Glenn Beck's '9-12' logo based on communist and socialist designs

Ever since Glenn Beck took to the Fox television airwaves recently to offer a bizarre reading of the art commissioned 70 years ago for New York's Rockefeller Center, I've been puzzled by the graphic design element of his 9-12 Project. The logo (pictured) for his affiliated groups' rally in Washington, D.C., this weekend derives from century-old communist, socialist and other left-wing designs.

Those were the motifs he railed against in his Rockefeller rant.

For the logo, three raised and clenched red fists are superimposed over the U.S. Capitol. Obviously the bloody fist represents the tea-baggers' themes of unity and resistance.

But do Beck; the corporate-sponsored astro-turf group, FreedomWorks, headed by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas); the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights; the private-property group, the National Assn. of Rural Landowners; and the rest of the march sponsors know the symbol's origins?

Unity and resistance are what the fist represented in 1917, when it was first employed by the Industrial Workers of the World, a union organization founded by socialists. And in the 1940s, when it stood  for various nations' communist party organizations.

That's also what it meant when it was revived in the 1960s, appearing as a symbol for the SDS, as well as anti-war and feminist movements. It was the basis for the black-power salute given by John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. And today, it's the symbol for the Progressive Labor Party (pictured), a political outfit whose website says it "fights to smash capitalism."

Turnout for the 9-12 Project's Saturday march on Washington was a bust; 30,000 protesters signed up in advance (MSNBC reporter David Shuster tweeted that D.C. park police called that figure "generous"). But even if three times that many actually showed up, the number would fall far short of the hundreds of thousands (and even millions) claimed to be planning to attend. Even in that reduced crowd, however, surely someone recognized how odd the right-wing gathering's left-wing logo was.

Maybe Beck will explain. Sort of.

-- Christopher Knight

Credits: 912dc.org; Progressive Labor Party

Comments

[Jerry]

Some people are afraid of our first black president because he's smarter than most of our white presidents.

[vicoa2]

I think you are onto something here. The Italian fascist movement used the fasces as a symbol. Sure, you know--the bundle of sticks and axe--just like the ones displayed behind THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE.

[A]

Who cares about these morons. The economy is recovering, the president just delivered a great speech on healthcare and the demographic shift is rapidly crushing the conservative psychopaths.

People do weird things as the grasp for their fleeting power. Hopefully they don't do anything too damaging before they go away.

[George Hanshaw]

That's right, Beck's clearly a closet Socialist.
No wonder LA Times circulation is declining if drivel like this is passed off as copy.

[Walter]

"Let's face it, these people aren't that smart. I'm sure Beck doesn't realize it, just like the people who listen to him don't realize that he's not only wrong, he's lying."

Just like like the people (and Media) that watch cnn, read the enquirer or the LA times , the right or the left do not have a monopoly on the truth or smarts.

[Moon54]

Wow a clenched fist. You broke the biggest story of all time. I suppose you also saw the Virgin Mary in your breakfast cereal this morning.

[abby]

I care nothing about Beck's design --

Beck is an absolute but dangerous idiot. His ranting and raving reminds me of someone else who ranted and raved; he told lies like Beck and used fear (like Beck) to try to influence people. The difference was that other person had black hair and a funny moustache. Unfortunately, like the current crop of right-wingers that person managed to scare millions of people into voting for him and then he killed the Weimar Republic (Germany, 1930s).

If Beck and his kind had his way, we would all be goose-stepping to his tune and thinking we were "saving" America.

It's pathetic and scary how many Americans are believing Beck's lies....

[M Soule]

Honestly, there may be some sort of gas leak down at the LA Times... Christopher Knight is totally high!

This is the most preposterous bit of nonsense I've heard in...well, maybe ever! If this is the substance of debate from the left than their tyrannical 15 minutes of power will soon draw to a close.

[Mark Taylor]

A fist, is not a hammer and sickle.

A fist has been used for a symbol of unity and resistance to oppression.

In the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, American runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the "Black Power" salute at the awards ceremony, both wearing a black glove and no shoes to protest the standard of living of minorities in the United States. Nobody suggested that they were socialists or communists. Did the L.A. Times suggest that they were? No.

