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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.
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 (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 AgeAir 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 (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…
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.
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
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!
Our 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.
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.
Marxists 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.
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.
