The Tea Party sees Thanksgiving as a morality tale about finding salvation in Capitalism. The Pilgrims were failed Socialists who turned to Capitalism for survival. Only after foregoing communal ownership of property and allowing private ownership did the colony prosper. (Communism could also have been used, but socialism is the bogey meme du jour.)
The actual historical details are much more interesting than the Tea Party myth.
The Pilgrims formed a start-up and the Merchants and Adventurers of London were their venture capitalists. The Merchants would put up the cash for the supplies and the trip to the New World and the colonists would put up the labor. They signed a seven-year contract in which all land, livestock, lumber, furs, and other trade goods were held in partnership. At the end of the seven year period, the company was to be dissolved and the assets distributed. The Pilgrims were more like shareholders in a corporation than socialists.
Interestingly, only one Pilgrim died on the 66-day voyage. This is attributed to the fact that the Mayflower had never carried passengers, she was a “sweet ship.” Seepage from previous wine cargos had impregnated the ship’s timbers and acted like a disinfectant.
The Mayflower landed in November of 1620 and the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621. The colony’s governor, William Bradford, abolished the communal land arrangement and gave each household a parcel of land, in 1623. It seems unlikely that a colony in the grips of a famine, caused by evils of communal property ownership, would host a three-day feast. The prospects of a famine would come the following year with a devastating summer drought and the seasonal migration of fish and fowl.
Agriculture did become more profitable in following years, in part due to improved cultivation techniques of corn, a crop for which the colonists had no experience, and in part due to the increase in each individual’s exertion on their privately held land.
Two attempts to make payments to the investors were met with pirates, who captured the ships bringing back furs and timber. The investors, fearing a total loss of their investment, settled with the Pilgrims for £1800 after an investment of nearly £7000.
H/T: NY Times, New American, Dictionary of American History.
-David Drumm (Nal)
you are corret, socialism isnt evil. It just doesnt work. Also dont forget those wars you guys seem to dislike so much are waged and maintained by the very system you think will save us from those greedy capitalists.
“The critics of the capitalistic order always seem to believe that the socialistic system of their dreams will do precisely what they think correct.” – Ludwig von Mises
http://www.fff.org/freedom/0990b.asp
Even if we ignore the fact that the rulers of socialist countries have cared very little for the welfare of their own subjects; even if we discount the lack of personal incentives in socialist economies; and even if we disregard the total lack of concern for the consumer under socialism; the basic problem remains the same: the most well-intentioned socialist planner just does not know what to do.
There is just too much knowledge (and too many different types of knowledge) dispersed among too many people. The planner is unable to centralize all of the relevant and ever-changing information in a complex society. He is unable to arrange everything in the economy in just the right way in order to “get it right.”
The problem with socialism, Mises insisted, is that it short-circuits the “economic calculation” process. And it does so by abolishing private ownership of the means of production and eliminating peaceful, voluntary exchange. With no legal right of ownership, there is neither ability nor incentive to buy and sell; with nothing to buy and sell, there are no bids and offers for commodities or resources; with no bids and offers, there are no consummated exchanges; with no consummated exchanges, there arise no market prices; and without market prices expressing the relative values of commodities and resources, there exists no rational way of knowing what they are actually worth to people; therefore, businessmen cannot know how they should economically and efficiently be used to satisfy the wants and desires of the consuming public.
contrary to what you all may think, there is much truth in what the Tea Party says. Here is a direct passage from Bradfords History of the Plymouth Plantation:
“All this whille no supply was heard of, neither knew
they when they might expecte any. So they begane
to thinke how they might raise as much corne as they
could, and obtaine a beter crope then they had done,
that they might not still thus languish in miserie. At
length, after much debate of things, the Govr (with
ye advise of ye cheefest amongest them) gave way that
they should set corne every man for his owne perticuler,
and in that regard trust to them selves; in all
other things to goe on in ye generall way as before.
And so assigned to every family a parcell of land,
according to the proportion of their number for that
end, only for present use (but made no devission for
inheritance), and ranged all boys & youth under some
familie. This had very good success; for it made all
hands very industrious, so as much more corne was
planted then other waise would have bene by any
means ye Govr or any other could use, and saved him
a great deall of trouble, and gave farr better contente.
