THE
CONCORD REVIEW
I am simply one who loves the past and is diligent in investigating it.
K’ung-fu-tzu (551-479 BC) The Analects
Sam Duffy
Tape v. Hurley
The Collegiate School, Manhattan Island, New York
Lincoln and Religion
Evan Kim
Polytechnic School, Pasadena, California
Margaret Sanger
Emma Jade Wexler
The Blake School, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Imperial Cult in Rome
Sihak Lee
Buckingham Browne & Nichols School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Manchus in Qing Dynasty
Sooah Kang
Seoul International School, Seoul, South Korea
Warrior Women
Natassia Walley
Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, New York
Twilight of the Decadents
Alexander Tyska
University of Chicago Laboratory High School, Chicago, Illinois
Friedrich Hegel
Will Gutzman
Flintridge Preparatory School, La Cañada, California
Footbinding in China
Melodie Liu
Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, California
Denial in South Africa
Hailey Fuchs
Winsor School, Boston, Massachusetts
Socialism in France
Peter Kirgis
Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington, New York
A Quarterly Review of Essays by Students of History
Volume 26, Number One
$30.00
Fall 2015
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Volume Twenty-Six, Number One
1
Sam Duffy
Tape v. Hurley
39
Evan Kim
Lincoln and Religion
51
Emma Jade Wexler
Margaret Sanger
67
Sihak Lee
Imperial Cult in Rome
89
Sooah Kang
Manchus in Qing Dynasty
129
Natassia Walley
Warrior Women
157
Alexander Tyska
Twilight of the Decadents
187
Will Gutzman
Friedrich Hegel
203
Melodie Liu
Footbinding in China
221
Hailey Fuchs
Denial in South Africa
243
Peter Kirgis
Socialism in France
272
Notes on Contributors
Fall 2015
Editor and Publisher, Will Fitzhugh
Managing Editor, Samantha S. Wesner
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
website:
tcr.org
The Fall 2015 issue of The Concord Review
is Volume Twenty-Six, Number One
Partial funding was provided by: Carter Bacon, Earhart Foundation,
the History Channel, the Lagemann Foundation, Robert Grusky,
Sophia Neaman, the Rose Foundation, and our other donors and subscribers.
©2015, by The Concord Review, Inc., 730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24,
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Tape v. Hurley (1885):
Chinese Immigrants and Their Pursuit of Public
Education in Nineteenth-Century California
Sam Duffy
Abstract
How did early Chinese immigrants struggle for public
education for their children and eventually gain access to it in
the face of institutional exclusion and pervasive cultural bigotry?
From 1871 through 1884, children of Chinese immigrants were
denied public education in San Francisco, where nearly all Chinese
immigrants in America resided. The 1885 California Supreme
Court case Tape v. Hurley (Tape) established the right to public
education for Chinese immigrant children. This essay examines
the widespread anti-Chinese sentiment in California and how
Chinese immigrants used political appeals, petitions, and, finally,
the judicial system to attain access to public education. The essay
focuses initially on the context and the rationale of anti-Chinese
sentiment that justified the exclusion of Chinese children from
public schools. The essay then follows the little known but historically significant struggle of Joseph and Mary Tape to enroll their
American-born daughter, Mamie, in the Spring Valley Primary
Sam Duffy is a Senior at The Collegiate School on Manhattan Island in
New York, where he wrote this paper as an Independent Study with Dr.
LeeAnna Keith in the 2014/2015 academic year.
2
Sam Duffy
School. Lastly, through an analysis of the legal battle of Tape, the
essay demonstrates that, despite the tremendous hostility and
opposition of the San Francisco Board of Education, Chinese
immigrants were relentless and undaunted in their struggle for
public education. Notwithstanding the Tape family’s legal success,
the case represents a qualified victory because the Board of Education managed to create a segregated public education system. The
case reveals the extent of nativist resistance to racial integration
and shows that any fight for equality of opportunity in America
requires unrelenting political and legal struggle.
Introduction
Contact with these yellow children of the Celestial Empire
would convince us that the points of human difference, great as they,
upon first sight, seem, are as nothing compared with the points of human agreement. Such contact would remove mountains of prejudice.1
–Frederick Douglass, “Our Composite Nation” (1869)
Meanwhile, guard well the doors of our public schools, that
they do not enter. For, however hard and stern such a doctrine may
sound, it is but the enforcement of the law of self-preservation, the
inculcation of the doctrine of true humanity, and an integral part of
the enforcement of the iron rule of right by which we hope presently
to prove that we can justly and practically defend ourselves from this
invasion of Mongolian barbarism.2
–W.B. Farwell and John E. Kunkler, “The Report of the
Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco
on the Condition of the Chinese Quarter of that City.” (1885)
In his “Our Composite Nation” speech of 1869, Frederick Douglass,
the former slave turned leading abolitionist, argued that Chinese
immigrants and their children were not only future citizens, but
that they would help to make up the “composite nationality” of
a better America.3 Douglass argued that the co-existence of the
Chinese, who had been arriving in greater numbers since 1848,
with other immigrants and with American citizens was “essential to
her [America’s] triumphs.”4 In contrast to Douglass’s exceptional
beliefs, the dominant American attitude during the Reconstruction
THE CONCORD REVIEW
3
and Post-Reconstruction eras through the Gilded Age was that the
Chinese were not “fitted [sic] to become citizens.”5 In 1885, in
“The Report of the Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors
of San Francisco on the Condition of the Chinese Quarter of that
City,” W.B. Farwell, former editor of The Daily Alta California and
an original ‘49er, and John E. Kunkler, a surgeon, warned against
the “invasion of Mongolian barbarism.”6 Their report summarized
the beliefs and fears of American exclusionists who wanted the
Chinese to leave and lobbied to prevent future immigration.
Behind the pretext of “self preservation” and “the doctrine of
true humanity,” California civic leaders sought to keep the public
schools free from Chinese children—explicitly arguing that “true
humanity” did not include the Chinese.7 From the nativist KnowNothing Party of the 1850s to Denis Kearney’s platform of the
“Chinese Must Go,” anti-Chinese groups used cultural and political
arguments to stoke fears that Chinese labor would compromise
the welfare of the white worker. Such exclusionist arguments led
to the creation of one of the most racially discriminatory pieces
of legislation in American history—depriving Chinese children
of a public education.
Public education has historically served as an effective
socializing institution for Americans. Charles Wollenberg, author
of All Deliberate Speed, noted that “[e]ducational opportunity is important to all Americans, but particularly so to minorities…[who]
see schooling as…a means by which their children can escape
or ameliorate conditions of poverty and discrimination.”8 When
American communities have refused minorities the right to an
education, the excluded groups have used the courts to pursue
this deeply cherished “vehicle for social mobility.”9 Iris Chang,
author of The Chinese in America posited, “even more than many
other immigrant groups, the Chinese, with their Confucius-infused
culture, preached the importance of education to their Americanborn progeny.”10 As both aspirational immigrants and faithful
Confucians, Chinese immigrants viewed education as a great prize
to be attained in America and worth the difficult struggle. Like
Douglass, many of the Chinese immigrants viewed themselves not
only as equal to other white immigrants and Americans, but also
4
Sam Duffy
as future citizens. They recognized that the education of their
children was vital for the next generation to become Americans.
In California, where nearly all Chinese immigrants resided, the Chinese had infrequent access to public education.
Between 1871 and 1885, they had no access at all. Chang noted
that during these fourteen years, “Chinese children were the only
racial group to be denied a state-funded education.”11 Based on
their discriminatory views, the California legislature and the local
school boards used their power to prevent Chinese students from
attending public schools by passing exclusionist state school laws.
California’s denial of public education to Chinese immigrants violated an international agreement called the Burlingame Treaty of 1868. Perhaps the signature accomplishment
of nineteenth-century Sino-American relations, the Burlingame
Treaty was an agreement between the Qing Empire and the United
States, which allowed for free immigration and trade between the
two nations. The Burlingame Treaty assured each nation that its
visitors or residents “shall enjoy the same privileges, immunities,
or exemptions in respect to travel or residence as…subjects of the
most favored nation.”12 Moreover, the treaty explicitly provided
that “Chinese subjects shall enjoy all the privileges of the public
educational institutions under the control of the government of
the United States.”13 However, after China’s Taiping and Boxer
Rebellions, America began to discredit the authority of the imperial ruling government and refused to treat Chinese citizens with
“most favored nation” status.14 The California state government
was flouting the federal treaty when it refused to educate the
Chinese. Eventually, the treaty would be effectively abrogated by
the United States Congress to allow for the drastic restriction of
Chinese immigration. In 1882, the United States Congress went
even further by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited the Chinese from immigrating to America.
Although the early Chinese immigrants struggled valiantly
for social acceptance and tolerance, they faced tremendous resistance and discrimination from the Caucasian population. For
years, the Chinese petitioned the San Francisco Board of Educa-
THE CONCORD REVIEW
5
tion in order to assert their rights under the Burlingame Treaty.
In addition, they argued that because the Chinese paid school
taxes, their children were entitled to enrollment in the public
schools— an argument the Chinese immigrants would continue to
make fruitlessly for several decades. Regardless, the San Francisco
Board of Education interpreted California school laws to justify
the exclusion of Chinese children from public schools.
While some activists and writers supported Chinese immigration and their rights as residents, many exclusionist Americans
fought to minimize labor competition and continued to reject
the Chinese immigrants and their children on the basis of their
perceived foreignness. In the period following Reconstruction,
as the nation recovered and prospered, antebellum bigotry and
racial hierarchies persisted.
In the face of such opposition, Chinese parents did not
relent in their pursuit of education for their children. Joseph and
Mary Tape—assimilated, English speaking, Chinese middle-class
parents—wanted their daughter Mamie to attend the local public
school in San Francisco. In 1884, two years after the Chinese Exclusion Act, and thirteen years after public education for Chinese
children had first been denied, the Tapes sued Jennie Hurley, the
principal of the Spring Valley Primary School, and members of
the Board of Education of the city and county of San Francisco for
the right of Mamie to attend the local public school. The Superior
Court ruled in favor of the Tapes, and one year later, the California
Supreme Court upheld this decision. Tape v. Hurley established the
right of public education for American-born Chinese children on
the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause.
Judge James Maguire of the California Superior Court wrote in
his decision that, “To deny a child, born of Chinese parents in
this state, entrance to the public schools would be a violation of
the law of the state and the Constitution of the United States.”15
Unfortunately, Maguire’s ruling, upheld by the highest court in
the state, did not end the Chinese struggle for acceptance and
tolerance; the Board of Education would prove to be persistent in
its refusal to provide a public education to the Chinese children.
6
Sam Duffy
Despite the ruling in Tape, segregation in San Francisco
persisted for decades and subsequently led to the establishment
of segregated schools across the state of California. Tape was the
culmination of years of Chinese immigrant struggle for equal access
to education, demonstrating the Chinese immigrants’ pursuit of
representation through grassroots community organizing and the
American judicial system. From petitions to court cases, Chinese
immigrants—like so many American immigrants before them—
proved to be adaptable and tenacious Americans in training.
The Growth and Impact of Anti-Chinese Sentiment
Fleeing starvation and the oppressive Qing regime, Chinese immigrants flocked to California to seek their fortune from
what they called Gam Saan, their “Golden Mountain.”16 Many of
the Chinese had come to the United States as “birds of passage,”
bachelors and husbands unaccompanied by their wives and children. Chinese men had intended to return to their homeland after
earning the riches they envisioned. However, many Chinese men
remained in America. They married, had children when possible,
and began to settle in America permanently.
California, admitted into the Union in 1850, was a young
state when Chinese immigration began to increase rapidly. According to the U.S. Census taken in 1860, there were 34,933 Chinese
people in America, and all of them resided in California.17 From
1860 to 1882—the free immigration period prior to the Exclusion
Act—the Chinese population in San Francisco grew from 2,719 to
21,745, an urban increase that reflected the decline of gold mining
and the rise of city residency.18 Their rising numbers, which threatened the job opportunities of white laborers, fostered profound
anti-Chinese sentiment among white Americans and European
immigrants. Once Chinese labor was no longer needed for the
completed Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, many Chinese workers moved into the cities or took agricultural jobs on California
farms. During the Depression of 1873, white Americans lost jobs
in great numbers and moved into the cities to search for work,
and virulent anti-Chinese sentiment rose unabated.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
7
By 1873, even first- and second-grade children of San
Francisco wrote in their school assignments that the Chinese were
“of no importance to San Francisco, they take away a great deal
of labor from our people, because they work cheaper and not
so good [sic].”19 By 1876, Californians held increasingly biased
attitudes against the Chinese. The Marin Journal published these
widely held anti-Chinese sentiments in an editorial:
That he [the Chinese] is a slave, reduced to the lowest terms of
beggarly economy, and is no fit competitor for an American freeman.
That he herds in scores, in small dens, where a white man
and wife could hardly breathe, and has none of the wants of a civilized white man.
That he has neither wife nor child, nor expects to have any.
That his sister is prostitute from instinct, religion, education,
and interest, and degrading to all around her.
That American men, women and children cannot be what
free people should be, and compete with such degraded creatures
in the labor market.
That wherever they are numerous, as in San Francisco, by a
secret machinery of their own, they defy the law, keep up the manners
and customs of China, and utterly disregard all the laws of health,
decency and morality.
That they are driving the white population from the state,
reducing laboring men to despair, laboring women to prostitution,
and the boys and girls to hoodlums and convicts.
That the health, wealth, prosperity and happiness of our
State demand their expulsion from our shores.20
The ubiquitous beliefs that the Chinese were slaves, prostitutes,
degraded creatures, importers of crime and disease, and harmful
to California as an alien group led to anti-Chinese violence and the
passage of pernicious laws designed to make the Chinese want to
leave America. In the same year as the Marin editorial, the official
spokesman of San Francisco testified about the dangers of the
Chinese at a federal congressional hearing. He claimed that the
Chinese “can never assimilate with us; that they are a perpetual,
unchanging, and unchangeable alien element that can never
become homogeneous; that their civilization is demoralizing and
8
Sam Duffy
degrading to our people.”21 California public officials were spreading their anti-Chinese hysteria to the nation’s capital. Three years
later, the 1879 California Constitution formalized such attitudes
by depriving the Chinese of the right to vote, reasoning that they
belonged to an unfit class of persons: “no native of China, no
idiot, insane person or person convicted of any infamous crime,
and no person hereafter convicted of embezzlement or misappropriation of public money, shall ever exercise the privilege of an
elector in this State.”22 From the writings of California children,
to newspapers and to the state constitution, anti-Chinese views
included exclusionist economic arguments, specious racial claims,
and finally, disenfranchisement.
In 1882, the federal government made it official United
States policy to exclude any Chinese laborer from entering the
country and, furthermore, prohibited naturalization. The policy
was so effective that two years later, after “the gates swung shut,”
the number of Chinese admitted declined from 40,000 in 1882
to 10 in 1884.23 Nevertheless, “the Exclusion Act of 1882 did not
satisfy the advocates of total exclusion.”24 Supported by national
and local anti-Chinese feelings, California educators went on to
prevent the Chinese already living in America from gaining a foothold in society by denying them equal access to public education.
Chinese Immigrants and Public Education in California Before
Tape
The opponents of public education for the Chinese continued to repeat the same race-based prejudices against the Chinese
that were at the heart of both state and federal legislation. Before
the exclusionist sentiments gained such currency, in 1859, the first
Chinese Public School was established in a “dark basement beneath
the Chinese chapel” in San Francisco—and only as a result of repeated petitions by the Chinese community.25 A few months later,
the school board closed the church basement school, “pleading
lack of funds.”26 In 1860, “the Chinese succeeded in again opening
the school,” but, the board closed it again citing an alleged lack
of community interest or “lack of sufficient students.”27 Shortly
THE CONCORD REVIEW
9
thereafter, the school was reopened as an evening school for the
young adult male students who worked during the day.
From the outset, the leading administrator of the public
school system of San Francisco claimed that the Chinese Public
School was destined to fail because of the inassimilable and corrupt moral nature of the Chinese. The San Francisco School
Superintendent James Denman wrote in his “Annual Report of
1860” that despite the best efforts of the American teacher of
the new Chinese Public School, “the prejudices of caste and religious idolatry are so indelibly stamped upon their [the Chinese]
character and existence that his [the teacher’s] task of education
seems almost hopeless.”28 Historian Him Mark Lai wrote “for the
next decade the school struggled to stay alive while a capricious
Board of Education blew alternately hot and cold on the subject
of education for the Chinese.”29 After the State Legislature passed
the School Law of 1870, the San Francisco Board of Education
received the legal sanction to close the Chinese Public School for
the next fourteen years. The law stated in Section 52 that “the
education of children of African descent and Indian children shall
be provided for in separate schools.”30 School Superintendent
Denman exploited the absence of an explicit provision for the
education of Chinese children to justify the school closure. The
Chinese Public School would not reopen until 1885.
While the School Law of 1870 allowed Denman to close the
Chinese Public School and to refuse to provide public education
to Chinese children, the School Law of 1872, mandated in Section
1662 that “[e]very school…must be opened for the admission of
all white children.”31 The School Law of 1872 also required the
provision of separate schools for blacks and American Indians
and the “Chinese were omitted again.”32 Two years later when the
California Supreme Court decided in Ward v. Flood that “no child
who was a citizen of California could be excluded from public
education by reason of color or race,” the School Law of 1874
was rewritten to allow for black and American Indian children
to “attend the public schools of California unless separate and
equal facilities were otherwise provided.”33 Six years later, state
10
Sam Duffy
legislators reflected Ward v. Flood in the School Law of 1880 and
removed the word “white” from Section 1662. 34
Section 1662. Every school, unless otherwise provided by
law, must be open for the admission of all children between six and
twenty-one years of age residing in the district, and the Board of
Trustees, or City Board of Education, have power to admit adults
and children not residing in the district, whenever good reasons
exist therefor [sic]. Trustees shall have power to exclude children
of filthy or vicious habits, or children suffering from contagious or
infectious diseases.35
Since the law read “all children,” Chinese children should have had
full access to public schools. However, school boards would later
exclude Chinese children as a group, regarding them as “children
of filthy or vicious habits, or children suffering from contagious
or infectious disease.”36 Unfortunately, these bigoted rationalizations reflected the anti-Chinese views of the general population.
Despite the rise of anti-Chinese legislation and a recalcitrant
school board, the Chinese community persisted in its fight against
the Board’s decision for more than fourteen years by continuing to
petition for access to public education. In 1878, thirteen hundred
Chinese immigrant parents, merchants and middle class California residents, petitioned the Senate and Assembly of the State of
California for the right of public education for more than three
thousand of their children. The Chinese merchants wanted their
American-born children to be “placed upon the same footing as
the children of other foreigners so that they may learn the English
language, which would be for the advantage of all.”37 In their petition, the Chinese parents made several significant arguments. They
paid taxes that were designated for the education of California
children, they argued, but their Chinese children did not receive
any benefits from such taxation. They felt that it was inequitable
that they “were paying about 1/20 of the taxes in the city [of San
Francisco] of which a proportionate share went toward support of
the public schools, from which they were excluded.”38 For the tax
year 1876-1877, “in San Francisco alone,” the merchants calculated
that they had paid “a sum exceeding $42,000.”39 They made constitutional arguments in support of universal education. In their
THE CONCORD REVIEW
11
petition, the Chinese cited “Art. IX, sec. 2. ‘The Legislature shall
encourage by all suitable means, the promotion of intellectual,
scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement;’ and restricts it to
no race, color or nationality.”40 Despite the argument of taxation
without representation and the promise of state constitutionally
guaranteed rights, the petition was unsuccessful. Nonetheless,
the petition illustrated that the Chinese immigrants understood
their rights and resisted the discrimination perpetrated by the
local and state authorities.
When the Chinese immigrants could not gain access to
educational opportunity, some of their children studied in Chinese
language schools and Christian mission schools, and some Chinese
hired private tutors to maintain a high level of education for their
children. Historian Iris Chang noted “[s]ome Chinese parents
homeschooled their children, sent them to private schools, or
arranged for missionaries to tutor them individually.”41 In 1878,
the same year that the largest petition to the state legislature was
submitted by the Chinese merchants, one hundred and sixtyone Chinese children attended private schools.42 However, that
number represented only ten percent of the school-aged Chinese
children in San Francisco that year. On average, during the era
of no access to public schools, the number of Chinese children
attending private schools was three hundred and five students per
year.43 Victor Low, author of The Unimpressible Race: A Century of
Educational Struggle by the Chinese in San Francisco, noted that such
a number represented “only 20 percent of the Chinese children”
receiving any formal education.”44
During their fight for equal access to education, the Chinese gained an important ally. The Ministerial Union, composed
of white clergymen, many of whom were teachers of the Chinese
themselves, complained about the unfair interpretation of the
School Law of 1880, which, they argued, explicitly provided that
all children had the right to public education. However, like all
previous requests, the appeals of the clergy were also ignored.
The courts would prove to be the only vehicle for change.
The Chinese community found some encouragement in the ha-
12
Sam Duffy
beas corpus case of Look Tin Sing (1884).45 Look Tin Sing was a
fourteen-year-old boy who was born in Mendocino, California. His
parents sent their son to China for an education when he was nine,
but when he returned, the immigration authorities barred him
from entering due to the federal exclusion laws of 1882, arguing
that as the child of a class of people who could never be naturalized, Look Tin Sing could not be a citizen despite being born on
American soil. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
California held that “the Fourteenth Amendment provided that
‘all persons born or naturalized in the United States’ were citizens.
The court ruled that Look Tin Sing was indeed a citizen and that
the Exclusion Act did not apply to him.”46 As Him Mark Lai noted,
Look Tin Sing “taught the Chinese of California to recognize that
their native-born children have certain inalienable rights and that
it is possible to gain these rights through legal action rather than
by fruitless appeals to the dubious consciences of politicians.”47
Chinese parents realized that their American-born children did
indeed, possess all the rights of citizenship and that the courts could
help to protect their rights. Members of the Chinese community
would use one of the only options they had left—the courts—to
challenge the San Francisco Board of Education’s failure to provide public education for their children.
The Tape Family and Resistance from the Board of Education
Joseph Tape, né Jeu Dip, was born in Guangdong province
and immigrated to California in 1864 when he was twelve years
old. Joseph worked for Matthew Sterling, a dairy rancher, and
eventually became a drayman and a successful transport business
owner. Like Joseph, Mary Tape arrived in California alone when
she was eleven years old. However, the Reverend Augustus Loomis,
head of the Presbyterian Chinese mission in Chinatown took her
to the Ladies’ Society Home, a charity organization for orphans
where she was given the name Mary McGladery and raised as a
“genteel, westernized girl in a Chinese body.”48 She was “one of
the first Chinese ‘slave girls’ to be rescued by the Protestant missionaries in San Francisco.”49 It was likely that Mary was a mui tsai,
THE CONCORD REVIEW
13
an indentured servant, and as a female indentured servant, it was
likely that she was intended for prostitution. Nevertheless, Mary
never spoke about her past, and her “silence about her experiences before she arrived at the home was a prerogative she would
exercise throughout her life.”50 Joseph met Mary when she was
eighteen years old and he was twenty-three. They married in 1875,
and Mamie was born in 1876.
Joseph and Mary were highly assimilated into American
culture. The Tapes changed their Chinese surname, Dip, to the
German name Tape to reflect both a Christian and Anglo-Saxon
identity.51 They did not live in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Rather,
they lived in Cow Hollow, west of Russian Hill where there were
very few Chinese. By the time Mamie was of school age, the only
schooling available to her was the missionary schools located in
Chinatown. Mary Tape spoke no Chinese and raised Mamie, as
well as Mamie’s siblings, Frank, Emily, and Gertrude, in an Englishspeaking household. Both Joseph and Mary wanted Mamie go to
the local public school. In September of 1884, the Tapes attempted
to enroll their American-born child into the Spring Valley Primary
School, but Jennie Hurley, the principal, refused to admit Mamie
due to Mamie’s ethnicity.
In response to Hurley’s refusal, Joseph Tape appealed
to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. As a successful and
highly visible businessman, Joseph Tape had occasionally performed interpretation work for the consulate.52 Frederick A. Bee,
a white American attorney in San Francisco, in his capacity as
the Imperial Chinese Vice-Consul, protested Mamie’s exclusion
from the Spring Valley Primary School. Bee wrote to San Francisco School Superintendent Andrew Jackson Moulder that “the
reasons given by you [Moulder]…are so inconsistent with the
treaties, Constitution and laws of the United States, especially…
as the child is native-born, that I consider it my duty to renew the
request to admit the child [Mamie Tape], and all other Chinese
children resident here who desire, to enter the public schools
under your charge.”53 Bee asked Moulder to reconsider Mamie’s
application since her exclusion from public school violated the
14
Sam Duffy
treaties between America and China, and because Mamie was a
native-born American citizen with the rights of citizenship under
the U.S. Constitution.
Moulder was the primary antagonist to Mamie’s entry into
the Spring Valley Primary School, and his biography revealed that
he would be an exceptionally formidable adversary. Moulder had
been born in 1825 in the District of Columbia. At an early age,
he showed a “diligence and aptitude” for learning and graduated
from Columbian College of Washington, D.C., now known as
George Washington University, at the age of sixteen.54 When he
was seventeen, he became an assistant professor of mathematics
in Virginia. In 1850, at the age of twenty-five, he migrated to California with a mining company. He worked as a reporter at the San
Francisco Herald and quickly became its managing editor. By 1856,
Moulder was elected as State Superintendent of Public Instruction and served for two terms. He also served in the San Francisco
Stock Exchange. By 1882, the same year as the federal exclusion
law prohibiting Chinese immigration, Moulder was elected Superintendent of Public Schools in San Francisco and served for
four years. Throughout his illustrious life—as evidenced by his
impressive résumè in public service—Moulder “command[ed]
the full the confidence and esteem of the public as well as the
parties more directly interested.”55 As a respected leader in the
community, Moulder held great influence, a fact that made his
deeply racist views hard to combat.
Moulder, a Southern Democrat in a young state evenly
divided between Southern Democrats and Reconstruction Republicans, believed firmly in the exclusion and segregation of all
Chinese persons. Almost thirty years previously, when Moulder
was a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, he “had recommended that ‘Negroes, Mongolians, and Indians’ be prohibited
from attending public schools with white children.”56 Throughout his years in public office, Moulder did not vary in his stance
against integration, having “successfully lobbied for laws that not
only segregated the public schools but also imposed sanctions
against local school districts and officials who violated the laws.”57
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15
After the Chinese Consulate’s appeal on behalf of Mamie
Tape, the Board of Education held a meeting on October 21, 1884,
which was covered by The Daily Alta California. Moulder reported to
the Board of Education that he referred the matter of Mamie Tape
to State Superintendent William T. Welcker, and both Welcker and
Moulder felt that “the application of Tape should be denied.”58
Moulder was unequivocal in his position that the Chinese must
not enter the public schools of San Francisco: “I must decline to
admit Chinese children, resident here, into our public schools.”59
Moreover, at the October 21 meeting, the Board of Education
proposed a resolution that would prohibit every San Francisco
principal from “admitting any Mongolian child of proper school
age or otherwise, either male or female,” and if a principal or
teacher admitted such a child, that principal or teacher would
face “immediate dismissal.”60 The resolution was characteristic
of Moulder’s methods, which prohibited integration by means of
harsh punitive measures.
Not all of the Board members agreed with the resolution.
One Board member, director Charles Cleveland, a noted exclusionist who “had been opposed to Chinese immigration for more
than twenty years and had written many articles on the subject”
still believed in “extending the privileges of the public schools to
all native-born children irrespective of race or color.”61 Despite
Cleveland’s dissent, most of the Board voted with Moulder. A
member with exclusionist views, Isidor Danielwitz, proclaimed
that he “would rather go to jail than allow a Chinese child into
the schools.”62 The resolution subsequently passed by a vote of
eight to three.63 Moulder and the Board of Education refused
to allow Mamie to enroll in the Spring Valley School and passed
the resolution explicitly prohibiting the public education of all
Chinese children.
As a civic leader with significant influence in the Californian political community, Moulder was a daunting obstacle for
the Tapes. He told a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle that
“the Chinese were perjurers and that ‘if admitted [to the schools]
would doubtless soon overrun our schools, to the exclusion and
16
Sam Duffy
detriment of the white children.”64 Moulder further stated that
he would “continue to deny the sons and daughters of Chinese
admission to the public schools.”65 He believed that the Chinese
were a threat to the white children of San Francisco and pledged
to persist in preventing them from entering the school system.
He was soon to face a difficult legal challenge.
At the meeting on October 21, 1884, The Daily Alta California reported that an attorney for the Tapes had “threatened to
make a test case if the petition of the Chinese Consul was denied.”66
William Gibson, the attorney for the Tapes, was the Harvard Law
School-educated son of the Methodist missionary to the Chinese
in Chinatown, the Reverend Otis Gibson. Otis Gibson had fought
tirelessly for the rights of the Chinese in California and was even
hung twice in effigy by two anti-Chinese factions in San Francisco.67
His son was no less radical. William Gibson followed through on
his threat to make a test case.
