Rote Rosen für die rote Rosa

A red rose for "Red Rosa", originally uploaded by Turukhtan.

Lloyd George, Millerand, and doggy

Lloyd George, Millerand, and doggy, originally uploaded by punalippu.

At Hythe in May 1920, these two gentlemen raised the war repair payments for Germany by yet another few billions.

From Illusionernas årtionde by Rütger Essén, Bonniers (Stockholm 1940)

Top 3 Swedish Poets

***

Dan Andersson (1888-1920)

När de gamla såren heta tära,
när din kind är vätt av ensamhetens gråt,
när att leva är att stenar bära
och din sång är sorg som vilsna tranors låt,
gå och drick en fläkt av höstens vindar,
se med mig mot bleka, blåa skyn!
Kom och stå med mig vid hagens grindar,
när de vilda gässen flyga över byn!

"Gässen flytta", ur Kolvaktarens visor (1915)

Harry Martinson (1904-1978)

Har ni sett en koltramp komma ur en orkan -
med bräckta bommar, sönderslitna relingar,
bucklig, stånkande, förfelad -
och med en skeppare som är alldeles hes?
Fnysande lägger den till vid den soliga kajen,
utmattad slickande sina sår,
medan ångan tynar i pannorna.

"Har ni sett en koltramp..." ur Spökskepp (1929)

Joe Hill (1879-1915)

My will is easy to decide
For there is nothing to divide
My kin don't need to fuss and moan
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."
My body? - Oh. - If I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow
Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again
This is my Last and final Will
Good Luck to All of you

Joe Hill

Takiji Kobayashi

"1920s proletarian novel strikes chord with young underemployed" - The Japan Times, Friday, July 18, 2008



I first read about Takiji Kobayashi (小林 多喜二 1903-1933) in the Finnish socialist literary magazine Kirjallisuuslehti (1934, p. 290). He was a politically conscious writer and dissident in imperial Japan, tortured to death by the police. His rediscovered novel, Kanikosen ("Crab-Canning Boat", 1929), deals with the difficult working conditions and labourers' collective struggle 80 years ago, and the modern-day part-time proletariat has discovered its relevance.

Shinchosha Publishing Co. said that in a normal year around 5,000 copies of the book would be reprinted. But this year, it has already printed nearly 380,000 copies.

The Japanarchy blog has a big post on Kobayashi, including many images of the manga based on Kanikosen. The comments include valuable discussions, too (how often do you see that?!). A must-read if you are interested in radical labour activism and Japan in the 1920's and 30's. Warning: The post includes some difficult photos of the deceased Kobayashi.
Here is a 10-minute clip from the 1953 movie by Sô Yamamura.

And here's an article by a guy who worked at fish-processing ships himself, and what he felt when he read the manga versions.

(Crossposted at Chirayliq)

Headlines from 1920

The Goldenbird story tales place on the exact dates of June 19th-23rd. The story this far has reached June 21st. What happened in the world during those three days? The New York Times free archive gives us some funny and thought-provoking headlines of the summer of 1920.

1920, June 19th
Goldenbird: The gang gathers in the politically disputed, Italian/Slavic resort Ginestra. Falco is scheming, Mayann is busy with her rehearsals and swimming lessons, and Andy and Lou paint the town red in the evening.
Meanwhile, in the real world:
D'ANNUNZIO STATES TERMS. Tells Giolitti He Won't Yield Fiume Till Independence Is Granted. - We all should know d'Annunzio and his Fiume escapades by now...
ITALIAN PRISONERS KILLED. Albanian Attacks Follow Assassination of Essad Pasha. - Some Albanian forces blamed the assassination on "Italian intrigue" and took out their anger on 330 POW's.
AIRCRAFT BUILDERS' TASK; To Convince People Planes Are Safe "... The next generation will know more about airplanes and flying than we do today of the automobile..." - Modern technology revolutionized communications, but Lindbergh's cross of the Atlantic was still far in the future.
ROOSTER FOR DEMOCRATS. Illinois Woman Declares Mule Isn't the Right Party Emblem. - I thought it was a donkey? Certainly wouldn't improve the quality of dirty political puns.
SEAMEN RESENT GERMANS. British Delegate at Conference Clashes with Teuton. - The International Seamen's Conference in Genoa, Italy, was disturbed by quarrels between the former enemies. NYT was slightly biased as well: "... a German delegate, with red upstanding hair and red pointed beard, rose with an arrogant air and delivered his speech in loud tones."
ITALY ASKS ABOUT SUICIDE. Government Wants Facts from Palmer About Red's Imprisonment. - This famous case involved the alleged suicide of anarchist Andrea Salsedo. As a worker for the political newspaper Cronaca Sovversiva he had been taken in for interrogations without arrest or warrant by the Bureau of Investigations in February 25. There, he was urged to reveal names and details about his comrades. His widow claimed that he had been tortured before he threw himself from the 14th floor on May 3. His case inspired anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti to organize protests, which would incriminate them further in the famous "trial of the century" 1920-1927.

