The Anti-ImperialistsMark Twain Speaks to Us: "I Am an Anti-Imperialist" |
To download a pdf of this article, click here.
|
by Norman Solomon, excerpted from a longer article
Here are a few volts of Twain’s lightning that you probably never saw before:
“Who are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.”
“Why is it right that there is not a fairer division of the spoil all around? Because laws and constitutions have ordered otherwise. Then it follows that laws and constitutions should change around and say there shall be a more nearly equal division.”
“I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.”
At the turn of the century, as the Philippines came under the wing of the US government, Mark Twain suggested a new flag for the Philippine province — “just our usual flag, with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones.”
On Dec. 30, 1900, the New York Herald published Mark Twain’s commentary — “A Greeting from the 19th Century to the 20th Century” — denouncing the blood-drenched colonial forays of England, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. “I bring you the stately matron named Christendom, returning bedraggled, besmirched and dishonored from pirate-raids in Kiao-Chou, Manchuria, South Africa and the Philippines, with her soul full of meanness, her pocket full of boodle, and her mouth full of pious hypocrisies. Give her the soap and a towel, but hide the looking glass.”
Twain followed up in early 1901 with an essay titled, "To the Person Sitting in Darkness." Each of the world’s strongest nations, he wrote, was proceeding, “with its banner of the Prince of Peace in one hand and, its loot-basket and its butcher-knife in the other.”
Norman Solomon is a politically active journalist who wrote and performed in War Made Easy.
Here are a few volts of Twain’s lightning that you probably never saw before:
“Who are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.”
“Why is it right that there is not a fairer division of the spoil all around? Because laws and constitutions have ordered otherwise. Then it follows that laws and constitutions should change around and say there shall be a more nearly equal division.”
“I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.”
At the turn of the century, as the Philippines came under the wing of the US government, Mark Twain suggested a new flag for the Philippine province — “just our usual flag, with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones.”
On Dec. 30, 1900, the New York Herald published Mark Twain’s commentary — “A Greeting from the 19th Century to the 20th Century” — denouncing the blood-drenched colonial forays of England, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. “I bring you the stately matron named Christendom, returning bedraggled, besmirched and dishonored from pirate-raids in Kiao-Chou, Manchuria, South Africa and the Philippines, with her soul full of meanness, her pocket full of boodle, and her mouth full of pious hypocrisies. Give her the soap and a towel, but hide the looking glass.”
Twain followed up in early 1901 with an essay titled, "To the Person Sitting in Darkness." Each of the world’s strongest nations, he wrote, was proceeding, “with its banner of the Prince of Peace in one hand and, its loot-basket and its butcher-knife in the other.”
Norman Solomon is a politically active journalist who wrote and performed in War Made Easy.
I Was a "Racketeer for Wall Street"
Excerpted from an article by Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service as a member of our country’s most agile military force — the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from a second lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the profession, I never had an original thought until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical of everyone in the military service.
Thus, I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers from1909-12. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras “right” for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, promotion. Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three city districts. We Marines operated on three continents.
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service as a member of our country’s most agile military force — the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from a second lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.
I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the profession, I never had an original thought until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical of everyone in the military service.
Thus, I helped make Mexico, and especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers from1909-12. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras “right” for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.
During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, promotion. Looking back on it, I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three city districts. We Marines operated on three continents.
