The first American Revolution was fought over socialism, in 1609. This is never mentioned. Even before slavery and the Indian genocides, its a founding schism. In that year, a ship called the Sea Venture wrecked off the coast of Bermuda. Shed been on her way to relieve the struggling infant Jamestown colony in Virginia. So the ship hadnt even reached here yet—thats how early this was. Among the passengers were several of separatist tendencies, the Brownists and Familists, whose ideas about society and Christianity had been shaped by the radical sectarian movements that rose up before the English Civil War. These were the parents, then, of the Levelers, Diggers, and Quakers (the people you read about in Christopher Hills 1972 classic, The World Turned Upside Down). Most of those movements contained at least some communitarian element. The passengers made it ashore and right away set to work building another ship. Some of them did. The others said, What are we doing? Why are we killing ourselves to get to Jamestown, where theyll put us to work as colonial drones until we starve or get eaten by heathens, when we have everything we need on this island? Fresh fruit, seafood, plenty of space. Let us live here in common, worshipping God and sharing the bounty of the earth, and no man shall be master to any other. Nor was there was any indigenous population in Bermuda. It was terra pura, pure soil. What happened? The ones who intended to go to Jamestown tried to imprison, banish, and execute the ones who wanted to stay. The latter ran off into the forest. The governor killed one of their leaders, a man named Henry Paine, to set an example. He wanted to hang him, but Paine begged to be shot, as more befitting a gentleman. His last recorded words were The governor can kiss my arse. Thats literally what he said. In the end, almost everyone went to Jamestown and perished. amazon.co.uk/The-World-Turned-Upside-Down/dp/0140137327
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 01:29:40 +0000
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