Here’s a poem written by a Red Youth comrade from Stoke reflecting upon both the sacrifice made by the workers, soldiers and masses of the once glorious USSR and the inability of people from imperialist countries to question or challenge the myths, lies and slanders we’re fed by schools, media and the state about the former Soviet Union. “Isn’t communism proven to fail?” Well, no. It is capitalism that is proven to have failed, failed the thousands of children who die every hour from hunger, the millions who have perished from imperialist war and murder and the countless lives and talents squandered by a system which is driven by the need to make profit rather than serve the people! Enjoy:
Regurgitated without content,
The reiteration seems inherent.
The repetition of illiteracy
In the alleged name of democracy,
Stiffening societies hereditary shackles
Reinforcing the almighty castle
Suppressing opinion, liberty and freedom
Dictating lives based on profitable income.
Distorting the truth without consideration for the masses
That lost their lives fighting against the fascists
They were the soldiers who set us free,
They were the lives that protected our well-being.
Some Twenty-percent of a nations entirety,
All fell proud in the name of a society.
Built on the masses with no reason to forget
The dictatorship of the proletariat
If ever were believers to be so true
Then lye he would within the evil zoo
For his works revealed a true power within language,
The simple duplication of any desired passage
Speak it enough times and the masses will gather
And regurgitate the lyrics of their tyrannical father.
A weapon so powerful the opposition has aligned
Forever utilizing to keep within their stride,
The masses that posses a power superior
To any imperialistic measure.
Almost eternally it seems the words shall be spoken,
Of the warmongers responsible for the many heart-broken.
But soon shall the shackles upon the dictated be broken
And the proletariat will once again be awoken by Robus Conversio
We fight the colonisation and degradation of youth culture
Owing to the inability of capitalism to provide a culture that truly represents our experience and aspirations, the working classes have over the years developed their own cultural forms to represent them (key examples being hip hop, reggae, jazz, jungle, graffiti and northern soul). However, corporations see these cultural forms as a potential source of profit, and the state sees the possibility of using them to promote reactionary propaganda, so that progressive voices tend to become sidelined and overwhelmed, unable to compete with the massive marketing machines surrounding those who are prepared to peddle a reactionary message.
Recognising that the internet creates tremendous possibilities to spread our music and art, we call on young musicians, poets and artists to stay independent and to retain creative control over their output. Red Youth will do what we can to support, promote and give a platform o revolutionary artists! We have a long, rich cultural heritage, if you liked this poem, check out the great poem by Comrade Godfrey Cremer in the video below which explains in a succinct way the operation of capitalist imperialism!
Protests have been held across the UK in support of Gaza and the Palestinian victims of Zionist butchery. We’ll post some of the images here:
Cardiff
Birmingham
Pigs line up in Birmingham ready to police a demo of Palestinian human rights activistsBirmingham calls for an end to Zionist slaughter in PalestineBirmingham protest 16 November 2012state intimidation anyone?
A Jew that fought the Nazis tells it like it is! Listen to Jack Shapiro, anti-Zionist, anti-Nazi, communist hero tells the truth about the Gaza massacre in 2009:
A demonstration was called tonight [and for tomorrow] in protest to the arrival in Birmingham of the Israeli dance company Batsheva at the Hippodrome Theatre. Despite a peaceful, yet vocal protest from Birmingham, the police intervened on the instructions of the Israeli Zionists and attempted to kidnap members of the demo without actually arresting or charging them. Faced with any opposition to Israels war crimes against Palestinians these fascists stoop to any level to encourage and facilitate anti-democratic behaviour of the state forces – but if anything this foolish action will only rally more of Birmingham’s residents to the calls of Palestine solidarity activists tomorrow!
