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Maybe it's because George Harrison recently died or maybe it's that Christmas time always reminds me of the Beatles -- because, as a kid, a Beatles (or post-Beatles) record was my favorite Christmas present. Either way, I surprised myself by pulling out some Beatles records and, at least momentarily, enjoying them. Against my better judgment, I should add. I really cannot stand the Beatles. And it's not just that I've heard it all to death, although I have. If you think the 1960s was bad, let me assure you the 1970s was worse. At least in the 60s, you didn't have to hear EVERY Beatles album all the time: some of those albums didn't yet exist. In the 70s, though, every last song was incessantly churning out of the radio or the stereo nearest you. All the time, year after year, the 70s was one long dull elegy for the 60s. And, of all the Beatles, it is John Lennon that offends me the most. Probably it's a parent love-hate thing. Back in my stupid teenybopper days, I wanted to BE friggin' John Lennon. The hair, the glasses, the whole deal. And: I struggled in semi-pro bands for some 15 years. The 'radical' Beatle, the 'revolutionary' Beatle. A rebel hero for a rebel wannabe. A middle class hero is something to be (the working class dudes who went off to Vietnam, they didn't like John Lennon -- today, the media airbrushes that out of the story). What sort of rebellion was it, though? A few putdowns of Christianity here and there. Dope. 'Protest' music, most of it simple liberalism, anarchism at the most daring -- plus an especially infamous anti-communist song. Naked on an album cover. I wonder what his kid, Julian, thought of that nude album cover. Dad with his new girlfriend. Julian was about 8 at the time. Go to any store and you'll find a copy of John Lennon's 'Drawings for Sean.' There's no 'Drawings for Julian,' though. 'And if ya go around with pictures of Chairman Mao, you'll never make it with anyone anyhow.' A few years later, John Lennon was on the Dick Cavett show, sporting a Mao pin. When Cavett pointed out the obvious contradiction, Lennon shrugged his shoulders and said: 'Chairman Mao is where its at right now.' Yoko grunted 'right on' or something equally profound. How 'revolutionary' was John Lennon? In the big Rolling Stone interview, the 1970 one later released as 'Lennon Remembers' (jeez, the nerve), he says 'In Britain, we have socialism, a nice socialism.' So 'nice' was that socialism, a couple of years later he went for the big tax break in the US. Hey, reminds me, the Beatles did a big anti-tax song. Faux rebellion for faux radicals. Utopian socialism for those procapitalist supporters with a bad conscience. 'Sure, I'm for socialism ... er, as long as it's heaven on earth.' Funny stance for a guy who said 'imagine there's no heaven.' Yes, it's a parent thing. Angry at the father figure for not earning his pedestal. Angry at the hero for bullshitting me. Angry at the whole ideology of pop music, too. Smoke pot, play guitar, and you, too, can shine on. Pop stars are always so happy to point that they never bothered with college or anything like that. Who needs skills when biological determinism and lottery luck will do? And here I am: on the other side of the equation. The Marxist is the complete reversal of the pop star. While the pop star, invariably coming up from 'humble origins,' is the working class class traitor, the prole who goes to shill for the capitalist ideology, the Marxist is invariably the middle class class traitor, the educated guy who turns his wits against the very ideology that educated him. No one who 'believes' in the class ascension of pop stardom can really penetrate the Marxist perspective. Like the man said, communism is for people with nothing to lose but their chains. The pop star, the whole hero worship of pop stars, is, by contrast, one of the chains. The whole 'star system' is a glamorized reinforcement for wealth stratification and social hierarchy. No said it better than movie critic Libby Gelman in Newsweek magazine: 'Gorgeous movie stars prove that there is no justice -- and that this is a good thing.' A psychedelic Rolls Royce is still a Rolls. So now I understand why V.I. Lenin once said that he had no patience for music or the arts. All of that stuff is great -- but it's for after the work is done. Anyone living in a world dominated by capital who thinks that the work is done is a rube. Go to work for Wal-Mart in the Third World for a few years and tell me to 'imagine no possessions.' When I first discovered Marxism and, soon after, Lenin, my friends, who were getting nervous about my new-found convictions, said to me: 'But communism is terrible for artists and the arts.' They intuitively saw the choice I had to make. Lenin said: 'I can't listen to music too often. It affects your nerves, makes you want to say nice stupid things and stroke the heads of people who could create such beauty while living in this vile hell' (Payne, Life and Death of Lenin, Simon & Schuster 1964, p. 249). We all know the story about how 'communism' supposedly killed music and literature in the Soviet Union. To the proponents of that view, I ask: now that Russia has been blessed with ten glorious years of capitalism, where is that great literature, where are all those hot bands? Yes, Lenin suggested that the communist party should 'combat patently bourgeois deviations' in the arts (Collected Works volume 42, Progress 1969, p. 226). And why not? Returning to the subject under review, why should you trust anyone who tells you to 'turn off your mind'? I read an article in the New York Times recently about Mein Kampf going on sale in Bulgaria after being prohibited by the Soviets for half a century. It's been a best-seller. And the guy who published it was venomous towards the communists for their censorship. 