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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.
I had originally planned to post a "blockbuster 300th blog post blogtacular" a couple of weeks ago, but things kind of got out of control. For one thing, I got kind of carried away with my article on Emma Goldman and I didn't want to wait to post it. So "Notes on Emma Goldman" was really the 300th posting for greeklish.org and this was just fine, I guess. But then came Dayton's Hurricane Ike Blackout of 2008 and we ended up cleaning up storm damage and sitting in the dark without power for four days. It could have been worse, but it was no fun at all. Incidentally, the complete failure of all our aquarium filters and air pump resulted in the loss of all of our pet goldfish. Longtime readers wil recall our fish were the topic of much discussion a few years back. No worries, though...We have rebuilt the aquarium into a tropical tank now and we're hoping for another good run with the new batch of fish.
Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya From a set entitled "Heroes of the Soviet Union," dated 1973.
So, onward and upward with our 301st blog article spectacular! To celebrate this landmark event, we are launching several new pages and sections, including some big additions to our Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya archive. This particular section is visited regularly by people from all around the world who want to learn about the struggle and sacrifice of the legendary Soviet heroine. New to the section are two image galleries. The "Posters and Paintings" gallery features images and information regarding Soviet-era depictions of Zoya. Some of the images are items from my personal collection and one image is of a portrait owned by my good friend Randy Graham. Thanks Randy! We have also added a gallery called "Exhibits and Photographs" that features rare photographs and pictures of exhibits from the Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya Museum in Moscow. These pictures and captions were provided by Nina Lebed, our friend from Russia. Большое спасибо, once again, Nina! Finally, a we've added another rare picture postcard to our "Post Card Gallery." The post card is from a 1973 set entitled Heroes of the Soviet Union and in my opinion, the color portrait on this particular post card is one of the best depictions of Zoya I have ever seen.
Another of our new features is the "Recommended Reading" page, which will list some of my favorite works of all time. The page is still under construction, but to kick it off, I have created a list of some recommended works on the topics of Marx and Marxism. Since most of my reading and study over the past decade or so has involved Marxism and the radical left, I figured this was a good way to launch this particular page. The banner image at the top of the page is a photo taken by my friend Kave Heydari during a recent visit to the Marx Memorial Library in London. Thanks so much for the photo, Kave!
Finally, I have added a new list called "Favorite greeklish.org articles" to the left side of our main page. The list features links to some of my favorite articles from the last 3½ years. Some of these pieces were quite controversial, as you can well see by reviewing the "comments" sections for the respective posts. Some of the articles are quirky or silly and a few of them are just pieces that I simply enjoyed writing. If you missed any of these the first time around, you might want to check them out. Then again, if you've read them before, they could be worth yet another look.
We really enjoy sharing the material at greeklish.org with all of our friends and family as well as the thousands of visitors around the world who happen upon our site each and every month. Thanks to all our friends who have contributed photos, texts, and comments and thanks to all of our readers, from Russia, Greece, Iran, India, Pakistan and everywhere else all around the world!
“I do not believe in God, because I believe in man. Whatever his mistakes, man has for thousands of years past been working to undo the botched job your God has made.”
— Emma Goldman Living My Life
Emma Goldman
A couple of weekends ago, we were out and about on a Saturday and I asked Thomai and the girls if I could stop into Half Price Books for a second since we were in the neighborhood. They’re all well aware that it’s a “given” for me to do a quick run through to HPB any time that we’re in the general area, so there were no objections. Now, I was really looking for a couple of minutes worth of browsing and I wasn’t intending to pick anything up that day, but it’s pretty tough for me to leave any second-hand bookstore empty-handed. And, sure enough, after a couple of minutes I emerged from the store with some great finds. One of my acquisitions was a two-volume set of Ernst Mandel’s Marxist Economic Theory (the 1968 Merlin Press ed.), which is something you kind of don’t expect to find sitting on the shelves of a Dayton, Ohio book store. But I was even more excited to find a brand-new unread copy of Emma Goldman’s autobiography Living My Life(The Penguin Classics edition) for only $5. It was really a steal, because the retail price is $18. After checking out, I happily returned to the girls who were waiting patiently in the car, set my new books on my lap and told Thomai I was ready to go. She looked at the Goldman volume on the top of my stack and said, “Wow.” The woman knows me all to well and she knows how much I love Emma, so she was very happy for me. I am so lucky, for sure.
