Vladimir Mayakovski: Violent and Self-Serving

At the mention of “America,” one immediately thinks of New York City, Mustangs and other things typically associated with the U.S.

It is strange, but true. It is strange because there are three Americas: North, Central and South. The U.S. doesn’t even take up the whole northern part of the continent, but it “took” the whole thing anyway, appropriated it and assigned names.

The U.S. took the right to call itself America by force, with dreadnoughts and dollars, by creating fear in the neighboring republics and colonies. During my short three-month stay in the U.S., the Americans were shaking their iron fists over a Mexican nationalization project concerning Mexican land resources. The U.S. sent in troops to aid a government that had been chased away by its neighbors.

The U.S. “hinted” to England that in the event that debts are not paid, bread-producing Canada will start crackling. America grows fat. People with $2 million are considered novices and poor. Credit is given to all. Banks lead furious campaigns for workers’ investments.

These investments gradually create a belief that it is more important to take care of a percentage than it is to take care of a job. America will become a country of usury.

On the way to Paris, via the tunnels punching through the endless mountain landscape, we observed the homes and lives of the French. Compared to those of Americans, their homes are miserable hovels. Every inch of land, taken by a centuries-long struggle, was drained and, with apothecary triviality, used to grow flowers or salad. However, even this ancient, despised, deliberate clinging to one’s own house or small piece of land seems to me to be a more remarkable culture when compared with the self-serving nature of American life.

From the essays “America” and “Departure,” 1925