John Brown: 161 years from Harper's Ferry

John Brown's Ideas Go Marching On

October 16, 1940, the date set by the ruling class of this country for the registration of the conscript army, is the 81st anniversary of John Brown's attack upon the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Va., on October 16, 1859

….FREEDOM MUST BE FOUGHT FOR

John Brown’s great place in American history rests on the fact that in addition to recognizing the necessity of emancipation, as did many others, he alone at that time saw the general road it would have to take, and was willing to take it. It was he who taught that those who want freedom have to fight for it arms in hand.

He knew that he had to organize, gather men and materials around his ideas. He spent his life doing this, under immense personal hardships, talking, exhorting, opening schools for slaves, assisting in the work of the “underground railroad” giving all of life tremendous energy and singleness of purpose to the cause.

He knew also that you need more than enthusiasm and well-wishing to meet the guns of the slaveholders. He gathered fighters around him and trained them in the military arts, he taught the free settlements to form their defense guards.

He knew this when he organized the League of Gileadites whose purpose was "to band Negroes

together, teach them to advance their own interests, and resist their pursuers.” He understood this when he ordered a thousand pikes to be made, to arm the slaves for his invasion of the South. And in spite of his mistakes at Harper’s Ferry, his aim of arming the slaves was fundamentally the correct one.

There is still much that we can learn today from Old John Brown, just as there is much we can learn from his mistakes. For it is as true today as it was 81 years ago that those who want freedom must be prepared to fight for it.

Workers of all races take inspiration from the heroism of John Brown. In the same way that he surveyed the situation in his day, and on the basis of the concrete line-up of forces decided that the next stage in the struggle was to be with arms, we must today look about us and decide what our tasks are.

The best way to honor John Brown’s memory today is by joining the fight for trade union control of military training. Conscription is a law, and as a result, the oppressed and exploited of our times will learn how to use guns, will learn how to defend themselves against their enemies.

Just as John Brown, and after him the slaves during the Civil War, did not shrink back from the struggle, we too must take our place among

the workers.

The Militant, 12 October 1940

http://themilitant.com/1940/0442/SA0442.pdf