Police start to remove protestors from the demoDisgrace behaviour of police and state forcesZionist smirks as he has Palestine solidarity activist hauled off by the cops
A leaflet produced by local solidarity groups in Birmingham outlined the role of Batsheva thus:
“The Batsheva dance company are part of the Brand Israel Initiative which aims to promote a positive image of Israel internationally whilst it continues its many human rights abuses and violations of international law. These include, in particular, the military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and the consolidation of an apartheid regime that condemns generations of Palestinians to poverty and persecution.
Batsheva’s claim – supported by the Hippodrome management – that they are impartial and independent artists is untrue, since they receive funding from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Such funding routinely involves signing a contract stating that the artist’s role is to “promote the policy interests of the State of Israel via culture and art, including contributing to creating a positive image for Israel”.
In 2005 Palestinian civil society called for an international campaign of Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions against Israel. They see this as a peaceful way to end Israeli abuses in much the same way as the international boycott of apartheid South Africa helped end the apartheid regime there. This protest is part of their campaign. Join us to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for justice and freedom.”
A report from a recent “anti-war” meeting in Birmingham by a “non-socialist anti-imperialist” who attended. The meeting was not attended by any cpgb-ml or Red Youth comrades and so cannot be verified. It does however, ring true to those that have been the unfortunate attendees forced to listen to similar prattle this last two years. Read it here.
Red salute to the Communist Party of China! We take this opportunity to reproduce here along with various articles from Xinhua reporting upon the Congress, a wonderful article produced in Proletarian August 2011 celebrating the 90th birthday of the CPC!
China’s communists celebrate 90 years “Great achievements, but serious problems remain. “We will never rest on our laurels.”
The Communist Party of China celebrated its 90th founding anniversary on 1 July. A few days before this significant anniversary, the party announced that its membership had reached 80.269 million by the end of last year.
This is a very far cry from the early days of the CPC. The first congress, which founded the party, was attended by just 12 delegates, who represented a little over 50 members. The congress met in conditions of strict secrecy and illegality. Indeed, the delegates only narrowly avoided arrest, and quite possibly death, when they left the school where the congress had originally been convened shortly before the police arrived and continued their deliberations on a river cruise boat.
The objective situation of China has undergone equally radical changes over the last nine decades, thanks to wave after wave of tenacious struggles waged by the Chinese people under the leadership of the party. At the time of the party’s foundation China had been reduced to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country, in which the masses of people lived under conditions of dire poverty and oppression.
Today, although it still faces a long and hard road ahead, China has advanced to take the position of the world’s second largest economy, the country is strong, capable of defending itself and respected in the world, and hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty.
It is against this background that the 90th anniversary of the party’s foundation was treated both as a major political event and cause for celebration across China.
The political centrepiece of the anniversary was an important speech delivered by the party’s general secretary, and the president of China, Comrade Hu Jintao, at a grand gathering held in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. Explaining the background to the party’s formation, Hu said:
“In the 170 plus years since the Opium War of 1840 [waged by British imperialism against China – Ed], our great country has weathered untold hardships, our great nation has waged earthshaking struggles, and our great people have scored splendid achievements in the annals of history.
“Following the Opium War, China gradually became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, and foreign powers stepped up their aggression against China. The feudal rule became increasingly corrupt, the country was devastated by incessant wars and turbulence, and the Chinese people suffered from hunger, cold, and oppression. To salvage China from subjugation was an urgent mission for the Chinese nation. And the Chinese people faced the historic tasks of winning independence and liberation, and making China strong and prosperous.
“In those dark years, in order to change the destiny of the Chinese nation, the Chinese people, led by many leading figures with lofty ideals, waged unyielding struggles to explore a new future against great odds. Not resigned to fate, the Chinese people launched one struggle after another … but all these struggles ended in failure. The Revolution of 1911 led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen put an end to the autocratic rule that had existed in China for several thousand years. This revolution greatly boosted China’s social progress, but it did not change the country’s nature as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society or end the misery of the Chinese people.
