The Seven Deadly Spins by Mickey Z

 “Covert action should not be confused with missionary work.”

Author Mickey Z’s book The Seven Deadly Spins argues that U.S. warfare is intertwined with “sophisticated public relations” and analyses 7 techniques that pop up in one form or another during wartime. These techniques include “misinformation” which exists to “portray U.S.leaders as moral, garner support for those leaders … and lay the foundation for future wars.” Mickey Z defines these Seven Deadly Spins as a “cunning form of psychological oppression.”

Mickey Z takes the reader through each of the 7 spins–or propaganda techniques utilized to narcotize us–members of the public–to war, and he debunks each spin with facts taken from a number of wars, invasions, interventions, police actions, etc. The book includes an analysis of events leading to Pearl Harbour, as well as a history of the relationship between America and Saddam Hussein. There’s a lot of information here, and Mickey Z includes scrupulous notes with references to quoted sources. The book also includes an index so that the reader can access information on a particular war (the Korean War for example), or a particular massacre (My Lai, My Khe, etc). I was familiar with some of the information, but I found some new information too (death squads in Indonesia working from CIA hit lists, for example).

My favourite spin is #4 “Support the Troops”. In order to have a war–any war–you need troops, and the author discusses the Committee on Public Information during WWI which “promoted the noble purpose” of the conflict. Mickey Z explains how this trend continues even today–for example Kuwait hired a PR firm, the Rendon Group when invaded by Iraq in 1990. The Rendon Group was then employed by the Pentagon for a 4-month contract for a total of $397,000 right after 9-11. Getting a nation to swallow a war with ever-mounting casualties while excusing budget deficits at home is not an easy task, and the media plays an important role. With a nation fascinated by the tragic story of Teri Schiavo, one has to dig through the newspapers to find any mention of the ongoing casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there again, as CNN chair Walter Isaacson once noted “it seems perverse to focus too much on the casualties.” In Chapter 4, “Support the Troops” the author also examines the ongoing discrediting of peace/protest groups, and how terms such as “commie” and “leftist” are flung at anyone who dares raise as much as a murmur against militarism. Mickey Z examines the Espionage and Sedition Act of 1917 that includes a provision that states it is an imprisonable offence to “willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States.” This law is still in effect, and there’s also a discussion of the COINTELPRO programme whose purpose was “destroying politically objectionable organizations and individuals through any and every means.”

The Seven Deadly Spins is a great resource and is fascinating reading–especially since it’s so easy to pick up any paper or turn on the television and currently see these spins in action everywhere you look. I found a lot of information here disgusting, and some of the quotes spouted by various politicians (left and right) show a shocking lack of respect for human life. This book does not take a partisan view–it is not pro left or pro right–it’s anti-war and examines the techniques many governments have used to get the public to swallow death and destruction.

The London Years by Rudolf Rocker

“I realized that the road back to my native land was closed to me forever.”

The London Years is the remarkable memoir of anarchist Rudolf Rocker and covers the years 1893-1914. When the book begins, Rocker, a German socialist has left his native country due to his political beliefs and is living in Paris. Here the non-Jewish Rocker met Jewish anarchists for the first time, and formed solid friendships in the working class Jewish community.

For most of the book, Rocker follows a chronological approach–which he drops occasionally to follow thematic lines. Rocker tracks his move to England, and his visits to the poorest areas of London. In these slums he witnesses “an abyss of human suffering” and finds himself drawn to the issue of labour rights. The explosive 1896 International Socialist Labour Congress in London is a pivotal and disillusioning event for Rocker as he records the brouhaha that raged over whether or not to admit the anarchists to the meeting.

Rocker struggled to make a living as a bookbinder in London, and when offered a job in America, Rocker left for New York with his companion, Ukrainian Jewish Millie Witcop. But their future life in America was cut short when they were stopped in New York Harbour and subsequently kicked out for not being married.

