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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.com. Essential 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.
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.
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.
Gregory Zinoviev (Jerzy Kosinski) seriously gets his chow on
Last week, I was finishing up some steaks on our charcoal grill when it occurred to me that it would be nice to supplement them with something. I have a small metal pot that’s designed for use on grills (almost like camping gear) and I usually use it to heat barbecue sauce or baked beans. But I didn’t have either of those things that night, so I thought maybe it would be a good idea to heat up some onions in the pan. While I was in the kitchen cutting them up, I figured I’d get creative and season the slices up a bit.
As I looked for ingredients to add to the pot, my mind turned to the scene in the film Reds in which Gregory Zinoviev is eating a mixture of onions and lemons as he explains to John Reed that the mixture fends off scurvy:
Zinoviev: Speak English. Have a lemon. You won’t see one for a long time. Reed: Thank you. I just want to know if you think that I was clear in what I said about… Zinoviev: Eminently clear. Salt? Reed: Salt? Zinoviev: For the lemon. Reed: Uh, thank you…I see you eat the peel with the lemon. Zinoviev: Fights the scurvy. So does the onion. Together, they fight better.
(Yeah, this is exactly
the kind of thing that runs through my mind all day and all night, no
lie...)
I’ve been using lemon as a stir-fry ingredient ever since I got the idea from reading a pseudo-biography about Mao Zedong some years ago and seeing as how onions are a standard when it comes to steak toppings (and the treatment of scurvy, apparently), it seemed fitting to combine them for this experiment.
I grabbed my pot and tossed the onions and steak into it but I figured that there needed to be some other "medium" in the mix so that I wasn’t simply heating the ingredients. Margarine seemed like a good enough idea but instead of going easy with it, I ended up heaping a healthy dose into the pot so that I’d end up with something of a sauté. I also added a few spices for an extra zip and heated the pot out on the grill for a while before serving it with dinner. (The next time I do this, I’ll probably use a little less margarine and more spice, salt and pepper but I won’t corrupt the flavor of the onions and lemons by adding any kind of sauce or herbs.)
I think Thomai (who has a passionate dislike for Zinoviev based solely on how he is depicted in Reds) was as pleasantly surprised with the results as I was. Rather than covering the steak with the topping, we covered each individual bite with a little onion and a little lemon and it all was quite tasty. At one point I commented that it didn’t seem healthy to cover steak with margarine but Thomai said it wasn’t the worst thing you could eat. Hey, at least we’ll be scurvy free!
Gregory Zinoviev's Scurvy-Free Steak Topping
Ingredients: 1 small to medium onion 1 lemon 2 heaping tablespoons margarine ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper salt pepper
Directions: Skin and chop 1 onion. Slice 1 lemon. Combine ingredients in a pot with butter, cayenne pepper and salt & pepper (to taste). Place over high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. For best results, serve in pot to retain heat. Use as topping for cooked steak or pork, combining lemon (pulp and/or peel) and onion with meat in each and every bite. More stuff Chairman Mao's little red cookbook greeklish.org Gregory Zinoviev Internet Archive marxists.org
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.
You don’t have to be a Marxist to appreciate the fact that few people have ever been so skilled at building polemic arguments as V.I. Lenin. Consider this passage from his 1915 work New Data on the Laws Governing the Development of Capitalism in Agriculture in which Lenin set out to refute the assertions of a prominent Russian economist of the day:
All these assertions are monstrously untrue. They are in direct contradiction to reality. They are a sheer mockery of the truth. Their incorrectness ought to be explained in detail for a very good reason…
The argument that follows this introduction is as painstakingly detailed and spot-on as required, which is a necessity given the subject matter at hand. From the caustic polemic follows a methodical deconstruction that is then buttressed by a wealth of relevant statistical data. The balance of the piece is a resounding quod erat demonstrandum.
Such an introduction to a complex and multifaceted debate immediately compels the reader to accept the infallibility of the forthcoming counterpoint(s). It’s a methodical attack, meant to undermine the fallacious claims of an opponent while simultaneously and explicitly asserting the validity of the immediate arguments.
This method is among the more useful and effective tactics in both the most simple and complex of political debates.
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.
