Archive for the ‘Socialism’ Category

30 Socialist Songs and Sayings To Wash Your Hands To – In These Times

Twenty-second clips of Solidarity Forever, 9 to 5, Joe Hill, Guantanamera, and more.

"Your Majesty, please... I don't like to complain, But down here below, we are feeling great pain."'Yertle the Turtle,' Dr. Seuss

To protect yourself and your family from coronavirus, we suggest socialism, and also handwashingthe Centers for Disease Controlrecommends you scrubyour hands for at least 20 seconds.

If you have nothing to think about, 20 seconds can feellike an eternity. Here are20-second socialist and revolutionary songs, poems and quotes to get your fighting spirit up.

SONGS

Solidarity forever /1915

Solidarity forever

Solidarity forever

Solidarity forever

For the union makes us strong

We shall overcome / Pete Seeger / 1963

We shall overcome

We shall overcome

We shall overcome, some day

Union Maid / 1941

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

9 to 5 / Dolly Parton / 1980

Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'

Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'

They just use your mind and you never get the credit

It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

This Land is Your Land / 1951

This land is your land, this land is my land

From the California to the New York island

From the Redwood Forest, to the gulf stream waters

This land was made for you and me

Internationale - American / 1900

Arise ye prisners of starvation

Arise ye wretched of the earth

For justice thunders condemnation

A better worlds in birth!

Bread and roses / 1988

As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days,

The rising of the women means the rising of the race.

No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,

But a sharing of life's glories, bread and roses, bread and roses.

There Is Power In A Union /1913

There is power in a factory, power in the land

Power in the hand of the worker

But it all amounts to nothing

If together we don't stand

There is power in a Union

Not Ready to Make Nice / Dixie Chicks / 2006

I'm not ready to make nice

I'm not ready to back down

I'm still mad as hell, and I don't have time

To go 'round and 'round and 'round

It's too late to make it right

I probably wouldn't if I could

'Cause I'm mad as hell

Can't bring myself to do what it is

You think I should

Running with the Wild things / Against the Current / 2016

We got too big for the cage, you locked us up in

Let's mark this down as the day, that we started something

So open the gate, open the gate cause when we

Finally escape, finally escape we'll be

Tearing through the streets

Running with the wild things

Aint done nothing if you ain't been called a red / 1984

Well you ain't done nothin' if you ain't been called a red

if you've marched or agitated, you're bound to hear it said

so you might as well ignore it, or love the word instead

cause you ain't been doin' nothin' if you ain't been called a red

Worker's Song /1981

We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die

The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky

And we're always the last when the cream is shared out

For the worker is working when the fat cat's about

Bella Ciao / 1906

Una mattina mi sono svegliato,

o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!

Una mattina mi sono svegliato,

e ho trovato l'invasor.

O partigiano, portami via,

o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!

O partigiano, portami via,

ch mi sento di morir.

I'll Dance On Your Grave Mrs Thatcher / 2013

And we'll dance

Yes we'll dance

We'll dance on your grave Mrs. Thatcher

We'll dance

Yes, we'll dance

We'll dance on your grave Mrs. Thatcher

More here:
30 Socialist Songs and Sayings To Wash Your Hands To - In These Times

6 Britney Spears bangers that are actually probably about socialism – PinkNews

After Britney Spears shared a quote amid the coronavirus pandemic rallying for the redistribution of wealth, and many have dubbed her "comrade Britney" as a result. (Instagram/Michelangelo Di Battista/Sony/RCA via Getty Images)

What were you doing the day that Britney Spears rallied for workers to break free from the chains of their socio-economic oppression and unite?

OK, so, maybe the singer didnt quite say that, but when Spears shared a quote penned by writer and artist Mimi Zhu which calls for mutual aid, wealth redistribution and a general strike, well, safe to say it got people talking.

As the coronavirus pandemic pelts the economy, stampedes businesses and rampantly redefines daily life for workers, Comrade Britney Spears has been a light in these truly dark times.

