300th anniversary of England's 'Glorious Revolution' A new era for the men of property

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Monmouth, they called on their champion, William of Orange, to help suppress the rebellion. After Monmouth's defeat his followers were subjected to savage Charles II died in 1685 and his brother took the throne as James II. The new monarch was even more blatantly Marxist historian A.L. Morton observed that the defeat reactionary, stimulating not only greater Whig hostility of the Monmouth rebellion, "by crushing the left wing, There was, indeed, a forced change of regime in 1688; made it possible to stage in safety a revolution that could James II was overthrown and replaced by William and masses dad bo pated asiglorious precisely because the Mary. But was it really a revolution? When Marxist historians write of "the English Revolution," it is not The Duke of Monmouth, bastard son of Charles II, In 1688 the Whig leaders invited William of Orange to what happened in 1688 to which they refer, but the tried to turn the revived mass movement to his own bring his troops and chase out James II; they then placed profound social upheaval that took place in the 1640s. advantage. In 1685, he landed a military contingent in William and his wife Mary on the vacated throne.

That was the republican revolution in which King Southwest England in an attempt to assert his claim to Charles I was executed and the monarchy was replaced by the crown by force. Thousands of weavers and small the Commonwealth. Although essentially a bourgeois Assessing this episode from a pro-Whig point of view, revolution in that it brought the moneyed class to the the historian G.M. Trevelyan preferred to call it the fore, it could not have been accomplished without the "Sensible Revolution." To Trevelyan, "the merit of this mass action of artisans, small farmers, and others of the revolution lay not in the shouting and the tumult, but in the still, small voice of prudence and wisdom that Their representatives, the left-wing Independents, gained considerable influence within the New Model For 300 years, this has been the historiographical line Army and struggled to create a radical democracy. of the English ruling class. By glorifying their peaceful The breakdown of the royal censorship during the triumph of 1688, they hoped to obliterate the memory of 1640s allowed an unprecedented freedom of the press; levellers, ranters, seekers, diggers, and other radicals were Nonetheless, the events of 1688 did serve to conable to attract mass followings for their revolutionary solidate and expand the bourgeois rule initiated by the The word "revolution" had not yet been coined, but Karl Marx summed up the consequences: "The contemporaries called it "the world turned upside 'Glorious Revolution' brought into power, along with down"—for ordinary people a wonderful time to be alive; William of Orange, the landlord and capitalist appropriators of surplus value. They inaugurated the new era by practising on a colossal scale thefts of state lands, thefts that had hitherto been managed more modestly."

Although bourgeois forces had supported and worked Marx continued: "The bourgeois capitalists favored the for the overthrow of Charles I, the plebian bid for power operation with the view, among others, to promoting terrified them. Their retreat, and the eventual exhaustion free trade in land, to extending the domain of modern of the mass movement, paved the way for the restoration agriculture on the large farm system, and to increasing their supply of agricultural proletarians ready to hand."

Charles II, oldest son of the deposed ruler, was invited "Besides," said Marx, "the new landed aristocracy was to take the throne, but the nature of the monarchy had the natural ally of the new bankocracy, of the newfundamentally changed. The king's power and capacity hatched haute finance, and of the large manufacturer, then for independent action were considerably restricted. farmers rallied to his banner, and Monmouth naturally With the suppression of the radical mass movement, expected the Whigs to embrace his cause as well. however, a power struggle ensued between two factions The men of property, however, remembered the frightwithin the propertied classes, to which the labels "Tory" ening experience of the 1640s and had no desire to Among the best books on the English revolution are and "Whig" loosely apply. The Tories were the encourage a mass uprising. They reckoned that James II's Christopher Hill's "The World Turned Upside Down" and reactionary, monarchist faction, while the Whigs were, support was so weak that they could get rid of him "The Century of Revolution, 1603-1714." For a Marxist generally speaking, the bourgeois parliamentarist faction. without a mass movement, and their calculations proved survey of English history from Celtic times to the First In 1681, Charles II dismissed parliament and carried World War, see A.L. Morton's "A People's History of out a partial counterrevolution by elevating the Tories at only did the Whigs withhold support from This year marks many generations taught to regard lution." less well-to-do classes. views.

for propertied people not so wonderful.

The Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. the 300th anniversary of an event that of English schoolchildren have been as their country's "Glorious RevoWilliam Ill correct.

Not the expense of the Whigs. The Whigs began an armed rebellion, but their plans failed and prominent Whig leaders were executed.

but a mass opposition as well.

Monmouth's rebellion to organize some of the reprisals. prevailed through all the din."

the real revolution of the 1640s.

earlier revolution. depending on protective duties." England." their children, and their grandchildren find peace.

Zionists have habitually called all critics of their enterprise either anti-Semites or, if they were Jews, self-hating Jews. This kind of intimidation will no longer work. Witness the fact that the advertisement bore the names of such distinguished humanists as the Nobel Peace Laureate Linus Pauling, Alice Walker, and "The small voice of prudence" Further reading:

Jessica Mitford, and of many Jews from the United States and other countries—including Israel. Just as the Cavalier poet wrote to his mistress, "I could not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not honor more," the Jewish signatories could say, "I could not love my people so much, loved I not justice more.

Paul N. Siegel, New York, N.Y.