Mythology of the White Proletariat - San Francisco Bay Area ...
Mythology of the White Proletariat - San Francisco Bay Area ...
Mythology of the White Proletariat - San Francisco Bay Area ...
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111. THE CONTRADICTIONS<br />
OF NATION & CLASS<br />
1 Crisis Within <strong>the</strong> Slave System<br />
The slave system had served Amerika well, but as<br />
<strong>the</strong> settler nation matured what once was a foundation<br />
stone increasingly became a drag on <strong>the</strong> growth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> new<br />
Euro-Amerikan Empire. The slave system, once essential<br />
to <strong>the</strong> life <strong>of</strong> white society, now became worse than an<br />
anachronism; it became a growing threat to <strong>the</strong> well-being<br />
<strong>of</strong> settler life. While <strong>the</strong> settler masses and <strong>the</strong>ir bourgeois<br />
leaders still intended to exploit <strong>the</strong> oppressed to <strong>the</strong> fullest<br />
extent, increasingly <strong>the</strong>y came to believe that one specific<br />
form <strong>of</strong> exploitation-Afrikan slavery-had to be shattered.<br />
Nothing is gained without a price. As "natural"<br />
and "Heaven-sent" as <strong>the</strong> great production <strong>of</strong> Afrikan<br />
slave labor seemed to <strong>the</strong> planters, this wealth was bought<br />
at <strong>the</strong> cost <strong>of</strong> mounting danger to settlers as a whole. For<br />
<strong>the</strong> slave system imported and concentrated a vast, enemy<br />
army <strong>of</strong> oppressed right in <strong>the</strong> sinews <strong>of</strong> white society. This<br />
was <strong>the</strong> fatal contradiction in <strong>the</strong> "Slave Power" so clearly<br />
seen by early settler critics <strong>of</strong> slavery. Benjamin Franklin,<br />
for example, not only gave up slave-owning himself, but in<br />
1755 wrote that slavery should be banned and only Europeans<br />
permitted to live in North America.(l) Twenty years<br />
later, as <strong>the</strong> Articles <strong>of</strong> Confederation were being debated,<br />
South Carolina's Lynch stated that since Afrikans were<br />
property <strong>the</strong>y shouldn't be taxed any more than sheep<br />
were. Franklin acidly replied: "Sheep will never make insurrection!<br />
"(2)<br />
Thomas Jefferson <strong>of</strong> Virginia probably personified<br />
this contradiction more visibly than any o<strong>the</strong>r settler.<br />
He is well-known in settler history books as <strong>the</strong> liberal<br />
planter who constantly told his friends how he agonized<br />
over <strong>the</strong> immorality <strong>of</strong> slavery. He is usually depicted as an<br />
exceptional human being <strong>of</strong> great compassion and much<br />
intellect. What was pushing and pressuring his capitalist<br />
mind was <strong>the</strong> contradiction between his greed for <strong>the</strong> easy<br />
life <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> slave-master, and his fear for <strong>the</strong> safety <strong>of</strong> his<br />
settler nation.(3)<br />
He knew that successful revolution against settler<br />
rule was a possibility, and that in a land governed by exslaves<br />
<strong>the</strong> fate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> former slave-masters would be hard.<br />
As he put it: "... a revolution <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> wheel <strong>of</strong> fortune, an<br />
exchange <strong>of</strong> situation is among possible events.. ." That is<br />
why, as U.S. President in 1791, he viewed <strong>the</strong> great Haitian<br />
Revolution led by Toussaint L'Ouverture as a monstrous<br />
danger. His Administration quickly appropriated relief<br />
funds to subsidize <strong>the</strong> French planters fleeing that island.<br />
Jefferson's agile mind came up with a <strong>the</strong>oretical<br />
solution to <strong>the</strong>ir "Negro problem"-gradual genocide.He<br />
estimated that returning all slaves to Afrika would cost<br />
Amerika $900 Million in lost capital and transportation expenses-a<br />
sum 45 times <strong>the</strong> annual export earnings <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
settler economy at <strong>the</strong> time! This was an impossible cost,<br />
one that would have bankrupted not only <strong>the</strong> planters but<br />
<strong>the</strong> entire settler society as well.<br />
President Jefferson's solution to this dilemma was<br />
to take all Afrikan children away from <strong>the</strong>ir parents for<br />
compact shipment to <strong>the</strong> West Indies and Afrika, while<br />
keeping <strong>the</strong> adults enslaved to support <strong>the</strong> Amerikan<br />
economy for <strong>the</strong> rest <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir lives.* This would<br />
<strong>the</strong>oretically generate <strong>the</strong> necessary pr<strong>of</strong>its to prop up <strong>the</strong><br />
capitalist economy, while still moving towards an all-white<br />
Amerika. Jefferson mused: "...<strong>the</strong> old stock would die <strong>of</strong>f<br />
in <strong>the</strong> ordinary course <strong>of</strong> nature ... until its final disappearance.<br />
" The President thought this Hitlerian fantasy<br />
both "practicable" and "blessed".<br />
It is easy to understand why this fantastic: plau<br />
never became reality: <strong>the</strong> oppressor will never willingly<br />
remove his claws from <strong>the</strong> oppressed so long as <strong>the</strong>re are<br />
still more pr<strong>of</strong>its to be wrung from <strong>the</strong>m. Jefferson himself<br />
actively bought more and more slaves to maintain his<br />
pseudo-Grecian lifestyle. As President he signed <strong>the</strong> 1808<br />
bill allegedly banning <strong>the</strong> importation <strong>of</strong> new slaves in<br />
part, we suspect, because this only raised <strong>the</strong> price he could<br />
obtain from his slave-breeding business.<br />
Jefferson gloated over <strong>the</strong> increase in his wealth<br />
from <strong>the</strong> birth <strong>of</strong> new slaves: " ... I consider <strong>the</strong> labor <strong>of</strong> a<br />
breeding woman as no object, and that a child raised every<br />
two years is <strong>of</strong> more pr<strong>of</strong>it than <strong>the</strong> crop <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> best laboring<br />
man." It sums matters up to note that President Jefferson,<br />
who believed that <strong>the</strong> planters should restrict and <strong>the</strong>n<br />
wipe out entirely <strong>the</strong> Afrikan colony, ended his days owning<br />
more slaves than he started with.(4)<br />
The Nor<strong>the</strong>rn States had slowly begun abolishing<br />
slavery as early as Vermont in 1777, in <strong>the</strong> hopes that <strong>the</strong><br />
numbers <strong>of</strong> Afrikans could be kept down. It was also widely<br />
believed by settlers that in small numbers <strong>the</strong> "childlike"<br />
ex-slaves could be kept docile and easily ruled. The<br />
explosive growth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> Afrikans held prisoner<br />
within <strong>the</strong> slave system, and <strong>the</strong> resultant eruptions <strong>of</strong><br />
Afrikan struggles in all spheres <strong>of</strong> life, blew this settler illusion<br />
away.<br />
The Haitian Revolution <strong>of</strong> 1791 marked a decisive<br />
point in <strong>the</strong> politics <strong>of</strong> both settler and slave. The news<br />
from <strong>San</strong>to Domingo that Afrikan prisoners had risen and<br />
successfully set up a new nation electrified <strong>the</strong> entire<br />
Western Hemisphere. When it became undeniably true<br />
that Afrikan peoples armies, under <strong>the</strong> leadership <strong>of</strong> a 50<br />
year-old former field hand, had in protracted war outmaneuvered<br />
and outfought <strong>the</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>essional armies <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
* Although Jefferson never admitted it, most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se<br />
20 children would probably never survive.