1920, June 20th
Goldenbird: Falco is chased by mountain warrior monks in the Slavic hinterland, while Mayann continues her flirt with the swimming teacher, and Lou realizes her and Andy's adventures have had serious consequences.
Meanwhile in the real world:
WARNS OF FUTURE SHORTAGE OF OIL; Director of Geological Survey Declares That Consumption Has Overtaken Output. - 80 years ahead of his time!
HARDING THE HARMONIZER, GENEROUS AND LIKABLE; Republican Presidential Nominee Began as Poor Boy, Became an Editor, Has Ideal Home Life, Is a Baptist and Believes in Good Causes, But Plays Draw Poker - Warren G. Harding would become the next (and for some time, reputedly the worst) US president soon.
NEW IMMIGRANT TYPE EXCELS PREDECESSOR; Ellis Island Finds Proof in Decreasing Numbers of Undesirable Arrivals. - Didn't stop the US authorities from enforcing racially discriminatory immigration laws for the next few decades.
HARLEM LIBRARIES DRAW THE CHILDREN; Two Branches Crowded with Eager Throngs of Enthusiastic Subscribers. SOME ATTRACTIVE EXHIBITS Clubs and a Large Variety of Books for Youthful Readers Lure Young of Many Races. - Happy news from a part of New York City that would soon be the cradle of a great Africa-American cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.
GERMANS DEPRESSED OVER THEIR FUTURE; Looking Forward with Anxiety to the Outcome of the Spa Conference. PRICES STILL MOUNTING Workers Like the Republic, but Business Circles See Only Hope in a Dictator. Deny Planning Revenge. Sans Souci Beauty Unimpaired. Labor Likes New Republic. Big Crowds at Theatres. - Germans may have been gloomy, but many of the Allies still thought they were recovering a bit too fast, and were maybe even enjoying themselves secretly!
ALAND EXCITEMENT GROWS. - Sweden and Finland were having an argument about the Åland islands, which eventually became the first international dispute that the League of Nations managed to solve peacefully.
SIBERIAN PARLEYS BROKEN OFF; New State and Japanese at Odds Over Scope of Negotiations. - The "new state", the Far Eastern Republic, ended as a Soviet puppet state.
LITTLE THINGS FOR SUMMER; Collars, Guimpes, Scarfs and Bags Become Important Adjuncts to the Wardrobe Belts and Sashes. "... FEMININE wardrobes acknowledge no limit in accessories. And this season, perhaps more than ever before, has contributed beautiful and truly artistic "little things" as parts of the prevailing styles. What can add more freshness or charm to the general appearance of a costume than a crisp new collar or a sash?" - What is a "guimpe"? This? As an accessory lover, I am intrigued.

1920, June 21st
Goldenbird: Falco is back in town. After a skirmish with a pointy-eared Russian anarchist and Dr Shapiro, he is ready to face the greatest challenge of them all: Mayann the red-hot jazz baby.
Meanwhile in the real world:
OVERALL PARADE IN PARIS. Poets and Actresses Devote the Day to the Wearing of Blue Jeans. - They didn't have the vote yet, but they had the threads...
COLLEGE MEN URGED TO LEAD; Dartmouth Students Told of America's Mission In the World. - While Wilson's plans for an active US foreign policy were torpedoed by a widespread isolationist opinion, the theoretical idea of a universal mission takes hold - "a mission given by God for the sake of humanity".
OIL PRODUCERS SAY PRICES MUST RISE; Further Advances Are Needed if Healthy Competition Is to Remain. DEMAND EXCEEDS SUPPLY. - It has returned to haunt us...
WELCOMED MEXICAN INVASION; Thousands of Families Crossing the Border to Till the Soil and Otherwise Build Up the Southwest 100,000 in the Northward Movement. Replacing the Drift to Cities. Entering the Sugar Beet Field. Qualities to Be Reckoned With Bilingual New Mexico. - More happy news, but we cannot escape the sad:
2 DEAD, MANY HURT IN CHICAGO RIOT; Sailor and White Civilian Killed and Colored Policeman Wounded by Negroes. AMERICAN FLAGS BURNED Police Reserves and Rifle Squad at Scene of Trouble Started by Parading Abyssinians. In the shadow of the horrific Red Summer of 1919, race riots continued to flare up locally in America. The mysterious "Abyssinians" of the article were a "return to Africa" movement inspired by Marcus Garvey, possibly "The Star Order of Ethiopia".

