User:Pjoef/Sandbox/Social sciences

Che

«Ten years ago, following the 30th anniversary of Che’s death, a number of revisionist biographies began appearing on the bookshop shelves — appalling tomes like Jorge Castaneda’s Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara. A barrage of misinformation about his life has been kept up on the internet and in the bosses’ media ever since. His role as finance minister in the early years of the revolution, his command of the Cabana Fortress in Havana (where the powerbrokers, assassins and torturers of the brutal Batista era were held), his efforts to add the Congo to the list of "Vietnams" breaking the grip of imperialism, have all come under a sustained attack of misinformation.»

Che Guevara about himself

Che Guevara about asthma

In April 1957, also during an asthma attack, Che clashed with soldiers under the command of Sanchez Mosquera. Running out of ammunition, he barely made his way to shelter.

“Asthma at first took pity and allowed me to run a few metres, then it took its revenge: my heart thumped as if it were ready to leap out of my chest. Suddenly I heard the crunch of branches but by now I couldn't even force myself to run. But this time it was one of our new men, who had lost his way. Seeing me he said: 'Don't be afraid, commander, I'll die by your side!' The trouble was, I didn't want to die at all, I'd rather send him to the devil instead. I think that's what I did in fact. That day it seemed to me that I was a coward.”

TV interview

On April 29, 1959 Che appeared on television, whose circuits were controlled by private firms hostile to the revolution. The moderator began to ask Che provocative questions:

Q: "Are you a Communist?"

A: "If you consider that the things that we are doing in the people's interest represent manifestations of communism, then call us communists. If you are asking whether I am a member of the Partido Socialista Popular, the answer is no."

Q: "Why did you come to Cuba?"

A: "I wanted to take part in the liberation of even a small piece of enslaved Latin America."

Q: "Do you advocate maintaining relations with Soviet Russia?"

A: "I support the establishment of diplomatic and trade relations with all countries in the world barring exception. I see no reason to exclude a country that respects us and hopes for the victory of our ideals."

Near the close of the interview Che casually reported to the viewer that the moderator had been a paid agent of Batista.

About payment

When Professor Elias Entralgo from the University of Havana once invited Che to speak to his students and added that a payment of a specific sum would accompany the address, Che answered him in a polite but extremely curt letter:

“You and I have radical differences concerning the proper behaviour of a revolutionary leader.... I find it inadmissible that a Party or government figure be offered a monetary remuneration for any kind of work. As far as I personally am concerned, the most treasured of all payments which I have received is the right to belong to the Cuban people, a right which has no equivalent in pesos or centavos.”

Return of the Rebel

For the marketers of Che Guevara merchandise, the timing couldn't have been better: the discovery of the revolutionary icon's grave on the eve of the 30th anniversary of his death. Suddenly, Che is more chic than ever. by Brook Larmer

It took nearly 30 years for the bugged Bolivian mountains to give up the last secret of legendary guerrilla leader Ernesto (Che) Guevara. Late last month, on the edge of a dirt airstrip in the remote town of Vallegrande, a team of Cuban and Argentine scientists knelt in a deep pit before seven dusty skeletons. They were virtually certain that among the bones were the missing remains of Guevara, who had been executed by his Bolivian Army captors on Oct. 9,1967. The forensic scientists homed in on "Skeleton No. 2," which was lying face down, its skull shrouded by an olive army jacket much like the one Che wore in photographs taken after his capture. There was another, more grisly clue: the skeleton was missing both hands. Che's hands had been sawed off and preserved in formaldehyde as proof to disbelievers that the dashing revolutionary had truly been killed.

Seconds before lifting the green jacket to expose the skull, a Cuban geophysicist lowered his head in a gesture of respect. The crowd of journalists and local townspeople that had gathered to watch fell silent. Then, as the jacket was removed, several Cuban scientists broke down in sobs; two hugged each other tightly. "Everyone was overcome with emotion, not just the Cubans," says Patricia Bernardi, one of three Argentine forensic anthropologists on the excavation team. "Che was such a mythic figure, and there were a hundred different versions about what happened to his body. Now, after 30 years, the mystery is solved, the last chapter has been written."

It is, in fact, merely the latest saga of a legend that just won't die. The long-awaited discovery of Guevara's bones comes, ironically, just as the revolutionary icon is being resurrected — commercially, if not politically—all over the world. Che is suddenly chic. The anniversary of his death is generating a frenzied rush of new books, documentaries and feature films about the asthmatic Argentine who, by force of will, transformed himself into Fidel Castro's fearless compaсero. (Even Mick Jagger has a film in the works.) Like other glamorous stars who died young—think James Dean — Che has long been a symbol of rebellion and idealism, forever stuck in time. But in today's ever-adaptable consumer culture, the old revolutionary has also emerged as a hip advertising pitchman. Now Che's image is being used to sell everything from rock music and designer clothes to Swatch watches and Fischer skis. One recent episode of "The Simpsons" even featured a nightclub called "Chez Guevara." Che vive, indeed.

The Cuban government played a pivotal role in creating the Che mystique, and it is not about to let its franchise slip away. Guevara's remains were flown back to Cuba on Saturday night, where his family and Castro received them in a private military ceremony. They will remain in Havana until October, when—on the anniversary of his death—they will be moved to Santa Clara, where a mausoleum is being built in the shadow of a 23-ton statue of the defiant Che gripping his rifle. Che's return invigorates the state's yearlong commemoration. But it may cause uneasiness, too. For the Cuban government, while promoting Guevara as a moral saint, is scrambling to stay afloat by abandoning many of the socialist principles he held sacred. The unsettling ironies can be found in places like Havana's Palacio de Artesanias, a colonial mansion cum mall that sells everything from Coca-Cola to Adidas shoes to Che memorabilia—for U.S. dollars only. One popular item is a Che T-shirt with the slogan: IT IS BETTER TO DIE STANDING THAN TO LIVE ON YOUR KNEES.

The shirts cost $13.95, far more than the average monthly Cuban wage, but tourists are snapping them up.

What explains the Che mania? It can't be based wholly on his record. Here is a guy, for all his virtues, who failed in all but one of his revolutionary adventures. He directly participated in dozens of executions after the 1959 rebel triumph in Cuba and, in the 1962 missile crisis, was a radical voice pushing for a nuclear confrontation. Guevara's allure seems to stem, rather, from a nostalgic longing for the pure, uncompromising ideals of the past. "In a world of ferocious competition and consumerism, some element of humanity is still looking for a hero with values," says Orlando Borrego, one of Che's closest confidants during the early years of the revolution. "In Che, they have a paradigm: a man who was absolutely honest, completely selfless, constantly perfecting his personality." Che had other things going for him, too: he was a rebel, he died young (at 39) and he looked damn good in a beret.

Part of Guevara's appeal is that his revolutionary ideals no longer pose much of a threat in the post-cold-war world. Thirty years have tamed the anti-imperialist tiger and turned him into a rebel without claws. These days the Cuban government buys up a huge inventory of Swatch "Revolucion" watches with Che's image, not to confiscate them, but to sell them back to tourists. In cyberspace there are hundreds of Che Web pages in every language from Italian to Norwegian; Internet surfers can find "Che quotes for motivation" or see that rum-flavored Che coffee is selling briskly at the Lenin Shop in Helsinki. Last year an English company tried to add some virility to its "beer cooler" by marketing it with Che's image. Its slogan: banned in the usa. it must be good. The beer was banned soon after it went on sale—not by the United States but by Cuba, which had received complaints from Guevara's widow, Aleida.

Che's appeal is no longer limited to aging justifyists. He's got Gen X cool, too. The rock-rap group Rage Against the Machine uses his image every chance it gets, while the Allstonians, a Jamaican-style "ska" band, released an album this month with a piece called "Doctor Che Guevara." But Che sells more skis than ska. Over the past two years, the sales of Fischer "Revolution" skis have quadrupled, in part because the vans that promote the product at ski slopes across the country are plastered with Che's visage. Until recently, Che's face was pretty much limited to T-shirts and dorm-room walls. But Label, a New York boutique that caters to urban youth, now has a postgrunge fashion line featuring dresses and shirts with Che military motifs— and they are selling fast. "At the end of the 1990s, people are feeling empty and they are yearning for a return to idealism," explains Laura Whit-comb, 29, the clothes' designer. "Che conjures up that whole spirit." Even in Argentina, where Che had been shunned as a prodigal son, a university lecture series is drawing standing-room-only crowds.

