Loved this, Matt. It gives me great joy and hope to reframe as Pamphleteers all of the unsung TruthStackers I know... we are doing our part. Thanks for this nugget!
Matt, I luckily discovered your Substack account some time ago and so grateful for your posts--short or long!
Especially happy that you mention the Levelers and the Diggers--a rich treasure of writings to inspire and challenge us. From a Quaker background many years ago and a love of history, I discovered both groups in my looking at the beginnings of the Quakers as George Fox was certainly of that time.
One minor quibble if I may---I already have so many books to read and now you have got me on the quest for the Bailyn book. Not fair!!!
Pamphlets and samizdats change the world. The American Crisis by Thomas Paine is worth reading during these turbulent times. Nice reimagined Substack logo at the end, too.
Interesting read! The only issue with comparing the pamphlets then to Substack now is, maybe, the cost? I’m not sure how many pamphlets were free, but many Substack reads are not free. I’m NOT criticizing the authors, they have to make a living. But to form a more objective view of issues you need to read many authors on Substack. And that can add up. Even given most authors post articles to non paying subscribers, which is great. I wonder if a “bundled” rate could be used if several authors agreed to that sort of subscription, less per article but more subscriptions?
I hear you. I will say that I only paywall something if it’s simultaneously published elsewhere — because I’ll get in trouble if, say, The Boston Globe pays me for the rights to something and then I give it away behind their back. Otherwise, while I enjoy the subscription money, and it buys down clinical ER time for me I can then use to write more, I’m committed to everything on THIS site being free. Substack is great for giving me that level of autonomy …
Radical pamphlets are all well and good... but for a ferociously cynical analysis of the origins of the American Revolution, see Gerald Horne's "The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America".
I wonder were the media of the day as hostile to the pamphleteers as they seem today to alternative news sources. Was there the equivalent of ‘disinformation’? I am aware of the ‘snake oil’ salesmen and conmen/women - they’ve been around forever - I’m referring to the fear of those challenging the approved narrative of the day. If so, there really isn’t anything new under the sun!
I must commend to you (and your readers) the Regulators in North Carolina. Our family has been here since the 1700s and the history is deep. The historian who spoke at a memorial event 19 June this year, honoring the six men hanged by the neck until dead as representatives of this movement, suggested that letters and news shared among the Committees of Correspondence regarding this movement and these events (especially perhaps arbitrary acts of retribution by villain Royal Governor Tryon) were the catalyst for making such a huge deal over the 'shot heard round the world' some years later. There has not been a great deal of research published (as far as I know) but you can read the first few chapters of 'Breaking Loose Together' by Marjoleine Kars here: https://flexpub.com/preview/breaking-loose-together; there's another book by Carole Troxler.
But one of the pamphleteers is still remembered, although he was ditched by the founding fathers.....Tom Paine! Great column. I will be tracking down Bailyn's book
Chinese Communist revolution, same thing. Mao was made chairman not for military prowess but because he was the educator. What really mattered was getting the people on their side. The rest was mop up work.
Chiang's Nationalist army was made of people. These soldiers were just as suseptible to education as anyone else. It seems to me they showed very little enthusiasm for fighting the Communists. I bet they instead secretly passed military supplies to them. Just like what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Ukraine Russia wisely has confined its expansion to areas where the great majority of the populace desired to become citizens of Russia, as they now are. Ukraine's goal was to oppress these people while extracting their wealth via taxation. The Donbas and Crimean people have volunteered en masse to defend themselves. In this case there was no need for education. The people were already on their side.
Note that British citizens had so little enthusiasm for the Continental war that the gvt. had to hire Hessian mercenaries. They weren't cheap and they too didn't want to risk dying for the cause. That was a bad sign for England.
Today the priority is overcoming the "lesser evil" syndrome. Until the people cease their support of their evil oppressors nothing good will happen. They've got to be convinced to work for something good. That's the first step.
"'Get out of your barnacle and put on your squibs and crackers. Unless you get some pondalorum high topper mountain will be all on hot cockalorum"
Loved this, Matt. It gives me great joy and hope to reframe as Pamphleteers all of the unsung TruthStackers I know... we are doing our part. Thanks for this nugget!
Like!
