A Memorial Day Salute to a CPUSA Hero of The Spanish Civil War and WWII

by Norman Markowitz

Today is Memorial Day and I want to celebrate a man that most Americans would consider an American war hero. Except they never heard of him, because he was n American Communist. More importantly, they don't know the shameful act that the Pentagon committed againsthim.

If he was a Polish or Hungarian anti-Communist, movies would probably have been made about him in the cold war era.

But I will can the bitterness because his story is important(I remember it as best I can, since it struck me at the time and I know about him primarily through word of mouth from Comrades now deceased and very sketchy secondary sources

His name was Robert Thompson and he was born in Oregon in 1915. As a young Communist he fought in the Spanish Civil War as a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, where he commanded troops in combat. During WWII he won the army's Distinguished Service Cross and was cited for "extraodinary heroism" in combat in the fierce battle between American and Japanese troops in New Guinea. After WWII, as leader of the Communist Party of New York state, he was indicted under the Smith, went underground and was eventually captured and imprisoned.

Now things get very ugly. While in federal prison he as attacked with a metal pipe and had his skull fractured by a Croatian fascist also in detention and facing extradition to Yugoslavia as a war criminal. This fascist apparently thought that we would be rewarded by the U.S. government if he murdered an American Communist.

Thompson survived but I was told that he never fully recovered from these injuries. He died in 1966, only to suffer a final indignity when the Pentagon refused his family's request that he be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, which is open to all U.S. Veterans, war
heroes or not. The story got into the press(this after all was 1966) and was for many a scandal and a disgrace. However,I remember one ugly right-wing columnist for the New York Daily News writing that Thompson had an "advantage" over other soldiers in winning his medals because of his "experience" in combat in the Spanish Civil War.

But there is another reference which I found by surfing the web. It was from the liberal New York Post columnist, Murray Kempton, in the days before Rupe Murdoch took over the Post, then the only liberal labor newspaper in New York, and made it into the comical rightwing tabloid it has been since the 1970s, "so," Kempton wrote, "an American who was brave has been disposed of by Americans who were cowards of the least excusable sort, cowards who had very little to fear. Yesterday the army called Robert Thompson's widow and said it would send his ashes wherever she wished. Wherever those ashes go, the glory of America goes with them."

Although I, like Robert Thompson I am sure, believe that it is much better to work for peace than fight in wars and live for your class and people than die for your country, I would say a secular Amen to that.

If readers of the blog either knew or heard about Robert Thompson I would welcome their responses.

Theatre Review: Mary Stuart

Theatre Review: Schiller's "Mary Stuart"
A new version by Peter Oswald
Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Broadhurst Theatre [A Shubert Organization Theatre]
A Donmar Warehouse Production

by Eric Green

Watching the Republicans and some Democrats squirming their way out of responsibility for the torture of prisoners looks a lot like the Stuart cousins in 1587 when the Church of England was solidifying its grip over the religious needs of English people. Who is to blame for the death, beheading, of Mary Stuart, the Catholic Queen of Scotland? Is it her cousin, the reigning Protestant Queen of England, Elizabeth and daughter of Anne Bolen…a wife of Henry the 8th? Or…..?

Theatergoers are given the following historical note in their Playbill so that everyone is up to snuff when the play begins:

"HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 1587

"England has been Protestant for nearly 30 years. Disaffected Catholics at home and abroad are plotting, with the Pope's blessing, to overthrow Queen Elizabeth. Mary Stuart has fled native Scotland after a Protestant coup. As Elizabeth's cousin, she ha a strong claim to the throne of England and has been under house arrest there for 19 years. As a Catholic, Mary is a rallying point for the rebel cause and is suspected of supporting plots to kill Elizabeth."

Obviously, for English theatergoers this footnote is not necessary. And, also, those who have suffered at the hands of the English dynasty are also well aware of their family problems. The Irish for example. This point in world/English history has been the subject of historical novels, plays and other cultural events for centuries.

For example, in the United States, a HBO series call, "The Tudors" the life and times of Henry the 8th, is a wildly popular mini-series. Henry the 8th was certainly an amazing historical figure. And, the sisters Boleyn, Anne and Mary, were equally popular with a recent major motion picture on their behalf.

