Stories from late 1922 to early 1923

Communist Turk in a bullet train]

Similar to many other people of the 20th century, a 26-year-old Turkish man watched with interest and ignorance the opening of the first high-speed rail for continuous passenger activity in the modern history.

Şevket Süreyya Aydemir, making trips that would take him from Eastern Europe to Western Europe to study economic and socio-political advances of all kinds (and meeting a lot of people), did not hesitate to get on to experience this new development first-hand, heading towards Smolensk thanks to this new kind of railway.

The train started its journey almost without warning, fast and smooth.

"For communism, the modernization of all possible aspects of human society is indispensable in its advances throughout history.

It is clear that the bullet train developed in capitalist societies such as the old Imperial Germany and the Russian Empire is a technology that socialist projects must emulate, master and improve.

Issues as basic as electrification and transportation are necessary to achieve the highest stages of socialist development.

It is clear that rail transport is key in the development of the world's export economies and productive forces.

The United Kingdom triggered the industrial revolution with the help of the railroad, the United States has one of the most extensive rail networks in the world and Russia is aiming for a new industrial revolution.

If we do not want to be crushed like the old Ottoman Empire, we must meet the goals proposed by Comrade Atatürk in the industrialization of Turkey.

Manage and achieve greater self-sufficiency at all possible levels, to prevent the imperialist powers of the world from posing a threat to one of the workers' homelands of the world. "

-Writings of Şevket Süreyya Aydemir about the bullet train of Russia.

A young Aydemir predicted the possibility of a new industrial revolution that was unknown to classical Marxist thinkers (who had not yet seen or could not witness the beginnings of globalization).

Aydemir took a short time to check everything around him, the landscapes and the diverse people who traveled on that train (some wore formal outfits popular in Western Europe and North America, others wore simple, everyday outfits for rural life, and still others wore national outfits of various kinds, russian fashion was varied).

In the last few days he had mostly been talking to people from the Moscow industrial giant (workers, Russian communists and members of the Turkish diplomatic services in the Russian Empire).

However, one did not always have to simply listen and read from people, one also had to do physical and experimental activity oneself (praxis). This involved seeing the world for oneself in the study of its material conditions, traveling and walking.

After arriving in Smolensk, capital of the Smolensk Oblast, Şevket Süreyya Aydemir headed for White Russia (also known as Byelorussia / Belarus) via a common railroad.

The region was an important point between the interconnection of various areas of the country (mainly from the westernmost points of the empire to the heart of Russia).

And this turned White Russia into a zone of contrasts of social aspects of all kinds, not only between socio-economic classes but also between cultures and economic areas.

Culturally, most regions spoke 2 or more languages, including: Russian and Belarusian (two East Slavic languages), Polish (West Slavic), and Yiddish (the language of many members of the Jewish community).

Although of course there were still more peoples of all kinds, arising from the history of Russia and many internal migrations that occurred as a result of the advances in Russia.

The nature of belonging to a certain group in White Russia was difficult to explain, many of the Belarusians spoke Russian, whether in the country or the city.

Due to White Russia's aforementioned nature of being 'in the middle', the transportation industry in the region was huge (carrying goods of all kinds and people).

We speak especially of railways that connected areas of the southern Baltic, the Congress of Poland-Galicia and Western Ukraine with more eastern areas of the Empire, the heart of Russia proper, and as a consequence, beyond.

However, the largest industry in White Russia was agriculture and livestock, which together produced tons of cereals (wheat, various seeds and others), various vegetables, tubers (especially potatoes), fodder crops, sheep, cows, poultry and pigs, among other varieties of food.

Next to these two industries was the industrial sector, prominent in metallurgy, agricultural equipment manufacturing, petroleum refining, and the petrochemical industry (fertilizer manufacturers in particular).

Due to these qualities of White Russia, there were also differences between the rural environment and the urban environment, which had changed considerably since the industrial revolution advancing throughout the Russian Empire.

The Turk was working as a helper on a farm in the Vitebsk Oblast, owned by an old peasant.

