Book by Carroll Quigley
The Anglo-American Establishment: From Rhodes to Cliveden explores the existence and influence of a clandestine society instrumental in shaping British imperial and foreign policy for over fifty years.
The work, functioning as an apologetic for the Western establishment, presents a real history derived from the archives of the Round Table Group and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). It aims to reveal how geopolitical power operates and the strategies of what is termed the Atlanticist Anglo-American establishment.
Structure of a Secret Society
The genesis of this influential society is traced to a pivotal conversation in London in February 1891, involving Cecil Rhodes, William T. Stead, and Reginald Baliol Brett (later Lord Esher).
Rhodes, an immensely wealthy imperial builder and a prominent figure in South Africa, served as the leader. The society's organisational blueprint included an inner circle, known as the Society of the Elect, and an Outer Circle, designated as the Association of Helpers.
Within the Society of the Elect, power was principally wielded by the leader and a Junta of three, comprising Stead, Brett, and Alfred Milner. Milner, later regarded as Rhodes's chosen successor in the society's leadership, was inducted shortly after the initial meeting.
The society's formation was the culmination of more than 17 years of planning by Rhodes, who envisioned a secret society patterned on the Jesuits. Rhodes explicitly instructed on its formation, stating, "in considering questions suggested take constitution of the Jesuits if obtainable and insert English Empire for Roman Catholic religion". This structure, though modified over time, continued to exist.
The Cecil Bloc and Milner Group
The influence and power wielded by Milner and his group derived significantly from the Cecil family and its allied families, such as the Littletons, Lyttletons, Balfours, Palmers, Cavendishes, and Gathorne-Hardys. This network, termed the Cecil Bloc, was established by Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. The Milner Group itself, sometimes referred to as Milner's Kindergarten in its South African context, and later known as the Cliveden setor Round Table Group, functioned as a major component within this larger nexus of power.
The methods employed by the Cecil Bloc involved a triple-front penetration across politics, education, and Journalism. This included the recruitment of talented individuals, often from All Souls College, Oxford, and their integration into the Cecil Bloc through marital alliances and the conferral of titles and positions of power.
Public policy was influenced by strategically placing members of the Cecil Bloc in positions of authority, often shielded from public scrutiny. All Souls College, while merit-based in its competitive fellowships, was notably influenced by this outside power, particularly through its non-competitive fellowships and the general direction of college policy. The journal The Times, under the editorship of figures like George E. Buckle and Geoffrey Dawson, also became an instrument of this group, with its content and policy often dictated by the Milner Group.
Instruments of Influence
Journalism and Propaganda:
Beyond academia, the Milner Group actively engaged in journalistic endeavours to steer public opinion. Early efforts included publications like _The Empire and the Century_ (1905) and _The Empire and the Future_ (1916). The Round Table, a quarterly journal launched in 1910, served as a key propaganda vehicle, initially to promote Imperial Federation and ensure Dominion support for a future war with Germany.
The journal maintained anonymity for its contributors, a practice that ensured the political prominence of later writers did not overshadow the message, and allowed the journal to appear as a voice of unified opinion rather than a specific group. This strategy involved mutual reinforcement, where a policy announced by a statesman (a group member) would be simultaneously supported by studies from the Royal Institute of International Affairs, academic works from Oxford fellows, and anonymous editorials and reviews in _The Times_ and _The Round Table_, creating an illusion of widespread consensus.
Education and Patronage:
The Rhodes Trust and the administration of the Rhodes Scholarships were central to the group's influence. George Parkin, brought in by Milner, managed the scholarships for 18 years. The group also controlled key academic positions, such as the Beit Chair in Colonial History at Oxford, ensuring that the selection of scholars and professors aligned with their objectives.
Networking and Recruitment:
The group systematically recruited individuals, primarily from Oxford, particularly All Souls and New College, who shared their commitment to Imperial unity and public service. These recruits were then placed in influential positions across government, finance, and journalism.
Key Historical Engagements
South Africa and the Jameson Raid:
Rhodes's secret society was deeply implicated in the Jameson Raid (1895), an attempted coup in the Transvaal. Flora Shaw, a journalist with _The Times_ and a confidante of Rhodes and the Colonial Office, facilitated secret communications and published fabricated news to justify the raid.
The society, including Lord Rothschild, subsequently worked to cover up their activities during the parliamentary investigation, engaging in perjury and leveraging their influence to ensure a lenient inquiry. The full story, if revealed, would demonstrate the society's machinations and subsequent cover-up.
Union of South Africa and the Commonwealth:
The Milner Group played a significant role in bringing about the Union of South Africa in 1910. The evolution of the British Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations is also largely attributed to their efforts. Although their ultimate goal of a full Imperial Federation remained elusive, they championed the concept of a "Commonwealth" based on shared ideals of freedom and the rule of law, ultimately accepting a system of cooperation among independent states as a stepping stone towards wider global governance.
