In Honor Of John Brown Late Of Harpers Ferry-1859- *Samuel Gridley Howe- Stiff-Necked Boston Abolitionist

Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for stiff-necked abolitionist, Samuel Gridley Howe.

BOOK REVIEW

Samuel Gridley Howe, Social Reformer, Harold Swartz, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1956

Those readers who have followed the doings in this space know that I have placed the name of Captain John Brown, late of Harper's Ferry, the pre-American Civil War revolutionary abolitionist very high in my pantheon of political heroes. That remains so, but today I wish to add another, perhaps lesser figure to that pantheon from the same period and who ultimately is tied to John Brown by the same strong links of abhorrence to slavery- and, did something about it-even if not as courageously as old Brown himself.

There has always been a certain amount of talk among historians about John Brown’s financial and political backers, the so-called "Secret Six". Among those so designated is one Samuel Gridley Howe, the subject of this biography. The presently reviewed book represents an earlier (1950's) attempt to estimate the influence of Howe in the pre-Civil War anti-slavery struggle. The book details the wide range of Howe’s activities, including his early military service in aid of the Greek liberation struggle of the 1820’s. Also highlighted is his reforming zeal in his founding of the world famous Perkins School for the Blind in Boston and his somewhat less famous founding of the Fernald School for the Mentally-challenged (to use today’s kinder expression of the condition). I should also note his marriage to Julia Ward Howe of 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' fame. However the parts of his biography that remain of abiding interest concern his increasing involvement in the anti-slavery struggles of the 1840’s, particularly his opposition to the Mexican Wars, his latter fight against the Fugitive Slave Law and his aid to Brown.

A quick perusal of Howe’s early resume, as detailed above, places him squarely in the mold of the classic pre- Civil War Boston Brahmin school of social reformer. That circle included such men as Charles Sumner, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and later, as the struggle against slavery intensified a veritable who’s who of gentile Northern society. For our purposes, however, what is important is the way the slavery issue played out on the political field in this milieu, centrally through the splitting of the old national Whig party that left the stage without a whimper as the new Republican Party came to dominate a part of Northern politics in the mid 1850’s. However beyond that parliamentary expression of the anti-slavery fight Howe was among those ‘extremists’ who were looking for extra-parliamentary ways to force the issue. Samuel Gridley Howe, at that time, seemed an unlikely candidate for such a role but nevertheless represented the personification of a very important historical political trend –in times of social stress when the old political consensus no longer holds contradictory elements together some elements of the old elite move in the new direction.

The Boston milieu of which Howe was an intricate part is a classic case study of the above-mentioned phenomena. The tensions between the 'Conscience' Whigs (those who opposed slavery in some way) and 'Cotton' Whigs (both the Southern planters ands their Northern supporters) began to appear early. I previously mentioned the Mexican War. Opposition to that war, a war fought essentially to increase slavery’s domain, appears to have been a litmus test. It is only a short way from that to the establishment of the Free Soil Party (with the unlikely political hack/wizard Martin Van Buren as its presidential candidate in 1848), the break up of the national Whig Party in the early 1850’s and the establishment of the Republican Party as a catchall for those opposed to slavery and in favor of a unified national capitalist expansion.

However, for those like Howe, who were driven by religious conviction and righteous zeal the parliamentary field was too narrow a place to resolve this slavery issue. Hence the support of John Brown in his endeavors. I have dealt with the political and military implications of Brown’s actions elsewhere in this space so I do not wish to do so here. The only point I wish to make is a comment on Howe’s fleeing to Canada in the wake of the frenzy in the South and the halls of Congress over the Brown raid, an action that seems to be contrary to his character. Later generations, who have faced this same kind of persecution and its consequences, can relate to that tension. One can name the Palmer Raids after World War I and the 'red scare' after World War II. Frankly there is no general rule on how one is suppose to act. However, contradictory that flight was in this instance Howe for his forthright efforts in the struggle against slavery still warrants a lesser place in the pantheon of our political forbears.

