Siggon's Rants

Today in history: June 25, 1975 – Mozambique wins independence after 480 years of Portuguese colonial rule. 

The Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) led the national liberation movement, which succeeded after 10 years of armed struggle and in the context of the Carnation Revolution within Portugal, which was partially fueled by protests concerning the conduct of Portuguese troops in Mozambique.

April 30, 1975: Victory Day for Vietnam!

Achieving the right of African-American youth to swim in pools and at beaches has long been a flashpoint of the struggle against racism. On July 27, 1919, a 17-year-old African-American boy named Eugene Williams was swimming with friends in Lake Michigan near Chicago. When Williams crossed the “boundary” into the “white beach” area, a group of white men threw rocks at him. One of them struck Williams in the head, causing him to drown. The cops refused to arrest any of the whites involved in this assault and murder.

Violence broke out. White mobs attacked the Black community, setting fires that left 1,000 families homeless. Thirty-eight people were killed, with more than 500 injured.

In Pittsburg in 1931, young Black men tried to enter a city pool. They were held underwater and beaten by white swimmers while the cops watched. When more than 100 Black people held a “wade in” in 1960 in Mississippi, a white mob attacked them with pool sticks, lead pipes and chains.

Today in history: June 18, 1954 – The CIA carries out a coup d’état against the democratically-elected Guatemalan government of Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, replacing it with a brutal military dictatorship. 

The CIA operation was called Operation PBSUCCESS, and included a paramilitary invasion by an anti–communist force. In the early 1950s, the Árbenz Government issued Decree 900, carrying out land reform by expropriating unused farm lands owned by multinational corporations and redistributing the land to Guatemalan peasants. The multinational United Fruit Company (UFC) had owned 42% of the arable land. In response to the expropriation of idle farmland, the UFC asked President Truman and Eisenhower to take action against Árbenz’s government, which resulted in the 1954 coup, the military dictatorship and then later a 36-year civil war (1960–96), in which more than 200,000 Guatemalans were killed. 

(image: Mural by HIJOS in Guatemala City depicting President Arbenz, Decree 900, then U.S. intervention leading to the reign of military terror starting with the 1954 CIA-backed coup)

March 9, 1934: Birthday of comrade Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut.

June 7,1918: Soviet Russia hosts the first congress of red military commissars.

1973 - The Wounded Knee Incident began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The protest followed the failure of an effort of the Oglala Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO) to impeach tribal president Richard Wilson, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents. Additionally, protesters attacked the United States government’s breaking of treaties with Indian people and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations.

On the eighth day the US government issued an ultimatum, which the activists promptly burned. Around this time the leaders of the group declared the territory of Wounded Knee to be the independent Oglala Nation and demanded negotiations with the U.S. Secretary of State.

Oglala and AIM activists controlled the town for 71 days while the United States Marshals Service, FBI agents, and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area. The activists chose the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre for its symbolic value. Both sides were armed and shooting was frequent. A Cherokee and an Oglala Lakota were killed by US fire. Around a half million bullets were fired at the town by US forces during the siege.

June 4, 1922: First issue of the Soviet magazine “The Crocodile” published.

“The Crocodile” published works by Mayakovsky, V. Kataev, Mikhail Koltsov, I. Ilf, Petrov and many other clever people.

“The Crocodile” was a favorite magazine of millions, its circulation reaching 5 million copies.

‪#‎USSR‬ ‪#‎Vrovodale‬ ‪#‎Satire‬

May 19, 1922: Founding of the Soviet Pioneers (children’s organization)

Dear comrades! Congratulations on the 93rd anniversary of the founding of the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after VI Lenin!

Pioneer organization was formed by the decision of the 2nd All-Russian conference of the Komsomol (Young Communist League) on widespread establishment of pioneering groups of 19 May 1922. In October of the same year, the 5th All-Russian Congress of Komsomol decided to unite all the pioneer groups organized in different cities of the USSR into the communist children’s organization “Young Pioneers named Spartacus.”

After the death of VI Lenin on January 23, 1924 in Moscow, the Extraordinary Plenum of the Central Committee of the Komsomol decided to assign the Communist Young Pioneers the name of Vladimir Ilyich. On this day every pioneer has decided for himself: he will live in a Leninist, learn a Leninist, to work in a Leninist, love the motherland and my people as Lenin loved them. It confirmed its decision with an oath at the walls of the Mausoleum on May 23, 1924. All the generations of Soviet Pioneers went with this oath.

Pioneer detachments participated in literacy campaigns, help in dealing with homeless children, organized voluntary work and more. During the Great Patriotic War, Pioneers collected money for the defense fund, worked in factories and on collective farms, helped to care for wounded soldiers in hospitals, organized concerts and sent warm clothes for the soldiers. Many young pioneers fought the enemy at the front and in guerrilla groups. The medal “For Defense of Moscow” was awarded to more than 20,000 young Leninists.  Four Pioneers – Zina Portnov, Lenya Golikov, Marat Kazei and Valya Kotik – were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union for their courage and heroism in the fight against the Nazi invaders.

The Soviet Union did not shortchange the youth. It built beautiful palaces of Pioneers and children’s camps. It published a newspaper – “Pioneer Truth”. Pioneers activities were accompanied by all-Union campaign, all-Union games, sporting events, “Summer Lightning”, “Flight of the pioneer groups” (“My Motherland - the USSR”), “Leather Ball” and “Golden Puck”.

In 1990, the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after VI Lenin was dissolved. The Pioneer movement in modern Russia is organized by public initiative groups and enthusiastic volunteers. The Communist Party revived the tradition Pioneers Organization of VI Lenin. Every year in Moscow’s Red Square, on Pioneer Day, there are thousands of children from across the country.

Congratulations to the pioneers of all generations, those who remained faithful to their principles, and who are now actively helping revive the Pioneer Organization! May the pioneers of the XXI century be worthy of the traditions of the Soviet Pioneers, always and everywhere justify the high rank of the young pioneer!

May Day around the world, 2017

By Kathy Durkin

May 1 is International Workers’ Day, officially commemorated in over 80 countries, but not in the United States where it originated in 1886 in Chicago as part of the struggle for the eight-hour workday. Its militant legacy is marked by strong protests by the multinational global working class. Importantly, it’s a day of solidarity.