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The Story of Zoya and Shura
full text from greeklish.org


Bandiera Rossa by Pankrti


Holi Ke Din
from the film "Sholay"



Hold on to My Heart
by W.A.S.P.



The Legend of Bhagat Singh
theatrical trailer



Tilt-a-Whirl
by the New Duncan Imperials



Year Archive
Photo Galleries/Φωτογραφίες

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The blog and contents of the entire greeklish.org site represent the personal views of the site's authors. The views expressed on these pages are the views of the authors alone and are not the views of our employers or of any organizations with which we are affiliated.

Most original works from this site may be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 (US).

Copyrighted quotes and images obtained from third party web sites are used under the terms of Fair Use. Some materials used by greeklish.org are in the public domain.

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View Article  Stuff I'm doing
It's a nice idea to think that I can add some material of substance to this site more than twice per month but as of late, I've been busy with a host of additional projects and it's proven difficult to write much of anything in the way of new material for greeklish.org.

Last month (or maybe it was the month before), I completed an overhaul of the Erythrós Press and Media site, re-launching our online store with a new look and improved product listings.  Some renewed interest in my Banner of Victory replicas allowed me to fund a new run of them from the flag maker in Australia.  The newest batch of flags are made from knitted polyester which is more durable and better looking.  We're now selling the new flags on eBay and on our site.

I've also printed a new book using lulu.comEssential Texts of Marxism-Leninism contains the most important and influential works by Marx and Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao in one small volume.  We'll likely be adding this to the Erythrós Press catalog in the near future.  It is a very simple, "no-frills" presentation of the texts and the book does not include any introductory texts or commentary.  I had hoped to use an original photo for the book cover but lulu.com is not entirely intuitive or user-friendly in some respects.  At some point, I'll write a little more regarding my experiences with lulu.com.

From time to time, I am contributing work to wrestling and entertainment sites.   I've created a couple of new "Action Figure Theater" comic strips for hittheropes.com.  One installment features a look at the mythical super powers of John Cena and the other offers a candid look at wrestlers' views on political issues, including the recent changes to Arizona's immigration law.  I've also started a series called "Hidden Gems" for the sci-fi and comics blog primaryignition.com.  In this series, I'm reviewing obscure back issues that comics enthusiasts might not otherwise have heard about.  Thus far, I've profiled issues 1 through 5 of the Eclipse run of Airboy (Eclipse Comics, 1986) as well as Superman #245 (DC Comics, 1971).

Whenever possible, I'm still adding material to the Marxists Internet Archive and my recent focus has been on new transcriptions of speeches and articles by Enver Hoxha.  I am also doing some work on the August Bebel Internet Archive.

Somewhere along the way, I've managed to resurrect the archives of a long-absent political website (more on that some other time) and I am also preparing a review of Paul Feldman's new book Unmasking the State: A Rough Guide to Real Democracy at the request of the folks at A World to Win.  That review will be posted here at greeklish.org within the next few weeks.


As if all that wasn't enough, I finally seem to have mad a bit of progress on some major personal goals and this certainly is shaping up to be a very exciting time. 

Re-presented below is the very first installment of "Kanebert".  I made it some months ago after getting the idea from a dream.  I actually bought the "Masked Kane" figure from eBay just so I could make this comic strip.   The comic was originally posted in early 2010 on another website and since that particular site is now defunct, I figured greeklish.org was a good permanent home for it.  Cherish it, folks.




View Article  May 9: Victory Day
victoryMay 9 marks the anniversary of the victory of the Red Army of the USSR over the forces of German Fascism.  Over 20 million Soviet soldiers and citizens died in the fight to liberate the world from Nazi oppression.

The Marxists Internet Archive features a Great Patriotic War History Archive featuring important documents related to the struggle against fascism, from the origins of the war and Operation Barbarossa to the Fall of Berlin and beyond. 





In observance of this important anniversary, we're presenting two items:

First, a new photo (see right) has been added to our Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Archive.  This is a close-up/detail view of Zoya from her June 1941 class portrait.  This photo was provided to us by our friend Nina Lebed.  View this and many, many other pictures in our extensive image galleries.

