Forwarded from Class Consciousness Project
From Mao to Madrid: Paul Breitner's Story.
Older football fans may remember the highly decorated footballer Paul Breitner. A brilliant pro that came through at Bayern Munich when Germany was still divided by east and west.
He was a full back that would have fitted into modern game with his style of playing, but he was more than just a left back. He was an outspoken political agitator who read Mao Zedong religiously. He even posed with Mao's Little Red Book. Publicly! At a time where doing so in West Germany was dangerous.
He spoke out against the evils of capitalism, about questioning the state. In a famous quotation he correctly declared footballers as workers who sell their labour like anyone else. In a Cold War climate where anti-communism was a state religion, that was very brave.
They called him 'Der Rote Paul', Red Paul! (like our very own Red Rick). His radicalism was real, not like how modern footballers who use their activism to inflate their position.
The early 1970s in West Germany being a 'red' meant surveillance, bans and hysteria about “extremism”. To openly identify with Maoism while representing the West German national team was a refusal to play the obedient sportsman. West Germany was essentially occupied by US forces at this point. The US where the MacArthur trials were hunting down communists in north America.
Having that socialist background made sure he didn’t separate football from society. He understood that football sits inside capitalism, not outside of it.
What saved him was fan support. He backed it up on the pitch. He scored in the 1974 World Cup final. Won European Cups. Dominated domestically. He wasn’t some fringe rebel shouting from the sidelines. He was directly bang in the center of the machine while criticising it.
That contradiction took shape and formed his future material conditions within the game.
When he moved to Real Madrid CF in 1974, the politics took a back step. They stopped being centre stage. Success in football, especially teams like Real Madrid, brings massive scrutiny. These big teams are footballing institutions that demand discipline. Radical language becomes inconvenient when you are part of a global sports brand.
Did he “sell out”? Maybe, but that feels too simple. Conditions change, family and work. We all have to survive within the boundaries of capitalism and without being a part of an organisation of advanced workers people can become disillusioned.
The revolutionary left in Western Europe was fractured and retreated. The 70s closed in and the post war concessions were starting to be removed. Individual careers don’t float above historical shifts.
What his journey shows is this: even at the very top of elite sport, class consciousness can surface. Even within a billion-pound industry, players are still workers selling labour power. The wage might be substantially higher and the contracts might be gold-plated. The relation to capital remains.
Breitner’s Maoism wasn’t a footnote. It was a reminder that football has never been politically neutral. The game produces rebels as well as celebrities.
The Class Consciousness Project.
Older football fans may remember the highly decorated footballer Paul Breitner. A brilliant pro that came through at Bayern Munich when Germany was still divided by east and west.
He was a full back that would have fitted into modern game with his style of playing, but he was more than just a left back. He was an outspoken political agitator who read Mao Zedong religiously. He even posed with Mao's Little Red Book. Publicly! At a time where doing so in West Germany was dangerous.
He spoke out against the evils of capitalism, about questioning the state. In a famous quotation he correctly declared footballers as workers who sell their labour like anyone else. In a Cold War climate where anti-communism was a state religion, that was very brave.
They called him 'Der Rote Paul', Red Paul! (like our very own Red Rick). His radicalism was real, not like how modern footballers who use their activism to inflate their position.
The early 1970s in West Germany being a 'red' meant surveillance, bans and hysteria about “extremism”. To openly identify with Maoism while representing the West German national team was a refusal to play the obedient sportsman. West Germany was essentially occupied by US forces at this point. The US where the MacArthur trials were hunting down communists in north America.
Having that socialist background made sure he didn’t separate football from society. He understood that football sits inside capitalism, not outside of it.
What saved him was fan support. He backed it up on the pitch. He scored in the 1974 World Cup final. Won European Cups. Dominated domestically. He wasn’t some fringe rebel shouting from the sidelines. He was directly bang in the center of the machine while criticising it.
That contradiction took shape and formed his future material conditions within the game.
When he moved to Real Madrid CF in 1974, the politics took a back step. They stopped being centre stage. Success in football, especially teams like Real Madrid, brings massive scrutiny. These big teams are footballing institutions that demand discipline. Radical language becomes inconvenient when you are part of a global sports brand.
Did he “sell out”? Maybe, but that feels too simple. Conditions change, family and work. We all have to survive within the boundaries of capitalism and without being a part of an organisation of advanced workers people can become disillusioned.
The revolutionary left in Western Europe was fractured and retreated. The 70s closed in and the post war concessions were starting to be removed. Individual careers don’t float above historical shifts.
What his journey shows is this: even at the very top of elite sport, class consciousness can surface. Even within a billion-pound industry, players are still workers selling labour power. The wage might be substantially higher and the contracts might be gold-plated. The relation to capital remains.
Breitner’s Maoism wasn’t a footnote. It was a reminder that football has never been politically neutral. The game produces rebels as well as celebrities.
The Class Consciousness Project.
❤1
Not everyone that is arrested is a criminal, but everyone that is arrested is treated like a criminal. Being locked up without proof and then waiting for an investigation to prove your innocence is a disgusting breach of human rights.
That's the police though, that's how they act and that's how they are trained to act.
When all you have is hammer everything looks like a nail.
That's the police though, that's how they act and that's how they are trained to act.
When all you have is hammer everything looks like a nail.
Forwarded from Red Rick
"Who is it that has made brothers spill each other's blood? For centuries kings and nobles have sent Polish peasants to fight the Turks. They have always incited one nation against another. Think of all the bloodshed and misery they have caused! And who benefited by it all? But soon all that will stop. This is the end of those vermin. The Bolsheviks have flung out a slogan that strikes terror into the hearts of the bourgeoisie: 'Proletarians of all lands, unite!' There lies our salvation, there lies our hope for a better future, for the day when all workingmen will be brothers. Comrades, join the Communist Party!"