"A man has to know that he wants and preferably, always keep eating." The old man mentions with a small laugh. "So I say to one of my great-grandchildren."

"I see. If you have living relatives, why aren't they here?" Aydemir asks curiously, though not wanting to offend his host.

"I had about 9 children, more than 5 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildrens. Those childs who did not die either went to other towns further north or went south to the city of Minsk." The old man indicates calmly as he grabs a piece of meat with his knife. "One of my daughters visits me from time to time, but you know, we all have our lives."

"Yes, I can understand." Aydemir mentions while he eats some bread that the old man offered him.

"Very good. The daughter I told you about is trying to convince me to buy a refrigerator, have you ever had one?" The old man asks curiously. "I have no idea how Turkey is."

"We have electricity, but appliances are still not popular in Turkey." Aydemir explains without giving it particular importance. "Have you ever traveled outside of White Russia?"

"Of course. I wasn't born here." The old man explains calmly. "I was born in 1848 on a farm in Novgorod-Seversky, miles and miles southeast of here."

"1848? Are you 74 or 75 years old?" Aydemir asks with some intrigue.

"74, I'm still waiting for a wooden suit." The old man indicates with a certain laugh, referring to a coffin. Eventually it takes us all to wear a 'wooden outfit'.

"A long life." Aydemar exclaims. Living so many years was not uncommon for those who had survived their childhood, but the important thing was WHAT had been lived during those years. "Many things have changed since you were a child, right?"

"Yes, when I was a child we barely learned a few lessons to read and write. That was between the reigns of Nicholas I and Alexander II." The old man begins the brief account of him. "Then I learned a little more during the reign of Tsar Alexander III, but I never had a tertiary education. Now one of my great-grandsons is about to study at Minsk State University."

"The old man was quite brief in how life was before, but I still remember the conversation. With brief descriptions of the events, especially some wars (although he never participated in any) and the modernization of the land.

Before there were several famines in southern Russia on a semi-common basis, and around the agricultural areas of the Russian Empire there was not much agricultural machinery or modern agricultural techniques.

Most farmers practiced fallow, leaving the land uncultivated for a time, waiting for it to regain its useful properties for agriculture after harvest.

The introduction of tractors, fertilizers and reforms such as the agrarian reform modernized agriculture, considerably increasing the productivity of the entire region.

And eventually ending the famines that had plagued the Russian Empire for hundreds of years.

The old man was born in 'Novgorod-Seversky', which is now part of the Sumy Oblast, in the Ukrainian regions of the Russian Empire.

One can even notice differences in how the generations before and after the socio-economic revolutions of the Russian Empire speak and write. "

-Writings of Şevket Süreyya Aydemir.

E4IMotuVEAE3GkH.jpg

Concept of a electromagnetic train in the 1930s, made in Eastern Europe.

Images like these, while not always practical in reality, help to prove that from ancient times to just decades ago, humans have always dreamed about the future and a better society: whether it be the arrival on space, the conquest of the deepest oceans or the innovations on land transport.

This was a concept previous to the first functional maglev (magnetic levitation) trains (from the early 1960s to early 1970s).​

[Mexican experiment]

There is always an important difference between:

* The original doctrine (either from supposedly sacred scriptures or other documents).

* Those who preach the doctrine and / or have control over its understanding-interpretation and proliferation (either a structure dedicated to this such as the priests or ideologues of a party).

* And those who practice or are taught the doctrine, the common people.

We can see this clearly in the Mexican project, the first Latin American country to carry out socialism.

Which had its problems, successful legacies and disastrous legacies, for many reasons.

Societies do not exist in a vacuum, and they are impacted by previous consequences such as history and culture.

The Second Mexican Empire was the predecessor of the Free Republic of Mexico, and although both countries tried two very different systems, the former influenced its descendant.

Mexico as a state had many mixtures, mestizos, Afro-Mexicans, white Mexicans, and Native American groups of all kinds.

