Lord Balfour was an architect and eager servant of the British Empire’s criminal, capitalist enterprise in creating and fostering decades of misery, Zionist dispossession, ethnic cleansing, mass violence, and Jewish supremacy with the aim of the genocide removal of the indigenous Palestinians. Where did Lord Balfour cut his teeth in such nefarious, inhuman and oh-so-civilized pursuits? Why, Ireland of course. Lord Balfour received the name ‘Bloody Balfour’ not for Palestine, but for his involvement in the the brutal suppression of Irish nationalism, agrarian unrest, and Home Role. Acting as Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1887–91, the period was accompanied by a dramatic increase in executions and of September 9, 1887’s Mitchellstown Massacre of resisting tenant farmers. All decades before setting foot in Palestine.

‘Bloody Balfour Goes to Jerusalem in Cause of British Imperialism’ by J. Louis Engdahl from The Daily Worker. Vol. 2 No. 63. March 26, 1925.

TODAY, Lord Arthur James Balfour, known as “Bloody” Balfour because of his support of brutally coercive measures against the Irish peasantry, was due to enter Jerusalem, on his visit to the Holy Land, on behalf of the British Empire’s interests.

All is not going well with British rule in the Near East. So the lion must take this way of showing his paw. British aid to Sheik Said and his Kurds, also supported by big Turkish capitalists, against the Turkish Angora government, has proved of no avail. The aggressiveness of the Angora government is shown by its threat to seize Mosul, one of the big keys to control of Near East oil. The British stool pigeon here was King Hedjaz. He was forced to give up Mecca to Ibu Suiad, supported by Angora. Suiad is now the dominant figure in Arabia.

One of the contributing causes of the world war was German ambition for “The Berlin to Bagdad Railroad,” opening the way to the Persian Gulf and India, competing with the British all-sea routes. Now the, Arabs threaten this self-same route to India,–one of the brightest jewels in the British imperialist crown.

On his way to Jerusalem, Lord Balfour also gets the bad news that the anti-British Egyptian spokesman, Zagloul Pasha, has won a notable victory in the Egyptian parliament. The British puppet king, Fuad, has been forced to dissolve parliament, calling for new elections May 23. This would indicate that the recent crisis in Egypt, punctuated by the assassination of Sir Lee Stack, the sirdar, has in no way abated. London sees black clouds along the Suez.

Balfour enters Jerusalem with Arabs and Jews alike heatedly spurning his coming. The British lord’s reliance, however, as always is on the king’s troops, in this case the Ninth Queen’s Royal Lancers, who shift from Palestine to Egypt, and back again, as the occasion warrants.

The Palestine Arab Congress has issued an appeal to all Arabs to strike on the occasion of Balfour’s visit. The more militant elements among the Jews, have also posted a proclamation, not only protesting against “the deceitful Balfour, imperialist and chauvinist,” but also denouncing “imperialistic Zionism.” It would seem there is something more that is hot in the Near East besides the desert’s sands.

Balfour first got into British politics during the Russo-Turkish war, nearly 50 years ago. But the British have a different Russia to deal with today. In fact, all London-inspired propaganda insists that the Bolsheviks are behind all the anti-British moves in the Near East. The London imperialists cannot understand why these subject nations do not enjoy and welcome the British tyranny.

Terror and suppression against the Irish, the bloody war against the Boers in South Africa, which had not only Balfour’s consent, but his active direction, were but stepping stones on Balfour’s way to the prime minister’s seat of power, first held by him in 1902. The inhabitants of Palestine, over which the British now exercise a “protectorate,” are well aware of his past history. They know that his coming bodes them nothing that is good.

The Near East, with its oil, is a powder barrel set down in the midst of the conflicting imperialist interests of the great capitalist nations. While Great Britain struggles to protect her interests, the diplomats of France, Italy and the United States are no less active. It is, therefore, very significant that London has been forced to send Balfour to Jerusalem at this time. It no doubt fears that the peoples of the Near East intend that they shall no longer be crucified on the British imperialist cross.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1925/1925-ny/v02b-n063-NYE-mar-26-1925-DW-LOC.pdf