*Sacco And Vanzetti- The Case That Will Not Die, Nor Should It

Click on title to link to Sacco and Vanzetti commemoration site.

Below is a repost of the Sacco and Vanzetti post for 2008. The main points of the book review still tell the tale well about the fate of these class-war prisoners.

Sacco and Vanzetti- Class War Prisoners in the Dock, Circa 1920

BOOK REVIEW

Honor the Memory of Sacco and Vanzetti on this the 82st Anniversary of their execution by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Sacco and Vanzetti, Bruce Watson, Viking, New York, 2007

I like to put each item about the Sacco and Vanzetti case that I review in historical context with this well-worn standard first paragraph of mine. It, I believe, holds up today as in the past- Those familiar with the radical movement know that at least once in every generation a political criminal case comes up that defines that era. One thinks of the Haymarket Martyrs in the 19th century, the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930's, the Rosenburgs in the post-World War II Cold War period and today Mumia Abu-Jamal. In America after World War I when the Attorney General Palmer-driven ‘red scare’ brought the federal government’s vendetta against foreigners, immigrants and militant labor fighters to a white heat that generation's case was probably the most famous of them all, Sacco and Vanzetti. The exposure of the tensions within American society that came to the surface as a result of that case is the subject of the book by Professor Bruce Watson under review here.

In the year 2008 one, like myself, who openly proclaims partisanship for the heroic memory of Sacco and Vanzetti when looking for a book to help instruct a new generation about the case is not after all this time afraid of a little partisanship by its author. One is also looking to see if, given advances in modern criminology and technology, those sources have presented any new information that would change the judgments of history. That is apparently not the case with Professor Watson’s book. It is rather another garden variety narrative of the events that have been covered elsewhere by partisans on either side of the divide on the question of the guilt or innocence of the pair. Nevertheless it is good to have an updated narrative so that the youth will know that the pressing issues around the case have not gone away.

Professor Watson has presented a good description of the events that led up to the Sacco and Vanzetti trial in a Dedham, Massachusetts court presided over by an old WASP figure, Judge Webster Thayer. He details the hard work lives of the two Italian immigrants, the problems with foreigners especially South Europeans like them trying to gain a toehold in America, the future troubles to be brought on by their anarchist beliefs and more damagingly their departure for Mexico in 1917 to avoid being drafted into the American army after its entry into World War I.

Professor Watson further links the personal trials and tribulation of Sacco and Vanzetti with the general political atmosphere after World War I with its wave of anarchist bombings, the victory of the Russian Revolution and the response of capitalist America with the Attorney-General Palmer-led “ Red Scare, Part I”. He further details the South Braintree payroll robbery that set in motion the events of the next seven years that would bring world-wide attention to the cause of the two beleaguered anarchists. He gives the factual events of the day of the robbery and double murders, the subsequent search for the robbers, the narrowing of the chase to these two who were found to be armed at a later date in a very different context and their arrest and indictments for murder.

Needless to say any narrative of the Sacco and Vanzetti case needs to pay close attention to the trial itself, the personalities of the players and the evidence. In the background one has to look at the state of the law, especially its procedural aspects, at that time concerning capital punishment and further the social climate against foreigners, specifically Italians here. Watson, more than most accounts, gives special emphasis to chief trial defense lawyer Fred Moore and his various maneuvers, intrigues and, frankly, mistakes.

Of course, the heart of the book is an account of the appeals both legal and political throughout the seven year period. That included various strategies from calls for gubernatorial clemency to mass strikes by labor so the whole litany of class struggle defense policies gets a workout in the case. Although Professor Watson does a creditable job of describing these efforts as far as he goes I object, on political grounds, to his short shrift of the work of the Communist International and its class defense organization the International Labor Defense in publicizing the case. Who do you think brought the masses of workers out world-wide? It was not those Brahmin ladies on Beacon Hill, well-intentioned or not. This is certainly a subject for further comment by any reader of these lines.