The Europe of Goldenbird

Europe after the Great War, originally uploaded by punalippu.

Europe after the Great War. From Illusionernas årtionde by Rütger Essén, Bonniers (Stockholm 1940)

Jazz in Scientific World

In the New York Times, November 16, 1919, prof. Charles Lane Poor, professor of Celestial Mechanics at Columbia University, explained Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity:

When is space curved?
When do parallel lines meet?
When is a circle not a circle?
When are the three angles of a triangle not equal to two right angles?
Why, when Bolshevism enters the world of science, of course!

In the early days after Einstein's discoveries, people were very confused about the meaning of the word "relative" in that scientific context. It simply did not mean that "anything goes" or that "there are no rules" (just as bolshevism was confused with anarchy). Similarly, jazz was interpreted as "chaos in music", although jazz bands always were integrated in particular historical and cultural contexts, and therefore as relative (in the true meaning of the word) as the laws of physics.

"For some years past," Professor Poor said the other day, after reading the cable dispatches about the Einstein theory, "the entire world has been in a state of unrest, mental as well as physical. It may well be that the physical aspects of the unrest, the war, the strikes, the Bolshevist uprising, are in reality the visible objects of some underlying, deep mental disturbance, world-wide in character. This mental unrest is evidenced by the widespread intent it social problems, to throw aside the well-tested authors of Governments in favor of radical and untried experiments."

Professor Poor dismissed Einstein's theories as "psychological speculations and fantastic dreams". He compared them to some rivals of Newton, who had tried to find other explanations for the moon's motions than the forces of gravitation - "during a time of profoud mental and political unrest". Newton had prevailed, and he would prevail against these new "speculations" as well, was the Professor's conviction. Einstein's notion of a fourth dimension was the final blow: the professor felt as if he had been "wandering with Alice in Wonderland and had tea with the Mad Hatter".

Interestingly, the article nowhere mentions jazz, except in the caption. Perhaps it was added in order to excite the reader. If there was any conceivable connection between jazz and bolshevism and physics, only a die-hard anti-semite could have spotted it.

It is important to remember that Einstein was not alone - many scientists had co-operated with him, contributed to his results and pointed out mistakes: Max Planck, Henri Poincaré and Hermann Minkowski, among many others. As Einstein's genius became more and more recognised, the critical tone changed. I was amused to find another musical reference in Martin Gardner's popular book about the theory of relativity from 1962, Relativity for the Million. According to Gardner, the theory had the same effect on the world as the new dance fad, the twist, which invaded the American dance halls in 1962! Some danced the twist with enthusiasm, some were deeply shocked and indignated (as our prof. above), and others complained that they were too old to learn it. (Perhaps people in the 1960's had forgotten all about how shocking jazz used to be?)

Further reading: Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory. New York: Henry Holt, 1920 (online at Bartleby.com)

Verschwörungstheorien

Hast Du Angst, Erich? Bist du bange Erich?
Klopft dein Herz, Erich? Läufst du weg?
Wolln die Maurer, Erich - und die Jesuiten, Erich
dich erdolchen, - welch ein Schreck!
Diese Juden werden immer rüder.
Alles Unheil ist das Werk der .'..'. Brüder.
Denn diese Jesuiten, Erich - und die Maurer, Erich -
und die Radfahrer - die sind schuld
an der Marne, Erich und am Dolchstoß, Erich -
ohne die gäbe es keinen Welttumult.
Jeden Freitag spielt ein Kapuziner
mit dem Papste Skat - dazu ein Feldrabbiner;
auf dem Tische liegt ein Grand mit Vieren -
dabei tun sie gegen Deutschland konspirieren ...
Hindenburg wird älter und auch müder ...
alles Unheil ist das Werk der .'..'. Brüder.

