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This space is dedicated to the proposition that we need to know the history of the struggles on the left and of earlier progressive movements here and world-wide. If we can learn from the mistakes made in the past (as well as what went right) we can move forward in the future to create a more just and equitable society. We will be reviewing books, CDs, and movies we believe everyone needs to read, hear and look at as well as making commentary from time to time. Greg Green, site manager
Friday, October 17, 2014
As The 100th
Anniversary Of The First Year Of World War I (Remember The War To End All Wars)
Continues ... Some Remembrances-Poet’s Corner
LINES WRITTEN IN SURREY, 1917
A sudden swirl of song in the bright sky--
The little lark adoring his lord the sun;
Across the corn the lazy ripples run;
Under the eaves, conferring drowsily,
Doves droop or amble; the agile waterfly
Wrinkles the pool; and flowers, gay and dun,
Rose, bluebell, rhododendron, one by one,
The buccaneering bees prove busily.
Ah, who may trace this tranquil loveliness
In verse felicitous?--no measure tells;
But gazing on her bosom we can guess
Why men strike hard for England in red hells,
Falling on dreams, 'mid Death's extreme caress,
Of English daisies dancing in English dells.
_George Herbert Clarke_
Mid East In Flames: Israel, Palestine, Iran—and The Bomb
Democratic
Socialists of America October Forum
October
9, 7:00 pm
Encuentro 5, 9 Hamilton Place, Boston (near Park St T)
Encuentro 5, 9 Hamilton Place, Boston (near Park St T)
SPEAKERS: Shelagh
Foreman, Peace
Action; Mitchell Silver, Workmen’s
Circle
Civil
wars are currently raging in Libya, Syria and Iraq, and the US and Iran now
find themselves on the same side against ISIS—perhaps to their mutual
dismay. Gaza is struggling to recover from its recent decimation, and there
seems to be no realistic prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace in the
foreseeable future. So how should our movements for peace, justice and
democracy respond to these developments? And what might a constructive US Mid
East policy look like?
Shelagh
Foreman from Massachusetts Peace Action will review the ISIS crisis, Obama’s
response, and the impact of both on the US-Iran nuclear negotiations. These
talks aim to prevent Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons in exchange for
ending US economic sanctions, and have been opposed from the beginning by
hardliners in Washington, Jerusalem and Tehran. But since the deadline for any
agreement is November 24, all our Congressional representatives will soon have
to weigh in as well.
Mitchell
Silver from the Workmen’s Circle will speak on the continuing illegal Israeli
settlements in the Occupied Territories, and the uphill struggle for a
democratic 2 state resolution of the conflict through mutual
self-determination —and those in the US and elsewhere who oppose it. He has
taught philosophy at UMass Boston since 1982, is the author of A
Plausible God and other works on secular Jewish identity, and a frequent
contributor to Jewish
Currents.
Sponsored
by Democratic Socialists of America
United for
Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and
community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed
after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic
justice.
Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP
today.
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617-383-4857 | www.justicewithpeace.org |
Hong Kong Protests: China Discussion Group
When: Thursday, October 9, 2014, 7:00
pm
Where: Center for Marxist Education •
550 Mass. Ave. • Central T • Cambridge
Special edition of the China Discussion Group on the 65th anniversary of
the Chinese Revolution
Brief presentation by Duncan McFarland followed by discussion.
o What were the political arrangements for Hong Kong at the time of the
return from Britain to China?
o What is the process of the 2017 elections for Hong Kong chief executive
and the protesters demands?
o What is the evidence of US manipulation of the situation to advance the
anti-China "pivot"?
o What is the possible political resolution?
We will also discuss the project of marking the 65th anniversary of the
victory of the Chinese Revolution (October 1, 1949) by launching a year long
series of programs on the major issues concerning China today. We will publish
a pamphlet next year aimed at a facts based, open discussion of the socialist
transition in China. On Oct. 9 we will define basic
issues in the Left's understanding of China
www.facebook.com/events/724886757559236
www.facebook.com/events/724886757559236
United for
Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and
community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed
after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic
justice.
Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP
today.
| ||
617-383-4857 | www.justicewithpeace.org |
A call to a different kind of
action! “Food Chains” director calls on Fair Food Nation to mobilize for film
release… Film’s national release coming up fast!
As the November 21st nationwide release of “Food
Chains” rapidly approaches, we are thrilled to be able to share the list of
cities in which a full theatrical launch is planned (a “full theatrical launch”
is when a film is screened at a proper theater for a week or more). Thus far
those cities include:
English
language: New York City, Los Angeles (Pasadena), San Francisco,
Orlando, Tampa, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Washington DC, Chicago and Bonita
Springs (FL), with the possibility of Miami
Spanish language: Salinas (CA),
Pittsburgh (CS), Bakersfield (CA)
Food Chains will be released in more major cities on November 28th, including
Denver and Minneapolis.Just a little more than a month ahead of its release, “Food Chains” director Sanjay Rawal has this message for the Fair Food Nation:
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alfredjohnson34@comcast.net
Click here to unsubscribe.
Coalition of Immokalee Workers • PO Box 603, Immokalee, FL
34143 • (239) 657-8311 • workers@ciw-online.org
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A Foreign Policy for AllRe-Thinking U.S. Foreign Policy for the 21st Century
Saturday
November 8, 2014, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
MIT Room 34-101 • 50 Vassar St • Cambridge • Kendall T
It’s
time for a change.
After years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, with
their terrible toll of death and destruction, we are fighting again in the
Middle East. But growing numbers of Americans are debating the values and goals
of U.S. foreign policy, with its heavy reliance on military intervention. Why
has it been so unsuccessful? What is the appropriate role for our nation in
today’s world? How does our investment in a gigantic, costly military
establishment affect our foreign policy decisions?
In this one-day conference, to
be held immediately after the midterm election, we will attempt to outline a
more positive vision of U.S. global engagement, one that addresses the actual
security needs of people around the world and that is consistent with the
principles of peace and justice for all. We will also explore the actions
needed to make the changes we seek, to shift the discussion.The discussion will respond to a draft paper prepared
by a working group. Read a summary of the Foreign Policy for
All project.
Contact us at
info@masspeaceaction.org; your ideas for workshop topics or other ways you can
help are welcome!
Conference
fee: $25 before Oct. 29 for members of sponsoring organizations, $30
for others, $35 at the door, $10 for students and low income; free to MIT
students. Fee includes morning coffee and lunch. 15% discount for 5 or more
people who register at the same time. Register at fp4a-conf.bpt.me/ or mail check to Massachusetts Peace Action, 11
Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138; write "FP4A" on memo line.
Info: 617 354 2169
Host: MIT Technology and
Culture ForumCo-Sponsors: Massachusetts Peace Action, American Friends Service Committee, MIT Western Hemisphere Association, United for Justice with Peace, Women's International League for Peace & Freedom - Boston Branch
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Join Massachusetts Peace Action - or renew your membership today! Dues are $40/year for an individual, $65 for a family, or $10 for student/unemployed/low income. Members vote for leadership and endorsements, receive newsletters and discounts on event admissions. Donate now and you will be a member in good standing through December 2015! Your financial support makes this work possible! Massachusetts Peace Action, 11 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138 617-354-2169 • info@masspeaceaction.org • Follow us on Facebook or Twitter Click here to unsubscribe |
Poets’ Corner- The Mad Hatter 15th Century
France’s Francois Villon Whether They Claim Him Or Not
From The Pen Of Frank Jackman
Once, a long time ago, an old
communist I do not remember which version of the creed he adhered to, although
he had had some impressive documented revolutionary credentials in Germany
before Hitler pulled the hammer down in 1933 and he just barely got out into
American exile by a very long and circuitous route, told me that as far as
culture affairs, you know art, novels, music and what I want to talk about
here, poetry, is basically subject to whatever personal whims a person may have
on these matters. The caveat to all this is that both creators and admirers
should be left to their own devises except if they are actively engaged with
counter-revolutionary activity. Now that I think about it he probably got the
idea from Leon Trotsky himself who wrote about such matters in the 1920s in
books like Literature and Revolution although I am sure that he did not
consider himself a follower of that great revolutionary who was exiled in the
late 1920s.
