I will know that I've listened to #BillyBragg #TheInternationale enough times when

https://youtu.be/9LbziknNpCE?si=n9uQ5XY6V1mr_NAg

Debout! les damnés de la terre
Debout! les forçats de la faim
La raison tonne en son cratère,
C’est l’éruption de la fin.
Du passé faisons table rase
Foule esclave, debout! debout!
Le monde va changer de base
Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout!

C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain!

Il n’est pas de sauveurs suprêmes:
Ni dieu, ni césar, ni tribun,
Producteurs, sauvons-nous nous-mêmes!
Décrétons le salut commun!
Pour que le voleur rende gorge,
Pour tirer l’esprit du cachot
Soufflons nous-mêmes notre forge,
Battons le fer quand il est chaud!

C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain!

L’etat opprime et la loi triche,
L’impôt saigne le malheureux,
Nul devoir ne s’impose au riche,
Le droit du pauvre est un mot creux.
C’est assez languir en tutelle,
L’égalité veut d’autres lois;
«Pas de droits sans devoirs», dit-elle,
«Egaux, pas de devoirs sans droits!»

C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain!

Hideux dans leur apothéose,
Les rois de la mine et du rail
Ont-ils jamais fait autre chose
Que dévaliser le travail?
Dans les coffres-forts de la bande
Ce qu’il a créé s’est fondu.
En décrétant qu’on le lui rende
Le peuple ne veut que son dû.

C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain!

Les rois nous saoulaient de fumées.
Paix entre nous, guerre aux tyrans!
Appliquons la grève aux armées,
Crosse en l’air et rompons les rangs!
S’ils s’obstinent, ces cannibales,
A faire de nous des héros,
Ils sauront bientôt que nos balles
Sont pour nos propres généraux.

C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain!

Ouvriers, paysans, nous sommes
Le grand parti des travailleurs;
La terre n’appartient qu’aux hommes,
L’oisif ira loger ailleurs.
Combien de nos chairs se repaissent!
Mais si les corbeaux, les vautours,
Un de ces matins disparaissent,
Le soleil brillera toujours!

C’est la lutte finale
Groupons-nous et demain
L’Internationale
Sera le genre humain!

#MayDay #LaborDay #TheInternationale

What is referred to today as cancel culture was firmly solidified and popularized by the far-right in the mid-20th century spread of The Red Scare. Anyone who was accused of being a communist (even if they weren't) lost their job and were shunned from public life. The roots of this tactic are in reactionary fascist psy-ops to slow the spread of class consciousness and social progress, which at the time, were painted by racists and chauvinists as an existential threat to democracy itself. A flagrant lie with absolutely no basis in reality, as it is clear that such things go hand-in-hand with the strength of a healthy democracy. This foreshadowed the death of the Labor Movement in the latter half of the century, and it cemented in the minds of westerners a unique fear of anything foreign and even tepidly left-wing.

In the 1944 Democratic National Convention, FDR's vice president Henry Wallace, one of US history's most prominent and outspoken progressives, was ratfucked out of a popular re-election that would have carried out the will of FDR's voter base in the event of his passing. Harry Truman, a man lacking common sense or even the experience to inherit such a position of power, was instead installed by the party in a series of backroom deals and lightning-speed overhauls of the democratic process. In consequence of this, instead of a humanitarian who would have never made the abhorrent decision to use nuclear weapons on a strongly suppressed Japan two weeks from surrender, we got Truman, who was "jubilant" to showcase the genocidal power of such a weapon to the Soviet Union. This Nazi-esque action had nothing to do with ending WW2, but everything to do with anti-communism.

In 1948, when Wallace ran against Truman (a well-known racist) as the nominee for the Progressive Party, he was the subject of a vicious red-baiting smear campaign. FDR's original VP was barred from speaking at universities, mobs broke up his rallies, and even some of his supporters were fired by their employers as the Red Scare swept the nation. Conservatives and liberals alike condemned the idea that the US was capable of achieving world peace and coexistence with communist nations. Any alternative to escalating global tensions was dismissed and shamed for even being brought up, and FDR's anti-fascist legacy (imperfect as he had been) was flushed down the drain as the CIA and FBI came into power: our own American Gestapo. We ramped up military intervention worldwide to destroy anything even resembling anti-capitalism with mass murder, extraction of wealth/resources, and the total subversion of democracy. "Better Dead Than Red" became the rallying cry set to bring about the end of days at a moment's notice as the Cold War began. The bitter arms race truly being a race to the very bottom of our own humanity, we dissolved international solidarity and replaced it with fear, gut-reaction, and the myth of American Exceptionalism.

Considering all of this, it pains me to see the lasting effects of the Red Scare everso present in today's current situation with Russia. Regardless of the fact that Putin's regime more closely resembles that of the pre-Soviet Russian Empire, many westerners still view this reactionary right-wing government as communist, and even if that nuance is not lost on them, they still perceive the Russian People as the evil "other" who are hell-bent on destruction and conquest. We sanction innocent working class people and make their lives difficult for the actions of their government without a second thought, and we have zero regard for their quality of life because this "us vs. them" mentality has been systematically drilled into our heads for three quarters of a century.

Regardless of how much damage it does, we let hatred course through our veins to distract us from the painful truth that our hands (and wallets) are not clean from the pillaging and conquest of the Middle East and the Global South. The Russian People are human beings, and their lives matter just as much as any other nationality. The same goes for Palestine, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Ukraine. (That being said, there are very real nazis in Ukraine, and nazis aren't people, they're a malignant tumor.) We must, however, reject the notion that one nation's people have more human value than "the other." And consider this the next time a news host casually argues that we should start a nuclear conflict over geopolitics in Eastern Europe. Consider how you would feel as a Russian citizen if the actions of your tyrannical government were used as rationale to punish all the people in your nation economically and spread hatred towards your nationality as a whole as you face hardships through no fault of your own.

Workers of the world must unite. Lock arms. Stamp out the growing tide of fascism and the institutions of global oligarchy. Disarm and dismantle these systems of oppression. As for the downtrodden servile masses, "You'll never silence the voice of the voiceless." May the hope for global peace and justice never fade and burn brighter by the day.

--spacegirl ️☭

#russia #ukraine #nukes #doomsday #liberal #conservative #capitalism #colonialism #communism #marx #marxism #genz #war #WW3 #redscare #cancelculture #nazis #fascism #russians #ukranians #azov #oligarchy #coup #socialism #worldpeace #humanity #eatthereach #ArmTheLeft #ArmThePoor #proletariat #henrywallace #Mccarthyisn, #hope #theinternationale #international #brainworms #corruption #bourgeoisie #revolution #history