"Death has become a phenomenon observed at every turn. When you step outside in the morning, you stumble over corpses lying in the gateway, and in the street. The dead bodies lie there for a long time, because there's nobody to dispose of them."

  • Yelena Skriabina

The Siege of Leningrad was the longest and most destructive siege of any city in the world. For 872 days, the citizens of Leningrad were at odds with death. Encircled by German troops, the city was cut off from supplies, short of water and under the constant threat of air attacks. Yet the citizens did not give up and believed that there was no other option but to fight. Surrender was never an option.

Leningrad was a strategic location and a desired hub for the German troops. Not only was it an important port and the base of the Soviet Baltic Fleet, but it was also the symbol of the Soviet Revolution. By the start of September 1941, it became apparent that the Germans were fast approaching the city.

There was constant fighting on the outskirts of the city. The Moscow-Leningrad railway route was cut, and the enemy forces encircled Leningrad. Orders were given to fight to the end, and the three million citizens of Leningrad began preparing for the siege.

With the start of winter, temperatures dropped to -40ºC (-40ºF), freezing all the water pipes. Citizens would go down to the river, make holes in the ice and carry water home. Rats were also an enormous issue as they spread disease and ate through the already scarce supplies. People were dying right on the streets and were often left unburied.

Through all this, the city tried to keep up morale. Museums and theatres remained operational as much as possible. Among the most memorable moments was the performance of the Leningrad Symphony (written by Dmitry Shostakovich), which was transmitted everywhere by loudspeaker. Leningrad was determined to survive.

By 1943 the first breakthroughs were made and the Soviet troops were preparing to free the city. On January 14, 1944, the siege was partially lifted.

The siege continued until 27 January 1944, when the Soviet Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive expelled German forces from the southern outskirts of the city. This was a combined effort by the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts, along with the 1st and 2nd Baltic Fronts.

The Baltic Fleet provided 30% of aviation power for the final strike against the Wehrmacht.[64] In the summer of 1944, the Finnish Defence Forces were pushed back to the other side of the Bay of Vyborg and the Vuoksi River.

Red Army Choir - Little Star :tank:

Siege of Leningrad: 872 days of hunger and bombardment :t34:

Battlefield - The Siege of Leningrad Documentary :lenin-fancy:

Soviet Storm. WW2 in the East - The Siege Of Leningrad. Episode 5. :iron-soviet: this one is really good :lenin-heart:

The State and Revolution

:lenin-shining: :unity: :kropotkin-shining:

The Conquest of Bread

Remember, sort by new you :LIB:

Yesterday’s megathread :sad-boi:

Follow the ChapoChat twitter account :comrade-birdie:

THEORY; it’s good for what ails you (all kinds of tendencies inside!) :RIchard-D-Wolff:

COMMUNITY CALENDAR - AN EXPERIMENT IN PROMOTING USER ORGANIZING EFFORTS :af:

Join the fresh and beautiful batch of new comms:

!wallstreetbets@hexbear.net :stonks-up:

!earth@hexbear.net :flag-su: :ancom:

!recovery@hexbear.net :left-unity-2:

!neurodiverse@hexbear.net :Care-Comrade:

spoiler

:brace-cowboy:

    • Brown_Pelican [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      "A separate Federal Reserve report indicates the top 10% of households by net worth control 87.2% of the equities in this country at the end of the first quarter. While the top 1% have always controlled 70% to 80% of stock market value since record-keeping began in 1989, this is the highest level of ownership ever, other than the fourth quarter of 2019, when it was 88.1%."

      Just want to post this for reference in regards to the other 40%. It's still the classic wealth inequality issue. While the 40% are better off than the bottom 50% (outside of some exceptions of course) they still only control close to 10% of all equity. And the rich are constantly trying to gain more.