The morning after the Board of Education meeting, on
October 22, 1884, Mamie and her mother went to the Spring Valley Primary School. Principal Hurley declined to admit her due
to “the fact of her Chinese descent, and the just enacted Board of
Education resolution.”68 On October 28, Gibson filed an application for a Writ of Mandate in the Superior Court of the City and
County of San Francisco. Gibson’s Writ of Mandate was directed
to Principal Hurley, Superintendent Moulder, and each member
of the Board individually.
Tape v. Hurley: The Superior Court Trial
The Tapes alleged that by “law and custom” children have
the right to attend their local public school.69 They argued that Mamie’s exclusion violated both California’s 1880 School Law, which
required the “admission of all children” to public schools, and the
equal protection rights stemming from the Fourteenth Amendment.70 In the legal brief of the Tapes, Gibson emphasized Joseph
Tape’s assimilated nature. In a sworn affidavit in his application
for a Writ of Mandate, Joseph Tape stated that he lived according
to American customs in dress and manner, implying that he and
THE CONCORD REVIEW
17
his wife did not resemble the majority of the popularly-despised
Chinese with their alleged disreputable habits and appearances.
By cutting off his queue, he had abandoned any imperial loyalty
to his land of origin:
“Fifteen years ago I discarded my queue [a traditional hair
braid which symbolized subservience to the Manchu emperors in
China], and have never since worn one. My wife and I are now, and
for fifteen years past, have been clothed in the American costume.”71
Although they could not be naturalized according to the federal
immigration legislation, the Tapes viewed themselves as Americans
and lived among them.72 Despite the Tapes’ subjective beliefs of
assimilation and loyalty, Moulder and the Board of Education
regarded the Tapes and their native born child as unwelcome
aliens. In anticipation of the Board’s hygiene argument based
on the School Law of 1880, Joseph Tape stated in his affidavit
that his eight-year-old daughter “is not a child of filthy or vicious
habits, or suffering from any contagious or infectious diseases.”73
His affidavit serves as a poignant reminder of a parent’s difficult
protest against the injustice committed against his child.
In the legal brief of the Board of Education, the Board
replied that it could not admit Mamie or any other Chinese child
because, “no provision had been made in the law for the education
of such children.”74 The Board was referring to the same provision
in Section 1662 in the 1880 School Law, which had not explicitly
included Chinese children since 1871. Although Section 1662
had been amended after Ward v. Flood to read “all children,” the
Board of Education had not yet provided education to Chinese
children and American-born Chinese children. Section 1662 also
gave the trustees or Board of Education the power to “exclude
children of filthy or vicious habits.” 75 Since Mamie was Chinese,
the Board alleged that she belonged to a race that “had filthy living
habits and were prone to fatal and contagious diseases, implying
that Chinese children shared these traits and thus might present
a danger to other children if admitted to the public schools.”76
The Board argued that the Chinese as a group had undesirable
18
Sam Duffy
qualities that would be detrimental to white children, which justified their exclusion.
As shocking as it may seem today, the San Francisco Board
of Education was reflecting the political and cultural mood of
the nation, which had only two years earlier passed a national
immigration law, the first of its kind, specifically aimed at excluding a specific racial and ethnic group. Congress had many racebased justifications for the exclusion of the Chinese. As early as
the eighteenth-century, the Swedish botanist and physician Carl
Linnaeus arranged racial classifications and assigned personality
traits to different races, lending scientific credence to the idea of
inferior and superior races. Linnaeus described Asians as “[s]trict,
contemptuous, [and] greedy.”77 Historian Stuart Creighton Miller
noted that starting at the end of the eighteenth century, “[d]enigrating representations of them [Chinese]…acquired scientific
currency with the contemporary projects on racial classification
and with concerns over race mixing, public health, and infectious
diseases.”78 Racism based on scientific ‘proof’ even reached the
floor of the House of Representatives in 1882 when Kentucky
Congressman Albert Willis, a Democrat, quoted from the Morton
Committee’s majority report, which studied the limiting of Chinese immigration: “[T]he committee believes the influx of the
Chinese is a standing menace to republican institutions upon the
Pacific Coast and the existence there of Christian civilization.”79
Willis argued that the Chinese were undesirable “by reason of
their sordid, selfish, immoral, and non-amalgamating habits.”80
Linnaeus had said “greedy,” and a hundred years later, Willis called
Chinese “selfish.” In another House debate in 1882, Representative Benjamin Butterworth, a Republican from Ohio, argued that
“Chinese character was hardened over forty centuries…to render
healthful assimilation out of the question.”81 Butterworth posited,
“[y]ou might as well hope to compel by law the assimilation of
oil and water.”82 Willis’s argument that the Chinese were “sordid”
and “non-amalgamating” like the “assimilation of oil and water”
had its basis in the pseudo-science of racial classifications. The
entrenched and unjustified racism of the Board of Education of
THE CONCORD REVIEW
19
San Francisco was no different from that of many of the elected
federal officials of the land.
Maguire’s Decision and its Consequences
In spite of the national mood, the court agreed with the
Tapes and required that the defendants either allow Mamie into the
public school or show cause as to why the Writ of Mandate should
not take effect. Judge James Maguire of the Superior Court of San
Francisco delivered his opinion on January 9, 1885. Maguire stated
that if there were a law, which excluded the Chinese from public
education on the basis of race, that law would violate the equal
protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. He argued that
according to Ward v. Flood, “all children had a right to education.”83
Maguire stated that taxation should entitle education and that it
would be “unjust to levy a forced tax upon Chinese residents to
help maintain our schools, and yet prohibit their children born
here from education in those schools.”84
Maguire understood the necessity of the Section 1662 clause
of the School Law of 1880, which allowed for school administrators to “keep out all children who are blighted by filth, infection
or contagion, or who are daily brought in contact with pollution
of any kind.”85 However, Maguire argued that to categorize an
entire group with such negative characteristics would be wrong.
He stated that, “any such objection must be personal to any particular child so barred out, without regard to its race or color.”86
Maguire stated that Mamie was a clean and healthy child living in
a clean environment and that her application to the Spring Valley
School was “proper and lawful.”87 This decision was a clear victory
for the Chinese immigrant community in that the Superior Court
recognized every child’s right to an education regardless of race.
However, Maguire was unwilling to pursue complete equality when
it came to having fully integrated schools.
Maguire accepted the segregationist argument that “mixing
of the Caucasian and the Chinese races in the schools was fraught
with danger,” and said that the issue of integration in schools was
“one better addressed to the Legislature.”88 By not ruling on inte-
20
Sam Duffy
gration, Maguire made it possible for Moulder to create segregated
schooling through the legislative process. Maguire “spelled out
a way to extricate the school district from” having to integrate its
public schools: “the Legislature possessed the power to provide
separate schools for distinct races.”89 Without a direct order from
the court to accept Chinese children into San Francisco public
schools, Moulder circumvented the courts to enforce his bias
against the Chinese.
At the end of the reading of Judge Maguire’s opinion, the
member Isidor Danielwitz who had previously declared that he
would rather go to jail than allow a Chinese person into the public
schools promptly resigned from the Board. While the Superior
Court decision should have finalized the issue and finally allowed
Mamie into the local public school, the San Francisco Board of
Education would prove to be stubborn. Moulder was “strongly
opposed to the admission of Chinese children [and promised] to
contest the case to the bitter end.”90 Moulder would never give up.
The San Francisco educators were adamant in their antiChinese views. After the Superior Court’s decision, State Superintendent Welker declared that he thought “a recent decision in the
Eastern Court had established that the Fourteenth Amendment
to the Constitution didn’t apply to the Mongolian race.”91 Welker
wrote to Moulder that the decision created a “terrible disaster”
and rather than provide separate schools, Welker encouraged
an appeal to the California Supreme Court.92 In response to the
decision, Moulder stated at a Board of Education meeting on January 14, 1885 that, “[t]he Chinese were a nation of liars…Chinese
girls were all prostitutes…and only wished to attend school…[to]
thereby increase their market value.”93 It is hard to believe what
Moulder was suggesting: that Mamie, an eight-year-old Chinese
girl was like a prostitute, and that her interest in school was only
for monetary gain. However, Moulder would not let the Superior
Court decision go unchallenged.
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21
Tape v. Hurley: The California Supreme Court Trial
In February of 1885, the San Francisco Board of Education
appealed to the California Supreme Court. Both the appellant
and the respondent submitted written briefs. There were no oral
arguments in both the Superior Court and the Supreme Court.
The Board of Education’s brief contained many arguments. First,
the Board argued that “the parties improperly joined are Hurley
and A.J. Moulder. The former is simply a teacher, with no discretion in the matter.”94 The Board was trying to argue that since
Jennie Hurley was a teacher who was obeying the requirements
of the Board of Education, she had no power to accept Mamie
to the school. They claimed that the application for the Writ of
Mandate should have been directed toward Moulder and the
Board of Education as a whole, and since it was not, the judgment
should be reversed. The Board also claimed that “it [the Board]
alone has control of the public schools, it alone has the right and
power to admit or reject pupils, subject, of course, to the laws of
the state.”95 They were highlighting their own power to accept or
refuse any child in San Francisco.
Second, the Board argued that Chinese children did not
fall under the definition of “all children” in Section 1662 of the
School Law of 1880. In the brief, the attorney for the Board argued
that “The code, it is true, provides that every school shall be open
for the admission of all children between certain ages, but we
claim this does not include Mongolians.”96 The Board argued that
because Chinese children were not at that time receiving public
education under Section 1662, the definition of “all children” did
not include the Chinese. The Board rhetorically asked “Is it not
rather to be held that ‘all children’ [italics in original] meant and
now means ‘all children for who the State then provided and now
provides education, viz: White, negro [italics in original] and Indian
children?”97 The argument was circular: because the Chinese were
excluded from public education through a lack of legislative specificity in the School Law of 1871, which the Board of Education
had exploited to end public schooling for the Chinese, that lack
of specificity should imply that the Chinese were intended to be
22
Sam Duffy
excluded and should continue to be excluded (even when the
Chinese had the right to be included by the words “all children”
added in the School Law of 1880).
Finally, the Board even took aim against the U.S. Constitution when it stated that “Mongolians (ethnic Chinese born
in or outside the U.S.) are not citizens of the United States.”98
Throughout the appeal, the Board would also cite antebellum
legislation—laws that had in fact been nullified by the Thirteenth
and Fourteenth amendments—such as the Dred Scott case, which
held that African-Americans could not be citizens. The appellate
brief was poorly reasoned and “failed utterly to come to grips
with any of the major legal or constitutional issues raised by the
case.”99 Historian Charles McClain described the appellate brief
as “something that had been hastily slapped together.”100
On the plaintiff’s side, Gibson lined up many counterarguments, and claim-by-claim disputed each of the arguments of
the Board. He started with the argument whether or not Jennie
Hurley was the proper defendant for the case. Gibson argued that
“the principal is bound to obey the law, regardless of the rules,
regulations and orders of the Board of Education.”101 Since the
School Law of 1880 required all children to be admitted into
public schools, Gibson stated that the principal could not ignore
the law in favor of the motions passed by the Board. Hurley was
not merely an employee subject to the Board of Education; she
was subject to the laws of California and the federal government.
Moulder was a necessary party respondent because if he was not
a party to the Writ of Mandate, the lower court’s decision’s “could
be immediately defeated by the action of the Superintendent in
transferring said child to another school.”102 Since Moulder had
the power to transfer children throughout the public school system and to move Mamie to a school other than the Spring Valley
Primary School, it was necessary to join him in the suit. Gibson
stated that Hurley had violated the School Law of 1880 since “the
school [Spring Valley Primary School] was not full, and yet Mamie
was turned away on account of her Chinese descent.”103
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23
With respect to the appellant’s claim that Mamie Tape
was not a citizen, Gibson cited Section 51 of the Political Code
of California which defined citizens as: “All persons born in this
State and residing ‘within it, except the children of transient aliens
and of alien public ministers and consuls.”104 Mamie fit under this
definition because she was born to parents who were not transient
aliens. Although they were not naturalized citizens, both Frank
and Mary Tape “ha[d] been for fifteen years last past [sic] and
were now domiciled in San Francisco.”105 Since Mamie’s parents
were resident aliens, Mamie was a citizen.
Gibson emphasized that, according to Section 50, Subdivision 2 of the Political Code, the state had an interest in the
education of its citizens. He argued, quoting the relevant section
of the Code, that “[i]f the applicant [Mamie Tape] be excluded
from the public schools, it is most certain that a ‘general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence’ is not being encouraged ‘by
all suitable means’ but is being positively retarded.”106 He argued
that her exclusion from the public school violated the education
provisions of Article IX of the California constitution. Gibson also
disputed the Board’s interpretation of “all children” in the School
Law of 1880. He stated that in Section 1662, “The word all is used.
There is no limitation on race or color, the only restriction being
as to age.”107 He continued, “‘All’ we claim includes and embraces
those of every nation, every clime, blood, color and race.”108
While the appellants used outdated, antebellum legal
arguments Gibson was quick to cite more recent court cases. He
cited Ward v. Flood from 1872, which was relevant California case
law. Ward v. Flood had held that all children had access to public
education regardless of race.
Gibson also argued that according to the Burlingame Treaty
of 1868, Mamie, a child of two Chinese Nationals, was entitled to
public education. Gibson argued that the failure to provide an
education for Mamie violated the equal protection clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment. Finally, Gibson restated the point made
earlier in the Superior Court brief that Joseph Tape paid his taxes
and was deprived of the benefits of that taxation. Gibson invoked
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Sam Duffy
the original ideals of the American Revolution: “[w]e remember
that taxation without representation was the vital principle involved
in our Revolutionary Struggle.”109
Justice Sharpstein’s Decision and its Consequences
The California Supreme Court upheld the Superior Court
decision in favor of the Tapes. The Supreme Court held that the
School Law of 1880 was clear and that the court was “not aware of
any law which forbids the entrance of children of any race or nationality.” The Supreme Court did not address most of the arguments
raised by both sides because it needed only to point to the clarity
of the school law. In fact, the Supreme Court even disregarded
the arguments concerning the Fourteenth Amendment and the
Burlingame Treaty. The Court stated that the California school
law allowed all children to go to public school, therefore Mamie
should be allowed to go to school. Since Mamie did not fit the
description of having “vicious habits or suffering from contagious
disease,” there was “no reason why she should not be admitted to
the schools.”110 The Supreme Court upheld the decision made by
Maguire and agreed to enforce the Writ of Mandate. Unfortunately,
like Maguire’s Superior Court, Judge Sharpstein’s Supreme Court
allowed for the Legislature to address any differences of opinion
they might have by passing new exclusionary laws.
Moulder and state school officials had been anticipating a
loss on the appeal and had already begun to lobby for a legislative
change to the School Law of 1880 in order to create a separate
school for the Chinese.111 At Moulder’s urging, Assembly Bill
268, which would create segregated schooling for the Chinese,
was introduced into the State Assembly and went straight to the
California Senate. Moulder asked San Francisco’s State Senator
Jeremiah Lynch for an expedited Senate passage. Within two days,
Lynch brought the legislation to the floor and even declared a
“state of urgency” in order to move the bill quickly.112 With almost
unanimous approval, the bill was passed.
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25
Assembly Bill 268 amended Section 1662 of the School
Law of 1880. The original law stated: “Trustees shall have power to
exclude children of filthy or vicious habits, or children suffering
from contagious or infectious diseases.”113 After the word “diseases,” the amended law now added, “and also to establish separate
schools for children of Mongolian or Chinese descent. When such
separate schools are established, Chinese or Mongolian children
must not be admitted into any other schools.”114 The segregation
of Chinese children clearly had swift and comprehensive legislative
support. Despite a major victory in the California Supreme Court,
the forces of racism somehow managed to prevail.
Moulder expressed his dissatisfaction with the Supreme
Court’s ruling to the newspapers. He told The Daily Alta, “…our
schools will be inundated by Mongolians.”115 A month later, he
told the same newspaper, “he was not ashamed [of his]…natural
feeling of dislike” toward the Chinese.116 Moulder never abated
in his struggle for racial segregation. Victor Low summarized the
whole struggle succinctly:
[t]he exclusion of Chinese children from public schooling
was neither for gaining political favor among the massive laboring
classes, nor for any other social or economic advantages for the school
authorities, nor for any known or written protest from white parents
of the city. It was chiefly because the Superintendent [Moulder] and
some other School Directors believed that the association of Chinese
and white children would be very demoralizing mentally and morally
to the latter.117
Low, however, may have given Moulder too much blame in the
exclusion and later segregation of Chinese children. Segregation
persisted for decades after the decline of Moulder’s influence. It
was not until 1943 that the principal tenets of the Exclusion Act
of 1882 were repealed.
In contrast, the media view differed from the elected officials. The Los Angeles Times wrote in favor of the Superior Court’s
order saying, “Chinese children born in this country are entitled
to admission into public schools.”118 In addition, The Daily Alta
California reasoned that America’s missionary history in China
should justify public schooling for the Chinese in America: “It is an
26
Sam Duffy
inconsistency to contribute money to send missionaries to China…
Without any efforts for their betterment [here in America].”119
The Daily Alta also stated that education “should be recognized…
free as air or water…”120
The Tapes did not enjoy the hard-fought victory of the Supreme Court’s ruling. They had wanted their daughter to go to her
local school where she could study and play with her neighborhood
friends. On April 7, 1885, when a separate segregated school had
not yet been established, Mamie Tape attempted to enroll at the
Spring Valley Primary School. Hurley denied the request, citing a
need for a “certificate of vaccination from a reputable physician”
and told the Tapes that Mamie would have to get on a waiting list
since the classes were too full.121 As a result of Assembly Bill 268,
the Chinese Primary School opened on Jackson and Powell Streets
on April 13, 1885. Although Mary Tape had initially protested
Moulder’s treatment of her daughter and claimed that Mamie
would never attend the segregated school, Joseph and Mary were
still resolved that their children would receive an education. On
the first day, Mamie and her younger brother Frank went to the
new Chinese-only school. Four other Chinese boys joined them
there to make up six pupils in total. The Evening Bulletin quoted
Mamie’s teacher: “Miss Thayer has already found reason to believe
that she will have no trouble in causing her class to take a high
rank as to attainments.”122 In sum, Mamie had a school, a teacher,
and classmates.
Conclusion
Tape was a significant victory for Chinese American children because it guaranteed them the right to a public education.
The victory, however, was a qualified one. Political resistance to
the landmark decision led to the de jure segregation of Chinese
American children within the San Francisco public school system.
Until 1954, when Brown v. Board of Education struck down “separate but equal,” Chinese children throughout America attended
segregated schools. Certain communities, however, were less strict
about enforcing segregation or may not have wished to create a
THE CONCORD REVIEW
27
separate facility. Iris Chang wrote “[a]n unwritten rule was that they
[Chinese] could enroll if the local community did not object.”123
The story of Mamie Tape, though widely unknown, occupies an important place in both American legal history and
in the continuing social struggle of all immigrant and minority
groups to achieve equality. With such landmark cases as Plessy v.
Ferguson and Brown, Tape revealed how widespread segregation
and inequality were in postbellum America. Frederick Douglass
noted the similarity of the struggles of African Americans and
Chinese immigrants in his “Our Composite Nation” speech, stating that the differences between people were not as great as the
“points of human agreement.”124 Douglass understood the value
of integration and education equality. As he argued in his speech,
an American education for immigrants of all backgrounds would
be beneficial to all Americans and to the entire country.125
The struggle of Mamie Tape and her parents involved
the question of whether or not to provide an education for an
eight-year-old girl, which, to our modern American ears, may
sound ludicrous. Education for all children, including girls, is
readily available today in America, but it is not a right extended
to all girls worldwide. Tape and the early struggles of the Chinese
immigrant community remind us to work persistently toward the
highest ideals, and that inclusion may require the use of all legal
and political remedies. Change is slow, but equality of opportunity
is the worthy prize.
28
Sam Duffy
Notes
Frederick Douglass, “The Composite Nation,” Speech
presented in Boston, December 7, 1869, in Racism, Dissent,
and Asian Americans from 1850 to the Present: A Documentary
History, ed. Philip S. Foner and Daniel Rosenberg (Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1993), 225.
2
W. B. Farwell and John E. Kunkler, The Chinese at Home
and Abroad: Report of Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors
of San Francisco, on the Condition of the Chinese Quarter of That City
(San Francisco, California: A.L. Bancroft, 1885), 61-62.
3
Douglass, “The Composite Nation,” speech, in Racism,
Dissent, and Asian, 226.
4
Ibid., 226.
5
Elmer Clarence Sandmeyer, The Anti-Chinese Movement in
California (n.p.: University Press of Illinois, 1991), 39.
6
Farwell and Kunkler, The Chinese at Home, 62.
7
Ibid., 61.
8
Charles Wollenberg, All Deliberate Speed: Segregation and
Exclusion in California Schools, 1855-1975 (Berkley, California:
University Press California, 1976), 2.
9
Wollenberg, All Deliberate Speed: Segregation, 2.
10
Iris Chang, The Chinese in America (New York, New York:
Penguin, 2003), 174.
11
Chang, The Chinese in America, 176.
12
“The Burlingame Treaty,” 1868, in Treaties and Other
International Agreements of the United States of America, ed. Charles
L. Bevans (Washington, DC: GPO, 1968), vol. 6, 32.
13
“The Burlingame Treaty,” in Treaties and Other
International, vol. 6, 32.
14
Ibid.
15
Victor Low, The Unimpressible Race (San Francisco,
California: East/West Publishing Company, 1982), 62.
16
Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural
America, rev. ed. (New York City, New York: Back Bay Books,
2008), 178.
17
Mary Roberts Coolidge, Chinese Immigration (New York,
New York: Henry Holt, 1909), 498.
18
Thomas W. Chinn, ed., A History of the Chinese in
California, sixth ed. (San Francisco, California: Chinese
Historical Society of America, 1969), 21.
19
Irving G. Hendrick, Public Policy toward the Education
of Non-White Minority Group Children in California, 1849-1970,
1
THE CONCORD REVIEW
research report no. Ne-G-00-3-0082 (Riverside, California:
University Press California Riverside, 1975), 69.
20
Elmer Clarence Sandmeyer, The Anti-Chinese Movement in
California, 2nd ed. (Urbana, Illinois: University Press Illinois,
1991), 25.
21
Sandmeyer, The Anti-Chinese Movement in California, 63.
22
Hendrick, Public Policy toward the Education, 66.
23
Robert Eric Barde, Immigration at the Golden Gate
(Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2008), 11.
24
Hendrick, Public Policy toward the Education, 66.
25
Him Mark Lai, “Part 1 of the Chinese and Public
Education in San Francisco,” East West (San Francisco,
CA), August 18, 1971, http://himmarklai.org/wordpress/
wp-content/uploads/01-H.M.-Lai_Chinese-in-the-PublicSchools_08.18.71.pdf?9388f2 (accessed September 23, 2014), 5.
26
Lai, “Part 1 of the Chinese,” p. 5
27
Ibid.
28
Low, The Unimpressible Race, Appendix B.
29
Lai, “Part 1 of the Chinese,” 5.
30
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 26.
31
Ibid., 48.
32
Ibid.
33
Ibid., 49.
34
Ibid., 50.
35
Ibid., 50.
36
Ibid., 50.
37
“Petition from 1,300 Chinese Merchants for Schools,”
1878, in The Columbia Documentary History of the Asian American
History, ed. Franklin Odo (New York, New York: Columbia
University Press, 2002), 50.
38
Him Mark Lai, “Part 2 of the Chinese and Public
Education in San Francisco,” East West (San Francisco,
California), September 1, 1971, http://himmarklai.org/
wordpress/wp-content/uploads/01-H.M.-Lai_Chinese-in-thePublic-Schools_09.01.71_PDF.pdf?9388f2 (accessed September
23, 2014), 5.
39
“Petition from 1,300 Chinese,” in The Columbia
Documentary History, 50.
40
Ibid. 50.
41
Chang, The Chinese in America, 176.
42
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 54.
43
Ibid., 53.
44
Ibid., 53.
29
30
Sam Duffy
45
1884).
Look Tin Sing, 21 F. 905, (Circuit Court, D. California
Erika Lee, At America’s Gates (London, England:
University Press of North Carolina, 2003), 103.
47
Lai, “Part 2 of the Chinese,” 5.
48
Ngai, The Lucky Ones, 20.
49
Ibid., 20.
50
Ibid., 21.
51
Ibid., 24.
52
Ibid., 50.
53
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 60.
54
The Bay of San Francisco: The Metropolis of the Pacific Coast
and Its Suburban Cities: A History, digital ed. (Chicago, Illinois:
Lewis Publishing Company, 1892), 359.
55
The Bay of San Francisco, 360.
56
Wollenberg, All Deliberate Speed: Segregation, 30.
57
Ngai, The Lucky Ones, 50.
58
“Board of Education: Chinese Question Again,” Daily
Alta California (San Francisco, CA), October 22, 1884 : 1,
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18841022&e=------en--20--1---txIN------- (accessed August 14, 2014).
59
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 61.
60
“Board of Education: Chinese,” 3.
61
Ibid.
62
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 61.
63
Ibid.
64
Charles J. McClain, In Search of Equality: The Chinese
Struggle against Discrimination in Nineteenth-Century America
(Berkley, California: University Press California, 1994), 138.
65
Ibid.
66
“Board of Education: Chinese Question Again,” Daily
Alta California (San Francisco, California), October 22, 1884: 1
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18841022&e=------en--20--1---txIN------- (accessed August 14, 2014).
67
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 55.
68
McClain, In Search of Equality, 139.
69
Ibid., 139.
70
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 50.
71
Ngai, The Lucky Ones, 52.
72
Historian Mae Ngai argued that “the Tapes’ two-pronged
legal strategy” of a “straightforward civil rights claim” and a
“mistaken racial identity” would later be used unsuccessfully
in Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the racial segregation
46
THE CONCORD REVIEW
doctrine of “separate but equal” in public accommodations.
It would be used again later in the civil rights cases of Takao
Ozawa and Bhagat Sing Thind where Ozawa “stressed his
assimilated character” and “Thind argued that South Asians
were Aryans and therefore Caucasian,” respectively.
73
“Appellant’s Points and Authorities (For Hurley),”
Tape v. Hurley, California Supreme Court, State Archives,
Sacramento, (No. 9916), February 12, 1885, Learn California,
accessed August 6, 2014, http://www2.learncalifornia.org/doc.
asp?id=1110.
74
McClain, In Search of Equality, 139.
75
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 50.
76
McClain, In Search of Equality, 139.
77
John Hartwell Moore, Encyclopedia of Race and Racism: S-Z:
Primary Sources, Index (Detroit [etc.]: Thomson Gale, 2008),
2.
78
Gary Y. Okihiro, The Columbia Guide to Asian American
History (New York, New York: Columbia University Press, 2001),
76-77.
79
Martin B. Gold, Forbidden Citizens: Chinese Exclusion and
the U.S. Congress (Alexandria, Virginia: TheCapitol.Net, 2012),
144.
80
Gold, Forbidden Citizens: Chinese Exclusion, 144.
81
Ibid., 159.
82
Ibid., 159.
83
McClain, In Search of Equality, 140.
84
“The Public Schools Open to Chinese Children,”
Sacramento Daily Record-Union (Sacramento, California),
January 10, 1885, http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/
cdnc?a=d&d=SDU18850110.2.50&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txINlos+ángeles+times------ (accessed August 15, 2014).
85
“The Public Schools Open.”
86
Ibid.
87
Ibid.
88
McClain, In Search of Equality, 140.
89
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 65.
90
“Chinese in Our Schools: Judge Maguire Says They Have
Same Rights as Others: Contributions by Force: The Court
Holds That It Has No Power to Avert a Danger Which Springs
from the Absence of Necessary—Right of Appeal,” Daily Alta
California (San Francisco, California), January 10, 1885 http://
cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18850110&e=-------en-20--1---txIN------- (accessed August 15, 2014).
31
32
Sam Duffy
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 64.
Ibid., 64.
93
McClain, In Search of Equality, 141.
94
Tape v. Hurley, No. 9916, slip op. at 3 (Feb. 12, 1885).
95
Ibid., 4.
96
Ibid., 5.
97
Ibid., 7.
98
Ibid., 9.
99
McClain, In Search of Equality, 142.
100
Ibid., 142.
101
“Respondent’s Points and Authorities (For Tape),”
Tape v. Hurley, California Supreme Court, State Archives,
Sacramento, (No. 9916), February 25, 1885, Learn California,
accessed August 6, 2014, http://www2.learncalifornia.org/doc.
asp?id=1165, 10.
102
Ibid., 7.
103
Ibid., 10.
104
Ibid., 12.
105
Ibid., 12.
106
Ibid., 13.
107
Ibid., 15.
108
Ibid., 19.
109
Ibid., 24.
110
McClain, In Search of Equality, 142.
111
Ibid., 142.
112
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 67.
113
Statutes and Amendments to the Codes, California,
1885, 26th Session, pp. 99-100.
114
Low, The Unimpressible Race, p. 67.
115
Ibid., 67.
