#russian socioeconomics of the 1920

[opedguy]

Kanye West Dropped by CAA

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Cctl 24, 2022.--Billionaire wrapper and music producer Kanye West was dropped by Creative Artists Agency [CAA] today for making anti-Semitic remarks.  West finds himself in the headlines largely for his failed marriage to Kim Kardashian, complaining in court records that he suffers from bipolar disorder, a condition, when not treated, results in disruptive behavior.  Kanye’s recent anit-Semitic tirade indicates that he’s either not taking his meds or his condition is worsening.  Kanye’s anti-Semitic remarks are fashionable in the Black community where the Rev. Louis Farrakhan, 89, once head of the Nation of Islam, frequently used anti-Semitic slurs in his sermons, pandering to Black audiences that see Jews as slave masters, particularly in Hollywood and the banking industry.  Unlike Farrakhan, Kanye did not grow up in the ubiquitous pro-Nazi era where anti-Semitic slurs were commonplace in just about everywhere.  

Fired by CAA and dropped by sponsors Adidas, Balenciaga, JP Morgan Chase and Gap, Kanye doesn’t have a clue how his bipolar disorder affects his daily life.  Anit-Semitism is no longer fashionable except in the most extreme circles, mainly fringe right-wing militia groups still showing allegaiance to once Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.  No one did more damage to European Jews that Hitler who, during WW II, came up with the Final Solution to round up and exterminate 6 million Jews before allied powers crushed the Nazi regime in 1945.  Hitler wrote in famous tome “Mein Kamph” while imprisoned by the Weimer Republic in the early 1920s, where books like “The Learned Elders of Zion,” written in 1902 by some Russian colonel who said the Jews were controlling the world.  Hitler and auto industrialist Henry Ford had something in common, both liked plagiarizing anti-Semitic texts.

So the origins of anti-Semitism linger today with Kanye’s more recent tirades.  It’s tempting for angry people to stereotype and blame different groups for the ills of society.  Unlike Kanye, the Black community lives in U.S. inner cities, often with high levels of unemployment and poverty.  Why Blacks listen to Farrakhan or West is anyone’s guess but looking for scapegoats is the easiest thing to do.  While it’s not known to Blacks that many Jews, like everyone else, live in a spectrum of socioeconomic success, some at the bottom and other at the top, berating Jews is the macho thing to do with Blacks who like to blame Jews for Black failures.  CEO of Endeavor Agency Ari Emmanuel, cut ties with Kanye after he tweeted he wanted to go “death con 3” against Jews.  Kanye was questioned by CNN’s Piers Morgan about his remarks, trying to gain clarity and an apology.

Morgan tried to get the mentally challenged West to sound lucid had a difficult time getting him to admit his offensive language.  “I will say I’m sorry for the people that I hurt with Death Con—the confusion that I causes,” Kanye told Morgan.  Kanye was banned from Twitter and Instagram for his remarks   Kanye said he was going “death con 1 on the JEWISH PEOPLE,” referring to the military condition “DEAFCON.”  Kanye’s apology seemed insincere, designed to save his sponsors.  “I feel like I caused hurt and confusion.  And I’m sorry for the families of the people that had nothing to do with the trauma that I have been through, and that I used my platform, where you say hurt people and I was hurt,” Kanye said.  Kanye gets confused over his own trauma and that of the Black community, to lash out at Jews, a favorite target of Farrakhan and other Black preachers.

Kanye was interviewed by Fox New Tucker Carlson, where its didn’t take long for the 47-year-old rapper to go off the rails.  “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” Kanye said. “The funny thing is I actually can be anti-Semitic because black people are actually Jew also.  You guys have toyed with me and try to blackball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” Kanye told Tucker, showing no real apology but exposing his twisted logic. Going after Jews wins Kanye plaudits from white supremacist groups but doesn’t fly in Hollywood where so many Jewish artists, producers and directors earn their living.  Ari Emmanuel, brother of Chicago Mayor Rom Emmanuel, former strategist to President Bill Clinton, wasted no time denouncing West.  Given the sensitivity to the Holocaust and random acts of anti-Semitism around the country, Kanye was condemned quickly.

