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| Thomas Paine |
by Chris
Mahin
AS THE “Occupy Wall Street”
movement continues, it may be helpful to look at history to see how those
fighting for change have mobilised in earlier times. One such example is the
American Revolution of the 1770s.
The American
Revolution of the 1700s shows the tremendous importance of introducing new
ideas into the fight against the powerful.
In 1763 Britain
took control of Canada
after defeating France
in the French and Indian War. The Parliament in London
soon began taking steps that pushed the residents of Britain’s
13 American colonies toward rebellion.
First the
British government barred the colonists from settling west of the Appalachian
Mountains (this was the Proclamation Line of 1763).
Then the
Parliament passed laws requiring the colonists to pay for the French and Indian
War (the Stamp Act, Tea Tax, and other measures were designed to raise money to
defray the cost of that war).
These steps
enraged many colonists. No longer in need of British military protection
against the French in Canada,
they were much less willing to tolerate interference by the British government
in their affairs. The colonists refused to pay the Stamp Tax and Tea Tax
because their colonial legislatures had not been consulted before those
measures became law. They cited a principle which the English Parliament had
forced the English king to agree to in 1628 – “No taxation without
representation”.
However, at
first, most colonists did not favour independence. The colonists considered
themselves loyal subjects of the British king, George III,
who they believed was being misled by his ministers. The colonists simply
wanted to change their relationship with Britain’s
central government personified by the Parliament in London.
Between 1765
and the end of 1775 many protests erupted in America
against different aspects of British rule. These protests included instances of
bitter street fighting (the Boston Massacre of 1770) and wholesale destruction
of property (the Boston Tea Party of 1773). They culminated in full-scale,
bloody battles in which hundreds died (Lexington,
Concord, and Bunker Hill).
But despite
all the militancy and violence of those 10 years of protest, as long as the
colonists believed only that the British government’s policy was wrong while
accepting the “right” of a king to rule them, they could not break with Britain.
They didn’t even try.
This was a
classic case of a revolution not being able to move forward because the
fighters in the revolution, while militant, were being held back by their old
ideas. The situation would not change until something happened to shake up the
thinking of the American people. Fortunately, something did.
On 10th January 1776, Thomas
Paine, an English radical who had lived in America
for only 14 months, published a pamphlet called Common Sense.
In simple,
readable language, Paine tore apart all the arguments in favour of American
loyalty to the British Crown. He insisted that one honest man is worth more
than all the kings who ever lived. He painted an inspiring picture of what the
world would be like with an independent America
to serve as an example to everyone fighting for freedom in every part of the
world.
Common Sense challenged some of the
basic assumptions that people in the 13 colonies had lived by for their entire
lives.
Paine gave the
colonists a cause – independence for America
and opposition to kings and aristocrats everywhere. “The cause of America
is the cause of all mankind,” he declared.
Because
Paine’s ideas were, for his time, qualitatively new, they sparked great debate.
His small pamphlet was circulated widely. Some 120,000 copies of Common Sense were sold in its first
three months and 500,000 copies were sold in the first year after its publication.
As Common Sense was distributed throughout
the 13 colonies, public opinion began to change. One by one the state
delegations to the Second Continental Congress began to support the idea of
proclaiming the independence of the 13 colonies from Britain.
Finally in
July 1776 the Second Continental Congress voted for the Declaration of
Independence of the United States of America.
This vote was a direct result of the publication and widespread distribution of
Common Sense.
Perhaps those
involved in the Occupy Wall Street
movement can learn lessons from the American Revolution of the 1770s.
Like the
revolutionaries of 1776, we live at a time when people have been hard hit by
the status quo, but don’t fully understand what it is that has hit them. This means
that we have to act like Thomas Paine; we have to change people’s thinking. We
have to convince the American people to give up their old ideas and accept some
new ideas so they can win the fight that they are waging against hunger and
misery in this country.
The
fundamental idea that we have to get across to people can be stated fairly
simply:
We do not have
to live like this. Today, no human being in the world “has” to be hungry.
Today, the human race possesses the productive forces (computers and robots)
and the scientific knowledge to guarantee that everyone could live a healthy
and cultured existence. The only thing preventing that from happening is the
strangle-hold that 445 billionaires have over the world’s economy and politics.
Today, it is possible to unite our efforts against the billionaires and
millionaires, end their control over society, and create a new society.
Like the people
who made sure that copies of Common Sense
reached every corner of the 13 colonies, we have to transmit our message
far and wide. We have to ensure that there is as wide a debate as possible
about the role of the corporations.
If we do that,
we can begin to change the thinking of the American people – and help change
history.
