[LAF] Ananrchists and bombs

[justin]

Here's the article...

http://www.newstatesman.com/200508080038

Commentary
Book Reviews
Tom Armitage
Monday 8th August 2005
Bombing trains is nothing new - it is what 19th-century anarchists did. Moreover, their
deeds were immortalised in fiction. Tom Armitage on the forgotten genre of the "dynamite
romance"

Following last month's terrorist bombings in London, commentators have searched for
comparisons in history. Inevitably, many have turned to 11 September 2001, others to the
IRA terror campaign. But an antecedent for these events can be found further back, in the
anarchist bombings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which eventually were
immortalised in fiction.

The anarchists sought to abolish the state and put in its place a society based upon the
voluntary organisation of individuals. Like Marxism, anarchism was an international
movement, with tentacles in a number of different countries. In the 1870s anarchists
promoted the concept of "propaganda by the deed" - the belief that a mass uprising could
be triggered by action. A spate of assassination attempts was made on European heads of
state: in 1881, Tsar Alexander II of Russia was killed. Soon, the anarchists began
targeting civilians as well, and took to planting bombs in public places. Opera houses,
stations, town halls, government offices and private clubs all came under attack.

The anarchists preferred bombs to firearms (perhaps because of their chaotic and
unpredictable nature), and their explosive of choice was dynamite. Invented in 1866 by
Alfred Nobel, dynamite was notable for being hugely powerful but also very stable. Far
more destructive than black powder or gunpowder, it was the ideal weapon for those who
wanted to make portable, deadly and easily concealed devices. When Guy Fawkes and his
fellow conspirators attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605, they stashed
36 barrels - about two and a half tonnes - of gunpowder under the House of Lords. One man
could easily carry enough dynamite to match the explosion they planned to set off. The
attraction for the anarchists was obvious. Armed with home-made bombs, they conducted a
sporadic campaign of terror across London.

The job of recording their activities fell to HM Inspector of Explosives, Colonel Vivian
Dering Majendie. His accounts show how the anarchists' targets were not so very different
from those of today's terrorists. Majendie records frequent attacks on stations, noting
on 27 February 1884 "the discovery of a bag containing some Atlas Powder A, with
clockwork and detonators, at Charing Cross Station". On the following two days, "similar
discoveries" were made at Paddington and Ludgate Hill Stations. More eerily prescient,
however, are the two attacks of 30 October 1883 on the then-named Metropolitan Railway.
One explosion, "between Charing Cross and Westminster", was "unattended with personal or
serious structural injury". The other was more serious. Majendie summarises it thus: "An
explosion on the Metropolitan Railway, near Praed Street. Three carriages sustained
serious injury, and about 62 persons were cut by the broken glass and debris, and
otherwise uninjured."

These 19th-century terrorists achieved something their modern-day counterparts have not
yet done: they captured the imagination of both writers and readers, giving rise to the
now-forgotten genre of the "dynamite romance". The culture of the dynamitard - with its
secret societies, code names and meetings by moonlight - appealed to the Victorians, who
had such a taste for suspense and sensation. Today, such a genre would no doubt be
criticised for trivialising a serious issue, or for offending the victims. Then, however,
it was a way of channelling fear and uncertainty into a few hours' entertainment.

The slim fictions of the "dynamite romance" depicted shifty, intelligent young men in
dark coats, darting about the city, smoking doctors' bags in hand. Most of these books
are now out of print, and not without reason: they were the airport thrillers of their
day. The genre had an influence on literature that did stand the test of time, however -
notably through Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent and G K Chesterton's surreal comedy The
Man Who Was Thursday (both published in 1907). Conrad's book has a dark, satirical edge,
while Chesterton plays up the more absurd elements of anarchism, parodying the
conventions of passwords, disguises and secret meetings.

The anarchism of the 19th century seems far removed from the chaos that the word evokes
today, but this is not to say that anarchists then did not understand what a powerful
weapon the ability to cause chaos could be. Many of them were no doubt enthralled by the
prospect of direct action, but perhaps lacked an understanding of the larger motives. As
Chesterton writes in Thursday: "The innocent rank and file are disappointed because the
bomb has not killed the king; but the high priesthood are happy because it has killed
somebody."

For the high command, killing somebody is all that matters. It furthers the cause, but
does so indirectly; Chesterton's "rank and file" cannot see beyond direct action. Today's
terrorists, by contrast, seem entirely reconciled to the idea of furthering their cause
by taking innocent lives. I doubt that we shall see a modern-day equivalent of the
dynamite romance. However, there may be some value in returning to older texts - if only
to appreciate that satire, surrealism and drama are worthwhile responses to terror.


--- Adrian Williams <adrianrwilliams at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Have a look at the one-page Commentary by Tom Armitage
> in the current New Statesman about bombs in late 19th
> and early 20th century.
> 
>  I can't get the URL at present or copy it.  Possibly
> tomorrow unless someone else does it first.
> 
> Adrian Williams
> 
> 
> 		
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