The women now wente willingly into ye feild, and
tooke their litle-ons with them to set corne, which
before would aledg weaknes, and inabilitie; whom to
have compelled would have bene thought great tiranie
and oppression.”
http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NEReligiousHistory/Bradford-Plimoth/Bradford-PlymouthPlantation.pdf
page 162 (of the actual text. 234 of the pdf document) page 163 is even better, but I leave that to the good readers of this blog to tackle and come to their own conclusion as to who is right and wrong on this subject.
ROFLMAO
BTW,
rafflaw,my grandkids have me reaching in my pockets so much I’ve duct taped them on the insides:=)
rafflaw:
“All they know is that there is a black man in the White House so something must be wrong”
And after (2) years they are just waking up to that fact,hows that for a slow learning curve?
Ann antidote to these lies is John Curl’s book “For All The People:
Uncovering The Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements
and Communalism in America,” which shows that communal cooperation,
sharing and the basic values of socialism were the real glue that
allowed for healthy survival in both the indigenous lands and amongst
the “settlers”. .
From this perspective Thanksgiving should be a celebration of the
rebellion against corporate domination and a celebration of socialism
as the antidote.
“http://vodpod.com/watch/4974521-john-curl-on-the-mayflower-pilgrims-
and-early-colonial-cooperation”
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/john-curl-for-all-the-people/2009/11/18
“http://files.uniteddiversity.com/Money_and_Economics/Cooperatives/For
_All_The_People-History_of_Cooperation_in_America.pdf”
http://www.projectvote.org/blog/?p=1105 Older wealthy white americans dominated the 2010 election.
“All they know is that there is a black man in the White House so something must be wrong.” (rafflaw)
yep … grandpa X 2 is wise beyond his years!
Buddha,
Interesting example with the primates. I didn’t know a screwdriver could be so interesting!
Nal,
Did you see this post at Think Progress (11/25/2010)?
Rep. Todd Akin: The Pilgrims Came To America To Flee ‘Unbiblical’ Socialism In The 1620′s
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/25/todd-akin-pilgrims-socialism/
Excerpt:
Today, millions of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving with their families. To mark this holiday, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) took to the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday to explain its history. At one point, he opined, “It might be helpful to think back and say there’s more to Thanksgiving than the Pilgrims.” He explained that they were “a group of people who were willing to change the system, to think of different ideas.” Akin continued, “They came here with the idea that after trying socialism that it wasn’t going to work. They realized that it was unbiblical, that it was a form of theft, so they pitched socialism out. They learned that in the 1620s”:
AKIN: It might be helpful to think back and say, there’s more to Thanksgiving than the Pilgrims. They were a group of people who were willing to change the system, to think of different ideas. They came here and separated civil and church governments. They came here and created the model of a written constitution, the idea that the government should be the servant of the people. […] They came here with the idea that after trying socialism that it wasn’t going to work. They realized that it was unbiblical, that it was a form of theft, so they pitched socialism out. They learned that in the early 1620’s.
Former Fed Nothing, thanks for the kind comments.
Swarthmore Mom, You are probably right about the Palins, but I don’t think it is about being educated. All they know is that there is a black man in the White House so something must be wrong.
raff,
“This article is an amazing attempt to throw the evil word “socialism” into any part of history or current events that the Teapublicans don’t agree with or don’t like.”
This brings up an interesting point about words.
Words themselves are neither good nor evil, but rather it is the intent behind them that is good or evil. The demonization of words speaks to the intent of the demonizing speaker. In this instance, corporatists want to lump two different economic tools into the same boogeyman box of “evil”, namely socialism and communism.
Socialism isn’t a command economy bereft of any personal incentive, personal property or free markets. That’s communism. Specifically communism in the Soviet model. An economic system that failed because it didn’t take human nature into account – no incentives equates to no motivation to work or to work better/faster/smarter.
