Moderate's Fear of the Left

'Moderate opposition of the 1840s..were much more worried by the danger from their left than by the old regimes. From the moment the barricades went up in Paris, all moderate liberals(and, as Cavour observed, a fair proportion of radicals) were potential conservatives'

Eric Hobsbawm, p. 17

Fear of democracy, revolution and the labouring poor

 'If the social order were to be genuinely menaced, if the great principles on which rests were to be at serious risk, then many of the most determined oppositionists, the most enthusiastic republicans would be, we are convinced, the first to join the ranks of the conservative party'

- Count Cavour of Piedmont(1846), practically anticipating the universal failure of 1848 revolutions in Europe.

Anti-revolutionary peasants

 'Poland..its Russian and Austrian rulers succeeded in mobilizing the peasantry against the revolutionary gentry' 

- Hobsbawm, p. 11

'Harmless' democracy

 'By this time(1848) rules of the advanced states of Erope were beginning to recognize not only that democracy was inevitable, but also that it would probably be a nuisance but politically harmless. This discovery hd long since been made by the rules of the United States'

- Eric Hobsbawm, 'The Age of Capital; 1848-1875', p. 3

The Economist's stupid assertion

'The final crime, the Treaty of Versailles, whose harsh terms would ensure a second war'

As Margaret MacMillan said, if it was harsh Germany couldn't have started that war in the first place lol. They had no intention of following it in the first place, especially on military matters, and the term was actually too lenient compared to what they imposed on France in 1871.

3rd Republic and Labor

Rereading Shirer's 'The Collapse of the 3rd Republic'

Bourgeois of the 3rd Republic was no different than the ancien regime in escaping taxation. Plus, the regime was deeply anti Labor, in fact one of the most reactionary among developed nations. Naturally no attempt on social security legislation implemented by the likes of..Bismarck!

Hence the appeal of Sorel and the General Strike by the working class, and their lack of incentive to fight for the country; which ultimately led to 1940.

P.S. Aristide Briand put down a general strike in 1910 by arresting union leaders and calling the strikers to army reserves. He has begun his career as a labor lawyer, claiming the necessity of the gneral strike!

Republican Party is..

Carl Albert on Gerard Ford vetoing public works bill;

"..Herbert Hoover..equally conservative Republican President has again demonstrated the lack of economic unterstanding and human sensitivity which has enshackled the Republican Party:

LBJ's encomium to FDR

On the 20th anniversary of FDR's death on Apr. 12, 1965;

"...In some mysterious ways he could reach out, and where there was fear, came hope; where there was resignation, came excitement; where there was indifference, came compassion.

 And perhaps we can remember him most, not for what he did, but for what he wanted to do. We are trying to do it still. And I suppose we always will; as will many others to whom he is just a name and a picture in a book."

Dunno who wrote this, but it's a masterpiece. LBJ really was a true successor to FDR.

Again immersing on French/Russian themes

La peau douce [videorecording] / Janus Films ; MK2 Diffusion ; scénario original de F. Truffaut et Jean-Louis Richard ; mise en scène, François Truffaut ; Films du Carrosse-SEDIF-SIMAR.	39009056254879	DUE 05-15-17	SOF
	Silence de la mer (Motion picture)	39009056552488	DUE 05-15-17	SIL

War and peace / Leo Tolstoy ; translated with notes by Louise and Aylmer Maude ; revised and edited with an introduction by Amy Mandelker.	39009040480051	DUE 05-27-17	FIC TOLSTOY,L
	Was revolution inevitable? : turning points of the Russian Revolution / edited by Tony Brenton.	39009051584213	DUE 05-30-17	947.0841 WAS
	Lenin on the train / Catherine Merridale.	39009051594170	DUE 05-30-17	947.0841 MER
	Montaigne : a life / Philippe Desan ; translated by Steven Rendall and Lisa Neal.	39009051556930	DUE 05-30-17	92 MONTAIGNE,M DES
	A history of modern French literature : from the sixteenth century to the twentieth century / edited by Christopher Prendergast.	39009051584189	DUE 05-30-17	840.9 HIS

Yjj

2 interesting new books; Keepers by Schickel & Gellman's The President and the Apprentice: Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952-1961

Not on a library yet, but found at Vroman's;


http://www.amazon.com/Keepers-Greatest-Films---Favorites---Moviegoing/dp/0375424598/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440118665&sr=8-1&keywords=schickel+keepers


Since I loved David Thomson's


http://www.amazon.com/Big-Screen-Story-Movies/dp/0374534136/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1440118720&sr=1-5&keywords=david+thomson


Browsed a bit, and I liked it. He also doesn't regard Kubrick highly, so lol.