The rebel's other incarnations these days are so gentle they could be called Che Lite. Take "The Motorcycle Diaries" (Verso), Guevara's journal of his 1952 road trip through South America on a wheezing Norton 500. The Jack Kerouac -- like adventure opened young Emesto's eyes to poverty and imperialism, and marked the beginning of his voyage from middle-class Argentina to the armed struggle in Cuba. The Cuban government didn't allow its publication until 1995, reportedly because Guevara displayed "bourgeois concerns" and had a penchant for seducing women and mooching meals. But the book has been a surprise hit, selling more than 30,000 in both the United States and England—and 80,000 in Italy. Even more is expected from "Tania," an upcoming Warner Brothers film about the apocryphal romance between Guevara and East German agent Tamara (Tania) Bunke, who also died in the star-crossed Bolivia campaign. Director Michael ("Il Postino") Radford and executive producer Mick Jagger have been reportedly trying to lure Antonio Banderas into playing the role of Che, as he did in the film "Evita."

Che's resurrection as a cuddly pop-culture icon hasn't pleased everybody. Cuban exiles see the Argentine guerrilla as a murderous interloper responsible for the destruction of their homeland. When Jon Lee Anderson read selections from his stunning new biography "Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life" in a Miami bookstore recently, there were no Che T-shirts in the audience. Anderson's portrayal reveals all facets of Che's character, from the romantic idealist who inspired millions to follow his example of self-sacrifice to the coldhearted enforcer who sent 55 people to their deaths during his time as "supreme prosecutor." "Cuba's revolutionary avenging angel," Anderson writes, "was respected and admired, despised and feared, but nobody was indifferent to him." As if to prove his point, one Cuban exile stands up and shouts: "How can you justify making money by putting this man's face on the cover of your book?"

Guevara himself might be bemused to see his rising popularity, 30 years after his death. But not surprised: after all, he self-consciously created the legend, transforming the young Ernesto Guevara into the implacable "Che." (In doing so, he turned the Argentine expression "che," meaning buddy, into a universal nickname.) The process began after his trip around South America and accelerated when he joined Fidel Castro and his band of rebels in Mexico in 1955, as they prepared to go to war against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. By the time they marched triumphantly into Havana in January 1959, Che had forged himself into the "New Socialist Man": fearless, disciplined and willing to die for the cause. "We are not men, but working machines," he said. Still, his charm, intellect and honesty were seductive to mere mortals; even the Soviet agent assigned to spy on Che couldn't help falling in love with him, as did millions of European justifyists. "Che is more than a mythical figure for cultural consumption," says Niki Vendola, the first leader of the Gay Communists in Italy. "He still inspires us with the great passion he put into his revolutionary quest for the perfect man."

Che's final days in Bolivia were the culmination of a quixotic, almost suicidal journey. He had tried to be an exemplary minister and national-bank president in Havana, building society around the New Man. But he worried about Castro's tightening embrace with the Soviet Union. And he had always felt more alive, more Che, when he was fomenting revolution. Che's first two attempts, in Argentina and the Congo, were disasters. Bolivia would be no better: the conditions did not exist for a revolution, much less one that would spawn, as he had hoped, a dozen Vietnams in Latin America. But Che's capture and execution, even amid such blindness, only enhanced his legend. "He died well," muses Alberto Granado, his old Argentine pal who rode with him around South America — and then moved to Havana. "It wasn't a useless death."

Martyrdom turned Che into an instant global icon, a symbol of a generation. The following year, 1968, students from Mexico City to Paris to Prague all marched under his banner. In Cuba, however, after a year of solemn observance, there was a strange silence surrounding Che that lasted for 15 years. It was only in the mid-1980s that Castro revived Che's uncompromising image as a defense against Soviet glasnost and perestroika. The Soviet Union disintegrated before the effort got very far, and the combination of that collapse and the U.S. embargo has forced Castro to dollarize the economy and allow some foreign investment. Yet as Anderson notes, Che remained standing "as the spiritual validation of what little remains of 'revolutionary' Cuba." The Argentine is not only the face of the Cuban revolution, more visible than Fidel. He has been reincarnated as a secular saint, remembered by Cuban school kids every morning when they repeat in unison: "Pioneros comunistas, seremos como el Che." Communist pioneers, we will be like Che.

In Cuba, as in the commercial world, the new Che is softer, gender, Christlike. "He is a redeemer figure," says art historian David Kunzle, the curator of an upcoming exhibition of 150 Che posters at the University of California, Los Angeles. "In Havana, you no longer see images of Che with a gun." Indeed, the Cuban government so carefully guards the official Che myth that it is taboo to talk about the executions, the rifts with Castro or the folly of the Bolivian campaign. "The Cubans don't allow even a hint of criticism," says Argentine screenwriter Jose Pablo Feinmann. "Che is sacrosanct." Feinmann should know: he was recently sacked from an ongoing Argentine film about Che's life, in part because Cuban consultants didn't like the fact that he included executions in his script.

It's hard to reconcile Che's legacy with Cuban reality. "Che is well loved here," says Carlos, a 29-year-old Havana mechanic who avidly reads the excerpts from Che's "Diary of War" printed in the official newspaper, Granma, everyweek. "But it's impossible to be like him, especially these days." Carlos owes his health and university education to the socialist system, but his salary is barely over $10 a month. The only way his family survives is by renting out its old Lada to tourists for $25 a day, driver included. With salaries so low, he says, nearly everybody has become "metalized"— Cuban slang for the scramble after hard cash. "I look at Che now as a romantic," he says. "Life has taught me to be more practical."

At the market in old Havana's Cathedral Square, Che's image is everywhere: on coins, mugs, ashtrays, shirts, posters, beaded wall hangings and ghastly red oil paintings. And everywhere it is the same image: a glamorous, youthful Che staring out from under his black beret with a look of unbending determination and idealism. This mystical image, known the world over, came from a single photograph taken at a public funeral in March 1960. The photographer, Alberto (Korda) Diaz, never got the original copyright. Days after Guevara's death in the Bolivian mountains, printers used the photograph to make posters—and millions were reproduced before Korda could cash in.

Cuban revolutionaries, including Che, used to scoff at international copyright laws as prejudiced against poor nations. But now Cuba is opening up to the global marketplace, and Che's image is being promoted—and protected. Che's widow, Aleida, has opened up a research center in their old Havana home, La Casa del Che, while their daughter, Aliusha, has emerged as the most vocal defender of his legacy. Meanwhile, Korda, now 65, is starting to capitalize on his famous photograph. He has won a few lawsuits, and now he is busy setting up exhibitions in France, Italy, Mexico and Argentina. How much does he charge for a print of the photograph? "That would be $300," he says, "and another $300 if you want an interview." Expensive, yes. But these are the days when even an old socialist legend can be a hot commodity.

With ROD NORDLAND in Home and JOSHUA HAMMER in Vallegrande

The Local Deity: Bones or not, Vallegrande's a must stop on the "Che Route" by Joshua Hammer

Nestali Ocinaga will never forget the afternoon the soldiers brought in the bullet-riddled corpse of Che Guevara. Ocinaga, then 19, was trimming rosebushes in the garden of Vallegrande's hospital when the excited troops carried the guerrilla on a stretcher to a laundry shed behind the main building. They laid the body out for display on a concrete washstand. "His eyes were wide open," Ocinaga recalls. "And his wounds were covered in blood." Ocinaga knew little about the rebel leader or his quixotic attempt to foment Marxist revolution in the mountain hamlets of Bolivia, but he sensed that the military government still feared the power of Che. "That night he was taken away by the soldiers," recalls Ocinaga, standing inside the decrepit laundry shed, now a graffiti-covered shrine. "Everything was done in secret."