116
“Board of Education: Special Meeting Held on the
Chinese School: Mamie Tape Outwitted: She Attempts to
Force Herself into the Spring Valley School, but Has to Retire,
Having No Vaccination Certificate,” Daily Alta California (San
Francisco, California), April 8, 1885, http://cdnc.ucr.edu/
cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18850408&e=-------en--20--1---txIN------(accessed August 15, 2014).
117
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 67.
118
“Chinese in Public Schools: Decision in Favor of
Children Born in the United States,” Los Angeles Times (Los
Angeles, California), January 10, 1885, http://search.proquest.
com/docview/161291599/FFA1255DF4094678PQ/2?account
id=4314 (accessed August 19, 2014).
91
92
THE CONCORD REVIEW
“Chinese in the Schools,” Daily Alta California (San
Francisco, California), March 5, 1885, http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgibin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18850305.2.21&e=-------en--20--1---txIN------(accessed August 15, 2014).
120
“Chinese in the Schools.”
121
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 69.
122
Low, The Unimpressible Race, 72.
123
Chang, The Chinese in America, 178.
124
Douglass, “The Composite Nation,” speech, in Racism,
Dissent, and Asian, 225.
125
Ibid.
119
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Chinn, Thomas W., ed. A History of the Chinese in California.
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Coolidge, Mary Roberts. Chinese Immigration. New York,
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DiFranco, Aaron K., and Kella De Castro Svetich, eds.
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Douglass, Frederick. “The Composite Nation.” Speech
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Asian Americans from 1850 to the Present: A Documentary History,
edited by Philip S. Foner and Daniel Rosenberg. Westport,
Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1993.
Farwell, W. B., and John E. Kunkler. The Chinese at Home
and Abroad: Report of Special Committee of the Board of Supervisors of
San Francisco, on the Condition of the Chinese Quarter of That City.
San Francisco, California: A.L. Bancroft, 1885.
Foner, Philip S., and Daniel Rosenberg, eds. Racism,
Dissent, and Asian Americans from 1850 to the Present: A
Documentary History. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press,
1993
Gold, Martin B. Forbidden Citizens: Chinese Exclusion and the
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Gong Lum v. Rice, 275 U.S. 78 (1927).
Heizer, Robert F., and Alan F. Almquist. The Other
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Hendrick, Irving G. Public Policy toward the Education of NonWhite Minority Group Children in California, 1849-1970. Research
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Kohler, Max J. “Our Chinese Exclusion Laws: Should They
Not Be Modified or Repealed?” New York Times (New York City,
New York), November 25, 1901.
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Lai, Him Mark. “Part 1 of the Chinese and Public
Education in San Francisco.” East West (San Francisco,
California), August 18, 1971, 5. http://himmarklai.org/
wordpress/wp-content/uploads/01-H.M.-Lai_Chinese-in-thePublic-Schools_08.18.71.pdf?9388f2. Accessed September 23,
2014.
———. “Part 3 of the Chinese and Public Education in San
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8, 1971, 5. http://himmarklai.org/wordpress/wp-content/
uploads/01-H.M.-Lai_Chinese-in-the-Public-Schools_09.08.71.
pdf?9388f2. Accessed September 23, 2014.
———. “Part 2 of the Chinese and Public Education in San
Francisco.” East West (San Francisco, California), September
1, 1971, 5. http://himmarklai.org/wordpress/wp-content/
uploads/01-H.M.-Lai_Chinese-in-the-Public-Schools_09.01.71_
PDF.pdf?9388f2. Accessed September 23, 2014.
Lee, Erika. At America’s Gates. London, England: University
Press of North Carolina, 2003.
Lien, Pei-te. The Making of Asian America through Political
Participation. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University
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Los Angeles Herald. “Ask President’s Aid: Have Their
Children Admitted to Public Schools.” May 15, 1903. http://
cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=LAH19030515.2.28&e=------en--20--1--txt-txIN-------. Accessed August 15, 2014.
Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California). “Chinese in
Public Schools: Decision in Favor of Children Born in the
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id=4314. Accessed August 19, 2014.
Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California). “Chinese
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Their Admission.” October 22, 1884. http://search.proquest.
com/docview/161264079/FFA1255DF4094678PQ/3?account
id=4314. Accessed August 19, 2014.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Low, Victor. The Unimpressible Race. San Francisco,
California: East/West Publishing Company, 1982.
Mamie Tape v. Jennie A. Hurley (1885), California Supreme
Court, no.9916, “Transcript on Appeal,” LearnCalifornia.org,
http://www2.learncalifornia.org/doc.asp?id=1077.
McClain, Charles J. In Search of Equality: The Chinese Struggle
against Discrimination in Nineteenth-Century America. Berkley,
California: University Press California, 1994.
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com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E06E1DF1638E433A2575AC
2A9679D94669ED7CF. Accessed August 18, 2014.
Ngai, Mae. The Lucky Ones. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
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Odo, Franklin, ed. The Columbia Documentary History of
the Asian American History. New York, New York: Columbia
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“Petition from 1,300 Chinese Merchants for Schools.”
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“Respondent Points and Authorities (For Tape).”
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Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
Abraham Lincoln and Religion
Evan Kim
L
incoln’s views on religion have been one of the most
vexing topics among historians throughout the years. This controversy is due to the fact that although Lincoln’s speeches contained strong religious overtones and were filled with references
to biblical scripture, he himself never became an official member
of a church and did not follow a specific Christian denomination.
Because of this, some historians contend that Lincoln incorporated spiritual references in his speeches to appeal to the highly
religious American society of the time, and that Lincoln himself
did not possess a genuine interest or belief in God. Although in
his early years, Lincoln indeed expressed skepticism and struggled
with doubts about the logical side of religion, his inquiring mind
eventually led him to find a set of religious beliefs that appealed to
the rational sense within him. Lincoln was not a man who simply
adopted the beliefs of his parents, and in fact, as a young man,
he disagreed firmly with his father’s views on religion. Instead,
Lincoln’s religious views evolved over his lifetime as a result of a
series of events. The hardships of the presidency, the responsibilities of war, and tragedy in his personal life led him to reflect
more deeply on religion and his beliefs about God’s role in huEvan Kim is a Senior at the Polytechnic School in Pasadena, California,
where he wrote this paper for Jose Melgoza’s Advanced Placement United
States History course in the 2014/2015 academic year.
40
Evan Kim
man affairs. As a result, although Lincoln’s approach to religion
was unconventional for the time, he possessed a genuine spiritual
outlook that deepened and solidified over time and was not a tool
used to promote his political aspirations.
In Lincoln’s time, religion was a predominant force in
American life. The Bible was by far the most widely-circulated
book in nineteenth-century America.1 Lincoln lived during the
period of the Second Great Awakening, a religious revival that
swept America during the first half of the nineteenth-century
and emphasized an emotional, moral side of Christianity.2 This
was an era in which regular attendance at church was a necessary
and a standard part of life. As a result, politicians of the time,
aware of the strongly-held religious beliefs of their constituents,
commonly referred to scripture in their speeches and writings in
order to win the favor of the people. Lincoln’s parents shared in
these religious practices and were members of the Little Pigeon
Baptist Church in Indiana.3
However, Lincoln himself was a maverick when it came
to religion and the topic of spirituality. With a mind attracted to
rational and logical thought, Lincoln did not unquestioningly
accept the traditional Christian practices he was exposed to in
his early life. While Lincoln never repudiated or rejected these
practices, he did not share the certainty in Christian beliefs that
seemed to be common among most Americans at the time. Instead, Lincoln’s inquisitive intellect led him to develop a skeptical
view on religion. According to a childhood friend, Isaac Cogdal,
“[Lincoln’s] mind was full of terrible enquiry—and was skeptical
in a good sense.”4 When Lincoln was young, his parents made him
attend the Little Pigeon Baptist Church with them, but he never
became an actual member of the church, an extremely unusual
act in that era.5 In part, Lincoln was put off by the divisions and
conflicts among the Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists that
he witnessed in his childhood town of New Salem.6 These early
doubts remained as he grew older. In his self-directed educational
studies, Lincoln became exposed to and influenced by the works
of philosophers who expressed critiques of Christianity, most no-
THE CONCORD REVIEW
41
tably Constantin de Volney’s The Ruins and Thomas Paine’s Age
of Reason.7 These works criticized the emotional interpretation of
Christianity and scripture and instead advocated rational theology, which Lincoln found more persuasive. By this time, Lincoln’s
religious beliefs were already shrouded in ambiguity. To some,
Lincoln’s views toward religion verged on atheism. One acquaintance, James H. Matheny, stated: “Lincoln often if not wholly was
an atheist.”8 However, others, while noting Lincoln’s reservations
toward religion, did not believe that his doubts led to full-fledged
rejection of religion. According to an acquaintance Lincoln met
as he began to practice law, Isaac N. Arnold, Lincoln “believed in
the great fundamental principals of Christianity.”9
One religious doctrine that Lincoln did seem to truly
believe in throughout his life was the Calvinist belief of predestination, also known as the Doctrine of Necessity.10 His belief in
the Doctrine of Necessity had more rational than spiritual roots,
however. Lincoln believed that all conscious human actions were
shaped by motives—rational and predictable responses to the
environment.11 Because of this, he also believed that there was no
freedom of will. So when Lincoln saw that this idea was consistent
with the Doctrine of Necessity, he instantly took it up as his own.
Lincoln would continue to believe in this doctrine throughout his
life, and it would prove to be a major influence on his thinking
and the way in which he came to view the Civil War.
Once Lincoln began his career in politics, his ambiguous
religious beliefs became a target for many political opponents
because of the highly religious atmosphere of the time. Early in
his political career, Lincoln was labeled a “deist” by James Adams,
a political opponent who hoped to discredit him in the eyes of the
public.12 Later, in his 1846 campaign to get elected to Congress,
Lincoln was opposed by Peter Cartwright, a Methodist circuit
rider, who condemned Lincoln as an “open scoffer at Christianity.”13 In response to these charges, Lincoln circulated a handbill
declaring that while the fact that he was “not a member of any
Christian Church is true,” he was not hostile to religion, stating:
“I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures; and I have never
42
Evan Kim
spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of
any denomination of Christians in particular.”14 This response
reflected a unique honesty in Lincoln’s campaigning and public
discourse. Because he did not fully embrace religion at the time,
Lincoln did not attempt to portray himself falsely as a devoutly
religious politician, even though it might have been politically
beneficial to do so. This reveals an authenticity in Lincoln that is
not always present in politicians running for office; his response
to Cartwright was not something meant to appease the public,
but an honest expression of his then-current views on religion.
A turning point in Lincoln’s religious views occurred
after the death of his three-year-old son, Eddie, on February 1,
1850.15 Both Lincoln and his wife, Mary, were deeply struck by the
death of their son and had great trouble coping with their loss.
In order to get through these hard times, the Lincolns turned to
Reverend James Smith. Smith, the new minister at Springfield’s
First Presbyterian Church, was a former deist who had converted
after hearing the religious ideas of camp meeting preachers of the
Second Great Awakening.16 Unlike many of the other preachers
at the time, Smith argued for a more rational and logical form
of Christianity. In his book The Christian’s Defense, which Lincoln
read, Smith presented a rational view of Christianity based on
historical and scientific evidence.17 Because he was put off by the
emotionalism of the revivalist religion when he was younger, this
logical presentation of Christianity provided a more convincing
argument to Lincoln’s intellect and allowed him to embrace certain Christian beliefs in a way more consistent with his rational
point of view.
Another major influence in Lincoln’s religious views was
the U.S. Civil War. Even in the first six weeks of the Civil War, the
casualties and destruction on both sides were horrific. The daily
newspapers listed the dead soldiers and the stories and letters
from soldiers described the suffering of the maimed and the
wounded. Thousands of the wounded filled the hospitals around
Washington.18 The devastating effects of the war took a heavy toll
on Lincoln, who felt personally responsible for all the suffering.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
43
Lincoln himself said while observing a line of ambulances filled
with wounded Union soldiers, “Look yonder at those poor fellows.
I cannot bear it. This suffering, this loss of life is dreadful.”19 The
burden of the Civil War was compounded by the death of another
son, Willie, who died of typhoid fever on February 18, 1862.20 These
trials led Lincoln increasingly to seek solace in the Bible to try to
make sense of events. By reading the Bible, Lincoln’s belief in the
Doctrine of Necessity, the idea that all actions and events were
predetermined, was reinforced. It allowed him to remove some of
the blame that he placed on himself and to be more accepting of
the situation. Lincoln’s evolving view was clearly expressed when
he said: “Events have controlled me. At the end of three years
struggle the nation’s condition is not what either party, or any
man devised, or expected. God alone can claim it.”21 He began
to believe more and more in a grander divine purpose at work.
Lincoln’s deepening religious views during this time were
found in a document that was later named the “Meditation on
the Divine Will.” Believed to have been written in late 1862, this
document was a private reflection written by Lincoln in which he
attempted to make sense of his thoughts about God and God’s
role in the Civil War. It reflected Lincoln’s belief that God’s will,
rather than human will, controlled the events taking place at the
time, corresponding to his earlier belief in the Doctrine of Necessity.22 Lincoln opens his “Meditation on the Divine Will” by saying:
“The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act
in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must
be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the
same time.”23 This reflects Lincoln’s rational thinking at the time.
Lincoln did not fully accept the idea that either side was supported
by God, because both the Union and the Confederacy advocated
the idea that “God is on our side.” Rejecting the claims of both
sides, he observed:
God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere
great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have
either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet
the contest began. And, having begun He could give the final victory
to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.24
44
Evan Kim
Lincoln realized the improbability of the idea that God wanted
the war to end, because Lincoln thought that God could have
ended it at any time. Instead, Lincoln stated that God’s purpose
could be independent of the goals of both the North and South.
Lincoln then wrote:
In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party—and yet human
instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation
to effect His purpose.25
In describing the Civil War in this manner, the “Meditation on the
Divine Will” revealed Lincoln’s belief that humans did not control
events, but instead were being controlled by God. It showed that
Lincoln viewed history, and the Civil War in particular, as something preordained. In addition, rather than simply accepting the
popular and comforting idea that the North alone was fighting
on the side of God, Lincoln saw a fallacy in this idea and instead
developed his own thoughtful approach to the situation. While
Lincoln publicly worked hard to try to end the war, he privately
believed that the war would continue until God decided to end
it.26 This private reflection showed that Lincoln’s personal religious
beliefs were influencing his outlook on the Civil War itself. It also
contradicts the idea that Lincoln only used religion in his speeches
to win the favor of the people, since it was a private document
that was never meant for the American public. The “Meditation
on the Divine Will” showed that Lincoln’s biblical references were
not simply for his audience, but reflected a genuine religious
enthusiasm and faith.
As the end of the Civil War came into view, Lincoln was
elected for a second term as President. By the time of his inauguration, it seemed likely that the Union would soon secure victory
over the Confederacy.27 As a result, Lincoln’s major task during his
second term as President would be rebuilding the Union following
the Confederacy’s defeat. At the time, there were many differing
opinions about this reconstruction process. Some wanted to exact
retribution against the South, while others wanted complete peace
and almost a return to the pre-war environment.28
THE CONCORD REVIEW
45
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, considered one of
his greatest speeches, revealed Lincoln’s religious views and vision of reconstruction to the public. Unlike previous inaugural
addresses given by earlier presidents, Lincoln included numerous
references to God and the Bible. In this short 703-word speech,
Lincoln mentions God fourteen times, the Bible four times, and
invokes prayer three times, whereas in all previous inaugural addresses, there had been only one other reference to scripture.29
Lincoln’s discussion about God’s role in events reflected many of
the same ideas that he had privately articulated to himself in his
“Meditation on the Divine Will.” These similarities showed that
the religious views Lincoln expressed in his Second Inaugural
Address represented genuinely-held beliefs rather than politicallycalculated ideas to appease the Union audience. This address also
revealed that Lincoln’s deepening religious values played a major
role in shaping his vision of the types of policies he intended to
pursue following the end of the war.
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address built on many ideas
found in his “Meditation on the Divine Will.” Towards the beginning of the speech, Lincoln states: “Both [parties] read the same
Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against
the other.”30 However, Lincoln also observed that “the prayers of
both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered
fully.”31 Through these statements, Lincoln echoes the belief
expressed in his “Meditation on the Divine Will” that neither
side was supported by God. Although each party “invokes His
aid against the other,” Lincoln saw that because both the Union
and the Confederacy could not have divine support at the same
time, God’s purpose was something independent of either side.
Another idea relating to his “Meditation” is enforced later on in
the address when Lincoln states:
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of
war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all
the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of
unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn
with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was
46
Evan Kim
said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’32
Again echoing the “Meditation,” Lincoln puts absolute faith in
the judgment of God. He affirms that although he wants the war
to end, it will only end when God wills it to end, relating to the
idea of an unknown higher purpose from his private reflection.
In addition, this specific passage restates Lincoln’s private belief
that the events of the Civil War were the products of God’s actions and that human beings were simply instruments of God’s
will. These many striking similarities between Lincoln’s Second
Inaugural Address and his private reflections debunk the idea
that Lincoln’s speeches were simply politically calculated words
rather than genuine expressions of his personal religious values.
Because Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address was in many ways a
reworded version of his private “Meditation,” it revealed that his
true thoughts were being expressed.
Another significant aspect of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural
Address is the fact that throughout the speech, instead of demonizing the South, Lincoln instead imparts blame on both sides.
Towards the beginning of the speech, Lincoln says: “Both parties
depreciated war, but one of them would make war rather than let
the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let
it perish, and the war came.”33 Lincoln did acknowledge the fact
that the war was mainly the fault of the Confederacy, but also stated
that the North was not completely without blame either. Instead
of trying to impute blame solely on the South, which would have
appealed to the masses of the Union, Lincoln was more understanding to their cause. Lincoln later ends the speech by saying:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the
right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who
shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do
all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among
ourselves and with all nations.34
This end of the speech fully reflects Lincoln’s reconciliatory stance
toward the South. Lincoln does not seek to exact retribution on
the South because according to his beliefs, the war was not the
THE CONCORD REVIEW
47
will of the people, but the will of God. This proves that Lincoln
took this non-vindictive stance against the South because of his
recent religious revelations. Rather than trying to take revenge
and to secure a grand victory for his side, Lincoln decided to
instead focus on rebuilding the nation. Although the majority
of Northerners wanted punishment for their enemies, Lincoln’s
fatalistic religious views swayed him from this idea, discrediting
the idea that Lincoln was not influenced by religion.
Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth only 41 days
after giving his Second Inaugural Address. Because of this tragedy,
Lincoln was never able to put his ideas into practice. However,
the Second Inaugural Address clearly reflected the significant
and genuine influence of religion on Lincoln’s political outlook.
Lincoln’s reconciliatory and forgiving approach to the South was
a product of his conclusion that both North and South shared
the responsibility of the war in God’s eyes, and therefore that
he had to proceed with humility and understanding. Although
there was some political benefit to this approach, this was not the
prime motivator for Lincoln’s advocacy of proceeding with “malice
toward none” and “charity for all.”35 Instead, his view regarding
reconstruction clearly showed a genuine religious influence.
Lincoln’s religious views are often shrouded in uncertainty
as a result of his sometimes ambiguous and unconventional approach to the topic for the times. However, although Lincoln did
not subscribe to the traditional orthodox practices of his day, this
does not mean that he did not possess genuine and deeply held
spiritual beliefs, or that his use of religious rhetoric in his speeches
and writings was purely for political gain. Lincoln’s inquisitive and
logical mind caused him to swim against the current of his highly
religious society, until he finally found a path that appealed to his
rationalist intellect. In certain ways, Lincoln’s more personal and
individual approach to his own spirituality led him to hold stronger
convictions about God and His role in human events than if he
had blindly adhered to the conventional practices. Lincoln’s logical sense allowed him to adopt a religious outlook that he could
fully believe in, one that played a significant role in his life by both
48
Evan Kim
granting him solace and shaping his philosophical and political
views. It is evident that Lincoln was a person who was always true
to himself and his inner beliefs. Rather than giving in to society
and adopting the religious practices that the majority espoused,
Lincoln found his own path, one that helped make him the visionary leader who guided the Union through its darkest period.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Notes
Ronald C. White, Lincoln’s Greatest Speech (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2006), 103.
2
Richard Kaplan, “Second Great Awakening,” ABC-CLIO:
http://americanhistory2.abcclio.com/Search/Display/876419?
terms=second+great+awakening.
3
Richard Carwardine, Lincoln: a Life of Purpose and Power
(New York: Vintage, 2007), 34.
4
Ronald C. White, A. Lincoln (New York, New York:
Random House, 2009), 54.
5
White, A. Lincoln, 36.
6
White, A. Lincoln, 54.
7
Carwardine, Lincoln: a Life of Purpose and Power, 35.
8
Eric Foner, ed, Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln
and His World (New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
2008), 223.
9
Foner, Our Lincoln, 223.
10
White, A. Lincoln, 134.
11
Carwardine, Lincoln: a Life of Purpose and Power, 40.
12
David H. Donald, Lincoln (New York, New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1996), 75.
13
Donald, Lincoln, 114.
14
Don E. Fehrenbacher, comp., Selected Speeches and Writings
(1832-1858. N.p.: Library of America, 1989), 55.
15
White, A. Lincoln, 179.
16
Allen C. Guelzo, Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999),
149.
17
Carwardine, Lincoln: a Life of Purpose and Power, 37.
18
Donald, Lincoln, 513.
19
Donald, Lincoln, 513.
20
Foner, ed, Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His
World, 230.
21
Donald, Lincoln, 514.
22
White, A. Lincoln, 623-624.
23
Don E. Fehrenbacher, comp., Selected Speeches and Writings
(1832-1858. N.p.: Library of America, 1989), 344.
24
Fehrenbacher, comp., Selected Speeches and Writings, 344.
25
Fehrenbacher, comp., Selected Speeches and Writings, 344.
26
White, A. Lincoln, 624.
27
Ronald C. White, Lincoln’s Greatest Speech (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2006), 21.
1
49
50
Evan Kim
White, Lincoln’s Greatest Speech, 23.
White, A. Lincoln, 663.
30
Fehrenbacher, Selected Speeches and Writings, 449.
31
Fehrenbacher, Selected Speeches and Writings, 449.
32
Fehrenbacher, Selected Speeches and Writings, 449.
33
Fehrenbacher, Selected Speeches and Writings, 449.
34
Fehrenbacher, Selected Speeches and Writings, 450.
35
Fehrenbacher, Selected Speeches and Writings, 450.
28
29
Bibliography
Carwardine, Richard. Lincoln: a Life of Purpose and Power.
New York: Vintage, 2007.
Donald, David H. Lincoln. Vol. 1st. New York, New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Foner, Eric, ed. Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and
His World. New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008.
Guelzo, Allen C. Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President. Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999.
Kaplan, Richard. “Second Great Awakening.” 2008. ABCCLIO (876419). http://americanhistory2.abcclio.com/Search/
Display/876419?terms=second+great+awakening.
Ferenbacher, Don. Selected Speeches and Writings. N.p.: Library
of America, 2009.
White, Ronald C. A. Lincoln. New York, New York: Random
House, 2009.
White, Ronald C. Lincoln’s Greatest Speech. New York: Simon
& Schuster, 2006.
Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
The Struggle for a New Sex Morality
Emma Jade Wexler
“No gods, no masters,” proclaimed Margaret Sanger
in The Woman Rebel in March of 1914.1 These words mark the beginning of her decades-long struggle for women’s right to birth
control, a fight that would radically change American attitudes
towards women’s health and female sexuality. One of the most
controversial figures of this history, Margaret Sanger, founder of
the birth control movement and sexual liberation movement, inspired both celebration and controversy. No stranger to portrayal
as either the savior or the devil, she was attacked both as a radical
and a sell-out, denounced as a racist eugenicist and lauded as a
visionary. Through all the controversies that Sanger’s reputation
weathered, it was her affirmation of female sexuality that determined the course of the birth control movement. Margaret Sanger’s
calls for a “new sex morality” led to the birth control movement’s
exclusion from many women’s rights organizations of the time.
Life in early 20th-century America still greatly reflected
Victorian ideals. Concepts like the “Cult of Domesticity” relegated
women to the home and out of the public, political sphere. A
woman’s duty was to uphold the spiritual and moral fiber of the
family and, ultimately, of American society. A woman’s primary
Emma Jade Wexler is a Senior at the Blake School in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, where she wrote this paper for Margi Youmans’ American
History course in the 2014/2015 academic year.
52
Emma Jade Wexler
function in society was to be a mother. Thus, women rarely had
careers—if they did, it was often to pass time before marriage.2
Attitudes towards sexuality were marked by a cultural obsession
with purity and a refusal to acknowledge women as capable of a
sexual nature. Historian David Kennedy summarizes a central
tenet of 19th-century American culture when he explains: “…the
myth of the idealized American woman preserved her innocence
and her goodness by denying her sexuality.”3 Society viewed sexual
women as either promiscuous, morally destitute “fallen women,”
or innocents who had fallen victim to the desires of men. Carol
McCann, professor of Gender and Woman’s Studies, identifies this
deliberate repression of female sexuality as “the girl problem”:
The fact that the criminal justice system could see sexuallyactive young women only as innocent dupes of white slavers or incorrigibly delinquent prostitutes speaks to the strength of the cultural
anxiety that women might escape traditional patriarchal control.
Both…essentially denied that women might express their sexual
desire to their own ends...4
This virgin-whore dichotomy demonstrates the anxiety and fear
with which sexually active women were regarded. However, it was
exactly this binary which confined women to either an image of
purity or promiscuity that Sanger challenged.
One of the primary legal obstacles Sanger faced in her
fight for birth control established itself decades earlier. During
the 1870s, the United States experienced a resurgence of conservatism in response to the influx of cultural ideas foreign to
“native” Americans resulting from an increase in immigration.5
Fears about the declining state of morality of a new generation
exposed to such foreign cultures helped spur the passage of the
infamous Comstock laws. At the height of this traditional-morals
crusade, Anthony Comstock successfully lobbied Congress for a
set of federal statutes banning discussion of sex and contraception through the postal service by equating contraception with
pornography. As a result, information or distribution of contraception through the postal service was illegal. 6 Although it remained
accessible under certain euphemisms, financial factors continued
to inhibit access to contraception. For many, the cost of contra-
THE CONCORD REVIEW
53
ception exceeded the family’s ability to pay.7 This combination of
factors effectually denied low-income communities, in particular
immigrant women, access to contraception. Thus, the stage for
the birth control movement was set.
