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Straits Settlements 1912, Trying to keep Singapore British, when the people are Chinese, Malay, and Indian

Singapore is today a prosperous, multiracial trading city with very few British. This was true right from the beginning, when it was founded by the British. Showing how important a one percent can be. 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.

A British colonial stamp with the King, in this case George V, a denomination, and the particular colonies name. These stamps were standard designs printed by De La Rue in Great Britain with a place on the stamp set aside for the colonies name. They almost always had the British Monarch, showing that they were mainly for the use of the British one percent. Now an important reminder of how such a place started.

The stamp today is issue A24, a 5 cent stamp issued by the Crown Colony of the Straits Settlements in 1912. It was a 19 stamp issue in various denominations with the high ones mainly to pay taxes and the lower values for postage. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 used.

The settlement at Singapore, that was the crown jewel of the Straits Settlements, was founded by Stanford Raffles in 1819 at the tip of the Malay peninsula. Tribute was paid and protection promised to the local Malayans. He was in the employ of the British East India Company and the area was a division of the then Presidency of Bengal. The area was divided between the British in Malaysia and Northern Borneo and the Dutch to the south. At the time the British East India Company had a monopoly on the China trade and the Singapore trading station was central to that. From the earliest days, Chinese flooded in seeking a better life. They were over 90 percent male, China did not allow females to emigrate legally. The hope was to make it big and go back to China but most ended up staying and heavily involved with Tong Societies for female companionship and other illicit comforts. Indians also flooded in, but many were there as prisoners. It was a fairly volatile mix with only one percent of the colony British.

The colony grew rapidly but was garrisoned mostly by units of the British Indian Army. After an Indian mutiny in 1867 spread to Singapore, the area petitioned to the British parliament to become a formal British colony. The currency was changed from the official Rupee to a dollar tied to the value of the Spanish dollar that was already the currency of commerce. The British kept the ethnicities in separate neighborhoods and tried to ban the Chinese Tongs to get a handle on the worst of the Chinese coolie trade and the rampant sex trafficking. This was less than successful but the city was still growing fast.

It still had the problem of being manly garrisoned by Indians. A local volunteer force was tiny and only one third coming from the majority Chinese population. The Indians mutinied again in 1916 and were put down. When the Japanese invaded Malaya in 1941 the British commanded forces greatly outnumbered the Japanese. Most of the troops were Indians who for the most part did not fight. The same was true of the local volunteer forces. The few British and Australians were relying greatly on their Navy and Air Force but the Japanese Air Force sank several British ships and shot down most of their airplanes. Churchill ordered Singapore defended till the end but while the final perimeter in Singapore was holding there was not enough food and water to feed the vast mostly Chinese population that was present, mostly male but taking no part of the defense. The local British General surrendered citing their welfare and Churchill described the fall as Britain’s greatest military calamity. The horrid treatment of British prisoners meant many still paid with their lives for Singapore after surrender. Asian captives were given the opportunity to serve Japan.

After the war the Straits Settlements Colony was disbanded with Singapore becoming it’s own colony. With little loyalty to Britain or Malaya, self government was allowed. Independence saw the new Malaysia attempt to claim Singapore but it broke away a year later. Many of the structures of the British were retained and the place as never stopped growing. Today the still majority Chinese country has a GNP per capita 40% higher than Great Britain. It is over 6 times that of China, 5 times that of Malaysia, and 30 times that of India. This year is the bicentennial of the founding of Singapore by Stanford Raffles. We will see if his memory receives it’s due.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the one percent of Singapore that made possible the great success of the other 99 percent. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2019.

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Great Britain 1987, Using Victoria and Albert to remind of paternalistic one nation Toryism

This is a great semi modern stamp. It gently and unthreateningly reminds how things once were. In doing so, it subtly reminds the 1987 Tory who he is, and maybe where a controversial Thatcher fits in. Pretty cool for a small piece of gummed paper that proves you paid the postage fee. 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.

There is a lot going on this stamp. Three scenes unrelated but brought together by being part of the Victoria Reign that had begun 150 years prior to this stamp. With four stamps in the set, I did another one here,https://the-philatelist.com/2019/03/22/great-britain1988-remembering-the-victorian-era-150-years-later/ , you get 12 views of Victorian Britain.

Todays stamp is issue A359, a 31 Penny stamp issued by Great Britain on September 8th, 1987. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 65 cents whether used or unused.