Kurt Tucholsky an Erich Ludendorff, 1929

The Caged Bird

The previous posts have presented poems by Irish Nobelist and esoteric explorer William Butler Yeats, which have influenced me in the choice of my comic's title, Goldenbird. Even though I love his imagery, his philosophy remains alien to me, even though I can appreciate the longing for a perfect Platonic ideal on an intellectual level. Yeats' world-view is a very aristocratic one, however. Even though he supported the Irish revolution, he belonged to those interwar intellectuals in the West who feared the lowly "masses" and envisioned an apocalyptic clash of civilizations - it should not come as a surprise that Yeats appreciated Spengler (he thought that his wife, a medium, channeled Spengler even before Der Untergang des Abendlandes had been published).
It is easier for me to identify with the notions expressed in the "caged bird" tradition of the African-American writers. I have been taught to sympathize with the weak and the oppressed, and to feel joy when they triumph over their obstacles. This teaching is central to my world-view, even though my own childhood and youth was relatively privileged. I can't feel the same sympathy for old intellectuals lamenting the modern world (which Yeats did, but Spengler didn't) or the temptation to lump together individual human beings in sweeping, demeaning categories such as "nations", "races" or "civilizations". Those terms are like gilded cages for singing birds. And yet, how can the individual break free without the help of yet another imagined community? How can we avoid turning our liberation movements into gilded cages?
In the next posts, the "caged bird" poems will be explored. Before that, contemplate this painting by Harry Roseland (1868-1950). It often appears in sales lists of art reproductions, especially of African-American interest, sometimes advertised as genuine depictions of Southern AA life. However, Roseland was a white painter who never left Brooklyn. Are his paintings romanticized cultural appropriations? Does he romanticise African-American history, or are his paintings relatively "harmless" and even encouraging examples from an otherwise viciously racist period in history?
Cultural appropriation is a huge theoretical and practical problem. Some people would say that you cannot claim to say anything about people with other social and cultural background, whether you're an artist or a scholar. Needless to say, I disagree (why should I be confined to writing and drawing stories about myself and the handful of people who share my ethnic mix, when I don't even believe that this mix guarantees that we have anything in common...). On the contrary, I think that we need to increase the amount of people who explore other people's perspectives. But we should never forget the power relations that shape our relationships even now. Roseland's art may be sentimental and even deceitful when it serves to calm white consciences ("oh, the old days weren't so bad after all"), but "feel-good-art" can also serve the identity-building of the minority, and in effect, resistance towards the "superior" culture.
In the end, the artist's original purpose is not necessarily relevant to the interpretation of her or his work, but it is important to study the circumstances that influenced it. Why is it important? Because when we look at a picture or read a poem, we feel different things, depending on where we come from and what we have been taught. Whether we respect our neighbor's opinion or not, we benefit from studying its historical background. This ought to be valued in a society that claims to support freedom of expression, unfortunately it is often seen as a waste of time and "giving in" to the opponent's arguments. Freedom of speech is confused with freedom from listening...

Der Goldvogel

Some of my readers know that the Goldenbird is a symbolic object/creature in W.B. Yeats's Byzantine poems, of which I've written an undergraduate paper in English literature. Never mind that now; I have some German discoveries to share.

Let's start with a children's verse from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, by Ludwig Achim von Arnim (published 1805-1808).

Goldvogel, flieg aus,
Flieg auf die Stangen,
Käsebrode langen;
Mir eins, dir eins,
Alle gute G'sellen eins.

The web directory Zeno.org is great for literature and art searches. It contains a lot of hard-to-find, copyright-free German material, and works like an online library for a variety of purposes. Just for fun, I did a quick search for "Goldvogel". And what do I find? Not one, but two quotes from Das Kapital by Karl Marx!

In the children's rhyme, the goldenbird is asked to fly off and bring cheese sandwiches from the "pole" (perhaps like pretzeln, they were hanging from the bakery roof) to "me and you and all the good journeymen" - the goldenbird can satisfy the needs of the hungry (or merely peckish).Onward to Marx, Das Kapital Vol.II (The process of the circulation of capital, pp. 417-418):

"[Lengthy scenario where person I uses 500 pounds sterling to buy consuming goods from person II and could consider selling the goods back for 500, but that depends on whether there's a buyer; even though the goods are the equivalent of 500 pounds, I loses on the deal, while II gains; I'm really bad at economic theory as well as practise - and you should read the original if you must know the details...] – Die 500 in Produktionsmitteln aber, die I auf dem Hals hat, sind nicht in Warenform existierender Mehrwert; sie sind an der Stelle der vorgeschoßnen 500 Pfd. St. Geld da, die I besaß neben seinem Mehrwert von 1000 Pfd. St. in Warenform. Als Geld befinden sie sich in stets realisierbarer Form; als Ware sind sie momentan unverkäuflich. Soviel ist klar, daß einfache Reproduktion – wo jedes Element des produktiven Kapitals in II wie in I ersetzt werden muß – hier nur möglich bleibt, wenn die 500 Goldvögel zurückkehren zu I, das sie zuerst ausfliegen ließ."

