1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:11,319 Speaker 2: Book Club book Club book Club. Hello and welcome to 3 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 2: the Cool Zone Media book Club. The only book club 4 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 2: where you don't have to do the reading is I 5 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 2: do it for you. I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, and 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 2: every week I bring you kind of whatever I want 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 2: it rules. I love my job, but specifically what I 8 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 2: usually want to bring you is fiction, because I also 9 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 2: bring you history on a different podcast, but you already 10 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,199 Speaker 2: knew that, and I want to bring you fiction, and 11 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 2: this time it's fiction about history, because well, we just 12 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 2: ran reruns of the episodes about the Maganistas and about 13 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:50,159 Speaker 2: the precursors to the Mexican Revolution, and I thought to myself, well, 14 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 2: that guy Ricardo Flores Macgone, he wrote some fiction, and 15 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 2: I thought to myself, I should read you that fiction. 16 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 2: That's what we're gonna do this week and possibly next week. 17 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 2: There's a lot of this stuff, and it's it's pretty interesting. 18 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,319 Speaker 2: It's interesting both as like this is an old timey 19 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:12,679 Speaker 2: style of radical fiction and it's worth understanding how people 20 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:18,960 Speaker 2: conveyed their ideas through fiction, and they're also really entertaining stories, 21 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 2: although very different from how I would write radical fiction today. 22 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,320 Speaker 2: But I guess I'll get into some of those differences 23 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 2: afterwards when we talk about the whole thing that we 24 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,119 Speaker 2: just read. I'm using the royal wei. I didn't mean 25 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 2: to I'm using the proletarian we. That's probably what mcgoughon 26 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 2: would have said. And if you're thinking to yourself, but Margaret, 27 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 2: I don't want to listen to your two part long 28 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 2: episode about the Maganistas before I enjoy Cuols and Media 29 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,919 Speaker 2: book Club, I have to say to you that's reasonable. 30 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 2: The really short version of it is that around the 31 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 2: turn of the century, the previous turn of the century, 32 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 2: early nineteen hundreds, there was this group in Mexico called 33 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:09,639 Speaker 2: the Liberal Party of Mexico, And because political labels are 34 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:14,239 Speaker 2: kind of meaningless, they're the anarchist group, and specifically they 35 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 2: advocate for a non hierarchical, anti capitalist society, and a 36 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 2: lot of them will come from indigenous backgrounds and are 37 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,079 Speaker 2: fighting for sort of more traditional ways of doing things, 38 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 2: and I like them. They often get called the Maganestas 39 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,519 Speaker 2: after the Macgon brothers, but especially after Ricardo Floris Macgon, 40 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 2: and the kind of biggest thing that they did is 41 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 2: that they led an uprising where they tried to make 42 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 2: the social revolution across Mexico, mostly in nineteen eleven. It's 43 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,640 Speaker 2: why it's called the maganesea rebellion of nineteen eleven. So 44 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:58,959 Speaker 2: that failed partly because the actual liberal centrist groups that 45 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 2: they were working with in order to have a revolution 46 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 2: turned on them and killed them, which is a thing 47 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 2: that happens a lot in history, is that radicals start 48 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 2: getting shit done and centrists come in late and are like, 49 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 2: I'm in charge now and then start shooting the people 50 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 2: who got them there. It's fun. History's fun. So after that, 51 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 2: Ricarda Florismagon kind of he moved around a bunch And 52 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 2: I don't have his biography in front of me, but 53 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 2: I should, but I don't. He moved around a bunch 54 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 2: and he kind of just started writing fiction. Well he 55 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 2: did a lot of things too, in theater and all 56 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 2: these other things, but he continued to publish in the 57 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 2: newspaper called Regeneracy on Regeneration, which was the anarchist paper 58 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 2: for the Liberal Party of Mexico, and so in that 59 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 2: he wrote a bunch of different fiction pieces. And that's 60 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 2: what I'm going to read to you. This first one 61 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 2: is from nineteen