The first view, on the left, is of the Prince Consort Albert Memorial in London. Prince Albert was a large influence on Queen Victoria, preaching progress, a less political Monarchy, and more looking out for the common man. Prince Albert died young at age 42 of typhoid fever, and for the 40 years remaining in her Reign, Victoria wore black.

Victoria had the final say on what type of memorial should be. What was chosen was a bronze statue protected by a ciborium canopy as in a gothic church. It was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, a noted period gothic revival architect. The grounds near the Albert Hall had aligorical representations of the people, ideas and places important to Prince Albert. Showing the many aspects of Albert’s life, the Memorial gives a sense of his importance to the era.

The bronze Albert statue under the canopy. The book he is holding is the guide to the London Exposition he was so involved with.

The other two scenes are related showing a ballot box and long time but off and on Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. As more people had a say on their political representatives, Disraeli sought to imbue his party with a common set of principles so they would no longer just be vessels used by an individual politician. For the Tories he advocated a one nation conservatism that combined preservation of the institutions, with a program to uplift the common man. On this Disraeli and Victoria were simpatico.

Interestingly the one nation also had an aspect of including outsiders in the one nation. This perhaps comes from Disraeli’s Jewish heritage although his father had converted the family to Anglican when he was 12. As Prime Minister, There was much British involvement in trying to role back the declining Ottoman Empire. Disraeli would probably point to the Suez Canal as a benefit of the policy. It is not hard to see the British, Anglican power being used to move along the idea of a modern Jewish nation state in the then Ottoman territory of Palestine. Well when you include outsiders their goals become your goals. Indeed the current Tory manifesto expands the idea of one nation conservatism to a one world one. Are you sure about that one guys?

The Right, Honourable Member of Parliament Damian Green. He is the current Tory head of the One Nation caucus. He lost his seat in 2024.

Well my drink is empty and this stamp allows for three additional toasts. To Victoria, to Albert, and Mr. Disraeli. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2022.

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East Germany 1961, Walter Ulbricht, the other WWI German corporal turned leader with funny facial hair

The old pre Hitler communists returned by air from their exile at the Luxe Hotel in Moscow on April 30th, 1945. Their motto was, everything must look democratic, but we must control everything. Was this the formula for success? 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 is a common bulk postage stamp that exists in most all collections. So why am I writing it up? Well, despite owning this stamp for over 40 years, I had no idea who this guy was. Let us extrapolate that I am not the only one and expand our storehouse of knowledge.

Today stamp is issue A189, a 10 pfennig stamp issued by East Germany starting in 1961. There were 17 issues in different denominations coming out as late as 1971. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or used. As bulk postage, an intact 8 stamp booklet pane is rarer, and pushes the value to $10.50.

Walter Ulbricht was born in Leipzig in 1893, the son of a tailor. He studied as a carpenter and though very opposed to the wat, was drafted into the World War I German Army. In 1918 he deserted while serving in the Balkans and was jailed. After the war Ulbricht was radicalized and rose quickly in the ranks of the Communist party. He was a street brawler who often fought with his contemporary Nazi and Monarchist street brawlers. There was an interesting night in 1931 when Ulbricht debated the also then out of power local Nazi head Josef Goebbels. The debate got so heated that the two men came to blows and a riot ensued.

When the Nazis came to power, Ulbricht went into exile first in Paris then in Spain. In Spain his job was to rout out and assassinate Germans fighting on the Republican side of the Spanish civil war who were not adequately loyal to Stalin. He then moved to Moscow at the famous Luxe Hotel with other international communists. This was during Stalin’s purges and he was very suspicious of residents of that luxury hotel as a den of spies. Many were removed in the middle of the night. Of the 1400 German communists that went into exile, 222 were killed by the Nazis and 178 were killed by Stalin. No word on how many the monarchists got.

Moscow’s Hotel Luxe, the dangerous home away from home for German communists

Back in Germany in 1945, Ulbricht proved very effective at routing out rivals who could not be relied upon. He was appointed head of state in 1963 under the new title Chairman, his predecessor had been President. He tried to lessen influence of the west and stem the flow of German goodies eastward. Fellow Warsaw Pact countries would have to pay for more advanced East German technology and goods. No more reparations.

Ulbrecht was very concerned about western youth culture seeping into East Germany. He gave a famous “Yea, yea, yea” speech asking his comrades if it was correct to import every piece of western dirt just to have the young mindlessly chant yea, yea, yea referring to the lyrics of the Beatles song “She loves you”.

