Month: May 2020

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Indonesia 1992, Its time to party with the functional groups, to make this country function

Indonesia has not been a huge success as an independent country despite ample resources and a large population. Some feel it is because the country traded one colonial master for another. If only power could be shifted to institutions controlled by natives. That would get the party started, the Golkar party. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Here we have a topical bird stamp meant for world collectors from a poorer post colonial nation. There are two signs on it of a greater ambition. One is that they at least show you a bird from Java. The other is the poor, dated, local printing. They were at least doing for themselves, a functioning group necessary to get the party started.

Todays stamp is issue A403, a 200 Rupiah stamp issued by Indonesia on July 1st, 1992. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Indonesia has a population that is about 2 percent people of Chinese heritage. This was true in the Dutch conducted census of 1930 and continues today. That may be a surprise to people outside as the majority of immigrant Indonesian communities in the USA and Australia are Chinese. At the time of being the Dutch East Indies, the Chinese were counted as a separate class and kept out of pieces of the economy. That changed with independence. The Chinese quickly took a leading role in the economy and were a powerful force for secularism and communism in politics. Ties to mainland China were close.

Well how did that work out for the native population? Not very well. The wealth that used to head for Holland now went to the Chinese and there was much resentment of flashy Chinese wealth in Indonesia. Wasn’t that supposed to be over after the Dutch left. In the late 1960s, Indonesia got a new leader President Suharto. He tried to purge the leading Chinese and reorganize Society. He thought instead of political parties there should be a leadership of functional, ethnic Indonesian groups. The A group was the armed forces, the B group was the Bureaucrats and the big G group which was everybody else. There is much talk of cruelty and repression of the Chinese but I would point out the continuity of the Chinese population despite their lower birth rate.

The problems got a little better but not entirely. Obviously in a country like Indonesia the people of the G group just don’t matter. The people of the A and B group can be often bought off by the rich Chinese. Over 30 years after the reorganization of society under Suharto’s Golkar system, the 2 percent of the people that are of Chinese heritage control 73% of the financial assets of the country.

After Suharto the Golkar movement was forced to become just a political party. They have been in and out of power. There platform currently is a program to lift the average Indonesian to the wealth of the member of a first tier nation. They hope to achieve this by 2045 when by their measure, there are others see https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/24/well-we-think-we-are-independant-we-have-a-constitution-a-flag-and-austrian-stamps/   , Indonesia will have been independent from the Dutch for 100 years. You could argue that the Chinese rose based on merit and Indonesia is not just a colonial outpost of China as it was for the also few in number Dutch. Can a minority of 2 percent really be allowed to control three quarters of the economy Eventually the writing on the wall in southern Africa said no whatever the consequence. So far Golkar in Indonesia is just a party and the Chinese are still dancing.

Well my drink is empty and being stuck at home I may have another and rewatch “Crazy Rich Asians”. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Liberia 1915, Republic of Maryland in Africa versus the Kru

What to do with African slaves that had achieved their freedom perplexed pre Civil War America. Both abolitoinists and those that still owned slaves agreed passage back to Africa was an option. The state of Maryland, with a large proportion of freed slaves appropriated money to start a Maryland in Africa. What of the Kru people of west Africa who had managed to keep Europeans to trading posts. Perhaps they might view freed American slaves not as long lost brothers but as black faced European invaders. Well some times there needs to be more consultation and the harbor island on the stamp is the perfect place for it. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp displays Providence Island in Monrovia harbor. The first sight of Africa for the African-American colonists. Not much to look at really but reflective of the challenge facing the new arrivals from America and the adjustments to the status quo required by the native Kru people.

Todays stamp is issue A58, a 3 cent stamp issued by Liberia in 1915. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Providence island was a trading post set up the Portuguese. Trading occoured with the native Kru people who were not themselves slaves but traded them. They were a seafaring people and so could come to the island by canoe. The Portuguese built very limited facilities but a fresh water well a stone building some fruit trees and a small pier were the only infrastructure for miles on this area of the African coast. These were just not things built by the Africans for themselves.