The goldenbird is capital!

A few decades earlier, Marx wrote the following in a manuscript on "need, production and division of labour", pp. 547-548:

"... das Privateigentum weiß das rohe Bedürfnis nicht zum menschlichen Bedürfnis zu machen; sein Idealismus ist die Einbildung, die Willkür, die Laune, und ein Eunuche schmeichelt nicht niederträchtiger seinem Despoten und sucht durch keine infameren Mittelseine abgestumpfte Genußfähigkeit zu irritieren, um sich selbst eine Gunst zu erschleichen, wie der Industrieeunuche, der Produzent, um sich Silberpfennige zu erschleichen, aus der Tasche des christlich geliebten Nachbarn die Goldvögel herauszulocken – (jedes Produkt ist ein Köder, womit man das Wesen des andern, sein Geld, an sich locken will. Jedes wirkliche oder mögliche Bedürfnis ist eine Schwachheit, die die Fliege an die Leimstange heranführen wird – allgemeine Ausbeutung des gemeinschaftlichen menschlichen Wesens, wie jede Unvollkommenheit des Menschen ein Band mit dem Himmel ist, eine Seite, wo sein Herz dem Priester zugänglich; jede Not ist eine Gelegenheit, um unter dem liebenswürdigsten Schein zum Nachbarn zu treten und ihm zu sagen: Lieber Freund, ich gebe dir, was dir nötig ist; aber du kennst die conditio sine qua non; du weißt, mit welcher Tinte du dich mir zu verschreiben hast; ich prelle dich, indem ich dir einen Genuß verschaffe) –, sich seinen verworfensten Einfällen fügt, den Kuppler zwischen ihm und seinem Bedürfnis spielt, krankhafte Gelüste in ihm erregt, jede Schwachheit ihm ablauert, um dann das Handgeld für diesen Liebesdienst zu verlangen."

Juicy! Again, the goldenbird is money, capital that can be converted to a variety of goods. This text deals with the ideology behind the process - the first quote was part of the answer on HOW capitalism works, and this quote tells us WHY it works.

But what is my own goldenbird?...

More Fiume News

These are all from Finnish newspapers 1919-1921 - the conservative, Swedish-language Hufvudstadsbladet, and the social-democrat, Finnish-language Suomen Sosiali-Demokraatti. As witnesses of their time, they are as much mirrors of opinion and ideology as reports of actual events...



Hufvudstadsbladet (1919.05.03)
The Fiume Conflict.
Reflections on Compromise.
London, May 3rd. (Reuter to STT)
To the Reuter telegraphs from Paris: In well informed circles in Paris this morning, it is proposed that the Fiume Question will be solved in a way that will satisfy Italy, accordingly: The port will become a free commercial port with complete freedom of trade for all nations. The city itself will be transferred to Italy. It is reported that Italy would be willing to offer Yugoslavia certain territorial concessions in the Dalmatian hinterland, including the city of Knin at the railway line from Sebenico.

Suomen Sosialidemokraatti (1920.12.29 p.4)
Fiume conquered.
(See previous post for full text)

Suomen Sosiali-Demokraatti (1921.01.10 p.3)
D'Annunzio still in Fiume.
Paris, Jan. 10th. (STT)
The latest reports from Fiume confirm that d'Annunzio does not intend to leave the city until the elections of the foundational council of the Free State. Certain sources judge it likely that the council will elect d'Annunzio as regent.



Suomen Sosiali-Demokraatti (1921.02.23 p.5)
Reaction in Trieste.
[first paragraph is illegible in my copy]
The Rome correspondent of the Kristiania ”Social-Democrat” has sent his paper a special telegram, wherein he describes the actions of the reactionary forces in Trieste, actions that are aimed against the working class. He mentions, among other things, that the history of the city in question has never before known such activity of forces of darkness as can be observed currently. The official Italy has not given liberty to the workers of Trieste, it has oppressed them and continues the oppression most shamelessly. The militias of Italy systematically and daily persecute the leaders of the working class and rob them of their property. House searches have become daily phenomena, and armed police rummage and sniff through every corner of workers' apartments. Mass arrests, too, are now everyday occurrences. The workers' halls of Trieste, Pola, Fiume and other cities in Italy have been leveled to the ground. Communist and socialist newspapers are being persecuted not only by legal means, but also with illegal methods, such as destroying and burning their offices. The consequence of this reactionary policy has been that Italy within one year has become more hated than Austria after 60 years. After the Italian annexation, the local population has not been able to voice its opinion in elections. Several political and administrative elections have been prescribed, but the Italian government does not dare to organize them. And meanwhile Italy sustains an oppressive regime, that any country of the slightest level of civilization would be ashamed of.



