β
Across Europe, conservatives alarmed by the rise of labour were discovering antidotes in nationalism, racism, and jingoism. Intellectuals, politicians, industrialists, and empire-builders embraced the idea that the masses β the dark, threatening masses stirring in the social depths β could perhaps be distracted by a new kind of βbread and circusesβ: the glory of empire. French philologist, philosopher, and historian Ernest Renan was explicit: it was βthe only way to counter socialismβ, and βa nation that does not colonise is condemned to end up with socialism, to experience a war between rich and poorβ. Cecil Rhodes, the diamond magnate and colonial pioneer who did more than anyone to establish British imperial rule in Southern Africa, found himself thinking along precisely these lines after witnessing a rowdy meeting of the unemployed in East London. βOn my way home,β he later recalled, βI pondered over the scene, and I became more than ever convinced of the importance of imperialism β¦ The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question. If you want to avoid civil war, you must become imperialists.
β
β