Crass - How Does It Feel (To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead)?

CRASS - HOW DOES IT FEEL 

(TO BE THE MOTHER OF A THOUSAND DEAD)?

Just as defeat in the Falklands would have surely ruined Thatcher, so victory did elevate her to new heights of insufferable grandiosity. Victory was the proof that she could now offer up to show that her politics, her policies and her spirit were totally and absolutely right. Thatcher's spirit was the Falkland's spirit was the spirit of the age - according to Thatcher.

"We have ceased to be a nation in retreat," she declared to a Conservative Party rally shortly after the war "We have instead a new-found confidence - born in the economic battles at home and tested and found true 8000 miles away. We rejoice that Britain has rekindled that spirit which has fired her for generations past and which today has begun to burn as brightly as before. Britain found herself again in the South Atlantic and will not look back from the victory she has won."

All good, stirring stuff, fully endorsed by The Sun newspaper, of course. But at what cost was this new-found confidence? Did the British armed forces go to war with Argentina to liberate the Falklands - for Queen and country - or for the political salvation of Thatcher? And what of the sinking of the Belgrano? Being the point at which the war began in earnest, rapidly escalating the death toll and destroying any chance of a negotiated peace, was the decision to attack made from a military necessity or a political one?

Back in Britain, was the degrading of whole industries and the subsequent mass unemployment a price worth paying for the establishment of a free enterprise economy? If Thatcher's vision of Britain was a nation of shopkeepers, it was also of a nation of Tory-voting, home-owning, patriotic Union Jack wavers. But if patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, was Thatcher's Britain to be a nation of scoundrels?

Three months after the Falklands war had ended a Victory Parade held in London offered a glimpse of that vision. As tanks rolled by and soldiers and sailors marched through the streets, thousands of people cheered, applauded and rejoiced. With their flags held aloft and their heads held high, the crowds sang 'Rule Britannia' with gusto as Thatcher - without the Queen or any other member of the Royal family present - stood there on a podium like a modern-day Roman emperor, saluting her 'bold young Britains'. For many, the event was a proud and emotional one but for others it was hugely unsettling if not extremely frightening.

At the risk of being strung up from lampposts by a Tory lynch mob, to coincide with the Victory Parade, Crass released their first, fully considered official statement concerning the Falklands war. Not withstanding the various flexi-discs they had issued, How Does It Feel (To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead)? was Crass's fifth 7" single release and appropriately under the circumstances was a bitter, intense ball of hate-fueled anger.

The Falklands war had impacted heavily upon Crass and whilst being confirmation of all they had ever said regarding the duplicity of governments, it had left them dismayed at theirs and everybody else's inability to do anything to stop it.

If, as it had appeared at the time that the whole Crass/peace/ Anarcho Punk movement was a force to be reckoned with then why had it been so ineffective when it came to the Falklands war? Why instead was it that after showing the massively violent ends to which she would go in pursuit of her political ideas, Thatcher's star was suddenly in the ascendency? Had Thatcher actually been underestimated? Was it time now to become even more strident in opposition? To up the game? To up the ante? To become even more fierce in condemnation?

How Does It Feel began with what might have been a description of the tiring, heavy load that Crass suddenly felt they were carrying; exasperated by the impact of the Falklands war: "When you woke this morning you looked so rocky-eyed, blue and white normally but strange ringed like that in black. It doesn't get much better, your voice can get just ripped up shouting in vain. Maybe someone hears what you say but you're still on your own at night. You've got to make such a noise to understand the silence, screaming like a jackass, ringing ears so you can't hear the silence. Even when it's there, like the wind seen from the window. Seeing it but not being touched by it."

It was a thoughtful and honest admission but instead of showing surrender to such feelings, Crass were hitting back with a single, screamed question aimed directly at Thatcher: "How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead?" A thousand lives, or thereabouts, being the amount lost in the war.

Not only was this a raw and emotive question but also painfully piercing and accusatory. When her own son had gone missing in the Sahara Desert at the start of the year, Thatcher was shown on national television shedding a tear for him as any mother might whose child was in danger. No such tears had been shed and no remorse shown, however, for the starving and dying H-Block prisoners the year previously; the pleas of their mothers and wives calling for clemency falling on deaf ears. The blood of those Irish prisoners was on Thatcher's hands though it appeared to hold no meaning to her nor to any of her fellow Party members, almost as if the responsibility was not theirs.

In comparison, Thatcher was all too ready to claim responsibility for the victory in the Falklands but in doing so, Crass were saying, she should also be held responsible for the deaths: "You smile in the face of death because you are so proud and vain, your cruel inhumanity stops you from realising the pain that you inflicted, you determined, you created, you ordered - it was your decision to have those young boys slaughtered."

As pacifists, Crass were obviously sickened by the war's main perpetrator, advocate and prime beneficiary - Thatcher. How Does It Feel ends with the whole band in unison and then just Steve Ignorant alone spitting out once again their furious refrain, this time sounding for all the world as though it was being directed personally at Thatcher: "1, 2, 3, 4 - we don't want your fucking war! 1, 2, 3, 4 - you can stuff your fucking war!"

Continuing the anti-Falklands war theme, two more songs were featured on the flipside, both featuring Eve Libertine on lead vocals. The first, entitled The Immortal Death was a meditation on the relationship between war and sex: "Ah, those rotting young men who all did their duty are sinking away in the sea. And they've missed, just for them, the 'Invincible panties' displayed in The Sun, page 3." This being, of course, a reference to The Sun's jingoism and the use of page 3 models to encourage the soldiers by flashing breasts and knickers.