Notes: In the original article, the "militias" are referred to as "suojeluskuntalaiset" - the Finnish term for the white Civil Guard that functioned as a paramilitary force in Finland from 1917 to 1944, in support of the bourgeois government and often in conflict with the various socialist movements. No doubt, the social democrat newspapers wanted to reinforce the idea that the forces of reaction were similar in every state.
Italy is compared to Austria as a reminder of the fact that Italy's territorial claims around the Adriatic sea were not founded on primeval right, but historical circumstances. The "irredenta" had belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire before the war, and Italy's late alliance with the Entente was triggered by hopes that the areas with sizable Italian populations could be won. However, they had never been part of a political entity called "Italy" before. One could see the claims on Istria and Dalmatia as the final steps on the road of Italian national unification.
The mention of destruction of workers' halls is interesting. The Wikipedia article on Trieste mentions a Slovene community hall (Narodni Dom) burnt down by Italian nationalists in 1920. This could be interpreted as a conflict between nationalities (around 25% of the Trieste population were Slovenes). I wonder if other factors played a role, for example, were Slovenes more often of working-class background, and were socialist ideas more widespread among them? Which was more important, ethnic, ideological or social solidarity?

The Fiume Incident

The beginnings of Goldenbird the comic can be traced to a dark and rainy autumn in 2005, when I was working on my Ph.D. thesis in Helsinki, collecting source material at the cosy, neo-classicist National Library. As I was scrolling microfilmed newspapers from the fateful years of 1920 and 1921, some small notices caught my eye.

Fiume conquered.
D'Annunzio wounded.
Rome, Dec. 28th (Havas to S.T.T.) According to received information, general Caviglia with his troops has marched into Fiume.
Rome, Dec. 28th (Havas to S.T.T.) Quarnero's government confirms the report on D'Annunzio's injury. In the hall, where the war council was holding its meetings, a projectile exploded, a splitter of which dealt a head wound to D'Annunzio.
Suomen Sosialidemokraatti 29.12.1920 (p. 4)

Havas is a French press agency, STT is the leading Finnish equivalent. "Quarnero", also known as Carnaro or Kvarner, refers to the bay in the Adriatic where Fiume (today Rijeka) is located. After taking charge of the city, il comandante Gabriele d'Annunzio and his collaborators declared the "regency of Carnaro" - that means, they would stay in charge until the King of Italy would assume his "rightful" role as the city's ruler. The regency's most notable product was its constitution, the Carta del Carnaro, which mixed influences from Plato's ideal state, futurist aesthetics, anarcho-syndicalism, proto-fascist corporativism, and aristocratic romanticism...

To the left, the banner of the regency of Carnaro. Pretty, isn't it? The worm Ouroboros, the Great Bear, and the motto: QVIS CONTRA NOS? "Who is against us?" - something for semioticians to mull on. The snake that devours its own tail could mean the cycle of life. In alchemy, it signifies that All is One - or a mystical treasure that has to be destroyed to be known. It reminds me of an early quote by Bakunin: "the passion for destruction is also a creative passion". Or the dark side of 1789, 1848 and 1917: the revolution devours its own children, in effect, devours itself.

This little renegade state, which lived on piracy and high spirits from Sept. 19, 1919 to Dec. 24-30, 1920, sounded like the perfect setting for some light-hearted Jazz age adventure-mystery-comedy story, I thought. However - I did NOT want to be historically correct. As a Ph.D. candidate, I'm already a slave to the sources - as a cartoonist, I want to create a story that won't educate the reader about Fiume or d'Annunzio, but that will be cute and a little bit nerdy entertainment. But if you want to know more about the murky depths of Goldenbird's historical background, you're welcome to this blog!

I've written more about d'Annunzio on the Goldenbird blog, the biographical essay Per Non Dormire and the bibliographical overview Dannunziana.