Also, we're presenting the full annotated text of J.V. Stalin's Victory Address to the Soviet People from May 9, 1945.  This text -- as well as a number of other annotated works -- is included in the book Red Youth: Young Heroes of the Great Patriotic War which is available through out publishing venture, Erythrós Press and Media.

May 9 graphic by Clara Esse.



STALIN’S VICTORY ADDRESS 
TO THE SOVIET PEOPLE

by
 J.V. Stalin

(May 9, 1945)


After four years of savage fighting and the death of over 20,000,000 Soviet soldiers and civilians, German fascism suffered its final defeat with the Fall of Berlin. The Red Army and partisan fighters of the Soviet Union had beaten back the Nazi invaders all the way to the gates of Germany’s capital city where Hitler and the remnants of his fascist hordes mounted a desperate – and ultimately futile – attempt to escape complete annihilation.

Following two weeks of intense combat in and around of the heart of Berlin, the Red Army finally stormed the Reichstag on April 30, 1945. On May 1, 1945, the Red Army captured the building, occupying the very seat of Germany’s fascist government. On the roof of the Reichstag, Soviet soldiers Mikhail Yegorov and Meliton Kantariya hoisted the Victory Banner in triumph. Documented on film by Yevgeny Khaldei, this moment would become an iconic symbol of the Soviet victory over fascism.

On May 8, 1945 in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, Marshal Georgy Zhukov received a written notice of Germany’s surrender, signed by representatives of the defeated German army.

At 2000 hours on May 9, 1945, Marshal Joseph V. Stalin addressed the Soviet people by radio to share news of the Nazi defeat.


*     *     *

Comrades! Fellow countrymen and countrywomen!

The great day of victory over Germany has arrived. Fascist Germany, forced to her knees by the Red Army and the troops of our Allies, has admitted defeat and has announced her unconditional surrender.

On May 7 a preliminary act of surrender was signed in Rheims.(1) On May 8, in Berlin, representatives of the German High Command, in the presence of representatives of the Supreme Command of the Allied troops and of the Supreme Command of the Soviet troops, signed the final act of surrender, which came into effect at 24 hours on May 8.

Knowing the wolfish habits of the German rulers who regard treaties and agreements as scraps of paper, we have no grounds for accepting their word. However, this morning, the German troops, in conformity with the act of surrender, began en masse to lay down their arms and surrender to our troops. This is not a scrap of paper. It is the actual capitulation of the armed forces of Germany. True, one group of German troops in the region of Czechoslovakia(2) still refuses to surrender, but I hope the Red Army will succeed in bringing it to its senses. We now have full grounds for saying that the historic day of the final defeat of Germany, the day of our people's great victory over German imperialism, has arrived.

The great sacrifices we have made for the freedom and independence of our country, the incalculable privation and suffering our people have endured during the war, our intense labors in the rear and at the front, laid at the altar of our motherland, have not been in vain; they have been crowned by complete victory over the enemy. The age-long struggle of the Slavonic peoples(3) for their existence and independence has ended in victory over the German aggressors and German tyranny.


Henceforth, the great banner of the freedom of the peoples and peace between the peoples will fly over Europe.


Three years ago Hitler publicly stated that his task included the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the severance from it of the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic and other regions. He definitely said: "We shall destroy Russia so that she shall never be able to rise again." This was three years ago. But Hitler's insane ideas were fated to remain unrealized – the course of the war scattered them to the winds like dust. Actually, the very opposite of what the Hitlerites dreamed of in their delirium occurred. Germany is utterly defeated. The German troops are surrendering. The Soviet Union is triumphant, although it has no intention of either dismembering or destroying Germany.


Comrades! Our Great Patriotic War has terminated in our complete victory. The period of war in Europe has closed. A period of peaceful development has been ushered in.


Congratulations on our victory, my dear fellow countrymen and countrywomen!


Glory to our heroic Red Army, which upheld the independence of our country and achieved victory over the enemy!


