Poetry by Notable Marxists / Leftists ...

[John Lenin]

A COMRADES PAPER BLANKET
by Ho Chi Minh
* Written while Ho Chi Minh was in Prison


New books, old books,
the leaves all piled together.
A paper blanket
is better than no blanket.
You who sleep like princes,
sheltered from the cold,
Do you know how any in prison
cannot sleep all night?

[John Lenin]

AUTUMN NIGHT
by Ho Chi Minh
* written while in prison


Before the gate, a guard
with a rifle on his shoulder.
In the sky, the moon flees
through clouds.
Swarming bed bugs,
like black army tanks in the night.
Squadrons of mosquitoes,
like waves of attacking places.
I think of my homeland.
I dream I can fly far away.
I dream I wonder trapped
in webs of sorrow.
A year has come to an end here.
What crime did I commit?
In tears I write
another prison poem.

[John Lenin]

Poem, to Jenny von Westphalen
by Karl Marx



Jenny! If we can but weld our souls together,
then with contempt shall I fling my glove in the world's face.
Then shall I stride through the wreckage a creator!

[John Lenin]

The Long March
by Mao Tse Tung, October 1935



The Red Army fears not the trials of the Long March,
Holding light ten thousand crags and torrents.
The Five Ridges wind like gentle ripples
And the majestic Wumeng roll by, globules of clay.
Warm the steep cliffs lapped by the waters of Golden Sand,
Cold the iron chains spanning the Tatu River.
Minshan's thousand li of snow joyously crossed,
The three Armies march on, each face glowing.

[John Lenin]

The People's Liberation Army Captures Nanking
by Mao Tse Tung, April 1949



Over Chungshan swept a storm, headlong,
Our mighty army, a million strong, has crossed the Great River.
The City, a tiger crouching, a dragon curling, outshines its ancient glories;
In heroic triumph heaven and earth have been overturned.
With power and to spare we must pursue the tottering foe
And not ape Hsiang Yu the conqueror seeking idle fame.
Where Nature sentient, she too would pass from youth to age,
But Man's world is mutable, seas become mulberry fields.

[John Lenin]

Dedicated to Tania
by Che Guevara
* Written after Che finally accepted Bolivian radio reports of Tania's (August 31, 1967) death --- who was possibly 4 months pregnant with his child




To T:
There is dark silence in the jungle's heart of darkness
The people's songs are silent.


She fingers and repacks
The little plastic tape rolls.


They too are silent.
What sings in her heart?


Perhaps I shall never know it.


Nor hear the music of the songs that brought her here.


The jungle bush has yielded her no rhythms
Except the Morse code and the rapid beating of hearts
Waiting for the answering signal.


She never sings
Nor hums these tunes she loves.


And yet she hears them.


They carry her Forward, across the jungle's deathly
silence, toward
A triumphal chant only she can hear.

[John Lenin]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/CheinBolivia1.jpg


A Memory
by Che Guevara
* Written during his last futile months in Bolivia




Now that we are few,
we move almost like brothers,
and like brothers,
we quarrel, sulk and groan.


The struggle is a painful path of curses
But victory a white road
glittering with politeness,
with white smiles on empty white faces
with flattery
oiled by endless white lies.


Why, then,
in the glittering midst of triumph,
Do we remember these sweaty sullen faces
So painfully—


why does their memory shine sweeter
than all those white smiles?

[Random Precision]

Yikes. Professional revolutionaries can't write poetry for shit.

Try instead Pablo Neruda, César Vallejo, Roque Dalton, Bertolt Brecht, Nazim Hikmet, Vladimir Mayakovsky...

[brigadista]

LKJ all the way

[scarletghoul]

My favourite Mao poem-

Yellow Crane Tower by Mao Zedong, 1927

Wide, wide flow the nine streams through the land,
Dark, dark threads the line from south to north.
Blurred in the thick haze of the misty rain
Tortoise and Snake hold the great river locked.
The yellow crane is gone, who knows whither?
Only this tower remains a haunt for visitors.
I pledge my wine to the surging torrent,
The tide of my heart swells with the waves.

[Pawn Power]

Marx's poetry was crap. That, or the translation is crap. Maybe both.

[ZeroNowhere]

Marx's poetry was crap. That, or the translation is crap. Maybe both.
To be honest, it's actually pretty good.



Creator Spirit uncreated
Sails on fleet waves far away,
Worlds heave, Lives are generated,
His Eye spans Eternity.
All inspiriting reigns his Countenance,
In its burning magic, Forms condense.

Voids pulsate and Ages roll,
Deep in prayer before his Face;
Spheres resound and Sea-Floods swell,
Golden Stars ride on apace.
Fatherhead in blessing gives the sign,
And the All is bathed in Light divine.

[Pogue]

Mao's poetry sucks as much as his politics.

[Sasha]

Mao's poetry sucks as much as his politics.

qft

here are some decent poems by a leftist:

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/federico_garcia_lorca/poems

[scarletghoul]

Mao is awesome!!!!!

Yeah Lorca is great too.

Ode To The Plum Blossom by Mao Zedong

Wind and rain escorted Spring's departure,
Flying snow welcomes Spring's return.
On the ice-clad rock rising high and sheer
A flower blooms sweet and fair.
Sweet and fair, she craves not Spring for herself alone,
To be the harbinger of Spring she is content.
When the mountain flowers are in full bloom
She will smile mingling in their midst.

[JimmyJazz]

Joe Hill
José Martí

[x359594]

Allen Ginsberg has written excellent political poems throughout his poetic career. The Mossadegh Project has a short collection of poems and interviews on his 36 year interest in Iran: http://www.mohammadmossadegh.com/news/allen-ginsberg/ .

[fabilius]

Most good poets are leftists.

Most.

[Angry Young Man]

Benjamin Zephaniah, Pablo Neruda and maybe a little Auden. Don't look up Tom Wintringham. His poetry is poo. My bro in law is properly enthusiastic about Wintringham. I looked through a collection of his poetry and thought 'ugh'. The irony was that he called himself one of the 'veritable race of poets'.