Categories
Uncategorized

Japan 1991, Japan’s Heisei period brings in decline, the child’s ways and the herbavore man

When an economy changes, society follows. Japan was still an advanced rich country, but I bet they never thought a few economic reverses could have the men go from the hard working, hard drinking company man to the comic book and anime loving herbivore man in one generation. 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 was drawn by a child showing old style folk dancers. It was a four stamp issue displaying the chosen winners of an international design contest. In addition to the folk dancers, there were butterflies, flowers and a depiction of world peace. Not really my type of thing. The next issue from was Kabuki performers. This issue shows much better what possible from stamp designing professionals and the contrast shows why it might best be left to them.

Todays stamp is issue A1601, a 62 Yen stamp issued by Japan on May 31st, 1991. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

In 1989 Emperor Hirohito died and was replaced by his son Akihito as the 125th Japanese Emperor. His period is referred to as the Heisei era. The change coincided with some pretty radical changes in the economy. The economy had grown greatly on an export driven boom that sent Japanese manufactured goods aimed at the middle class around the world but especially to the USA. The resulting foreign exchange greatly boosted the value of the Japanese Yen and with that asset values of stocks and real estate. The hollowing out of the middle class in the USA and elsewhere and the emergence of lower cost South Korea following closely Japan’s playbook had a devastating effect. First the excesses in asset valuation disappeared over night. This reduction in wealth was felt immediately at the individual level. The hollowing out soon reached Japan’s manufacturers and  they were not able to sustain practices of lifetime employment that Japan perceived was so central to their superiority. Some may ponder the entitlement involved in just assuming that other places will forever pay for the privilege of Japanese goods in place of their own products. I wonder, as an American, how it was allowed to happen in the first place.

Younger Japanese men no longer had such promising careers to look forward to despite ever higher levels of educational achievement. They took to continuing youthful pursuits such as video games, anime, and comic books. Japan has remained a leader in those fields even as those giant Japanese conglomerates from another era struggle.

So we get to the herbivore man. They are insulted as grass eaters and sexless based on them not marrying or, I guess we have to list this separately now, fathering children. It is however a global truth that women will not marry men if they are not advanced economically by the union. So the marriage and child birth rate declined directly with the collapse in economic opportunity for men. In Japan as in most places, women are ever more in the workforce but there has not been a corresponding growth in out of wedlock births as elsewhere. This may be some evidence of the herbivore slight. Oriental Asian men do have on average lower levels of testosterone. The preponderance of an Asian style diet among American young men  facing similar economic challenges has resulted in the “soy boy” slight.

Well my drink is empty and I think my wife and I will have a cheeseburger for dinner. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Dubai 1971, coming from nowhere to be a TV powerhouse

As of the time of this stamp, Dubai did not yet have a TV station. It was coming though. 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.

Dubai’s last stamps were in 1972 as the United Arab Emirates took over a universal postage service. As such Dubai can be forgiven for jumping the gun to show off it’s upcoming TV station. The station would be a rival to Abu Dhabi’s TV station that opened in 1969. So a united UAE might not have been so excited by it. The stamp shows the Intelsat satellite, that first brought the world the Beatles singing “All you need is Love”. It also shows Sheik Rashid bin Said who was then transitioning from Dubai’s leader to the united UAE leader.

Todays stamp is issue A25, a 10 Riyal stamp issued by the Emirate of Dubai in 1971. It was part of a 10 stamp issue in various denominations showing new construction in Dubai. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 85 cents used.

Oil was discovered in 1966 and got into production in 1968. Before that Dubai got by as a British Protectorate/ trading post whose biggest industry was pearl diving. That industry had been greatly challenged by Japan’s innovations in offering cultured pearls. In 1967 Great Britain announced that they were scaling back their worldwide commitments and ending Protectorate status. At the same time India devalued the Rupee which was still the local currency. The oil discovery really couldn’t have come at a better time. Old rivalries with Abu Dhabi were put aside and the United Arab Emirates were formed.

