Shame, Shame, Shame - Are Public Sector Union Thugs Comrades?

Comrade means "friend", "colleague", or "ally". The word comes from the French "camarade". The term has seen use in the military and some fascist organizations, but is most commonly associated with left-wing movements, where "comrade" has often become a stock phrase and form of address. I would definitely consider them a left-wing movement; therefore I guess that qualifies them to use the terminology.

The political usage of the term was inspired by the French Revolution. Upon abolishing the titles of nobility, and the terms monsieur and madame (literally, "my lord" and "my lady"), the revolutionaries employed the term citoyen for men and citoyenne for women (both meaning "citizen") to refer to each other. The deposed King Louis XVI, for instance, was referred to as Citoyen Louis Capet to emphasize his loss of privilege.

When the socialist movement gained momentum in the mid-19th century, socialists began to look for an egalitarian alternative to terms like "Mister", "Miss", or "Missus". They chose "comrade" as their preferred term of address. In German, this practice was started in 1875, with the establishment of the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany. In English, the first known use of the word with this meaning was in 1884 in the socialist magazine Justice.

In the early years of Soviet power in Russia, the Bolsheviks used "Comrade" when addressing or referring to people assumed sympathetic to the revolution and to the Soviet state, such as members of the Communist party (and originally of other pro-revolution leftist formations such as the Left SR) and people from the "working masses". The more neutral republican form of address was "Citizen". Accordingly, supporters of the White movement in the Russian Civil War would use "Comrades" mockingly as a derogatory term for their enemies - although at the same time, the various socialist anti-Bolshevik forces such as the Socialist Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks also used "Comrade" among themselves.

By the mid-1920s, the form of address "Comrade" became so commonplace in Soviet Russia that it was used indiscriminately in essentially the same way as terms like "Mister" and "Sir" are employed in English. That use persisted until the fall of the Soviet Union. Still, the original meaning partly re-surfaced in some contexts: criminals and suspects were only addressed as "Citizens" and not as "Comrades", and expressly refusing to address someone as "Comrade" would generally be perceived as a hostile act or, in Stalinist times, even as an accusation of being "Anti-Soviet". The term is not used often in contemporary Russian society, but it is still the standard form of address in the armed forces and militsiya (civilian police), where officers and soldiers are normally addressed as "Comrade Colonel", "Comrade General", "Comrade Sergeant", or the like.

In the United Kingdom, the term comrade is strongly associated with Communism and the Soviet Union unless it is used in relation to the military; as a result it is avoided by most political parties. However it is still used as a form of address among Labor Party members as well as by many smaller parties of the left. Use of the term is generally restricted to people with whom the speaker agrees politically. The honorific terms "sister" and "brother", also declining in usage, are more politically inclusive, encompassing everyone from the centre-left to the far-left, without necessarily indicating complete political agreement. All three terms are occasionally used in a mocking or patronizing manner by political opponents. The term was also often used amongst British Fascists in the 1930s; the anthem of the British Union of Fascists started with the words "Comrades, the voices of the dead battalions..."

In the United States, the word "comrade" carries a very strong connotation of being associated with Communism and Marxism. Especially during the Cold War, to address someone as "comrade" marked either the speaker, person addressed, or both as suspected communist sympathizers. It is frequently used ironically in that way. Besides that, it is still used in its generic context by some American socialists.

Now that I have provided you with a short history of the term "Comrade" back to the question, 'Are Public Sector Union Thugs Comrades?' The answer depends upon your interpretation of the question and whether you are prone to believe the myth that "liberals are for the common man". Nothing matters but your response to that myth because if you are a "true believer" then nothing that I or others present to you will alter your current delusion. Having been a "true believer" myself, I can understand your position; however, I can not understand your willingness to stay in this state with all the evidence that surrounds us that supports the opposite view. Facts are facts, and no amount of thuggish behavior such as bullying, threatening physical harm, yelling, screaming, cursing or death threats will change reality for you and the rest of your ilk!

As a former educator I am appalled by the teacher union members behavior that I have witnessed on the television recently. If this is what our current teachers look and act like; then we are indeed in more trouble than I had thought. God help us because we are doomed, as a great nation, since we have all become takers instead of producers. SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!