A review of Esperanto Kaj Socialismo [Esperanto and Socialism] by Detlev Blanke

 

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Esperanto kaj Socialismo? pri la movado sur la "alia flanko"(1), is a short piece of historical information about the Esperanto movement in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War period. The author Detlev Blanke grew up in East Germany and was an active promoter of Esperanto at the time so the work is largely autobiographical. I won't pretend this isn't a text written for a small niche, but if you're interested in Esperanto enough to read works written in the language there is some value and interest to be found in these pages even if you had no interest in socialism or Eastern Europe.

I of course, am interested in both subjects, so I had a lot to digest. I would say an sperta komencanto, or a beginner with some experience should find the text readable with maybe a few pauses to consult a dictionary. A passage from the introduction struck me as interesting, most of the text was taken from a lecture and expanded with more detail. The subject of the lecture was about ideology and its relationship to Esperanto, and focused on what is commonly referred to as the "socialismaj landoj" socialist countries. Meaning of course nations controlled by Communist parties such as the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of Poland. But the extent to which these nations were socialist has been contested. Detlev Blanke has since come to the conclusion that these nations including the one he grew up didn't live up to those titles. He thinks that a more accurate description would be "soclandoj" a word I have a hard time translating into English. I suppose Socialette countries would be the most accurate way to do it. What he's done is reduced socialism to its root or germ, these nations didn't build a socialist society but Blanke believes the intention and aspiration to do so was genuine and had things developed differently they might have succeeded. 

Its a bit like how a novelette isn't just a short story, but a short story that has the potential to become a full novel. For example Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf, it has a full story structure and could be expanded into a longer work, and was though for film with the novelette being the foundation of the script for Silver Bullet. 

Esperanto and Socialism's main thrust is a history of the development of the officially approved Esperanto movement in East Germany and its connections with the wider "socialist" or more accurately pro-Soviet Union nations and their approved Esperanto movements. The text is acronym heavy and many names are called up but the layout limits the potential confusion. While the details of the benefits of working with the government will make some Esperantists envious, multiple school courses, subsidised travel, funding for diverse publications, conferences attended by important people etc. Blanke makes clear that these came at costs. The Esperantists of Eastern Europe had to conform to the limits of accepted behaviour and discussion. The Soviet Union was a major obstacle in this regard. Stalin's brutal repressions targeted the Soviet Esperantist movement, and while many of them were posthumously "rehabilitated" it was still a sore subject to give publicity to criticism of Stalin's rule in Brezhnev's Soviet Union. Another issue was language imperialism. This is a subject familiar to most Esperantists, and it wasn't much different on the other side of the Berlin Wall. The main difference was instead of having to contend with the popularity of English or French they had to deal with the pre-eminence of Russian. In addition to competing with Russian for space in international communications criticism of linguistic domination of Russian was also a contentious topic.

The limits on what could be discussed and obstinacy on behalf of the bureaucracy that controlled East Germany were issues that couldn't be tackled without direct opposition to the government, which given that these were all dictatorial societies with extensive police powers wasn't advisable. Still, the Esperantists of Eastern Europe were able to rebuild movements shattered by the Nazis and Stalin, and later Nicolae Ceaușescu who cracked down on Esperanto in the 1980s, and were able to make some space for international discussion, culture and debate and promotion of peace in international affairs.

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1: Esperanto and Socialism? information on the movement on the "other side" is how I translate the title into English

 

 

The Pink Star of the East: Two films about homosexuality in the Eastern Block

Gay rights and Queer issues have become something of a point scoring trick in political forums today. Depending on the region or website "Leftists" either smugly tut tut at backward Conservative types with their family values crusades or fume that the workers movement has been high jacked by a rainbow coalition of western puppets/bourgeois decadence.

The treatment of homosexuals in "Socialist states" is rather poor, the regimes substituted religious dogmatism for  a more "rational" dogmatism about bourgeois relationships and proletarian relationships. A number of states like the Soviet Union and Romania where incredibly harsh in punishing those who didn't fit their very narrowly definition of behaviour. Others like East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary had abolished their legal objections to same sex relationships in the 60's. Famously the DDR beat West Germany to it by a year (1968 in the East, 1969 in the West). And curiously Yugoslavia in the 70's had some of its states repeal their laws on homosexuality while others kept them on the books until after Yugoslavia collapsed.


An important thing to keep in mind is that legal tolerance doesn't automatically mean acceptance or even social tolerance.

To date their have been some official state sanctioned works about being Gay under "actually existing socialism" a total of two as far as I can tell. One comes from East Germany (Coming Out)and premièred the day the Berlin Wall fell, and one from 1982 in Hungary (Another Way).  Both have been commercially released but information about them both is hard to come by. Fortunately youtube user Infamous Sphere has uploaded detailed reviews of both so we can see some of them.