Glory to our great people, the victor people!


Eternal glory to the heroes who fell fighting the enemy and who gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people!



 1.  A city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of northern France. General Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969), Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, formally received the complete and unconditional surrender of the German army at a schoolhouse in Rheims on May 8, 1945 at 0241 hours Central European Time (CET). The surrender took effect at effect at 2301 hours CET on May 8, 1945.
2.  The Red Army defeated all resistance in Czechoslovakia by May 13, 1945.
3.  Slavs.



View Article  Things that make me happy
They say that when one door closes another one opens…or something like that, anyway.  I really have come to hate cliches these days.  My locus of control is pretty internal, so I don't really look at life as a series of events that involve a person or "being" doing things for me, whether it's something proverbial or concrete.  So because a big project of mine recently folded, I am going to make sure and take a good look at my prospects before I decide which doors to walk through.  In the meantime, I've taken advantage of some much-needed down time to revisit some things that make me happy.  Here's a short list:

The New Duncan Imperials  Sticky  (Pravda Records, 2000):  
Everyone should buy this album.  I am a longtime fan of NDI, so I pretty much enjoy the hell out of everything they do.  Sticky is completely different animal from their earlier stuff, though.  The content is still as riff-heavy and as "balls-out" irreverent as their early material but there are some experimental tracks ("Remove Bones from Face Before Inserting in Bird") and out-and-out silliness ("I Like Carp") mixed in to boot.  It's a 30-track masterpiece that might well be appropriately dubbed as NDI's White Album

Sticky features some of my favorite NDI tracks ever, including "Waste Your Time" and "The Freshman 15."  And I've said it before but it bears repeating:  "Power Tool" is one of the best rock riffs ever.  If I ever get famous in any way whatsoever, I am totally going to do for NDI what Nirvana did for the likes of The Wipers and the Vaselines by telling anyone and everyone about them until they get the popularity and acclaim they deserve. 

Read a whole lot about my ultimate NDI mix CD here.

Bhagat Singh
Bhagat Singh
Bollywood films and playback songs:  Last week I was thrilled to find a new Indian and Pakistani grocery store less than 2 miles from our house.  The shop has a huge supply of DVDs and during my very first visit there, I scored a cheap copy of Hum Apke Hain Kaun which was a big deal because I have been trying to get my hands on this film for some time.  Recently I've revisited the films Sholay and Pakeezah as well as listening to a heavy rotation of my favorite Bollywood playback songs from Lata Mangeshkar, Chitrah Singh and others. 

Pretty much every chance I get, I am watching the trailer for The Legend of Bhagat Singh on YouTube.  It's still one of my favorite Indian films of all time and that's partially because the actual story of Bhagat Singh is so compelling by itself but also because Ajay Devaugn portrays Singh so effectively.   My only major issue with Santoshi's biopic of Singh is that the musical numbers somehow don't seem to fit well with the story.  It's still worth seeing if you're interested in Indian history or revolutionary movements…or both.

One of these days I will put together some notes and reflections on Sukhdev Thapar's 1931 letter to Gandhi.  Sukhdev 's correspondence famously brought to light some of the most profound differences between the two major camps in India's independence movement.

In 2006, I wrote a biographical article on Bhagat Singh for MIA.  Read that article here.

Erythrós Press and Media:  I am currently working on a complete overhaul of our siteWe've sold a lot of books since our launch in 2008, we're just now covering costs on almost all projects and we're looking at publishing some new titles later this year.  Hopefully, I'll be in a good position to finance a new run of flags as we've sold all of our replicas of the Soviet Banner of VictoryResponse to the banners as well as the overall reception for Erythrós Press and Media has been overwhelmingly positive.

More to come...

View Article  Red Youth in Moscow's Zoya Kosmodemyanska Museum
Most people who know me – even in passing – know of my profound interest in Soviet and Russian history.  Back in June of this year, my years of interest and study culminated in the completion of my self-published book project, Red Youth: Young Heroes of the Great Patriotic War.  The book chronicles the life and martyrdom of Zoya Kosmodemyanska, one of the best-known and most loved heroines of the Soviet Union’s war against fascist Germany.  Regular readers to this site know that I had a lot of help on this project and a lot of support for my efforts as well.  

