where do you gain your inspiration from? aka: The Leftist Hero/Heroine thread

[Adi Shankara]

I want to see where everyone draws their inspiration. In this thread, post your favorite Socialist/Communist/Anarchist/Leftist Hero/Heroine, and tell me why/how they inspired you, and their political affiliation.
a moving speech? An epic battle? A philosophy you think that can change the world? how have they personally inspired you?

Me personally, my hero and personal inspiration is Captain Thomas Sankara, former president of Burkina Faso. He was a shy catholic air pilot who found himself thrusted to the front of a popular revolution. He identified as a Marxist, but he seemed more Trotskyist in character. anyways, he was probably the least corrupt leader I ever heard of in my life, and that changed me for the better to want to live like him, honest, and caring about the poor FIRST and LAST.

in his short term as president (before being assassinated by the French backed dictator Blaise Compoare) he did the following:

Feb 1984 Tribute payments to and obligatory labour for the traditional village chiefs are outlawed.
4 Aug 1984 All land and mineral wealth are nationalized. The country’s name is changed from the colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, words from two different local languages meaning ‘Land of the Incorruptible’.

22 Sept 1984 A day of solidarity: men are encouraged to go to market and prepare meals to experience for themselves the conditions faced by women.

Oct 1984 The rural poll tax is abolished.

Nov 1984 ‘Vaccination Commando’. In 15 days 2.5 million children are immunized against meningitis, yellow fever and measles.

3 Dec 1984 Top civil servants and military officers are required to give one month’s pay and other civil servants to give half a month to help fund social development projects.

31 Dec 1984 All domestic rents are suspended for 1985 and a massive public housing construction program begins.

1 Jan 1985 Launch of a campaign to plant 10 million trees to slow the Sahara’s advance.

4 Aug 1985 An all-women parade marks the anniversary of the Revolution.

10 Sep 1985 The mounting hostility of the region’s conservative regimes is revealed at a meeting in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire.

Feb-Apr 1986 ‘Alpha Commando’. A literacy campaign in nine indigenous languages involves 35,000 people.

End of 1986 A UN-assisted program brings river blindness under control.


http://www.newint.org/issue268/lionking.htm I STRONGLY ASK OF YOU TO READ THIS, IT'S IMPORTANT TO RAISE AWARENESS OF THIS MAN AND HIS DEEDS!!! he was the only president on earth I know of who rejected wealth, and he road his bike to work everyday, and didn't even have air conditioning because he found it unfair to the Burkinabe people.

He and his works (specifically, "Thomas Sankara Speaks") inspired me greatly. so let me ask you: who inspires you the most?

[Adi Shankara]

bump; I'd like to hear some responses to this, as I think it's interesting to know who inspires who as far as theory goes.

[∞]

I think Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was much like Sankara.

[Starport]

bump; I'd like to hear some responses to this, as I think it's interesting to know who inspires who as far as theory goes.

OK, from what I know about Sankara, I can understand why he would be an inspiration to many. He appeared to be a developed Marxist revolutionary working in a very difficult situation and surrounded by some shallow opportunists as well as the outright traitors and imperialist stooges who killed him. Clearly an honest, courageous and determined fighting example for all revolutionaries now preparing to settle accounts with imperialisms hirelings.

Do you have any English translations of his speeches or writings?

[Raúl Duke]

I don't really gain any inspiration from any left-wing figure...

[Subcomandante Marcos.]

i am inspired by every worker who advocates marxism, anarchism trotskyism, the more i see revolutionary mobility, the more inspired i am.

The Iraqi Afghan resistance inspire me.

The PFLP inspire me

The paris commune inspires me

Marx throwing stones at lamp posts then running when the cops show inspired me lol

Venuzuela militia's inspired me

Drago inspired me

The trix rabbit was also heavily influential, i would cry, the jeers the abuse, i can still hear it now

Sillyrabit tricks are for kids

Lestwe forget, silly, silly wabbit

RIP

[Uppercut]

Goku was a big inspiration when I was a wee tot, him and the Z fighters fighting the imperialist, fascist sayans Vegeta and Nappa, although the former had a change of heart.

