charon 4,943 Posted December 23, 2016 Uncle Joe was a grandfather as well. Exit for the outspoke one. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38410731 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Whitehouse 874 Posted December 25, 2016 There must be some on board that plane crash this morning. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Davey Jones' Locker 1,325 Posted January 1, 2017 A few more East German communists who are still alive: Margot Honecker, Eric's wife, otherwise known as the "Purple Witch" was born in 1927 and is still going. According to this interview, she is completely unrepentant about the party's crimes: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/02/margot-honecker-east-germany-interview (Judging by the article above, it seems that many East German communists copied their Nazi ideological opponents and retired to South America when things got rough.) It turns out that The Purple Witch died back in May but it wasn't mentioned in this thread: "She never critically reflected on what she had done. Up until her death she was a nasty, stubborn woman," Hubertus Knabe, the director of the memorial of the former Stasi prison told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung." [snip] Her taste for elegant clothes made her stand out against the drab ranks of the state's other politicians. Although she became part of the Socialist Unity Party's central committee, she never made it into the all-powerful Communist Party Politburo. In 1949 she met Erich Honecker, then chairman of the FDJ and a married man. They embarked on an affair during which Margot became pregnant and gave birth to their daughter Sonja. After Sonja's birth, Erich divorced under pressure from the then-East German ruler Walter Ulbricht and married Margot, who was 15 years his junior. Known as "Miss Bildung (Education)", a pun on the German word for deformity, "Missbildung", she shaped the Socialist curriculum in schools, including the introduction of compulsory military training. She stepped down from her post in October 1989, two days after her husband resigned. The Berlin Wall fell in November and a month later Margot faced accusations of corruption and misuse of office before an investigative committee, which she denied. After German reunification, the Honeckers fled to exile in the Soviet Union in 1991 to escape criminal charges over human rights abuses committed by the government. When Erich was extradited back to Germany, Margot fled to Chile. Her husband later joined her there when his trial collapsed due to his terminal illness. He died in 1994. Margot lived largely as a recluse in Chile. On the rare occasions that she broke her silence, she showed no remorse." Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-honecker-germany-idUSKCN0XX259 What a charming lady! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drol 12,148 Posted January 25, 2017 Short List of remaining old-fashioned commies: 1)Michail Gorbachev (1931) 2)Raul Castro (1931) 3)José Ramon Fernandez (1923) 4)Hans Modrow (1928) 5)Egon Krenz (1937) 6)Li Peng (1928) 7)Zhu Rongji (1928) 8)Jiang Zemin (1926) 9)Giorgio Napolitano (1925) 10)Alfredo Reichlin (1925) 11)Aldo Tortorella (1925) 12)Đỗ Mười (1917) 13)Le Duc Anh (1920) 14)Kim Yong-nam (1928) 15)Kim Yong-ju (1920) 16)Than Shwe (1933) 17)Tun Tin (1920) 18)Anton Vratusa (1915) 19)Robert Mugabe (1924) 20)Kenneth Kaunda (1924) 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theoldlady 2,344 Posted January 25, 2017 A few more East German communists who are still alive: Margot Honecker, Eric's wife, otherwise known as the "Purple Witch" was born in 1927 and is still going. According to this interview, she is completely unrepentant about the party's crimes: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/02/margot-honecker-east-germany-interview (Judging by the article above, it seems that many East German communists copied their Nazi ideological opponents and retired to South America when things got rough.) It turns out that The Purple Witch died back in May but it wasn't mentioned in this thread:"She never critically reflected on what she had done. Up until her death she was a nasty, stubborn woman," Hubertus Knabe, the director of the memorial of the former Stasi prison told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung." [snip] Her taste for elegant clothes made her stand out against the drab ranks of the state's other politicians. Although she became part of the Socialist Unity Party's central committee, she never made it into the all-powerful Communist Party Politburo. In 1949 she met Erich Honecker, then chairman of the FDJ and a married man. They embarked on an affair during which Margot became pregnant and gave birth to their daughter Sonja. After Sonja's birth, Erich divorced under pressure from the then-East German ruler Walter Ulbricht and married Margot, who was 15 years his junior. Known as "Miss Bildung (Education)", a pun on the German word for deformity, "Missbildung", she shaped the Socialist curriculum in schools, including the introduction of compulsory military training. She stepped down from her post in October 1989, two days after her husband resigned. The Berlin Wall fell in November and a month later Margot faced accusations of corruption and misuse of office before an investigative committee, which she denied. After German reunification, the Honeckers fled to exile in the Soviet Union in 1991 to escape criminal charges over human rights abuses committed by the government. When Erich was extradited back to Germany, Margot fled to Chile. Her husband later joined her there when his trial collapsed due to his terminal illness. He died in 1994. Margot lived largely as a recluse in Chile. On the rare occasions that she broke her silence, she showed no remorse." Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-honecker-germany-idUSKCN0XX259 What a charming lady! Glad the Kunt is dead. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
