The Obama campaign could have rolled out its new “Forward” slogan at any time during the campaign. They could have rolled it out last week, or next week, or the week of the DNC convention. But the Obama campaign chose the week of May Day or International Workers Day, a date long associated with socialism and communism, to roll out a slogan that is also strongly associated with socialism and communism.
This is far from the first time Obama has resorted to communist imagery. His 2008 Berlin speech poster was a dead ringer for imagery used by Marxist-Leninists in Europe.
The increasingly communistic occupy movement understands well the association between ideology and May Day. That’s why they’re hoping to shut down capitalism for a day. Cities are bracing for May Day “mayhem.”
Labor and communist groups understand May Day’s significance — they marched together last year on May Day, and will do so again today.
“Forward” has been used to festoon socialist publications for decades, all over the world, as Hack Wilson has documented.
The “Forward” slogan isn’t anything new to politics. Wikipedia’s article on the leftist term Forward states:
The name Forward carries a special meaning in socialist political terminology. It has been frequently used as a name for socialist, communist and other leftwing newspapers and publications. For example, Vpered (Russian language for ‘Forward’) was the name of the publication that Lenin started after having resigned from the Iskra editorial board in 1905 after a clash with Georgi Plekhanov and the Mensheviks.—
Democrat Socialist Perspective: Socialism- The Way Forward
Communist China: The Great Leap Forward
UK Socialist Party: The Way Forward for Anti-Capitalism
Marxists.org: Can We Go Forward If We Fear to Advance Towards Socialism?
South African Communist Party: Forward to Socialism!
India: Forward Communist Party
Socialistworker.org: Discussing the way forward for Occupy
Marxists.org: Forward to Socialist Revolution
Obama’s campaign and presidency have been built almost entirely on the power of iconography and imagery. Barack Obama was a backbencher in the Illinois state Senate and the US Senate, with no serious legislative achievements, but he was supposed to embody racial healing, as the first president equal parts black and white. Obama symbolized “hope” and “change,” language that was empty in meaning but powerful in imagery. From his logo to the DNC’s 2008 stage to the Greek columns to the way Obama’s circular logo often frames a halo around his head, image has dominated Obama’s political career to the point that it’s an obsession. Barack Obama may be the most image conscious president America has ever had. He even branded the “Office of the President-Elect.” Image is everything to this president and his closest adviser, David Axelrod.
Is it possible that the Obama campaign accidentally introduced a socialist/communist slogan the same week as May Day, the most important day in the socialist/communist calendar? The occupiers, the labor leaders, the hard core communists all obviously understand the association between communism, “Forward” and May Day. Is it possible that the Obama campaign doesn’t?
Don’t forget “Lean Forward,” the slogan of MSNBC, the Official Sycophantic Network of the Obama Administration.
I think that Obama would be touting “The Great Lean Forward” if he had the nerve—combining the Maoism of his Ayers/Dohrn political roots, the slogan of his most slavish media supporters, and the very lean future he envisions for the US.
It’s blatant that Dear Liar is philosophically a marxist, and in practical politics a fascist.
‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d ?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d
Never “Lean forward” in a prison shower, they always say.
“Lean forward and cough.”
I suspect this slogan will be laughed at.
An absolutely progressive slogan!
I don´t think that there are many ( any?) in this White House with knowledge in history and German language.Otherwise, a quich search on the Internet would have led them to a link to Hitler Jugend. “Vorwärts” ( Forward ) was a song by Baldur von Schirach/Otto Borgmann. “Vorwärts schmettern die hellen Fanfaren, vorwärts, Jugend kennt keine Gefahren”.
Nazism, short for National Socialism, is the dark cousin of the other Socialism. “Forward” sounds like a very ill-chosen slogan.It´s creepy , you get the feeling of a Führer who points Forward. But it is somehow suitable for the Obama campaign.
“Forward” ?
This is becoming a nightmare.