Freeza, Cell, and Buu (the evil one) were all elitists, convinced of their superiority over all other people. Those bastards got what they deserved.:thumbup1:

[Adi Shankara]

OK, from what I know about Sankara, I can understand why he would be an inspiration to many. He appeared to be a developed Marxist revolutionary working in a very difficult situation and surrounded by some shallow opportunists as well as the outright traitors and imperialist stooges who killed him. Clearly an honest, courageous and determined fighting example for all revolutionaries now preparing to settle accounts with imperialisms hirelings.

Do you have any English translations of his speeches or writings?


Yes, they do in fact:

http://www.pathfinderpress.com/s.nl/it.A/id.1091/.f

you can find it cheaper on Amazon.com, though from what I know, all profits go back to fund Pathfinder press and not it's not generally for-profit (though I could be wrong)

[it_ain't_me]

bump; I'd like to hear some responses to this

ok, how about this: i am shocked--utterly shocked--to learn that you are an admirer of thomas sankara. this is big news. thank you for sharing it with me. i would never have guessed that you like thomas sankara had it not been for this enlightening topic.

also, you post too many stupid and boring threads.

[Subcomandante Marcos.]

now wednesday, the guysacool comrade, apart from his stance on tibet that is.

[it_ain't_me]

that's why i'm trying to give him a protip, free of charge.

[BeerShaman]

Well, I am inspired by Kropotkni's writings. He has written great stuff! The way that he talks about things passes straight to the reader the feeling that you hear his voice that you watch him talking! And he's genious! If you have been revolutionarily unethical and then you read one of hiw writings, you will feel like there is some God telling you, "eh! What did you do there? Think of your life again, what have you accomplished? What if you do this instead?" And blah blah blah... He has written a message to ordinary people. It's not only wonderful, it's fantastic! It is art! lol! (I ain't brainwashed!)
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/kropotkin/appealtoyoung.html:thumbup1:

[leftace53]

I'm inspired more through the obvious negative effect of capitalism than specific leftists.

[Invincible Summer]

I guess I like Mao, Uncle Ho, Che, the EZLN, Kropotkin, CNT/FAI Spain. Oh, and V from the graphic novel.



EDIT: I noticed I listed quite a few Anarchists even though I don't identify as one. Hope I won't get sent to the gulags by my ML(M) comrades

[People's War]

Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hoxha, Chavez, Morales, Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Che, many others! They have earned their place as revolutionaries or theorists in their time.

The most inspirational people, however, are the oppressed masses in history and in the future who have, or will, overthrow the bourgeoisie and establish a revolutionary society. The revolution lives on!

[manic expression]

In addition to all the justly famous names: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Debs, Rosa, Che, Fidel, Mao, Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh and others...I get extremely inspired by the less well-known members of our movement, of whom I find new inspiring examples all the time. Just recently, I've been inspired by Hans Beimler, a communist who escaped Hitler's genocide camps to lead the German internationalist mission in the Spanish Civil War, a cause to which he gave his life. One week I could be inspired by the defenders of Brest Fortress, the next it could be the Cuban internationalists in Angola. Our movement is so rich that the sheer tonnage of sacrifice and dedication is almost overwhelming.

And of course, I'm deeply inspired by the examples of my comrades, both in the US and elsewhere. They are definitely my heroes.

[FreeFocus]

My ancestors, people resisting imperialism both in the past and today, people fighting capitalism, and just people who work hard and try their best to be decent people.

[Fietsketting]

Goku was a big inspiration when I was a wee tot, him and the Z fighters fighting the imperialist, fascist sayans Vegeta and Nappa, although the former had a change of heart.

Freeza, Cell, and Buu (the evil one) were all elitists, convinced of their superiority over all other people. Those bastards got what they deserved.:thumbup1:

This makes you by far the coolest Marxist-Leninist-Maoist on the forum. Being a M-L-M and have a sense of humor makes you stand out like a a flag on a dungpile.

http://www.collaboration-llc.com/Portals/60853/images//Stand-out.jpg

[9]

Uprising of the 20,000

[durhamleft]

This may not be quite what you're looking for, but the man who inspired me into left-wing politics is Woody Guthrie!