Matt, I luckily discovered your Substack account some time ago and so grateful for your posts--short or long!
Especially happy that you mention the Levelers and the Diggers--a rich treasure of writings to inspire and challenge us. From a Quaker background many years ago and a love of history, I discovered both groups in my looking at the beginnings of the Quakers as George Fox was certainly of that time.
One minor quibble if I may---I already have so many books to read and now you have got me on the quest for the Bailyn book. Not fair!!!
Like!
Pamphlets and samizdats change the world. The American Crisis by Thomas Paine is worth reading during these turbulent times. Nice reimagined Substack logo at the end, too.
Happy 4th!
Samizdats! Yes!
Like!
Interesting read! The only issue with comparing the pamphlets then to Substack now is, maybe, the cost? I’m not sure how many pamphlets were free, but many Substack reads are not free. I’m NOT criticizing the authors, they have to make a living. But to form a more objective view of issues you need to read many authors on Substack. And that can add up. Even given most authors post articles to non paying subscribers, which is great. I wonder if a “bundled” rate could be used if several authors agreed to that sort of subscription, less per article but more subscriptions?
I hear you. I will say that I only paywall something if it’s simultaneously published elsewhere — because I’ll get in trouble if, say, The Boston Globe pays me for the rights to something and then I give it away behind their back. Otherwise, while I enjoy the subscription money, and it buys down clinical ER time for me I can then use to write more, I’m committed to everything on THIS site being free. Substack is great for giving me that level of autonomy …
Please keep it coming
Radical pamphlets are all well and good... but for a ferociously cynical analysis of the origins of the American Revolution, see Gerald Horne's "The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America".
Thanks!
What a crucial & dead-on insight--what a superbly-observed connection that was right there in our faces but unarticulated anwhere else I've seen.
Got-DAM I'm glad you're 'stackin, Mr. (Dr.?) B.
I wonder were the media of the day as hostile to the pamphleteers as they seem today to alternative news sources. Was there the equivalent of ‘disinformation’? I am aware of the ‘snake oil’ salesmen and conmen/women - they’ve been around forever - I’m referring to the fear of those challenging the approved narrative of the day. If so, there really isn’t anything new under the sun!
Thanks Matt!
I must commend to you (and your readers) the Regulators in North Carolina. Our family has been here since the 1700s and the history is deep. The historian who spoke at a memorial event 19 June this year, honoring the six men hanged by the neck until dead as representatives of this movement, suggested that letters and news shared among the Committees of Correspondence regarding this movement and these events (especially perhaps arbitrary acts of retribution by villain Royal Governor Tryon) were the catalyst for making such a huge deal over the 'shot heard round the world' some years later. There has not been a great deal of research published (as far as I know) but you can read the first few chapters of 'Breaking Loose Together' by Marjoleine Kars here: https://flexpub.com/preview/breaking-loose-together; there's another book by Carole Troxler.
Even-handed synopsis here: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/regulator-war
But one of the pamphleteers is still remembered, although he was ditched by the founding fathers.....Tom Paine! Great column. I will be tracking down Bailyn's book
Chinese Communist revolution, same thing. Mao was made chairman not for military prowess but because he was the educator. What really mattered was getting the people on their side. The rest was mop up work.
Chiang's Nationalist army was made of people. These soldiers were just as suseptible to education as anyone else. It seems to me they showed very little enthusiasm for fighting the Communists. I bet they instead secretly passed military supplies to them. Just like what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Ukraine Russia wisely has confined its expansion to areas where the great majority of the populace desired to become citizens of Russia, as they now are. Ukraine's goal was to oppress these people while extracting their wealth via taxation. The Donbas and Crimean people have volunteered en masse to defend themselves. In this case there was no need for education. The people were already on their side.
Note that British citizens had so little enthusiasm for the Continental war that the gvt. had to hire Hessian mercenaries. They weren't cheap and they too didn't want to risk dying for the cause. That was a bad sign for England.
Today the priority is overcoming the "lesser evil" syndrome. Until the people cease their support of their evil oppressors nothing good will happen. They've got to be convinced to work for something good. That's the first step.
"'Get out of your barnacle and put on your squibs and crackers. Unless you get some pondalorum high topper mountain will be all on hot cockalorum"
Nice comparison, Matt