Putsch (pronounced poo-ch)
A (usually violent) sudden uprising; a political
revolt, especially a coup d'état.
1915: From
the German Putsch, derived from the Swiss
or Alemannic German Putsch (knock,
thrust, blow) and therefore of imitative origin. It picked up the meaning “a political coup”
in standard German through Swiss popular uprisings of the 1830s, especially the
Zurich revolt of September 1839; first noted in English in 1915.
Operation Hummingbird (1934): Crushing the "
Nacht der langen Messer (Night of the Long Knives), also called Unternehmen Kolbri (Operation Hummingbird) was a purge executed in Nazi Germany between 30 June-2 July 1934, when the regime carried out a number of extrajudicial executions, ostensibly to crush what was referred to as "the Röhm Putsch". Targets of the purge were those in the Nazi (National-Socialist) movement labelled as identifying with the need to continue the revolution so it would be as much socialist as it was nationalist. Ironically, at the time, there was no putsch planned although Ernst Röhm (1887–1934; chief of the Sturmabteilung (the stormtroopers (the SA)), head of the four-million strong SA had certainly in the past hinted at one.
Intended by Adolf Hitler
(1889-1945; head of government (1933-1945) & head of state (1934-1945) in
Nazi Germany) to be a short, sharp hit with a handful of arrests, Hummingbird suffered the not infrequent
fate of operations during the Third Reich: mission creep. By the time Hummingbird ended in early July, Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945;
Reichsführer SS (Schutzstaffel (Security Section (or Squad)) 1929-1945), his
henchman Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942; high-ranking SS official, chief of Reich
Security Main Office (Gestapo, Sipo, Kripo & SD 1939-1942) and Hermann
Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1923-1945 and Hitler's designated successor
1941-1945), then a dynamic force, settled scores and, including collateral
damage, the death toll was probably around 180.
Even Hitler thought that a bit much and worried for days there might be
consequences but he addressed the parliament, claimed it was a matter of
national security and received the thanks of the president for sorting things
out. All’s well that ends well.
The Nazi state was so extreme in its depravity
and gangsterism it can be difficult fully to appreciate the enormity of what
was done in 1934 and, dreadful as it was, the regime would get worse. After Nacht
der langen Messer, the Nazis cast themselves loose from the moorings of
civilization, first drifting, later accelerating towards the holocaust. The appalling nature of Nacht der langen Messer is best understood by imagining it
happening in Australia under vaguely similar circumstances.
Operation Galah (2018): Crushing the Dutton Putsch
At about 4:30am, Malcolm Turnbull and his entourage flew into Brisbane.
From the airport they drove to Federal
Police headquarters, where an enraged Turnbull dismissed the police chief and
told him he would be shot. Later that
day, he was executed while a large number of other police were arrested. Turnbull meanwhile assembled a squad of
federal police and departed for the northern suburbs hotel where Peter Dutton
and his followers were staying. With
Turnbull's arrival around 6:30am, Dutton and his supporters, still in bed, were
taken by surprise. The squad stormed the
hotel and Turnbull personally placed Dutton and other prominent Liberal-Party
conservatives under arrest. According to Michaelia Cash, Turnbull turned Abbott
over to "two detectives holding
pistols with safety catches off".
Turnbull ordered Eric Abetz, George Christensen, Kevin Andrews and
others in Dutton’s group immediately to be taken outside, put up against a wall
and shot.
Although Turnbull presented no evidence of a plot
by Dutton to overthrow his government, he nevertheless denounced the leadership
of the conservative faction. Arriving
back at Liberal Party headquarters in Canberra, Turnbull addressed the
assembled crowd and, consumed with rage, denounced "the worst treachery in world history". He told the crowd that
"…undisciplined and disobedient
characters and malcontents" would be annihilated. The crowd, which
included party members and some Dutton supporters fortunate enough to escape
arrest, shouted its approval. Christopher
Pyne, jumping with excitement, even volunteered to “shoot these traitors".
Julie Bishop, who had been with Turnbull in Brisbane,
set the final phase of the plan in motion and upon returning to Canberra,
telephoned Scott Morrison at 11:00am with the codeword "Galah" to let loose the execution squads on the rest of their
unsuspecting victims. Some 180 enemies
of the moderate faction were killed, most by shooting although there were
mistakes; the music critic of the Courier
Mail was executed because of a filing error when mixed-up with a member of the
Young Liberals with a similar name. The
Liberal Party sent a wreath to the funeral.
The regime did not limit itself to a purge of the
Liberal-Party conservatives. Having
banished some of them from the ministry, Turnbull and Bishop used the occasion
to add to the list some moderates he considered unreliable. Also executed were Barnaby Joyce and two other members of the National
Party, apparently just because Turnbull hated them. Another against whom he had long held a
grudge, a former Treasury official, met an especially gruesome fate, his body found in a wood outside Canberra, beaten to death with a vintage mechanical adding machine.
Dutton, along with Tony Abbott, briefly was held
in a cell at Liberal Party headquarters while Turnbull considered their fate. In the end, he decided Dutton and Abbott had
to die and, at Turnbull’s behest, Tim Wilson and Trent Zimmermann visited Dutton
and Abbott. Once inside the cell, they
handed each of them a pistol loaded with a single bullet and told them they had
ten minutes to kill themselves or they would do it for them. Abbott demurred, telling them, "If I am to be killed, let Malcolm do it
himself." Having heard nothing
in the allotted time, Wilson and Zimmermann returned to the cell to find them
still alive, Abbott standing in a gesture of defiance, wearing just his Speedos. They were then both shot dead.
As the purge claimed the lives of so many
prominent members of the party, it could hardly be kept secret. At first, its architects seemed split on how
to handle the event and Morrison instructed police stations to burn "all documents concerning the action of the
past two days". Meanwhile, Julie Bishop tried to prevent newspapers
from publishing lists of the dead, but at the same time used a radio address to
describe how Turnbull had narrowly prevented Dutton and Abbott from
overthrowing the government and throwing the country into turmoil. Then, Turnbull justified the purge in a
nationally broadcast speech in the House of Representatives.
“If
anyone reproaches me and asks why I did not resort to the regular courts of
justice, then all I can say is this. In this hour I was responsible for the
fate of the Australian people, and thereby I became the supreme judge of the
Australian people. I gave the order to shoot the ringleaders in this treason,
and I further gave the order to cauterise down to the raw flesh the ulcers of
this poisoning of the wells in our domestic life. Let the nation know that its
existence—which depends on its internal order and security—cannot be threatened
with impunity by anyone! And let it be known for all time to come that if
anyone raises his hand to strike the state, then certain death is his lot”.
Peter Dutton & Malcolm Turnbull, 2016 General Election.
Concerned with presenting the massacre as legally sanctioned, Turnbull had the cabinet approve a measure that declared, "The measures taken to suppress treasonous assaults are legal as acts of self-defence by the State." Attorney-General Christian Porter, a one-time conservative, demonstrated his loyalty to the regime by drafting the statute which added a veneer of lawfulness. Signed into law as the Law "Regarding Measures of State Self-Defence", it retroactively legalised the murders committed during the purge. Australia's legal establishment further capitulated to the regime when a leading legal scholar wrote an article defending Turnbull’s speech. It was named "The Prime-Minister Upholds the Law". From Yarralumla, the governor-general sent Turnbull a personally-signed letter expressing his "profoundly felt gratitude" and he congratulated the prime-minister for "nipping treason in the bud".
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