THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 1, 1937.
To-Day (Weather Permitting)....
'ENGLAND
REVOLTS!'
I mean, it's rather absurd to urge
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REVOLUTION has been ar- only yawn in the face of world re- Which consists of the slogan-shou- A
ranged, and will within a few volution spectre, that our hours (G.M.T.), take place. Get a revolution is just a damp squib. ' good place in the crowd,
annual ters, -inscription-scrawlers, trouble- Britain to war while the man on
you're not going to se because
anything like it again until May 1, 1938.
makers and horse-punchers.
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next soap-box is calling down. the vengeance of just heaven upon the heads of the men who are ad- vocating increased armaments for
Some years back Moscow revolu- Now sloganising in the cause of Britain. Reds, pinks and variegated cham- tionaries were more optimistic about the great revolution has become a pions of the crimson crusade to-day the prospects of a British flame-up. fine art. It is not enough to scrawl start beating drums, shouting. They wrote in their newspapers this any slogan on a wall, slogans, blowing fifes and punching instruction to the seething British the haunches of class-conscious Reds:- police horses.
And even the cleverest Danton of the annual revolution cannot recon- cile his praise of Russia's Air Force It is easy enough to scribble and Army with the routine con- "down with mosley" on a public demnation of capitalist arms kings. "Millions of workers and peasants house facade. But it is generally Deepest-dyed Reds start
must join in the revolutionary bat- conceded the Lenin touch alone can thumbing capitalist bogy-men. ⚫tles. The First of May must be put over with grace and effective- Socialist groups, less Red but more come a revolutionary attack on the ness that grand Lansbury phrase: cautious, present their bailyhoo.
nose-
Britain's annual Bastille-storming has several delightful highlights- only Moscow, spiritual home of the slogan-shouters, doesn't know what to make of the British effort.
They blame British weather and the cunning of capitalistic cops, who
Pepper And Salt
Quite a few European countries have such complete confidence in their fortifications they are begin- ning to express willingness to send delegates to peace conferences.
These radios are a wonderful in- vention. You turn on a popular comedian and when he begins to sound funny, you know you've had enough.
Then there is that wise married couple who forgot their differences and decided to start life anew. by burning all their bridge prizes be- hind them.
And we often wonder where our cookboy gets the ashes he sprinkles on the sidewalk.
Simile: As brief Army band practice.
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as
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Salvation
The meek are not only inheriting the earth but in some countries they are even getting their faces pushed into it.
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By Cyril James
That's what makes the 1937 re- volution such grand fun.
As a loyal believer in Britain's annual revolt I have attended. quite a few May Day demonstrations.
And when the speakers have finish- is ed talking about the inevitable must overtake our present system I talk it all over with my unfailing authority.
Imperialists. It must be a day of "The hell broth of armaments hard fighting. Close the ranks of being stirred up. Besides, it uses change which the revolutionary battalions."
up a lot of chalk.
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The ranks of the British revolu- tionary battalions were closed. So successfully that only 2,000 of the After the slogan-shouters peasants (and workers) marched usually meet the women of the re- through London.
The leading phalanx of "Red Army" comrades in breeches, red shirts and faces was much admired.
Even more admired was the escort of 2,000 rather blase policemen. One to each comrade.
bellion.
is
You ought to meet him some time. you His name is Herbert, and he
the only man who dares to rear the banner of capitalism in the heart of revolt,
This section runs to 'brunettes and. Russian coiffures. Not to mention a talent for amateur dramatics,
The feminine wing of the revolt is quite charming, and usually open
to .conviction and conversion.
This year, of course, the rebels The provincial branches of the are in a jam. Mussolini and Hitler annual revolt are much more rhe have combined to set them a pretty torically interesting though slightly strategical puzzle. less picturesque.
and Lansbury doesn't go down in The Hyde Park restraint of Attlee
the provinces.
Once the Kentish miners, eager for a new world system, rang the bells of the village church. But it didn't seem to help very much..
You must appreciate that the lack of an inspiring anthem seriously delays the fall of the capitalist sys- tem. Even really talented accor- dion players have confessed the lack of zip which a spirited rendition of the "Internationale" yields.
Anyway, the May Day cavalcade goes in something like this order.
First, the Oxford and Cambridge And, if universal peace ever is Communistic undergraduates. Their established, two-thirds of the world slogan, some time ago, was: is going to get caught entirely un-won't prepared for it,
One real estate
developer" - has got
a new colony of houses going up. Things are moving along so fast, that he is digging cellars at one end
of the development and foreclos
ing mortgages at the other.
髂
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"We
fight for King or country." Several ex-Servicemen, knowing the physical requirements of the Army, thought that this was more of a prophecy than a slogan.
So the slogan was dropped.
Then the theorists:
Men and women who have waded.
thro
Marx. After ploughing
But we must admit the radio through this they think they deserve
industry is doing very well despite a little recognition the activities of its two naturall
enemies—static and programme They get it--but not from the
directors.
litant spear head of the
party.
He sells peanuts to our Dantons and Robespierres. At twopence a packet.
of
ac-
capitalism that is completely
Which represents
a triumph
ceptable to the comrades of the great Red Dawn. Especially when they're tired of the speeches.
And that, friends, seems to prove something or other.
Cook
by
Gas