I agree that this poster is a little vague about Moore's politics. It was quite disconcerting to read a statement such as "If you told him of the horrors of labour (death) camps, of the savagery with which loyal party members were suppressed, of the daily violence and cringing fear, of the tens of millions dead, of the racist suppression of whole ethnic groups, of infinite power in the hand of cruel nonentities, of religious persecution, torture, famine, and, creeping finger by finger underneath it all, of the tendrils of corruption and bribery that made all daily life a humiliating and dishonest ritual, he would probably answer he was quite aware of the flaws in the system, but he did not stand for the system, he stood for the ideals." "Would", "probably"? It sounds as if the poster is putting words into Alan Moore's mouth here, though if there is any interview in which Moore expresses such alarming naivete as to the practical effects of Communism then I will stand corrected. From what I've seen of Moore's work, however, "naive" is the last thing I would call him. "Deeply cynical" would be closer to the mark.
Regarding From Hell, the subject of Jack the Ripper is appealing to those who are firmly anti-establishment, but it's perfectly possible to show the "establishment" in a bad light without being pro-Communist. In fact, in From Hell Moore spares no-one - not Abberline, who's tempted from his duty to his wife; not Mary Kelly, who dabbles in blackmail. I see no possibility of a brave new communistic world rising from the morass Moore portrays in From Hell, any more than George Gissing hoped for radical change and a bright new dawn in his novels.
Taking my own copy of From Hell from the bookshelf and turning to the section the poster describes (Chapter 8, pp. 31-32), what we have is a recital by William Morris of his poem "Love Is Enough" interspersed with scenes of a murder taking place outside. Moore's own comments on this scene from Appendix I should be sufficient: "On page 31 we cut to the upstairs room of the International Workers' Education Club at 40 Berner Street, which overlooked Duffield Yard. The club was founded by Jewish socialists. On the night in question there had been a meeting and a talk. This broke up around midnight, with various people staying behind for singing and discussion. The only real liberty I have taken with this scene is the inclusion of William Morris. Morris often spoke or read his poetry at the club (see JTR, The Uncensored Facts) but I have no record of him having been there on the night in question. He is included both to mark his connection with the scene of the crime and to allow a counterpoint between his poem "Love Is Enough" and the brutal and loveless murder of Liz Stride taking place outside."
I see no reason to see anything other than this ironic counterpoint in these two pages. One panel shows Morris reciting the line "Crying to deaf ears that would hear if they could"; the next panel shows Liz Stride's terrified, wide-eyed face with a gloved hand clamped over her mouth. It is a counterpoint of theoretical idealism versus hard, cold reality, a counterpoint which makes Morris look ignorant and unaware. Love is clearly not enough!
I see the final panel of that page - Morris's line "And the world ye thought waning is glorious and good" set against the looming Big-Brotherish face of Karl Marx - and what I see is the tragic, fatal naivete of those who thought Marxism could work in reality. My apologies to the original poster, but I really can't see how these two pages can be taken as Alan Moore's love-song to Communism.
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Date: 2006-11-04 07:43 am (UTC)Regarding From Hell, the subject of Jack the Ripper is appealing to those who are firmly anti-establishment, but it's perfectly possible to show the "establishment" in a bad light without being pro-Communist. In fact, in From Hell Moore spares no-one - not Abberline, who's tempted from his duty to his wife; not Mary Kelly, who dabbles in blackmail. I see no possibility of a brave new communistic world rising from the morass Moore portrays in From Hell, any more than George Gissing hoped for radical change and a bright new dawn in his novels.
Taking my own copy of From Hell from the bookshelf and turning to the section the poster describes (Chapter 8, pp. 31-32), what we have is a recital by William Morris of his poem "Love Is Enough" interspersed with scenes of a murder taking place outside. Moore's own comments on this scene from Appendix I should be sufficient: "On page 31 we cut to the upstairs room of the International Workers' Education Club at 40 Berner Street, which overlooked Duffield Yard. The club was founded by Jewish socialists. On the night in question there had been a meeting and a talk. This broke up around midnight, with various people staying behind for singing and discussion. The only real liberty I have taken with this scene is the inclusion of William Morris. Morris often spoke or read his poetry at the club (see JTR, The Uncensored Facts) but I have no record of him having been there on the night in question. He is included both to mark his connection with the scene of the crime and to allow a counterpoint between his poem "Love Is Enough" and the brutal and loveless murder of Liz Stride taking place outside."
I see no reason to see anything other than this ironic counterpoint in these two pages. One panel shows Morris reciting the line "Crying to deaf ears that would hear if they could"; the next panel shows Liz Stride's terrified, wide-eyed face with a gloved hand clamped over her mouth. It is a counterpoint of theoretical idealism versus hard, cold reality, a counterpoint which makes Morris look ignorant and unaware. Love is clearly not enough!
I see the final panel of that page - Morris's line "And the world ye thought waning is glorious and good" set against the looming Big-Brotherish face of Karl Marx - and what I see is the tragic, fatal naivete of those who thought Marxism could work in reality. My apologies to the original poster, but I really can't see how these two pages can be taken as Alan Moore's love-song to Communism.