      What I’m saying though relates to findings like this. It’s possible that RobinHood has skewed these numbers somewhat over the past couple years but I’d wager that it hasn’t been dramatic. What this shows is that roughly 50% of households don’t have a single penny invested in the stock market. And that’s in the US, one of the richest countries in the world. So I think it is fair to say that most of the working proletariat isn’t involved in the stock market and that it’s a bourgeoisie enterprise. My goal in highlighting it as a bourgeoisie enterprise isn’t to negate people like your friends who throw a few bucks at the market here and there. The goal in talking about broad groups under Capitalism is to not get lost in the outliers, like your friends. They are statistical outliers. The goal of looking at large trends under Capitalism is to focus on groups of people, and as a group, most workers aren’t involved in the market.

      One of the main goals under Communism is to unite and give power to workers of the world as a way of abolishing Capital. Therefore, if roughly 50% of the workers (in the US, likely much higher worldwide) are not involved in the market, then isn’t it a bourgeoisie enterprise? Again, in no way can I discount the fact that there are a few outliers (workers that are involved in the stock market) but if the goal is to have a Socialist/Communist project, we need to look at the broad trends. And the broad trends tell the same story.

      These are really good points, and I agree with where you're coming from entirely. Unfortunately, I think the capitalists have purposely forced U.S. citizens into the market to get out of poverty/near poverty in large part to keep us interested in keeping the status quo. Look again at who owns the stocks in the link at the top. This leads to those 40% ^^ of people who had their 401k's decimated in April to not be opposed to the stock market bail outs because it props up their whole retirement plans. But who is really making all the money? The people at the top of course who own almost all the equity. And who is getting fucked over? The average worker of course. Even those with 401k's ultimately too, they just are too invested in the system to notice. This is 100% a huge dilemma we have to face and i'm not sure how to even begin solving that within capitalism. It's this dilemma that literally connected the last dots of Marxist theory for me. With that said however,

      The younger generations (I'm a millennial) are far less attached to the market (link is a bit outdated but point largely stands) so I think we have a really good opportunity here to radicalize people when all eyes are on the market, and hardly any of the younger generations money is tied to it. But we need to be smart about it, all of us.

      With that said, you're entirely correct that ultimately this event means nothing in terms of taking on capital. I don't think it's praxis or anything, but I think it's a strategy we can point to as a mini example of class warfare for those in the wsb community. You'll see them commenting on this regularly. Everybody on wsb knew it was big money vs the little retail trader. I truly think some of these people who aren't chuds can be led to Marxist theory. They had 4 million subs, with most probably being 18-30 years old. I bet we all know somebody subbed there who isn't a complete chud. We should use our knowledge to try and radicalize them, because otherwise the chuds will. Just look at this!! I found this immediately while typing this up. It's legit personal beyond money for some of these people. Maybe many can't be reached but I think we owe it to ourselves as leftists to try.

      Lastly and to build off what I'm saying, many will be absolutely enraged if, and more likely, when the government/big money screw over these people. Wallstreetbets discord already got shut down, apparently because of ableism. While it's true their culture is appalling, this is 100% not the reason they were shut down this afternoon. It's because they got a punch in on the rich. And many of these gamestop traders just have a couple shares and just along for the ride and are not complete chuds. We just need to try and direct that rage, because there are a lot of angry people and material conditions are at the worst in like a century, and I'm sure many have either felt it or know someone who has.

      Dang I’m really sounding like a wet blanket here (I’m fun at parties I swear!)

      You're not! You make really good points. Leftists should 100% be challenged on any admiration of the stock market because it's the literal heart of the capitalist devil. It's exploitive and makes companies make working conditions/environment worse. But with that said, I think if a leftist truly knows what they're doing, understands the implications, and knows how to make some money, i'm not personally hating on them either. I won't encourage it, since big money runs the show and we don't want to give them quarterly bonus money, but hey we all gotta do what we need to survive, be it rent/healthcare. Unless they own insane amounts of stock, or any defense contractor/oil company or egregiously evil companies lol.

      Anyway, nice discussion with you. I'm in desperate need of a break from the internet today so I hope you have a nice evening!