Much earlier than 1994 [I was no longer active in DSA by that point], probably circa 1984, I attended a DSA Youth Section where this version of the song, among others, was sung. The reference to Gramsci is a dead give away, because he was the theoretical patron saint of the NAM side, from whence I came myself, of the DSOC-NAM marriage that made DSA, and that version of the song would have been made up pretty much immediately post-merger [1982].
I wouldn't claim DSA authorship, however. These songs are a kind of oral tradition, passed down from conference to conference, generation to generation, and modified along the way. I wouldn't not be in slightest bit surprised if this version was a reworking of an earlier version. In particular, those of us who live in the nether world between mainstream politics and left sectarian politics have a way of creating and passing on this tongue in cheek self-parody, which accounts for the particular style here.
The tradition of these songs goes back at least as far as the 1960s, if not before. They seem to be a 'baby boomer' phenomenon. Witness the following song, sung to the tune of the Mickey Mouse Club anthem.
M - A - O [Overthrow the state] T - S - E [Expropriate the expropriator] T - U - N - G
Mao Tse Tung [Lin Pao] Mao Tse Tung [Lin Pao] Forever wave your red banners high!!!
The use of the old pinyin Chinese spelling, plus the invocation of Lin Pao, clearly mark this version as Weatherman vintage. Another Weatherman classic was sung to the tune of "Maria" from the "West Side Story."
Kim Il Sung, Kim Il Sung I just met a great Marxist-Leninist named Kim Il Sung And suddenly his line Seemed so correct and fine to me
Korea: say it soft and the Pueblo's taken say it loud and the imperialists are quaking
And so on.
The element of conscious parody here, the equation of Mickey Mouse and Mao Zedong, suggests that even in the midst of this rather putrid embrace of the worst authoritarian elements of Marxism-Leninism, there was an awareness of the insanity -- if not the moral corruption -- of it all.
Leo Casey United Federation of Teachers 260 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. -- Frederick Douglass --
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