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The working classes only enter into the Gem and Magnet as comics or semi-villains
(race-course touts, etc.). As for class-friction, trade unionism, strikes, slumps, unemployment,
Fascism and civil war—not a mention. Somewhere or other in the thirty years' issue of the two papers
you might perhaps find the word "Socialism," but you would have to look a long time for it. If the
Russian Revolution is anywhere referred to, it will be indirectly, in the word "Bolshy" (meaning a
person of violent disagreeable habits). Hitler and the Nazis are just beginning to make their
appearance, in the sort of reference I quoted above. The war-crisis of September 1938 made just
enough impression to produce a story in which Mr. Vernon-Smith, the Bounder's millionaire father,
cashed in on the general panic by buying up country houses in order to sell them to "crisis scuttlers."
But that is probably as near to noticing the European situation as the Gem and Magnet will come,
until the war actually starts. * That does not mean that these papers are unpatriotic—quite the contrary!
Throughout the Great War the Gem and Magnet were perhaps the most consistently and cheerfully
patriotic papers in England. Almost every week the boys caught a spy or pushed a conchy into the
army, and during the rationing period "eat less bread" was printed in large type on every page. But
their patriotism has nothing whatever to do with power-politics or "ideological" warfare. It is more
akin to family loyalty, and actually it gives one a valuable clue to the attitude of ordinary people,
especially the huge untouched block of the middle class and the better-off working class. These
people are patriotic to the middle of their bones, but they do not feel that what happens in foreign
countries is any of their business. When England is in danger they rally to its defence as a matter of
course, but in between-times they are not interested. After all, England is always in the right and
England always wins, so why worry? It is an attitude that has been shaken during the past twenty
years, but not so deeply as is sometimes supposed. Failure to understand it is one of the reasons why
left-wing political parties are seldom able to produce an acceptable foreign policy.
The mental world of the Gem and Magnet, therefore, is something like this:
The year is 1910—or 1940, but it is all the same. You are at Greyfriars, a rosy-cheeked
boy of fourteen in posh tailor-made clothes, sitting down to tea in your study on the Remove passage
after an exciting game of football which was won by an odd goal in the last half-minute. There is a
cosy fire in the study, and outside the wind is whistling. The ivy clusters thickly round the old grey
stones. The King is on his throne and the pound is worth a pound. Over in Europe the comic
foreigners are jabbering and gesticulating, but the grim grey battleships of the British Fleet are
steaming up the Channel and at the outposts of Empire the monocled Englishmen are holding the
niggers at bay. Lord Mauleverer has just got another fiver and we are all settling down to a
tremendous tea of sausages, sardines, crumpets, potted meat, jam and doughnuts. After tea we shall sit
round the study fire having a good laugh at Billy Bunter and discussing the team for next week's match
against Rookwood. Everything is safe, solid and unquestionable. Everything will be the same for ever
and ever. That approximately is the atmosphere.
But now turn from the Gem and Magnet to the more up-to-date papers which have
appeared since the Great War. The truly significant thing is that they have more points of resemblance
to the Gem and Magnet than points of difference. But it is better to consider the differences first.
There are eight of these newer papers, the Modern Boy, Triumph, Champion, Wizard,
Rover, Skipper, Hotspur and Adventure. All of these have appeared since the Great War, but except