Hello each!

[bugsy]

I'm sorry that I've got this a bit arse about face. I've already knocked put a few posts without introducing myself.

Anyway, I'm Bugsy. Pleased to meet you all, in a sort of cyber way.

MsG

[Connolly]

Welcome comrade. :D

Where are you from?

How come you have an Irish flag as your avatar? - im from Ireland by the way ;)

What is your politics?

Nice user name, 'bugsy' :)

[bugsy]

Hi Red Banner,

Thanks for the welcome, comrade. So you're from Ireland. Jaisus, dese Micks is everywhere! :D :D :D For I too hail from the Emerald Isle, from Dungarvan, Co. Waterford to be exact. Which explains the tri-colour in my avatar.

My politics, hmmm. For many years, I was a purist Marxist, then I had the opportunity to spend a year in the former DDR as a picture-restorer in East Berlin and Dresden. That experience turned me into a pragmatic Socialist. I'm also what is termed a secular humanist. I was, however, for many years a Buddhist and even today I'm convinced that, given the penchant of mankind to want to believe in something religious, a mixture of Socialism and Buddhism would be ideal for the world.

I actually went off Buddhism a bit because of the reincarnation bit: knowing my luck, I'd very likely come back as me. :D

MsG

[Connolly]

Thanks for the welcome, comrade. So you're from Ireland. Jaisus, dese Micks is everywhere! For I too hail from the Emerald Isle, from Dungarvan, Co. Waterford to be exact. Which explains the tri-colour in my avatar.

Iv been to Dungarvan once. Lovely place so it is. Glad to have another Irish comrade on here :)


My politics, hmmm. For many years, I was a purist Marxist, then I had the opportunity to spend a year in the former DDR as a picture-restorer in East Berlin and Dresden. That experience turned me into a pragmatic Socialist. I'm also what is termed a secular humanist. I was, however, for many years a Buddhist and even today I'm convinced that, given the penchant of mankind to want to believe in something religious, a mixture of Socialism and Buddhism would be ideal for the world.

I actually went off Buddhism a bit because of the reincarnation bit: knowing my luck, I'd very likely come back as me.

Interesting viewpoint. So your well travelled then, that must have been something living in East Germany. Were you impressed with the system there or something? - very few on here would consider it anything like socialism.

Welcome anyway, hope you stick around abit, and im looking forward to falling out with you over something - knowing this place, cut throat :D

TRB

[bugsy]

Well travelled indeed! However, I'm sure that my sojourn in the DDR is of much more importance than what I've done otherwise. So how come that I came to do that at all?

After finishing my time in the British Army, I decided to complete my training as a picture-restorer in Hamburg, Germany. While there, I was a member of the German KPD and also a member of the short-lived but very vibrant NDKP (Norddeutsche Kommunistischepartei). I received an invitation to attend a meeting at the DDR embassy in Hamburg, and a letter shortly afterwards dropped into my mailbox inviting me to a meeting with a few bonzos from the DDR Ministry of Culture. The rest, as they say, is history.

More to follow!

MsG

[AGITprop]

welcome comrade

[spartan]

You sound like a very intresting person so welcome and i hope that you enjoy your time here at revleft.

[Genosse Kotze]

yippie! Es gefällt mir immer, einen neuen deutschsprechenden Genoße zu treffen. Herzlich Willkommen bei Revleft. Ich freue mich sehr darauf, mit dir im deutschen Forum zu sprechen (es ist leider ziemlich leer :() und das Ende deiner Geschichte von deinem Besuch in der DDR.

Mit sozialistischem Gruß!

[Connolly]

^^

It always pleases me to meet a new German-speaking comrade. Cordially welcomes with Revleft. I look forward much with you in the German forum to speak (it is unfortunately rather empty) and the end of your history of your attendance in the GDR. With socialist greeting!

Very handy for us non-germans: :D http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

[Red Scare]

Welcome comrade. I have been to Ireland, nice place.

[bugsy]

The year, or more exactly 14 months, I spent in the GDR were some of the most formative in my life. Of course, anybody who cares at all about mankind and society has no other choice but to regard Socialism as the only alternative. However, I was always a bit sceptical about the ostensible advantages of Communism as espoused by the hard-line Stalinists. It just seemed to jibe with the reality of life in the USSR.

So it was with some excitement, but also trepidation, that I reported to the Ministry of Culture in East-Berlin. I was allotted a gaff in the area of East-Berlin known as Mahlsdorf. It was above a chemist’s shop and furnished in a GDR Fifties kind of way.
I received a salary of 850 Marks (Ostmark), and while that sounds very little, it should be remembered that my rent was 46 Marks per month, trips on the trams cost 10 Pfennigs a pop and you could purchase enough to eat for a week with just 20 Marks.

