The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1913-12-11
"A cAPlTALIsT-MlNpEo TEACHER
WOULD HIDE THE REAL FACTS
OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
Bulletin of the Socialist Educational
Bureau Study Club.

DhiC0h OAbuJ Sihbs
This study will cover pages 90 to
1876 in Oneal's Workers in American
History published by Charles II. Kerr
&c Co, 118 West Kinzie St., Chicago
Ill. Paper so cents, cloth 81.
Those of us who have been follow.
ing this course carefully remember
how the soil was stolen from the pro-
ducers before they arrived as settlers
or as slaves. We remember the ter.
rible economic conditions that forced
them away from the Old World. We
remember also the extent and cruelty
of the traffic in white bond servants
of which the fathers" including
Washington and Franklin were the di-
rect beneficiaries.
In Chapter V we see the worm be-
ginning to turn. The workers can
not be oppressed forever. Regardless
of their resolutions not to use direct
action, which resolutions always re-
ceive favorable comment from the
masters, the workers of every age
when sufficiently pressed have dem
onstrated their ability to better their
conditions by force. The only ques-
tion that any honest revolutionist is
concerned about is when and where to
apply this force. He knows that in.
telligence is needed back of the force
that must set us free. And yet even
the laundering rebellions of these
poor forefathers of ours got us some
where, did more than all the political
speeches ever made to make this
country a better place to live.
Such names as Nathaniel Bacon,
Jacob Leisler, John Culpepper and
Daniel Shays deserve a higher place
in Liberty's Hall of Fame than any
mere speechmakers. And those dar'
ing spirits of the black race, Nat Tur'
ner and the great Toussaint L'Ouver-
ture, how shall we honor them when
the working class shall have the shap-
ing of the literature of the world
The student of working class progress
who reads this chapter is compelled to
agree with the sentiment: BLEST BE
THE SPIRIT OF REVOLT, NO MAT
TER HOW IT EXPRESSES ITSELF!
On page 81 occurs this statement:
SOLDIERS captured the slaves and
twenty-one were executed. One was
broken on the wheel and several were
burned alive at the stake, while the
rest were hanged" This was in New
York in 1912. The slaves had re-
belled and had slashed and shot just
as they had been slashed and shot
Yes, they lost; but the world gained
These black martyrs and hundreds OF
others like them who nobly dared are
the only kind of heroes worth while
in history. They stand for mass hero,
ism which is class heroism.
No wonder the masters wanted a
strong government! No wonder they
believed in spreading the gospel OF
Inon-resistence. They needed both ca
jolery and coercion in their business
In Chapter vi we see the large gobs
of freedom enjoyed by the workers
before they began organizing to upset
things. We see that those who wore
the shameful badge of toll" were dis
franchised unless possessed of consid-
erable property. This property quail
fication bobs up today in some Henry
Dubb settlement every so often. Even
wage-workers can be found who VIII
say that none but taxpayers should be
allowed to vote.
Another qualification necessary 10
holding office was belief in the
Christian religion. How divine the
rascals were, anyhow! Here we see
them cutting off human ears, brand
ing runaway servants with red-hot
irons. torturing men and women to
death in debtors prisons, and burning
workers at the stake And over
vonder we see the same black-hearted
brutes mumbling to their God and IN
sisting on none but Christians holding
office. We saw in the last chapter
why they needed their government
and we know full well the way IN
which they used their religion TO make
the slaves obedient and ful Of the dog.
gerel Of nonresistance.
So precise were these old colonial
fathers" about their station in life
that they had to pass laws against the
poorer folks trespassing on their rob.
ber rights 10 wear silver buckles TO
sit in certain seats IN church, and all
that They do that now by regulating
wages.
The black cloud OF Puri'anism that