जोसेफ स्टालिन आणि त्यांची दाढी कुरवाळणारी अर्धनग्न अप्सरा ... Ironic Commentaries on the Propaganda of Communism

#OctoberRevolutionAt100  #आणिक्रांतीचामुडदापडला 

१००वर्षांपूर्वी आज, नवीन कॅलेंडरप्रमाणे,  नोव्हेंबर ७ १९१७ला, ऑक्टोबर रेव्होल्यूशन झाली   

Douglas Smith, ‘Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy’, 2012:

“...If socialism had yet to be achieved, if workers were not living better, if life was still a struggle, then this was not the fault of the leaders or a sign of the flaws within Marxist ideology; rather, it could be explained by the existence of class enemies—of saboteurs, wreckers, White Guards, and monarchists—waging a secret war from within to destroy the Soviet Union. Like other despised minorities, these former people became an easy scapegoat upon which to lay the blame for the Bolsheviks’ failures and a target at which popular anger could be directed without fear of reprisal....”

John Mosier, ‘Deathride: Hitler vs. Stalin: The Eastern Front, 1941-1945’:

“The world according to Stalin is a world in which not only does the “improbable” become the sober truth, but in which virtually every fact is often in some way backward.”

“The 1999 Black Book of Communism—a highly respected work published by Harvard University Press—attempted the thankless task of tabulating the total communist death toll in the twentieth century. It came up with a figure approaching a hundred million. Here is the general breakdown:

•U.S.S.R.: 20 million

•China: 65 million

•Vietnam: 1 million

•North Korea: 2 million

•Cambodia: 2 million deaths

•Eastern Europe: 1 million

•Latin America: 150,000

•Africa: 1.7 million

•Afghanistan: 1.5 million

•The international communist movement and Communist parties not in power: about 10,000”

(‘The Politically Incorrect Guide to Communism’ by Paul Kengor)

सौजन्य : रेगेंच्या साहित्याचे सध्याचे कॉपीराईट होल्डर्स , वाङ्मय शोभा , बुकगंगा.कॉम 

जगात सर्वात जास्त कम्युनिझमबद्दल आकर्षण अजूनही कोणत्या देशात वाटत असेल तर कदाचित भारतात...  आणि विशेषतः बंगाल, केरळ  आणि महाराष्ट्रात ....आणि मराठीत सिरीयस स्टफ लिहणाऱ्या अनेकांच्यात...त्यात बहुदा स्मरणरंजनाचा (nostalgia) मोठा भाग आहे....पण कशाबद्दल स्मरणरंजन? 

अलिकडल्या एका पोस्ट (१९/९/२०१६ रोजी) मध्ये मी मराठीतील प्रथितयश साहित्यिक दि. अनंत काणेकरांचा स्टालिन यांनी 'पोपट' कसा केला याबद्दल लिहले होते. पण काणेकरांचा मोठेपणा हा की त्यांची झालेली दिशाभूल त्यांनी प्रांजळपणे मान्य केली.

"... a dummy-like Stalin in a glowing white uniform is seated, arm around the shoulders of a nude nymph who caresses his chin as she ''paints'' the shadow he casts on the base of a nearby pillar...." (NYT)

 Artists: Vitaly Komar and Aleksandr Melamid

“From 1980 to 1983, Komar and Melamid painted more than two dozen canvases called the "Nostalgic Socialist Realism" series. Socialist Realism was the prescribed method for the official art of the Soviet Union, promoting an academic style and imagery that idealized the everyday life of the proletariat and glorified the dictator Joseph Stalin. In their parodies of Socialist Realism, which played on the subjects and styles of official art, Komar and Melamid made ironic commentaries on the propaganda of Communism.”

 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)