Rang de Basanti from the film Rang de Basanti (2006)
Teri Mehfil Mein from the film Mughal-e-Azam (1960)
Rob Van Dam wins the WWE Championship at One Night Stand (2006)
CM Punk wins the World Heavyweight Championship (2008)
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A new page entitled “Articles and Texts” features links to a number of Internet articles dedicated to Zoya’s story. Included in this section are two new texts transcribed exclusively for greeklish.org. One text is an excerpt entitled "The Heroic Struggle Waged by the Soviet Partisans," taken from the multi-volume set A History of the USSR which was published by Foreign Languages Publishing House in 1947. We have also added the full transcription of the article "Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya" from the 1947 volume Soviet Calendar: Thirty Years of the Soviet State, 1917-1947, also published by Foreign Languages Publishing House.
Additionally, we have posted a new image gallery entitled, "Statues, Busts and Monuments," which features pictures of some of the many sculptural representations of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.
We are particularly grateful to Benedicte P. S. for granting us permission to use her fantastic photo of the statue of Zoya from the Partizanskaya Metro Station in Moscow. This photo is from Benedicte’s "sleep in the fog" gallery.
Our friend Nina Lebed provided translations of some of the captions for the images in our galleries. Большое спасибо, Nina!
May 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 now 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. The archive is currently under construction.
The following document is from the new Great Patriotic War Archive which was officially launched May 9, 2008 in observance of this important anniversary.
Germany Surrenders! Reported by Lieutenant-Colonel L. Vysokoöstrovsky and Lieutenant-Colonel P. Troyanovsky (in Krasnaya Zvezda, 9th May 1945)
Source: Episodes of the Great Patriotic War (Booklet), 74-76. Originally published in the USSR, 1947. Transcription/HTML: Mike B. for MIA, 2008 Public Domain: Marxists Internet Archive (2008). You may freely copy, distribute, display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet Archive” as your source.
Before the 8th May 1945 the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst was not in any way famous. It gained historical fame on that day when representatives of the allied powers gathered in a building to dictate the terms of the unconditional surrender to Germany.
Let us follow the events of the day. We will begin at the big Berlin aerodrome of Tempelhof. The centre of the aerodrome has been cleared of wreckage and put in order. Around the edges of the field there are still large numbers of burnt and battered German aircraft that have been piled up there.
The flags of the U.S.S.R., the U.S.A. and Great Britain are flying over the aerodrome. A military band is playing and its music drowns the noise of the fighter aircraft ready to take off from the aerodrome.
A number of cars drive up to the aerodrome bringing generals and other officers of the Soviet Army representing the units that captured Berlin. They are the High Command of the Soviet Army who have come to meet the High Command of the allied armies.
A few minutes later a huge aircraft with white stars on its wings appears over the aerodrome. This is the American Military Mission that has flown from Moscow to take part in the historic proceedings.
At 12:43 p. m. the engines of the Soviet fighters roar more loudly. At 12:45 p. m. they take off in twos and fly away to the south-west. In nineteen and a half minutes they will reach
the allied aerodrome on the Elbe to meet the allied aircraft bringing the other generals to Berlin.
An hour and five minutes pass, and the sky is again filled with the roar of engines. Three transport planes, one British and two American, have arrived. The British plane lands first and British Air Marshall Tedder, American General Spaats, Admiral Barrow and others alight.
While Soviet Army General Sokolovsky. Colonel-General Berzarin, Commandant of Berlin, and Lieutenant-General Bokov are greeting the newcomers, somebody notices that a German aircraft has arrived on the other side of the aerodrome. Keitel, Friedenburg and Stumpf.
Representatives of defeated Germany, tread warily on the field where they once strutted at the head of military parades.
Then the French delegation arrived. All the allied officers took their places in the waiting cars and were taken to Karlshorst.
The Soviet, British and American delegations arrived at the building where the Act of Surrender was to be signed. A little later the French delegation, headed by General Delatre de Tassigny took their places in the conference hall.