fifteen, and it is called The Frock 62 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 2: coat and the blouse. A lot of these are a 63 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 2: little pair arables about objects, and they're all really heavy 64 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 2: handed class metaphors, and I love them so much, and 65 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 2: I maybe shouldn't because they're so heavy handed, but I 66 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 2: find them entertaining. The frock coat and the blouse, the 67 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:18,120 Speaker 2: aristocratic frock coat and the plebeian blouse, were in the 68 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 2: same trash heap. What an abomination, what humiliation? Said the 69 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 2: frock coat, gazing obliquely at its neighbor. I am next 70 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 2: to a blouse. A gust of wind blew one of 71 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 2: the humble blouse's arms atop the arrogant frock coat, as 72 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 2: if it intended to reconcile those who were seated equally, 73 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 2: to harmonize by means of a fraternal embrace. The two 74 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 2: garments that were situated equally, yet which are normally found 75 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 2: so distant from each other in the social life of humans. 76 00:04:52,760 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 2: Horror shrieked the frock coat. Your contact assassinates me, filthy rag, true, 77 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,159 Speaker 2: your audacity is outrageous. How dare you touch me? We 78 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,200 Speaker 2: are not equal. I am the frock coat, the noble 79 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:11,280 Speaker 2: garment that shelters and gives distinction to gentlemen, I am 80 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 2: the stylish garment that only comes into contact with decent people. 81 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 2: I am the vestiment of the banker and the professional, 82 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 2: the legislator, the judge, the industrialist, and the merchant. I 83 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 2: live in the world of business and talent. I am 84 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 2: the garment of the rich. Do you understand? Another gust 85 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,600 Speaker 2: of wind removed the blouse's arm from the frock coat 86 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,360 Speaker 2: as if it were indignant, regretting that it had sheltered 87 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 2: that pretentious rag for a few sentimental, fraternal instants, and 88 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 2: attempting to contain its rage, the blouse said, you fill 89 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 2: me with pity, you haughty rag sheath of vain and 90 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 2: wicked beings. You should be ashamed for having covered white 91 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 2: gloved scoundrels. I would have died of horror if I 92 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,719 Speaker 2: had felt under me the dreadful palpitation of a judge's heart. 93 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,160 Speaker 2: I would feel defiled covering the paunch of the merchant 94 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 2: or the banker. I am the garment of the poor. 95 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:14,599 Speaker 2: Under me pulsates the generous heart of the worker, of 96 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 2: the herdsman who shaved from the sheep, the primary material 97 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 2: of which you are composed, of the weaver who converted 98 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 2: it into cloth of the tailor who made it a 99 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 2: frock coat. I am the covering of useful beings, hard 100 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:33,560 Speaker 2: working and noble. I do not visit palaces. Rather, I 101 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 2: live in the workshop. I frequent the mine. I am 102 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,359 Speaker 2: present in the factory. I go to the fields. I 103 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 2: am always found in the places where riches are produced. 104 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,839 Speaker 2: You do not find me in gilded salons, nor in 105 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 2: luxurious boudoirs, where the gold made by the sweat of 106 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 2: the poor is squandered, or where the slavery of the 107 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 2: disinherited is agreed upon. Rather, I will be discovered in 108 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 2: the meetings of freedom fighters, where the prophetic word of 109 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 2: the people's orator announces the advent of a new society. 110 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 2: I will be seen in the bosom of the anarchist group, 111 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 2: inside which good people prepare to transform society. And while 112 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 2: you conceited coate wallow and baccanials and orgies, I clothe 113 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 2: myself with glory in the trench or in the barricade, 114 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 2: dueling the military officer, or in the riot, during the 115 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 2: struggle for liberty and justice. The moment has come when 116 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 2: you and I must fight a duel to the death. 117 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 2: You represent tyranny, I am protest. Face to face. We 118 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 2: are the oppressor and the rebel, the torturer and the victim. 