The new Broadway show, Mary Stuart, with Janet McTeer, is a real masterpiece. Harriet Walter as Queen Elizabeth is also played with skill and real understanding of her character. The rest of the cast is your usual great bunch of well school and experienced actors.

Bringing a non-musical production to Broadway with not well-known actors is a real risky business for producers. The terrible economy is threatening all of Broadway and high end Off-Broadway theatre. It is really threatening non-musicals.

The play has a distinct two part feel to it. The intermission in this play was well placed. The first half could be criticized as having too many monologues. But, they were done effectively.

The second half was a masterpiece. Walter and McTeer were brilliant. It is in the second half when these two protagonists meet and exchange their love, venom and monarchy allegiances.

The second half starts with Mary Stuart in the rain for about 10 minutes. And, in fact, actual water fell on her and her effectively played assistant. They were both soaked.

The scenes leading up to the beheading of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland were priceless. Talk about passing the buck. It shows that powerful despots may have to scramble when they've made a mistake, but given their power, they, too often, get away with it.

Probably the success of the play was its excellent direction. Phyllida Lloyd directed this production. The British born director also directed the mega film hit: Mama Mia. According to the her Playbill credits she also directed the London, Broadway and world wide theatre productions of Mama Mia.

Theatergoers who keep track of the low ticket prices on Theatre Development Fund [TDF] web sites, this is one play that should not be missed.

Mary Stuart is nominated for the Best Revival of a Play by the Tony Awards. Both McTeer and Walter were nominated for Best Performance by an actress in a play.

Film Review: Summer Hours, a French Film

Film Review: Summer Hours
Director: Olivier Assayas
Released in France in 2008
In the US, May, 2009

by Eric Green

Did you ever want to get a hold of a film director and scream at him? Well, the director for "Summer Hours" deserves that treatment.

Here was another well acted and well filmed, cinematography, French film about human relations, based on art work and the long cultural commitment the French have to art and the preservation of art.

In this film, the matriarch of a family of two men and a woman, and grandchildren, is faced with her 75th birthday and clearly a fear of death not to far around the corner. After meeting the whole family and the painter to whom the matriarch was tied to, you settled in to see where the director takes you.

Well, after a trip to San Francisco, she does die and the family comes together for the funeral in Paris and at the very nice summer home that they every loves. But, alas, two of the kids see their future in New York and Beijing. This is sort of a new thing for the French to emigrant like that.

That left the remaining son to sort out, once the basic decisions were made, the family affairs. He was also the sibling with the most attachment to the summerhouse.

There is a great set of scenes at the d' Orsay Museum in France where many of the painter's effects will be donated and displayed. The director takes to the back of the museum to see the preservation artists, etc. In fact, when the movie audience is first shown the d'Orsay, a hush could be heard from them. That museum, the repository of many of the most famous impressionist artists, is truly a destination for international visitors.

Too bad the film then settles into a sort of soap opera genre' with the children of the remaining son getting into school troubles. The director seems to also toy with the idea of making the film a documentary styled film. All of which is nice, but the main topic of the film is kicked to the side of the road.

The acting was, of course excellent. Lead by Juliette Binoche as Adrianne the daughter slated for New York living. She will be setting up family shop with, the character played by Kyle Eastwood. He makes another cameo appearance as a love interest. Remember, he played a similar role in his father's "Grand Torino" film. Edith Scob plays the matriarch Helene'; Charles Berling and Jeremie Renier play the two brothers. Isabelle Sadoyan plays the loyal housekeeper, Eloise.

Looking for a lighthearted film with a little bit of seriousness, this is the film for you. Too bad, it could have been a more significant film.

New Michael Moore Film this October

From NewsinFilm.com:

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has announced a release date for his next movie: October 2, 2009. The untitled film is described as “a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans,” specifically surrounding the billion dollar bailout.

The focus of the film has shifted just a year after its announcement at 2008’s Cannes Film Festival. It was originally intended to be a close look at the decline of Bush as President, the continuing war in Iraq, and the faltering economy as a sort of sequel to the most financially successful doc of all time, Fahrenheit 9/11. With Bush out of office, Moore will turn his “I told you so” comments and general pessimism towards the economy. Let me guess, he has a strong opinion?

“The wealthy, at some point, decided they didn’t have enough wealth,” Moore said Thursday. “They wanted more — a lot more. So they systematically set about to fleece the American people out of their hard-earned money. Now, why would they do this? That is what I seek to discover in this movie.”

