From the archive: Change!
Janet Scott continues her series on the archive of the Friend during the first world war
In early 1917 there was change all around the world. It was sometimes hopeful, often painful, and was to have a huge impact on the lives of millions. The United States entered the war that year. The Ottoman Empire was crumbling. In Russia the first stage of the Russian Revolution gave little hint of what was to come.
The Friend, in the issue of 23 March, commented in hope:
The hearts of the British people go out in sympathy and hopes towards the great nation of Russia on its day of new birth. The first announcement last week seemed almost incredible in the suddenness of the upheaval and transformation; but subsequent telegrams confirmed and extended the welcome news that the reactionary attempts of the Russian Government had failed, and that the assertion by the Duma of its rights and its power had been made effective. As yet our information is too limited in this country to grasp all the factors which have contributed to the unrest in Russia and all the circumstances which have enabled the progressive forces to achieve so great a victory at so small a comparative cost. But this at least may be said, that the widespread corruption of officials, in the matter of food, finance and transit especially, had profoundly shaken the national confidence in the capacity and honour of the ruling powers. Whatever may have been the inner mind of the Tsar of all the Russias, beyond question he has been badly served by his official representatives. And the police system of Russia has created a sense of revulsion whose intensity has been evidenced in the recent attacks on prisons, in the hunting out and arrest of the police, and the promise of liberation for the political exiles of Siberia.
The Manifesto of the Emperor Nicholas II, who had laid aside all his imperial rights and powers, was described as ‘a moving document’ and:
The Manifesto of the new Government under Prince Lvoff is a Magna Charta of liberty which opens doors on every hand to the setting free of religious, political and social prisoners, to the liberation of thought, and the furtherance of true progress…That the hands of the new rulers may be strengthened to lead forward the forces of progress in moderation, with patience and quiet determination, will be the hopeful prayer of lovers of liberty everywhere.
An article on the future of Syria, in the same issue, considered the changing situation in the country and described it as an ‘astonishing spectacle’:
Islam in rebellion against itself, the holders of the holy sites challenging the right of their spiritual lord in Constantinople. Arabia has declared its independence; and as far as can be known, Moslems of other parts are only waiting their chance to do the same. Politically Islam has fallen to pieces.
The article went on to reflect:
It is common knowledge that the present state of Syria is appalling; the policy of systematic starvation of the population by the Turks has resulted in disease and death which will tax the courage of the most heroic.
A later report, published in the Friend on 4 May, also highlighted conditions of starvation, disease and death in the country:
One who recently left Syria, “fleeing from starvation and torture”, says that he passed through many towns entirely depopulated, and declares that were the war to continue six months longer and Syria to remain in the hands of the Turks, not a Syrian would be left in the country. “Death there is easier to find than a morsel of bread or a swallow of water.”
China
Readers of the Friend, while given a constant diet of news from Europe and of life amongst Friends in Britain, were also being informed of events in China, where the revolution was having an effect on traditional roles. Henrietta Davidson, writing in the Friend on 23 March, commented on the position of women:
Mr J.H. Oldham, in his book “The World and the Gospel”, calls attention to the seriousness of the position…“For them the change is vaster and more revolutionary than the women’s movement in England, and they are less equipped for meeting the severe strain of modern conditions.”
Friends had set up a Women’s Institute in Chungking to help. Henrietta Davidson described some of the difficulties faced by women:
The lot of women all over China is a very hard one, and most of them are bound in their minds as well as their feet. But the lot of women in Chungking is made worse than for most in China owing to the overcrowded and terribly insanitary conditions of that city. Physically, they are shut away from health. The air they breathe is impure. They are ignorant of the simplest laws of health, and know not how to care either for themselves or their children. Probably seventy or eighty per cent have tuberculosis in one form or another. Mentally and spiritually they are equally in the dark. There is little to enlighten them, and they seldom come in contact with any uplifting influence.
She reflected on the new movement, in the article, as: ‘full of hope and full of peril.’
Pemba: raising a slave people
In the latter part of the nineteenth century the ‘Scramble for Africa’ by European countries was in full swing. It revealed that slavery still existed on the continent long after people thought it had been abolished. The British Anti-Slavery Society became active again, with much Quaker involvement. Quaker concern began to find a focus on Zanzibar and, in particular, on Pemba Island, where a school, a village and a Meeting house were built. In 1909 slavery was legally abolished in Pemba, but its effect continued in the attitudes of the people. An article published in the Friend on 9 March gave a remarkable analysis of the issues:
The uplifting of any people who have been the victims of oppression is not an easy matter, but to uplift a slave is a task requiring prolonged patience, tact and energy. There is but one testimony among those who are capable of judging as to the deterioration of character which is incident to slavery. “One of the most fearful effects of slavery is its disregard of the sanctities of home life. The slave has no home he can call his own.” “Chastity is impossible for a woman enslaved by force, for the simple reason that her body is not her own.” “Slavery hardens the heart of the master and mistress and deadens the moral sensibilities of the victim.” “The absolute dependence of a slave on his master results in a want of self respect, initiative, ambition and any sense of responsibility. It cuts deeper, for kindnesses are considered favouritism, and there is no belief in disinterested action and so no gratitude is felt. Put shortly, faith, hope and charity are lost.”
Small changes
In Britain internment camps were now well established. An appeal, in the issue of 2 March, asked Friends for:
assistance in providing seeds and plants for the use of men in the Internment Camps… There is nothing which is more healthy and beneficial to a man who has been confined for a couple of years, full of anxiety, than to be able to cultivate a piece of ground.
A donation to the work of the Friends Foreign Mission Association received a special mention in the issue of March 16 because of the love and devotion it showed. It was:
a contribution of twenty shillings earned by work on a lace pillow, and constituting a year’s savings on the part of a poor working woman, who for that time has set apart a tenth of her earnings for the Lord’s work.
And finally….
The Friend, which was at the time and continues to be completely independent of Britain Yearly Meeting, made its own appeal in the issue of 23 March:
Subscribers are requested to note that the subscription for the current year is 10s. 10d. for home subscribers and 13s. for subscribers abroad. It will save much trouble, time and expense if subscribers who have not already paid would now forward their subscription to the Publishers.
Some things do not change!
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