In the months that have followed since the initial release of the book, I have received kind words and encouragement from many different places in the world and I have shipped copies all over the United States and as far away as the Middle East and Australia.  I also shipped a copy to Peyman Piran, one of the Iranian students to whom the book is dedicated. Last month, I filled a wholesale order for Red Emma’s Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Baltimore and they are now selling copies online and in their store.

I am, of course, very happy to sell copies of the book to anyone with an interest in Zoya’s story.  But one of the greatest honors thus far just happened this week.  My friend Nina Lebed lives in Russia and she was kind enough to take a copy to the Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Museum in Moscow.  On Tuesday November 24, 2009 she presented a copy of the book to Museum Director Natalia Valentinovna who will place the book into the collection of materials at the museum. 

To have this book placed upon so many important documents and exhibits related to Zoya and her brother Shura is one of the most tremendous accomplishments of my life and I am grateful to Nina and everyone else who helped to bring about this honor.



Museum Director Natalia Valentinovna holding the

Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Museum’s newly acquired copy of Red Youth.





The book will be added to this case which contains works
about Zoya from around the world. 





Red Youth sits atop Zoya’s primary school desk.




Closeup of Red Youth on Zoya’s desk.

Red Youth: Young Heroes of the Great Patriotic War is available for purchase through Erythrós Press and Media.
View Article  2009 Mid-Ohio Con
It's been a few years since the last time I attended the Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus.  A lot has changed in that short space of time.  Then again, some things have stayed the same, too.  What's changed is that money is quite a bit tighter for us these days.  When I started planning to attend this year's event, I knew that I wouldn't have the kind of "mad money" that I had back in 2006.  At the 2006 Mid-Ohio Con, I was able to land some pretty remarkable finds, including a classic that had eluded me for a very long time, Captain Marvel #100 (1949).  That particular book was a landmark find for me, as it cracked the elite ranks of my comic book "Wall of Fame."  It was truly an exciting find and it was one of my best comic con purchases ever.

Airboy vol. 4, number 1
Airboy, vol. 4, number 1
(1947)
My interests have changed since 2006 as well, as I've spent a good deal of the last 18 months or so working on the project that ultimately became the book Red Youth: Young Heroes of the Great Patriotic War.  Add to that the fact that I've been busy with the guys from The Wrestling Daily to produce our new site that is coming along very well these days.  Each week seems to bring something new for TWD and we seem to have real potential for terrific growth.  It's time-consuming but tremendously exciting stuff.

As far as my taste in comics, that's still pretty much the same.  I took a printout of my partial inventory with me to the Con and, as usual, I was on the lookout for affordable copies of Golden Age Air Fighters and Airboy issues.  I am also always looking to fill gaps in my collections of Power Man and Iron Fist and Rom: Spaceknight so that I might end up with full runs of each series.  After all these years, I am still a sucker for the Bronze Age stuff.  

Since my spending money was on the lean side, I figured I'd be pickier than usual and my expectations were pretty low as far as making a big score this year.  Hillman comics seemed to be pretty scarce.  I did find a dealer out of Louisville who handed me a nice stack of Airboy issues to look though, but the average price on the books was about $125.  Here and there I found other copies of Airboy comics, ranging in price from about $40 to $185 or so.  It was the first big comic con I've attended in a while that didn't seem to have any copies of Real Clue or Headline Comics and that was kind of disappointing.

I found one dealer who was more or less liquidating his inventory and he had a copy of Airboy volume 4, number 1 (1947) marked at $30 but he was also offering it at 50% off.  I made a note of it and a few booths down the way, I found the same issue for $185!  Needless to say, I walked back to the other guy and bought his copy for $15.  It's got tape on the spine, but it's complete and the cover displays well.  And it was way cheap, too.  Those are the most important things to me when it comes to acquiring Golden Age books for my collection.

