[E]verything that was in opposition was good…
Michael Baumann, How It All Began, 1975
No one who likes swing can become a Nazi.
Arvid (Frank Whaley), Swing Kids, 1993
It was Movie Night at Maximum Rocknroll at the old Clipper Street headquarters circa 1994. The featured movie was Thomas Carter’s 1993 film Swing Kids. It was Tim and me and maybe one other person. I think Tim actually made Jiffy Pop popcorn and I had my ubiquitous six pack. The plot was simple; as the Nazi Party rises to power in pre-WWII Germany a tight countercultural scene of young kids grow their hair long, wear British fashion and use Harlem slang as they listen to banned American swing music, hold underground dances and street fight the Hitler Youth. Two rebellious young men take different paths—one into the Hitler Youth, the other into the Swing Kids and eventually jail.
The parallels to the mid-1990s were clear, with the rise of the Right politically and the explosion of punk’s second hardcore wave in the streets. After the closing credits rolled and Tim popped out the VHS tape he made the connections explicit. “Punk is like swing was in Nazi Germany. It’s the core of a revolutionary youth culture with rebellious kids resisting fascism in the streets.”
Tim loved punk, no doubt about it, but he was also on a mission. He not only wanted to cover the scene and its music, he wanted to push the politics of punk to the fore. And that link between punk music, the scene, its politics, and the fight against the Right is crucial to understanding both Tim Yo and his project, MRR. Tim considered MRR a lynchpin between punk music and the punk scene on the one hand and the Left’s fight against reactionary politics on the other hand.
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May 1, 2019
Categories: "Lefty" Hooligan, "What's Left?", anarchism, conservatism, fascism, hippie, hippie music, Hitler, left communism, leftism, Mao, Maoism, Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, Maximum Rocknroll, MRR, Nazi Germany, punk, rock and roll, rock music, rock'n'roll, socialism, Stalin, Stalinism, Tim Yohannan . Tags: "Lefty" Hooligan, "What's Left?", 924 Gilman Street, against fascism, all-volunteer not-for-profit punk zine, Alternative Tentacles, anarchist politics, Arvid (Frank Whaley), aspiring libertarian Marxist, “conservatives are the new punk”, DIY, do-it-yourself, Epicenter Zone, hippie counterculture, Hitler Youth, How it all Began/Wie Alles Anfing, Jeff Bale, Jello Biafra, Maoism, Maximum Rocknroll, mellowing Marxist-Leninist, Michael “Bommi” Baumann, Mordam Records, MRR, MRR Clipper Street house, MRR print magazine, MRR radio show, MRR record collection, Nazi Germany, Nazi Party, nazi skinheads, no major labels, punk, punk politics, punk rock, punk subculture, rebel without a cause, rebel without a clue, Revolutionary Communist Party, Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), rock and roll, Ruth Schwartz, Stalin, Stalinism, support your local scene, Swing Kids, The Left, three chord rock’n’roll, three chords and the truth, Tim Yo, Tim Yohannan, youth, youthful rebellion . Author: leftyhooligan . Comments: 2 Comments
What's Left? 