Poetry Corner: The Strangest Creature on Earth by Nâzım Hikmet
The Strangest Creature on Earth by Nâzım Hikmet, 1947
The Turkish communist poet Nazim Hikmet was noted to distinguish lyric poems, dedicated to love, from epic poems, dedicated to the action of the popular masses. Here we feature The Strangest Creature on Earth.
Review: The War On Cuba
Maxime Rigoulay recommends the new three part documentary series, The War On Cuba, by Belly of the Beast, which is a damning indictment of the US blockade on the socialist island in 2020.
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
Peter Stoddart reviews David Attenborough’s latest Netflix special which, while poignant, fails to deliver answers.
Poetry Corner: Full Moon at Tierz – Before The Storming of Huesca by John Cornford
Full Moon at Tierz: Before The Storming of Huesca by John Cornford.
John Cornford from a relatively privileged families and attended Cambridge University. It was at Cambridge that he met and fell in love with Margot Heinemann and where they both joined the Communist Party. John’s mother, Frances Crofts Cornford, was a poet, and he himself was already writing poems at school.
After gaining a BA first-class honours in History, he became the first Englishman to enlist against Franco in the Spanish Civil War and was killed in battle on the Andujar and Cordoba Front on 27 or 28 December 1936.
Cornford wrote just a few poems in Spain, including A Letter from Aragon and the poem featured here Full Moon at Tierz: Before The Storming of Huesca.
Da 5 Bloods: Black Lives Matter meets Rambo?
Dennis Broe reviews Spike Lee’s recent and celebrated film which attempts to tackle the experience of African-American US soldiers during and after the Vietnam War.
Greek Communists demand the return of the “Elgin Marbles” held in British Museum
In a question to the European Commission last week, the Communist Party of Greece’s (KKE) EU Parliamentary Group demanded the full and permanent return of the 2,500 year-old Parthenon Marbles, also known as the “Elgin Marbles” in Britain.
Cable Street is a powerful example
Last weekend (3/4 October 2020), young communists conducted home to home leafleting on estates in Cable Street scene of a famous battle against fascism in 1936. The three day campaign included a street stall, giant projection of a film on the Battle and postering, with a banner display on the Sunday.
Events workers stage Day of Action across Britain
Yesterday (30 September 2020), events professionals around the country took part in various actions to expose the dire situation facing workers in this highly profitable industry. Graham Dakin writes about the conditions and challenges that have led them to this point.
Poetry Corner: Why I Choose Red by Hugh MacDiarmid
Why I Choose Red by Hugh MacDiarmid
Dr Christopher Murray Grieve, who wrote under the pen-name of Hugh Macdiarmid, was the greatest Scottish poet of the twentieth century. Best-known for what he called “Lallans”, a literary form of the Lowland Scots language that he developed, he also made use of English.
At different stages of his life he was a supporter of Scottish nationalism and communism. Famously, he stood for the Communist Party against Tory Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, in the Kinross & West Perthshire constituency in the 1964 general election, as part of an unsuccessful bid to get television time for the Party. His A Sprig of White Heather in the Future’s Lapel, written for former Communist MP Willie Gallacher on the occasion of the latter’s 80th birthday, is particularly famous among Britain’s Communists.
Here we feature Why I Choose Red, one of McDiarmid’s strongly political poems.
Green Frontier and Wild District: The Bolivarian vs The Bolsonarian Revolution
Dennis Broe reviews two Netflix original TV series, Green Frontier and Wild District, two shockingly different approaches to South American struggles for political liberation.