Socialism is a spectrum of economic practices that have a unifying feature: certain market segments are either command economies and/or state operated in public trust because they are too critical to national survival and social stability to leave to the purely profit driven free market system. These controlled market segments fall into the arenas of health care, certain kinds of insurance (like Medicare/Medicaid and the National Flood Insurance program), energy, and other areas key to an entire nation’s survival. This still leaves huge free markets in play for the overly venal to prey upon, but it takes out of their hands the areas where their greed can compromise national security. No one person or small group of people have the right to destroy a civilization for their personal profit.
Yet, this is exactly what the demonizers of the word “socialism” want: to be able to make money no matter how much damage it does to other people. The Koch Brothers and their teabagger puppets play directly to fascism. As Earth’s resources dwindle, certain markets and commodities cannot be allowed to create social instability for personal profit. That path leads to revolutions and/or anarchy.
Socialism isn’t intrinsically evil. It’s a tool like any other economic model. It just happens to mandate that the way some people (but most certainly not all people) are allowed to make a living in a given trade or industry. Limited market controls to ensure societal stability – it’s a small price to pay to avoid inequities and abuses that historically always lead to social violence. It is not coincidental that venal bastards like the Koch Brothers – oil men – don’t want socialism. Intent is joined to motive.
What is intrinsically evil is the motivation behind those who would demonize a value neutral tool that has all the potential to make society better for every one because of a personal profit motive. You bet oil companies don’t want socialism because they know that their “War for Exxon/Halliburton/Saudi Profits” puts them in the cross-hairs to be the first nationalized industry.
Words (like models) are not intrinsically evil.
Oppression, manufactured dissent and wars for personal profit purchased with the blood of others are intrinsically evil.
It all boils down to intent.
The intent to make a profit at any cost is a manifestly evil (and shortsighted) motive.
So is demonizing socialism.
It’s like criticism of a screwdriver when you don’t know how it works. You can get the primitive caveman to “oooh and ahhh” about the “evil god”, but those capable of critical thought know it’s just a tool and what it is used for.
It reminds of of a story I read once and have relayed here before told by a primatologist. When asked what the difference in the major groups of primates were, they responded thus:
“If you give a great ape a screwdriver, they’ll run away from it in fear. If you give a chimpanzee a screwdriver, they’ll use it to kill other chimpanzees. If you give a screwdriver to an orangutan, they’ll use it like a screwdriver. Guess which one humans are most like?”
The Koch Brothers and their aligned interests – chimpanzees themselves – are giving screwdrivers to the other chimps and great apes when they demonize socialism for their own personal profit driven agenda.
It’s time to return the tools to the hands of the orangutans.
“I have hesitated to say this for awhile, but the more I read about these Teapublicans, the more I believe that they are unconcerned about reality or the facts.”
rafflaw: Wow, you’re really going out on a limb there with that bold statement! 🙂
What is it that the Tea Party doesn’t understand about the concept and purpose of a commonwealth?
Mayflower Compact:
“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.”
Sounds communistic to me.
oops Palins
rafflaw: They don’t read a book because to them to be educated is to be elitist. They value money but not education. The Palin’s are a prime example of this.
I have hesitated to say this for awhile, but the more I read about these Teapublicans, the more I believe that they are unconcerned about reality or the facts. This article is an amazing attempt to throw the evil word “socialism” into any part of history or current events that the Teapublicans don’t agree with or don’t like. Why is that the followers of these braniacs are just too lazy to actually read a book? I know the leaders of these sheep are only interested in keeping corporations in power.
I will go with Virginia since I have recently traced my father’s family back to a few founding families of Virginia – the Lewis’s, Balls, Warners amd Wallers. I met one of these very distant relatives in Highland Park, TX recently and he was a wealthy right winger that was providing support for a tea party candidate.
To take this great article by Nal one step further I would like to recommend the book “Mayflower” by Nathaniel Philbrick … “it is a fifty-five-year epic that is at once tragic, heroic, exhilarating, and profound.”
Nal:
We Virginians all know the first Thanksgiving was really held at Berkeley Plantation on the James River. We just let those New Englanders think they invented it two years later. Noblesse Oblige, I suppose.
“It was December 4, 1619, and 38 men from Berkeley Parish in England vowed:
“Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrivall at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.”