Because the Second Empire was popular with Native Americans, throughout the Free Republic of Mexico a federal state developed with tendencies towards the autonomy of ethno-cultural minorities (which included the preservation and protection of native cultures), to satisfy this native population.

Said federal state and autonomies not only helped to maintain order and peace in the establishment of socialism, but were also supported by the geographical and historical nature of Mexico.

The Mexican states of the north, center, and south lived in remarkably different conditions. The north was arid and with problems of access to water, but with notable industries.

Mexico City and nearby regions were enormously populated, with the country's important centers of power-administration and financial resources.

And the south was very selvatic, inhabited by numerous native groups and full of resources of all kinds, but generally economically underdeveloped.

There is also the agriculture-oriented nature of the Mexican people at that time, and the influence of Christianity in Mexico (which also occurs in various parts of Latin America).

In essence the land reform under the Free Republic of Mexico gave rise to the first cases of 'Agrarian Socialism in practice' on a large scale.

Unlike the capitalist European countries that became socialist, Mexico did not have giant and historic industries.

Its industrial power was 'recent', although there was a proliferation of railroads and modern agricultural techniques arrived, much was seriously affected during the civil war in Mexico and the American invasion.

Resulting in there being a kind of second revolution in Mexico after the establishment of the Free Republic.

The land was redistributed while the socialist government began to seek the diversification and mechanization of agriculture, seeking to increase productivity and fight against the food problems that were experienced in the post-revolutionary era.

And in the midst of this post-revolutionary era, the concentration of power in the hands of the Communist Party of Mexico, with its ideologists and its different factions, took place.

To counter possible foreign influences and interference, particularly from its northern neighbors (the United Mexican States and USA), the CPM developed a usually anti-imperialist position and carried out reforms using the state as a tool.

Educational and cultural reforms that would affect Mexico in the following decades due to its peculiarities.

The traditional cultures and characteristics of Mexico were preserved to some extent of course (see the aforementioned case of the Native Americans, or simply other aspects of the majority of the Mexican population).

But in one way or another these characteristics were altered by the new conditions of the Mexican state, now influenced by socialist doctrine.

However, Mexican socialism simply could not eliminate or affect all elements of a traditional culture that already existed in Mexico, whether related to the pre-Columbian tribes, the Spanish-colonial period, and the Second Empire period.

Resulting in something for which Latin America is well known, the syncretism of various elements.

Which only intensified as educational reform and cultural changes began to change Mexican youth.

In particular, there was a syncretism between Mexican Christian culture and Mexican socialism, a case that the most puritans of both cases hated but were unable to alter this course that combined two very disparate doctrines (Catholic Christianity of a spiritual nature and Marxism socialist of a materialistic nature).

As Antonio Gramsci stated, socialism in traditionally Christian countries will naturally be altered by Christian thought, and the communist ideologists of the Free Republic of Mexico were unable to alter this syncretism that proliferated among the rural regions of Mexico (although it was more easy to deal with in urban centers).

And the Christian priests could not do much to stop this after their loss of power-influence after the revolution and reforms, in addition to the liberal-labor positions that dominated the Vatican in the post-revolutionary period in Mexico.

In essence, one could argue that Mexico was the first agrarian socialist and Christian socialist country to function, to some extent.

But new changes were coming, mainly financed by trade and oil.

Thanks to the Tehuantepec canal and the beginnings of energy exploitation, after the successes in productivity, the government of Felipe Carrillo Puertos decided to initiate changes.

Sooner or later the United States would strike again at the Mexican people, and a town of farmers, although it could wage a guerrilla war, would suffer great consequences from such a tactic.

Mexico needed industrial capabilities.

For this, the government of Mexico City would launch an accelerated and planned industrialization campaign, financed by the aforementioned oil and trade passing through Mexico.

Unlike the slow industrialization carried out under the Second Empire, financed by foreign capital and dominated by the elites of the Porfirian period, this industrialization would follow the lines of developments in the European socialist countries.

With a Mexican touch in particular, in the use of cooperatives and syndicates for the economic administration of the plan. And in the future, of the economy of the entire country (once the first phase of industrialization was completed).

