Mao More Than Ever (Boston communists say they want a revolution.)

The Boston Phoenix ^ | 07/01/05 | Mike Millard

[raccoonradio]

Boston communists say they want a revolution. Now they just have to agree on how to bring it about.

A pimple-faced teen with Coke-bottle glasses and a self-satisfied smirk stands near the doorway of Harvard Square’s tiny Revolution Books. He’s skinny and draped in a large black T-shirt adorned with a full-color portrait of Joseph Stalin, the iron-fisted despot responsible, directly or indirectly, for the deaths of millions.

"Stalin is my friend," the kid says, at once cockily and geekily, as he stares at the floor.

"Yeah, yeah, but we can do better than Stalin," says the guy behind the counter who, even though it’s hot, is wearing a heavy sweater under his SERVE THE PEOPLE T-shirt. "We can do a lot better. You can have socialism without suppressing intellectualism." His name is George Bryant, and he’s a volunteer at this decades-old bastion of unabashed communist agitation, a bookstore that, amazingly, still survives in the ever-more-corporatized "People’s Republic of Cambridge." Bryant gestures toward a stack of books and DVDs from the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), whose chairman, Bob Avakian, is "really offering a deep critique of America and an in-depth defense of communism — in a sense reinventing it without throwing out the whole."

The kid and his friends, high-schoolers obviously flirting with jejune hard leftism, seem noncommittal and a little nonplussed. "What would you guys think about taking a bunch of these?" Bryant asks, offering a stack of the Maoist RCP weekly newspaper, Revolution, for them to proselytize with. The kids demur, and they leave.

[raccoonradio]

Boston...what else is new. The Hillary endorsement should come any time now.

"Come the Revolution, Comrade, we'll all be eating strawberries and cream."

"But I don't like strawberries and cream."

"Come the Revolution, YOU'LL EAT strawberries and cream!!!"

>>Is it a valid fear? Dotterman doesn’t think so. But he points out that commies creep out the Bushies more than they did their predecessor. "In the Clinton administration, when a person applied for a green card or citizenship, they were not asked if they are or have ever been a member of the Communist Party. That phrase has been reinstated on the applications," he says.

[SunnySide]

" Boston communists say they want a revolution."

Translation: We commies don't want to or have to work for a living. That's for the honest law abiding stiffs we leach off of every year. Thanks to the ACLU and easily manipulated welfare programs.

[johnb838]

we want a revolution too.

Bring. Them. On.

[MNnice]

" That phrase has been reinstated on the applications," he says."

Really? Show me.

[SAJ]

They always seem to forget just who has the weapons, and the ammo.

Too bad for them, eh?

[SteveMcKing]

It's no secret among their leadership that revolution CANNOT occur as long as there is a strong middle class.

Their long term strategy, therefore, is to destroy the middle class a) with bad economic policy (taxation and job export, for example) b) by promoting social and cultural degeneracy via music, Hollywood, and the drug culture. These elements are specificly taylored to undermine stabalizing factors like family and personal standards.

When there is no middle class left, only peasants and rich liberals, then the revolution can happen.

[jocon307]

But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow

[JOE43270]

I ready too! I'm tired of these #$%^#&*(!

[Mears]

Just light a cigarette in Harvard Square and everyone will run like hell----who needs guns?

[retrokitten]

I always think the same thing. Which side has the guns, morons?? Go a head and try it.

[ncountylee]

(Chicago)— The 28th National Convention of the Communist Party, USA was convened here this morning.

site ( Major Barf Alert)

http://www.cpusa.org/

[billybudd]

Take a walk down a block from Revolution Books and you'll see a super yuppified Harvard Square. It's funny how "out" communism is - even in the People's Republic of Cambridge.

[vaudine]

pitiful!!!!!!!!

vaudine

[Maceman]

Communism is far from the all-threatening bugaboo it was two decades ago — to most people, it’s just another discredited ideology, a failed experiment, a joke. Some joke. I'll bet they're in stitches in Castro's gulags.

I understand that life under Stalin was a laff riot.

[auboy]

But where are the John Kerry and Teddy Kennedy tees?

[Wolfhound777]

I am starting to see a pattern here.

Prior to that, his political connections wouldn’t allow it. He says he worked for Bobby and Ted Kennedy, and "doing that kind of work, for various government office-holders around the country, my fear of reprisal if I had joined the Communist Party always kept me from it."