The other point that I object to is Watson’s agnostic approach to the question of the guilt or innocence of Sacco and Vanzetti. At this far remove it is not necessary to be skittish about the question of their guilt or innocence in a legal sense. There is, obviously, not quite the sense of urgency of the call today for Mumia Abu Jamal’s freedom rather than retrial. However, although 80 years separate the two cases there is a steady tendency to limit justice in these cases to calls for retrial. However, in both cases the parties were innocent so the appropriate call would have been and is for freedom. This political ostrich act by Professor Watson, allegedly in the interest of being ‘objective’ and 'letting the new generation decide for itself', does a tremendous disservice to the memories of these class war fighters.

Nevertheless, this is a worthy book to use as a primer toward understanding the background to that long ago case. The end notes are helpful as is the bibliography for further research. Additionally, unlike Professor Watson’s excellent book Bread and Roses that I have previously reviewed in this space here he stays more closely with the subject and avoids bringing in every possible historical fact that might tangentially relate to the case. As always, until ultimate justice in done in the Sacco and Vanzetti case honor their memories today.

***Books To While Away The Class Struggle By- Nathaniel Hawthorne 's "The Scarlet Letter"

Click on the headline to link to a "Wikipedia" entry for Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter".


Recently I have begun to post entries under the headline- “Songs To While Away The Class Struggle By” and "Films To While Away The Class Struggle By"-that will include progressive and labor-oriented songs and films that might be of general interest to the radical public. I have decided to do the same for some books that may perk that same
interest under the title in this entry’s headline. Markin

Book Review

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Vintage Books, New York, 1952

I started off a review of the more famous of 19th American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories by noting that the old social democratic literary critic and editor of “Dissent”, Irving Howe, once noted that Mark Twain, and his post-Civil War works represented a dramatic break from the Euro-centric ante bellum American literary establishment. And on this question I agree with him. As I do on his choice of Nathaniel Hawthorne as an exemplar of that tradition. Certainly his most famous work, “The Scarlet Letter”, reflects that European influence, and is justly place in the pantheon of that handful of important works that emerged in the early days of the American Republic.

One of the of clearest links the ante bellum American literary establishment and the European tradition, especially from the English tradition was the need to pose and resolve some high moral question. And of course what is simpler to do that go back to the stark and isolated foundations of the white American tradition, the Puritan tradition. I know that if I were a writer and I wanted to dramatically portray the effects that physically isolated (and isolating) religiously-driven communities have on the individual, and on individual choice, those Puritan settlements from Cape Cod to Salem on the coast of Massachusetts in the 1600s would, at least get my serious consideration.

So that, in part is what drives the action (if one can use that term usefully here) of a woman (naturally) banished from the tight-knit community (or so they claimed) by running off and having an affair with Mr. X. Now today that would create in the reader nothing but a big yawn, and maybe some spicy gossip, but hardly banishment, and hardly the necessity to wear a badge of courage sewn on your dress. Except maybe today one would advertise that status and place a video on “YouTube”. And that is my moral point.
Hester Prynne did not deserve the social opprobrium of the religious fundamentalists of her day. But old Hawthorne did a great service by creating a masterpiece to point out that moral ambiguity and dilemma back in the days.

*Artist's Corner- The Work Of John Singer Sargent

Click On Title To Link To Wikipedia's Entry For John Singer Sargent. His work represented something of a high water mark for the Brahmin wing of the "robber barons" of the late 19th century early 20th century before they ran out of steam as anything other than a greedy, corrupt and vicious section of the American ruling class. Their previous intellectual pretensions (and the positive good work, of at least some of them, in such things as the pre-Civil War slavery abolition movement) had the virtue of a certain social and cultural naivete. Sargent does his utmost, as the bulk of his portrait work testifies to, in keeping that image in play (whatever his personal views of the matter).