Interesting to note that the DDR also follows the tradition of making Queer films look

 like porno's

Coming Out

Another Way


Note: If you ever have problems with out of sync subtitles there is an easy fix, watch the video in VLC media player and then click on this link https://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_HowTo/Adjust_subtitle_delay/ 

An additional note, most if not all of the cast of Another Way where played by Polish Actors and then dubbed into Hungarian. The reason for this is that no Hungarian actor would work on the project, whether because of the fear of being associated with homosexuality or because the film was very critical of the regime in the 50's or both is debatable. But fortunately for the film a crackdown on civil liberties (such as they were) in the People's Republic of Poland (The country had been under martial law since 1981) lead to a massive protest and boycott by the Polish entertainment industry. Meaning that there were many out of work actors in Poland willing to take a chance on any project that would hire them, this is what Polish Wikipedia has to say on the subject, (Translated by user Madaffi)

No Hungarian actress dared to play in this film. At the time (1982), Poland was under martial law (since December 13, 1981) and Polish actors and actresses were boycotting state television (and there was no non-state television so they played in foreign films). Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak, who played Eva, was a part of a theatre group that was dissolved because her international success which came from this film didn't sit well with Communists that ruled Poland at the time. Furthermore, after she got a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the only polish state run film production organisation that was allowed to deliver messages between foreign and domestic producers was flooded with calls and letters, but they were ordered by Communist Party of Poland to not pass it along to the actress - she received none and thought no-one was interested in hiring her for roles.

Queers and the USSR: A not so fabulous record on LGBT rights

 

This was originally part of this but I decided to split it for the sake of brevity. 

If you're a (in)frequent reader of this blog you may have noticed a curious omission from my early post on Gay Rights in Russia. Where was the Communist Party, that last bastion of resistance to Putin's right wing autocracy? Well it was there all right, the reason you had a hard time seeing them was because they were dwarfed by United Russia whom they were standing shoulder to shoulder with.

The communist group leader says he and his 350 members were ready to protest in the streets if the gay singer did not dress ‘less gay’.

The communist group leader says he and his 350 members were ready to protest in the streets if the gay singer did not dress ‘less gay’. - See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/elton-john%E2%80%99s-outfits-called-%E2%80%98gay-propaganda%E2%80%99-russia070613#sthash.FQBiRqyC.dpuf

You may also recall that the anti Gay "propaganda" law passed with only one abstention, and only one Deputy bothered to question the amendment relating to foreigners, and he was from the Just Russia party. This is despite the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) having 92 deputies. Now apparently the attitude of the CPRF in regards to Gays is surprising to some (mostly younger lefties) it isn't to me the opposition of a Communist party to LGBT is nothing new. In fact they're just continuing their "proud" tradition of copying word for word the old Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). I've seen speeches by Zyuganov and its embrassing, he acts like its still the 1950's all of his policies were about another round of industrialisation. Why? Russia is already heavily industrialised and has a hard time maintaining the industrial infrastructure it already has. The answer for this obsession is simply that's what the CPSU did in its glory days. Which is funny given that its official ideology is a "Socialism of the 21st century" when beyond referencing the "New World Order" there is nothing remotely new about it. But don't take my world for it look for yourself

• Stop the extinction of the country,(What?) restore benefits for large families, reconstruct the network of public kindergartens and provide housing for young families. (From the 1930's)
• Nationalize natural resources in Russia and the strategic sectors of the economy; revenues in these industries are to be used in the interests of all citizens. (From the 1920's)
• Return to Russia from foreign banks the state financial reserves and use them for economic and social development. (From the 1920's)
• Break the system of total fraud in the elections. (This one is new, but then so are elections)
• Create a truly independent judiciary. (There were reforms similar to this in the 1980's)
• Carry out an immediate package of measures to combat poverty and introduce price controls on essential goods.(Price controls been around since 1917)
• Not raise the retirement age.(Retirement was raised under the Soviet Union but the also promised not to)
• Restore government responsibility for housing and utilities, establish fees for municipal services in an amount not more than 10% of family income, stop the eviction of people to the streets, expand public housing. (Been Soviet policy in one form or another since the 20's)
• Increase funding for science and scientists to provide decent wages and all the necessary research. (Since the 1920's)
• Restore the highest standards of universal and free secondary and higher education that existed during the Soviet era. (I'm not sure which period of the Soviet Union this refers to)
• Ensure the availability and quality of health care.(See above)
• Vigorously develop high-tech manufacturing. (Been a priority since the 30's)
• Ensure the food and environmental security of the country and support the large collective farms for the production and processing of agricultural products. (Environmental protection is new, collective farming ain't)
• Prioritize domestic debt over of foreign (to compensate for household deposits, burnt in the disastrous years of "reform"). (Again a fairly standard policy of the USSR)
• Introduce progressive taxation; low-income citizens will be exempt from paying taxes. (This is actually new)
• Create conditions for development of small and medium enterprises. (Glasnost and Perestroika period)
• Ensure the accessibility of cultural goods, stop the commercialization of culture, defend Russian culture as the foundation of the spiritual unity of multinational Russia, the national culture of all citizens of the country. (Again 1930's)
• Stop the slandering of the Russian and Soviet history. (1920's)
• Take drastic measures to suppress corruption and crime. (October 1917,)
• Strengthen national defense and expand social guarantees to servicemen and law enforcement officials. (Again since War Communism and Lenin)
• Ensure the territorial integrity of Russia and the protection of compatriots abroad.(Since Stalin)
• Institute a foreign policy based on mutual respect of countries and peoples to facilitate the voluntary restoration of the Union of States. (Reminiscent of COMECON in the 50's)

