Justin mentions the guillotine and Max gave us a song. Here's some more. Michael Pugliese
-----Original Message----- From: jschw <jschw at a...> To: dsa <asdnet at i...>; Michael Pugliese <debsian at p...> Date: Monday, January 08, 2001 9:38 AM Subject: RE: [ASDnet] Linda Chavez/Are You Sleeping, Bourgeoisie (http://users.aol.com/patriot888/dsausa.txt , heh!!! ...There are at least five Bolsheviks on the HouseJudiciary Committee...)
Dear comrades,
Leo's completely on target...funny that the Solidarity chap does not realize that what distinguishes DSA from Solidarity and other more sectarian groups than Solidarity is that we do write songs that make fun of ourselves! Irony is not a sectarian virtue...more a reformist one!
For example, there's an old DSOC YS song, called "Love Me, Love Me, I'm in DSOC" that goes like this (plus many other verses)
"We work in the Democratic Party, although it's completely corrupt, And when you ask about starting A new party, All you get from us, is 'Yes, but' And when we're alone in the poll booth, We're stuck in a Democratic rut,
So love me, love me, love me, I'm in DSOC
We support the trade union movement, We're all for the rank-and-file, But when you ask to start a new caucus, all you'll get from us is a smile And when it comes to sexist bureacrats We say it's just part of their style
So love me, love me, love, I'm in DSOC!
Solidarity did not write this...the DSOC YS did in 1979...
send that to your self-righteous Solidarity friend who thinks Solidarity made up the best songs making fun of DSOC, NAM, and DSA...us ironic social dems know well the dilemmas we face...Solidarity thinks all the answers are easy...hence no songs poking fun at the difficult choices they face:
Simplistic left song lyrics for Solidarity and others:
"Break with the Elephant, Break with the Ass, Build a Party of the Working Class..." (Tony Mazzochi thinks he wrote this, but James Cannon and others beat him too it!)
(repeat endlessly over 80 years, even if labor party never forms due to structural bias of US system in favor of 2 party system...keep singing no matter what social reality might impinge on utopian goals of this song...keep singing...don't change your tactics...keep singing...)
Solidarity (so to speak) Joe Schwartz
===== Original Message From Michael Pugliese <debsian at p...> ===== -----------------------------
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2001 02:47:27 -0000 From: "Justin Schwartz" <jkschw at h...> Subject: Re: Linda Chavez/Are You Sleeping, Bourgeoisie
This one's stolen. I was at the Solidarity youth section meeting in Ann Arbor in, I think 1994, when this one, slightly different, was made up by Masha Alexander and several other drunken young comrades. I personally witnessed the process of creation, and participated in it by way of making suggestions, so unless we have a simultanenous or independent discovery, DSA got it from us. You can tell, actually, that it was us: the line is pure Soli (making fun of DSA). Course they are welcome to it. We just would like credit . . . . --jks
Gonna Lay Down Das Kapital
(Sung to the tune of "Ain't Gonna Study War No More")
I'm gonna lay down Das Kapital, and work for the Democrats, Collaborate with the fat cats, and the union bureaucrats I'm gonna lay down Das Kapital, and work for the Democrats ain't gonna study Marx no more
I ain't gonna study Marx no more, gonna throw Gramsci out the door Ain't gonna study Marx no more, no more (repeat)
I'm gonna lay down the "S" word, and work for "democracy", collaborate with the bourgeoisie, but seek hegemony ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://users.aol.com/patriot888/dsausa.txt
Congress' Red Army Caucus -- part 2
Joe Farah 11/23/98 WorldnetDaily
The Internet has been buzzing for the last week or two with discussions and frantic e-mails of concern about Congress' so-called "Progressive Caucus."
I'm a little surprised, since I first wrote about this group of socialist subversives back in July -- warning that its approximately 60 members, including Maxine Waters, Barney Frank and John Conyers, represent a large, unyielding voting and lobbying bloc pushing the government inevitably toward the goals of its Democratic Socialists of America sponsors. I referred to the group then and again now as Congress' Red Army Caucus. No other shorthand description could possibly do them justice.
Think about it. There are at least five Bolsheviks on the House Judiciary Committee. Do you think anything -- any evidence -- could ever persuade them to break with their party line against impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton. Imagine the outcry if there were five members belonging to some other extremist hate group -- American Nazi Party, Ku Klux Klan, etc.
Yet, there's no moral difference. The Democratic Socialists' goal is clear from their own literature. The goal is Communism. Never mind that the history of that system is littered with more death, oppression and destruction than any other "ism." Never mind that it has been discredited everywhere it has been tried. The DSA believes the right people just haven't been in charge. They want to try it here -- in the United States of America.
The Progressive Caucus and congressional members are a big part of their game plan. The Democratic Socialists actively seek out "celebrities" for outreach purposes. They use them to recruit -- to achieve mainstream credibility.
"While it's certainly true that one can't build a mass socialist movement simply by recruiting celebrities, they are very important in legitimizing both the organization and the concept of socialism," explains an organizational document geared toward its youth program. "When you tell someone that Ron Dellums, Barbara Eisenreich, Gloria Steinem, Wimpy Winpisinger and Ed Asner are members," it helps take the horns off of socialism.
Furthermore, the Democratic Socialists' chief organizing goal is to work within the Democratic Party.
"Stress our Democratic Party strategy and electoral work," the same document explains. "The Democratic Party is something the public understands, and association with it takes the edge off. Stressing our Democratic Party work will establish some distance from the radical subculture and help integrate you to the milieu of the young liberals."
Yet, that radical subculture is alive and well within the Democratic Socialists of America and its affiliate group, the Progressive Caucus of Congress.
Take the song list at the DSA Website. It features, first and foremost, "The Internationale," the worldwide anthem of Communism and socialism. Another classic is "Red Revolution" sung to the tune of "Red Robin." Here are the lyrics for that little ditty: "When the Red Revolution brings its solution along, along, there'll be no more lootin' when we start shootin' that Wall Street throng. ..." Then there's that memorable old ballad, "Are You Sleeping, Bourgeoisie?" Never heard that one? You haven't been in the congressional Progressive Caucus, lately, I guess: "Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Bourgeoisie, Bourgeoisie. And when the revolution comes, We'll kill you all with knives and guns, Bourgeoisie, Bourgeoisie."
Gee, imagine what the totalitarians in the Progressive Caucus what do if they found that kind of extremist "hate speech" on the Website of a right-wing congressional caucus.
Make no mistake. These folks are revolutionaries. They may dress in suit and tie. They may not carry guns and bandoleers. But the Red Army Caucus in Congress is at the vanguard of a Communist movement that has no respect for the U.S. Constitution, individual rights and the freedoms America takes for granted today.
Their rhetoric is a little more sophisticated at times than Stalin's, but the goals are the same -- a dictatorship of the proletariat, that oh, so elusive worker's paradise, re-education camps, you get the picture.
In one article on the DSA site, a "fundamental restructuring of our socio-economic order" is demanded.
"While the freedoms of democratic capitalism are gains of popular struggle to be cherished, democratic socialists argue that the values of liberal democracy can only be fulfilled when the economy as well as the state is democratically controlled."
Gee, I can hardly wait.