Animated Soviet Propaganda

If I had to pick a philosopher on whom I most closely rely for analysis of the world I live in, I'd probably pick Marx's writings--does that make me a marxist? Can I just use the term for a shorthand and have everyone know what I mean, i.e. that I'm not handing out Chairman Mao's sayings on the streetcorner, but that I find Marx's insights into the modern world .... well, insightful?

Of course, any marxist (there, I did it) has to wrestle with the Soviet Union and what happened there. It was the first socialist revolution specifically inspired by Marx's writings, and meant to be a shining beacon to inspire the workers of the world to throw off their chains. It was also perhaps one of the most awful places to live in the 20th century. My girl's family escaped from the Ukraine after it was annexed, but some of them didn't make it out. My family in the Czech Republic managed to escape most of the shittiness because they lived in rural areas that the Soviets didn't much care for, but it also meant that we couldn't contact them until the 1990s, nearly 80 years after my great grandfather left.

I won't defend the Soviet Union, but it does hold a certain fascination to me and the following video really illuminates that. It's a documentary about animated Soviet propaganda, and some of it is absolutely breathtaking. The critiques of racism and capitalism are powerful, despite the ominousness of it being a propaganda film.

Here 'tis Thanks to Warren Ellis