One thing that had been learned from the British was the value of opening up to the people of the world, as was so beneficial to places like Hong Kong and Singapore. Dubai did this not just in terms of contract workers but took it to the next level in opening tax and tariff free zones to incubate new industries that could then offer much employment not tied to the finite resource of the oil. In terms of television broadcasting Dubai formed a Media Free Zone that enabled broadcasters from around the world to produce and distribute content. Dubai’s home grown television station was not left out. Soon it added a second channel offering programing  aimed at the expatriates offering western shows and offerings in Hindi. The area now produces programing including news, cultural shows, religious programing, as well as soap operas, dramas and even children’s cartoons.

It is hoped that the diversification of the economy will be a enough to keep the boom going after the oil runs out. As of now, the belief is that the oil will runout in 2029. The government believes by then it will be able to keep revenues at 90 % of the 2013 level. Over time it is hoped that there will be enough qualified locals to replace most contract workers and the country will still benefit from it’s unique and long standing trade relationship with Iran, that much of the world shuns.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Sheik Rashid bin Said, who ruled from 1959-1990. Faced with challenges, he sought out opportunity. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Great Britain? year, The Philatelist nominates this to be the final postage stamp

With Iceland announcing the end of their postage stamp issuance and with small country farm outs ever less connected with the country or origin, I have been wondering about what the end of postage stamp issuance would look like. Therefore a modest proposal. 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.

If this were the last stamp, think how much of the 180 years of the hobby of stamp collecting could be included. The British Penny Black was the first stamp and in itself a major reform of the postal system. Copied all over the world. William Wyon’s 1837 Victoria profile became so recognizable that it was used for her whole Reign without ever requiring even including the country name on the stamp. Arnold Machin’s profile of a timeless Queen Elizabeth II has now lasted even longer and the two basic images together work so well. Make this the last stamp.

The Penny Black was the first postage stamp. Previously to mail one had to go to the post office and pay the post master who would then initial the top corner of the envelope. It was realized that selling stamps in sheets would greatly ease commercial mailing by enabling pre payment. The increased mail volume would allow a drop in price for a standard domestic letter to one penny regardless of distance. This was a third of the previous rate which added heavily for distance. The stamp was elaborately engraved on high quality paper to avoid counterfeiting. Gum on the back and perforations would come later. The penny black was not completely successful in one regard. The red cancelation on the black stamp could be washed off by sly re-users. In 1842 the penny black was replaced by a penny red of the same design that used a permanent black cancelation.

In the early days of Elizabeth II’s Reign, a three quarter face portrait picture by Dorothy Wilding was used on the stamps. This was controversial among some stamp designers as it took up so much of the stamp. There was also a push to remove the Sovereign from the stamp and add UK to the stamps. This was promoted by left politician and then Postmaster General Tony Benn. By the mid 1960s even the Queen herself could see the issue of continued use of the dating Wilding portrait was not optimal. A new competition was held with the Queen to pick the winner.

The winner was Arnold Machin’s profile that was originally a bas-relief in clay done from pictures by Lord Snowden. He originally included the Queen holding a bouquet of flowers but decided on simplifying it before submission. Elizabeth is wearing the George IV State Diadem crown dating from 1820 and also worn by Victoria in the Wyon profile. The image was also used on coinage starting with decimalization in 1968 and earlier on Rhodesian coins. Elizabeth’s image was updated on the coins in the 1980s but she sensibly refused the suggestion to update the stamp image. Machin got his own stamp in 2007 and his work of art is the most commonly reproduced in the history of the world, 320 billion times to date.

A note about inflation. This stamp shows a value of 20 Pence, below the current rate of 70 Pence. If you adjust the 1840 1 Penny for inflation and decimalization, it works out to 35 Pence. For a final issue and everyone’s last letter mailed, why not go back to one penny for a day or even a week. Think of the final volume and remember you are still benefiting from decimalization! There are no longer 240 Pennies in a Pound.

