Category: Uncategorized

Categories
Uncategorized

Turkey 1962, succesors age in the shadow of the late Ataturk

Ataturk created the modern Turkey. After his death, his subordinents had to carry on while voters and the army decide if they measure up. 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.

Seeing Ataturk in his formal western finery over 20 years after his death is a testament to his influence. Yet it is very limiting on what is acceptable after he was gone. The two major parties were both run by aging men that had served under Ataturk. What Ataturk might have done was the limit of what was possible. Now there were elections where most of the voters are looking forward not back. On the other side is the army to make sure Ataturk’s track was the only one open.

Todays stamp is issue A325, a 30 Kurush stamp issued by the Republic of Turkey in 1962. It was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations that displayed the late President Ataturk in a tuxedo. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

When Ataturk died in 1938 he was replaced with former Prime Minister Mustafa Ismet Inonu. Ismet was fairly masterful in playing the two sides off of each other and staying out of World War II. He declared war on Germany in February 1945 when Germany no longer had troops on the border. He quickly worked for an alliance with the west. The Soviet Union was very desirous of naval bases in the Dardanelles that would prevent the Soviet Black Sea fleet from being bottled up in their few warm water ports. Truman offered Turkey membership in NATO and mountains of aid. With that influence came pressure that Turkey move toward multiparty democracy. In 1946, another former Ataturk Prime Minister Celal Bayar, formed a more liberal political party.

In the 1950 election, Bayar’s slogan was when Ismet came our fortunes left. This was a little unfair, as imagine how many fortunes would have left if a more foolish President had gotten into a war with Germany or the Soviet Union. It does make the point that pocketbook issues are important and economic progress can come slowly. Bayar won and there was a peaceful transfer of power. As the 50s went on, economic progress stayed slow but the death of Stalin saw the Soviet government withdraw claims to the Dardanelles. With the crisis passed, American aid faded and Bayar had the idea of improving relations with the Soviet Union in the hope of extracting aid from them.

This proved to be too much for the Turkish Army. They understood that the Soviet fleet was still bottled up in the Black Sea and any aid would be tied to fixing that. Bayar was overthrown in a coup and there was a big purge in the government with many including Bayar jailed for treason and some even executed. The army marketed this as protecting Ataturk’s legacy. The next year there was an election where Bayar’s party was banned and Ismet’s party returned to power. The people showed they were not completely behind it by not giving Ismet enough votes to avoid a weak coalition government, but at least the army returned to barracks. In 1965 Bayar’s party, still without Bayar, won but the army decided on another coup in 1970.

Ismet and Bayar in the shadow of Ataturk. Picture from 1938 but how each spent their whole lives

This seems quite a iffy situation to allow for NATO membership, but the prospect of keeping the Soviet fleet bottled up on the Black Sea and having the Soviets worried about their southern flank was too attractive militarily. Erdogan is now the new Ottoman Emperor and suddenly there are no more Turkish Ataturk stamps. Yet perhaps there is a reason that he seems so paranoid about a coup. Also reasons why President Trump hems and haws about letting Turkey buy and build under license NATO level weapons.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast all the good men who labor in the shadow of great men. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Mexico 1977, the economic miracle sputters out

It would be so much better for the United States if Mexico was more prosperous. Aid, Mexican favored trade deals, legal guest workers have all been attempted to give Mexico a boost. Yet today there is a crisis at the border and since this stamp 25 percent of the population of Mexico has migrated out. There was a period between the forties and the seventies where it looked like this sad fate might be avoided. 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 tries to put a brave face on economic progress. A Mexican made car travels on a modern highway and has been doing so for 25 years, which equates almost exactly to the American Interstate highway system. A closer look though reveals the flaws. The highway shown is only 38 miles long between Mexico City and a weekend getaway. It is a high toll road, so only available to the wealthy few in Mexico. The car is a Mexican assembled Renault 12, a modern in the day French car but one with only 54 horsepower so barely capable of expressway travel. When Mexico became slightly more open to foreign cars, the Renault factory quickly closed. Things are not quite as rosy as they seemed.

