Uncle Charlie was a mighty warrior

"The role of cinema in history" is a very rare pamphlet, written by Argentine Trotskyist Juan Posadas. It's published by Scientific, Cultural and Political Editions, the publishing arm of the Posadist Fourth International.

The main article is a Marxist or socialist analysis of Charlie Chaplin and his films. Posadas clearly likes Chaplin, and (believe it or not) actually makes a few good points in this little book, both about Chaplin's movies and about comedy in general. For some reason, he then attacks the film "Little Big Man", claiming that Chaplin's productions were much better.

The problem, of course, is that J Posadas was, to all intents and purposes, barking mad. He believed that Earth was being visited by socialist UFOs, that the Soviets stashed nuclear arms at the Soyuz space station, and that a nuclear war would usher in international socialism. Apparently, Posadas also believed that elephants live 260 years, and that Soviet scientists could communicate with dolphins.

None of this is mentioned in "The role of cinema in history".

However, this splendid booklet does solve a deep mystery from my younger days as a Trot-watcher. According to an unconfirmed rumour, the Posadists at one point had a small group in Sweden. When a certain cinema in Stockholm showed the American movie "The assassination of Trotsky" (starring Richard Burton), the Posadists became upset. They picketed the theatre with leaflets stating in part: "TROTSKY WAS A MIGHTY WARRIOR. HIS PENCIL WAS HIS SWORD AND HIS SPECTACLES WERE HIS SHIELD".

What on earth for?

They were interested in the role of cinema in history, stupid.

:D

Uncle Charlie, I suppose, was a MIGHTY WARRIOR.