Last month the truth finally came to light. Watching forensic anthropologists brush away dirt from seven skeletons embedded in the packed earth near Vallegrande's airstrip, Ocinaga felt a chill of recognition: wrapped around the remains labeled "Skeleton No. 2" was the black leather belt the guerrilla leader wore that day in October 1967. "I knew at that moment that it was Che," he says. For Ocinaga and many of his neighbors, the discovery of the guerrilla's remains after an intensive two-year search was a cause for celebration. During the past 30 years, Che Guevara has become an object of mystical reverence in this remote mountain village of 5,000 people, and the multiple stories surrounding his final resting place have only heightened his allure. "He is a great man—a god," Ocinaga says.

Che wasn't always so lionized. During his ill-conceived guerrilla campaign between March and October 1967, locals denied food to his ragged band, fled from them in terror and often reported their movements to the army. But the cult of Che began to grow from the day his corpse was flown by helicopter from La Higuera, where he was captured and executed, to Vallegrande, site of a military base. Many villagers said the half-clothed, bloodied corpse resembled the crucified Jesus; he was soon worshiped as "Santo Ernesto," the patron saint of Vallegrande. Discouraged by a series of right-wing regimes from public veneration, residents secretly held masses and lit candles in Che's memory; young people gathered to read his prolific writings and pore over details of his Bolivian adventure.

Vallegrande's fascination with Che intensified two years ago, when the search began for his remains. In November 1995, Che's American

biographer, John Lee Andersen, was told by a retired Bolivian general that Che and six comrades were buried in a mass grave near Vallegrande's dirt airstrip. A bulldozer operator who had participated in the burial confirmed the general's tale. The Bolivian government, facing pressure from the dead guerrilla's family members, ordered an investigation. An initial search of the area by Argentine and Cuban forensics experts and Bolivian soldiers uncovered the skeletons of four rebels — but no Che.

Late last year the Cubans resumed their search. A team interviewed 100 villagers and soldiers who had served in Vallegrande's battalion in 1967. They also conducted geothermal and geomagnetic studies and topographical surveys of a 10,000-square-meter area to test for disturbances in the earth caused by a bulldozer. After a two-month delay in the spring—Vallegrande officials ordered the work stopped to protest the town's likely loss of Che's remains— the team returned to work and unearthed the skeletons on June 28.

Last week the reassembled, washed skeletons lay in metal trays on gurneys in the brightly lit morgue at a Japanese run hospital in Santa Cruz, a regional capital 250 kilometers northeast of Vallegrande. Moldy camouflage jackets, belts, shoes and sandals were piled neatly at the foot of each gurney. One forensics expert hunched over a computer screen, superimposing premortem photos of the guerrillas on images of their skulls. Others X-rayed the bones for bullet fragments and compared the results to detailed 1967 autopsy reports prepared by the Bolivian Army. Skeleton No. 2 was missing its hands, a vital clue:

Che's had been amputated before his burial. It was also the only one of the seven whose skull had not been shattered by a bullet — consistent with the way Che died. Teeth were checked against dental records; on July 10 the team determined that No. 2's and those of Guevara were a perfect match. Final preparations got underway to repatriate the bones to Cuba.

In Vallegrande, meanwhile, euphoria over the discovery has given way to more complex emotions. Many locals believe the international publicity will give a huge boost to their growing tourist industry;

Bolivian travel agencies have begun offering tours of the "Che Route," including stops at the gravesite and laundry shed. Other locals are glad that their patron saint can now be properly laid to rest. Still, many admit to feeling a profound sense of loss—and indignation over the highhanded way the Bolivian government snatched away the bones from the village. On July 5 officials ordered the remains boxed and secretly driven to Santa Cruz after midnight, reportedly concerned that some Vallegrande zealots would try to block their removal. "They spirited them away under cover of darkness, just like they did 30 years ago," says Gerardo Carrasco, a member of the town civic committee. Still, for members of the Che church, Vallegrande will always be sacred ground.

Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara by Jorge G. Castaneda

Che's last mission, a push in 1966 to create a guerrilla movement that would spread throughout Latin America, was doomed from the start. Che's team traveled through southeastern Bolivia, trying to organize the country's communists and peasants. But they were ill-equipped and received virtually no support from Bolivians. Alarmed at having the foreign revolutionary in the country, the Bolivian government was determined to capture him. Still, Che and his forces pushed on, ravaged by casualties, illness and depression. But Bolivia's army slowly closed in on them; in late September troops trapped Che's bedraggled group near the village of La Higuera, between the Rio Grande and the town of Vallegrande.

An excerpt from "Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara" by Jorge G. Castaneda:

On the night of October 7 the 17 men broke out along the bottom of the Yuro or Churo gorge. A potato farmer across the stream distinguished a band of bearded, emaciated ghosts carrying guns and rucksacks. He had no doubt; it had to be the guerrillas. He dispatched his son to the military command post of Captain Gary Prado Salmon, just a few miles away. This soldier's soldier immediately set up a textbook ambush, with men stationed at the entrance and exit of the ravine, and his command post on the high ground. Che's last battle was about to begin.

Guevara had also issued his combat instructions, though he was not absolutely certain that the army had discovered the presence of his group. He split up his platoon into several small squads, each ordered to explore the narrow creeks ahead of them, to determine if there was a way out of the ravine. As the sun rose, [guerrillas] Benigno and Pacho realized that there were already dozens of soldiers on the high ground above them. Che had two choices: withdrow toward the back of the ravine and hope the soldiers had not bottled it up, or remain quiet until nightfall, trusting that the army would not detect his detachment. He chose the latter option and placed his men in a defensive perimeter, in case the troops did discover them. Around 1:30 on October 8, the vanguard position, at the mouth of the ravine, was hit by army fire; the different rebel positions were isolated from each other. Soon, two jets and a helicopter overflew the area, but did not bomb or strafe the hills. Che's squad, made up of seven guerrillas, attempted to withdraw into the ravine; it would not be able to sustain he army's fire for long. Minutes later, Guevara's M-I carbine was shot out of his hands and rendered useless; soon he was hit in the calf, a flesh wound that nonetheless made it difficult for him to walk. Willi, or Simуn Cuba, dragged him along a small ridge, his machine gun in one hand, the other propping up his commandante as best he could. Three soldiers from Prado's platoon saw them approaching, waited for them to climb a tiny cliff, and when they showed themselves, shouted out: "Drop your weapons and raise your hands." Che could not shoot back; his pistol had no clip and his carbine was disabled. Willi held his fire, either because he could not shoot with one hand or because prudence indicated that as the wisest course. According to some accounts, Che then spoke up: "Don't shoot, I am Che Guevara and I am worth more to you alive than dead"; other versions, tainted by Bolivian military spin, attribute a different statement to the defeated Argentine: "I am Che Guevara and I have failed." Another, more plausible story is that it was Willi who threw down his rifle and raised his voice when the two soldiers, nervous and exhausted, took aim and seemed indecisive about what to do: "S—, this is Commander Guevara and he deserves respect."

Captain Gary Prado was immediately advised of Che's capture and scrambled down the ravine as the shooting continued below. He made two or three quick checks of Guevara's identity, requisitioned his knapsack, and excitedly radioed Eighth Division headquarters: Che had been taken. A long procession formed, as Prado marched him off to La Higuera, two kilometers away. Behind them followed the other prisoners, mules carrying the bodies of the fallen rebels, the wounded soldiers, and soon, hundreds of onlookers. Guevara was thrown into a mud-floored room in the local schoolhouse; Willi was locked up next door.

Through the night the troops celebrated their success, while the Bolivia High Command in La Paz deliberated about what to do with its legendary captive. Che was in minor pain, and obviously depressed, but from available accounts, did not seem ready to die, though he must have contemplated this prospect. If he did exclaim, "I am worth more to you alive than dead," he probably thought so. He may have concluded that the Bolivian government would prefer to try him and brandish his capture as a symbol of victory against foreign aggression, rather than execute him. But things did not turn out that way.

At night and in the early dawn, Gary Prado and army officer Andres Selich attempted fruitlessly to interrogate Guevara. Next morning, around 6:30, a helicopter flew in from Vallegrande with three passengers: Major Niсo de Guzmбn, the pilot; Colonel Joaquin Zenteno, the head of the Eighth Division; and Felix Rodriguez, the ClA's Cuban-American radio man, sent along both out of deference for U.S. support—as Rodrнguez explains it—and to ensure proper identification of Che. Rodrнguez also was instructed to question Che and photograph his notebooks and the other seized documents.