Todays stamp is issue C544, a 1.4 Peso airmail stamp issued by Mexico on November 30th, 1977. It was a single stamp issue that celebrates the 25th anniversary of the first section of the Autopista toll federal highway system. According to the Scott catalog the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

World War II was progressive for Mexico. They stayed out but opportunities for legal guest workers opened with the USA and there was a more friendly relationship with the USA. Mexicans had proved capable of factory work and the government set up a system that promoted local production of goods and kept out import competition. Exports to the USA were allowed and unique in the history of Mexico there was a twenty year period where Mexico was able to maintain a fixed exchange rate with the USA, which lessened the constant third world problem of capital flight. The government, a stable one party system, stigmatized immigration to America and cooperated with USA immigration to curb illegal crossers. The time saw on average 7 percent annual economic growth. However the population was growing so fast that it worked out to only 3 percent growth per capita.

In the seventies, the pattern of growth broke down. Excessive, non productive spending by the government saw to the first of many Peso devaluations. Naturally wage growth did not make up for the Peso’s buying power decline so the industrial worker paid a huge price. The industrialization had given the worker some skills and that opened up the ability to perform more than just agricultural work in America but much better paying jobs in construction and industry.

By the 80s, workers were flooding out of Mexico and there was the sad picture from the old days of the government looking north with it’s hand out. Bailouts followed and Mexico’s successful industrial policy was liberalized which saw much of it become foreign owned. The illegalities of illegal immigration expanded to drug and sex trafficking and law and order further broke down. The location next to the USA has seen Mexico, the 75 percent that stayed doing well by Latin America standards but the gnp per capita is a little less than 15 percent of the USA. This is about on a level with Brazil or China. I am sure the Mexicans hoped for more by now.

The Autopista system may have started the same time as the American Interstate system, but progress is slow and use is less due to the high tolls,(US$ .20 per mile). See below the gap filed current rout map. The best selling car is the Nissan Versa that is more highway capable and made in Mexico. Nissan is now owned by Renault and the Versa is a French design so what goes around comes around.

Current Autopista network

Well my drink is empty and after all the tolls there is nothing left to pay for another round. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

USA 1947, showing off the pinnacle of American power by way of the postal service

The USA was the real victor of World War II. Other important nations had fought on the winning side but they also paid a heavier price in men and treasure. The USA did less of the fighting and almost none of that on it’s own soil. So it came out on top. What better way than to revel in the new found power and prestige by cloaking the bragging with the uncontroversial postal service. 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 while back we did a surprising similar stamp from late 1970s Soviet Union. See, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/04/05/russia-1977-should-be-recruiting-for-the-kgb/ .The late 70s being perhaps when Soviet prospects in the cold war looked most promising. That stamp hinted more of intrigue while the Americans are showing off the then state of art hardware. 72 years later what  was an impressive assortment looks more quaint and period. So I will give my nod to the Russian offering, realizing that on the date of issue the nod might have gone the other way.

Todays stamp is issue A394, a three cent stamp issued by the USA on May 17th 1947. It was a single stamp issue commemorating 100 years since the first American stamp. In addition to showing modern mail delivery equipment, it shows the same portraits of George Washington and Ben Franklin that were on the original American stamp issue from 1847. According to the Scott catalog, this stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used. Mint copies of the original George Washington issue of 1847 are worth $35,000 with Ben Franklin coming in at $6,750.

Ben Franklin was wealthy and had many accomplishments both before and after American independence. During the later stage of the British colonial period he was employed by them as a Postmaster. With revolutionary sympathies, he used his position to read the mail of Loyalists to the Crown. When this was found out, he was hauled before the House of Commons and mocked. A great man, a Man of Letters who then stooped to reading other peoples mail. Franklin was guilty but also humiliated and it is said the experience made him a much more militant revolutionary.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to celebrate tax day soon being over. The day is less important for those due a refund as they send their returns in early but those who wait for tax day usually owe. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Gabon 1910, The French like the Fang, but wish they would lay off the psychedelic bark

Gabon proved to be one of the most pro-French of the colonies. So much so that the independence leader contrived to stay close even after independence. 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 French colonial issue showing a Fang warrior. The Fang tribe was a favorite of the colonial authorities and they took their place in the colonial administration and even post independence. So showing someone so exotic and by extension claiming he is on your side does a great deal to enhance the legitimacy of the colonial undertaking.

Todays stamp is issue A10, a 5 Centimes stamp issued by the French colony of Gabon in 1910. It was a 23 stamp issue that showed the Fang tribe and views if Libreville, the capital that had been started with French help by slaves freed from a slave ship bound for Brazil. There are versions of this issue labeled Equatorial Africa and French Congo along with Gabon to go with the often changing structure  of the colonial administration. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp id worth 90 cents used.