 In fact there are only two major breaks with the CPSU, the CPRF wants to work with the Orthodox church and idolises Stalin.

That is Zyuganov campaigning for the last Duma Elections

So why then is the CPRF also standing in line to give the Gays a kicking? Two reason but they intertwine heavily. Russian and most former Soviet and and Soviet Aligned states (with a notable exception being East Germany) have a very entrenched homophobic culture. And since we are all merely products of our environment its only natural that a large organisation like the CPRF who have that environment rub off on at least some of its membership. The other reason and a partial explanation for such entrenched homophobia in nations run by State Atheism and hostility to religion was that the CPSU was itself a highly homophobic organisation that actively promoted hostility to homosexuality and sought to suppress the LGBT community. In fact the current laws being passed in the State Duma as nasty as they undoubtedly are don't come close to the level of repression given out during the Soviet period.

Some Background

The Tsarist criminal code listed homosexuality as a crime, not surprising given that Tsarism was another Conservative Autocratic regime that enjoyed the support of the Orthodox church. When the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917 they abolished the Tsarist legal system in its entirety and began substituting there own and resurrecting the parts they liked. This technically makes the Soviet Union one of the first societies to decriminalise homosexuality, but before you get carried away Moscow wasn't covered in rainbows. The Bolshevik's were not known for open sexuality, Alexandra Kollontai a senior Bolshevik and friend of Lenin got into a lot of trouble for pushing what could be called a "Free Love" lifestyle, and opposing marriage.Also since most of the openly Gay Russians before 1917 where from Aristocratic or artistic backgrounds homosexuality was considered a "Bourgeois Deviation" obviously something frowned upon in the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat". So unofficial repression remained.

Then in 1933 when Stalin the man the CPRF revere was in charge the anti gay laws were brought back in by decree. This was probably part of his regimes drive to increase family sizes, in same period divorce was made more difficult and the "Bachelor/spinster" tax on single adults was introduced while married couples with children received tax breaks. But Stalin took the Gay bashing rhetoric further, in 1933 relations between the USSR and the Fascist states of Germany and Italy were very strained and the rise of fellow traveller movements in Easter Europe like the Iron Guards in Romania meant that the Soviet Union began preparing for conflict. So the justification for the reintroduction of Anti gay legislation was that Homosexuality wasn't just Bourgeois it was Fascist. Maxim Gorky a party member and novelist, and unofficial spokesperson for the party made this explicit "eradicate homosexuals and fascism will disappear." Of course Nazi Germany criminalised homosexuality a little later in 1934, so either that's bollocks (which it is) or its evidence of Fascism's suicidal tendencies.

 The new law became Article 121, and punished homosexuality with a sentence of Five years (insert joke about how ironic it is to send gays to prison here) but it gets worse. Not only was homosexuality a crime but homosexual acts occurring within in prison were grounds for extending a sentence and if some former prisoners are to be believed they didn't distinguish between consensual sex and rape. So that meant that certain prisons after being brutalised in an horrific event could then have that event used to justify keeping him in prison. By the 1980's males arrested for homosexuality averaged about 1000 a year.

In addition to prison sentences homosexuals were often blackmailed into becoming informants, and any attempt to establish a Gay rights network or support group was broken up by the KGB. It wasn't until the chaos of the dismantling of the Soviet Union.

 In 1984 a handful of gay men in Leningrad attempted to form the first organization of gay men. They were quickly hounded into submission by the KGB. It was only with Gorbachev's glasnost that such an organization could come into existence in 1989-90. The Moscow Gay & Lesbian Alliance was headed by Yevgeniya Debryanskaya, and Roman Kalinin became the editor of the first officially registered gay newspaper, Tema. Organizations and publications proliferated. The summer of 1991 saw the first international conference, film festival, and demonstrations for gay rights in Moscow and Leningrad. This was followed almost immediately by the attempted coup. Reversion to a more conservative regime would clearly have threatened their recent gains, and legend has it that many gay activists manned the barricades protecting the Russian White House and that Yeltsin's decrees were printed on the xerox machines of the new gay organizations.

