I would love a video where you go over, in your opinion, the most valuable books/articles or authors the average person might find useful to better understand the material living and working conditions of the average persons in the USSR. I grew up in the West and began reading about the USSR years ago to prove what a dystopia it was and have since been astounded by my previous lack of historical understanding and how laughably incorrect my points of view were on this country. Keep up the great work!
I hope to talk about the kind of knowledge you can gain from magazines actually! It's incredibly humanizing and insightful to read the many magazines that were put out and I'm sure it's not what people expect!
I really like the DPRK's addition of the calligraphy brush! From the list I also liked the Hungarian one from 1949-56 and the Afghan one, just really like the use of wheat stalks. And you are right the hammer and sickle is *iconic*! I hope more people will join you here on youtube because I'd love to see longer videos!! On a side note I am haunted by your review of the Soviet representation in The Queen's Gambit, I never really had any interest in watching the show, but I did watch your video and I think about some of your points on an almost weekly basis and wonder how tf nobody mentioned these things when they were praising the show lol
1069s 70s South America, both Spanishb+Portuguese speaking used to have whole liberation theology movement. Later, Haiti has the under attack its librration theology of US expelled ex President JeanBerteand Aridtidr???aPhilipoines probably has some followers of thus..US had/has Dorothy Days progressive Catholic Worker movenent. All these have websites +/or videos.
I have a Soviet book from the 50s with different poems, stories for kids, there's a lot of rly cool ones, for example traditional stories from different Soviet republic or ones that make fun of a western capitalist, and many others, but my favourite one is about the symbols of the USSR, it talks about how different countries always used dangerous scary animals (like lions or eagles) with weapons as their symbols to threaten their neighbours, but in the USSR we use the hammer and sickle, the red star and gold wheat as our symbols, because the goal is not to threaten other people but the opposite, to live together in peace because "under the sky there's room for everyone who earns their living by work". I always found this short poem for kids so endearing and beautiful because in such a simple comparison it shows how truly wonderful communist values are. When I visit back home I'll put the original under this comment.
there's actually an appliance repairperson in my neighbourhood whose work truck has the gear and sickle of the CPUSA with two hands shaking imposed over it, and i've always wondered if they use that logo intentionally or it came up randomly for them, especially since the hammer is missing and it has additional symbols, but i could swear the gear and sickle blade are the same design
i love the hammer and sickle, but sometimes i love the variations more. i think there's an argument to be made that since the hammer and sickle originated in the USSR, using it without much variation plays into the idea that communists working post-USSR simply want to revive it and not continue the struggle onward, but on the other hand, using the USSR design in the west is a step in pushing back against the idea that the USSR was entirely a bad project. i don't know where i fall on that argument i may have entirely created in my mind, but in my personal life, it's of little consequence, and all of my tools of worker equality symbols are still hammers and sickles. but i do have an enormous soft spot for the mozambican kalashnikov, hoe, and book
another great video, thank you! will you please do a longer video on Islam? i also am very much looking forward to more soviet propaganda videos as i can not read the posters and enjoy hearing your interpretations. also not to make this a long list but i am interested in hearing you discuss the idea of “the new soviet man/woman”
One of my favourite random political history factoids is that Austria, as a nation with little in the way of communist history, has incorporated the hammer and sickle into their national coat of arms ever since 1919 (barring 1934-1945 where they presumably remodelled it after the German Reichsadler). The fact that they kept it in their coat of arms during the Cold War might be one of the strongest testiments to the strength of its design Also I'm glad I found your channel! Really informative stuff
There is also, as background. an unusual TED Talk by a MS ?? by an Indian Muslim woman who says that the Quran is more pro women's equality than some later hierarchical, reactionary male clergy × their alleged authentic continuation of the theology. For example, there are only a few references. to women's clothing, no specific style promoted !!!
Great video sister!! A little tip, if you make your video's 10 minutes and 1 seconds its better for yourube algorithm. Now your vid is 9 minutes 59. Keep up the great work!! 😎😎
What is the most beautiful flag, I ask, comrade Izdihar?? I vote for the flag of Angola 🇦🇴🇦🇴🇦🇴 clearly inspired by the socialist movements. though the main force of that country is no longer socialist since decades ago. EDIT, I think it's better to do some more clarifications on the symbols in that flag. You have the Machete, symbolizing the sickle, since in the ex colonies, we would work at sugarcane fields, or coffee fields, so it's more official to the local agricultural practices. And the Gear represents the hammer, or the advanced form of it, mechanical work, industry, In a sense. Even though I'm from Brazil, I can't quite think there's any other communist flag more beautiful than the Angolan one.
Well, why waste time on thinking what aesthetics to use on a flag when everyone can recreate such flag with ease? With passion. If such flag is intimidating in the eyes of the oppressors, to send their dogs scramble or running, to bring hope for the oppressed, then it is the most beautiful flag I have ever seen so far.