The point today is that if a
left-wing political activist like myself, say, were very interested in the
poetry of Emily Dickerson or Wallace Stevens or Thomas Mann or Edna Saint
Vincent Millay then what of it. Except those kinds of poets do not “speak” to me.
Poets like Allan Ginsberg burning the pages with his negro streets, his
clamoring against the industrial complex, his angel hipsters, his chanting
against the fate of the best minds of his generation, the gangster-poet Gregory
Corso blazing the hot streets with his words and taking no prisoners, old
Rimbaud with his mad ravings, Verlaine too, Genet with his black soul they
“speak” to me. The troubadours, the “bad boys and girls,” the waifs, the
gangsters, the drifters, grifters and midnight sifters and those who act as
muses for the fallen are what makes me sit up and listen.
And that brings us to Francois Villon, the
“max daddy” of bad boy poets (and brigands) from the 15th century.
Strangely while I have picked up on most of my favorite poets from some
academic setting I learned of Villon from two maybe unusual sources. First from
the 1930s film The Petrified Forest where
the Bette Davis character, Gabby, was crazy for the Villon book of poems sent
from her returned to home mother in France. More importantly the poet and what
he stood for was brought up in the film in conversation with Leslie Howard’s
character Alan who was a Villon-like misplaced out of sorts wanderer out in the
Arizona desert. The other source was a poem by Villon used as a front-piece of
an article by Hunter S. Thompson who used the sentiment expressed by Villon
where he considered himself a stranger in his own country (as did Thompson back
in Nixon times in America).
But back to the muses, back to the
gangsta muses (sorry hip-hop nation for stealing your thunder but your
sing-song lyrics definitely make me think you have drawn from the same well,
the same Villon well, especially guys like Biggie, Tupac, 50 cent, and Brother
Cole, a brother from the same damn “sew those worn-out pants” projects
neighborhood in spirit as me). Old Villon must have gotten tripped up on his
DNA finding the back streets of Paris and later exile spots more attractive
than the court life, the scholar’s. Trouble followed the guy wherever he moved
(granted he had little room to maneuver in those days since he was a city man
and not some outlaw Robin Hood working the old rural pastures and forests). His
poetry speaks of drunken sots, of quick upstairs flights with besotten wenches,
of tavern dark corners to plan, plan the next caper, or the next poem to
explain away his life led.
Who knows what makes a man or woman
a stranger in their own land, an internal exile. Maybe like Villon it was his
dismissal of the vanities of court life, the vacuity of the student life, or
the lure of the outlaw life when bourgeois society (and France in the 15th
century was reaping the beggar’s banquet of bourgeois society) and it took no
Karl Marx to notice that the old ways had to give way to the new city ways with
their gold and death to free spirits, to those who lived outside allegiances.
Maybe like Ginsberg shattered by the smoke of downtown Paterson, maybe
shattered by the hysterical cries of his beloved if discarded mother, maybe
shattered by the square-ness of his father-poet. Maybe like Jean bon Genet born
of some ancient mix of the crime that dared not speak its name and crimes that
had names. Trolling waterfronts looking for rough trade, looking for his lady
of the flowers. Strangers, strangers all looking for some new Algiers, some new
Casablanca, some new city a-borning.
Villon, lord of the sneak away
night, besotted with six wines, drunk with the fragrance of women. Women who
reek of the kingdom’s perfumes and if Hilary Mantel is to be believed over in
bedeviled England all the women worked lilac and lemon tree leaves into their
skin so that guys, guys like Villon ready to seek a lady’s favor could stand to
be within ten feet of them. Reeking of words too, Villon reeking of words that
is, quick words, words with hidden messages, words heard in taverns, on wormy mattresses,
in stinking hayloft barns, unholy holy words that would make men quake if they
had the sense that their God gave them as a gift (or was it the son, the damn
crazed son, Jesus, called bandit), stealthily grabbing whatever was to be
grabbed and the hell with the lord business. Then writing in dark dungeon nights
looking for reprieves from a wretched life.