Within the birth control movement, Sanger grounded her
call for a new sex morality, a reform of society’s attitude towards
sex and women, in which women had a right to have and enjoy
mutual pleasure within the confines of marriage. Sanger denounced
the existing cultural attitude toward sex in her 1920 book, Women
and the New Race. She declared that, “sex morals for women have
been one-sided; they have been purely negative, inhibitory and
repressive. They have been fixed by agencies which have sought
to keep women enslaved…”8 Sanger argued that the normative
mindset which rejected the notion that women possessed a sexual
nature, and the rigid prescription of chastity for women was the
means by which society had trapped women by convincing them
to deny their sexual natures. As historian Ellen Chesler concludes,
Sanger’s “…fundamental heresy was in claiming the right of
women to own and control their bodies—to experience their
sexuality free of consequence, just as men have always done.”9
Sanger believed that the repression of women and idea that they
were incapable of sexual desire had been used to shame and rob
them of a natural part of living. She bemoaned, “What can we
hope for from a morality that surrounds each physical union, for
the woman, with an atmosphere of submission and shame?”10 By
the early 1920s, Sanger’s arguments for a new sex morality had
been cemented into the foundation of the birth control movement.11 Birth control, Sanger believed, would liberate women
from frigidity by eliminating fear of pregnancy that kept women
from enjoying sex.12 Sanger wanted all women—like men—to
be able to access their sexuality without risking a woman’s life in
continuous childbirth.13 Thus, she called for the adoption of a
new sex morality so that sex would be an act of mutual pleasure
within an equal relationship based on respect. She viewed birth
control as a tool of liberation capable of leveling the power dynamic between men and women. She declared, “Our laws force
women into celibacy on one hand, or abortion on the other. Both
54
Emma Jade Wexler
conditions are...injurious to health.”14 Sanger argued not only for
the acceptance of sexual instinct within women but encouraged
more sex within marital relations.15
Sanger’s call for the adoption of a new sex morality in
which women were freed from sexual repression through birth
control challenged many of the traditional cornerstones of society’s attitude towards sex. First, discussions of sexuality were still
largely taboo in public. Historian Nancy Cott explains, “Anyone
who talked about sex in public was breaking a taboo…others saw
[birth control] as throwing a tremendous wrench into the social
structure.”16 Sanger’s refusal to shy away from discussions of sexuality in public, despite being a woman, broke several social norms
and set her apart from her contemporaries.17 Second, birth control
remained politically contentious. Passing birth control legislation
proved difficult as few politicians were willing to risk association
with birth control, a topic inextricably tied to sex and therefore,
scandalous. Then presidential candidate Warren G. Harding
demonstrated in 1920 the controversial nature of birth control
when he withdrew support from a birth control bill because the
topic proved so unpopular with Democrats.18 Sanger’s arguments
concerning sexuality were especially audacious considering the
lack of respect for the female voice in the public sphere. The fact
that the birth control movement not only claimed that women
were naturally capable of possessing sexuality, but also encouraged exploration of that sexuality, was bold. McCann concludes,
“From the beginning, birth control pushed the limits of what
constituted acceptable politics…in linking women’s sexual freedom to reproductive control, birth control heightened existing
cultural anxiety that women’s erotic and reproductive behavior
might escape the masculine control…that cultural anxiety limited
support for birth control even among networks that supported
rebellion and blasphemy.” Even from radicals, Sanger found criticism for her advocacy of birth control. McCann observes, “…such
an explicit discussion of women’s sexuality was uncommon even
among sex radicals…From both Socialists and suffragists she received advice to abandon birth control…this criticism referred…
to sexual politics.” 19 Even among radical communities, Sanger’s
THE CONCORD REVIEW
55
arguments promoting sex and mutual pleasure within marriage
caused discomfort as her call for a new sex morality directly confronted Victorian traditions.20
Ultimately, Sanger’s arguments proved too controversial for
most feminist and women’s rights organizations to support. Major
women’s rights organizations such as the National Women’s Party
and the League of Women Voters refused to endorse the birth
control movement.21 Although many feminists had the same goal,
Sanger’s approach, specifically her endorsement of freer sexuality
for women proved to be antithetical and even antagonistic to other
feminist groups. For many women, “Republican Motherhood” actually served to integrate women in the political sphere. By taking
advantage of the portrayal of women as the moral and spiritual
guardian of households, some women argued that they needed
greater political representation. McCann analyzes the problem: “...
birth control’s implied sexual license was contrary to the Victorian
ideology of feminine moral superiority upon which many women’s
rights advocates staked their political authority.”22 Since many
feminist organizations had worked within the dominant discourse
and made use of concepts of women as the protectors of the family’s morality to justify their place in politics, mainstream feminist
organizations were unable to accept Sanger’s message of female
sexual liberation.23 Thus, any adoption of the birth control movement would have seriously eroded what little credibility women’s
groups had. First, the intrinsic relationship between discussions
of birth control and sex threatened to scandalize those who supported Sanger’s cause. Second, while the birth control movement
emphasized the necessity of embracing and reclaiming women’s
sexuality and reproduction, the majority of the women’s movement
believed that, “…sex needed to be subjugated and that equality
was dependent upon the diminishing of the importance of sex,
so that women could escape the role of ‘sex slave.’”24 In order to
bolster their argument for more rights for women, activists downplayed the differences between men and women, minimizing the
importance of reproduction and sex, while Sanger, in contrast,
stressed the role of sex and reproduction in a woman’s life. Third,
while Sanger’s contemporaries actually supported women’s abil-
56
Emma Jade Wexler
ity to control their reproduction, Sanger’s “…spiritual message
of sexual freedom proved to be the roadblock for consolidation
between movements.”25 In an article published March 1922 in The
Birth Control Review, Charlotte Perkins Gillman, famous American
feminist, explained, “Why…does...[the birth control movement]
lack general support?...Among the many evils which beset the world
none is more injurious than that sum of vice and disease, shame,
crime and common unhappiness, which springs from excessive sexindulgence. In marriage or out, this unbridled indulgence works
harm to our species…”26 Gillman argued that the birth control
movement lacked support because of its promotion of sexuality,
which she believed also promoted sexual indulgence, from which
all evils emerged. Fears that Sanger’s new sex morality would lead
to rampant promiscuity and vice, and further corrupt America’s
declining moral purity, ultimately smothered any chance of widespread unification.27 Finally, suffragists were especially sensitive to
accusations of indecency because of earlier anti-suffrage claims
linking their movement to free love.28 They avoided association
with birth control out of fear that such an endorsement would
destroy their political credibility, and they adopted a policy of
separation.29 The substantial backlash Elizabeth Cady Stanton
faced for her affirmation of female sexuality, despite her status as
a celebrated leader of the women’s movement, reveals the depth
of divisions caused by sexuality arguments.30 The contention surrounding pro-sexuality deterred fellow women’s rights activists
from joining the birth control movement.
Although feminist and women’s rights groups appeared to
be the birth control movement’s natural allies, antagonism arising
from wishes to avoid controversy from Sanger’s call for female sexual
liberation prevented consolidation between movements. Tensions
were reflected in the increasing alienation of Sanger’s pro-sex birth
control movement.31 Indeed, in a private letter to Margaret Sanger,
prominent suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt wrote, “Your reform
is too narrow to appeal to me and too sordid.”32 Catt’s dismissal
and condescension toward Sanger demonstrates a larger trend of
mainstream feminists viewing birth control as a gutter movement,
sullied by Sanger’s call for sexual emancipation. Sanger, for her
THE CONCORD REVIEW
57
part, reserved special disdain for feminists who fought to liberate
women but did not support birth control. “It seemed unbelievable
they could be serious in occupying themselves with…trivialities
when mothers…were dying shocking deaths. Who cared whether
a woman kept her Christian name…? They were still subject to
the age-old, masculine atmosphere…”33 Although Sanger tried to
secure endorsements of the National Women’s Party and League
of Women Voters for the birth control movement, they repeatedly refused. Sanger’s response to the N.W.P. and L.W.V. refusal
to include birth control is recorded in a 1928 editorial published
in The Birth Control Review, “…without Birth Control the program
of the party was incomplete…the vast majority of women…would
obtain no share of freedom from their efforts...”34 Sanger believed
that securing access to birth control—and by extension ensuring a woman’s right to her own body—was crucial to achieving
complete liberation for women. The N.W.P and L.W.V. failure to
address birth control on their agenda reinforced Sanger’s view
of them as misguided.
Even among supporters of birth control, the sex arguments
proved divisive. Historian Patricia Coates argues that, “Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, like Carrie Chapman Catt and Mary Ware Dennett,
were all supporters of birth control to some degree. They believed
in ending the suffering of women and were strong advocates of
voluntary motherhood. However, the voluntary motherhood concept called for a de-sexualizing of women, reducing their status to
good mothers but passionless wives...”35 Although many feminists
supported voluntary motherhood, which promoted a woman’s
right to refuse her husband sex as a method of avoiding pregnancy, Sanger’s pro-sexuality vision for the birth control movement
directly contrasted with the de-sexualized concept of voluntary
motherhood and reinforced divisions between Sanger and Mary
Ware Dennett, further fracturing the birth control movement’s
leadership. The fact that Sanger’s call for sexual liberation created
significant clash between the two most preeminent leaders of the
birth control movement attests to how deeply contentious the
sexuality arguments were.36 Despite similar goals, Sanger’s radical
58
Emma Jade Wexler
sexuality argument discouraged other women’s rights organizations from forming alliances with the birth control movement.
Over a century has passed since Margaret Sanger first
embarked on the struggle to secure all women access to contraception in 1914. Drawing from her experience as an obstetrical nurse
working in New York City’s immigrant slums, Sanger founded a
movement that sought to reform the very ways in which society
viewed females, sexuality, and birth control. Her unfailing dedication and unbridled passion to secure a woman’s right to contraception and sexuality free of repercussion has immortalized Sanger as
one of the most dynamic forces of reform in the twentieth century.
However, Sanger’s perseverance also undercut the effectiveness of
the birth control movement. By refusing to abandon her belief in
a woman’s right to affirm and enjoy her sexuality within marriage,
she deterred many from joining the birth control movement. It
ultimately cost her the support of other women’s rights groups.
Despite the fact that Sanger began her struggle nearly a century
ago, her fight to ensure a woman’s right to her sexuality continues
to wield lasting influence on American society today.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Notes
The Woman Rebel, March 14, 1914, 1, accessed February
27, 2014, https://sangerpapers.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/
the-origins-of-the-woman-rebel/.
2
Ellen Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the
Birth Control Movement in America, 2007 ed. (New York, New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1992), 471.
3
David M. Kennedy, Birth Control In America (New Haven,
Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1970), 56.
4
Carol Ruth McCann, Birth Control Politics in the United
States, 1916-1945 (New York, New York: Cornell University
Press, 1999), 44.
5
Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret, 67.
6
Ibid., 68.
7
Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret, 38.
8
Margaret Sanger, “Women and the New Morality,”
in Woman and the New Race (New York, New York: Brentano’s,
1920.
9
Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret, 470.
10
Sanger, “Women and the New Morality,” in Woman and
the New Race.
11
Coates, Margaret Sanger and the Origin of the Birth Control
Movement, 1910-1930: The Concenpt of Women’s Sexual Autonomy,
(Lewiston, New York, 2008), 211.
12
Kennedy, Birth Control In America, 131.
13
McCann, Birth Control Politics in the United, 32.
14
Margaret Sanger, “Morality and Birth Control,” Birth
Control Review, February/March 1918, accessed January
26, 2014, http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/secure/
documents/speech_morality_and_bc.html.
15
Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret, 208.
16
Rachel Galvin, “Margaret Sanger’s ‘Deeds of Terrible
Virtue,’” Humanities: The Magazine of the National Endowment For
the Humanities, 1998, accessed January 9, 2014, http://www.neh.
gov/humanities/1998/septemberoctober/feature/margaretsangers-deeds-terrible-virtue.
17
McCann, Birth Control Politics in the United, 26.
18
Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret, 201.
19
McCann, Birth Control Politics in the United, 38.
20
Coates, Margaret Sanger and the Origin, 206.
21
McCann, Birth Control Politics in the United, 26.
22
McCann, Birth Control Politics in the United, 27.
1
59
60
Emma Jade Wexler
Ibid., 26.
Galvin, “Margaret Sanger’s ‘Deeds of Terrible.” 25
Coates, Margaret Sanger and the Origin, 159.
26
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “Back of Birth Control,” The
Birth Control Review, no. 6 (March 1922): accessed April 7, 2014,
http://books.google.com/books?id=NysSmD9t9o4C&pg=PA21
1&lpg=PA211&dq=%22the+purpose+of+mating%22+article+by
+grace+potter&source=bl&ots=vrT3Qgrekr&sig=ntpC82oA8IZ
knqUvy8ydIzatcno&hl=en&sa=X&ei=n0pDU4bmO-es2wXw_ID
oCQ&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22the%20
purpose%20of%20mating%22%20article%20by%20grace%20
potter&f=false.
27
McCann, Birth Control Politics in the United, 47.
28
Ibid., 40.
29
Ibid., 41.
30
Chesler, Woman of Valor: Margaret, 59.
31
Ellen Carol Dubois and Linda Gordon, “Seeking
Ecstasy on the Battlefield: Danger and Pleasure in NineteenthCentury Feminist Sexual Thought,” Feminist Studies 9, no.
1 (1983): accessed January 25, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/
stable/3177680.
32
Carrie Chapman Catt, Letter to Margaret Sanger and the
Origin of the Birth Control Movement, 1910-1930: The Concept of
Women’s Sexual Autonomy, by Patricia Walsh Coates (Lewiston,
New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008), 171.
33
Margaret Sanger, An Autobiography (New York, New York:
W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 1938), 109.
34
Margaret Sanger, “Editorial,” The Birth Control
Review 12, no. 1 (January 1928): 6, accessed January 30,
2014, http://library.lifedynamics.com/Birth%20Control%20
Review/1928-01%20January.pdf.
35
Coates, Margaret Sanger and the Origin, 175.
36
McCann, Birth Control Politics in the United, 45.
23
24
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Catt, Carrie Chapman. in Letter to Margaret Sanger and
the Origin of the Birth Control Movement, 1910-1930: The Concept
of Women’s Sexual Autonomy, by Patricia Walsh Coates, 171.
Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
This source was immensely helpful in providing an
example of a prominent suffragist actually revealing her disdain
for the birth control movement’s “sordid” politics directly
to Margaret Sanger in a private letter. In her own words, her
feelings of superiority over the birth control movement are
evident. This source allowed me to examine Carrie Chapman
Catt’s feelings towards Sanger and her movement. Catt’s
interpretation of Sanger is also indicative of a larger attitude
held by some suffragists and mainstream feminists.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “Back of Birth Control.” The
Birth Control Review, no. 6 (March 1922): 31-33. Accessed April
7, 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=NysSmD9t9o4C&
pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=%22the+purpose+of+mating%22+
article+by+grace+potter&source=bl&ots=vrT3Qgrekr&sig=ntp
C82oA8IZknqUvy8ydIzatcno&hl=en&sa=X&ei=n0pDU4bmOes2wXw_IDoCQ&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22t
he%20purpose%20of%20mating%22%20article%20by%20
grace%20potter&f=false.
This source was helpful in understanding the perspective
of prominent American feminist, Charlotte Perkins Gillman,
and the reasons why she, and others, refused to join Sanger’s
birth control movement. Gillman understood the birth control
movement’s promotion of female sexuality, marital sexual
activity, and ability to increase “sexual indulgence” as a bad
thing that would ultimately lead to various worldly evils such as
poverty, crime, and disease.
Sanger, Margaret. An Autobiography. New York, New York:
W.W. Norton and Company Inc., 1938.
This source is an autobiography written and published
in 1938. It is useful in revealing Sanger’s own perspective and
reasoning for her actions as well as providing insight on her
views of her contemporary feminists and women’s groups.
Her agenda in writing this autobiography is clearly to defend
her actions and continue to propose birth control as a public
necessity.
———. “Editorial.” The Birth Control Review 12, no. 1
(January 1928): 6-7. Accessed January 30, 2014. http://library.
lifedynamics.com/Birth%20Control%20Review/1928-01%20
January.pdf.
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Emma Jade Wexler
This source offers a first-hand look at Sanger’s opinions in
regards to the National Women’s Party’s refusal to endorse or
mention birth control on their platform. Sanger reports birth
control’s absence from the NWP platform and then goes onto
argue that without birth control women’s liberation can never
be fully achieved. The source was useful for examining Sanger’s
emotions and response to the NWP’s actions.
———. “Morality and Birth Control.” Birth Control Review,
February/March 1918. Accessed January 26, 2014. http://
www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/secure/documents/speech_
morality_and_bc.html.
In this article, Sanger outlines her reasons why birth
control is the fundamental key to the full and complete
emancipation of women. Here, her feeling of disdain and
frustration at other women’s rights movements’ ineffectiveness
and failure to use birth control as a starting point betrays
itself. This primary source supplemented the understanding
of her Sanger’s arguments clearly, without having to rely on
the potential biases/perspectives of a historian to interpret her
words. Additionally, this source facilitated an examination of
Margaret Sanger’s unique writing style that helps to convey her
form of persuasion.
———. “Women and the New Morality.” In Woman and the
New Race. New York, New York: Brentano’s, 1920.
This source greatly benefited my understanding of
Sanger’s concepts of sex idealism and a new sex morality. The
chapter showed Sanger’s strong rhetoric on sexuality and
exactly what she thought. Additionally, it provided insight
on her unique style of writing, a mix of emotionally charged
rhetoric and a more intellectual, disciplined voice, that
made the shift between the radical, manifesto-like writing of
The Women Rebel and the more mature, logically persuasive
arguments within the book, especially evident.
The Woman Rebel, March 14, 1914. Accessed February 27,
2014. https://sangerpapers.wordpress.com/2013/10/25/theorigins-of-the-woman-rebel/.
This source was more helpful for creating a holistic view of
Sanger and her world—through the incorporation of primary
source quotes, images, letters—while still providing in andepth examination of Sanger and her work. The source was
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most helpful in filling in the gaps within the understanding
of Sanger in adding details as to what her world would have
looked like through also including correspondence of others to
Sanger.
Secondary Sources
Buerkle, C. Wesley. “From Women’s Liberation to Their
Obligation: The Tensions Between Sexuality and Maternity in
Early Birth Control Rhetoric.” Women and Language 31, no. 1
(2009): 27-32.
This source explains in detail Margaret Sanger’s argument
and explains how her arguments liberated women by
advocating for birth control as a way for women to achieve an
independent identity outside of motherhood. She also reinscribed women’s traditional role as the mother and societal
moral guardian. The source deepened understanding of the
complexity of Sanger’s arguments about sexuality.
Chesler, Ellen. Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth
Control Movement in America. 2007 ed. New York, New York:
Simon and Schuster, 1992.
This source provides essential information as to the
specific role Margaret Sanger played in popularizing the birth
control movement and bringing the idea that a woman had a
right to her body into the public and political consciousness.
The source thoroughly examines both the life of Margaret
Sanger, analyzing her childhood, motives, and influences, the
pre-Sanger calls for birth control, and Sanger’s own personal
role in the advent of the birth control revolution in America.
The source is extremely useful in its thoroughness in spanning
from childhood to her decades-long struggle for public
availability of birth control. Additionally, Chesler’s work’s value
also lies in its unwillingness to shy away from dissecting Sanger’s
flaws as well as laud her achievements. The source could be
used to focus on specific points of her career like her 1917 trial
and look at the direct impacts of her actions.
Coates, Patricia Walsh. Margaret Sanger and the Origin of the
Birth Control Movement, 1910-1930: The Concept of Women’s Sexual
Autonomy. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2008.
Coates’s book examines the specific role of Margaret
Sanger’s endorsement of female sexual liberation, termed
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Emma Jade Wexler
sexual idealism, and how it came to distinguish her movement
from others. Coates explains not only that Sanger’s focus on
sexual liberation was deemed radical, but also that Sanger’s
sex argument created a division between Sanger’s movement
and other mainstream women’s rights groups. The book
also describes how Sanger believed that securing the right to
birth control was a necessary first step to being able to free
female sexuality in addition to a way of seeking equality. This
source was used to help define how Sanger’s movement was
both revolutionary and distinct from other’s women’s rights
movements.
Dubois, Ellen Carol, and Linda Gordon. “Seeking Ecstasy
on the Battlefield: Danger and Pleasure in NineteenthCentury Feminist Sexual Thought.” Feminist Studies 9, no. 1
(1983): 7-25. Accessed January 25, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/
stable/3177680.
This article, written by Dubois, a professor of history and
gender studies at UCLA, and Gordon, a professor of history at
New York University, outlines difficulties facing the minority of
“pro-sex” feminists within the larger women’s rights movement
in the early twentieth century. It articulates the reasons why
there was tension between the “pro-sex” feminist minority and
the majority of the feminist movement. The article focuses on
the role of the birth control movement in popularizing and
reiterating the ways in which women could gain sexual freedom
that men had had. It was extremely helpful in providing
evidence for and articulating the divide within the larger
feminist movement at this time in attitudes towards sexuality.
Galvin, Rachel. “Margaret Sanger’s ‘Deeds of Terrible
Virtue.’” Humanities: The Magazine of the National Endowment
For the Humanities, 1998. Accessed January 9, 2014. http://
www.neh.gov/humanities/1998/septemberoctober/feature/
margaret-sangers-deeds-terrible-virtue.
The article by Rachel Galvin, published in Humanities:
the Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities,
commemorates Margaret Sanger’s life in detail. The source was
particularly useful in dissecting the more controversial points of
Margaret Sanger’s career and provides well-researched details
on the perspectives and justifications for the perspectives of
Sanger and her opponents.
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Kennedy, David M. Birth Control In America. New Haven,
Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1970.
This book further aided understanding of the relationship
between more mainstream women’s rights organizations and
the birth control movement. Additionally, Kennedy explains
the political and social attitude towards women, birth control,
and sexuality in the decades preceding the emergence of the
birth control movement. The book draws upon a wealth of
primary resources that helped me to grasp the concepts more
readily from the source. McCann, Carol Ruth. Birth Control Politics in the United
States, 1916-1945. New York, New York: Cornell University Press,
1999.
The book, written by Dr. Carol R. McCann, a professor
in gender and women’s studies and American studies at the
University of Maryland, details the tension between Sanger’s
birth control movement and the other women’s rights efforts
(including suffrage) in the 1920s. This source was immensely
helpful in outlining and explaining in detail the conflicts
between mainstream women’s movements and Sanger. McCann
concludes that the lack of support from Sanger’s seemingly
natural allies was due mostly because of the major differences
in the movements’ ideas of femininity and propriety in regards
to sexuality. Specifically, that many more mainstream women’s
rights movements derived their authority from ideas of the
feminine spirit as the more moral, chaste role and that Sanger’s
argument, promoting sexual autonomy for women wherein
there would be equal enjoyment.
Wardell, Dorothy. “Margaret Sanger: Birth control’s
successful revolutionary.” American Journal of Public Health,
July 1980. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC1619462/pdf/amjph00680-0066.pdf.
The source published in the American Journal of Public
Health, produced by the American Public Health Association,
by Dr. Dorothy Wendell concisely examines the highlights of
Sanger’s career, including the opening of the Brownsville clinic
and beginning of The Woman Rebel. This source narrows its
focus onto a few events and achieves its purpose of explaining
the long-lasting influence Margaret Sanger’s actions had. It
explains how pioneer Sanger’s very public crusade for the cause
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Emma Jade Wexler
of the right to birth control was truly revolutionary. The source
was used to explain the far-reaching legacy of Sanger.
Watkins, Susan Cotts, and Dennis Hodgson. “Population
Controllers and Feminists: Strange Bedmates at Cairo?”
Population Association of America Meeting, 1996. Accessed
February 11, 2014. http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/
hodgson/Courses/hodcairo35.htm.
This source was useful in exploring the suffragist attitude
towards the birth control movement and in providing details
that helped augment my understanding. The paper helps pin
down the concepts of feminism and describes the broader
perspectives of various sections—in particular Sanger’s—of the
women’s movement during this time.
Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
The Imperial Cult in the Early Roman Empire:
Reciprocation between the State and Provincial
Elites in Propagating Imperial Ideology
Sihak Lee
Introduction
The imperial cult in the Roman Empire involved the wor-
ship of the Emperors—Augustus and his successors—throughout
the whole Empire including Italy, the provinces, and the city of
Rome. Vespasian, Emperor of Rome from A.D. 69 to 79, and selfproclaimed imperator orbis terrarum [“Emperor the world”], declared
as he lay on his deathbed, Vae, puto deus fio [“Alas, I think I am
becoming a god”].1 His “deathbed joke,” as the Roman historian
Suetonius called it, was not merely a reference to the deification
moment of a god-like Emperor at death but rather a comment on
the reality of the imperial cult during the early imperial period.
Elected from the lower social class of equestrians, Vespasian had
made efforts to establish the imperial cult in the West to secure
his power as Emperor.2 Those words Vespasian spoke after all
the years of such efforts suggest that he found the concept of
becoming divine contradictory and ironic, and, as many other of
his contemporaries would have, “godhood” of an Emperor to be
less about an apotheosis of an individual soul and more about a
Sihak Lee is a Senior at Buckingham Browne & Nichols in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, where he wrote this paper for Lizanne Moynihan’s Global
History course in the 2014/2015 academic year.
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human maneuver for power, far from bringing the eternal reward
the cult envisioned. As Vespasian’s exploitation of the imperial
cult as a device to consolidate his newly-founded Flavian dynasty
shows, the imperial cult was based on the Emperor’s use of his
supposedly divine status to exercise control over his worshippers.3
In order to define the imperial cult, however, one should
interpret the power dynamics in the political reality of the early
Roman Empire. Is it valid to regard the imperial cult and its rituals
merely as a series of “honors” addressed to the powerful ruler in
his presence just like the transitory rituals of many kingdoms? The
ruler cult of the Roman Empire was actually an enduring institution whose rituals were performed throughout the vast territory
of the Roman Empire even in the Emperor’s absence.4 As the
Augustan ideology of a divine leader was welcomed by provincial
elites who, like the Emperor himself, wanted both strong leadership and political stability, the deification of a ruler was initiated
not only by the Emperor in Rome but also by his subjects in the
provinces, who could make diplomatic and political capital out
of the imperial cult.5
How did the common interests between the Emperor and
the local aristocracy enable ruler worship to spread across the vast
territory of the Empire and persist as one of the vital pillars of
Roman religion and politics? Although the basis of the imperial
cult was the ideology of the divine leader that Augustus fabricated,
the imperial cult in itself was not a system of beliefs but a gradual
accretion of ritual observances and practices that almost every Roman household participated in while the Roman Empire existed.6
The ceremonies embodying the state ideology thus continually
reminded the subjects of the Emperor’s existence, giving them
a sense of belonging to a homogeneous Roman community and
thus consolidating the Emperor’s power over his subjects. This
paper examines what made such practices reach every corner of
the Roman provinces and claims the driving force of local elites
and the reciprocation between the state and the local community
are the key factors that institutionalized the imperial cult and
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69
enabled the Empire to unite and dominate diverse citizen bodies
for a long time.
The Imperial Cult in the Early Roman Empire
Rise of Augustus and the Augustan Program
When Octavian rose to power after the victory at Actium in
B.C. 29 and after the incessant wars and internal turmoil during
the Roman Republic, he had to secure his status as the ruler and
to unite the heterogeneous populace under a common identity
or ideology. Octavian was faced with the challenge of making
monarchy acceptable to the old aristocracy and the people, and
thus he, the princeps, constantly lowered himself and eschewed
self-promotion, while constantly making up to his subjects as Roman historian Tacitus described:
Augustus won over the soldiers with gifts, the populace with
cheap corn, and all men with the sweet repose, and so grew greater
by degrees, while he concentrated in himself the functions of the
Senate, the magistrates, and the laws.7
After 27 B.C., however, the impetus for honoring the ruler came
from below: the cities, local communities, and private individuals.8
The Roman people’s need for stability and strong leadership was
expressed as the tendency to treat Octavian, the savior and restorer
of Rome, as a monarch deserving the status of a god. The initiation from below is well described in the Res Gestae Divi Augusti [the
“Deeds of Augustus”], Augustus’s will deposited later in 13 C.E.:9
In my sixth and seventh consulates (28–27 B.C.E.), after putting out the civil war, having obtained all things by universal consent, I
handed over the state from my power to the dominion of the senate
and Roman people. And for this merit of mine, by a senate decree, I
was called Augustus and the doors of my temple were publicly clothed
with laurel and a civic crown was fixed over my door and a gold shield
placed in the Julian senate-house, and the inscription of that shield
testified to the virtue, mercy, justice, and piety, for which the senate
and Roman people gave it to me. After that time, I exceeded all in
influence, but I had no greater power than the others who were colleagues with me in each magistracy. 10
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The new leader, who was renamed Augustus, devised an ambitious scheme that would satisfy his fellow Romans who needed a
new ruler and identity, but within their scope of understanding
and tradition. He clarified his intention to hold onto tradition by
saying, “Although the senate and Roman people consented that
I alone be made curator of the laws and customs with the highest
power, I received no magistracy offered contrary to the customs
of the ancestors.”11 This self-imposed limitation came from lessons
learned from the former leaders—Julius Caesar and Antony—who
perished because they disregarded tradition by directly assuming
divinity and by associating with the East, respectively. By reporting
people’s reaction to Antony’s actions, Roman historian Dio records
how Romans valued tradition: “Now he has abandoned his whole
ancestral way of life, has embraced alien and barbaric customs,
has ceased to honour us, his fellow-countrymen, or our laws, or
his fathers.”12 Thus appreciating the risks of a radical ruler cult,
at least in Italy and in Rome, Augustus slowly built a Roman form
of the ruler cult: the worship of the genius [spirit] and the numen
[divinity]—the traditional practice of Roman religion—of the
living princeps.13 Therefore, Augustus started Augustan programs,
of which tradition and religion were integral parts, in order to
cater to the needs of citizens who wanted a new vision based on
familiar Roman traditions.
Through the program of inventing his own genealogy
and reviving traditional religion, Augustus succeeded in elevating
himself to the level of a god and consolidated his status as the sole
leader. Representing himself as a natural descendant of Aeneas and
his mother the goddess Venus, and masking the military strength
behind this lineage, Augustus let the senate bestow honors on him
because of who he was and solidified his identity as the founder
of the new Rome.14 He announced a “restoration of the republic”
through a program of religious renewal. As he himself claimed
in the Res Gestae, he “rebuilt eighty-two temples of the gods in the
city … omitting nothing which ought to have been rebuilt at that
time,”15 revived age-old cults, and created new priestly offices, all
to appeal to the piety of the people and to portray himself as the
most pious of them all, the sole guardian of Rome.16 Thus, he
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71
ingeniously used the religious revival program in justifying his
new monarchical status, which was unfamiliar to most Roman
subjects.17 The contemporary Roman historian Dio said that “The
first name of Octavian was to be included in public hymns on
the same terms as those of the gods…[and] the day on which he
entered Rome should be celebrated with sacrifices by the whole
population, and should rank as a sacred day for ever after,”18 and
Sutonius also testified that Augustus “would not accept any such
honor in the provinces unless his name was coupled with that
of Roma (the Goddess of Rome).”19 As Dio sharply pointed out,
however, the self-deification process of Augustus was to make “his
rule…supported by the people of their own accord, and dispel
any impression that they had been coerced against their will.”20
In order to elicit support from his subjects, Augustus needed to
make them—both the central aristocracy and the public—willingly participate in the new religious order of the imperial cult.
