new song for Harvey Milk

Scuz me.....I think it is time for some history and some clarity without sentimentality about who Harvey Milk was.

Harvey Milk was a major force in slaying the revolutionary and radical wings of the gay and lesbian LIBERATION movements and making it tame enought to be absorbed into the capitalist Democratic Party. The Democrats are the party of the bosses. The Democrats are the graveyard of social movements.

It is too bad that Harvey Milk mistakenly believed and dedicated his struggle to bringing the gay and lesbian struggle into the establishment. As a result, gay and lesbian struggles have had to compromise with the deadly enemies of both working people and have had to compromise the goal of gay liberation into collaboration with antigay big wigs in the Democratic Party.

Joe Hill, killed by the bosses for fighting for the working men and women of this country would not have made a sweet lil ditty about the BEST DEMOCRAT the gay movement produced. Joe Hill stood for workers liberation from captialism and fought for ONE BIG UNION--not for the expansion of the Democrats into every gay and lesbian urban center in the US. He would have fought against this. The Democrats were his enemies then, and they would have been his enemies now.

The Democrats are one of the two major parties of the capitalists. Harvey Milk demanded entry of the masses of gay and lesbian people in San Francisco to be let into the corridors of the power elite, instead of creating a new power based on the struggles of working people. He did so completely in opposition of the real radical wing of the gay and lesbian liberation movement.

And just for history's sake, as much as I disagree with Harvey Milk's politics, he wasn't a "queer separatist". He wanted a gay and straight coexistence in the Castro.

All of what Adam says is correct, but some of us have deeper memories. The date of his assassination, November 28, 1978, 10 days after the CIA murdered almost 1,000 people, mostly African-Americans from the San Francisco Bay Area, in Jonestown, Guyana, is easily remembered by those of us who remember the whole era of 1960-1980. (See http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown)

The horror and shock of it all is as unforgettable as the previous assassinations of that era by the US government, namely Malcolm X , Martin Luther King, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, the last 3 being Democrats, as was Harvey Milk. In fact, Milk was formerly a Goldwater Republican. He changed with the times, but of course, not enough. He was, however, an excellent organizer, strongly supported and was able to unite labor, nonwhites and gays which was an extraordinary, practically revolutionary achievement in those days, and had the strength to be openly gay in an era when sodomy was illegal.The gay community won legaliation in California in 1975, but we were early on that front, and being gay was definitely not popular at all. You would not dare even discuss much less promote gay marriage at that time, and the reason was not the bankrupt institution of marriage but the opposition to the gay movement.

None of these Democrats sidetracked the movement; labor never moved because it was not hungry enough. Now that labor is hungry and capitalism is in a greater state of decay with a dollar declining in value geometrically daily, the Democratic Party, as the twin party of capitalism with the Republicans, has no more crumbs to toss to the workingclass, and that is why someone like Harvey Milk seems shallow today. He was not shallow then; he was courageous and his assassination is unforgiveable and unforgettable.

I was working one block from City Hall when an attorney came screaming into the office from court that Mayor Moscone (a Democrat) and Supervisor Harvey Milk (a Democrat) were shot. At that time, the courts were inside City Hall. We were all veterans of all the movements of that day, but the horror was still overwhelming.

Harvey Milk made his contribution; the time is now ripe for new leaders as we are in a labor era now, and the draft is about to be implemented, no later than June 15, 2005, in a declining economy. This country will be turned upside down more than it was during the Vietnam War, when every college campus was in turmoil until the draft ended in 1973. This time, it will also be every workingclass community.

We hope the younger generation will provide leaders that have at least as much courage as Harvey did, and of course, a deeper understanding of the necessity to put an end to capitalism and establish socialism.

To lead, less time should be spent scapegoating the past leaders and far more time must be spent organizing the workingclass for the very rough times we all face. It is the organizers of the workingclass who will be the leaders of this labor era.

.I think it is time for some history and some clarity without sentimentality about who Harvey Milk was.

Harvey Milk was a major force in slaying the revolutionary and radical wings of the gay and lesbian LIBERATION movements and making it tame enought to be absorbed into the capitalist Democratic Party. The Democrats are the party of the bosses. The Democrats are the graveyard of social movements.

A critic contrasts Harvey Milk with
"the real radical wing of the gay and lesbian liberation movement"
[of the 1970s].

I would be interested in reading about such groups
(circa 1948-1980),
in SF or in the U$A.

For starters, please list the "real radical"
(in your opinion)
queer groups/activists of that era.


(This is NOT a rhetorical request;
nor am I engaging in debate.
I'd really like to know.)


-- Curious Reader

Joe Hill and Harvey Milk were indeed very different.

Perhaps the reference to Hill is really just
a clue to the tune.

That is, the Milk song clearly imitates
"I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night";
and presumably can be sung to that tune.