Oswald's "Handcuffed Communist Salute"

[Thomas Graves]

On another thread, in response to my statement that Oswald's "Handcuffed Communist Salute" tends to support my theory that Oswald was more fundamentally Marxist-Leninist than Khrushchev, et al., and that he'd decided to "advance The Dialectic" by taking matters into his own hands, John Mytton wrote:

Oswald was well read and I think he was clever in a smart ass kind of way, but not clever enough to have a job beyond low paying menial labour and this pressure of being a failure along with the grim prospect of having to support a growing family lead Oswald to do the unimaginable.
...

John,

I believe what you point out, above, was definitely a contributing factor, but if Oswald was just tired of being a skinny little loser with marital problems, why, then, the "Communist salute" (or whatever it's called)?

The only other "explanation" for this pose I've read is that innocent Oswald, not realizing he'd been set up by the evil, evil, evil CIA, thought he was on some sort of deception mission for The Agency and was trying to stay "in character" by posing like this and, of course, requesting that John "Smith Act" Abt be his lawyer.

... But I find that scenario a bit implausible.

-- MWT 

[Walt Cakebread]

On another thread, in response to my statement that Oswald's "Handcuffed Communist Salute" tends to support my theory that Oswald was more fundamentally Marxist-Leninist than Khrushchev, et al., and that he'd decided to "advance The Dialectic" by taking matters into his own hands, John Mytton wrote:

Oswald was well read and I think he was clever in a smart ass kind of way, but not clever enough to have a job beyond low paying menial labour and this pressure of being a failure along with the grim prospect of having to support a growing family lead Oswald to do the unimaginable.
...

John,

I believe what you point out, above, was definitely a contributing factor, but if Oswald was just tired of being a skinny little loser with marital problems, why, then, the "Communist salute" (or whatever it's called)?

The only other "explanation" for this pose I've read is that innocent Oswald, not realizing he'd been set up by the evil, evil, evil CIA, thought he was on some sort of deception mission for The Agency and was trying to stay "in character" by posing like this and, of course, requesting that John "Smith Act" Abt be his lawyer.

... But I find that scenario a bit implausible.

-- MWT 

Do you suppose that Lee was merely holding up his hands to graphically show his handler that he had been arrested?........" I do request that someone come to my legal defense"

[Thomas Graves]

Walter,

Sure, I suppose that is a possibility.

Maybe they hadn't noticed that.

LOL

--  MWT 

PS Didn't Oswald say something about being a Marxist on a New Orleans radio show?

PPS Didn't Nelson Delgado say Oswald read Das Kapital while he was at El Toro?

Etc, etc, etc ...

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Walter,

Sure, I suppose that is a possibility.

Maybe they hadn't noticed that.

LOL

--  MWT 

PS Didn't Oswald say something about being a Marxist on a New Orleans radio show?

PPS Didn't Nelson Delgado say Oswald read Das Kapital while he was at El Toro?

Etc, etc, etc ...

After his return from the USSR, Oswald said he was a Marxist but insisted that he was not, at that time, a communist or Marxist-Leninist. He said he rejected the Soviet version of Marxism (Marxist-Leninism) as a corrupted version. He wrote that the US and USSR were two "slave" systems that needed to be rejected.

In fact, he condemned the Communist Party of the US as having betrayed the cause of Marxism because of their slavish defense of the USSR. He wrote this:

"The Communist Party of the United States has betrayed itself!  It has turned itself into the traditional lever of a foreign power to overthrow the Government of the United States, not in the name of freedom or high ideals, but in servile conformity to the wishes of the Soviet Union and in anticipation of Soviet Russia's complete domination of the American continent."

One can debate, I guess, whether he was a real Marxist or not (as he understood the term). One thing I don't think we can debate - unless one believes that his whole adult life was an act - is that he detested the American political and economic systems. He said and wrote that time after time. He hated America.

[Walt Cakebread]

Walter,

Sure, I suppose that is a possibility.

Maybe they hadn't noticed that.

LOL

--  MWT 

PS Didn't Oswald say something about being a Marxist on a New Orleans radio show?

PPS Didn't Nelson Delgado say Oswald read Das Kapital while he was at El Toro?

Etc, etc, etc ...

PS Didn't Oswald say something about being a Marxist on a New Orleans radio show?

I could announce that I'm a LNer....   Would that verify that I'm truly a kook who believes in fantasies

[John Iacoletti]

Do you suppose that Lee was merely holding up his hands to graphically show his handler that he had been arrested?........" I do request that someone come to my legal defense"

Nah. If the “mud wrassler” sees a “handcuffed communist salute”, then by golly that’s exactly what it is.

[John Mytton]

On another thread, in response to my statement that Oswald's "Handcuffed Communist Salute" tends to support my theory that Oswald was more fundamentally Marxist-Leninist than Khrushchev, et al., and that he'd decided to "advance The Dialectic" by taking matters into his own hands, John Mytton wrote:

Oswald was well read and I think he was clever in a smart ass kind of way, but not clever enough to have a job beyond low paying menial labour and this pressure of being a failure along with the grim prospect of having to support a growing family lead Oswald to do the unimaginable.
...

John,

I believe what you point out, above, was definitely a contributing factor, but if Oswald was just tired of being a skinny little loser with marital problems, why, then, the "Communist salute" (or whatever it's called)?

The only other "explanation" for this pose I've read is that innocent Oswald, not realizing he'd been set up by the evil, evil, evil CIA, thought he was on some sort of deception mission for The Agency and was trying to stay "in character" by posing like this and, of course, requesting that John "Smith Act" Abt be his lawyer.

... But I find that scenario a bit implausible.

-- MWT 

A strange exchange was when Sergeant Hill gave Oswald the chance to hide his face and I reckon under the circumstances anyone who was innocent would not like to be associated with The Killing of a Cop much less The Killing of the President but Oswald wanted to be seen because he had done "nothing to be ashamed of"?, that doesn't even make sense unless that is, in his own sick perverted way he was at peace because he perceived the murders to be morally justified. And unlike his failed attempts in New Orleans, this sudden manipulated fame gave him the Public Platform he so desperately wanted, well for a few days.

Mr. HILL.   ....we pulled over to what would have been the southeast side of the basement, got out of the car, and formed a wedge in the same position that we left the theatre, and told the suspect again he could hide his face if he wanted to. And he said, "Why should I hide my face. I haven't done anything to be ashamed of.
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/hill_gl.htm



JohnM

[Jerry Freeman]

... unless that is, in his own sick perverted way he was at peace because he perceived the murders to be morally justified. 

More psychology...really?