIET-GERMAN NON-AGGRESSION PACT<br />
FROM 1939<br /> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">1. The
Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR takes note of the
conclusions of the commission on political and legal evaluation of
the Soviet-German non-aggression treaty of August 23, 1939.<br /> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">2.
The Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR agrees with the opinion
of the Commission that the Non-Aggression Treaty with Germany was
concluded in a critical international situation, in the face of
increasing danger of aggression by Fascism in Europe and Japanese
militarism in Asia, and had as one of its aims to take away from the
USSR the threat of an impending war. Ultimately, this goal was not
achieved, and the miscalculations associated with the presence of
German obligations to the USSR, exacerbated the consequences of
treacherous Nazi aggression. At this time the country was faced with
difficult choices.<br />
The obligations under the treaty came into
force immediately after its signing, although the treaty itself was
subject to approval by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The decree of
ratification was adopted in Moscow on August 31, and the instruments
of ratification were exchanged on September 24, 1939.<br /> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">3. The
Congress considers that the contents of that treaty were not
incompatible with the rules of international law and the treaty
practice of States in making treaty settlements of this kind. <b>But
both at the conclusion of the treaty and at its ratification the fact
was concealed that simultaneously with the treaty a "secret
additional protocol" had been signed, delimiting the "spheres
of interests" of the contracting parties from the Baltic Sea to
the Black Sea, from Finland to Bessarabia.</b><br />
The originals of the
protocol have not been found in Soviet or foreign archives. However
the graphological, phototechnical and lexical examination of the
copies, maps and other documents, the correspondence of the
subsequent events to the content of the protocol confirm the fact of
its signing and existence.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">4. The Congress of
People's Deputies of the USSR hereby certifies that the Treaty of
Non-Aggression of August 23, 1939, and the Treaty of Friendship and
Boundary between the USSR and Germany concluded on September 28th of
that year, as well as other Soviet-German agreements, in accordance
with the rules of international law, lost force at the moment of the
German attack on the USSR, that is June 22, 1941.<br /> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">5. <b>The
Congress states that the Protocol of August 23, 1939, and other
secret protocols signed with Germany in 1939-1941, both in method of
drafting and in content, were a departure from the Leninist
principles of Soviet foreign policy. Delimitation of "spheres of
interest" of the USSR and Germany and other actions taken in
them were from the legal point of view in contradiction with the
sovereignty and independence of a number of third countries.</b><br />
The
Congress notes that at that time the relations of the USSR with
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were regulated by a system of treaties.
<b>According to the peace treaties of 1920 and the non-aggression
treaties of 1926-1933</b>, their parties undertook to <b>respect each
other's sovereignty and territorial integrity and inviolability in
all circumstances. </b>The Soviet Union had similar obligations towards
<b>Poland and Finland.<br /> </b></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">6. <b>The Congress states that the negotiations
with Germany on secret protocols were conducted by Stalin and Molotov
in secret from the Soviet people,</b> the Central Committee of the
All-Union Communist Party (b) and the entire Party, the Supreme
Soviet and the USSR Government, these protocols were excluded from
the ratification procedures. <b>Thus, the decision to sign them was, in
substance and form, an act of personal power, and in no way reflected
the will of the Soviet people,</b> who are not responsible for this
conspiracy.<br /> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">7. <b>The Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR
condemns the signing of the "secret additional protocol" of
August 23, 1939 and other secret agreements with Germany.</b> The
Congress recognizes the secret protocols as<b> legally invalid and null
and void from the moment of their signing.<br />
The protocols did not
create a new legal basis for relations between the Soviet Union and
third countries, but were used by Stalin and his entourage to issue
ultimatums and exert forceful pressure on other states in violation
of the legal obligations undertaken before them.</b><br /> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">8. The Congress
of People's Deputies of the USSR assumes that awareness of the
complex and contradictory past is part of the process of perestroika,
designed to provide every people of the Soviet Union with
opportunities for free and equal development in an integral,
interdependent world and expanding mutual
understanding.<br />
Chairman<br />
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of
the USSR<br />
M. GORBACHEV</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">[Translated from <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20101223141052/http://www.lawmix.ru/docs_cccp.php?id=1241">Russian</a> by DeepL, bolding my own] </p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-81799246107696629912023-07-26T15:34:00.005+01:002023-08-01T19:21:34.456+01:00Bakunin for anti-Imperialists by Arthur Lehning <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDMWBuM9Jk_c1FmPImDP5Fjer85Mu9wujOKAvqXb6zWiEiM2fxvc5zUys6BK5ZLJ700U1rc8GWMUZ408UfRS67vy8HwWRuzwKRzhZWpf0jGg4ETrBkDir3qOM90Hmpd8V2Wya5SjfVwCuEu0QJW-3QJpMUFJ9Xi1sbSHbAKivbZ9xSqfxHziAdVlc64VT/s793/bakunin-anti-imperialism.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="534" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDMWBuM9Jk_c1FmPImDP5Fjer85Mu9wujOKAvqXb6zWiEiM2fxvc5zUys6BK5ZLJ700U1rc8GWMUZ408UfRS67vy8HwWRuzwKRzhZWpf0jGg4ETrBkDir3qOM90Hmpd8V2Wya5SjfVwCuEu0QJW-3QJpMUFJ9Xi1sbSHbAKivbZ9xSqfxHziAdVlc64VT/w430-h640/bakunin-anti-imperialism.png" width="430" /></a></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Author Biography</h3><p>Paul Arthur Müller-Lehning (1899-2000), born in Utrecht,<br />the Netherlands, was an anarchist and syndicalist from<br />the 1920s. Involved in the Anti-Militarist Bureau and the<br />syndicalist International Workingmen’s Association, he<br />fled Nazi Germany for the Netherlands in 1933. In 1935, he<br />helped found the International Institute for Social History<br />(IISH), which includes the Mikhail Bakunin archives, and<br />the Karl Marx / Friedrich Engels papers. In 1940, he fled<br />to Britain when the Nazis invaded. He retained some<br />influence after his return to Europe. A prolific writer and<br />editor, his masterwork was the edited works of Bakunin,<br />published in French in 1976.</p><p> </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Use of Reading Bakunin for Anti-Imperialists</h3><p>On imperialism itself, [Mikhail] Bakunin [1814-1876] has nothing specifically<br />to say. That is not strange, because imperialism in its modern form had not<br />yet appeared; besides, opposition to imperialism by a revolutionary is a rather<br />obvious thing. But I think Bakunin’s writings can be useful to anti-imperialists<br />in several ways. Firstly, on account of the general view held by Bakunin about<br />the essence of the revolutionary struggle and his conceptions about federalism<br />and the state. Secondly, on account of his activities in the eighteen forties.</p><p><br />As far as the last point is concerned, it is clear that I don’t wish to stress it too<br />much. All historical parallels can be abusive. However, it is not abusive to point<br />out the similarities between various kinds of Nineteenth Century nationalism<br />and anti-imperialism in our time. This is not only because a great deal of today’s<br />anti-imperialist fight is carried out on nationalist platforms, but also on account<br />of the intensity with which the banner of then and that of today monopolise<br />the attention of men with radical consciousness. In this respect, Bakunin has<br />important things to say. <br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Bakunin from Nationalism to Anarchism</h3><p>Bakunin’s so-called “revolutionary Pan-Slavism” in the 1840s is usually<br />misunderstood. In his famous Appeal to the Slavs (1848) he advocated a coalition<br />between the Slavs of Austria, the Hungarians and the democratic Germans in<br />order to liquidate the Austrian Empire and to coalesce with the Poles for an<br />independent Poland and a revolution in Russia. He hoped that a Slav Federation<br />would encourage the Slavs to take part in the struggle the revolution was waging<br />throughout Europe. The social liberation of the masses and the emancipation <br />of the suppressed nationalities should, in the view he then held, lead to <br />a universal federation of European republics.</p><p><br />After the failure of the Polish insurrection [for independence – Ed.] of 1863,<br />however, Bakunin no longer believed in using the banner of nationalism<br />for social revolutionary aims. By 1864 he had definitely formulated the<br />philosophical, political and socialist ideas which are associated with his name.<br />From then on he would defend social revolution on an international scale, and<br />reject every form of nationalism. Nationality is not a principle, he wrote, it is<br />a fact, as legitimate as individuality. But neither peace nor the unification of<br />Europe would be possible as long as the centralized states continued to exist.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Fighting Imperialism, but not through<br />Nationalism</h3><p><br />The point I wish to make is that yesterday’s nationalist faith, like the anti-<br />imperialist dedication of many present-day revolutionaries, though deserving<br />our admiration, can be insidious and lead to dangerously wrong conclusions –<br />such as that by putting an end to imperialist domination the revolution will be<br />achieved and the way towards socialism be paved.</p><p><br />No one will deny the importance of analysing modern forms of imperialism,<br />but it is not less important to be cautious about the methods to be used in this <br />fight if one wants to prevent replacing imperialist domination by a national<br />form of exploitation and despotism. This, of course, involves the fundamental<br />question of what means to employ to achieve the aim of socialism and freedom;<br />and experience allows us to say that the end of imperialism and the destruction<br />of capitalism in a given country does not necessarily solve the problem of<br />oppression.</p><p><br />We may ask meaningfully the capital question whether the instauration of some<br />kind of revolutionary state brings us any nearer to a real socialist society. I don’t<br />intend to try to answer it here, only to insist that it is not an academic question<br />as much as it seems. Few people will deny the fact that in the so-called socialist<br />countries the state is not withering away, but there might still be some who<br />think that their regimes may easier pave its way. This, however, may be doubted<br />in the light of the dominating trend of these countries and in that of the history<br />of the last five decades.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Imperialism and Statism Versus Socialism</h3><p><br />Bakunin’s view has importance also in that it does not see a break between<br />nationalism and imperialism, state domination inland and abroad. Marx and<br />the Marxists considered imperialism primarily as a consequence of capitalism,<br />Bakunin saw it as a consequence of strong states and centralized power.<br />Obviously, there are imperialist campaigns in the twentieth century that cannot<br />be explained in terms of economic forces. Although Bakunin agreed with most<br />of the Marxist analysis of the economic system, he did not believe that socialism<br />could be achieved by centralizing power, in which hand it ever was.<br />Modern capitalist production and banking speculation, Bakunin wrote, demand<br />for their full development, an advanced centralised state apparatus. The modern<br />state is necessarily a military state in its aims, and a military state is driven on<br />by the very same logic, to become a conquering state. A strong state can only<br />have one foundation: military and bureaucratic centralisation. Every state, even<br />if dressed up in the most liberal and democratic form, is necessarily based upon<br />domination and violence, that is upon despotism – concealed despotism, but not<br />less dangerous.</p><p><br />For Bakunin, equality without liberty was an irredeemable fraud, “perpetuated<br />by deceivers to deceive fools”. Equality must be created by “the spontaneous<br />organisation of the work and the common property of the manufacturing<br />associations and by the equally spontaneous federation of the communities,<br />not by the supreme and paternal activity of the state”. Equality without liberty<br />meant for him the despotism of the state, and in his opinion the state cannot<br />survive for a single day without “possessing an exploiting and privileged class:<br />the bureaucracy”. The conspiracy of Babeuf and all similar attempts to establish<br />a socialist society were bound to fail, because in all these systems equality<br />was associated with the power and authority of the state and in consequence<br />excluded liberty.</p><p><br />The most sinister alliance imaginable would combine socialism and absolutism<br />– that is to say, the aspirations of the people for economic liberation and material<br />prosperity with dictatorship and the concentration of all political and social<br />forces in the state:<br /></p><blockquote><p><i>“May the future preserve us from the benevolence of despotism, and<br />may it also save us from the damaging and stultifying consequences of<br />authoritarian, doctrinaire or institutional socialism. Let us be socialists,<br />but let us never become sheep. Let us seek justice, complete political,<br />economic and social justice, but without any sacriϔice of liberty. There<br />can be no life, no humanity without liberty, and a form of socialism<br />which excluded liberty or did not accept it as a basis and as the only<br />creative principle, would lead us straight back to slavery and bestiality”.</i></p></blockquote><h3 style="text-align: left;">People’s Power or State Power</h3><p>For these reasons, Bakunin opposed the belief that a social revolution can be<br />decreed and organised by a dictatorship or by a constituent assembly set up<br />by a political revolution. Only after the abolition of the state – the first, the<br />essential condition for real freedom – can society be reorganized, but not from<br />above, not according to some visionary plan, nor by decrees spewed forth by<br />some dictatorial power. This would simply lead, again, to the establishment of<br />a state and to the formation of a ruling “aristocracy”, i.e. a whole class of people<br />who have nothing in common with the masses and who will begin to exploit<br />and suppress the people all over again, under the pretence of acting in the<br />general interest, or in order to save the state. “The victory of the Jacobins or<br />the Blanquists [bourgeois and socialist revolutionaries advocating dictatorship<br />– Ed.] would mean the death of the revolution”.</p><p><br />The Great [French] Revolution, which for the first time in history had proclaimed<br />the liberty of citizens and men, by making itself the heir of the monarchy which it<br />had destroyed, revived at the same time this negation of all liberty, centralisation<br />and omnipotence of the state. “Seventy-five years of sad and harsh experience”,<br />Bakunin wrote to a Frenchman in 1868:<br /><i></i></p><blockquote><i>“spent in sterile tossing between a freedom that was several times<br />recovered and always lost again, and state despotism ever more victorious,<br />have proved to France and the world that in 1793 your Girondins were<br />right against your Jacobins. Robespierre, Saint-Just, Carnot, Couthon,<br />Cambon and so many other citizens of the Montagne were great<br />and pure patriots, but it is nonetheless true that they established the<br />machine of government, that formidable centralisation of the state,<br />which made the military dictatorship of Napoleon I possible, natural,<br />necessary, and which, having survived all subsequent revolutions, by no<br />means diminished but rather preserved, cosseted and developed by the<br />Restoration and by the July Monarchy as by the Republic of 1848, was<br />bound to lead ultimately to the destruction of all your liberties”. </i></blockquote><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><i></i>Democracy from Below: Collectives, Assemblies,</h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">Delegates, Militias</h3><p><br />A radical revolution can only be brought about by an attack on the institutions<br />and by the destruction of property and its associate, the state. Then it will not<br />be necessary to destroy people and thereby provoke the inevitable reaction<br />which the massacre of the people always causes in every society.</p><p><br />That is, for Bakunin, the great secret of revolution. It must begin with the<br />dissolution of the state; the disbanding of the army and the police; the abolition<br />of the courts; the burning of all bonds, bills and securities; the repeal of those<br />bourgeois laws which sanction private property, and their replacement by<br />expropriation. The entire social capital – including public buildings, raw<br />materials, the property owned by church and state – should be put in the hands<br />of the workers’ organizations. At the outbreak of the revolution the community<br />should be organized by the “Permanent Federation of the Barricades”. The<br />council of the revolutionary community should consist of one or two delegates<br />from each barricade, one from each street or suburb; these deputies, with a<br />binding mandate, should always be responsible, and subject to recall.</p><p><br />Bakunin did not mean that there could be a revolution without violence, but<br />that this should be directed against institutions rather than against persons.<br />The revolution should, however, not develop a new authority, i.e. the right to<br />coerce. Those who carry out the repression will do so with the approval of the<br />revolutionaries; this is the only legitimation for violence should be short and<br />not lead to an organization invested with authority to repress. In all his writings<br />Bakunin rejected the idea of a “revolutionary government”, of “Committees of<br />Public Safety”, including the so-called “dictatorship of the proletariat”. For such<br />a new authority, such a “proletarian state”, in theory representing the workers,<br />would lead in practice to a new ruling class.</p><p><br />Revolution means to overthrow the state, because social revolution must put an<br />end to the old system of organization based upon violence, giving full liberty to<br />the masses, groups, communes and associations, and likewise to the individuals<br />themselves. It would destroy once and for all the historic cause of all violence,<br />the power and the very existence of the state, the downfall of which will carry<br />down with it all the iniquities of juridical right and all the falsehoods of the<br />various religious cults, that simply are the consecration, ideal as well as real, of<br />all the violence represented, guaranteed and furthered by the state.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Need for the Revolutionary Idea</h3><p><br />Poverty and despondency are not sufficient to provoke a social revolution. They<br />may lead to local revolts, but are inadequate to arouse whole masses of people.<br />Only when the people are stirred by a universal idea evolving from the depths<br />of the folk instinct and clariϐied by events and experience, when people have a<br />general idea of their rights, revolution can take place.</p><p><br />One cannot aim at destruction without having at least a remote conception of<br />the new order that should succeed to the one extent; and the more vividly that<br />future is visualized, the more powerful is the force of destruction. The nearer<br />such visualization approaches the truth, that is the more it conforms to the<br />necessary development of the actual social world, the more salutary are the<br />results of destructive action, determined not only by the degree of its intensity<br />but also by the means it takes to reach the positive ideal. Exploitation and<br />oppression are not merely economic and political, and would therefore not be<br />automatically abolished by a conquest of political power and the organization of<br />the new economic system. They have one common source: authority.</p><p><br />Bakunin held the view that every dictatorship could have no aim but that of<br />self-perpetuation and that it could beget only slavery in the people tolerating it.<br />Freedom can only be created by freedom. The new social organization should<br />be set up by the free integration of workers’ associations, villages, communes<br />and regions from below upwards, conforming to the needs and instincts of the<br />people.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Globalisation from Below</h3><p><br />That was what Bakunin meant by federalism. Smaller groups should federate into<br />greater units. Of course he was well aware that a certain economic centralization<br />was inevitable, as a consequence of the development of large scale production,<br />but he rejected the view that these problems could only be solved by political<br />centralisation. He insisted on the need of collective ownership of property and<br />argued that if the authoritarian state, with its unnatural centralisation, would<br />become the basis of social organisation, the unavoidable result would be the<br />destruction of the liberty of individual man and of smaller groups, and this<br />would lead to new exploitation and to endless wars.</p><p><br />In Bakunin’s theory, free productive associations, having become their own<br />masters, would expand one day beyond national frontiers and form one vast <br />economic federation, with a parliament informed by detailed statistics on<br />a world scale, that would decide and distribute the output of world industry<br />among the various countries, so that there would be no longer or hardly ever<br />industrial crisis, stagnation, disasters and waste of capital: human labour,<br />emancipation, each and every man would regenerate the world.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Working Class and Peasant Revolution</h3><p><br />Contrary to Marx, Bakunin generally regarded the peasants as a revolutionary<br />force, though historically the essential role belonged to the proletarians of the<br />cities. In his <i>Letters to a Frenchman</i>, written two months after the outbreak<br />of the Franco-Prussian war [1870] and in which Bakunin exposed his views<br />on the way the revolutionary movement had to take, he gave practical advice<br />how to overcome the antagonism between workers and peasants. Their fatal<br />antagonism had to be eliminated, otherwise the revolution would be paralysed.<br />It would be necessary to undermine in fact, and not in words, the authority of<br />the state.</p><p><br />Bakunin advocated that delegates should be sent to the villages to promote a<br />revolutionary movement amongst the peasants. Communism or collectivism<br />should not be imposed on them, even if the workers had enough power to do so,<br />because such an authoritarian communism would need the regularly organized<br />violence of the state, and this would lead to the re-establishment of authority<br />and a new privileged class. The revolutionary authorities – and there should<br />be as few of them as possible – must promote the revolution not by issuing<br />decrees but by stirring the masses to action. They must under no circumstances<br />foist any artiϐicial organisation whatsoever upon the masses. On the contrary,<br />they should foster the self-organisation of the masses into autonomous bodies,<br />federated from the bottom upward.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">States are not progressive forces</h3><p><br />Bakunin differed from Marx and Engels not only with regard to the role of the<br />Slavs, but also in his appreciation of the political future of Europe, and he was<br />far from agreeing with them that [Prince Otto von] Bismarck [Prussian founder<br />of the German Empire – Ed.] and Victor Emmanuel [King of Italy – Ed.] in their<br />striving towards uniϐication of their respective countries did useful work for<br />socialism. On 20 July 1870 Marx wrote to Engels: “If the Prussians are victorious<br />the centralization of state power will be useful to the centralisation of the<br />German working class”. And a few weeks later Engels replied that Bismarck<br />now, as in 1866, did “a part of our job”.</p><p><br />National unity with its consequences of political and economic centralisation<br />was, in the opinion of Marx, a prerequisite of socialism. According to Marxian<br />dialectics, the capture of the centralised state by a working class organized in<br />a political party would open up towards socialism and the ultimate “withering<br />away” of the state. In this context, the predominance of Marx’s theory, that<br />is his conception of this historical process, became itself an element and a<br />precondition of this process.</p><p><br />Bakunin understood this basic concept perfectly well but did not agree<br />with it. “What has made us reject this system”, he wrote, pointing to<br />revolutionary authorities, liberty directed from above, “is that it leads directly<br />to the establishment of a new set of great national states, would be separate<br />and necessarily rivals and hostile to each other, and to the negation of<br />internationalism”.</p><p><br />Bakunin feared that this development would lead to a new Caesarism [a<br />militaristic order headed by a strongman, involving a cult of personality – Ed.],<br />and after the Franco-Prussian War he predicted an era of ceaseless wars and<br />the danger of a Prusso-Germanisation of Europe. Two years before his death<br />he wrote: “Bismarckism, that is militarism, the police and ϐinancial monopoly<br />merged into a single whole, namely the modern state, is everywhere victorious.<br />Conceivably, this powerful and scientiϐic negation of all that is human may<br />continue triumphant for another ten or ϐifteen years”.</p><p><br />Certainly, this triumph has been rampant for more than a century, and is still<br />very much alive.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Mikhail Bakunin Biography</h3><p>A world-famous revolutionary, Bakunin was involved in<br />pro-democracy and anti-imperialist movements in the<br />1840s. Jailed in 1849, he was sentenced to death twice,<br />in both cases commuted to life imprisonment. After long,<br />brutal years in various prisons, he was exiled to Siberia.<br />After a dramatic escape in 1861, he made his way to<br />Western Europe. Here he was increasingly involved in the<br />rising workers’ and socialist movement. In the International<br />Workingmen’s Association, founded 1864, he helped found<br />the anarchist and syndicalist movement, clashing with<br />Karl Marx. Bakunin always retained his deep opposition<br />to imperialism. As an anarchist, however, he insisted it be<br />combined with a revolutionary class struggle to create a<br />self-managed, international, free, socialist and stateless<br />society from below. Otherwise, independence would be<br />hijacked by local ruling classes, the masses left in chains<br />and still exploited.</p><p><br /></p><p>Plain text version created from a pamphlet scanned by <a href="https://zabalaza.net/2017/02/22/bakunin-for-anti-imperialists/">Zabalaza</a>.<br /></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-16962309982409346412023-07-20T18:33:00.002+01:002023-07-20T18:33:38.575+01:00A Memorial for Twitter<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW23ibxI_rwTBVaA_uU5SBShGLyvSbZwwXBzo8czHcMcUDXQgvx-zhwDidXXwYz65AYih0NQBIftmW1jbHNLWMseAGrrdrVrjOKAXtufatJL9A_G84KXUW1nsNNirYuR_FueApee0aZTt6uYwRSwmgsXLGjhP8hhOSrvzK5Rueo8IKGQhYHe-INEs7d9yt/s876/F0ZO4Q3X0AA6Ktp.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="876" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW23ibxI_rwTBVaA_uU5SBShGLyvSbZwwXBzo8czHcMcUDXQgvx-zhwDidXXwYz65AYih0NQBIftmW1jbHNLWMseAGrrdrVrjOKAXtufatJL9A_G84KXUW1nsNNirYuR_FueApee0aZTt6uYwRSwmgsXLGjhP8hhOSrvzK5Rueo8IKGQhYHe-INEs7d9yt/w640-h322/F0ZO4Q3X0AA6Ktp.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> Well, it looks like Musk may finally have killed twitter, with rate limits causing yet another exodus to new pastures and some old ones. Currently, the site is still chugging along like an old car that's in danger of shaking itself apart at every bump and pothole. Will it collapse for good this time? I don't know, I think its wheels will keep spinning for a few more "genius" reforms from the new management, though what made the site a place I wanted to spend more time than was healthy is slipping away.</p><p>I was one of those odd individuals who enjoyed twitter, but I was never starry eyed about it. Musk has been a disaster for Twitter, which was to be expected really, the man has been a disaster with everything he's touched as far as I can tell. But even back in the BE (Before Elon) era the site had many problems. As a platform for discussion it's always been terrible, the character limits kill attempts to demonstrate nuance and balance, sure you can add another tweet adding context or a generous concession, but you're lucky if a tenth of the people seeing the first tweet bother even glancing at the second. It seems like it was designed from the beginning as a mechanism for group think, interactions showing support the like/fav, the retweet and the comment space are only useful for telling its algorithm you want more content like that which overtime limits the diversity of the feed. And conversely the best way to highlight negativity or opposition is the quote tweet mechanic which is an effective means of broadcasting heretics to your supporters for attacks and hostility.</p><p>Despite its structural drawbacks, I found the site very useful. As a sort of newswire service I found a lot of information that is ignored by the large institutional media, Anarchists in Ethiopia, feminists in Japan, radical Union campaigns and direct action protests throughout the UK etc. And over time was able to connect with some interesting people from around the world. And in addition, there was also a very interesting phenomenon that I was able to take part in. Twitter with its international audience and usage as an information service led to an organic network of translators. News and blogs that appeared in one language were often boosted by followers who spoke more languages and would translate it. The unusually large Esperanto speaking user base were very good at this, and I played a small part translating information into English for a wider reach. It did also help that I learnt to stop rolling in the mud of twitters negative sides, instead of multiple thread arguments I'll just share some contrary information and then mute the thread, either they'll take it on board or they won't, let nature take its course.</p><p>And having used Twitter quite a bit from 2017-now, I can say with certainty that in my experience the service was taking small steps to address some of its worst problems. Its reporting system became more comprehensive and precise, so reactionary bigots, bullies and stalkers who knew not to swear in plain text or use the slurs most well known in the USA were increasingly getting caught. There were still many right wing celebrities using the platform to boost their outreach, but little by little the line crossing was getting too much and a few of them were being shutdown. And that process accelerated during the COVID pandemic since many of them pivoting to vaccine conspiracy talk. I don't wish to oversell these steps, none of the well known problems with Twitter were solved completely, but for a time it looked like a process of correcting some of the worst parts of the service had begun. </p><p>Then Elon Musk bought the company and quickly reversed what limited progress had been made. On the 28th of October last year, management changed hands at the blue bird headquarters. And things quickly turned to shit. I don't subscribe to the Great Men theory of history, but even I've been taken aback by just how much malign influence a hands-on tech CEO can achieve. The far right celebrities? Well they're back. You found our service to be a useful way to find out about important examples of activism? Well, too bad for you sunshine, we're banning them to make room for the Christian fundamentalists and the "national conservative pundits". The report system that had a chance of keeping up with the mutations of harassment? Practically toothless again. You use Twitter as a news aggregator? Well, here's ads for cryptocurrency scams in the middle of threads to break them up. Musk spent much of the early days of the takeover complaining about bot accounts, well as far as I can see he's made that problem much worse, my account has just over a thousand followers, a minnow in the sea, and yet even my account has been swarmed by fake account follows, and my direct messaging system filled with spam accounts. </p><p>During his short stint as captain of the S.S. Bluebird, he's steered the ship from one crisis after another. And while so far the ship has managed to smash into those rocks without piercing the internal hull, and we can enjoy some schadenfreude at the massive dent to Musk's reputation as both a genius and a savvy businessman, the net result has been a series of exoduses varying in size and a frustrating and increasingly poor experience for those who remain. The rate limit fiasco is just another chapter in what is shaping up to being a very long catalogue of incompetence. </p><p>At the present time, Twitter is still online, and I still have an account, but I'm in the prepping stage for a move. The previous crises lead to some moving to other alternatives, but not that many. Musk's financial lifeline dealing with the plummeting value of the company was his assets in other companies, which he's been selling off in bits and pieces to cover the numerous money holes he's dug for himself. His lifeline in social media terms has been the lack of an alternative Twitter. We use the term social media as a collective label for what in reality is a loose collection of very different services with their own strengths and uses. Twitter was unique, at least at that size and potential reach. It was never as big as some would think given its prominence in journalism and mainstream media, just count how many news stories are broken via a tweet on an average news report for an example of this. But it's still used by lots of people in most of the world. So, while in theory users pissed off with the way things are going to have many places to set up shop, in practice it's not that easy. Facebook, Tumblr etc, just don't scratch the same itch, and they all have their own issues and demographic clashes.