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Flu and revolution

AlaskaDenise

In Memoriam
http://www.therapeuticsdaily.com/ne...664649&contentType=sentryarticle&channelID=31

A new book by Esyllt Jones, Influenza 1918, links the 1919 General Strike, the most significant event in Winnipeg's economic history, with the Spanish influenza epidemic, the worst pandemic of the 20th century. In this excerpt, she argues that a curb on public meetings, ostensibly to stop the spread of the flu bug, galvanized the Trades and Labour Council as workers saw the ban arbitrarily applied. Jones is an assistant professor in the Department of History at St. John's College, University of Manitoba.

By Esyllt Jones
IN the months and weeks leading up to the General Strike, flu intensified ... (remainder of article by subscription)
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From Amazon.com:

Book Description


The influenza pandemic of 1918?1919 killed as many as fifty million people worldwide and affected the vast majority of Canadians. Yet the pandemic, which came and left in one season, never to recur in any significant way, has remained difficult to interpret. What did it mean to live through and beyond this brief, terrible episode, and what were its long-term effects? Influenza 1918 uses Winnipeg as a case study to show how disease articulated and helped to re-define boundaries of social difference. Esyllt W. Jones examines the impact of the pandemic in this fragmented community, including its role in the eruption of the largest labour confrontation in Canadian history, the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. Arguing that labour historians have largely ignored the impact of infectious disease upon the working class, Jones draws on a wide range of primary sources including mothers? allowance and orphanage case files in order to trace the pandemic?s affect on the family, the public health infrastructure, and other social institutions. This study brings into focus the interrelationships between epidemic disease and working class, gender, labour, and ethnic history in Canada. Influenza 1918 concludes that social conflict is not an inevitable outcome of epidemics, but rather of inequality and public failure to fully engage all members of the community in the fight against disease.


From the Back Cover

?Influenza 1918 argues that historians have ignored the long-term consequences of short-term but serious health crises such as the influenza epidemic of 1918. By focusing on Winnipeg, Esyllt W. Jones traces the familiar repercussions of losing a loved one and how it impinged on the social welfare responsibilities of the city for many years. This is a well written, engaging, and timely study that should appeal to anyone interested in the history of the working class, women, medicine, and family.?

-Wendy Mitchinson, Department of History, University of Waterloo and Canada Research Chair in Gender and Medical History

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Re: Flu and revolution

What a timely posting AD. Thx.
Just ordered it from Amazon for USD25.

Populist thinking apparently will prevail, as in mob-rule, as in boorish leadership, like the current, repeated failures by the Bush Administration (not all failures, just the blatant obvious and comical buffoonery like at Katrina and aftermath).

It's important for us to recollect apriori that the mob will rule. Roman soldiers probably assaulted and killed many; the recent public housing hearing in New Orleans just a day or so ago is a red flag...is hundreds of red flags...waiving furiously that appear as echoes to 1919 General Strike in Canada.

I as an entrepreneur will wear my "profit from this" visor as I look at this; and as a citizen within a greater social fabric, will also ask what can be pre-thought and strategized to act responsibly (doubtful...as the hoarding of sequence information, and most recently, the hoarding of chain of infection / communicabity time-line in Pakistan...neither being rocket science) even as late as the post-event scenario with its attendant drama) when necessary.

See the new thread hopefully being set up by Fl1 that I just requested in my most recent post in the Gold thread. This new thread will address store of value and medium of exchange post-pandemic.

Thx again for the posting. PS: Say hello to the last iceberg of human lifetimes; tell the Polar Bear thx for its symbolism and entertainment values.
 
Re: Flu and revolution

It is without any doubt that a mass casualties event (such as a pandemic) may lead to a social instability, confrontation between rentiers and working (poor) classes in the past as well as in the present times.
But, one may argue that - for example - in the post-war Germany subversion of the order from marxists (leading to the foundation of Weimar Republic) ended with a disaster, initally started well before emergence of 'spanish flu'. See for example the autobiographics of Fred Uhlman for a clear overview of the events.
Soviet Russia were plagued by widespread epidemics (malaria, cholera, typhoid) and famine since the collapse of Empire dated 1917 (after the armistice).
More: after the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991, life expectance shortened at post-World-War-II level and the mortality for all causes skyrocketed. The 'white plague' (de-natality, increased mortality in young people) lead to a demographic crisis and the overall deaths toll is to date yet to be established.
The WHO-AIEA report about the Chernobyl impact on health status of millions Belarus-Russia-Ukraine inhabitants was biased by the increased all-causes morbidity and mortality in all-age classes.
In fact, diseases-wars-unrests link seems to be bi-directional and it is very difficult to establish the primary cause of the pain and misery of millions.
 
Re: Flu and revolution

.....it is very difficult to establish the primary cause of the pain and misery of millions.

Hence our mission at FT - to lessen morbidity and mortality.