119 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 2: In the balance of civilization and progress. I weigh more 120 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 2: than you because I am the force behind everything. I 121 00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 2: move the machines, I dig the tunnels, I lay the tracks, 122 00:07:54,840 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 2: I make the revolution. I drive the world. Ragman put 123 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 2: an end to the conflict, putting the garments in different sacks, 124 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 2: which he carried uphill to his hovel. That's the end 125 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 2: of the first one. All of them are gonna be 126 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 2: like super earnest, right. But I feel like there's a 127 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 2: little bit of self awareness of exactly what's going on 128 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 2: when you've got like and then someone came and threw 129 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 2: them both into the trash. The next story is called 130 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 2: the Rifle. I serve two factions, the faction that oppresses 131 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 2: in the faction that liberates. I do not have preferences 132 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 2: with the same fury, with the same crack. I fire 133 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,720 Speaker 2: the bullet that snatches life away from the soldier of 134 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 2: liberty or the henchmen of tyranny. Workers made me to 135 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 2: kill workers. I am the rifle, the killer of freedom. 136 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 2: When I serve those on top the weapon of emancipation. 137 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 2: When I serve those below. Without me, there would not 138 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 2: be men who say I am more than you, and 139 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 2: without me there would be not slaves who cry down 140 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:07,320 Speaker 2: with tyranny. The tyrant calls me buttress of institutions. The 141 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:11,680 Speaker 2: free man caresses me tenderly and calls me instrument of redemption. 142 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:16,199 Speaker 2: I am the same thing, and yet nevertheless I serve 143 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 2: to oppress as well as to liberate. I am at 144 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 2: the same time assassin and vindicator. Depending on the hands 145 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 2: that wield me, I can also tell in whose hands 146 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 2: I am. Do these hands tremble? There can be no 147 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,079 Speaker 2: doubt they are the hands of a military officer. Is 148 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:38,319 Speaker 2: it a firm pulse? I say, without vacillating these are 149 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,880 Speaker 2: the hands of a liberator. I do not need to 150 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 2: hear cries to know which faction is using me. It 151 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 2: is enough for me to hear the chattering of teeth 152 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 2: to know that I am in the hands of oppressors. 153 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:56,040 Speaker 2: Evil is cowardly, good is valorous. When the officer supports 154 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 2: my chamber in his bosom to make me vomit out 155 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:02,079 Speaker 2: the death nestled in my cart, I feel his heart 156 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 2: leap with violence. It is because he is conscious of 157 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:08,240 Speaker 2: his crime. He does not need to know who he 158 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 2: will kill. He has been ordered fire, and there goes 159 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 2: the shot that will perhaps venture through the heart of 160 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 2: his father, his brother, or his child, through someone who 161 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 2: has been summoned by the honorable cry revolution. I will 162 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,080 Speaker 2: exist on this earth as long as there is a 163 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 2: stupid humanity that insists on dividing itself into two classes, 164 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 2: the rich and the poor, those who consume and those 165 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 2: who suffer. When the last capitalist disappears and the shadow 166 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 2: of authority dissipates, I will disappear in my turn, consecrating 167 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 2: my materials to the construction of plows, and the thousand 168 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 2: instruments which men transformed into brothers will wield with enthusiasm. 169 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:54,880 Speaker 2: That's the end of that story. But do you know 170 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 2: what else will exist on this earth as long as 171 00:10:57,400 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 2: there is a stupid humanity that insists on dividing itself 172 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 2: and the two classes, the rich and poor, those who 173 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 2: consume in those who suffer. That's right, it's advertisements. They're 174 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:09,600 Speaker 2: here and you can listen to them if you want. 175 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:24,400 Speaker 2: And we're back. Okay. The next story is called the 176 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 2: two pens behind the window of a display case, the 177 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 2: gold pen and the steel pen. Waited for someone to 178 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 2: buy them. The gold pen rested indolently in a rich 179 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,640 Speaker 2: jewel case that increased its glamour. The steel pen confirmed 180 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:45,360 Speaker 2: its modesty at the base of a cardboard casket. Pedestrians, 181 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 2: poor and rich, old and young, passed again and again 182 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:53,440 