Paying a heavy price for his mental illness, Kanye doesn’t find much sympathy for someone that suffers from bipolar disorder.  “I gotta let go of that and free myself of the trauma and say, ‘look, I’m gonna give it all up to God right now,’” Kanye told Tucker Carlson.  “God forbid one comment could cause people to feel any of the pain that my people have went through the years,” Kanye responded to Piers Morgan.  “Do you now regret saying Death Con 3 on Jewish people,” Morgan asked Kanye.  “ Are you sorry you said that?” to which Kanye responded, “No, absolutely not,” Kanye told Morgan.  When it comes to a high-file celebrity spewing anti-Semitic hate, it shows how far Hollywood needs to go to reverse old prejudice and bigotry.  Kanye vented against Jews because it’s more acceptable in the Black community, having evolved from Farrakhan to evangelical Black Churches.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.                          

[swifty-fox]

Please tell me about 1920s Russian socioeconomic policy

PLEASE LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT 1920′s RUSSIAN SOCIOECONOMIC POLICY

 so 1920′s Russian socio-economic policy was in a few short words. entirely fucked.  Granted the issue goes farther back than 1920′s! basically up until then Russia had been functioning as a mostly closed society in that they rejected the industrial age of the mid to late 1800′s. They believed that they were superior as a country and did not want interference from other religions and cultures (the Great Schism took no prisoners) So essentially at the turn of the 20th century Russia was still almost in the middle ages (granted there was some technology leakage etc. it was more prevalent in upper society to be more modernized) BUT they still had peasants and serfs and people living as they had done hundreds if not thousands of years ago (something like 80% of Russians were impoverished and working as serfs ((that might only be white Russians there's like 32 ethnic Russian groups nobody likes to talk about)) ) 

cutting for length

so naturally people are like mad pissed about that right? they want to be part of the progression of the world they want to be educated and to travel and to have access to medicine and technology and all the benefits of ‘modern’ society. but Tsar Nikolai says no. This is a huge part of his downfall, his unwillingness to change (also vague antisemitism ((they used to conduct these things called Pogroms which was basically localized exterminations of Jewish people. it was fucked up and vastly condemned by a lot of people but the powers that be used the Jewish people as a scapegoat because uhhh 1800′s and 1900′s be like that)), being REALLY bad at war, Rasputin, excessive spending and wealth, a little spice of police brutality and a few massacres as well as aggressive heavy-handed tactics against terrorists. Great family man. Bad leader.) 

Anyways fast-forward through the Russian revolution that's a whole can of worms

Now we have a new government. not a better government but a NEW one with vastly different ideas of what they’re going to do. 

Another sidetrack, lets talk about Communist Theory for a sec. I’m going to go into Karl Marx’s original intention as Russian Communism is actually a twice bastardized idea of Communist (Lenin developed his theory of communism from people like Georgi Plekhanov and  Nikola Chernechevskey’s book What Is To Be Done?  who were also putting their own spin on Marxism) 

ANYWAYS. The basic idea of of Karl Marx’s Communist theory is that society will eventually, over the course of hundreds or thousands of years, develop through capitalism and unto a utopian world where we have no need for things live government or taxes or money. The concept here being over hundreds or thousands of years and NATURALLY.

The Bolsheviks (Led by Lenin) Looked at that and said mmmm no lets do it in like twenty years. 

it’s 1921 and Lenins NEW ECONOMIC POLICY (fondly nicknamed NEP) enters STAGE LEFT (get it) 

The basic idea of NEP was to blend capitalist (i.e a private market) with communist ideals (i. e. no market) and Fast-Track us to glorious utopian communism in not a few hundred years but in a few years! 

sounds doable right? 

the basic idea of NEP was that there would be limited private property that would ultimately be mostly owned by people that Lenin approved of (allies, benefactors, heroes of the glorious revolution for mother Russia and so on) There were things called prodravzyorstka  which was forced grain requisitions by the communist party for the good of the people  basically soldiers would come in and take most of the famers grain and left them to starve. There was also an imposed a tax on farmers that could be paid in -you guessed it!- more grain! NEP abolished that and instead allowed for a cash payout the harder that farmers worked. Productivity went up like 40% in the years following! Pretty great!!