We cannot accurately anticipate how any pandemic will play out, however, we can provide information (not available in history) and encourage people to prepare (as they should for any emergency).

We ARE in a position to learn from history and we're NOT condemned to repeat it entirely. One major disadvantage is that modern society doesn't require us to acquire self-sufficiency skills. :(

We can probably expect some interesting black swans to emerge. :D

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Re: Flu and revolution

Fred Uhlman (January 19, 1901 - April 11, 1985) was a German lawyer of Jewish origin, who in September 1936 arrived in England virtually penniless and unable to speak English, married Diana Croft, the daughter of a Conservative Member of Parliament, Sir Henry Page Croft, and went on to become a celebrated painter and novelist.

Fred Uhlman was born in 1901, in Stuttgart, Germany, into a prosperous middle-class Jewish family. He studied at the Universities of Freiburg, Munich and Tübingen from where, in 1923, he graduated with a degree in Law followed by a Doctorate in Civil and Canon law.

In March 1933, two months after Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor, Uhlman moved to Paris to start a new life there. This, however, proved very difficult; foreigners were not permitted to enter into paid employment and if caught at it, they were immediately expelled from France. He supported himself by drawing and painting and selling his work privately when he could. (At one stage, he was supplementing his income by selling tropical fish). Uhlman's star as a painter was in the ascendance but buyers were hard to come by.

In April 1936 he moved to Tossa del Mar, a small fishing village on the Costa Brava, Spain but soon after, the Spanish Civil War broke out and in August he decided to return to Paris, via Marseilles. In Marseilles, while making a telephone call from a café to a friend in London, Diana Croft, whom he had met while in Tossa del Mar, his wallet, containing most of his money and his passport, were stolen from his jacket left unattended at his table.

A foreigner in France without a passport effectively became a stateless person and subject to official harassment, internment and possible expulsion. Demoralised and in despair, he gave the café proprietor his Paris telephone number and continued his journey to Paris. Next day, he received a telephone call at his hotel; the caller informed him that he has the wallet and the passport and will mail it to Uhlman the next day, because he was a co-réligionnaire of Uhlman's, but will retain ten percent of the money in the wallet 'to cover expenses'. The wallet and passport arrived next day.

On 3 September, 1936, Fred Uhlman landed in England. He had no money and he couldn't speak the language. Two months after he arrived in England, Fred Uhlman married Diana Croft on November 4, 1936.

Nine months after the outbreak of the Second World War, Uhlman, with thousands of other enemy alliens, was, in June 1940, interned by the British Government, on the Isle of Man. He was released six months later and reunited with his wife and with his daughter, born while he was interned.

Uhlman had his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Le Niveau in Paris in 1935. In London he exhibited at the Zwemmer Gallery in 1938, from then on he exhibited regularly in one man shows as well as mixed exhibitions throughout Britain. A retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Leighton House Museum in London in 1968. His work is represented in many important public galleries, including the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Uhlman's memoirs, The Making of an Englishman, was published in 1960. His novella Reunion was published in 1977. "A minor masterpiece" wrote Arthur Koestler in his Introduction to the book.

Fred Uhlman died in London on April 11, 1985. He is the great-uncle of Joseph Uhlman, the youngest Chief of EMS Services in the history of the State of Kansas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunion_(novella)
 
Re: Flu and revolution

Is the single more protect by adversities by self-preparing or converserly, more solidarity, more equitable access to health care, more reliable governance and administative preparedness could reduce the impact of a massive disaster?
If one play as lone-gunman, how many deaths we will count after disaster onset?
No, I don't agree with this.
 
Re: Flu and revolution

I believe the assumption is that government will not be able to effectively cope with a serious global pandemic.

We know hospitals here in the US don't have the surge capacity to handle even a 1918-level CFR, nor do we have enough necessary medicines.

Should delivery of essential goods be curtailed due to quarantines (and fear), those who store basic supplies will be okay and hopefully have some to share. Where I live, our grocery warehouses have only a 3-day supply of food.

I would hope we'd have both better government/health access and personal preparedness.

Does your government have effective plans to distribute food to households for a 6 week quarantine?

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Re: Flu and revolution

AlaskaDenise:
"I believe the assumption is that government will not be able to effectively cope with a serious global pandemic.
We know hospitals here in the US don't have the surge capacity to handle even a 1918-level CFR, nor do we have enough necessary medicines.
I would hope we'd have both better government/health access and personal preparedness.
Does your government have effective plans to distribute food to households for a 6 week quarantine?"

There wil be probably not much distribution for that anywhere.


Ironorehooper:
"Is the single more protect by adversities by self-preparing or converserly, more solidarity, more equitable access to health care, more reliable governance and administative preparedness could reduce the impact of a massive disaster?"

If the "single" will be in an atomic war guarded mass shelter with a hospital facility - maybe - if than will not happen a situation that in a shelter sip an already flu infected person.
For the others some real help will be more tricky.
And yes, "more solidarity, more equitable access to health care, more reliable governance and administative preparedness could reduce the impact of a massive disaster".
 