Speaker 2: by the display case, casting greedy glances towards the gold pen. 183 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,000 Speaker 2: Nobody looked at the steel one. The sun crashed its 184 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 2: rays upon the gold pen, which gleamed with sparkles like 185 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 2: glowing embers in its chanil cushion, but it was unable 186 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:08,200 Speaker 2: to impress even a dim tone of beauty upon the 187 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 2: dark proletarian pen. Regarding its poor brother with pity, the 188 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 2: rich pen said, poor mangy thing, learn to be admired, 189 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 2: accustomed to great struggles for the highest ideals. The proletarian 190 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 2: pen deemed it unworthy to answer that foolishness. Emboldened by 191 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 2: the silence of the humble pen, the bourgeois pen said, 192 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 2: why don't you try, you squalid thing, to look like 193 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:37,640 Speaker 2: me to be a gold pen, And it shone in 194 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 2: its chanel like a star in the satin of the sky. 195 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 2: The proletarian pen could not repress a smile, which angered 196 00:12:45,040 --> 00:12:48,439 Speaker 2: the bourgeois pen, making it break out in nonsense like this. 197 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:53,120 Speaker 2: Your smile is the smile of impotence. It fills me 198 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,680 Speaker 2: with pity. Could you be used like I am? To 199 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 2: sign banknotes for millions and millions of dollars? I occupy 200 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 2: a place of honor in mahogany and cedar writing desks 201 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,600 Speaker 2: in palaces. The elegant writer signs his articles with me 202 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:14,680 Speaker 2: using me. The Minister authorizes important documents for the entire nation. 203 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 2: The President endorses his decrees with a signature which only 204 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 2: I shall delineate. War is not declared unlessen august hand 205 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 2: takes me in its fingers and has me fix its 206 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 2: sovereign signature on paper. Peace cannot be agreed upon with 207 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:38,200 Speaker 2: mangy steel pens. They must be golden. With a gold pen. 208 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 2: The young aristocrat composes his verses of love to the 209 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:48,560 Speaker 2: genteel lady. Now patience has its limits for a steel pen. 210 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 2: Thus the modest pen, from the base of its cardboard casket, 211 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 2: raised its clear, sincere voice. And as it was sincere, 212 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 2: it was also handsome and grand to say. Above all things, 213 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 2: the pen is grand because it makes it possible for 214 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 2: a great mind to free itself from the prison of 215 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 2: its skull to go out and shake other minds that 216 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 2: sleep caged in other skulls. It makes them welcome the 217 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 2: great mind, with hospitality granting its entrance. Doors should be opened, 218 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 2: and accommodation should be furnished for all who bring light, hope, valor. 219 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 2: But you, vain pen, you are the disgrace of our species. 220 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,160 Speaker 2: I would rather break my tips than lend myself to 221 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 2: sketching the signature that endorses a bank order for thousands 222 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,480 Speaker 2: of millions of dollars. An order like this is the 223 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,680 Speaker 2: result of a pact made between bandits. My place is 224 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 2: not on a mahogany writing desk. I prefer a pine 225 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 2: table upon which the people scribe outlines the robust phrases 226 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 2: that announce to the world an era of liberty and justice. 227 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 2: I am the pen of the people, and like them, 228 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,400 Speaker 2: I am strong and sincere. The Minister does not touch 229 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 2: me to underwrite documents that sanction exploitation and tyranny. Neither 230 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:10,080 Speaker 2: does the President grasp me to authorize laws that command 231 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 2: slavery and the torments of the humble, nor to humiliating 232 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 2: peace treaties. But when the thinker takes me between his 233 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 2: creative fingers. When the poet and the sage touches me 234 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 2: with his fecunded anarchist hands, making me engrave and blank 235 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 2: notebooks as bright meditations, like the idea of class struggle, 236 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 2: I feel my molecules tremble with emotion, an emotion that 237 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 2: is pure, strong sound. This is my pleasure, because as 238 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 2: I am humble, I move in the world of talent, sincerity, 239 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 2: and honor. My power is immense, My influence is gigantic. 