It also incentivized and supported the formation of unions (they were communists remember, those bitches love unions) All in all it was....pretty decent? It wasn’t exactly communist as essentially it was just tax returns or the government buying grain from peasants rather than the peasants having to sell the grain themselves. Pretty great right! 

But it created an imbalance. Again, that Russia wanted to do was industrialized! they wanted to become modern but they didn't want to follow the way any other country did it and they wanted to do it in a fraction of the time! As the government and the ECONOMY began relying on the small farms for grains and vegetables and resources, the big factories and institutions that were privately owned were STRUGGLING!  as a result, they had to raise their prices to try to pay for themselves. But now those same farmers couldn't afford the industrial things they needed! like equipment for their farm tools and tractors or household goods. So now they have to raise THEIR food prices in response. It was a great way to inflate the economy after WII and the revolution. But obviously we all know where this is going. 

And then Boom. Lenin dies. The man had one too many strokes and croaks out in his country home without a successor named. The government is in chaos. Nobody knows what to do. Shortly before his death lenin wrote a (frankly quite funny) letter saying all his successors were fucking idiots and he hated them all.

In steps Stalin. If you think Lenin was bad...Stalin is a fucking bastard. The guy is even MORE antisemetic, brutal, corrupt, mysogynistic and RACIST. The man really hated the chinese. he also hated Georgians (the country not the state) which is pretty funny because he was Georgian. 

Anyways, he abolishes NEP and implements something called the Five Year Plan (NEP 2 for the jokesters out there) 

Stalin shifts the focus away from boosting agricultural development and focuses on rapid industrialiation in, you guessed it, FIVE YEARS. The stats on this plan are fucking insane man get this:

Staling wanted an 111% increase in coal production, 200% increase in iron production and 335% increase in electric power!!! in FIVE YEARS. 

(he also eliminated a class of people called “kulaks” which were richer farmers by turning the poor farmers against them. By elimate I mean they were murdered and their property distributed amongst the poorer farmers.)

I could go on and on about all the ways this failed, all the brutality, unethical and unsafe work enviroments, the continued programs, the amoutn of people who were murdered, the prison(slave) labor used, the rounding up and mass murder of anyone who spoke out against Stalin, the Five Year Plan or the russian government. This is really where the Soviet Union as we know it as westerners got its reputation. 

Also he caused TWO famines because he made all the farmers move into the city to be industry workers so they ddint have any food and didnt accept help from the Red Cross or other countries because MUHHH MOTHERLAND

but you know what it kiiinda worked? Capital increase was almost 160%, consumer goods increased by 87% and total output was up almost 120%!

But also it caused one of the worst famines in the western world with an estimated 6million (some people argue as many as 10million. We will never know the true number because it was mostly peasants and ethnic people suffering) people dying across the entire Soviet Union. Poeple were dying out on the streets in broad daylight, people were selling their dead children to be food. You can see pictures if you google it but they’re very graphic.

Generally, the Five-Year-Plan was lauded as a massive failure and a hotbed of absolutely disgusting human abuse and cruelty. And you knwow what Stalin said? He said nah it went well and implemented about FIVE MORE (theres been twelve in all but they exent up into the early 90′s) I wont touch on them as they were all pretty much iterations of Stalins original one and they all sucked.

