File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1998/marxism-general.9803, message 5


Date: Mon, 02 Mar 1998 18:24:09 -0500
From: Louis Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: M-G: Images of American Radicalism


"Images of American Radicalism" (Christopher Publishing, Hanover, MA), by
Paul Buhle and Edmund B. Sullivan, is an astonishing new book. It consists
of photos, drawings, old magazines, leaflets, posters and buttons from the
1600s to the modern era, with extensive informed commentary. As you turn
from page to page, you are both edified and entertained. The biggest
pleasure is finding out about leftist connections to the broader culture
that you never dreamed possible. Buhle's vision of the American left is
like my own. It is inclusive and nonsectarian. This means that the images
are drawn from Socialist, anarchist, Communist, Trotskyist and other
sources. Whatever your particular affiliation, there will be material here
to delight you. For an eclectic like myself, every image is a delight.

Here are some tidbits:

--A cartoon protesting the invasion of the Philippines from 1901. It is a
mountain of skulls being guarded by American soldiers. The caption says,
"And this is what they call civilization!"

--A 1935 painting of Metacomet, the Pokanoket Chief who led an allied
Indian force in 1675 to defend southern New England Indians against
appropriation of their lands. The artist is Thomas Hart Benton, who was
sympathetic to leftist causes.

--various advertisements from the International Socialist Review in the
1910s, including one how to become a "successful socialist speaker." For
only a SASE with 2 cents postage, you will get word on the "WINNING METHOD"
that is used by lawyers, orators and leading socialist speakers.

--A photo of a May Day parade in NYC, 1940. The marchers include members of
the pro-Soviet International Workers Order (IWO) in baseball uniforms from
their IWO chapter teams. Their signs demand: "Admit Negroes into Big League
Baseball"

--A stunning photo of Raya Dunayevakaya, CLR James and Grace Lee from the
1940s. The 3 Trotskyists developed a "state capitalist" analysis of the
USSR in the 1940s, but are much more interesting for their general analysis
of American society. The text that accompanies the photo mentions that Lee
was the daughter of a prominent Chinese restaurateur, earned a PhD in
philosophy from the U. of Chicago, and married black autoworker James
Boggs. Now known as Grace Lee Boggs, she still writes occasionally for MR.

--On the opposite page is a flyer for a New Year's "Atom and Eve" Ball for
the Brooklyn Communist Party. It says "Bring Uranium and I'll Bring Mine."
Featured bands are The Duke of Iron, a Calypsonian and Frankie Newton,
famed trumpet player and Communist.

--A photo of a lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro, NC, 1960. It includes
legendary disk jockey and rock-and-roll pioneer Johnny Otis, a white man. I
have heard his radio show in Los Angeles and never would have dreamed that
he was an activist. The text says that he met with Langston Hughes around
this time, who Otis often acknowledged as his inspiration.

--A circular from the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. This center of
civil rights education and a religious based socialism existed from the
1930s on and had a strong CP influence. Martin Luther King Jr. was trained
there. The circular states that it provides "steward training," where you
can learn how to handle grievances.

--A photo of Dave Dellinger and my friend David McReynolds from an
anti-nuclear demo in 1980. David's is wearing shades and looks like a beat
poet.

Louis Proyect




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