Ulbricht’s concerns culminated in requesting permission from the Soviets for building the Berlin wall that forever tainted his legacy. In his last years he was not popular in the east either as he never forgot to remind that East Germany was the wealthiest communist nation. He died in 1973.

Ulbricht married twice and also had an out of wedlock child between. His last wife Lotte was his secretary during his years at the Luxe Hotel in Moscow. Being younger, she stayed on in Berlin till 2002 in a house on Majakowskiring, the street of mansions that had been set aside for East Germany’s rulers. After German reunification, she attributed the failure of East Germany on Ulbrecht’s successors.

Walter and Lotte Ulbricht at the 1964 Leipzig Trade Fair.

Well my drink is empty and this fellow seems a little rough around the edges to toast, so instead I will toast nice beards. Very few can pull it off. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

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Great Britain 1989, defining educational leadership as bringing it to the masses earlier than most

When one thinks of education in Britain, one thinks of the 10 or so ancient public schools that train the aristocracy. This is instead about spreading the opportunity to the masses. More teachers certified to a low standard, less religion, more state control and resources. Something for every lowly brick in Pink Floyd’s wall. 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.

How strange this stamp is. Showing fireworks and a graduation cap. The first in a lower background family to graduate perhaps. Brought to you by your government who has decreed what you will be taught, how your progress is evaluated, who teaches you, and requires your attendance. This can be for the good but it was a big change in the 19th century. Perhaps we should hold off on the fireworks.

Todays stamp is issue A1252, 1 19 penny stamp issued by Great Britain on April 11th 1989. The stamp honours the 150th anniversary of public education that the stamp times to the Whig educational reform of 1839. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Education was around in England long before 1839. The public schools were selective, expensive, single sex, and mainly boarding. They were known for loneliness, bullying, and rampant homosexuality. They were also known for a classical education that was beyond any where else in the world taught by teachers that were experts in their fields. The contacts made by the students helped them to network their way to success in later life as part of a community of their classmates, in both senses of the world.

In the 19th century came the industrial revolution. Fewer people were needed on farms but had to be prepared for life as a factory worker. A basic knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic was helpful. Also though the ability to stay indoors all day and take instruction from strangers put in a position above. Most importantly perhaps was to get them in the habit of showing up when the reward of wages may be days or even weeks away.

This need was not adequately filled by the education system of the time that was mainly through the church. Liberal politicians had gotten a big increase in government education spending to provide workers for the new economy. It was also important to them that liberals be in charge of the system so that they could control what was taught and by whom.

To the liberals disappointment this is not how it was going. The educational grants given by government required local matching funds. Although non religious schools were free to apply, The Anglican church took the vast bulk of the government money as they were able to raise the matching funds through their school’s local parish.

This was not what the liberals had in mind and a change in the system was put through. As of the 1839 Whig reform bill. The three pillars of the reform were onsite school inspections, the end of local matching funds, and certification of teachers. One can see how this is really a takeover of the system. The reform had a great deal of success. The illiteracy rate in Britain dropped from about 40 percent in 1850 to about 5 percent in 1900. That perhaps calls for some fireworks. Literacy over time was measured then by the percentage of adults that were capable of signing their marriage certificates with more than an x. Curiously the system might have thought to be a bigger help to females, but they had a persistent advantage in literacy in Britain back to 1500.

Who knew the filling out of this was the ultimate test of the educational system’s changes. It is, or at least was, universal and across nations and economics

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast this years graduates. I have great confidence that you will be able to proudly sign you marriage certificates, if you ever bother to marry. Come again tomorrow, public schools having taught you the mistake of skipping, for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

 

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Confederate States of America 1862, Putting their live President on the stamps

When an area of a country breaks away some traditions fall away. One American tradition that ended in the Confederacy was not putting current leaders on postage stamps. 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 stamp today is the most common issue of the Confederacy. It featured an engraving of Confederate President Jefferson Davis by Ferdinand Joubert. The first 12,000,000 copies were printed in London by De La Rue and the shipment to Richmond included printing plates and paper to continue production of the stamp locally. The English paper ran out and the plates became worn so over time the quality of the printing deteriorated. I believe my copy is a later printing.