Rocker and Millie returned to England, and by pure chance he was asked to edit a Yiddish publication. Rocker leapt at the opportunity–eventually learning Yiddish and becoming the editor of the leading Yiddish anarchist newspaper Arbeiter Fraint. A great deal of the book follows Rocker’s struggle to print various anarchist publications–juggling various roles as editor, writer, and typesetter. During Rocker’s time in London, he met Malatesta, Emma Goldman, Voltairine de Cleyre, William Morris, Louise Michel, and Kropotkin–(Kropotkin was much loved by Rocker in spite of the fact that destiny later divided their opinions).

Rocker was deeply involved in the Jewish labour movement, and the book records the efforts to smash the exploitive “sweating system” in the clothing industry. Rocker notes that “Jewish trade unions in the East End were started, without exception, by the initiative of Jewish anarchists,” and he records how the Jewish Bakers’ Union forced better conditions for workers. The level of organization amongst the Jewish workers is impressive–in one instance of solidarity, Jewish anarchists took in starving children of striking London dockworkers. But it certainly wasn’t easy to enact social change for the working class community, and Rocker also records how social troubles in Russia reverberated back to England, and how the underground Russian dissident movement attracted scammers and criminals.

The outbreak of WWI changed everything for German immigrants living in England, and Rocker was interned. But his organizational skills were quickly put to good use–he organized the men, fought for improved conditions, and gave many lectures. Rocker’s memoir clearly delineates the problems within the interned community–starvation, disease, random cruelty and kindness, as well as class problems between interned Germans, and clashes between those who opposed war and those who supported Germany to the point of patriotic madness. The London Years is a marvelous read, and Rocker very effectively recreates life during those troubled times. While The London Years is by no means a comprehensive account of Rocker’s life, nothing beats the eyewitness accounts here.

The Voltairine De Cleyre Reader by A.J. Brigati

“Is it a wonder that most of them came out anarchists?”

The Voltairine de Cleyre Reader, edited by Professor A.J. Brigati, is a collection of the work of the American female anarchist. The book’s preface by Barry Pateman provides an overview of de Cleyre’s life (1866-1912), her contribution to anarchism, and notes that while de Cleyre “preferred not to label her expressions of anarchism,” her essays “reveal her tendencies as an individualist anarchist.” The preface explains that de Cleyre was born into poverty and then shipped off for a convent education. The incident of the Haymarket Martyrs affected de Cleyre profoundly, and it is through this that she arrived at anarchism.

The book includes lectures, essays and poetry from Voltairine de Cleyre on a broad spectrum of topics–including Direct Action, marriage, Francisco Ferrer and the Modern School Movement, her path to anarchism, and the Haymarket Martyrs. The lectures included in the book reveal de Cleyre’s oratory power; she possessed a lyrical, poetic style, and yet this is also combined with fiery content. This combination creates a potent product. As one reads the lectures, a powerful impression of Voltairine de Cleyre is evoked–she was evidently someone who never minced words.

De Cleyre’s pioneering attitudes towards marriage and the rights of women are some of the most interesting selections here. As first glance, one might interpret that she loathes the institution of marriage, which she perceives to be slavery and a form of prostitution. A deeper analysis, however, yields the idea that her ideas about marriage are extremely complex–she considers marriage the “surest and most applicable method of killing love.” To her, marriage is “detrimental to the growth of individual character.” She questions the wisdom of entering into a union with a person who will probably not develop “along parallel lines.” Considering Voltairine de Cleyre’s extremely vocal position on women’s rights, she deserves a rightful place in the canon of literature on women’s studies. But it seems that she’s overlooked all too often. If you seek an overview of Voltairine de Cleyre’s work, this book is an excellent resource, and it will provide not only a sense of what she believed in, but also a sense of who she was. Included in the book is a chronology of significant dates, and chapter notes.

Louise Michel: Rebel Lives

“But above all, I was in love with the revolution.”

If ever a woman seized her century, it was “The Red Virgin”–Louise Michel. Born in 1830, the illegitimate daughter of a serving girl, Louise was brought up on the estate of her father’s family. Here she must have occupied a peculiar zone–firmly in the servant class and yet favoured but unacknowledged by her father’s family. Louise was educated as a teacher, and apart from her idiosyncratic teaching style, she led a normal life until she suddenly morphed into a revolutionary.