msc 18,544 Posted January 25, 2017 "Hope they die" person, "please may this list stay a 0" person, Joey - you only need a random poet and BCAlum to show up, and you're spoiled for choice for 2017's gimmick of the year award... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rockhopper penguin 2,265 Posted January 25, 2017 "Hope they die" person, "please may this list stay a 0" person, Joey - you only need a random poet and BCAlum to show up, and you're spoiled for choice for 2017's gimmick of the year award... Don't encourage him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rockhopper penguin 2,265 Posted January 25, 2017 But back on topic, what's the criteria here? I can see Raul Castro calling himself a communist but does Mugabe? If it's subjective then I'd suggest none of them are communists. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drol 12,148 Posted January 25, 2017 But back on topic, what's the criteria here? I can see Raul Castro calling himself a communist but does Mugabe? If it's subjective then I'd suggest none of them are communists. He's marxist. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/1388043/Mugabes-not-mad-hes-a-Marxist-with-a-mission.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spade_Cooley 9,637 Posted January 25, 2017 Bobby Muggs' politics are more of convenience than ideology though, despite what he'd have you believe. He's probably a pan-African Maoist than anything else. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rockhopper penguin 2,265 Posted January 25, 2017 But back on topic, what's the criteria here? I can see Raul Castro calling himself a communist but does Mugabe? If it's subjective then I'd suggest none of them are communists. He's marxist. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/1388043/Mugabes-not-mad-hes-a-Marxist-with-a-mission.html He thinks he's a Marxist. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drol 12,148 Posted January 25, 2017 But back on topic, what's the criteria here? I can see Raul Castro calling himself a communist but does Mugabe? If it's subjective then I'd suggest none of them are communists. He's marxist. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/1388043/Mugabes-not-mad-hes-a-Marxist-with-a-mission.html He thinks he's a Marxist. If with "marxist" you mean "undefeatable warrior who is blessed by God and is intelligent, handsome, cool and immortal" then yes, he thinks he is marxist. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rockhopper penguin 2,265 Posted January 25, 2017 But back on topic, what's the criteria here? I can see Raul Castro calling himself a communist but does Mugabe? If it's subjective then I'd suggest none of them are communists. He's marxist. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/zimbabwe/1388043/Mugabes-not-mad-hes-a-Marxist-with-a-mission.html He thinks he's a Marxist. If with "marxist" you mean "undefeatable warrior who is blessed by God and is intelligent, handsome, cool and immortal" then yes, he thinks he is marxist. Don't remember that coming up in Theories of Surplus Value. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thatcher 2,480 Posted March 22, 2017 On 25/01/2017 at 18:55, drol said: Short List of remaining old-fashioned commies: 1)Michail Gorbachev (1931) 2)Raul Castro (1931) 3)José Ramon Fernandez (1923) 4)Hans Modrow (1928) 5)Egon Krenz (1937) 6)Li Peng (1928) 7)Zhu Rongji (1928) 8)Jiang Zemin (1926) 9)Giorgio Napolitano (1925) 10)Alfredo Reichlin (1925) 11)Aldo Tortorella (1925) 12)Đỗ Mười (1917) 13)Le Duc Anh (1920) 14)Kim Yong-nam (1928) 15)Kim Yong-ju (1920) 16)Than Shwe (1933) 17)Tun Tin (1920) 18)Anton Vratusa (1915) 19)Robert Mugabe (1924) 20)Kenneth Kaunda (1924) Alfredo Reichlin, Italian communist politician, has died aged 91. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drol 12,148 Posted May 13, 2017 Italian journalist Oliviero Beha, one of the most leftist journalists in Italy, has died aged 68. Unexpected, not sad at all. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Mad Hatter 1,093 Posted May 13, 2017 This thread is for Communists not people you feel are too left winged. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gcreptile 11,079 Posted May 16, 2017 Recently, there were some rumours on the health of Jiang Zemin, but he dispelt them with a phone call to a school. Only a phone call, though, and the article mentions that previously, he used public appearances to refute those rumours: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2093955/former-chinese-presidents-school-call-seen-response Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sir Creep 7,071 Posted May 24, 2017 Alexander Burdonsky, a talented Russian theatre director whose grandfather was Soviet leader Josef Stalin, has died of cancer aged 75. Burdonsky was born Alexander Stalin but took his mother's maiden name to escape association with the Soviet dictator. For several years he was head of the Central Russian Army Theatre in Moscow. SC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
charon 4,943 Posted June 1, 2017 http://www.rudaw.net/mobile/english/kurdistan/310520172Aziz Mohammed at 93, leader of the Iraqi Commie Party for 30 years. Interesting read in itself re the Party https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Communist_Party Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thatcher 2,480 Posted September 17, 2017 It has only recently been announced that Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet Lieutenant Colonel, died back in May of this year. He was profiled by the BBC, and we all have him to thank as when the Soviet radar showed that the USA had launched a nuclear attack in 1983, he judged the reports to be false and the technology faulty - a decision which is said to have prevented an erroneous retaliation by the Soviet Union. Edit: The Independent, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Sun, Daily Telegraph, The Times, Guardian, BBC obituaries. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drol 12,148 Posted September 17, 2017 10 minutes ago, Thatcher said: It has only recently been announced that Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet Lieutenant Colonel, died back in May of this year. He was profiled by the BBC, and we all have him to thank as when the Soviet radar showed that the USA had launched a nuclear attack in 1983, he judged the reports to be false and the technology faulty - a decision which is said to have prevented an erroneous retaliation by the Soviet Union. Yes, great man. Sorry he died completely forgotten. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CastAway 490 Posted September 17, 2017 Anyone know what he was suffering from? The Google Translate said he was suffering from 'the disease,' but doesn't clarify what, and I don't read/understand Italian. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toast 16,234 Posted September 17, 2017 29 minutes ago, RishCast said: Anyone know what he was suffering from? The Google Translate said he was suffering from 'the disease,' but doesn't clarify what, and I don't read/understand Italian. The Italian original doesn't specify, either. "già segnato dalla malattia" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CastAway 490 Posted September 17, 2017 59 minutes ago, Toast said: The Italian original doesn't specify, either. "già segnato dalla malattia" Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thatcher 2,480 Posted September 18, 2017 Mike Hicks, a trade unionist and former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain from 1988-1998, died earlier this month aged 80. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites