Selected for #Ocean_of_Possibilities: Jan Bannings first images from Red Twilight, a newly begun project on the ageing generation of staunch communists and their party offices. Quite remarkably, in search of alternatives for the failings of capitalism a new interest in Marxism has been on the rise, as The Guardian reported back in 2012. It leaves me wondering what Bannings old faithfuls would have to say about this new dawn? Communist ideals provided inspiration for millions of people during the 19th and 20th centuries. In the practice of the totalitarian regimes that called themselves communist, these ideals were however discarded in favour of repression. The fall of the Iron Curtain and the triumph of free market ideology in the late 20th century seemed to be the coup de grâce for political parties that struggled for greater social and economic equality – and even the economic crisis has not changed that. Yet communist ideals live on in various countries among small groups of faithful Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyites and Maoists. In his series Red Twilight Jan Banning recorded the party offices of these groups. Captions: 1. Office of the PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) in Montemor-o-Novo in the Alentejo region, former stronghold of the Reforma Agraria (Agrarian Reform), 1975-1990. 2. Office of the PRC (Partito della Rifondazione Comunista), Circolo Giudecca, Venice, Italy, 2014. theguardian/world/2012/jul/04/the-return-of-marxism
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 13:33:12 +0000
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