[Uppercut]

This makes you by far the coolest Marxist-Leninist-Maoist on the forum.

Thank you.:lol:


Being a M-L-M and have a sense of humor makes you stand out like a a flag on a dungpile.


But let's not start a tendency war here.

[Blackscare]

I'm throwing in Nestor Makhno as my biggest inspiration.

This may be a stretch but Richard Stallman's work was the first thing that tipped me towards Leftist thinking.

http://www.nestormakhno.info/images/n2.jpg




http://www.stallman.org/photos/st-ignucius/vatican/mid/mid_img_7594.jpg



Ferocious looking revolutionaries, the both of them.

[∞]

Goddamn Makhno is such a BAMF

[BeerShaman]

Goddamn Makhno is such a BAMF
A bamf?

[Comrade Gwydion]

I gain inspiration from the female busdriver who talked to me about corruption of politicians through this system, about feminism, about a certain book by Simone de Beauvior's which delt not with feminism but rather about how (wo)men are prone to corruption etc.
That was revolutionairy working class.

[ed miliband]

A bamf?

Beautiful and masculine fucker.



No, I think it means bad ass mother fucker.

[bricolage]

I used to have a music teacher who'd turn up late for lessons because he was busy getting a kebab then helped us set up a jazz band instead of doing GCSE work. Then he left to go work on a pig farm. He was pretty damn inspiring.

[this is an invasion]

Pol Pot

[Os Cangaceiros]

Leftist historical figures who's lives I find inspiring:

Emma Goldman, Noe Ito, Lucy and Albert Parsons, Voltairine De Cleyre, Osugi Sakae, Buenaventura Durrutti, Malatesta, Marx & Engels, Eugene V. Debs, Bill Haywood, Carlo Tresca and Alfredo Bonanno, to name a few.

[Os Cangaceiros]

http://www.nestormakhno.info/images/n2.jpg


Nestor Makhno looks a good deal like the actor William Forsythe.

[x359594]

Jim Peck was a great inspiration to me when I knew him in the 1970s in New York City. He never gave up, even after he was crippled from two separate beatings at the hands of the Klan in 1961. Although he suffered chronic low grade pain ever after he was unfailingly energetic and dedicated to the anti-imperialist and Civil Rights causes.

Another inspiration was Jim Yates who I knew in the Village in the 1980s. I often saw him at community meetings and demonstrations against the US-backed Contra War in Nicaragua. We became friendly and I learned that he was a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion when his book of memoirs, From Mississippi to Madrid was published in 1986 or 87. I hope I have the same energy and dedication that Jim had when he was in his 80s.

[The Ben G]

Lenin, Makhno (Yes...), Durruti, Marx and Engels, Che, Trotsky, Uncle Ho, Mr. Castro, Native Americans, Poor People, Orwell, and Mr. Debs

[Adi Shankara]

pol pot

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[∞]

A bamf?

Bad Ass Mother Fucker

[∞]

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wish I could like it twice

[What Would Durruti Do?]

The left-wing militant rebels in Star Wars.

Chewbacca specifically.

[this is an invasion]

The fuck is wrong with Pol Pot?

assholes

[Adi Shankara]

The fuck is wrong with Pol Pot?

assholes


Let's see...no real communist ideology, except for a few buzzwords and catch phrases? CHECK

no real long term goals to revolutionize society, except for sending them back to work on farms against their will? CHECK

division of society into castes? (farmers, politicians, military, "reactionaries") CHECK

hatred of the urban proletariat? CHECK

hatred of education? CHECK

A complete disregard for internationalism and non-racial ideology? (as proven by the Khmer Rouge's racist targeting of Cham, Hill Tribes, and Vietnamese) CHECK

no intermediary socialist state? CHECK

labeling of and Extermination of people for simply living in cities or wearing glasses (which showed his total misunderstanding--or lack of regard--for Marxist theory)? CHECK

20% of Cambodia's population dead? CHECK MATE

[JacobVardy]

Two of my greatest inspirations are Jack Mundy and Eugene Debs, that speach from the dock is a killer. Its odd that they are a Socialist and a Maoist, since my biggest inspiration is the illiterate Italian anarchist at the begining of 'Homage to Catalonia'. When i was in high school my teachers caught me reading 'the Communist Manifesto' and made me read Orwell's works to cure me. I read that line about an anarchist brigadista being the kind of man who would "committ murder or throw his life away for a friend in an instant" and thought, that is bad arse, that is who i want to be.