'Under socialism, we couldn't get to hear bands like Grand Funk Railroad,' he sneered. Excuse me? Anyone familiar with this pan-flash of 1971, one of the most universally reviled hype bands of all time, knows that 'repressing' Grand Funk Railroad would, alone, be an advertisement for the wisdom of the revolutionary vanguard. Yes, it's true the socialists have often employed a crude form of censorship. And here in the 'free world,' we have our forms of censorship, too. Most of the people who make our clothes for pennies a day in our Third World neocolonies are practically illiterate, and illiteracy is the penultimate form of censorship. They don't even know what they're missing. Here in the cushy part of the world, we can afford to have freedom of speech -- yet most 'speakers' are so glutted with the spoils of capitalism that they know it would be against their interests, not to mention the highest form of hypocrisy, to speak out against such ill-gained privileges. So the censorship is largely self-imposed. That's even better than illiteracy. So, yes, socialists, who are known to eradicate illiteracy among the workers and to erase the grossest of privileges, have at times resorted to crude censorship. And they deserve respect for admitting it openly-- as Castro does, with this counter-observation: 'Every year [in the developed nations], a trillion dollars is spent on advertising... This has never happened before in the history of humanity. Primitive humans enjoyed greater freedom of thought.' (Adbusters, #33, p. 12). It saddens me to think that Castro -- the great Leninist of the age -- inaugurated a bronze John Lennon statue in Cuba a couple of years back. What did John Lennon ever do for the Cuban people? Could he have even found Cuba on a map? Obviously, the statue is there as a tourist ploy. Meanwhile, Lenin Park falls into disrepair. However, contrary to popular propaganda, most of the Lenin statues in Russia are still standing. 'A survey showed that 66.7 percent of those questioned regarded Lenin's role in Russian history positively' (Reuters, 18 April 2001, 'Lenin still holds place in hearts of many Russians'). Hell, a new statue of Stalin, of all people, is being installed in Dagestan just this week, while his hometown Gori celebrates his birthday -- so much for that 'death of communism' we've all heard so much about. Finally, I remember how all the ex-hippies -- myself included -- cried 'sacrilege!' when 'Revolution' was used for Nike ads. 'John Lennon would never permit such a thing,' all the stoners whined -- and this was in the 1980s, before the knowledge of Nike sweatshops was really widespread. Yet what could possibly be a more appropriate song for sweatshops than the most popular musical expression of anti-communism ever recorded? Remember, folks, anti-communism, however utopian its presentation, is procapitalism. John Lennon was a pop star. V.I. Lenin was a revolutionary. John Lennon brought millions of dollars to Capitol Records Company shareholders. V.I. Lenin brought universal higher education, maternity leaves, pensions, and a world-class industry, complete with the first man in space, to a semi-medieval country. The choice, for me, is clear. Lest anyone here accuse me of dogma, allow me to finish my piece with the rather apt words of a rather well-known hippie, an icon of the 1960s era... '[I]t'd be nice if Sly and the Family Stone stopped playing once and looked out at pig nation and said "oh, by the way, we're Communists," God that would blow a lot of fucking holes in "His Master's Voice." Yeh, but maybe that's unfair cause on the other hand we politicos don't sing too good. 'When SDS talks about the Vanguard they don't mean the record company, but they don't mean fuckin and dancin with all the people either. They mean responsible leadership just the way my father does. 'And what about bands like The Who??? Heroes of the people; do they have responsibilities? What are you gonna do with your bread, brother rock stars? Are you gonna help build and defend the Woodstock Nation now, or are you just gonna piss it all away? 'Here's a word of advice from one of the biggest dudes around. His name is Chairman Mao. He and his rock band built a whole fuckin Nation of 700,000,000 people when they said it couldn't be done. 'This quote is for me as much as you cause when I get through with this book I'm gonna learn how to sing... '"You have many good qualities and have rendered great service, but you must always remember not to become conceited. You are respected by all, and quite rightly, but this easily leads to conceit. If you become conceited, if you are not modest and cease to exert yourselves, and if you do not respect others, do not respect the cadres and the masses, then you will cease to be heroes and models. There have been such people in the past, and I hope you will not follow their example" [Mao, Selected Works volume III]." 'The Beatles may be more popular than Jesus but heavy cats like Chairman Mao, Uncle Ho and beautiful long-haired Che Guevara are more popular than even the Beatles. You ought to check out that other "free world" and see. Don't take my world for it -- but don't believe Variety or Billboard or even Rolling Stone either. Any of you guys want to play in Havana Square for free just get in touch. We've already made the arrangements. 'Long live the Cultural Revolution!' (Abbie Hoffman.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BarryStoller ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