Well my drink is empty and I can’t claim any influence on how things will end. This stamp wouldn’t be the worst. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting

Categories
Uncategorized

Wallis & Futuna 1930, local Kings bend but do not break toward France

How to accept European help without forsaking the local culture? It wasn’t an easy question in the 19th century, nor in the 21st. 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.

On a small group of islands, there is a tendency to try to administer them jointly with similar far off south Pacific French Colonies. Hence the New Caledonia stamp overprinted for postal service in Wallis and Fortuna Island. This of course leaves some potential revenue on the table from the international stamp collector. Since World War II Wallis and Futuna have been well supplied  with farmed out topical stamp issues.

Todays stamp is issue A19, a 1 Centime stamp issued for use in Wallis and Futuna by French colonial authorities based in New Caledonia beginning in 1930. It was a 42 stamp issue in various denominations that came out over 14 years. According to the Scott catalog, this stamp is worth 25 cents unused. A version with a double overprint is worth $200. There are also later rival versions from wartime. A version without the RF in the top left corner means it was issued by Vichy France. These never reached the colony for use. There is a rival version with France Libre overprinted above the existing Wallis and Futuna overprint. These did make it to island service after the islands went Free French and are worth $2.50. The islands initially pledged to Vichy France but changed sides when the USA Marines landed.

The first humans on Wallis and Futuna were the Lapita ancestors of the Polynesians. Futuna was first spotted by the Dutch and Wallis by the British. The first Europeans to land in 1837 were French Catholic Missionaries. The group was lead by Priest and later Saint Peter Chanel. At first Chanel had very little luck but slowly made some conversions. When the King’s son was Baptized that was perceived as going too far as the King saw himself as both King and High Priest of the island. He sent his son in law, a noted warrior, to his son and the two fought. Injured, the son in law sought out Father Peter for help. While Father Peter tended his wounds, other warriors ransacked his house and then bludgeoned Father Peter to death. The areas Bishop than arraigned for a French naval ship to visit to recover the body. The body recovered, the area was now much more willing to convert and three tribal Kings petitioned France to become French Protectorates. Even the son in law now readily converted and even asked that he be buried next to Father Peter Chanel. That way, people trampling over him to pay respects to Father Peter would demonstrate forever his contrition. Chanel was Beatified in 1889, his remains having returned to France. Natives invented a dance called the eke that shows their regret over what happened to Peter Chanel. It includes much whacking of sticks.

Saint Peter Chanel

There have been almost constant clashes between the three native Kings on Wallis and Futuna and the French Colonial authorities. In 2005, King Tomasi Kulimoetoke II’s grandson was involved in a drunk driving incident where he killed a pedestrian on New Years Eve. He was granted asylum in the Palace causing a four month standoff with the police who wanted to try him for manslaughter. The King suggested the French give up the island but instead he gave up his grandson for prosecution.

Wallis King Tomasi Kulimoetoke II

The local Kings are really in no place to dictate to the French. French subsidies are 80 % of the economy and for every native that still lives on the islands there are two that have moved on to greener pastures in France. The islands shrinking population are dependent on these remittances.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Dutch and the British explorers who spotted the islands but kept sailing. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Argentina 1954, Remembering Evita the Peron way before the General’s coup that is to be remembered as the liberating revolution

Everything in Argentine history is remembered based on ones political views. So here 2 years after her death, we see Evita remembered in her glory with Peron still in power. The next year his elected government was replaced violently by a military general of British ancestry. The General’s  side remembers that as a “Liberating Revolution”. Fun place Argentina. 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.

Peron era stamps are a feast for stamp collectors. I have done a few here https://the-philatelist.com/2018/11/21/argentina-1954-peron-invokes-ceres-to-enobile-the-grain-exchange/   , and here https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/03/paying-extra-to-celebrate-the-art-of-stamp-designing/   . They just presented things with so much drama. Toward the end of Peron’s first rule, inflation was bettering the country and this is reflected is a reduction of print quality of this stamp. Reality has a way of showing through.

