While at the Free Muslims Coalition “March Against Terror” rally last week, I ran into Oleg Atbashian, who along with his friend Brian McCarthy, created the popular “Communists for Kerry“(CFK) website.

Before moving to the U.S. eleven years ago, Atbashian lived in the Ukraine where he sometimes worked as a propaganda artist for the old Soviet regime, creating agitprop posters for the local Party Committee in a small town. During that time, Oleg says he “witnessed the transition of Soviet republics from corrupt socialism to corrupt kleptocracy.”

When he arrived in the U.S., Atbashian was puzzled by the “level of delusional affection for all things Left among the ‘liberal’ intellectual elites who take America’s exclusive well-being for granted.” At that time Oleg dismissed this “delusional affection” as silly and of little consequence.

Then 9/11 happened. Oleg witnessed that day from the base of the Twin Towers. “I’m still haunted by the horror I came to be a witness of,” says Atbashian. “The subsequent blame-America attitude among the intellectual trend-setters enraged me; ‘liberalism’ no longer seemed laughable. It was dangerous suicidal madness that had to be confronted. I took up political activism.”

Oleg’s activism blossomed into the satirical street-theater group, “Communists for Kerry.” Atbashian says that, “Communists For Kerry” was started in July, 2004 as a six-member satirical group with the stated goals of helping Bush get re-elected and having a lot of fun in the process. I was the group’s writer, graphic artist, and webmaster. The project exceeded our expectations. Our last street theater event on Union Square in New York featured over 30 volunteers in communist costumes; many more people joined us online from all over the USA. We even had a sister group in Australia, and people wearing CFK shirts at a rally in Paris, France.”

CFK’s website became an internet hit during the 2004 elections and today, seven months after the elections, it still receives over 1000 visitors per day.

Nevertheless, Atbashian, not one to rest on past accomplishments, has published a new site called “The People’s Cube.” Says Oleg, “The People’s Cube, was launched on April 1, 2005 as a sequel to CFK. The title comes from an idea we developed in CFK: a Rubik’s cube with all six sides red-an ultimate symbol of political correctness, feel-good morality, and collectivist ethics: nobody is too smart or slow-everybody is equal! The new site continues to develop the same satirical themes, forms, and characters, such as, Lenin and Laika the Space Dog, but also constantly adds new ones as it grows every week with the help of an online community that has gathered around it. Anyone can contribute. People from Washington, Pennsylvania, Texas, Nevada, Virginia, and other states post their comments, come up with funny characters, and some eventually start their own colwnns. I’m hoping to turn it into a nation-wide community portal of spontaneous political humor and parody for conservatives, libertarians, objectivists, and anyone who supports and celebrates America’s freedoms, individual rights, and capitalism.”

If you enjoy dead-on political satire, clever graphics and gut-busting humor, “The People’s Cube” is not to be missed.

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