240 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 2: When the proletarian writer takes me in his hands, the 241 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 2: tyrant trembles, the priest is terrified, the capitalist turns pale, 242 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,120 Speaker 2: but liberty smiles with the smile of the dawn, the 243 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 2: downtrodden dream of a better world, and the valiant hand 244 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 2: nervously caresses the firearm of vengeance and redemption in my 245 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 2: cardboard casket. I feel grand and noble, as humble as 246 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 2: I may seem to you. I stir people, I knock 247 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 2: down thrones, I upset cathedrals, I humble gods. I am 248 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 2: light for the darkness of the mind. I am the 249 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:24,960 Speaker 2: bugle that calls the humble to arms and converts them 250 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 2: to magnificence. I resound for the revolutionary militia, gathering the 251 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 2: brave and the trench and summoning the men to the barricades. 252 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 2: You serve to endorse the decrees of the tyrant, I 253 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 2: to endorse the proclamations of the rebel you oppress, I liberate. 254 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 2: The crash of a car motor, which broke through the 255 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 2: front of the shop prevented the rest of the proletarian 256 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:52,800 Speaker 2: pens engaging discourse from being heard. But you know what, 257 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 2: even the crash of a car motor can't cut through 258 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 2: because now cars have radios inside that allow you to 259 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 2: listen to its advertisements like these. 260 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:16,280 Speaker 1: And we're back. 261 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 2: Okay, one more story for you today, and this one, 262 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,639 Speaker 2: this one makes me kind of sad and it's interesting. 263 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,680 Speaker 2: We'll talk about it afterwards. It's from nineteen ten. It's 264 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 2: from immediately before the Manganese to uprising. It's called Two revolutionaries, 265 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:40,680 Speaker 2: the Old Revolutionary and the Modern Revolutionary, meet each other 266 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 2: one afternoon, marching in different directions. The sun glowed like 267 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:48,920 Speaker 2: an ember above the distant mountain range. The king of 268 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:53,400 Speaker 2: the day was sinking. It sunk down irrevocably, as if 269 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 2: it were conscious of its defeat. By the evening, it 270 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 2: reddened with anger, and cast upon the earth and the 271 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:04,880 Speaker 2: sky its most handsome lights. The two revolutionaries regarded each 272 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 2: other face to face, the old one ashen, disheveled, his 273 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:12,640 Speaker 2: unpolished visage like a rag tossed into a wash basket, 274 00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:17,200 Speaker 2: crossed here and there by ugly scars, his bones, insinuating 275 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 2: the edges of his body underneath his shabby garb. The 276 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 2: modern one erect, filled with life, his face luminous with 277 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 2: the presentiment of glory. He was clothed in rags as well, 278 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:31,880 Speaker 2: but he carried them with pride, as if they were 279 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 2: the flag of the disinherited, the symbol of a common meditation, 280 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 2: the password of a humble people elevated by the zeal 281 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 2: for a great idea. Where are you going, asked the 282 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:48,200 Speaker 2: old man. I am going to fight for my ideals, 283 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,600 Speaker 2: said the modern one. And you, where are you going? 284 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 2: He asked? In his turn. The old man coughed and 285 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,880 Speaker 2: spat angrily upon the earth. He cast a glance at 286 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,840 Speaker 2: the sun, who his anger he also felt in this moment, 287 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 2: and said, I am not going. I am now coming 288 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 2: back home. What happened? I am disillusioned, said the old man. 289 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 2: You are not going to a revolution. I also went 290 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:18,399 Speaker 2: to the war, and you see how I now return 291 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 2: sad old, damaged in body and spirit. The modern revolutionary 292 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 2: cast a glance that encompassed space. His brow was splendent. 293 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 2: A great hope rose up from the depths of his 294 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:35,000 Speaker 2: being and gazed out through his face. He asked the 295 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:39,960 Speaker 2: old man, did you know what you were fighting for? Yes, 296 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 2: a wicked man was dominating the country. We poor people 297 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:47,199 Speaker 2: were suffering from the tyranny of the government, from the 298 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:50,760 Speaker 2: tyranny of people with money. Our oldest children were locked 299 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 2: up in jail, the families abandoned, prostituted themselves, or panhandled. 