Friday, September 29, 2017

Tricontinental Magazine Looks at the Vietnam War, 1972 - Part Two "To Unite the Entire People"

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

See the end of this post for details on the project.

Leaflet: Tricontinental Magazine Looks at the Vietnam War, 1972 - Part Two "To Unite the Entire People"

For the last week we have been looking at some vintage leftist leaflets from the period of the Vietnam War that counter American revisionist falsehoods about how the United States somehow had good intentions in Vietnam and that the war was “started in good faith by decent men.”

In fact, the imperialist war in Vietnam was launched after a series of broken promises and straight-up American lies, was illegal on multiple levels, saw the illegal carpet bombing of a developing nation (North Vietnam) by the Americans, saw the widespread use of chemical warfare by their forces and saw them commit countless crimes and atrocities. 

Those launching and pursuing the war were anything but "decent men" acting in "good faith", they were war criminals. 

Previously we looked at a leaflet from a trip by three Canadians to North Vietnam, as well as at a longer booklet regarding US crimes in Vietnam.

Today we look at a 1972 issue of the anti-imperialist Cuban published magazine Tricontinental that was devoted to the Vietnam War. It looks at the history of Vietnam and Vietnamese resistance, has Ho Chi Minh's final Will, statements from Jane Fonda and Ramsey Clark and other articles. 

Due to the length of the issue we will be dividing the post into two parts of which this is the second. The first part was Tricontinental Magazine Looks at the Vietnam War, 1972 - Part One "The Call of the Hour"

No matter what difficulties and hardships may lie ahead, our people are sure to win victory. The US imperialists will have to pull out. Our fatherland will be reunified. Our compatriots in the North and in the South will be reunited under the same roof. Our country will have the signal honor of being a small nation which, through a heroic struggle, has defeated two great imperialist powers -- The French and the Americans -- and made a worthy contribution to the national liberation movement. - Ho Chi Minh, from his final Will.  

(click on scans to enlarge)

























When The Left Chapter began part of what I wanted to do on the blog was to show and highlight vintage public leftist election/political leaflets and booklets. While many of these have been offered with commentary to date, a very large collection of hundreds of them from several different sources remains and to preserve these often quite rare documents we will be posting them on a regular (almost daily) basis now often without or with minimal commentary so that people may have access to them as quickly as possible as an historical resource. 

While these will all be leaflets from a variety of different leftist viewpoints and countries, they are being posted as an historical/study resource and the views or opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog or blogger.

All of these posts (as well as posts made to date) will be listed on the page: Vintage Communist/Socialist Leaflets  (which is still being updated with past posts).

If you have any public, vintage leaflets or booklets you would like to contribute to this project please contact us via theleftchapter@outlook.com

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Tricontinental Magazine Looks at the Vietnam War, 1972 - Part One "The Call of the Hour"

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

See the end of this post for details on the project.


Leaflet: Tricontinental Magazine Looks at the Vietnam War, 1972 - Part One "The Call of the Hour"

For the last week we have been looking at some vintage leftist leaflets from the period of the Vietnam War that counter American revisionist falsehoods about how the United States somehow had good intentions in Vietnam and that the war was “started in good faith by decent men.”

In fact, the imperialist war in Vietnam was launched after a series of broken promises and straight-up American lies, was illegal on multiple levels, saw the illegal carpet bombing of a developing nation (North Vietnam) by the Americans, saw the widespread use of chemical warfare by their forces and saw them commit countless crimes and atrocities. 

Those launching and pursuing the war were anything but "decent men" acting in "good faith", they were war criminals. 

Previously we looked at a leaflet from a trip by three Canadians to North Vietnam, as well as at a longer booklet regarding US crimes in Vietnam.

Today we look at a 1972 issue of the anti-imperialist Cuban published magazine Tricontinental that was devoted to the Vietnam War. It looks at the history of Vietnam and Vietnamese resistance, has the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's Declaration of Independence (which was modeled on the American Declaration of Independence), outlines the Geneva Agreements and more.

Due to the length of the issue we will be dividing the post into two parts of which this is the first.


And what great people these are! What stoicism and courage! And what a lesson for the world is contained in this struggle! What role shall we, the exploited people of the world, play? The peoples of the three continents focus their attention on Vietnam and learn their lesson. We cannot elude the call of this hour. Vietnam is pointing it out with its endless lesson of heroism, its tragic and everyday lesson of struggle and death for the attainment of final victory.  - Ernesto Che Guevara
(Click on images to enlarge)

























When The Left Chapter began part of what I wanted to do on the blog was to show and highlight vintage public leftist election/political leaflets and booklets. While many of these have been offered with commentary to date, a very large collection of hundreds of them from several different sources remains and to preserve these often quite rare documents we will be posting them on a regular (almost daily) basis now often without or with minimal commentary so that people may have access to them as quickly as possible as an historical resource. 

While these will all be leaflets from a variety of different leftist viewpoints and countries, they are being posted as an historical/study resource and the views or opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog or blogger.

All of these posts (as well as posts made to date) will be listed on the page: Vintage Communist/Socialist Leaflets  (which is still being updated with past posts).

If you have any public, vintage leaflets or booklets you would like to contribute to this project please contact us via theleftchapter@outlook.com


Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Dimitrovgrad 1985 - A Soviet Postcard Folder of the City and its Sights

Dimitrovgrad is a city located near the larger city of Ulyanovsk (the birthplace of Lenin) in central Russia. We looked at some of the sights and monuments of Ulyanovsk during the Soviet era in a previous vintage photography post. Dimitrovgrad, with a population of just over 120,000, is the second largest city in the region.


In 1972 Dimitrovgrad was named after the first Communist leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria, Georgi Dimitrov. Dimitrov is also famous for his courageous actions during the Leipzig Trial in 1934 after he had been falsely accused of being involved in a fictional Communist conspiracy to burn down the Reichstag in Germany. His defense was so brilliant he was actually acquitted to the fury of Hitler and the Nazis.

This packet of 12 postcards from 1985 show the city during the Soviet era with some of its shops, districts, factories and monuments.

The postcards were meant for a domestic audience as they are only in Russian, though I have been able to translate most of them. The details of the translation where available are under the card.

(Click on images to enlarge)



Automotive Plant District


Monument to the Homeland


Sanatorium 



Orbit Shopping Centre


Children's Department Store


May Day Residential District


Lenin Avenue


Victory Blvd.


House of Culture


Monument to Union Labour