There were a couple of pro wrestling booths at Mid-Ohio and I took the opportunity to do a little networking on behalf of TWD.  One guy specialized in old school DVDs and we had a nice chat about industry business.  He was also nice enough to let me have whatever DVDs I wanted for $5 each.  Among the DVDs I scored was a disc that features the complete ECW/USWA feud.  I watched most of it last night and I have to say it is the most tremendous display of action and storytelling I have ever seen in the world of pro wrestling.  This series has the best shoot promos from Jerry Lawler, Jim Cornette, Tommy Dreamer, Beulah McGillicutty and a lot of other huge names.  Incidentally, I think Beulah's "eye for an eye" promo about Tommy Dreamer's injured testicles might just be my new favorite promo piece of all time.  The matchups feature so many ECW originals that it's hard to even list them all from memory.  I think when it' all said and done, this might be one of my favorite "unofficial" DVD compilations of all time.   

I also got some face time with a promoter from an up-and-coming regional promotion and he seemed pretty interested in what we're doing at TWD.  There seems to be a good chance that we might work together in the near future.

Marv Wolfman was in attendance at Mid-Ohio.  I met him at the 2008 Gem City Comic Con and he didn't seem too interested in talking that day.  Luckily, he was in very good spirits this time and he was happy to sign my trade paperback of Crisis on Infinite Earths.  I also presented him with Total Eclipse #1, explaining that I love Eclipse Comics and that I had just re-read the entire mini-series over the summer.  I told him that the editors had bragged that Total Eclipse was Marv's "most complex" plot to date and when he heard that he rolled his eyes, saying he was never really pleased with that particular series.  He explained why, confirming a little of what I have previously heard about Eclipse.  It was a pretty fascinating glimpse into the business side of the comics industry and it was especially noteworthy to hear It from such a legendary writer like Wolfman.  He was not terribly nostalgic for the Eclispe days, but to me, Eclipse will always stand out as a tremendous source for great storytelling, particularly with their resurrection of so many Golden-Age characters.  Before I moved on, I shared with Marv that his writing has been a huge influence on me for the better part of my life now and I thanked him for that.  He was very gracious and it was a positive experience for me.

Marvel Two-In-One #24
Marvel Two-In-One #24
(1977)
I don't usually sell or trade comics, but I did take a copy of Zoo Funnies #3 (1945) with me in hopes that I could unload it for cash or credit.  It's generally considered the first Charlton comic book ever.  A couple of the people I showed it to were intrigued with its historical significance as a Charlton comic but they were also quick to add that "funny animal" stuff doesn't sell these days.  Whatever.  After striking out with about 4 dealers, I ended up finding a guy who was willing to trade me for it, offering 20 comics from his inventory in exchange for my one book.  As luck would have it, he had a ton of Power Man and Iron Fist and Rom issues, so I made out pretty well.  I also landed a Marvel Two-in-One featuring Black Goliath (another one of my favorite Marvel Bronze Age characters) and a few copies of The Flash from the mid 1980s.  One day I hope to put together a full run of the Silver Age Flash series as well.  So I guess I ended up with a nice haul after all.

Mid-Ohio is a nice experience and all, but in times like these, a $15 admission fee is more than a little steep.  It took patience and tenacity on my part to find a handful of good deals this year.  Still, I got to see a lot of nice comics and toys and I ended up with some nice new additions to my collection.  Now if I only had time to read all of these comics that I just bought…  

View Article  Site additions
It’s been a long time coming, but I finally managed to find some time to add some new content to our archive of materials dedicated to Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.

Young Pioneers

The index page of the archive now features a new collage of images from Zoya’s life and beyond.  Also featured on the page is a banner ad for the book Red Youth, which is still on sale from Erythrós Press and Media.  It’s also worth mentioning that Red Youth recently received a very favorable review from The Marxist-Leninist, which is one of the better political blogs on the Internet.  You can read the review here.

We have added a few images to our Post Card Gallery of single-issue cards and selections from sets.  The new images in this gallery include:

-   A Soviet-era card from around 1943, likely one of the earliest post cards featuring Zoya’s image.