The army had a monumental problem on its hands. There was no death penalty in Bolivia, and virtually no high-security prison where Guevara could serve a long sentence, The very thought of a trial sent shudders down the spines of President Barrientos, Armed Forces Commander General Ovando and the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Juan Jose Torres. If the country and the government had been subjected to unending international pressure and condemnation for judging Regis Debray — a French writer and Cuban envoy captured by the Bolivians after he justify Guevara's camp—what kind of outcry and campaign would erupt in favor of Che Guevara, the famous and heroic guerrilla commander? Che in jail, anywhere in Bolivia, would represent an enormous temptation for commandos from Cuba either to seek to free him or to force an exchange for hostages taken elsewhere. Handing Che over to the Americans, and having them fly him out to Panama for debriefing, was equally unacceptable. The nationalist tradition of the military would not allow it; moreover, the government would thereby confirm everything the Cubans and others had been claiming: the counterinsurgency effort was nothing more than a disguised form of Yankee interventionism. Every available testimony and account suggests that deliberately and unanimously, the Bolivian authorities decided that Che Guevara should be put to death as soon as possible.

The order went out from La Paz at midmorning; it was received in La Higuera, where Zenteno commissioned a squad of soldiers to carry it out. After a picture-taking session, the soldiers drew lots, and it fell to Lieutenant Mario Teran to finish off the disheveled, limp, depressed, but still defiant man lying on the floor of the school at La Higuera. After several false starts, a few hard swigs of scotch, and Che's invocation to carry on, Teran fired half a dozen shots into Guevara's torso; one of them pierced his heart and killed him instantly. His last words, according to Colonel Arnaldo Saucedo Parada, head of intelligence of the Eighth Division and the man responsible for delivering the official report on Che's final moments, were: "I knew you were going to shoot me; I should never have been taken alive. Tell Fidel that this failure does not mean the end of the revolution, that it will triumph elsewhere. Tell Aleida [Che's wife] to forget this, remarry and be happy, and keep the children studying. Ask the soldiers to aim well." His body was lashed onto the landing skids of Zenteno's helicopter and flown off to Vallegrande; there, after being washed and cleaned, it was put on display in the laundry room of the hospital of Our Lady of Malta, where this story began.

Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopfin New York and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. for the United Kingdom. Copyright © 1997 by Jorge G. Castaneda. A Spanish edition is already in print in parts of Latin America.

European Union Charter reintroduces the death penalty in Europe

“Professor Schachtschneider pointed out that it (the EU Lisbon Treaty) also reintroduces the death penalty in Europe, which I think is very important, in light of the fact that, especially Italy was trying to abandon the death penalty through the United Nations, forever. And this is not in the treaty, but in a footnote, because with the European Union reform treaty, we accept also the European Union Charter, which says that there is no death penalty, and then it has a footnote, which says, "except in the case of war, riots, upheaval"—then the death penalty is possible. Schachtschneider points to the fact that this is an outrage, because they put it in a footnote of a footnote, and you have to read it, like really like a super-expert to find out!” – Zepp-LaRouche, Helga (2008-03-07). Demand a Referendum on EU Lisbon Treaty. Executive Intelligence Review. Retrieved on 2008-04-18 and posted by pjoef (talk • contribs) 09:33, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Jacque Fresco

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1. 1. COVER STORY - Visions: Engineering a New Vision of Tomorrow - Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows, founders of The Venus Project in Florida, envision a cybernated city of the future. Article Language: English Publication: The Futurist. 36, no. 1, (2002): 33 Publisher: [Bethesda, Md., etc.] World Future Society] Database: ArticleFirst.
   2. Future by design by William Gazecki; Docflix Corporation.; DVD video : Partial animation Language: English Publisher: [Venice, Calif.] : Docflix Corporation, 2006.
   3. Looking forward by Ken Keyes; Jacque Fresco Book : Fiction Language: English Publisher: South Brunswick [N.J.] A.S. Barnes [1969]
   4. A conversation with social innovator & futurist Jacque Fresco by Jacque Fresco; Greig Dickerson; Venus Project.; Future By Design (Firm); VHS video Language: English Publisher: Venus, FL : Venus Project, ©2004.
   5. Future by design by William Gazecki; Jacque Fresco; Roxanne Meadows; DocFlix Movies.; DVD video Language: English Publisher: [Venice, Calif.?] : DocFlix Movies, ©2006. View all editions and formats
   6. The best that money can't buy : beyond politics, poverty, & war by Jacque Fresco Book Language: English Publisher: Venus, Fla. : Global Cyber-Visions, ©2002.
   7. Great expectations a journey through the history of visionary architecture by Jesper Wachtmeister; Jonas Kellagher; Simon Chilvers; Solaris Filmproduktion.; Eight Millilitres (Firm); Sveriges television.; First Run/Icarus Films.; et al. DVD video : Partial animation Language: English Publisher: Brooklyn, NY : First Run/Icarus Films, ©2007. View all editions and formats
   8. Welcome to the future by Jacque Fresco; Rosanne Meadows; Kevin Pierce; Venus Project (Firm); Film Ideas (Firm); VHS video : Partial animation Language: English Publisher: Wheeling, IL : Film Ideas, [2000] View all editions and formats
   9. The Venus Project : the redesign of a culture by Jacque Fresco Book Language: English Publisher: Venus, Fla. : Global Cyber-Visions, [©1995]
   10. Plato's ideal city as the archetype for Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti and Jacque Fresco's Looking forward by William E Key-Nee Thesis/dissertation : Manuscript Archival Material Language: English Publisher: 1995.
   11. The Venus Project the redesign of a culture by Jacque Fresco; Roxanne Meadows; Venus Project.; VHS video Language: English Publisher: Venus, FL : Venus Project, ©1994.
   12. Zeitgeist addendum by Peter Joseph; Jacque Fresco; Video Language: English Publisher: New York : G.M.P. LLC, 2008.
   13. Transforming the global biosphere : twelve futuristic strategies by Elliott Maynard, Ph. D.; Jacque Fresco Book Language: English Publisher: Sedona, Ariz. : Arcos Cielos Research Center, ©2003.
   14. Great expectations a journey through the history of visionary architecture. by Keith McLennan; Simon Chilveres; Jesper Wachtmeister; Jonas Kellagher; Simon Chilvers; Simon Pramsten; Silverbullit (Musical group); Solaris Filmproduktion.; Eight Millilitres (Firm); Sveriges television.; First Run/Icarus Films.; DVD video : Animation Language: English Publisher: [Australia] : Classroom Video [distributor], 2007.
   15. The Naked eye by Louis Clyde Stoumen; Raymond Massey; Elmer Bernstein; Camera Eye Pictures, Inc.; Video : Videocassette Language: English Publisher: Los Angeles, CA : Stoumen Films [198-?] View all editions and formats
   16. Introduction to sociocyberneering by Jacque Fresco Book Language: English. Publisher: Miami, Fla. : Sociocyberneering, Inc., ©1977.

---

from: new venus

the integration of the best of science and technology into a comprehensive plan for a new society based on human and environmental concern. It is a global vision of hope for the future of humankind in our technological age.

Inventions and Designs

- many of which have been patented and have had wide commercial acceptance. Fresco created many inventions such as systems for noiseless and pollution free aircraft, a new aircraft wing structural system patented by the US Air Force, an electrostatic system for the elimination of sonic boom Boundary layer control and electrodynamic methods for aircraft control that dispenses with ailerons, elevators, rudders, and flaps, a three-wheel automobile consisting of only 32 parts.

He developed equipment ranging from 3-dimensional x-ray units to electronic surgical instruments for the medical field, a technique for viewing 3-dimensional motion pictures without the use of glasses, and numerous components and systems for architectural construction. He designed and built a wide variety of reinforced concrete structures such as The Aluminum Trend House, a prefabricated house designed and developed for Mike Shore and Earl Muntz, in 1945, and another prefabricated aluminum house for Major Realty Corporation in collaboration with Aluminum Company of America.

