"Our answer to Chamberlain", a popular expression and the name of a rock band

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

In 1927, the British government reacted sharply to the Soviet Union's support for the Kuomintang (People's Party) in China. Later it turned out that this political force was not at all a friend of the world communist movement, and there was nothing special to argue about, at least with the British, but the reason for the conflict nevertheless arose. The harsh words contained in the note, signed by the Minister for External Relations of the British Empire, Austin Chamberlain, outraged the leadership of the USSR. Her tone was indeed harsh, and although the British did not have real opportunities for intervention, the Soviet people did not remain silent.

Nothing brings people together like a common external enemy. Everyone rallied under the slogan "Our answer to Chamberlain": shepherds from transcendental pastures, and Uzbek cotton growers, and steel workers, and the builders of the DneproGES, in general, all the workers of the world's first proletarian state. Each ram that was grown, a pood of cast iron welded, a loaf baked at a bakery, or a nut screwed in a steam locomotive became more than just a production achievement. This was our answer to Chamberlain, the insolent arrogant lord in a tuxedo and monocle, arrogantlylooking at the working people of Soviet Russia and obviously despising the English proletarians.

Apparently, the British minister himself was unaware of the anomalous popularity of his own name on one sixth of the land. It was full of matchboxes, posters, leaflets and other products of Soviet agitprop, and the caricature image of Joseph Austin scaredly shied away from mighty fists, figurines, air squadrons, steam locomotives, Red Army bayonets, sheaves of wheat and fat herds of cows. This was our answer to Chamberlain, and if he had known that his ill-fated note would cause such massive enthusiasm, he would certainly have abandoned the very thought of it.

The politician died in 1937, and his name would have long been forgotten in our country, like other suns that have set in the British royal political firmament. Today, hardly anyone remembers Baldwin, Lloyd George or Macmillan, but our answer to Chamberlain was remembered, and, apparently, this expression has become one of the catchphrases of the Russian language forever. It denotes a decisive rebuff, sometimes ironically, and sometimes seriously.

Many have already forgotten, while others never knew about the political conflicts of the second half of the twenties. Few today will appreciate the undercurrent of humor contained in the response of the working people to the British lord, as well as in the hundreds of warnings issued by the PRC government in the fifties against the United States, each of which was "last and serious." But there is a rock band called"Reply to Chamberlain". The songs of this collective have nothing to do with the politics of the first post-revolutionary decade, but they are quite interesting in all other respects, favorably differing from pop music that has set the teeth on edge. "Bullets", "Aty-Baty", "In Heaven", "Tramp - Thunder", "All the same" - these and other compositions are worth listening to lovers of album rock. "Answer to Chamberlain" - a group from Bryansk. She is already a good fifteen years old, today she is becoming popular throughout the post-Soviet space. Well, the answer is a bit late, but anyway, goodbye!