The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-02-27
BY Gertrude Brown.

has usually been pictured as a
spontaneous uprising of the whole
hberty-loving American people against
British tyranny; an event in which
liberty, fraternity, equality" were
the watchwords, and oppression could
have no part. No wonder that many
have been led, or rather misled. into
thinking that there is an American
way of making revolutions democratic
cally-as against the Russian Dicta-
torship of the Proletariat. But this
conception is as false as it is mis-
chievous. 1t is the result Of myth
making, not history. The truth is
that the Revolution was a bitter civil
war as we'll as war for independ-
ence. From the very first there was
as large faction against the Revo-
luton as for it. And how were these
anti-revolutionists treated by the
patriots? They. were beaten, suppress
sed, routed out OF the country. Their
property was heavily taxed and later
confiscated Loyalists, or Tories as
they were called, "were social lepers."
They had neither rights nor privileges.
A journal of the time so defines one:
A Loyalist Is thing
Whose body is in America
Whose head is In England, and
Whose neck ought to be stretched.s
AS stated, the LoyaHsts were no
small number. They were chiefly
composed of the following classes:
~ the royal governors and their
lotteries (2) those merchants who
needed British protection, (3) the
large landholders of New York and
the middle colonies, a. the clergy
and all their followers, (5) the arts
tocracy of culture" and professions.
But these classes were playing a los
ing game. With their adherence to
royalty, feudalism, to the dying sys-
tenn of social castles and legal privi-
leges, they were barking back to the
past. Their institutions were disin-
tegrating, their power for progress nil.
On the other hand the revolutionaries
We're of the rising class. They re-
presented the, merchants and manu-
facturers. They stood for capitalism.
constitutional government, freedom of
trade. And, tho they fought for their
own interests entirely, they repre-
sented the needs of the time. Their
day was dawning. Thus they were
more aggressive, better organized,
more conscious of their aims and full
ly determined to realize them.
The Patriotic Dictatorship.
A S the struggle became definite and
I \ the opposition crystallized, the
revolutionists began organizing to
crush it. In their struggle for liberty
they utterly ignored the rights of any
one who did not identify himself with
their aims. 1.-THE machine for sun
preston of the anti-reVolutionists."
according to S. G. Fisher, ("The Strug-
gle for Independence"D twas fully as
well-organized and systematic as
Washington's armyI" AS early as /
April, 1872, two years before the dec |
laration of Independence, Boston or
ganized the Committee of Correspond |
ence. This body sent out appeals to
other colonies to follow their exam
pie. And in short time there were |
similar committees everywhere. Later |
many others were formed. There |
were then Correspondence Commit |
tees, Committees of Safety, Commit
tees of Sixty, Committees of One
Hundred, Committees of Inspection,
OF Observation, Town Committees,
Precinct Committees, County and Dis
trict Committees. Some were tempo
rary, others permanent. For every
Loyalist demonstration there was or
ganized a committee to deal with it.
These bodies were pledged to secrecy.
Their rule was tyrannical and des-
potic in the extreme. Even where
the Loyalists were in clear majority
they were so roundly defeated, per-
secuted, and bounded out Of the coun-
try that fhav 0navar oranad @hog~ |