The building where this historic act was to take place was quite a simple one. In the hall there were three rows of tables covered with soft cloth and a long table for the heads of the allied delegations. At the end of the hall stood a small palm. On the wall were the flags of the four allied powers. the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the United States of America and France.
The heads of the allied delegations enter the room. Soon the room is filled with secretaries, reporters and cinema cameramen. Marshal Zhukov, head of the Soviet delegation, suggests that they begin work and then orders the German delegation to be brought in. In a few minutes the Germans enter. "Have you the proper authority to sign the Act of Surrender?" Zhukov asks Keitel.
Keitel hands him a document signed by Admiral Doenitz.
Then begins the ceremony of signing the act of Germany's complete and unconditional surrender to the allied powers.
The faces of the allied generals are stern but triumphant. Keitel and the other Germans are gloomy, they stand staring down at the floor. Only a short time before this they were shouting to tell the whole world of their victories.
The allied leaders sign the act of surrender, and then Keitel signs. The lips of his adjutant, standing behind him, tremble as he puts his pen to the paper.
Germany has surrendered. How much pride and joy is included in these simple words!
Many thanks to our dear friend Clara Statello for the "Victory over Fascism" logo! Viva la Libertà e la Giustizia!!!
Today, I received word that greeklish.org has been honored as SovLit.com’s “Comrade of the Month” for our section on Soviet Heroine Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya:
The Story of Zoya & Shura
"Here, comrades! Why do you look so gloomy? Be brave. Fight on, fight on!"
Seventeen-year-old Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was one of the most endearing Soviet heroes from the Great Patriotic War. She was a member of the partisan resistance movement in the western USSR and took part in sabotage and reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. She was captured and tortured by the Nazis, but she bravely refused to give up any information. For her stubborn heroism, the Nazis sentenced her to the gallows. Unbowed, before her execution, she taunted her captors: "There are two hundred million of us! You can't hang us all!"
Zoya's brother, Shura, who fell in battle near Koenigsberg, was also recognized as a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Zoya and Shura's mother, Lyubov Kosmodemyanskaya, memorialized her children with her book, The Story of Zoya & Shura, the entire text of which is now available on-line.
For posting this text and honoring these two great Soviet heroes, Michael Bessler and greeklish.org are recognized as SovLit.com's Comrade of the Month.
(click here to see the original article from SovLit.com)
It is a distinct honor to receive this recognition from such a prestigious website as SovLit.com. SovLit.com is an outstanding project that serves to provide important resources to workers and students. We extend our heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to SovLit.com as well as to our readers and supporters around the world. Aluta continua!
The bust as pictured in the original eBay listing; Click on the picture to view a larger image
In the past, I've written a bit on our site about my interest in art from the "Soviet Realism" school and it's probably pretty apparent that I have a specific affinity for pieces related to the Soviet heroine Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Over the years, I have wondered if I would ever have the good fortune to happen upon a bust or statuette of Zoya K. and I must admit that one more than one occasion, I actually shuddered when considering what I might be willing to spend to add such an item to my collection. Until very recently, my collection of Zoya K. memorabilia had been comprised mostly of ephemera and books, although in recent years, I have been lucky enough to acquire some authentic Soviet-era propaganda posters featuring her likeness (here's one). Late in 2007, I also obtained an original oil-on-canvas painting of Zoya K. from an eBay seller in Ukraine, but because the portrait is so big (almost four feet in height), it remains in storage for now.
