Analysis

Agitprop

Art

References

Presentation

 

It is impossible to remain loyal to Marxism,
to remain loyal to the revolution
unless insurrection is treated as an art.

V. I. Lenin, 13‑14 (26‑27) Sept. 1917

 

 

 

 

1st of Mai
John Heartfield, 1927

 

Contact: 321ignition@free.fr

 

Modern Times
Charlie Chaplin, 1936

 

 

  

 

                                             

  

 

  

                                             

 

  

 

 

Art

 

 

 

Texts by Nicolás Guillén

 

 

Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista (1902‑1989).

He was born in Cuba. In January 1937, he participates in the 1° congress of the Revolutionary Writers and Artists League of Mexico. He establishes contacts, among others, with Alfaro Siqueiros. In 1937 he travels to Spain to participate in the 2° International Writers Congress for the Defense of Culture, held in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid. He establishes contacts, among others, with Pablo Neruda y Anna Seghers. He joins the Communist Party of Cuba. Having returned to Cuba, from 1939 to 1941 he is active in the political and cultural field, through the periodical Hoy and the National Antifascist Front, of which he is leader. In 1952 he travels to the USSR, the Popular Republic of China and Mongolia. The coup d'état de Batista that year, obliges him to exile. In 1959, as a result of the overthrow of Batista, he returns to Cuba. In 1961 is held in La Havana, the congress founding the Writers and Artists Union of Cuba (UNEAC), of which he is elected president, charge which he would held until his death.

Added: October 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albanian Pictures, 1960s-1970s

 

 

The pictures presented here are excerpted from the book Albanian Figurative Arts - Painting, Publishing House "8 Nëntori", Tirana, 1978.

Added: January 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

Texts by Atahualpa Yupanqui

 

 

Atahualpa Yupanqui (Héctor Roberto Chavero) (1908-1992).

Born in Argentina. At the age of thirteen he adopts the pseudonym Atahualpa that refers to the last Inca emperor. Later he joins to this name Yupanqui, to signify, according to the translation from Quechua: "Ata", to come; "Hu", from far away; "Allpa", earth; and "Yupanqui", say and tell.

In 1932, he participates in a tentative rebellion organized by the brothers Eduardo, Roberto and Mario Kennedy, of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), in the province of Entre Ríos, to overthrow the government of Justo. (In 1930, José Félix Uriburu had headed a military coup overthrowing the president Yrigoyen, and in 1932 the chief of the army General Augustín P. Justo had assumed the office of President.) The insurrection is crushed and Atahualpa Yupanqui goes to exile in Uruguay. With a general amnesty declared, in 1934, he returns to the country. In 1945, he becomes member of the Partido Comunista de Argentina (PCA). Eight times he suffers detention during the Peronist regime. In 1950 he passes over to Uruguay and from there to Europe. In 1952, at his return to Argentina, he distances himself from the PCA. In 1956, the Peronism having been overthrown, he is persecuted as well by the anti-Peronist military. In 1966-1967, his renewed visit to Europe represents the beginning of his exile. He dies in France.

Added: January 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

Texts by Eugène Pottier

 

 

Eugène Pottier (4 October 1816 - 6 November 1887).

Born in Paris. Designer on fabric, he composes his first song, “Long live Liberty”, in 1830. In 1848, he takes part, on the barricades, in the workers' combat against bourgeoisie. Under the Second empire, he creates a textile-printing house and in 1864 he originated the creating of the chamber of crafts for designers which then adhered to the First International. In 1871, he is elected member of the Paris Commune. He participates in the whole of the activity of this first proletarian government. In June 1871, hidden in Paris he creates his poem The International. He takes refuge in England, is sentenced to death by contumacy on 17 May 1873 and goes to exile in the USA, then comes back to France after the 1880 amnesty. He adheres to the Parti ouvrier français (French Workers Party).

Added: September 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rebel Patagonia - A documentary fiction

 

 

“The Rebel Patagonia” (La Patagonia Rebelde), film by Héctor Olivera, about the repression hitting the agrarian workers of the argentine extreme south, from 1920 to 1921.

Added: August 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works by David Alfaro Siqueiros

 

 

David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896‑1974).

Born in Mexico. He takes part in the Mexican Revolution, and then becomes member of the Mexican communist party (PCM). In the beginning of the 1930s, after having been imprisoned, he goes to exile in South America and USA. Between 1937 and 1939 he participates in the Spanish civil war against the forces of Franco. He returns to Mexico in 1940, but is forced to leave one more time until 1944. In 1960 he's arrested once again and stays four years in prison.

Added: February 2006
Last modification: March 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

Texts by Bertold Brecht and Erich Weinert

 

 

Bertolt Brecht (1898‑1956).

Born in Germany. In 1933, he goes to exile. In 1935, he travels in the Soviet Union. From 1941 on, he lives in the USA. In 1944, he takes part in the “Council for a Democratic Germany”. In 1949, he returns to East Germany.

Erich Weinert (1890‑1953).

Born in Germany. In 1933, he goes to exile. In 1935, he travels in the Soviet Union. In 1937 he goes to Spain to support the Republican troops, he is interned in France, and then found exile in USSR. From 1943 to 1945 he is president of the “Nationalkomitees Freies Deutschland” [“National Committee Free Germany”] established in Moscow. In 1946 he returns to East-Berlin.

Added: February 2006
Last modification: March 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflects of the workers' movement in cinema - two examples

 

 

“Matewan”.

This film by director John Sayles, released in 1987, is inspired by events that happened in 1920 in the town of Mingo County (West Virginia) in the USA. It's about a conflict opposing the miners of the Stone Mountain Coal Company to their employer.

“The Salt of the Earth”.

This film by Herbert Biberman, produced in 1954 with the participation of the International Union Of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, is based on a strike of the miners of the Empire Zinc Mine de Silver City, of New Mexico.

Added: February 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures by George Grosz

 

 

George Grosz (1893-1959).

Born in Germany. In 1919, he's arrested during the tentative revolution organized by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), but he succeeds in escaping. He becomes member of the KPD. In 1923, Wieland Herzfelde launches, with John Heartfield, George Grosz and other artists, the satirical revue of the KPD, “Der Knüppel” (the bludgeon) which appears until 1927. In 1933 Grosz immigrates to the USA. In Germany, his works are confiscated by the national-socialists, some of them are shown in 1937 in the exposition about “degenerated art” in Munich. In 1959 he installs himself again in Germany.

Added: February 2006
Last modification: April 2014