Periodicals, books, newspapers and magazines that have contained articles written by Mr. Fresco or written about Mr. Fresco

• Feature article in the 1994 May - June issue of the World Future Society’s magazine, The Futurist, where the editors compared his work with R. Buckminster Fuller and Paolo Soleri.
• Feature contributing author in Utopian Thinking in Sociology: Creating the Good Society, an instructional text book published by the American Sociological Association 2001
• Feature article in the 2002 January - February issue of The Futurist
• Wrote the preface and was featured in the book Transforming The Global Biosphere: Twelve Futuristic Strategies by Elliott Maynard, Ph.D. 2003
• Feature contributing author to the book Viable Utopian Ideas: Shaping A Better World edited by Arthur Shostak Ph.D. 2003
• Feature contributing author to the book In the Shadow of War edited by Arthur Shostak Ph.D. 2004
• The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA), The Miami Herald (Miami, FL,) News-Sun (Sebring, Fl) Houston Chronicle (Houston, TX), New-Press (Ft Myers, Fl), North Port Sun (North Port, FL), The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN), El Nuevo Herald (Miami, FL), Record (Hackensack, NJ), De Soto Sun (Arcadia, FL), Englewood Sun (Englewood, FL), West County Times (Pinole, CA), Standard Esquire Examiner (Ogden, UT), Valley Times (Pleasanton, CA), Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, CA), San Ramon Valley Times (Danville, CA), FL Citizen, (Key West, FL), News & Record (Greensboro, NC), The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH). Western Flying, The Architectural Forum, Popular Mechanics, Saturday Review, Variety, Feedback Magazine, Gulf Shore Life, Lee Living, Predictions, Weekly Reader, Media Wave, Shift, Detour, UK’s FX Design, Business and Society, UK’s Locum Destination Review, Spain’s leading news magazine EPOCA, The Sun, National Hotel Executive, Exxon Mobil’s corporate magazine The Compass, GQ Magazine of Italy, Janas Magazine of France. Mare Magazine of Germany, Gantthead.mag Magazine, IE Industrial Engineering Magazine, The Irish Entrepreneur Magazine Walden Three a book written about Mr. Fresco by Jack Catran.

Radio and Television Shows

• It’s Your Call with Lynn Doyle, Philadelphia A Touch of Grey, nationally syndicated radio
• Discovery Channel’s two hour special Engineering the Impossible, 2002
• Feature interview for REDES a public television show of Spain 2003
• Several appearances on The Larry King Show radio and television Prime Time Weekend, Philadelphia, PA CHRW-CFM, “Science Girl, Ontario, Canada National Public Radio, KGPR-FM, Great Falls, MT JudiWorld with Judi Paparelli, New Orleans, LA KFMK-FM 105.9 Austin , TX KVON-AM, San Francisco WCUB-AM, Manitowoc, WI WLW-AM, Cincinnati, OH WLW-AM, Midday with Mike McConnell Long John’s Journal, WINK, Channel 11 Fort Myers, Florida In The Wild, Award winning children’s TV series Fox Television, Tampa, Florida All Things Considered, Public Radio, Tampa, Florida Free Speech TV, Boulder, Colorado N3TV, Space Channel, Canada Television
• Special in Japan, France, and England Chilean Public Television Special Talk show presentation in Brazil. WPBT Educational Television, Channel 2 WPLG, ABC Network Television, Channel 10 WIOD Radio, Feature Guest of Art Merrill WKAT Radio Feature Guest of Bill Smith Show Art Baker nationwide program, You Asked For It, as “The Man Of Tomorrow” Mr. Fresco has been a guest lecturer at many institutions of higher learning. He was an active participant in discussions at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California. Mr. Fresco has addressed students at the University of Miami, Princeton University, University of Southern California, Dade Junior College, Queens College, Presbyterian College, University of Southern Florida, Nichols College, Columbia University, Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico and others. He and Ralph Nader were featured guest lecturers at the University of South Florida.

At Princeton University, Mr. Fresco addressed the Department of Sociology. His subject was Sociology of the Future. Along with the well- known scientist Margaret Mead, Mr. Fresco was extended an invitation to address the college environment conference in Washington, DC. He was a guest speaker for the Tenth Symposium for the Civil Engineering Department of TEC de Monterrey University in Monterrey, Mexico, Latin America’s top rated college. Mr. Fresco was a guest speaker at The Utopian Studies Conference in Orlando, FL and lectured at several World Future Society Conferences. We have all heard lectures that downgrade the present state of affairs. They speak of such social problems as lawlessness, poverty, racial tension and divorce. But how many of us can recall any of these lectures offering creative solutions to these problems? Mr. Fresco’s presentations reflect a serious attempt to illuminate the causes and outline a wide range of constructive alternatives. He does this by presenting a redesign of our culture, one that would emphasize the intelligent use of science and technology to enhance the lives of all people while protecting our environment. His subjects range from “New Dimensions in Human Stupidity” to “Imagineering The Future.” A video often accompanies the lectures where his ideas are vividly brought to life through animated models, illustrations and computer animation. His particular lecture technique enables uninformed audiences to grasp the significance of complex social and technical innovations He speaks dramatically and brilliantly about the urgent transitional problems facing our contemporary society. His audiences find their attention focused intensely and they closely follow his presentation from beginning to end. Mr. Fresco’s lectures have been consistently praised and enthusiastically received. Jacque Fresco is the founder of Sociocyberneering, Inc., now known as The Venus Project and the non-profit organization Future by Design. With his associate Roxanne Meadows, he has designed and built the entire twenty-five acre research facility. The function of this project is to prepare approaches and solutions to the major problems that confront the world today. Television and magazine coverage on the project has been worldwide.

Resource-based economy

• http://www.oekonux.org/list-en/archive/msg05040.html
• http://www.theos-l.com/archives/199706/tl00090.html
• http://www.technocracy.ca/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=printview&t=1446&start=0

Horus &/OR Jesus

from: Alleged comparisons between Jesus & Horus' life events. etc. religioustolerance.org.

“ [Author Gerald] Massey discovered nearly two hundred instances of immediate correspondence between the mythical Egyptian material and the allegedly historical Christian writings about Jesus. Horus indeed was the archetypal Pagan Christ. ”