Todays stamp is issue A4, a five cent stamp issued by the Confederate States of America in 1862. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $7 mint but with no gum on the back. Gum would have doubled the value and it would have doubled again used. There is a mistake version of this stamp with the image of President Davis printed on both sides of the paper. It is worth $2,500.

The post office of the Confederacy is the department of the civilian government that functioned the best. The Postmaster John Reagan sent an agent to Washington with letters offering jobs to Union postal officials. Many accepted. The use of American stamps was banned after 7 weeks and local postmasters issued provisionals until the definitive stamp issues were ready. The postal rates were set higher than the Union, five cents on this stamp is the equivalent of $1.36 and only was good for a letter going less than 100 miles. The post offices stayed in operation until the end of the war.

Jefferson Davis grew up in Mississippi under wealthy circumstances. He served in the US Army in the Mexican War and owned a plantation that used slave labor. His first wife died of malaria after 3 months of marriage. After 10 years single Davis remarried the granddaughter of the governor of New Jersey and they had 4 children. He got into politics and served as Senator from Mississippi where he argued against succession. At a Constitutional Convention after succession. Davis was appointed the President of the Confederacy. The only other candidate considered was Robert Toombs of Georgia.

The war dragged on for almost 4 years when Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant. Davis and his cabinet escaped Richmond and headed south. The idea was to set up the government in exile in Havana and continue resistance in the large area of the South that was still controlled. Although the Confederate Treasury Secretary Judah Benjamin made it to Havana it wasn’t to be  and the Union caught up to Davis in Georgia. Southerners think the story that he was captured in female clothes trying to escape detection is a myth. He only had on his wife’s overcoat to keep off the cold. Okay then… He was held in irons awaiting trial for treason until Papal intervention and a large bail payment allowed his release.

A Yankee period image of the capture of on the run President Davis.

Davis lived for a time in Canada and Scotland before his legal troubles ended and he returned to the South. In Memphis, now separated from his wife he started an insurance company with former Confederate Officers as his agents. Davis also fought legally to reclaim his plantation which had been divided and rented out to his former slaves. Eventually his situation improved after the end of Reconstruction and Davis was able to write books and profit from Confederate nostalgia.

Weirdly to modern eyes, President Davis got an American stamp issue in 1970 in the Form of the Stone Mountain Memorial near Atlanta. In the last Georgia Governor’s election, Democrat candidate Staci Abrams proposed blasting the Confederate hero carving off the granite mountain in the style of the Afghan Taliban with their Buddhist stone relics. Abrams only lost the election by 20.000 votes.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Postmaster Reagan. Putting together a successful post office in a new country during a war must have been a big undertaking. I can forgive him for breaking tradition and including President Davis on the stamps. Just founding fathers would not have done enough to make clear the Confederacy was something new. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Russia 1958, A popular peasant poet searches for women and the bottle

You have to give credit, a poet only lives to thirty, annoys 3 different governments and 4 wives and still creates enough of a following that his poems are still enjoyed 100 years later. 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.

A good looking guy with sad eyes and ready with a lyrical poem at the ready will be a hit with the ladies. Sergei Yesenin was that. For this reason the postal authority took a little extra effort with the color and staging of the stamp portrait. This is easily seen in comparison to other stamps of the period honoring similar long gone figures.

Todays stamp is issue A1120, a 40 Kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union on November 29th, 1958. It was a single stamp issue honoring the poet Sergei Yesenin. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents in its cancelled to order condition.

Sergei Yesenin was born south of Moscow in 1895 to a peasant family. His parents worked in nearby cities leaving him to be raised by his maternal grandparents. They steeped him in the Russian tradition of the lyrical poetry that would be recited and sung around rural campfires in then Imperial Russia. He was literate and began writing his own verse young and this talent allowed him to be enrolled in better schools.

Studies in Moscow and Petrograd saw Yesenin in contact with the most famous literary and artistic figures of the day. His early poems were quite religious and his first wife worked at a publisher where Yesenin was also a proofreader. Thus even before age 20 there were poems getting published and read.

The Empress Alexandra described his poems as beautiful but sad and Yesenin said in response the same thing could be said for Russia as a whole. Yesenin was later drafted into the Czarist army but refused to be published in a pro Czar book of poems. He was a man of the left and thought the Kerensky revolution did not go far enough to change Russia. He therefore supported the October revolution although there was some conflict with the urban Jewish aspect of the new regime. The Cheka and NKVD harassed him and saw to it that some of his more political poems were not published. Yesenin had meanwhile deserted the Kerensky Army and left his first wife and took up and married a popular actress of the time. The revolution in Russia had many people  wondering on the future of the institution of marriage and there was already a tradition of women staying in one place while a man takes a new wife in a new place.

