My thanks to Unrepentant Communist for unearthing an absolutely fascinating website which is an Aladdin's Cave of socialist music. Largely devoted to the musical canon of the former Soviet Union , this websitehttp://www.sovmusic.ru/english/index.phphas its own Top Twenty, a section devoted to the Internationale and songs by left legends like Victor Jara and Paul Robeson ( who sings an English translation of the recently reinstated Soviet anthem). There are also forgotten tunes of the Spanish Civil war and dozens of other gems. And, yes, comrades, you can download them all!
I'm no apologist for totalitarianism. But, as a visitor to the USSR in 1989 , I recall with some nostalgia the friendliness of the people I met in Leningrad and Moscow and the plusses of a non-consumerist society. Yes, many minusses too. But it's one of the great tragedies of the 20th century that Gorbachev's laudable perestroika experiment ended in a violent coup, corrupt Government, and the worst elements of capitalism riding roughshod over the masses.
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1 comment:
Thanks for the reference to the fact that this first appeared at 'Unrepentant Communist' which is by the way called that because its what poor old Eric Hobsbawm always gets called by right wing red neck bloggers
see you all at
http://unrepentantcommunist.blogspot.com/
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