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Authors: Phil Lecomber
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if we take Russia as an example, it might be that in the long run it’s our poor old British working man who loses the most.’
‘Oh, come on!’
‘Just hear me out. I don’t know how closely you keep your eye on international affairs nowadays, but however misguided Comrade Lenin may have been—and for all the crimes committed in his name—once he’d opened the stable door at least he kept a firm hand on the reins. But, alas, I fear his death has helped reveal the true nature of the Soviet state—one with a thick Georgian moustache and a soul as black as pitch.’
‘Sounds like you’re swallowing your own propaganda.’
‘Nothing of the sort! From the intelligence I’ve seen, I’d say Mr. Stalin’s five year plan will have the sole conclusion of starving his own peasants!’ He gave a puff on his pipe by way of emphasis. ‘Now, some will tell you that Benito Mussolini has the right idea—that his new Roman Empire is forging a vanguard against the communist tide infecting Europe. Lord knows he has enough fans in the corridors of Westminster. But I’ve had the pleasure of being a guest at the Palazzo Venezia, and I can tell you, George, I don’t like the way that Il Duce is flexing his muscles—don’t like it at all. I’d say he has serious intentions of giving the cartographers a little overtime in the near future … And then, of course, we come to our old foe Germany—bitter and snarling in its cave, licking its wounds all these years since losing the big one. It’s looking like old President Hindenburg will regain his seat—but only just. I fear it’s only a matter of time before the old guard gives way to the new, and then we’ll be dealing with that jailbird Hitler and his nasty little band of SA thugs. And if that happens, then let me tell you—that’s when we throw the rulebook out of the window.’
‘You paint a depressing picture.’
‘Desperate times, George, desperate times. It’s as if the world is on a knife’s edge. And so, with this grim backdrop, you can imagine the panic caused by this recent spate of anarchist bombings.’
‘The Wild Cat International—you think they’re really responsible?’
‘It would seem so, yes.’
‘Never heard of them before I saw it in the paper.’
‘No, but that may not be significant—after all, these maniacs all have to start somewhere. It may be a splinter group; there are always schisms within these extremists’ ranks.’
‘It’s a little out of date though isn’t it?’
‘What is?’
‘Their rhetoric. I haven’t had chance to check the reference, I’ve been otherwise engaged—being bundled into the back of Q cars, that kind of thing—but I’m sure that their letter published in the Daily Oracle was quoting directly from Johan Most.’
‘Correct—I see that brain of yours is still as sharp as ever. Yes, it’s Most’s “The Propaganda of the Deed”. Annoying individual, Most; he would keep publishing instruction pamphlets on bomb-making and his delight at the latest assassinations—Tsar Alexander, President McKinley and so on.’
‘For which he did time, I seem to remember.’
‘Indeed—incarcerated in his native Germany, here in the Britain for a while, and finally in the United States.’
‘Still, that was almost half a century ago, wasn’t it?’
‘Died in nineteen-hundred-and-six, I believe.’
‘So why resurrect his theories now? There are many others that followed him—more sophisticated ideas, better new models for societies.’
‘I think you’re being a little naïve Harley, crediting these lunatics with such complex thought processes.’
‘ Never underestimate your enemy —you taught me that. After all, we’re not talking about some mad loner working on his own, are we? From what I’ve read in the papers, it seems to me that the bombings have all been well-planned—which would suggest a certain level of organisation.’
‘A fair assumption.’
‘Do you have any leads at
‘Oh, come on!’
‘Just hear me out. I don’t know how closely you keep your eye on international affairs nowadays, but however misguided Comrade Lenin may have been—and for all the crimes committed in his name—once he’d opened the stable door at least he kept a firm hand on the reins. But, alas, I fear his death has helped reveal the true nature of the Soviet state—one with a thick Georgian moustache and a soul as black as pitch.’
‘Sounds like you’re swallowing your own propaganda.’
‘Nothing of the sort! From the intelligence I’ve seen, I’d say Mr. Stalin’s five year plan will have the sole conclusion of starving his own peasants!’ He gave a puff on his pipe by way of emphasis. ‘Now, some will tell you that Benito Mussolini has the right idea—that his new Roman Empire is forging a vanguard against the communist tide infecting Europe. Lord knows he has enough fans in the corridors of Westminster. But I’ve had the pleasure of being a guest at the Palazzo Venezia, and I can tell you, George, I don’t like the way that Il Duce is flexing his muscles—don’t like it at all. I’d say he has serious intentions of giving the cartographers a little overtime in the near future … And then, of course, we come to our old foe Germany—bitter and snarling in its cave, licking its wounds all these years since losing the big one. It’s looking like old President Hindenburg will regain his seat—but only just. I fear it’s only a matter of time before the old guard gives way to the new, and then we’ll be dealing with that jailbird Hitler and his nasty little band of SA thugs. And if that happens, then let me tell you—that’s when we throw the rulebook out of the window.’
‘You paint a depressing picture.’
‘Desperate times, George, desperate times. It’s as if the world is on a knife’s edge. And so, with this grim backdrop, you can imagine the panic caused by this recent spate of anarchist bombings.’
‘The Wild Cat International—you think they’re really responsible?’
‘It would seem so, yes.’
‘Never heard of them before I saw it in the paper.’
‘No, but that may not be significant—after all, these maniacs all have to start somewhere. It may be a splinter group; there are always schisms within these extremists’ ranks.’
‘It’s a little out of date though isn’t it?’
‘What is?’
‘Their rhetoric. I haven’t had chance to check the reference, I’ve been otherwise engaged—being bundled into the back of Q cars, that kind of thing—but I’m sure that their letter published in the Daily Oracle was quoting directly from Johan Most.’
‘Correct—I see that brain of yours is still as sharp as ever. Yes, it’s Most’s “The Propaganda of the Deed”. Annoying individual, Most; he would keep publishing instruction pamphlets on bomb-making and his delight at the latest assassinations—Tsar Alexander, President McKinley and so on.’
‘For which he did time, I seem to remember.’
‘Indeed—incarcerated in his native Germany, here in the Britain for a while, and finally in the United States.’
‘Still, that was almost half a century ago, wasn’t it?’
‘Died in nineteen-hundred-and-six, I believe.’
‘So why resurrect his theories now? There are many others that followed him—more sophisticated ideas, better new models for societies.’
‘I think you’re being a little naïve Harley, crediting these lunatics with such complex thought processes.’
‘ Never underestimate your enemy —you taught me that. After all, we’re not talking about some mad loner working on his own, are we? From what I’ve read in the papers, it seems to me that the bombings have all been well-planned—which would suggest a certain level of organisation.’
‘A fair assumption.’
‘Do you have any leads at
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