Craig Kurtz
Comrade Stalin, Superstar
Communism, said and done,
wasn’t really that much fun;
but Comrade Stalin, don’t forget,
gave it a shot, that patriot.
All countries, ’twill be allowed,
have some eras less than proud;
nation building is no laugh
and omelets crack eggs right in half.
Pyramids don’t build themselves
and train tracks ain’t laid out by elves;
what’s ‘history’ in bygone times
another age will call ‘war crimes.’
Twenty bucks says Andrew Jackson
was to injuns, Joseph Stalin;
when a country needs ‘progress’
development lacks politesse.
All folks want bread, heat and lamps
so what’s a few measly work camps?;
our forebears were all ‘criminals’—
thank them we can be liberals.
The dirty jobs we now impugn
gave us the wealth to change our tune;
those tyrants who embarrass us
made possible such consciousness.
Comrade Stalin would agree,
that is if he spoke first, not me;
he knew his Marxist theory cold,
and wrote the book (it still gets sold).*
Let us not fail to explain
that he ended Hitler’s reign;
England, U.S. had their chance
but hesitated (just ask France).
And, when we think of women’s lib,
our despot figures (that’s no fib);
equal work for equal pay
became the norm in Stalin’s day.
Russia was once third-world poor
but communist esprit de corps
got Russians working hard as dogs,
improving life (outside gulags).
So, you see, simplicity
does not apply to history;
perspectives get upset by facts
when bad men make heroic acts.
* Dialectical and Historical Materialism, 1938. Available on Kindle.
