Karl Marx: Newspaper Article: ‘The North American Civil War’! (5.4.2023)

Having assessed this difference over a number of days – I developed the dialectical understanding that whereas ‘The German Ideology’ was a free expression of the unhindered thought of Marx and Engels regarding their Scientific Socialist understanding (and an open attack upon the capitalist system) – his newspaper article (for which he was being ‘paid’) – had to conform to the general ideas that prevailed throughout the (Federalist) ‘Union’ of Northern States! Marx had to cleverly compromise by moulding his opinions into those acceptable to the thinking of those who were ‘paying’ him for his journalistic services! If he was writing for newspapers based in Charleston or Richmond (lying within the ‘Confederate’ Southern States) – then I think we would have seen Marx formulate a very different take on events (not only reflecting the views of his audience – but also a more specific statement of the dialectical reality of the time)! Whatever the case, The German Ideology was written by Marx and Engels in 1845 – some sixteen years BEFORE Marx penned his 1861 article – and yet it contains a much deeper and far more thorough understanding of the human condition and the concept and reality of ‘slavery’! This example demonstrates why the working-class must be literate – we must be able to read and write – and in so doing ‘educate’ our own way out of the quagmire of Bourgeois branwashing, disinformation and deliberate misrepresentation!

The ‘Budokan’ and Doing ‘A Beatles’! (29.3.2023) 

John Lennon had been to Japan with the Beatles about five months before he met Yoko Ono in New York. The Beatles made their first visit to Asia at the end of June 1966. They played two televised Concerts at the ‘Budokan’ on June 30th and July 1st, 1966. This is actually the ‘Nippon Budokan’ (日本武道館) located in the heart of Tokyo. The name means ‘Japan Martial Arts Training Hall’ and this venue was built and opened in 1964. Although Japan was still officially ‘Occupied’ by the US Military until 1972 (following Japan’s Unconditional Surrender during late 1945) – the Americans tolerated a certain level of right-wing Japanese ultra-nationalism amongst the population – providing it was contained to being aimed at Communist China. Yoko Ono’s family is said to have been supportive of this ‘racist’ ultra-nationalism – which she rebelled against by having relationships (and children) with ‘White’ men. At one point, Yoko Ono even allowed her husband to have an 18-month affair with his ethnic ‘Chinese’ secretary – the American-born May-Pang (龐鳳儀 – Pang Feng Yi). 

The Beatles – A Work in Perpetual Progress! (29.3.2023) 

Despite the UK in many ways appearing to be a Soviet State between 1948-1979 – it still functioned within a Bourgeois, capitalist (liberal democratic) system. Since 1979, the onus has been upon dismantling this Socialist edifice and re-instating the pre-1948 status quo where workers do as they are told for as little money as possible. This has to understood if the stage-managing of The Beatles is to be understood. The Beatles existed as a means for the four members and the plethora of individuals surrounding and enabling them (including the ‘Roadie’ Mal Evans) were to make a comfortable living. Behind all these people was the monolith of EMI – so if The Beatles were already millionaires by 1964 (and there are good reasons to assume this) – the reader can speculate just how much profit their ‘look’ and ‘sound’ bought the publishing company! As a winning combination has been arrived at more or less by trial and error – the thinking was that none of it should be changed for fear of spoiling the earning potential. The music of The Beatles is so dialectically stimulating that it means many things to all people. This led to John Lennon expressing in a (reactionary) 1968 interview with British students that he had as many ‘fascists’ as ‘Socialist’ fans – he said this after berating the USSR and the idea of external (revolutionary) change. He seems to be expressing EMI advertising policy rather than any innate knowledge of Marxist-Leninism. Cackling in the shadows was Yoko Ono who never got round to addressing the subject of her anti-Western family supporting ultra-right-wing political views in Japan – or the War Crimes the Imperial Japanese Army had committed during the 1930s and 1940s throughout Asia (and against British POWs). She remains ‘anti-Chinese’ to this day.

The Taxman (1966) – How the Beatles Got it Wrong! (9.11.2023)

Yes – very rich people did pay a substantial amount of their ample incomes as a contribution in this re-distribution of wealth – but the working-class paid much more tax collectively than the middle or upper classes (even though the rate of tax each individual paid was less due to their lower incomes). It is a shame that the four Beatles took the money the British public gave them in reward for their (extraordinary) musical talents – and then ‘refused’ to contribute what amounted to a relatively ‘small’ over-all contribution of their incomes toward the general health of the nation! Later, when John Lennon walked around wearing a ‘Mao Zedong’ badge – perhaps one or two of the Beatles regretted making this track – particularly as the sentiment expressed is inherently ‘right-wing’ and would eventually feed into the fascistic ideology of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and a host of other faceless Tory and Lib-Dems leaders! Since 1979, the Beatles may have been pleased to see the start of the privatisation of the NHS, the selling-off of Council Houses, the closing of hospitals and the dismantling of the Welfare System! Perhaps they were ecstatic when Thatcher abolished ‘free’ University education for the British youth – immediately plunging hundreds of thousands into a lifetime of abject poverty! By applying such right-wing ideology, the Tories and Lib-Dems (according to a UN investigation) murdered over 120,000 people with disabilities between 2010-2016! They achieved this by cutting taxes for the rich and services for the poor – a simple correlation that further enriches the already wealthy whilst simultaneously reducing the life-expectancy of the poor!

1 3 4 5