Beautiful, a beat down brother, no
wonder Alan the wandering homeless out of fashion intellectual in The Petrified Forest claimed him as
kindred, and why he could have walked on steamy late night New York streets and
found kindred among the midnight sifters. Beat, beatified before his time
probably clamoring on some woe begotten trumpet, blowing out big medieval blow notes
to the hard Seine, the hard Norman shores, to all who would listen, Yeah, Saint
Villon, sanctified, man of misrule, man of the hidden cloth, beat, beat about
six ways to Sunday if you believe his resume, if you believe his 15th
century be-bop wail. What did Kerouac, hell, a kindred, a Breton, said-yes,
moan, moan long and hard for man, and Saint Villon grant us some sign, some path
that we might come to rescue you in sotted, sweated dungeons, so that you too
can walk the fetid streets singing, holy, holy, holy.
Yes, wanderers, waifs, strangers in
a strange land, those are the poets I want to read and listen to. And what of
it.
Le Testament: Epitaph et Rondeau
Epitaph
Here there lies, and sleeps in the grave,
One whom Love killed with his scorn,
A poor little scholar in every way,
He was named François Villon.
He never reaped a morsel of corn:
Willed all away, as all men know:
Bed, table, and basket all are gone.
Gallants, now sing his song below:
Rondeau
Oh, grant him now eternal peace,
Lord, and everlasting light,
He wasn’t worth a candle bright,
Nor even a sprig of parsley.
Of eyebrows, hair, and beard he’s free,
A turnip scraped with a spade, all right:
Oh, grant him now eternal peace.
Exiled with strict severity,
Rapped behind with a spade, despite
It all he cried: ‘Appeal, for me!’
– Which wasn’t the height of subtlety.
Oh, grant him now eternal peace.
Midnight
Voices
“the
young dead soldiers do not speak,
Nevertheless they are heard in the still houses: who has not heard them?
they have a silence that speaks for them at night when the clock counts”
Archibald MacLeish
Nevertheless they are heard in the still houses: who has not heard them?
they have a silence that speaks for them at night when the clock counts”
Archibald MacLeish
Calling all poets, slammers, word
smiths, lyricists, play writes, rappers, misfits, musicians and anyone who has
the gift of gab! We are hosting
Midnight Voices, a monthly collaborative coffeehouse, spoken word, and poetry
series at Friends Meetinghouse Cambridge (5 Longfellow Park) 7pm October 16, 2014. This event is open to everyone. This
month’s featured reader is Alan Asselin. Alan is a featured poet in Warrior
Writers forth anthology (available at our event). He is also a facilitator for
Warrior Writers and frequently hosts writing workshops. He is a Vietnam era
veteran.
After the featured reader, there will be 5 min open mic slots available
to anyone. We encourage first timers and seasoned performers to come out. We are
actively seeking co-sponsors and talent to be featured readers in upcoming
months. If you have any ideas about this or want any other information please
contact Eric Wasileski Ericwasileski@gmail.com
Warrior Writers Boston and the Smedley D Butler Brigade Chapter 9 VFP, Veteran-Friends in conjunction with the FMC Peace and Social Concerns committee are hosting. These events are open to everyone; next month Nov 20th Doug Anderson will be our featured reader.
Warrior Writers Boston and the Smedley D Butler Brigade Chapter 9 VFP, Veteran-Friends in conjunction with the FMC Peace and Social Concerns committee are hosting. These events are open to everyone; next month Nov 20th Doug Anderson will be our featured reader.
On The 155th Anniversary Of The
Heroic Captain John Brown-Led Fight For Black Liberation At Harper’s Ferry-Josh Breslin’s Dream
From The Pen Of Frank Jackman
I remember a few years ago my friend and I from the old working- class neighborhoods of North Adamsville, a town south of Boston, were discussing the historical events that helped form our political understandings back in the early 1960 since we were, and are, both political men driven by historical examples as much as the minutia of organizing principles. And while we diverged on many of the influences since although we are both political men we have a fair degree of differences on the way to change the world we both agreed whole-heartedly that one of our early heroes was old Captain John Brown and his heroic efforts with his small integrated band of men at Harper’s Ferry. As we discussed the matter more fully we found we were hard pressed to explain what first captured our attention and would have not had the political sense then to call Brown’s actions heroic we both understood that what he did was necessary.
