| Gathering Winds of Class War--A Vignette of
History Giants in the Earth "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in Peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?"—James 2:15,16 Richard Doctor A violent class war was in the making. In 1848, Karl Marx published the Communist Manifesto. That same year, revolutionary worker demonstrations shook Paris, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Venice, Milan, Parma, and Rome. These uprisings were met with cruel repression, and in response, waves of disenchanted laborers fled to the United States. Chicago and Milwaukee proved particularly attractive to the German immigrants. By the 1870's, employment in the United States was oppressive. Employers demanded 12-hour days, six-days per week, to earn less than one dollar per day. Chicago soon became a hotbed of activity for a loosely organized international working-class movement that drew together anarchists, communists, and socialists. This largely German-speaking group distributed handbills and daily newspapers in German avidly promulgating the latest communist writings of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). Soon, the clamor for workers rights led to bloodshed. Two workers were shot dead on May 3, 1885, after strikers seeking an eight-hour workday clashed with police at the Haymarket in Chicago’s wholesale commercial district near Randolph St. and Plank St. (now the Kennedy Expressway). The shouts for revenge were met the following day, May 4, 1885, as a bomb hurled from the crowd killed seven policemen. In 1886, after a highly public trial, eight of the demonstrators were convicted of anarchy. Four were hanged. Less radical branches of the labor movement gained further strength. In 1889 the pagan "May Day" celebration was recast by the agreement of the International Socialist Congress and Samuel Gompers (1850-1924), founder of the American Federation of Labor, to serve as a celebration of working class solidarity. On May 1, 1890, in Chicago, the American Federation of Labor took up a worker’s campaign for three issues: 1) an eight hour workday; 2) universal suffrage--then denied to poor workers; and 3) replacing standing armies with a citizen’s militia.[1] Modern May Day celebrations began in Chicago, not in Red Square, nor in the capital cities of the repressive European monarchies. The desire for the citizen’s militia was underscored in 1894 when the Pullman rail-car factory south of Chicago cut wages by one-third, while maintaining constant rent on the company-owned housing and constant prices at company-owned stores. George Pullman’s heartless actions--which later court judgments would wisely declaim as "Un-American"--were an attempt to assure his stockholders that they would receive their regular dividends throughout the depression that began in 1893. At the Pullman factory, one hundred thousand angry protesters turned out to support a brutal strike that angered and frightened both sides in the deepening warfare of labor and capital. By the direct order of President Grover Cleveland a combined force of 14,000 armed federal troops, deputies, and police were sent in over the objections of Illinois Governor John Altgeld. Writing privately during the Pullman strike Judge William Howard Taft--later president--provided an insight into the views of the monied class: "It will be necessary for the military to kill some of the mob . . . [as yet] they have only killed six . . . this is hardly enough to make an impression."[2] Eventually, thirty laborers were killed. At the same time, about one-third of the population, the farmers, were left destitute by the inevitable and painful consequences of unwise economic policy.[3] When the Civil War ended in 1865, the demand for money in an expanding economy that held a limited supply of gold led the United States to issue two types of currency--dollars backed with gold and dollars backed with silver. Farmers were the major holders of silver-backed dollars. Between 1872 and 1894, these dollars fell from being of nearly equal value, to the silver being worth only 49% of the value of gold.[4] At this point, silver-backed dollars were withdrawn as currency. For farmers holding silver, repayment in gold-backed dollars meant that their debts were doubled, while their savings were reduced by one-half. "America shall not be crucified on a cross of gold!" thundered William Jennings Bryan, as he addressed the impoverishment of the farmers. Although his bid as the democratic presidential candidate in 1896 was unsuccessful, he aroused considerable public sympathy on this issue. His vice-presidential draft was Samuel Gompers of the AFL--one of the few attempts to bring about a most unlikely labor-farmer coalition. Passionate Christian Concern The following year, in 1897 Pastor Russell vigorously jumped into this fray with what is really a short 116-page book entitled The Nations Assembled and the Preparation of the Elements for the Great Fire of God’s Indignation. This study, at two and one-half times the length of a typical chapter in the 4th volume of Scripture Studies, is its longest chapter. The 28-page Cries of the Reapers chapter that immediately follows is a sensitive treatment of the farmer’s plight that directly and sympathetically replies to William Jennings Bryan. We properly think of Pastor Russell as an energetic Christian