One evening in mid-January, I pulled up eBay on my computer and I started running my daily searches for various items of interest when I stumbled upon what would surely be the jewel in my small collection: A genuine, Soviet-era bust of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. The piece was cast in aluminum and bigger than a small "desktop" bust or statuette but not so big as to be a life-sized replica. At the time, I had figured it might be about the size of the bust of La Pasionara that I had purchased some time ago. The representation appeared to be based on the memorial statue of Zoya K. in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). I was astonished to find this item up for auction, as it seemed to be more spectacular that anything I could have ever imagined. The starting bid was kind of pricey – more than I'm accustomed to spending on eBay stuff, for sure – and since the bust was located in Ukraine, shipping would be rather costly. Moreover, I figured that other collectors would surely be as interested such an outstanding piece and I doubted that I could really "hang" with some of the high-rollers of eBay. Over the years, I have seen some pretty wild finishes on auctions for rare Soviet items. Nevertheless, less than 24 hours into the auction, I put my fist bid down – a decent bid, at that – but I pretty much figured I would lose in the end.
Original oil painting, c. mid-1950s; Click
on the picture to view a larger
image
The next day – much to my horror – I saw that someone had already bid against me. I was still the high bidder because the competing bid was only a couple of dollars. But still, this was enough to throw me into something of a panic. A quick consultation with my pal Randy – a kindred spirit of sorts – revealed that Randy himself was the party responsible for the new bid. As a general rule, we try not to bid against each other, but the seller of the bust had made the listing a "private" auction, so users could not see the IDs of their competitors. Because Randy is such a great guy, he kindly said he would not bid against me any further and he urged me to do everything I needed to do to win the sculpture. We would correspond and talk by phone several more times over the agonizing week that followed, and each time we "chatted," Randy would share words of encouragement and support. I tried everything possible during the 6 or 7 days of the auction to stay calm and to avoid obsessing over whether or not I would end up with the bust, but I was pretty much a basket case at every turn. I even tried an old "thought-stopping" technique I learned as a counselor in which I would wear a rubber band on my wrist and snap it hard when I felt myself obsessing. The short blast of pain kind of forces one's mind to "re-set" itself, thereby temporarily breaking repetitive or obsessive thought cycles. The auction was set to end on a Saturday afternoon and by the morning of that particular day, I had two rubber bands on my wrist (a fat one and a thin one) to provide me with varying levels of pain whenever I needed to change my focus and stop spiraling. But nothing really worked.
In early afternoon on the last day of the auction, Stupsi had slipped out into our garage and tried to make a break for outside as the big overhead garage door was coming down. I chased her out into the garage and tried to stop her from slipping under the door. I barely managed to stop her from getting crushed under the door but I got my leg caught under the heavy door in the process. It hurt like hell and Thomai thought I had been seriously injured. The whole time I sat on the couch with the girls trying to decide if I needed to go to the hospital for a broken leg, I remained fixated on the impending end of the auction. With an hour left to go, I limped upstairs to play several rounds of Fire Pro to try and keep my mind off the end of the auction. I couldn't relax, though, and I ended up returning to the computer with about 20 or 30 minutes left to go so I could watch the finale in real time.
Finally... Safe and home in my
library! Click on the picture to view a larger image
I had been obsessively checking the listing all week – at least 20 times a day – and I had edged my total bid up a number of times to the point of what I knew to be an absolutely absurd level. I thought I was pretty secure in what I had settled on as my high bid and I was optimistic at the fact that nobody other than Randy had bid against me on the item for about five whole days. But within the last half-hour or so, things changed rather quickly. The price jumped a bit, but I still had a decent "cushion" to go. I "white-knuckled" it to the very end, hitting "refresh" every 10 to 15 seconds. The price jumped by almost $100 in the final 10 seconds, but then it was all over. When I saw the "Congratulations!" message on my screen, I knew I had finally come out on top. I was absolutely drained. I slowly walked upstairs and found Thomai in our dining room boxing up Christmas decorations and I plopped down in a chair and whispered...with my voice slightly cracking..."I won." I also told her that I never wanted to be so completely consumed with the pursuit of a material object again. She sat down next to me and hugged me. I am so lucky that she understands me.