See, coming up in mainly Irish working class neighborhood we were always aware, made particularly aware by grandfathers who had kindred over there in those days, of that heroic struggle in Easter 1916 that was the precursor to the long sought national liberation of Ireland from the bloody British. So when we first studied, or heard about John Brown we instinctively saw that same kind of struggle. Both of us also agreed that we had had very strong feelings about the wrongness of slavery going back to Pharaoh’s time although Josh was more ambivalent about the fate of black people after Civil War freedom than I was since there was in his household a stronger current of anti-black feeling around the civil rights work down south in those than in mine. (Strangely my father who was nothing but a good old boy from down in Kentucky was more sympathetic to that struggle that Josh’s Irish grandfather whom Josh could never get to call black people anything better than “nigras.” Jesus.)
A couple of week after that conversation Josh called me up from California one night where he was attending a professional conference near San Jose and told me that he forgot to tell me about what he called a “dream” he had had as a kid about his admiration for John Brown. Of course that “dream” stuff was just Josh’s way of saying that he had sketched out a few thoughts that he wanted to share with me (and which will undoubtedly find their into a commentary or review or something because very little of Josh’s “dream” stuff fails to go to ink or cyberspace.) Some of it is now hazy in my mind since the hour was late here in the East, and some of it probably was really based on stuff we had learned later about the Brown expedition like how Boston Brahmins and high abolitionists like George Stearns secretly funded the operation or Brown’s attempts to get Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Tubman on board (neither name which we would have known very much about then), and some of was probably a little goofy since it involved Josh in some hero worship. Since he will inevitably write something on his own he can make any corrections himself. Know this though whenever I hear the name John Brown mentioned lately I think about Josh’s telephone call and about how the “old man” has held our esteem for so long. Here is what I jotted down, edited of course, after that conversation:
From The Pen Of Frank Jackman
I remember a few years ago my friend and I from the old working- class neighborhoods of North Adamsville, a town south of Boston, were discussing the historical events that helped form our political understandings back in the early 1960 since we were, and are, both political men driven by historical examples as much as the minutia of organizing principles. And while we diverged on many of the influences since although we are both political men we have a fair degree of differences on the way to change the world we both agreed whole-heartedly that one of our early heroes was old Captain John Brown and his heroic efforts with his small integrated band of men at Harper’s Ferry. As we discussed the matter more fully we found we were hard pressed to explain what first captured our attention and would have not had the political sense then to call Brown’s actions heroic we both understood that what he did was necessary.
See, coming up in mainly Irish working class neighborhood we were always aware, made particularly aware by grandfathers who had kindred over there in those days, of that heroic struggle in Easter 1916 that was the precursor to the long sought national liberation of Ireland from the bloody British. So when we first studied, or heard about John Brown we instinctively saw that same kind of struggle. Both of us also agreed that we had had very strong feelings about the wrongness of slavery going back to Pharaoh’s time although Josh was more ambivalent about the fate of black people after Civil War freedom than I was since there was in his household a stronger current of anti-black feeling around the civil rights work down south in those than in mine. (Strangely my father who was nothing but a good old boy from down in Kentucky was more sympathetic to that struggle that Josh’s Irish grandfather whom Josh could never get to call black people anything better than “nigras.” Jesus.)