<br /></p><p>There have been Twitter alternatives for some time, under the old management right wing types who found even the light touch moderation of Twitter unbearable split off onto a dozen right wing alternatives, but they're small, explicitly politically partisan so have no chance of scoring big advertisers and are run and controlled by a tiny group of thin-skinned wannabe führer's, so they haven't grown so much as stagnated or collapsed into infighting. Now, though, Twitter is facing some competition on at least two fronts. The old management have been working on a new Twitter called Bluesky, and Zuckerberg's Meta is pushing something called Threads.</p><p>They both look like Twitter clones, and many of the latest crop of Twitter exiles have set up accounts on one or both of these services. This should worry Musk since if either or both get traction he's no longer in charge of the only game in town. Personally, I think both aren't very good, in the interests of transparency I must be up front and disclose that I have no account on either platform, Bluesky is invite only, at the moment and while I know people who can give me an invitation, I didn't see the point in going through all that rigmarole before I know if the service will take off, my plan has been to wait for it go public and let others fight for the clout that comes with first one in the pool. And as for Threads, I left Facebook years ago, and haven't been impressed with any of Zuckerberg's products since then, a Twitter under his benevolent gaze did not excite me at all.</p><p>So much of what I've heard about these sites is second hand, but I think I was right to be sceptical, both services have issues that do not appeal to me at all. I think what Bluesky and Threads show us is that as bad as Musk's tenure has been, it isn't exceptional. Musk isn't doing anything beyond his position of owner of the company, he's just terrible on the job, I suppose it's like the difference between using a shotgun or a sniper rifle to take out a threat in a crowded room. They're both tools designed to kill people and both will get the job done, just that one's clumsier and messier than the other. </p><p>It's early days for both these alternatives, they might get better if there's enough pressure for it, but I won't be holding my breath. Though if Twitter does collapse, or I finally reach my breaking point, I might find myself setting up an account on one of them. <br /></p><p>Still, there is some positive news. The other commonly cited Twitter alternative is Mastodon. If you have a Twitter account, you're probably sick of hearing about Mastodon. In simple terms it's essentially Twitter, a short messaging service where you can react to other users messages, contact them, share your thoughts and photos and videos and links. But it's open source and decentralized, so there isn't one all powerful body making decisions for the entire user base. Open source and decentralisation have become ugly buzzwords for internet marketers, but in Mastodon's case the old usage, multiple users working to build something together, still rings true. </p><p>Mastodon has been around for a while, it's where many of the earlier waves of Twitter exiles popped up before. So why hasn't it taken off before? Well, it sort of has done, just at a slower pace, but there are some barriers to entry. First to create an account instead of going to Mastodon.com and clicking sign up you have to pick what's called an Instance to join and create an account there. Instances are like private clubs they have their own rules admins and even special features, all of which should be available to check before you join. Once you've picked an Instance its usually pretty simple to set up an account, and there are even dedicated apps like Tusky on smartphones now to make it easier.</p><p>Another barrier is the absence of algorithims, in my expereince algoritihims are things you only notice by there absence. Much of the content social media sites like Twitter use algoritihms aggresively not just to shove adverts in your face but to deliver content to you too. If you've ever wondered why you aren't seeing content from accounts you follow even though you know they're still active its because the algoritihm isn't showing you their stuff anymore. The absence of an algoritihim to me is a positive, it gives you freedom to build your own feeds and make your own judgements. But, on the otherhand this can be daunting at the start since the point of social media services are to show you things you want to see and give you opportunities to engage with them. So at the start Mastodon can be very sparse, you'll have an Instance feed (the content produced by other users on that Instance) and the Federated feed essentially the global feed of all users on the main network without a filter for your preferences. So, it takes awhile and some active searching to find users posting stuff that you like and value and find interesting. Hashtags aren't just for spamming messages on Mastodon they're actually useful. So, usually what has happened is that many setup accounts on Mastodon, find the transition awkward and don't stick around.</p><p>Though over time Mastodon has grown organically, the Fediverse which is the name for the main federation of Instances now registers over 13 million users, and recently registered over 2 million active at the same time. It took awhile for me to build up a feed but at present I actively look through the feeds several times a week, find things I like most times, and have chatted with others. Still not using it nearly as much as I used to use Twitter, but I hope the trends continue in a positive direction. In addition, although Mastodon clearly used Twitter as its main inspiration there are other quality of life improvements. For example, you can't quote tweet or quote toot as its called over there. This limitation has done a lot to limit aggro behaviour. And two or three Twitter exoduses ago several Instances were setup by tech savvy reactionary types, and in addition to clogging the federated feed their userbases started harassing other users. The response was quick, since their admins wouldn't reign in the behaviour other instances defederated, essentially a group wide block, so those Instances can't see our activity and we can't see theres. On Twitter targeted harassment is ignored and the accounts being targetted have to play a game of whack-a-mole or adopt a third party block list, and third party applications are increasingly being throttled by the new direction the site is going. And the system has been integrated into several others including video and music streaming. <br /></p><p>So, looks like I'll be giving my meagre support to Mastodon, I'd like to see a better internet not dominated by six blokes who seem to be going through a permanent mid life crisis and a never ending game of asset hoarding. I can be found <a href="https://anarchism.space/web/@Reddebrek">here</a>.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUtjIN7vcB6fovzfgHNgPjbKLtAzo-6t9FLecQlBKqrox4FIECtLpuw44o2sFHm5Vk3yXnqOmLBjgTf0sx8GvzZdOgzpc5Oendj2At_mCnu0uCQ0L8hoUeDJJVp-WlQ1joli8CFOdcjqcMDFaknuuU0oP00KHRlKbjMLFLogV3im1VBYTAEnAxEs-1Oge/s1280/Masto-Prop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTUtjIN7vcB6fovzfgHNgPjbKLtAzo-6t9FLecQlBKqrox4FIECtLpuw44o2sFHm5Vk3yXnqOmLBjgTf0sx8GvzZdOgzpc5Oendj2At_mCnu0uCQ0L8hoUeDJJVp-WlQ1joli8CFOdcjqcMDFaknuuU0oP00KHRlKbjMLFLogV3im1VBYTAEnAxEs-1Oge/w320-h400/Masto-Prop.png" width="320" /></a></div>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-81553163984032110832023-07-11T14:09:00.001+01:002023-07-14T15:43:50.502+01:00Witchcraft - Notes on Gundam Witch from Mercury Season 01<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Y_zUP8cPEAhngeA9o3A5qPKEztbHfkGUiTAL-dzQLmAVoFE3S0pSK9r3MwKrmFPRaDOFn7kxfNDgL29MxSKCxLt1w-XbFyJ8BKLcsPEQd3usVgI5pxUKhR16ss4f58OLNBVB3tbFzRJrQJZcuNOzNcxmI9qU5r6sMXEXU6WB-n3ufjXXYsXwMzYCG-nk/s2560/wp11655274.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Y_zUP8cPEAhngeA9o3A5qPKEztbHfkGUiTAL-dzQLmAVoFE3S0pSK9r3MwKrmFPRaDOFn7kxfNDgL29MxSKCxLt1w-XbFyJ8BKLcsPEQd3usVgI5pxUKhR16ss4f58OLNBVB3tbFzRJrQJZcuNOzNcxmI9qU5r6sMXEXU6WB-n3ufjXXYsXwMzYCG-nk/w640-h360/wp11655274.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> I'm going to start watching season 02, or part 02 or whatever they're calling it, of the newest Gundam show Witch from Mercury. Why only now? Well, we'll get to that later. First, though, I wanted to jot down my thoughts on the first part. I've been a Gundam fan since I was the age of a typical Gundam protagonist, Wing was my introduction to the franchise, and I've been dipping into its back catalogue ever since. Witch from Mercury - Witch for convenience - was a bit of a surprise. I'd heard some news about it being in development, but didn't follow it very closely. I found out that it had been released because I saw a lot of fan art about it. </p><p>Unfortunately, due to circumstances, it took me a while before I could watch the show. My IT systems were in storage, and I was confined to the house with an old smart TV and a chromebook, so I patiently waited for it to become available on the Gundam YouTube channel. Meanwhile, I had fan art and fan guesses to navigate past to avoid spoilers. When I did manage to watch the first season, it ended, leaving me with some thoughts about what I've watched and where it could be going in the next season.</p><p>So, before I take the plunge, I'll sketch them out and see how close my predictions are and how it handles what it built up in season 01. I know I'm not the first one to notice that Witch differs quite a bit from what is considered typical Gundam, but that isn't automatically a bad thing. Nor is it the first time that's happened, SD Gundam (chibi style comedy shorts) and the Fighter G Gundam (think wrestling with Mechs, or the anime adaption of the film Robot Jox) were extremely different and while not everyone in the fandom has come around on them, they have their fans. Personally, since I'm not a Japanese Gundam fanatic from the 1980s I think SD Gundam misses more than it hits, but there are still some episodes I quite like, and I really enjoyed the energy of Fighter.<br /></p><p> And Witch being different has opened the franchise to a new audience. I said that I discovered that the show had started airing thanks to the explosion of fan art, but interestingly, most of the fan art was being made or shared by people I follow on social media that had never expressed any interest in Gundam before. The Gundam fandom outside Japan has been growing over time and the Netflix deals gave it more of a push, but it's still a small pond, so further growth is welcome. Of course, Witch being atypical will mean that not every Witch fan will evolve into a Gundam fan, but in the gaps between seasons I have seen some start mining the franchise for another fix. And I saw an article that claimed that sales of the Mobile Suit model kits (Gunpla) in Japan have broken records, if true that means there's a lot more new friends to welcome.<br /></p><p>Overall, I like Witch, and I think many of the changes from the formula work well and are refreshing. In the fandom, a vocal minority has been wishing for a female protagonist for some time, so it's good that it finally happened and the character and her plot is interesting. It's a bit odd looking back how long this has taken given how many Gundam stories have come out and how even back in the 1970s the shows would include viable candidates for main character status but just kept to the old formula despite being willing to change and experiment with the rest of it. I watched Reconguista a few months ago and well that's a blog post in itself but one of the few positives for that show was Aida Sururgan, making her the main character and the boy Bell her back-up/possible romantic partner* would've been an improvement. Anyway, back to Witch, I like Suletta and I like Miorine, I even remembered how to spell their names without looking it up!** I like both as individual characters, but at first I wasn't buying the relationship between them. I know that's something of a "hot take" given that the lesbian relationship seems to have been its main selling point amongst the Gundam first timer fans. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_mxmtZNZ-RzYBbmFZxE0gj30q8Ro2zhKuxsaXy0XtUEMPb_JY9_sy_H56Hq-hRhZRK3Me4vGcxyw-9AztmU7sAhwdxR886REVPiZSSNRSi-xuvDacN5wy3FB5SxLa2uXb_pLJSZoyEKpFwzZbsXuWgU-0oMP1HR4i5TrM8oO4P-EoS00pwBsRdceP5ugr/s2047/anime_anime_girls_Mobile_Suit_Gundam_THE_WITCH_FROM_MERCURY_Suletta_Mercury_Miorine_Rembran_long_hair_redhead_two_women-2183437.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2047" data-original-width="1447" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_mxmtZNZ-RzYBbmFZxE0gj30q8Ro2zhKuxsaXy0XtUEMPb_JY9_sy_H56Hq-hRhZRK3Me4vGcxyw-9AztmU7sAhwdxR886REVPiZSSNRSi-xuvDacN5wy3FB5SxLa2uXb_pLJSZoyEKpFwzZbsXuWgU-0oMP1HR4i5TrM8oO4P-EoS00pwBsRdceP5ugr/w283-h400/anime_anime_girls_Mobile_Suit_Gundam_THE_WITCH_FROM_MERCURY_Suletta_Mercury_Miorine_Rembran_long_hair_redhead_two_women-2183437.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Works of this nature were how I discovered the show, I'd credit the artist, but I found this on a wallpaper site uncredited.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I do understand the appeal both in having a main character LGBTQ relationship in a very popular show - I really loved how the show quickly established same sex attraction is considered practically normal in most of the society of the show, nipping that "but we're both X" angst in the bud- and that both parts of the relationship are very interesting personality wise and clash quite a bit creating friction in the will they, won't they? Style of teasing. And it doesn't hurt that the cute red head Suletta's character design made her easy to turn into a cuddly Racoon by fan artists. But, the relationship as depicted struck me extremely toxic. Suletta surprised me a lot in just how close to the bone she cut me. Watching her clumsy and confused attempts to navigate her emotions in what is essentially a military training camp for adolescents was giving me some quite vivid flashbacks. She even has red hair. And Miorine's abrasive isolation and defensiveness read very realistic to me. I'm not saying any of this is bad, I found it very interesting to watch, I just wasn't convinced the lovey-dovey path was viable and found the multiple episode cycle of Suletta clumsily trying to connect with Miorine without actually connecting (another deep cut there) while Miorine maintains a cold detachment and lashes out (and another) started to grate. Fortunately, around the time I was getting actively annoyed at the closed circle was when the show started to move on this. And the last few episodes seem to be confirming an awareness of the emotional vulnerabilities of the two main characters, the toxic relationship between Miorine and her father is obvious from the first episode, and once Suletta's dear mother shows up it quickly became clear to me that <i>that</i> relationship is just as rotten. <br /> <br /><p></p><p>I was a little worried that the show would keep these two characters locked in an angsty will they, won't they? Oh, woe is me, why can they not see that they're perfect for each other? Cycle. Only to have a last minute or deathbed confession, but once the show dropped hints that the relationship has some issues that need to be worked out, my fears were calmed. And then the last scene of season 01 happens, and we get Suletta's sweet smile after she= well I won't spoil that, but after that scene I'm officially really intrigued and willing to follow this relationship wherever it goes. </p><p>The setting has moved from battles between political-national factions, Zeon vs Earth Federation, Zaft vs a different Earth Alliance, MAFTI vs Earth Federation, the boys in Wing vs well everyone else, etc. To a setting dominated by corporations. This makes sense both in relation to the current year when corporations continue to grow in influence and importance in society and in international relations, and it builds on the limited criticisms of corporations and greed in military affairs that previous Gundam shows touched on, Anaheim Electronics supplying both sides, the cabal of industrial giants in Seed Destiny and son. But I find far less interesting as a setting. I get it, they're corporate heads, so they're petty and nakedly self-serving, but I find the talk of stock prices and intrigues over market concerns opaque and not very interesting. When Miorine forms her own company and essentially drags her <strike>friends</strike> acquaintances into joining her, I like the parts where they're trying to work together and interact with each other, but I still have no interest in the corporate side of it. I just do not have the interest or respect for business culture to buy into any of it. One of my hopes for the next season is that since the violence has ratcheted up quite a bit, the fights and physical conflicts will take more attention away from the corporate culture. Yes, functionally speaking scenes where bad people gather in a poorly lit room with a map and a communications system and plot violence are the same whether they're wearing military uniforms or smart casual office attire, I just do not care for their expositionary blather in the latter.</p><p>Class, class commentary has always been present in Gundam and Witch is no exception. Usually in the settings there is a distinct divide between those who live on Earth (Earthnoids) and those who live in Space (Spacenoids) and usually the upper crust and the elite are on Earth while the downtrodden are on the Moon, or asteroids or in city sized space stations. Witch has this divide too, Mercury in the title refers to a community living on the planet Mercury, but has flipped the positions. In this show, it is the Earthnoids who are the downtrodden underclass, with the Spacenoids exploiting and deriding them. I like how Miorine and Suletta as outsiders gravitate to the students from Earth, but they don't do much with this dynamic in season 01, though again the final bits of that season strongly suggest that season 02 will do more with this theme going forward. <br /></p><p>So, that's where I am now, so far patiently waiting for the Gundam channel to make the season 02 videos available in my country. I know they've been uploaded because the Americans I follow have been chattering about them, and a plugin I have tells me they're hidden in the playlist. When I voice my displeasure at region blocking for online content, someone pipes up about VPNs. Yeah, I could use one of those, I could a lot of things in fact, that's missing the point, consumer hostile actions don't become okay because consumers can make use of loopholes. <br /></p><p><b>Appendix</b></p><p>Gundam shows you might like if you like Witch (no refunds)<br /></p><p>Gundam Wing; back in the day, Gundam Wing was the show that provoked a massive influx of new fans to the franchise. Partly because it was the first show to get a big push in English speaking regions, but also due to its five main characters being angsty boys with a lot of trauma and relationship issues with each other and everyone else they weren't tyring to murder inside a big machine. I tried watching the show again some years a go and, well I thought it was terrible, but maybe Heero and Duo and the rest's charms will work for you, I fell for them hard back in the day.<br /></p><p>Turn A Gundam: Another show that was atypical to what had come before, features a plot full of intrigues between wealthy indivdiuals and also did experiment with gender representation. Is noted for having the first explicitly homosexual character in the franchise, though in the present day I don't think he'd be held up as a positive example, though I think it works in a sad way. Also its protagonist Loran reminds me quite abit of Suletta, though with a different background and upbringing so I wouldn't say she's a female copy of him. </p><p>Iron Blooded Orphans: The series before Witch, its standalone so you don't have to worry too much about the lore of the franchise getting in the way. Had some LGBTQ and non-conventional relationships and leaned heavily into the power dynamics of the world. Also very bloody and covers some darker aspects of the setting which Witch has hinted at and may go down that root too but might hold back. We'll see.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>*Yeah, I saw that twist coming and was hoping it'd swerve it.</p><p>** You can play a game with Gundam shows, type the names of characters into the Gundam wiki based on how they were pronounced on the show, Japanese original or dubbed, either way it'll be a challenge.<br /></p><p> </p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-57188066732296275532023-07-04T21:11:00.000+01:002023-07-04T21:11:00.143+01:00 The ISK [Militant Socialist International] and its relationship to Vegetarianism and Esperanto <p> </p><p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The
ISK [Militant Socialist <br /></b></span></span></p><p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>International] and its relationship to</b></span></span></p><p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> Vegetarianism and Esperanto</b></span></span></p><p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;"><span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> </b></span></span></p>
<p>Text of a lecture for the Vegan Meeting in Castle Gresilion Paris
on the 2018-05-11.</p>
<ol><li><p>ISK</p>
</li><li><p>Vegetarianism in the ISK: History according to <i>End the
Slaughter!</i></p>
</li><li><p style="font-style: normal;">ISK, Esperanto and SAT</p>
</li><li><p style="font-style: normal;">Sources</p>
</li></ol>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnTZeNX0pOjAKWm9PGD9e7wb7WfYiPSbw60YB_7DBIEqrYjSOekDYhmVyVXx_JmU_WaPMEFWdadHylc5rEzS_9NRfngtGOgQwTR-VEtYZlepgkZP1PyFHtZZL1burUXLimDAY-V_DhfKiGxBbROfnXtKSdznXtWrwKxvcY6P4hl9NuLUNFGI1cL_Cxs1p4/s600/ISK.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="398" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnTZeNX0pOjAKWm9PGD9e7wb7WfYiPSbw60YB_7DBIEqrYjSOekDYhmVyVXx_JmU_WaPMEFWdadHylc5rEzS_9NRfngtGOgQwTR-VEtYZlepgkZP1PyFHtZZL1burUXLimDAY-V_DhfKiGxBbROfnXtKSdznXtWrwKxvcY6P4hl9NuLUNFGI1cL_Cxs1p4/w424-h640/ISK.jpg" width="424" /></a></div><p style="font-style: normal;">[Note; While translating the first section of <a href="http://garymickle.bplaced.net/ISK_prelegresumo.pdf">Gary Mickle's text</a> I discovered that most of the first section had already been translated into English and was being used as the English wikipedia page entry for the ISK. So I used that and translated the parts that were not in it. Section 1's Political ideas through to the end is my translation. Reddebrek]<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">1.
ISK</span></span></p>
<p>The <b>Internationale Sozialistische Kampfbund</b> (ISK) was a
socialist split from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during the
Weimar Republic period, and it was active in the resistance against
National Socialism (Nazism). Internationally it used the names
<b>Militant Socialist International</b> (in English), <b>Internationale
Militante Socialiste</b> (in French) and in Esperanto the name
<b>Internacio de Socialista Kunbatalo</b>.</p>
<p><b>History</b></p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">Founded in 1925 the ISK was the
political organisation and platform for a circle that had gathered
around the philosophy of Göttingen Leonard Nelson and his
collaborator Minna Specht. It was preceded by an organization the
International Socialist Youth League (ISJ) that arose in the context
of the youth movement of the turn of the century, founded by Nelson
and Specht in 1917 with the support of Albert Einstein. Leonard
Nelson, philosophically speaking heavily tied to Neo-Kantianism-
wanted to become a University Professor whose political impact
surpassed the limits of the University. He was a defender of an
ethically motivated, anti-clerical, anti-Marxist, but also
anti-democratic oriented socialism, which included strict compulsory
adherence to animal protection and vegetarianism. Nelson decided to
found the ISK, after the ISJ were expelled from both the Communist
Party (KPD) in 1922 and the SPD in 1925. </span>
</p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
<p style="font-style: normal;">The ISK took over the ISYL's publishing
label, <i>Öffentliches Leben</i>, which published the ISK newsletter
beginning January 1, 1926. Beginning January 1929, an edition in
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto">Esperanto</a> was
added, and in April, a small circulation quarterly in English was
added as well. It was usually eight pages and editions ran an average
of 5,000 to 6,000 copies. Nelson moved his main published works there
as well, his philosophical and political series <i>Öffentliches
Leben</i> and his 1904 treatises, "<i>Abhandlungen der
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Friedrich_Fries">Fries</a>’schen
Schule, Neue Folge</i>", re-reasoned with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematician">mathematician</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Hessenberg">Gerhard
Hessenberg</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiologist">physiologist</a>
Karl Kaiser, and which, after Nelson's death, was continued by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize">Nobel
Prize</a> winner <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Meyerhof">Otto
Meyerhof</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology">sociologist</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Oppenheimer">Franz
Oppenheimer</a> and Minna Specht until 1937.
</p>
<p><a name="cite_ref-funke_3-0"></a>With the growing electoral
success of the Nazis at the end of the Weimar Republic, the ISK
founded the newspaper, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Funke"><i>Der
Funke</i></a> to confront the situation. Of particular note was the
"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urgent_Call_for_Unity">Urgent
Call for Unity</a>" (<i>Dringender Appell für die Einheit</i>)
regarding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_July_1932">July
1932 federal election</a>. It appeared in the newspaper and on
placards all over <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin">Berlin</a>.
Calling for unity and support of the SPD and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Germany">KPD</a>
in order to thwart further gains by the Nazis, it was signed by 33
leading German intellectuals, including scientists Albert Einstein,
Franz Oppenheimer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Gumbel">Emil
Gumbel</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Kronfeld">Arthur
Kronfeld</a>, the artist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%A4the_Kollwitz">Käthe
Kollwitz</a>, writers <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Hiller">Kurt
Hiller</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_K%C3%A4stner">Erich
Kästner</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Mann">Heinrich
Mann</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Toller">Ernst
Toller</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Zweig">Arnold
Zweig</a> and many others.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationaler_Sozialistischer_Kampfbund#cite_note-funke-3">[3]</a>
</p>
<p><a name="cite_ref-4"></a><a name="cite_ref-tretz_5-0"></a><a name="cite_ref-6"></a>
The ISK continued to work in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_resistance_to_Nazism">resistance</a>
after the 1933 Nazi <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933">ban</a>.
The ISK had destroyed all written party records and until 1938,
remained undetected, while the larger parties, the KPD and SPD, were
being battered by massive arrests. The ISK was therefore able to
continue its resistance work, helping political refugees leave the
country, conducting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage">sabotage</a>
and distributing leaflets. In 1938, however, a wave of arrests hit
the ISK.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationaler_Sozialistischer_Kampfbund#cite_note-4">[4]</a>
A main focus of the work was the attempt to build a clandestine <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union">trade
union</a>, the <i>Unabhängige Sozialistische Gewerkschaft</i>
("Independent Socialist Union"), which also supported the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Internationale_Transport_Workers%27_Federation&action=edit&redlink=1">Internationale
Transport Workers' Federation</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationaler_Sozialistischer_Kampfbund#cite_note-tretz-5">[5]</a>
The ISK's best known act of resistance was the sabotage of the
opening of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsautobahn">Reichsautobahn</a>
on May 19, 1935. The night before Hitler's trip to inaugurate the new
highway, ISK activists wrote anti-Hitler slogans, such as
"Hitler = War" and "Down with Hitler",
on all the bridges along the route between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_am_Main">Frankfurt
am Main</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmstadt">Darmstadt</a>,
where he was to travel.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationaler_Sozialistischer_Kampfbund#cite_note-6">[6]</a>
The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_propaganda">Nazi
propaganda</a> film produced of the event had to be edited numerous
times.
</p>
<p>In exile, the ISK also published the <i>Reinhart Briefe</i>
("Reinhart Letters") and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sozialistische_Warte&action=edit&redlink=1"><i>Sozialistische
Warte</i></a>, which were then smuggled into Germany. Because of
their factual and unpolemical reporting, these were valued by various
members of the German Resistance. The ISK was linked with the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Vanguard_Group">Socialist
Vanguard Group</a> in England and the <i>Internationale Militante
Socialiste</i> in France.
</p>
<h2 class="western"><a name="ISK_members_after_1945"></a>ISK members
after 1945</h2>
<p><a name="cite_ref-tretz_5-1"></a>After <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II">World
War II</a>, the ISK was merged into the SPD on December 10, 1945
after talks between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willi_Eichler">Willi
Eichler</a>, chairman of the ISK and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Schumacher">Kurt
Schumacher</a>, then chairman of the SPD. Most of the former ISK
members then joined the SPD.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationaler_Sozialistischer_Kampfbund#cite_note-tretz-5">[5]</a>
</p>
<p>One prominent member of the ISK, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ludwig_Gehm&action=edit&redlink=1">Ludwig
Gehm</a>, was later the national vice chairman of the Committee of
Formerly Persecuted Social Democrats (<i>Arbeitsgemeinschaft ehemals
verfolgter Sozialdemokraten</i>) and a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_am_Main">Frankfurt
am Main</a> city council member from the SPD. Eichler, who was
chairman of the ISK for many years, represented the SPD in the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundestag">Bundestag</a> from
1949 to 1953 and is considered one of the main authors of the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godesberg_Program">Godesberg
Program</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Kubel">Alfred
Kubel</a> was a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Saxony">Lower
Saxony</a> state government for many years and was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister-President#Germany"><i>Ministerpräsident</i></a>
from 1970 to 1976. Hamburger ISK member <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hellmut_Kalbitzer&action=edit&redlink=1">Hellmut
Kalbitzer</a> was elected to the Bundestag several times, served in
the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg">Hamburg</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_Parliament"><i>Bürgerschaft</i></a>
and from 1958 to 1962, was vice president of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament">European
Parliament</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Eberhard">Fritz
Eberhard</a>, who was in the ISK until 1939, was a member of the
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parlamentarischer_Rat"><i>Parlamentarischer
Rat</i></a> ("Parliamentary Council") and was involved in
writing the postwar <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution">constitution</a>,
including the right to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientious_objector#Germany">conscientious
objector</a> status in the new <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Law_for_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany">laws</a>
of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Republic_of_Germany">Federal
Republic of Germany</a>.
</p>
<p>Eichler also published a monthly magazine from 1946 until his
death in 1971, <i>Geist und Tat</i>, which was devoted to "rights,
freedom and culture" and he had a publishing house, <i>Europäische
Verlagsanstalt</i> until the 1960s.
</p>
<h2 class="western"><a name="Structure"></a>Structure</h2>
<p>The ISK never set out to amass a large membership, but rather to
become an active and hard-hitting organization. Membership
requirements for prospective candidates included adherence to a
certain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_socialism">ethical
socialism</a> that were more stringent than for the major parties.
