Tuesday, April 24, 2012
INTERIM REPORT
I have started editing the one hundred page section of the book on my grandparents dealing with my grandfather's political career as a Socialist, and once again I am struck by how much simpler and purer that age was. It was a time when one could be a dedicated socialist and a fighter for workers' rights without hesitation or apology, without ritual nods to the "middle class," without the pretense that being rich in a society of poor working men and women is perfectly all right and imposes no obligation on you to work for the rights of all. I know that old people always think the time of their youth is better [the myth of the Golden Past], but despite the enormous gains we have made in racial and gender liberation, in some ways it was a better time. Perhaps posting this section of the book will help younger readers to get a sense for what it was like then.
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2 comments:
As a younger reader, I think I have to respectfully disagree. I won't claim my history is anywhere near complete, but considering that the Haymarket massacre was in 1886 and Sacco and Vanzetti were killed in 1927 (a little later than the time you're talking about, true), I think we can safely say that this country has a long history of violently repressing and demonizing the left. Of course, there was once a time when a socialist could get 3.4% of the vote from a prison cell, so there is some truth to what you're saying.
But May Day is coming soon, which may help push the national discourse further left.
I am afraid I suffer from an old man's tendency to view his early days through rose colored glasses. The segment on my grandfather's political career contains plenty of evidence that you are right.
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