World Wars and Foreign Policy:
The Milner Group's foreign policy aimed to maintain the balance of power in Europe, primarily by building up Germany against France and Russia. Before World War I, the group was distinctly anti-German, believing that Germany posed a threat to the British Empire. However, after Germany's defeat in 1918, their animosity waned, shifting towards rebuilding Germany to counter Bolshevism and French militarism.
Reparations and the League of Nations:
The group sought to lighten Germany's reparations burden, arguing that excessive demands would ruin Germany's economy and social order, and were a violation of the pre-Armistice agreement. Figures like Brand, the group's economic expert, championed this view. The League of Nations, initially viewed by the group as a potential catalyst for a united Europe, rapidly became regarded as a propaganda machine.
The British government, under the influence of the Milner Group, did not genuinely intend the League's security efforts to succeed. The League's Covenant was deliberately drafted with loopholes to allow Britain to escape obligations, presenting a camouflage of sham world government.
Appeasement:
The Milner Group became key proponents of appeasement, particularly towards Nazi Germany. This policy aimed to allow Germany to expand eastward, implicitly against Russia, without provoking a war that would draw Britain in directly.
Figures like Lord Lothian, Lord Halifax, and Samuel Hoare systematically argued for concessions to Germany, often downplaying Germany's aggressive intentions and exaggerating Britain's inability to intervene. This included support for Germany's remilitarisation of the Rhineland, the annexation of Austria, and the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, all under the guise of avoiding a larger conflict.
The war scare of September 1938 in London, designed to soften up British public opinion for the surrender of Czechoslovakia, was fraudulent, with government officials fabricating threats and exaggerating German military strength.
Economic Control and Global Governance:
The establishment of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in 1930, initially tasked with facilitating German reparations, was ultimately designed to foster cooperation between central banks globally, representing a move towards a world system of financial control by private banks.
This system, envisioned to be controlled feudally by the world's central banks acting collectively through the BIS, aimed to dominate the political and economic systems of every nation through control of credit and the flow of gold.
The Great Depression and the New Deal in the United States, too, were understood as part of this agenda, with Franklin D Roosevelt's policies putting the public into debt to bankers who had, in part, engineered the crash.
The European Common Market and later the G7/G8 and G20, were also planned by these elites. The French experience, where bankers, then Napoleon, and finally the Rothschilds consolidated control over the nation's finance and industry, serves as an illustrative example of this global pattern of private banking dominance.
The Cold War and Weaponized Ideologies
World War IIsignificantly weakened Germany and Russia, the two main perceived threats to the Atlanticist powers, in line with the long-term plan of the UK elite to prevent Germany and Russia from becoming imperial threats to British power.
The post-war landscape saw the creation of the United Nations as a replacement for the League of Nations, with the UN Security Council established to manage global security. The Cold War is presented not as a genuine ideological conflict but as an engineered dialectic.
Both Marxism and global monopoly capitalism, despite their apparent opposition, shared an internationalist agenda and were funded by the same powerful entities.
The Western establishment aided and built up the Soviet Union, supplying it with immense resources and aid during and after World War II, enabling it to become a significant, albeit controlled, threat. This strategy aimed to create a bipolar world (East vs. West, communism vs. capitalism), both ultimately controlled by the Anglo-American banking establishment.
This control extended to influencing international organisations like the IMF and World Bank, which would exact loan shark conditions on nations, particularly after periods of destabilisation or conflict engineered by the same powers.
Underlying Philosophy and Ideological Framework
The ideology underpinning this establishment is described as Anglo-liberalism, promoting a "democratic" world order which is in reality a scam or cloak for oligarchs. It is characterised by materialism naturalism, secularism, globalism, capitalism, Scientism, and democracy.
This liberal framework is presented as a "new business phase" for global reorganisation, where power is ultimately concentrated in private, central institutions.
The system embraces a technocratic rule by experts and rationalisation. The establishment, while exporting revolution and "democracy" to other countries, maintained its own class system and concealed its true power behind facades of parliamentary government and "public" institutions like the Bank of England. Economic competition is seen as a means to set people against each other, with the ultimate goal of achieving central economic planning and monopoly corporate control, which ironically aligns with aspects of Marxism.
The establishment’s actions, including supporting figures like Stalin and Hitler on WW1, are pragmatic power plays designed to weaken rivals (Germany and Russia) and reshape the global order, rather than adherence to strict ideological principles.
The group's imperialism was not driven by simple materialistic incentives but by a sincere belief that "freedom, civilisation, and human decency could best be advanced through the instrumentality of the British Empire". However, this undemocratic kind of socialism was reluctant to share political power with the masses, despite willingness to make sacrifices for their well-being.
The ultimate vision is the consolidation of power for the purpose of restructuring the globe and moving towards global governance.
This aim, always perpetual, is achieved through the erection of the same central banking model in all nations, culminating in the BIS as the central bank of central banks. The book reveals the mechanisms of this power, from influencing public opinion and political decisions to engineering wars and controlling financial systems, all in service of a long-term goal of a global order controlled by a private banking elite.