</p>
<ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Members were to abstain from
nicotine, alcohol and meat, were to be absolutely punctual and
orderly, and because of the anti-clerical position of the
organization, withdrawal from church affiliation was mandatory
</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Participation in a trade union,
the ISK and the labor movement was general requirement for members
(eliminating passive membership)
</p>
</li><li><p>Instead of a membership fee, there was a "Party tax,"
which all members with an income over 150 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichsmark">Reichsmarks</a>
had to pay</p>
</li></ul>
<p>The ISK never had more than 300 members, largely because of the
strict requirements for membership. These members were organized into
32 local groups. However, its political work involved sympathizers,
between 600 and 1,000 in 1933. A survey in 1929 revealed that 85% of
ISK members were under 35 years of age.
</p>
<p>Chairmen of the ISK (formerly, the ISYL)
</p>
<ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">1922–1927, Leonard Nelson and
Minna Specht
</p>
</li><li><p>1927–1945, Willi Eichler and Minna Specht</p>
</li></ul>
<p>From 1924 to 1933, the ISK (and its forerunner, the ISYL)
maintained its rural school, the <i>Walkemühle</i> in the
Adelshausen quarter of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melsungen">Melsungen</a>,
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesse">Hesse</a> and from 1931
to 1933, its own newspaper, <i>Der Funke</i>, both of which were
banned by the Nazis.
</p>
<p style="font-style: normal;"><b>Political Ideas</b></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">The relationship
between the rank and file ISK membership and its founder and chief
ideologue Leonard Nelson has been described as a “personal cult”.
Nelson rejected the democratic principle, in which the majority
decision is to be treated as rational. In its place he used what he
called a rational-leader-principle, which has some obvious
problematic elements. Nelson promoted the concept of a rational
dictatorship, believing that it was possible to ascertain in an
objective manner what needed to be done. The ethics of science would
become the foundation of a politics of science. Nelson believed that
science could show what is just, i.e. in accordance with moral law,
so the rational individual who has a keen enough grasp of science
will know the moral and intellectually best ways to run society they
must be free from limits. An all-powerful state should carry out any
and all reforms deemed necessary.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Nelson opposed the
Marxist teachings of the historical necessity of capitalism to the
development of socialism and communism. Instead he promoted human
responsibility and the necessity of a “moral compass”. He based
these beliefs in his readings of Immanuel Kant.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">Since its creation
ISK was strictly anti-nationalist and anti-militarist. During the war
Eichler publicly expressed opposition to the dogma of national
sovereignty. The ISK also practiced sexual equality amongst its
membership by promoting equality of rights for women.
</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">The group promoted
a mix of non-authoritarian and authoritarian structures within its
orbit. On the one hand its educational service Walkemühle instructed
both adults and youths on the importance of critical thinking and
some of the latest concepts of the time. While on the other hand ISK
described the training of civil servants as an example of
authoritarianism.</p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"> </p><p style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAkSdJ6m5vdkv3b1aoxMxmBHaPeyi_DiPRLGI-Q-9MPiwylr4O2meyfwG58gTASKwzKzHLlfr2MJhM7cC2rRPR_pO2XMf3NWEfumM5-9VeS27xblGoTm9ZXg39ULhEQZ3HJ44SwrSuTyMK2wzgsY59DigpNAM1uEoAe_KvVcE2_3gKgwDDv6sJBw-72qkH/s735/kronf5.gif" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="735" data-original-width="494" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAkSdJ6m5vdkv3b1aoxMxmBHaPeyi_DiPRLGI-Q-9MPiwylr4O2meyfwG58gTASKwzKzHLlfr2MJhM7cC2rRPR_pO2XMf3NWEfumM5-9VeS27xblGoTm9ZXg39ULhEQZ3HJ44SwrSuTyMK2wzgsY59DigpNAM1uEoAe_KvVcE2_3gKgwDDv6sJBw-72qkH/w430-h640/kronf5.gif" width="430" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poster of the “Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund” (ISK),
a foundation of
<br />Leonard Nelsons for the parliament elections in 1932. Signed by Kronfeld,
Albert Einstein
<br />and Franz Oppenheimer and well known artists like Kurt Hiller, Erich
Kästner, Karl and
<br />Käthe Kollwitz, Heinrich Mann, Ernst Toller and Arnold Zweig.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p>
<p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">2.
Vegetarianism in the ISK and the anti-Fascist Resistance</span></span></p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
<p>As described, a vegetarian way of life was a mandatory membership
condition in ISK. Through its publications it propagated
vegetarianism in Germany and abroad. It organized group visits in
slaughterhouses to convince the workers to renounce their work and
the other violent ways humans relate to animals. Willi Eichler ISK
co-president since 1927 documents one of these visits in his 1926
essay “Even Vegetarians?”<span lang="en-US"> Recently that essay
has been circulated again by social democrats acting in the group
Sozis für Tiere (Social Democrats for animals). Willi Eichler would
join the SPD in the aftermath of the Second World War and moderate
his politics. He led the commission that developed the social
democratic Program of Godesberg (accepted in 1959), in which the idea
of socialism appeared only in a very diluted form, and which many
later regarded as a road map for the right-wing in that party. I
could not find out if he remained a lifelong vegetarian. </span>
</p>
<p><span lang="en-US">Nelson agreed with Eichler: "A worker who
wishes more than a guarantee he will not become a capitalist and for
whom the fight against all exploitation is a serious matter, he does
not bow before the pressure of public opinion toward the habit of
exploiting harmless animals, he does not participate in the daily
millionfold murder."</span></p>
<p><span lang="en-US">The resistance activity of the ISK against the
Nazi rule was effective, if we consider the enormous difficulties and
the small membership. Cunning means were applied, and one of them
made use of vegetarianism - more on that later.</span></p>
<p><span lang="en-US">At the beginning of Nazi rule, the ISK
formulated 4 objectives for resistance activity: information,
propaganda, anti-Nazi actions, and security for the group. One means
was illegal leafleting. The Nazis held elections of worker
representatives in companies, admitting only "suitable"
candidates. The ISK campaigned for a vote of no confidence against
all candidates - until the Nazis gave up on the elections in 1936 due
to the lack of popular support for their picked candidates. (Only
50-60% voted for the official list.) Also in 1936, ISK members also
collected money in workplaces for the resistance in Spain.</span></p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
<p><span lang="en-US">At the inauguration of a highway, it was
discovered that the bridges were painted overnight with chemicals
that can be seen only when daylight hits them, and the speaker
systems had been sabotaged. Two SS members were later executed for
insufficient vigilance. Invisible paint, which is visible in
daylight, was also used for to </span><span lang="en-US">daub </span><span lang="en-US">slogans
on the pavement, using suitcases with a special mechanism. A grassy
hill next to the Berlin </span><span lang="en-US">railway was chosen
for an action using</span><span lang="en-US"> fertilizer poured from
canisters. A</span><span lang="en-US">fter a few weeks the hill was
marked with the slogan </span><span lang="en-US">"Nieder mit
Hitler" [</span><span lang="en-US">Death to</span><span lang="en-US">
Hitler].</span></p>
<p><span lang="en-US">T</span><span lang="en-US">he ISK also
discussed a plan to kill Hitler via a suicide attack, but the plan
was opposed by some members and did not go beyond discussions. </span>
</p>
<p>The anti-Nazi activity included a set of vegetarian restaurants,
which ISK members operated in several cities and used for clandestine
purposes. Some had opened before 1933, the remainder opened after the
rise to power from the Nazis. Large restaurants were founded in
Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main and Bochum. According to one
report, the Hamburg restaurant prepared 120 lunches a day.</p>
<p>They were often led by women, but both men and women worked in
them. The working day was long and the pay low. The restaurants
served several purposes: to provide work to the unemployed, to
generate a profit that was used for resistance activity, enable
contact between resistance agents in a relatively unsuspicious place,
serve as bases for production and distribution of illegal printing
material etc. However, they also served for promote vegetarianism.</p>
<p>A wave of arrests in 1937 forced many restaurant workers to flee
abroad or to live in hiding. Two fugitives founded vegetarian
restaurants in Paris and London. The restaurant in Paris became a
contact point for exiled Germans and was also a source of funds. The
same for the restaurant in London. There they were supported by a
group linked to Nelson inside the Labour Party, the Socialist
Vanguard Group, the British affiliate to the Militant Socialist
International (ISK).</p>
<p>Here is a somewhat extensive quote from a document from the City
Archives of Göttingen, which captures the atmosphere of the era and
also paints a picture of the spread of vegetarianism in Germany at
the time and the political implications of it, e.g. the spread of the
legend about Hitler being “Vegetarian”:</p>
<blockquote>Next to the premises of the ISK in the city, the
vegetarian restaurant can be seen, operated by the mother of Fritz
and Helmut Schmalz on Weenderstraße 71/72. August Schmalz was member
in the ISK since 1927; she had already led vegetarian cooking courses
in the Walkemühle. Vegetarian restaurants were a financial pillar of
the organization, although more profitable and useful for that
purpose were the restaurants in the bigger cities like Berlin,
Hamburg (Anna Kothe worked there since 1934, who for a long time
worked in the headquarters in Göttingen as a housekeeper), Cologne
or Frankfurt. Auguste Schmalz's vegetarian luncheonette has been
around since at least 1931 and was a regular meeting place. Hannah
Vogt recalled: “I remember a place in Weender Straße – which was
led by the mother of trade unionist Fritz Schmalz – where everyone
had a vegetarian lunch. Many of them regularly met there.” Since
spring of 1933 the premises were observed, however the police failed
to prove that the guests of the Schmalz lunchroom participated in
anti government discussions.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The income opportunities that opened up with such a
restaurant also attracted the greedy gaze of the "Volksgenossen"
[Nazi term, roughly means People’s comrades, used as a term for
correct i.e. Nazi behaviour]. In a letter to the rector of the
university at the end of October 1933, someone proposed a remedy
against an urgent lack of food for the students. He said that among
the 4,000 students there are at least 150 vegetarians, "who now
wish to live according to the way of life of our people's
chancellor", but can't, because "the only vegetarian lunch
place here (...) is run by the ex-communist Schmalz". According
to the writer, he even makes an advertisement by posting it on the
blackboard of the auditorium, despite the fact that it is possible to
prove, "that the students are being influenced by propaganda
there, acting at that in a very refined manner”. The author of the
letter thought his “most noble task to provide the students of the
University of Göttingen with the cheapest high-quality food, in
accordance with the new theory of nutrition". Of course he hoped
for the support from the rector for his "valuable idea, also
represented by Hitler, Rudolf Hess, Göbbels (!) and even many
professors in Göttingen". Schmalz's lunchroom survived despite
these attacks and denouncements at least until the beginning of the
war.</blockquote>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">3.
ISK, Esperanto and SAT</span></span></p>
<p>The ISK attempted to spread beyond the borders of Germany in their
early days and adopted Esperanto as one of the means to achieve this.</p>
<p>Registered in bibliographies is the edition of the quarterly
Esperanto-language Organo de Internacio de Socialista Kunbatalo since
1929 (before the appearance of a similar publication in English).
After the Autumn of 1933 it appeared in Paris under the name <i>The
Critical Observer: magazine of politics and culture. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">It
continued to be published until the end of 1939 if not longer.
Hermann Platiel was credited as its editor after the move to Paris,
but its possible that he occupied that position earlier.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">The ISK published a daily
newspaper </span><i>Der Funke</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
[The Spark] for 14 months, between 1932-01-01 and 1933-02-17. Then it
was banned. The release necessitated great sacrifices, inevitable for
such a small organization. Notable in it is the striving for a
working class united front against the looming fascism and the very
critical reporting on nationalism in general. The complete journal
collection is now archived online. There you can find three kindly
written articles about SAT and its congress from 1932 in Stuttgart.
Although one would expect that their author would be Hermann Platiel,
the authors used initials ("M. H.", "Rpt.", "O.
W.") do not match that assumption.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">Some excerpts from the articles:</span></p>
<blockquote><br />
<br />
</blockquote>
<blockquote><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Party political
neutrality among the Worker Esperantists</b></span><span style="font-style: normal;">
(from Der Funke 1932-06-05) In the Esperanto Labour movement, whose
most important, global organization is SAT (World Anti-national
Association), the party political disputes, especially between the CP
and the SP, was not missing. In Germany there are already in many
cities separate communist and social democratic Esperanto groups. All
the more gratifying that the president of SAT, Lanti, who also
publishes the Esperanto newspaper Sennaciulo, stands entirely on the
ground of the party political neutrality of SAT. In an open letter to
many SAT members he assumes a position against the communist attempts
to link SAT to a definite political program, by which the CP wants to
secure for itself a better foundation for its domination. The CP
wants first, that SAT compels all members to recognize Marxism as
“the correct basis on which the firm unity of the proletarian
Esperantists can be founded".</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>[…]</blockquote>
<blockquote>In addition, Lanti quite rightly throws back the opinion
that non-Marxist viewpoints such as those of Nelson, Kropotkin or
Gesell should remain undiscussed in the newspaper, because "the
vast majority of organized workers recognize Marxism as the
theoretical basis for their class struggle”. That is totally
incorrect - let's think about England, Spain or India!</blockquote>
<blockquote>[…]</blockquote>
<blockquote>It is desirable that Lanti's positions continue to be
guiding SAT and its newspaper, so that the very desirable propaganda
for Esperanto as an international means of understanding, especially
as a tool for a fighting working class should not be hindered by a
dogmatic and party-politically narrow framework.</blockquote>
<blockquote><b>We greet the Esperantists in Stuttgart </b>[title
originally in Esperanto] (from Der Funke 1932-08-06) In the second
week of August, the 12th congress of ... SAT meets in Stuttgart. […]</blockquote>
<blockquote>SAT for two reasons is particularly called to work on the
creation of the socialist united front: Its members are linked by the
bond of a common language. […] SAT also fulfills an important
prerequisite for the collaboration in the creation of united front of
the various workers parties. The management of SAT has been resisting
firmly and successfully for years against the disrespect of party
political neutrality within the Association. [...]</blockquote>
<blockquote><b>The working Esperantists in Stuttgart</b> (from Der
Funke 1932-09-01) The 12th congress of the world association of
working Esperantists (SAT) 250 comrades from 12 countries
participated despite the bad economic situation.</blockquote>
<blockquote>[…]</blockquote>
<blockquote>The most important result of the congress was the
re-securing of the party political neutrality of SAT.</blockquote>
<blockquote>[…]</blockquote>
<blockquote>Also the efforts to change the current structure of SAT –
a union of all the proletarian Esperantists without regard to their
nationality or race - by associating national associations, were
unanimously rejected.</blockquote>
<blockquote>With the exception of the proposers, all the comrades
emphasized the necessity right now, of a front between the workers
and the growing wave of nationalism, not only emphasizing the
international connectedness of the proletariat, but also to
practically realize it, for which purpose the present stateless
organizational form offers the best basis.</blockquote>
<blockquote>[...]</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">Its known that Hermann Platiel
was both an ISK and SAT member. Born in 1896 (or possibly 1886) and
died in 1980, Platiel was hired as an administrator for the SAT
office in Leipzig from the 8</span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;">th</span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;">
of May 1929 until 1932. In Leipzig he also led the local ISK branch.
After Lanti stood down from the post it was Platiel who became the
President and Director of SAT from 1933-35. SAT published his text
</span><i>History of the schism in the Workers Esperanto-Movement:
Documentation which shows the causes and responsibilities and
prepares the foundation for united action. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">He
then became the secretary of the French Esperanto section of ISK
1938-39. I do not know if he has been active in SAT since the 40s or
maintained any relationship with Esperanto at all. Petro Levi who
joined SAT shortly after the war does not remember seeing him when I
asked, and I was not able to find anything online, though of course
there are still other sources to check, </span>
</p>
<p> <span style="font-style: normal;">In 1943 he illegally fled to
Switzerland, and worked for the "Schweizer Hilfswerk"
(Swiss Relief Fund) and wrote reports for the London foreign
leadership of ISK. Before the escape to Switzerland he was located in
the southern French city of Montauban, to which he fled from the
internment camp in Gurs. There he married with well-known ISK member
Nora Platiel (née Block). In 1949 they settled in the German city of
Kassel, where Nora began a career as a court jurist and then a
representative of the Hesse parliament (for the SPD). Hermann worked
as a director of a theatre in Kassel, according to reports with great
commitment. </span>
</p>
<p><span style="font-style: normal;">This summary of facts about ISK's
relations with Esperanto and especially with SAT is very incomplete.
Further research would be worthwhile. Research in the archive of SAT
in Paris should provide insights about that, also about Hermann
Platiel personally, and would answer the question whether he and
possibly others ISK members played a role in the then Vegetarian
Section of SAT, which we can guess, but do not know now.</span></p>
<p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">4.
Sources</span></span></p>
<p>• Das Schlachten beenden!, Verlag Graswurzelrevolution,
Nettersheim 2010 [GWR estas</p>
<p>monata ĵurnalo kaj eldonejo dediĉitaj al senperforta anarkiismo,
kun ekologia emfazo kaj</p>
<p>simpatianta kun veganismo; pli ĉe www.graswurzel.net]</p>
<p>• Heiner Lindner: Um etwas zu erreichen, muss man sich etwas
vornehmen, von dem man</p>
<p>glaubt, dass es unmöglich sei – Der Internationale
Sozialistische Kampf-Bund (ISK) und</p>
<p>seine Publikationen, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung 2006,
http://library.fes.de/pdf-</p>
<p>files/historiker/03535.pdf</p>
<p>• Vikipedio germanlingva: ISK, Nora Platiel kaj esperantlingva
pri Hermann Platiel</p>
<p>• urba arkivejo de Göttingen:
http://www.stadtarchiv.goettingen.de/widerstand/texte/isk-</p>
<p>goettingen_1933-1935.html</p>
<p>Gary Mickle</p>
<p>Translated into English by Reddebrek</p>
Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-59064252987939763432023-06-30T16:25:00.001+01:002023-06-30T16:25:00.129+01:00Russia, the mirage of support for the war - Le Monde Diplomatique<p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Russia, the mirage of support for the war</b></span></span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://eo.mondediplo.com/2023/06/article3079.html">Source article</a>.<br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9yt7GZGoCfN7xlBPeX_tk304ORy0liwk02l8zAnuFHcoith3FQJWXVodzMLHrOqEG_7E2JLGmBNhp7VIJCSsUsCicQNwGElNR7UC-Pvtm0lUzet5MZq9628QK8UDWboO_RrrkYY2c3rIvNiH9RSTAu29lS1WalruS2Zly7_hw4BKSSIGVJKvKtuWMEJJ/s640/Protest_against_the_invasion_of_Ukraine_(Yekaterinburg,_February_24,_2022).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm9yt7GZGoCfN7xlBPeX_tk304ORy0liwk02l8zAnuFHcoith3FQJWXVodzMLHrOqEG_7E2JLGmBNhp7VIJCSsUsCicQNwGElNR7UC-Pvtm0lUzet5MZq9628QK8UDWboO_RrrkYY2c3rIvNiH9RSTAu29lS1WalruS2Zly7_hw4BKSSIGVJKvKtuWMEJJ/w640-h428/Protest_against_the_invasion_of_Ukraine_(Yekaterinburg,_February_24,_2022).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> </p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Unmanned drones over
the Kremlin, evacuation of civilians in the region of Belgorod, an
attack on the nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin: In May, Kyiv
intensified its operations on the territory of Russia. Will these
symbolic actions really undermine the credibility of the government?
Although the effect of the wave of patriotism still exists, criticism
of the elites is also increasing and does not only concern opponents
of the war...</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">At first glance, the
Russian ship of state appears to be weathering the storm the Kremlin
unleashed when it invaded its Ukrainian neighbour. More than a year
after the start of the war, the country's economy is in recession but
has not collapsed (-2.1% in 2022). If we believe the results of
opinion polling companies, even those independent of the state(1)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote1sym" name="sdfootnote1anc"><sup>1</sup></a>,
a majority of the population still favours continuing the "special
military operation". But the cracks in Russian society are
widening, revealing some surprising points of agreement: regardless
of their opinion on the war, more and more Russians distrust the
"elites". Already noticeable before the start of the
invasion in February 2022 (2)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote2sym" name="sdfootnote2anc"><sup>2</sup></a>,
this mistrust is growing.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">At a time when the
climate of fear is intensifying in Russia, it is very difficult to
feel the pulse of society, but sometimes useful lessons can be drawn
from the methodical remarks made by the independent opinion polling
companies. One example is the drop in response rates. According to
Russian Field, a company that conducts marketing studies and opinion
polls, only between 5.9% and 9.3% of respondents now answer all of
its questions about the "special military operation", a
rate three or four times lower than that of pre-conflict opinion
polls (3)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote3sym" name="sdfootnote3anc"><sup>3</sup></a>.
In one of its polls last February (4)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote4sym" name="sdfootnote4anc"><sup>4</sup></a>,
the company asked respondents if they preferred initiatives that
would intensify the offensive or those that could bring about peace.
Only 27% said they support intensification, compared to 34% who
preferred steps to peace.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Three groups deserve
particular attention. The "party of war" which, according
to opinion polls, represents between 25% and 37% of respondents,
approves the persecution of dissidents, declares itself ready to
sacrifice social policy in favor of military goals, and condemns
deserters. This opinion is particularly well represented among the
elderly and groups with high incomes. At the other end of the
spectrum, the "party of peace" - between 10% and 36% of
those surveyed - consists mostly of young people and the poorest
respondents. Those who are between the two extremes either say that
it is difficult to answer, or give contradictory answers. Although
they are often opposed to an intensification of the war, they
nevertheless yield to the official position of the authorities.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Incompetence of the Generals</span></span></p>
<p>The party of war has its spokespersons on social networks through
the accounts of those who could be called "extreme patriots".
In the meantime, their freedom to speak is not subject to any
restrictions, but it worries the leadership, which fears competition
for supremacy. "We don't have to fear the liberal Maidan
[overthrow of the government in Ukraine in 2014]: the liberals all
fled. (...) Today, the only danger for our state is the Maidan of the
extreme patriots dyed with a little leftism and supported by debates
on corruption" declared Mr. Oleg Matveichev, deputy of the Duma
for United Russia, the president's party last February (5)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote5sym" name="sdfootnote5anc"><sup>5</sup></a>.</p>
<p>Since the beginning of the invasion, the operations have been
covered on social networks by so-called "war bloggers"
(<i>voienkori</i>), who are actually supporters of the extreme right
with military or paramilitary connections. The most famous is Mr.
Igor Strelkov, a former officer of the Federal Security Service (FSB)
with monarchist convictions. In 2014, as the commander of a
detachment of Russian volunteers, he captured the city of Slovyansko,
in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Although Moscow provided military
support to the separatists at the time, the capriciousness and
fanaticism of their leaders worried the Kremlin (6)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote6sym" name="sdfootnote6anc"><sup>6</sup></a>.
Mr. Strelkov was forced to leave Donbass. Today, his channel on
<i>Telegram</i> has almost one million subscribers. In it, he
complains that the Kremlin is not fighting the Ukrainian enemy
vigorously enough. After the military setbacks in the fall of 2022,
Strelkov and other radical nationalists are condemning the
shortcomings of President Putin's regime: inadequate organization of
supplies for the army, the weakness of the defense industry, the
incompetence and corruption of generals, and a second-rate ruling an
elite who lives in luxury while the homeland is in danger. They even
insinuate that part of President Putin's entourage secretly wishes to
reconcile with the West, even if that means capitulation. "<i>If
they leave Russia during this war, we probably won't be able to touch
their dear partners in the West, but with them we will do everything
possible to settle the accounts,</i>" Mr. Strelkov wrote on
February 3, 2023. He doubts that the current government is capable of
winning the war. "<i>The Great Disturbance [as he calls the
consequences of the war] is now inevitable. Those in high places know
this well, and they are worried. Our goal is to transform the
Disturbance into a national and patriotic victory</i>", wrote
Mr. Maksim Kalashnikov (7)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote7sym" name="sdfootnote7anc"><sup>7</sup></a>,
an admirer of Joseph Stalin's power politics, and an ally of Mr.
Strelkov.</p>
<p>The "anger" of patriots outside the system has spread to
loyalists in the war camp, a cause of great concern for the Kremlin.
Against a background of competition with the generals of the ordinary
army, Mr. Yevgeny Prigozhin, owner of the Wagner group, a private
military company deployed heavily in Ukraine, now speculates about
the problems of social inequality, corruption and incompetence of the
military hierarchy. But his public activism displeased the
presidential administration, which barred him from prisons, where he
recruited volunteers for the front from among the prison inmates. The
new chief of the military staff, Valerij Gerassimov, reduced the
supply of ammunition to Wagner. The reaction of this former staunch
supporter of the president was to force his fighters to record videos
in the style of Mr. Strelkov, in which the commanders and officials
were accused of treason. In one of them, a fighter declares, standing
in front of corpses: "Stop the nonsense, (...) let us defend our
homeland (8)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote8sym" name="sdfootnote8anc"><sup>8</sup></a>."
Mr. Prigozhin took a further step when, in a video that appeared on
the day of the May 9 celebrations (victory against Nazism, according
to the Soviet calendar), he evoked "a happy grandfather [who
believes that everything is fine]". "What will become of
Russia if it turns out, and I'm only guessing, that this grandpa is a
complete scoundrel?" he added, in an almost self-evident
allusion to Mr. Putin.</p>
<p>The soldiers and officers in the trenches are also angry. The
mobilization announced at the end of September 2022 recruited between
320,000 soldiers (according to official figures) and 500,000
(according to independent estimates (9)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote9sym" name="sdfootnote9anc"><sup>9</sup></a>.
Recent measures adopted by the Duma in April 2023 - electronic
mobilization calls, bans on going abroad for conscripts, blocking of
sales of the real estate of exiles - should increase their numbers.
The mobilization mainly affected the poorest regions, especially
small towns and villages in economically distressed provinces, which
make up Mr. Putin's traditional electorate. The authorities initially
called for reserve officers and citizens with special military
skills: middle-aged men from regions far from Moscow, with low or
medium incomes. Most of them are "neutralists," that is,
the social group that supports the war not out of militaristic
conviction but out of loyalty. But it is they who are now being hit
by the full force of combat operations.</p>
<p>To prevent rebellion, the state spares no expense. Salaries
average 200,000 rubles a month (about 2,500 euros), ten times more
than what a worker could hope to earn in a small town in a
deindustrialized region. In April, Mr. Putin announced the creation
of a special fund for bereaved family members and war veterans. But
in a video posted on his YouTube channel Roi on February 5, Mr.
Kalashnikov believes that only victory will ensure the survival of
the regime: "<i>A completely new reality is emerging. Soldiers
are about to return from the front, holding weapons. They will
resemble the German and Italian veterans of the First World War: they
will return as maximalists, with a strong sense of justice defied.
And they will not listen to the obscenities of United Russia.</i>"</p>
<p>In the meantime, the soldiers expressed their "maximalism"
in other ways. Spontaneous riots, although sporadic, began to occur.
Soldiers protest the lack of equipment and training, leave their
squads voluntarily, clash with their officers and stop transport
trains. The authorities succeeded in extinguishing the first wave of
discontent by repression: soldiers were locked in cellars, beaten and
intimidated. Some of the rebels were sentenced to long periods of
imprisonment as an example for others (10)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote10sym" name="sdfootnote10anc"><sup>10</sup></a>.
In January, mobilized soldiers were transported en masse from rear
detachments to the front, and casualties rose extremely high.
Although in 2022 journalists were able to compile the names of
Russian military personnel killed every week at from 200 to 250 (real
losses could be much higher), by March 2023. the list had reached
more than 800 names every week (11)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote11sym" name="sdfootnote11anc"><sup>11</sup></a>.</p>
<p>The press reports on cases of desertions, of which the real
numbers are probably higher. Soldiers run away from hospitals (12)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote12sym" name="sdfootnote12anc"><sup>12</sup></a>,
jump off trains taking them to the front (13)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote13sym" name="sdfootnote13anc"><sup>13</sup></a>,
drive tens of kilometres and get lost in the rear (14)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote14sym" name="sdfootnote14anc"><sup>14</sup></a>.
Relatives of mobilized soldiers have set up online forums to help
deserters plan their routes, find housing and avoid military patrols.