A couple of week after that conversation Josh called me up from California one night where he was attending a professional conference near San Jose and told me that he forgot to tell me about what he called a “dream” he had had as a kid about his admiration for John Brown. Of course that “dream” stuff was just Josh’s way of saying that he had sketched out a few thoughts that he wanted to share with me (and which will undoubtedly find their into a commentary or review or something because very little of Josh’s “dream” stuff fails to go to ink or cyberspace.) Some of it is now hazy in my mind since the hour was late here in the East, and some of it probably was really based on stuff we had learned later about the Brown expedition like how Boston Brahmins and high abolitionists like George Stearns secretly funded the operation or Brown’s attempts to get Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Tubman on board (neither name which we would have known very much about then), and some of was probably a little goofy since it involved Josh in some hero worship. Since he will inevitably write something on his own he can make any corrections himself. Know this though whenever I hear the name John Brown mentioned lately I think about Josh’s telephone call and about how the “old man” has held our esteem for so long. Here is what I jotted down, edited of course, after that conversation:
From fairly early in my youth I knew the name John Brown and
was swept up by the romance surrounding his exploits at Harper’s Ferry. I would
say that was in about the sixth grade when I went to the library and read about
Abraham Lincoln before he became president and how he didn’t like what John Brown
did because he knew that that action was going to drive the South crazy and
upset the delicate balance that was holding the Union together. Frank though thinks
it was the seventh grade when we were learning about the slavery issues as part
of the 100th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War and
his name came up as a “wild man” out of some Jehovah Calvinist burning bush dream
who was single-handedly trying to abolish slavery with that uprising. Was ready
to light the spark to put out the terrible scourge of slavery. That slavery
business, if you can believe this really bothered both of us, especially when
we went to a museum that showed the treatment of slaves and the implements used
to enforce that condition down South. And I remember one time going to the Museum
of Fine Arts and saw old Pharaoh used his slaves to build those damn pyramids
to immortalize himself.
I think I am right thought about when I first heard about
the “old man” because I know I loved Lincoln, loved to read about him, loved
that back then we celebrated his birthday, February 12th and we got
the day off from school. Loved that Lincoln was basically forced at the state
level to implement Brown’s program to root out slavery once the deal went down
and was merciless about its extermination once he got “religion” on the matter.
Of course neither I nor Frank would have articulated that way then but we knew “Massa
Lincoln” was on the right side of the angels in his work as much as he hated to
burn down the South in the process. But there was no other way and I think that
is what he learned from the Captain whether he gave credit to the man or not.
By the way this I do know while we celebrated Lincoln’s birthday in the North
as the great emancipator and Union saver Frank once told me a story about one of his cousins down south and how
when he mentioned that he had Lincoln’s birthday off that cousin said “ we
don’t celebrate that man’s birthday down here, “ in such a way that Frank began
to understand that maybe the Civil War was not over.)
I knew other stuff back then too added to my feel for the
Brown legend. For example, I knew that the great anthem of the Civil War -The Battle Hymn of the Republic- had a
prior existence as John Brown’s Body,
a tribute to John Brown and that Union soldiers marched to that song as they
bravely headed south. Funny but back then I was totally unaware of the role of
the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, the first black regiment raised although
with white officers when Father Abraham gave the word, whose survivors and
replacements marched into Charleston, South Carolina, the heart and soul of the
Confederacy, after the bloody Civil War to the tune of John Brown’s Body. That must have been a righteous day. Not so
righteous though and reflecting a very narrow view of history that we were
taught then kind of fudging the very serious differences back in Civil War times
even in high abolitionist Boston was not knowing thing one about Augustus Saint-Gauden’s
commemorative frieze honoring the men of the 54th right across from
the State House which I passed frequently.
I was then, however, other than aware of the general
narrative of Brown’s exploits and a couple of songs and poems neither familiar
with the import of his exploits for the black liberation struggle nor knew much
about the specifics of the politics of the various tendencies in the ante
bellum struggle against slavery of which he represented the extreme activist
left-wing. I certainly knew nothing then of Brown’s (and his sons) prior
military exploits in the Kansas ‘proxy’ wars against the expansion of slavery.
Later study filled in some of those gaps and has only strengthened my strong
bond with his memory. Know this, as I reach the age at which John Brown was
executed I still retain my youthful admiration for him. In the context of the
turmoil of the times he was the most courageous and audacious revolutionary in
the struggle for the abolition of slavery in America. Some 150 years after his
death I am proud to stand in the tradition of John Brown. [And I am too,
brother!]
