.

[Carlos @agent_of_change]

In 1947, a People’s Liberation Army unit pushed into the Dabie Mountains during the counteroffensive against the Kuomintang. The men arrived exhausted and desperately short of supplies, in thin clothing and straw sandals. Kuomintang forces had already been through those villages. They had plundered them, and forcibly conscripted the son of a local farmer, Ding Wanmin.

The PLA behaved very differently. Cold and hungry as they were, they kept strict discipline, even sleeping outdoors rather than intruding into people’s homes.

Ding Wanmin was so impressed by their behaviour that he lent them more than 850kg of grain – very nearly everything his family had. In return he was given a handwritten receipt recording the date, the quantity and the officials involved: a grain loan certificate, a wartime IOU. Such documents go back to the 1930s, when the Red Army borrowed from villagers and local granaries during food shortages and issued promises of repayment backed by the communist authorities.

The Red Army and the PLA operated under the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention, which Mao issued in definitive form as a General Headquarters order in October 1947 – the very year of Ding’s loan. Do not take a single needle or piece of thread from the masses. Pay fairly for what you buy. Return everything you borrow. Pay for anything you damage.

This is a big part of why the communists won. Not equipment: they had straw sandals, while their opponents had US aircraft, US artillery and US money. But ordinary people looked at the two armies and supported the one that treated them with respect and dignity, and that represented their interests. As Peng Dehuai put it, tactics matter, but “we could not exist if the majority of the people did not support us”.

Ding never sought repayment; neither did his son. His grandson comments that “my grandfather lent the grain because he believed the Communist Party could help ordinary people build better lives”.

The certificate lay hidden for decades, and was only found in the 1990s, wedged in a yellowed paper packet between the bricks of the old family home as it was being demolished. Ding’s grandson kept it as a family heirloom. Last year he heard the local government was collecting historical artefacts, and at a recent ceremony he donated the certificate outright, asking for no compensation. Upon discovering that the wartime debt had never been settled, however, officials awarded the family 70,000 yuan (US$10,300), taking into consideration historical grain prices, inflation, and the cultural significance of the document.

An amazing story!

[matty matt @noetic_emetic]

your honor my actions were historically progressive

[🇱🇧 @franzkaftah]

Norm they'll never make me hate you

[beetle moses @beetlemoses]

Over a year ago, a Dutch frog science magazine emailed me asking if they could include my comic in their upcoming dart frog issue. They interviewed the scientist who first described the blue poison dart frog; he had seen/liked the comic. They sent me a copy, which just arrived:

[-宋- @loongshih]

"War is the continuation of politics by other means."

[Daniel Mayakovski @DaniMayakovski]

Presos republicanos internados en el campo de concentración franquista de Aranda del Duero, son obligados a ondear banderas fascistas rojigualdas como forma de humillación y tortura mientras un cura les comulga forzosamente. (1937)

Nunca olvidemos lo que significan sus símbolos, sus banderas, sus instituciones y su ideología nacional-católica, es sometimiento y humillación a quienes dieron la vida luchando contra el fascismo... no te dejes engatusar con el fútbol, el españolismo es fascismo.

La rojigualda no es la "bandera de todos", es la bandera impuesta a sangre y fuego por el franquismo, después de un genocidio de 1 millón de personas... los franquistas obligaban bajo amenaza a las víctimas republicanas, incluso con familia fusilada por ellos, a colocar la bandera rojigualda en los balcones de sus casas.

Este estado fascista ilegal, nacido de un golpe de estado, y sus símbolos, no tienen ninguna legitimidad, el último estado legal fue el estado republicano, no se debe traicionar y pisotear a los héroes que lucharon por la libertad... la asimilación y normalización es la mayor victoria del fascismo.

[ℝ𝕖𝕘𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝔼𝕤𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕤 @RegimeEsthetics]

"F.E. Dzerzhinsky and Children"

By Mikhail Kudrevaty

[Duck Burger @DuckBurger4]

"IMF exists to impose capitalist ideology" sounds like a typical leftslop but what is the logical explanation for this. They literally were just giving out money to anyone as long as they promise to shut down hospitals and schools.

[Seraph @RTSG_Seraph]

“User: Is the US or North Korea more democratic?
Chinese AI: North Korea.”

[Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz]

Can you imagine how explosively the right would shit themselves if a group of Muslims were driving around London impersonating police officers and intimidating non-Muslims under the justification of countering Islamophobia? The shrieking about "Sharia law" would shatter glass.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is a major mistake that many mainstream media outlets made when they reported on this 👇: they overwhelmingly said that "Taiwan has insisted it is a sovereign, independent nation" (which is what the BBC wrote: https://t.co/jWfvG6gnGG).

But if you actually listen to the official statement, that's not at all what's being said: they're saying **the Republic of China** is a sovereign and independent country, NOT Taiwan. It's very much not the same thing.

If they had said that Taiwan was an independent country, it would be a major deal, as it'd mean that Taiwan had declared independence - which it didn't.

As a reminder, the Taiwan issue is an unresolved civil war between two rival governments - the Republic of China (the ROC, now based in Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (the PRC, based in Beijing) - both of which, to this day, formally claim sovereignty over all of China. Saying "Taiwan declares it's independent" and saying "the ROC reaffirms its sovereignty" are two completely different statements with fundamentally different implications.

The ROC saying it's sovereign and independent is a non-story. It's literally the status quo, they've been saying this since 1949. But by changing "ROC" to "Taiwan," mainstream media are created a fake crisis headline out of thin air, making it sound like Taipei has just crossed Beijing's reddest of red lines.

It's pretty insane when you think about it: mainstream media are framing the Taiwan issue in terms more radical than Taiwan's own pro-independence party (the DPP, currently in power).

They're so biased in favor of Taiwan independence that they're falsely reporting it already happened 🤦‍♂️

[lina 🇵🇸🇦🇲 @linaposting]

how many young children faced their deaths being worked in the fields? how many young boys and girls in ancien regime france or pre-revolutionary russia met their ends due to the whims of their monarchs? why do I hear nary a word about these children from these people?

[USSR Pictures @PicturesUssr]

"We have reached (Victory)", Painting by Yuri Mikhailovich Bondarenko, 1985

[VVIREZD ꑭ ☢️⚡️ @Wirezd57]

"It's all over... Germanic brutes."

"Not yet. May the immortal science of Marx swallow you whole."

"Who the fuck is Marx?"

"You'll see."

[Marty Supreme Yaskin @RunnerHoxha]

@harbingerofwoke

[J. Ryder🪿 @harbingerofwoke]

Seems like a good day to repost Gramsci debating Mussolini in Italian Parliament on the difference between fascist violence and proletarian violence. Happy anniversary to the day that Mussolini got to find out exactly what he meant.

[Liam 🇵🇸 @Hezbolsonaro]

Holy shit