The meaty introduction by Nic Maclellan is an overview of Louise Michel’s life. As France plunged into turmoil and war, she began attending demonstrations against the Second Empire. Eventually she became a major force in the siege of the Paris Commune that existed from March until May 1871. Following the siege, she was arrested, tried and exiled to New Caledonia (islands just off the coast of eastern Australia). Even in exile, Louise made a name for herself while promoting the rights of the native population.

The book explores Michel’s life through excerpts from her memoir, letters to her lifelong friend, Victor Hugo, the play The Days of the Commune by Bertolt Brecht, and essays written by Karl Marx, Emma Goldman, Peter Kropotkin, Mikhail Bakunin, Howard Zinn and Friedrich Engels. (An excellent essay by Engels analyzing the two-party political system in America is included). Succint and informative at 155 pages, for those unable to tackle Louise Michel’s memoirs, this book is an alternative. Bear in mind, however, that the book is one in a series of ‘remarkable lives’ in the Rebel Lives series, and this series includes Einstein and Helen Keller. This explains why the book almost has the feel of a school primer at times.

The Angry Brigade: The Cause and the Case by Gordon Carr

“They were strictly home-grown subversives, owing allegiance to no one but themselves.”

Some time ago, I read Tom Vague’s book about the Angry Brigade, so it was with great delight that I finally got my hands on a copy of The Angry Brigade. The Cause and the Case: A History of Britain’s First Urban Guerilla Group by Gordon Carr. Carr produced a BBC documentary on the subject of the Angry Brigade, and although Tom Vague’s book is easier to find, Carr’s book is far superior, and includes a great deal more comprehensive analysis.

The book begins with an explosion at the home of Britain’s Secretary of State for Employment, Robert Carr. It’s January 1971, and there’s a great deal of labour unrest in Britain. Bombs were not an unknown phenomenon in Britain at this time, and there had been numerous explosions attributed to various groups–including The First of May Group. Up until this point, Britain’s Special Branch had been aware of the existence of a group calling themselves The Angry Brigade, but they weren’t given much attention. The bombing of Carr’s home changed all that, and from that point on considerable resources were applied towards the capture and conviction of those who called themselves The Angry Brigade.

Special Branch detectives soon made connections between Angry Brigade Communiques and Guy Debord’s book Society of the Spectacle. Carr provides a marvelous background portrait of the times, and includes a splendid analysis of Debord’s fascinating, but somewhat impenetrable and didactic theories of consumer society. Carr also examines the ties between the First of May Group and the Angry Brigade, and states that the First of May Group were the first to use communiques “to explain the reasons for a particular act of violence.”

Carr examines the evolution of The Angry Brigade–its actions (including the bombing of the Miss World contest), and the communiques–as well as the political and social lives of those who were finally convicted of involvement–John Barker, Hilary Creek, Jim Greenfield and Anna Mendelson. These four dropped out of university, moved to London, established a commune, became involved in the Squatting movement, formed a Claimant’s Union, and eventually moved away from activism and protest to Direct Action acts of violence against property and the State. Carr details the police investigation, and the final cracking of the case. A considerable amount of the book examines the trial of the “Stoke Newington Eight” (this refers to the eight people who were eventually tried for conspiracy and weapons possession). Large portions of speeches given at the trial are included–as well as evidence, police procedure, forensic connections between The Angry Brigade and The First of May Group, portions of the cross-examinations etc. The trial stands as a landmark in the judicial system for many reasons–and ultimately the guilty verdict comes down to whether or not those accused were aware of a plot to bomb–even if they did not directly participate.

One of the most fascinating things about the book is the way in which it’s quite evident that the police finally made their arrests through the investigations of ‘normal’ crimes (check forgery and credit card theft)–an arena that proved much easier to penetrate. By far the most surprising element of the police investigation is the way in which subversives/agitators are only seen in a one-size-fits-all category. Therefore, to the Special Branch investigators, there is no distinction made between a communist, a Situationist, an anarchist, or a neo-Marxist, etc. The book includes a great postscript–a retrospective–by John Barker, an introduction by Stuart Christie, as well as a chronology and index.

