[LAF] Ananrchists and bombs

Wed Aug 10 20:48:14 UTC 2005

what's with the "anarchism used to be an international movement" bit and the conflation of direct
action with violence. sheesh . . . but then again i suppose one wouldn't expect anything more than
that from the new statesman.
anyways - does anyone know anything more about this alleged genre of "dynamite romance?" when i
search for it mainly comes up with postings of this article.
cheers
stevphen

> 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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