Gabon had several European trading posts along the coast but it was the French that sent explorers into the interior and claimed the land for France. The trading posts were mainly in the slave trade and a French ship working as part of the naval blockade against the slave trade stopped a ship bound for Brazil and set the slaves free to set up the Libreville settlement and future capital. In turn the Fang tribe assisted the French in their exploration of the interior. Among the help was a barber and seamstress   for the expedition that parented Leon M’ba the future President for life of independent Gabon.

His road to power was not smooth. He received education in French Catholic schools and received jobs with the tribe, the colonial administration, and the lumber trading houses that were the main industry then. In adulthood, he reverted from Catholic  to the Bwiti religion of his tribe. He was known to be quite corrupt but for a while the French turned their heads to that as he was the best of a bad lot. In 1931, however there was a woman’s remains found in the market and her death was blamed on Bwiti religious practices involving ingesting psychedelics from tree bark. M’ba was then scapegoated as a prominent practitioner of Bwiti and sentenced to jail and exile for his corruption. He was successful in exile in Brazzaville and later allowed back into Gabon in 1946.

From their M’ba’s progress was fast. He presented himself to the people as one of them who had faced persecution. In private he was very close to the colonial authorities. It was a conservative place and though there was a desire for independence there was also a desire for keeping close ties with France, M’ba even claimed that Gabonese had two fatherlands Gabon and France. M’ba did not have much luck with the system left by France as there was no one who could achieve a majority under a democracy. Power was consolidated under M’ba and he became a one party President rather than the earlier Prime Minister. The French supported M’ba when there was a coup attempt and at M’ba’s request, a French Ambassador was recalled for not offering M’ba enough advise on policy. By the late 1960s M’ba was an old man who spent the last years of his rule in Paris hospitals. When he died in 1967 he was succeeded by his vice President Albert Bongo. Bongo and now his son rule to this day. In 1973, Bongo converted to Islam and took a new name. No word whether he gave up the psychedelic bark.

Well my drink is empty and there is really no one here worthy of a toast. How depressing, I think I will have another drink. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Sharjah lets you enjoy modern art thanks to Finbar Kenny

Taking us back to a time when stamp collecting was big business allows us to see why the hobby declined. 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 style of stamp issue is called a dune. It is not recognized as a real stamp by the catalogs as they were printed outside the tiny Emirate and the designs had nothing whatever to do with the country. The Emir had merely outsourced his possibility of producing stamps. The designs are well printed but done for dramatic visuals rather than inform about exotic places. It is thought by many that having children involved in the hobby insured the future. Instead playing to them chased off the adults and left even real countries modern offerings resemble Sharjah’s stamps.

Sharjah is a tiny Emirate on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. For many years the principle industry was pearl diving. It has been ruled by the Al-Qasimi clan since the early 18th century. Soon after the Emirate became a protectorate of Great Britain which was chosen over a similar status offered by the Ottoman Empire. The British built an airport in Sharjah as it was a useful stopover from planes going between Baghdad and India. The British also handled the postal system with a civilian post office in nearby Dubai and a military one operating out of Sharjah’s airport.

As the British faded the local Emirs began negotiating toward what became the United Arab Emirates. In the time several Emirs became involved in the big money stamp business of the 1960s thanks to the efforts of American businessman Finbar Kenny. Finbar Kenny had been an executive at the American department store Macys. He was head of their stamps department. I will give you a moment to collect yourself after falling out of your chair. Yes at the time department stores often had stamps departments. The innovation came in the 1930s when Minkus first set up his card tables near the elevators of department stores. This would occupy the children so the mothers could shop. It may have something to do with some collectors not collecting stamps produced after World War II.

Finbar Kelly then went out on his own. He made deals with Emirs to produce stamps in their name. In the case of Manama, it was just a tiny village. He designed dramatic stamps that would attract the young and printed them in great quantity. The coming together of the UAE was the end of these deals in 1973. Finbar Kelly then approached the Cook Islands with a similar deal. The commissions were to support old age pensions on the island. Soon the trouble started. A Prime Minister approached Finbar Kelly and asked for an advance on the revenue which he was given. He used the money to fly in voters to the small island to sway the election his way. The Supreme Court of the islands discovered what happened and removed the Prime Minister. They then remembered the money and went after Finbar Kelly for bribery. They made him double pay that years stamp revenue and pay an additional fine of $50,000. Apparently it was his fault that they are a bunch of crooks. Well probably so for having involved himself.