-   A  card from the 1950’s which features both a black-and-white portrait of Zoya and an artist’s depiction of her speech before her execution at Petrischchevo.

-    An undated color print of what appears to be an oil painting of Zoya, dated 1953.

Tanya Solomakha
Tanya Solomakha
Also in this image gallery is a new favorite of mine, a 1964 artist’s depiction of Young Pioneers laying flowers at the base of a statue of Zoya.  I happened upon this by complete accident on eBay one evening.  Although the card was not specifically listed as being related to Zoya, I noticed the Russian inscription of her name at the base of the statue and thought this would be a great piece for our collection. 

Finally, we’ve posted a series of photographs taken by our friend Nina Lebed during her trip to the Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Museum in Moscow earlier this year.  The pictures show some fantastic exhibits of property, documents and literature related to the Kosmodemyanskie.  Of particular interest to me was the picture of Tatiana "Tanya" Solomakha, the heroine of the Russian Civil War whose story was especially important to young Zoya both in childhood and as a young partisan.All in all, these are great photos of a place that I very much hope to visit someday.  Many thanks to you, Nina!

View Article  Red Youth: Young Heroes of the Great Patriotic War
book coverOur small publishing venture, Erythrós Press and Media, his yielded its first official publication.  The book Red Youth: Young Heroes of the Great Patriotic War went on sale earlier this week through our online store.  This book is hopefully the first volume in a series of books that will chronicle the outstanding achievements of the youngest fighters in the Soviet Union's struggle against fascist Germany during World War II.  This volume tells the story of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, who was the first female fighter of World War II to be named "Hero of the Soviet Union."

I have been preparing materials for this project as far back as late 2004 when I began transcribing the entire contents of Lyubov Kosmodemyanskaya's 1953 book The Story of Zoya and Shura for greeklish.org.  Shortly thereafter, I began research for an annotated version of the book that I hoped to publish in print at some point in the future.  I did quite a bit of work on this project, compiling a huge annotated manuscript and reams of notes, but I shelved the project after I developed many questions and concerns regarding  Soviet and Russian copyright law.

A while later, I resurrected the project, first intending to produce a single-volume work which featured biographies of a number of young heroes, including Zoya, Marat Kazey, Elizaveta Chaikina, Zinaida Portnova and others.  Realizing I had a significant amount of material on Zoya alone as a result of my previous research, I settled on the idea of developing a multi-volume set that would include newly annotated transcriptions of public domain, Soviet era documents along with my original introductory notes and supplemental information.  This first volume of Red Youth is thus the culmination of over four years of work.

I have a tendency towards self-criticism and this tends to effect how I feel about things at the end of a relatively long project.  Such is the case with Red Youth. Upon my initial perusal of the finished product, I immediately noticed a few block quotes that weren't properly indented and a missed line break or two.  That wasn't so bad.  Probably my most unfortunate oversight (which I noticed a bit later) was my failure to include V. I. Lenin's name in the table of contents listing for his 1920 work "Tasks of the Youth Leagues."  The document itself is properly noted and cited later in the text, but I would have liked for an important feature like the table of contents to be completely accurate.  A good friend put things in perspective for me, however.  He told me that having a handful of imperfections gives the work a feeling of credibility that might not otherwise come with an immaculately produced product from a big, bourgeois publishing house.  I suppose that is a nice way to look at it.

Whatever the case, I need to get to work promoting and distributing the work to spread the story of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya far and wide once again.

The book is dedicated to Thomaï and our girls, along with Peyman Piran, Anoosheh Azadbar and the Freedom and Equality Speaking Students of Iran.

More information about Red Youth is provided on a special page from the Erythrós Press and Media online store.  A complete listing of the table of contents and ordering instructions are included.  Click here to download my Foreword to the book.

Quite a few of my close friends helped me with this project through hard work, patience, encouragement and support.  Below is the complete text of my "Acknowledgments" section from the book.