Todays stamp is issue A236, a three Peso stamp issued by Argentina in 1954. It was a single stamp issue remembering Evita Peron on the second anniversary of her death. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used.

Evita Peron was born illegitimately in humble rural circumstances. At the age of 15, she ran off with a tango musician to relatively wealthy Buenos Aires. She died her hair blond and sought employment as a singer dancer and actress. She had some success at this especially on radio soap operas. In 1944 at age 25, she met Juan Peron at a benefit for survivors of an earthquake. He was then Labor Minister and suggested that she organize a new labor union for those in the performing arts. This happened and was the first government recognized union with Evita the elected leader. She married Peron the next year and campaigned successfully with him for President the next year. She lead a special outreach to the poor working class that she referred to as Descamisodos, those without even shirts.

As First Lady she continued her outreach to the poor and championed female voting in her own Peronist female only political party. Peron’s foreign policy was isolationist so to reduce foreign influence in Argentina. So instead of a European Head of State tour Evita was sent alone on a “Rainbow Tour” of Europe. She caused a sensation in Spain, Portugal, and France but was only granted a perfunctory audience with the Pope and the British part of the tour was cancelled when officials refused to receive her.

As first lady, Evita made some changes to her official history. A new birth certificate showed her legitimate and three years younger. She then changed laws that disadvantaged those born illegitimate. The legal term was changed to natural children. In the new version of her history, her move to Buenos Aires included her mother and she then was chaperoned by old family friends.

After a failed run to be Peron’s vice president, Evita fell ill. She suffered from cervical cancer that resulted in fainting spells and severe vaginal bleeding. An American surgeon was imported for aggressive treatment that included a full historectomy, Argentina’s first chemotherapy, and a full frontal lobotomy to reduce her anxiety. Evita died in 1952 at her preferred age or thirty.

Evita near her death with her hair a wig and relying on President Peron to hold her up

In 1955 much was made in military and business circles of the over the top nature with which the Perons were presented. Peron answered that his way was more naturally Hispanic and only looks strange to those of English heritage. He was overthrown in a coup known as a “Liberating Revolution” and it was the General’s turn to edit out the English aspects of their heritage.

Well my drink is empty and I will happily pour another to toast Evita. After all of Broadway can for so many years, so can I. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Spain, going down a slippery slope with Aragon

Coming together was a slow process many centuries ago with Spain. In the 1970s and 1980s several regions demanded more autonomy from a more weak central government. This stamp celebrates the granting of autonomy to Aragon in 1982. Since then they have granted more and more. 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.

What stands out to me most on this stamp is showing the flag of the old Kingdom of Aragon, Not even alongside the Spanish flag. Sometimes the left’s disdain for flag waving gets in the way of the gentle reminder that Aragon was still a part of Spain.

Todays stamp was issue A652, a 16 Peseta stamp issued by the Kingdom of Spain on April 23rd, 1984. It was a single stamp issue although there was a similar stamp later in the year celebrating the autonomy granted Madrid. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether used or unused.

Aragon was part of the Roman Empire until that collapsed and the area was occupied by the Visigoths. In 714, the Muslims arrived in the area and set up the Taifa of Zargoza. Later the area was liberated by the Kingdom of Pamplona under Sancho the Great. Aragon was then a province of Pamplona. As Sancho’s royal line petered out after the death of Sancho IV, a new royal line emerged from Aragon. In 1469, Philip of Aragon married Isabella of Castile and Spain was united and Christian. There was quickly some tension with Aragon as Castilian Viceroys were appointed to govern Aragon.

After the death of Franco in 1975 the central government of Spain took a hard turn to the left. Soon there were large protests in Zargoza demanding self rule for the region. This was granted in 1982. A local parliament was set up called a Cort. It did not have much power but created many more available positions for out of work would be lefty politicians. Perhaps realizing that the people had been had and their cause subsumed, the people demanded and received further devolutions of central government power in 1992 and 2007.

