A COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
ON BEAUTY

• BEAUTY IS UNDENIABLE BUT INACCESSIBLE.

• BEING UNDENIABLE, ONE MUST CONTEND WITH IT.

• BEING INACCESSIBLE, ONE MUST MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE.

• TO MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE, ONE MUST GRANT IT A POSITIVE POLITICAL LIFE.

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WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT. WE NEED BEAUTY AS WE NEED BREAD.

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• FASCISM, DESPITE ITS PERSISTENCE, CANNOT HANDLE BEAUTY.

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ADOLF HITLER HATED AND LOVED THE GREEKS BECAUSE THEIR BODIES HAD BEEN BEAUTIFUL AND WHEN HE LOOKED OUT OVER THE GOD-FLATTENED CURVES OF HIS MANY-BODIED ONLY BRIDE HE BEGAN TO FEEL HIS EDGES DIMINISHING. 

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BENITO MUSSOLINI WANTED TO BUILD THE DANTEUM IN ROME BUT DID NOT AND COULD NOT HAVE KNOWN THAT HE’D SPEND HIS DEATH UPSIDE DOWN LIKE THE DIRT-EATING SIMONISTS.

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DONALD TRUMP MUMBLES “MEMORIES” TO A WEEPING SLEEP BUT NOT FOR THE SOULS AT HIS CAMPS. 

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YUKIO MISHIMA THOUGHT BEAUTY WAS A ROTTEN TOOTH HE COULDN’T STOP TONGUING SO HE PRIED OUT THE TOOTH AND ALL THE TEETH WHILE HE WAS AT IT AND AH HELL WHY NOT JUST REMOVE THE WHOLE HEAD.

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THE FASCISTS HANDLE BEAUTY LIKE A TEENAGE BOY HANDLES HIS OWN COCK. THEY DEADEN THEMSELVES WITH EMPTY-FISTED IMAGES. AND LIKE THE MACBETHS, WHO TRIED TO TURN WITCHES INTO WEAPONS, THEY LOSE THEIR HEADS BUT NOT BEFORE LOSING THEIR MORAL SENSE. 

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• FASCISM, DESPITE ITS FAILURE, HAS CLAIMED A MONOPOLY ON BEAUTY.

• COMMUNIST THOUGHT SUFFERS FOR FASCISM’S THEFT OF BEAUTY.

• THE RESISTANCE TO BEAUTY IN COMMUNIST THOUGHT IS A COPING MECHANISM FOR THIS POVERTY.

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FASCISTS THINK BEAUTY IS A TOOL. THOSE WHO’VE HANDLED TOOLS KNOW BETTER. THE LABORER UNDERSTANDS BEAUTY INTUITIVELY. THEY KNOW THE DAPPLING OF THEIR OWN HUMANITY. THIS IS WHY THE NAZIS ATTEMPTED TO STEAL IT. THE LABORER IS DEBASED WHEN DEPRIVED OF BEAUTY. 

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THE REDUCTION OF BEAUTY TO AN ILLUSION OF SOCIO-HISTORICAL HEGEMONIES SERVES ONLY TO FURTHER IMPOVERISH THE COMMON MAN THAT THINKERS OF SUCH IDEAS WOULD AIM TO ENFRANCHISE. THE EVACUATION OF AESTHESIS FROM THE COMMUNIST IMAGINATION ONLY SERVES THE FASCIST IMAGINATION: THAT THE LABORER SHOULD ONLY BE CONCERNED WITH THOSE THINGS THAT SHE CAN PRODUCE.

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OF COURSE ONE CAN ALWAYS FIND EVIL IN BEAUTY. ITS OPACITY IS PRECISELY ITS FUNCTION AND VALUE. SINCE GOD AND SATAN FIRST CONSPIRED TO MAKE TREES CAST SHADOWS, MANY HAVE CHOSEN TO FORGET THEIR SOULS AND ROOT THEIR LIVES IN THE DIRT. 

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• COMMUNIST THOUGHT WILL REMAIN IMPOVERISHED IF IT DOES NOT BEGIN TO ACCOUNT FOR BEAUTY. 

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WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THE REMOVAL OF FIRST NATIONS PEOPLES FROM WYOMING AND MONTANA—OR THE REMOVAL OF INDIGENOUS PALESTINIANS FROM THE HOLY LAND, FOR THAT MATTER—IS NOT MERELY A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY FOR ITS VIOLENCE AGAINST BODIES BOTH PRESENT AND ANCESTRAL. IT IS ALSO VIOLENT FOR ITS DEPRIVATION OF NATURAL BEAUTY FROM THOSE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES. YELLOWSTONE AND GETHSEMANE STILL STAND AS MONUMENTS TO THIS. 

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• ART IS THE LOCUS OF COMMUNAL, POSITIVE, ACCESSIBLE BEAUTY. 

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THE KILLINGS OF KANAFANI AND ALAREER AND HEBA ABU NADA—HENRY DUMAS AND DONALD GOINES—THE THOUSANDS OF MUZZLED GENIUSES BEATEN DOWN DUMB IN FIELDS AND FACTORIES, POST OFFICES AND APARTMENT BLOCKS, HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS AND ALL THE SUBMERGED PLACES. 

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THESE KILLINGS ARE NOT MERELY CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY FOR THE KILLINGS THEMSELVES. THEY ARE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY BECAUSE THEY DEPRIVE THE WORLD OF ITS ACCESS TO BEAUTY. THEY ARE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY BECAUSE THEY SERVE TO FURTHER BRING BEAUTY TO HEEL AT THE KNEE OF AUTHORITY. 

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A TRULY HUMANE COMMUNIST STATE WOULD REINSTATE THE SOVEREIGNTY AND SANCTITY OF THE BEAUTY OF MITSEADAZI AND MUKUNTUWEAP AND JAFFA  AND THE WHOLE WRITHING ECSTASY OF THIS WORLD WITH WHICH WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED.

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A TRULY HUMANE COMMUNIST STATE WOULD ALSO PRESERVE THE SOVEREIGNTY AND SANCTITY OF THE BEAUTY OF HAMLET AND BELOVED AND TO THE LIGHTHOUSE AND INVISIBLE MAN AND ALL THE STORIES WE HAVE NOT READ. 

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A TRULY HUMANE COMMUNIST STATE WOULD PRESERVE OUR STORIES NOT AS MERE HISTORY BUT AS APERTURES THROUGH WHICH BEAUTY MAY BE APPREHENDED–THROUGH WHICH THE SOUL OF EVERY WORKING MAN MAY BE LAID BARE, PERCEIVED, ENRICHED, AND DIGNIFIED.