Urban Legend? Razor Blades Behind Posters December 1, 2020
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary , trackback
A small post in the run up to Christmas. The Times today (1 Dec) has run a story about Neo-Nazis ‘concealing blades behind posters’. (If you have problems with the paywall try here). The idea is that members of extreme political groups put up posters with razor blades glued or taped to the back of posters. Those taking the posters down get, then, some nasty cuts.
I’ve never heard of these shenanigans before but my immediate reaction is ‘urban legend’. In urban legends, remember, ‘razor blades’ are put in everything from Halloween sweets or apples (US) to lipstick (Iran), to slides (stuck there with chewing gum) so why not behind posters? After all, ‘if someone was to tear [a poster] off angrily or screw it up, it could be very nasty’ (Cov Ev Tel, 25 May, 10, 1976).
I’ve been through the British newspaper archives and found references to this practice dating back to the mid 1970s. In 1976 razor blades were found behind National Front posters at Warwick University (Cov Ev Tel, 25 May, 10). In 1983 razors were found behind racist posters in Liverpool (Liv Ech, 31 May, 3). Then in 1986 a student at Brunel University was accused of putting razors behind ‘right wing posters’ (apparently pro-South African: Ux Gaz 7 Aug, 14). All three note are associated with the racialist right.
In the 1983 article, one far right Liverpool politician said that he had ‘previously heard of the practice of putting blades behind posters’; while another (an election agent) said in the same article ‘I have heard of this being done by other people in the past’ (Liv Ech, 31 May, 3). The idea was clearly floating around. Both denied any involvement.
What about the reality? Let’s break it down into: morality; economics; and damage.
Morality, first. The racialist right has, like their brethren on the extreme left, a history, in Britain, of resorting to violence. Tick.
The economics? Disposable (and therefore cheap) razor blades have been around since the early twentieth century. There is no question then that they were available and not too pricey. Tick.
I am not so convinced, though, by the practical side: the chances of actually hurting anyone. It is true that if a blade was placed strategically a finger might have touched the blade and perhaps, depending on force and direction, got a cut. But hardly one that would take you to hospital. I find the idea of a razor blade in lipstick or an apple far more frightening. Also, the Times articles talks about blades being put behind stickers, which is just silly: the blades would be visible. This is, in folklore terms, a failed innovation. Try harder!
My guess is that this is a ‘bogey man’ story. But I’m by no means certain. Has anyone ever encountered a blade behind a political poster? Or do you perhaps have a friend of a friend (ahem) who has? Can anyone push the idea (true or false) back beyond 1976? I’ve been trying to think of alternatives to razor blades: pins or needles? Answers sent here will (if interesting) be put up: drbeachcombing AT gmail DOT com I’m putting my rapidly diminishing savings on ‘legend’ and my guess is that the story goes back in one form or another into the 1920s when politics started to get really nasty.
PS for regular readers we in the Beachcombing household struggle on through COVID. Our beloved car, my laptop and our washing machine have all conspired to break in a single week. Got a book on urban legends finished in the summer – now in peer review – and am hoping to pick the folklore pamphlet series back up soon. Some mutterings about a podcast with an anomalist colleague too, but we can’t find a good name… Love to you all.