The bust made it from Ukraine to Ohio just under two weeks, thanks to an efficient and conscientious eBay seller. I unpacked it after work last Friday. For a few days, I kept it on our kitchen table while I prepared some space in my library room. The girls are pretty impressed with the piece and I have to say that it is a truly magnificent piece of statuary. The details are remarkable, from the quilting on Zoya's coat to the barrel of her rifle and the piece of scarf that flies above her shoulder. The piece is truly the "brass ring" of my years of collecting. We sat at the dinner table for a while on Friday night talking about the bust. K. was particularly interested in where the bust came from and where the real Zoya lived during her lifetime, so we talked a little and we got the globe out of the library to look up Ukraine, Russia, and other relevant places. She told me that she didn't know of anyone else with a dad who collects such cool stuff – and teaches his kids about it, too! It is nice to be appreciated at so many levels.
After reading a short piece on the Henri Barbusse book Stalin: A New World Seen Through One Man (originally published in French under the title Staline), I decided to buy a cheap copy through AbeBooks.com. Earlier this week, I received the book in the mail. It's a 1935 copy and apparently a first printing of the English edition. Late last night, I decided to have a quick preview of the text before bed and a particular photo caught my eye. The photo is a black and white plate opposite page 62 of the text. Eight men are depicted in the image, but the caption only names seven of them:
click on the picture to view a larger image
As noted in the caption, the following men are clearly identified:
The eighth man (to the right of Molotov) is obviously Sergei Kirov, who was murdered in 1934, around one year prior to the publication of the Barbusse book. Despite the fact that Kirov's murder was a monumental event in the early history of the USSR – one with resounding consequences and enduring controversy for many years to come – Kirov's name is clearly missing from the caption, replaced with periods of ellipsis. There are no clues in the immediate text as to the basis for the omission. Kirov is mentioned (with the old spelling "Kiroff") much later in the text on pages 114 and 181, but these are merely fleeting references to his assassination with no indication as to Kirov's prominence before death nor as to the significance of his assassination relative to the political climate of the time.
I'm sure I'm not the first person to have noticed this peculiarity, but I must say for posterity that this certainly is a curious omission, indeed. Further Reading Stalin in Reality and Legendby Walter Held (1935 book review of Staline by Henri Barbusse)
November 7 marks the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Under the Julian Calendar, which was in use by Russia at the time of the Revolution, the date was October 25, 1917, hence the term "October Revolution" is still used to refer to this watershed event. Vladimir Lenin To the Citizens of Russia! Source: marxists.org The Provisional Government has been deposed. State power has passed into the hands of the organ of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies--the Revolutionary Military Committee, which heads the Petrograd proletariat and the garrison.
The cause for which the people have fought, namely, the immediate offer of a democratic peace, the abolition of landed proprietorship, workers'control over production, and the establishment of Soviet power—this cause has been secured.
Long live the revolution of workers, soldiers and peasants!
Revolutionary Military Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies
ты мне ваньку не валяй (Don’t make yourself more stupid than you are.)
For the second time in just over a year, George W. Bush has decried the name of V.I Lenin, raising the specter of Lenin as a "boogeyman" in Bush's polymorphic "war on terror." His most recent jab at the revolutionary leader came during a November 1, 2007 speech at a so-called "conservative think tank":
"History teaches us that underestimating the words of evil, ambitious men is a terrible mistake," Mr. Bush said. "Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them. And the question is, will we listen?" (source)
Prior to this, Bush made similar comments during September 2006 speech:
"Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler before them," he said. (source)
It's hard to say why exactly George Bush has developed this tendency to lump Lenin in with the likes of Hitler and Bin Laden. At the height of McCarthyism, it was Joe Stalin who was a preferred target of scorn for red-baiting American demagogues. Then again, I suppose that for the duration of the Cold War, it was usually the current (living) Soviet Premier who was the focus of the bulk American ire and rhetoric. I guess it's always more effective to have a living boogeyman than a dead one. Even still, these days I would think that Stalin would be an "easier sell" as some sort of ghostly bad guy. It's obvious that critique of Chairman Mao is off-limits to the Bush propaganda machine so long as China is still willing provide scads and scads of low-cost, cheaply made trinkets to the teeming hordes of America's consumer class. But there's still Pol Pot or Kim Il Sung on the left. I think they might easier for Bush to cast in his "dead rogue's gallery" than, say, Pinochet or Mobutu who both rose to dictatorial power with the assistance of the United States Government.