The utter surrealness of a millionaire pop star sharing a quote salted with communist values amid a viral outbreak is only something that 2020 can cook up, to be honest.

While were not sure whether Britney Spears is now part of a Marxist reading group, swoons over Young Stalin or has an ironic poster of Che Guevara hanging up in her bedroom, but looking back at her music, maybe the clues were there all along that she was a socialist?

Consider the following an introduction to Marxism-Leninism-Spearism.

Now, reader, this is an obvious one.

In her 2013 banger, Spears espouses the values penned by the father of communism himself, Karl Marx.

If a worker wants a hot body, a Bugatti, a Maserati, indeed, they better work, b***h.

For under Marxs theory of labour, the value of a commodity, such as a living fancy, living in a big mansion, or partying in France, can be objectively measured by the average number of labour hours required to produce that commodity.

Spears is clearly showing this is all an illusion by satirising how fetishised luxury living is.

Im A Slave 4 U is a song all about the plight of the titular wage slave.

Capital is elusive to us, yet were all slaves to the cogs of the economy, it just feels right / it just feels good, comrade Spears wrote, but we cannot hold it / cannot control it.

She explained in the tune that as much as the lower class wants to dance next to the ruling class, to another time and place, perhaps a socialist utopia, nevertheless, all we are are slaves to capitalism.

Theres no escape from late-stage capitalism which, Spears writes, is toxic.

This system of commodities we live in needs a warning, Britney urges. But the bourgeoisie those who own the means of production should listen, as baby, cant you see / Im calling.

Yes, the workers are calling for a revolution.

When Spear sings about this economic model of growth at all costs, the workers will forever be slippin under the hierarchy as they try to taste the poison paradise of the lifestyle of the rich.

In this song on the eponymous 2008 album, Spears begins with: Theres only two types of people in the world / the ones that entertain, and the ones that observe.

As Marx asserted, there are, in fact, only two types of people in the world, capitalists, or bourgeoisie, and workers, or proletariat.

The bourgeoisie observe the labour, or entrainment, of the proletariat. In presenting herself as a put-on-a-show kinda girl, perhaps Spears is showing that all it takes for this hierarchy to be overthrown is a revolutionary figure, one Britney Spears.

This classic 2007 era Britney can be read in two ways.

Are lyrics such as gimme, gimme more, gimme more, gimme, gimme more showing the seductive power of consumerism and capital? That all were conditioned to want is more things that we dont actually need but think we do?

Or are other lyrics, such as gimme, gimme more, gimme more, gimme more, a rallying cry for workers to demand higher wages through collective bargaining through unions and strikes?

Yes, we all do it again, and again, and again. Toil away as the rich get richer, Spears argues in her 2004 song.

You see my problem is this /Im dreaming away / wishing that heroes, they truly exist, in belting this out, Spears yearns for the days when heroes, such as Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong and Fide Castro truly existed.

The workers take a sip from the devils cup and accept their place in the world.

But in manipulating the listener, Spears suddenly adopts the role of the capitalist for the songs chorus.

Workers feel that their bosses are sent from above, but they simply are not that innocent, they played with the heart of the proletariat their joy and sense of what being human and get lost in the game of alienating the masses.

Anyway, we seriously doubt Britney Spears is a socialist, let alone a communist. But we hope you enjoyed this welcome distraction from the coronavirus.

See the original post here:
6 Britney Spears bangers that are actually probably about socialism - PinkNews

Bulgarian Who Lived It Warns: Socialism and Communism Steal, Kill, and Destroy – CBN News

WASHINGTON Surveys show more than half of young Americans would prefer moving to a socialist economy and government. About a third say they'd even opt for communism.

