Communism under the flag of religion

(Colonel Charles "Chinese" Gordon was the bible-thumping, "anti-slavery"
English officer who held the post of Governor of the Sudan in 1884, during
the Mahdist uprising--the first Islamic revolt in modern history. This
comes from book one of his Khartoum journals, covering Sept. 10 to Sept.
23. At the end of 1884, Khartoum fell to the Mahdi's forces and Gordon's
decapitated head was paraded around on a pike. He got the nickname
"Chinese" for his role in putting down the Taiping rebellion of the 1870s.
In the passage below, the reference to "the Soudanese conservative of their
property" can only be a reference to slave-holders, since this was the
major industry in this forlorn region. The "communists" would be the
dervishes under the Mahdi's command.)

"I do not believe that fanaticism exists as it used to in the world,
judging from what I have seen in this so-called fanatic land. It is far
more a question of property, and it is more like communism under the flag
of religion, which seems to excite and to give colour to acts which men
would otherwise condemn.

"If fighting occurs, it is the Soudanese conservative of their property
fighting the Soudanese communists, who desire to rob them."

Louis Proyect
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