The Imperial Cult as a Vehicle for Disseminating Roman Ideology
Augustus first had to negotiate with the Roman senate
and the intelligentsia for the legitimacy and authority of his newly
invented ideology, and their participation in and acceptance of
Augustus’s status are clearly evident in numerous monuments
and literary works. The senate’s willing participation in the new
Augustan program is plain in the Ara Pacis Augustae, an altar
dedicated to Augustus in 9 B.C.
When I returned to Rome from Spain and Gaul, having
successfully accomplished matters in those provinces…the senate
voted to consecrate the altar of August Peace in the field of Mars for
my return, on which it ordered the magistrates and priests and Vestal
virgins to offer annual sacrifices.21 As Augustus himself claims in his Res Gestae, the senate dedicated
this altar to the new ruler. By portraying the Aeneas myth and the
Romulus myth on the panels, the altar demonstrates that Augustus and the Julian family were descended from both Aeneas and
Romulus, and thus from Venus and Mars.22 In addition to the
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expressions of allegory and legend, the altar depicts real figures
from Augustus’s family and senators participating together in the
sacrificial procession at the altar. Therefore, the Ara Pacis Augustae
clearly shows that the senators not only accepted the divine origin
of Augustus and the continuing protection of the gods but also
participated in this new mythology so that they could be closely
identified with the new order and find a place for themselves
within it.23
In The Ode to Augustus, another example portraying Augustan ideology and virtue, the Roman lyric poet Horace enthusiastically praised the new ruler and his regime. Book 4 especially is
considered to be a very real piece of Augustan propaganda.24 The
Odes were published around the time when the Ara Pacis Augustae
was dedicated to Augustus—after his return to Rome from Spain
and Gaul, when the Augustan program was exerting its effects
on all the Roman world.25 The poets and other men of letters
celebrated the new ideology that Augustus envisioned.26
Son of the blessed gods, and greatest defender/ of Romulus’ people, you’ve been away too long/ make that swift return you
promised, to the sacred/ councils of the City Fathers,
……….
He worships you with many a prayer, with wine/ poured out,
joins your name to those of his Hercules.27
As described in the lines of the Ode above, the poet accepts Augustus as the ruler and the mythology in which Augustus joins the
traditional gods, and portrays the worshipping ritual of libation
dedicated to Augustus. As illustrated by this contemporary description of the imperial cult, the poet praises Augustus, his ideals, and
accomplishments, using allegory, legend, and historical reality,
and expresses his intention to participate in the new mythology by
propagating it through literary works. In sum, through the visual
or literary media, the leading Roman aristocrats and intellectuals
not only expressed their acceptance of Augustus’s rule and ideology but also demonstrated their wish to actively participate in the
newly-invented mythology. In other words, Augustus successfully
elicited the leading power group’s participation in his program
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73
through the negotiation of power—the promise of reserving
places for them as holders of power in the mythmaking process.28
Although the senate and the intellectuals in the city of
Rome expressed their support for and participated in the Augustan program, their approval was limited to the central power
groups of the Augustan ideology and did not influence the general Roman populace. However, a crucial feature of the imperial
cult—its highly visible and recurrent rituals—let the imperial cult
swiftly take root in the lives of the Roman people and propagate
information about the Emperor’s ideology and benefaction to his
people.29 The visual landscape of architectural monuments, the
daily oaths to the Emperor people made in private households,
and the events like parades, public meals, and lavish games citizens participated in as part of the rituals30—all these tributes and
practices served as a sort of “mass communication” propagating
the nature and extent of the Emperor’s benefaction and power to
the subjects.31 For example, repeated regularly as the unchanging
visual formulas in monuments and rituals, the laurel tree of Apollo
and the oak wreath of Jupiter’s eagle were soon transformed into
symbols glorifying Augustus and endowing him with the virtues
and power associated with the traditional gods.32 Through the
regular repetition of prescribed rituals, festivals, and the unchanging visual formulas, the mythology of the Empire took on a reality
of its own and inculcated Roman citizens with imagery of military
glory, of a divinely sanctioned world order, and of civic peace and
prosperity.33
The Reciprocal Power Relationship between Ruler and Subject
in the Imperial Cult
Physical public media and other cult features glorifying
the Emperor seem to imply that the imperial cult involved a oneway imposition of imperial power upon Roman subjects. However,
they actually are expressions of the exchange of power between
the Emperor and his subjects for their common interests in the
context of the established power hierarchy. For instance, the visual
language of the mass media of the cult—temples, statuary, inscrip-
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tions, public ceremonies, and coinage—was scarcely a monopoly of
the Emperor. The willingness of subjects to contribute their own
resources to the glorification of the Emperor depended on their
perceived interests within their power relations with the Emperor.34
The use of public media to glorify the Emperor simultaneously
empowered a patron because it was an opportunity for local elites
to appeal to the Emperor and to display their status and wealth by
demonstrating how much they could spend for the Emperor and
fellow citizens.35 Moreover, the image of the Emperor presented
by such visual language was as much constructed by the local elite
subjects as it was directed by the Emperor in the imperial metropole.36 In sum, the subjects could adjust the extent to which they
glorified the Emperor depending on their own interests in the
context of their power relations with the ruler.
The role of provincial elites in the dissemination of the
imperial cult might easily be underestimated because they were
out of mainstream politics and occupied a relatively low tier of
the power pyramid in the early Roman Empire. Without them,
however, communication of imperial ideology throughout the
early Roman Empire would not have been possible. The local
elites actively promoted ruler worship, though they did so to secure and further their own power and status. Thus, the political,
religious, and cultural landscape of the Roman Empire topped
by an Emperor was not constructed through the new ruler’s unilateral actions but by his strategic empowerment of provincial
cities and local communities. Then the Emperor endorsed their
propagation of the imperial cult and efforts to spread the imperial ideology among Roman subjects. Therefore, the imperial cult
was a reciprocal political process through which the Emperor and
the local elites consolidated their respective power and statuses.
Local Initiation: Motivations and Circumstances
The imperial cult was hitherto analyzed with a focus on
the political situations faced by the Emperor and on his needs in
implementing the new Roman ideology to consolidate his power.
The Emperor was the center of the power, and the advancement
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of Rome as the unrivalled cultural and political capital made other
centers “provincial.”37 However, it turned out that the imperial cult
was, far from a one-way imposition of imperial ambition upon the
subjects, a reciprocal political process between the Emperor and
provincial elites for mutual interests. Composing the politically
decisive layer of each local council, the social elites of the community were the driving force behind establishing the imperial cults
in the towns of Italy.38 Local elites already considered themselves
to be “wealthy, honored, the favorites of fortune,”39 and their Genii
[spirits] were worshipped as paterfamilias [heads of families] of
households by their slaves and freedmen.40 Then the factors that
drove local elites to lower themselves and worship the Emperor
should be closely examined to figure out the characteristics of
this reciprocal power structure.
Motivations of Provincial Elites To Initiate the Emperor Cult
Given that the imperial cult was a reciprocal political process involving the Emperor and local elites, what are the factors
that motivated provincial elites, most of whom were not directly
affiliated with the Emperor or the state, to get actively involved in
a state affair like Emperor worship? First, provincial elites made
use of the imperial cult as an opportunity to protect their preestablished status or even advance in society through building
a good relationship with the Emperor. As Tacitus claimed, “the
provinces [did not] dislike the [new] condition of affairs, for they
[had] distrusted the government of the Senate and the people.”41
At the start of Augustan rule, having no ready-made position for
the ruler, the cities dealt with this new power by attempting to
embed it in the cult of god because worshipping a divine being
seemed less humiliating and within the limit of tradition.42 Later
on, local elites found that the imperial cult provided them with
an opportunity to express their allegiance and to create a direct
link to the Emperor.43 There is epigraphical evidence to suggest
that the practice of sending embassies to Rome and to allied cities after establishing the imperial cult in their communities was
quite common.44 The real reason behind these embassies was not
simply for getting certain privileges but for the chance for the city
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to present itself as an important and loyal member of the Empire.
Cities decided to establish cults with an eye to obtaining political
advantage, which was sought through diplomatic contacts with
the Emperor.45
Second, by sponsoring recurring rituals and the construction of temples, local elites had the chance to demonstrate their
power and wealth within the community and to climb the social
ladder.46 Local elites, always striving to outdo one another, played
the leading role in initiating imperial festivals, rituals, and the
games,47 which contributed significantly to the rapid and natural
spread of the imperial cult and to the spontaneous takeover of the
Augustan program in the West.48 Although the local aristocracy
led the way, wealthy freedmen also used the imperial cult to win
public recognition and honors.49 Excluded from public office,
these social climbers were among the first to seize upon the new
opportunities to express their wealth and allegiance to the Emperor and elevate their social status.50 The big towns were often
viable because of the superstructure of public amenities provided
by the urge of the wealthy to show off through public service.51
Third, by running the imperial cult, provincial elites consolidated the sense of identity and unity as citizens of a particular
town as well as of Rome. State and local religions, and thus state
and local identity, did not form two independent or mutually
exclusive aspects of Roman reality. On the contrary, local experiences and histories were significant for the religious practices
adopted by communities and for the identities of community
members.52 Communities often maintained the worship of their
own gods or combined Roman and indigenous worship. On the
other hand, the Roman authorities had no need to ban or limit
the worship of these gods, since they were fundamental to local
identities and provided no conflict with the worship of the Roman
deities.53 Religion played a key role at the local level in defining
civic identity, structuring alliances among powerful groups, and
forging political ties with Rome.54 To sum up, the three motivations
of local elites all converged on the pursuit of power and stability.
Local elites’ active establishment of the imperial cult in their cities
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77
represented their reaction to the newly formed monarchial power.
They wished not only to survive in this new power paradigm but
also to make the most of it.
Circumstances Making Local Initiation Possible
Local elites had established their wealth and power in
their communities and were ready to participate in the new power
paradigm of the imperial cult. What are the circumstances that
permitted local elites to actively participate in the ruler cult, a
critical state agenda of the Empire? First, Roman practice was
to rely on a small central government,55 so local resources were
crucial for efficient administration. Because Rome had started
from a city-state, the state infrastructure and resources were not
enough to support all areas of the vast territory. Provincial cities,
therefore, continued as de facto autonomous political units, and
their ruling elites exercised state-like powers of rule over their
population and territory.56 Individual cities’ existing political
systems and their elites’ monetary resources contributed to the
promotion of the imperial cult and Roman ideology.
Second, Rome officially treated provincial cities as autonomous political entities, and cities served to mediate between the
Emperor and his subjects. Greek political theory was dominated
by the city-state and celebrated the autonomy and independence of individual communities. This theory depicted empire
as a legitimate extension of local, not national power.57 Strongly
influenced by Greek theory, Romans thought of their empire as
the expanded reach of power emanating from a narrowly defined
center of Rome, the City.58 Though the scope of political activity
permitted to local citizens was greatly restricted by the imperial
power of Rome, the local cities were all, ideally, autonomous and
independent of Rome in managing their own affairs.59 Local elites
were the principes of their local communities, as Augustus and
his family were in Rome. In this role, they were responsible for
translating the new values into action so that Roman ideals were
carried out effectively.60
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Third, although the Roman Empire was a strictly hierarchical society, social mobility across the tiers of the social
pyramid was possible,61 making Romans vie for status through
competitions. Even the highest tiers—the position of senator and
Emperor—were open to lower tiers. Because the members of the
Roman aristocracy failed to replace themselves, 75 percent of the
consulships were open to upwardly mobile families of Italians and
provincials, who struggled to fill the vacuum of the senatorial
aristocracy.62 Moreover, the lack of an orderly process of imperial
succession in Rome allowed new members from local aristocracies
and ultimately all but the lowest ranks throughout the empire to
be elevated to the emperorship.63 In local communities, wealthy
freedmen, many of whom originally came from the East, competed
with local aristocrats for public recognition and honors through
the imperial cult.64
Implications of State-Local Reciprocation in the Imperial Cult:
Understanding the Power Structure
The daily practice of worshipping the ruler consolidated
the idea that the Emperor was divine and gave Roman subjects a
sense of unity and identity. Besides these immediate effects, the
imperial cult placed the Emperor and provincial elites in a reciprocal relationship that allowed them to promote their mutual
interests. The motivations of the Emperor and local elites centered
on securing or extending power and made them exchange their
power and resources. The Emperor could give what local elites
needed—such as imperial resources and an army to protect them
from enemies—and local elites could give what the Emperor
needed—loyalty and reserves of manpower and wealth for warring dynasts.65 What made it possible for a power structure to arise
in which local elites on a far lower tier of the power hierarchy
exchanged power with the emperor?
The reciprocal power relationship was possible as the
state empowered local elites by letting them exercise their administrative and economic influence in initiating and running the
imperial cult. Traditionally a city-state, Rome faced the challenge
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79
of consolidating a united empire in an area composed mostly
of autonomous provincial cities with strong civic traditions. In
order to maintain hegemony across a vast territory with limited
administrative resources, Rome had to rely not only on strong
leadership but also on the autonomous administrative capability of provincial cities.66 Thus, the state had to allow provincial
cities and their governments to mediate between the state and
subjects even regarding the crucial state matter of the religious
cult. This reliance united the interests of the ruler and those of
local elites who already held positions of power and influence
among native populations.67 Through the imperial cult, the two
power groups—the Emperor and local elites—mutually depended
upon each other to consolidate their own power and status. This
reciprocation, therefore, enabled the ideology of piety and the
divine ruler that Augustus had envisioned to penetrate into every
household and to serve as one of the main pillars that sustained
the Roman Empire.
Conclusion
In the context of the Roman Empire, the term cult does
not involve the modern connotations of brainwashing or secret
ceremonies.68 All Roman subjects worshipped the gods who were
considered to have power over their daily lives, and imperial
worship was no different. The imperial cult ingeniously used the
Roman cult tradition so that people accepted the new concept
of a divine ruler as an extension of tradition. The new ruler cult
catered to the interests of Augustus because the cult, basically
paying respect to the benefactions of the powerful, justified and
consolidated the status of the Emperor as a mighty guardian and
benefactor of Rome. Augustus succeeded in securing his status as
a monarch, elevating himself to the level of the gods in his newly
invented genealogy, which drew on the mythology of the Roman
Empire. Also, the imperial cult instituted universal, recurrent
practices that served to propagate the imperial ideology and distribute benefactions to every household.69
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How was such divine worship of the monarch—the Emperor—possible in a land with a strong civic tradition? Ironically,
the imperial cult could have remained just a plan of Augustus if it
had not been for the impetus from provincial elites and their cities’
civic autonomy. To climb up the social ladder and compete among
themselves, the local elites who were somewhat marginalized from
the main power undertook to actively promote the imperial cult
by building temples and worshiping their ruler. Not only to retain
political autonomy but also to secure status and power within their
communities, the provincial elites proactively spread the imperial
cult to all areas of the Empire and all its subjects.
Compatible with the civic tradition upheld by local elites,
Roman Emperor worship created a strategic power relationship
between the ruler and the subjects. The Emperor and the provincial
elites supported each other in order to secure status and power.
On the one hand, the Emperor distributed imperial resources and
favors to those local elites who dedicated themselves to honoring
him, and on the other, the local aristocracy and freedmen utilized
their local status and wealth for the cult of their ruler, both sides
calculating their interests. Thus, the imperial cult showcased the
complex power structure of the newly formed monarchy, in which
the two main sources of power supported each other to advance
their mutual interests.
Therefore, the power structure involved in the imperial
cult was characterized by empowerment of provincial elites by the
state and a reciprocal relationship between these two powerful
bodies. Although local elites’ needs for power and stability were
the main impetus for the propagation of the imperial cult, local
elites would not have participated so actively in state affairs like
ruler worship if the state had not extended exclusive rights or
privileges to local communities. When Rome became one vast
empire, people might have expected a strong central government
overpowering provincial governments. On the contrary, the Empire, relying on political traditions based on the concept of the
city-state, acknowledged local autonomy and made full use of it
for its own benefit. In other words, the Roman state empowered
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81
provincial governments to do their jobs in their community for
the good of the Empire.
Owing to this dynamic power relationship, the imperial cult
swiftly became universal in Rome and for a long time characterized the religious and political realities of the Empire. Through
the web of power relations that connect local cities and the state,
the cult contributed to uniting the early Empire by giving people
a common deity—the Emperor—to worship and by transmitting
a homogeneous culture and identity. Politically, the imperial cult
enhanced the dominance of the Emperor over the Empire and
that of local elites over their communities, profitable outcomes
that both sides expected from their exchange of support. The
imperial cult clearly demonstrates that, as Simon Price insightfully
commented, power is not a possession of the Emperor, wielded
over his subjects and supported ultimately by force; power is a
term for analyzing a complex strategic situation.70
82
Sihak Lee
Notes
Suetonius, “Divine Vespasian” [“Divus Vespasianus”],
The Twelve Caesars (London: The Penguin Press, 1957) 287.
Vespasian expired from diarrhea at the age of 69.
2
Duncan Fishwick, “Vae Pvto Devs Fio [Vae Puto Deus
Fio],” The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 15, No. 1 (May,
1965), pp. 155-157, http://www.jstor.org/stable/637860
(accessed August 13, 2014).
3
Ittai Gradel, Emperor Worship and Roman Religion (New
York: Oxford University Press, 2002) 148.
4
Simon Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in
Asia Minor (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984) 1.
5
Ibid., 16.
6
Clifford Ando, Imperial Ideology and the Provincial Loyalty
in the Roman Empire (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 2013) 408.
7
Tacitus, The Annals, Book I, A.D.14,15 (Trans. A. J.
Church and W.J. Brodribb), http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/
annals.1.i.html (accessed in August 12, 2014).
8
Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus,
(Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1988) 92.
9
Michael Grant, “Achievements of the Divine Augustus,”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, http://academic.eb.com.ezp-prod1.
hul.harvard.edu/EBchecked/topic/3569/Achievements-of-theDivine-Augustus (accessed in August 28, 2014). In April (of 13
C.E.), Augustus deposited his will at the House of the Vestals
in Rome. It included a summary of the military and financial
resources of the empire (breviarium totius imperii) and his
political testament, known as the Res Gestae Divi Augusti (“Deeds
of the Divine Augustus”). The best-preserved copy of the latter
document is on the walls of the Temple of Rome and Augustus
at Ankara, Turkey (the Monumentum Ancyranum).
10
Augustus, “The Deeds of Divine Augustus” [“Res Gestae
Divi Augusti”], translated by Thomas Bushnell, http://classics.
mit.edu/Augustus/deeds.html (accessed July 28, 2014). The
deed was written by Augustus in 14 C.E. and inscribed on two
bronze pillars set up in Rome, by which he subjected the whole
wide earth to the rule of the Roman people.
11
Ibid.
12
Cassius Dio, The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus,
Book 50.25 I. (Trans. S. Kilvert) (London: Penguin Classics,
1987), 53.
1
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John Scheid, “Augustus and Roman Religion: Continuity,
Conservatism, and Innovation,” In K. Galinsky (Ed.), The
Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus (187). (New York,
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
14
Gail Armstrong, “Sacrificial Iconography: Creating
History, Making Myth, and Negotiating Ideology on the Ara
Pacis Augustae,” Religion & Theology 15 (2008) p. 342, 344,
http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com.ezp-prod1.hul.
harvard.edu/content/journals/10.1163/157430108x376573
(accessed August 13, 2014).
15
Augustus.
16
Armstrong, 344.
17
Gradel, 117.
18
Dio, Book 51.20, 80.
19
Suetonius, “Divine Augustus 52” [Divus Augustus 52], The
Twelve Caesars (London: The Penguin Press, 1957) 74.
20
Dio, Book 53.2, 128.
21
Augustus.
22
Janice Benario, “Book 4 of Horace’s Odes: Augustan
Propaganda,” Transactions and Proceedings of the American
Philological Association, Vol. 91 (1960), p. 350, http://www.
jstor.org/stable/283861 (accessed October 2, 2015).
23
Zanker, 123; Armstrong, 353.
24
Benario, 340.
25
Benario, 341.
26
Benario, 341.
27
Horace, The Odes Book IV-5—“To Augustus,” http://www.
poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/HoraceOdesBkIV.htm
(accessed October 2, 2014).
28
Armstrong, 353.
29
Ando, 411.
30
Zanker, 298.
31
Gary Miles, “Roman and Modern Imperialism: A
Reassessment,” Comparative Studies in Society and History,
Vol. 32, No. 4 (October, 1990) p.648, http://www.jstor.org/
stable/178956 (accessed September 18, 2014); Ando, 338.
32
Zanker, 93, 234.
33
Ibid., 237.
34
Miles, 649.
35
Ibid., Zanker 299.
36
Price, 205, 232-3; Miles, 649.
13
83
84
Sihak Lee
Greg Woolf, “Provincial perspectives,” in K. Galinsky
(Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus (New York,
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005) p. 108.
38
Gradel, 101.
39
Ibid., 101.
40
Ibid., 37.
41
Tacitus.
42
Price, 28-30.
43
Zanker, 301,331.
44
Ibid., 305.
45
Price, 53.
46
Zanker, 330.
47
Ibid., 321.
48
Ibid., 316, 321.
49
Ibid., 316, 321.
50
Ibid., 316, 319.
51
R. Jones, “A False Start? The Roman Urbanization of
Western Europe,” World Archeology, Vol. 19, No.1, Urbanization
(June, 1987), p. 54, http://www.jstor.org/stable/124498
(accessed October 7, 2014).
52
Richard Hingley, “Ch. 46. Rome: Imperial and Local
Religions,” In T. Insoll (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the
Archeology of Rituals & Religion (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2011) 749.
53
Ibid., 750; J. Rives, “Religion in the Roman World,” in J.
Huskinson (Ed.) Experiencing Rome: Culture, Identity and Power in
the Roman Empire (London: Routledge, 2000) 261.
54
Ibid.
55
Peter Garnsey and Richard Saller, The Roman Empire:
Economy, Society and Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987) 21-26; Miles, 640.
56
Graham Burton, “The Roman Imperial State, Provincial
Governors and the Public Finances of Provincial Cities, 27
B.C.- 235 A.D.,” Historia: Zeitschrift fur Alte Geschichte, Bd. 53, H.
3 (2004), p. 313, http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.
edu/stable/4436732 (accessed October 13, 2014).
57
F.W. Walbank, “Nationality as a Factor in Roman
History,” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol.76, 148,
1972, http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/
stable/310981(accessed August 14, 2014); Miles, p. 633.
58
Ibid., 634.
59
Price, 28; Zanker, 304.
60
Zanker, 321.
37
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But such social mobility was limited to the rich upper
local elites and freedmen, not commoners or slaves.
62
Garnsey and Saller, 141-145; Miles, 641.
63
Ibid., 641.
64
Zanker, 316.
65
Woolf, 107.
66
Ando, 83.
67
Miles, 643.
68
Katherine Crawford, “The Foundation of the Roman
Imperial Cult,” http://wp.chs.harvard.edu/sunoikisis/
files/2011/04/Crawford.pdf (accessed October 15, 2014).
69
Ando, 411.
70
Price, 242.
61
Bibliography
Ando, Clifford. Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the
Roman Empire. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University
of California Press, 2013.
Armstrong, Gail. “Sacrificial Iconography: Creating
History, Making Myth, and Negotiating Ideology on the Ara
Pacis Augustae,” Religion & Theology 15 (2008) 342, 344. http://
booksandjournals.brillonline.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.
edu/content/journals/10.1163/157430108x376573. Accessed
October 13, 2014.
Augustus, The Deeds of Divine Augustus [Res Gestae Divi
Augusti], http://classics.mit.edu/Augustus/deeds.html.
Accessed December 28, 2014.
Benario, Janice. Book 4 of Horace’s odes: Augustan
propaganda, Transactions and Proceedings of the American
Philological Association, 91 (1960), 339-352. http://www.jstor.
org/stable/28386. Accessed Feb 2, 2015.
Burton, Graham. “The Roman Imperial State, Provincial
Governors and the Public Finances of Provincial Cities, 27 B.C.235 A.D.,” Historia: Zeitschrift fur Alte Geschichte, Bd. 53, H. 3
(2004), 313. http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/
stable/4436732. Accessed October 13, 2014.
Crawford, Katherine. “The Foundation of the Roman
Imperial Cult,” http://wp.chs.harvard.edu/sunoikisis/
files/2011/04/Crawford.pdf. Accessed October 13, 2014.
Dio, Cassius. The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus.
(Trans. I.S. Kilvert) London: Penguin Classics, 1987.
85
86
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Fishwick, Duncan, Vae Pvto Devs Fio, The Classical Quarterly,
New Series, 15(1)(1965), 156. http://www.jstor.org/
stable/637860. Accessed October 13, 2014.
Garnsey, Peter and Saller, Richard. The Roman Empire:
Economy, Society and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1987.
Gradel, Ittai. Emperor Worship and Roman Religion. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2002.
Grant, Michael. “Achievements of the Divine Augustus,”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, http://academic.eb.com.ezp-prod1.
hul.harvard.edu/EBchecked/topic/3569/Achievements-of-theDivine-Augustus. Accessed in August 28, 2014.
Hingley, Richard. “Ch. 46. Rome: Imperial and Local
Religions,” In T. Insoll (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the
Archeology of Rituals & Religion. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2011.
Horace. Ode 4.5, http://www.poetryintranslation.com/
PITBR/Latin/HoraceOdesBkIV.htm (accessed June 25, 2014).
Jones, R. “A False Start? The Roman Urbanization of
Western Europe,” World Archeology, Vol. 19, No.1, Urbanization
(June, 1987), 54. http://www.jstor.org/stable/124498. Accessed
October 7, 2014.
Miles, Gary. “Roman and Modern Imperialism: A
Reassessment,” Comparative Studies in Society and History,
Vol. 32, No. 4 (October, 1990) 648. http://www.jstor.org/
stable/178956. Accessed September 18, 2014.
Price, Simon. Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in
Asia Minor. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
Rives, J. “Religion in the Roman World,” In J. Huskinson
(Ed.), Experiencing Rome: Culture, Identity and Power in the Roman
Empire. London: Routledge, 2000.
Scheid, John. “Augustus and Roman religion: Continuity,
Conservatism, and Innovation,” In K. Galinsky (Ed.), The
Cambraidge Companion to the Age of Augustus (175-193). New York,
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Suetonius, “Divine Vespasian” [Divus Vespasianus], The
Twelve Caesars (Trans. Robert Graves). London: Penguin
Classics, 2007.
Tacitus. The Annals, Book I, A.D.14,15 (Trans. A. J.
Church and W.J. Brodribb). http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/
annals.1.i.html. Accessed June 15, 2014.
Suetonius. “Divine Augustus [Divus Augustus]”, The Twelve
Caesars (Trans. Robert Graves). London: Penguin Classics, 2007
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Walbank, F.W., “Nationality as a Factor in Roman History,”
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol.76 (1972), 148. http://
www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/310981.
Accessed August 14, 2014.
Woolf, Greg, “Provincial perspectives.” In K. Galinsky
(Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus, 175-193.
New York, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Zanker, Paul, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus. Ann
Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1988
87
88
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Edward Gibbon
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
New York: Everyman’s Library, 1993
Volume II, [1781] pp. 389-390
...But the humanity of Julian was preserved from the
cruel alternative which he pathetically laments of destroying
or of being himself destroyed: and the seasonable death of
Constantius delivered the Roman empire from the calamities
of civil war. The approach of winter could not detain the
monarch at Antioch; and his favourites durst not oppose his
impatient desire of revenge. A slight fever, which was perhaps
occasioned by the agitation of his spirits, was increased by the
fatigues of the journey, and Constantius was obliged to halt
at the little town of Mopsucrene, twelve miles beyond Tarsus,
where he expired, after a short illness, in the forty-fifth year
of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his reign. His genuine
character, which was composed of pride and weakness, of
superstition and cruelty, has been fully displayed in the
preceding narrative of civil and ecclesiatical events. The
long abuse of power rendered him a considerable object in
the eyes of his contemporaries; but, as personal merit can
alone deserve the notice of posterity, the last of the sons of
Constantine may be dismissed from the world with the remark
that he inherited the defects, without the abilities, of his father.
Before Constantius expired, he is said to have named Julian
for his successor; nor does it seem improbable that his anxious
concern for the fate of a young and tender wife, whom he had
left with child, may have prevailed in his last moments over
the harsher passions of hatred and revenge. Eusebius and his
guilty associates made a faint attempt to prolong the reign of
the eunuchs by the election of another emperor; but their
intrigues were rejected with disdain by an army which now
abhorred the thought of civil discord; and two officers of rank
were instantly despatched to assure Julian that every sword in
the empire would be drawn for his service.
Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
Manchu Variations: The Making and Unmaking of
an Identity in the Qing Dynasty of China
Sooah Kang
I. Introduction: the Foreign Rulers of China
Few dynasties in China had amassed so vast a territory
or ruled over so diverse a population before the Qing, the last
dynasty in Chinese history, established by the Manchu people.
Today, it is safe to say that the Modern Chinese nation-state was
built upon the historical legacies of the Qing, as historian Mark C.