Alpana Mehta first found herself thinking hard about Marx and Lenin in 1993, after she’d spent considerable time and energy helping get Bill Clinton elected.

Sullivan doesn’t think the tactics employed by the Communist Party USA are effective. "The CPUSA see themselves as just an extension of bourgeois democracy: ‘We can do a better job in the system than the capitalists. Just vote for us.’ They’re not about making a revolution. They’re about appealing to the Democrats."

[Maceman]

"I tell people, ‘Hey, three tours of duty in Vietnam earned me the right to be a communist, so you can go f**k yourself,’" says Gary Dotterman,

Change "three tours of duty" to "three months" and you essentially have John Kerry's presidential platform.

[kenth]

Interestingly enough, he doesn't state what army his three tours were with. And, yeah, that was basically JeffinK's platform.

[SteveMcKing]

"Which side has the guns, morons??"

Both. The shooting mostly happens overseas in places like South America or the Pacific Rim. They need to be taken seriously. They pledge their lives to Communism, and they are not stupid - they are evil.

These are the very characters who would gather personal information on POWs (like names and addresses of family, where their kids went to school, etc.) and mail it to North Vietnam so our soldiers could be tortured. They did it then, and they still do it now all over the globe.

Wish people here would stop cracking jokes and treat them like the deadly threat that they truly pose.

[Hugin]

"Yeah, yeah, but we can do better than Stalin," says the guy behind the counter who, even though it’s hot, is wearing a heavy sweater under his SERVE THE PEOPLE T-shirt. "We can do a lot better."

As Rush says, the left ignores all evidence of the failure of their ideas. It's just that the right people haven't tried it.

Back around 1970 I was a leftie and knew some hardcore commies. The funny thing is their debates sound exactly the same.

[mmercier]

>> "Stalin is my friend," the kid says, at once cockily and geekily, as he stares at the floor.

Give the children points for spirit anyhow. I come from this place, if it is these massholes coming to start the revolution then the Republic can rest easily at night. I know these kids...

I read half the post and cant stop laughing...

[ModelBreaker]

After all, he argues, for all its failures and wretched perversions over the last century, communism, in its purest form, makes sense. "The progress that we attribute to the Roosevelt administration came out of struggles of the Communist Party."

The last sentance is completely true.

[Lunkhead_01]

...the CPUSA ... endorsed John Kerry in 2004.

What more do we need to know about Hanoi John?

[DJ Taylor]

"I tell people, ‘Hey, three tours of duty in Vietnam earned me the right to be a communist..."

That statement sounds like something a "Kerry" type phony would say. I wonder if anyone has ever checked out his military background.

[cardinal4]

The Clinton admin removed the communist party question? Imagine that..

[RipSawyer]

>>>>When there is no middle class left, only peasants and rich liberals, then the revolution can happen.>>>>>>>


Amazingly simple, yet misunderstood by many.

[Yardstick]

The system, she says, is broken, so it has to be "smashed and overthrown."

Sometimes I think communists just like making messes. Historically, communism seems to have the "smashing and overthrowing" part down pretty well. It's putting a good system in place afterwards where they mess up.

David Horowitz makes the point that in America communism and socialism have mostly ceased to be active forces in the positive sense, that they now work mainly in the negative sense. Their ideological system failed and now they want everyone else to fail too. So they've become obstructionists and underminers. I noticed that several communists in the article were positively yearning for the present system to fall into a crisis and fail. They know that failure is their only chance for relevance and success, so they have their hopes pinned to it. You can see echoes of this in the present Democrat party.

[Let's Roll]

As if this little loser knows anything about Stalin.

If they want a revolution so bad they can move to China - China would no doubt welcome their useless mouths to feed.

[Lunkhead_01]

Kronstadt: And “in the bigger scheme of things, I think the entire left is getting its ass kicked right now.”

And we ought to keep kicking the asses of every leftist we can find.

Kronstadt: “Right now we’re living in relative affluence, but I think there’s going to be a period where there’s economic and political crisis. The economy’s gonna shit the bed sooner or later. ..."

What Rush and others have been saying all along about leftists is that they hope for the worst so they can gain power.

[retrokitten]

This article is not dealing with commies 'round the world. I agree they evil.

However, I'm not going to be afraid of a teenager hanging out in a commie bookstore in Boston.