In February and early March, no less than eighteen videos were posted
on the Internet in which entire squads of mobilized soldiers refused
to carry out combat missions and asked to be returned to the rear
(15)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote15sym" name="sdfootnote15anc"><sup>15</sup></a>.</p>
<p>The anthropologist Aleksandra Arkhipova counted at least 85 places
in 65 cities where locals brought flowers and toys, a silent,
sloganless gesture of solidarity with Ukrainians and opposition to
the war (16)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote16sym" name="sdfootnote16anc"><sup>16</sup></a>.
Despite this deliberate discretion, some were arrested next to these
"flower monuments" and were convicted of "discrediting
the Russian army". But despite this, several thousand Russians
deliberately put themselves at risk. The researcher and her team
realized that many of them had never participated in opposition
rallies before. Monuments appeared in cities that had never before
been centers of protests against the registry: Orenburg, Nizhny
Tagil, Omsk, Gorno-Altaysko.</p>
<p align="center" style="break-after: avoid; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.11cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: large;">Flowers
of Protest</span></span></p>
<p>Only a quarter of these floral monuments appeared in places
associated with Ukraine, such as streets with "Ukrainian"
names. In 47 of the 85 cases, these commemorations took place in
places associated with victims of state crimes or misdeeds: monuments
to the victims of Stalinist terrorism and man-made disasters such as
Chernobyl, places where opponents died. "<i>The message is
unequivocal: the state has killed people before, it is killing people
now, and it will kill people again,</i>" Arkhipova says. In the
cities of Chakhty and Saratov, monuments to the victims of fascism
were chosen as memorials, making a comparison between the war of
aggression against Ukraine and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
Another wave of "flower protests" took place on the first
anniversary of the war. Despite more severe repression by the police,
at least 82 spontaneous places of remembrance reappeared in 59 cities
(17)<a class="sdfootnoteanc" href="#sdfootnote17sym" name="sdfootnote17anc"><sup>17</sup></a>.
Placing flowers on monuments to the victims of the state thus became
an ongoing form of collective action by opponents of the war.</p>
<p>Although the war inspired a wave of patriotism, this must be
qualified. Across all social strata and ideological camps, the same
process takes place: "us" and "them" take on new
meanings. The first encompasses variously "ordinary people",
"true patriots", "victims of the state", but the
last one is less ambiguous: it concerns those in authority, and no
longer only the external enemy. Without a transformation of the
situation on the battlefield, the front could move to the homeland.
And in the eyes of people on all sides, from nationalists to
pacifists, this government, which led the country into disaster, will
appear as the sole culprit. Then, the battle for Ukraine will become
a battle for a new Russia.</p>
<p><b>Alexej Sakhin</b> and <b>Lisa Smirnova</b> The article was
translated from Russian by Bleuenn Isambard, and into English by
Reddebrek.</p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
<div id="sdfootnote1"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote1anc" name="sdfootnote1sym">1</a>The
figures given in the article are taken from opinion polls carried
out by three research organizations or collectives, the Levada
Institute, Kroniki and Russian Field, which receives no public
funds. They registered between 56% and 77% of opinions favouring the
war in February. The number varies according to the wording of the
question.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote2"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote2anc" name="sdfootnote2sym">2</a>Karine
Clément, Quiet social protest in Russia. Ordinary social criticism
and nationalism, Éditions du Croquant, Vulaines-sur-Seine, 2021.</p>
<p class="sdfootnote"><br />
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote3"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote3anc" name="sdfootnote3sym">3</a>'One
year of the special military operation: the opinion of the Russians'
(in Russian), opinion poll conducted between January 31 and February
6, 2023, Russian Field, https://russianfield.com</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote4"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote4anc" name="sdfootnote4sym">4</a>Ibid.</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote5"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote5anc" name="sdfootnote5sym">5</a>'Members
of United Russia warn of Maidan threat of extreme patriotism'
(Russian), Politnavigator, 3 February 2023, www.politnavigator.net</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote6"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote6anc" name="sdfootnote6sym">6</a>See
Juliette Faure, 'Who are the falcons of Moscow?', Le Monde
Diplomatique, April 2022.</p>
<p class="sdfootnote"><br />
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote7"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote7anc" name="sdfootnote7sym">7</a>’Dangers
and demons of the Great Disturbance’, Livejournal (retejo de
blogoj), la 7-a de Januaro 2023,
https://m-kalashnikov.livejournal.com</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote8"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote8anc" name="sdfootnote8sym">8</a>In
a channel called 'Razbruzka_vagnera', Telegram, February 17, 2023.</p>
<p class="sdfootnote"><br />
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote9"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote9anc" name="sdfootnote9sym">9</a>'Let's
get married. Growing number of wedding parties shows that at least
492,000 people were mobilized in Russia until mid-October' (in
Russian), Mediazona, 24 October 2022, https://zona.media</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote10"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote10anc" name="sdfootnote10sym">10</a>('Soldier
who admonished an officer was sentenced to five and a half years of
imprisonment under harsh conditions' (Russian), Gazeta.ru, January
11, 2023, www.gazeta.ru</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote11"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote11anc" name="sdfootnote11sym">11</a>Russia's
losses in Ukraine, graph regularly updated, Mediazona,
https://zona.media/casualties</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote12"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote12anc" name="sdfootnote12sym">12</a>'Wounded
soldier from the Tyumen region escaped from the hospital in Mirny'
(Russian), Tyumen Online, February 7, 2023, https://72.ru</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote13"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote13anc" name="sdfootnote13sym">13</a>'Mobilizers
escaped from their train in the Voronezh region' (in Russian), RBK,
February 5, 2023, www.rbc.ru</p>
<p class="sdfootnote"><br />
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote14"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote14anc" name="sdfootnote14sym">14</a>At
the border with Donbas, in the Rostov region, a deserter is
arrested' (in Russian), Bezformata, February 3, 2023,
https://rostovnadonu.bezformata.com</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote15"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote15anc" name="sdfootnote15sym">15</a>'The
mobilized send their complaints', Telegram, channel 'Viorstka',
March 9, 2023, https://t.me/svobodnieslova/1566</p>
<p class="sdfootnote" style="margin-left: 0cm; text-indent: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote16"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote16anc" name="sdfootnote16sym">16</a>Aleksandra
Arkhipova, 'Consent as a form of protest' (in Russian), Kholod,
February 2, 2023, https://holod.media</p>
<p class="sdfootnote"><br />
</p>
</div>
<div id="sdfootnote17"><p class="sdfootnote"><a class="sdfootnotesym" href="#sdfootnote17anc" name="sdfootnote17sym">17</a>Calculation
made by Alexandra Arkhipova and published on Telegram on February
27, 2023, https://t.me/anthro_fun/2075</p>
</div>
<p> </p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-44977831776168511212023-06-27T17:36:00.002+01:002023-06-27T17:36:29.842+01:00Translation of a talk on the Esperanto Workers Movement<p> </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjxArP6dk9djkXfoq08z1CV-iW0iqFjdLMDIyfuQOR9kLqfDrG4T9UoAps_KxyJZBgJA46mdGw61_rAxBewCvhIxIEMt8sEnGjgfIiwvrrNpw76scD1DsRw2san5xJbW-0BRnhfpzpdxbwBLLTk36CadLBgChhbfMXImuI5Mq9hnf3SUwUrYY7ooBcMRGj/s640/640px-SAT-kongreso_1926_Leningrado.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjxArP6dk9djkXfoq08z1CV-iW0iqFjdLMDIyfuQOR9kLqfDrG4T9UoAps_KxyJZBgJA46mdGw61_rAxBewCvhIxIEMt8sEnGjgfIiwvrrNpw76scD1DsRw2san5xJbW-0BRnhfpzpdxbwBLLTk36CadLBgChhbfMXImuI5Mq9hnf3SUwUrYY7ooBcMRGj/w640-h480/640px-SAT-kongreso_1926_Leningrado.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y7Mws1xaR4k" width="320" youtube-src-id="y7Mws1xaR4k"></iframe></div><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" role="text">La
intermilita periodo, inter 1920 kaj 1940, estis ja riĉa je eventoj kaj
ŝanĝoj por la laborista movado per la fondo de SAT, Sennacieca Asocio
Tutmonda, la eldono de multnombraj libroj, inkluzive de la Plena Vortaro
de Esperanto, kaj revuoj kiel Sennacieca Revuo. </span><p></p><p><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" role="text">(Ne forgesu, ke ĉiuj EsKu-aj filmetoj havas subtitolojn. Ne hezitu uzi ilin)</span></p><p><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" role="text"> </span></p><p><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" role="text"></span>Saluton al vi ĉiuj, spektantoj de EsKu, nia nun tre bone konata kanalo pri Esperanto-Kulturo. </p><p>Se unuafoje vi malkovras ĉi tiun filmserion, sciu ke vi povas aboni la kanalon, dank’ al la butono «abono». </p><p>Tion farinte, vi ne maltrafos niajn venontajn filmetojn. <br /></p><p>
</p><div aria-label="50 seconds Kio estos la temo de via hodiaŭa parolado, Pascal? " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Kio estos la temo de via hodiaŭa parolado, Pascal?
</div>
<div aria-label="55 seconds Viaj du antaŭaj filmoj, la 35-a kaj la 37-a, pritraktis la evoluon de la neŭtrala movadparto inter la Unua kaj la Dua Mondmilitoj." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Viaj
du antaŭaj filmoj, la 35-a kaj la 37-a, pritraktis la evoluon de la
neŭtrala movadparto inter la Unua kaj la Dua Mondmilitoj.
</div>
<div aria-label="1 minute, 8 seconds Supozeble vi nun klarigos, kiel anoncite fine de la filmo 37-a, la evoluon de la laborista movadflanko en la sama epoko." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Supozeble vi nun klarigos, kiel anoncite fine de la filmo 37-a, la evoluon de la laborista movadflanko en la sama epoko.
</div>
<div aria-label="1 minute, 21 seconds Saluton, karaj spektantoj de EsKu! Vi pravas pri la hodiaŭa temo, Thierry. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Saluton, karaj spektantoj de EsKu! Vi pravas pri la hodiaŭa temo, Thierry.
</div>
<div aria-label="1 minute, 28 seconds La intermilita periodo, inter 1920 kaj 1940, estis ja riĉa je eventoj kaj ŝanĝoj por ambaŭ flankoj de la Esperanto-movado," class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
La intermilita periodo, inter 1920 kaj 1940, estis ja riĉa je eventoj kaj ŝanĝoj por ambaŭ flankoj de la Esperanto-movado,
</div>
<div aria-label="1 minute, 39 seconds kaj mi denove resumu la tuton, ne povante doni ĉiujn plej etajn detalojn de la pli kaj pli kompleksa historio de nia lingvo." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
kaj mi denove resumu la tuton, ne povante doni ĉiujn plej etajn detalojn de la pli kaj pli kompleksa historio de nia lingvo.
</div><p> </p><p>
</p><div aria-label="2 minutes, 17 seconds Nepras diri, ke SAT rapide decidis uzi Esperanton praktike kaj iel neglekti propagandan laboron. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Nepras diri, ke SAT rapide decidis uzi Esperanton praktike kaj iel neglekti propagandan laboron.
</div>
<div aria-label="2 minutes, 26 seconds Ĝi ekz. kreis korespondan servon por ebligi rilatojn inter laboristaj asocioj disaj en la mondo, " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ĝi ekz. kreis korespondan servon por ebligi rilatojn inter laboristaj asocioj disaj en la mondo,
</div>
<div aria-label="2 minutes, 35 seconds gazetan servon por konigi novaĵojn sociajn aŭ sindikatajn," class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
gazetan servon por konigi novaĵojn sociajn aŭ sindikatajn,
</div>
<div aria-label="2 minutes, 40 seconds eldonkooperativon por publikigi kelkajn gravajn verkojn, i.a. de Tolstoj kaj Kropotkin." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
eldonkooperativon por publikigi kelkajn gravajn verkojn, i.a. de Tolstoj kaj Kropotkin.
</div>
<div aria-label="2 minutes, 50 seconds Ĝi ankaŭ organizis siajn proprajn kongresojn kaj multajn instrusesiojn." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ĝi ankaŭ organizis siajn proprajn kongresojn kaj multajn instrusesiojn.
</div>
<div aria-label="2 minutes, 59 seconds Do efektive grava laboro plenumita de SAT! Tio verŝajne donis ŝancon al Esperanto disvastiĝi en la laborista medio, ĉu ne?" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Do efektive grava laboro plenumita de SAT! Tio verŝajne donis ŝancon al Esperanto disvastiĝi en la laborista medio, ĉu ne?
</div>
<div aria-label="3 minutes, 12 seconds Efektive. Danke al SAT, la grava signifo kaj praktika utilo de Esperanto iĝis pli kaj pli agnoskitaj, eĉ ekster la Esperanto-movado. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Efektive.
Danke al SAT, la grava signifo kaj praktika utilo de Esperanto iĝis pli
kaj pli agnoskitaj, eĉ ekster la Esperanto-movado.
</div>
<div aria-label="3 minutes, 26 seconds Nia lingvo estis uzita de asocioj ne Esperantaj, ekz. Internacia Laborista Olimpiado, Internacio de militrezistantoj, " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Nia lingvo estis uzita de asocioj ne Esperantaj, ekz. Internacia Laborista Olimpiado, Internacio de militrezistantoj,
</div><p>
</p><div aria-label="3 minutes, 55 seconds Rezolucio favora al Esperanto estis proponita en 1925 de la Brita Kongreso de Sindikatoj." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Rezolucio favora al Esperanto estis proponita en 1925 de la Brita Kongreso de Sindikatoj.
</div>
<div aria-label="4 minutes, 5 seconds Samepoke, la Internacia Transportlaborista Federacio regule reklamis nian lingvon per rubriko en sia federacia organo. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Samepoke, la Internacia Transportlaborista Federacio regule reklamis nian lingvon per rubriko en sia federacia organo.
</div>
<div aria-label="4 minutes, 18 seconds Imagu eĉ, ke nur Esperanto-parolantoj rajtis kandidatiĝi al la Centra Komitato de la Hispana Metalista Federacio, laŭ decido de ties kongreso en 1925!" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Imagu
eĉ, ke nur Esperanto-parolantoj rajtis kandidatiĝi al la Centra
Komitato de la Hispana Metalista Federacio, laŭ decido de ties kongreso
en 1925!
</div>
<div aria-label="4 minutes, 34 seconds Vi ĵus menciis britan kongreson kaj hispanan federacion; tio donas al mi la emon demandi, ĉu la agado de SAT efikis tiam internaciskale?" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Vi
ĵus menciis britan kongreson kaj hispanan federacion; tio donas al mi
la emon demandi, ĉu la agado de SAT efikis tiam internaciskale?
</div>
<div aria-label="4 minutes, 48 seconds Mi respondas jese per nura fakto: post 1920, miloj da laboristoj eklernis Esperanton, kiu ebligis al ili korespondi kun sammetianoj " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Mi
respondas jese per nura fakto: post 1920, miloj da laboristoj eklernis
Esperanton, kiu ebligis al ili korespondi kun sammetianoj
</div>
<div aria-label="5 minutes, 3 seconds el fremdaj landoj kaj legi bultenojn aŭ revuojn eldonitajn de pluraj tiamaj Laboristaj Esperanto-Asocioj (konataj sub la siglo LEA). " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
el
fremdaj landoj kaj legi bultenojn aŭ revuojn eldonitajn de pluraj
tiamaj Laboristaj Esperanto-Asocioj (konataj sub la siglo LEA).
</div>
<div aria-label="5 minutes, 16 seconds Pri tiuj LEA-oj, sciu ke kelkaj el ili ekzistis jam komence de la 20-a jarcento, eĉ antaŭ la Unua Kongreso de 1905" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Pri tiuj LEA-oj, sciu ke kelkaj el ili ekzistis jam komence de la 20-a jarcento, eĉ antaŭ la Unua Kongreso de 1905
</div><p>
</p><div aria-label="5 minutes, 34 seconds Kreiĝis ekzemple Sveda Esperanto-Asocio en 1921, Aŭstria Esperanto-Ligo kaj Pollanda Laborista Esperanto-Societo «Laboro» en 1922." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Kreiĝis
ekzemple Sveda Esperanto-Asocio en 1921, Aŭstria Esperanto-Ligo kaj
Pollanda Laborista Esperanto-Societo «Laboro» en 1922.
</div>
<div aria-label="5 minutes, 52 seconds Kelkaj el la Laboristaj Esperanto Asocioj, kvankam sendependaj de SAT, kunlaboris kun ĝi." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Kelkaj el la Laboristaj Esperanto Asocioj, kvankam sendependaj de SAT, kunlaboris kun ĝi.
</div>
<div aria-label="6 minutes, 1 second Dume, Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda pli kaj pli kreskis: ĝia ĉiujara jarlibro, kiu entenis la adresojn de ĉiuj anoj," class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Dume, Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda pli kaj pli kreskis: ĝia ĉiujara jarlibro, kiu entenis la adresojn de ĉiuj anoj,
</div>
<div aria-label="6 minutes, 11 seconds listigis 2 705 membrojn en 1925 kaj 6 524 en 1929, kun multe da, tiam, el Rusio." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
listigis 2 705 membrojn en 1925 kaj 6 524 en 1929, kun multe da, tiam, el Rusio.
</div>
<div aria-label="6 minutes, 26 seconds Aldone, sciu ke ĝis 1925 estis malpermesite al la anoj de SAT membriĝi ankaŭ en «neŭtrala» Esperanto-asocio." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Aldone, sciu ke ĝis 1925 estis malpermesite al la anoj de SAT membriĝi ankaŭ en «neŭtrala» Esperanto-asocio.
</div>
<div aria-label="6 minutes, 39 seconds Tiu malpermeso estis poste malpli severe aplikata." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Tiu malpermeso estis poste malpli severe aplikata.
</div>
<div aria-label="6 minutes, 44 seconds Rilate la membronombron de SAT en 1929, Pascal, vi aludis pri Rusio. Mi profitas la okazon por ekscii pli pri ĉi tiu lando, " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Rilate la membronombron de SAT en 1929, Pascal, vi aludis pri Rusio. Mi profitas la okazon por ekscii pli pri ĉi tiu lando,
</div>
<div aria-label="6 minutes, 56 seconds ĉar delonge mi volis demandi al vi pri la aparta situacio de la laborista movado en Sovetunio. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
ĉar delonge mi volis demandi al vi pri la aparta situacio de la laborista movado en Sovetunio.
</div><p> </p><p>
</p><div aria-label="7 minutes, 31 seconds (Parenteze, mi diru ke Edmond Privat, en sia «Historio de la Lingvo Esperanto», uzis alian radikon, «sovjet’» en la landonomo Sovjetlando.) " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
(Parenteze,
mi diru ke Edmond Privat, en sia «Historio de la Lingvo Esperanto»,
uzis alian radikon, «sovjet’» en la landonomo Sovjetlando.)
</div>
<div aria-label="7 minutes, 44 seconds Jam en junio 1921, dum la Tria Tutruslanda Esperantista Kongreso, estis fondita SEU, Sovetlanda Esperantista Unuiĝo," class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Jam en junio 1921, dum la Tria Tutruslanda Esperantista Kongreso, estis fondita SEU, Sovetlanda Esperantista Unuiĝo,
</div>
<div aria-label="7 minutes, 57 seconds kiu ŝanĝis sian nomon en 1927 al Sovetrespublikara Esperantista Unio. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
kiu ŝanĝis sian nomon en 1927 al Sovetrespublikara Esperantista Unio.
</div>
<div aria-label="8 minutes, 7 seconds Tiu SEU iel iĝis, aldone al SAT, alia grava laborista centro en nia movado. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Tiu SEU iel iĝis, aldone al SAT, alia grava laborista centro en nia movado.
</div>
<div aria-label="8 minutes, 16 seconds De la fondo de SEU prezidis ĝin Ernest Drezen, ĝis sia morto en 1937. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
De la fondo de SEU prezidis ĝin Ernest Drezen, ĝis sia morto en 1937.
</div>
<div aria-label="8 minutes, 26 seconds Ni do memoru pri du gvidantoj en la laborista Esperanto-movado: Lanti por SAT kaj Drezen por SEU. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ni do memoru pri du gvidantoj en la laborista Esperanto-movado: Lanti por SAT kaj Drezen por SEU.
</div>
<div aria-label="8 minutes, 35 seconds Kial? Ĉar ambaŭ gravis sed ne ĉiam tute akordiĝis. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Kial? Ĉar ambaŭ gravis sed ne ĉiam tute akordiĝis.
</div>
<div aria-label="8 minutes, 40 seconds Dum SAT celis grupigi ĉiujn maldekstrajn asociojn, SEU konservis fidelecon al pura ortodoksa marksismo." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Dum SAT celis grupigi ĉiujn maldekstrajn asociojn, SEU konservis fidelecon al pura ortodoksa marksismo.
</div><p> </p><p>
</p><div aria-label="9 minutes, 4 seconds (nomata ankaŭ Kominterno, kvankam ĉi tiu nomo ne estas oficiale registrita en niaj vortaroj)." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
(nomata ankaŭ Kominterno, kvankam ĉi tiu nomo ne estas oficiale registrita en niaj vortaroj).
</div>
<div aria-label="9 minutes, 15 seconds La propono estis rifuzita, kaj ambaŭ asocioj saĝe ne plu kritikis unu la alian. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
La propono estis rifuzita, kaj ambaŭ asocioj saĝe ne plu kritikis unu la alian.
</div>
<div aria-label="9 minutes, 23 seconds Tamen, en 1924 kaj 1925 okazis krizo en SAT pro anarkiistoj, kiuj plendis pri troa influo de la Komunista Internacio ĉe SAT " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Tamen, en 1924 kaj 1925 okazis krizo en SAT pro anarkiistoj, kiuj plendis pri troa influo de la Komunista Internacio ĉe SAT
</div>
<div aria-label="9 minutes, 36 seconds kaj pri neeblo skribi en SAT-organoj kontraŭ komunismo kaj Sovetunio." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
kaj pri neeblo skribi en SAT-organoj kontraŭ komunismo kaj Sovetunio.
</div>
<div aria-label="9 minutes, 43 seconds Ili do kreis en 1924 sian propran asocion, TLES, la Tutmondan Ligon de Esperantistaj Senŝtatanoj," class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ili do kreis en 1924 sian propran asocion, TLES, la Tutmondan Ligon de Esperantistaj Senŝtatanoj,
</div>
<div aria-label="9 minutes, 53 seconds kiu eldonis de 1925 ĝis 1931 neregulan gazeton: «Libera Laboristo». " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
kiu eldonis de 1925 ĝis 1931 neregulan gazeton: «Libera Laboristo».
</div>
<div aria-label="10 minutes, 4 seconds Sed TLES neniam havis gravan influon kaj multaj anarkiistoj ree aliĝis al SAT." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Sed TLES neniam havis gravan influon kaj multaj anarkiistoj ree aliĝis al SAT.
</div>
<div aria-label="10 minutes, 12 seconds Ĉu tiu krizo de 1924 far anarkiistoj kaj la repaciĝo de SAT kaj SEU iel ŝanĝis la influon de SAT tiuepoke?" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ĉu tiu krizo de 1924 far anarkiistoj kaj la repaciĝo de SAT kaj SEU iel ŝanĝis la influon de SAT tiuepoke?
</div>
<div aria-label="10 minutes, 26 seconds Mi dirus, ke tiuj eventoj estis ŝanco por SAT. Tion pruvas ĝia 6-a kongreso, kiu okazis en 1926 en Leningrado. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Mi dirus, ke tiuj eventoj estis ŝanco por SAT. Tion pruvas ĝia 6-a kongreso, kiu okazis en 1926 en Leningrado.
</div>
<div aria-label="10 minutes, 38 seconds Ĝi estis la unua granda internacia Esperanto-kongreso en Sovetunio, sukcesa plie ĉar ĝi kunigis 400 partoprenantojn el 14 landoj. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ĝi
estis la unua granda internacia Esperanto-kongreso en Sovetunio,
sukcesa plie ĉar ĝi kunigis 400 partoprenantojn el 14 landoj.
</div>
<div aria-label="10 minutes, 52 seconds Amplekse kreskis la nombro de SAT-anoj post la Leningrada kongreso. Mi jam antaŭe diris pri la 6 524 membroj en 1929. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Amplekse kreskis la nombro de SAT-anoj post la Leningrada kongreso. Mi jam antaŭe diris pri la 6 524 membroj en 1929.
</div>
<div aria-label="11 minutes, 5 seconds En tiu jaro, en la SAT-kongreso de Lepsiko, en Germanujo, partoprenis 650 esperantistoj el 22 landoj." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
En tiu jaro, en la SAT-kongreso de Lepsiko, en Germanujo, partoprenis 650 esperantistoj el 22 landoj.
</div>
<div aria-label="11 minutes, 15 seconds La grava signifo de SAT estis agnoskita en la Esperanto-movado kaj eĉ ekster ĝi." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
La grava signifo de SAT estis agnoskita en la Esperanto-movado kaj eĉ ekster ĝi.
</div>
<div aria-label="11 minutes, 23 seconds Por la movado mem, gravis asocio, kiu ĉiujare kapablas organizi sukcesajn kongresojn, kiu eldonas grandkvante diversajn gravajn verkojn." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Por
la movado mem, gravis asocio, kiu ĉiujare kapablas organizi sukcesajn
kongresojn, kiu eldonas grandkvante diversajn gravajn verkojn.
</div>
<div aria-label="11 minutes, 37 seconds Pri tiu eldonlaboro de SAT, mi ŝatus ekscii iom pli. Ĉu vi povus klarigi ĝiajn amplekson kaj gravecon?" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Pri tiu eldonlaboro de SAT, mi ŝatus ekscii iom pli. Ĉu vi povus klarigi ĝiajn amplekson kaj gravecon?
</div>
<div aria-label="11 minutes, 48 seconds En 1922 ekfunkciis Eldon-Kooperativo, kiu poste iĝis fako de SAT, prizorgata de la SAT-estraro. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
En 1922 ekfunkciis Eldon-Kooperativo, kiu poste iĝis fako de SAT, prizorgata de la SAT-estraro.
</div>
<div aria-label="11 minutes, 58 seconds Tiu ĉi celis konigi literaturajn verkojn kaj progresigi la eldonadon de Esperanto-literaturo, ĉu originala, ĉu traduka. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Tiu ĉi celis konigi literaturajn verkojn kaj progresigi la eldonadon de Esperanto-literaturo, ĉu originala, ĉu traduka.
</div>
<div aria-label="12 minutes, 8 seconds Komence de la nuna filmeto, mi aludis pri tradukoj de verkoj de Tolstoj («Ĥodinka» en 1929," class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Komence de la nuna filmeto, mi aludis pri tradukoj de verkoj de Tolstoj («Ĥodinka» en 1929,
</div>
<div aria-label="12 minutes, 16 seconds «Kristanismo kaj Patriotismo» en 1931), de Kropotkin («Etiko», en 1926)." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
«Kristanismo kaj Patriotismo» en 1931), de Kropotkin («Etiko», en 1926).
</div>
<div aria-label="12 minutes, 26 seconds Mi citu ankaŭ Lenin («Ŝtato kaj Revolucio», en 1926), Goethe («Faŭsto», en 1923)." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Mi citu ankaŭ Lenin («Ŝtato kaj Revolucio», en 1926), Goethe («Faŭsto», en 1923).
</div>
<div aria-label="12 minutes, 36 seconds Pri originalaj Esperantaj verkoj, mi nepre parolu pri tiuj de Eŭgeno Lanti («For la neŭtralismon!», en 1922, " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Pri originalaj Esperantaj verkoj, mi nepre parolu pri tiuj de Eŭgeno Lanti («For la neŭtralismon!», en 1922,
</div>
<div aria-label="12 minutes, 47 seconds «La Laborista Esperantismo» en 1928, «Vortoj de Kamarado E. Lanti», en 1931, «Leteroj de E. Lanti», en 1940). " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
«La Laborista Esperantismo» en 1928, «Vortoj de Kamarado E. Lanti», en 1931, «Leteroj de E. Lanti», en 1940).
</div>
<div aria-label="13 minutes, 1 second Mi ne forgesu ankaŭ Norbert Bartelmes, Eŭgeno Miĥalski, Paul Neergaard i.a. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Mi ne forgesu ankaŭ Norbert Bartelmes, Eŭgeno Miĥalski, Paul Neergaard i.a.