Comparison of some life events of Horus and Jesus
Event	Horus	Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus
Conception	By a virgin. There is some doubt about this matter.
Father	Only begotten son of the God Osiris.	Only begotten son of Yehovah (in the form of the Holy Spirit).
Mother	Isis-Meri.	Miriam (now often referred to as Mary).
Foster father	Seb, (a.k.a. Jo-Seph).	Joseph.
Foster father's ancestry	Of royal descent.
Birth location	In a cave.	In a cave or stable.
Annunciation	By an angel to Isis, his mother.	By an angel to Miriam, his mother.
Birth heralded by	The star Sirius, the morning star.	An unidentified "star in the East."
Birth date	Ancient Egyptians paraded a manger and child representing Horus through the streets at the time of the winter solstice (about DEC-21). In reality, he had no birth date; he was not a human.	Born during the fall. However, his birth date is now celebrated on DEC-25. The date was chosen to occur on the same date as the birth of Mithra, Dionysus and the Sol Invictus (unconquerable Sun), etc.
Birth announcement	By angels.
Birth witnesses	Shepherds.
Later witnesses to birth	Three solar deities. An unknown number of wise men.	They are said to have brought three gifts; thus the legend grew that there were three men.
Death threat during infancy	Herut tried to have Horus murdered.	Herod tried to have Jesus murdered.
Handling the threat	The God That tells Horus' mother to: "Come, thou goddess Isis, hide thyself with thy child."	An angel tells Jesus' father to: "Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt."
Rite of passage ritual	Horus came of age with a special ritual, when his eye was restored.	Taken by parents to the temple for what is today called a bar mitzvah ritual.
Age at the ritual	12
Break in life history	No data between ages of 12 & 30.
Baptism location	In the river Eridanus.	In the river Jordan.
Age at baptism	30.
Baptized by	Anup the Baptiser.	John the Baptist.
Subsequent fate of the baptiser	Beheaded.
Temptation	Taken from the desert of Amenta up a high mountain by his arch-rival Sut. Sut (a.k.a. Set) was a precursor for the Hebrew Satan.	Taken from the desert in Palestine up a high mountain by his arch-rival Satan.
Result of temptation	Both resist temptation.
Close followers	Twelve disciples. There is some doubt about this matter as well.
Activities	Walked on water, cast out demons, healed the sick, restored sight to the blind.
	He "stilled the sea by his power."	He ordered the sea with a "Peace, be still" command.
Raising of the dead	Horus raised Osirus, his dead father, from the grave.	Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave.
Location where the resurrection miracle occurred	Anu, an Egyptian city where the rites of the death, burial and resurrection of Horus were enacted annually.	Hebrews added their prefix for house ('beth") to "Anu" to produce "Beth-Anu" or the "House of Anu." Since "u" and "y" were interchangeable in antiquity, "Bethanu" became "Bethany", the location mentioned in John 11.
Linkage between the name of Osirus in Egyptian religion and Lazarus in the Gospel of John	Asar was an alternative name for Osirus, Horus' father. Horus raised Asar from the dead. He was referred to as "the Asar," as a sign of respect.	Translated into Hebrew, Asr is "El-Asar." The Romans added the prefix "us" to indicate a male name, producing "Elasarus." Over time, the "E" was dropped and "s" became "z," producing "Lazarus." Jesus is said to have raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.
Transfigured	On a mountain.	On a high mountain.
Key address(es)	Sermon on the Mount.	Sermon on the Mount; Sermon on the Plain.
Method of death	By crucifixion or by the sting of a scorpion; sources differ.	By crucifixion.
Accompanied by	Two thieves.
Burial	In a tomb.
Fate after death	Descended into Hell; resurrected after three days.
Resurrection announced by	Women.
Future	Reign for 1,000 years in the Millennium.
Comparison of some characteristics of Horus and Jesus
Characteristics	Horus	Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus
Nature	Regarded as a mythical character.	Regarded as a 1st-century CE human prophet by Jewish Christians; viewed as a human man-god in the Gospel of John.
Main role	Savior of humanity.
Status	God-man.
Common portrayal	Virgin Isis holding the infant Horus.	Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus.
Title	KRST, the anointed one.	Christ, the anointed one.
Other names	The good shepherd, the lamb of God, the bread of life, the son of man, the Word, the fisher, the winnower.
Zodiac sign	Associated with Pisces, the fish.
Main symbols	Fish, beetle, the vine, the shepherd's crook.
Comparison of some teachings of Horus and Jesus
Characteristics	Horus	Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus
Criteria for salvation at the place of judgment	"I have given bread to the hungry man and water to the thirsty man and clothing to the naked person and a boat to the shipwrecked mariner."	"For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me..." Matthew 25:35-36 (KJV).
"I am" statements	"I am Horus in glory...I am the Lord of Light...I am the victorious one...I am the heir of endless time...I, even I, am he that knoweth the paths of heaven." "I am Horus, the Prince of Eternity." "I am Horus who stepeth onward through eternity...Eternity and everlastingness is my name." "I am the possessor of bread in Anu. I have bread in heaven with Ra."	"I am the light of the world....I am the way, the truth and the life." "Before Abraham was, I am" "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever." "I am the living bread that came down from heaven." (From the Gospel of John)

Authors specialized in ancient Egyptian religion

• Godfrey Higgins (1771-1834)
• Gerald Massey (1828-1907)
• Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1880-1963)

Books

• D.M. Murdoch. Who was Jesus

Weblinks

• The Companion Guide to ZEITGEIST, Part 1 stellarhousepublishing.com
• D.M. Murdoch. Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection stellarhousepublishing.com.

Lectures on Aesthetics

Lectures on Aesthetics was compiled by Hegel's students after his death from his lecture notes. Hegel documents the rise of art from symbolic architecture, classical sculpture and romantic poetry. At the time it was noted for the wealth of pictures included with it. In Hegel's discussion of sculpture he outlined his ideas on human beauty. He also attacks the medieval values of chivalry.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

yahoo search

2. Hegel's Texts and Lectures on Aesthetics Hegel's Aesthetics, First published Tue Jan 20, 2009, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Hegel's published thoughts on aesthetics are to be found in pars. 556–63 of the 1830 Encyclopaedia. Hegel also held lectures on aesthetics in Heidelberg in 1818 and in Berlin in 1820/21 (winter semester), 1823 and 1826 (summer semesters), and 1828/29 (winter semester). Transcripts of Hegel's lectures made by his students in 1820/21, 1823 and 1826 have now been published (though no English translations of these transcripts are yet available) (see Bibliography). In 1835 (and then again in 1842) one of Hegel's students, Heinrich Gustav Hotho, published an edition of Hegel's lectures on aesthetics based on a manuscript of Hegel's (now lost) and a series of lecture transcripts. This is available in English as: G.W.F. Hegel, Aesthetics. Lectures on Fine Art, trans. T.M. Knox, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975). Most of the secondary literature on Hegel's aesthetics (in English and German) makes reference to Hotho's edition. Yet according to one of the leading specialists on Hegel's aesthetics, Annemarie Gethmann-Siefert, Hotho distorted Hegel's thought in various ways: he gave Hegel's account of art a much stricter systematic structure than Hegel himself had given it, and he supplemented Hegel's account with material of his own (PKÄ, xiii–xv). Gethmann-Siefert argues, therefore, that we should not rely on Hotho's edition for our understanding of Hegel's aesthetics, but should instead base our interpretation on the available lecture transcripts.

Since Hegel's manuscript, on which Hotho based much of his edition, has been lost, it is no longer possible to determine with certainty to what extent (if at all) Hotho did in fact distort Hegel's account of art. It should also be noted that Gethmann-Siefert's own interpretation of Hegel's aesthetics has been called into question (see Houlgate 1986a). Nevertheless, Gethmann-Siefert is right to encourage readers with a knowledge of German to consult the published transcripts, since they contain a wealth of important material, and in some cases material that is missing from the Hotho edition (such as the brief reference to Caspar David Friedrich in the 1820/21 lectures [VÄ, 192]).

Hegel's philosophy of art has provoked considerable debate since his death in 1831. Does he believe that only Greek art is beautiful? Does he hold that art comes to an end in the modern age? The answers one gives to such questions should, however, be offered with a degree of caution, for, sadly, there is no fully worked out philosophy of art by Hegel that was officially endorsed by Hegel himself. The paragraphs in the Encyclopaedia are written by Hegel, but they are very brief and condensed and were intended to be supplemented by Hegel's lectures; the transcripts of the lectures are written by students of Hegel (some taken down in class, some compiled afterwards from notes taken in class); and the “standard” edition of Hegel's lectures is actually a work put together by Hegel's student, Hotho (albeit using a manuscript by Hegel himself). There is, therefore, no definitive edition of Hegel's fully developed aesthetic theory that would trump all others and settle all debate.

hegel-aesthetics

HEIDELBERG (1816-1818) ~ 1817 First Lectures on Aesthetics

Table of Contents

Introduction (Development of the Ideal in the Special Forms Of Art)

In the first part of this work we have had under consideration the realisation of the idea of the beautiful as constituting the ideal in art, however numerous may be the different phases under which the conception of the ideal is presented to our view, all these determinations are only related to the work of art considered in a general way.

Now, the idea of the beautiful as the absolute idea contains a totality of distinct elements, or of essential moments, which as such, must manifest themselves outwardly and become realised. Thus are produced what we may call, in general, the Special Forms of Art.

These must be considered as the development of those ideas which the conception of the ideal contains within it, and which art brings to light. Thus its development is not accomplished by virtue of an external activity, but by the specific force inherent in the idea itself so that the Idea, which develops itself in a totality of particular forms, is what the world of art presents us.

In the second place, if the forms of art find their principle in the idea which they manifest, this, on the contrary, is truly the idea only when it is realised in its appropriate forms. Thus, to each particular stage which art traverses in its development, there is immediately joined a real form. It is, then, indifferent whether we consider the progress as shown in the development of the idea, or in that of the forms which realise it, since these two terms are closely united, the one to the other, and since the perfecting of the idea as matter appears no less clearly than does the perfecting of form.