And another recent US history book;


http://www.amazon.com/President-Apprentice-Eisenhower-Nixon-1952-1961/dp/0300181051/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1440118793&sr=1-1&keywords=ike+and+nixon

Penguin history of Europe

Am enjoying Mark Greengrass' work and Chris Wickham's book is also from this series. Evans and Kershaw to come, looking forward to those as well.

Enjoying Antony Beevor's Crete

Crete 1941: The Battle and the Resistance


Borrowed and enjoying enormously so far, was Anthony Beevor this funny? Dotted with hilarious episodes, typical British dry humour stories.

Borrowed books today

http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Alliance-Hitlers-Stalin-1939-1941/dp/0465030750/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421120584&sr=1-1&keywords=the+devils%27+alliances


The infamous pact that enabled Hitler to make War.


http://www.amazon.com/Unreasonable-Men-Roosevelt-Republican-Progressive/dp/023034223X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421120614&sr=1-1&keywords=unreasonable+men


The time when there was hope, a real possibility of transformation of America(pretty much all candidates were Progressives then, when Wilson got elected).


http://www.amazon.com/Tolstoys-False-Disciple-Vladimir-Chertkov/dp/1605986402/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421120699&sr=1-1&keywords=tolstoy%27s+false+disciple


Lol didn't know this; Chertkov was a spy?!! Well, that's Russia for you; Stalin is just another typical Russian autocratic ruler! Lol.

Blind Nationalism

From Wapshott's Sphinx, p. 229

After FDR's remark about Musolini stabbing France in the back, Democratic campaigners had to be escorted in the Italian neighborhoods of Brooklyn, during the 1940 Presidential eletcion lol.

Just shows the hazard of blind nationalism, and also, ignorance.

Oldest alliance in the world

Anglo-Portuguese alliance, signed in 1376

Reaffirmed in 1386, 1643, 1654, 1660, 1661, 1703, 1815, 1889, 1904, 1914.
Cited by Britain during the Falklands War in 1982.

Napoleon on suppressing brigandange

Actually brigandage was a serious problem from time immemorial.  The French loved Napoleon for managing to suppress it.


How did he do it? By effective policing. He reorganised the gendarmerie(paramilitary police), increased its numbers, paid them well, improved its moral, stamped out corruption...


What's the American way? Selling guns to the public...!

Napoleon on selling Louisana to USA

"I know the price of what I abandon..renoune it with greatest regret: to attempt obstinately to retain it would be folly"


Such a contrast against the British lol.


"I have just given to England a maritime rival that sooner or later will humble her pride."


Result? 1812 war lol.  And on both World Wars later USA fleeced Britain, so..USA should be so thankful to France, along with assisting them in the War of Independence!

Napoleon's love letter to Josephine

"A kiss on your breast, and then a little lower, then much much lower"

Tantalizing, lol.

Japanese Internment during WWII

Of course it's a shameful episode.


Yet, I've found out that it was in part a response to an urgent request from MacArthur; he was purturbed by the atrocities being committed by the Japanese Army in Asia.  In fact the Japanese brutality was well known throughout all those years. Nanjing massacre anyone?  The dreaded 731 unit? 'Comfort Women'?  For sure it was a hysteria, the internment, but considering the savage reputation of the Samurai war-race..you get the gist.

The greatness of Douglas MacArthur

He was such a great commander that his deeds was recorded to posterity;


Dugout Doug MacArthur lies ashaking on the Rock
Safe from all the bombers and from any sudden shock
Dougout Doug is eating of the best food on Bataan
And his troops go starving on.


Chorus


Dugout Doug, come out from hiding
Dugout Doug, come out from hiding
Send to Franklin the glad tidings
That his troops go starving on!