My guess is that one of Bush's speech writers feels like "Dubya" will come across as more of an "intellectual" by avoiding old stand-by foils like Castro and Khomeini in favor of pre-Depression, anti-Bolshevik agitprop in the form of nebulous attacks on the life and legacy of Lenin. It's either that or Bush just really, really hates the Beatles.
Some classic Cold-War shenanigans: “Uncle Joe Stalin” hatches a wild scheme in G.I. Joe #11 (April-May, 1951; Ziff Davis series)
Thanks to Tim Davenport of the Early American Marxism web archive for his guidance in the preparation of this piece. Source: Ludwig Lore, Louis C. Fraina, and Eugene V. Debs (eds.) The Class Struggle, Brooklyn, v. 3, no. 1 (Feb. 1919), pp. 1-4 Upon his release from the Kaiser's bastille–the doors of which were torn from their hinges by the proletarian revolution–Karl Liebknecht, heroic leader of the rising hosts, exclaimed: "The Day of the People has arrived!" It was a magnificent challenge to the junkers and an inspiring battle cry to the aroused workers.
From that day to this Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg and other true leaders of the German proletariat have stood bravely at the front, appealing to the workers to join the revolution and make it complete by destroying what remained of the criminal and corrupt old regime and ushering in the day of the people. Then arose the cry that the people were not yet ready for their day, and Ebert and Scheidemann and their crowd of white-livered reactionaries, with the sanction and support of the fugitive Kaiser, the infamous junkers and all the Allied powers, now in beautiful alliance, proceeded to prove that the people were not yet ready to rule themselves by setting up a bourgeois government under which the working class should remain in substantially the same state of slavish subjection they were in at the beginning of the war.
And now upon that issue–as to whether the terrible war has brought the people their day or whether its appalling sacrifices have all been in vain–the battle is raging in Germany as in Russia, and the near future will determine whether revolution has for once been really triumphant or whether sudden reaction has again won the day.
In the struggle in Russia the revolution has thus far triumphed for the reason that it has not compromised. The career of Kerensky was cut short when he attempted to turn the revolutionary tide into reactionary bourgeois channels.
Lenin and Trotsky were the men of the hour and under their fearless, incorruptible and uncompromising leadership the Russian proletariat has held the fort against the combined assaults of all the ruling class powers of earth. It is a magnificent spectacle.
It stirs the blood and warms the heart of every revolutionist, and it challenges the admiration of all the world.
So far as the Russian proletariat is concerned, the day of the people has arrived, and they are fighting and dying as only heroes and martyrs can fight and die to usher in the day of the people not only in Russia but in all the nations on the globe. In every revolution of the past the false and cowardly plea that the people were "not yet ready" has prevailed. Some intermediate class invariably supplanted the class that was overthrown and "the people" remained at the bottom where they have been since the beginning of history. They have never been "ready" to rid themselves of their despots, robbers and parasites. All they have ever been ready for has been to exchange one brood of vampires for another to drain their veins and fatten in their misery.
That was Kerensky's doctrine in Russia and it is Scheidemann's doctrine in Germany. They are both false prophets of the people and traitors to the working class, and woe be to their deluded followers if their vicious reaction triumphs, for then indeed will the yokes be fastened afresh upon their scarred and bleeding necks for another generation.