The state of Maryland had a high proportion of freed slaves especially around Baltimore. The Haitian Revolution in 1820 and the Nat Turner slave rebellion convinced the then white government that the situation was not sustainable. See this Brazil stamp,  https://the-philatelist.com/2019/04/18/brazil-1891-an-elite-overthrow-the-monarchy-to-avoid-a-haitian-outcome/  , that shows the influence of Haiti there. The legislature appropriated money to send free blacks to Africa in a rival to Liberia state of Maryland in Africa. It proved a hard sell to the freed slaves but 4500 were sent to Maryland in Africa by the 1840s. The native Kru people had not been consulted.

Map from 1839 showing the “Kroo of Kroomen” between Maryland and the rest of Liberia

Of the 4500 hundred colonists only 1800 survived. The Kru people rose up against the state of Maryland in Africa and stated their alliegance to Great Britain and their desire that Maryland in Africa and Liberia should be merged into neighboring British colony Sierra Leone. This is not really what they wanted but implying Britain was on their side surely must have intimidated. Maryland appealed for help from Liberia and when it arrived the Kru were driven back and Maryland in Africa and Liberia merged with Maryland becoming a county of Liberia. The American state of Maryland was only able to  persuade 2 percent of the freed blacks in Maryland to try their luck in Africa.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the survivors of the colonists in Liberia. With no infrastructure and unfriendly natives all around, it is amazing they weren’t just wiped out. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Poland 1980, instilling a maritime tradition

The new Poland of 1919 had only a small outlet on the Baltic Sea. Yet that outlet put the Polish people as part of the Hanseatic maritime tradition of the area. Part of the embracing of this was Poland acquiring a sailing ship, the Lwow, to train a new generation of Polish mariners. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The Poland of 1980 had a much longer coastline than the Poland of 1920. In fact at the Gdansk shipyard, there was a new Polish tall sailing ship under construction to continue the training of sailors for the navy and the merchant marine. This would be the first constructed in Poland and still serves as the Dar Mlodziezy. It makes 1980 a great time for a stamp issue to remember the ships and men that came before and built the tradition.

Todays stamp is issue A753, a 2 Zloty stamp issued by Poland on July 21st, 1980. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The Lwow was built in 1869 at Birkenhead in England as the commercial vessel. She was made of steel and had diesel engines in addition to her sails. In 1893 she was sold to an Italian firm and renamed Lucco. In 1898 she was caught in a bad storm off of the Cape of Good Hope where she lost several of her masts and nearly sunk. She was able to make it to Durban in South Africa but was then stuck there awaiting repairs. The ship was eventually bought by a Dutch firm there, repaired and put into use as the Nest, now out of Batavia in the Dutch East Indies. The ship then retired to Holland in 1915 still in good condition.

It was in Holland where it was spotted by Poland and acquired cheap. The ship became the Polish Navy training ship Lwow. She was to be based out of the newly constructed seaport at Gdynia. The Poles were building this port opposite the then free state of Danzig as though they were supposed to have port rights in Danzig, the German dock workers there would always go on strike when there was a Polish ship to service. The first Captain of the Lwow as seen on the stamp was Tadeusz Bonifacy Ziolkowski. He was a Pole from the Polish part of Pomerania who had previously served in the Imperial German Navy. The ship was used heavily to teach navigation skills but it also had to earn a living taking cargo around the Baltic.

A naval tradition built quickly around the ship. One of it’s later Captains was Mamert Stankiewicz who later became famous. He was another Pole from Courland in modern Latvia who first served the Czar of Russia’s Baltic fleet. After serving the Polish Navy he was made Captain of the ocean liner MS Pisudski. The ship had been built in Italy and then bartered in exchange for Polish coal. After the war broke out in 1939 the ship made a quick conversion to troopship in England. On her first voyage as such, she was torpedoed by German U boats though there was no record of it on the German side. Captain Stankiewicz was the last to leave the ship after trying to save his crew in the best naval tradition but later died of hypothermia from being in the cold waters. There are armchair quarterbacks who argue the ship instead hit a mine and could have been saved by a more experienced crew. Armchair quarterbacking is pretty much what we do here at The Philatelist but is it really so terrible to let Poland have her heroes.