leader and teacher during the Harvest. We need to remember that prior to this calling he was a highly successful young business leader. Charles T. Russell began working with his father at age 11, after his mother’s death two years earlier. A skillful manager, he expanded his father’s haberdashery business, amassing a small fortune. Charles T. Russell was a wealthy man while still in his 20's. How very much like the Lord to raise up just the appropriate leader for the times! Pastor Russell was never a distant and unconcerned Christian. He cared about people and their issues. Children were literally starving, and fathers were being driven to revolution. He was not what were then called "silk stocking reformers" who criticized the world’s ills from their easy chairs but were unable to deal with the practical issues of life. Pastor Russell’s words show a practical and balanced consideration for both camps in the debate. He presents depthful supporting data--including the lengthy financial accounting lists of various trusts. He directly quotes many of the leading thinkers in these debates. His Christianity is relevant, direct, and sympathetic towards all. The Rise and Fall of the Proletariat Revolution In 1910, and until the U.S. entered World War I, Milwaukee elected Victor Beyer, the first socialist Congressman. A socialist-dominated city council also was elected. However, this was not the leading edge of a national trend. The proletariat revolution failed in the United States. Its success in Russia in 1919 was a turning point in twentieth century history. The revolution brought into political reality human attempts to make practical the theories of Marx and Engels. Communism was a powerful and transforming vision of a world where there were no distinctions of class or privilege, but where mankind would be united in brotherhood for the common good, where want would be unknown, and where education and culture would be the common heritage of all citizens. Economic growth following the revolution was real. Although flawed and brutal, the Soviet system showed that it could rally both its citizens and its resources to stop the Nazi war-machine. After the war, the rebuilding and growth continued. The Communist Manifesto was carried throughout the earth, so that at its height in the late 1970's, fully one-third of humanity answered to communist leadership. Communism’s remarkable fall in the late 1980's revealed its flaws. The absence of real market competition--so critical to success or failure in capitalism--really did stagnate development. From another perspective, communism was not as successful in harnessing human drive, in some cases--the drive of selfishness. Contradictions abounded. While the Soviet Bloc was an immense reservoir for some of the leading scientific talent in the world, western technologies typically were disassembled, studied, and rebuilt with inferior Soviet Parts--a process known as "reverse-engineering." At its fall, the Soviet system--in spite of its technical triumphs in space and weaponry--could no longer even replicate the tools needed to "reverse engineer" the micro-electronics of tens years before. Painfully inefficient Soviet manufacturing actually reduced the value of the raw materials processed.[5] In a land of vast natural resources, shortages abounded. The vision of a worker’s paradise was difficult to hold forth as an inspiration to a third generation of revolutionaries now exposed by mass communication to a more accurate picture of what living conditions in the capitalist west were really like. The extraordinary end of communism sent 1.9 billion people tumbling into the capitalist world. Angels Holding Back the Winds In the other hemisphere, the United States developed with different historical traditions and vision. By any account, President Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most dynamic political minds of the twentieth century. By his own account, he "arose like a rocket." Succeeding to the presidency after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt was then the youngest president ever, just shy of 43. TR, as he was known, saw through a program of reform legislation to control business trusts, interstate commerce, and food quality. He was equally energetic at seeing the vigorous enforcement of this legislation. A Harvard graduate from a wealthy family, he left for the Dakota territories to live as a cowboy. A war hero, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War. At a time when poets celebrated lumber jacks "wielding all day their axes," and the "inexhaustible iron mines" of the United States, Roosevelt was a visionary advocate for wilderness conservation. Using his presidential mandate, he set aside 125 million acres of public land for national parks, forests, and conservation. Disdainful of Christianity that was not practical he observed, "It is much easier to be a harmless dove, than a wise serpent." His view of the business climate is revealing[6]: "When I became President, the question as to the method by which the U.S. Government was to control the corporations was not yet important. The absolutely vital question was whether the government had the power to control them at all . . . the Supreme Court had, with seeming definiteness, settled that the National Government had not the power. . . . the present power of the National Government