During World War II, filmmaker Frank Capra directed a series of films commissioned by the U.S. Government. The series was called Why We Fightand the films proved to be an effective tool to combat the far-reaching propaganda machine of Nazi Germany. I have to admit that I still enjoy watching a couple of the episodes from Why We Fight every once in a while. I am particularly fond of The Battle of Russia with its detailed assessment of the Soviets’ defense of the USSR including some decent segments regarding the battles at Leningrad and Stalingrad. The Battle of China is very interesting as well and it even includes some brief yet rare film footage of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
Some recent news about new events in Afghanistan and Iraq have led me to reflect a little on what it might look like if someone set out to compile an updated edition of the Why We Fight films. I think it would be a very different and a very sobering experience given what I have read as of late.
Here’s a bit on the “improving” situation in Afghanistan:
A controversial law condoning marital rape and reintroducing Taleban-era rules for Afghan women has been shelved after an outcry in the West.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry said that the law had not been enacted, while Justice Ministry officials said that its contents might be reconsidered. The legislation was put on hold pending a review.
“The Justice Ministry is reviewing the law to make sure it is in line with the Afghan Government’s commitment to human rights and women rights conventions,” Sultan Ahmad Baheen, a spokesman for the ministry in Kabul, said.
The British Government expressed alarm at the law, which applies to the 15 per cent of the Afghan population that is Shia Muslim. President Obama called the law “abhorrent” at the Nato summit in Strasbourg last week.
[...]
One of the most controversial articles stipulates that the wife “is bound to preen for her husband as and when he desires”.
Later the law explicitly sanctions marital rape. “As long as the husband is not travelling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night,” Article 132 says. “Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband.”
Article 133 reintroduces the Taleban restrictions on women’s movements outside their homes, stating: “A wife cannot leave the house without the permission of the husband” unless in a medical or other emergency.
Article 27 endorses child marriage with girls legally able to marry once they begin to menstruate.
The law also withholds from the woman the right to inherit her husband’s wealth. (full article)
It is, of course, good news that the government of Afghanistan is now "reviewing" their newest incarnation of Sharia law after facing an unprecedented criticism from virtually every corner of the globe. But some things are not so easily undone with a simple campaign or a review. Consider the recent tragic events in the “new” Iraq:
Six gay men were shot dead by members of their tribe in two separate incidents in the past 10 days, an official with Iraq's Interior ministry said.
In the most recent attack, two men were killed Thursday in Sadr City area of Baghdad after they were disowned by relatives, the official said.
The shootings came after a tribal meeting was held and the members decided to go after the victims.
On March 26, four additional men were fatally shot in the same city, the official said, adding that the victims had also been disowned by their relatives.
The official declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Witnesses told CNN that a Sadr City cafe, which was a popular gathering spot for gays, was also set on fire. (full article)
Are the above developments acceptable examples of what it means to be “liberated” in the 21st century? Ask the oppressed men, women and children of Iraq and Afghanistan why we fight. They’ll tell you the truth…but you might not like the answer.
Those of you who are regular visitors to greeklish.org have probably noticed that these days I don’t post articles as frequently as I have in years past. This is certainly not for lack of interest or because things are boring at our end. In fact, things have been pretty busy here, as we have been hard at work launching our new endeavor, Erythrós Press and Media.
Erythrós Press and Media offers publishing, web design and media distribution services to individuals and groups. We specialize in serving nonprofit organizations and politically progressive groups and causes.
In commemoration of 'Οχι Day, we present the text of the October 31, 1940 "Open Letter of the General Secretary of the KKE" by Nikos Zachariadis. The English and Greek editions of this text were transcribed by my pal Panos Fidis. We worked together on the footnotes to create these documents for marxists.org. Μου λείπεις, my friend!
Open Letter of the General Secretary of the KKE [A],[B] to the People of Greece
Nikos
Zachariadis
Mussolini's fascism backstabbed Greece in a murderous and immoral way in order to occupy and enslave Greece. Today all the Greeks are fighting for our freedom. our honor, our national independence. The struggle will be very hard and very tough. But a nation that desires to survive must fight defying the dangers and the sacrifices. The people of Greece are fighting a national liberation war against Mussolini's fascism. Alongside with the main front, EVERY ROCK, EVERY HILLSIDE, EVERY CITY, HOUSE BY HOUSE MUST BECOME A FORTRESS OF THE NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE. Every agent of fascism must be exterminated mercilessly. In this war which is led by the government of Metaxas, all of us must offer all their efforts without doubts. The reward for the working people and the capstone of today's struggle will be a new Greece of work and freedom liberated from any foreign imperialist dependence with a true popular culture. Everyone to the struggle, each one to his position, and the victory will be a victory of Greece and the Greek people. The workers of all the world are on our side.
