February 12, 2014

Comrade Valentine's Day Slogans--An Historical Compendium


February is the month in which we celebrate one of the great holidays of the international working class. And it is a fine thing indeed that the Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day 2014 have been released by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization/Organización Socialista del Camino para la Libertad.

As it has done for over a decade, Freedom Road has commendably undertaken to give scientific guidance to comrades celebrating this great day, taking into account the exact conjuncture of the class struggle at the present time. Because our movement is rooted firmly in the method and world outlook of dialectical and historical materialism, Fire on the Mountain has compiled in this post links to as much of the recent history of CVD as is available at present. (Inexplicably, the generally valuable Marxist Internet Archives and Encyclopedia of anti-Revisionism On-Line do not contain this crucial archival material.)

We are aware of the dangers that revisionists and "left" sectarians alike may rummage around in this compendium, seeking to nit-pick or posit, a-historically, contradictions between one year and another. but FotM has confidence in the experience of veteran comrades and the perspicacity of the rising generation of class warriors alike. May they draw inspiration from the past and carry the observation of Comrade Valentine's Day into the bright future!

First, this year's slogans, from the FRSO/OSCL website:

Toilers! Tillers! All who yearn and fight for a better world!

Let us surge forward together, wave on wave, illumined by the bright red rays of Comrade Valentine's revolutionary romanticism. 

Decisively demolish the saccharine commodity fetishism with which the bourgeoisie attempts to smother the proletarian character of Comrade Valentine's Day. 

 Joyously celebrate the deepening rejection of heteropatriarchal homophobia by the masses in their millions, a victory for Comrade Valentine's Communist line!
Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian
Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian
Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian
A new graphic illustrates the slogans.

The Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day 2013 can be found on the FRSO/OSCL website.
Translations were supplied in Spanish, Filipino, Mandarin, Irish, Malayalam, Bosnian/ Croatian/Serbian, Swedish, German and Norwegian. A new graphic appeared as well. Research indicates it was created by a professional artist, Magaly Ohika of Puerto Rico.

Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian
Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian

Toilers! Tillers! All who yearn and fight for a better world!
Let us surge forward together, wave on wave, illumined by the bright red rays of Comrade Valentine’s revolutionary romanticism.
Decisively demolish the saccharine commodity fetishism with which the bourgeoisie attempts to smother the proletarian character of Comrade Valentine’s Day!!
Joyously celebrate the deepening rejection of heteropatriarchal homophobia by the masses in their millions, a victory for Comrade Valentine’s Communist line!!!
- See more at: http://freedomroad.org/2014/02/official-slogans-for-comrade-valentines-day-2014/#sthash.Vs0z5xrF.dpuf
Toilers! Tillers! All who yearn and fight for a better world!
Let us surge forward together, wave on wave, illumined by the bright red rays of Comrade Valentine’s revolutionary romanticism.
Decisively demolish the saccharine commodity fetishism with which the bourgeoisie attempts to smother the proletarian character of Comrade Valentine’s Day!!
Joyously celebrate the deepening rejection of heteropatriarchal homophobia by the masses in their millions, a victory for Comrade Valentine’s Communist line!!!
- See more at: http://freedomroad.org/2014/02/official-slogans-for-comrade-valentines-day-2014/#sthash.Vs0z5xrF.dpuf

Toilers! Tillers! All who yearn and fight for a better world!
Let us surge forward together, wave on wave, illumined by the bright red rays of Comrade Valentine’s revolutionary romanticism.
Decisively demolish the saccharine commodity fetishism with which the bourgeoisie attempts to smother the proletarian character of Comrade Valentine’s Day!!
Joyously celebrate the deepening rejection of heteropatriarchal homophobia by the masses in their millions, a victory for Comrade Valentine’s Communist line!!!
- See more at: http://freedomroad.org/2014/02/official-slogans-for-comrade-valentines-day-2014/#sthash.Vs0z5xrF.dpuf
The Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day 2012 can be found on the FRSO/OSCL website.
Translations were supplied in Mandarin, Spanish, Irish, German, Italian, Indonesian, Swedish and Norwegian. 2012 marked the first time the Official Slogans were credited to the Freedom Road Line Development Commission, as they have been since. An experimental  CVD Slogans From Below feature was introduced but evidently did not catch on.

The Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day 2011 can be found on the FRSO/OSCL website.
Translations were supplied in English and Mandarin.
Freedom Road Line Development Commission


The Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day, 2010 can be found on the FRSO/OSCL website.
Translations were supplied in German, Spanish and Swedish.

The Comrade Valentine's Day slogans for 2009 appeared only here at Fire on the Mountain.
Translations were supplied in Swedish, German and Spanish (2 versions). This may be the first appearance of the CVD "rising heart" version of Freedom Road's official rising star logo.


The Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day, 2008 appear on the FRSO/OSCL website.

The Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day, 2007 appear on the FRSO/OSCL website.
Translation was supplied in Spanish.

The Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day 2006 appear on the FRSO/OSCL website.
Translation was supplied in Spanish. This appears to have been the first occasion upon which the Official Slogans appeared in a language other than English.

The Official Slogans for Comrade Valentine's Day 2005 are to be found in a comment on a thread in an FotM reposting of the 2011 Official Slogans. They were:
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!

And before 2005? All that exists is the following section of  Fire on the Mountain's 2011 repost of  the Official Slogans for that year:
The 2004 Official Slogans, thought lost, have been retrieved by Comrade Google as they were preserved by the far-sighted Scott McLemee. Here they are:
Workers and Oppressed People, Unite to Make Comrade Valentine's Day a Joyous Holiday of Proletarian Class Love and Militant Struggle!

Decisively Defeat the Sinister Schemes of the Bush/Cheney Gangster Clique to Thwart the Romantic Aspirations of the L/G/B/T/Q masses!

Eternal Glory to Comrade Valentine!
Secondary sources--the legendary Leftist Trainspotters listserv--indicate that Comrade Valentine's Day Official Slogans were also released in 2002 and 2003. Further archival work will, it is to be hoped, make them accessible to future generations of proletarian fighters.

Read more!