Men With Guns (1997)

“I obviously don’t believe in heaven … but I can give you a tour of hell.”

After the death of his wife, Dr. Humberto Fuentes (Federico Luppi) begins to reflect on one of the more satisfying aspects to his career–a period when he trained 7 young doctors. These doctors were sent out into rural regions of this unnamed Latin American country to provide medical care to the indigenous people. Dr Fuentes considers his role in the training of the young doctors his “legacy” but one day in the market he catches sight of one of the young doctors who is now involved in black market activity. Fuentes questions his former student who tells him, “you are the most learned man I’ve met, but also the most ignorant.”

This unexpected encounter troubles Fuentes, and he mentions the idea of searching for his former students to one of his patients–a military officer–and he’s warned not to go due to political trouble with guerrillas. But when Fuentes questions this, the officer ridicules any notion of skirmishes or atrocities noting that any stories Fuentes may have heard are just rumours–after all, “the common people love drama.” In spite of these conflicting warnings, Fuentes leaves his comfortable life behind and begins a literal and figurative journey towards the truth.

Everywhere he goes, Fuentes hears of ‘the men with guns’–the men who bring death and violence in their wake. Fuentes encounters various bands of people who are named for what they produce–the Salt People, the Banana People, the Gum People, the Coffee People, and they all suffer from displacement and starvation. As Fuentes travels farther from the city into the rural areas, he picks up several traveling companions–a former priest (Damian Alcazar), an army deserter (Damian Delgado), and an orphan (Dan Rivera Gonzales). The priest has lost his religious faith, the deserter is haunted by memories of his actions, and the orphan was kept as a mascot in an abandoned school that was used as a torture centre. It is through the stories of these fellow travelers that Fuentes is able to finally piece together his former students’ fate.

Fuentes also meets two intrepid and annoying American tourists, and at first when they ask Fuentes about atrocities, he repeats the phrase “the common people love drama.” Yet by the end of the film, Fuentes now carries the terrible burden of his new knowledge, while the Americans–symbolically remain in a sheath of ignorance–blissfully unaware of the murder, violence, genocide and torture that surround them. “Men With Guns” addresses several themes–complicity, violence, and guilt in a brutal militaristic system that crushes those it can no longer exploit.  John Sayles is an amazing director, and of all his films, “Men With Guns” is his most powerful and most painful.

Privilege (1967)

“We face on every side the danger of overthrow by the forces of communism and anarchy.”

Privilege a 1967 Peter Watkins film, examines the issues of media and population control through the manipulation of a pop idol, Steve Shorter (Paul Jones). Set in Britain in the near future, Steve Shorter is the biggest name in the entertainment business. Capable of drawing huge crowds, his stage show consists of him reenacting a prison term. He’s led onto the stage in handcuffs, and placed in a sized-down replica of his jail cell while baton wielding prison guards circle menacingly around Steve’s cage. Shorter then sings a song about being set free, and the fans scream and go crazy while Steve’s pleas go unanswered. But when Steve rattles the bars, and the guards respond with brutality, the fans go berserk. At this point, a fan is plucked from the audience and allowed to ‘release’ Steve. This results in an on-stage beating for Steve.

Steve Shorter’s subversive image strikes a chord with his hysterical fans. Meanwhile Shorter’s circle jerk management team control his time, his actions and even his love life. Subject to a grueling schedule of public appearances, he also appears in adverts and markets all sorts of items, ranging from clothing to washing machines.

But the manipulation of Steve, and by extension his audience, goes far beyond the usual demands of the vast appetite of the capitalist system. With a coalition government in power, the goal is to “usefully divert violence of youth” away from any political involvement. Obsessed with Steve, and eager to mirror his behaviour, millions of adoring young fans are effectively kept “off the streets and out of politics” through manipulation of his image.

