Morning Comrades,
We had a little anniversary here yesterday, well, we, I mean Black Lodges that I will spend some time on later on in this email, I am sure you can guess what about by the above image. Anniversaries are a bit of a theme today it seems as not only is Alexandra Kollontai’s 150th birthday today, but additionally, my dear friend, Joy Howard’s, brand, Early Majority launched their full scale operation.
I am certain some of you may remember our collaboration from a few months ago, a collaboration in line with a number with other great collabs from EM that all led to this launch. The day that Joy told me about her vision and plan for this new brand I was onboard - it is ambitious, in the sense that the entire model for this brand challenges not only the obvious bullshit in the garment world but specifically offers a real take on sustainability - and no, I am not talking about getting another “certificate” from yet another corrupt NGO that issues these but in the sense that the brand’s business model operates with the knowledge that the way we are used to consume fashion is inherently unsustainable. Aside from the extremely well-made gear that EM offers - still a core point in starting a brand - the entire universe Early Majority created and is still creating is a breath of honest and fresh air. Joy and I got together for a 20min Zoom Interview about it all that you can watch here.
This “design” turned 15 today. Admittedly, I have a fascination for anniversaries but this one struck me a little as I couldn’t quite remember where my head was at when I made this and I have been thinking on this for a while now and wanted to share this with you. At the time of making this my political ideology had taken a pretty significant backseat, I was married and had started my company a few years prior. It was successful, on paper and to the world at large at least but I was hugely conflicted, internally. I couldn’t reconcile my, at the time, still not wholly formulated ideas of a different world with the reality that the system I had actively been against for well over decade before hand, was now rewarding me a great deal for, well, being a sell-out. That’s how it felt to be honest and despite all the outward signs of success this eventually led to my physical, and later mental breakdown by age 33. The fact remains though that irrespective of my, what I now call, double-life, my anger at the hypocrisy of existing under capitalism was still boiling over, daily. It makes me laugh in retrospect that my partner at the time used to get really embarrassed by outburst and told me that I was putting “our” financial security at risk should I continue being vocal about said hypocrisy. She was right, of course, but that’s all in the past.
Initially, this came out as a massive screen print, A0 I believe on really heavy paper and was the first product I sold under the Black Lodges monicker. Since then it has appeared on t-shirts, hoodies, more prints in various sizes and even a collaboration with Foot Patrol in London - only because Paul R. who ran the place back is a total G. Despite having retired this design a few years ago I still appreciate the simplicity of it all, as it clearly doesn’t matter what age we find ourselves in, that, well, our reality of these so-called democracies are anything but and truly nothing but an imaginary social construct the capitalists created to avoid another French Revolution. Since its creation I have been fortunate enough to allocate time and energy into learning and refining my own political theory, and thus my ever changing understanding of the world and even though this was done more on a whim, it still stands true. On a side note, that only proves that the whole “lefty IG meme world” that solves any “problem” with “read more”, is full of shit. Not that we all didn’t know that already, but “theory” isn’t a pre-requisite to understanding injustice and calling it out, far from it. “Theory” HELPS when it comes to formulating and transporting ideas and to a certain degree even in regards to organization but don’t ever get cyber-bullied into hiding in your room and feeling like you need to read the entirety of leftist-discourse to light a fire under your and all masters’ arses. Making fires is actually quite simple, irrespective of many fat white dudes you have seen struggle with a BBQ. But that as a side note.
Long story short, the faster we all come to terms with the reality, that no matter who is in charge under this system that we exist in, we will be lied to, exploited and punished for questioning anything. To that I not only say, No More, but here are other alternatives of making the world safer, fairer and lasting not only for us, but everyone once we are long gone. Truly, and with all my heart, pass the wine, fuck the government and I love you.
Another anniversary worth celebrating today is Alexandra Kollontai’s 150th birthday, on the day of writing in any case. It remains wild, but again, hardly surprising to me, that despite all my time in higher education specifically learning about all variants of Marxism, her work just never made into my studies. Again, this isn’t the article to challenge the white make dominated field of Philosophy ( it is just that ), but rather a celebration of her invaluable contribution to not only the theoretical side of Marxism but the real life changes she made for millions of people in her role as a leading Communist from the beginning of Russian Revolution.
For today’s email I wanted to highlight a text that I read earlier this week called “Sexual Relations and the Class Struggle” that was published in 1921. It is fascinating, historically speaking, how advanced her feminist and communist ideas were in comparison to that here in the West but even more so considering that she was essentially in charge of of this politically with significant real-life influence in the entire Soviet Union at the time. What fascinates me is that her work wasn’t only theoretical but made real.
