Participants said that the demonstration was a good first step in a long fight to end capital punishment.

Bob Stanton

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Capitalist T.V., radio I've been reading and learning from you now for about 15 years. I have become so politically conscious from you, that I cannot stand the sight of Dan Rather, Ted Koppel, Evans and Novak, and the many other pundits on the capitalists' T.V. and radio shows. I've come to realize that CNN is the most deceiving of them ALL. I have an interest in the truth, and I just wasn't getting it from NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, 60 Minutes, etc. They are not news casters- they are "Actor News Casters." Their job is to make the public believe what the oligarchy wants the public to think is the truth. I've canceled my cable and threw out my T.V. in the trash can about two weeks ago. T.V. is the tool they use to keep Americans (and the world) in the dark.

Enclosed is my check for the continuation of my Militant. Thank you! For saving my mind.

B.A.Q.

Collegeville, Pennsylvania

Art and revolution The exhibition entitled "Exiles and Emigrés: The Flight of European Artists from Hitler," recently held in Montreal showed the work of visual artists influenced by the Surrealist Movement. Surrealism is the most politically committed of the modern art movements and at its height exerted a major influence on abstract expressionism. It continues to do so to a lesser degree, particularly on the arts in Quebec. In What is Surrealism? (Pathfinder Press) we find the following, "- surrealism is not a mere literary or artistic school. It is an unrelenting revolt against a civilization that reduces all human aspirations to market values, religious impostures, universal boredom and misery."

Surrealism seeks to free the imagination from constraint of social repression so that creativity will be the property of all. The Surrealist Manifesto "Towards a Free Revolutionary Art," written by André Breton in collaboration with Leon Trotsky deals with the necessity of complete freedom for art. In their words, "The independence of art - for the revolution. The revolution - for the complete liberation of art."

In Art and Revolution, Trotsky explains that the economic foundations of a given society is organically interrelated and continuously reacts with its cultural superstructure, but that in the long run, the material base - in our era, the capitalist mode of production - exerts the defining influence. He emphasizes that this has nothing to do with the crude determinism of the servile Stalinist cult of "Socialist Realism." It is heartening to see that the arts in Cuba are free from censorship and conformity which is a continuing sign of a healthy revolution.

Unfortunately both in Cuba and in the rest of world, the popular T-shirt image of Che Guevara has reinforced the iconization of Che, although the true Che as one of the giants of Marxist theory and practice is beginning to be restored. Pathfinder books on Che's ideas have had an important influence on this process. Pathfinder has also added to the consciousness of the relation between culture and the struggle for socialism with its reproduction of serious art on its bookcovers.

An interesting note on the Montreal exhibition is that the organizers were unable to find corporate support for a venue in the United States, possibly because the photographs and documentaries in the show deal with the rejection of Jewish immigrants seeking refuge in America from Nazi persecution.

Bea Bryant

Blenheim, Ontario

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of general interest to our readers. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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