RXB
07-15-2007, 06:43 PM
Really, I did. The local lefty arts & entertainment rag, which I sort of despise in one sense but like in another sense, had in its Literary Events section a mention of a "US Socialists in the 1960's" discussion at one of the local university campuses, featuring a guy named Barry Sheppard who was a mucky-muck for the Socialist Workers' Party. I thought, this sounds like fun, so off I went.
I got there, and outside the room they had these pro-Castro T-shirts for sale and also a pro-Venezuelan shirt. And there was a literature table where I picked up a copy of a magazine called Socialist Voice and started leafing through it, and the guy at the table said, "Two dollars." And I looked up, and he said, "Nothing's free anymore in this world anymore." So I handed him a ten, and he was like, "Uh, I don't think I have any change." (Maybe the usual crowd only has coins?) So I said, "In a world where nothing's free, it's a good idea to carry a little float." About two minutes later, I got my eight dollars.
Then I went into the room. A Cuban flag was hanging in it. Maoism and Stalinism are on the outs in the Communist haunts these days. Castro, Guevara, Chavez, Lenin, Marx and Trotsky are cool. Remember that if you're ever trying to make it with a radical girl.
There were about 20 people there. Half of them looked like your standard rent-a-radical. The others were average folks. The woman sitting next to me was also not a socialist, just there because she thought it might be interesting.
Mr. Sheppard was not a particularly great speaker. But he had some interesting stories about the McCarthy witch-hunt, and organizing the civil rights movement, and what the KKK and groups like that would resort to in the name of white supremacy, and what the government and police would do to crush protests that were entirely within the bounds of the Constitution.
I bought his book. $20. (No change required, thankfully.) I figured, it might be an interesting read, and even if it isn't, any truly committed 70-year-old Marxist can probably use the money. Although then I thought of Len Ragozin.
The book's not bad. Shows what a small but committed group of people can do when they pull in the same direction. And I can read it without any worry of turning into a Marxist. You can disagree with someone's general philosophy but still glean some good insight and acknowledge their valid points. And not hate them just because they think differently than you do.
I got there, and outside the room they had these pro-Castro T-shirts for sale and also a pro-Venezuelan shirt. And there was a literature table where I picked up a copy of a magazine called Socialist Voice and started leafing through it, and the guy at the table said, "Two dollars." And I looked up, and he said, "Nothing's free anymore in this world anymore." So I handed him a ten, and he was like, "Uh, I don't think I have any change." (Maybe the usual crowd only has coins?) So I said, "In a world where nothing's free, it's a good idea to carry a little float." About two minutes later, I got my eight dollars.
Then I went into the room. A Cuban flag was hanging in it. Maoism and Stalinism are on the outs in the Communist haunts these days. Castro, Guevara, Chavez, Lenin, Marx and Trotsky are cool. Remember that if you're ever trying to make it with a radical girl.
There were about 20 people there. Half of them looked like your standard rent-a-radical. The others were average folks. The woman sitting next to me was also not a socialist, just there because she thought it might be interesting.
Mr. Sheppard was not a particularly great speaker. But he had some interesting stories about the McCarthy witch-hunt, and organizing the civil rights movement, and what the KKK and groups like that would resort to in the name of white supremacy, and what the government and police would do to crush protests that were entirely within the bounds of the Constitution.
I bought his book. $20. (No change required, thankfully.) I figured, it might be an interesting read, and even if it isn't, any truly committed 70-year-old Marxist can probably use the money. Although then I thought of Len Ragozin.
The book's not bad. Shows what a small but committed group of people can do when they pull in the same direction. And I can read it without any worry of turning into a Marxist. You can disagree with someone's general philosophy but still glean some good insight and acknowledge their valid points. And not hate them just because they think differently than you do.