In February, Moore posted an open letter on his website asking experts from the financial industry to “be a hero and help me expose the biggest swindle in American history.”

However, the doc faces some issues of its own. For example, the subject’s relevancy five and a half months from now. Hopefully the economy won’t still be in crisis mode in October and reliving the misery of rising unemployment will seem redundant. Plus, how will a Michael Moore movie do under a friendly administration? His box office hits have all been after Clinton left office (Bowling for Columbine, F9/11, Sicko). I’m not sure Obama as President helps this crusading far left wing filmmaker and his agenda, just like no one really saw W. on his way out.

The release date of Moore’s untitled film clashes with Scorsese’s Shutter Island, Disney’s re-release of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3-D, and Summit Entertainment’s horror flick Sorority Row. Though Overture and Paramount Vantage will likely start with a limited release and slowly roll it out like the rest of his films. Will you see it? Will anyone see it?

Activists Take EFCA Fight Home

From AFL-CIO Now Blog:

Members of the U.S. Senate and House are returning home this weekend for the Memorial Day recess, and when they get there, union members and our allies will be ready. Over the coming week, thousands will mobilize to ask their members of Congress to quickly pass the Employee Free Choice Act and make the economy work for everyone again.

More than 200 recess events will take place across the country in key states like Alaska, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Maine, Arkansas and Wisconsin. Union members and a broad coalition of allies will hold a range of events in support of the freedom to form unions and bargain, from 24-hour candlelight vigils to town hall meetings demonstrating the strong grassroots momentum for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Union members and supporters of workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain also will contact senators directly through letters and phone calls. Working families are expected to deliver 40,000 phone calls and 25,000 hand-written letters to their senators asking them to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the coming week will mark an unprecedented level of activity and enthusiasm:

Working people across the country are mobilizing as never before for the Memorial Day recess because we believe that Congress should and will pass labor law reform this summer. From 24 hour candlelight vigils to visits at district offices, working people are stepping up because it’s time to create an economy that works for everyone.

US to re-open talks with Cuba on migration policy

AFP story re-posted from Rawstory.com:

The United States, in another move aimed at thawing relations with Cuba, has offered to resume migration talks with the communist-ruled island almost six years after they were suspended.

"We intend to use the renewal of talks to reaffirm both sides' commitment to face legal and orderly migration," a State Department official told AFP on Friday.

The official, who asked not to be named, said Washington hoped the talks would "improve operational relations with Cuba on migration issues."

The United States and Cuba had carried out discussions on the issue every two years until they were suspended in 2003 by former president George W. Bush.

Read the whole story here...

Why People Believe Invisible Agents Control the World

Why People Believe Invisible Agents Control the World
A Skeptic's take on souls, spirits, ghosts, gods, demons, angels, aliens and other invisible powers that be
By Michael Shermer
ScientificAmerican.com

Souls, spirits, ghosts, gods, demons, angels, aliens, intelligent designers, government conspirators, and all manner of invisible agents with power and intention are believed to haunt our world and control our lives. Why?

The answer has two parts, starting with the concept of “patternicity,” which I defined in my December 2008 column as the human tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise. Consider the face on Mars, the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich, satanic messages in rock music. Of course, some patterns are real. Finding predictive patterns in changing weather, fruiting trees, migrating prey animals and hungry predators was central to the survival of Paleolithic hominids.

The problem is that we did not evolve a baloney-detection device in our brains to discriminate between true and false patterns. So we make two types of errors: a type I error, or false positive, is believing a pattern is real when it is not; a type II error, or false negative, is not believing a pattern is real when it is. If you believe that the rustle in the grass is a dangerous predator when it is just the wind (a type I error), you are more likely to survive than if you believe that the rustle in the grass is just the wind when it is a dangerous predator (a type II error). Because the cost of making a type I error is less than the cost of making a type II error and because there is no time for careful deliberation between patternicities in the split-second world of predator-prey interactions, natural selection would have favored those animals most likely to assume that all patterns are real.

But we do something other animals do not do. As large-brained hominids with a developed cortex and a theory of mind—the capacity to be aware of such mental states as desires and intentions in both ourselves and others—we infer agency behind the patterns we observe in a practice I call “agent­icity”: the tendency to believe that the world is controlled by invisible intentional agents. We believe that these intentional agents control the world, sometimes invisibly from the top down (as opposed to bottom-up causal randomness). Together patternicity and agent­icity form the cognitive basis of shamanism, paganism, animism, polytheism, monotheism, and all modes of Old and New Age spiritualisms.