If one understands the ongoing nature, from his early youth,
of John Brown’s commitment to the active struggle against slavery, the scourge
of the American Republic in the first half of the 19th century, one can only
conclude that he was indeed a man on a mission. As various biographies point
out Brown took every opportunity to fight against slavery including early
service as an agent of the Underground Railroad spiriting escaped slaves
northward, participation as an extreme radical in all the key anti-slavery
propaganda battles of the time as well as challenging other anti-slavery elements
to be more militant and in the 1850’s, arms in hand, fighting in the ‘proxy’
wars in Kansas and, of course, the culmination of his life- the raid on
Harper’s Ferry. Those exploits alone render absurd a very convenient myth by
those who supported slavery or turned a blind eye to it and their latter-day
apologists for it about his so-called ‘madness’. This is a political man and to
these eyes a very worthy one.
For those who like their political heroes ‘pure’, frankly,
it is better to look elsewhere than the life of John Brown. Like them without
warts and with a discernible thrust from early adulthood that leads to some heroic
action. His personal and family life as a failed rural capitalist would hardly
lead one to think that this man was to become a key historical figure in any
struggle, much less the great struggle against slavery. Some of his actions in
Kansas (concerning allegations of the murder of some pro-slavery elements under
his direction) have also clouded his image. However if one looks at Kansas as
the start of the Civil War then all the horrible possibilities under the heat
of battle mitigate some of that incident although not excusing it anymore that
we would today with American soldiers in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. However,
when the deal went down in the late 1850’s and it was apparent for all to see
that there was no other way to end slavery than a fight to the death-John Brown
rose to the occasion. And did not cry about it. And did not expect others to
cry about it. Call him a ‘monomaniac’ if you like but even a slight
acquaintance with great historical figures shows that they all have this
‘disease’- that is why they make the history books. No, the ‘madness’ argument
will not do.
Whether or not John Brown knew that his military strategy
for the Harper’s Ferry raid would, in the short term, be defeated is a matter
of dispute. Reams of paper have been spent proving the military foolhardiness
of his scheme at Harper’s Ferry. Brown’s plan, however, was essentially a
combination of slave revolt modeled after the Maroon experiences in Haiti, Nat
Turner’s earlier Virginia slave rebellion and rural guerilla warfare of the
‘third world’ type that we have become more familiar with since that time. 150
years later this strategy does not look so foolhardy in an America of the
1850’s that had no real standing army, fairly weak lines of communications,
virtually uninhabited mountains to flee to and the North at their backs. The
execution of the plan is another matter. Brown seemingly made about every
mistake in the book in that regard. However, this is missing the essential
political point that militant action not continuing parliamentary maneuvering
advocated by other abolitionists had become necessary. A few more fighting
abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, and better propaganda work among
freedman with connections to the plantations would not have hurt the chances
for success at Harper’s Ferry.
What is not in dispute is that Brown considered himself a
true Calvinist “avenging angel” in the struggle against slavery and more
importantly acted on that belief. (Strange, or maybe not so strange now, both Frank
and I who grew up upright Roman Catholics gravitated toward those photographs
of Brown with his long unkempt beard as some latter day Jehovah and I remember
Frank had a photo on the wall in his room with just such a photograph from I
think a detail of the big mural in the State House in Kansas.) In short Brown was
committed to bring justice to the black masses. This is why his exploits and
memory stay alive after over 150 years. It is possible that if Brown did not
have this, by 19th century standards as well as our own, old-fashioned
Calvinist sense of pre-determination
that he would not been capable of militant action. Certainly other anti-slavery
elements never came close to his militancy, including the key Transcendentalist
movement led by Emerson and Thoreau and the Concord ‘crowd’ who supported him
and kept his memory alive in hard times. In their eyes he had the heroic manner
of the Old Testament prophet. This old time prophet animating spirit is not one
that animates modern revolutionaries and so it is hard to understand today the
depths of his religious convictions on his actions but they were understood, if
not fully appreciated, by others in those days. It is better today to look at
Brown more politically through his hero (and mine, as well) Oliver Cromwell-a
combination of Calvinist avenger and militant warrior. Yes, I can get behind
that picture of him.