“Facts have shown that neither the mission of striving for national survival nor the historic task of fighting imperialism and feudalism could be accomplished by reformist self-improvement movements which did not touch the foundation of feudal rule, old-style peasant wars, revolutions led by bourgeois revolutionaries, or other attempts to copy western capitalism. To find a way of achieving China’s development and progress, one must, first of all, find an advanced theory that can guide the Chinese people in their revolution against imperialism and feudalism, and an advanced social force must rise that can lead social changes in China.
“In 1921, the CPC was born in the process of integrating Marxism Leninism with the Chinese workers’ movement. The birth of the CPC was a natural product of the development of modern and contemporary Chinese history, as well as the indomitable exploration of the Chinese people for survival of the nation. The birth of the CPC put the Chinese revolution on the right course, gave the Chinese people a powerful motivation and created bright prospects for China’s future development.”
Over the past 90 years, Hu continued, the CPC has united with and led the Chinese people in a series of earth-shaking events.
The first was to complete the new-democratic revolution, winning national independence and people’s liberation. As a result:
“The history of old China being a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society which was like a heap of loose sand was brought to an end once and for all. The unequal treaties imposed on China by imperialist powers and all the privileges they had in China were abolished. The Chinese people stood up, and the Chinese nation entered a new era of development and progress.”
The second was to complete the socialist revolution and establish a basic socialist system for a quarter of the world’s population, thereby bringing about the “most extensive and profound social changes in Chinese history”. Stressing the continued relevance and importance of these achievements, Hu Jintao summed up:
“The party’s first generation of central collective leadership, with Comrade Mao Zedong at the core, united with and led the entire party and the people of all ethnic groups in achieving the great victory of the new-democratic revolution, establishing the basic socialist system and creating the fundamental political prerequisite and institutional foundation for all development and progress in contemporary China.” (Emphasis added)
According to Hu Jintao, a review of the last 90 years meant that “we have naturally come to this basic conclusion: Success in China hinges on the party”. Accordingly, in a sober and realistic way, he proceeded to elaborate on a number of the things that need to be done to “preserve and develop its advanced nature as a Marxist political party”.
The party “should serve the people, rely on them, work for their benefit with heart and soul, draw on their wisdom and strength, and always maintain close ties with them …
“The entire party must be keenly aware that at a time of profound changes in global, national and intra-party conditions, we are now faced with many new developments, problems, and challenges in our effort to enhance the party’s leadership and governance and its ability to resist corruption and degeneration and to withstand risks … We are facing long-term, complicated and severe tests in governing the country … And the whole party is confronted with growing danger of lacking in drive, incompetence, divorce from the people, lacking in initiative, and corruption. It has thus become even more important and urgent than ever before for the party to police itself and impose strict discipline on its members.”
To face up to these and other problems, Hu advocated that, “all party members and cadres should take learning as an intellectual pursuit, study in an in-depth way and master Marxism Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought … [and] foster a worldview and methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism …
“The only interests the party has are those of the people, and it does not have special interests for itself. The party adheres to this lofty principle, and for all those who are loyal to the people, identify themselves with the people and dedicate themselves to the people, the party provides a big arena to give full play to their talent.”
Hu Jintao also spoke about the need and ways to develop young cadres and the need to maintain close ties with the masses. He said:
“To continuously train a large number of outstanding young cadres is of fundamental importance for carrying on the cause of the party and the people from generation to generation. To shoulder heavy responsibilities, young cadres must foster a sound worldview and correct views on power and career, and they should be loyal to the party’s cause, be identified with the people, be committed to whatever they do, and constantly improve themselves.
“Young cadres need to take the initiative to work in hardship areas and complicated environments and take up challenging positions to temper their moral character and work style and improve their ability. When young cadres come to the fore in large numbers who have honed themselves in tough and complicated environments, endured the test of major struggles, and proved themselves outstanding and promising, they will create a great future for the cause of the party and the people …
“Putting people first and governing for the people is what the party is all about. It fully embodies the party’s fundamental purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly. It is the ultimate yardstick to guide, assess, and test all governance activities of the party. All the comrades in the party must bear in mind that maintaining close ties with the people gives the party its biggest political asset, while alienation from the people poses the greatest risk to the party after it has gained political power.