Sorry, I had a moment of deja-vu that scared me.
Maybe we should laugh about the subversives. With something like:
“Forward” ? No, “Mark as spam” instead !
We can start by ridiculing this stupid saying as often as possible.
“Forward…. to national bankruptcy”
“Forward…. to voter fraud”
“Forward…. to another credit downgrade”
“Forward…. to more rounds of golf”
“Forward…. to more expensive vacations for the wife and girls”
“Forward…. to more ‘do what I say, not what I do’ hypocrisy”
“Forward…. to more green investment in companies that go bankrupt”
“Forward…. to more shovel ready jobs that really aren’t shovel ready”
I think you get the idea.
– Ho!
The Italian socialists, and later the fascists, used Forward as a slogan. Mussolini was a socialist before he “invented” fascism.
You’re absolutely right. Mussolini was, in point of fact, the editor of the Socialist Party’s magazine Avanti in the years preceding the Great War. In Italian, “Avanti,” of course, means “Forward.”
– depicted a follower giving the Fascist salute and shouting “A me!” Perfect for the egoist-egotist in the White House.
Forward – Obama’s New Marxist Associated Slogan
The Obama campaign apparently didn’t look backwards into history when selecting its new campaign slogan, “Forward” — a word with a long and rich association with European Marxism. (…or did they?)
Many Communist and radical publications and entities throughout the 19th and 20th centuries had the name “Forward!” or its foreign cognates. Wikipedia has an entire section called “Forward (generic name of socialist publications).”
“The name Forward carries a special meaning in socialist political terminology. It has been frequently used as a name for socialist, communist and other left-wing newspapers and publications,” the online encyclopedia explains.
The slogan “Forward!” reflected the conviction of European Marxists and radicals that their movements reflected the march of history, which would move forward past capitalism and into socialism and communism.
The Obama campaign released its new campaign slogan Monday in a 7-minute video. The title card has simply the word “Forward” with the “O” having the familiar Obama logo from 2008. It will be played at rallies this weekend that mark the Obama re-election campaign’s official beginning.
There have been at least two radical-left publications named “Vorwaerts” (the German word for “Forward”). One was the daily newspaper of the Social Democratic Party of Germany whose writers included Friedrich Engels and Leon Trotsky. It still publishes as the organ of Germany’s SDP, though that party has changed considerably since World War II. Another was the 1844 biweekly reader of the Communist League. Karl Marx, Engels and Mikhail Bakunin are among the names associated with that publication.
East Germany named its Army soccer club ASK Vorwaerts Berlin (later FC Vorwaerts Frankfort).
Vladimir Lenin founded the publication “Vpered” (the Russian word for “forward”) in 1905. Soviet propaganda film-maker Dziga Vertov made a documentary whose title is sometimes translated as “Forward, Soviet” (though also and more literally as “Stride, Soviet”).
Conservative critics of the Obama administration have noted numerous ties to radicalism and socialists throughout Mr. Obama’s history, from his first political campaign being launched from the living room of two former Weather Underground members, to appointing as green jobs czar Van Jones, a self-described communist. (culled from “Watchwoman on the Wall”)
Can there possibly be any doubt? It’s right there! Out in the open! Wake-up America…stop the disorganization…the disinformation…mystification of an avowed marxist/leninist. Mr. Obama’s “Right Hand/Left Hand Rule” is exposed, self evident. Mr. Obama’s campaign slogan, pamphlets, talking points, et al are carbon copies of every marxist/leninist campaign ever waged in Europe, Latin America and Asian nations. Paul Revere is riding really very hard…heed his alarms. God Bless America. Amen.
This reminds me of that East German woman warning Americans in the YouTube clip.
“I lived in Hungary as a child. From age 10 everyone had to join the Communist Pioneer (Úttörő) organization. Our greeting was “Előre!” which meant “Forward!” – instead of “Hello, Good Day, etc. This organization existed until the end of the 80′s.”