While things like free college tuition might sound great, it can come with a high cost, such as the government taking away the freedoms we enjoy today. Those who've lived under it warn against it.Georgian Banov leads worship, often with Christian rock bands, across the world. Not only does he love rocking out for God, but he's also a classical violinist. While Georgian rejoices in his freedom as a Christian, he still mourns over those who suffered for decades in his childhood home of Bulgaria, trapped behind the Iron Curtain.Burned Them Alive

"They immediately went after killing every capitalist," Banov recalled of the communists who took power. "Because according to Karl Marx, capitalism is the main evil. They make them dig a ditch, they throw them in the ditch, they put oil on them and burn them."Banov said his grandmother witnessed such mass murders and told him she could never forget the smell of burning flesh.

Socialism, Communism Inextricably Linked

It's important to remember communism and socialism are inextricably linked. After all, the communist USSR was the Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics a system controlling everything, leveling its people out by crushing individual incentive."Everybody makes the same amount of money," Banov stated. "So if you're good at something and work hard, you don't get a dime more than the guys who sit and do nothing. So the productivity goes lower and lower and lower. This is very destructive to a successful economy. Now everybody's poor.""There's nothing to buy because everything is so depleted," Banov said, and remembered the stores in his youth. "The only thing you could buy every day is bread. Whatever came, we'd buy and we ate it right away. And there wasn't enough for you to even refrigerate in your house."Five Families in a Five-Room Home

This was probably good because he can't recall anyone having a refrigerator. As for him, he remembers being so poor, his family wasone of five packed into a five-room home.Banov also remembers the constant fear of stepping out of line because the communists were constantly watching."Unless you're saying things that are in line 100 percent with the communist propaganda doctrine, you get pulled out and eventually you disappear," Banov recalled, remembering the cowed Bulgarians all about him. "They're afraid that if they say something, they're going to get arrested."What You Can Say, Do, Believe All Dictated to You

And in the schools, one's life, profession, and the beliefs they were allowed to have were all dictated to them.He said of his instructors at school, "You are directly controlled by a supervisor who is over the teachers, making sure everything you say supports the communists."Banov pointed out it's not just about economics, but snuffing out God. He explained Karl Marx, the man behind communism and socialism, despised God."God, I Hate You and I'll Hurt You"

Banov quoted Marx, saying, "'God, I hate You and I'll hurt you by destroying the people You create for Your glory.' So the whole system is actually an anti-Christ system. They became God. 'Praise us. Glorify the communists.' So it's a religion."Banov saw how Bulgaria clamped down on Christians with an iron fist, demanding their membership rolls, dictating what could be preached and taking their Bibles. Because the communists couldn't stand that these Christians believed in and submitted to a power higher than the state."It is the only enemy that they cannot fight, they know," Banov said of the communists. "So they really pushed Christians, to break them down, to submit to them. And if they don't submit, 'you're out!' Bibles were confiscated. And every Bible press was destroyed."Meeting in Secret

They especially targeted Spirit-filled believers."They were the most persecuted because they had power. The Holy Spirit gives you power," Banov stated. "So the Holy Spirit people were the most persecuted because they were the most unsubmissive. They didn't give their membership. They meet in secret, onlyunderground."But he pointed out in the end, the communists just like ancient Rome couldn't wipe out Christianity."Kind of like happened in Rome with the early Roman church," Banov explained. "We're talking about the most powerful war machine in the world conquered Europe, conquered the Middle East, conquered northern Africa. It couldn't conquer a handful of believers in its backyard."Softer, Kinder Socialism Not Possible

For those who think America can have a softer, kinder socialism, Banov wishes they could understand to succeed, it has to take total control, and that means taking away freedoms. He contrasts that to the God who gives freedom and power to care for all."You don't need to empower the government to fix your problems. We the people are well able to fix our problems," he insisted. "So instead of falling for what the communists will do for you, ask what God will do for you with the gift He has given you."Jailed for Clapping