One thing Spanish from the many would break away regions to consider is this. If and when the Muslims come for Aragon as they did in 714 AD. Will the amount of autonomy granted mean the then Spanish King will decide it is their job to handle. After all, nothing says freedom and independence like a reconstituted Taifa of Zargoza.

Well my drink is empty and so I will have to wait for tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Austria 2000, recognizing at least 100 years of Vienna’s Philharmonic

The Vienna Philharmonic is one of the top orchestras in the world. Austrians might claim the top, while their German friends might point toward Berlin. My own towns quite good Philharmonic does not rise that high, despite recently replacing an Irish fellow with a Japanese one, a local man to conduct apparently not an option. Who the conductor is seems to matter a lot on this stamp, as it only recognizes 100 of the Philharmonic’s then 158 years. !00 years was when there was a young outsider brought in to modernize. 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 do like the visuals of the stamp. I simple view of a violin, is a nice way to emphasize the importance of the music. Claiming 100 years when the Philharmonic was formed in 1842 seems strange, but may not be as political as I assume. In 1942, Austria was part of Germany and distracted by the war. The Philharmonic was performing during that time, but missed out on a stamp recognizing the milestone.

Todays stamp is issue A1066, a 7 Schilling stamp issued by Austria on September 15th, 2000. It was a single stamp issue. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.25 used.

Before the Philharmonic was organized there were orchestral performance. They tended to be one time mash ups of professional and amateur mucisians. The German composer and conductor Franz Lachner began to meet with prominent Vienna citizens how met regularly at the pub Zum Amor. The idea was that there would be a subscription service that would then hire musicans. The musicians would all be professional and standards would be assured by hiring only those that had previously served for at least three years with the Austrian state Opera, then known as the Hofoper. The Philharmonic, it was first known as the Kunstiemverein, moved to it’s current home in the Musikverien in 1870.

Around the turn of the 20th century, there was a movement to modernize the music that was played. A young Bohemian, Gustav Mahler, was proposed as the new conductor. He had previously worked in Budapest where performing German pieces was considered cultural colonialism. Mahler tried to show his traditional bonefied by diecting tradition Wagner and Mozart pieces as part of his demonstrations. Once appointed though, his first was a Czech opera that involved nationalistic yearnings that were further stroked by the hero not dying in the end as it was written. This sent shock waves through Vienna. Remember this being the time of Bohemian, Hungarians, and Germans all being under the German Hapsburgs. Appointing not Germans resulted in sudden changes as to what was produced. I will leave for another day whether diversity was a strength or a can or worms. The stamp comes down clearly on one side.

Politics have been a part of the Philharmonic since. The 1930s saw the changes began by Mahler reversed as people were forced out or just moved on. Then there was the reversal with a new cleansing in the late 1940s. This does not sound like a formula for one of the top orchestras in the world. The answer to why it still is may lie in the fact that the original idea of professional musicians of long tenure with the state opera. Professional standards. The organization now gets around the controversy  appointing conductors by only having guest ones who serve for a season.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast founder Franz Lachner and perhaps play some Wagner. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

Categories
Uncategorized

Denmark 1960, a small, crowded, rich country misleads on how it is done agriculturally

A small crowded country might have to bring in a lot of food. Same thing with industrial and consumer goods. Sounds like a formula for staying poor.  Yet somehow Denmark is prosperous. Maybe they considered carefully how to make the best of what they had. 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 the title, I hinted that the stamp is misleading with regard to agriculture. I don’t think the stamp designers meant it to be. They were told to put together a set of stamps showing off modern agriculture and did so. It is hard to make out what is going on with this stamp thanks to typically poor period Scandinavian printing, but it is showing a harvester combine as was used in wheat cultivation. They have the potential to look impressive and modern on a stamp, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/19/nicaragua-1976-somoza-will-bleed-the-peasants-dry-and-then-automate-their-function/  , but have nothing to do with what was getting Denmark ahead. It is a better stamp that tells the real story.