</div>
<div aria-label="13 minutes, 9 seconds Sed la ĉefa tiuepoka eldonaĵo de SAT sendube estis «Plena Vortaro de Esperanto», aperinta en 1930," class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Sed la ĉefa tiuepoka eldonaĵo de SAT sendube estis «Plena Vortaro de Esperanto», aperinta en 1930,
</div>
<div aria-label="13 minutes, 17 seconds ĉefe verkita de Émile Grosjean-Maupin, kun la helpo de Albert Esselin, Salomon Grenkamp-Kornfeld kaj de Gaston Waringhien." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
ĉefe verkita de Émile Grosjean-Maupin, kun la helpo de Albert Esselin, Salomon Grenkamp-Kornfeld kaj de Gaston Waringhien.
</div>
<div aria-label="13 minutes, 29 seconds Ĝi tuj iĝis kaj restis referencvortaro ĝis la apero en 1970 de PIV, ĝia ilustrita sekvanto kaj anstataŭanto. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ĝi tuj iĝis kaj restis referencvortaro ĝis la apero en 1970 de PIV, ĝia ilustrita sekvanto kaj anstataŭanto.
</div>
<div aria-label="13 minutes, 41 seconds Pri PV, Plena Vortaro de Esperanto, skribis iu S-ro Kopar, en 1931, en la revuo Literatura Mondo. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Pri PV, Plena Vortaro de Esperanto, skribis iu S-ro Kopar, en 1931, en la revuo Literatura Mondo.
</div>
<div aria-label="13 minutes, 51 seconds (Parenteze, Kopar estis la pseŭdonimo de la konata poeto kaj elstara tradukisto Kálmán Kalocsay.)" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
(Parenteze, Kopar estis la pseŭdonimo de la konata poeto kaj elstara tradukisto Kálmán Kalocsay.)
</div>
<div aria-label="13 minutes, 58 seconds Jen la citaĵo: «Zorge farita, ampleksa kaj detala, vere grandvalora verko...» " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Jen la citaĵo: «Zorge farita, ampleksa kaj detala, vere grandvalora verko...»
</div>
<div aria-label="14 minutes, 8 seconds Ĉu nur verkojn kaj ĉi-tiun gravan vortaron eldonis SAT?" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ĉu nur verkojn kaj ĉi-tiun gravan vortaron eldonis SAT?
</div>
<div aria-label="14 minutes, 13 seconds Tion mi demandas, ĉar depost la naskiĝo de nia lingvo rapide eldoniĝis multegaj revuoj." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Tion mi demandas, ĉar depost la naskiĝo de nia lingvo rapide eldoniĝis multegaj revuoj.
</div>
<div aria-label="14 minutes, 22 seconds Ĉu ankaŭ SAT disponigis periodaĵojn al sia membraro kaj al la tuta esperantistaro ? " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ĉu ankaŭ SAT disponigis periodaĵojn al sia membraro kaj al la tuta esperantistaro ?
</div>
<div aria-label="14 minutes, 32 seconds Via demando estas tute interesa, Thierry." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Via demando estas tute interesa, Thierry.
</div>
<div aria-label="14 minutes, 35 seconds Ĝi ja donas al mi la okazon paroli pri du ĉefaj revuoj eldonitaj de SAT en tiu intermilita epoko." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Ĝi ja donas al mi la okazon paroli pri du ĉefaj revuoj eldonitaj de SAT en tiu intermilita epoko.
</div>
<div aria-label="14 minutes, 43 seconds La unua estis la monata «Sennacieca Revuo», histori- scienc- pedagogi- kaj literaturtema," class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
La unua estis la monata «Sennacieca Revuo», histori- scienc- pedagogi- kaj literaturtema,
</div>
<div aria-label="14 minutes, 52 seconds kiu eldoniĝis ekde 1921, redaktita de Eŭgeno Lanti. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
kiu eldoniĝis ekde 1921, redaktita de Eŭgeno Lanti.
</div>
<div aria-label="14 minutes, 59 seconds De 1928 ĝis 1933, ĝi ŝanĝis sian nomon al «La Nova Epoko», kaj poste reprenis sian originan titolon." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
De 1928 ĝis 1933, ĝi ŝanĝis sian nomon al «La Nova Epoko», kaj poste reprenis sian originan titolon.
</div>
<div aria-label="15 minutes, 12 seconds La dua estis Sennaciulo, la oficiala gazeto de SAT, pli soci- kaj politiktema, kiu aperis ĉiusemajne de 1924 ĝis 1931, " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
La dua estis Sennaciulo, la oficiala gazeto de SAT, pli soci- kaj politiktema, kiu aperis ĉiusemajne de 1924 ĝis 1931,
</div>
<div aria-label="15 minutes, 26 seconds poste dusemajne ĝis januaro 1933 kaj poste monate. Ĝi havis monatan aldonon, «La Lernanto»." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
poste dusemajne ĝis januaro 1933 kaj poste monate. Ĝi havis monatan aldonon, «La Lernanto».
</div>
<div aria-label="15 minutes, 38 seconds Dankon pro tiuj klarigoj pri la SAT-revuoj, Pascal. Ĉu elĉerpiĝis la temo de la laborista movado inter la du Mondmilitoj" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Dankon pro tiuj klarigoj pri la SAT-revuoj, Pascal. Ĉu elĉerpiĝis la temo de la laborista movado inter la du Mondmilitoj
</div>
<div aria-label="15 minutes, 47 seconds aŭ ĉu vi dediĉu duan filmeton pri ĉi-tiu temo, same kiel vi faris por la samepoka neŭtrala movadflanko?" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
aŭ ĉu vi dediĉu duan filmeton pri ĉi-tiu temo, same kiel vi faris por la samepoka neŭtrala movadflanko?
</div>
<div aria-label="15 minutes, 58 seconds Vi tute bone konjektis pri la sekvo, Thierry. Efektive, multo plu direndas pri la historio de la laborista movado antaŭ la Dua Mondmilito. " class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Vi
tute bone konjektis pri la sekvo, Thierry. Efektive, multo plu direndas
pri la historio de la laborista movado antaŭ la Dua Mondmilito.
</div>
<div aria-label="16 minutes, 6 seconds Mi do dediĉos la filmon 41-an al tiu sama temo. Ĝis tiam, do…" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Mi do dediĉos la filmon 41-an al tiu sama temo. Ĝis tiam, do…
</div>
<div aria-label="16 minutes, 15 seconds Dankon, Pascal, ni do atendos la samteman sekvon." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Dankon, Pascal, ni do atendos la samteman sekvon.
</div>
<div aria-label="16 minutes, 20 seconds Se vi, karaj spektantoj, jam abonis nian kanalon, vi estos avertitaj pri la enretigo de ĉi tiu sekvo." class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Se vi, karaj spektantoj, jam abonis nian kanalon, vi estos avertitaj pri la enretigo de ĉi tiu sekvo.
</div>
<div aria-label="16 minutes, 29 seconds Se ne, kial prokrasti senpagan abonon? Ne hezitu aldoni vian nomon al la abonantaro!" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Se ne, kial prokrasti senpagan abonon? Ne hezitu aldoni vian nomon al la abonantaro!
</div>
<div aria-label="16 minutes, 38 seconds Dankon pro via atento, ĝis!" class="segment style-scope ytd-transcript-segment-renderer" role="button" tabindex="0">
Dankon pro via atento, ĝis!
</div>
<p> La Angla Traduko</p><p>Thiery: Hello everyone, especially the
viewers of EsKu, our now very popular channel about Esperanto culture.
If you've discovered this video series for the first time then you can
subscribe to our channel using the "subscribe" button below. Having done
that, then you will not miss any of our future videos.<br /></p><p>What
is the subject of today's talk Pascal? Your previous two talks, videos
35 and 37 sketched out the development of the Neutral* part of the
movement between the First and Second World Wars. I believe you will now
go on to explain the development of the Workers Esperanto movement in
the same period as you hinted you would at the end of video 37.<br /><br />Pascal:
Greetings dear viewers of EsKu. You are right about today's subject
Thierry. The interwar period between 1920 and 1940 was a time rich with
experiences and changes for both flanks of the Esperanto movement. Allow
me to summarize the main parts again, as I'm not capabale of giving the
most specific details of the complex history of our langauge. Regarding
this period the Workers Movement, and remember that in video 33 I
mostly talked about the founding of the SAT, Sennacieca Asocia Tutmonda
(World Anti-National Association), in the summer of 1921, and I talked
about its most important founder Eugene Adam more well known as Lanti.
It goes without saying that the SAT quickly prioritised adopting
Esperanto practically over propaganda work. For example, it created a
correspondence service to establish connections with workers
organisations across the world, a press service to spread awareness of
social affairs and labour unions, and founded a publishing co-operative
which published several important works, including those of Tolstoy and
Kropotkin. It also organised its own congresses and many study sessions.<br /></p><p> Thierry:
So, that was certainly important work by SAT, it would seem that its
efforts created a chance for Esperanto to establish itself in the
workers circles, right? </p><p>Pascal: Well, effectively thanks to SAT
both the significance and usefulness of Esperanto began to be
acknowledged more and more, even by those outside of the Esperanto
movement. Our language was being used by Associations that were not
officially linked to the Esperanto movement, as an example the
International Workers Olympiad, the War Resisters International, the
International of Socialist Struggle**, International Workers
Association, International Anti-militarism Office etc. The list of
associations of that sort that understood the use of Esperanto is quite
long. </p><p>A resolution in favour of Esperanto was proposed in 1925 at
the British Trade Union Congress. At the same time the International
Federation of Transport Workers regularly promoted our language in a
dedicated column in its own federal publication. And imagine this!
According to a decision by the Spanish Metalist Federation congress in
1925, only Esperanto speakers were allowed to become candidates for its
Central Committee.<br /></p><p> Thierry: You just mentioned the British
congress and the Spanish Federation, that gives me an urge to ask this,
did the activity of SAT have an impact on an international scale?</p><p>Pascal:
I will answer yes by citing this fact; after 1920 thousands of workers
started learning Esperanto, this enabled them to correspond with their
fellow workers in foreign countries, and to read bulletins and magazines
published by several Workers Esperanto Associations (known as WEAs). We
know that some of these WEAs existed since the beginning of the 20th
century, even before the first Universal Congress of 1905 at
Bulogne-Sur-Mer, but there number grew after the First World War. For
example a Swedish Esperanto Association was created in 1921, an Austrian
Esperanto League and the Polish Workers Esperanto Society "Labour" in
1922. Some these groups although they were independent of SAT
collaborated with it. Meanwhile, the SAT continued to grow; its annual
Yearbook which contained the contact information of its members listed
2,715 members in 1925 and 6,524 in 1929, and a lot of them were located
in Russia. </p><p>Additionally, you should know that until 1925 it was
forbidden for SAT members to join a "Neutral" Esperanto association.
This ban was later applied less severely. </p><p>Thierry: Regarding the
membership numbers of SAT in 1929 you alluded to Russia, I shall profit
from this occasion to begin learning more about that nation. Because I
have for a long time wanted to ask you about the unique situation of the
workers movement in the Soviet Union. During the period we're
discussing both the February and October revolutions of 1917 occurred
there afterall. </p><p>Pascal: That's completley correct Thierry. After
the October revolution the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
was founded, which became the Soviet Union in 1922. In June 1921 during
the All-Russian Congress of Esperanto speakers the Soviet Esperantist
Union (SEU) was formed. In 1927 it changed its name to the Soviet
Republican Esperantist Union. The SEU became, in addition to the SAT
another important centre for the Esperanto Workers movement. Ernest
Drezen presided over the SEU from its founding until his death in
1937***. </p><p>We should remember these two leaders of the Esperanto
Workers Movement, Lanti with the SAT and Drezen of the SEU. Why? Because
both are important but were not always aligned. While the SAT aimed to
unite every left wing association, the SEU maintained allegiance to pure
orthodox Marxism. During the third Congress of the SAT in Kassel (in
Germany) Drezen proposed that SAT join the Third International, also
called the Comintern, though that name does not appear in our
dictionaries. The proposal was defeated and both organisations wisely
decided to stop criticising each other. </p><p>However in 1924-25 there
was a crisis within SAT because Anarchist members were alarmed at the
influence of the Communist International within SAT and were frustrated
at not being able to write in SAT's press criticisms of Communism and
the Soviet Union. So they created their own organisation in 1924, TLES
Tutmonda Ligon de Esperantistaj Ŝenstatanoj the World League of
anti-State Esperantists. They also published from 1925 until 1931 an
irregular newspaper La Libera Laboristo, the Free Worker. But TLES
never had a major influence, and eventually most Anarchists rejoined the
SAT. </p><p>Thierry: Did the crisis with the Anarchists and the rapproachment with the SEU affect the influence of SAT at that time?</p><p>Pascal:
I would say that those events were an opportunity for SAT. This is
proved by its 6th Congress in 1926 which was held in Leningrad. It was
the first large Esperanto gathering in the Soviet Union, and even more
successful as it brought together 400 participants from 14 countries.
The number of SAT members grew immensely after the Leningrad Congress, I
have already spoken about the 6,524 members in 1929. In that year
during the SAT Congress in Leipzeig Germany 650 Esperantists
participated from 22 nations. The significance of SAT was acknowledged
by the Esperanto movement and even outside of it. </p><p>For the
movement itself, having an organisation that holds sucessful congresses
every year, and publishes a large qauntity of diverse and important
works was an essential asset. </p><p>Thierry: Regarding the publishing work of SAT, I would like to know more. Could you explain its scope and importance?<br /><br />Pascal:
In 1922 a publishing co-operative was opened which would become
absorbed into a department of SAT and run by the SAT board. Its aim was
to promote literary works and improve the publication of Esperanto
literature, whether translations or original works. At the beginning of
the video I mentioned the works of Tolstoy Khodynka in 1929,
Christianity and Patriotism in 1931, from Kropotkin Ethics in 1926, I
will also mention Lenin's State and Revolution in 1926 and Goethe's
Faust in 1923. Regarding original works I must mention Eugen Lanti's
"Cast Down Neutralism!" in 1922, the Workers Esperantism in 1928 and the
Words of Comrade E.Lanti 1931 and Letters of Eugene Lanti in 1940. I
also should not overlook Norbert Bartelmes, Eugene Michalski, Paul
Neergard etc. </p><p>But without a doubt the most important publication
of the SAT press in this time was the Complete Dictionary of Esperanto,
first published in 1930. Written mostly by Emile Grosjean-Maupin with
the assistance of Albert Esselin, Saloman Grenkamp-Kornfeld and Gaston
Waringhien. It immediately became and remained an important reference
dictionary until 1970 when the PIV the Illustrated Dictionary appeared
as its follower and replacement. About Complete Dictionary of Esperanto,
a Mr. Kopar wrote in 1931, in the magazine Literatura Mondo.
(Incidentally, Kopar was the pseudonym of the well-known poet and
outstanding translator Kálmán Kalocsay.) Here is the quote: "Carefully
made, comprehensive and detailed, a truly valuable work".</p><p>Thierry:
Did SAT publish only works and this important dictionary? That's what
I'm asking, because since the birth of our language, many magazines have
been published quickly. Did SAT also provide periodicals to its members
and to the entire Esperanto community?<br /></p><p> Pascal: You're
question is very interesting Thierry. It gives me an excuse to talk
about the two main SAT periodicals published during the interwar years.
The first was the monthly Sennacieca Magazine, an historical,
sceintific, teaching, literary magazine which has been published since
1921 and was edited by Eugene Lanti. Between 1928 and 1933 it changed
its title to the New Era, but afterwards returned to its original title.
The second was Sennaciulo the official organ of SAT which was more
political and socially active and it was published weekly from 1924
until 1931, when it was published fortnightly until 1933 when it became a
monthly paper. It also had a montly supplement called "The Pupil". </p><p>Thierry:
Thank you for your clarifications and explanations about the SAT
publications Pascal. Has the theme of the Esperanto Workers movement
between the World Wars been exhausted? Or will you dedicate a second
video to this topic as you did with the contemporeanous Neutralist
movement? <br /></p><p> Pascal: You've predicted the future very well
Thierry. There is indeed a lot more to say about the Esperanto Workers
movement before the Second World War. I will dedicate video 41 to the
same topic. So until then.</p><p>Thierry: Thank you Pascal, in that case
we will wait for the sequel. And if you dear viewers have subscribed to
our channel then you will be alerted to the publication of our next
video. But if not, why hesitate over a free subscription? Don't wait to
add your name to our followers. Thank you for your attention. Goodbye!</p><p>Pascal: Goodbye everyone!<br /></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY_WOkHf1zmdeNE09SZUOAobhiU7M3PDyawxWiM_QuremDTyXXiU2wvLyyXh2_CQe6eoQCkhX8f_vc3Psf6X9lRGy6useHMAwxdvDmOHLdIYV2JUJS4rgOUeSru64v5BBSfHIjhLhEggqlXo6Xu-8iRCgR8bXpswVQhDmw9eF-d8qia8qenmNxy0emP-Ds/s800/SAT-kongreso_Parizo_1935.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="800" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY_WOkHf1zmdeNE09SZUOAobhiU7M3PDyawxWiM_QuremDTyXXiU2wvLyyXh2_CQe6eoQCkhX8f_vc3Psf6X9lRGy6useHMAwxdvDmOHLdIYV2JUJS4rgOUeSru64v5BBSfHIjhLhEggqlXo6Xu-8iRCgR8bXpswVQhDmw9eF-d8qia8qenmNxy0emP-Ds/w640-h462/SAT-kongreso_Parizo_1935.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>*The
Neutral movement is the name for what is the more mainstream and
"official" part of the Esperanto movement. Despite the name it often
takes positions that would be considered extremely radical
(anti-militarism, cultural tolerance and language and minority rights,
open borders, etc) compared to normal society. Its Neutral in the sense
that its believes Esperanto should be open to everyone. The second
competing current in Esperanto is the Laborista or Workers Esperanto
movement. </p><p>** This is a reference to the German ISK, the
International Sozialisticher Kampfbund which was an split from the
German Social Democratic Party, the ISK produced some material in
Esperanto as well as in English and over languages.<br /></p><p><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" role="text"> ***
He was a victim of the purges of the Communist party carried out by
Stalin. He was "rehabilitated" in 1957 and even bizarrely given back his
membership of the Communist party in 1989 despite being dead for many
decades.<br /></span></p><p><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" role="text"> <br /></span></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-33336440109997236692023-06-02T17:45:00.003+01:002023-06-02T18:05:23.071+01:00Muscle Plex; Anarchism on film<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZMlHqkaKPkOO_zYYPp12kmmSL3UKb2--KoIvLiD3YXYdtdmj1v3HR-AiS0HOSrMYlm4-bkwLc0s8oK1EfdxWpSlDwszNmN6F7zqiJXTaiTuoFo_hOiYH5uOwD4kpaKgX4GYkgTuGy1AzAQNUfQzj__skrXTINMW55IAW3l7E0Aehdqx4XY2kvW7LzA/s711/zer0-conduct.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="474" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaZMlHqkaKPkOO_zYYPp12kmmSL3UKb2--KoIvLiD3YXYdtdmj1v3HR-AiS0HOSrMYlm4-bkwLc0s8oK1EfdxWpSlDwszNmN6F7zqiJXTaiTuoFo_hOiYH5uOwD4kpaKgX4GYkgTuGy1AzAQNUfQzj__skrXTINMW55IAW3l7E0Aehdqx4XY2kvW7LzA/w426-h640/zer0-conduct.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I've found a list of Anarchist films on <a href="https://letterboxd.com/rickii/list/cinema-anarchy/">letterboxd</a>. Well, to be more accurate, I found many lists with Anarchism and Anarchy in the title, but I like this one best. Most of the lists were about "Anarchic" as in screwball comedy. Once those were filtered out to include lists about the political and social definitions of Anarchism, there were still a lot of false positives. Many of these lists had interpreted Anarchism to be any form of vaguely radical political violence not obviously associated with the Far right. So, a lot of Soviet movies where the triumph of the Bolsheviks is the message of the movie and some that include the destruction of Anarchism as their plot, and Maoist agitprop. Or general political activism, which while no doubt interesting and educational don't have anything to say about Anarchism, and many have reformist "make the system work" messages. For an extreme example, several lists included the film Anarchy in the USA which despite the title is possibly the most anti-anarchist film ever made. It was made by the far right John Birch Society, and the film's content and aim is to popularise a conspiracy theory that the Communist Party of the United States of America, is in fact controlling the civil rights movement. But it has Anarchy in the title, so therefore it gets added to the list.<br /></p><p>This list however seems to contain few false positives. Though it's hard to be a 100% sure since many of the films on that list are very difficult to find. I was able to track down two entries on the streaming service Plex, which I had not heard of, but my TV has built in. The films were <i>Projekt A - A Journey to Anarchist Projects in Europe, </i>and <i>The Anarchist's Birthday. </i>I've watched both of them, and they're very, very different films, but I've decided to make this a double feature.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Project A</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Project A is a German language documentary released in 2016. Its subjects are a group of Anarchist projects around Europe. In Greece, Switzerland, Germany and Spain. The Anarchists interviewed are quite different in attitudes and activity. The Greek section mostly focuses on the squatting and alternative communities that have been established in the Athens district Exarchia. The film documents how locals handle decisions on how to restore and make use of an abandoned park. We also see how the Eurozone austerity crisis forced many to turn to a grassroots system of healthcare, in which Anarchists with medical skills administer prescriptions and check-ups and examinations. We also see community schools and day to day life on the streets. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The Swiss segment is the lightest part of the film, it's a short coverage of an international gathering at St. Imier, with some short interviews with participants about what Anarchism means, though this segment presented a good opportunity for a shift to a short animated sequence explaining some of the history of the European Anarchist movement and the role of Switzerland in it. </p><p style="text-align: left;">In Germany, there are two segments, the first is a sort of travel diary of a young German activist who is mainly focussed on working to block the transportation of uranium fuel and waste products through the countryside, and the second and final ending segment concerns the work of a Munich based agricultural collective called the Kartoffel Combinat, literally the Potato Combine. The Potato Combine is interesting as the narrator explains that none of the participants are Anarchists, or at least, they don't define their activity, their praxis, as Anarchist. It's included to make a point about content being more important than the label. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Spain, or Catalunya since that's where all the footage and the participants come from, is broken up into several different Anarchist activities. The two main examples are the CGT union and a network that the subtitles called the CIC. There is also a brief interview with a member of the Indiginados movement who is in hiding from the police. The Indiginados movement was a populist response in Spain to austerity, which had some Anarchist participation, but it was politically diverse, inevitable considering it numbered in the millions in its peak, some would say incoherent, like the Occupy movement only the Indiginados were prepared to take more direct and confrontational action. And of course being filmed in Barcelona the CNT in the 1930s is also referenced. This is done by a short primer section with footage from the time and animations, the segment on the CGT also includes more information on this period as it follows a CGT member as he conducts tours of Barcelona. Regarding the Spanish Civil War I think it strikes a good balance, it overshadows Anarchism in general but especially so in Barcelona and its surroundings, so not acknowledging it would be a strange omission, but the focus is on the present day. I was a bit surprised that the current CNT didn't feature at all, though it's true that the CGT is the biggest of the syndicalist unions in Spain, though I think sadly the decision has more to do with the rifts and instability within the CNT or CNTs as there are multiple rivals competing over its legacy.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Of the two directions, I preferred the CGTs segment, I don't dislike the CICs portion, but the CGTs relevance to Anarchism was more pronounced, whereas the CIC was a collection of snippets following several members on various projects of different kinds and at different stages. Also being a network for community groups and co-operatives, some of the participants weren't Anarchists nor were they really interested in it. One of my favourite parts of the documentary was at one of the offices of the CIC, the two members the film has followed are giving a tour and a crypto bro approaches them and starts talking about this ATM he has for cryptocurrency, which the two members clearly know nothing about, they're letting him talk about the power of bitcoin et al., and when he's finished one of them just says "Well, that's not really a revolution, but I'm sure it will help". Then they just move past him and start talking about plans to reclaim some land for sustainable agriculture and eco-villages. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Overall, I like the film. There are parts I think confuse more than clarify, but the nature of that type of documentary shooting means you're at the mercy of what happens on the day you're there. It covers a period that's underrepresented, the immediate aftermath to the 2008 financial crisis. There is a lot of content out there about this time period and beyond into the current year, but it's fragmented, mostly on isolated video channels, blogs and documentaries that seem to be allergic to having people watch them. Project A is an attempt to look at European Anarchism in a more substantial way, and it has had something of a push to be accessible. Plex in the UK is showing it free with ads and I found many entries about it on film databases and some German comments and reviews about it. It's still obscure but compared to say 2018s Kropotkin, a film so obscure not even the website of the director lists it in his projects section, it can be considered something of a box office smash.<br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Anarchist's Birthday</h3><p style="text-align: left;">2013s <i>The Anarchist's Birthday</i> is a very different kind of film. It's not a documentary, it's a fiction with a plot and characters. It's also one of those movies that can be described as a student film with some finances and access to professional actors. I don't know if that's the case, it's just the best way I can describe what the film looks like. I also don't mean that description as a criticism, it's clear that the crew have experience and the cast if they are amateurs don't commit any of the obvious giveaways. One of the actors, Daniel Lane the Anarchist whose enjoying his birthday has other credits, the rest of the cast I can only find a credit for this film.</p><p style="text-align: left;">As for the crew, this also appears to be the only film of the director Patrick Blake, who is also credited with the script. I think that's a shame, he handles this film pretty well considering the limitations. I like to play a game with my friends who enjoy films, coming up with more accurate titles for a film. For this film, I would change the name <i>The Anarchist's Birthday </i>for <i>Folk who Bicker in a Field for a bit. </i>There is an Anarchist and a birthday, but a lot more of the run time is dedicated to the characters struggling to accomplish their goals in a farmer's field and getting into friction with one another. I'm pleased there was an actual Anarchist in the film, in addition to all the filters I've listed there's one other that crops up quite a bit in fiction, a character who is called an Anarchist, or rarely a Nihilist, who is at most a bit quirky and a bit of a rebel when it comes to popular attitudes. Like the Punks these characters can be Anarchists, but they need more than a bit of an attitude towards authority figures. </p><p style="text-align: left;">The plot of <i>Anarchist Birthday</i> is as follows, a farmer discovers a woman in his field, the woman is what we in the UK call a Rough Sleeper, which is the polite term for the homeless. The Farmer thinks she's a witch, and -it turns out he's right, so he does the obvious thing, reports the matter to the Church and request an official Witch-hunt. The hunt is organised by the Vicar, the Anarchist and another young man called Jay are forced to participate since they're both on community service. In the world of the film, Witches are accepted as real by the government, who have set up a qualification for clergy to be licensed as official Witch-hunters. The film is a comedy, but it's one of those subtle comedies where the humour comes from the setting and not through jokes. The scene where the Witch-hunt is organised is where the film makes its humour clear, it's extremely bureaucratic with the Vicar making sure everyone's paperwork is in order. There is no gearing up scene with a booming techno score with shiny guns filmed from multiple angles. There is technically speaking two action scenes, but they're defy the expectations of the label. </p><p style="text-align: left;">I didn't laugh while watching the film, though some bits did strike me as clever. Once the film moves back to the field where the Witch is supposedly hiding it finds its stride. Essentially the plot can be summarised as the most inept and ill thought out exorcism ritual. Not one step of the plan, and there is a detailed step by step plan in accordance with government guidelines, is done with anything approaching expertise. The group just bumble along through the Vicars directions getting increasing fractious with each other. If you're wondering why I keep writing the Anarchist, Vicar, Farmer, etc, its because that's what those characters boil down too, they're supposed to be stand ins, they are given names, the Vicar checks them during the orientation chat before the hunt can commence, but they're not brought up much, I honestly keep forgetting them. The exceptions are Jay and his girlfriend Beyonce, they're names are brought up quite a bit, which is for the best because the Vicar and the Farmer represent authority and tradition, the Anarchist and the Witch the social rebels, Jay and Beyonce represent working class angst. They'd be called by the slur the Chavs under this theming. The film's blurb calss them "two local layabouts". Jay and Beyonce wear the typical, well <i>stereotypical</i> gear that marks people in this country as being on the lower rungs of the working class part of the ladder, and they do stereotypical things like have public shouting matches about their relationship and engage in recreational drugs. And of course Jay is doing community service, which is why he's in a field in the middle of nowhere. <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Refreshingly though, the film doesn't demonise them for this, it doesn't have anything to say about their lifestyle beyond the relationship isn't healthy as it is and could do with some rebuilding. None of the characters could be mistaken for real people, though, fortunately none of them are so blunt as to go "I am the farmer and I believe in tradition" or "well, I am an Anarchist and I think that blah blah" its inbetween the two poles. There chats and arguments aren't conversations you'll hear in real life but they could be if written a different way. The Anarchist confirms he's an Anarchist by talking about direct action and living outside of a corrupt system in a fairly concise way and the flow of the film keeps his and the other characters lines from sounding like being addressed by someone on a soap box. I'm essentially describing everything that happens in the film and not doing a fantastic job of conveying the atmosphere very well. If I were a video reviewer the best case for the film I could make would be to upload it in full and just let you watch that.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Much of the film is shot with one camera, though some sequences do use multiple angles, and there are some effects work using exposure and lighting. Its clear that the people behind the camera know what they're doing and are working with a limited set of tools and options. As the credits rolled I found myself having positive feelings for the film. It does end on a positive pro Anarchism message, the Anarchist stands up to the authority of the Vicar and walks away from the hunt he never agreed with, and is going away with the Witch, and thanks to the magic of that Witch, Jay and Beyonce and the Farmer have changed for the better. So, while I had my doubts initially I think it belongs in a list of Anarchist films. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Yes, the two women's roles are heavily attached to romantic partners,
and the happy ending works thanks to literal magic, so it isn't a
perfect masterpiece, but I've seen much worse films with a lot more backing, and if you have the time and are curious it couldn't hurt to give it a go. </p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-88085830044130107542023-05-13T13:42:00.001+01:002023-05-13T13:42:45.921+01:00Clocked Off; Unemployment & Credit<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgldkhwgB2Xr5z4M_cgjQfzAfVfqNPlkW-x7yth02TKKAivX9brk79V4j31J0xvgLLTwyEq__NtaeauD0x3p1_RpqwQ8fQIM66KIS3iIGi4hMv50UBxzYxWeB3bhywT0rDM2DOxg-dDNlBTZxb7WUCtHsfa6XCDK5QF47ShtAM4m0eFjd-ShZbY8YzyLQ/s256/communityIcon_tlnblk43r4e81.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgldkhwgB2Xr5z4M_cgjQfzAfVfqNPlkW-x7yth02TKKAivX9brk79V4j31J0xvgLLTwyEq__NtaeauD0x3p1_RpqwQ8fQIM66KIS3iIGi4hMv50UBxzYxWeB3bhywT0rDM2DOxg-dDNlBTZxb7WUCtHsfa6XCDK5QF47ShtAM4m0eFjd-ShZbY8YzyLQ/w400-h400/communityIcon_tlnblk43r4e81.png" width="400" /></a></div>It's been almost a year since my road accident, I'm now doing much better, but there are still limitations and issues. Can't fault the care I received from the NHS or the people in my community who stopped to help me while I was lying in the road. Can't really say the same for the work system. Once I hobbled out of hospital and collected my belongings, I noticed a text message from the agency demanding to know why I hadn't arrived for my shift. I was on my way to work at the time, and the need to get to work was a factor as it was the only reason I was on the road when a cloud exploded on top of me. It came twenty minutes after I was due to clock on, which makes it the most timely communication I had from them. Work sucks, I know. Anyway, the next day while still on painkillers and in quite a bit of pain I was able to work through the messaging system and speak to one of the managers, my luck improved, it was the nice one who understood that we were human beings and would try to assist you when they'd overbooked, and you needed the hours. She was very sympathetic and clear my calendar for me, so I didn't have to put up with any more harassing texts or e-mails "why aren't you at work?", "When will you be back to work", and so on.<p></p><p>The agency kept me on the books for a month, but when I didn't magically grow a shiny new and fully functional ankle joint, they terminated the contract and paid me the holiday entitlement I had accrued. No fuss, no complications. And it's what I expected, being on zero hours for a manual labour agency. Could be worse, if I was a horse they would've shot me.</p><p>The one regret I had was that it killed off a series of blog post about factory work I looked forward to continuing. There is a draft of a final instalment about waste, but I don't know if I can finish it now. Oh, and it also meant that I had to go back to the Jobcentre, well technically I had never left. Despite being exhausted, I wasn't making enough consistently to go over the threshold to end my Universal Credit (UC)claim. Since Universal Credit replaced jobseekers allowance, you are allowed to earn an income while on it. The bad news is, that for every £ you earn, or your partner earns, they deduct 55p from it. And the deduction rate used to be higher. It actively disincentivises and punishes part-time workers. But the good news was, since I was working, I didn't have to interact with them at all. It was a purely automatic relationship, they simply looked at the payments from the agency account and took their cut. It was a pain on my end to work out my finances, though, having to check that the agencies hours matched mine and then calculating the deductions. But I didn't have to sit there while a stranger judges me for perceived idleness and constantly gets my name wrong, and asked you every time if you can drive. No, politely batting aside inane suggestions because the title on the job listing is a bit like a previous job I did years a go but is nothing like it, no attendance at a pointless "how to click on the apply now button" "Job training" course that's run by a shady private company that's charging billions per annum to get three people a job as temporary cover for a shop that's about to close in three months.</p><p>It was a kind of bliss. No matter how bad it got, lugging 20+kilo boxes of product from one side of a room to another, nor tantrums from supervisors because no one turned up for their cheerful attitude, and so on I consoled myself with the knowledge that I was finally free to apply for work I wanted or at least was capable of doing, and that it just took a steady appearance of an agency on my bank statements and a couple of work search notes in my "journal" was all it took to keep that never ending headache well a way from me.</p><p>Getting thrown from my metal horse at 25 mph put an end to that relief. I informed the jobcentre of my change in circumstances, to use the official euphemism, and was immediately booked for a meeting. While I was still confined to the house. I contacted them again and explained the situation, and was told it absolutely had to be done in person if I wanted to keep receiving payments. Which I now depended on heavily. So, I did get them to reschedule for a few days, and on the appointed hour I was able to get a relative to drive me down to the jobcentre*, and I hobbled into the building. As soon as they saw me, all of a sudden everything changed. They were apologetic and sympathetic to my injury, they brought a chair to me, and then agreed without fuss to cancel in person appointments, I would have remote contact from that point on until my condition improved so that I could physically travel to the office. </p><p>This was a farce, but it could've been worse, I was fully expecting them to dig their heels in, I had managed to come into the office once, so surely I could do it again, after all it's on the ground floor in a building with no steps at the entrance and a disabled toilet, what is the problem? I was expecting that treatment, because I know people who were treated that way. There are many horror stories of disabled and injured people being caught in just such a trap. My own mother lost her disability support payments because she could raise her arms to shoulder height, her back is still cracked up from that fall, but she can lift her arms up for a bit, so, y'know.<br /></p><p>So, on reflection, my treatment was better than average, I had to go to a building to tell them I couldn't come to the building.