This article is ridiculous.

[Timothy]

The thrust of the article is that glenny spent a great deal of time discussing the "scary symbolism" his deranged little mind found hidden in the friezes on the NBC building next door to his building in Rockefeller Center then he goes and supports a cause (which makes a mockery of the death of thousands on 9/11/2001 and the global unity felt after those attacks which cheny/dubya abused) which was nothing more than a bash the President of the USA event for red-necks and gullible nut jobs doing the bidding of their corporate masters (who will delight in denying those very protesters medical care when the time comes) using the actual socialist symbolism.

[Fred]

Either Beck is poking fun at the Establishment Left, or he secretly belongs to the Commie Socialist Progressive Labor Party.

Yeah, this is a tough one.

[Bill Ivory]

You lie!

[ed davis]

Ok, LA Times, show us pictorial evidence of huge numbers of people dying due to this so-called "lack of health care" in America. You and so many people are propagandizing farces as catastrophic horrors that demand drastic change. Yeah, simply change. Brilliant! Why are so many people unable to see see the difference between 'change' and 'improve'? The Constitution allows for improvement while guarding against tyranny. We the People have improved this nation while guarding against tyranny for over 200 years. We the People must forbid any faction seizing power in a whirlwind of manufactured crises. American freedom is at risk.

You've either been blinded by your compassion and guilt or you are complicit to sedition and treason.

Never again? Google we are 5 days from & click the first link.

Not improvement. CHANGE. Get it? Then wake up! If not, shuttie. You are failing to comprehend geopolitical worst case scenarios that could lead us to global tyranny.

[sick twisted freak # 12,472,788]

If you can gaze upon Glenn dressed in his finest lederhosen with his fist held high without having tears well up in your eyes, then I say that you are no patriot and no friend of the United States of America.

[Fred]

Obama is a Nazi fascist racist who deserves everything he's getting, Glenn Beck is our hero. God has room in his heart for TRUE Americans, traitors like Nobama are going to hell.

[B]

Looks like the RebuliRacists are at it again.

If Bush didn't leave our country lying in rubble, Obama wouldn't be in half the crap he's in.

[krystalx]

lol reminds me more of the saying 'throwing the rock and hiding the fist'

morons.

[Liberals are like....]

If it's so socialist, what about the feminist movement, the Unions, the Black Panthers, The "Obama Fist Pump". Don't get me started you liberal drip. Fascist like you seem to be the first to quip "Hey! Look over there! There's nothing to see here, but look what they are doing!!!!"

My point is this, however loosely the image of a fist in the air might be related to a Communist organization, it has nothing to do with the Conservative movement in this country. You know it is a fact. As a liberal you will never admit your wrong because it isn't in your nature. That being said, you are nothing more than an instigating seditionist socialist shill. Maybe you descended from Bill Haywood? Who Knows? I do know that you can take your labor party fantasies and sit on it.Thanks for wasting my time chief.

God Bless America! May God have mercy on those that want to destroy this country. You too Chris.

[Michael]

Hey Rob, have you joined the Klan yet? There is no excuse for the hatred your kind shows then racism, pure and simple.

All these idiots with their "Obama = Hitler" signs and their supporters need to be turned into Jews and transported back in time to Poland or Germany in the 30's. They are in desperate need of education and a sharp shock. The hate and bigotry that Beck and his ilk display is disgusting.

[DK]

OK, already.
A lot of people are so unhappy, so much so, that some can't agree to disagree.
Their tone is like, "I don't care what you say, YOU are despicable SCUM."
Do me and the rest of us a big favor: List (concisely) what the lies are.
Separating fact from fiction shouldn't be so hard, and no diatribes.
All this name calling sounds more like hate and resentment than anything else.
The Democratics & Republicans motly disagree on one main issue:
Who deserves to be in power and what are we going to do about it?
IF YOU WERE to ask average Joes (who wany the truth out, not just a view),
you'd find a very large constituency want a return civil & open discourse.
We've been sliding into this ditch for about 15 years now.
Make no mistake: THIS IS THE LOW ROAD WE ARE ON.