*

Early in the day.

The car of a Mexican family found itself in trouble with one of its wheels in the middle of the road to a rural village, where a family friend of the mother lived.

"Do you need help?" A person on horseback asked approaching the family.

"No." The father of the family insists, so the peasant on horseback continues on his way.

"The people here are very friendly, normally no one would offer to help." The mother of the family mentions the detail while the father continued to try to repair the vehicle.

"Do you need help ?!" Another group of peasants asks.

The father growls finally letting go of his pride.

"Do you have any weapons sir? It may be unsafe if you guys are going to leave town at night." A man on horseback dressed in black exclaims to the father of the family.

The man in black was not a policeman, much less a military man, not even a member of the party. He was like many others, a heavily armed militiaman who worked around the rural villages (aligned with the left-wing communists of Francisco José Múgica, Lázaro Cárdenas del Río and Amador Salazar Jiménez).

"I have a knife, but nothing else. What kind of dangers are we talking about?" The father of the family asks curiously.

"Animals, and potentially some monsters according to some locals. But the most dangerous thing out there is the people." The militiaman indicates calmly, although the comment undoubtedly scares the youngest of the children of the family.

"I'll keep it in mind." The father of the family indicates.

"Very good, bye !." The militiaman exclaims before leaving, his horse whinnying before trotting off in another direction.

Soon the family went to the house of the woman's friend, quite colorful but for other details, simple.

"It looks like a dollhouse." It indicates the eldest son of the family, due to the low ceiling and the doors, which he has to lean through to pass.

"José!" The mother of the family exclaims with some indignation at the somewhat offensive comment, although without a doubt she laughs a little along with others in that house.

Mid-day.

The eldest son was riding a horse with his younger brother on the recommendation of his mother's friend, riding through the pastures of that town.

There was a white building where several congregated, the duo of brothers approached, with particular fear of the minor due to the numerous people and dogs nearby.

The older one approached without much problem.

"Are you interested in joining us?" A black man in white robes asks curiously.

"To what?". The biggest question with curiosity.

"Father Luis is holding a mass." The priest's assistant indicates calmly.

"I am not a Christian." The older one responds promptly with indifference.

"One does not need to be a Christian to accompany the community in their daily reflections. Are they not right here?" The priest's assistant asks curiously.

"No, we are from the city." The older one responds.

"I see, you guys don't know how things work around here then." The man calmly mentions. "I'm not totally sure how things work in the city, but here Christianity and the Party are not two irreconcilable concepts, both are a higher calling for different people. Don't you think?"

"I'm not sure, religion has never interested me." The older one responds. "My mother is a Christian, she practices it in private."

"Yes, that is the situation of many here as well. However, community is a very important concept where there is more than one person, that's why you see this type of meeting." The priest's assistant mentions.

"You are from here?". The biggest question already more interested but also talking with the assistant.

"I come from the Caribbean, but after my youth I felt a great vocation to help others through my work." The assistant indicates.

Both brothers observe the curious temple from the door accompanied by the priest's assistant, who speaks and presents various books to the young people while various matters are discussed in this community meeting.

It was a temple that brought together strange Christian and socialist elements. Very different from what one learned at school or at home.

Night time.

The family was traveling back home to the city, now it was the early hours of the morning, when the Sun had not yet risen and the Moon dominated the starry sky.

The youngest child in the family was asleep, but the oldest and the parents were awake on the way. However, in the middle of the road there was an abandoned carriage blocking the road.

The father slows down and in the middle of the bushes near the road three men emerge.

There is a deathly silence.

"Goodnight." The group leader indicates by walking towards the vehicle, slapping his hand against the driver's door.

The father of the family has his hand inside his jacket, grasping the handle of his knife.

The other two men of the bandit were surrounding other parts of the car.

The father and eldest son of the family were watching both trying to keep a serious face, but it was obviously difficult in this situation and not knowing if they had firearms.

"Open the door." The leader asks, but obviously the father refuses.