Re: Flu and revolution

Hi, just found this great forum when googling for information about actual news and how to prepare for a pandemic. I am no native speaker, so sorry for my English (just a warning in advance :D ).

This discussion is quite interesting. The world has changed a lot compared to 1918 and also in the last few years of this long era of relative peace and prosperity after WWII. There are some disturbing developments like "controlled democracy" (Russia as example) and increasing corruption and misuse of power. Tensions between religions, because of climate change, overpopulation. Increasing influence (and chance of misuse to manipulate public opinion) of TV and the lack of interest of a good portion of the population in politics, democracy and what's going around them and to challenge something the media or government tells them. The worldwide economical situation bears some risks, too - especially if a "credit card crash" would follow and dwarf the real estate bubble. There is way more, but that would lead probably too far off.

How a pandemic will affect all aspects of our lives and if it will lead to a social instability will probably depend on the mortality of the virus and where you live in short term, but economy and globalization might amplify the effects and the worst might come in the long run. Well, what do you think are the major risks in short-run and long-run? How likely do you think they are?

Short-run:
- reducing the work capability of police forces.
- hoarding and panic create an environment for riots.

Long-run:
- high death toll will probably affect the economy in a negative way.

I somewhat fear a snowball effect might lead into a recession (credit card debts in the US are on a risky high level, ever increasing financial speculation, probable loss of buying power). Theoretically this could lead to a situation comparable to Germany 1933, but let's hope enough people learned from history.
 
Re: Flu and revolution

Hi, just found this great forum when googling for information about actual news and how to prepare for a pandemic. I am no native speaker, so sorry for my English (just a warning in advance :D ).
Make no excuses for your English. It is excellent.

Short-run:
- reducing the work capability of police forces.
- hoarding and panic create an environment for riots.

Long-run:
- high death toll will probably affect the economy in a negative way.

This is really the $64,000 question. How severe will the next pandemic be, and what will be the outcome? Not too long ago on this forum there was a discussion about the commonly held belief of forum members as to how bad we thought it would be. The general census seemed to be: very bad indeed.

The US Pandemic plan refers to a 1918 style pandemic as the worst case scenario. The plan mentions supply chain disruption, with sporadic power outages, food shortages, gasoline shortages, etc. The plan also mentions an absentee rate of 40%, and school closures of up to three months. The plan recommends stocking up for two weeks. However, the Homeland Security "Best Practices" guide for emergency responders recommends that they stock up for three months. A world wide recession would be an expected outcome of such an event as well.

However, the sense of many on this forum is that the next pandemic could be far worse than 1918. The H5N1 virus is 10 to 20 times more virulent than the H1N1 virus. Should this virulence be maintained, the impact would be catastrophic. On some of the other forums the acronym TEOTWAWKI (The end of the world as we know it) is used at times. No one can really estimate the outcome should this occur. However, the aftermath of hurricane Katrina gives us some idea as the direction society might take.
 
Re: Flu and revolution

GR said:

I as an entrepreneur will wear my "profit from this" visor as I look at this; and as a citizen within a greater social fabric, will also ask what can be pre-thought and strategized to act responsibly (doubtful...as the hoarding of sequence information, and most recently, the hoarding of chain of infection / communicabity time-line in Pakistan...neither being rocket science) even as late as the post-event scenario with its attendant drama) when necessary.

Gawd, I love it when you talk dirty :applause:

And so, my personal constitution requires that I ask, without any apriori assumptions as to your actual, personal intentions, what might be the meaning of the paragraph quoted above (although,admittedly, pulled from it's original ground of being and therefore divested of it's existential trappings)?

In other words, "WTF-over?"

Seriously, though. SZ speaks highly of you, and I'm pleased to see you here.

As to the original post. I thought it was a given that epidemics had a profound impact on the evolution of both society and it's history. Speaking from ignorance, and only from the original post, it appears that the strikers thought TPTB were using the epidemic as a pretext for shutting down public meetings that might have supported their cause.

If I read this book it would probably only affirm me in my own conviction that people in power will use any and every available means to stifle ideas that threaten their existence.

When I extrapolate that bias to a forthcoming pandemic, I see much of the same behavior from those who earn their living telling others what to do, and how to be. But, in the event of a major pandemic, I don't think anyone will be listening anymore. By that I mean that before we can become a community of individuals sharing a common goal, we must first become individuals. True individuals will have little use for drum majors leading parades of wandering masses.

In other words, the survivors of the next pandemic, may not have much tolerance for spin masters, and other species of politicians and beaurocrats. And that, will have profound impact on society and history.
 
Re: Flu and revolution

ROFLMBO


GR said:

And so, my personal constitution requires that I ask, without any apriori assumptions as to your actual, personal intentions, what might be the meaning of the paragraph quoted above (although,admittedly, pulled from it's original ground of being and therefore divested of it's existential trappings)?
 
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