The second song, entitled Don't Tell Me You Care, was Crass at their most virulent; perhaps, even, at their most virulent ever. The song starts with the words "You shit-head slimy got-it-alls," and then just gets better from there: "You crap-eyed ghosts with greasy balls. You wicked matron stabbing hard, grabbing while the going's good... You shit-head slimy make-it-alls, with dead meat dripping as you walk. Don't talk of justice or respect, you shit-soaked armchair moralist... You shit-head slimy got-it-alls, crap-eyed ghosts where maggots crawl, tired old jerk-offs with your bodyguards. Those muscle-pimps with forty-fives, you gutless automatic butchers, bullet-shitting dumbhead hookers... You shit-head greedy have-it-alls, you cheat and lie and jargonise that your success is also ours, that what you take you take for us..."

Delivered with caustic, incandescent fury, following the war this was exactly how a good many people hoped that Crass would respond to Thatcher and her supporters. Having had the time to weigh up the subtleties and the ins and outs of the war, this was Crass's thorough and thought-out assessment. There was no debate to be had, no exchange of views or opinion; just absolute and righteous condemnation. There was no message to be imparted, no call for action; just unbridled, unforgiving anger: "You dead meat eyesore death-pushers, look elsewhere for your arse-lickers. The face that stares back from the mirror reflects the reality of your horror. So don't tell me you care, shit head. You betray the dead now as you curse life. Eat your own shit, leader of the nation. Piss off to your Downing Street fortress. Leave us out of your MADNESS. Buy your own Vaseline, grease your own arse, shit in your own backyard, suck your own turds. THIS IS OUR WORLD."

Don't Tell Me You Care was an exhilarating piece of soul-bareing, made ever more heartfelt by Eve's vocal delivery. It was an impassioned scream of disgust perfectly reflecting how a great many people felt. However, daring to express such opinion that ran counter to the prevalent mood of pro-Conservative patriotism meant running the gauntlet of accusations of disrespect, disloyalty and treachery. No doubt for this reason a lot of people were choosing to keep their head down though that's not to say that what Crass were bravely saying wasn't precisely what those same people were all thinking.

How Does It Feel came in the usual wrap-around, fold-out sleeve but unlike other Crass releases there were no copious sleeve notes to pour over. Apart from what was being conveyed in the songs it seemed there was nothing more for Crass to add, so other than Gee Vaucher's artwork the sleeve was in all black. As though behind the anger, Crass were in mourning.

On the inner sleeve that held the actual record were the lyrics along with a reproduction of First World War poet Wilfred Owen's famous elegy, Anthem For Doomed Youth, along with a quote from writer/philosopher Hermann Hesse's book If The War Goes On. And then lastly, a quote from John Lennon. The obvious one, really, and none more so fitting: 'War is over if you want it'.

Being a free flexi-disc that was easily distributed, Crass's earlier release that year of Sheep Farming In The Falklands had the potential of falling into the hands of practically anyone venturing into a record shop. For all that, due probably to the fact that Crass denied at the time that they were behind its release, the only people to receive any flak over it was Rough Trade, the distributor of Crass records.

Following a Conservative MP raising the matter of the flexi-disc in the House of Commons after receiving a complaint about it from a constituent, Rough Trade were written to by the Select Committee on Sound Broadcasting asking them to desist in distributing the disc as it contravened regulations in broadcasting samples of speeches taken from the House of Commons. Rough Trade simply denied any involvement with it and forwarded the letter on to Crass, who hopefully had a good giggle about it. With the release of How Does It Feel, up stepped another Tory MP taking umbrage with Crass.

Having heard the record, or possibly having just read the lyrics, Tim Eggar, the Conservative MP for Enfield North in Essex, requested the Attorney General prosecute Crass under the Obscene Publications Act. For reasons known only to himself, Eggar then issued a press release informing the mainstream media of his action, thereby entailing huge publicity for the record. Eggar and Crass were then invited onto a live radio programme to debate the issue whereupon not only did Andy Palmer make mincemeat of Eggar but Eggar immediately and very successfully revealed himself to be an hysterical fucking idiot.

Years later, Crass would include a sample of the debate on a compilation album of theirs, making for hilarious listening: "The accusations that have been made against us are that the record is obscene," starts Andy Palmer in a calm, polite manner "I consider that Margaret Thatcher, her government, Mr Eggar and all who support her are responsible for sending young men to be slaughtered, which in my view amounts to premeditated and calculated murder."

In a very posh and pompous tone of voice, Eggar replies: "Well, look. What I object to extremely strongly is the actual language used in the last song. Now (addressing the host DJ), I know you have had to consult your lawyers over exactly what words I can repeat because you're frightened of the legal consequences of me reading out the words in that last track. Now that's, now that's, now that is how bad it is." Eggar's brain sounds as though it's about to explode: "And it starts off, the last song starts off with the words 'You shit-head slimy got-it-alls'. And then it gets worse from there."

What elevates it all to high comedy is the fact that Eggar talks exactly how a 'shit-head slimy got-it-all' might be imagined to talk like.

That same week of the radio debate, during Prime Minister's question time in Parliament, a Labour MP asked Thatcher if she might take some time off that afternoon to listen to the record How Does It Feel To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead? Sadly, Thatcher failed to respond to the question though it's probably fair to presume she wouldn't have been very amused.

Soon after this, prosecution charges against Crass were dropped, apparently following the decision by the Attorney General that How Does It Feel did not contravene the Obscene Publications Act, although a more likely reason being that someone in government didn't think it wise to give Crass more 'oxygen of publicity'.

Following their bout of self-doubt regarding the effectiveness of what they, Anarcho Punk, and the wider peace movement were doing, Crass's brush with the higher echelons of power acted as a spur for them to step up a gear.

Now was not the time to waver.

Now was the time to go on the attack.