BOURGEOIS COMMUNISM III

The 70's and early 80's brought a period of "stagnation " as compared with the chaotic 60s. The social events occurred on a slow motion fashion and within the boundaries of the Yalta "doctrine"; so we witnessed the Carnation Revolution in Portugal and the decolonization of Angola, Mozambique and other Third World nations. The Soviets swiftly jumped at the chance and were able to place their allies in most key places; "Lusitania", however, followed a different path and after several months of power struggling it remained in the west. In hindsight one could speculate that neither of the two superpowers wanted to rock the boat and had reached a tacit agreement by virtue of which the former colonies were allowed to try a populist course while the European nation remained a western country; be that as it may and despite Castro's flagrant meddling in Africa, the vital interests of the West were never in serous jeopardy. 

In the mid 80's the death of three Party chiefs and Mikhail Gorbachev's rise to power brought a more realistic approach to the deadwood infested bureaucracy in the USSR; once again anything could and would be done in order to salvage the system; the new face was a tactical maneuver within the same strategy, but the Soviet empire had been erected upon marshy land and it inevitably collapsed. For many of us it was the end of the red menace, but actually it was only the beginning of a new era; the Cold War had inoculated the west with a lethal dose of a deadly virus: self destruction.

Russia would later emerge from the debris of the USSR; the triumphalism created by the so-called demise of communism would keep the west off guard for a few years, long enough for the virus to get into its bloodstream and ironically vindicate the patient toil of thousands of KGB operatives 

The splintering of the communist nightmare would turn into hundreds of short bad dreams. Complacency and economic bonanza combined with a double talk rhetoric would continue to push the west to the abyss. The new century brought the condemnation of the right and the stereotyping of anything and everything conservative. No mention of the dictatorship of the proletariat but Gramsci's class alliances re emerged. All of a sudden the crimes of communism blurred. What really mattered was to depict capitalism as evil, to soften the lexicon to such a low that concepts like "self made man" or "rich" became blasphemies. If one was wealthy it was NEVER due to one's own efforts but due to the efforts of the "community". Suppression of individuality and exacerbation of collectivism.

A new breed of "progressive billionaires" started pulling the strings and they galvanized a huge sector of the middle class that once again was ready to abandon the certainty of the evil they knew only to embark on a journey to places unknown. Before long the pride of Americana ushered by Ronald Reagan faded into a collective and tenacious guilt complex. Success and wealth became a viability as our nation prepared for a milestone appointment with history: the election of the first African American president. TO BE CONTINUED...

TOO MUCH V.S. TOO LITTLE

The first few days of Mr Trump's presidency have been "lively" to say the least. The far left would criticize him even if he acted like a saint, but one cannot deny that the president has served gaffes to his detractors on a silver platter. Few people insist on being objective these days; you create a rumor; spread it, recruit a few accomplices to help and ABRACADABRA!!!; the damned thing becomes an absolute truth. It happens in both sides; in lieu of facts let's just invent them, the hell with decorum and moral standards; ratings and winning at all costs are here to stay. Let's keep the average American busy sorting through this huge pile of crap so that he or she forgets how drastically the quality of their lives has decreased. 

Amid this circus showbiz reaffirms its position as the third political party that for all practical purposes functions as an appendix of the Democrats; it embraces all just causes and calls all those who don't share their views deplorable; not part of the arts and bigots. It complacently awards itself all kinds of prizes, busts, statues and medals as if they were not partly responsible for the violence in our lives. Their movies, their music, the simplification of "the arts" and the edulcoration of our tragedies put them among the bad guys but who cares? There's this extravagant president who used to be part of them to take all the blame.

After a long campaign I came to fear Trump's thin skin, short fuse and protagonist impulses might cause us trouble down the road. He hasn't changed much; actually in some respects he childishly remains in campaign mode and forgets that he doesn't belong to himself anymore but to all Americans. For all the left's outcry and whining our president is putting together a decent team that could steadily hold the helm and steer the vessel off the abyss, whether he will let them work in full autonomy is the big question. Will he lead the band or play each and every instrument ?.

Eight years of inaction; apologies and denial pushed a large segment of the electorate to the point of exhaustion, Mr Obama's weakness, hesitation and aloof presence in the world affairs indeed hurt America; so we chose the opposite version. Will Trump's omnipresence  work where Obama's absenteeism failed?. Will the mogul from Queens  be able to tone down his rhetoric and lower his toughness to a "political" level without necessarily becoming a traditional politician?

BOURGEOIS COMMUNISM II

In the previous chapter; we identified the attempts made throughout history to keep the utopia alive; 1968 was a tumultuous year but the need for change undermined both the west and the communist bloc. Alexander Dubcek, the newly elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, applied some reforms in an effort to put a human face to a totalitarian regime; after diplomatic pressure failed the Soviet leadership sent troops of the Warsaw Pact to "normalize" the small Central European country. As usual, the west limited its response to political gestures and symbolic press coverage; this hasty decision, however, caused a fracture within the hitherto increasing segment of academics, artists, students and blue collar workers who felt at odds with the status quo in the capitalist societies. It also cost Fidel Castro a sizable portion of his revolutionary prestige and irreversibly damaged his image as a Maverick communist. The "indomitable" Comandante, trapped by the dilemma between his own survival and remaining the immaculate leader of the Third World chose the former and after juggling with revolutionary rhetoric for more than a half hour he swallowed his pride and publicly supported the Kremlin's actions. The US Communist Party, whatever that political specter may be, also gave its irrelevant blessing to the invasion. Ironically enough it was Nicolae Ceausescu's finest hour since he publicly condemned the violent  meddling in Czechoslovakia's internal affairs; Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha predictably joined the voices against Moscow.

The Italian and the Spanish communist parties had been for sometime working on yet another attempt to avoid the demise of communism; aware of how different their world was from the one Lenin had lived in and mindful of the effectiveness and celerity of modernization in their respective countries, they had concluded that the Soviet way was not their way, that a third or a fourth route needed to be found; standing ovations in Moscow did not translate into votes in the elections in Italy nor did they dent the body of Franco's improving economy in Spain. The invasion of Czechoslovakia was the straw that broke the camel's back. As author Christopher Hitchens put it: "What became clear, however, was that there was no longer something that could be called the world Communist movement. It was utterly, irretrievably, hopelessly split. The main spring had broken. And the Prague Spring had broken it."

Despite the "atrocities" perpetrated by the Americans in Vietnam; the exploitation of the masses in Latin America, and Asia; the literal theft of Africa's vast resources by the western powers through a new brand of colonialism the lyrics of the Internationale did not ring true anymore for millions of workers and middle class citizens that had a roof over their heads, drove cars and watched television in the living rooms of houses with running water and electricity. The challenge had to come from within if communism was to survive. Brezhnev's self inflicted mortal stab had precipitated that inconvenient truth to the forefront. Eurocommunism gained momentum and the historic compromise reached between Christian Democrat Aldo Moro and Communist leader Enrico Berlinguer in Italy made the schism official. The historic compromise is also the result of the coup-d'etat in Chile and Berlinguer's realization that the left by itself was not capable of governing, at least not yet; Gramsci was vindicated for a brief moment, but Italy's chaotic political scenario and perhaps a little help from one or more western intelligence services shortened the honeymoon and paved the way for il Pentapartito, a balancing act of Christian Democrats, Socialists, Republicans (nothing to do with our GOP) Social Democrats, and Liberals (nothing to do with our left) It is important to note that in their quest to save the dream communists & Co. renounced Satan but never did they deviate from their objective destroying our"liturgy"from within... TO BE CONTINUED