On December 4th, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and the DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi signed the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity (pictured above). Trump boasted that he was settling a war that had gone on for decades, and remarked, idiosyncratically, “[…] and now they’re going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands […]”
A few days later, the M23 militia (backed by Rwanda) advanced into Uvira, a city near the DRC’s eastern border with Burundi and a major commercial and strategic location in the region. Burundi, although a small country, is a significant ally to the DRC and has sent thousands of soldiers to aid them during conflicts; this offensive by M23 aims to cut off a direct route between the two, though they do still share quite a long border over Lake Tanganyika. Tens of thousands of civilians (possibly up to 200,000) fled as M23 approached.
Signed almost simultaneously with the Accords was a Strategic Partnership Agreement between the DRC and the United States, which effectively threw open its critical minerals in the east to American exploitation. These minerals include tin, tungsten, and tantalum, which is vital for many industries. The irony is that M23 has been taking territory in the eastern DRC in order to transport these very minerals to Rwanda and onwards to global supply chains. Signing the Accord was, therefore, a remarkably pointless endeavour for everybody involved. Burundi and the DRC have complained, calling for sanctions on Rwanda, and appeasing to Trump’s pride, calling this a “slap in the face to the United States”, though I doubt the US is ultimately all that bothered about it one way or another.
Last week’s thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
Mirrors of Telegram channels that have been erased by Zionist censorship.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
DM me to feature effort posts and good threads in the newsmega/newscomm here (including your own).Please review and provide feedback on revised comm policy and rules
@xiaohongshu@hexbear.net and others discuss weakening Chinese domestic consumption and the importance of their trade surplus to the status quo
@LeninWeave@hexbear.net and @demerit@lemmygrad.ml on the fraught discussion of harm to Jewish versus Palestinian lives and the implicit racism of the Palestine exception
Previous posts of the week: Oct 27 | Nov 3 | Nov 10 | Nov 17 | Nov 24 | Dec 1 | Dec 8
@xiaohongshu@hexbear.net and others discuss weakening Chinese domestic consumption and the importance of their trade surplus to the status quo
A lot of interesting discussion and debate in this thread, though it’s somewhat controversial, so I’m not sure if you would want to include it.
it’s good discussion but also a lot of
with site rules lawyering for good measure.https://hexbear.net/comment/6761055
Nominating this specifically, comrade @demerit@lemmygrad.ml made an absolutely excellent comment regarding Holocaust exceptionalism, the western left, and the supremacy of “Jewish pain” (but only when it helps zionists).
Yeah, that’s what I mean by “controversial”.
By the most conservative counts more than 70000 people have been murdered by Israel in Gaza since October 7, 2023. That works out to an average of about 90 people killed every day for 800 days. In other words, Israel has committed 6 Bondi Beaches every single day for more than two years.
And that’s with the most conservative count of how many people have been killed.
Don’t forget that this lowest estimate only includes violent murders, and not murders through sanctions, through sieging, through destruction of infrastructure and housing, etc.
violent murders that can be conclusively provenIf you’re relative has no identifiable remains, or non remain at all, they’re not counted! And that’s assuming that there’s officials or infrastructure to identify them!
Absolutely, if you go with a more realistic estimate (500,000+ people killed) that’s the equivalent of Israel commiting dozens of Bondi Beaches (40+) every single day since October 7, 2023.
Hey everyone. Remember how we used WMDs as a fake pretext for the Iraq war and now everyone knows that it was fake, even the naive & stupid people? Anyway…
Fentanyl will be classified as a weapon of mass destruction via an EO today, Trump says.
we are not living. none of this is real.
The Amerikkkan imperialists sent the nukes during the
CubanTurkish Missile Crisis, the last 60 years have just been a long dying dream.
But the US administration does know that it worked in the moment, and that’s all they need to manufacture consent, it doesn’t matter if libs will smugly be saying they opposed the war in 20 years, if they are supporting it now.
if they are supporting it now.
But they aren’t. The boat strikes are unpopular.
Actual war is enormously unpopular.
Tbf its unpopular because trump is president. Libs gave a damn about BLM and kids in cages during Trump I as well. They also called themselves socialist too.
Most people have an incoherent string of beliefs which are anti-elite in nature.
Tbf its unpopular because trump is president.
Aside from this claim being an assumption, this is basically just saying “people are mad because of the current specific situation, not something abstract”. The actions of the ruling class are unpopular because the ruling class is unpopular because its actions are unpopular… That’s just how shit works. Organize the anger! Make it permanent!