"Back, I have a gun." The father of the family responds aloud, pretending that his knife is a firearm.

The leader hesitates for a moment, but then shots begin to be heard from behind, with several militiamen approaching on horseback. The bandits run away while the militiamen dressed in black approach to secure the area.

"Thanks God..." The older brother exclaims sweating while the younger one was confused and crying.

EcMEQKFWAAAPstJ.jpg

Virgin Mary and Karl Marx in Mexico, a legacy of the Free Republic of Mexico.

The industrialization process in Mexico did not harm this particular syncretism, but to a certain extent it was strengthened among the agricultural-rural regions of Mexico.​

[Italia Rossa]

"Comrade Mussolini reports that the situation in France is being satisfactory for the moment. But we must not lower our guard! We must not lower our guard against enemies of Socialism inside our countries and outside them, the Imperialist menace is always there" President Palmiro Togliatti indicates before the new chamber meeting in Milan, which made up his government. "The situation around Paris and northern parts of France is confusing, with various logistical and military problems. But we must trust that our German comrades and the French Red Guards made up of truly revolutionary workers, peasants and soldiers of France, to uphold Guesde's legacy, to put an end to the revisionism of the tyrannical Paul Faure, like we ended the attemps of Bordiga to end socialism in Italy."

The chamber applauds the words of President Togliatti with emotion. The words also arrive outside the parliamentary building in Milan.

The city's soldiers and partisans sing, several civilians applaud and cheer alongside them (and others are silent, keeping their true opinions), and the biggest opponents of L'Ordine Nuovo (the New Order) ... well, they were out of the country or executed.

"Gallo!" The youngest partisan (13 years old), Audisio, excitedly calls the military man Luigi Longo. "Did you hear the news from General Mussolini?"

"Of course I did, I was probably one of the first to hear it. What I didn't hear is why you're still here." Longo exclaimed with concern, him and the young Audisio were both from the province of Alessandria.

When Longo followed General Mussolini, Audisio followed him.

"That is the right question, why are we here and not helping out at the front?" Audisio exclaims trying to divert Longo's attention, which causes him a bit of humor.

"I appreciate your bravery, young comrade, but you are too young and bright to go to war yet." Comrade Gallo explains to young Audisio. "I'll buy you a ticket to Alessandria and when we get back in touch I might help you get to know the president."

"Really?!" Audisio asks with emotion.

"Of course it is young comrade." Gallo affirms. It was true that he did know Mussolini, Gramsci and Togliatti in person, making him one of the most famous militars of the New Order.

"It is a promise then!" Audisio says and Gallo asure him that it is.

After his comrades in the army arranged a train for the young Audisio to go home (his parents must be very worried), Luigi Longo went back to work.

Longo was in essence Mussolini's right-hand man after the Milan takeover, and being a loyal anti-revisionist and communist, the Togliatti government put him in charge of an important task.

Gallo was the 'bloodhound of Milan', in charge of carrying out measures of revolutionary terror in favor of the new government, putting under control the forms of revisionism and reactionary elements that were a threat to this new government.

While Mussolini was in the south of France with Iberian troops supporting the anti-revisionists in these Troubled Times in the European Socialist Union.

It was not a civil war or officially declared war, but it was precisely a complex situation at the moment, a severe disorder that, if it got even more out of control, could be the death of the socialist project.

"Good morning, Comrade Gramsci." Longo politely greets Vice President Antonio Gramsci, as always working, perhaps beyond the limits of his health.

"Oh, good morning, Comrade Gallo." Gramsci indicates just realizing the hours. "Excuse my behavior, but we are all busy right now."

"Of course." Luigi Longo empathically affirms, the March from the south to Milan had been a historic event, but the post-March period would be much more strenuous.

All the post-coup chaos had to be reorganized and the problems left behind by previous governments had to be solved.

"Excuse me if maybe I'm too rude. But what are you working on?" Comrade Gallo asks curiously.