Polish ships Captain Mamert Stankiewicz

The Lwow was retired in 1930 and scrapped in 1938. She was replaced by a German made tall sailing ship called Gift of Pomerania in Polish service. Soon enough the rest of Pomerania itself would be gifted to Poland.

Well my drink is empty and nobody is going to sea these days here in the USA or in Poland and so I might as well have another. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Czechoslovakia 1919, The Czar of Russia creates a Czechoslovak Legion that conquers Siberia and inspires a new nation

This high denomination stamp is for relief of orphans of Czech veterans of World War I. At least the ones that fought on the winning side. The  orphans of veterans of the losing side may be equally in need of relief, but naturally the winners have inspiration and glory on their side. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

In 1919, Czechoslovakia had just been formed on territory broken off from Austria Hungary. This reflects in the style of this stamp that owes more to Poland and Ukraine than Austria or Hungary. If the new country was going to work it would have to pull together and find new ways to move forward. The baby on the stamp would grow up in a different place than it’s parents.

Todays stamp is issue SP2, a 100 Haleru semi postal stamp issued by the newly independent Czech and Slovak Republic in 1919. It was a six stamp issue in various denominations that celebrated one year of independence and supported orphans of those that served in the Czechoslovak Legion. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents. This is an awfully low value for a stamp displaying so much interesting now 100+ year old history from an area where stamp collecting is so prominent. Perhaps subconsciously, it is history that offends the many philatelists of Vienna and Budapest.

In 1914 the first world war broke out and Czarist Russia found itself fighting Germany and Austria Hungary with much of the fighting going on in modern day Ukraine. The Russian Stavka authorized the formation of a battalion of troops that would fight on their side and be recruited from Czechs And Slovaks. Recruiting both peoples turned out to be very important later though in reality the force was over 90% Czech. The bulk of Czechs and Slovaks were fighting for Austria Hungary with various degrees of enthusiasm. The Battalion gave a good accounting of itself in battle and was expanded to brigade size. Independence leaders at home who imagined and independent Czechoslovakia took notice and began promoting the force as a Legion. To continue the expansion of the force recruits were sought from Austria Hungary POWs held by Russia.

The 1917 Revolutions in Russia turned the tables somewhat. The Soviets made peace with Austria Hungary leaving the not communist legion somewhat lost in the Ukraine. Czech leadership decided to evacuate the force to France to continue to fight and get out the idea that the Czechs and Slovaks could form a new nation. The hard part was going to be to get to France. A deal was struck where the Soviets were paid to allow the Legion to board the Trans Siberian Railroad for the long journey to Vladivostok to there board ships to France. This would not be easy. there was a civil war between White and Red Russians and trains were not really running. The tracks more provided a path to march east. They often had to fight their way past Soviet forces along the tracks. There was even a strange battle with Hungarian POWs they met just east of the Ural mountains. The Hungarians were marching west back toward Hungary after the end of their war with the Czechs marching east.

The bravery of the force marching and fighting their way through Siberia was heavily promoted in the West with some justification. Keeping the force together with no home country in a strange land was quite a military feat. The West lapped it up, World War I was still going on and if the Reds fell in Russia it might rejoin the war. American, French, and mainly Japanese troops landed in Vladivostok in 1918 with the goal of saving the Czechoslovak Legion. Instead they found the Czechs already there. Luckily for the Legion, the war in France was over before they could arrive. They had fought enough. Czechoslovakia was awarded a large territory at the end of the war at the expense of Hungary and Germany and the leadership was overwhelmingly Czech as the legion had been. If the Russian high command Stavka had only recruited Czechs for the legion, would there have been a united Czechoslovakia post war?

Czechoslovak Legion troops in Vladivostok in 1918 meeting Japanese to be taken to France. I wonder if the band knew the Japanese national anthem? What a strange time!

Well my drink is empty and though my sympathies might be more toward a united Austria Hungary who can not rout for these fellows marching East to  go West through Siberia. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.