- Nikolai Ostrovsky
- Nikolai Ostrovsky
❤3
Forwarded from Class Consciousness Project
A sticker by the fans of Italian Club Perugia.
Stalin the new star striker!
Stalin the new star striker!
😁7
Someone asked on Facebook what the difference was between Socialism and Fascism. It was most certainly a loaded question from a reactionary who felt superior but I chose to answer.
The answer is easy: Class Power.
Socialism is a transitional state between capitalism and communism. It is the beginning of the rule of the working-class. Removing the parasitical ruling class and take control ourselves. We take control of the banks, energy, land and major industry. We take them out of the hands of private corporations and run them for the needs of the people, not profit.
Socialism is internationalist because workers everywhere share the same enemy — capital. The goal is to end exploitation of workers for profit.
Fascism is capitalism in crisis. When the system starts to struggle and they fear workers uprising, sections of the ruling class back authoritarian rule to crush workers and redirect anger. This often happens in countries with a strong socialist movement (i.e. 1940s Germany) It keeps private property intact, smashes trade unions, bans communists and blames migrants or minorities instead of the ruling class who cause these issues from their constant need for profit. It’s right wing nationalism used to protect capital.
Summing up.
Socialism attacks class exploitation.
Fascism enforces it.
The answer is easy: Class Power.
Socialism is a transitional state between capitalism and communism. It is the beginning of the rule of the working-class. Removing the parasitical ruling class and take control ourselves. We take control of the banks, energy, land and major industry. We take them out of the hands of private corporations and run them for the needs of the people, not profit.
Socialism is internationalist because workers everywhere share the same enemy — capital. The goal is to end exploitation of workers for profit.
Fascism is capitalism in crisis. When the system starts to struggle and they fear workers uprising, sections of the ruling class back authoritarian rule to crush workers and redirect anger. This often happens in countries with a strong socialist movement (i.e. 1940s Germany) It keeps private property intact, smashes trade unions, bans communists and blames migrants or minorities instead of the ruling class who cause these issues from their constant need for profit. It’s right wing nationalism used to protect capital.
Summing up.
Socialism attacks class exploitation.
Fascism enforces it.
👍7
Forwarded from RNN Mirror
🚨 The zionist entity has turned Qalandia into a full-scale choke point, enforcing strict "pedestrian-only" access to block thousands of worshippers from Al-Aqsa on the first Friday of Ramadan. While occupation commanders paraded around the perimeter, hundreds of Palestinians were denied entry based on arbitrary age restrictions and claims of "full quotas," leaving families stranded at the gates. This follows a wave of aggressive raids into the camp over the last 24 hours, where forces snatched several young men and intensified the military presence to stifle any movement. This included the detaining of 4 paramedics in Qalandia and the IOF obstructing the coverage of press crews.
Forwarded from Class Consciousness Project
Here's a very interesting article we are reposting from a valued friend of the project Paul Virdee.
Understanding our history is paramount to understanding how we've landed at this stage of decaying capitalism.
Paul's article gives you a glimpse of that history.
http://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2025/11/11/the-long-struggle-of-india/
Understanding our history is paramount to understanding how we've landed at this stage of decaying capitalism.
Paul's article gives you a glimpse of that history.
http://classconsciousnessproject.blog/2025/11/11/the-long-struggle-of-india/
Class Consciousness Project
The Long Struggle of India
The struggle for independence from British colonialism is one that is ongoing Article written by Paul Virdee The Legacy of the British Colonial “Vampires” in the Indian Subcontinent Hindustan has b…
An article by David Miller that dismisses the lies of zionists about their claim of being native to Palestine.
https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/are-the-jews-indigenous-to-palestine
https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/are-the-jews-indigenous-to-palestine
Al Mayadeen English
Are the Jews indigenous to Palestine?
All in all, seven of the fourteen Zionist Prime Ministers, so far, came directly from Russia, Poland, Ukraine, or Belarus. The other seven were children of parents from Europe or America.
💯3❤1
Forwarded from Beorn and The Shieldmaiden
🇺🇸 The delusional schemes
USA has not changed on bit since the Soviet art collective "Kukryniksy" drew this caricature in 1980. Allen Dulles and Harry Truman are depicted as school examiners, taking an exam of the American population, gauging their support for nuclear world domination. The obedient student, so symptomatic of the USA's school literacy level, is showing where "America" is located on the world map, i.e — the whole world is seen as a possession of the USA.
The caricature was accompanied by a vers by D.Demin, here translated verbatim:
For the fates of the world,
the biggest enemy —
Is the scale of the delusional scheming.
The image is from the Kukryniksy artbook in The Shieldmaiden's library, the chapter of the book titled "Nuclear Maniacs".
⚡️How not to remember in this context a quote by Iosif Stalin:
@BeornAndTheShieldmaiden
🚀 Boost🚀
USA has not changed on bit since the Soviet art collective "Kukryniksy" drew this caricature in 1980. Allen Dulles and Harry Truman are depicted as school examiners, taking an exam of the American population, gauging their support for nuclear world domination. The obedient student, so symptomatic of the USA's school literacy level, is showing where "America" is located on the world map, i.e — the whole world is seen as a possession of the USA.
The caricature was accompanied by a vers by D.Demin, here translated verbatim:
For the fates of the world,
the biggest enemy —
Is the scale of the delusional scheming.
The image is from the Kukryniksy artbook in The Shieldmaiden's library, the chapter of the book titled "Nuclear Maniacs".
⚡️How not to remember in this context a quote by Iosif Stalin:
"I thought that democracy was the power of the people, but Comrade Roosevelt explained to me that democracy is the power of the American people."
@BeornAndTheShieldmaiden
Please open Telegram to view this post
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
🔥1