“Therefore, we must always place the people’s interests before everything else, and make sure that the aim and outcome of all our work is to realise, uphold and expand the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people …
“The people will care about and feel close to the party only when the party feels the same toward them. Party and government offices at all levels and their officials should be more community-focused in their work, regularly visit communities, and stay close with the people.”
Hu laid stress on the absolute importance of fighting corruption “in a comprehensive way”, “addressing both its symptoms and root causes, and combining punishment with prevention, with emphasis on prevention. We must intensify efforts to improve party conduct, uphold integrity and combat corruption so as to maintain the advanced nature and integrity of the party as a Marxist political party.”
He said that the party “is soberly aware of the gravity and danger of corruption that has emerged”, warning that if not effectively curbed it would cost the party the trust and support of the people:
“Leading officials at all levels must bear in mind that our power is entrusted to us by the people and can only be used in their interests. In exercising power, we must serve the people, hold ourselves accountable to them, and readily subject ourselves to their oversight. We must not turn our power into an instrument for making personal gains for a handful of individuals … We must preserve the political integrity of communists.”
He also laid stress on the social policies and programmes that need to be pursued to address the problems of inequality that have become serious in China over the last period:
“To promote social development, we should focus on ensuring and improving the people’s wellbeing, and make special efforts to solve the most practical problems of the utmost and immediate concern to the people. We should ensure that development is for the people and carried out by the people and that they share in the fruits of development.
“We will strengthen the institutional arrangements for ensuring and improving the people’s wellbeing, give high priority to promoting employment in our economic and social development, and accelerate the development of education, social security, medicine and health care, low-income housing and other social programmes. We will ensure that all the people have equal access to basic public services, make more efforts to regulate income distribution, pursue prosperity for all, and strive to ensure that all the people enjoy the right to education, employment, medical and old-age care, and housing.”
In conclusion, Hu Jintao noted: “Ninety years ago, the CPC only had a few dozen members. Back then, China was a poor and backward country and its people were leading a miserable life. Today, the CPC has more than 80 million members. China is prospering and its people are living a happy life. All the achievements of the party over the past 90 years have been made by the party together with the people. We will never forget that the people are the real heroes.
“We have every reason to be proud of what the party and the people have achieved, but we have no reason to be complacent. We must not and will never rest on our laurels.”
Harpal Brar, chairman of the CPGB-ML, returned to ‘The Durham Union’ (Durham University students’ union debating society) for the the third time on 19 October 2012.
On this occasion, he was invited to propose the motion “Capitalism has failed”. The footage from the debate will follow shortly. After a heated debate, Alex, from Durham Union Radio asked for an interview with Harpal. This is the footage from that interview, with a short intro and outtro.
Alex asks such questions as “Hasn’t communism failed – what does being a British communist mean today?”, “Doesn’t communism inevitably lead to totalitarianism?”, “Weren’t the Red Army’s victories only won under the greatest repression of troops?”, “Didn’t millions die under stalin in gulags, death camps and purges?” & “Aren’t people today rising up for capitalism?”
All the major planks of bourgeois anti-communist propaganda are touched upon, and Harpal, drawing on his profound ideological and historical knowledge and understanding, demolishes them all.
It’s compulsive viewing. All topped off with a little humour and gentle mocking of the bastion of privilege that would paint itself as the great upholder of British ‘democracy’.
Watch Harpal’s previous debates:
Durham Union 2011: “This house would fight for Queen and Country” (Against)
The Anglo-American imperialists are attacking Syria, as they attack all independent and progressive nations in the Middle East and the wider world, precisely to shore up their failing system of world domination.