There are 300 Steven Shorter discos built to “spread happiness throughout Britain,” and there are plans to finally remake Steve into a Messianic figure. Steve’s management team, in cahoots with the government and the Church, concoct a religious conversion rally for Steve. The plan is that Steve will accept the yoke of conformity, and enter back into society in front of millions of adoring fans. When Steve publicly acknowledges his acceptance of law and order, it’s thought that his followers will brainlessly follow his meek example. The government and the church, as the dual institutions pulling the power strings in the country, both realise that they have a limited audience, and this is where Steve fits in. As an iconic rebel figure, he appeals to the youth, and so his popularity is harnessed and then hijacked at a convenient moment so that he will deliver a message of mindless conformity to his vast audience:

“It’s really quite simple. Steven Shorter has the largest following in the history of the entertainment business. We need a larger audience, so we’re using Steve’s. And we hope that through him, many of these followers will return to the faith.”

One of the more annoying members of Steve’s management team is Freddie Kay, a “self-confessed anarchist.” He’s an irritating, barely coherent, jabbering fellow, just as much in cahoots with the establishment as the rest of the ponces who surround Steve. Freddie’s avant-garde approach challenges those with more traditional leanings, and in spite of his often-contrary voice, he’s still quite at home with the rest of the management team. It’s impossible to take this character at surface value, and in his case, his professed ‘anarchism’ seems to be a pose or perhaps he serves as a complement to Steve’s rebel image.

Privilege is unfortunately very difficult to find, and that’s not too surprising. Like other films from Watkins, it doesn’t pander to a mainstream audience, and it’s intensely political and subversive. The film illustrates how iconic figures are manipulated and hijacked into patterns of conformity. To a capitalist society, a figure with any sort of following represents coveted rich, new avenues for potential audiences. And it is, therefore, essential, that anyone with mass audience appeal should be harnessed back into the system.

October-10 Days That Shook the World (1927)

“Down with the lackeys of the bourgeoisie.”

October (10 Days That Shook the World) written and directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov was commissioned by the Soviet Central Committee to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. As such, the film is a landmark slice of propaganda depicting the events of 1917, a relic not just for film lovers, and it’s a remarkable piece of revisionist history too.

The black and white silent film is told in documentary style and focuses on the efforts of the provisional government to maintain the country after deposing the Tsar in February 1917. The film was made in 1927, and by that time, Lenin was dead, and Trotsky–one of the main figures behind the Bolshevik revolution was already in the hot seat with Stalin and was effectively being cut out of the Soviet political system.

The film shows scenes with Trotsky, and doesn’t identify him at first, but then when it does it’s in a negative light. Some of the best unsubtle scenes involve the bourgeoisie women who beat up the Bolshies and tear up their flag. General Kerensky is also depicted negatively–he throws himself on the bed, covers his head with pillows and has a temper tantrum–and the tantrum continues while scene after scene depicts growing unrest in the country. The large-scale mob-scenes of the revolution remain fairly bloodless, and the emphasis is on events in Petrograd and the ineptness of the provisional government. There are some great scenes of the Mensheviks, the Savage Division and the Women’s Death Battalion. The scenes involving Lenin show the people going wild with adulation at their hero. No doubt Stalin realized that it was better (and safer) to immortalize a dead politician (Lenin), and wiser to marginalize a live one (Trotsky). As Winston Churchill said, “History is written by the victors.”

Anarchism in America (1983)

“I’m a man of peace, and that’s why I’m an anarchist.”

This DVD includes two documentaries–the title film, Anarchism in America and The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists. In the first film, the filmmakers take the thesis that some aspects of the American temperament are compatible with aspects of anarchism. The filmmakers take to the road and interview various individuals with this thesis in mind. A variety of individuals–both anarchist and non-anarchist are interviewed–including a truck driver, and workers from a worker-owned sewing company. The decisions these individuals have made in their lives are examined in light of anarchist beliefs. The film also includes a segment featuring Ed Headman from the No More Nukes Programme in which he explains how the non-hierarchal aspects of the anarchists can also be found in No Nuke protests.

Additional segments from this 75-minute film include a brief clip of the Dead Kennedys in performance, followed by an interview with the band members. Archival footage of Emma Goldman is included, and the intensely practical Murray Bookchin also describes his movement towards anarchism following his disappointment with Communism.