Libs gave a damn about BLM and kids in cages during Trump I as well. They also called themselves socialist too.
And many of them became real socialists. The socialist movement today is demonstrably bigger, more organized, and more radical than it was eight years ago.
We have seen this happen with COVID, Israel, ICE/DHS, imperialism more broadly, oil drilling in the US, etc. Every time the demonrats do it it’s excused and when Trump does it is not.
Edit: also sexual assault allegations. They did it on those too.
This is true if you only listen to bourgeois media. It is not reflective of the political reality on the ground.
Mmmmm. It’s definitely true on the ground with COVID and ICE at least. Also slowly happening with Israel with the Zohranists.
But they aren’t. The boat strikes are unpopular.
Whenever I see people act otherwise I feel like it’s just rote “expecting to be right too early” without actually… Looking outside.
Intense pessimism about the masses, contrary to data, thinking oneself so politically superior that engagement is impossible and defeat is inevitable is another type of liberalism.
absolutely true, the United States and its citizenry have no appetite for direct conflict with anyone, however… there is an underlying hunger for imposing the conditions that will eventually lead to the bloodshed that The Empire craves.
is it worth opposing despite the odds? of course. but I will forever be cynical until we can translate the unpopularity of the Empire toward dismantling it.
Trump needs his own 9/11 to boost those numbers.
Welcome back Dick Cheney.
This so half baked. Nearly every hospital in the world, including the US, is now harboring WMDs according to these braniacs
every hospital in the world is now harbouring WMDs
hasn’t this been the extent of Western international law since 2023?
Israel is gonna love that one.
Weapons of mass destruction:
- Nuclear weapons
- Chemical weapons
- Biological weapons
- Common drug that is used every day in every hospital
They better not declare paracetamol a WMD or I’m fucked
They better not declare paracetamol a WMD
weapons of mass diagnosis
Also known as trains
NO LINK
Here comrade!
Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation …
[edit] I should be clear *** Ummmm let me be clear ***, this is real, from their recent IG post. All comments seem to be from bots.
“…8 months later I wash up on Miami beach, sissy-hypnotized, still aching with desire for Papi Fidel.”
I don’t have this problem because I don’t do espionage on behalf of the world’s most murderous empire. In fact, I manage to not do this every single day. Try it sometime. Works wonders for your health!
Good lol get wrecked
extremely funny noise complaint
lmao, they really do have Main Character Syndrome.
This is Havana Syndrome’s patient zero
What the hell do they teach at Langley besides Epstein shit? They couldn’t have come up with a better idea than drill through drywall? The Yale boys have really dropped off
What the hell do they teach at Langley besides Epstein shit?
Hitlerism.
I was doing Watergate but I’m really the victim here.
Lmao owned
lol
lmao
jesus fucking christ
Owned lmao
Self-reported skill issue on their part amazing.
“Expanding Domestic Demand Is a Strategic Choice”
Even stronger political signaling from Xi Jinping on the urgency of fixing China’s consumption + domestic demand shortfall problem. In a new Qiushi article published today titled “Expanding Domestic Demand Is a Strategic Choice,” Xi elevates weak domestic demand to a core issue of economic stability and security, making clear that the pivot toward domestic demand is no longer optional. The piece is very direct in identifying insufficient domestic demand as the most pressing problem facing the economy and calls for moving faster to close the consumption gap so domestic demand can become the main engine and anchor of growth: 扩大内需既关系经济稳定，也关系经济安全，不是权宜之计，而是战略之举… 要加快补上内需特别是消费短板，使内需成为拉动经济增长的主动力和稳定锚…
Xi then argues that the real advantage of a big economy like China lies in its ability in domestic circulation, stressing that stronger domestic demand does not contradict opening up but instead strengthens China’s position in global competition: 大国经济的优势就是内部可循环… 要牢牢把握扩大内需这一战略基点… 更多依托国内市场实现良性循环 扩大内需和扩大开放并不矛盾… 国内循环越顺畅，越能形成对全球资源要素的引力场，越有利于构建新发展格局，越有利于形成参与国际竞争和合作新优势
The article then puts particular weight on consumption, emphasizing that boosting demand ultimately depends on: employment, social security, and redistribution, especially expanding the middle-income group so households both can spend and feel secure enough to do so: 扩大消费最根本的是促进就业，完善社保，优化收入分配结构，扩大中等收入群体，扎实推进共同富裕。 要建立和完善扩大居民消费的长效机制，使居民有稳定收入能消费、没有后顾之忧敢消费、消费环境优获得感强愿消费
Then Xi calls for more disciplined** investment, prioritizing new infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing, strategic emerging industries, reviving private investment, etc. 要完善扩大投资机制，拓展有效投资空间，适度超前部署新型基础设施建设，扩大高技术产业和战略性新兴产业投资，持续激发民间投资活力
One thing to note: the piece links domestic demand with supply-side reform, arguing that higher-quality, more self-reliant supply must not only meet existing demand but also actively create new demand, etc. So the near-term policy levers are still likely to be on the supply side.
