From: vlad@erg.sri.com (vlad)
Subject: Re: Leave Vysotsky alone!
Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 08:58:33 GMT

In article <1992Nov22.001101.17678@husc3.harvard.edu> verbit@coolidge.harvard.edu (Mikhail S. Verbitsky) writes:
>In article <1992Nov20.183038.13041@erg.sri.com> vlad@erg.sri.com (vlad) writes:
>	And I have personally spoken with the antisemite who
>	was a Vysotsky admirer and supported his antisemitism by the
>	quotes from the same song (which is, IMO, ambivalent towards
>	Jews, to say the least). 

You surmize that you are talking about the song "antisemites". In this
song, a man complains that he wants to stop being a murderer and a burglar
and wants instead to become an antisemite. The reason: he can still
continue his favorite pastime of killing people. However, unlike murderers,
antisemites are supported and loved by millions of people. Unfortunately,
this scum does not know what antisemites are and whom they are suposed to
kill. So, his best buddy, an alcoholic from the gutter, tells him that that
he is supposed to kill Jews. And later, his partners tell him after their
next crime, that Jews have killed "God". Moreover, they have murdered an
elephant in the Zoo and are responsible for the bad wheat harvests in the
Soviet Union.

Is that the song? Now, are you saying that this song is "ambivalent"?
Interesting.

As far as your antisemite, who presumably used the text of this song to
support his antisemitism, this fact illustrates 2 points:

1. Vysotsky is a great poet-actor who can imagine himself as anything, even
a mentally retarded sadist, and then write a monologue that would exactly
reflect the feelings of that person.

2. Antisemitism and sense of humor seem to be the exacts opposits of each
other. 

However, the leaders of the fascist movement are intelligent enough to
recognise obvious sarcasm and insults. Thus, they can be hardly expected to
tolerate such insults.

About seeing the quote: let
>	me ask you for a reference? I have had no idea that
>	there is xSoviet antisemitic press available in US.

I will give you the quote as soon as you give me the name and the social
security number of the antisemite that you refered to in your message. :-)

Seriously speaking: Misha, just as you may not be aware of the existence of
humor and sarcasm, you must be similarly unaware of the changes that have
happened in Russia in th epaast 6 years. For exaple, believe it or not,
ex-Soviet citizens can travel to Russia and read antisemitic press there.
Morevover, they take this press back to America and let their fellow
x-Soviets read this junk. Moreover, the emigrant papers, like Novoye
Russkoye Slovo, quote extensively from Den', Molodaya Gvardia, Ikh Sovremennik
and other fascist publications. If that were not enough, my friends,
journalists and Soviet historians and experts, also have access to these.
My information about the fascist hatred for Vysotsky anf Galich comes from
a friend of mine who is an expert on Soviet history. If you insist, I will
call her for exact quotes.

>	himself wrote). Karabchievsky analyzed 
>	Vysotsky's song about "kartofeleuborochnyi kombain"
>	and showed that this song, being "criticizing",
>	does not suggest an alternative to the regime, and
>	is itself in a perfect agreement with apparatchiks'
>	views. Galich's songs are openly antisovietic
>	and cannot be tolerated by this public.
>
>	BTW, Galich is uniformily hated by all "patriots".
>

Ther e is some truth to th eabove observation. Vysotsky was an actor-poet,
who just pointed out problems, while Galich fought against them and for
freedom. 

Vlad

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