Green Arrow
10-29-2017, 06:37 PM
Via Jacobin (https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/10/anti-rent-war-movement-feudalism-new-york):
In 1839, the people of Berne, New York, a small farming community near Albany, celebrated Independence Day by issuing their own declaration of independence — not from the government but from their landlord.
Unique among Americans at the time, the region’s residents had lived under a feudal system of land tenancy since the 1600s, a product of the Netherlands’ brief flirtation with the so-called New World. The declaration in Berne kicked off a sequence of events that would culminate in the oft-forgotten Anti-Rent War of 1845.
The tenants’ uprising marked a turning point in the history of activism in the US. Before 1840, sporadic renters’ strikes conformed to a familiar pattern: tenants would riot, state militia would be sent in, perhaps the most outspoken rioter would be jailed, and all would soon be forgotten. In contrast, the tenants in Berne created a coherent movement with clear goals, and became a political force in New York. Within a decade, feudal land ownership in New York had faded away.
That literal feudalism persisted in the United States until the 1840s is a fact curiously absent from most history books. That it took the sustained effort of a large (and at times violent) movement to dislodge the oppressive arrangement is a testament to the power of the status quo.
But this forgotten chapter in US history underscores the extent to which elites will defend contractual arrangements that benefit the rich and powerful, no matter how unjust or antithetical they are to supposed American values. The same holds true today.
The victors write the histories, and the rich and powerful have been the victors for a long time. There has been a decades-long movement to purge from mainstream historical knowledge all of the fights and revolutions of the past against the exploitation of workers and other less fortunate Americans at the hands of the powerful. We must remember these fights and successes and keep them from fading from consciousness.
Anyone who thinks the fight for freedom and workers' rights is over is not paying attention. Yes, it's true, we've come a long way from where we were in the past, but the times now are beginning to mirror the events that led to the Progressive Era (1890-1945). There is still a wide gulf between rich and poor, the rich still have the ability to essentially buy out our government at all levels, pay is stagnating even as productivity skyrockets along with profits for the rich. Workers' rights have not kept up with the times.
In 1839, the people of Berne, New York, a small farming community near Albany, celebrated Independence Day by issuing their own declaration of independence — not from the government but from their landlord.
Unique among Americans at the time, the region’s residents had lived under a feudal system of land tenancy since the 1600s, a product of the Netherlands’ brief flirtation with the so-called New World. The declaration in Berne kicked off a sequence of events that would culminate in the oft-forgotten Anti-Rent War of 1845.
The tenants’ uprising marked a turning point in the history of activism in the US. Before 1840, sporadic renters’ strikes conformed to a familiar pattern: tenants would riot, state militia would be sent in, perhaps the most outspoken rioter would be jailed, and all would soon be forgotten. In contrast, the tenants in Berne created a coherent movement with clear goals, and became a political force in New York. Within a decade, feudal land ownership in New York had faded away.
That literal feudalism persisted in the United States until the 1840s is a fact curiously absent from most history books. That it took the sustained effort of a large (and at times violent) movement to dislodge the oppressive arrangement is a testament to the power of the status quo.
But this forgotten chapter in US history underscores the extent to which elites will defend contractual arrangements that benefit the rich and powerful, no matter how unjust or antithetical they are to supposed American values. The same holds true today.
The victors write the histories, and the rich and powerful have been the victors for a long time. There has been a decades-long movement to purge from mainstream historical knowledge all of the fights and revolutions of the past against the exploitation of workers and other less fortunate Americans at the hands of the powerful. We must remember these fights and successes and keep them from fading from consciousness.
Anyone who thinks the fight for freedom and workers' rights is over is not paying attention. Yes, it's true, we've come a long way from where we were in the past, but the times now are beginning to mirror the events that led to the Progressive Era (1890-1945). There is still a wide gulf between rich and poor, the rich still have the ability to essentially buy out our government at all levels, pay is stagnating even as productivity skyrockets along with profits for the rich. Workers' rights have not kept up with the times.