One of the first works by Goldman that I ever read was My Disillusionment Russia. It’s probably been about seven years now since I read it, but I remember being impressed with at her insight and detail, even though I didn’t necessarily agree with all of her conclusions. Emma wrote from an unmistakable perspective of one who was personally invested in the struggle of the oppressed without allowing her emotions to blunt or otherwise compromise her message. While she was not always committed to the attentat, she was relentless and uncompromising in her work and she was always certain to remind people that the oppressed must work to free themselves while learning from the inspirational examples and sacrifices of the vanguard.
Living My Life is a formidable tome and these days I don’t have as much down time to read as I would like. So it will be a while before I can get through all 56 chapters, but with only a few chapters under my belt right now, I can already tell what a great read this will be. The book opens in turn-of-the century New York, set against the backdrop of a political diversity that is unknown in today’s America. Emma’s vivid and detailed writing conveys every bit of the enthusiasm and passion that fueled her revolutionary work from her early days all the way through to her final years. Consider, for example, the following excerpt in which Emma reflects upon the day she learned of the eviction of striking steel workers and their families from the Homestead mill-towns:
Far away from the scene of the impending struggle, in our little ice-cream parlour in the city of Worcester, we eagerly followed developments. To us it sounded the awakening of the American worker, the long-awaited day of his resurrection. The native toiler had risen, he was beginning to feel his mighty strength, he was determined to break the chains that had held him in bondage so long, we thought. Our hearts were fired with admiration for the men of Homestead.
We continued our daily work, waiting on customers, frying pancakes, serving tea and ice-cream; but our thoughts were in Homestead, with the brave steel-workers. We became so absorbed in the news that we would not permit ourselves enough time even for sleep. At daybreak one of the boys would be off to get the first editions of the papers. We saturated ourselves with the events in Homestead to the exclusion of everything else. Entire nights we would sit up discussing the various phases of the situation, almost engulfed by the possibilities of the gigantic struggle.
One afternoon a customer came in for an ice-cream, while I was alone in the store. As I set the dish down before him, I caught the large headlines of his paper: "LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN HOMESTEAD -- FAMILIES OF STRIKERS EVICTED FROM THE COMPANY HOUSES -- WOMAN IN CONFINEMENT CARRIED OUT INTO THE STREET BY SHERIFFS." I read over the man's shoulder Frick's dictum to the workers: he would rather see them dead than concede to their demands, and he threatened to import Pinkerton detectives. The brutal bluntness of the account, the inhumanity of Frick towards the evicted mother, inflamed my mind. Indignation swept my whole being. I heard the man at the table ask: "Are you sick, young lady? Can I do anything for you?" "Yes, you can let me have your paper," I blurted out. "You won't have to pay me for the ice-cream. But I must ask you to leave. I must close the store." The man looked at me as if I had gone crazy.
I locked up the store and ran full speed the three blocks to our little flat. It was Homestead, not Russia; I knew it now. We belonged in Homestead. The boys, resting for the evening shift, sat up as I rushed into the room, newspaper clutched in my hand. "What has happened, Emma? You look terrible!" I could not speak. I handed them the paper.
Sasha was the first on his feet. "Homestead!" he exclaimed. "I must go to Homestead!" I flung my arms around him, crying out his name. I, too, would go. "We must go tonight," he said; "the great moment has come at last!" Being internationalists, he added, it mattered not to us where the blow was struck by the workers; we must be with them. We must bring them our great message and help them see that it was not only for the moment that they must strike, but for all time, for a free life, for anarchism. Russia had many heroic men and women, but who was there in America? Yes, we must go to Homestead, tonight!
from Living My Life, Chapter 8 (Penguin Classics ed., pp. 58-59)
I’m sure that if Emma had her life to live over again, she would -- in Trotsky’s words -- “try to avoid this or that mistake.” But what a legacy Emma left to those who truly desire and struggle to change the world for the better. She once said:
“I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody’s right to beautiful, radiant things.”
What a world it would be if we there were more people like Emma Goldman. Recommended Reading Living My Life full text online from Anarchy Archives
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)