That is not a joke, nor is it an exaggeration, I had told them this
information over phone, over e-mail and messaging service, and this
information was ignored. I had to physically show them the results of my roll on the tarmac. I did everything short of show them the shoes stained with blood and the scars underneath my bandage. And for what reason? They aren't idiots, they're clueless about work that isn't in the Civil Service, but they aren't fools, they know human beings need legs to walk and that broken joints take a long time to sort out, if ever. The only reason for their behaviour I can think of is that they didn't trust me and thought I was lying, and had managed to somehow forge doctors notes**, or there's a procedural policy mandating employees to treat their "customers" - which is what the Department for Work and Pensions calls claimants - with contempt and suspicion until overwhelming proof is provided. </p><p>If I sound bitter about this, it's because I am, I was still on the painkillers the hospital gave me, lurching about like some creature from a mad toymakers work shop, a puppet with strings attached in the wrong places. Anyway, anyway, anyway, I was now free to focus on my recovery, except I still had to make time for weekly remote meetings, either video or phone. Okay, why? My ankle was busted, and officially no one was disputing that any more, I was also housebound based on my remote location. It was agreed by everyone, including the authorities of the DWP that I was not fit for work and would not be for quite a while. So what was the point of these meetings? Well, based on the content of the meetings, it was like running into an old acquaintance while waiting for a bus that would arrive soon. Some pleasantries, small talk about what we'd done during the week, and some well wishing about bad news. I can only assume that, given how insistent they were, that these meetings take place and how nothing of substance happened in them, and how they were adament that these be video calls until the third week in a row that they didn't work***, that this was part of the regime of monitoring. </p><p>And that's something that I feel gets lost in the popular debate around benefits. There's a popular misconception about benefits, especially unemployment benefits. The popular or if you will permit, the Tabloid image of unemployment benefit is that its free money. If you're on UC you just get it, and you can take it easy, if you haven't got a job within say a month of losing your old one, you aren't interested in one and are just getting a free ride. What these people fail to account for is that by taking UC or any benefit you have to enter a contract with an arm of the government. This contract in effect means you agree to transfer many of your life decisions over to a bureacrat whose main goal is to fulfill their own work targets, not look out for your best interests.</p><p>For example, you might find it odd that I contacted the DWP immediately after my accident, well, that is because if I did not inform them in a "timely manner" that could be grounds for sanctioning. You are obligated to report nearly every part of your life to the DWP in exchange for a monthly payment. Your financial history, your location, your health, before the accident when I had just opened my claim I was in therapy with the regional mental health provider, they wanted to know about that. Not just reporting my therapy sessions but some of the staff asked me questions about it. I had to politely point out that this was confidential information, and I had to be polite because behaviourial misconduct is also grounds for sanctioning. </p><p>If I wish to go on holiday (on public money, how dare I) I am legally entitled according to the DWP contract to have one, <i>but, </i>I must inform the DWP of this holiday, where I'm going how long will I be away etc, and get permission from a work coach, the work coach can decide to not allow it. Or, as is more common, agree provided a do some performative "job searching" while I'm away. I'm an adult, and yet I have to run everything past a person who is not my guardian and is nothing to me for permission, lest I encur a penalty. You aren't monitored 24/7, but you have agreed that this service can in fact monitor 24/7 should they beleive it to be necessary.</p><p> It's an horrific experience. I have been in and out of unemployment offices over the years on many types of benefit scheme. I have seen multiple people breakdown in tears, attend a meeting while obviously in great pain and distress, I have seen people I recognised as local rough sleepers have to stand there and get lectured about how their are in fact "jobs available" while everyone present knows full well the only places hiring need an address to proceed to the next part of the application. I've seen people who cannot speak the English get forms and a pen shoved in their faces because they keep saying things that sound a bit like yes****. Its not a Jobcentre, there are no jobs there, its a misery centre, the lamentations echo down the halls and the bad vibes ooze out the walls and crawl out the door. Its and administrative centre full of the confused and the depressed and desperate. Whose many problems are compounded and exercabated by well meaning do gooders who are clueless about the working conditions in the areas they're assigned and bitter jobs worths who value a generous pension scheme over treating their neighbours like human beings. The tragedy is that in many cases both types are often represented by the same person.<br /></p><p>Comparing my experiences with the Jobcentre I think I've had an above average experience with them, I have so far managed to stay above the water, both finanacially and emotionally. I have been since January classified as fit for "some work" and am now actively looking for work again. Well, I had been applying for work before that, but that was on "my own initiative" to use another DWP euphemism. So far, no luck. So, I guess we'll see how long the patience of the DWP lasts*****. <br /></p><p> </p><p>* If you're curious, at the time I was living on the edge of the town, about a mile a way from the centre where the jobcentre is located, my objection isn't based on not wanting the pain and discomfort, though there was plenty of that, it had just been over a week, I literally was physically incapable of walking that far with both crutches and a walking boot at that time.</p><p>** If you're ever in a similar position absolutely make sure you get a doctors note specifying you're unfit for work in as clear language as possible, and make sure you renew before the first note expires, they will notice any gaps and question it. <br /></p><p>*** One of the benefits of living on the edge of nowhere, mobile internet is unreliable. </p><p>**** I especially remember one case of this where someone spoke up after that person left and was told by the work coach that they didn't need an interpretor because they hadn't asked for one!</p><p>*****Of course, the Reddebrek newswire is a free service, and if we want to keep it that way, <a href="https://ko-fi.com/reddebrek68500">ahem</a>.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy73NHkyk7dIz_bNzVh-BCgEvbB3Elj-MBbcP7haeleXY5i24ORiPyty4h-QTjhOZZdvoCxf7cnZtNFUMNBDiGPlO7pERpCQZm5gT2wC5FzuqYXPnew4r1IQv9zPHU5HIEdrN7bMKL45_Z3-36EHmcygr6o1y5o971Rwr0oNPMXt2FTM4dCVZKmsQ8Ag/s734/these-tip-jars-will-definitely-get-money-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="550" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy73NHkyk7dIz_bNzVh-BCgEvbB3Elj-MBbcP7haeleXY5i24ORiPyty4h-QTjhOZZdvoCxf7cnZtNFUMNBDiGPlO7pERpCQZm5gT2wC5FzuqYXPnew4r1IQv9zPHU5HIEdrN7bMKL45_Z3-36EHmcygr6o1y5o971Rwr0oNPMXt2FTM4dCVZKmsQ8Ag/s320/these-tip-jars-will-definitely-get-money-10.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p></p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-44796374471603693502023-05-07T13:56:00.003+01:002023-05-07T13:56:35.163+01:00The Actor and the King, a short scene by B Traven<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSiiuZp2IH36HBBD6h0Nw_N1KlP8px8lDTmNPlqnmysKZJqCQqxvPFstEa3uY8fz_UumpiU6SX6S7LetLG-ILhRlSg0IMOtJOkwx1ifG55BboUmMOVOpW87E1mEi2Tk0WiBksCibcFZK1rWB2_aBT6fClP166kkEs9WLuJlbx7yX9lknHL5GkxwrxnXw/s1200/King-Charles-III-2017-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSiiuZp2IH36HBBD6h0Nw_N1KlP8px8lDTmNPlqnmysKZJqCQqxvPFstEa3uY8fz_UumpiU6SX6S7LetLG-ILhRlSg0IMOtJOkwx1ifG55BboUmMOVOpW87E1mEi2Tk0WiBksCibcFZK1rWB2_aBT6fClP166kkEs9WLuJlbx7yX9lknHL5GkxwrxnXw/w480-h640/King-Charles-III-2017-poster.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> </p><p> Dramatic reading</p><p><br /></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KLCRA2TwkxA" width="320" youtube-src-id="KLCRA2TwkxA"></iframe></div><a href="https://youtu.be/KLCRA2TwkxA">Link</a><br /><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <strong>The Actor and the King</strong><br />
<em>(Ret Marut)</em></p>
<p>It seldom happens.</p>
<p>Fortunately.</p>
<p>Yet once it did occur that an actor chose a king to be his friend. Or
perhaps it was the other way round. But in the end it makes no
difference.</p>
<p>The two of them were honest and sincere friends. They quarrelled and
were reconciled, as is generally the custom between true friends.</p>
<p>For two years their friendship held.</p>
<p>The actor made no more ado about this friendship than he would have done about a friendship with any other mortal.</p>
<p>One afternoon they went strolling together in the park.</p>
<p>The actor had played a king the evening before. But not a
Shakespearean king. The royal patron of the theatre could not endure
those. For Shakespeare's kings, notwithstanding their divine right,
were quite ordinary men who loved and hated, murdered and reigned - just
as it suited their intents and purposes.</p>
<p>The part of the king in the play of the previous evening, however,
had been written by an author who was an anarchist at the age of
eighteen, though later he was appointed a privy councillor.</p>
<p>It is understandable that this part should have delighted the king
enormously and gave him occasion to converse with the actor on the
problem of representing kings on the stage.</p>
<p>'What is the sensation you encounter, dear friend, when you appear in the role of a king?'</p>
<p>'I feel myself to be totally a king, with the result that I would be
incapable of any gesture which does not suit the character of a king.'</p>
<p>'That I can understand very well. The crowd of extras, bowing before
you as the stage directions instruct them to do, sustains your sense of
majestic dignity and suggests to the audience that you are indeed a
king.'</p>
<p>'Even without the supporting actors I remain a king in the eyes of my
audience - even if it should happen that I must be quite alone on stage
and deliver a monologue!'</p>
<p>This magnificently artistic conception of the actor's stimulated the
king to draw a strictly circumscribed comparison between himself and the
thespian king.</p>
<p>'But nonetheless, there remains an unbridgeable abyss between a real
king and a theatrical king. However remarkable your performance as a
king, you cease to be a king as soon as the curtain descends.
Suggestibility and dramatic illusion put an end to your majesty as soon
as they cease to operate. Whereas I, my dear fellow, I remain a king
even when I lie in my bed!'</p>
<p>To this the actor rejoined, 'My dear friend, your comparison applies
to both of us. No more than a short while ago we drove in a carriage to
the gates of this park. Countless people lined the streets or ran behind
us. They waved - you returned their greeting. They shouted as loud as
they had breath, "Long live the King!" and "Hurrah!" - you smiled.
Rather smugly. But if these people should ever cease to play their parts
as unpaid extras, then you also - and not only in your bed, but also in
the clear light of day - you also, my friend, will cease to be a real
king!'</p>
<p>The king halted abruptly in his tracks.</p>
<p>He stared fixedly at the actor.</p>
<p>His lips grew pale and began to quiver.</p>
<p>Suddenly he turned on his heel.</p>
<p>Briskly he walked to the carriage and rode home.</p>
<p>Alone.</p>
<p>The friendship was at an end.</p>
<p>The friends never saw one another again.</p>
<p>And never again did the king attend the theater. He became a thinker.</p>
<p>Became obsessed by the notion that he was a quite ordinary mortal.</p>
<p>Consequently had to abdicate. </p>
<p>Died five years later.</p>
<p>His mind deranged.</p>
<p>It was said.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"> La Aktoro kaj la Reĝo<br /></h3><div class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodearticlefield-body">
<div class="block__content">
<div class="text-content clearfix field field--name-field-body field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Okazas malofte.</p>
<p> Bonŝance. </p>
<p> Sed unufoje tamen okazis, ke aktoro elektis reĝon kiel amikon. </p>
<p> Eble estis ankaŭ male.</p>
<p> Sed tio estas fine egala. </p>
<p> Ambaŭ estis sinceraj kaj bonaj amikoj. Ili kverelis kaj repaciĝis, tiel, kiel tio kutime okazas inter veraj amikoj.</p>
<p> Du jarojn daŭris la amikeco.</p>
<p> La aktoro pri tiu amikeco ne multe bruis, kvazaŭ temus pri la amikeco al kutima homo. </p>
<p> Iam, posttagmeze, ambaŭ promenis en la parko. </p>
<p> Je la vespero antaŭe la artisto rolis kiel reĝo. Ŝekspiran reĝon li
ne ludis. Tiujn la reĝa amiko de la teatro ne ŝatis, ĉar la reĝoj de
Ŝekspiro estis spite al siaj diaj benatecoj tute ĝustaj homoj, kiuj amas
kaj malamas, murdas kaj regas — tute laŭ tio, kiel ĝuste plaĉis aŭ ne
plaĉis al ili. </p>
<p> Sed la rolo de la prezentita reĝo el la pasinta vespero estis
verkita de poeto, kiu kun dekok jaroj estis anarkiisto, sed pli poste li
fariĝis kortega konsilanto. Memkompreneblas, ke tiu rolo tre plaĉis al
la reĝo kaj, ke ĝi kaŭzis, ke li interparolis kun la aktoro pri la reĝa
problemo de la teatro. </p>
<p>„Kion vi sentas, kara amiko, se vi prezentas reĝon ?“ </p>
<p>„Mi sentas min tute kiel reĝo, tiel, ke mi ne povus fari geston, kiu ne laŭas al la karaktero de reĝo.“ </p>
<p>„Tion mi komprenas tre bone.“ </p>
<p>„La amaso de statistoj, kiuj, sekvante la reĝisoradon, devas kliniĝi
antaŭ vi, vivtenas en vi la senton de reĝa indo kaj sugestas al la
publiko, ke vi estas aŭtentika reĝo.“ </p>
<p>„Por la publiko mi estas ankaŭ sen statistoj reĝo — eĉ tiam, kiam mi staras tute sola sur la scenejo kaj parolas monologon !.“ </p>
<p>Tiu tute artista kompreno de la aktoro provokis la reĝon fari akre limigitan komparon inter si kaj la sceneja reĝo. </p>
<p>„Netranspontigebla abismo inter la vera kaj la teatra reĝoj tamen
ekzistas. Vi estus povinta kiel ajn bone roli la reĝon, kun la momento,
kiam la kurteno sinkas, vi ĉesas esti reĝo. La sento de sugestiteco kaj
la statistoj finas vian sanktecon, tuj kiam ili malsukcesas. Sed mi,
karulo mia, mi estas plu reĝo, eĉ se mi kuŝas en la lito !“</p>
<p>Al tio diris la aktoro : „Kara amiko mia, la komparo pravas por ni
ambaŭ. Ni veturis antaŭe en la kaleŝo ĝis la pordego de la parko. Sur la
stratoj staris kaj kuris nennombreble multaj homoj. Ili salutis — vi
dankis. Ili kriis kun tuta forto : Vivu ! Ekscelenco ! — vi ridetis, iom
vanta. Sed, se tiuj homoj iam ĉesos formi libervole statistojn, tiam
vi, amiko mia, ĉesos ne nur en la lito, sed eĉ je la hela tago — esti
reĝo !“ </p>
<p>La reĝo haltis subite. </p>
<p> Li rigardis la aktoron firme. </p>
<p> Liaj lipoj fariĝis palaj kaj ektremis. </p>
<p> Subite li turniĝis. </p>
<p> Kun rapidaj paŝoj li iris al la kaleŝo kaj reveturis. </p>
<p> Sola.</p>
<p> La amikeco estis finita. </p>
<p> La amikoj neniam revidis sin reciproke. </p>
<p> Kaj neniam denove la reĝo iris en teatron. </p>
<p> Li fariĝis pensulo. </p>
<p> Li ekhavis la fiksan ideon esti tute normala homo. </p>
<p> Sekve de tio li devis eksiĝi. </p>
<p> Kvin jarojn poste li mortis. </p>
<p> Freneziĝinte. </p>
<p> Oni diris. </p>
<p>Tradukis Donjo, Frank & Cezar en klubvesperoj</p>
<p>Originale el http://www.satesperanto.org/Ret-Marut-La-aktoro-kaj-la-regxo.html</p><h3 style="text-align: left;"> <em><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>DER SCHAUSPIELER UND DER KÖNIG</strong></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span><strong><em><br />
Eine unpolitische Groteske</em></strong></span></em></h3><p><em><span style="font-size: large;">Es kommt selten vor.<br />
<br />
Glücklicherweise.<br />
<br />
Aber einmal geschah es doch, daß sich ein Schauspieler einen König zum Freund erwählte.<br />
<br />
Vielleicht war es auch umgekehrt. Das ist aber schließlich egal.<br />
<br />
Beide waren aufrichtige und gute Freunde. Sie zankten sich und sie
vertrugen sich, wie das unter richtigen Freunden üblich zu sein pflegt.<br />
<br />
Zwei Jahre dauerte die Freundschaft.<br />
<br />
Der Schauspieler machte von dieser Freundschaft nicht mehr Aufhebens,
als handle es sich um die Freundschaft mit einem sonstigen Sterblichen.
Eines Nachmittags gingen beide im Park spazieren.<br />
<br />
Den Abend vorher hatte der Künstler einen König gespielt. Ein
Shakespeare’scher König war es nicht. Die mochte der königliche
Theaterfreund nicht leiden. Denn die Könige Shakespeares waren trotz
ihres Gottesgnadentum ganz richtige Menschen, die lieben und hassen,
morden und regieren – <br />
je nachdem, wie es ihnen gerade in den Kram paßte. -<br />
<br />
Die Rolle des am letzten Abend dargestellten Königs hatte jedoch ein
Dichter geschrieben, der mit achtzehn Jahren Anarchist war, später aber
Geheimer Hofrat wurde.<br />
<br />
Begreiflich, daß diese Rolle dem König sehr gefiel und der Anlaß wurde,
daß er sich mit dem Schauspieler über das Königsproblem der Bühne
unterhielt.<br />
<br />
„Was hast Du für ein Empfinden, lieber Freund, wenn Du einen König darstellst ?"<br />
<br />
„Ich fühle mich ganz und gar als König, so daß ich keine Geste machen
könnte, die dem Charakter des Königs nicht entsprechen würde."<br />
<br />
„Das begreife ich sehr gut. Die Masse Statisten, die sich, den
Regieanordnungen folgend, von Dir zu beugen haben, halten das Gefühl
königlicher Würde in Dir wach und suggerieren dem Publikum, Du seiest
ein echter König."<br />
<br />
„Für das Publikum bleibe ich auch ohne Statisterie ein König – selbst
dann noch, wenn ich ganz allein auf der Szene stehe und einen Monolog
spreche !“<br />
<br />
Diese rein künstlerische Auffassung des Schauspielers reizte den König,
zwischen sich und dem Bühnenkönig einen scharf begrenzten Vergleich zu
ziehen : „Eine unüberbrückbare Kluft zwischen dem wirklichen und dem
Theaterkönig ist aber doch vorhanden. Du magst noch so vorzüglich den
König gespielt haben : Mit dem Augenblick, wo sich der Vorhang senkt,
hörst Du auf, König zu sein. Die Suggestion und die Statisterie machen
Deiner Herrlichkeit ein Ende, sobald sie versagen. Ich aber, mein
Lieber, bleibe ein König, selbst wenn ich im Bett liege !" ’<br />
<br />
Darauf sagte der Schauspieler : „Mein lieber Freund, der Vergleich paßt
auf uns beide. Wir fuhren vorhin im Wagen bis zum Tor des Parkes. Auf
den Straßen standen und liefen unzählige Leute. Sie grüßten – Du
danktest. Sie schrien aus Leibeskräften : Vivat ! und Hoch ! – Du
lächeltest. Etwas blasiert. Aber wenn diese Leute einmal aufhören,
freiwillig Statisterie zu bilden, dann hörst Du - nicht nur im Bett,
sondern am hellen Tage - dann hörst auch Du, mein Freund, auf, ein
wirklicher König zu sein !"<br />
<br />
Der König blieb mit einem scharfen Ruck stehen.<br />
<br />
Er sah den Schauspieler fest an.<br />
<br />
Seine Lippen wurden blaß und zuckten.<br />
<br />
Plötzlich drehte er sich um.<br />
<br />
Mit raschen Schritten ging er zum Wagen und fuhr zurück.<br />
<br />
Allein.<br />
<br />
Die Freundschaft war aus.<br />
<br />
Die Freunde sahen sich nie wieder.<br />
<br />
Und nie wieder besuchte der König Theater.<br />
<br />
Er wurde ein Denker.<br />
<br />
Bekam die fixe Idee, ein ganz gewöhnlicher Sterblicher zu sein.<br />
<br />
Mußte infolgedessen abdanken.<br />
<br />
Starb fünf Jahre später.<br />
<br />
lm Wahnsinn.<br />
<br />
Sagte man.</span><em><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></em></em> </p>
</div>
</div>
</div><p> </p>Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1663766032453458145.post-10791945351762391942023-05-01T11:29:00.001+01:002023-05-01T11:29:00.149+01:00A biography of the life and thought of Bakunin <span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKNDwvzc2GgUEHP6n6cmvS5TM0bIs_-OLuEuam8b9Om9lwYgUwHVyezAm1Jt-TzVR4jsVQv8lx5hDdGMXSdH2Dy7IBXJ_TVBFpZvcpvZEWIURQ3FkhciAWThlmaGxjb9pbKuu1MAxcOg_PS7MjkqB7W0fTeA4SDsOSh9OOAtUUy0SCPsB9KFxOkuA1bw/s227/bakunin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="227" data-original-width="222" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKNDwvzc2GgUEHP6n6cmvS5TM0bIs_-OLuEuam8b9Om9lwYgUwHVyezAm1Jt-TzVR4jsVQv8lx5hDdGMXSdH2Dy7IBXJ_TVBFpZvcpvZEWIURQ3FkhciAWThlmaGxjb9pbKuu1MAxcOg_PS7MjkqB7W0fTeA4SDsOSh9OOAtUUy0SCPsB9KFxOkuA1bw/w391-h400/bakunin.jpg" width="391" /></a></div><br /></span><div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></div><div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></div><div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Written: August 1907;<br />
Source: <i>Bakunin on Anarchy</i>, translated and edited by Sam Dolgoff, 1971.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">James Guillaume, Bakunin’s
friend and comrade-in-arms, edited the last five volumes of the six-volume
French edition of his collected works. Guillaume’s biographical sketch of
Bakunin, originally appeared in his introduction to Volume II of that edition.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">This sketch is a primary
source not only on the life of Bakunin, but also on the most significant events
in the socialist movement of that period. It incidentally contributes valuable
background information for many of the other selections in the present volume.