I’m tagging you here @xiaohongshu@hexbear.net, because this is a topic you often bring up regarding China’s low domestic demand problem, so I’m interested in your take on this.
Xi elevates weak domestic demand to a core issue of economic stability and security, making clear that the pivot toward domestic demand is no longer optional.
@xiaohongshu@hexbear.net getting tired of subtweeting the CCP from a finsta and made some calls
Direct phone calls gets the goods. 📞
xi finally pressing the domestic demand button after reading hexbear
At least they’re acknowledging there is a problem even if there is no proper solution. That’s more than what many Global South countries are doing.
One thing to note: the piece links domestic demand with supply-side reform, arguing that higher-quality, more self-reliant supply must not only meet existing demand but also actively create new demand, etc.
Says “Law” mention
Good news for the next FYP, also saw that childbirth will have no out of pocket expenses.
deleted by creator
https://xcancel.com/shanaka86/status/2000059624633106873
THE GRID WILL BREAK FIRST
Texas just received requests for 226 gigawatts of data center power. The entire state runs on 85 gigawatts. Here is what nobody is telling you. ERCOT’s interconnection queue nearly quadrupled in twelve months. From 63 gigawatts in December 2024 to 226 gigawatts by November 2025. Seventy-three percent is data centers. The AI infrastructure buildout is now the largest in American history.
But here is the number that changes everything: 3%. Of the 226 gigawatts requested, only 7.5 gigawatts are actually connected and operating. Fifty-seven percent of the queue has not even submitted planning studies. Joshua Rhodes at UT Austin called it “laughable.” His estimate for what actually gets built by 2030? Twenty to thirty gigawatts. Ten percent of the queue. The rest is vapor.
Meanwhile, Oracle just delayed OpenAI data centers from 2027 to 2028. The company carries $108 billion in debt. Negative $10 billion free cash flow. Credit default swaps at 126 to 141 basis points, the highest since 2020. And it owes OpenAI 4.5 gigawatts of capacity under a $300 billion contract. OpenAI loses $9 billion per year. It must grow revenue fivefold in two years just to pay Oracle. The circular financing everyone fears? We verified it. The $610 billion figure circulating through financial media is inflated tenfold. Actual executed investments: $63 to $70 billion. Still unprecedented. Still concentrated risk. But not the imminent collapse some predict.
The real constraint is not financial. It is physical. Electrons cannot be printed. Transmission lines take a decade. Generation capacity takes five to seven years. The hyperscalers have the capital. They do not have the kilowatts. This is not a bubble that pops. It is a ceiling that binds. Data center vacancy: 1.9%. Pre-leasing: 84%. The demand is real. The timeline to meet it is not. Position accordingly.
Read the full article - https://substack.com/inbox/post/181563975
This is kind of the US strategy of forcing the Soviet Union to spend an insane amount of money on military hardware instead of living standards, except it’s China forcing the United States to spent an insane amount of money on data centres and electricity buildout instead of living standards just to “keep up.” The AI race is already over, because China generates more electricity than the United States, the EU, and India combined and could probably double that in no time at low cost. Even if you have the best model ever, it can’t do much if everything isn’t electrified.
Electrons cannot be printed
Does anybody else absolutely loathe the conflation of the
energy carryingenergetic particle with the energyit carriesdriving them in discussions on data center power?It’s an AI slop written substack, in general I find this trend of AI written nonsense everywhere very annoying.
Oh my god of course it’s AI. I thought it was just bad. I gotta get my AI detector recalibrated.Or maybe I just view this as me being successfully online less. Uhhhhhhh yeah that’s it
Well actually, the EM field carries the energy!