One of the main advantages I had in the GDR was that I’m a Mick, thus it was highly unlikely that I was a Stasi plant (although the Stasi did approach me with a view to “co-operating” with them, I told them to fuck off and they just left it at that – there were no attempts at arm-twisting and such. And I never suffered any negative reaction at all as a result of my flat refusal). The fact that I was a foreigner led to comrades being more than willing to take me into their confidence. It quickly became very clear to me that the GDR citizens had an extremely keen and accurate picture of exactly what was going on in their country and were acutely aware that their system was nowhere near Socialism, but merely State Capitalism. This was often reflected in the three-track attitude they had to their gobment: the first track being the official party line; the second being their “semi-private” work-based opinion, whereby they were a little bit critical of their gobment – but only a little bit. And the third track was their private and real opinion. Here, they bitterly railed against the suffocating Stasi influence on their lives. They also made a lot of suggestions about making life more bearable. Even then there were very serious questions being asked as to why GDR citizens couldn’t travel to other capitalist countries. It was just as clear that they were fiercely proud of their country – and rightly so! For the GDR was by far the outstanding motor of COMECON, without which the whole system would have collapsed decades earlier.

The GDR comrades displayed quite astonishing inventiveness and flexibility in keeping their pre-war machines up and running. Even completely reproducing spare parts which hadn’t been manufactured for 50 years or more was no big deal for them. This breathtaking talent for improvisation was also reflected at my place of work. I learned more about picture-restoration in the GDR than in the three years of my training in Hamburg and subsequently. In Hamburg, if this or that wasn’t available, then it was ordered, arrived in a day or two and the work was carried out. That wasn’t possible in the GDR, so they improvised. And how they improvised! It was just fucking incredible! Every day I worked there was an absolute joy. I know this sounds a bit daft, but I really did eagerly look forward to work every single day. But that was also for another, important reason.

While the realisation that the GDR gobment was in reality no better than any other Capitalist gobment was a disappointment, what my time in the GDR taught me was that a population can learn solidarity with each other. It dispelled all these Capitalist arguments that “it’s human nature to be selfish and greedy”. It’s not, it’s learned behaviour, and the comrades in the DGR showed me that such behaviour can also be unlearned and replaces by genuine solidarity and care for each other. I became a part of this and was again and again astounded at the helpfulness and friendliness of the comrades. That, for me, was the most profound lesson I learned in the GDR. We also see this, to a certain extent, in Capitalist societies, when, for instance, there’s a man-made or natural catastrophe. So this capacity for human solidarity is still apparent in all of us, albeit snowed under by the impossible demands such societies place on us as individuals.

I’ll end here, since I don’t want this post to become too long and boring (it probably has already). However, if nobody objects, I’d like to relate a few episodes in further posts illustrating this solidarity and also the unique sense of humour I found in the GDR. Some really hilarious shit happened to me there.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, comrades.

MsG

[Connolly]

I’ll end here, since I don’t want this post to become too long and boring (it probably has already). However, if nobody objects, I’d like to relate a few episodes in further posts illustrating this solidarity and also the unique sense of humour I found in the GDR. Some really hilarious shit happened to me there.

Not at all comrade. I thank you for sharing you experiences, and looking forward to hearing further. Very interesting indeed!

Why did you join the British army?, and especially considering you are from Ireland, where even still there is a small stigma attached.

[bugsy]

Why did you join the British army?, and especially considering you are from Ireland, where even still there is a small stigma attached.
Fair question indeed, comrade, and I'm glad you asked it, for it must seem strange for a Mick Socialist to do such a thing.

My Grandda served in the British Army in WWI from beginning to end, then came home and fought in the Irish Civil War. My Da served in the British Army during WWII and beyond (1939 - 1949 in the RAOC). Thus the fact that I joined and served six years in the British Army (RAMC) was merely carrying on a military tradition in our family.

I must say that I've not really had the experience of being stigmatised for my service. I've attended Remembrance Sundays in Dublin on many occasions, wearing my own medals and those of my Grandda and Da and never had any trouble at all. However, I can remember one time I attended the Remebrance Sunday parade in London and one obnoxious twat objected to my wearing my Grandda's "Black and Tan" medal, particularly because it has a "COMRAC" clasp. But he was soon put to rights by a load of other ex-squaddies and that was that! :D :D :D

MsG

[Connolly]

Fair question indeed, comrade, and I'm glad you asked it, for it must seem strange for a Mick Socialist to do such a thing.

My Grandda served in the British Army in WWI from beginning to end, then came home and fought in the Irish Civil War. My Da served in the British Army during WWII and beyond (1939 - 1949 in the RAOC). Thus the fact that I joined and served six years in the British Army (RAMC) was merely carrying on a military tradition in our family.

I must say that I've not really had the experience of being stigmatised for my service. I've attended Remembrance Sundays in Dublin on many occasions, wearing my own medals and those of my Grandda and Da and never had any trouble at all. However, I can remember one time I attended the Remebrance Sunday parade in London and one obnoxious twat objected to my wearing my Grandda's "Black and Tan" medal, particularly because it has a "COMRAC" clasp. But he was soon put to rights by a load of other ex-squaddies and that was that!

Ah, well its understandable you joined considering your upbringing. Were all suckers to follow our da's football team - but its the way it is. :D