Revolutionary politics had a nearly constant presence throughout Buenos Aires. In great part this had to do with the active building of revolutionary culture and art. The arts were considered as important a part of revolutionary struggle as development of theory or organizing of actions. Music, theatre, film, visual arts, etc. were all a consistent part of organizing working class struggles. This had a great number of positive impacts beyond the obvious – making our movements a lot less boring.
Cultural movements helped to build the more concrete organizing of expropriated workplaces, community groups, and political organizations. In my time in Argentina, this was most clearly seen in our organizing in defense of the Hotel BAUEN; one of the many worker owned and controlled businesses of Argentina. Numerous musicians came out to play concerts as fundraisers for the campaign to stop the eviction of the cooperative. A street concert and barbeque was held outside of an expropriated print shop as both a fundraiser and informational session about how to help out in the fight. The play Maquinando was put on in the spaces of a number of community assemblies. This play tells the story of a group of workers going through the process of taking over their workplace. On the last day of the threatened eviction, workers and community supporters had said they would surround the building in an attempt to resist. Popular folk musician Leon Gieco offered to headline a concert along with a number of other musicians to help bring in more people. This event helped to mix the concrete need for the action along with a vibrant and cultural atmosphere.
The inspirational impact can’t be overshadowed by the purely concrete assistance offered by these artistic movements. Plays, music, and films are capable of inspiring people on a much different level than speeches or rallies. Maquinando shows the truly dramatic nature of taking over one’s workplace, in a way that is very difficult to express through simple speeches. There is an incredible radical film movement in Argentina, and almost constant militant film festivals happening in some part of the city. (An excellent book on the Argentine film movement has recently been released called “El Companero que Lleva La Camara: cine militante argentine” by Maximiliano de la Puente and Pablo Russo).
Each of these movie screenings, plays, literary presentations, or art showings helped to bring a revolutionary voice to communities that may not have otherwise heard such a message. A play would be performed in a community hall or a musician’s new song would be released talking about the unemployed movements and entirely new communities would suddenly be interested in revolutionary politics.
The relationship between artists and movements isn’t a one-way street. There are plenty of ways that artists benefit from such a relationship as well. Having revolutionary movements participate in the arts can free artists in the same way that revolutionaries hope to free other people. With the creation of spaces where artists can freely come out against the power structure, organizations ensure that artists are capable of surviving without needing to pander to the political and profit motives of the business elite. A culture of resistance will have new audiences ready to help popularize the art of revolutionaries. Those artists that don’t follow the corporate line will not be left to obscurity, but can become popular in entirely new contexts and communities.
More than just helping to expose an artist’s work, movements can help to inform and inspire artists in an intellectual and participatory way. Through direct participation, artists will become exposed to new ideas and realities, informing their art and activism. With the development of clearly revolutionary cultural outlets we could begin to create a counterbalance to the naïve, liberal, and patronizing politics of celebrity artists.
Building this new culture of resistance within our organizations, movements, and artistic communities means more than having a few “progressive” or political artists. It means having an explicit connection between the arts and organization. Rather than artists attacking Bush at a concert, we need artists promoting particular organizations and paths to victory. We need artists that are members of these organizations and aside from their art work also do some of the day to day organizing. It also means that organizations create clear spaces for artistic endeavors whether through media and culture committees, publicity in their literature and website, or in organizing actions.
Without building this connection we condemn our movements to remain boring and our artists to remain ineffectual. If we ever intend to have movements that go beyond a handful of area radicals, we need to begin participating in building a new, revolutionary artistic culture.