Meh, I think it is ok when you are just trying to convey some general idea, it is not like the article is talking about the LHC or quantum mechanics.
Well actually, the EM field carries the energy!
Indeed this makes so much more sense than what I wrote! Thank you for correcting a misconception that my E&M course (designed for nonphysics science majors) didn’t reveal.
Trying to ask Grok why my power is out while the AI datacenter next to me is lit up like a Christmas treeTagline
while the AI datacenter next to me is lit up like a Christmas tree
Is this fedposting?
China’s falling internal demand vs America’s energy collapse, the race of the century
.
(Just a joke, I’m stupid in economics)
One of the issues can be resolved relatively easily through economic stimulus/policy. Ironically it is not in the country that runs purely on economic policy.
Honestly, not surprising to hear this, Texas is a literal shithole, physically, mentally, psychologically, etc- and I live in a particularly shit-filled area (oil baron country), so the miasma is literally in the air.
These large companies should be prioritizing cheaper llms, like fractions of a penny to run. And dragging the U.S into a green energy boom, but nooooooo. Fascist Fossil Capital is at play.
The White House Chief of Staff isn’t even pretending here.
That’s the one kind of refreshing thing about the Trump admin is that they just fucking say the whole deal out loud, usually no pretense or window dressing or anything. “Yeah, we’re gonna murder more Venezuelan fishers until something changes and some Very Important and Smart People assured me that this was Definitely A Good Idea.”
Department of War. We’re gonna take their oil. You’re next Colombia.
Just some of the very on-the-nose honest statements from Trump regime
She’s really selling herself short there, I’m sure anybody asserting that blowing up fishing boats will result in Maduro capitulating isn’t any smarter than her
Yeah but she’s a conservative woman so when she says “people way smarter than me” she just means men because that’s how internalized her misogyny is
in pro-imperialist Al Jazeera news, they can’t help themselves:
"Praise for people who died while trying to stop Bondi Beach attackers:
One of the bystanders who tried to stop the attack originally came to Australia from the former USSR to escape anti-Semitic persecution."
this isnt even in the articles body its the subtitle that sticks out when you open it
Disgusting libel
Me when I am in a cynical imperialist exploitation competition and the UAE enters:
AJ is Qatari, but not much better.
Al Jazeera, welcome to Greater “Israel”! Op-ed from Bibi next, instead of just repeating his nonsense?
A little bit of holiday spirit:
Thieves dressed as Santa and his elves steal $3K worth of goods from Montreal grocery store
On social media, an activist group calling themselves Robins des ruelles or Robins of the Alleys — a nod to Robin Hood — claimed responsibility for the heist.
The group says the stolen food, worth around $3,000, was redistributed under a Christmas tree at place Valois in Montreal’s Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, with leftovers going to various community fridges.
The group described Monday’s raid as a “great food drive” and a political call to action.
Trump on Truth Social:
Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us. The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping. For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela. The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace. America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
DONALD J. TRUMP PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Even more unhinged than the previously unhinged stuff from him. At least he is starting to openly say what we all knew, that this is about stealing Venezuela’s resources. This is a completely mainstream and bipartisan belief among the US ruling class. Trump’s brain is so far gone that it is harder and harder for him to maintain the lie.
I guess the assets refers to the expropriation/seizure of ExxonMobil’s and ConocoPhillips’ oil projects and assets under Chavez, as well as other assets seized without compensation.
Straight up admitting that the “Cartel de los Soles” is the Venezuelan government.
This is going to split the opposition so hard, lmao.
His writers are not trying very hard to keep a lid on the “we’re very obviously doing this for oil lmao” ramblings of this nazi freak.
Its starting to feel like waiting for the other shoe to drop. I am having a hard time guessing where this will go, but its getting real depressing… Is there even a hope that another nation will stand up even in solidarity against what the US is doing to venezuela? where are columbia and brazil in all this? what about iran? If one of these tankers registers under a legit flag, like under the flag of iran, china, russia, the dprk- or even another neighbor, will they still get seized? I feel like I haven’t even heard the normal feckless statements at the UN over this… I guess 1/3 of the world still recognizes Juan Guiado as president or whatever
Ya know things are fucked when the best you got are U.S anti-imperialist solidarity.
We don’t even have that
The international order and Western liberals simply never considered what would happen if the US took the mask off.