A number of people from around the world contributed significant time and effort toward the preparation and enhancement of this book.  I am especially grateful to my friend Andy Blunden for his assistance and guidance in all aspects of my work, with particular appreciation for his help in formatting and editing the complete text of this volume.  Brian Reid and Clara Statello also assisted in proofreading and editing of most of the documents contained herein and their critique and support were vital to this endeavor.  Randy Graham also helped by proofreading selected documents.

Mitch Abidor provided much-needed advice and encouragement at a critical point in my writing.

I thank Tim Davenport from the Early American Marxism website for providing source material.  I am also indebted to Steve Palmer and my other fellow volunteers of the Marxists Internet Archive for their collective assistance with a number of research topics.

My friends Einde O'Callaghan, Nina Lebed, Antonis Megremis and Nikos Loudos assisted with the translation of selected passages from source documents and research materials.

I also extend my heartfelt gratitude for my dear friends who have inspired me through their political work and activism.  I am thankful to know Panos Fidis, Sam Berner, and many of the students and supporters of the Freedom and Equality Seeking Students of Iran. It is their work and struggle that inspires me to move forward in numerous endeavors, including this project.  

I am fortunate to have the friendship and tutelage of David Walters who has provided me with valuable camaraderie, guidance and insight for almost a decade.  I am certainly a better person for knowing him.

Finally, I must express my deepest appreciation for the love and companionship of my wife Thomaï.  She is my most important supporter and critic and she is responsible for everything good and decent in my life.

Mike Bessler
May 2009

View Article  Classics of Soviet Activity Theory back in print
coversMarxists Internet Archive Publications has published the first three volumes of CLASSICS IN ACTIVITY THEORY, reprints of English translations first published by Progress Publishers in the 1970s, of the second generation of Soviet followers of Lev Vygotsky. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, while remaining in the public domain, these works have become unavailable, in most cases even on the secondhand market. And yet there remains a  vast research community across the world that builds on Vygotsky and Activity Theory.

Each of the three books beginning the series is a collection of the English translations from one of the three authors: Alexei LEONTYEV, Alexander MESHCHERYAKOV and Evald ILYENKOV, plus a short preface by Prof. Mike Cole of the University of California, San Diego. Every university or education faculty library should have this series. Titles included are, from Leontyev, The Development of Mind: The Problem of the Origin of Sensation, The Biological and Social in Man’s Psyche, An Outline of the Evolution of the Psyche, The Historical Approach to Study of the Human Psyche, The Development of Higher Forms of Memory, The Psychological Principles of Preschool Play, The Theory of the Development of the Child’s Psyche, Child Development and the Problem of Mental Deficiency, Activity and Consciousness; from Ilyenkov, The Ideal in Human Activity: Dialectical Logic, Activity and Knowledge, The Universal, The Concept of the Ideal, Reflections on  “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism” and Meshcheryakov, Awakening To Life: Deaf-blind Children, Problems of Deaf-blindness, Forming Behaviour and Developing Their Minds, Learning Programmes for the Deaf-blind.

Volumes are available from Erythrós Press and Media for US$25 + postage per volume but purchasers of all 3 books -- or 4 books with the purchase of Hegel’s Logic -- pay a reduced price of $20 per book with reduced shipping costs.

View Article  Now available from Erythrós Press and Media: Hegel's "Logic"
Marxists Internet Archive and Erythrós Press and Media are pleased to announce the publication of Hegel's Logic (MIA Publications, featuring a Foreword by Andy Blunden).  The book is now available for purchase through Erythrós Press and Media ($25 plus shipping).  Proceeds benefit Marxists Internet Archive.  

The 1830 Logic, which Hegel used in his lectures, is a reliable and structured presentation of Hegel's mature views.  The text is provided with a new Foreword by Andy Blunden which approaches Hegel from a Marxist perspective and will help the novice appreciate Hegel's importance. This introduction goes a long way to unlocking the mysteries of Hegel's writing for the uninitiated.

Visit the Erythrós Press and Media online store to order your copy.

Join the Erythrós Press and Media Facebook group to receive news about future projects!
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