[MadIvan]

I'd like to hit all of them over the head with my copy of "The Black Book of Communism". Communists killed more people than Nazis. We are rightly, still trying to hunt for old Nazis. We ought to do the same for old Communists.

Regards, Ivan

[SteveMcKing]

These people are not typically democrats, but the children of democrats. They are the "Red diaper babies". They either want to impress, make proud, and/or rebel and one-up their mom and dad just to spite them. Some are certainly confused in their motives but take solace in their own "good intentions".

Much like their parents did in the early 1970s, most will abandon their radicalism and retreat to the public sector to live modestly as writers and school teachers (or "Democrats"). Few are made to answer for the damage they cause, to the contrary, much of this country continues to reward and admire that "spirit of the 60s" which regularly sends American nationals and servicemen directly to their grave.

[martin_fierro]

[etcetera]

"A pimple-faced teen with Coke-bottle glasses and a self-satisfied smirk..."

Loser.

[SAJ]

Hah! And right you are, too!

:^)

[Army Air Corps]

"When there is no middle class left, only peasants and rich liberals, then the revolution can happen."

When there are only peasants and rich liberals, then their revolution will have been achieved. At that point, they may have another revolt, but not along Marxist lines...

[Army Air Corps]

Great one again, Martin! We should print those the instant the Hildebeast decides to run for the presidency or when she runs for senate re-election.

[Ukiapah Heep]

No, comrade, your analysis is too complex. As soon as these pimple faced adsolescents get laid their interest in the left will clear up.

[You Dirty Rats]

"Mao More Than Ever"!! Do you still have that t-shirt you bought from Revolution Books in The People's State of East Cleveland?

[LexBaird]

However, I'm not going to be afraid of a teenager hanging out in a commie bookstore in Boston.

Maybe some Boston FReepers should ostentatiously start photographing everyone who goes into this place, and posting their pix on the web. Congratulations, comrade! You're on Commiesymp Camera! Oh, look! Isn't that Fat Teddy's aide in that shot? Now where is that photo of Teddy with that commie whispering in his ear?

[SSR1]

It is amazing how clueless the people in the article seem. They call for revolution but really don't seem all that jazzed about actually picking up a gun and marching to the front of the line. They seem to be waiting for someone else to "Smash the State" while they SELL books and trinkets.

[retrokitten]

EXACTLY!!! You summed it up perfectly.

[SteveMcKing]

When there are only peasants and rich liberals, then their revolution will have been achieved. At that point, they may have another revolt, but not along Marxist lines...

And there you reveal the true goal of today's radical- not to establish a Communist utopia but to seize power for greed and then commit genocidal pay-back, largely against those perceived to be white and Christian, but also whomever they view as oppressive. Republicans and business people of all backgrounds.

[MadIvan]

I am concerned that we're not educating people enough about what the Communists did. That's truly frightening.

Regards, Ivan

[NRA2BFree]

More proof that the dumbing down of America has worked!!

[Paleo Conservative]

"Boston communists say they want a revolution."

I think those wine and cheese communists in Boston should get a taste of class warfare. I don't think they'd last five minutes against the southern rednecks they despise.

[Paleo Conservative]

I'd like to hit all of them over the head with my copy of "The Black Book of Communism". Communists killed more people than Nazis.

They killed more people before 1939 than the NAZIs killed through 1945.

[inquest]

" That phrase has been reinstated on the applications," he says."

Really? Show me.

I'd also like to know what happens if the applicant answers in the affirmative. Anything?

[SteveMcKing]

Important, too, is that one must not seperate the culture from those in power. Nazi Germany, for example, has been sanitized by revisionists as a state of normal people oppressed by their leadership.

This view is inaccurate and wholly offensive, promoted purely as a political means to smear the Right. Nazi society was the enemy in WW2, and needed to be destroyed as urgently as Hitler's war machine. A hundred "Dresdens" were fully deserved by the time the war broke.

Not many films capture the perverse loonacy German culture. If I might suggest one - the often banned and sex-filled masterpiece "Salon Kitty" gives an excellent depiction of an aristocracy gone mad with fascist dogma.

You are right to generalize and refer to the lump sum of Russians as "the Communists" and similarly consider that which "they did."

[Little Bill]

Mace, this guy Dotterman is supposed to be a Viet Vet, no info on a search, any info so I can post a thread looking for real information.

Bill