Yesenin continued to see his popularity surge and he later took up with an American singer who he met in Moscow. She was 15 years his senior and he followed her back to the USA. He found the USA vapid and materialistic and was soon divorced again and back in Russia. He was also by now drinking quite heavily and his frequent run ins with the police were now more to do with his drinking than his politics.

At 30 he married a last time to the granddaughter of Tolstoy. He also tried to drink less and work on a new collection of poetry. He was found hanged naked in a hotel in Leningrad with a last poem of goodbye written in his blood as he did not have a pen. He was given a full state funeral and there were several suicides among his female fans.

There is speculation that his suicide was staged by the secret police with evidence of a struggle in his hotel room and his blood written poem having perhaps come from the year before. Either way, he died young and left a good looking corps. A good way to add to his mystique. Interestingly at the time of this stamp, 1958, some of his poems were still banned. The full collection was finally published in 1966.

Well my drink is empty and I think I will have a few more while I read a few of Yesenin’s poems translated. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Spain’s Franco turns ruins back into a Monastery

Memories can be long in politics. 100 years before a liberal secular regime in Spain had confiscated Church lands and thereby closed Poblet Monastery. Generalissimo Franco did not approve of this and sought to put things back together. 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.

Under Franco’s long reign in Spain, much was done to restore physically what was done to the many historic and Holy places that had once belonged to the Catholic church. The result of this was a long series of stamps from Spain that showed the beauty and majesty of these sites. While by the end of Franco’s rule in the mid 70s this style of stamp was looking somewhat out of style, I can understand why Franco felt the restoration of the sites was an achievement that should be remembered.

Todays stamp is issue A285, a 3 Peseta stamp issued by Spain on February 25th, 1963. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations that honored the restoration of the Poblet Monastery. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Poblet Monastery was founded by Cistercian monks from France on land in Catalonia retook from the Moors. The Cistercians believed in a simpler form of monastic life that involved austerity and physical labor as part of the journey to God. In the 14th century and later it became the burial site of the Kings of Aragon.

In the 19th century, Spain was under the reign of Isabella II. She was at first represented by a regency and there was much back and forth between liberals and moderates in her administration. Into this situation came Juan Alvarez Mendizebal. He was quite liberal and a banker of Jewish background. He was first Finance Minister and the Prime Minister, albeit for only nine months. He enacted a program for the confiscation of Church lands. This was  put forward as a benefit to the poor but worked to transfer much land to already wealthy landowners. This was done with no payment to the church and indeed most of the properties seized were ransacked and burned, including Poblet Monastery. The Royal tombs were desecrated but a parish priest from a nearby town was able to save most of the remains. Mendizebal was eventually sent into exile in London and Queen Isabella II was eventually forced to abdicate and go into exile in Paris.

Architect of the looting of Church lands such as Poblet Monastery, Finance Minister Juan Alvarez Mendizabal
Queen Isaballa II during her Paris exile. Will the current disrespect and pillaging of traditional sites again end in escapes to London, Paris, or Tel Aviv, time will tell?

Franco was on the winning side of the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. He promised peace through law and order and respect for the Church and the Spanish heritage of colonization or as he put it nation building. In the particular of the Poblet Monastery, in 1940 a new group of Italian Cistercian monks were brought in to repair the monastery and get it going again. The royal remains were returned and the tombs restored. To the credit of all, the monastery was allowed to keep going after the end of Franco’s regime and still exists today as an active monastery. It currently has about 30 monks and is on its 105th Abbot.

Well my drink is empty and yes I am going to pour another and toast Generalissimo Franco. At least on this one thing, he was on the side of the angels. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

 

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China 1957, Building on Japanese and Russian foundations in Changchun, Manchuria

The first automotive plant in the biggest country by population in the world. Now the biggest automotive market in the world. 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.

You don’t often see smokestacks on a stamp. Today a developing country would probably just show the factory gate. The complex shown with its large size and wide boulevard gives a real sense to its importance to China. A truck factory was a big deal. the first domestic truck factory is a really big deal. Imagine a poor country where all the motorized transportation has to be imported. Inevitably this means there will be too few of them and the trucks will cost far more than they should, both to acquire and maintain.