It was Banov's gift of music that got him into trouble with the Communists. He helped form a Bulgarian rock 'n roll band in the 1960s."We were the first rock band ever to come on national television. We weren't even that good, but there were no bands to compare. So we were on the television and there was only one channel, so overnight we're the Number One, Number Twowe're the Top Ten," Banov said, laughing over the memories of his group's unexpected sudden fame.The rockers would drive their Bulgarian audiences wild with enthusiasm and that soon caught the Communists' watchful eye."Young people standing and clapping to them is like a revolution," Banov said, recalling, "They say 'no clapping during songs.' They tried to impose the rules. They actually arrested me for starting clapping. I got released, but I got arrested to show the rest 'even Georgian Banov, the rock drummer, cannot break the rule.'"The Day the Music Died

And finally, the Communists shut the rock 'n roll down in the middle of a big concert."Unplugged all our guitars and instruments. They said, 'You're all going home. No more rock 'n roll. This is out of control.' That pushed me to want to get out of there. And I said 'That's it, I can't handle this.'"When he could, Banov made a break for it and headed to the United States, saying, "Eventually I escaped through Iron Curtain and made it to the Free Country Yay!"And here in America, he met the Jesus People who led him to a personal encounter with God.Banov remembered, "That's the first time I felt [the] freedom that I longed for on the inside."

See the rest here:
Bulgarian Who Lived It Warns: Socialism and Communism Steal, Kill, and Destroy - CBN News

Socialist Alternative town hall injects racial politics into COVID-19 pandemic – World Socialist Web Site

By Genevieve Leigh 25 March 2020

Socialist Alternative held an online meeting Sunday under the title Coronavirus Wreaks Havoc: Socialist Response. The event was hosted by Kshama Sawant, a leader of the organization and Seattle City Council member.

Ten guest speakers participated in the broadcast, including two prominent members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)New York State Senator Julia Salazar and Mike Sylvester, a Maine state representative. Also taking part were Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King and various local union officials.

The event was an attempt to cover over the conventional Democratic Party politics of Socialist Alternative and the DSA with anti-capitalist rhetoric and empty slogans. This was combined with the foul injection of racial politics, a hallmark of the Democratic Party.

Sawant presented herself as the most radical speaker on the panel, calling for a freeze on all rent and mortgage payments, the organization of a rent strike, immediate cash assistance to replace lost wages and the nationalization of the banks and corporations, among other demands.

However, the real character of Socialist Alternatives politics came at the end of her remarks. She concluded with: One last thing I would like to say, and this is to Senator Bernie Sanders: Bernie dont drop out. Dont endorse Joe Biden.

Socialist Alternative is, in fact, little more than an electoral auxiliary of the Sanders campaign. Sanders role has been to convince workers and youth to support the Democratic Party, a right-wing capitalist party, and Socialist Alternative has worked to convince them to support Sanders.

In 2016, after dissolving itself into an electoral campaign for Sanders, it claimed to oppose Sanders support for Clinton and declared that his political revolution had to go on without him. Four years later, it did the same thing, covering up for Sanders own pro-imperialist positions and doing what it could to encourage young people to support Sanders and the Democratic Party.

The organization is now in crisis over Sanders winding down of his campaign. Despite Sawants urgings, Sanders is clearly preparing to drop out. As he has made clear from the beginning of his campaign, he will support former Vice President Joe Biden or whichever other right-wing politician the Democratic Party ends up selecting as its nominee.

At the same moment that Sawant was making her plea, Sanders was hosting his own online event on the coronavirus crisis with Democratic Party congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Neither Sanders nor his guests even mentioned his candidacy for the Democratic nomination.

In his remarks, Sanders said he did not want to be partisan because everyone had to come together to address the pandemic. While criticizing aspects of the bipartisan boondoggle to the corporations that was at that point passing through Congress, Sanders said nothing about the responsibility of the capitalist system for the crisis. None of the panelists uttered the words capitalism or socialism.

The reactionary role of Socialist Alternative, the DSA, et. al. in seeking to block a genuine movement of the working class for socialism was perhaps most clearly revealed in the comments by Shaun King, a Black Lives Matter activist who was heavily involved in campaigning for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

King was brought in to inject racial politics into the discussion of the pandemic. He began by asserting that communities of color have been hit the hardest by this pandemic. He continued: The role of racism and white supremacist systems is really central to the impact that the coronavirus is having for so many reasons

What we see is the role of whiteness and skin privilege even in what this bailout package is going to be.

