PBC0119: empowerment

PBC 119 takes a Bolshevik feeling of empowerment to the universal and even cosmic level. One example jubilates in a more collective mode: “All of us/ on earth/ are soldiers of one/ army creating life” (W315). This PBC urges Bolshevik solidarity between the solar system’s planets. Each planet plays a role: “Venus announces to the stars” that revolution is coming (W255), while “Distant Neptune is commanded to control the waters” and “Mars’s citizens go to assist” (W253). The Earth, however, is the leader among the planets as the source of revolution, as all planets are asked to recognize: “May Earth be first among you, equal from henceforth” (W256). Another example asks the listener to hear the sounds of the planets “marching to help on Earth” (W50). The PBC conveys its most powerful image of the universe raising a “planetary toast” for the workers, soldiers, and peasants in Russia (W259).