Athens, 31 of October 1940. Nikos Zachariadis Secretary of the Central Comitee of KKE
B. The KKE had been banned in 1936 by the Metaxas regime. As such, much of the KKE leadership had been imprisoned by the onset of Italian aggression toward Greece. Zachariadis wrote this letter from jail, urging unity with the Metaxas government the effort to defeat the common enemy of the Greek people.
Ανοιχτό γράμμα του Γενικού Γραμματέα του ΚΚΕ Προς το λαό της Ελλάδας
Ο φασισμός του Μουσολίνι χτύπησε την Ελλάδα πισώπλατα, δολοφονικά και ξετσίπωτα με σκοπό να την υποδουλώσει και εξανδραποδίσει. Σήμερα όλοι οι Έλληνες παλεύουμε για τη λευτεριά, την τιμή, την εθνική μας ανεξαρτησία. Η πάλη θα είναι πολύ δύσκολη και πολύ σκληρή. Μα ένα έθνος που θέλει να ζήσει πρέπει να παλεύει, αψηφώντας τους κινδύνους και τις θυσίες. 0 λαός τής Ελλάδας διεξάγει σήμερα έναν πόλεμο εθνικοαπελευθερωτικό, ενάντια στο φασισμό του Μουσολίνι. Δίπλα στο κύριο μέτωπο και Ο ΚΑΘΕ ΒΡΑΧΟΣ, Η ΚΑΘΕ ΡΕΜΑΤΙΑ, ΤΟ ΚΑΘΕ ΧΩΡΙΟ, ΚΑΛΥΒΑ ΜΕ ΚΑΛΥΒΑ, Η ΚΑΘΕ ΠΟΛΗ, ΣΠΙΤΙ ΜΕ ΣΠΙΤΙ, ΠΡΕΠΕΙ ΝΑ ΓΙΝΕΙ ΦΡΟΥΡΙΟ ΤΟΥ ΕΘΝΙΚΟΑΠΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΤΙΚΟΥ ΑΓΩΝΑ. Κάθε πράκτορας του φασισμού πρέπει να εξοντωθεί αλύπητα. Στον πόλεμο αυτό πού τον διευθύνει ή κυβέρνηση Μεταξά, όλοι μας πρέπει να δώσουμε όλες μας τις δυνάμεις, δίχως επιφύλαξη. Έπαθλο για τον εργαζόμενο λαό και επιστέγασμα για το σημερινό του αγώνα, πρέπει να είναι και θα είναι, μια καινούργια 'Ελλάδα τής δουλειάς, τής λευτεριάς, λυτρωμένη από κάθε ξενική ιμπεριαλιστική εξάρτηση, μ'εναν πραγματικά παλλαϊκό πολιτισμό. Όλοι στον αγώνα, ο καθένας στη θέση του και ή νίκη θα 'ναι νίκη τής Ελλάδας και τού λαού της. Οι εργαζόμενοι όλου του κόσμου στέκουν στο πλευρό μας.
Soviet Russia Today March, 1944 issue On the cover: Soviet guerilla heroine T. Galavenskaya
A couple of years ago, I discovered Steve Trussel’s great Howard Fast archive on his website EclectiCity. I was working on a new project at the time and Steve had some important material in his Fast archive which he generously shared with me for my project. I have always appreciated Steve’s efforts in building such a great archive and it was really kind of him to share his transcription of a relatively rare work.
I recently purchased a vintage issue of Soviet Russia Today (the March 1944 issue to be precise) from an eBay seller and as I was excited to find a short book review written by Howard Fast near the back of the magazine. The review was of the book Konstantin Simonov's Short Stories. Steve’s website was the first thing that came to mind and I quickly wrote to him to share news of my discovery. After we corresponded a bit, I sent him a transcription of the review along with the scan of the cover of the magazine. The full text of the review is now posted on online as a permanent addition to the Howard Fast section of the EclectiCity. Click here to view the text.
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.
The argument that follows this introduction is as painstakingly detailed and spot-on as required, which is a necessity given the subject matter at hand. From the caustic polemic follows a methodical deconstruction that is then buttressed by a wealth of relevant statistical data. The balance of the piece is a resounding 
