are there any pics?
San Francisco: Stalinist Spanish Civil War Artwork Vandalized
right on, fuck stalinism
"As a military policeman in Burma, Orwell reported, 'I was hated by large numbers of people--the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me.' "
as a statue in san francisco, the abraham lincoln brigade, as bronze representation, reported, 'i was vandalized by a small group of people-- the only time in my life that i have probably even been noticed.'
I posted a news item on this on a Polish anarchist website.
So far it looks 50-50, but the Stalinist apologists are outraged.
A bit of background: a few days earlier, the right wing Catholic papers were denouncing one Bolshevik again. On his web site was a photo of a Pilsudski monument with a hammer and sickle graffiti. He commented something to the effect that if you see anticommunist monuments in your neighbourhood, get to work. The Catholics reported him (for the umpteenth time) to the prosecutor for inciting people to commit crimes, promoting totalitarianism, etc. He can get up to 5 years in jail for the remark. (Ridiculous.)
Many dozens of people were discussing this situation when I put up this news item. My remark was a paraphrase of the Bolshevik about what to do with Stalinist monuments. Another bit of background, a few years ago the anarchists in Poznan were petitioning the city not to get rid of the local monument to Karol Swierczewski - aka General Walter. They argued that it is really a monument to all those who fought against fascism.
Comments against the graffiti action in SF made yesterday on the web in Poland have been rather funny in my opinion. They have ranged from the opinion that it is improper to deface graves or monuments to people killed to the opinion that those people were only manipulated by Stalinists, so we shouldn't criticize them. By personal favourite is the recommendation to watch "Land and Freedom" to get a taste of how it really was in Spain.
Personally, I think the action would have been better if accompanied by a longer explanation of why it was done and critique of the role of ALB. That said, I'm more disturbed by the people who are in effect downplaying the role of the party in the International Brigades by presenting the distorted view that most of the volunteers were "on the right side", just some sort of normal people and that the party hacks were some minority and not vice-versa. Surely there were some people who were naive and duped by the party (I even met 3 ALB people myself who felt that way) but they were the exception, not the rule, despite the revision job the anti-Stalinist left has been doing.
I posted a news item on this on a Polish anarchist website.
So far it looks 50-50, but the Stalinist apologists are outraged.
A bit of background: a few days earlier, the right wing Catholic papers were denouncing one Bolshevik again. On his web site was a photo of a Pilsudski monument with a hammer and sickle graffiti. He commented something to the effect that if you see anticommunist monuments in your neighbourhood, get to work. The Catholics reported him (for the umpteenth time) to the prosecutor for inciting people to commit crimes, promoting totalitarianism, etc. He can get up to 5 years in jail for the remark. (Ridiculous.)
Many dozens of people were discussing this situation when I put up this news item. My remark was a paraphrase of the Bolshevik about what to do with Stalinist monuments. Another bit of background, a few years ago the anarchists in Poznan were petitioning the city not to get rid of the local monument to Karol Swierczewski - aka General Walter. They argued that it is really a monument to all those who fought against fascism.
Comments against the graffiti action in SF made yesterday on the web in Poland have been rather funny in my opinion. They have ranged from the opinion that it is improper to deface graves or monuments to people killed to the opinion that those people were only manipulated by Stalinists, so we shouldn't criticize them. By personal favourite is the recommendation to watch "Land and Freedom" to get a taste of how it really was in Spain.
Personally, I think the action would have been better if accompanied by a longer explanation of why it was done and critique of the role of ALB. That said, I'm more disturbed by the people who are in effect downplaying the role of the party in the International Brigades by presenting the distorted view that most of the volunteers were "on the right side", just some sort of normal people and that the party hacks were some minority and not vice-versa. Surely there were some people who were naive and duped by the party (I even met 3 ALB people myself who felt that way) but they were the exception, not the rule, despite the revision job the anti-Stalinist left has been doing.
Hurt feelings and agent-baiting galore! The level of discussion below is astoundingly bad, but worth a few laughs and a way to show that the divisions between anti- and pro-stalinists is alive and well among anarchists, and that the anti-anarchist prejudices of various leftists are still creepy--despite the fact that the folks who claimed responsibility never said they were anarchists.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/07/19/18517813.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/07/21/18518486.php?show_comments=1#18518570
http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20080719224947226#comments
While I am aware of the crimes committed by the Stalinist/Leninist parties throughout the world, I find it hard to direct my ire against those poor bastards throughout history who have given their lives to this movement,in the belief that they were involved in the creation of socialism. The bravery and commitment of the rank and file of the brigaders, is rarely found on the left today. The people who committed this act of vandalism were probably university educated middle-class boys who will at some point return to the fold of their class after a period of Bohemian rebellion. The membership of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade were probably longshoremen, car workers and sundry other proletarians who felt they were part of a world wide struggle for socialism and against the evils of fascism.
The vandalisation of this monument is a cheap and childish prank perputrated by idiots typical of the anglo tradition of anarchism.Try doing something contructive, like holding a public meeting, showing a film or raise funds for a library or something less negative than this.
More fun in the Bay Area! I have an alibi...
Direct Action to commemorate the beginning of the Spanish Civil War the right way...
July 19th is the anniversary of the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 -- the beginning of the last significant attempt at an anti-capitalist revolution in the period of revolutions that began in Mexico in 1915 and accelerated after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The revolutionary movement in Spain was defeated by a counter-revolution spearheaded by the Stalinist Soviet Union and it's global puppets and public relations hacks. (See George Orwells's 'Homage to Catalonia' for the best brief introduction to the events surrounding the revolution and counter-revolution in Spain.)
A public art work celebrating the role played by the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, the US dupes of and cannon fodder for the Stalinist counter-revolution in Spain from 1936 to 1939, was dedicated this past May on San Francisco's Embarcadero, behind the fountain on Justin Herman Plaza at the foot of Market Street. Sometime this past week, some person or persons unknown gave this monument to the one of the big lies of 20th century history an appropriate makeover. The Stalinist art work was grafittied with the message, "Viva Durruti Y Orwell," in what appears to be red and black spray paint.
Workers Memory Project