What does the phony concepts of skin privilege and whiteness have to do with the coronavirus pandemic? Millions of workers, black and white, of all ethnicities and nationalities, are already suffering immensely from this crisis. The virus respects no borders and does not discriminate by race, religion or gender.

The policy of governments, led by the United States, has been directed at utilizing the crisis to advance the interests of the ruling class, not whiteness or skin privilege. It makes no difference to the ruling class if those who die are black or white, women or men, gay or straightso long as the stock market soars and workers are forced back to work to make profits for the rich.

To justify his reactionary racialist narrative, King made the absurd claim: When I have to go out and get groceries in my neighborhood and all over Brooklyn, I hardly see any white people in grocery stores working, in the food service industry working. When I see UPS workers, postal workers They are again unproportionally black and Latino.

The assertions made by King are not only outright lies, they are politically filthy and dangerous conceptions made in the service of the ruling class.

The racialist politics of King is the politics of the Democratic Party, utilized to divide the working class and advance the interests of privileged sections of the upper middle class, competing for access to positions of power and affluence in academia, corporate boardrooms, the state and the trade union apparatus.

The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare with unprecedented acuteness the fundamental class divisions in society and the urgent need for the working class to unite as an international class to demand measures to save lives and defend the living standards of working people.

As the working class enters into struggle to advance its interests, it must and will sweep aside the Democratic Party and racialist politics of organizations like Socialist Alternative.

The author also recommends:

Socialist Alternative promotes Sanders political revolution without Sanders [30 July 2016]

Bernie Sanders draws his campaign to an end: The political lessons [19 March 2020]

View post:
Socialist Alternative town hall injects racial politics into COVID-19 pandemic - World Socialist Web Site

Bernie Sanders’ democratic socialism isn’t communism – Los Angeles Times

To the editor: I lived under socialism in the 1950s and escaped from it during the bloody Hungarian Revolution in 1956. Socialism in that form stinks.

After the Nevada caucuses, Sen. Bernie Sanders is looking more like the inevitable Democratic Party presidential nominee, but he has no chance against President Trump if his message is perceived as socialism.

Words matter. Perceptions matter.

If the self-described democratic socialist secures the nomination, he should do everything he can to distance himself from the concept of socialism as opposed to democratic socialism. Sanders plan of increased spending on healthcare, infrastructure and education (supported by practically all European governments) is not the same as Soviet-style (or Venezuelan or Cuban) socialism.

Unless Sanders can make this clear enough for at least 51% of voting Americans, we will have another four years of Trump.

Thomas Seres, Van Nuys

..

To the editor: Before the Democrats jump on the Sanders train, they should remember that Sanders performed well in the 2016 caucuses, but Hillary Clinton outperformed him in the primary elections.

Caucuses are a poor way to measure the voters general opinion of the candidates since the number of participants tends to represent only a fraction of a states registered voters. So far, only a small fraction of the Democrats have been heard from.

The pundits should hold their horses before they proclaim Sanders as the inevitable Democratic nominee.

George Eaton, Arcadia

..

To the editor: It is fitting that Sanders won Nevada on George Washingtons birthday.

The father of our country and the military leader of our first revolution must be dancing a jig for joy that a second revolution will include everyone this time people of color, women, the poor and others.

Mary Lou Jacobs, Los Angeles

..

To the editor: Please, Democrats, do not select an old, rich, white male extremist as your nominee. Havent we had enough of those?

You need to select someone who will appeal to the country as a whole, not just your party. By selecting someone so far left, you leave the middle up for grabs. If you select someone toward the center, you get the left, center and even that part of the right desperate for an alternative to the current regime.

For the good of the country, think about it.

John Schiermeier, Valencia

Read more here:
Bernie Sanders' democratic socialism isn't communism - Los Angeles Times