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It’s a fair bet most of the January 6, 2021, insurrectionists can’t find Newfoundland on a map. But they’d be inspired by what happened on that rocky island nine decades previous, because a riot at a government building spurred the end of its democracy.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: April 5, 1932--
Many Trumplicans can’t find Canada either. Or their own asses because they’re too busy looking for them from the inside, suffering a rectal-cranial inversion. Anyway, during the Great Depression the government of Newfoundland, which at the time was its own country and not yet part of Canada, was corrupt as fuck and the people were fed up with struggling to get fed.
Sir Richard Squires was Prime Minister of the Dominion of Newfoundland from 1919 to 1923. His reign ended with him being arrested for his government using bribes to win re-election in 1923, forcing his resignation. But it didn’t end his political career, and the fucker got elected PM again in 1928.
During the Depression fish prices fell, and the nation’s economy suffered. Heavily in debt, PM Squires said in 1932 yo Canada can we join you and Canada said nah get your shit sorted first we don’t want ya. Corruption and incompetence only made Newfoundland’s situation worse, and on April 5, 1932, a parade was arranged by the opposition party to protest Squire’s government. About 10,000 joined in, marching on the seat of government in the capital city of St. John’s, the Colonial Building. The leaders of the protest presented a petition demanding an investigation into the government’s corruption. When no one came out to address them, the crowd got pissed off. Then the cops came out and started beating the shit out of people with their clubs, but they were horribly outnumbered.
They broke in and trashed the place, and when Squires tried to escape with a police escort, members of the crowd said, “There he is!” and gave chase. He narrowly escaped.
That was it for Squires as Prime Minister. He resigned and in the ensuing election his former party won only two of 28 seats. The new government basically admitted that the country was ever so fucked, steeped in a culture of political corruption, and looked to their former masters—Britain—for help. They basically said take me I’m yours, at least until we can manage our own shit again. Britain took some time to decide; they weren’t excited about how in debt the country was either. Late in 1933 the reigning Newfoundland government voted itself out of existence, and the following year suspended the country’s self-government status, instead allowing it to be ruled by a non-elected commission that reported to the British Government.
For 15 years democracy did not exist in Newfoundland. It wasn’t restored until 1949 when it was accepted into Canadian Confederation as the nation’s 10th province.
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Of course, the Trumpers want to impose corruption, not fight it, but ending democracy? They're right on board with *that*.