This is some kind of bizarre neo-Stalinist outfit in the United States, the Center for Political Innovation or CPIUSA. Note the similarity with "CPUSA" (Communist Party USA).
What I find most appalling about this group is their pageantry, which doesn´t even look "Communist". Rather, it looks like the anti-Communist stereotype of a Communist from some Reagan-era TV series!
Update: I briefly checked the website of the CPIUSA and it turns out to be a split of some kind from the Marcyites, or perhaps the group are The Only True Marcyites. Sam Marcy, the founder of the so-called Workers World Party (WWP) was something as peculiar as a pro-Stalinist Trotskyist. (I´ve blogged about the WWP before.)
As far as I know, however, the WWP were too clever to show their true colors in *this* fashion, preferring instead to hide behind united fronts of various kinds...
End of message.
https://cpiusa.org/articles/the-masses-are-the-water-understanding-the-failure-of-late-marcyism
ReplyDeleteHaven´t read all of it yet, but it looks interesting.
OK so I joined a group called Planetary Citizens back in the early 70's that was supposedly part of United Nations...does that count? I have a bumper sticker and a neat pin on badge to show for it. Never heard back from them. OK Google does have a page from sourcewatch. Started in 1974 and no longer operates. Unfortunately my name does not appear as a First Endorser from USA.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, let's all be friends here on Earth, OK? Comments?
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Planetary_Citizens
Count as what? A Commie front? ;-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, it must have been an interesting group, including David Spangler, for instance!
Apparently, the founder of Planetary Citizens was Donald Keys, who was also a leader of the World Federalist Movement. I met their Swedish branch once as a teenager, but their average age seems to have been around 70. So I can´t say I was attracted... Still have their pamphlets somewhere, though!
ReplyDeleteThey seem younger these days. This is their current incarnation:
ReplyDeletehttps://globalsolutions.org/
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ReplyDeleteIt took awhile to post so I replaced below, then this came in!
DeleteA pretense of naivete there, as I was listening to the only FM classical station here, playing soothing ambient tones suggesting harmony.
ReplyDeleteI would have been 21 in early 1974. Idealistic as Greta Thunberg! But not as vocal. A world federation sounds appealing but of course not much more than a feather floating in the breeze. The video indeed is laughable if it were not actually happening. The image of Stalin looks more like an Abe Lincoln profile to me. Solemn procession of twin flags and sing national anthems? Who thinks this stuff up?
The US is experiencing a moment of real trauma, as the investigation of the former president moves toward indictment.
Who wouldn't become cynical? Rightwing crazies call for dissolving the FBI, our Supreme Court has become illegitimate, public education is under funded and undermined, etc etc. Any 18 year old can buy a military weapon and massacre innocent civilians.
Of course the laborer deserves his wages, of course corporations exist to make a profit. People forget labor unions gave us, at no small cost, a 5 day work week, 8 hour days, some semblance of health insurance here. As Mr G said, we are part of organic life
on the surface of the planet, now *too big for our britches* and not too bright! Apparently wealth and power are the reason for being, empathy for the plight of our neighbors is seen as a weakness.
What to do? What to do? And a cymbal crash as temperatures reach 125 F by 2053! Ever traverse the Oresund Bridge?
Yes, Blogger isn´t letting everything through, not sure why, the blog isn´t moderated. Also, commentators are regged as "Anonymous" even if they use their non-anon accounts?!
ReplyDeleteI don´t see any solution either - and yet, the situation is Sweden feels like a breeze compared to the United States. The only thing I can say is "Hang in there somehow...and duck".
Is Mr G John Michael Greer? I agree with him that humanity as a species will survive this, but the question is: on what level? And is that worth it?
But of course, that´s my question from my perspective, the people in the future will consider their existence worth it, and won´t give a damn about my speculations about the course of history in 2022...
I suppose it is a bit annoying that "we" didn´t save the world, and that future generations will condemn us as evil giants destroyed by the gods. Still, I think I´m going to keep my sanity! ;-)
ReplyDeleteYour right about Old Abe, btw. But the CPIUSA supports Stalin in that long article I linked to. Their combo of Stalinism and Lincoln-ism sounds so 1936 somehow. And yet, the right 1936 feeling never materializes, obviously since the workers don´t show up, and Biden is no FDR (or Lincoln)...
ReplyDeleteMr. G = Gurdjieff. So organic life as a *bio* coating on the thin crust on our planet's surface. The premise of Beezelbub's Tales is he was observing life on Earth with a telescope from his position on Mars, as recounted to grandson Hassein, as they are on their way back to the All Merciful Endlessness to receive Beezelbub's pardon. They travel in a *ship* that flies through space by some sort of displacement of gravity waves! Along the way Beezelbub explains the curious habits of the creatures on Earth. - I wanted to insert a photo but not savvy enough so here's a link: https://scitechdaily.com/ancient-source-of-oxygen-for-life-discovered-hidden-deep-in-the-earths-crust/
ReplyDeleteSo human life is another part of the thin covering on our Rock flying through our corner of space. I imagine, from a faraway observation post, no more than ants scrambling over their *hill*.
Leaders rise and fall, nations and city states come and go, humans are born and die, so what's the point? As near as I can figure, in Gurdieff terms, is that we can relieve the suffering of the
Absolute (creation groans? Rom 8:19-23) by creating our own internal *space* in terms of a relaxed sensation in our physical body, accomplished by placing our attention on ourselves. But we can't! We forget the next second, something else draws our attention away: such as Aaack! my coffee is boiling (yes this is a caffeinated morning rant-being 7 hours behind your time) hence the term Work. We work to stay present in the moment. Kind of like Mr Krishnamurti's observation: "all we can do is keep the room clean and open the window" paraphrased. (Freedom From the Known?) No guarantees we accomplish anything. Of course many interpretations on the web and wiki.
One joke my father used to say: Apart from that Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you like the play?
Aha, of course, Gurdjieff. He was always too pessimistic (sic) even for me, Greer sounds like an apostle of hope in comparison! At least in his system, the human-ants can rise a little bit higher, to some kind of angelic-ant status perhaps, through "occult" methods. I think I could live with that. Gurdjieff sounds like the Buddha on downers: "the Moon eats people", and so on!
ReplyDeleteI will definitely look more toward Greer for my esoteric fix! Plus he lives in Providence, RI, I think. A place well known to my ancestral family through the years. How did I end up here?
ReplyDeleteMy latest read is The Not So Good Book by Brian Bolton, published by Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) which explores the wacko deity reigning in the Old Testament. As in atheism. Thanks for your conversation! - I like angelic ant, sounds like a good alias someday too!
Thank you!
ReplyDelete