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Saturday, July 19 2008 @ 10:49 PM CDT
Contributed by: Anonymous
Views: 75
Art & RevolutionDirect Action to commemorate the beginning of the Spanish Civil War the right way...
July 19th is the anniversary of the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 -- the beginning of the last significant attempt at an anti-capitalist revolution in the period of revolutions that began in Mexico in 1915 and accelerated after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The revolutionary movement in Spain was defeated by a counter-revolution spearheaded by the Stalinist Soviet Union and it's global puppets and public relations hacks. (See George Orwells's 'Homage to Catalonia' for the best brief introduction to the events surrounding the revolution and counter-revolution in Spain.)
A public art work celebrating the role played by the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, the US dupes of and cannon fodder for the Stalinist counter-revolution in Spain from 1936 to 1939, was dedicated this past May on San Francisco's Embarcadero, behind the fountain on Justin Herman Plaza at the foot of Market Street. Sometime this past week, some person or persons unknown gave this monument to the one of the big lies of 20th century history an appropriate makeover. The Stalinist art work was grafittied with the message, "Viva Durruti Y Orwell," in what appears to be red and black spray paint.
Workers Memory Project
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San Francisco: Stalinist Spanish Civil War Artwork Vandalized
Authored by: Red on Sunday, July 20 2008 @ 12:14 AM CDT
i guess i must read up on the spanish civil war. i was never under the impression that the international brigades was a bad thing. i thought it was a very interesting model. although, i'm not sure what events it is that this article refers to.
communist were counter-revolutionaries, but i thought the revolution was the fascist revolution.
the same one the republicans, communist, and anarchist were fighting against together, well, separately most of the time, but occasionally it was together.
the cnt-fai rising up, to me, was not a revolution, because it was reactionary in nature.
but i guess i wouldn't put it past stalin to disrupt anarchist involvement in the war in order to get more credit after they won, just to fuck it up for everyone and basically assist the fascist in completing their uprising.
who knows, i'm looking forward to someone telling me i don't know what i'm talking about so they can fill me in. i'll keep my eye out for that book though.
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"Liberty is the mother of order, not its daughter."
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San Francisco: Stalinist Spanish Civil War Artwork Vandalized
Authored by: socraticpunk on Sunday, July 20 2008 @ 01:37 AM CDT
Also see, Robert Alexander's "Anarchists in the Spanish Civil War (vols. 1 and 2)" and Bookchin's "To Remember Spain: Anarchists and the Syndicalist Revolution of 1936" for even better analysis of the anarchist AND Stalinist role in the civil war. Emma Goldman's writings contained in "Vision on Fire" are equally important, considering she was the international representative to Spain during the civil war.
Almost none of the international brigade from the US fought with the anarchist rank and file, they were almost exclusively Stalinist. I'd argue against attacking rank and file members however, Stalinism was more prominent in the US during that time period so there's no surprise that the brigade was mostly that. It was mostly due, in my opinion, to the near crushing of US anarchism in that era more than anything else. But yes, Stalin used Spain as a political weight against Hitler, nothing more.
I'd like to know though, why choose Durruti and Orwell to paint on the "art"? Hero worship is nothing to continue (Durruti), and we must remember that Orwell did not fight with the anarchist but with the POUM. Durruti died early in the conflict too, though he was involved with the initial protection of Madrid, I'd argue that looking at the holistic efforts of the CNT-FAI (though flawed) would be more important that identifying one figure in the struggle. But I'm not trying to sound negative about the action, it's much better than nothing and any Marxists of today need to wake up to the realities of their B.S.; I'm sure the action is useful in that regard.
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"Young people everywhere have been allowed to choose between love and a garbage disposal unit. Everywhere they have chosen the garbage disposal unit."
---Guy Debord
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