Zohran Mamdani liked this post
holy hell
“you stole the oil under your feet from us”
not only has the mask come off long ago, america is steadily carving it’s own face off, too
There is only one terrorist regime involved in this affair and it isn’t Maduro’s
Is the “sanctioned” part of the sanctioned oil tankers relevant? Are there tankers that are unsanctioned, and can they deliver oil?
Very relevant because it makes seizing the tankers “legal” under international law and not piracy. I’ll explain more.
A lot of these sanctioned tankers are running under false flags and registrations set up by sanctioned individuals and shell companies, to avoid sanctions. This is not the regular “Panamanian flagged vessel is actually owned by a company in another nation”. This is the “Panamanian flagged vessel is now operating under the Guyanese flag, set up by a sanctioned company in the Marshall Islands run by a sanctioned Ukrainian in Switzerland, without explicit Guyanese permission”. So the US will call up the nation it’s falsely registered to, said nation will avoid claiming the vessel. Thus the vessel becomes stateless. (The original flag it flew under before getting a falsified registration never going to claim it back, or deny a US seizure). Because it’s stateless, it’s not technically piracy to seize it.
“Sanctioned” here AFAIK is literally just by America. It’s shit they make up, lol.
Trump is bluffing in terms of a land invasion, and aerial and costal bombardments can only be effective depending on the extent of how dispersed and siloed off Venezuela’s military resources are, if the Venezuelan military is concentrated and wide open to intelligence leaks then a US air attack will hurt
If Maduro’s generals are competent and the paramilitary network is as robust as is claimed, then Trump will find a fortress country impenetrable and capable of draining the US of vast resources
Horrible, but also I hope this will even further accelerate global isolation of the US.
Nah they’ll just worship it harder as the US pumps out more treats. It’s all they ever did after every blatant atrocity. US cultural hegemony is stronger than ever thanks to the internet. Everyone learns US English and speaks US slang while consuming US media and dreaming of living there even after everything.
Ah yes, Venezuela forgot that all oil belongs to the Empire by virtue of its existence, no matter the location. /s
Apocalyptic scenes out of Gaza as devastating wind and rain uproot the minuscule shelter the people had set up amidst the genocide. Over a dozen have been killed during the storm as israel continues preventing the majority of aid from entering Gaza
They are moving further in their plan to basically expel all gazans via making their lives as miserable as possible so they “volunteer” to leave. This is all detailed in the trump peace plan. But alas the conversation as predictable has already moved to jewish lives being under threat with the whole IS terror attack in australia.
Its so easy to fool people nowdays.
It’s not even fooling. To the average Westerner a single Jewish life is worth 10,000 Muslim lives.
It’s just pure racism all the way down.
Victor Grossman died in Berlin yesterday at age 97. He was one of a handful of humans who grew up in capitalism in America as Stephen Wechsler, escaped to socialism in the GDR, and then was forced to submit to capitalism in united Germany again.
From Junge Welt:
spoiler
Victor Grossman has died. The journalist, author, and translator passed away on Wednesday in Berlin at the age of 97. This was reported by junge Welt, citing his family. Grossman was born Stephen Wechsler in New York City in 1928. As a teenager, he joined the youth organization of the Communist Party of the USA in 1942 and, while studying at Harvard, also joined the party itself. While serving as a US soldier stationed in Bavaria, he deserted in 1952 after receiving a summons to appear before the military tribunal in Nuremberg. Because he had not disclosed his Communist Party membership, he faced imprisonment. Near Linz, he swam across the Danube to reach the Soviet occupation zone of Austria. From there, he went to the young GDR, where, on the advice of a Soviet officer, he adopted the name Victor Grossman.
Grossman studied journalism in Leipzig between 1954 and 1958, subsequently working in Berlin as an editor and proofreader, where he established the Paul Robeson Archive at the Academy of Arts. From 1968 onward, he worked as a freelance writer, translator, and public speaker. He recognized the decline of the GDR early on and, as he stated in a 2023 jW interview, was “despairing” of it. After 1990, he joined the PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism), remained active in publishing, and took an active part in political life well into old age. An obituary will follow.
If you want to read the obituary from the same source:
spoiler
When you joined the Army, you had to sign a list. It contained about 25 organizations, and by signing, you confirmed that you weren’t a member of any of them, Victor Grossman told us when we spent three hours talking about his life in his apartment on Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin, which he had moved into in 1961, in 2023, just before his 95th birthday. “I was definitely in a dozen,” he said, smiling, with the strong American accent he still used to speak the language of the country he had come to in 1952, even after more than seven decades.