Todays stamp is issue A79, a 30 Ore stamp issued by Denmark on April 28th, 1960. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

Agriculture up to the nineteenth century was not particularly successful. There was wheat and cereals to go with some raising of pigs. As the farms were smaller, costs were higher. Denmark was not very fertile as land to the west tended to be quite sandy and that in the east had a great deal of clay. Much money was expended in government programs adding topsoil that would allow for more fertility.

This was not enough as there was not enough land for the large, productive wheat farms that exist in the American midsection, Canada, Australia, and perhaps in old Soviet fantasies, the Ukraine. Those are where the combine harvesters shine.

What if though you could use what land you have to do a few things agriculturally mainly for export and that revenue could then be enough to import the more land intensive basic foodstuffs. There was an excess demand for dairy in the UK that could be satisfied by dairy farms on Jutland. Zealand is low lying and gets a healthy dose of rainfall. This is condusive to fast growing cereals. The pig raising is still a big part of things. This small crowded country manages not to have an agricultural trade deficit. Not what one might expect.

Well my drink is empty and I have a sudden desire to have some crackers with ham and cheese with the next round. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Falkland Island Dependencies 1946, How Britain suddenly itself becomes dependant during manefestations of Herr Graf Spee

War between major powers often takes place in some far off places. A otherwise costly, lonely outpost can become suddenly important when you add the presence of the enemy. 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 the first stamp issue of the Falkland Island Dependencies. So why not inform the collector where you are talking about with a map. The stamp looks nice but I can’t make much out on the map. The stamp designers saw this themselves and redrew the stamp two years later but it is hard to get around that the south Atlantic ocean is large and the tiny outposts spread out.

Todays stamp is issue A1, a half penny stamp issued by the Dependencies of the British Crown Colony of the Falkland Islands. It was an eight stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 unused. The half penny denomination, quite the bargain, would have only been useful for inter-outpost mail, so the stamp being used triples the value. I mentioned the stamp was redrawn and that change ups their value 8 fold.

The Falkland Islands dependencies was the arrangement where by the Falkland Island colony administration took responsibility for other British outposts including South Georgia island, the South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Islands, and British outposts on Antarctica. The Antarctic territories separated in 1962, see https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/10/british-antarctic-territory-1963-with-no-more-shackleton-we-better-make-bases-permanent/ , and left only  South Georgia and South Sandwich as Falkland Dependencies. In 1985 the Dependencies became a separate overseas territory of Britain, which they remain. The islands were free to do there own stamps, we covered a South Georgia stamp here https://the-philatelist.com/2019/06/14/south-georgia-at-least-the-norwegians-immigrants-brought-reindeer-to-this-british-island/  .

Maintaining British nationals in such far off outposts will always be expensive. The 20th century brought world wide wars among Great Powers and a base suddenly useful. In World War I the German Indian Ocean naval squadron was returning home by way of the south Atlantic under the command of Admiral and Graf Maximillian Spee. He decided to bombard the Falklands to deprive the British of their radio relay and coal station. A larger British naval squadron was looking for them and had stopped at Stanley to be refueled. Spee’s squadron was surprised and most of the ships were sunk, only two of the eight German ships escaped. Admiral and Graf Spee perished.

HMS Inflexible picking up survivors from the sunken German Cruiser Sharnhorst after the Battle of the Falklands.

At the onset of World War II, a German pocket Battleship, named in honor of the World War I Admiral, deployed to the south Atlantic to raid commercial ships. A pocket battleship was a faster and better armed cruiser built to get around Weimar restrictions on ship building. It was at the extremes of its range and had no prospect of rearming so was ordered to avoid all contact with even weaker enemy ships. A British cruiser squadron  was again waiting for them off Falkland and the Graff Spee decided to scuttle herself to save her crew rather than face them. Captain Ludendorf of the Graf Spee committed suicide, his body falling on the battle ensign of the Graff Spee.