“The sexual problem is like a vicious circle and however frightened people are and however much they run this way and that, they are unable to break out…People have perhaps never in any age felt spiritual loneliness as deeply and persistently as at the present time. People have probably never become so depressed and fallen so fully under the numbing influence of this loneliness. It could hardly be otherwise. The darkness never seems so black as when there’s a light shining just ahead"…”
Later in the text she nails the issues at hand with the patriarchal, capitalistic world oder on a level of clarity unknown at the time:
“Besides the already mentioned inadequacies of the contemporary psyche – extreme individuality, egoism that has become a cult – the “ sexual crisis” is made worse by two characteristics of the psychology of modern man:
1. The idea of “possessing” the married partner;
2. The belief that the two sexes are unequal, that they are of unequal worth in every way, in every sphere, including the sexual sphere.”
I have linked the whole text in the above picture and I highly recommend getting acquainted with it and the rest of her work.
I also wanted to share this article from Caitlin Johnstone with you that I found extremely well presented and articulated in regards to the ever changing world of geo-politics that affects us all.
“You might assume with all the aggressive brinkmanship between Moscow and the US power alliance this year that Russia would feature as Enemy Number One in the 2022 NDS, but you would be assuming incorrectly. The US "Defense" Department reserves that slot for the same nation that's occupied it for many years now: China.”
We are going to wrap up this week with another cocktail contribution from Tatjana over in Copenhagen. Thankfully.
Like the 19th Century, this is also a spin on the 20th Century by Tuck – both which we've covered before the holidays. Like with the 19th Century, this drink was also made at Pegu Club first, but by bartender Jim Meehan under guidance of Audrey Sanders. Meehan came up with the 21ST CENTURY in 2007, where the cocktail scene was in a new golden age. Back then tequila was massively popular because of margaritas, but there was not a whole lot of classics with a tequila base available. The 21ST CENTURY has become a modern classic since. Margaritas however, was the unconquered king of tequila cocktails in terms of popularity.
Like with the other two classics, it's the creme de cacao you need to keep your eye on. Tequila and chocolate might sound weird, but it works. For the other two other drinks in this small series, I've offered up a recipe with equal specs, but mentioned the originals can be found with a fairly quick google search. The original recipe for the
21ST CENTURY does not contain Lillet or any kina liqueur, but I've only been able to find that one in Jim Meehan's own book, Meehan's Bartender Manual (2007). Every internet source lists either Lillet or a kina liqueur as an ingredient. I'll take the man who made the drink's words in his own book over the internet's though. Be aware of your sources, when you look stuff like this up online. There's a lot of misinformation and straight up wrong stuff online. Luckily a lot of PDF versions of older cocktail books have become available, if you're interested. Of course I do look up a lot online myself recipe wise, but from a mix of experience, knowing the history behind alcohol and cocktails, having read countless recipes and made even more drinks, we bartenders generally develop a spidey-sense for when something's off. It helps a lot, when you're frantically looking up a weirdass drink during a rush.
I've made an equal parts version of this several times, and it's quite nice – go 2 cl pr ingredient and adjust as need be. The original also asks for blanco to be used, but if you are more of a repesado type, you can definitely use that too. It makes the drink a bit more well rounded. The original recipe does not have any garnish either, but a lemon or orange peel works well if needed.
WHAT YOU NEED:
- 100 percent agave blanco tequila (have a shot before starting just to make sure it's good)
- White créme de cacao
- Pastis
- Lemon juice (no pulp thank you!!)
- Shaker (I prefer working with a Boston shaker, glass on tin)
- Hawthorne and fine mesh strainer
- Jigger
- Ice
- Coupe glass
HOW YOU DO IT:
- We're gonna do the rinse first. Take your glass and pour a tiny amount of pastis into it. Take your glass a swirl it around til the pastis has made covered the inside. Turn it upside down over your sink to let the leftover drip out.
- Put your glass in the fridge/freezer after the rinse is done.
- Pour 6 cl blanco tequila, 2 cl white cr me de cacao and 2 cl lemon juice into your shaker.
- Take your glass out of the fridge/freezer. Sometimes it might need a extra little swirl, if the rinse has all but sunk to the bottom in a puddle. Flavour wise it doesn't really matter, but when serving it does look a whole lot better if the pastis is spread out as a layer instead of pooling the bottom of the glass.
- Put ice into your shaker, and shake for 5-8 seconds.
- Take your Hawthorne strainer and fine mesh strainer, and double strain it over your glass.
- Done!
That is it for the week comrades. Thank you as always for your time and attention, have a grand weekend and you will hear from me again on Monday. Until then, I remain yours, without compromise,
V.