to deal effectively with the trusts is due solely to the success of the Administration in securing the reversal of the former decision by the Supreme Court." Other reform activity was occurring. A free press gave voice to moralists such as American Civil Liberties Union founder Upton Sinclair (1878-1968). Sinclair, along with other "muckrakers" fulminated about the unhygienic conditions in the meat-packing plants of Chicago and other abuses of the working class in his book The Jungle (1906). That same year, TR acting with his typical energy, used the public sentiment to see the rapid enactment of law to establish the Food and Drug Administration to stop the appalling practices of meat-packers. "We stand on the brink of Armageddon. We battle for the Lord," was Roosevelt’s 1912 Presidential campaign theme for an unprecedented third term.[7] He was unsuccessful. But in Milwaukee three weeks before the election on October 14, an assassin’s bullet hit him, tearing through the speech notes and glass case in his suitcoat pocket before lodging just below his ribs. Wounded and wearing a blood-stained shirt, but undeterred, he waved the bullet-pierced speech notes before the audience and proceeded to orate for an hour and a half before accepting hospital treatment. "It takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose," he quipped. Pastor Russell, seizing on this highly charged campaign, delivered The Battle of Armageddon lecture at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on November 3, 1912 (Overland Monthly, page 268) during the week of the elections. Even newspapers that normally did not cover his sermons covered this one. At the same time, for all future printings of the 4th volume of Scripture Studies, he renamed The Day of Vengeance (R2224) to The Battle of Armageddon (R5137). Public conscience was stirred with a call to civic duty. Real legislative and judicial reform followed. The unions won a measure of power and found their grievances redressed. The greediest of capitalist abuses seemingly were curtailed. Did these events come about by their own ordering? Did they come about because the United States is always a place where interesting things happen? Or, is this brief sketch really a concrete description of how the Lord’s angels hold back the winds of Revelation 7:1-3? Sowing the
Winds-- If the Winds are indeed being held back, what is happening today? In the "Days of Preparation" since 1799, the world has seen the United States, Japan and Canada emerge as new economic powers controlling one quarter of international trade.[8] Between 1799 and 1899 real economic growth took place in the United States. The value of stock on the New York exchange rose from $5 to $50 per share.[9] The U.S. gross domestic product stood at $338,000 million and per capita income was just under $5,248 (in 1997 dollars).[10] Though progressive by world standards, Britain with a per capita income of $3,260 was noticeably lower than both the U.S. and Germany. Britain had seen a decline in its standard of living during the first half of the nineteenth century, and was only beginning to recover during the Victorian era. After one hundred years, it was just breaking even.[11,12] Russian per capita income lagged at $795, while Japan was $517. Table 1. Per
capita income
_______________________________________________________ Could the unbridled economic growth of the United States possibly continue? Pastor Russell sided with the conventional wisdom of the time: "In this Great Republic, conditions have been favorable to a large demand, high wages, and good profits . . . And the millions of money for investment in machinery and railroads to provide the people with homes and the necessities of life, have for years made this the most remarkable country of the world for prosperity . . . but as Capital increases and machinery multiplies, ‘overproduction’ follows; that is, more is produced than can be sold at a profit."[13] Much to the surprise of both labor and capital, the concessions grudgingly made to labor in raising wages led to an unanticipated result. It turned this class into consumers. Consumer goods drove the demand in the economy beyond all expectations. The "necessities of life" were no longer sufficient in a consumer society. What are the statistics today, nearly one hundred years later? The former Soviet Union’s economy is in a "meltdown" considerably worse than the U.S. depression of the 1930's. Currently Russia’s per capita income is near that of the United States in the 1870's. The economic marvel of the century has been Japan’s emergence as an economic world power. These two examples need to be placed in the context of a larger global trend towards a "sowing of the winds" by the increasing polarization between the rich and poor nations. The magnitude of this disparity is staggering: "Comparisons based on GDP (Gross Domestic Product) show the richest 20% of the world’s population producing and consuming 80% of the value of all good and services globally. The poorest 20% dispose of only 1% of the global GDP."