The crisis of overproduction being experienced by monopoly capitalism is more profound that it has ever known. US and their ‘allied’ NATO capitalist economic power is slumping, and their answer is a policy of ever-increasing diplomatic, financial and military stranglehold on the the nations and peoples of the world. This attempt to maintain their faltering monopoly on the worlds productive wealth, although ultimately futile, is of the greatest danger to humanity, and is really driving the entire world into a conflagration of horrific proportions. Truly the imperialists are our implacable enemies – if we don’t finish them first, they threaten to destroy human civilisation itself!
US rapper Immortal Technique is on a tour of the UK having been to Brixton and Birmingham already. Red Youth and cpgb-ml comrades have attended the gigs and distributed hundreds of copies of We Want Freedom to revolutionary minded youth.
We oppose the colonisation and degradation of youth culture
Owing to the inability of capitalism to provide a culture that truly represents our experience and aspirations, the working classes have over the years developed their own cultural forms to represent them (key examples being hip hop, reggae, jazz, jungle, graffiti and northern soul). However, corporations see these cultural forms as a potential source of profit, and the state sees the possibility of using them to promote reactionary propaganda, so that progressive voices tend to become sidelined and overwhelmed, unable to compete with the massive marketing machines surrounding those who are prepared to peddle a reactionary message. Recognising that the internet creates tremendous possibilities to spread our music and art, we call on young musicians and artists to stay independent and to retain creative control over their output. We must not hand our generation’s voice over to corporate control.
This video explains a lot about the middle east and what is really going on in Syria. The short anotated presentation was given by CPGB-ML chairman Harpal Brar at a meeting to defend Syria, held in London on September 20th, explains the conflict in Syria, its origins and the forces at play in the wider middle east. It is essential viewing for all those who would like to stand for the rights of workers and the opressed all over the world. We must learn to recognise our enemies, combat them resolutely and have the courage to defeat them. Knowledge is power: each one teach one!
Defend Syria! Defend Asad! Death to NATO! Death to the FSA! Long Live Palestine! Long live Gaza!
The following is written by a Wigan Red Youth comrade after a trip to the Imperial War Museum
A history trip to the Imperial War Museum in Manchester, I was expecting the typical British war museum glorifying the British and its allies imperialist wars. I was not disappointed! The stuff on display would tie in with my college work that we are about to get started on, its called “Britain at war” mostly focusing on world war one.
Within minutes while I was walking round I reached the section about World War 2, and I overheard a women tell her child that Joseph Stalin was a “Evil man who killed millions”. My initial response to this was pitiful laughter, but sadly this is the “truth” that a lot of our youth are fed, this is the “truth” that the media, schools, universities, academics, writers and filmmakers desire to push. It not surprising since they all operate within the capitalist system – and you don’t get on very well if you don’t toe the line. Bourgeois historians perpetually reinvent lies that are passed on to the children in schools during history class. When I was home and looking back at a photo that I had taken of the picture of Stalin today I noticed the text below it read “A ruthless and paranoid dictator, his regime was responsible for the deaths of millions”. This was typical of over-simplistic and childish explanations for events of world historic significance which involved the activities of hundreds upon hundreds of millions of people. The war museum and society as a whole just accept what they are told in school and don’t go and research or investigate the truth. I have had the same experience with friends who repeat the lies often told about Stalin having made no independent investigation at all, but when you provide them with the material that proves otherwise they are simply no long interested! Such are people attitudes when you challenge their ideas in this society!
The museum was not all doom and gloom for a young communist; the horrors of war was shown in one part of the museum where there were pictures of the effects of war (Casualties etc). I noticed within the group of students a shock at the wounds of the soldiers who go and fight these imperialist wars, in which our soldiers are used as cannon fodder. Many say we should learn from history, but we continue to send working class men and women to fight the ruling elite’s wars, but every step of the way we shall oppose this and through soldiers and workers refusing to fight and abet the designs of the imperialists these wars can come to an end and the proletarian revolution come to fruition!
