*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Imperialism in His, or Her majesty's navy – is obsolete and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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