300 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 2: To be able to live. No one could look the 301 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:02,400 Speaker 2: lowest policeman in the face. The least compliment was considered 302 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 2: as an act of rebellion. One day a noble man 303 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:10,080 Speaker 2: said to us, poor people, fellow citizens, in order to 304 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 2: put an end to the present state of things, we 305 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,119 Speaker 2: must have a change in the government. The men who 306 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:19,239 Speaker 2: are in power are thieves, assassins, and oppressors. Let us 307 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 2: eliminate those in power. Elect me president, and everything will change. 308 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 2: This is what the noble man said. After this, he 309 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:32,200 Speaker 2: gave us firearms and sent us off to fight. We triumphed. 310 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,880 Speaker 2: The wicked oppressors were dead. We elected the man who 311 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 2: gave us the weapons, making him president. While we went 312 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:43,720 Speaker 2: to work. After our triumph, we continued working exactly like before, 313 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:48,520 Speaker 2: like mules and not like men. Our families continued suffering 314 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:52,159 Speaker 2: from need. Our oldest sons kept on being taken to jail. 315 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,560 Speaker 2: The taxes kept on being collected with precision by the 316 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:59,480 Speaker 2: new government, and rather than decreasing, they grew larger. We 317 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 2: had to obey and in the products of our labor 318 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 2: to the hands of our masters. Anytime we wanted to 319 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,640 Speaker 2: declare a strike, they killed us in the most cowardly fashion. 320 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 2: Now you see, I knew what we were fighting for. 321 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,800 Speaker 2: The rulers were bad, and we were precisely exchanging them 322 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 2: for good ones. And now you see how those who 323 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 2: said that they were going to be good turned out 324 00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:23,600 Speaker 2: to be just as bad as the ones we dethroned. 325 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:28,080 Speaker 2: Do not go to the war. Do not go. You 326 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:30,879 Speaker 2: are going to risk your life merely to exalt a 327 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:36,119 Speaker 2: new master, So spoke the old revolutionary. The sun sank 328 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 2: down without recourse, as if a gigantic claw had dragged 329 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:47,400 Speaker 2: it behind the mountain. The modern revolutionary smiled. He retorted, Comrade, 330 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 2: I am going to war, but not like you and 331 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,159 Speaker 2: those of your era. I am going to war not 332 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,920 Speaker 2: to elevate any man to power, but to emancipate my class. 333 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:58,760 Speaker 2: With the aid of this rifle, I will force our 334 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,639 Speaker 2: masters to loosen their claws and to release what they 335 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,919 Speaker 2: have robbed from the poor for thousands of years. You 336 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,359 Speaker 2: entrusted a man to create your happiness, my comrades, and 337 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,719 Speaker 2: I are going to create happiness for all by our 338 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:14,680 Speaker 2: own efforts. You entrusted notable lawyers and men of science 339 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 2: with the task of making laws. Naturally, they made them 340 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 2: in such a way as to benefit themselves. Instead of 341 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 2: being the instrument of liberty, they were the instrument of 342 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:28,359 Speaker 2: tyranny and infamy. Your entire error, and the error of 343 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 2: those who like you, have fought, has been this to 344 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 2: give powers to an individual or to a group of individuals, 345 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:39,000 Speaker 2: surrendering to them the task of making everybody happy. No, 346 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:43,920 Speaker 2: my friend, we the modern revolutionaries, do not search for helpers, 347 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 2: nor protectors, nor manufacturers of good fortune. We are going 348 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 2: to conquer liberty and well being for ourselves. We are 349 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,919 Speaker 2: beginning by attacking the root of political tyranny, and that 350 00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 2: root is called the right of property. We are going 351 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:01,760 Speaker 2: to seize the lands from the hands of our bosses 352 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:05,560 Speaker 2: to hand it over to the people. Oppression is a tree, 353 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 2: and the root of this tree is called the right 354 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 2: of property. The trunk, the branches, and the leaves are 355 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,520 Speaker 2: the policemen, the soldiers, and the officials of all ranks 356 00:23:15,640 --> 00:23:20,240 Speaker 2: large and small. Look here, the old revolutionaries have surrendered 357 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,439 Speaker 2: the task of chopping down this tree. Every time they 358 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 2: chopped it down, it sprouted, It grew up, and it strengthened. Again. 