Hence, imperfection of the artistic form betrays itself also as imperfection of idea. If, then, at the origin of art, we encounter forms which, compared with the true ideal, are inadequate to it, this is not to be understood in the sense in which we are accustomed to say of works of art that they are defective, because they express nothing, or are incapable of attaining to the idea which they ought to express. The idea of each epoch always finds its appropriate and adequate form, and these are what we designate as the special forms of art. The imperfection or the perfection can consist only in the degree of relative truth which belongs to the idea itself; for the matter must first be true, and developed in itself before it can find a perfectly appropriate form.

We have, in this respect, three principal forms to consider:

1. The first is the Symbolic Form. Here the idea seeks its true expression in art without finding it; because, being still abstract and indefinite, it cannot create an external manifestation which conforms to its real essence. It finds itself in the presence of the phenomena of nature and of the events of human life, as if confronted by a foreign world. Thus it exhausts itself in useless efforts to produce a complete expression of conceptions vague and ill-defined; it perverts and falsifies the forms of the real world which it seizes in arbitrary relations. Instead of combining and identifying, of blending totally the form and the idea, it arrives only at a superficial and abstract agreement between them. These two terms, thus brought into connection, manifest their disproportion and heterogeneity.

2. But the idea, in virtue of its very nature, cannot remain thus in abstraction and indetermination. As the principle of free activity, it seizes itself in its reality as spirit. The spirit, then, as free subject, is determined by and for itself, and in thus determining itself it finds in its own essence its appropriate outward form. This unity, this perfect harmony between the idea and its external manifestation, constitutes the second form of art — the Classic Form.

Here art has attained its perfection, in so far as there is reached a perfect harmony between the idea as spiritual individuality, and the form as sensuous and corporeal reality. All hostility between the two elements has disappeared, in order to give place to a perfect harmony.

3. Nevertheless, spirit cannot rest with this form, which is not its complete realisation. To reach this perfect realisation, spirit must pass beyond the classic form, must arrive at a spirituality, which, returning upon itself, descends into the depths of its own inmost nature in the classic form, indeed, not withstanding its generality, spirit reveals itself with a Special determinate character; it does not escape from the finite. Its external form, as a form altogether visible, is limited. The matter, the idea itself, because there is perfect fusion, must present the same character. Only the finite spirit is able to unite itself with external manifestation so as to form an indissoluble unity.

When the idea of beauty seizes itself as absolute or infinite Spirit, it also at the same time discovers itself to be no longer completely realised in the forms of the external world; it is only in the internal world of consciousness that it finds, as spirit, its true unity. It breaks up then this unity which forms the basis of Classical Art; it abandons the external world in order to take refuge within itself. This is what furnishes the type of the Romantic Form. Sensuous representation, with its images borrowed from the external world, no longer sufficing to express free spirituality, the form becomes foreign and indifferent to the idea. So that Romantic Art thus reproduces the separation of matter and form, but from the side opposite to that from which this separation takes place in Symbolic Art.

As a summary of the foregoing, we may say that Symbolic Art seeks this perfect unity of the idea with the external form; Classic Art finds it, for the senses and the imagination, in the representation of spiritual individuality; Romantic Art transcends it in its infinite spirituality, which rises above the visible world.

Of the Symbolic Form of Art (The Symbol is a sensuous object; Symbol as a special Form of Art; DIVISION: The point of departure; The termination of this epoch;

Of the Ideal of Classic Art ( The Classic Ideal: The ideal as free creation of the imagination of the artist; They borrow their ideas from the human heart; All foreign elements are cast out; Acknowledging the presence of the Gods, and signaling what is remarkable in natural events; The new gods of Classic Art: Concentrated individuality; The external and corporeal form; Their universal and absolute character; External character of the representation)

Of the Romantic Form of Art (Introduction — of the Romantic in General;The Circle of Objects Conditioned by Romantic Art; First point of departure; Spiritual reconciliation as a movement of the spirit; Spirit has its representative in man: The relation of the content to the mode of its representation; The material of Romantic Art; The content is already at hand for itself in imagination and sensuous perception; Romantic Art no longer has for its aim the free vitality of actual existence; DIVISION; The Religious as such; The Secular world; The Formal Independence of Character; Spiritual being has attained a shape adequate to the conception of spirit: The beautiful in art is the Idea as developed into concrete form fit for reality; The different relations of content and shape; The Beginning of Art; The Classical Form of Art; The Romantic Form of Art: How these principles pass into Actual Existence: Architecture: Sculpture: The totality of Arts; Painting; Music; Poetry; The Idea of Beauty)

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

• Works
  • Lenin Collected Works
  • Lenin Selected Works
    • Volume 1: 1897 - 1916
      • Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution
    • Volume 2: 1917 - 1918
    • Volume 3: 1918 - 1923

Morgante (surname)

Morgante

Language(s)	Italian
Origin
Region of origin	Italy
Other names
Related names	Morganti, Murgante, Murganti

Morgante is a family name used in Italy. Morgante and its variations, Morganti, Murgante and Murganti are present throughout Italy. Morgante seems to have a strain in Sicily, and in the province of Reggio Calabria, Messina, L'Aquila, Rome, Milan and Udine. Morganti is widespread in Central Italy, and also in Northern Italy in the province of Varese, Como and Milan. Murgante and Murganti are very rare. Murgante has a small presence in Montemilone near Potenza, and also in the province of Foggia, while Murganti has a presence in Emilia and in Sicily. These variations should come, either directly or through changes in Italian dialects, after the name given to the complete edition of Morgante, an Italian medieval romantic epic poem by Luigi Pulci, which appeared in its final form in 1483. These surnames are also present in many parts of the world where Italian people and families of Italian descent or heritage live.

Stalin & Stalinism

• Stalin, The Poet, and Lifes Choices by Gaither Stewart (it also includes information about Vladimir Mayakovsky)

Existing articles

• Joseph Stalin
  • Stalinism

The Table below shows the custodial population in the USSR from 1934 to 1953 as published by the American Historical Review.

USSR Custodial Population 1934-1953
published by The American Historical Review

Year	Gulag Working Camps	Counter-revolutionary	Counterrev. %	Died	Died %	Freed	Escaped
1934	510,307	135,190	26.5	26,295	5.2	147,272	83,490
1935	725,438	118,256	16.3	28,328	3.9	211,035	67,493
1936	839,406	105,849	12.6	20,595	2.5	369,544	58,313
1937	820,881	104,826	12.8	25,376	3.1	364,437	58,264
1938	996,367	185,324	18.6	90,546	9.1	279,966	32,033
1939	1,317,195	454,432	34.5	50,502	3.8	223,622	12,333
1940	1,344,408	444,999	33.1	46,665	3.5	316,825	11,813
1941	1,500,524	420,293	28.7	100,997	6.7	624,276	10,592
1942	1,415,596	407,988	29.6	248,877	18	509,538	11,822
1943	983,974	345,397	35.6	166,967	17.0	336,135	6,242
1944	663,594	268,861	40.7	60,948	9.2	152,113	3,586
1945	715,506	283,351	41.2	43,848	6.1	336,750	2,196
1946	600,897	333,833	59.2	18,154	3.0	115,700	2,642
1947	808,839	427,653	54.3	35,668	4.4	194,886	3,779
1948	1,108,057	416,156	38.0	27,605	2.5	261,148	4,261
1949	1,216,361	420,696	34.9	15,739	1.3	178,449	2,583
1950	1,416,300	578,912	22.7	14,703	1.0	216,210	2,577
1951	1,533,767	475,976	31.0	15,587	1.0	254,269	2,318
1952	1,711,202	480,766	28.1	10,604	0.6	329,446	1,253
1953	1,727,970	465,256	26.9	5,825	0.3	937,352	785
Notes: Costodial population by year on January 1 1937(8)-1938(9) The Great Purge 1941(2)-1945(6) WWII

The total number of died is approximately 1 million in a period of 20 years that it is far away from 9-10,000,000 or other unsourced assertions. The majority of the prisoners were common criminals (murderers, rapists, thieves, etc.). In the labour colonies there was only a partial loss of liberty. Every 10 years around 100 million people die of starvation in capitalistic societies, and every three seconds a child dies of hunger in the world.

