Raffles versus the Jews

Arthur J. Raffles - the most famous literary creation of Ernest William Hornung - is the fictional protagonist of a series of stories written between 1898 and 1909. Raffles is one of the most famous of fictional 'good guy' criminals and was wildly popular during the early twentieth century.

In many ways Raffles served as the prototype for Maurice Leblanc's character of Arsene Lupin; who continues to impact popular culture (having several films as well as his own long running anime series) far more than does Raffles. Be that as it may; Hornung's Raffles remains the quintessential British 'boys own' fictional character and as such is representative of the personal pluck and daring that served as the foundation of the British Empire.

With the destruction of the – shall we say – 'Raffles Spirit' has come the virtual annihilation of the British Empire and the potential destruction of its creators - the peoples of the British Isles - by waves of unlimited immigration from the third world. It is therefore plausible to see Raffles as a symbol for the personal and political attitudes that made Britain great as opposed to the respective attitudes inculcated by the abject failure of one-size fits all social democracy.

Hornung's Raffles exhibited the kind of characteristics that today's 'conservatives' would no doubt find objectionable in the extreme. Examples of which are the belief that women are better off at home, that personal honour is extremely important and that non-Whites are inveterate savages who exist only to serve Whites.

Perhaps the most objectionable of Raffles' attitudes for today's would-be thought police is that he was defiantly, and dare I say militantly, anti-Semitic. In the story 'A Costume Piece' in Hornung's 'The Amateur Cracksman' collection of Raffles stories; our hero encounters a man named Reuben Rosenthal.

Reuben Rosenthal is quite obviously a name that was intended to convey the character's jewishness to the reader. Further evidence of this can be found in the stereotypically jewish description of Rosenthal's behaviour and personal proclivities.

He is a serial fence and purchaser of stolen diamonds and conducts such a transaction during 'A Costume Piece'. He is specially obsessed with diamonds with a purple sheen and is further described by Hornung as a 'heathen' (i.e., non-Christian or to be more specific jewish).

Rosenthal also exhibits a deep hatred of gentile high society, because its members refuse to prostrate themselves before the size of his bank account. This enrages Rosenthal - as it did to many jews in Hornung's day - precisely because the members of high society focused on the importance of ancestry, conduct and manners not on whether you own a skyscraper of gold bars or not.

It doesn't help that Rosenthal is not infrequently in his cups among the very social aristocrats he so desperately wants to impress.

Typically Rosenthal wishes to declare war against the high society which has rejected him and exhibits a quasi-Bolshevik desire to spill the blood of said gentile social aristocrats. He also likes to whip out a gun and 'sign his name in bullets on the wall'.

Yet like many of the leaders of the real life Bolsheviks – who were often from wealthy or middle class backgrounds themselves - Rosenthal is an abject coward when physically confronted. Just like the historic Bolsheviks; Rosenthal likes to leave the actual violence to non-jews in this case a bruiser of a man named Pervis.

Rosenthal is taken down hard by the combination of Raffles and his innocent-ish sidekick Harry 'Bunny' Manders; who promptly gloat over Rosenthal's misfortune.

Raffles’ outright dislike of jews and Hornung's casting them in the role of villains is at its most obvious in the only Raffles novel: 'Mr. Justice Raffles'. Published in 1909 this final and last instalment of Raffles' adventures sees our two heroes – Raffles and Bunny - battle to save a young British socialite and his fiancée from the clutches of a loan shark and usurer named Dan Levy.

Aside from the fact that Levy is obviously a jewish surname and the character earns his living in the stereotypically jewish profession of money-lending. Hornung makes Raffles continually refer to Levy as 'a jew', 'the jew', 'Mr. Shylock' or as a 'member of the tribe', which leaves us in little doubt as to how Hornung himself identified Levy.

Raffles' young friend - as well as his amiable fool of a father - are in the clutches of ever worsening loans from Levy that are extremely usurious. The father of said friend has borrowed that money against the luxurious family home in London and as he is late with one payment: Levy has moved in to seize the property in lieu of the debt. To achieve this Levy uses a mix of blackmail and threats of physical violence.

Levy doesn't perform the physical violence himself however, but rather gets various non-jewish criminal lackeys to do it for him, while the clerks and legal enforcers of his quasi-criminal banking enterprise are also jewish. One timorous lisping clerk for example is referred to as 'little Moishe' and we are given to suspect by Hornung that every clerk and legal enforcer who works for Levy is similarly jewish.

Like a stereotypical jew Levy never keeps to even his written bargains and contracts if he can possibly help it, is overwhelmingly fat - Raffles refers to him as a 'fat swine' – and stinks of body odour as he rarely bathes. To top it off Levy also brutally emotionally and physically abuses his equally fat wife.

Our heroes take down Levy and save Raffles' young friend (and his father) from ruin in their characteristic style of a mix of high-minded principle, guile and criminality in the service of a good cause. While Levy ends up being stabbed to death by a non-jewish client outraged at Levy's treatment of him at the close of the novel with Raffles professing that he fully empathizes with Levy's killer since the latter was a 'swine'.

In essence Levy is portrayed by Hornung as the stereotypical jew and the very epitome of evil, while Raffles is the ideal upstanding Englishman. Raffles represents the forces of good, while Levy represents the forces of evil and it is very clear that to Hornung jewry was the source of much - if not most - evil.

Therefore we can see that Hornung's infamous character of Arthur J. Raffles is both an upstanding ideal Englishman, but also a strident opponent of jews and their evil behaviour.

Whatever way you wish to cut it: Arthur J. Raffles was militantly anti-Semitic.