Why hadn’t he simply disclosed his membership when he was drafted? “Because I was afraid,” he said without hesitation. In the US, since 1950, every member of the Communist Party or an affiliated organization had to register individually as a “foreign agent.” Failure to do so could result in severe prison sentences. Victor hadn’t done it. Much later, he met a comrade who had refused to sign the list back then. After some time, he had been “dishonorably” discharged, but without punishment. The price: He ended up on a blacklist that was kept everywhere he applied for jobs.
Stephen Wechsler, as Victor was then known, had signed the contract and came to Bavaria as a soldier in the US Army. The soldiers who had reported physical injuries during basic training to avoid overseas service were sent to Korea. When Victor recounted this, his horror at such cynicism was still evident.
It only took a few months before Private Wechsler was caught in some kind of check. When he returned from leave and received a summons from the military court in Nuremberg, he immediately decided to defect. So determined, in fact, that he walked into the KPD (Communist Party of Germany) headquarters in Nuremberg in his uniform and asked the astonished comrades there – unsuccessfully, of course – to smuggle him into East Germany. Determination and resolve were Victor’s most striking qualities.
When I gave him the edited interview to review, he wasn’t satisfied with one aspect: the day he swam across the Danube in Linz had been the most important day of his life—and now it was only mentioned in one sentence. Given the sheer volume of material, this was unavoidable, but the criticism was certainly justified. As he swam across the river, Stephen Wechsler became Victor Grossman. The 24-year-old deserter had been advised to change his name for security reasons by a Soviet officer.
That’s how he came to the young GDR. He studied journalism in Leipzig and met “my Renate,” to whom he was married until her death in 2009. He worked as an editor and proofreader for the Democratic German Report and the foreign broadcasting service, and he established the Paul Robeson Archive at the Academy of Arts. However, this self-assured and direct man never got along with his superiors. He called his work as a freelance writer since 1968 “life-extending.” It was clear that, without ever accepting citizenship or joining the SED (Socialist Unity Party), he had made the GDR more “his” country than many who held office or positions there. When we talked about its decline and demise, he used words like “despair” and “bitterness.” “The party was practically gone,” he said of the second half of the 1980s.
He joined the PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) and became involved in anti-fascist organizations. Even in his later years, he was a familiar face at events large and small in Berlin. As the Left Party slid deeper into crisis, Victor couldn’t rest easy. The leadership, he said, only wanted to conduct politics in parliaments and governments, no longer on the streets. But it was on the streets, in concrete struggles, as the young communist had learned in the 1940s and never forgotten, that a party’s true “alive” nature became apparent. The word was important to him in this context: he longed for a “living,” militant left-wing party that spoke to people in their everyday lives—not one that merely greeted them from posters every four years just before an election. When we spoke in 2023, he said he didn’t even know if he was still listed as a member. The comrade who had always collected the dues had died.
Victor Grossman died in Berlin on Wednesday at the age of 97. Another person has passed away who will be missed. “We did what we could,” he told me. With him, it was true.
I only learned of him last year, though the name must have crossed my eyes before. The quote I read went something like, “in the GDR you never had to despair that you needed to find a job. You never had to worry about losing income. You have no idea how good that feeling was. […] If you didn’t like your job, they tried to find something else for you, anything you wanted to do, you could do somehow…”
I think about that a lot. Hate my job, and just signed on for the money and because I have to pay child support. Fuck Germany, personally I think it’s more neoliberal than even the UK (by European standard I mean)
So long, Victor…
“Moderate rebel” infighting continues in Syria… “ISIS” fighters ambushed an “HTS” regime military patrol near Maarat al-Naaman:
https://thecradle.co/articles/isis-claims-deadly-attack-on-syrian-troops-near-idlib
Ah, the old evergreen classic: “In Syria, militias funded by the Pentagon are fighting those armed by the CIA”.
Who could have possibly seen this coming.
This is the first time I have heard such a group exists at all.
four members
coordinated bombing attack
at least five locations
lmao
my stand「Split The Party」lets me be in two places at once
Torotski Stando!
This legit deserves to be a site tagline
@CARCOSA@hexbear.net can we get @NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net’s joke 2 comments up added as a tagline?
Half the team stuck in traffic between attacks
Sounds like a small group of people wrapped up in an entirely FBI concocted plot. Exactly like what happened repeatedly during Occupy.
READ THEORY. THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T DO ADVENTURISM!