Honestly, as someone who likes designing symbols for fun, I love the hammer and sickle and the message it's supposed to convey, but the main difficulty I have with it is how it can apply to the American worker's struggle, given the fact that peasants aren't really recognized in American culture as anything separate from workers who happen to be rurally stationed, as well as how those in American rural areas tend to hold more archaic, right-winged values due to being more isolated from the urban and industrialized areas, so the American agricultural worker can't really associate with the American industrial worker given how different their respective experiences are, all of which is perhaps done deliberately by the American ruling class. There is definitely an aggressive divide between urban and rural civilians in American society. I would also like to add a note that I'm glad that I'm not the only communist who cares about aesthetics. Aesthetic is definitely a more powerful geopolitical tool than people give it credit for, especially in things like flags, logos, emblems, architecture, and uniforms. You want people to be able to see themselves having a life in a world with your ideologies, which is definitely easier to see when the aesthetics are iconic, or to the very least visually appealing, because, if these things aren't visually appealing, people will stop seeing themselves having a life with such ideologies present and will more likely choose something that has more appealing aesthetics even if the ideology is harmful and problematic. That's how the nazis have gained members even to this day, and genuinely, we need to beat them at their own game, not unlike that which has been seen in exercise culture amongst fellow communists. When it comes to aesthetics in a general sense, communists can be very hit-or-miss. The bright red with gold accents can be great when it's used generously, but a lot of times, they risk overusing it. A lot of the uniforms are the kind that may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they kinda grow on you after a while, although you can still understand most of the inevitable material limitations, like the way armor and weapons were designed, but a lot of times, they kinda fight it, or shoehorn different fashion statements in places where they shouldn't be. Of course, nothing's perfect, and different cultures have different demands in fashion, but America can very much be demanding that way, especially with fast fashion taking a stranglehold on American society, Americans are going to need something sufficient enough to taper off and slow down with, as well as articulate with modern material demands, both tactical and diplomatic.
Angola, Afghanistan, and National Bolshevism all stick out to me as super cool, but the Angola ones just go so hard i can’t imagine anything replacing them as my favorite lol
I think we can still reclaim it within the cultural milieu of global capitalist hegemony, despite its obvious vilification in the western world. Maybe that's my revolutionary optimism speaking. I still uphold the red star or the red flag from history. Obviously, the starry plough is incredibly unique(ICA) as well.
And, of course, Karelo-Finnish SSR: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karelo-Finnish_Soviet_Socialist_Republic and Karelian ASSR: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karelian_Autonomous_Soviet_Socialist_Republic People that are offended by a symbol of equality should do the same as they do with poor people: look away.
Go míle Maith agat/ Many thanks! Its not very often the Symbol of the Irish working class/ starry plough gets mentioned! Grá den Éire mo comrád/ Love from Ireland my Comrade.
I'm a recent arrival to the socialist/communist scene and am SO thankful for this channel! I wanna learn all that I can about the Soviet Union and what life was really like there, who its leaders really were as people, etc. Just bought Victor Sebestyen's book on Lenin, who I've come to really admire and even look up to. Thank you for all that you do, looking forward to binging your content! You've earned yourself a subscriber, comrade. :)
I mean if the symbol of working people coming together in equality angers who I think maybe you're idea or freedom may contradict the peoples idea of freedom.
Been laser cutting tiny hammer and sickles on some of my dollar bills. Getting it out in the world anyway I can. lol The DPRK one is dope because i'm a struggling artist as well as someone who does manual labor for a living.
Why was Stalin a good leader? His policies that were supported by his Allies brought about unjust state terrorism. That is not good. He was also very paranoid and distrustful, overall, not a good leader at all. He doesn’t get credit for the victory against fascism, the men and women of the Red army do.
I’m very emotionally attached to the symbol. The sight of it actually lifts my spirits. I sort of wish China had it in their flag. But of course logically that’s not a big deal.
Anya Turnbull's video on the Hammer and Sickle is such clown propaganda. She doesn't seem to have a problem with genocidal stars and stripes or union jack though.
I love the Hamsic, but I do struggle to come up with a (quick) objective reason as to why it’s not offensive, in the way the sw*stic* is, without having to take apart 50 other arguments. I suppose I don’t know the history of the latter, which could help. If anyone has a quick and easy response to this accusation, please respond here!
The hammer and sickle is not offensive because it represents solidarity with your social class, a class based upon its place in the relations of production. If it represents Marxist Leninist states however, one could see it as a representation of state terrorism
It's important to remember that most of what you hear in the capitalist media about the "crimes of communism" are outright lies started by Nazis (e.g. Goebbels), Nazi collaborators (e.g. Ivan Koshkin, the man whom Solzhenitsyn used as his source), and traitors (e.g. Khrushchev, Solzhenitsyn). I recommend reading Grover Furr, starting with "Khrushchev lied" and "Stalin and the struggle for democratic reform". You might also find various interviews of Grover Furr here on youtube speaking about his research. Also the Finnish Bolshevik is a great channel here that debunks myths about communism and USSR while always providing lots and lots of sources.
Swastika aka Nazis which it represents was the oppression of people based on their race and ethnicity. They considered anyone not part of their in-group to be sub human and worthy of extermination. Hammer and Sickle aka communists have no such aim. Their struggle is against the bourgeois and the oppression of them. How would you consider the two same? I don't know. But when the whole of Western media and state is owned by those oppressors I guess this is what you get as your world view.
Just seen this one.. and i tend to agree.. but don't forget that the Soviet union was deeply rooted with white Russian supremacy .. and in the politburo there was no uzbeks /azars or any of the Muslim SSRs.. so.. yeah..not sure if your hijab was taken well strolling around red square..😊
And thank you for the disclaimers. If you could mention the minorities most negatively affected by the USSR I’d appreciate it. I think it’d make the content more palatable to queer folks. Cause there’s a lot of nuance between say Russia and Eastern Germany at the time and what queer rights meant to their regimes and people.
Sickle - means small bourgeoisie in its core. Peasants who are they? Small bourgeois. Unity of proletariat and small bougoisie is the essence of Soviet Union. Unfortunately, party bosses were very far from marxism and understanding what was their country about.