The second film, The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists is 55 minutes long, and it’s the stronger of the two films. The film examines the massive immigration to America in the late 1800s–a movement that brought with it a number of Jewish anarchists from Russia. They “replaced American culture with a counter culture” and established an “anarchist milieu.” These anarchist communities were devoted to fighting for better labour conditions in the sweatshop conditions prevalent in America at the time. The film also examines the Yiddish anarchist newspaper Freie Arbeiter Stimme–a newspaper that survived from 1890 until 1977. Many of those involved with the paper are interviewed, and with their words, they recreate the atmosphere of the times and the philosophical and ethical framework behind anarchism. In one particularly delightful scene, the caretaker of the Haymarket memorial remembers that during WWI, with anti-German feelings running high, the mayor of New York insisted on calling sauerkraut “liberty cabbage” (makes you think of those freedom fries….). The film also examines the strong antiwar sentiment amongst anarchists who are largely “pacifist by conviction…refusing to pick up arms”–and in particular describes the anti-conscription efforts of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman who were ironically deported to Russia for their activism.

The interviewees describe a rich, vital, and well-organised anarchist society that included lectures, dances and the establishment of the Anarchist Red Cross–an organization devoted to aid for prisoners in Czarist Russia. Historian Paul Avrich appears to discuss the role of anarchists in the Labor movement in America–and various highlights in the movement are mentioned–including the Haymarket tragedy, the Ferrer Modern School, and the persecution of anarchists that resulted in the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti.

Of the two films, I preferred  The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists. Anarchism in America is a bit too shapeless for my tastes.  From directors Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher.

Available from www.akpress.org

I Cried. You Didn’t Listen: A Survivor’s Expose of the California Youth Authority by Dwight Edgar Abbott

“That day, at that hour, I became the predator rather than the prey.”

I Cried, You Didn’t Listen: A Survivor’s Expose of the California Youth Authority by Dwight E. Abbott is a harrowing, haunting read. In the 1950s, following a car accident that placed his parents in hospital for months, 9-year-old Abbott was sent to Los Angeles Juvenile Hall. Within minutes of arriving, he was hit in the face by another boy, and that evening observed rapes occurring in the showers. On the third day, a counselor sexually assaulted Abbott. When Abbott defended himself from another assault, he ended up in solitary confinement for 90 days, and here he remained until his father arrived to take him home. Abbott acknowledges that he was no longer the same child, and that it took just “four months for the county to construct” a “walking time bomb.”

When he returned home, Abbott was withdrawn and traumatized. His grades dropped, and he reacted with explosive violence to threatening situations. At age 12, Abbott was back in Juvenile Hall again, and then sexually assaulted by a manipulative counselor. From here he was moved to the ironically named Optimist Home for Boys and endured further molestations and beatings. When he was released to his parents, Abbott was even less able to integrate back into family life, and he was on the slippery slope to becoming a lifetime criminal.

The memoir charts Abbot’s gut-wrenching experiences, and each step of the way, the institutions he’s locked up in are tougher, and more brutal, and Abbott’s fight for survival becomes more violent. At 13, he’s locked up in the state mental hospital at Camarillo, stuffed in a strait jacket and given shock treatments. From here it’s onto the California Youth Authority (CYA), and their various facilities–Whittier, Pasa Robles, Ione, and the Deuels prison in Tracy. Abbott details the tiered system within each of these prisons, just how important it was to be seen as tough, and that “showing emotions was a sign of weakness.” To be viewed as a “sissy” or a “punk” translates to being brutally raped by everyone above you on this violent food chain. This memoir makes “it clear that within youth prisons there is no social order other than that based on violence.”

Abbott’s survival within the system caused him to “develop a set of social reflexes and assumptions” that made “him totally incapable of negotiating life outside of institutionalization.” According to conservative statistics, 75% of those released from CYA are locked back up within three years. Clearly rehabilitation just isn’t taking place within the CYA, but just what transformations do take place is the subject of this deeply disturbing book. According to Abbott, “there is nothing left of the softness of morality or conscience, only strength and will.” I Cried, You Didn’t Listen: A Survivor’s Expose of the California Youth Authority was recently republished by AK Press. This new edition includes an excellent, informative preface by Books Not Bars.