THE BLOG OF DISQUIET :Qweir Notions,an uncommonplace-book from the Armpit of Diogenes, binge-thinker jottings since2008.
Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Fratres
Like all good communists I listen only to classical musics
of Europe and beyond,
despising most of the crass
and manufactured musics
of the underclass.
Only in the same sense as 'good capitalist' is an oxymoron. Except that a 'good capitalist' is never generous at his own expense, whereas 'good communists' died for their convictions all over Europe, from 1934 to 1948. Even in Czechoslovakia.
People always put 'good' in front of ideologies: Good Catholic comes to mind. And indeed throughout Eastern Europe, as within the Communist parties of the West, the rank and file, ordinary members, always wanted to be a Good Communist, just as Švejk wanted to be a Good Soldier. As with the Catholic church, only the hierarchy was corrupt and bad, because hierarchies always are. Hierarchies are invented and inhabited by corrupt and bad people.
When I was young, 'to be good' for me meant giving money to beggars and being kind to dogs. The ever-increasing onslaught of Puritan capitalism has not changed my mind. I rarely pass a beggar (especially a beggar with a dog) without giving him or her something.
Incidentally, the title of this blog refers to a profound piece of music by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, who, since he wasn't sent into internal exile like Alfred Schnittke, was possibly 'a good communist'.
Upset mother tells her kid who refuses to eat his dinner " Eat. There are thousands and thousands children in Russia who are starving." Little Joey looks at her and replies "Name one"
Maybe there are some "good" communists somewhere. But it is difficult to name one.
No one wants to fight the war for the occupier. Except Švejk. He wanted to be a good soldier. Or did he ? That is the brilliance of Hašek's absurdity.
Jesus was a good communist. A lot of communists went from all over Europe to Spain in 1936-7. Some of them were good – at least until they got there and were manipulated by the Comintern and its Running Dogs.
Milovan Djilas might have been a good communist. Maybe even Trotsky with his idea of Continual Revolution, though of course he was a mass-murderer.
Engels wasn’t bad, but was he a communist ? Marx had no sense of economics (he bought things he didn’t want merely because they were cheap, and thus was a tool of capitalism).
Walt Whitman was a good communist.
My dog Oscar was a good communist; he was happy to share his bones with other dogs.
Finally, I am a good communist. I commune frequently with Jesus (in his canine avatar), who, as I said, was himself a good communist.
Why any of those gullible fans of communism never actually lived in a communist country ? And if Jesus returned and lived in USSR as a member of the Party, would he end up like Jan Hus ?
Well, Communism wasn't wholly bad for everyone. In Hungary in 1981, 23,000 Roma were employed in restaurants as Gypsy Bands, because the planners of the planned economy provided a niche for them. Clients paid a 20% surcharge on their meals, which went to the bands. In 1999, there were just 60. Only in expensive restaurants in Buda can you now enjoy Gypsy music with a meal.
7 comments:
Isn't the term "good communist" oxymoron ?
Like, British Intelligence or compassionate Nazi ?
Only in the same sense as 'good capitalist' is an oxymoron. Except that a 'good capitalist' is never generous at his own expense, whereas 'good communists' died for their convictions all over Europe, from 1934 to 1948. Even in Czechoslovakia.
People always put 'good' in front of ideologies: Good Catholic comes to mind. And indeed throughout Eastern Europe, as within the Communist parties of the West, the rank and file, ordinary members, always wanted to be a Good Communist, just as Švejk wanted to be a Good Soldier. As with the Catholic church, only the hierarchy was corrupt and bad, because hierarchies always are. Hierarchies are invented and inhabited by corrupt and bad people.
When I was young, 'to be good' for me meant giving money to beggars and being kind to dogs. The ever-increasing onslaught of Puritan capitalism has not changed my mind. I rarely pass a beggar (especially a beggar with a dog) without giving him or her something.
Incidentally, the title of this blog refers to a profound piece of music by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, who, since he wasn't sent into internal exile like Alfred Schnittke, was possibly 'a good communist'.
Upset mother tells her kid who refuses to eat his dinner " Eat. There are thousands and thousands children in Russia who are starving."
Little Joey looks at her and replies "Name one"
Maybe there are some "good" communists somewhere.
But it is difficult to name one.
No one wants to fight the war for the occupier. Except Švejk. He wanted to be a good soldier. Or did he ?
That is the brilliance of Hašek's absurdity.
Jesus was a good communist.
A lot of communists went from all over Europe to Spain in 1936-7.
Some of them were good – at least until they got there and were manipulated by the Comintern and its Running Dogs.
Milovan Djilas might have been a good communist. Maybe even Trotsky with his idea of Continual Revolution, though of course he was a mass-murderer.
Engels wasn’t bad, but was he a communist ? Marx had no sense of economics (he bought things he didn’t want merely because they were cheap, and thus was a tool of capitalism).
Walt Whitman was a good communist.
My dog Oscar was a good communist; he was happy to share his bones with other dogs.
Finally, I am a good communist. I commune frequently with Jesus (in his canine avatar), who, as I said, was himself a good communist.
Why any of those gullible fans of communism never actually lived in a communist country ?
And if Jesus returned and lived in USSR as a member of the Party, would he end up like Jan Hus ?
Well, Communism wasn't wholly bad for everyone. In Hungary in 1981, 23,000 Roma were employed in restaurants as Gypsy Bands, because the planners of the planned economy provided a niche for them. Clients paid a 20% surcharge on their meals, which went to the bands.
In 1999, there were just 60. Only in expensive restaurants in Buda can you now enjoy Gypsy music with a meal.
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