Well my drink is empty but I will pour another to toast Finbar Kelly. His stamp issues probably hurt the hobby more than helped it and even 50 years later are not worth anything. They were dramatic and who doesn’t like looking at unlicensed reproductions of modern art. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

New Zealand 1989, a small country remembers playwright Bruce Mason

A small country has a difficult time with high culture. As New Zealand felt less a part of the wider British Commonwealth, there was a tendency to issue stamps for local figures that may not rise to that level of acclaim. 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.

Todays stamp is an example of why I am more comfortable with old issues. This was a four stamp issue of NZ authors. None are well known. There is the prerequisite woman, two undistinguished white guys and  a Maori writer. The designers clearly planned it out that way. As with racial and sexual quotas with employment, the enterprise tends to lessen the achievement of those given the awards with this criteria.

Todays stamp is issue A328, a 70 cent stamp issued by New Zealand on March 1st, 1989. The four stamps were in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is still worth 70 cents, though now in United States dollars.

Bruce Mason was born in 1921 and served in the army in World War II and in the forestry service post war. He also was a playwright and a founding partner of the Downstage Theatre in Wellington. His most famous work was a semi autobiographical play named “The End of the Golden Weather” It is the story of depression era boy traumatized by local riots who befriends a mentally challenged boy named Firpo. Firpo dreams of running in the Olympics but has no athletic ability and ends up in a mental institution. Sounds like pretty dreary stuff and when made into a movie it was recast as a buddy picture.

Mason went on to many other plays that often hinged on the downsides of the Maori experience, though that was not Mason’s heritage. He also was a critic in the local paper in Wellington. No word whether all his critiques were not dreary enough. Mason died of cancer in 1981 and his Downstage Theatre closed in 2013. No worries, the government has taken up his legacy and not just with the stamp issue. His name is used on a reward to promising local playwrights. They also attached his name to an event venue in Auckland that is preparing to put on a musical based on the life of Nelson Mandela. I am sure all this makes Kiwis very proud. I hope those putting on the Mandela musical will remember the legacy of Mr. Mason and make it dreary. I am confident.

Well my drink is empty and I may pour a few more while I ponder the future of stamp issuance in the pc age. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Switzerland 1938, cellebrating the new building after the organization had failed

Utopians never stop believing. Hence the organization still goes on today in it’s hundredth year even though it was born in a way that guaranteed failure. 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 from the interwar years shows the Brutalist structure built along Lake Geneva to house the International Labor Organization. The organization was intended to standardize labor practices at a high level across countries. A tall order and clearly something that rose from the socialist workers movement. As such, a brutalist building is a must, and this stamp does a good job of showing the building in its best light.

Todays stamp is issue A63, a 20 Centimes stamp issued by Switzerland on May 2nd, 1938. It was a four stamp issue celebrating the new League of Nations buildings in Geneva. I covered the Palace of Justice stamp here, https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/07/the-league-gets-a-palace-but-so-late-they-just-leave-it-empty/  . According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

World War I had seen Europe devastated. There was wide agreement across countries that there should be a new set of standards for the working person post war. The Second International Socialist Movement had excluded the movements earlier association with anarchists and now was in a better situation to suggest improvements for workers. Among them were no child labor, an eight hour work day, a minimum living wage, right to organize, and equal pay for equal work for women. All sensible demands that would be enacted and enforced by the League. At the time there were still worldwide European Empires so the European countries could by extension set the standard worldwide.

That is until the USA got involved. The USA sent labor leader Samuel Gompers to negotiate and his position was to water down the standards. Gompers was a Jewish immigrant from Britain and Netherlands who entered the labor movement from cigar making in New York City’s lower east side. That sounds like someone who would fit in well with the European Socialist movement. Gompers differed from them in several ways. He thought the movement should be particularly about the worker represented and less about a wider class struggle. He also worried that the international standards would act as a maximum as well as a minimum standard. Through Gompers intervention the standards were watered down and had no enforcement mechanism. The USA after fundamentally changing it, actually refused to join the organization until 1934.

Post war the organization continues under the United Nations and employs 2700 people. It also operates a training program in partnership with a University in Turin, Italy. The organization keeps statistics and sets goals but is ever hampered by having no enforcement capability and now with so many small, poor countries to deal with.

