February 13, 2007

Workers, Celebrate Comrade Valentine's Day With Farseeing Proletarian Optimism!

Fire on the Mountain is most pleased to see that the Freedom Road Socialist Organization / Organización Socialista del Camino para la Libertad has posted the Official Comrade Valentine's Day slogans for 2007. (This fine tradition has been augmented this year with some reflections on Loving In The Movement, by Claire Tran, a young FRSO/OSCL leader.)

Here, for those too lazy to click the link, are this year's slogans (but if you go to th' Road's web page you get to see the Official Comrade Valentine's Day logo, too).

Comrade Valentine's Day Slogans, 2007

Progressive And Revolutionary People Everywhere,

1. Resolutely Uphold The Militant Bolshevik Spirit And Revolutionary Romanticism Embodied In Comrade Valentine!

2. Decisively Smash Retrograde And Joyless Ultra-Left Lines Which Disparage Proletarian Love And Desire!!

3. Warmly Celebrate the 20th Anniversary Of ACT-UP, A Militant Organization Which Attacked The Bourgeois State And Big Capital On Behalf Of LGBTQ People And All AIDS-Affected Oppressed Communities Worldwide In 1987 And Has Remained On The Offensive For Two Decades!!!


UPDATE:

FRSO/OSCL has added a Spanish language translation of this.

A Los/Las Progresistas Y Pueblos Revolucionarios En Todo El Mundo,

1. ¡Mantengamos El Espíritu Militante Bolshevique Y Romanticismo Revolucionario Incorporado En Camarada Valentin@!

2. ¡Derrotar Las Lineas No-Felizes Ultra-Izquierda Y Atrasadas Que Desbaratan El Amor Proletario Y El Deseo!

3. ¡Celebremos El 20 Aniversario De ACT-UP, La Organización Que Atacó El Estado Burgues Y El Gran Capital Por Parte De Gente LGBTQ Y Todas Comunidades Oprimidas Del Mundo Afectadas Por El SIDA En 1987 Y Que Se Ha Quedado En La Ofensiva Por Dos Décadas!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amusing, but my curiosity has been piqued. The reference to a "fine tradition" suggests that this is not the first set of slogans.

I did click to the Freedom Road website but couldn't find any from earlier years. Where might I find previous slogan lists, if they exist and are not identical with this years?

Anonymous said...

Here is last year's:

Proletarians and Oppressed Peoples,
Greet Comrade Valentine's Day in a spirit of resolute revolutionary optimism!

Expose, defy and combat sinister bourgeois schemes to transform Comrade Valentine's Day into a festival of commodities, a reinforcer of mandatory heterosexuality and a celebration of oppressive patriarchal gender norms!

Unite with all who draw strength from personal relationships in carrying on the struggle to crush oppression and exploitation and to build a better world!


A los/las Proletariada/os y Pueblos Oprimidos,

¡Demos la bienvenida al Dia del Camarada Valentin en el espiritu del optimismo firme y revolucionario!

¡Revelar, desafiar y combatir los planes siniestros burgueses de transformar el Dia del Camarada Valentin a un festival de comodidades respaldando la heterosexualidad obligatoria en una celebracion de la normas opresivas de genero patriarquista!

¡Unir con todos/as que se refuerzan a traves de las relaciones personales en la lucha de derrotar la opresion y crear un mundo mejor!

Jimmy Higgins said...

Esteemed anonymous--

I was also able to track down 2005's Official Slogans via the invaluable Leftist Trainspotters list, but though there are posts there dating to 2002 with Comrade Valentine's Day in the subject line, most only had links to the FRSO/OSCL website. The absence of the first three years makes it hard to evaluate the political currents inside Freedom Road on this critical question (for instance, what does the 2007 universalization of initial capital letters in the slogans after a contrary trend indicate?).


Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day, 2005

Workers and Oppressed People, Hold Aloft the Bright Red, Heart-Shaped Banner of Comrade Valentine's Day!

Hail the Trailblazing Revolutionary Gay Marriage of Ka Andres and Ka Jose of the Compostela Valley Province Front of the New People's Army of the Philippines!

Resolutely Repudiate All Attacks by the Reactionaries of the Monopolist Ruling Class and Their Joyless, Puritanical Running Dogs on Women's Reproductive Freedom, on the Democratic Rights of LGBTQ People, and on Progress toward Genuine Equality between Women and Men!