ATDTDA (33) - p. 921-2 - anarchism

[Michael Bailey]

Mark Kohut  wrote:
> I think Ewball wanting a Krupp gun condemns him with a constant Pynchon
> trope.

maybe not condemns, but shows the not-often-foregrounded
dependence of revolutionary movements on reactionary weapon makers?

I speculate that Ewball started as a mining engineer, but when the
Federales imprisoned him, they would have also tried to take over his holding,
whereupon he (probably with the imprimatur and involvement of
Oust Sr) would have naturally got involved with a rebel movement
that promised to restore Oust property with a favorable license

as rebel movement succeeded rebel movement, Ewball would've
had to make different deals and build his own little force just
to be able to negotiate convincingly...

...eventually,Ewball actually began
to sympathize with his comrades-in-arms to some extent -
possibly making him act sometimes more in accordance with
anarchist principles than with an eye to enhancing the family fortune.

This may be a hidden reason why Oust Senior bites him later...
(although I look forward to Robin elucidating the stamp nuances...)
...well, he bites him for that, and for not understanding that
revolution abroad in the furtherance
of "our" financial interests is "good",
whereas the assassination of McKinley "isn't".

> A--and, i think I think that Ewball talking of "rules" of anarchism is TRP
> (as Weber) showing
> the rationalization of anarchism,aa s it were, a very unanarchistic
> move.......

as he said, he's just a foot soldier of anarchism - though he's
maybe higher up in multinational commerce - a guy in those times
might be in both games at the same time...

different ways to represent interests abroad: Halfcourt's way,
Oust's way, Theign's way (his eyeball gets ousted - ouch!)

the Chums may represent the limit of a cosmopolitan viewpoint
as travel time approaches 100%...