It is fun to imagine if the organization had worked as intended. The high standards would have lead to a high cost of labor that would have been fairly uniform across countries. This would probably reduced international trade but at the same time reduced economic dislocations that come from profit seeking capitalists seeking out ever cheaper labor. It also would have been interesting to see how it would have coped with decolonization. It may have surprisingly found itself in favor of continued colonial status in order to maintain the hard fought standards. This then might have prevented the increase in migrant workers as they often are seeking countries where their labor will be more valued.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the architects of brutalism. Imposing socialism from above was going to be a tall order. The architects gave them a building, that while not beautiful, leaves you imagining the people within are capable of accomplishing it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

Categories
Uncategorized

Greece 1969, the regime of the Coronels remembers the world war differently

In 1941, Greece had a right wing government and a King but an alliance with Britain. Thus they were invaded by Germany, quickly conquered and the King fled. Most opposition to the Germans was communist. When the Germans decided to pull out the Royal government came back and had a big fight not with fascists but with communists. what an embarrassing mess but leave it to then Greek junta to invoke Athena and make everything smell peachy. 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.

I really admire the confidence of the then Greek government in invoking ancient Athena in recognizing Greece’s war experience. The ancient warrior Queen rising up to rid Greece of Italians, Germans, Bulgarians, fascists, communist, and whoever else passed through. Well all of the above were there and then they weren’t, so why not give the credit to Athena. What a miracle!

Todays stamp is issue A275, a 4 Drachma stamp issued by the Kingdom of Greece on October 12th, 1969. It was a three stamp issue celebrating the 25th anniversary of the liberation of Greece from the Germans, Italians, and Bulgarians. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Greece had intended neutrality in World War II. The government was right wing with ties to Germany but the King was an Anglophile. When Italy annexed Albania in 1939 and threatened Greece, Britain offered to guarantee Greek borders. Italy was quickly beaten back but then the Germans invaded and little resistance was offered. The King was evacuated to Crete and then Egypt and formed a government in exile. Resistance to the Germans was almost entirely communist that had little contact with the government in exile.

When the Germans decided to withdraw intact from Greece in 1944 it got very interesting. The king appointed a national unity government under center left politician Geogios Papandreou. When they arrived with British help they found what an obstacle the Communists partisans were. German puppet Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Rallis had formed Greek units to fight the partisans and it was these units that stood up beside the British to fight the Communists. Unlike under the German occupation, there were street battles in Athens. Even during this fighting, Papandreou resigned from the new government because of the involvement of the fascists and Rallis was put in jail for collaborating with the fascists. A mess and Greece was plagued by civil war for years afterward. Britain had to fight against unexpected foes to retain influence in Greece.

Rallis despite his collaboration was a fairly conventional center right politician. His father was Prime Minister in an earlier time ant though Rallis died in jail his son became another center right Prime Minister in the 1980s. I mentioned the Papandreou resigned when things got tough in 1944. That does not mean he did not have several more terms as Prime Minister. In 1967 there was a coup in Greece lead by right wing Coronels of the Army. Papandreou was opposed to this and placed under house arrest. He soon died in a similar captivity to Rallis. His grandson in the 2000s was also a center left Prime Minister.

Well my drink is empty and I am sure my British readers most have all would have wished Greek neutrality had been honored. That might have still left them to Stalin in 1945, but I bet they would have been a big pain in his neck either way. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Romania 1955, promoting female empowerment or just Stalin in a skirt

Interesting the earlier communist issues of Romania before the stamps were farmed out for foreign exchange. The image of the lowly citizen in their labors as part of the creation of a better state was unique to the time. How much was the reality however. 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.

Romania in the mid 50s was still paying a huge price for the previous governments having fought alongside the Axis in World War II. The overwhelmingly peasant, agricultural based economy was required to make great transfers of wealth to the Soviet Union. Yet these stamps show little of the country’s agriculture, instead opting for industrial workers and urban students such as the girl pictured on this stamp. The communists party was divided between the prison faction, industrial leftists organizers that were imprisoned for their activism and the Moscow faction, more intellectual, mainly Jewish leftists who had been in exile in Moscow until they returned with the Red Army in 1944. The 80% of the country that were simple peasants can be excused for feeling removed from the debate.

Todays stamp is issue A378, a 40 Bani stamp issued by the Peoples Republic of Romania in 1955. It was a 12 stamp issue in various denominations that featured various professions in Romania. Only one of the stamps was an agricultural worker who showed off a new tractor, no doubt provided by the new communist industrialization. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.