After the war the foreign intrusions were by lessor powers. In 1966, an Argentine DC4 airliner was hijacked to Falkland by 19 members of a Peronist extremist group and the plane landed on a racecourse but hit power lines. First responders were taken hostage and the Argentines disembarked around the plane, raised Argentine flags and sung the Argentine national anthem. The local part time defense forces surrounded the racecourse and forced an Argentine surrender. I will leave the 1982 war with Argentina for another stamp.

Well my drink is empty and I guess the Falklands are safe with Germans no longer using the name Graf Spee on their ships and not hiring any descendants of the Graff. Their navy’s current frigates however do rather resemble pocket battleships. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Venezuela 1961, Lefty Betancourt tries to get peasants interested in land reform

A new lefty government in Venezuela wanted to diversify the oil economy so that imported foodstuffs could be replaced by home grown production. Doing so would improve the lot of the average peasant who was to be the beneficiary of government mandated land reform. 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 early 60s really saw socialism on the march. The educated, urban, intellectuals created some great visuals to go along with it. Case in point this stylized view of a cow’s head, grain, and a peasant family. Pretty cool if grain was an important part of Venezuela’s agriculture. It wasn’t, and strongly hints that the socialist didn’t have a good grasp of the situation. Perhaps good intentions are more important as they replaced neglect.

Todays stamp is issue C762, a 40 Centimos airmail stamp issued on February 6th, 1961. It was a 15 stamp issue in various denominations that recognized an agricultural census that went on the previous year in preparation for land reform, the redistribution of farmland from large landowners to the ownership of small tracts by the agricultural laborers. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

The economy in Venezuela was really all about oil. Here the leftists work was solid because they showed flexibility and followed through when there was an advantage. Romulo Betancourt was a young communist who was exiled to Costa Rica. He had in mind a string of leftists regimes forming a block out of the former Gran Columbia. He had studied the 1938 Mexican nationalization of their oil industry and realized that was not the way to go to pay for it. The oil had naturally been found by American oil companies and World War II demand  had seen the companies greatly increase Venezuelan production. The softening of demand post war would have allowed them to boycott Venezuelan oil. Venezuela under the right wing had not much benefited from the oil as the tax revenue amounted to only 9% of production. In Betancourt’s first term as President, he raised the tax on the oil to 50% and the money flowed in while leaving the professional foreigners to keep production up.

Betancourt was not as successful with land reform. Millions of acres were bought from wealthy landowners and distributed to peasants. The products were mainly coffee, sugar cane and tobacco. Seeing the vast economic growth in the cities with it’s promise of an easier life, many peasants resold the land given to them and used the proceeds to finance the move to the cities. So land reform was no help to output. Indeed only 4 percent of the land in Venezuela is under cultivation. Food must be imported.

Betancourt was not done maximizing oil revenue however. American President Eisenhower was not pleased with the taxes on American oil companies and signed a law promoting importation of Mexican and Canadian oil over Venezuelan. Betancourt in turn sent his Arab speaking oil envoy to Cairo to work with fellow traveler pan Arabist socialists who were facing similar issues regarding getting control of middle east oil revenue. In 1961, Venezuela became a founding member of OPEC that over time had such a big part in rising oil prices.

I mentioned that Betancourt was a young Communist. Indeed he was a participant in violent plots against right wing strongmen in Columbia and Costa Rica. Back in Venezuela however he marketed himself as a democrat. His early radicalism was not forgotten though when Dominican Republic strongman Trujillo tried to have him assassinated by a car bomb. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/07/05/dominican-republic-1937-making-the-guy-behind-the-cow-understand-you-are-working-for-him-with-parsley/  . He was badly burned but survived. With the change in the USA from Eisenhower to more progressive President Kennedy in 1961, Betancourt sought and received better relations with the USA. He  forever burnished his democratic credentials by leaving office without incident at the end of his final term in 1964. A rarity in the Latin America of the day.

Romulo Betancourt after leaving office

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the Venezuelan stamp designers of the 60s. The international socialist movement in the 60s did not turn out to have all the answers, but they definitely had a hopeful vision of where they wanted to go, well captured on this stamp. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.