Todays stamp is issue A73, a 4 Juan stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of China on May Day 1957. It displays the first automotive works that opened the year before. It was a two stamp issue. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth $2.75 mint.

Changchun has been an important center for industry since the 19th century. Located in Manchuria, it was the recipient of Russian and Japanese ambitions. In 1898 the train came to Changchun as a result of Russian construction building off their railroad network. It was for a while the end of the line as Japan fought a war with Russia in 1905 and for a short period their systems did not connect. The Japanese eventually set up a puppet state in Manchuria under old Emperor Puyi with it’s capital in Changchun. The Japanese put much effort into making Changchun a showcase city for the Greater East Asia Co Prosperity Sphere. They lavished much money on architecture and infrastructure. The population skyrocketed and in 1944 contained over 140,000 Japanese workers and 5 times that many Chinese. Some of that carried over  when the Chinese regained control of the city in the late 40s. Even today most Chinese bullet trains come from Changchun.

Japan Co Prosperity era government building still in use as a hospital in modern Changchun. Architectural Brutality with Japanese and Chinese flair. The Co Prosperity Sphere for the win.

The Russians accepted the Japanese surrender in Manchuria in 1945 and played a further role in the future of the Chinese city. When the plant on the stamp opened in 1956, the first product was a Russian truck, the Zis-150. The Chinese rechristened the truck the FAW Jia Fang C-10. It was the most common Soviet truck of the 50s and the Chinese made it until 1986. In 1958, the factory expanded its offerings to include the Hong Qi,(Red Flag), a long running series of limousines and large sedans for high officials.

The Soviet original Zis 150 truck. An image search for Gia Fang just gets you androgenous Chinese people with that name. I miss white wall tires as much as the next guy, but on the towed cannon?

The first factory is still around. The third largest domestic automaker FAW is still based in Changchun. FAW stands for First Auto Works. It is known today for its license production of Audi sedans and its own line of economy cars and commercial vehicles. As of yet, they have been unable to re-launch  the Red Flag series of limousines.

Well my drink is empty. This is perhaps not the story of success it would seem at first blush. Yes China fully supplies it’s own automotive market and indeed exports. What it has not been able to do to date, over 65 years later is design their own instead of licenses and pathetic thievery.  Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Fiume 1920, the city state, and Italian Regency of Carnaro, whose principle was music and weapon was castor oil

A city state near a moveable border and with a diverse population is a formula for unrest. Sometimes what comes to occupy the vacuum is just bizarre. 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.

Fiume never had a stable government in it’s five years of existence. So there was not time to let the drama of the place be reflected on the stamps. Many were just overprints of Italian or Hungarian stamps. The stamp today is a newspaper stamp that though Fiume specific is somewhat generic.

Todays stamp is issue N2, a newspaper stamp issued  by the free state of Fiume on September 12th, 1920. This was during the time the right wing Italian poet and soldier Gabriele D’Annunzio had declared himself El Duce and that Fiume was the Italian regency of Carnaro. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $4.00 mint.

Fiume is a port city on the Adriatic that for many years belonged to the Austria-Hungarian Empire. It was administered by Hungary and was their only port. The people who actually lived there were mainly Italians and Croatians. At the end of World War I, Fiume was not part of the land that transferred from Austria to Italy and Hungary was also not able to hold on to it. Italy and Serbia claimed it but at the suggestion of mediator Woodrow Wilson it was declared a free state. There was much turmoil with new governments every few months.

Into this quagmire lands uninvited an Italian poet and war hero named Gabriele D’Annunzio. This was before the fascists had taken over in Italy but Fiume became a model for that takeover. He declared himself El Duce of the Italian regency of Carnaro. Only the Soviet Union recognized his government. He gave long poetic and musical speeches from his balcony in the central square. He reorganized the government into a series of corporations where people were assigned various tasks. He famously enshrined in the constitution that one corporation was to protect the interest of poets, heroes and supermen. What no Philatelists? Perhaps they were covered by the title of Supermen. Music was also enshrined as a fundamental principle of the state. He put forth a new moto for Fiume, “This place is the best!”

Gabriele D’ Annunzio during the Regency of Carnaro. They say the Yugoslavs masacred all the right wing looking Italians in 1945. as the Italians did to the Hungarians in 1919. Wonder if any or these fellows were good at disguises.