359 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 2: They chopped it down. Again, it sprouted, and again it 360 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,440 Speaker 2: grew up, and again its strengthened. This keeps on happening 361 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:37,880 Speaker 2: because they have not attacked the root of the wicked tree. 362 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 2: All have been too frightened to extract the core and 363 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,159 Speaker 2: pitch it into the fire. You see, my old friend, 364 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 2: you have given your blood for no good reason. I 365 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 2: am disposed to give mine so that it will benefit 366 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 2: all my brothers and chains. I will burn down the 367 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:58,720 Speaker 2: tree from its root. Behind the blue mountains, something still blazed. 368 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,200 Speaker 2: It was the sun which had finally sunk, perhaps wounded 369 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,720 Speaker 2: by the gigantic claw which beckoned it to the abyss, 370 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 2: while the sun became red, as if it had been 371 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:11,400 Speaker 2: tinted by the blood of the star. The old revolutionary 372 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:15,920 Speaker 2: sighed and said, like the sun, I also am setting, 373 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:21,920 Speaker 2: and I will disappear into the shadows. The modern revolutionary 374 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 2: continued to the place where his brothers were fighting for 375 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 2: the new ideals. The end this story breaks my focking heart, 376 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:39,000 Speaker 2: like the modern revolutionary is right instead of continuing this 377 00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:42,400 Speaker 2: you know, old style of revolution where they replace one 378 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:47,920 Speaker 2: master with another, people need to set out to get 379 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 2: rid of all masters. They need to, as that great 380 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 2: parable says, take the ring of power back to the 381 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 2: fires of Mount Doom, from whence it was forged, and 382 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:04,159 Speaker 2: cast it into those fires. And this is so fascinating 383 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 2: to me because this was written before the uprising where 384 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,600 Speaker 2: this kind of happened. Anyway, even though people went out 385 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,239 Speaker 2: and tried to be this modern revolutionary, they tried to 386 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,400 Speaker 2: go out and say, no, the problem is property and 387 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,639 Speaker 2: the problem it's not explicitly said in this particular piece, 388 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 2: but it's like, you know, the problem is having someone 389 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,359 Speaker 2: in power like that. And they went out and they 390 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:35,240 Speaker 2: did that, but still not only was their revolutionary action 391 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:40,159 Speaker 2: recuperated into a new government that was kind of in 392 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,000 Speaker 2: many ways same as the old government. I guess there 393 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,200 Speaker 2: was you know, some things that got better or whatever, 394 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,080 Speaker 2: but then they were killed by the people who came 395 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,879 Speaker 2: and stole that revolution. And then this is also written, 396 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:56,680 Speaker 2: you know, before the Russian revolutions and before the Bolsheviks 397 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 2: betrayed the democratic nature of that revolution. And the reason 398 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,639 Speaker 2: it's heartbreaking is that these are the same revolutionary you know. 399 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 2: And I don't know what to do with that, because 400 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:12,120 Speaker 2: I want us to be this modern revolutionary. I want 401 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:17,639 Speaker 2: us to say we are fighting power, not for someone 402 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,480 Speaker 2: new to be in power. And maybe the answer is 403 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:25,640 Speaker 2: we just need more of us doing that, or well, 404 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 2: I don't know what the answer is. If I had 405 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 2: the answer, i'd be making podcasts about that instead of 406 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 2: trying to think it all through alongside of you. And yeah, 407 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:41,600 Speaker 2: that's some fiction by Ricardo Floris mcgon, written one hundreds 408 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:45,679 Speaker 2: some years ago before and after his heart was broken 409 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 2: by the revolution that he helped participate in. And that's 410 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 2: book club. I hope you enjoy it. I'll talk to 411 00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:55,520 Speaker 2: y'all soon. 412 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 413 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 1: For more podcasts, cooal Zone Media visit our website coolzonemedia 414 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:04,880 Speaker 1: dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 415 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, you can 416 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,000 Speaker 1: find sources for It could happen here, Updated monthly at 417 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 1: coolzonmedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.