Anna Louise Strong about Stalin

In an article published by The Dial Press in 1941, Anna Louise Strong wrote about Stalin:

"Cartoons and innuendo have been used to create the legend of a crafty, bloodthirsty dictator who even strives to involve the world in war and chaos so that something called “Bolshevism” may gain. This preposterous legend will shortly die." ... "We may even come to hear Stalin spoken of, as a Soviet writer once described him, as “the world’s great democrat”!" ... "He is far and away the best committee chairman of my experience. He can bring everybody’s views out and combine them in the minimum of time. His method of running committees reminded me somewhat of Jane Addams of Hull House or Lillian D. Wald of Henry Street Settlement. They had the same kind of democratically efficient technique, but they used more high pressure than Stalin did." ... "any person representing either a signal achievement or a typical problem might be invited by Stalin to talk it over. That was the way he got his data and kept in touch with the movement of the country." ... "we sat down rather casually, and Stalin was not even at the head of the table; Voroshilov was" ... "A quiet youth who sat at the edge of the committee, saying almost nothing, but listening very much." ... "In order to survive, they must learn to agree quickly and unanimously, to feel each other’s instincts, to guess even at a distance each other’s brains. It was in such a group that he gained his Party name—it is not the one that he was born with—“the Steel One, Stalin.”" ... "His talent for co-operative action is more significant for the world than the fact that he is great." ... "Stalin does not think individually" ... "Stalin thinks not only with his own brain but in consultation with the brains of the Academy of Science, the chiefs of industry, the Congress of Trade Unions, the Party leaders." ... "When Emil Ludwig and, later, Roy Howard sought to learn “how the great dictator made up his mind,” Stalin told them: “Single persons cannot decide. Experience has shown us that individual decisions, uncorrected by others, contain a large percentage of error.” Soviet people never speak of “Stalin’s will” or “Stalin’s orders”; they speak of “government orders” and “the Party line,” which are decisions produced collectively. But they speak very much of “Stalin’s method” as a method that everyone should learn." ... "“That is our ‘terrible democracy,’” he told me. “Of course, your affair is really settled, but technically it must be approved by all the members of the Political Bureau, some of whom are in the Caucasus and some in Leningrad. It will go as routine with a lot of other decisions and none of them will bother about your question because they know nothing about it. But this is our usual safeguard for anyone of the members may wish to add or change something in some decision. That decision will then go back to committee till all are satisfied.”" ... "Stalin quite naturally studied both the British and the American historical revolutions far more intimately than British and American politicians do." ... "“The art of leadership,” said Stalin once, “is a serious matter. One must not lag behind the movement, because to do so is to become isolated from the masses. But one must not rush ahead, for this is to lose contact with the masses.”"

This is just an excerpt of an article that you can read entirely here.

J. V. Stalin Works

“The comrades who say that the dictatorship of the proletariat is impossible because the proletariat constitutes a minority of the population interpret the strength of a majority mechanically. Even the Soviets represent only the 20,000,000 people they have organized, but thanks to their organization they have the following of the whole population. The whole population will follow an organized force that can break the shackles of economic disruption.” – J. V. Stalin, 4. REPLY TO THE DISCUSSION July 16, SPEECHES DELIVERED AT AN EMERGENCY CONFERENCE OF THE PETROGRAD ORGANIZATION OF THE R.S.D.L.P. (BOLSHEVIKS) July 16–20, 1917, First published in 1923, in the magazine Krasnaya Letopis, No. 7

The future is on the side of a new revolution. Only the establishment of the full power of the people can give the peasants land, bring order into the economic life of the country, and ensure peace, which is so essential for the suffering and exhausted peoples of Europe.” – J. V. Stalin, WHAT HAS HAPPENED?', Rabochy i Soldat, No. 1, July 23, 1917

“The following is a model platform that might serve as a basis of agreement with such non-party organizations of peasants and soldiers:

1. We are opposed to the landlords and capitalists and their “Party of Popular Freedom,” because they, and they alone, are the chief enemies of the Russian people. No confidence in, and no support for, the rich and their government!
2. We give our confidence and support to the working class, the devoted champion of socialism; we are for alliance and agreement of the peasants, soldiers and sailors with the workers against the landlords and capitalists.
3. We are opposed to the war, for it is a war of conquest. Any talk about peace without annexations will remain empty prating so long as the war is waged on the basis of the secret treaties concluded by the tsar with the British and French capitalists.
4. We are in favour of the speediest ending of the war by means of a determined struggle of the peoples against their imperialist governments.
5. We are opposed to the anarchy in industry, which is being aggravated by the capitalists. We are in favour of workers’ control over industry; we are in favour of industry being organized on democratic lines by the intervention of the workers themselves and of a government recognized by them.
6. We are in favour of well-organized exchange of products between town and country, so that the towns may be supplied with sufficient quantities of provisions and the rural districts with sugar, paraffin, footwear, textiles, hardware and other necessary goods.
7. We are in favour of all the land—appanage, state, crown, landlord, monastery and church—being transferred to the whole people without compensation.
8. We are in favour of all unused land, arable and grazing, belonging to the landlords, being placed immediately at the disposal of democratically elected Peasant Committees.
9. We are in favour of all unused draft animals and farm implements now in the possession of landlords or in warehouses being placed immediately at the disposal of the Peasant Committees to be used for purposes of tillage, mowing, harvesting, etc.
10. We are in favour of all disabled soldiers, as well as widows and orphans, being paid allowances adequate to maintain a decent human existence.
11. We are in favour of a people’s republic, without a standing army, bureaucracy, or police force.
12. In place of a standing army we demand a national guard with elected commanders.
13. In place of a non-accountable bureaucratic officialdom we demand that government servants be elected and subject to recall.
14. In place of a police exercising tutelage over the people we demand a militia chosen by election and subject to recall.
15. We are in favour of the annulment of the “orders” directed against the soldiers and sailors.
16. We are opposed to the disbanding of regiments and the incitement of soldier against soldier.
17. We are opposed to the persecution of the workers’ and soldiers’ press; we are opposed to restriction of free speech and assembly whether in the rear or at the front; we are opposed to arrests without trial; we are opposed to disarmament of the workers.
18. We are opposed to the reintroduction of the death penalty.
19. We are in favour of all the nations of Russia being granted the right freely to arrange their lives in their own way, and of none of them being subjected to oppression.
20. Lastly, we are in favour of all power in the country being turned over to the revolutionary Soviets of Workers and Peasants, for only such power can lead the country out of the impasse into which it has been driven by the war, the economic disruption and the high cost of living, and by the capitalists and landlords, who are battening on the people’s need. Such, in general, is the platform that might serve as a basis of agreement between our Party organizations and the non-party revolutionary groups of peasants and soldiers.” – J. V. Stalin, THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS, Rabochy i Soldat, No. 4, July 27, 1917

“To this end, the Bolshevik Party demands:

1. Immediate removal of the counter-revolutionary generals in the rear and at the front and their replacement by commanders elected by the soldiers and officers, and in general the complete democratization of the army from top to bottom;
2. Restoration of the revolutionary soldiers’ organizations, which alone are capable of establishing democratic discipline in the army;
3. Repeal of all repressive measures, and, in the first place, the death penalty;
4. Immediate placing of all landed estates at the disposal of the Peasant Committees, and supply of agricultural implements to the poor peasants;
5. Legislative enactment of an 8-hour day and institution of democratic control over factories, mills and banks, with representatives of the workers predominating in the control bodies;
6. Complete democratization of the financial system— in the first place, ruthless taxation of capital and capitalist property and confiscation of the scandalous war profits;
7. Organization of proper exchange between town and country, so that the towns receive the food supplies and the rural districts the manufactured goods they need;
8. Immediate proclamation of the right of the nations of Russia to self-determination; WE DEMAND! 281
9. Restoration of liberties, decreeing of a democratic republic, and immediate convocation of a Constituent Assembly;
10. Annulment of the secret treaties with the Allies and proposal of terms for a universal democratic peace.

The Party declares that unless these demands are realized it will be impossible to save the revolution, which for half a year now has been stifling in the clutches of war and general disruption.

The Party declares that the only possible way of securing these demands is to break with the capitalists, completely liquidate the bourgeois counter-revolution, and transfer power in the country to the revolutionary workers, peasants and soldiers.

That is the only means of saving the country and the revolution from collapse.” – J. V. Stalin, WE DEMAND!, Rabochy, No. 4, August 28, 1917

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