 That last part may also explain the vehement opposition that some on the Russian "left" have towards Gays in contemporary Russia, there's this bizarre collective guilt doctrine that means that if you in anyway resemble or are affiliated with another group you are also responsible for all of its negative aspects. Every German is responsible for the Holocaust, every Communist responsible for the Katyn massacre etc. That's a stupid mindset to have no matter who its directed at but there you go.

 Another reason is that a lot of Russian "Communists" are nothing of the sort, they're a bunch of Nationalists dissatisfied with Russia's decline and are nostalgic for those glory days. You can add the CPRF to that list since there's nothing Socialist or Communist in its program, and its constant idolisation of the "Russian People" and the "Russian Nation" expose it. Socialism is the democratic control of the means of production, the CPRF is interested in nationalisation which is the control of the economy by the state. Communism is about the destruction of class and state boundaries, the "Integrity of the Russian nation" is incompatible with it. Since they can't get the basics right its not surprising they see nothing wrong with traditionalistic bigotry.

You know what's really sad? this isn't a joke it actually exists

Though in fairness that isn't a Russian phenomenon, most Communist controlled "Workers states" from Poland to Cuba were just as bad, and many Western Communist parties were and are hostile to Homosexuality. And Nationalists all over the world are quite happy to embrace people and organisations that were hostile to nationalism. In Ireland a lot of Nationalists including explicitly racist and right wing groups see no problem at all evoking the names of James Larkin and James Connolly, men who believed in International Socialism and ending capitalist exploitation everywhere not just kicking the Brits out.

Firing Range

Remember this? well I've watched a few more in my off hours and I think I've found a new favourite.

Its name translates to Firing Range, and was made in 1977 by Anatoly Petrov. Unlike other Soviet era animations this one didn't cut corners, in fact the animation style (Photographica) the characters particularly there faces look almost life like. Remember that this was all done by hand as this was several years before computers started to be used in animation anywhere in the world. It won the First Prize Yerevan, USSR in 1978 and the Official Selection of Oberhausen, Germany in 1979.

The plot is about a scientist whose built a new super weapon, a tank that can read minds. Hes developing it for some Generals of an unnamed nation (its possible that the Russian dialogue does name the country and the subtitles thought it more politic to leave it out but I don't know) they mention losing colonies and "Blacks" burning there tanks so they could be either European or South African, or a veiled reference to either.

Without giving away too much the Tank responds to fear and hatred and can defend itself from aggression. The film is an anti war film -yes really contrary to the Cold War myth of thousands of T-72's revving up in East Germany just waiting to attack the USSR was very keen on avoiding conflict, and its films and writings reflected that- lets just say the greedy warmongering Generals will find there new toy to be everything they wanted and more.

Politics and Football

Well seeing as how England has been kicked out of the world cup after a fairly miserable showing (I personally blame the government) I thought it would be interesting to take a look at a couple of BBC four documentaries about the political role of football and sport in general.



The First is Football and Fascism, it details how the three Fascist regimes of Mussolini, Hitler and Franco built and manipulate football leagues and teams in order to win national prestige, gain physical propaganda for they ideology and manufacture the consent of their populations. If your familiar with the brad and circuses theory of Social control you'll probably recognise a lot of the themes in both these documentaries.

The second one is the sequel or follow up entitled Football and Communism which I sadly can't find video clips of but both are available online* anyway. It follows the same formula as the first except obviously its about three Warsaw Pact nations, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic and of course the Soviet Union. Highlights include anecdotes how even prison guards were guilty of hero worshipping the star players whom they were responsible for. And a very interesting and unorthodox theory as to the origins of the Hungary uprisings in 1956.

Anyway the reason why I feel these documentaries are important to watch is mainly because I feel a lot of people seem to give sport a free pass. When ever question time has a discussing about a sports boycott or something in the same vein I guarantee you there'll be some fellow who say words to the effect of "lets keep politics out of sport" well I'm sorry but you just can't, especially not when its at the national level. Those documentaries are quite clearly at the extreme end of the spectrum of sport manipulation I grant you but the idea of manipulating professional sport to suit ulterior means is far from a unique or an exclusively dictatorial practice.
When cricketers like the Ironically named Geoffrey Boycott broke the cricketing boycott of South Africa it wasn't a statement about keeping the pure simplicity of the game intact (though that may well have been there intention) it was giving legitimacy to a quite brutal regime that was constantly trying to prove it was not globally reviled and isolated.

* cough cough
Photo source

When worlds collide, the music of the West given an Eastern twist.

More at http://www.rathergood.com/. See how the German Democratic Republic (DDR)bravely strived to uplift the spirits of its citizens.