Saturday 4 October 2014

An ally of Imperialism and Capitalistic Feudalism.

*THE WORKER*
BRISBANE, APRIL 6, 1895.


The Political and Daily “Press Gang.”

Amongst the popular errors and superstitions of the day is a belief that the “press gang” - the coercive method resorted to in the brave days of old to deprive men of liberty and and compel them to serve Imperialism in His, or Her majesty's navy – is obsolete and extinct. Nothing of the kind; it is only changed in form and process, and is only changed in form and process, and is now reconstructed and operative on a new basis and new lines. Just as the absolutism and tyranny of the military and lauded feudalism of old are revived and reconstructed under the kid-glove and constitutional-commercial-and-capitalistic feudalism of our day, this modern feudalism is fortified, recruited, and upheld, mainly by press gangs.

Time was, but is no longer, when the rights, interests, and liberties of the people were ably championed by the press that was then the bulwark of those rights and liberties, as when the famous Junius asserted them in the Public Advertiser (a weekly publication by the way), against the Court, the Judicial Bench, and to the dismay of political traitors to their constituents at Parliament. But now the press – by which term I refer to the majority of daily papers – is the staunch ally of Imperialism and its capitalistic feudalism, and the bitter public enemy to the people and the rights and liberties it was once the bulwark of.

Proofs of which are infinite, especially in recent issues of the daily home press that have been filled with grovelling laudation of the late Alexander III, and the present Czar of Russia. The only three things remarkable about Alexander were: (1) That he was “going” to give free institutions and a Parliament to Russia; but didn't, because the murder of his father induced him to repudiate Liberalism and stick to Absolutism, although he must have been aware the latter was responsible for that murder and legions of other murders. (2) His claim when he said, “I believe that only two men have really known what Socialism is – Henry IV, who dreamed of giving” (but did not give) “every peasant a fowl in the pot, and perhaps myself, whose desire is to save the peasant from dying of hunger, for when people are in no danger of starvation they begin to bless God and end by loving the sovereign who represents Him upon earth.” (That's a real law-'n-order and genuine loyalty definition of Socialism, and no mistake!) (3) The only function the ignorant potentate performed was that of a policeman in “keeping the peace,” except that he kept and ran that hell upon earth called Siberia, which outrivals even Turkey for crimes, diabolical cruelties and murders.

The press gang, home and colonial, never tires of alternately urging Australians to “loyalty to the Throne,” and then of boasting the profundity of that loyalty. And yet the home press has the mendacity and stupidity to chronicle as a fact in November that the Sultan of Turkey had commanded his Grand master of the Ceremonies to proceed to England in December, in order that he may hand over to the Queen and to the Prince of Wales the insignia of the new Order of the Imtiaz, which has been conferred upon them by his Imperial Majesty.

The insignia consists of a diamond star, composed of brilliants of the first water, and a gold shield, &c., &c., I do not know whether or no this new Order has been personally tendered to and accepted by H.R.H. And H.M. If it has been, some future Chelsea Saga or truthful historian – if there should be such – will refer to the incident as an evidence of the decadence and corruption of the monarchical system in 1894 – as an instance of the satanic infamy of H.I.H. The Sultan, and the degradation of the British monarchy which could accept as a compliment so obvious an insult to the Throne, and such a conspicuous slur upon the honour and prestige of Great Britain.

If it was not offered, or not accepted, then the Imperialist press gang at home and here are dishonoured – if they have any honour to lose – for not having animadverted upon it. Compounding a felony is a criminal offence at law, and a serious one if committed by an ordinary citizen; and a proposal or overture to commit it is no less a crime in an Imperial Majesty. And this command of the Sultan is just such a proposal or overture.

The idea of the unspeakable Turk, author of the Bulgarian atrocities, and of the more recent but equally infamous and atrocious murders and barbarities in Armenia, issuing such a command by way of overture to bribe the Throne of England to condone or connive at the barbarous, satanic, and inhuman atrocities of his troops in Armenia, and while the investigation of them is still sub judice, beats Banagher.

While such things are treated as mere things-of-course, or news of the day, by the Conservative press gang – which aspires to the function of mentor of Parliaments and Ministries – small wonder that Ministers of the Crown are tried and convicted of embezzlement and swindling in some colonies, and that they pursued those fraudulent courses in others without being either tried or convicted. I will treat of such traitors to, and robbers of, the people in my next. Meantime, the efforts of the press gang to obtain recruits for “loyalty” and service to Commercial Imperialist and Capitalistic Feudalism are not likely to secure many conscripts. The new Order of the Imtiaz incident is not likely to overwhelm Democrats and Socialists with – Loyalty.

April 3, 1895.                                                                                                                     TALLY-HO.

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