Guillaume, who did not limit himself to recording events but also took part in
shaping them, had been inclined toward anarchism even before he met Bakunin in
1869. Earlier, he had been one of the founders of the First International in
Switzerland, where it held its first congress, in Geneva, in 1866. He attended
all its congresses, and eventually published a four-volume history of the
International. Guillaume also wrote widely on libertarian theory and practice
and edited a number of periodicals. His extensive writings on cultural subjects
included substantial contributions to the theory of progressive education as
represented particularly by the early-nineteenth-century Swiss educator Johann
Pestalozzi.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
<hr align="center" size="2" width="100%" />
</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">MICHAEL ALEXANDROVICH BAKUNIN
was born on May 18, 1814 on his family’s estate in the little village of
Premukhino, in the province of Tver. His father was a career diplomat who, as a
young attache, had lived for years in Florence and Naples. Upon his return to
Russia, he settled down on his paternal estate where, at the age of forty, he
married an eighteen-year-old girl from the prominent Muraviev family. Given to
liberal ideas, he was for a while platonically involved with one of the
Decembrist’ clubs. After Nicholas I became Czar, however, Bakunin gave up
politics and devoted himself to the care of his estate and the education of his
children, five girls and five boys, the oldest of whom was Michael.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">At fifteen, Michael entered
the Artillery School in St. Petersburg where, three years later, he was
commissioned a junior officer and sent to garrison in the provinces of Minsk
and of Grodno, in Poland. He arrived in the latter post shortly after the
Polish insurrection of 1832 had been crushed. The spectacle of Poland terrorized
shocked the gently bred young officer and deepened his hatred of despotism. Two
years later, he resigned from the army and went to Moscow, where he lived for
the next six years, spending some summer vacations on the family estate.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In Moscow, Bakunin studied
philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists. His enthusiasm for the
philosophy of Fichte, shared with his friends Stankevich and Belinsky, led
Bakunin to translate, in 1836, Fichte’s <i>Vorlesungen über die Bestimmung des
Gelehrten</i> (Lectures on the Vocation of the Scholar). From Fichte, Bakunin
went on to immerse himself in the philosophy of Hegel, then the most
influential thinker among German intellectuals. The young man wholeheartedly
embraced Hegelianism, bedazzled by the famous maxim that “Everything that
exists is rational” – even though it also served to justify the Prussian state.
In 1839 he met Alexander Herzen and the latter’s friend Nicholas Ogarev, who
had returned from exile to Moscow; but their ideas and his were too divergent
at the time for a meeting of minds.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In 1840, aged twenty-six,
Bakunin went to St. Petersburg and thence to Germany, to study and prepare
himself for a professorship in philosophy or history at the University of
Moscow. When, in the same year, Nicholas Stankevich died in Italy, Bakunin
still believed in the immortality of the soul (letter to Herzen, October 23,
1840). In the course of his intellectual evolution, however, he came to
interpret the philosophy of Hegel as a revolutionary theory. As Ludwig Feuerbach,
in his <i>The Essence of Christianity, </i>arrived at atheism by means of
Hegelian doctrine, so Michael Bakunin applied Hegel to bis own political and
social ideas and arrived at social revolution.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">From Berlin, Bakunin moved in
1842 to Dresden. There he collaborated with Arnold Ruge in publishing the <i>Deutsche
Jahrbücher </i>(“German Yearbooks”), in which he first began to formulate his
revolutionary ideas. His article “Reaction in Germany: A Fragment by a
Frenchman” concluded with the famous declaration:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Let us put our trust in the
eternal spirit which destroys and annihilates only because it is the
unfathomable and eternally creative source of all life. The desire for
destruction is also a creative desire.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Herzen believed at first that
the article had actually been written by a Frenchman, and wrote in his personal
diary that “this is a powerful and firm appeal, a victory for the democratic
party. The article is from beginning to end bound to arouse wide interest.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The illustrious German poet
Georg Herwegh visited Bakunin in Dresden, and the two men formed a lasting
friendship. A resident of Dresden who also became Bakunin’s devoted friend was
the musician Adolf Reichel.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Within a short time the Saxon
government became overtly hostile toward Ruge and his collaborators, and
Bakunin and Herwegh left Saxony for Switzerland. There Bakunin came into
contact with the German communists grouped around Wilhelm Weitling. In Bern
during the winter of 1843-44, a lifelong friendship developed with Adolf Vogt,
who later became professor of medicine at the University of Bern. When the
Russian government demanded that the Swiss authorities deport Bakunin to
Russia, he left Bern in February 1844, stopping first in Brussels and then in
Paris, where he remained until 1847.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">II</span></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In Paris Bakunin again met
Herwegh, the latter’s wife, Emma Siegmund, and Karl Marx, who had arrived there
in 1843. Marx at first collaborated with Arnold Ruge, but he and Engels soon
went their own way and began to formulate their own ideology. Bakunin saw much
of Proudhon, with whom he held night-long discussions, and was also on friendly
terms with George Sand. The years in Paris were the most fruitful for Bakunin’s
intellectual development – it was then that the basic outlines of the ideas
underlying his revolutionary program began to take shape, though it was not
until much later that he freed himself entirely of metaphysical idealism.
Bakunin himself informs us, in a manuscript written in 1871, of his
intellectual relations with Marx and Proudhon during this period. He recalls
that:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">As far as learning was
concerned, Marx was, and still is, incomparably more advanced than I. I knew
nothing at that time of political economy, I had not yet rid myself of my
metaphysical aberrations, and my socialism was only instinctive. Although
younger than I, he was already an atheist, a conscious materialist, and an
informed socialist. It was precisely at this time that he was elaborating the
foundations of his system as it stands today. We saw each other often. I
greatly respected him for his learning and for his passionate devotion – though
it was always mingled with vanity – to the cause of the proletariat. I eagerly
sought his conversation, which was always instructive and witty when it was not
inspired by petty hate, which alas! was only too often the case. There was
never any frank intimacy between us – our temperaments did not permit it. He
called me a sentimental idealist, and he was right, I called him vain,
perfidious, and cunning, and I also was right.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin offers the following
characterization of Engels in his book <i>Statism and Anarchy:</i></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In 1845 Marx was the leader of
the German communists. While his devoted friend Engels was just as intelligent
as he, he was not as erudite. Nevertheless, Engels was more practical, and no
less adept at political calumny, lying, and intrigue. Together they founded a
secret society of German communists or authoritarian socialists.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In a French manuscript of
1870, Bakunin evaluates Proudhon, comparing him to Marx:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">As I told him a few months before
his death, Proudhon, in spite of all his efforts to shake off the tradition of
classical idealism, remained all his life an incorrigible idealist, immersed in
the Bible, in Roman law and metaphysics. His great misfortune was that he had
never studied the natural sciences or appropriated their method. He had the
instincts of a genius and he glimpsed the right road, but hindered by his
idealistic thinking patterns, he fell always into the old errors. Proudhon was
a perpetual contradiction: a vigorous genius, a revolutionary thinker arguing
against idealistic phantoms, and yet never able to surmount them himself....
Marx as a thinker is on the right path. He has established the principle that
juridical evolution in history is not the cause but the effect of economic
development, and this is a great and fruitful concept. Though he did not
originate it – it was to a greater or lesser extent formulated before him by
many others – to Marx belongs the credit for solidly establishing it as the
basis for an economic system. On the other hand, Proudhon understood and felt
liberty much better than he. Proudhon, when not obsessed with metaphysical
doctrine, was a revolutionary by instinct; he adored Satan and proclaimed
Anarchy. Quite possibly Marx could construct a still more rational system of
liberty, but he lacks the instinct of liberty – he remains from head to foot an
authoritarian.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">On November 29 1847, at a
banquet in Paris commemorating the Polish insurrection of 1830, Bakunin
delivered a speech in which he severely denounced the Russian government. At
the request of the Russian Ambassador, Kiselev, he was expelled from France. To
counteract the widespread protests of those who sympathized with Bakunin,
Kiselev circulated the rumor that he had been employed by the Russian
government to pose as a revolutionary, but that he had gone too far. (This is
related by Bakunin in a letter to Fanelli, May 29, 1867.) Bakunin then went to
Brussels, where he again met Marx. Of Marx and his circle Bakunin wrote to his
friend Herwegh:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The German workers, Bornstadt,
Marx, Engels – especially Marx – poison the atmosphere. Vanity, malevolence,
gossip, pretentiousness and boasting in theory and cowardice in practice.
Dissertations about life, action, and feeling – and complete absence of life,
action, and feeling – and complete absence of life. Disgusting flattery of the
more advanced workers – and empty talk. According to them, Feuerbach is a
“bourgeois,” and the epithet BOURGEOIS! is shouted <i>ad nauseam </i>by people
who are from head to foot more bourgeois than anyone in a provincial city – in
short, foolishness and lies, lies and foolishness. In such an atmosphere no one
can breathe freely. I stay away from them and I have openly declared that I
will not go to their <i>Kommunistischer Handwerkerverein </i>[Communist Trade
Union Society] and will have nothing to do with this organization.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">III</span></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The revolution of February 24,
1848, opened the doors of France once again to Bakunin. just as he was about to
return to Paris, however, events in Vienna and Berlin caused him to change his
plans, and he left for Germany in April. He was also then hoping to participate
in the Polish insurrectionary movement. In Cologne, he again met Marx and
Engels, who had begun publication of their <i>Neue Rheinische Zeitung. </i>It
was at this time that the “Democratic Legion of Paris” organized an expedition
to Germany to stage an insurrection in the Grand Duchy of Baden. The attempt
was a disastrous failure. Marx and Engels violently attacked Bakunin’s friend
Herwegh, who together with other German exiles was one of the leaders of this
ill-fated expedition. Bakunin came to his defense. Much laterin 1871 – Bakunin
wrote that “I must openly admit that in this controversy Marx and Engels were
in the right. With characteristic insolence, they attacked Herwegh personally
when he was not there to defend himself. In a face-to-face confrontation with
them, I heatedly defended Herwegh, and our mutual dislike began then.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Later, in June 1848, Bakunin
went to Berlin and Breslau and then to Prague, where he tried to influence the
Slav Congress in a revolutionary democratic direction. After participating in
the week-long insurrection, which was brutally suppressed, he returned to
Breslau. He was still there when the <i>Neue Rheinische Zeitung</i> –
controlled by Marx – published in its July 6 issue a letter from a Paris
correspondent which read, in part:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In regard to pro-Slav
propaganda, we were told yesterday that George Sand possesses documents which
greatly compromise the Russian exile Michael Bakunin and reveal him as an
instrument or newly enrolled AGENT OF RUSSIA, who played a key part in the
arrest of the unfortunate Poles. George Sand has shown these documents to some
of her friends. [See <i>Neue Rheinische Zeitung</i> of 3rd August 1848]</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin immediately protested
this infamous slander in a letter published in the <i>Allgemeine Oder Zeitung</i>
of Breslau, and reprinted in the <i>Neue Rheinische Zeitung</i> on July 16. He
also wrote to George Sand asking for an explanation. She replied in an open
letter to the editor of the <i>Neue Rheinische Zeitung:</i></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The allegations of your
correspondent are entirely false. There are no documents. I do not have the
slightest proof of the insinuations that you make against M. Bakunin. I have
never had, nor have I ever authorized any one else to cast, the slightest doubt
on his personal integrity and devotion to his principles. I appeal to your
sense of honor and to your conscience to print this letter immediately in your
paper.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Marx printed her letter
together with the comment: “We have fulfilled the obligation of the press to
exercise strict vigilance over prominent public individuals and at the same
time given M. Bakunin the opportunity to dispel suspicions which have been
current in certain Paris circles.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It is useless to elaborate on
the singular theory that it is the duty of the press to publish false and
libelous accusations without attempting to verify the facts!</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The next month Bakunin and
Marx met again in Berlin, and a reluctant reconciliation was effected. Bakunin
recalled the incident in 1871: “Mutual friends induced us to embrace, and
during our conversation Marx remarked, half-smilingly, ‘Do you know that I am
now the chief of a secret communist society, so well disciplined that had I
said to any member, “Kill Bakunin,” you would be dead?” ’</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Expelled from Prussia and
Saxony, Bakunin spent the rest of the year 1848 in the principality of Anhalt.
There he published, in German, the pamphlet Appeal to the Slavs: By a <i>Russian
</i>Patriot, Michael <i>Bakunin, Member </i>of the Slav Congress. In this work
he proposed that revolutionary Slavs unite with the revolutionaries of other
nations – Hungarians, Germans, Italians – to overthrow the three major
autocracies of the time: the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and
the Kingdom of Prussia; this would be followed by the free federation of the
emancipated Slavic peoples. Marx criticized these ideas in the <i>Neue
Rheinische Zeitung </i>of February 14, 1849:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin is our friend, but
this does not prevent us from criticizing his pamphlet. Apart from the
Russians, the Poles, and perhaps the Turkish Slavs, no Slavic people has a
future, for the simple reason that they lack the indispensable historical,
geographical, political, and industrial conditions for independence and
vitality.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Regarding the difference
between Marx’s and his own views on the Slavic question, Bakunin wrote, in
1871:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In 1848 we disagreed, and I
must admit that his reasoning was more correct than mine. Carried away,
enraptured by the atmosphere of the revolutionary movement, I was much more
interested in the negative than in the positive aspect of the revolution.
Nevertheless, there is one point on which Marx was wrong, and I was right. As a
Slav, I wanted the emancipation of the Slavic race from the German yoke, and as
a German patriot he did not admit then, nor will he admit now, the right of the
Slavs to free themselves from German domination. He thought then, as he does
now, that the mission of the Germans is to civilize – that is to say, Germanize
– the Slavs, for better or for worse.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In January 1849 Bakunin
secretly arrived in Leipzig. There, together with a group of young Czechs from
Prague, he occupied himself with preparations for an uprising in Bohemia. In
spite of the growing reaction in Germany and France, hope still lived, for
there was more than one place in Europe where the revolution had not yet been
crushed. Pope Pius IX, expelled from Rome, had been replaced by the Roman
Republic, headed by the triumvirate of Mazzini, Saffi, and Armellini, with
Garibaldi in command of the army. ‘Venice, its freedom regained, heroically
repulsed the siege of the Austrians; the Hungarians, rebelling against Austria
under the leadership of Kossuth, proclaimed the defeat of the Habsburgs. And on
May 3, 1849, a popular rebellion broke out in Dresden, provoked by the refusal
of the King of Saxony to accept the constitution of the German Empire approved
by the Frankfurt Parliament. The King fled, and a provisional government was
proclaimed. For five days the rebels controlled the city. Bakunin, who had left
Leipzig for Dresden in the middle of April, became one of the leaders of the
rebellion and inspired the highest measure of heroism in the men defending the
barricades against the Prussian troops. A gigantic figure of a man, already
renowned as a revolutionary, Bakunin became the focus of all eyes. An aura of
legend soon enveloped him. To him alone were attributed the fires set by the
rebels; about him it was written that he was “the very soul of the Revolution,”
that he initiated widespread terrorism, that to stop the Prussians from
shooting into the barricades he advised the defenders to take the art treasures
from the museums and galleries and display them from the barricades – the
stories were endless.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">On May 9 the rebels – greatly
outnumbered and outgunned – retreated to Freiberg. There Bakunin pleaded in
vain with Stephen Born (organizer of the Arbeiter Verbruderung, the first
organization of German workers) to take his remaining troops to Bohemia and
spark a new uprising. Born refused, and disbanded his forces. Seeing that there
was nothing more to be done, Bakunin, the composer Richard Wagner, and Heubner
– a democrat, very loyal to Bakunin – went to Chemnitz. There, during the
night, armed bourgeois arrested Heubner and Bakunin and turned them over to the
Prussians. Wagner hid in his sister’s house and escaped.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The role of Bakunin in this
rebellion had been that of a determined fighter as well as a leading strategist.
Even the hostile Marx felt obliged to acknowledge his outstanding contribution
in one of his letters, some years later, to the New York <i>Daily Tribune </i>(October
2, 1852), entitled “Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany”:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In Dresden, the battle in the
streets went on for four days. The shopkeepers of Dresden, organized into
“community guards,” not only refused to fight, but many of them supported the
troops against the insurrectionists. Almost all of the rebels were workers from
the surrounding factories. In the Russian refugee Michael Bakunin they found a
capable and cool-headed leader.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">IV</span></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Conducted to the Königstein
fortress, Bakunin spent many months in detention, and eventually was condemned
to death, on January 14, 1850. In June his sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment, and the prisoner was then extradited to Austria, at the request
of the Austrian authorities. Bakunin was first jailed in Prague and then, in
March 1851, transferred to Olmutz, where he was sentenced to hang. Once again
his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was brutally treated in the
Austrian prisons: his hands and feet were chained, and in Olmutz he was chained
to the prison wall.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Shortly thereafter, the
Austrians handed Bakunin over to Russia, where he was imprisoned in the
dreadful dungeons of the Fortress of Peter and Paul. At the beginning of his
captivity, Count Orlov, an emissary of the Czar, visited Bakunin and told him
that the Czar requested a written confession, hoping that the confession would
place Bakunin spiritually as well as physically in the power of the Russian
Bear. Since all his acts were known, he had no secrets to reveal, and so he
decided to write to the Czar:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">You want my confession; but
you must know that a penitent sinner is not obliged to implicate or reveal the
misdeeds of others. I have only the honor and the conscience that I have never
betrayed anyone who has confided in me, and this is why I will not give you any
names.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">When the Czar, Nicholas I,
read Bakunin’s letter, he remarked, “He is a good lad, full of spirit, but he
is a dangerous man and we must never cease watching him.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">With the outbreak of the
Crimean War in 1854, the Fortress of Peter and Paul was exposed to bombardment
by the English, and Bakunin was transferred to Schlusselberg prison. ‘here he
was attacked by scurvy, and all his teeth fell out. Let me now interject what I
myself wrote the day after Bakunin died, stating only what he personally told
me about the last period of his imprisonment:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The atrocious prison diet had completely
ruined his stomach (scurvy) so that anything he ate caused nausea and vomiting,
and he could digest only finely chopped sour cabbage. But if his body was
debilitated, his spirit was indomitable. It was this above all he feared, that
prison life would break his spirit; that he would no longer hate injustice and
feel in his heart the passion for rebellion that sustained him; that the day
would come when he would pardon his tormentors and accept his fate. But he need
not have feared: not for a single moment did his spirit waver, and he emerged
from the purgatory of his confinement as he entered, undaunted and defiant....</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">He recounted to us, also, that
to distract his mind from his long, loathsome solitude, he found pleasure in
mentally reenacting the legend of Prometheus the Titan, benefactor of mankind.
who while chained to the Caucasian Rock by order of Olympus, heard the sweet
plaintive melody of the ocean nymphs bringing consolation and joy to the victim
of Jupiter’s vengeance.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It was hoped that with the
death of Nicholas I Bakunin’s situation would be to some extent alleviated.
However, the new Czar, Alexander II, personally crossed Bakunin’s name off the
amnesty list. Much later, Bakunin’s mother went before the Czar and begged him
to have mercy on her son; but the autocrat answered, “Madame, while your son
remains alive, he will not be freed.” One day Alexander, while reading the
letter that Bakunin had written his predecessor in 1851, remarked to his aide,
Prince Goncharov. “But I don’t see the least sign of repentance.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In 1857 Alexander was at last
induced to relent, and Bakunin was released from prison and sentenced to
perpetual exile in Siberia. He was given permission to reside in the Tomsk
region. In the latter part of 1858 he married a young Polish girl, Antonia
Kwiatkowski. Somewhat later – through the intervention of a relative on his
mother’s side, Nicholas Muraviev, Governor General of Eastern Siberia – Bakunin
was permitted to move to Irkutsk. There he was at first employed by a government
agency, the Amur Development Authority, and later in a mining enterprise.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin had expected to be
freed quickly and allowed to return to Russia. But Muraviev, who was trying to
help him, lost his post because he opposed the bureaucracy, and Bakunin
realized that he could regain his liberty in only one way: escape. Leaving
Irkutsk in mid-June 1861 on the pretext of business – alleged commercial
negotiations and a government-authorized study – Bakunin arrived in Nikolaevsk
in July. From there he sailed on the government vessel <i>Strelok </i>to
Kastri, a southern port, where he managed to board the American merchant ship <i>Vickery,
</i>which took him to Hakodate, japan. He went next to Yokohama, then in
October to San Francisco, and in November to New York. On December 27, 1861,
Bakunin arrived in London, where he was welcomed like a long-lost brother by
Herzen and Ogarev.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">V</span></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I will briefly summarize
Bakunin’s activity during the six years after his return to Western Europe. He
soon realized that despite his personal friendship with Herzen and Ogarev, he
could not associate himself with the political line of their journal, <i>Kolokol
</i>(“The Bell”). During the year 1862, Bakunin expounded his current ideas in
two pamphlets: To My <i>Russian, Polish, and Other Slav Friends </i>and <i>Romanov,
Pugachev, or Pestel</i>?</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The outbreak of the Polish
insurrection of 1863 found Bakunin trying to unite all men of action to render
effective aid and deepen the revolution. But attempts to organize a Russian
legion failed, and the expedition of Colonel Lapinski came to naught. Bakunin
then went to Stockholm – where he was reunited with his wife – hoping to get
help from Sweden. His plans all failed, however, and he returned to London. He
next went to Italy, and in the middle of 1864 returned to Sweden. Thence he
went back once more to London, where he again saw Marx, and then to Paris,
where he was reunited with Proudhon. Finally he went back to Italy.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">As a consequence of the war of
1859 and Garibaldi’s heroic expedition of 1860, Italy then stood on the
threshold of a new era. Bakunin remained there until 1867, living first in
Florence and then in and around Naples. It was during this period that he
conceived the plan of forming a secret organization of revolutionaries to carry
on propaganda work and prepare for direct action at a suitable time. From 1864
onward he steadily recruited Italians, Frenchmen, Scandinavians, and Slavs into
a secret society known as the International Brotherhood, also called the
Alliance of Revolutionary Socialists. He and his friends also combated the devoutly
religious followers of the republican Mazzini, whose watchword was “God 2nd
Country.” In Naples, Bakunin established the journal <i>Libertà e Giustizia</i>
(“Liberty and justice”), in which he developed his revolutionary program.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In July 1866 he informed his friends
Herzen and Ogarev about the secret society and its program, on which he had
been concentrating all his efforts for two years. According to Bakunin, the
society then had members in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, England, France,
Spain, and Italy, as well as Polish and Russian members.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In 1867 bourgeois democratic
pacifists of many lands (though preponderantly French and German) founded The
League for Peace and Freedom and convened a congress in Geneva which aroused
wide interest. Although Bakunin had few illusions about the new organization,
he hoped to propagandize its members in favor of revolutionary socialism. He
attended the congress, addressed the delegates, and became a member of the
Central Committee of the League. For a whole year he tried to induce the
Committee to adopt a social revolutionary program. At the second congress of
the League, in Bern in 1868, Bakunin and his colleagues in the Alliance of
Revolutionary Socialists tried to persuade the congress to adopt unambiguously
revolutionary resolutions. After several days of heated debate, however, the
resolutions were voted down. The minority faction of revolutionary socialists
then resigned from the League, on September 25, 1868, and that same day founded
a – new, open – not secret – organization, called the International Alliance of
Socialist Democracy. The Alliance’s Declaration of Principles was written by
Bakunin; a summary of his ideas, it was the product and culmination of the long
period of ideological development he had begun in Germany in 1842. Among other
things, it stated that:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The alliance declares itself
atheist; it seeks the complete and definitive abolition of classes and the
political, economic, and social equality of both sexes. It wants the land and
the instruments of labor (production), like all other property, to he converted
into the collective property of the whole society for utilization by the
workers; that is, by agricultural and industrial associations. It affirms that
all the existing political and authoritarian States, which are to be reduced to
simple administrative functions dealing with public utilities in their
respective countries, must eventually be replaced by a worldwide union of free
associations, agricultural and industrial.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The New Alliance affirmed its
desire to become a branch of the International, whose statutes it accepted.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">just a few weeks earlier
(September 1) the first issue of a Russian-language journal, <i>Narodnoye Dyelo
</i>(“Public Affairs”), had appeared, under the editorship of Bakunin and
Nicholas Zhukovsky, and had published a “Program of Russian Socialist
Democracy” – a program that coincided, in the main, with that of the Alliance.
With the second issue, however, the editorship changed hands: the paper fell
under the control of Nicholas Utin, who gave it an entirely different
orientation.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">VI</span></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The International Workingmen’s
Association was founded in London on September 23, 1864, but its structure and
its constitution were not formally adopted until the first congress convened in
Geneva, September 3-8, 1866. In October 1864 Bakunin again met Marx, whom he
had not seen since 1848. Marx requested this meeting to reestablish friendly
relations with Bakunin who had been estranged when, in 1853, Marx’s <i>Neue
Rheinische Zeitung</i> [<i>Neue Rheinische Zeitung</i> was closed down in 1849.