[15] For the United States, one of the winners in this global competition, the first quarter of 1999 finds the New York stock exchange on a drive to break the 10,000 mark on the Dow-Jones Industrial average. The 10-fold increase in the value of an average share of stock from 1799-1899 has been followed by a 180-fold increase from 1899-1999. The United States gross domestic product for 1997, the most recent reporting year, stands at $8,079,900 million; per capita income is at $26,580. One of the biggest problems for money managers at U.S. corporations in 1998 was where to profitably put their earnings so that they would earn even more money. Some pundits believe that this was responsible for making 1998 a record year of $1,679,622 million in mergers and acquisitions equaling 19.7% of the United States gross domestic product.[16] While, at least for the United States, it sounds as though things could not be better, let us scratch below the surface of these statistics: "While the real per capita gross domestic product has risen in eighteen out of the past twenty years, real weekly wages have fallen relentlessly in fifteen out of those same twenty years."[17] So explains Professor Lester Thurow, MIT, citing the U.S. Bureau of Census statistics. For 80% of full-time male workers, their real wages have fallen from 10-23% between 1973 and 1992. This loss of family income has been made up by working longer hours and the large-scale entrance of women into the workforce: "In the decade of the 1980's, all the gains in male earnings went to the top 20% of the workforce, and an amazing 64% accrued to the top 1 percent . . . What is emerging has aptly been described as a ‘Winner takes all’ society."[18] The "High-Water Mark" for Western Civilization in 1875--Financial Giants Wrest Power from Governments In the Preparation of the Elements Pastor Russell focuses on the unprecedented growth in international communications and trade, which "made necessary" international law. Ours is an era of global financial giants. For centuries, a trickling stream of long-distance trading with its high risks and higher profits has drawn a few intrepid traders from diverse cultures. Leaders in world trade from Islam, Europe, China and Indonesia all have successfully grappled with the problems of long-distance bank drafts, stock ownership, and insurance. Today, this stream has become a mighty torrent of global capitalism. Considering the emergence of global capitalism, celebrated Oxford historian Arnold Toynbee makes no smaller claim than that the year 1875 stands as the "high-water mark" of Western civilization! For nearly four hundred years, the rising tide of national policy and business policy were one and the same. This changed in 1875. From that time forward, national policy and business policy no longer worked in each other’s best interests.[19] World War I accelerated this decline. European nations that carved up each continent over the previous four hundred years found themselves uncertain of their possessions, and ultimately shorn of them by World War II. Bible scholars have long associated the end of Roman dominion with the prophetic images of Daniel [see Volume 3, Study II The Time of the End--or Days of Preparation, Daniel 11]. How fascinating to find liberal Harvard Economist John Kenneth Galbraith observing a link between this power shift and the end of Roman dominion: "No one can doubt that Rome . . . had a civilizing role . . . That however, was not enough. In the second half of the twentieth century there came the greatest change--revolution is not too strong a term--in some thousands of years. The extent and depth of this change can only arouse wonder: imperialism, colonialism as anciently it had existed, came everywhere abruptly to an end."[20] Sadly, the former colonies that reclaimed their freedom as fledgling nations showed that they frequently were ill-prepared to accept the responsibilities of managing their domestic and international affairs in a complex world. A grinding process is going on. The state is not going away, but the power of the state, particularly in economic matters is diminished by the relative power of the economic interests which can act outside of government control. Jessica Mathews, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations directly addresses this issue: "Rapid globalization of financial markets has left governments far behind. Where governments once set foreign exchange rates, private currency traders, accountable only to their bottom line, now trade $1.3 trillion per day, 100 times the volume of world trade. The amount exceeds the total foreign exchange reserves of all governments, and is more than even an alliance of strong states can buck . . . Nowadays governments only have the appearance of free choices when they set out to make the rules."[21] Modern Multi-national Corporate Giants So what is the nature and the personality of these modern giants that operate outside of the control of any government? In his book The Age of Uncertainty, liberal Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith provides a fascinating overview of a century’s growth, starting in the 1870's, for a mythical Chicago-based sausage maker growing into a diversified multi-national corporation.[22] The institution described is real enough, but is distinctly unlike anything that existed at the time The Battle of Armageddon was written. Galbraith briefly summarizes his observations: "The great capitalist entrepreneurs who both owned and commanded--Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Morgan, Harriman in the United States and their counterparts in other countries--are gone forever. In their place is the massive, often immobile corporate bureaucracy . . . Monopoly power . . . has surrendered to international competition . . . Replacing the one-time anxiety about corporate power is the frequent concern about the corporate stasis and incompetence."