When Kerensky attempted to sidetrack the revolution in Russia by joining forces with the bourgeoisie he was lauded by the capitalist press of the whole world. When Scheidemann patriotically rushed to the support of the Kaiser and the junkers at the beginning of the war, the same press denounced him as the betrayer of socialism and the enemy of the people. And now this very press lauds him to the heavens as the savior of the German nation! Think of it! Scheidemann the traitor has become Scheidemann the hero of the bourgeoisie. Could it be for any other reason on earth than that Scheidemann is doing the dirty work of the capitalist class?
And all this time the prostitute press of the robber regime of the whole world is shrieking hideously against Bolshevism. "It is worse than Kaiserism" is the burden of their cry. Certainly it is. They would a thousand times rather have the Kaiser restored to his throne than to see the working class rise to power. In the latter event they cease to rule, their graft is gone and their class disappears, and well do they know it. That is what we said from the beginning and for which we have been sentenced as disloyalists and traitors.
Scheidemann and his breed do not believe that the day of the people has arrived. According to them the war and the revolution have brought the day of the bourgeoisie. Mr. Bourgeois is now to take the place of Mr. Junker–to evolute into another junker himself by and by–while Mr. Wage Slave remains where he was before, under the heels of his master, and all he gets out of the carnage in which his blood dyed the whole earth is a new set of heels to grind into his exploited bones and a fresh and lusty vampire to drain his life-blood.
Away with all such perfidious doctrines; forever away with such a vicious subterfuge and treacherous betrayal!
The people are ready for their day. THE PEOPLE, I say. Yes, the people!
Who are the people? The people are the working class, the lower class, the robbed, the oppressed, the impoverished, the great majority of the earth. They and those who sympathize with them are the people, and they who exploit the working class, and the mercenaries and menials who aid and abet the exploiters, are the enemies of the people.
Rosa Luxemburg
That is the attitude of Lenin and Trotsky in Russia and was of Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in Germany, and this accounts for the flood of falsehood and calumny which poured upon the heads of the brave leaders and their revolutionary movement from the filthy mouthpieces of the robber regime of criminal capitalism throughout the world.
The rise of the working class is the red specter in the bourgeois horizon. The red cock shall never crow. Anything but that! The Kaiser himself will be pitied and forgiven if he will but roll his eyes heavenward, proclaim the menace of Bolshevism, and appeal to humanity to rise in its wrath and stamp out this curse to civilization.
And still the "curse" continues to spread–like a raging conflagration it leaps from shore to shore. The reign of capitalism and militarism has made of all peoples inflammable material. They are ripe and ready for the change, the great change which means the rise and triumph of the workers, the end of exploitation, of war and plunder, and the emancipation of the race. Let it come! Let us all help its coming and pave the way for it by organizing the workers industrially and politically to conquer capitalism and usher in the day of the people.
In Russia and Germany our valiant comrades are leading the proletarian revolution, which knows no race, no color, no sex, and no boundary lines. They are setting the heroic example for world-wide emulation. Let us, like them, scorn and repudiate the cowardly compromisers within our own ranks, challenge and defy the robber-class power, and fight it out on that line to victory or death!
From the crown of my head to the soles of my feet I am Bolshevik, and proud of it.
Our good friend Andy Blunden, author of books such as For Ethical Politics and creator of the Hegel-by-Hypertext web archive (among many others), has kindly written the following article for greeklish.org.
25 October this year marks the 90th anniversary of one of the most astounding events in all history. On24 Februarythe Russian people had risen up, overthrown the Tsar and demanded an end to the war.Eight months later, when the democratic government which had taken over from the Tsar had still failed to pull Russia out of the War, workers and soldiers overthrew the government in an almost bloodless revolution, and installed aBolshevikgovernment in its place.
The Bolsheviks made good on their promises and on 3 March 1918 they signed aPeacewith Germany and allowed the Germans to carry away almost everything that could be moved in ‘reparations’ later handed over to the Allies for Germany’s reparations. But the Russian people had put an end to the war insofar as it was in their control and the peasants dumped their guns and went back to their farms!
