EXIT THE "CLARION."

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 239, 6 October 1923, Page 17

EXIT THE "CLARION."

(By CYRAXO.)

ROBERT BLATCHFORD AND HIS PAPER.

"It is nearly thirty-two years since \re Vent to ?ea In a sieve,' and during the last ten years the sieve has not been carrying us, but we have been carrying the sieve. Even that kind of navigation has now become impossible, and we have had to hoist the signal— 'Abandon ship!' To drop the metaphor —next week's 'Clarion' will be the last." So wrote Robert Blatchford in August in the paper he founded and made famous, and the "Clarion"' ia no more. There will be millions of people in Englishspeaking countries to whom thie news will mean something. There will be many to whom it will mean much, and by no means all of these share the political and economic views of the "Clarion ,- and its editor. Blatchford and hie weekly made many friends amongst their enemies. The thought of Blatchford -and the "Clarion" calls up a long train of politics and journalism. Born more than seventy years ago Blatchford (I simply cannot call liim "Mr.") was the son ot poor parents, and experienced at ftrst hand the hardships of the class that he afterwards championed so vigorously. He was several things in hU young days—brushmaker, soldier and finally journalist. This army life gave him an interest in soldiering that lie never lost. He loved Tommy Atkins, and in middle years he recalled with enthusiasm his old life, when he slept like a top on a board, and woke up "lighting fit." Journalism was his "metier.' . He had wide interests, an unlimited amount of sympathy for hie fellow man, great zest for life, a lively sense of humour, and a gift for writing plain, straightforward English that struck home (to use Mr. Chesterton's phrase) like the short stabbing sword of the Romans. His style was modelled largely on the Bible and "Pilgrim's Progress"; the latter was his first book. Beginning as a Radical, he was converted to Socialism by a pamphlet written by William Morris and H. M. Hyndman, and in 1891 he and A. M. Thompson left the "Sunday Chronicle" and gave up the certainty of brilliant careers in ordinary journalism, to found the "Clarion." Socialism and High Spirits. History was made in those days. : Blatchford was one of the founders of the Parliamentary Labour party, and became the most popular and perhaps the most influential voice in the Socialist movement. No one had so well developed the gift of putting the case for Socialism in terms impressive to the average man. A historian of the British Socialist movement says that he arrived at Marxianism -without having read a word of Marx.' But, however crude and extreme Blatchford's Socialism may have been —and it was accompanied by a militant Rationalism—he would never have developed into a Lenin. Ec was far too tender-1 arted for that; and his common sense and , sense of humour too robust. William Morris was his real inspiration; the dreams Morris had of an England whero»wealth was fairly apportioned and men worked for love -of the working, were at the back of Blatchford's demand for social and economic rp volution. He was a Communist and not a State Sociab'et. With that frank directness that always characterised him he declared that on the day the State Socialists came into power he woald emigrate, »nd would not return until Communism was in force, for to every lover of liberty State Socialism "would be helL" It has been •well said of Blatchford and his happy band of comrades on the "Clarion," that their most valuable contribution to the Socialist movement was high spirits. They struck with a blow and a hearty laugh. Their interest in poverty did not prevent them from enjoying life in the true Dickensian style. The gospel was spread in various ways. One was the use of "Clarion" vans, which used to go round the country with a crew of Socialist preachers. They would pull up on village greens, and begin to talk to the villagers in a fashion not at all to the taste of the squire. Blatchford wrote voluminously and appealed to a wide public. Years ago "Britain for the British" had bad a sale of over 300,000 copies, and "Merrie England" was past the million mark. Many a man who could swallow neither Socialism nor Blatchford's view of God took the "Clarion" for its vigour, its good humour, its variety, its literary quality, and the general lovableness of its editor. Moving to the Right. The march of events and his own development brought difficulties to Blatchford, and ertcted a barrier between him and many of his fellow Socialists. Before the war he joined Hyndman in supporting the Big JX'avy idea, and he used the "Daily Mail" to warn the people of Britain about German ambitions. The war, of course, found him on the right side. Since the war he has admitted not only that there is no short cut to Socialism, but thaidangers beset the ideal. "There are dangers of official tyranny, of the tyranny of cranks and faddists, of hindrances due to costly sluggishness of red tape, of leakage and discontent caused by pilfering and idling." At the same time he frankly abandoned his 'materialist philosophy. Probably his doubts about Socialism have had something to do with the failure of the "Clarion" to carry on. The Socialist public demanded more conviction, and turned from a man who, on his own admission, was putting on the brake. The Blatchford that I like best is the Blatchford of "My Favourite Books," a little pocket volume that is a delightful companion to anyone who loves literature and good writing about it. Blatchford has a splendid zest for good books, and a penetrating eye for the details of their art. "Good Books and Bad Books," "Bed Books," William Morris, Sir Thomas Browne, Bunyan, Scott, Shakespeare, Gilbert White, 'Stevenson, John Selden, Kipling, Carlyle, and many other subjects and authors are his themes. He is so sane, simple, and companionable, so fine in his taste, and so enthusiastic. A3 "Nunquam" he tilted .against Christianity, but as a lover of literature and his fellow men he wrote with intense admiration and rare insight of Bunyan and of Samuel Rutherford, "that brave Christian soldier," whose "Letters" have been called the most seraphic book in English literature. It was this catholicity of taste and sympathy, joined with a remarkable literary style, that endeared Blatchford to many who could not share his views on politics and religion. The Blatchford who wrote on books and gardens may survive the Socialist and Rationalist. At any rate, at this stage of his long career we may wave a hand in gratitude and encouragement.