Proletarian Threads – Come The Revolution!

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Come the revolution there’s only one place I’d recommend buying your t-shirts – if it doesn’t go against your Marxist principles :) – and that’s ProletarianThreads.com. Now as many of you might have guessed I’m a bit of a lefty myself, an all-round trouble maker and I have always had a soft spot for those with similar leanings. PT tick all the right boxes for me, and then some, they produce and sell some of the snazziest sweatshop-free, political, feminist and generally revolutionary t-shirts this side of The New World Order, and this side being the losing side (for the time being anyway).

If you want to guarantee avoiding being lined up against the nearest wall and shot by a revolutionary firing line, should the day come that the world governments finally lose it and the people rise up and take back everything they can get their hands on, including their human rights, land, and the means of production from the Bourgeoisie then PT is probably a good bet. Although I’m not as hot on Marxist theory as I was in my student days I’m sure that PT count as part of the merchant classes and hence members of the bourgeoisie but I wouldn’t hold that against them, I mean who actually toils in the fields these days, that’s what combine harvesters are for aren’t they?

Okay political opinion and jokes aside I have to admit that most political t-shirt designs out there combine to make a rather dour affair all round, essentially they haven’t changed much in style, colour or quality since the 1960s “Ban The Bomb” and Che Guevara tees you’ll spot in most grainy footage of the political rallies at the time, but PT have managed to do the impossible (or so many have presumed), they’ve combined fashion, humour and politics to form a particularly groovy collection.

Here’s a few of my faves available at their store right now:-

Devolve – Pro Bike Cyclist Tee.

This rather funky pro-cyclist tee features one of my all time favourite words – “devolve” – if there’s one thing I know the human race is going to have to do either by choice or by calamity it’s learn the meaning of devolution.

Which thinking about it is rather apt seeing as it’s just one letter away from revolution.

Essentially there are quite a few problems staring the human race in the face right now and one cure-all for a good proportion of them is the humble bicycle. Everything from the oil crisis (I don’t care how cheap petrol is right now it’s still running out) to pollution to the destruction of the ecology through everything from road building to out of town shopping malls is caused by the car.

Now I know there’s a lot of you out there, and this includes a vast majority of Americans, who are going through a range of expressive gestures right at this moment. Be it rolling of the eyes, a shrug, a clenched fist or an angry click of the mouse onto the nearest sexy sports car site, but think about it, is it worth dismissing this timeless piece of perfect mechanics simply for a quick thrill of speeding around the block until you reach the nearest traffic jam? The bicycle offers everyone a wealth of opportunity, be it fitness, a cleaner environment, a healthier bank balance, more nature and less tarmac, you name it this simple piece of machinery will (if we’re lucky) most likely contribute to a better life for all. Available in brown (see image), b/w and black and pink. Now get on your bike and save this grubby old world!

Keep Speech Free Tee.

I’ve featured the front and back of PT’s Keep Speech Free Tee. In case you haven’t heard of Mario Savio he was a student leader of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and besides the act he was an important figure in civil rights history this is a rather funky (if a little basic) design that caught my eye. What I particularly like are the punk/futurist graphics, simple lines created at particular angles have an enormous amount of impact (as did Avio’s speeches). Plus the fact that PT haven’t rammed the message home by cluttering the front, if you’re not in the mood for an uprising you can simply slip on a jacket and cover up the full lowdown on the back of this tee. But whats’ most important is that if we didn’t have rights to free speech (which by the way I am not even sure if the UK does have them or at least not to the extent that the USA does) then you’d probably be reading something more like…

I love the government – the latest government approved t-shirts come in black or white and avoid the clutter of slogans and/or images. Except for this one – “Order is Unity”. Oh are we not a happy breed? So contented, so grateful that our government can speak for us allowing us to work (silently) for the greater good. This has been a New World Order approved advertisement for government issue t-shirts available at your nearest civil obedience centre – available at 50 lashes – maximum one t-shirt per family unit.

Share a Shower Tee
Who said saving the environment can’t be sexy? If you find them kick them in the butt won’t you? Here’s a novel idea, an ecological t-shirt that doesn’t feature a bird flying or a tree or a rainbow. Thank god(ess) for that.

I’d like to see this collection grow, and I don’t know what they’ll end up replacing all the old Bush tees with, I mean I know he was jerk but he’s been a veritable goldmine for the t-shirt industry up until now :p Let’s just hope they won’t fill up the store with a load of Obama tees, I mean he seems like a nice guy but well perhaps presidential tees aren’t exactly the right direction for a revolutionary t-shirt site like Proletarian Threads. They also offer some fair deals on shipping from only $2.50 for up to $20 in tees, (although I can’t tell what the international rates are :/) and they seem to be rather laid back on wholesale charges, if you run a local action group I’m sure they’ll take it easy on you – hey even offer a fund raising kit! Almost all of their tees start at just $14.99 and if you get bored of political fashion there are plenty of links to music and books in the same vein. All of their prints are made with non-toxic inks on 100% cotton sweatshop-free garments so that should rest your conscience a little further! Anyway if you’re up for a bit of major political upheaval and want to bring down the bourgeoisie for the 21st century you know where to get your tees now don’t you?

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