Elliott states in his book, The Manchu Way: “… [T]hat China looks
the way it does on the map today is very much a consequence of
Qing rule. This legacy—the geographic constitution of the nation
under the Manchus—may represent the single greatest impact
of Manchu rule.”1 Today, the People’s Republic of China has succeeded to most of the territories conquered by the Qing, and the
presence of the fifty-five ethnic minorities2 residing on Chinese
soil along with the overwhelming majority Han Chinese3 is itself
a testament to an important legacy of the Qing: its inclusion of
diverse populations and ways of life.
As an empire, the Qing made numerous breakthroughs
quite unparalleled in Chinese history. In addition to the recogniSooah Kang is a Senior at Seoul International School in Seoul, South
Korea, where she wrote this paper for Tony Hurt’s Advanced Placement
World History course in the 2014/2015 academic year.
90
Sooah Kang
tion as the longest-lasting dynasty in China after the Tang, it was
during the Qing that China’s population nearly tripled, thanks
to, among other factors, the new crops introduced from the New
World.4 Somewhat as a result of population growth, China also saw
unparalleled economic prosperity. Such achievements, however,
pale in comparison with Qing’s series of successful expansions into
and maintenance of its outlying regions in Inner Asia. The Qing
Dynasty’s unsurpassed landmass is the direct result of these expansions and governance. Even after its imperial domain reached its
height in the mid-eighteenth century during the reign of Qianlong
Emperor, the Qing managed to maintain its prestigious status as a
world empire by keeping most of its vast territories for more than
a century, that is, until its fall in 1912.
Attempting to make sense of such crowning accomplishments of the Qing, a number of western historians have pinpointed
the factors contributing to the dynasty’s success. Scholars such as
John King Fairbank, Mary Clabaugh Wright, and Ho Ping-ti have
found as the major driving force behind the dynasty’s success
the “Sinicization of the Manchus”—the notion that the Manchu
rulers were able to enjoy continued dominance thanks to their
successful assimilation to the culture of the Han majority, while
the majority of Han Chinese largely remained apathetic to the
ways of their Manchu counterparts.5 The scholars postulated that
these “foreign” rulers of China’s last empire transformed into
Chinese themselves, shedding their traditional red tassel in favor
of the mandarin collar, to put it metaphorically. They proposed,
in other words, that the Manchus became somewhat uncreatively
integrated into the Han-dominated Chinese society and culture, to
the extent that they no longer retained their own separate identity
distinguishable from that of their subjects. The argument implies
that the dimming distinction between the Manchu rulers and
the Chinese populations served their interests well, especially in
ruling and maintaining their enormous empire. As the Manchus
turned into Chinese, they were able effectively to master the administrative expertise and experiences of the Han Chinese, who
had maintained huge empires for significant amounts of time
before the Manchu conquest.
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91
This proposition came under attack by a new wave of historians such as Mark C. Elliott, Evelyn S. Rawski, Pamela K. Crossley,
Joanna Waley-Cohen, and William T. Rowe. They contended that
even if some of the Manchus lost much of their distinguishing traits,
there remained a more orthodox group of Manchu elites, most
of whom had been or were descended from the “Eight Banners,”
a unique Manchu civil and military organization. This theory is
backed by the fact that the Qing Empire was much more than
just China proper, that is, the area south of Inner Mongolia, east
of Xinjiang and Tibet, and west of Manchuria. The Qing as we
know it came to rule over Xinjiang, Mongolia, Manchuria, and
parts of the Tibet region, as well as former Han China. That said,
even if the Manchus were able to cement their authority in the
Han-dominated regions through their transformation, it would not
have been helpful for maintaining their authority over the other
regions where the local residents were not ethnically Chinese.
The Chinese political ideologies and administrative system, as
well as the Chinese language the Manchu rulers adopted, would
have been of little use for ruling areas other than China proper.
The scholars add that what precisely constitutes an ethnic
identity is not always so clear. In this sense, arriving at the definition of “Manchuness” would involve a great deal more than simply examining the “usual” criteria of ethnicity, such as language,
ancestry, and customs. Indeed, the pattern that emerged over the
centuries seems only to accentuate the very lack of a clear basis for
a universally and permanently distinguishable Manchu heritage.
The members of the so-called Eight Banner System were
originally the soldiers who had early on submitted to Nurhaci’s
command before the founding of the Qing Empire. At this beginning stage, even if these Bannermen had shared a common identity
as conquerors, they came from divergent ethnic backgrounds.
However, as time passed, membership in the Banners came to
signify a de facto ethnicity, thanks to their conqueror status and
their isolation from the Han Chinese society. Viewed this way, the
very essence of “Manchuness” seems to drive home the absence
of a constant criterion that enables such a definition. Historical
92
Sooah Kang
data suggest that Manchuness is characterized by its variability, its
ability to remain amenable to the constantly emerging demands
of social, political, and military expediency. In other words, the
lack of clarity with respect to the Manchus’ ethnogenesis, customs,
and other distinguishing traits in fact enabled these foreign rulers
of China to maintain a political edge, allowing them to represent
themselves in a number of different ways.
Indeed, the definition of Manchuness had undergone
several transformations, and yet, one thing remained firmly and
properly Manchu through the times: the Banner System. From
the founding of the Later Jin to the fall of the Qing in 1912, at
no point in the story of the Manchus was the Banner System
excluded. The persistence of the banners after the conquest of
Tibet and Xinjiang suggests that the banners had not just been the
conquest arm of the Qing court. In addition to their role as the
defenders of the Qing imperial authority, the banners functioned
as the enabler of the Manchu difference, a patent of nobility, as it
were. In sum, the Banner System proved to be the most distinctive
organizing principle that was synonymous with the ascendancy
and longevity of the Qing.
In this essay, I argue that, far from being subsumed under
the Chinese civilization, the Manchus effectively used both the
elements they brought with them and those already present, that
they made great efforts to stay as Manchus in what seems like an
uphill battle to preserve their cultural authenticity, and that the
Eight Banners served as the stronghold of Manchuness. In so doing, I show how fluid or variable the Manchu identity had been
from the beginning to the end, even as deliberate efforts were
made to restore its purity in what seems to be a highly calculated
political maneuver.
II. Thema: the Origins of the Manchu People
Nurhaci, the founder of the Later Jin, or aisin gurun, which
ultimately developed into daicing gurun, or the Qing Empire, was
born into a noble family attached to the Long White Mountain
group, a branch of the Jurchen people who lived in the north-
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eastern part of modern China. In the early seventeenth century,
various groups of Jurchen people resided in what are now the
Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces. Today, these provinces are known
as “Manchuria” among English-speakers—a nod to the heritage
of Nurhaci and the Qing Empire (1644–1912) that he founded.
Since his youth, Nurhaci had demonstrated his diplomatic
capabilities by successfully forging trade arrangements with the
Chinese during his visits to Beijing, where he paid respects to the
Ming Emperor and officials. He even received an honorific title
as a reward for his contributions to the Ming fight against the
Japanese, who in 1592 had invaded Joseon Korea, a loyal tributary
state to Ming China. Later, however, the amicable relationship
between Nurhaci and the Ming court turned sour as Nurhaci grew
enraged by the Ming’s humiliation of his family members and,
perhaps more directly, by its destruction of Nurhaci’s source of
economic wealth.6
Instead of rendering him powerless, Nurhaci’s loss of ties
with the Ming court ended up strengthening him, propelling him
to embark on a rather ambitious path: the formation of his own
state.7 As semi-nomads, Jurchens engaged in hunting, fishing,
farming, and trade, of which trade was the most lucrative. However, the trade with Ming China ended up giving the Ming court
an advantage because the Ming court had entered into separate
contracts with different Jurchen groups, forcing them to compete
against each other for more trading patents. It did not take long,
however, for Nurhaci to become aware of this situation and to
prevail over his rival Jurchen groups, monopolizing the trade
with the Ming court.8
Sensing the growing dominance of Nurhaci, the Ming took
actions against him: in 1609, it reduced the amount of income
that Nurhaci’s Jurchen group could gain from trade, which was
conducted technically in the form and name of “tribute trade,” and
proceeded to close down the border market. Eventually, Nurhaci,
who had been dependent on his trade with Ming, found himself in
dire straits as he lost his most profitable source of income. Faced
with such difficulties, Nurhaci sought new sources of wealth. His
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ensuing military campaigns, rather than merely being reckless territorial expansions, arose out of this search for viable subsistence.9
In preparation for the conquest of China proper in 1644,
Nurhaci took over various groups of Jurchens in Manchuria and
some Mongolians in the vicinity primarily through successful military conquests. The principal motive behind Nurhaci’s military
campaigns was the realization that securing a stable livelihood
for his people and gaining independence from the whims of the
Ming court were best possible through building a powerful state
of his own. Yet, Nurhaci’s concept of independence was not one
pertaining to the Jurchen ethnicity only. Nurhaci was no “freedom fighter” in the modern sense. It appears that, in Nurhaci’s
plans, the “people” did not just stand for ethnic Jurchens. In fact,
serving under Nurhaci’s command was a diverse mix of Chinese,
Mongolians, and Koreans, as well as Jurchens. For instance, while
Nurhaci’s troops fought in battles, his Chinese artisans produced
iron, dug up precious metals such as gold and silver, and grew
silkworms to produce silk and cotton.10
This “division of labor” along ethnic lines did not signify
ethnic segregation as much as it was a practical and effective means
for Nurhaci’s political and military ascent. It was simply efficient
to make use of the skills his new subjects brought with them, and
often a set of skills an ethnic group brought was irreplaceable by
another’s.11 The need for a well-provisioned, quickly-deployable
army could readily be satisfied by the efficient use of talents and
skills at hand, after all. For this reason, it may be said that Nurhaci’s
policy of equity and inclusion for his subjects was not so much
ideologically motivated—that is, driven by a philosophical, rather
than practical, cause—as necessitated by utilitarian concerns. Still,
Nurhaci’s experience in working toward a common goal with variegated populations would later serve as a foundation for carving
out a new identity both unique to his people and separate from
the ethnic, ancestral, or racial divisions still present among his
subjects during his rule.
Owing to Nurhaci’s inclusive policy, the newly incorporated
people were encouraged to invest their loyalty in Nurhaci.12 A
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95
firm economic base was helpful not just for territorial expansion,
but, in the long run, also for his maintenance of control over his
people by winning their allegiance. Laying claim to the ginseng
trade with the Ming court, is one such example. Indeed, he subsequently was cautious not to let anyone under his command eat
away at his hard-earned stature by similarly dominating goods or
resources. When Nurhaci requested his new Mongolian men to
join him in his military expedition in 1619, he issued a firm order
to bring their own provisions and not to pillage any food from
the local villages as they marched toward the Ming borderland.13
This directive was likely to have been prompted by his desire to
continuously enjoy his esteem as the sole provider of provisions by
successfully anticipating the growth of any internal factions while
working hard to promote his reputation as a highly capable ruler.
Once proven successful, Nurhaci’s policy continued to
hold sway well beyond Nurhaci’s rule. Soon after his eighth son,
Hong Taiji (1592–1643), came to the throne in 1627, a Jurchen
noble (beile) named Amin attacked and looted Korea against a
longstanding mandate. It did not take long for Hong Taiji to deal
with such disrespectful behavior in a manner akin to that of his
predecessor: the Emperor issued a punishment unusually severe
for someone with a background as illustrious as Amin’s.14 To
construe Hong Taiji’s response as a sign of genuine benevolence
toward Koreans would be somewhat naive; instead, his action
demonstrates eagerness on Hong Taiji’s part to establish himself
as the only one who could provide for his people. It was a telltale
sign that he wanted to maintain his authority by projecting himself
as a gracious ruler of the weak.15
Nurhaci’s use of diplomacy to obtain a strong support base
is also seen in other areas of life. To supplement his preexisting
support base, Nurhaci used marriage contracts strategically to
further shore up his influence, especially with the Mongolians. For
example, Nurhaci himself married the daughter of the chief of the
Khorcin Mongolians, and he and his sons married six Mongolian
women in total.16 These marriage contracts with Mongolians, along
with Nurhaci’s multiethnic citizenry, came to play an important
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role in the invention of an organization that would serve both as
a military force and an administrative system: the Eight Banners.
Through Nurhaci’s relationship with Mongolians, various
religious and philosophical precepts that later proved useful for the
Qing court’s imperial rule entered Nurhaci’s sphere: the “Mandate
of Heaven,” a traditional Chinese belief that the heaven bestows the
right to rule to the righteous ruler, and the “universal Emperor,”
one who could style himself both as a Confucian Emperor to his
Chinese subjects and as a bodhisattva, the “enlightened being,” or
Manjushri, to his Tibetan Buddhist followers, were among them.17
According to the historian Peter Perdue, such adoption of institutions and practices furnished “the cauldron in which innovative
social formations could be brewed, which led to a military and
social structure of irresistible force.”18 Moreover, even if some of
the borrowed concepts, beliefs, and institutions had technically
not been of Mongolian invention, it was the Mongolians who had
introduced and transmitted them to the Jurchens, paving the
road to the Jurchen conquest of China proper. In so doing, the
marriage alliances not only facilitated the Jurchens’ dominance
over and incorporation of the neighboring Mongolian groups,
but also, and more importantly, expedited the Nurhaci regime’s
adoption of institutional apparatuses that would serve its interest
well both in the early stages of the Qing state-building and later
in establishing and maintaining its enormous imperial domain.
From its inception, the diversity and pluralism of the Eight
Banner System were apparent. Formed between 1601 and 1607, the
Banner System consisted of small units, each called gusa, and were
distinguishable by their banners, which then could be broken up
into several military units called niru, which literally meant “arrow”
in Jurchen and contained about 300 adult members each, closely
resembling a company in a modern western military. Eventually,
these niru formed the substratum of the Aisin Gurun. As stated
earlier, not all members of Nurhaci’s state were of Jurchen origin,
though they were indeed the majority of those who submitted to his
rule. Among approximately 400 niru, 308 were composed mostly
of Jurchens and, to a lesser extent, Mongolians; another 76 niru
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were exclusively made up of Mongolians, and the remaining 16,
Koreans.19 Signs of cultural variety were patent in the organization
and implementation of the Eight Banner System. For instance, the
nirus, components of the banners (gusas), and the hunting and
fighting units were in fact modeled after the Mongolian institution
called the qosighun.20 The banners also adopted many Mongolian
practices, such as the dual civil and military administration, the use
of sacred flags, and the appointment of hereditary elite officers.21
The Jurchen leaders were able to build solidarity among
their heterogeneous subjects through a strategic dismantling of
original groups and mixing them with others. That is, the large
numbers of ethnic Russian, Korean, and Mongol members would
first be taken apart and broken down into small groups before being allocated to separate banners. Thus, even if it appears that new
names were simply given to the banners without any substantial
change to their constituents, the bannermen had already undergone dramatic reorientation before they were allotted to actual
units. For instance, the Mongol banner had subjects from different Mongol branches, who were hardly familiar to one another.
This would prevent them from forming a separate ethnic identity
as Mongolians and foster their loyalty to their new organization.
Finally, the Jurchens who were close to the ruling family would
lead each banner consisting of diverse peoples who would invest
their allegiance to their banner rather than to the group with
which they were previously affiliated.22
The people under the Banner System were not scattered
masses living across the Manchuria plains; they were governed
under a tight and efficient administrative system, made possible
by a strict division of labor and headcount. Instead of a loosely
organized hunter-gatherer society, the early seventeenth century
observer would have seen neat formations that rivaled highly
developed Chinese military units of the time. Whether Nurhaci
intended or not, the Eight Banner System was ingenious in that
it served multiple interests—short- and long-term, military and
civilian—at once: it not only made efficient mobilization easier,
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making continuous military campaigns possible, but its units also
acted as de facto self-governing bodies during peacetime.23
Possible conflicts of interest vexed Nurhaci, however. The
Jurchens were not yet completely unified into a single ethnic
group, since they had come from their distinct tribal branches.
Even if the Jurchen peoples under Nurhaci’s command had
shared a common goal during wartime, they would not remain
as a single group unless they had a common purpose or a reason
strong enough to justify their togetherness. This was not a unique
problem with Nurhaci’s state, however. Scholars emphasize that
in the process of any state-building project in the modern period
there is a need for a firm ideological base, often accomplished
by defining, stipulating, and propagating national language and
common cultural heritage, such as ancestry or national history.24
With respect to the Qing, scholars such as Crossley, Siu, and Sutton likewise emphasize the superiority of narrative in forming
(or dismantling) a state identity, citing the Ming-period binary
between civilization and the Yao, and the “Mongol” identity as
propagated by the Qing, which the authors interpret as largely
constructed rather than real.25
Nurhaci’s major stumbling block was in keeping his diverse
subjects together. Since the Eight Banners were created primarily
to restructure Jurchen communities into a military organization
and since a vast number of the Jurchens did become united under the command of Nurhaci, who was then the chieftain of the
Jianzhou Jurchen group, Jurchen dominance in the banners was
rather unequivocal. Highly aware that simply putting Jurchens
together with other constituents from diverse cultural groups within
an organization was not enough to maintain their unity, Nurhaci
embarked on promoting a common identity among these various
members of the Eight Banner System, starting with Jurchens who
had originally belonged to different groups and later incorporating Koreans, Russians, and a large number of Chinese.
As the first step toward accomplishing his goal, Nurhaci
worked to tighten the bond among the Jurchens. In so doing, he
emphasized and encouraged the importance of their common
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language, which by now had become universal among all branches
of Jurchens. In this process, he even brought about the invention
of a new script to transcribe their tongue.26 Eventually, Nurhaci
paved the way for the members of the Eight Banners not limited to
those of Jurchen origin to later transform into an ethnic group. In
other words, Nurhaci’s Eight Banner System, centered on Jurchen
cultural heritage, had already readied itself for the absorption of
foreigners such as the Russians, Koreans, and Chinese by creating a new script and a new name (Manchu) independent of the
preexisting Jurchen ethnicity, though the original purpose behind
the inventions appears to have been to unify different Jurchens.
Such new cultural garb facilitated the assimilation of peoples from
outside without considerable resistance to the Eight Banners’
“ethnic innovation,” as Mark Elliott describes.27
Later, Nurhaci waged a series of wars against the Ming, the
penultimate Chinese empire, which was only half the size of the
Qing. In 1619, after his successful defeat of the united forces of
Ming, Joseon, and Yehe, Nurhaci finally took over the Yehe and
united the Jurchen. In the early 1620s, he annexed the Liaodong
region and established a new state capital in Liaoyang (also known
as Liaodong) but soon in 1625 moved it to Shenyang.28
The primary reason behind Nurhaci’s relocation to Liaodong was to reform the Banner System’s primary economic base
by securing a more stable source of food. In the early seventeenth
century, the Chinese-speaking residents in Liaodong lived off agriculture, and, for Nurhaci, a reliable source of food was necessary
for continued warfare and the complete unification of Jurchen
branches. While the Jurchens had traded with Ming China, trade
had never been a stable source of wealth for them. With the added
difficulty from competition and infighting among Jurchens with
regard to this trade, Nurhaci had few choices. The need to incorporate an agricultural economy into his Banner System pressing
upon him, Nurhaci first took over the Liaodong area, and worked
to organize the Chinese-speaking residents of the area into his
political system. In doing so, Nurhaci hoped for a symbiotic existence between his bannermen and the local residents.
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However, Nurhaci’s experiment ended poorly, as the Jurchen bannermen plunged into a disadvantaged position vis-a-vis
the Chinese residents. Not only were his men losing their cultural
distinctiveness, but also, and more gravely, the Chinese residents
often proved more adept at taking advantage of lord-tenant relationships. Many of the land-owning Chinese would simply use
their superior status as lords and control the means of production—farmland—in order to make the Jurchens responsible for
all production activities while they would do nothing more than
collect farm rent. Nurahci became furious as he was apprised of
this situation. Eventually, he decided to decimate the local Chinese
residents and relocate his power base to Shenyang.29
III. First Variation: the Qing Identity Politics in the Hong Taiji
Reign
In 1626, after the death of Nurhaci, his eighth son, Hong
Taiji, became the new Khan, the ruler of aisin gurun. After he
managed to take over the Chahar Mongols, who were then aspiring to rule over the other Mongol peoples, Hong Taiji organized
them into a gusa and constructed the Mongol Banner as a first
step for restructuring his state in 1635. More importantly, he outlawed the use of the name Jurchen (Jušen) in favor of the new
one, “Manju (Manchu),” to refer to his people. On October 20
of the same year, Hong Taiji had issued an edict that states the
following: “Our gurun has long gone by many different names
(clans) such as Manju, Hada, Ula, Yehe, and Hoifa and so on.
Today some ignorant people address us as ‘Jurchen,’ but this appellation only describes the descendants of the Sibo (Xibe) and
Chaomeiergen and has nothing to do with our gurun. Our gurun
has established the title ‘Manju’ and this lineage has existed for
many generations. From today onward, everyone is to address our
gurun as ‘Manchu,’ which is our genuine name, and cease using
the former vulgar name.”30 In 1636, he assumed the position of
Emperor and changed the name of his state to the “Great Qing.”
The introduction of the new demonym Manchu and the statehood
of Qing seems to signify not just a shift in nomenclature, but a
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more fundamental ideological, change: aisin gurun will no longer
be a Jurchen tribal state but one embracing ethnic diversity, and
together they will form a new nation of people. The key was to
arrive at an identifier that transcended conventional categories,
and to inaugurate a constructive, forward-looking departure from
the stuffy garb of the past.
For Hong Taiji, nation-building did not always mean doing
away with the past, however; in what looks like an ironic twist, he
found that new possibilities lay also in recovering and reconnecting with the past. Hong Taiji sought in his acquisition of a stele of
the Yuan his much-needed legitimacy behind his ascension to the
imperial throne. Like the Qing, the Yuan was an imperial dynasty
established by foreign conquerors, in fact by the Mongols. Although
the Yuan dynasty survived for only about a century, the stele of its
court symbolized the prestige of the Great Mongol Khans since
Kublai Khan, the grandson of Chinggis Khan.31 Now with both the
conquest of the Chahar Mongols and the stele of the Great Mongol
Khans in his hands, Hong Taiji had become, by many measures,
qualified to style himself as the successor to the Mongol Empire.
Hong Taiji’s new state, which also went by the Manchu
name Daicing Gurun, was not only different from the former Aisin
Gurun in nomenclature, but also in the composition of its banner
system. After founding the Mongol Banner, Hong Taiji proceeded
to organize Chinese civilians who were adroit with muskets and
cannons into a new army unit separate from the already existing
Banner System. Later, he enlarged the size of this Chinese army
unit, calling it the Chinese Bannermen, and in 1637 developed it
into two gusa, which two years later increased to four and finally in
1642 to eight. Meanwhile, in the 1630s, many of the disgruntled
Chinese Ming generals surrendered to Hong Taiji, who granted
them preferential treatment by allowing them to maintain their
leadership position over their soldiers they brought with them.
In short, the Aisin Gurun or Later Jin established by Nurhaci
in the mid-1610s was technically a Jurchen state in which even the
members of the Banner System were mostly of Jurchen origin.
However, Hong Taiji’s Qing Empire or the Daicing Gurun in the
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mid-1630s was no longer such: it was one that aspired to follow the
footsteps of the Mongol Empire and now had become an empire
whose the rulers had come from eclectic cultural backgrounds.
In short, the Daicing Gurun was a melting pot that could, thanks
to its inclusiveness, absorb and accommodate new members from
non-Jurchen peoples.
At the early stages, the term “Manchu” referred only to the
Jurchen Bannermen, but by the eighteenth century, its meaning
started to encompass all members of the Eight Banner System.
Eventually, the term Manchu simply signified bannermen, regardless of their original ancestral or cultural backgrounds. Later, at
the turn of the twentieth century, a new term, qizu, appeared to
refer to the Bannermen as if they were an ethnic group. Moreover, in the modern People’s Republic of China, those who were
eligible to be labeled as the Manchus were those who could trace
their lineage to the former bannermen during the Qing dynasty
period. These facts suggest that the Eight Banner System played
a pivotal role in forming and maintaining the ethnic identity of
the Manchus.32
As mentioned above, it was Nurhaci who first established
the Eight Banner System and at that time, every Jurchen, as a
member of Aisin Gurun, was assigned to one of the eight gusa
without any exception. In this process, there were also some Chinese and Mongol people who were included in this organization
as subjects of Nurhaci. Mark Elliott argues that this new institution
had already laid the cornerstone for the Manchu ethnicity in the
early seventeenth century.33 What is interesting is that Nurhaci, the
ruler of this small state at its incipient stage, had already faced the
dilemma of pulling together peoples from different backgrounds
into a single group and of instilling in them a common identity
as his subjects. The Eight Banner System had proven to serve his
interest well in his quest for transforming his subjects into a unified
group of followers. Roughly put, the Manchus must have already
looked like a single clan serving its chieftain, Nurhaci.
Although Nurhaci was aware that a common identity had
to be promoted among the bannermen to build their solidarity, his
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efforts did not result in immediate success. Taking up Nurhaci’s
unfinished mission, Hong Taiji, who declared his empire the legitimate heir to the Mongol Empire, extended the Banner System to
incorporate the newly organized Mongol and Chinese bannermen.
As a result, the Daicing Gurun became a state centered around
all twenty-four gusa. It appears that the chief motivation behind
Hong Taiji’s coinage of the name Manchu in 1635 was to forge
a new common identity among his subjects, who, despite their
divergent cultural backgrounds, came to live “under one roof.”
Like the Mongol and Chinese Banners, the Manchu Banners were similarly variegated. The complexity of the banner system
had been such that essentializing the Mongolness, or Chineseness,
or Manchuness of the eponymous banners was not only difficult
but also somewhat irrelevant. To illustrate, the word “Mongol” in
the Mongol Banners did not really signify that it was an army of
Mongol warriors, and the same principle applied to its Chinese
and Manchu counterparts as well. In grappling with the question
of identity within the banners, one has to refrain from thinking
that the Manchu bannermen would have to be Jurchen Manchus if
creating separate Mongol and Chinese banners were to be meaningful. Having started out with Jurchens, Mongols, Chinese, and
Koreans, the Manchu Banners later incorporated niru consisting
of Russians, Tibetans, and Uyghur Muslims. Given the pattern
of diversification over the years, the ethnic composition of the
Banner System appeared to increase its variety for much longer,
for diversity was so central to the banners themselves that it was
unimaginable to think of them without invoking the concept.
IV. Second Variation: Chinese Bannermen during the Manchu
“Inquisition”
In the early stages of Qing history, that is, in the formative
years of the Later Jin, the nikasa, which stands for “Chinese people”
in the Jurchen language, played an important role as collaborators to the Jurchen elite. Especially during the conquest of Ming
China, Chinese bannermen accounted for seventy-five percent of
the banner members, while Mongolians represented eight percent
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and Manchus—that is, the bannermen who had joined Nurhaci
in the early seventeenth century—16 percent.34 The contributions
from the Chinese members were such that the Hong Taiji-led bannermen’s conquest of the Ming China could even be described
as a war between two groups of Chinese soldiers, one under the
rule of the Qing and the other, steadfast to the declining Ming.
After the takeover of the Ming, the Manchus spent the
remaining part of the late seventeenth century suppressing the
three seditious Han feudatories, during which the Chinese banners played an indispensable role.35 Despite their contributions,
however, the Chinese bannermen came under many forms of
disadvantages once the Qing accomplished its ultimate goal of
conquering the entire Ming domain. Beginning in 1727 during the
reign of Yongzheng Emperor (1723–1735), those in the Chinese
banners had their genealogical backgrounds checked and those
who failed to trace their lineages back to bannermen ancestors
were stripped of their title as bannermen. However, many of those
who were banished from the Banner System at this point were not
real bannermen, but rather ordinary Han Chinese stowaways who
disguised themselves as such and were secreted into this military
organization in order to enjoy the benefits provided by the Qing
government.36 To be precise, it was in the final stages of the reform
conducted in the Qianlong reign (1736–1795) when the hanjun,
the bannermen from Chinese backgrounds, had also been expelled
along with the imposters. Simply put, although not all, many of
the Chinese who came to be treated as Manchus were now being
forced to recover their Chineseness.
Given the mass-scale Chinese expulsion, it may now appear
that maintaining their difference as Manchus became a significant
concern for the Qing court. One might argue that the Manchu
Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong were so obsessed with purifying
the Banners and with strengthening their Manchuness that they
undertook to expel the vast majority of their comrades-in-arms
solely because of their Chinese origin.37 An interesting hypothesis
indeed, yet according to many scholars of Qing history, there seem
to have been more intricate motives. Before making any sweep-
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ing judgment about the Qing court’s decisions, it may be worth
examining the full context of such decisions and the ultimate
purpose they were called on to serve. To shed some light on the
mass expulsion programs under the Yongzheng and Qianlong
regimes, I consider the theories put forth by Mark Elliott and
Pamela Crossley, two prominent scholars of the Qing history, as
well as those of a few others.