[Adi Shankara]

Two of my greatest inspirations are Jack Mundy and Eugene Debs, that speach from the dock is a killer. Its odd that they are a Socialist and a Maoist, since my biggest inspiration is the illiterate Italian anarchist at the begining of 'Homage to Catalonia'. When i was in high school my teachers caught me reading 'the Communist Manifesto' and made me read Orwell's works to cure me. I read that line about an anarchist brigadista being the kind of man who would "committ murder or throw his life away for a friend in an instant" and thought, that is bad arse, that is who i want to be.

Your inspiration from an Italian anarchist reminds me of Sacco and Vanzetti--they were the first glimpse into anarchists I ever seen that wasn't impartial, or that actually portrayed them as sympathetic characters (in the history books, at least; usually anarchists are demonized), which led me to have greater respect for anarchists at that crucial young age.

[bricolage]

The Paris Commune.

[JacobVardy]

Your inspiration from an Italian anarchist reminds me of Sacco and Vanzetti--they were the first glimpse into anarchists I ever seen that wasn't impartial, or that actually portrayed them as sympathetic characters (in the history books, at least; usually anarchists are demonized), which led me to have greater respect for anarchists at that crucial young age.

It was about 15 years ago now, and i do believe that there are good and sensible reasons for preferring the anarchist road to communism over other routes. However, if i am honest, i have to concede that it was that passage that caused me to be an anarchist. That's what i meant when i said it was inspirational.

BTW, the Debs' quote i was referring to was "... years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

AND, Jack Mundy was a leader of the Builders and Labourers Federation. A hard arse and a cool guy.

AND, thanks for the info on Sankara. He is really impressive.

[this is an invasion]

Let's see...no real communist ideology, except for a few buzzwords and catch phrases? CHECK

no real long term goals to revolutionize society, except for sending them back to work on farms against their will? CHECK

division of society into castes? (farmers, politicians, military, "reactionaries") CHECK

hatred of the urban proletariat? CHECK

hatred of education? CHECK

A complete disregard for internationalism and non-racial ideology? (as proven by the Khmer Rouge's racist targeting of Cham, Hill Tribes, and Vietnamese) CHECK

no intermediary socialist state? CHECK

labeling of and Extermination of people for simply living in cities or wearing glasses (which showed his total misunderstanding--or lack of regard--for Marxist theory)? CHECK

20% of Cambodia's population dead? CHECK MATE

What's your point, bro?

[Adi Shankara]

What's your point, bro?

that if you think Pol Pot is a good marxist leader, then you're a fool.

[RED VICTORY]

Marx, Engels, Lenin, Che, Bukharin, Ho Chi Minh. Revolutionaries who have sacrificed everything for the only thing that means anything....worker's liberation.

[People's War]

that if you think Pol Pot is a good marxist leader, then you're a fool.

This. No true Marxist would support that homicidal maniac.

[Qayin]

Holger Meins/Andreas Baader

[Os Cangaceiros]

Holger Meins/Andreas Baader


"Fucking is the same as shooting!"

Inspiring figure, indeed.

[Blackscare]

Whenever you see people reacting angerly at someone saying they like Pol Pot, or want to man the forklifts, look at their post count. I think there's something they don't get.... like the joke for instance.