Basically Russian Socioeconomic Policy is a hotbed of bad decisions, human rights violations and a LOT of interpersonal drama that i do not have the time to get into. (like the fucking DRAMA between Stalin and Nadezhda Krupskaya (lenins wife))

theres also a LOT more to it I just tried to condense like 40 years into one post so please feel free to go out and research your own! I used Peter Kenez’ “A History of the Soviet Union From the Beginning to its Legacy” while in class. It’s a little dry but effective 

theres also this book by my professor who is a DELIGHT https://www.amazon.com/Red-Arctic-Exploration-Soviet-1932-1939/dp/0195114361 and while I havent read it im sure its told with the same humor and zeal that he conducted his lectures 

also this bOOK THIS BOOK RIGHT HERE is SUCH a good read!

https://www.amazon.com/Vasily-Grossman-Soviet-Century-Alexandra-ebook/dp/B07P9HJMLM/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=the+soviet+century&qid=1589727805&sr=8-4 if you read any of them read this one! it examines the entire rise and fall of the communist party through the story of Grossman who was a jewish-russian writer and pretty famous in his own right though he died penniless and scorned. He’s got a couple movies based off his books out there two which were shelved for criticizing the party for decades! please read it i beg you

[berniesrevolution]

JACOBIN MAGAZINE

The oldest political dispute inside the US left isn’t going away anytime soon. Revelations about the Democratic National Committee’s pro–Hillary Clinton intrigues and local victories for leftists in the November elections have added fuel to the fire of that age-old question: how should socialists confront the two-party system?

On one side, supporters of “realigning” the Democratic Party insist that given the constraints of the US political system, transforming the party is the sole viable strategy for progressive politics. On the other side, advocates of a clean break from the Democrats and Republicans see any involvement within capitalist parties as an unprincipled dead end.

Proponents of each stance can rightly point to the practical failures of their rivals’ approaches over the past century, especially at the national level. But both sides have ignored the example of the most electorally successful workers’ party in the history of the United States — the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party (FLP).

Founded by socialists in the wake of World War I and the Russian Revolution, the FLP built a mass base in the 1920s and captured the highest levels of state office in the 1930s, both enabling the passage of important socioeconomic reforms and helping to consolidate a powerful independent workers’ movement.

As party militant Warren Creel explained in 1946, the “Farmer-Labor Party’s quarter century of activity provides the longest experience with a labor party that US history offers up to the present . . . It was not just a pro-labor party, it was a party of organized labor.” Had the rest of the United States gone the way of Minnesota, our labor movement today would likely resemble the rest of the advanced capitalist world instead of standing on the brink of annihilation.

Eager to extract political lessons from how Minnesota’s socialists established an independent mass working-class party, I began researching the formation of the FLP about a year ago. My working assumption was that the experience of the North Star State would vindicate the strategy of a “clean break” with the two major parties.

But it soon became apparent to me why this history has been so widely ignored: the tactics deployed in founding the Farmer-Labor Party challenge the orientations of both major poles in the debate. To my surprise, I found that the Minnesota experience demonstrates the potential viability of what I would call a “dirty break” approach: the use of Democratic and Republican ballot lines to implode the two-party system.

The Nonpartisan League

An array of popular insurgencies swept the United States in the first decades of the last century. Millions of workers and farmers turned to mass action and self-organization to defend their economic interests.

In 1916, Minnesota was polarized by a militant Teamsters’ strike. An even more contentious struggle erupted the following year when railway workers struck. Taking advantage of favorable wartime conditions, labor unions witnessed an unprecedented rate of growth. Minnesota’s employers and state officials increasingly turned to repression, union-busting, and strike-breaking in the hope of turning back the tide.

Opposition to predatory corporations and their governmental enablers was equally widespread in the countryside. Relative farm prices were plunging, and vast numbers of farmers faced economic disaster. Seeking to give political expression to this rural discontent, failed flax farmer and former Socialist Party organizer Arthur Townley founded the Nonpartisan League (NPL) in 1915.

The organization spread like a prairie fire, first in North Dakota, then across the Midwest, and even into Canada. Individuals joined by paying dues, which went towards financing farmer political candidates. And on an electoral level, the NPL took a novel approach: instead of building a new third party or allying with a “progressive” wing within the existing parties, the organization ran its own independent candidates within Democratic and Republican primaries. Since Republicans were dominant in Minnesota, the main battles took place within that party’s primaries, which were open to all voters.

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