Mark Elliott points out in The Manchu Way that the most
significant motive behind the Qing court’s restructuring of the
Banners was the need to reduce the financial burden on the government. Indeed, the benefits and privileges accorded to bannermen were immense: they could become bureaucrats much more
easily than could the Chinese because not only were there more
seats allotted to them, but also a different set of test questions were
developed to examine their qualification for government posts;
they were punished much more leniently for the same crime committed compared to Chinese residents; and they were granted a
hefty monthly stipend.38 These employment, legal prerogatives,
and lifetime welfare benefits, not to mention minor advantages
such as exemption from indebtedness and special stipends for
funerals and weddings, made the Banners an enormous part of
the entire imperial budget. It is quite obvious that the continued
provision of such benefits for all bannermen was bound to be
burdensome for the Qing government. Even worse, these benefits
were extended to the dependents of bannermen, including but
not limited to, families, slaves, and so on. The statistics provided
in Elliott’s research shows that the Qing court had been spending
no less than a quarter of its government budget on supporting
the members of the Banner System, who accounted for only two
percent of the entire Qing population.39
To add insult to injury, the signs of cultural transformation in the Banners were increasingly apparent. As more and
more bannermen adopted Chinese ways, including the Chinese
language and the pursuit of urban life in Chinese cities, they also
abandoned the Manchu language and the austere lifestyle of the
warrior.40 Equally important, their skills as soldiers also suffered.
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Many bannermen, having grown accustomed to the luxuries life
in China offered, increasingly neglected many of the key skills
they had been trained to perform, such as mounted archery.41 It
is only too easy to predict that such an enormous support for the
Banner System would soon become not only impossible but also
pointless; the Qing court probably thought twice about continuing
to provide for what seemed like indolent—and somewhat disloyal
—garrisons of questionable combat-worthiness.
Instead of ramping up discipline throughout the banners,
the two Manchu Emperors seemed to have taken the path of least
resistance. Rather than tightening their grip on all bannermen,
which could have met with considerable opposition, the Emperors
could easily attribute the dimming “Manchuness” among bannermen to the Chinese elements within the banners. The advantages
of this solution were twofold: first, by expelling a vast majority of
bannermen, the Qing court could effectively address the financial
quandary they had been facing, and second, the ouster would serve
as an example, a symbolic warning against the widespread laxity and
incompetence. Still, if preserving and reinforcing cultural purity
were the main issue, what was stopping the Qing Emperors from
purging all non-Jurchen members, including the early Chinese
entrants? Were the Emperors, high officials, and commanders
themselves not of Jurchen extraction, after all?
Elliott addresses the question by calling for a broader definition of ethnicity, which, according to him, is a highly relative,
rather than absolute, concept. He suggests that we “see ethnicity
historically as a way of constructing identity (i.e., ‘selfness’) whenever and wherever human groups come into contact and discover
meaning in the differences between each other, which they may
then turn to various purposes.”42 Viewed this way, the Manchu
bannermen indeed qualified as an ethnicity, bound together by
their difference in terms of class and history from the Han Chinese
majority, not to mention their physical proximity to one another,
commonness of purpose, and the customs created to serve their
goals. Also, relative to the differences between the Manchus and
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the general Han Chinese population, the differences within the
Manchu banners were minimal, especially in the older units.
While they were not the principal victims of persecution
in the eighteenth century, the early-generation Chinese bannermen had not always been entirely immune to suspicion or bias.
Elliott cites an incident in which Nurhaci explicitly scolded some
of his nikasa followers, yelling: “You don’t think of the beneficence
extended by the Khan who has nurtured you, and your failure to
handle matters carefully-—what [sort of attitude] is this, that getting booty is all there is? We don’t trust you Chinese now.” Elliott
contends that behind Nurhaci’s admonition was the relative ease
of singling out the Chinese elements of the banners, due in large
part to their use of Chinese surnames.43 A more germane—that
is, for the purposes of our discussion—implication of this account is that ethnicity is a reactive phenomenon also, that it is a
collection of perceived differences ascribable to certain “bodies”
given a name (“type” in Crossley’s usage), and that, provided a
modicum of coherence, such “observable” differences often work
to condone or even legitimize what appear to be overt forms of
discrimination or stigmatization.44
The arguments of many Qing historians such as Evelyn S.
Rawski, Joanna Waley-Cohen, James A. Millward, David M. Farquhar, Peter C. Perdue, Samuel M. Grupper, James Hevia,45 and
others, similarly acknowledge the presence of systems meant to
preserve or perpetuate the differences between the Chinese and
the Manchus. The Qing government assigned and dispatched
Bannermen, especially those who belonged to the zhufang baqi,
to major cities of the empire, including Beijing. However, the
residence areas of these Bannermen were in the form of a closed
structure, that is, surrounded by immense boundaries, forming a
virtual moat, which completely isolated the Bannermen residents
from the world outside.46 This served to imprint the difference
among them—for example, conquerors and subjects, Manchus
and Han Chinese, Bannermen and non-Bannermen—on both
the Bannermen and Han Chinese. In addition, the isolation
precluded the possibility of Manchus’ assimilation into the Han
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Chinese culture by physically disabling their mutual interaction
through a quasi-quarantine system.
Still, there was the “issue” of Han Chinese within banner
ranks. As emphasized earlier, the banner garrisons had hitherto
been a venue for an ethnic transformation in which Chinese,
Mongol, Jurchen, Korean, or Russian recruits metamorphosed into
Manchu warriors. But with little prospect of warfare, the newer
Chinese bannermen were not secure against the suspicion that
they polluted the uniformity of the banners by bringing Chinese
customs with them. As unfortunate as it was for these veterans,
the expulsion of Chinese bannermen was geared to slow down
the influx of Chinese culture into the banner system. As Elliott
argues, without the Chinese bannermen, the remaining Bannermen could perceive themselves as an ethnic group much more
strongly than before because the category of the Manchus was
now restructured on the basis of genealogy, rather than staying
as a potpourri of Chinese and Manchu cultures, including the
illegal Chinese infiltrators.47
The obvious difference between the attitude toward
the early-generation Chinese entrant and one toward the latergeneration counterpart can be explained by the evolution of the
banners’ role. Crossley provides a case in point. When the Qing
reached its height in the late eighteenth century, Bannermen
were newly expected to serve as the rulers and defenders, not
conquerors. This was due to the Qing court’s decision to stop its
territorial expansion and rather focus on maintaining its wide
swath of imperial domain from that point on. In truth, after the
demise of the Qianlong Emperor (ruled 1736–1795) and the beginning of the Jiaqing reign in the early nineteenth century, the
Qing no longer added any new territory to its imperial domain.48
In the seventeenth century, Bannermen were allowed to return
to their hometowns in Manchuria and were discharged from
their soldier status. At the time, the Qing court even expected
the bannermen to leave the banners and make a living on their
own, for instance, by preparing for and passing the civil service
exam and working as bureaucrats rather than remaining in the
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banner garrisons. However, they were now expected to continue
serving the state, this time as the guards of the empire, and were
trained to become “lifers,” career military specialists well-versed in
horse-riding, archery, and the Manchu language. In the absence
of new conquests, these cultural and professional items Bannermen were required to keep abreast of also fell into disuse; and
the decreased opportunities for cultivating a common bond only
served to emphasize their differences between, say, the Chinese
bannermen and others.
Based on the above, one may conclude that the banners
suffered from the double crisis of losing a critical experience indispensable for their identity and of fighting the inflow of Chinese
culture. The fact that the Manchus had now moved away from
the northeast and settled in China proper, where they were surrounded by a vast number of Chinese masses, accentuated their
difference from the Chinese. The fact that the early-generation
Chinese bannermen suffered little from cultural scapegoating
can similarly be explained. What is more, the ethnic purification
programs spearheaded by Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong can
be interpreted as stopgap efforts to prevent any further deterioration of the Banner organization. In lieu of warfare and conquest,
which originally accounted for the banners’ uniqueness, the
series of “ethnic inquisitions” in the eighteenth century worked,
according to Elliott, to promise the Banners another 150 years
of existence by preserving that difference.49 Last but not least, I
would like to emphasize that it was indeed as a result of “othering” certain differences (such as Chineseness) that Bannermen
could affirm their commonness amid a lack of a more abiding
cultural coherence.50
Still, one question remains to be answered: if so many
Manchus were indeed becoming Chinese that the Qing court had
to take drastic measures, why was not the opposite the case? What
was preventing the Chinese from jumping on the bandwagon of
“Manchufication”? Other than the Chinese interlopers looking
for a “free lunch,” the Chinese public indeed remained apathetic
to the ways of their rulers. The point I am driving at here is that
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cultural dilution, which seems, at least in Elliott’s account, to
have been singled out as the sole culprit of dimming Manchuness in the eighteenth century, may not have been something
that had already been there naturally, spurred by the immensity
of the Chinese presence. Rather, the same claims of contamination could have been a product of the Qing governance itself. In
other words, the perception of encroaching Chineseness into the
Manchusphere could also have been an artificial construct, which
was then made, in the case of the Qing, to serve a real, tangible
need, such as alleviating financial difficulties. Pamela Crossley
offers a compelling interpretation.
Unlike Mark Elliott, Crossley sees ethnic identity as
something volatile and susceptible to external influences such as
changes in social, political, and economic circumstances. Thus,
unlike Elliott, who sees the Banner System as an apparatus that
continuously set the Manchus apart from the Han Chinese people,
Crossley places the entire narrative in a historical timeframe to
see if there were any dynamics in the Banner System’s making of
Manchuness. As a result, Crossley contends that Bannermen did not
immediately develop and share any common ethnic characteristic
or sense of togetherness early on. Instead, they started only later to
gradually perceive themselves as such due to the Qing court’s active
promotion of ethnic awareness. However, according to Crossley,
even such identifications as the Manchu, Han Chinese, and so on,
should not be taken to mean the rise of ethnic identities among
different people in the Qing Empire, especially until the end of
the eighteenth century.51 The so-called “sense of who we are” was
the outcome of a powerful authority’s imposing such an idea on
a certain group of people, rather than a result of their deliberate
and voluntary decision to call themselves that way.
She further supports her argument by comparing the
Manchu and Han Chinese Bannermen. Unlike Elliott, she cites
the ambiguous status of the Chinese bannermen, suggesting that
the Han Chinese bannermen’s collective identity underwent an
opposite process to that of the Manchus. Above all, these Han
Chinese bannermen were never free to choose who they wanted
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to be; they had no other choice than to acquiesce to the Qing
court’s decisions. Therefore, although they had served the Manchus’ interest well as being loyal and valiant combatants during
the conquest of China proper, the Qing court could still demote
them to mere Han Chinese commoners. By the mid-eighteenth
century, with the exception of very few of them tracing their lineage
to the Chinese who became bannermen when the Manchus were
still in Liaodong, most Chinese bannermen had been ejected from
the Eight Banner System and had to assume their newly imposed
identity of ordinary Han Chinese people.52 Taking all these facts
into consideration, Crossley asserts that at the core of the ethnic
binary was a prominent lack of unity among Bannermen, and thus
even the non-Chinese bannermen Manchus could not be defined
as an ethnic group at least until the mid-nineteenth century.
Crossley also rejects Elliott’s thesis regarding ethnicity,
contending that ethnic identity or simply ethnicity had not long
existed as a fixed category. Thus, even if there were groups of
people identified as Mongolians, Manchus, and Han Chinese prior
to the late nineteenth century, she argues that “these identities are
ideological productions of the process of imperial centralization
before 1800.”53 Of course, Elliott seems to be partially in agreement with her argument because he also eloquently articulates that
“what is held to be ‘Chinese’ has changed over time.”54 However,
Elliott departs from Crossley as he states that the Manchus’ ethnic
identity formed by the Eight Banner System had remained the
same over time, as this military organization could function as a
permanent part of the conquest group, and embedding them with
a sense of ethnic separateness distinct from the subjugated Han
Chinese population. As for Crossley, nothing could guarantee the
formation and maintenance of a separate ethnic identity, that is,
even more so than trying to pigeonhole the Han Chinese ethnicity
in some decisive, essentializing, manner, it is enormously difficult
and problematic to encapsulate the ethnicity of the Manchus using simple criteria.
She corroborates her claim by directing us to the many
different faces the Qing court assumed in foreign relations. To win
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cooperation from influential people from different parts of the
empire, such as Tibet and Xinjiang, the Qing court maintained
friendly relationships with important leaders such as Tibetan lamas,
Han Chinese literati in Inner China, Mongol Kings, and Uyghur
aristocrats. Even if the Qing administration’s handling of borderland areas through the local notables might seem like another
issue altogether, it does not dilute the point that the Qing’s ruling
class represented itself in a fluid manner to different audiences.
For this reason, instead of presuming that there was a fixed group
of conquest elites from the beginning, it is reasonable to note that
new people could always be included or excluded from this circle
of Qing rulers. Perhaps this is why in her thesis, Crossley boldly
contends that not only was there no Manchu ethnicity, but also
the Manchus were not even the owners or heads of the empire
or the Banner System. Roughly put, the word Manchu might have
been merely a name devised for a group of rulers in Qing, rather
than a category of an ethnic group. Hence, she reiterates that
we look at the process of the making of ideologies that purport
to embrace diverse peoples who became incorporated into the
imperial domain, with concepts like class and ethnicity as corollaries, not origins.55
Even if the debates, let alone the question of whether the
Bannermen were an ethnic group, over the relevance of using
the term ethnicity to describe pre-nineteenth century Chinese
history have not yet reached a consensus, scholars at least agree
that the rulers of the Qing Empire did not become Chinese and
instead, strived to maintain their distinctiveness. Most importantly, the above-mentioned dynamics of inclusion and exclusion
clearly point out how fluid and seemingly arbitrary the process
of establishing a conquest elite caste had been in reality. Roughly
put, the Chinese had been incorporated into the Banner System
when the Jurchens had been in desperate need of their support
in the conquest of Ming China, but later they were the ones who
had been subjected to expulsion when the Qing court faced a
financial strain. In other words, in the early seventeenth century
the Chinese bannermen had also been encouraged to diverge
from their original cultural origin and perceive themselves as part
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of the Manchus, but in the eighteenth century they were forced
to reclaim their Chinese roots. Thus the Qing court had decided
whether or not the Chinese would be recognized as Bannermen
or just ordinary Chinese subjects depending on expediency; and
given this volatility inherent in the criteria of eligibility for banner membership, even if the Banner System had preserved the
distinctiveness of the Manchus from the ordinary Chinese people,
the fluidity of ethnic identity in the Banner System reflected the
external dynamics around it, such as the political and economic
needs of the Qing court.
V. Third Variation: The Manchus after the Fall of the Qing
Empire
Throughout the years, the Qing court spared no government budget to support the Eight Banner System. They wanted to
keep the Banners afloat at all costs. Even when it was costing too
much money, the court hoped to keep it, if at a much reduced
scale. In the eighteenth century, the most prosperous era in the
history of the Qing Empire, approximately a quarter of the Qing
treasury was allocated to promoting the welfare of Bannermen,
who only accounted for at most two percent of the entire imperial population.56 However, it was not just the various benefits to
which the Manchus were entitled that motivated them to stay loyal
to their Banners. Although one can easily suspect that, with the
fall of the Qing, the cessation of government support would have
compelled the Manchus to withdraw their loyalty to their sovereign
and the Banners, historical facts and research point us to a rather
heart-rending story that had unfolded during the decline of the
Qing and thereafter.
The early twentieth century was marked by a major turning
point in Chinese history on the whole: the fall of the last dynasty
and the establishment of China’s first modern nation-state, the
Republic of China, all as a result of the 1911 Revolution. Since
these drastic changes took place in such a short period of time,
the lives of the Manchus were also affected in a radical way. The
situation completely turned against them. They became pariahs,
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persecuted by the Han Chinese revolutionaries, as if all their hardship had been caused by the Manchus’ occupation of China for
the preceding three hundred years. Whether or not the claims,
arguments, and discourses forged and propagated by the Han
Chinese revolutionaries had been convincing, factual, or at least
plausible, is beyond the scope of this essay. Instead, light may be
shed on the fact that, with the exception of very few, most Manchus
showed little interest in abandoning their affiliation and identity,
despite the imminent threat and oppression.
The Manchus already had a chance in the late nineteenth
century to leave their garrisons and register themselves as ordinary
Qing citizens. Although this was much before the 1911 Revolution, by then the Qing court was no longer wealthy enough to
provide the Manchus with the stipend package. However, many
of them had chosen to stay in their garrisons and even continued
to use Manchu-style names, which were noticeably different from
those of the Chinese. Later, even after the Qing dynasty was finally
overthrown in 1912, there still existed a substantial number of
Manchus who had boldly chosen to continue to embrace their
identity based upon their former affiliation with the Eight Banner System. By now, the Qing government that had previously
provided for these people was gone. Furthermore, in the face of
the furious revolutionaries and the Han Chinese people seething
with animosity, it was dangerous for the Manchus to reveal their
Manchuness. Of course, for this reason, some Manchus, especially
women, tried to conceal their true identity. However, the Manchus
by and large held on to their Manchu heritage.57
Even after the Chinese Revolution (from October 10,
1911 to February 1912), both the Qing court and the Eight Banner System had continued to exist. More importantly, in spite
of the financial dire straits, the early republican administrations
(1921–1928) had by and large respected the Qing court and provided it with preferential treatment.58 In return, the Qing court
also overall abided by the conditions for abdication, though it had
once colluded with Zhang Xun.59 Nevertheless, such a friendly
relationship came to an end, first, when Feng Yuxiang had taken
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over Beijing and banished the former imperial household from the
Forbidden City and, finally, in 1928 the Guomindang (Nationalist
Party; also often spelled as Kuomintang) neglected punishing the
revolutionaries, bandits, and some of its soldiers who had damaged
and looted the tombs of Emperor Qianlong and Empress Cixi.60
The situation in the rural areas was even worse: stipends
were not paid to Bannermen and education and training for their
future career development were also absent. As a result, not only
did the Eight Banners soon collapse but most of the former bannermen suffered the stigma of being poor and unfit for the labor
force. Furthermore, despite the early Republic’s declaration and
promotion of the so-called “republic of five races (Wuzu Gonghe),”
these former Bannermen had their political rights denied, were
forced to relinquish their ethnic identities, and were unprotected
from discrimination and prejudice. The Nationalist government
had also been negligent toward the Qing court and the bannermen and even negated their identities as it declared to recognize
so-called Zhonghua Minzu as the only race of the Chinese people.
The leaders of the Nationalist party such as Sun Yat-sen and Chiang
Kai-shek had completely denied them their distinct qualities.61
Fortunately, the Manchu ethnicity was reinstituted and recognized as an ethnic minority by the People’s Republic of China,
(referred to as the PRC from here onward), which took over China
in 1949 after driving away the Guomindang. When the PRC was
just established, the Manchu population ranked seventh among
ethnic minority groups, but curiously in 1982 rose to third place as
more Manchus came forward from “hiding.” Today, the Manchu
population accounts for approximately one percent of the entire
population of China. Of course, they have moved from a military
caste to an ethnic group, that is, from qiren (Bannermen) to qizu.62
What I would like to bring to attention is that just as during
the Qing period, the destiny of one’s ethnic identity was determined not so much by oneself, but instead by a powerful external
force: this time, the PRC government. As much as the Qing court
had pushed Bannermen to adopt and nurture Manchuness, the
PRC categorized them into an ethnic group, in contrast to the
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Nationalists, who had forbidden them from expressing or even
acknowledging their distinctiveness. PRC’s sorting of ethnic minorities into independent groups was similar to that of the Soviet
Union, in that they both encouraged their subjects to become
equal citizens of their newly established states while officially giving
witness to their ethnic identification. The possible implications
of making something as private as ethnicity public, or, even further, of institutionalizing race or ethnicity, are not entirely clear,
but the striking similarities between the approaches of the Qing
court and the PRC government nudge us once again toward the
theory put forth by Crossley in the previous section: that powerful
external forces come to shape identity, which, as Crossley claims,
is not foundational but constructed, not constant but mutable.
Furthermore, just as the Qing court turned its Chinese bannermen into Manchu and then back into Chinese, so might the PRC
government’s policy of publicly recognizing minority ethnicities
have been geared to serve some definite purpose. And just as one
must avoid empty speculation, the knee-jerk reaction against racializing regimes—that racist motives must be behind them—must
also be studied carefully.
VI. Conclusion: Which Manchu?
Having reached its height in the 18th century during the
reign of Qianlong Emperor, Qing’s domain, some 14,700,000
square kilometers by then, was fifty percent larger than that of the
modern PRC. In addition, the Qing managed to maintain its immense territories for at least a century after their acquisition. Such
notable success of the Qing can be attributed to their production
and preservation of the Manchu ethnicity, realized through their
Banner System. Manchuness, or the precise qualities or meaning
of being Manchu, had always been subject to the changing realities of the times, while “being Manchu” had always been of utmost
significance to the Qing leadership. The continuous institutional
restructuring in the Banners, combined with the different styles
in which the Qing Emperors represented themselves to different
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populations they governed are clearly distinguishable from anything Han Chinese dynasties had ever done in the past.
The Eight Banner System was an institution established
to organize soldiers and their families into administrative units.
It was, from the outset, not necessarily in congruence with the
Manchu identity, let alone their development into ethnicity. It
was rather an artificially created and variegated conquest force.
However, there was a strict distinction between Bannermen and
the Han Chinese of China proper. For instance, a Bannerman of
Han origin occupied a superior social status vis-à-vis a Chinese
subject who did not belong to the Eight Banners. The Eight Banner system, until the beginning of the Yongzheng leadership,
merely drew a demarcation line between Bannermen, aides to the
imperial rulers, and their subjects of China proper. At this time,
one’s membership in the Eight Banners only meant that he was
a member of the ruling class, not that he was a Manchu in some
original sense.
With the passage of time, however, Bannermen did become
an ethnic group that went by the name Manchu, and the Banner
System became both a “hereditary military caste”63 and an ethnicity.
Granted, could it be safe to equate the strong sense of community
spirit shared among Bannermen as a conquest group with the ethnic identity of Manchus? Undeniably, there is enough possibility
for these Bannermen to have nurtured a completely new identity
that transcended conventional ethnic barriers. There is little doubt
that Bannermen shared certain commonalities independent of
their respective ethnic backgrounds and remained steadfast to
their group identity by keeping to themselves. It appears that the
solidarity that they came to develop engendered the possibility
of seeing Bannermen as an ethnicity, based upon which political
decisions might be brought to pass.
Indeed, as the Qing court faced growing financial woes
and witnessed ever-increasing dysfunction in the Banners, the
two Emperors attempted to “reform” the Eight Banners System in
order to restore, ostensibly, its authenticity. Exploiting the growing gulf between perceptions of Manchu and Chinese cultures at
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that time, the Emperors endorsed an active invigoration of the
“Eight Banners’ differentiation from the Han of China proper,”
under which slogan they justified the expulsion of a substantial
number of Han Chinese bannermen from the Eight Banners.64
The Emperors were lucky to have gotten away with their dangerous scheme, since they merely depended on precarious ethnic
categories that had not existed as recently as a century ago. Only
when the solidarity among the early generation of Bannermen
was sturdy enough and the distinction between Bannermen and
Han Chinese communities clear enough could the two Emperors
successfully deploy their rhetoric of Manchu purity and authenticity. By accentuating one difference, they sought to efface another,
equally valid, difference, which, in another world, could have
rendered their propaganda altogether specious.
With the altered demographics in the Banners, the term
Manchu now referred exclusively to the non-Han among the
Manchu elites. Again, the role of Manchus’ active adoption of
the Han culture seems to pale in comparison to the impact of
the newly-introduced segregationist policy in the Banner system
in explaining this change in the Manchu identity. Yet, instead of
seeing this development as chauvinistic, bigoted, or even downright racist, a close examination of what underlying motives might
have been at play is in order. The historian Mark Elliott cites the
Qing’s ongoing financial quandary as the primary motive behind
the expulsions, as well as the growing signs of lassitude in the
Banners, especially in the mid-nineteenth century. Banners had
become ineffective to such a degree that, sometimes, they were
outdone by other paramilitary organizations. For instance, a local militia led by Han Chinese generals proved more effective
in putting down rebellions: Chinese generals Zeng Guofan and
Li Hongzhang had demonstrated their competence to the Qing
court in quelling the Taiping Uprising (1850–1864) and Nian
Rebellion (1851–1868), respectively.65 Once privy to the Banners’
manifest obsolescence, the Qing court had few other choices than
to downsize the banners.
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Unlike that of the later generation Chinese banner members, the ethnicity of the earliest Bannermen—that is, Nurhaci’s
subordinates—somehow did not matter, not as far as the eighteenth
century was concerned. Regardless of their ethnic, racial, or cultural
backgrounds at the time of entry, the early-generation Bannermen
had already nurtured and internalized a sense of community and
differentiated identity as the conquerors vis-à-vis the Han Chinese
of China proper, but not as Jurchens as opposed to Chinese or
as Mongols as opposed to Chinese, but as Jurchen or Mongol or
Chinese or Russian Bannermen as opposed to the Chinese masses.
Identity is derivable through difference, and the identity of the
self is often informed by that of the other, as Elliott argues. It is
worth repeating that the first Bannermen, the multi-ethnic cadre
of warrior elites who came under Nurhaci’s command, appeared
to exemplify what the Manchu ethnicity was.
Attempting to explain the discrimination meted out to the
later-generation Han bannermen, one may justifiably suspect that
these later recruits did not have enough time to reach the same
degree of assimilation and acceptance in their garrisons. Pamela
Crossley adequately identifies this possibility as the potential precondition for the later ethnic programs; however, instead of seeing
the process of homogenization as having occurred in freedom,
she points to the Qing regime’s active ethnicizing propaganda
as the driving force behind even the perceptions of difference
that arose between the two groups within the Banners. The assumption behind her argument is that ethnicity itself is a murky,
variable concept constructed around a largely imagined boundary. Especially since the Banners were isolated from the outside
world, and since Bannermen and the general Chinese population
were highly ignorant of what the Banner System was, let alone its
origins, Crossley’s claim that there must have been some human
agent in the creation of the dichotomy between the Banner elites
and the Chinese subjects makes better sense here.
Crossley is not alone with her claim that ethnicity can
be artificial, arbitrary, volatile, and malleable; while not entirely
siding with Crossley’s point of view, even Elliott seems to nod to
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the fact that whether artificial or natural, “the authentic ‘stuff’
of ethnicity (which festivals one actually celebrates, who one’s
ancestors really were, which language or dialect one actually
speaks) ultimately matters less than the belief in authenticity.”66
Even if there had been different groups of Jurchens in the early
seventeenth century in Liaodong, their formation of and later
transformation into the Manchus had probably been the result
of artificial fostering of an ethnic identity. The same can apply to
the later recruits of Chinese, Korean, Mongol, or Russian origins.
Later, being a Bannerman meant being recognized as a Manchu
even after the fall of the Qing in the 20th century.67 In these years,
the Bannermen did not passively identify themselves as such due to
the Qing court’s directive or for privilege packages; instead, they
actively chose to be seen as Bannermen, braving obvious danger.
Such was an action that reflected their belief in the authenticity
of their status. In any examination of ethnic history, it is therefore
important to approach the issue diachronically, with special regard
to the transformations of beliefs, belief systems, and ideologies
attending those beliefs.
Ultimately, ethnicity in the Qing period experienced both
progressive and regressive movements, making the history of
the Manchu ethnicity a symbolic variation on its short, but quite
glorious, history. As the empire burgeoned, the need to ensure
continued growth necessitated a powerful population base. Consequently, the Qing court worked under the rhetoric of inclusion
and acceptance, which worked powerfully in gaining support
from the Han Chinese people. The Qing could not do enough for
those who came to their aid then. However, with the conquest of
China finally come to fruition, and later Xinjiang and Tibet, the
court found it could do less with its massive army. It could not,
however, eliminate the Banners entirely, for that would cripple
its peacetime military might and perhaps render the “Manchu
difference” altogether invalid. This time, the Manchu Emperors
took the steps to “scale back” not only in terms of their size, but
also in terms of their conceptual largeness, at one decisive sweep.
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Study hard and learn well how to speak Manchu, how to shoot from
a stance and from horseback, and how to handle a musket. Obey
established customs and live frugally and economically. All of you
have been raised and nurtured in due measure by our divine master
[Ma enduringge ejen, i.e., the Emperor]—you must work hard to repay
his great favor!68
Before the twentieth century, the Qing court was at the vanguard
of promoting a Manchu identity, working vigorously for unity
and solidarity.
Although the Manchu identity had eventually become
ossified and firmed up to a point of becoming an identifier inseparable from each person, one should not be led into actually
believing that the version of Manchuness the Qing court promoted
best reflected the true Manchu character. On the contrary, it is
perhaps in the act of promotion itself, in the military drills and
publicity work within the very ranks of Manchus, and in the broad
transformations that took place, that we might get a glimpse of
what being Manchu must have been like.
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Notes
Mark C. Elliott, The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners
and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 2001) 21.
2
The fifty-five ethnic minorities of the modern People’s
Republic of China have lived together with the Han Chinese
people well before the establishment of the modern Chinese
state. However, it should be noted that the precise names of
these ethnic minority groups are largely the invention of the
current People’s Republic of China, or PRC in short. For more
details on this topic, see Thomas Shawn Mullaney, Coming
to Terms with the Nation: Ethnic Classification in Modern China
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011).