D’Annunzio clamped down on opposition by the use of black-shirted thugs. They are believed in originating the technique of dousing opponents in castor oil. This was an extreme laxative that would immobilize and humiliate them. Eventually the Italian military forced D’Annunzio to withdraw from Fiume and Fiume reverted to Italy in 1924. This was opposed by the local government which became a government in exile. At the end of World War II they again tried to claim the city but their leaders were quickly assassinated by Yugoslavia which took the city for itself. Fiume is now the Croatian city of Rijeka.

D’Annunzio returned to Italy and retired to his villa. He was weakened physically when he fell from a window on the second floor. It is not clear if he was pushed or lost his footing due to intoxication. It meant though that he did not participate in the rise to power of his fascists allies in Italy. He did live on into the rule and was the recipient of honors from them. His son was a movie director of movies based on his stories.

Fiume passed to Italy in 1924, to Yugoslavia in 1945 and finally to date Croatia in 1991.

The now much sleepier Croatian city of Rijeka. Not many Italians or Hungarians left, the biggest minority is now Bosnians. Lucky Croatia.

Well, my drink is empty, and as I am on the third floor so I will abstain as I like lack the castor oil to keep the bastards at bay. Come again  for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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Canada 1971, Trudeau is outraged about Laporte’s kidnapping and murder, so the perps got 8 years in jail

A politician is kidnapped from his front yard and murdered and yet the confessed and convicted murderers get only 8 years in jail. We will explore today how this can happen. 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 stamp today looks older than it is. By the 1970s, most stamps including Canada’s offered bold colors. The only hints that this stamp is newer is the font that Canada is written in and the fact that 7 cents is too much to mail a letter in the earlier period. Perhaps the bland grey portrait of Mr. Laporte was thought in keeping with a mourning period. I think this is wrong. Turning him into a bland grey figure lessens the loss of what was a brutal crime where a man was targeted based on his moderate political views and for the crime of being willing to serve his province and country.

Todays stamp is issue A285, a 7 cent stamp issued by Canada on October 20th, 1971. The stamp honors Pierre Laporte a year after he was murdered. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it was mint or used.

Pierre Laporte was a journalist, lawyer, and politician from Quebec. As a journalist, his work was instrumental in alleging corruption in the regime of then Quebecois Premier Maurice Duplessis. Allegations of impropriety should always be taken with a grain of salt when they come from political opponents and that was the case here. Mr. Laporte was an active member of the rival Quebec Liberal Party and later served in the Quebec National Assembly and was provincial minister of Labor when the Liberal party was in power in the 60s. Though not as radical as some, the Liberal Party in Quebec broke away from the national Liberal party of Trudeau and set up separate Quebec pension and health systems and nationalized the electric utility in Quebec. What it also did was favor remaining in Canada. For this sin, Laporte had to pay with his life.

The Front for the Liberation of Quebec was a radical communist group that sought the succession of Quebec from Canada. Further they wanted to establish and independent Quebec that was francophone and only francophone and that the country be an ethnically cleansed communist worker’s paradise. They had much support from left wing types and engaged in 160 outbreaks of violence that killed eight people.

Flag pf the FLQ. That red star really brings forth the French heritage

Mr. Laporte was playing football in the front yard of his home with his nephew when he was kidnapped at gunpoint. The FLQ declared him the Minister of Unemployment and Assimilation. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau feigned outrage at the kidnapping and enacted special police powers to find the cell of the FLQ responsible.

Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1970 on TV announcing the roundup of the FLQ. He didn’t mention how short the jail terms would turn out.

The remains of Mr. Laporte were found eight days later having been strangled. FLQ support dropped as a result of the violence but Trudeau was nowhere man when it was time to see that the perpetrators of the kidnap and murder pay for their crimes. The death penalty was not possible in Canada at the time but sentences of life and thirty years were handed out to the for men who confessed and were convicted. This was just for show. The men served an average of 8 years in jail  and were even allowed to write books afterward that justified their actions and allowed them to profit from their crimes. One of the books was made into a movie partially funded by the film board of Canada. ‘Pierre Trudeau failed his people in allowing this to happen. I am sure his supporters will want to pass the buck on this but the buck stops with him.

FLQ people in the subsequent round up. The fellow would be able to shake his fist outside of police custody soon enough

Well my drink is empty. I wonder if the radical that was the young Pierre Trudeau led him to secretly sympathize with the FLQ or whether Laporte was too much of a like minded rival. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.