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


Bandiera Rossa by Pankrti


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

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

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

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



Museum Director Natalia Valentinovna holding the

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





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





Red Youth sits atop Zoya’s primary school desk.




Closeup of Red Youth on Zoya’s desk.

Red Youth: Young Heroes of the Great Patriotic War is available for purchase through Erythrós Press and Media.
View Article  On Building the Polemic
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.

View Article  The Balmoral Estate Appeal
Signifying a sharp turn in working class movement in Sri Lanka, the plantation workers of Balmoral Estate in hill country recently took a bold step forward to establish an action committee. After weeks of preliminary strike actions which were, in turn, met with numerous betrayals by reactionary trade unions, Sri Lankan workers are still engaged in an important struggle.

The Balmoral Estate Action Committee recently published an appeal to all workers which includes a bold vision statement and call to action:

We, the workers of the Balmoral Estate in Agarapathana, have formed our own Action Committee to fight for our rights and call on workers throughout the plantations and other sections of industry to do the same.

We have taken this step because we have no faith in any of the trade unions that have sold us out time and time again. All the plantation unions are working with the employers and the government to force us to accept another two years of poverty-level wages.

(Read the full statement here)

The organization of the Balmore Estate labor force constitutes an important development not only within Sri Lanka but on an international scale as well. Working people and students everywhere can learn from the bravery and vision of these plantation workers. Their struggle exemplifies the vision of Indian political theorists like D.D. Kosambi who captured the very essence of workers' movements in the conclusion to his 1939 piece The Kanpur Road:

My place was not with the heroes, but with the rabble, with the men who had been pressed into the ranks by force of arms, or force of hunger, with nothing to fight or work for and little to gain; whose function in the epics was to be slaughtered by the heroes; whose role, according to the historians, was to provide a mere background for the deeds of great men. The heroes of a money-making society rose from the people, at the expense of the people; I could rise only with the common people.

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