The Passing Show: The Truth about the Arandora Star
What a low opinion our rulers have of us! As the Second World War recedes into history, they tell us openly of the lies they fed us on during the war. Yet, no doubt, they expect us to believe implicitly anything they tell us in any future war. To disbelieve what the ruling class says in time of war ranks, in fact, as sedition.
Sometimes it is the same organ of ruling class propaganda which helped to tell us the lie in the first place which now coolly lets us know what did really happen. For example, the case of the Arandora Star. This was a liner which had been converted into a prison ship to take German and Italian internees, prisoners-of-war, and anyone else who in ruling class terminology was “an alien” across to interment camps in Canada. On one of these voyages, in July, 1940, the Arandora Star was sunk by a U-boat. Of the 1,600 prisoners and crew, half were drowned. Many of us remember what we were told at that time—the high death-roll was due to panic among “the aliens,” the lifeboats were rushed, it was every man for himself, and so on. If you have forgotten, the Sunday Express (19/6/60) obligingly reprints the headlines which appeared at the time in its sister paper, the Daily Express of the 4th July, 1940. “1,500 aliens panic,” the Daily Express told its readers: “Germans torpedo Germans—mad rush for the lifeboats.”
Complete nonsense
Why does the Sunday Express remind us of these (in its own words) “officially-blessed reports that the heavy loss of life was due to the panic-stricken cowardice of Germans and Italians who fought madly for priority in the lifeboats”? Why, in order to tell us that they were all lies! The article goes on: “All of a picked group of recently interviewed survivors are unanimous in dismissing this allegation as complete nonsense.”
The real reasons for the heavy loss of life among the great majority who survived the explosion, despite the fact that the sea was calm and the visibility excellent, were three. The ship was grossly overcrowded; some even of the inadequate number of lifeboats had had oars, emergency provisions and plugs removed; and, above all, barbed wire had been expertly erected on the decks, cutting off access to what seaworthy lifeboats there were.
Magnificent propaganda
The captain of the Arandora Star protested strongly to the Admiralty against the ship going to sea in this condition. He pointed out that the lives not only of the internees, but also of his crew, might depend on—for example— the barbed wire being removed. But such humanitarian considerations did not move the chiefs of the Admiralty. The captain’s protests were rejected, and the ship sailed as it was. It sank with many of its passengers, who were prevented by the barbed wire from getting to the lifeboats or even from jumping over the side, still on board. And the resultant death by drowning of eight hundred human beings was ascribed by the British authorities (who knew the truth themselves) to “panic among aliens.”
But don’t suppose that the Sunday Express disapproves of this lie told by the ruling class. On the contrary, it points out what “magnificent propaganda” the truth would have made for the Axis powers. So, clearly, one only tells the truth when it won’t put one at a disadvantage. The lies about the Arandora Star were told by those who claim to uphold the current politico-moral beliefs of society, including the conception of Truth as an Absolute. One could at least credit the ruling class with sincerity if it acted or the beliefs it professed to hold.
Love, honour and obey
While some apologists for capitalism attempt to explain away what they consider the less justifiable parts of our political and social superstructure, there are always the fundamentalists who embarrass these good souls by taking up an extreme dogmatic position. The promise of the wife in the Church’s marriage service to “love, honour and obey” her husband is a case in point. We are told in some quarters that this “obey” clause isn’t as brutally primitive as it sounds—it is merely figurative, metaphorical and so forth. But there are others, including the two clergymen who wrote to the Guardian on June 11th, who defend it to the hilt. According to these gentlemen, in a Christian marriage, if there is any disagreement the wife must obey her husband. As a commentary on Christian marriage, these contributions may be allowed to speak for themselves.
Congratulations
At the recent wedding of Mussolini’s daughter, a message of congratulations was received from the Pope. The Catholic Church has always tried to explain away its sympathy for Fascism in Italy—although this is particularly difficult in view of its present close relations with and support for Fascism in Spain. No doubt Catholics would say that this was simply a gesture made by the Pope towards a member of his Church, without any political or social significance. But how many Catholic girls, who are not the daughters of rich men or Fascist leaders, get a telegram of congratulations from the Pope when they marry?
A.W.E.