[23] Galbraith is saying the giants are not necessarily swift nor wise. Gathering of the Nations--Counsel for Our Day In Zephaniah 3:8 the Lord calls our day the gathering of the nations: "Therefore wait ye upon me saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." Pastor Russell observes that the economic self-interests of our day have brought about a historically unparalleled assembling of nations: "Truly the nations are assembled in a manner not expected . . . but alas! Not in brotherly love, for selfishness marks every step."[24] According to the brilliant review Civilization and Capitalism by acclaimed historian Prof. Fernand Braudel, Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, the practices of current capitalism go beyond selfishness: "The worst error of all is to suppose that capitalism is simply an ‘economic system’ whereas in fact, it lives off the social order, standing almost on a footing with the state . . . [and one possible reading of the situation is] that capital and economic power are entrenched everywhere, crushing the freedom of the individual."[25] Using the analogy of a mechanical watch, Arnold Toynbee came to place more and more emphasis on religion as the "mainspring" that both drives civilization and is driven by civilization. The loss of religious values lets this watch run down. Writing from this perspective he pens these beautiful and inspiring words as a final thought: "The love of Man for God flows on the Earth along the channel of Man’s love for his human brother: Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time, If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:11,12). "Christianity . . . [is then] the climax of a continuous upward movement of spiritual progress which . . . [has not only] survived successive secular catastrophes, but had drawn from them its cumulative inspiration. Spiritual and secular ideals are at variance; they are perpetually striving with one another for the mastery over human souls. It is therefore not surprising that souls should be deaf to the call of the Spirit in times of secular prosperity, and sensitive to the neglected whisper of the still small voice when the vanity of This World is brought home to them by secular catastrophes and when their hearts are softened by the sufferings and sorrows these catastrophes inflict. "It is not then by seeking to escape suffering, but by embracing and responding to it, that the soul born into a disintegrating society can win release, and regain on a higher plane, the path of growth from which his society has strayed."[26,27] CITATIONS 1. Tuchmann, B., The Proud Tower, Bantam, 1979, ppg. 162, 495-6 2. Tuchmann, B., op. cit., p. 478 3. Samuelson, P.A., Economics (ninth edition), McGraw-Hill, 1973, p. 651. Bi-metallism is always a disaster and this unhappy era is treated lucidly here. Currently U.S. money is issued as "reserve notes" backed by neither gold nor silver--there simply isn’t enough of these metals in the world. The exchange of human capital in "reserve notes" indeed makes "a man more precious than fine gold" (Isaiah 13:12). 4. Russell, C.T., The Battle of Armageddon, New Brunswick Ecclesia, 1983, p. 394 5. Gaddy, C.G., and B. Ickes, "Russia’s Virtual Economy," Foreign Affairs (77:5), September/October 1998, p. 53 6. Roosevelt, T., An Autobiography, McMillian, 1913, (unabridged republication by Da Capo, 1985), ppg. 86, 439 7. Miller, N., Theodore Roosevelt--A Life, Morrow, NY, 1992, ppg. 528-530 8. The Economist Pocket World in Figures, Wiley, 1997, p. 20 9. Investor’s Business Daily, Los Angeles CA, (15:173), December 14, 1998, p. A3 10. Samuelson, P.A., op. cit., endplates. All historic per capita incomes are from this reference. These per capita figures are consistent with the $200 per capita in R3272 when inflation is taken into account. 11. Braudel, F., Civilization and Capitalism, Harper-Rowe, 1984, Vol. 3, p. 613. 12. Burke, P. (Ed.), Economy and Society in Early Modern Europe, Harper, 1972, p. 44 13. Russell, C.T., op. cit., ppg. 328-330 14. Department of Commerce, Statistics, Table #721, 722. 15. Nakicenovic, N., Global Energy Perspectives, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and World Energy Council, Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 15. 16. Colvin, G., "The Year of the Megamerger," Fortune (139:1), Jan. 11, 1999, p. 62 17. Thurow, Lester C., The Future of Capitalism, Morrow, 1996, p. 24 18. Thurow, L., op. cit., p. 21 19. Toynbee, A., A Study of History (abridged), Section 1-1, Oxford-Weathervane, 1972, p. 38 20. Galbraith, John K., The Good Society—The Humane Agenda, Houghton-Mifflin, 1996, p. 122 21. Matthews, Jessica T., "Power Shift," Foreign Affairs (76:1), January/February 1997, p. 57 22. Galbraith, John K., The Age of Uncertainty, Houghton-Mifflin, 1977, ppg. 261-279 23. Galbraith, John K., op. cit., (1996), p. 16 24. Russell, C.T., op. cit., p. 271 25. Braudel, F., op. cit., Vol. 3; p. 623 26. Tomlin, E.W.F., Arnold Toynbee: A selection from his works, "The role of religion, a new view," Oxford, 1978 27. Toynbee, A., op. cit., Part V, Chap. 31, p. 254 |