Agenticity carries us far beyond the spirit world. The Intelligent Designer is said to be an invisible agent who created life from the top down. Aliens are often portrayed as powerful beings coming down from on high to warn us of our impending self-destruction. Conspiracy theories predictably include hidden agents at work behind the scenes, puppet masters pulling political and economic strings as we dance to the tune of the Bilderbergers, the Roth­schilds, the Rockefellers or the Illuminati. Even the belief that government can impose top-down measures to rescue the economy is a form of agenticity, with President Barack Obama being touted as “the one” with almost messianic powers who will save us.

There is now substantial evidence from cognitive neuroscience that humans readily find patterns and impart agency to them, well documented in the new book SuperSense (HarperOne, 2009) by University of Bristol psychologist Bruce Hood. Examples: children believe that the sun can think and follows them around; because of such beliefs, they often add smiley faces on sketched suns. Adults typically refuse to wear a mass murderer’s sweater, believing that “evil” is a supernatural force that imparts its negative agency to the wearer (and, alternatively, that donning Mr. Rogers’s cardigan will make you a better person). A third of transplant patients believe that the donor’s personality is transplanted with the organ. Genital-shaped foods (bananas, oysters) are often believed to enhance sexual potency. Subjects watching geometric shapes with eye spots interacting on a computer screen conclude that they represent agents with moral intentions.

“Many highly educated and intelligent individuals experience a powerful sense that there are patterns, forces, energies and entities operating in the world,” Hood explains. “More important, such experiences are not substantiated by a body of reliable evidence, which is why they are supernatural and unscientific. The inclination or sense that they may be real is our supersense.”

We are natural-born supernaturalists.

Healthcare Coalition Demands Investigation into Healthcare Monopoly

From the UFCW:

A report today released by Health Care for America Now reveals shocking levels of concentration in the private health insurance market in most states, spurring the grassroots health care coalition to issue a request to the Justice Department to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the state of the private health insurance market.

According to the report, more than 94 percent of all insurance markets in the United States are “highly concentrated,” a term defined by the U.S. Justice Department as a market in which one company holds more than a 42 percent share.

Where one or two companies dominate, competition suffers. And in this case, the American people suffer, too.

Read the whole story here...

Music Review: Bob Dylan and Steve Earle

Bob Dylan, "Together Through Life"
Columbia Records

Steve Earl, "Townes"
New West Records

by Eric Green

Two music giants released record albums around May Day this month. While their ages are quite disparate by about 20 years or so; they are beginning to share the same audiences. True, Dylan's audiences are far broader; but a portion of his appeal is similar to Earle's. And, of course while Earle is a giant, Dylan's giant size is far larger.

Steve Earle has on more than one occasion voice his admiration for Dylan's writing and poetic works. Now, they are sharing living conditions: Steve Earle moved from Nashville, Tennessee to the Village in NYC a few years ago; and, is building as extension on his newly acquired Woodstock, NY home, with his wife, singer/songwriter, Allison Moorer. The Village and Woodstock that is total Dylan folkloric.

But, in "Townes" Earle wanted to make it clear, that his true mentor and leader in his music world was and remains Townes Van Zandt the historic and legendary song writer and performer.

For Earle's 13th studio CD, he chose just 15 of Van Zandts' songs that Earle felt were both important and not overly played and recorded. Of course, sticking to his unpredictability, Earle starts off his CD with one of Van Zandt's better-known songs, "Pacho and Lefty." While, very popular, most people are not aware that he wrote it. The truth is that not enough people know Townes Van Zandt and his body of work. Willy Nelson made the song very popular. Earle chose not to include one of Van Zandt's greatest working class songs: "Tecumseh Valley." Too bad. I guess that fell under the heading of being recorded by many others.

In the course of his promotional tour and the concommittant interviews, Earle has added to the CD many biographical points to Van Zandt's life. He makes it clear that he is not just telling his mentor's good side. He starts off all interviews by being up front about his afflictions lead by drug and alcohol abuse. It is clear that Earle wanted Van Zandt to be around far longer than he lasted, lasted in the sense of being able to produce quality music.