[Adi Shankara]

Whenever you see people reacting angerly at someone saying they like Pol Pot, or want to man the forklifts, look at their post count. I think there's something they don't get.... like the joke for instance.


lol, not angry, it's just, you get alot of fools on here who really don't know what they're talking about sometimes...they think Pol Pot is cool because he was a khmer nationalist/"communist", and sometimes, they really don't know what they talking about.

sarcasm is hard to detect online :P

[Rusty Shackleford]

Pol Pot, Enver Hoxha, Frank Zappa, Bob Avakian and the opposite of the intention of 1984. Mostly Enver Avakian though.

Whos a hero of mine?

well, i actually do like Kropotkin quite a bit. but really any partisan movement is quite inspiring and then the standard Marx and Lenin.

[People's War]

I sincerely hope those writing Pol Pot are joking. He wasn't a communist, he was a national agrarian maniac with a hard on for killing people senselessly. If it weren't for the Vietnamese liberating the people of Cambodia, most of the population would now be in slavery or dead.

[Barry Lyndon]

Karl Marx, Frederich Engels, Mikhail Bakunin, Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Leon Trotsky, Ho Chi Minh, Josip Broz Tito, Mao Zedong, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Sacco and Vanzetti, Eugene V. Debs, Lucy Parsons, Big Bill Haywood, Paul Robeson, Subcommandante Marcos, Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Leila Khaled, Meena Kamal, Salvador Allende, Carlo Tresca, Thomas Sankara, Augustino Neto, Samora Machel, the Black Panthers, the Vietcong, the Nepalese Maoists etc etc etc

[Veg_Athei_Socialist]

The Paris Commune.
Same.

[AK]

Stalin. Who's with me?

[Chimurenga.]

Nicolae Ceausecu, Lin Biao, and Muammar al-Gaddafi.

:cool:

[Adi Shankara]

Stalin. Who's with me?

Not me :P lol I mean, I admire what he has done to protect my mother country from the Fascist aggressors...but aside from that, not really.

[soyonstout]

The Paris Commune.

Like the above poster, I'm more inspired by specific events during which the working class very boldly and obviously demonstrated that it holds the future in its hands like the Paris Commune, The Great Upheaval of 1877, the 1905 Russian Revolution, Poland 1980, May 1968, Italy 1969, Germany 1918, and mostly the 1917 October Revolution.

As for militants I'm inspired by, that would mostly be the KAPD, Gavril Miasnakov, the Italian Fraction of the Communist Left in the 1930s, and a comrade who had a huge influence on my politics who recently passed away.

-soyons tout

[MilkmanofHumanKindness]

Ugghhhh where to begin....

Specific Individuals:

Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Eugene V. Debs, William Lloyd Garrison, Che Guevara, Bukharin (As a theorist, and in his later years.), Hugo Chavez, Mao Zedong.

Events:

Paris Commune (of course), Spanish Civil War, The Levellers, the October Revolution, and the Long March.

[Bright Banana Beard]

Individual: Farabundo Marti, Che, Marx, Engels, John Reed, Lenin, Stalin, Enver Hoxha, and Ho Chi Minh.

[Adil3tr]

Helen Keller. Blind and deaf, She read socialist books through hand to hand sign language. She was also just as radical as many of us.

[Uppercut]

Stalin. Who's with me?

Here here.

[People's War]

Here here.

Me third.

[ContrarianLemming]

My heroes are nameless and faceless, absolutely forgotten.

[Ele'ill]

I don't have anyone that I would call a hero/heroine.

My inspiration comes from Autumn puddles and snow showers.

[Coggeh]

I don't have anyone that I would call a hero/heroine.

My inspiration comes from Autumn puddles and snow showers.
autumn puddles :blushing: lol

Mine comes from Trotsky, Rosa Luxembourg, Lenin, James Connolly , James Larkin, Marx and Engels

[Bubbles]

Working and not having time to pee

[Ele'ill]

autumn puddles :blushing: lol


What?

[Os Cangaceiros]

The Great Upheaval of 1877

Amazing event in American history that has (unfortunately) fallen down the collective memory hole.

[Barry Lyndon]

Amazing event in American history that has (unfortunately) fallen down the collective memory hole.

Wrote a 14-page paper on it for one of my college history classes. Lost points because it was 'too opinionated'.