And what thanks did the Russian people receive for their contribution to world peace? Did Lenin and Trotsky get the Nobel Peace Prize for being the first politicians ever to pull their own country out of a war – and while on the winning side to boot! No, as soon as the war with Germany was over, the young republic, already decimated by war wasinvaded by 14 armieswith the aim of putting big business back in control of Russia. Russia was levelled: Famine and plague stalked the land.
But the Soviet Union did survive, albeit through enormous suffering, and survived for a further 70 years, surviving blockade, invasion and the threat of nuclear annihilation.
If Senates and Houses of Representatives can’t stop Presidents and Prime Ministers from making war, then surely the Russian Revolution showed the way. If you leave politics to the politicians then you can’t complain if what you get is war and terror.
Books (texts not yet online) The Bolshevik Revolution: Its Impact on American Radicals, Liberals and Labor by Philip S. Foner (includes writings by John Reed, Eugene Debs and others) An Illustrated History of the Great October Socialist Revolution: 1917, Month by Month by Albert Nenarokov Russia in Revolution: 1900-1930 by Harrison E. Salisbury
Islamist, Socialist Revolutions Don't Mix By Kimia Sanati
TEHRAN, Oct 3 (IPS) - An attempt to rope in the son and daughter of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara to forge a parallel between Iran’s Islamist revolution and the socialist revolution in Latin America through a four-day conference has ended in fiasco.
After Aleida Guevara protested from the podium against perceived distortions of her father’s ideology by the first Iranian speaker, Haj Saeed Ghasemi, the four-day ‘Che Like Chamran’ conference, that started Sep. 25, was aborted and the Latin American guests whisked away.
Che looks to the horizon
[...]
...Ghasemi, who is associated with Iran’s Esteshhadiyoun (volunteers of suicide operations) must take credit for scuttling the conference. Referring to a translated version of a Che Guevara book that he held in his hand, he said Che Guevara was religious and believed in God. "The people of Cuba, Fidel (Casro) and Che Guevara were never socialists or communists. Fidel has several times admitted that he and Che and the people of Cuba hated the Soviets for all they had done.’’
''Today communism has been thrown into the trash bin of history as it was predicted by Ayatollah Khomeini," Ghasemi told the conference and added that the only way to save the world was through the ‘’the religious, pro-justice movement’’.
An indignant Aleida, however, started her own address "in the name of the people of Cuba". "We are a socialist nation," she asserted. She also said the people of Cuba were grateful to the Soviet Union and there had never been any discord between the two nations, as mentioned by Ghasemi. She advised him to "always refer to original sources instead of translations to find out about Che Guevara’s beliefs".
"My father never talked about God. He never met God. My father knew there was no absolute truth,’’ Aleida said, responding to Ghasemi’s speech. The coverage of her address by state-sponsored news agencies like ISNA was brief and excluded most of her contradictory remarks.
At a meeting later with students of Amir Kabir University of Technology, where the leftist groups are particularly strong, Camilo Guevara told students he approved of all that his sister had said at the conference, ISNA reported.
[...]
Mohammad Jaffar Irani, a reformist student activist, was quoted by ISNA as pointing out that the same group that organised the conference had always considered Che Guevara an atheist. "If anyone other than the (hardline) group that organised this event had done so they would have gotten into a great deal of trouble,’’ he was quoted saying.
"The organisers of the event were hardline supporters of Ahmadinejad who have nothing in common with leftists, even the Islamic leftists of the early days of the (Iranian) revolution. President Ahmadinejad has in fact much in common with President Bush, although he may sound very ‘leftist’," an observer in Tehran told IPS on condition of anonymity.
"Leftist countries must realise that if the issues that make the Iranian hardliners confront the West such as its demand to be accepted to the nuclear club are resolved, today’s leftist allies may instantly turn into their common enemies," he said.