The newspaper which published the accusation was unconnected with Marx]
repeated the old libel that Bakunin was a Russian agent. Mazzini and Herzen
defended Bakunin, who was at that time in a Russian prison. Later in 1853 Marx
had declared in the English paper <i>Morning Advertizer</i> that he was
Bakunin’s friend and had personally assured Bakunin that this was still the
case. At their reunion in 1864, Marx invited Bakunin to join the International,
but Bakunin preferred to return to Italy to devote himself to his secret
organization. Bakunin’s decision was understandable. At that time the
International, outside of the General Council in London and a few Mutualist
workers from Paris, could hardly be considered an international organization,
and no one could foresee the importance it later assumed. It was only after the
second congress at Lausanne in September 1867, the two strikes in Paris, and
the great strike at Geneva (1868) that it drew serious attention and its
revolutionary capabilities could no longer be ignored. In its third congress,
in Brussels in 1868, the theories of cooperativism and Proudhonist Mutualism
were seriously challenged by those of revolution and collective ownership.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In July 1868 Bakunin became a
member of the Geneva section of the International, and after resigning from the
“League for Peace and Freedom” at its Bern Congress, he settled in Geneva in
order to participate actively in the labor movement of the city. Intensive
propaganda sparked the growth of the International. A trip to Spain by Fanelli
(an Italian revolutionary socialist and coworker of Bakunin) resulted in the
establishment of the International in Madrid and Barcelona. The French sections
of French-speaking Switzerland united into a federation under the name “Romance
Federation of the International” and in January 1869 launched their official
organ, the magazine <i>L'Égalité</i> <i>L'Égalité</i> attacked the false
socialists of the Swiss Jura (mountains) and won the enthusiastic support of a
majority of the region’s workers for revolutionary socialism. On various
occasions, Bakunin came to the Jura to denounce what he called “collaboration
between workers and employers, alliances – masked as cooperation – with
bourgeois political parties and reactionary groups,” gradually forming a
lasting friendship with the militant workers. In Geneva itself, a conflict took
place between construction workers, who were instinctively revolutionary, and
the better-paid and highly skilled watch and jewelry workers, who called
themselves “Fabrica” and who wanted to participate in election campaigns with
the bourgeois radicals. Those of a revolutionary tendency had the powerful
encouragement of Bakunin, who, in addition to his public addresses, formulated
his program and exposed the opportunists in a series of notable articles such
as “The Policy of the International” [see selection in present volume], printed
in <i>L'Égalité.</i> As a result, the Bakuninists won out – although this
victory proved, regrettably, temporary. Nonetheless, since the Belgian,
Spanish, French, and French-Swiss sections of the International all favored
collectivism, its adoption by a large majority at the next congress was
assured.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The General Council of London
refused to admit the Alliance as a branch of the International because the
Alliance would constitute what amounted to a second international body in the
International, thereby causing confusion and disorganization. Unquestionably
one of the motives for this decision was Marx’s ill will toward Bakunin, whom
the German regarded as a schemer aiming to “break up the International and
convert it into his own tool.” But in any case, irrespective of Marx’s personal
sentiments, Bakunin’s idea of forming a dual organization was unfortunate. When
this was explained to him by his Belgian and Swiss comrades, he recognized the
justice of the General Council’s decision. The Central Bureau of the Alliance,
after consulting the members, dissolved the Alliance and the local group in
Geneva became a simple section of the International which was then admitted to
membership by the General Council in July 1869.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The fourth general congress of
the International (Basel, September 6-12, 1869) almost unanimously endorsed the
principle of, collective property, but it soon became evident that the delegates
were divided into two distinct ideological groups. The Germans, Swiss-Germans,
and English were state communists. The opposing group – Belgians, Swiss-French,
French, and Spaniards – were antiauthoritarian communists, federalists, or
anarchists who took the name “Collectivists!’ Bakunin, naturally, belonged to
this faction, which included the Belgian De Paepe and the Parisian Varlin.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The secret organization
founded by Bakunin in 1864 was dissolved in January 1869 because of an internal
crisis, but many of its members kept in touch with each other. The intimate
circle attracted new friends, Swiss, Spaniards, and Frenchmen, Varlin among
them. This free contact of men united for collective action in an informal
revolutionary fraternity was continued in order to strengthen and give more
cohesion to the great revolutionary movement which the International
represented.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In the summer of 1869,
Borkheim, a friend of Marx, repeated in the Berlin journal <i>Zukunft </i>(“The
Future”) the old libel that Bakunin was a Russian agent, and Wilhelm
Liebknecht, a founder of the German Social Democratic party, at various times
continued to spread this falsehood. When Bakunin met Liebknecht at the Basel
Congress, he challenged him to prove his charges before an impartial “court of
honor.” Liebknecht explained that he had never personally slandered Bakunin,
but had only repeated what he read in the papers, primarily the <i>Zukunft. </i>The
court of honor unanimously found Liebknecht guilty and signed a statement to
that effect. Liebknecht admitted that he was wrong and shook hands with
Bakunin, who then set fire to the statement, using it to light his cigarette.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">After the Basel Congress,
Bakunin moved to Locarno, where he could live cheaply and where he would not be
distracted while making a number of Russian translations for a St. Petersburg
publisher (the first was of volume one of Marx’s Das Kapital). Unfortunately,
Bakunin’s departure from Geneva left the field open for the political
machinations of a group headed by the Russian immigrant Nicholas Utin. In a few
months they disrupted the Russian section of the International, occupied the
key posts, and seized control of its organ, <i>L'Égalité</i>. Marx entered into
an alliance with Utin and his camarilla of pseudosocialists of the “Temple Unico,”
the old Masonic hall used as a meeting place for the Geneva International.
Meanwhile, on March 28, Marx addressed his notorious “Confidential
Communication” to his German friends in order to stir up hatred among the
German Democratic Socialists against Bakunin. He represented him as an agent of
the pan-Slavist party, from which, Marx declared, Bakunin received twenty-five
thousand francs per year.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In April 1870, Utin and his
Geneva conspirators engineered a split of the Romance Federation into two factions.
The first faction, which took the name “Jura Federation,” was in agreement with
the Internationalists of France, Belgium, and Spain. They adopted a
revolutionary antiauthoritarian position, declaring that “all participation of
the working class in the politics of bourgeois governments can result only in
the consolidation and perpetuation of the existing order.” The other, the
Temple Unico faction, backed by the London General Council as well as by the
Germans and Swiss-Germans, believed in “electoral action and workers’
candidates for political posts.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin was at that time
preoccupied with Russian events. In the spring of 1869 he became friendly with
the fiery young revolutionist Sergei Nechaev. Bakunin still believed at that
time in the possibility of a vast peasant uprising in Russia, much like that of
Stenka Razin. The second centennial of this great revolt of 1669 seemed almost
like a prophetic coincidence. It was then that Bakunin wrote in Russian the
manifesto Some Words to My Young <i>Brothers in </i>Russia and the pamphlet
Science and <i>the Present Revolutionary </i>Cause. Nechaev soon returned to
Russia, but was forced to flee again after the arrest of almost all his friends
and the destruction of his organization. He reached Switzerland in January 1870.
Nechaev then prevailed upon Bakunin to abandon the translation of Marx’s Das
Kapital which he had already begun, and to concentrate entirely upon Russian
revolutionary propaganda. Nechaev also succeeded in obtaining money for his
alleged “Russian Committee” from the remainder of the Bakhmetiev Fund for
Russian revolutionary propaganda, which was administered by Ogarev.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin also wrote, in
Russian, the pamphlet <i>To the Officers of the Russian Army</i>, and, in
French, <i>The Bears of Bern and the Bear of St. Petersburg</i>. He edited a
few issues of the new series of Kolokol and engaged in feverish activity for
many months. In July 1870, when Bakunin realized that Nechaev was using him to
attain a personal dictatorship by Jesuitical methods, he broke off all relations
with the young revolutionist. He had been the victim of excessive trustfulness
and of his admiration for Nechaev’s savage energy. Bakunin wrote to Ogarev on
August 21, 1870:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We have been pretty fine
fools. How Herzen would have laughed at us if he were still alive, and how
right he would have been!! Well, all we can do is to swallow this bitter pill,
which will make us more cautious in the future.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">VII</span></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">When the Franco-Prussian War
of 870-7 broke out, Bakunin passionately followed the course of battle. To his
friend Ogarev he wrote in a letter dated August 11, 1870, “You are only a
Russian, but I am an Internationalist.” To Bakunin, the crushing of France by
feudal, militarist Germany would mean the triumph of the counterrevolution; and
this defeat could only be avoided by calling upon the French people to rise en
masse and throw out both the foreign invader and their own domestic tyrants who
were holding them in economic and political bondage. To his socialist friends
in Lyons, Bakunin wrote:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The patriotic movement is
nothing in comparison with what you must now do if you want to save France.
Therefore, arise my comrades to the strains of the <i>Marseillaise </i>which
today is once again the true anthem of France palpitating with life, the song
of liberty, the song of the people, the song of humanity. In acting
patriotically we are (also) saving universal liberty. Ah! if I were young
again, I would not he writing letters. I would be among you!</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A correspondent of the <i>Volksstaat
</i>(Wilhelm Liebknecht’s paper) had reported that the Parisian workers were
“indifferent toward the war.” Bakunin felt that it was perverse to accuse the
workers of an apathy which, if actually present, would be criminal on their
part. He wrote to the workers that they could not remain indifferent to the
German invasion, that they must absolutely defend their liberty against the
armed gangs of Prussian militarism.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If France were invaded by an
army of German, English, Belgian, Spanish, or Italian proletarians, holding
high the banner of revolutionary socialism and proclaiming to the world the
final emancipation of labor, I would have been the first to cry to the workers
of France: “Open your arms, embrace them, they are your brothers, and unite
with them to sweep away the rotten remains of the bourgeois world!” ... But the
invasion that today dishonors France is an aristocratic, monarchic, military
invasion.... If they remain passive before this invasion, the French workers
will betray not only their own liberty, they will also betray the cause of the
workers of the world, the sacred cause of revolutionary socialism.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin’s ideas about the
situation facing French workers and the means that should be employed to save
France and the cause of liberty were expressed by him in a small pamphlet which
appeared anonymously, in September 1870, under the title <i>Letters to a
Frenchman on the Present Crisis.</i></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin left Locarno on
September 9, 1870, and arrived in Lyons on the fifteenth. On his arrival, a
Committee for the Salvation of France, whose most active and determined member
was Bakunin, was immediately organized to mount a revolutionary insurrection.
The program of the movement was printed on a huge red poster and was signed by
the delegates of Lyons, St.Étienne, Tarare, and Marseilles. Although Bakunin
was a foreigner and his position therefore more precarious, he did not hesitate
to add his signature to those of his friends, thus sharing their perils and
their responsibilities. The poster proclamation first declares that “The
administrative and governmental machinery of the State having become impotent
is abolished,” and that “The people of France [have] regained full control over
their own affairs. ‘ . .” It then immediately proposes the formation in all the
federated communes of Committees for the Salvation of France, and the immediate
dispatch to Lyons of two delegates from each committee in the capital of each
department of France, to form the Revolutionary Convention for the Salvation of
France.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">On September 28, a popular
uprising put the revolutionists in possession of the Lyons City Hall; but the
treason of General Cluseret, in helping to suppress an uprising he had
endorsed, and the cowardice of some of those who had betrayed the trust of the
people caused the defeat of the revolutionists. Bakunin, against whom the
prosecutor of the Republic, Andrieux, had issued an order of arrest, fled to
Marseilles where he remained in hiding for some time, trying to prepare a new
uprising. In the meantime, the French authorities spread the rumor that Bakunin
was a paid agent of Prussia and that the Government of National Defense could
prove it. On its part, Liebknecht’s Volksstaat, commenting on the twenty-eighth
of September and the red poster proclamation, declared that “Not even the
Berlin [government’s] press could have better served Bismarck’s plans.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">On October 24, Bakunin, in
despair over events in France, sailed from Marseilles on a ship returning to
Locarno by way of Genoa and Milan. The day before his departure he had written
the following to the Spanish Socialist Sentinon, who had come to France hoping
to participate in the revolutionary movement:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The French people are no
longer revolutionary at all... . Militarism and Bureaucracy, the arrogance of
the nobility and the Protestant Jesuitry of the Prussians, in affectionate
alliance with the knout of my dear sovereign and master, the Emperor of all the
Russias, are going to command all Europe, God knows for how many years. Goodbye
to all our dreams of impending Revolution!!</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The uprising that broke out in
Marseilles on October 31, only seven days after Bakunin’s departure, confirmed
his pessimistic prediction: the Revolutionary Commune which had been
established when news of the capitulation of Bazaine reached Marseilles held
out for only five days before surrendering to Alfonso Cent, who had been sent
by Gambetta.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In Locarno, where he spent the
winter in seclusion, battling against poverty and despair, Bakunin wrote the
continuation of his Letters to a Frenchman, an analysis of the new situation in
Europe. It was published in the spring of 1871 with the characteristic title,
The Knouto-Germanic Empire and the Social Revolution. News of the Parisian
insurrection of March 18, 1871 (the Paris Commune) lightened his pessimism. The
Paris proletariat, at least, had lost neither their energy nor their spirit of
revolt. But France, exhausted and defeated, could not be galvanized by the
heroism of the people of Paris. The attempts in various provinces to spread the
communalist movement (self-governing communes) failed, and the Parisian
insurrectionists were finally crushed by their innumerable enemies. Bakunin, who
had gone to stay with friends in the Jura to be nearer the French frontier, was
unable to help and was compelled to return to Locarno.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But this time Bakunin did not
give way to discouragement. The Commune of Paris, upon which all the
reactionary forces concentrated their furious, venomous hatred, kindled a spark
of hope in the hearts of all the exploited. The proletariat of the world
saluted the heroic people whose blood ran in torrents for the emancipation of
humanity. “The modern Satan, the great rebellion, suppressed, but not
pacified!” exclaimed Bakunin. The Italian patriot Mazzini added his voice to
those who cursed the Commune and the International. Bakunin wrote the Response <i>of
</i>an Internationalist to Mazzini which appeared in August 1871 in both
Italian and French. This work made a deep impression in Italy, and produced
among the youth and the workers of Italy a climate of opinion which gave birth,
toward the end of 1871, to many new sections of the International. A second
pamphlet, The Political Theology <i>of </i>Mazzini and the International, even
further consolidated and extended the International. Bakunin, who by sending
Fanelli to Spain had created the International there, was by his polemic with
Mazzini also the creator of the International in Italy. Now he threw himself
passionately into the struggle not only against the domination of the
bourgeoisie over the proletariat, but against the men who were trying to
install the principle of authority in the International Workingmen’s
Association.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3; text-align: center;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">VIII</span></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The split in the Romance
Federation (French-speaking Switzerland), which could have been healed if the
London General Council had so desired and if the agents of that Council had
been less perfidious, was aggravated to the point of irreversibility. In August
1870 Bakunin and three of his friends were expelled from the Geneva section
because they had declared their sympathy for the Jura Federationists. Soon
after the end of the Franco-Prussian War Marx’s agents came to Geneva to revive
the discords. The members of the now-dissolved Geneva section of the Alliance
believed that they had given sufficient proof of their friendly intentions by
dissolving their section. But the party of Marx and Utin did not cease its
harassments: a new section, called “Propaganda and Revolutionary Socialist
Action,” formed by refugees from the Paris Commune and including old members of
the Alliance section, was promptly refused admission to the International by the
General Council. Instead of a general congress of the International, the
General Council, controlled by Marx and his friend Engels, in September 1871
convened a secret conference in London, attended almost entirely by partizans
of Marx. The conference adopted resolutions destroying the autonomy of the
sections and federations of the International and giving the General Council
powers that violated the fundamental statutes of the International and the
conference. At the same time it tried to promote and organize, under the
direction of the General Council, what it called “the political [parliamentary]
action of the working class.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Immediate action was
necessary. The International, a vast federation of groups organized to fight
the economic exploitation of the capitalist system, was in imminent danger of
being derailed by a little band of Marxist and Blanquist sectarians. The
sections of the Jura; together with the “Propaganda and Revolutionary” section
of Geneva, met in Sonvilier (November 12, 1871 ) and established the Jurassian
Federation of the International. This association sent a circular to all the
federations of the International urging them to jointly resist the usurpations
of the General Council and to energetically reconquer their autonomy. The circular,
among other things, declared:”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">If there is an undeniable
fact, attested to a thousand times by experience, it is the corrupting effect
produced by authority on those who manipulate it. It is absolutely impossible
for a man who wields power to remain a moral man....</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The General Council could not
escape this inevitable law. These men, accustomed to march at our head and to
speak in our name, have been led by the very demands of their situation to
desire that their particular program, their particular doctrine, should prevail
in the International. Having become in their own eyes a sort of government, it
was natural that their own particular ideas should appear to them as official
theory, as they had the sole “freedom of the city” [unlimited power] in the Association
whilst divergent views expressed by other groups appeared no longer the
legitimate expression of opinions With rights equal to their own, but as
veritable heresies....</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We do not impugn the
intentions of the General Council. The persons who compose it found themselves
the victims of an inevitable necessity. They wanted in good faith, and for the
triumph of their particular doctrine, to introduce into the International the
principle of authority. Circumstances appeared to favor their doctrine, and it
appears to us quite natural that this school, whose ideal is THE CONQUEST OF
POLITICAL POWER BY THE WORKING CLASS, should have believed that the
International was going to alter its original structure and transform itself
into a hierarchical organization directed and governed by the General
Council....</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But while we understand these
tendencies we feel obliged to fight them in the name of that Social Revolution
whose program is “Emancipation of the workers by the workers themselves.” ...</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The future society must be
nothing else than the universalization of the organization that the
International has formed for itself. We must therefore strive to make this
organization as close as possible to our ideal. How could one expect an
egalitarian society to emerge out of an authoritarian organization? It is
impossible. The International, embryo of the future society, must from now on
faithfully reflect our principles of federation and liberty, and must reject
any principle tending toward authority and dictatorship.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin enthusiastically
welcomed the Sonvilier circular and devoted ‘all his energies to actively
propagating its principles in the Italian sections of the International. Spain,
Belgium, most of the French sections (secretly reorganized in spite of the Versailles
reaction following the defeat of the Paris Commune), and most of the United
States sections declared themselves in agreement with the Swiss-Jura
Federation. It was soon certain that the attempts of Marx and his allies to
capture the International would be repulsed. The first half of 1872 was marked
by a “confidential circular” issued by the General Council, written by Karl
Marx and printed as a pamphlet entitled <i>Les prétendues scissions dans
I'Internationale </i>(“The Alleged Splits in the International”). Prominent
Federalist militants and others seeking independence from the General Council
were personally slandered, and the widespread protests against certain acts of
the General Council were depicted as sordid intrigues by members of the old
International Alliance of the Social Democracy (the Alliance) who, directed by
“the Pope of Locarno” (Bakunin), were working for the destruction of the
International. Bakunin gave his reaction to this circular in a letter: “The
sword of Damocles that hung over us so long has at last fallen over our heads.
It is not really a sword, but the habitual weapon of Marx, a heap of filth.”</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin passed the summer and
autumn of 1872 in Zurich, where on his initiative a Slavic section was founded,
composed almost entirely of Serbian and Russian students, which joined the Jura
Federation of the International. Since April Bakunin had been in contact with
Russian emigre youths in Locarno who organized themselves into a secret action
and propaganda group. The most militant member of this group was Armand Ross
(Michael Sazhin). In intimate contact with Bakunin from the summer of 1870 to
the spring of 1876, Ross was the principal intermediary between the great
revolutionary agitator and Russian youth.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin’s propaganda during
this period was an inspiration to the young Russians in the following years.
Bakunin’s dictum that the youth must “GO TO THE PEOPLE” had become an axiom
within the populist movement. In Zurich, Ross established a Russian-language
printing plant which in 1873 published <i>Istoricheskoye Razvitiye </i>Internatsionala
(“ne Historical Development of the International”), a collection of articles
translated from Swiss and Belgian socialist papers, with explanatory notes by
different writers, and a chapter on the Alliance written by Bakunin. In 1874
Ross’s press printed <i>Gosudarstvennost i Anarkhiya </i>(“Statism and
Anarchy”). A conflict with Peter Lavrov and personal dissensions among some of
its members led to the dissolution of the Zurich Slav section of the
International in 1873.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">in the meantime the General
Council decided to convene a general congress for September 7, 1872. It chose
to meet at The Hague for two main reasons: it was a location close to London,
and thus allowed many delegates who agreed with Marx’s policies or held
fictitious credentials to get to the congress easily; at the same time, the
location made it more difficult for delegates representing remote or legally
‘banned federations to attend; there was no possibility, for example, of
Bakunin’s attending. The newly constituted Italian Federation refused to send
delegates. The Spanish Federation sent four, the Jura Federation two, the
Belgian Federation seven, the Dutch Federation four, the English Federation
five. These twenty-two delegates, the only ones truly representing constituents
of the International, made up the core of the minority. The majority of forty
who, in reality, represented only themselves had already pledged themselves in
advance to faithfully carry out the orders of the clique headed by Marx and
Engels. The only decision of the congress with which we deal here is the
expulsion of Bakunin [Guillaume was also expelled] from the International. This
action was taken on the last day of the congress, September 7, after one-third
of the delegates had already gone home, by a vote of twenty-seven for and seven
against, with eight abstentions. A mock inquiry by a five-member commission,
held behind closed doors, found Bakunin guilty of the charges made by the
Marxist clique, and he was expelled on two grounds:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">1. That a draft of principles
and letters signed “Bakunin” proves that said citizen has tried to establish,
and perhaps has succeeded in establishing, a society in Europe named “The
Alliance’ with rules on social and political matters entirely different from
those of the International.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">2. That Citizen Bakunin has
made use of deceptive tricks in order to appropriate some portion of another
person’s fortune, which constitutes fraud; that further he or his agents
resorted to threats lest he be compelled to meet his obligations.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The second Marxist accusation
refers to the three hundred rubles advanced to Bakunin for the translation of
Marx’s Das Kapital and the letter written by Nechaev to the publisher Poliakov.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A protest against this infamy,
immediately published by a group of Russian immigrants, made these points:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Geneva and Zurich, October 4,
1872. They have dared to accuse our friend Michael Bakunin of fraud and
blackmail. We do not deem it necessary or opportune to discuss the alleged
facts on which these strange accusations against our friend and compatriot are
based. The facts are well known in all details and we will make it our duty to
establish the truth as soon as possible. Now we are prevented from so doing by
the unfortunate situation of another compatriot who is not our friend, but
whose persecution at this very moment by the Russian government renders him
sacred to us. [This refers to Nechaev, who was arrested in Zurich on August 14,
1872, and extradited to Russia via Switzerland on October 27, 1872.] Mr. Marx,
whose cleverness we do not, like others, question, has this time at least shown
very bad judgment. Honest hearts in all lands will doubtless beat with
indignation and disgust at so shameful a conspiracy and so flagrant a violation
of the most elementary principles of justice. As to Russia, we can assure Mr.
Marx that all his maneuvers will inevitably end in failure. Bakunin is too well
esteemed and known there for calumny to touch him. Signed: Nicholas Ogarev,
Bartholomy Zaitsev, Vladimir Ozerov, Armand Ross, Vladimir Holstein, Zemphiri
Ralli, Alexander Oelsnitz, Valerian Smirnov.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The day after the Hague
Congress of September 5, 1872, another congress of the International –
comprising delegations from the Italian, Spanish, Swiss-Jura federations, as
well as representatives from American and French sections – convened in
St.-Imier Switzerland. The congress stated that it unanimously:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Rejects absolutely all
resolutions of the Hague Congress and does not recognize to any extent the
powers of the new General Council named by it. [The General Council had been
transferred to New York.]</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The Italian Federation had
already affirmed, on August 4, 1872, the resolutions of the St.-Imier Congress,
which the Jura Federation also adopted at a special meeting held the same day
as that of the congress. Most of the French sections hastened to express their
complete approval. The Spanish and Belgian federations endorsed the resolutions
at their congresses held respectively in Cordoba and Brussels during Christmas
week of 1872. The American Federation did likewise at its meeting in New York
City on January 12, 1873. The English Federation, which included Marx’s old
friends Eccarius and Jung, refused to recognize the decisions of the Hague
Congress and the new General Council.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">On June 5, 1873, the General
Council in New York, exercising the powers vested in it by the Hague Congress,
suspended the Jura Federation, declaring it subversive. As a result, the Dutch
Federation, which had been neutral, joined the other seven federations of the
International, declaring on February 14, 1873, that it refused to recognize the
“suspension” of the Jura Federation.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The publication by Marx and
the little group that still remained faithful to him of a pamphlet filled with
gross lies, entitled <i>The Alliance of the Social Democracy and the
International</i> [written in French in the second half of 1873], only provoked
the disgust of all those who read this product of blind hatred.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">On September 1, 1873, the
sixth congress of the International opened in Geneva. The Belgian, Dutch,
Italian, French, English, and Swiss-Jura federations were represented and the
Lasallean socialists of Berlin sent a telegram of greetings. The congress
concerned itself with the revision of the statutes of the International,
pronounced the dissolution of the General Council, and made the International a
free federation without any directing authority over it:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The federations and sections
comprising the International each reclaims its complete autonomy, the right to organize
itself as it sees fit, to administer its own affairs without any outside
interference, and to determine the best and most efficient means for the
emancipation of labor. [Article 3 of the new statutes]</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">His lifelong battles had left
Bakunin exhausted. Prison had aged him before his time, his health had
seriously deteriorated, and he now craved repose and retirement. When he saw
the International reorganized in a way that fulfilled the principle of free federation,
he felt that the time had come to take leave of his comrades. On October 12,
1873, he addressed a letter to the members of the Jura Federation:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">I beg you to accept my
resignation as a member of the Jura Federation and the International. I no longer
feel that I have the strength needed for the struggle: I would be a hindrance
in the camp of the Proletariat, not a help ... I retire then, dear comrades,
full of gratitude to you and sympathy for your great cause – the cause of
humanity. I will continue to follow, with brotherly anxiety, all your steps and
I will greet with joy each of your new victories. Till death I will he yours.
[For full text, see p. 351.]</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">He had but three years to
live.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">His friend, the Italian
revolutionist Carlo Cafiero, invited him to stay in his villa near Locarno.
There Bakunin lived until the middle of 1874, apparently absorbed by his new
life, one in which he had at last found tranquility, security, and relative
well-being. But he still regarded himself as a soldier of the revolution. When
his Italian friends launched an insurrectionary movement, Bakunin went to
Bologna in July 1874 to participate. But the insurrection, poorly planned,
collapsed and Bakunin returned in disguise to Switzerland.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">At this time Bakunin and
Cafiero became estranged. Cafiero, having sacrificed his entire fortune for the
cause of the revolution, found himself ruined and was forced to sell the villa.
Bakunin, unable to stay in Locarno, settled in Lugano where, thanks to his
paternal inheritance sent to him by his brothers, he was able to support
himself and his family. The temporary coolness between Bakunin and Cafiero did
not last long, and friendly relations were soon reestablished. But Bukunin’s
illness progressed, ravaging both spirit and body, so that by 1875 he was only
a shadow of his former self. Hoping to find relief, Bakunin left Locarno for
Bern to consult his old friend, Vogt, to whom he said, “I have come to be
restored to health or to die.” He was taken to a hospital, where he was
affectionately attended by Dr. Vogt and another close friend, the musician
Reichel.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In one of his last
conversations, recalled by Reichel, Bakunin in speaking of Schopenhauer
remarked:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">All our philosophy starts from
a false base; it begins always by considering man as an individual, and not as
he should be considered – that is, as a being belonging to a collectivity; most
of the philosophical (and mistaken) views stemming from this false premise
either are led to the conception of a happiness in the clouds, or to a pessimism
like that of Schopenhauer and Hartmann.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">In another conversation,
Reichel expressed his regret that Bakunin could never find time to write his
memoirs. Bakunin replied:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">And why should you want me to
write them? It is not worth the effort. Today the people in all lands have lost
the instinct of revolution. No, if I get a bit of strength back again, I would
rather write an ethic based on the principles of collectivism, making no use of
philosophical or religious phrases.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">He died at noon on July 1, 1876.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">On July 3, socialists from all
parts of Switzerland arrived in Bern to pay their last respects to Michael
Bakunin. At his graveside, eulogies were offered by some of his friends from
the Jura Federation: Adhemar Schwitzguebel, James Guillaume, Elisee Reclus; by
Nicholas Zhukovsky, representing the Russians; by Paul Brouse for the French
Revolutionary Youth; by Betsien for the German proletariat. At a meeting after
the funeral all were moved by one sentiment: to forget, upon the grave of
Bakunin, all personal bickering, and to unite on the basis of liberty and
mutual tolerance all the socialist factions in both camps. The following
resolution received unanimous approval:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The workers gathered in Bern
on the occasion of the death of Michael Bakunin belong to five different
nations. Some are partizans of a Worker’s State, while others advocate the free
federation of groups of producers. But all feel that a reconciliation is not
only very essential and very desirable, but also easy to establish on the basis
of the principles of the International, as formulated in Article 3 of the
revised statutes adopted at the Geneva Congress of 1873.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Therefore this assembly,
meeting in Bern, calls upon all workers to forget the vain and unfortunate
dissensions of the past and to unite on the basis of strict adherence to the
principles enunciated in Article 3 of the above-mentioned statutes [autonomy of
the sections].</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Do you want to know how this
moving appeal to forget past hatreds and to unite in liberty was answered? The
Marxist Tagwacht of Zurich on July 8 printed the following:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Bakunin was regarded by many
fair-minded men and good socialists as a Russian agent. This suspicion,
doubtless erroneous, was aroused by the fact that Bakunin greatly harmed the
revolutionary movement; it was the reaction which benefited most from his
activity.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Similar malevolent accusations
vented by the <i>Volksstaat</i> of Leipzig and the Russian-language <i>Vpered </i>of
London compelled the friends of Bakunin to conclude that his enemies did not
intend to desist from their campaign of hatred. Hence the Bulletin of the Jura
Federation on September 10, 1876, faced with hostile manifestations, declared:</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">We desire, as our conduct has
always established, the most complete reconciliation possible of all socialist
groups: we are ready to extend our hand in friendship to all those who
sincerely wish to struggle for the emancipation of labor. But we are at the
same time determined not to allow anyone to insult our dead.</span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Will the time come when
posterity will assess the personality and achievements of Bakunin with the
impartiality that we have a right to expect? Further, can one hope that the
wishes expressed by his friends on his freshly covered grave will someday he
realized?</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Red Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00553505839836886797noreply@blogger.com0