Earle's CD songs include many blues songs of Van Zandt. He said that Van Zandt was a blues singer and that he spent a lot of time with Lightening Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb. Most people who know Van Zandt would agree, but you won't find him in the Blues section of music store categories.

The release of the CD was preceded by a major promotion spread in the NY Times Entertainment Section. Steve Earle has broken through.

In his interview with WFUV, a highly regarded New York City music radio station, he sang a few of the CD's songs, but then, in keeping with Earle's political activism, changed the tone of the interview. He said that he was extremely happy that Obama won the election. He said he voted for him and has never regretted at all. He said that he has patience with the Administration's position on Iraq and Afghanistan. But, he did say that he has tell him where he stands. He won't be happy until every soldier was back home in the U.S. He then sang his great anti-war song, "Rich Man's War."

Earle described the start of his music career being part of a Van Zandt's Texas "cult" of friends. They included Guy Clark and Lucinda Williams.

It is sort of ironic that Earle finally decided to produce an album of Van Zandt's songs as he moved into his 54th birthday, Van Zandt died at the age of 53, in 1998. Van Zandt battled severe depression all of his life.

Dylan

"Together Through Life" is Bob Dylan's 33rd studio album. And, in keeping with his unpredictability, this one defies easy description. Suffice to say, it is an album of human relations with a lot of rhythmic music. The song, "I Fell a Change Comin On" has been interpreted as a boost the recent national election. But, given Dylan's refusal to describe his music, who knows?

For example, a casual listener might simply say that Dylan was looking for a low key, romantic kind of CD. But, then you come across "My Wife's Home Town." This was written, as the CD says by Bob Dylan and Robert Hunter with the lyrics by Dylan and the legend Willie Dixon. He then gives, "Special thanks to the estate of Willie Dixon and the Blues Heaven Foundation." There is more to this CD then meets the eye.

Dylan fans will like this album.

Steve Earle's album might become a legend itself. It has already made Billboard's top 20. Dylan's CDs always sell well.

A concert tour between Earle and Dylan would be real nice.

Book Review: Winter in Madrid

Book Review: Winter in Spain
A Novel
C.J. Sansom
Penguin 2009

One Dimensional Look At Post Civil War Madrid

by Eric Green

C.J. Sansom's, Winter in Madrid, is one war-based novel you can probably live without. Reading through its over 500 pages of novel driven history was easy and mostly enjoyable. Riveting it isn't. It has none of the toughness, tensions and insights that Sebastian Faulks' novels have. One reviewer of the Sansom book compared his novel to Faulks. The only comparison would be that both are history novels to some extent based on facts. [The Faulks trilogy: Birdsong; Woman at the Lion D'Or; and Charlotte Gray are in a higher league.]

It seemed that Sansom had an ulterior motive in writing this book. What was it? To me, it was to paint the Spanish Civil War's International Brigade and the Spanish Republican Government as woeful and doomed to failure. His selective use of history, especially the right-wing British government's treatment of Spain and Germany, was a good thing, but it did make up for its other deficiencies. Those Tories are always easy targets and Sansom makes the most of them. I can see Sansom writing a novel focusing on the Tories and pro-war Laborites that would be quite good.

The spy rings and their ultimate failures were quite predictable. Which characters make it through and those who don't is also woefully predictable.

There is some nice character development. And, as a novelist Sansom does get the reader involved in their lives. Sansom is not an amateur. But, it says a lot about the writer that of the three main characters left standing at the end; one is least committed to anything progressive political, becomes a teacher; another just as lost as before; and, the third is as greedy and cynical as he was in the book itself.

The two other main characters that stood for progressive politics were killed and their causes were never seen as worthwhile.

The novel, on the political side, falls conveniently in line with the current effort in revisionist history to equate Josef Stalin with Adolph Hitler. This novel maintains that political theme through its 500 plus pages. No wonder it is popular book in some circles.

The author's notes at the end bolster the lack of real in depth interest and honest analysis of the Spanish Civil War, International Brigades and its aftermath. Original history has Communist Party members, in England and Spain, as true heroes and very grounded in the reality of stopping the Nazi/Fascist military machine. Sansom tosses that aside with casual aplomb.

Too bad. I am sure that Sansom's other novels and creative efforts are quite good. He should stay away from politics which involve the left.