#fifth column

The Bags: “Survive” (1978)

The Bags emerged among the O.G. wave of ’77 punk in Los Angeles; they're proof that women built its slashing sounds. Fronted by Alice Bag—who was born Alicia Armendariz into a traditional Mexican household in East L.A.—and bassist Patricia Morrison, the band only ripped through one single, “Survive,” during their lifetime, but it contained considerable power and cemented their legacy. (That’s Alice Bag in the definitive punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization alongside Germs, Fear, X, and Black Flag.)

“Survive” was resilient, hardboiled, and utterly cool. Its noirish finger snaps and jazzy drum fills evoked a detective's theme song with its magnifying glass pressed up against the entire world. Its titular sentiment cut to the most irreducible truth of all this: That feminist art can save you. —Jenn Pelly

Crass: “Walls (Fun in the Oven)” (1979)

In their seven years together, the British anarcho-punk collective Crass sang about several conflicting ideologies, from militaristic fascism to vegetarian pacifism. However, while their messages were mixed, the band remained staunch in their allegiance towards feminism. “Walls (Fun in the Oven),” off 1979’s Stations of the Crass, was a sing-song mantra of feminine autonomy.

Singer Joy De Vivre’s hypnotic delivery—claustrophobic, falsetto yet monotone—was as hollow as the reproductive course she described. “Desire, deny, deny, desire/Have a child to justify/Images that you apply/I won't bow my head in shame,” she chanted, sounding dispassionate to the point of lobotomization. “Walls (Fun in the Oven)” was a strict refusal to accept the familiar path of matrimony and the nuclear family: “I won’t play the game…without your walls, I am alive.” –Quinn Moreland

Bush Tetras: “Too Many Creeps” (1980)

Gestated in dark clubs and cramped DIY spaces, New York’s no wave movement wasn’t just an oddball response to the macho energy of the previous decade’s punk scene. It marked a palpable shift in rock circles in the city and beyond, and became a hotbed for the musical expression of feminist ideals. Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch are frequently credited with pushing its postmodernism into the spotlight, but due is also owed to Bush Tetras, the freak-funk outfit formed by guitarist Pat Place (a founding member of the no wave icons the Contortions).

Neo Boys: “Rich Man’s Dream” (1980)

Neo Boys were young and frighteningly smart when they began rising through Portland’s early punk scene in the late 1970s, when singer Kim Kincaid was just 14. Their oblique yet succinct lyrics expertly captured the hypocrisies of Reagan-era cultural politics; “Rich Man’s Dream,” from their self-titled 7”, poked and prodded the listener, asking questions that actually merited reflection. “Will you stand when they come for the rich man?” Kincaid slurred over chiming guitar and restless yet focused percussion. “Are you an answer to the rich man’s prayers?”

“Rich Man’s Dream,” released on Greg Sage of Wipers’ Trap Records, best defined Neo Boys’ particular charisma. These four young women made music that seemed to veer toward unhinged, but really followed deliberate patterns; their instrumentation was expansive and preternaturally balanced, each part pushing and pulling without drowning out another. Well ahead of their time, Neo Boys started a map they were never supposed to draw. K Records’ Calvin Johnson cites them as a key inspiration. –Jes Skolnik

White Lung: “I Believe You” (2014)

According to the Department of Justice, two-thirds of sexual assault cases go unreported, and for every 1,000 incidents of rape, only 13 cases will ever be prosecuted. And in those few instances, it’s often not the actions of the perpetrator that are put on trial, but the victim’s credibility: What was she wearing? How much did she drink? Why didn’t she just run away? Why didn’t she call the cops right after? Why did she maintain a relationship with the accused? What’s her motive?

It's that time of year again, fellas. Christmas/Swampmas one shot season. Here is the first of many!

On September 9, Philip and Gordon Tonner, from Toronto, were arrested for distributing Party materials. The court quickly threw out the case against the two men. The Party published its position against Canadian participation in the war on October 14, 1939. On November 10, the RCMP arrested 23, including ten in Montreal, for distributing communist documents. The Canadian Press reported on November 13 that four more communists in Toronto, eight more in Montreal, as well as one man in Lacombe, Alberta were arrested and charged for having distributed anti-war flyers. On November 21, the Canadian Press reported that Douglas Stewart, business manager of the communist newspaper, Clarion, was sentenced to two years of imprisonment for printing the Comintern statement of opposition to  participation in the war. In Oshawa, an ex-soldier, Frank Towers, was sentenced to three months imprisonment for having sold Clarion, even before it had been banned along with its French-language equivalent, Clarté.

Most of these cases were thrown out of court, although some did receive sentences of up to six months in prison and fines of $500. Four communists were arrested for violating regulation 39, or for merely saying things that police judged to be dangerous to the security of the state or the prosecution of the war. Nick Tuchinsky, from Tilsonbury, Ontario and Alfred Neal, from Kingston, were arrested in December, 1940, but each case ended in acquittal. Nevertheless, two men from Kirkland Lake, Ontario, B. L. McMillan and Charles Stewart, each received sentences of three months and fines of $200 for having expressed sentiments judged to be dangerous or subversive. Four people were accused of having distributed Party newspapers, and twenty-one were charged with possession of communist documents, while eight Winnipegers were arrested for being Party members. The most common reason for arrest was distribution of subversive flyers, for which 44 were charged.

Most cases were thrown out of court for insufficient evidence. In fact, this was the case for twelve women from across Canada, while Olive Swankey, wife of Hull internee Ben Swankey, was held for ten days of interrogation in Edmonton, then released without being charged. Hull internee Charles Weir was arrested for distributing anti-war literature, but was freed since there were no witnesses, only to be soon interned. Another Hull internee, Patrick Lenihan, a Calgary alderman, was acquitted by jury of having expressed statements likely to cause disaffection to His Majesty, only to be interned soon after.

Not all was failure for the authorities when charging communists for specific offences. Nine women were successfully charged, including three in Manitoba and four in Saskatchewan, where authorities seemed to be more successful in prosecuting precise offences. The unfortunate Annie Buller and Margaret Mills each received sentences of two years, while Ida Corley received a sentence of one year. All were from Winnipeg, while Regina resident Gladys McDonald was imprisoned for a year, followed by fourteen months of internment, making her the only communist woman to be interned during World War II.

Two cases of imprisonment in Manitoba deserve special mention. In the fall of 1940, Mitch Sago, a Ukrainian community leader, and Tom McEwen, a member of the political bureau of the Party, were charged with being members of the Party. On November 8, 1940, Sago and McEwen were tried and sentenced to two years less a day of hard labour at the provincial jail in Headingly. Nowhere was hard labour to be found within the DOCR, therefore, on October 10, 1941, McEwen and Sago applied for habeas corpus on the grounds that the original magistrate had exceeded the law with the hard labour sentence. Justice Donovan of the Manitoba Supreme Court agreed and granted Sago and McEwen their freedom, however, on September 9, 1941, Justice minister Lapointe had issued an order for internment, which took effect immediately after the men’s liberation from Headingly, whereupon they were interned in Hull. Internment was to prove a much more useful tool for repressing communists, as opposed to imprisonment for specific offences, especially after the Party was made illegal in June, 1940.

Approximately two-thirds of those detained were held using articles 21 and 39C of the DOCR read together. The official history of the Communist Party of Canada cites that “according to the Canadian Civil Liberties Union, 64 persons had been arrested by the end of February, 1940, of which nineteen received prison terms ranging from one month to two years, while the rest were fined amounts ranging from $1 to $500.”

Deflection.

Putin gave TFG this mission.