"We are receiving good news from France, but the post-reconstruction period worries us all. I am working on an important doctrine together with our comrades in Germany." Gramsci promptly indicates.

"Good luck, if you'll excuse me comrade, I won't bother you anymore." Gallo exclaims leaving several reports for Togliatti (who was present on other administrative matters, more specifically a huge Congress for post-coup planning).

Gramsci and various German thinkers would play a vital role in understanding Marxism or communism in the post-Troubles in the European Socialist Union period.

Gramsci was a trigger for the Schism between Western Communism and Eastern Communism, and he planned to continue deepening the modern understanding of this ideology together with various people.

*

"The Flemish are advancing against rebels in Wallonia and guarding the northern coast with the Red Guards, if the Imperial Federation interferes, we will find out. Most anarchist and anti-communist have been dealt with in the north" A French radio announces before General Mussolini, present together with the French and Iberians in the south of France.

"Good to know. That's good news, if we support the anti-British and anti-imperialist sentiment of the French, it will be easier to prevent them from calling us invaders." General Mussolini promptly indicates next to his companions.

"I do not get it." One of the Red Guards commanders exclaims.

"While it is true that we are fighting Faure's revisionism and madness, if the French do not see us as allies, we will lose the war in the long run." Mussolini explains calmly.

"That is why it must be the French who liberate ourselves." Another of the Red Guards promptly indicates.

"... You are completely right." General Mussolini indicates affirmatively. "I will contact the forces of eastern France, if a communist force is to enter Paris it must be a French force supported by allies, not other socialists supported by French allies." Mussolini mentions, the gears of the war machine and ideology began to turn at the front.

The resistance and the anti-Faure forces of the Ruhr had to be coordinated to properly take Paris, or else everything would be unsuccessful.

Mussolini arrived on time with an idea, uniting thanks to others help the urban resistance, peasants, anti-revisionist military and syndicates in a United Front against Faure and allies (sheltered in Paris).

In fact this helped to catapult certain personalities of post-Faure France, who perhaps would not have become so relevant without General Mussolini.

But despite Mussolini's swiftness and this mentioned figures in a United Front, Paul Faure's various political and ideological mistakes would cost European socialism dearly, until the post-WW3 period.

Congressopcdi1921.jpg

Photo from the new Government of Italy, led by the 'New Order' of Palmiro Togliatti, Antonio Gramsci and Benito Mussolini.​

[Old Spartakus]

"The public cannot know that Lenin's health is in such critical condition ... It would be a severe blow to everyone, it already is to me." The Chancellor of the Free Republic of Germany, Karl Liebknecht indicates.

"Forgive my recklessness Comrade Liebknecht, but I suspect that you have not only summoned us to warn once more of Minister Lenin's ill health." Joseph Goebbels mentions with some concern. There were ministers and important figures of all kinds.

"I am 52 years old but ... I have lost many friends and I am getting old, political power and theoretical activity do not help much to health." Chancellor Liebknecht affirms with some irony. "I plan to retire once we have put an end to the more immediate problems in France, hopefully by 1924 ... Then we can elect the next People's Chancellor."

"Comrade Liebknecht!" Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (a communist from northern Germany and a member of parliament in the Free Republic of Germany, having left the capitalist Hamburg) exclaims with some concern, together with various presents.

"To victory!" Liebknecht exclaims, his word is final.

"... To victory!" Those present call with raised fists.

Liebknecht's retirement is more important than it sounds, not only would it cause some late socialist leaders to follow a similar trend (where they officially withdraw from political activity at a certain point in their life, although most later continue to hold some influence), but it would also bring about the end of an era and the beginning of a new era in socialist Europe.

The old guard of Caballero, Liebknecht, Lenin, Gesde and Lazzari were all dead or out of political activity, leaving a new era of reconstruction after the Troubled Times.

jUAknMKTgZyhY78trACsYGoezjce78_SlSG9BIMsCx8.jpg

Russian lithograph of the painting"Spartakus" in a book about the German revolution - Karl Liebknecht declaring the Free Socialist Republic of Germany (made around 1931).​