As the fortunes of war changed Romania attempted to change sides. The fascist Prime Minister Antonescu was dismissed and arrested by King Micheal and turned over to the Red Army for a show trial and execution. Communist industrial leaders including future General Secretary Gheorghe Gheorgiu-Dej were released from jail and quickly appointed to high roles in the still Royal government. The Red Army  was welcomed and with them came Romanian exiled Communists like Ana Pauker who became foreign minister, the first female to hold such a position in the world. The communist raising of women to high postions was real. By 1948 the communist takeover was complete with the King forced at gunpoint to abdicate but then generously allowed to leave weighted down with crown jewels and 47 paintings. Better than King Michael did for his former partner Prime Minister Antonescu.

There was now a power struggle setting up over who got to run the Communist Party. In this Ana Pauker was at a big disadvantage. She had been absent and was of Jewish background. The Jews had been very unpopular in the old days as the often operated as advantage taking intermediaries between peasants and absentee German landlords. There were far fewer Jews after the atrocities of the war years but where Gheogiu-Dej had suffered for his beliefs in fascist jails, Anna Pauker had prime gigs in places like Paris and Vienna promoting international communism.

Ana Pauker

Stalin was very much in charge in the client state of Romania and he had become suspicious of dual loyalty among Jews in the movement. Suggestions of dual loyalty are often used as a slight against Jews but when Ana Pauker went against Stalinist policies by helping remaining Jewish Romanians escape to Isreal and trying to extract extra privledges for wealthier Kulates peasants her fate was sealed. She was removed as Foreign Minister and placed in jail awaiting her own show trial. The death of Stalin got her reprieved, as she was friendly with Molotov’s wife but she was unsuccessful in her quest to return to power. She died of breast cancer in 1960.

Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

With all the debts due Moscow Gheogiu-Dej progress in Romania was slow. He attempted to industrialize to busy the many workers coming off the farm and started trading ties to the West. His largest achievement was negotiating the withdrawal of the Red Army from Romania in 1958. He died of lung cancer in 1965 and his deputy Ceausescu replaced him and continued to expand industrial ties to the west.

Well my drink is empty and I don’t think I would do well in the Romania of the day as I have many loyalties. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Canada creates an Order of Canada, to further seperate from the British Queen, but has her hand it out

Liberal Canadians were a little different pre Pierre Trudeau. Still interested in building Canada as a separate independent nation, but still recognizing the ties to Britain. The period the Order of Canada comes from explains the structure. 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 is a fairly straightforward view of the medal, seen in the highest of the three grades. The red maple leaf is only on the highest companion level. Interesting that the red maple leaf was designed in the same era as a symbol of Canada independent of the Empire. Yet the Medal awards the status of being a companion of the British Monarch. Reflective of the confused time.

Todays stamp is issue A363, a 12 cent stamp issued by Canada on June 30th, 1977. It was a single stamp issue honouring the 10th anniversary of the of the establishment of the Order of Canada. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether it is mint or used.

It was decided to offer a medal to outstanding Canadian citizens in the mid 1960s. Before that, a smaller number of Canadians were recognized as part of the British Honours system. The government of the time was Liberal, under then Prime Minister Lester B Pearson. A committee of Canadians would recommend a list of potential honorees to the British Governor General of Canada who then approves them on the authority of the Queen. The three levels of the medal represent the Monarch (Companion), The Governor General (Officer), and everyone else (Member). About 100 medals are handed out every year. It is safe to say that if the medal had come into being 5 years later, under Prime Minister Trudeau with his greater Quebec sensibilities, the British Royals would have been bypassed.

The award is not always well received. One or two percent of the awards are refused. Usually because of divided loyalty regarding potential Quebec independence or Jewish Heritage. The committee works to be inclusive of those from Quebec and people of First Nation heritage, which is what Canada calls Indians. However the Medal is relinquished if the honouree is convicted of a crime. The nature of the Medal sees it going to many political activists and occasionally a controversial one sees older awards being returned in protest. The medals are officially property of the Queen but are allowed to be passed down within families as an heirloom. Occasionally one comes up for sale. One bought at an estate sale for $45 and then put on eBay for resale. Bidding hit $750,000 before eBay pulled the auction.

The award can be seen as a short step away from Britain but some time there is a circle back around. It has been more recently decided that being awarded the medal entitles the recipient to have a Canadian Family Crest designed for those that don’t already have one. The Queen signed off on a Canadian Heraldic Authority in 1987, so Canadians no longer had to apply to the existing ones in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Sounds pretty silly, but I have a representation of my (British) family crest hanging on the wall, so who am I to judge.

Well my drink is empty and so I will patiently wait till tomorrow when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.