By all accounts Brown and his small integrated band of
brothers fought bravely and coolly against great odds. Ten of Brown's men were
killed including two of his sons. Five were captured, tried and executed,
including Brown. He prophetic words upon
the scaffold about purging the evil of slavery in blood proved too true. But
that demeanor in the face of defeat was very appealing to me back then. I have learned since that these results, the
imprisonments or executions are almost inevitable when one takes up a
revolutionary struggle against the old order and one is not victorious. One
need only think of, for example, the fate of the defenders of the Paris Commune
in 1871 when that experience was crushed in blood after heroic resistance. One
can fault Brown on this or that tactical maneuver. Nevertheless he and the
others bore themselves bravely in defeat. As we are all too painfully familiar with
now there are defeats of the oppressed that lead nowhere. One thinks of the
defeat of the German Revolution in the 1920’s. There other defeats that
galvanize others into action. This is how Brown’s actions should be measured by
history.
Militarily defeated at Harpers Ferry, Brown's political
mission to destroy slavery by force of arms nevertheless continued to galvanize
important elements in the North at the expense of the pacifistic non-resistant
Garrisonian political program for struggle against slavery. Many writers on
Brown who reduce his actions to that of a ‘madman’ still cannot believe that
his road proved more appropriate to end slavery than either non-resistance or
gradualism. That alone makes short shrift of such theories. Historians and
others have also misinterpreted later events such as the Bolshevik strategy
that led to Russian Revolution in October 1917. More recently, we saw this same
incomprehension concerning the victory of the Vietnamese against overwhelming
American military superiority. Needless to say, all these events continue to be
revised by some historians to take the sting out of there proper political
implications.
From a modern prospective Brown’s strategy for black
liberation, even if the abolitionist goal he aspired to was immediately
successful reached the outer limits within the confines of capitalism. Brown’s
actions were meant to make black people free. Beyond that goal he had no
program except the Chatham Charter which seems to have replicated the American
constitution but with racial and gender equality as a cornerstone.
Unfortunately the Civil War did not provide fundamental economic and political
freedom. Moreover, the Civil War, the defeat of Radical Reconstruction, the
reign of ‘Jim Crow’ and the subsequent waves of black migration to the cities
changed the character of black oppression in the U.S. from Brown’s time. Nevertheless,
we can stand proudly in the revolutionary tradition of John Brown, and of his
friend Frederick Douglass. I used to fervently believe that if Douglass had come
on board as Brown had urged the chances for success would have been greater, at
least more blacks (mostly free blacks and not plantation blacks for obvious reasons)
and more radical white who could have been mobilized as a result of all of the events
of the 1850s especially the struggle against the Fugitive Slave Act and the
struggle against the imposition of slavery in Kansas. Now I am not so sure that
Douglass’ acceptance would have qualitatively changed the outcome. He went on
to do yeoman’s work during the Civil War articulating the left black perspective
and organizing those black regiments that shifted the outcome of the war at a decisive
point. In any case honor the memory of old Captain John Brown and his heroic band
at Harper’s Ferry.
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Divestment? Now there’s an
interesting idea for a campaign…
The exciting new documentary “Food Chains”
is having an impact even before it’s released, prompting one Berlin
Film Festival goer to divest 50,000 shares in Wendy’s after seeing the
film…
Well this was a surprise. And a thought-provoking one at that. This week, news reached the CIW via the “Food Chains” crew that a certain Mr. James Scurlock had written to inform them that he had decided to sell his family’s holdings in Wendy’s until the hamburger giant joins the Fair Food Program! Apparently, Mr. Scurlock had attended the big “Food Chains” premiere in Berlin last February and was so moved by the film and the workers’ story that he sold his shares — 50,000 of them! — and then wrote the above email to the company to explain his decision. And it turns out that Mr. Scurlock isn’t just any investor. He is a Ridenhour Prize-winning journalist for his 2007 book Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit, reporting on the impending financial crisis before it happened, and a respected documentary maker in his own right. So it’s not surprising that he came up with what could be an interesting new twist on the Wendy’s campaign... |
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