3
In my essay, I use the terms “Han Chinese” and “Chinese”
interchangeably, since the term “Chinese” referred to a cultural
group during the imperial period of China, unlike in today’s
People’s Republic of China, where the word is used as an
umbrella term that encompasses all PRC subjects, regardless of
ethnicity. Today, even ethnic minorities such as the Uyghurs,
Tibetans, Mongolians, and so forth who live in People’s
Republic of China are all labeled as Chinese by nationality.
However, this was not the case during the Qing period.
4
William T. Rowe, China’s Last Empire: the Great Qing
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009) 91.
5
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 26-32.
6
Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China (New York:
W.W. Norton, 1990), 26-27.
7
Ibid., 27.
8
Seonmin Kim, “Ginseng and Border Trespassing Between
Qing China and Choson Korea,” Late Imperial China 28, No.
1 (June 2007): 37-38. Kim points out that the northeastern
borderland of the later Qing Empire had been economically
important for the Jurchens in the early seventeenth century
mainly due to their lucrative trade with neighboring countries
such as the Ming China and the Chosun Korea. The author
further describes ginseng as the most precious and valuable
commodity that had been traded by Nurhaci who had
successfully managed to dominate the ginseng trade. This
enabled Nurhaci to build his power base to take over and
unify the divided Jurchens and even bring other peoples such
as some Mongolians and Koreans living in Manchuria under
his rule. And eventually this led to his Jurchen state’s rise as a
1
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123
new power against the Ming China that gradually nurtured its
potential to conquer Chinese territory.
9
Peter C. Perdue, China Marches West (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 2005), 117.
10
Ibid., 117.
11
Ibid., 117.
12
Ibid., 117.
13
Ibid., 118.
14
Ibid., 113.
15
Kim, “Ginseng”: 33-61.
16
Perdue, China, 124-125.
17
Ibid., 122-3; Evelyn S. Rawski, The Last Emperors, (L.A.
and London: University of California Press, 1998), 6-7.; David
M. Farquhar, “Emperor as Bodhisattva in the Governance of
the Ch’ing Empire,” Harvard Journal of Asian Studies 38, No. 1
(1978): 5-34.
18
Perdue, China, 124.
19
Bumjin Koo, Cheongnara: Kimera eui Jeguk [The Qing:
The Empire of Chimera], manuscript version (Seoul: Mineum
Publisher, 2012), 20.
20
Perdue, China, 123.
21
Ibid., 123.
22
Mark C. Elliott, “Ethnicity in the Qing Eight Banners”
in Empire at the Margins ed. Pamela Crossley et al. (Berkeley :
University of California Press, 2006), 29-31.
23
Ibid., 29-31.
24
Mark Caprio, Japanese assimilation policies in colonial Korea,
1910-1945 (Seattle : University of Washington Press, 2009),
19-48. In the second chapter of this book, the author not only
compares assimilation policies implemented in the colonies by
various imperialist states, but also, and more importantly, points
out that the assimilation process had always been a part of
nation-state building, especially in the periphery. For instance,
when the United Kingdom became a modern nation-state, the
Welsh were forced to inherit key English cultural traditions in
order to become new citizens of this new modern state. Here,
the new common culture, whether imposed or not, serves to
generate unity and foster allegiance from all subjects.
25
Pamela K. Crossley, Helen F. Siu, and Donald S. Sutton,
introduction to Empire, 19.
26
Elliott, “Ethnicity,” 35-37.
27
Ibid., 36-38
28
Spence, The Search, 28.
124
Sooah Kang
Takao Ishibashi, Taishin Teikoku (Tokyo: Kodansha LTD,
2000), 113-114.
30
An edict of Hong Taiji issued on October 20, 1635 in the
Veritable Records of Qing Emperor Taizong. Translation is my
own.
31
Hisao Komatsu, ed., Chuo Yurashia Shi[History of Central
Eurasia] (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 2000), 277-278.
32
Bumjin Koo, Cheongnara: Kimera ui Jeguk [The Qing:
The Empire of Chimera], manuscript version (Seoul: Mineum
Publisher, 2012), 32-3; Edward J.M. Rhoads, Manchus and
Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early
Republican China (Seattle: University of Washington Press,
2000), 278, 289-291.
33
Elliott, “Ethnicity,” 30.
34
John K. Fairbank and Merle Goldman, China: a New
History (Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,
2002), 146.
35
Pamela K. Crossley, “The Conquest Elite of the Ch’ing
Empire,” 343.
36
James A. Millward, review of The Manchu Way: The Eight
Banners and the Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China by Mark C.
Elliott, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 62, No. 2: 477.
37
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 337-341. In a book review on
The Manchu Way written by James A. Millward, Millward points
out that the fake bannermen were quite easily distinguishable.
At least before the mid-eighteenth century, that is in the reign
of Yongzheng Emperor, those of Chinese origin who were
banished from the Banner System were just ordinary Chinese
people who disguised themselves as Chinese bannermen by
forging false genealogies for themselves. See James A. Millward,
book review of The Manchu Way, Harvard Journal of Asiatic
Studies 62, No. 2: 468.
38
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 42-51.
39
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 311.
40
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 354.
41
Mark C. Elliott, “The Limits of Tartary: Manchuria in
Imperial and National Geographies,” The Journal of Asian Studies
59, No. 3 (August 2000): 167.
42
Ibid., 7.
43
Elliott, “Ethnicity,” 42-45.
44
Pamela K. Crossley, The Translucent Mirror (Berkeley:
University of California Press), 92, quoted in Elliott, “Ethnicity,”
45.
29
THE CONCORD REVIEW
125
See Evelyn S. Rawski, “Presidential Address:
Reenvisioning the Qing: The Significance of the Qing
Period in Chinese History,” The Journal of Asian Studies 55,
No. 4, (November 1996): 829-850; Joanna Waley-Cohen,
“Commemorating War in Eighteenth-Century China,” Modern
Asian Studies 30, No. 4, (1996):869-899 ; James A. Millward,
“A Uyghur Muslim in Qianlong’s Court: The Meanings of the
Fragrant Concubine,” Journal of Asian Studies 53, No. 2 (1994):
427-458; David M. Farquhar, “Emperor As Bodhisattva in the
Governance of the Qing Empire,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic
Studies 38, No.1 (1978):5-34; Peter C. Perdue, “Boundaries,
Maps, and Movement: Chinese, Russian, and Mongolian
Empires in Early Modern Central Eurasia,” The International
History Review 20, No. 2 (June 1998): 263-286; Samuel M.
Grupper, “Manchu Patronage and Tibetan Buddhism during
the First Half of the Manchus: a review article,” The Journal
of the Tibet Society 4 (1984):47-74; James Hevia, “Lamas,
Emperors, and Rituals: Political Implications in Qing Imperial
Ceremonies,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist
Studies 16, No. 2 (1993): 243-278.
46
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 349, 350.
47
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 19.
48
Pamela K. Crossley, “The Conquest Elite of the Ch’ing
Empire,” Willard J. Peterson ed., The Cambridge History of China,
Vol. 9, Part One: The Ch’ing Empire to 1800 (Cambridge University
Press, 2002), 357-359.
49
Ibid., 351.
50
Ibid., 17.
51
Crossley, A Translucent Mirror, 3-7.
52
Ibid., 90-116.
53
Ibid., 3.
54
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 28.
55
Crossley, A Translucent Mirror, 30-31.
56
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 17.
57
Rhoads, Manchus and Han, 190-205.
58
Ibid., 232
59
Ibid., 241
60
Ibid., 247-251.
61
Ibid., 258-277.
62
Ibid., 277-283.
63
Rhoads, Manchus and Han, 278, 289-291.
64
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 351.
65
Spence, The Search, 168-175, 178-181.
45
126
Sooah Kang
Elliott, The Manchu Way, 35.
Ibid., 33, 348
68
Siu, Crossley, and Sutton, Empire, 47
66
67
Bibliography
Crossley, Pamela K. A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity
in Qing Imperial Ideology. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1999.
Da Qing Taizong Wen Huang di Shi lu (Taibei Shi : Hua lian chu
ban she : Zong fa xing Hua wen shu ju, Min guo 53, 1964).
Di Cosmo, Nicola. “State Formation and Periodization in
Inner Asian History,” Journal of World History 10.1: 1-40.
Elliot, Mark C. “The Limits of Tartary: Manchuria in
Imperial and National Geographies,” The Journal of Asian Studies
59, No. 3 (August 2000): 603-646.
Elliot, Mark C. The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic
Identity in Late Imperial China. Stanford, California: Stanford
University Press, 2001.
Foret, Philippe. Mapping Chengde: The Qing Landscape
Enterprise. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000.
Hay, Jonathan S. Shitao: Painting and Modernity in Early Qing
China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Hostetler, Laura. Qing Colonial Enterprise: Ethnography and
Cartography in Early Modern China. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2001.
Ishibashi, Takao. Taishin Teikoku. Tokyo: Kodansha LTD,
2000.
Peterson, Willard J., Editor. The Cambridge History of China,
Vol. 9, Part One: The Ch’ing Empire to 1800. Cambridge University
Press, 2002.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
127
Kim, Seonmin. “Ginseng and Border Trespassing
Between Qing China and Choson Korea,” Late Imperial China,
7/25/2007, Volume 28, Issue 1.
Komatsu, Hisao, ed., Chuo Yurashia Shi[History of Central
Eurasia]. Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 2000.
Mann, Susan. Precious Records: Women in China’s Long
Eighteenth Century. Stanford, California: Stanford University
Press, 1997.
Millward, James A. Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and
Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864. Stanford, California:
Stanford University Press, 1998.
Rawski, Evelyn S. The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing
Imperial Institutions. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1998.
Rhoads, Edward J.M. Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and
Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China (Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 2000)
Siu, Helen F., Pamela K. Crossley & Donald S. Sutton. Empire
at the Margins: Culture, Ethnicity, and Frontier in Early Modern
China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
Zito, Angela Zito. Of Body and Brush: Grand Sacrifice as
Text/Performance in Early Modern China. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1997.
128
Sooah Kang
Edmund Burke
Reflections on the Revolution in France 1790
Oxford World Classics, 1999, p. 60-61
The moment you abate any thing from the full rights
of men, each to govern himself, and suffer any artificial
positive limitation upon those rights, from that moment the
whole organization of government becomes a consideration of
convenience. This it is which makes the constitution of a state,
and the due distribution of its powers, a matter of the most
delicate and complicated skill. It requires a deeper knowledge
of human nature and human necessities, and of things which
facilitate or obstruct the various ends which are to be pursued
by the mechanism of civil institutions. The state is to have
recruits to its strength, and remedies to its distempers. What
is the use of discussing a man’s abstract right to food or to
medicine? The question is upon the method of procuring and
administering them. In that deliberation I shall always advise to
call in the aid of the farmer and the physician, rather than the
professor of metaphysics.
The science of constructing a commonwealth, or
renovating it, or reforming it, is, like every other experimental
science, not to be taught à priori. Nor is it a short experience
that can instruct us in that practical science; because the real
effects of moral causes are not always immediate; but that
which in the first instance is prejudicial may be excellent
in its remoter operation, and its excellence may arise even
from the ill effects it produces in the beginning. The reverse
also happens; and very plausible schemes, with very pleasing
commencements, have often shameful and lamentable
conclusions. In states there are often some obscure and almost
latent causes, things which appear at first view of little moment,
on which a very great part of its prosperity or adversity may
most essentially depend. The science of government being
therefore so practical in itself, and intended for such practical
purposes, a matter which requires experience, and even
more experience than any person can gain in his whole life,
however sagacious and observing he may be, it is with infinite
caution that any man ought to venture upon pulling down an
edifice which has answered in any tolerable degree for ages
the common purposes of society, or on building it up again,
without having models and patterns of approved utility before
his eyes.
Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
The Warrior Women of Ancient Greece and
China: A Comparative Exploration into
Archaeology, History, and Mythology
Natassia Walley
T
he legend of the ancient Greek Amazons is well known:
the beautiful warrior women who possessed military prowess equal
to that of men, fierce enemies of the ancient Greek heroes. Among
the most famous Amazons are Antiope, Penthesilea, Hippolyte
and Atalanta, however there are many more portrayed in ancient
Greek art. Originally it was believed that the Amazons sprang from
the imaginations of the Greek writers, leaving many classicists to
claim, according to Adrienne Mayor, that “all Amazon figures in
Greek art and literature were doomed cardboard figures created
to fill conceptual, symbolic niches for the Greeks.”1 But the historical accounts of Herodotus tell of entire societies that contained
women with equal power and status. Modern archaeology confirms
that Herodotus gathered largely genuine information on these
tribes: the Scythians.2
Archaeology also confirms that the Greeks were not the
only civilization living in close proximity to nomadic, egalitarian
tribes of men and women; burials filled with female skeletons
slashed with battle wounds similar to those uncovered in Scythia
Natassia Walley is a Senior at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, New York,
where she wrote this paper for William Everdell’s World History course
in the 2014/2015 academic year.
130
Natassia Walley
have been found across the entire Eurasian continent, including
northwest China. These peoples were called by ancient Chinese
writers the Xiongnu. Just as the Scythians inspired the myths of the
Amazons, it is likely the various historical accounts and fantastical
myths by Chinese authors of “lands of women” were inspired by
the Xiongnu. The Scythian and Xiongnu tribes were both shockingly egalitarian and possessed a similar lifestyle; they did not rely
on agriculture and instead rode horses for hunting and battle. It
is perhaps no surprise then that the Greek and Chinese myths of
faraway, isolated lands of women are quite similar.
Eventually––almost immediately for the Greeks, but more
gradually for the Chinese––these warrior women characters were
presented as individuals who functioned within civilized society.
Penthesilea fights side by side with the Trojans against the Greek
hero Achilles; Fourth Sister Lin is caught in the love web of an
aristocratic Chinese family in Honglou Meng. While the Greek and
Chinese writers characterize the Amazon woman in very different
ways, the end result is the same: the Amazon––a threat to the patriarchal norms of both civilizations––cannot remain independent
and must either die or assimilate with expected cultural values to
preserve the social order.
The Archaeology and Anthropology of Warrior Women
Archaeological discoveries have shown there is significant
substance behind the Greek myths of the fearless, female Amazon
warriors. So far 112 graves of women warriors, between the ages
of 16 and 30, dating from the 5th to 4th century BC––the peak of
Amazon legends––have been uncovered in the area between the
Danube and the Don rivers.3 The existence of a unisex nomadic
culture is verified by the “rich female graves containing full sets
of weapons and horse trappings.”4 Arrows are most commonly
found accompanying women, but swords, daggers, spears, armor,
shields and sling stones have also been discovered alongside female
remains. Moreover, a number of female warriors’ bones and skulls
show injuries that could only have been inflicted during battle:
wounds by pointed battle axes, slashes from swords, stabs from
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131
daggers and spears, and punctures from projectiles.5 While most
of the men excavated were clearly warriors, the same does not
apply for women; the ratio of females to males accompanied by
weaponry suggests that while all boys were trained to fight, and
became warriors as they matured, only “the most proficient and
courageous young women could choose to remain hunters and
warriors when they were adults.” 6 But archaeologists have found
that the burials of ordinary Scythian women are often secondary
burials within a tomb, while women found with their weapons are
always buried individually. These Scythian warrior women were
thus––as Herodotus describes––equal to male warriors in terms
of burial rituals. In one case, a female warrior was found with
not only her weapons but also two young children. The presence
of children suggest that the Amazons not only fought alongside
men, but did so while raising children.7 Rostovtzeff argues that
the “archaeological explorations of the last decade in the territory
of Scythia have shown convincingly that some Scythian females
held a prestigious position in society. They seem to have played
an important role in performing religious rituals for their clans
and tribes.”8
The mystery of course is to what extent the Greeks became
exposed to these nomadic unisex tribes and their female warriors. In the land that was once Thrace, four women were found
buried with––among other treasures––silver cups inscribed with
“Kotys” in Greek. King Kotys was an ally of Athens; Mayor states
that perhaps this Scythian tribe had made an alliance with King
Kotys, and therefore indirectly with Athens and the Greek world.9
The earliest female warrior discovered so far, dating back to 1,000
BC, was found with the same style of cape the Greek artists often
depicted Amazons wearing, suggesting that direct contact with
the Scythian tribes inspired the artistic renderings of the mythical
Amazons.10 Given that these women existed as early as 1,000 BC,
but that the Greeks did not mention them until the 5th century,
it appears that they were not just a product of the Greek imagination; instead the Greeks likely would have encountered these
tribes in the time between the 10th and 5th century BC. Lastly,
the troves of archaeological evidence found in the Lower Don
132
Natassia Walley
(Tanais) provide substance to the name this area was given by
the ancient Greeks––“The Land of the Amazons.”11 This evidence
indicates the existence of flourishing female warrior cultures; with
such close proximity to Greece, they almost certainly provided the
inspiration for the creation of the Greek Amazon tales.
Although they inspired no legends as famous as those of
the Scythians and Amazons, a group of tribes living in the lands
of central and northeast Asia—the Xiongnu—strongly resembled
the Scythians. At their peak in the late 3rd and early 2nd century
BC, the Xiongnu (also known as Hsiung-nu) were presumed to be
ancestors of the Huns and strongly rivaled the Han Empire of
China. Similar to females of the Scythian tribes, “the Hsiung-nu
females were skilled horse-riders and also used bows and arrows,
enabling them to accompany the males in defending the children
and older people of the tribe during an enemy attack.”13 This
claim is supported by the fact that women’s skeletons excavated
from the Xiongnu territory evidenced their harsh lives and various
riding injuries. Like the female skeletons uncovered in Scythia,
some Xiongnu women’s bones showed battle wounds similar to
those of the males they presumably fought alongside.14 Murphy
also states that the Xiongnu women participated in teaching the
children how to handle the bow and arrow.15 It was recorded that
during an attack on the Talas fortress by the Chinese troops in
the 1st century BC, Hsiung-nu women fought alongside their male
counterparts––and that the women were the last to leave their
positions.16 According to research, the Xiongnu tribes possessed
a patriarchal-clan organization, where polygamy and levirate
marriage (in which a widow is obliged to marry her deceased
husband’s brother) were customary.17 This is a remarkable observation; despite the fact that the women of these tribes had the
ability (with enough training) to become equal to the men, it
suggests that some nonetheless remained socially subordinated.
Nevertheless, Mayor observes that “the turbulent wars between 200
and 1200 CE brought forth a large number of real and legendary
military women in China, suggesting that by this time girls were
sometimes instilled with warrior values, skilled in riding horses,
and trained in archery and swordplay.”18 Lady Fuhao is a perfect
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133
example of this: originally sent as a pledge of alliance from China
to the nomadic tribes of central Asia during the Shang dynasty
in 12 BC, she rose to become a major military commander and
general. Originally the tale of Lady Fuhao was seen as merely a
myth, but the recent discovery of her tomb filled with troves of
weapons and treasure confirms that women really did have the
opportunity to become leaders in nomadic China; the stories of
their success likely inspired many later mythical and fictional tales
of Chinese warrior women.19
Historical Accounts of Isolated Amazonian Societies
Along with the plentiful archaeological evidence of nomadic warrior women, several ancient historians have documented
the lifestyle of the secluded and distant Scythians. Many of these
accounts accurately describe what can be deduced by modern archaeologists from the burial remains of these tribes, while others
walk the line between history and legend. Some of the histories
that Greek authors provide are quite distinct when compared to
those of the ancient Chinese writers. Take for example the history of the Sarmatian tribe as first told by Herodotus, who wrote
ca 484–425 BC about various Scythian tribes. After battling with
the Amazons in faraway lands, the Greeks sail home with them as
their captives. However, the Amazons manage to rebel and land
the boat in Scythia. There, the Scythian men admire the Amazons
for their athletic abilities, and try to seduce them in order to have
their desirable qualities carried on to their offspring. The Amazons
agree, but only on the circumstance that the men will leave their
wives and form a new tribe with them: the Sarmatians.
Herodotus uses the rare and archaic term ektilosanto, meaning to tame or domesticate––originally used by Homer and Pindar
to describe animals––to say that the Scythian men “tamed” the
Amazons by having sex with them. This may be why “many scholars
interpret the Sarmatian legend as coded account of Greek rites
of passage for boys and girls before they entered into traditional
Greek marriage, in which males ‘tame’ females through sex.” But
this reading is inconsistent with the details of history; not only did
134
Natassia Walley
Herodotus label this as a historical account (instead of a fable
or tale), but in addition the countless tombs of nomadic tribes
in Scythia show men and women lived, loved, battled and were
buried as equals. Besides this fact, Herodotus’s account readily
shows the Amazon’s negotiating power with the Scythian men.
The women not only “invade and raid the Scythians’ property”
when they first land, but also later “suggest meeting for sex, learn
the men’s language, refuse traditional marriage, urge the men
to leave their clan and move to new territory.” That Herodotus
even uses the term “tame” is perplexing when the Amazons are
the ones convincing the men their proposal is “fair and just.”20
But Herodotus must have know that an egalitarian society, like
that of the Sarmatians, was confusing, if not threatening to the
Greek social order, and therefore attempted to acculturate the
situation by using “tame.”
Many Greek authors especially emphasized the fighting
spirit of these female warriors. Diodorus (65–50 BC) stated that
the Amazons “train for war just like the men and in acts of manly
courage they are in no way inferior to the men.”21 Both Herodotus
and Hippocrates mention that “it was customary for young women
to prove themselves in battle, and that older women went by choice
or whenever necessary”; a description that explains the high percentage of young, armed females among the women found in
Scythian kurgans.22 Within artistic depictions of Amazons fighting
Greeks, they were consistently shown as warriors who embodied
“the same traits that heroic Greek males” did, and were equally
matched in weapons, armor, and skill.23 But some of the stories in
vase paintings differed from those of history and myth, where the
Greeks fight the Amazons and inevitably conquer them. Instead
they suggest the idea of women and male warriors “making love
and war together as equals, and living happily ever after.”24 Mayor
goes so far as to say that “outside the world of myth, in the Amazonian sexual encounters described by ancient historians and other
authors, a consistent theme emerges of mutual sexual attraction,
pleasurable consensual sex––and a sense of equality with male
lovers.”25 Not only do the historical descriptions of these ScythoAmazon warriors explain their equality with men in military skill,
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135
they also argue that these women were considered the equals of
males within the hierarchy of the tribe and relationships.
An odd anomaly that contrasts with the previous descriptions of Amazonian sexual equality and freedom is a focus on their
virginity, a trend apparent in various accounts. Aeschylus writing
in the 5th century BC called the Amazons “fearless maidens in
battle” and suggested that they were lifelong virgins who resisted
sex. Much later in 43 CE, Pomponius Mela says that “to kill the
enemy is a woman’s military duty [and] virginity was the punishment for those who fail.”26 Even Herodotus writes in 450 BC:
“some Amazons of Scythia did not marry unless they had slain (or
fought) a man in battle.27 Admittedly, the first two examples are
more exaggerated (and generally considered less historically accurate) than Herodotus, who says only “some” resist sex. Although
the mention of virginity is somewhat out of place, the Amazons
were characterized by their constant military campaigns; thus the
restriction on their sexual freedom must have been quite shortlived, as the first time they battled would have most likely been
at quite a young age. The insignificance of the emphasis on their
virginity is additionally underscored by the fact that Mayor states
that “only three amazons––Alkippe, Sinope, and Orithyia––were
singled out as remarkable because of their vows of virginity.”28 In
tales of other Amazons, they were permitted to express their sexuality frequently, and in a way that was portrayed as equal to men.
The last unique––and probably most famous––legend the
Greeks tell about the Amazons is that they were “without breast”;
a legend derived from a false etymology of their name. The myth
surfaced centuries after the tribal name “Amazon” for an ethnic
group of men and women was first used by the Greeks. It was
Hellanikos––writing in the later half of the 5th century BC––who
turned their foreign name into a Greek word: a (without) mazos
(breast); Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Justin and Orosius subsequently
riffed on that etymology with their own stories.29 Diodorus 65–50
BC said the queen of the Amazons order the right breast of infant
females seared, “that it might not project when their bodies matured and be in the way” ––of firing arrows and acts of warfare.30
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Natassia Walley
Hippocrates writing in the 4th BC reasoned that the Amazons
removed the right breast of baby girls so that by displacement of
power the right arm would be stronger and more able to wield
a weapon.31 While these tales are all quite intriguing, a rival folk
etymology of the name suggests a more realistic description; a
(without) mazas (barley or grain) succinctly captures their nomadic lifestyle––unattached to the land by agriculture––in one
word. Mayor suggests that “this dietary label was much too dull
to compete with the lurid image of women who sacrificed their
breasts to become warriors,”32 and because the Amazons were not
like ideal Greek women, “perhaps it is no surprise that an ancient
Greek claim––a libel, really––arose about Amazons’ breasts.”33 It is
possible that these legends were instead inspired by the Scythian
warrior attire; they likely wore corsets during fighting for breast
suppression. Not only do some Greek vase paintings depict the
Amazons wearing corsets that flattened their chests, the tradition
of the “sport corset” still continues today in the Caucasus.34 One
convincing reason as to why they appear in art not maimed is because the legend of the “breastless” Amazons directly contradicts
the descriptions authors gave of their physical attractiveness; thus
it is no surprise that the literary topos that they removed one breast
was ignored by artists.35
In the historical descriptions by Chinese sources about
distant tribes of women, some tales do not parallel the Greek
legends. However there are noticeably fewer because not as many
written accounts remain. The first unique notion is that women,
in order to survive as a culture living without men, procreated
asexually. In the compilation of geographical legends Shanhai
jing (written in 4th–3rd centuries BC), a land of only women live
“west beyond the seas.” The legend describes a yellow pond in
which women bathed to become pregnant.36 In Hou hanshu (the
book of the later Han, written 1st–2nd centuries CE) a similar
island of women exists, where in order to become pregnant the
women stared into a well.37 Mayor states that the idea of “wind
as a fertilizer, related to breath of life,” was thought to be an extremely ancient notion among the Chinese.38 When these legends
reappear in 16th-century Chinese novels, the ideas of pregnancy
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by drinking water from a pond and the existence of countries of
only females are too fantastical to be believed. Nonetheless, it is
apparent that the notion of asexual procreation was one that reliably accompanied the few Chinese historical accounts of secluded
lands of Amazonian women.
While many of the legends and historical accounts of
isolated female societies are unique to the Greeks and Chinese
respectively, many more share commonalities. Reversed gender
roles were a favorite among writers from both civilizations. Diodorus (wrote in 65–50 BC) writes of an Amazon queen who enacted
new laws to create a true gynocracy, where women would always
be sovereign. She trained the women for warfare, while assigning
the men to domestic tasks such as spinning wool and caring for
children.39 In Hou Hanshu “the men were said to be subordinated
by women and taken as concubines in numbers ranging from one
to one hundred, depending on a woman’s status.”40 In legends
describing the Tibetan kingdom of women, men outnumbered
women and even commoners had multiple husbands.41 In a story
surfacing in 610 CE, the Indo-Scythian female warriors from central
Asia were also described as polyandrous, and the horns on each
warrior’s helmet represented the number of husbands.42
Another recurring description was that foreign warrior
women did not breastfeed. Apollodorus said the Amazons “pinched
off” their right breasts but left the left for breastfeeding. Philostratus, writing in the 3rd century CE, reasoned that the Amazons
resisted breastfeeding to avoid “mollycoddled” children and instead
nourished their babies with mare’s milk.43 This is plausible––trace
amounts of fermented mare’s milk found in vessels buried with
the Scythians prove that they did indeed drink it. However the
hypothesis that they nourished their infants with it instead of
breastmilk remains unsupported.44 As in the stories of the Greeks,
Liangshu (written in 499 CE) tells of women east of Japan who
lacked breasts and instead nursed their children with body hair
that grew to the ground.45
The same Queen Diodorus said to have enacted new laws
to create a true gynocracy had also ordered baby boys’ legs to be
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maimed.46 This notion of maiming and killing infant boys was one
that accompanied the legends of these female societies in both
Greek and Chinese texts. Hellanicus uses the phrase “male infant
killing” in his accounts to describe the Amazons.47 In the women’s
kingdom west beyond the seas, described in Shanhai Jing, male
children would naturally die at the age of three.48 A brief entry
in Suishi––a record from the Tang dynasty––mentions a mythical
kingdom of women where male children were not allowed to
survive.49 A report by Chan Wen-Ming of the seventh century CE
mentions a women-only land east of Fulin where if women “gave
birth to boys, the women’s custom does not permit the boys to be
raised.” However Mayor hypothesizes that because these pieces
were written so late, they could easily have been “influenced by
the persistent thread of classical Greek lore about Amazons living
in women-only society.”50
Related to the notion of infant killing, both Greek and
Chinese legends describe societies of women with animalistic behavior. The people of the unisex Xiongnu tribes were described by
Chinese writers to be hairy, a word that has an undeniably beastly
connotation.51 Xin Tangshu (a compilation of legends written
during the Tang Dynasty, 6th–9th centuries CE) tells of a South
Indian bride abducted by a lion with whom she has twins. The girl
twin ends up landing on an island west of Persia and has sexual
intercourse with demons there; she and her demon children
then start a kingdom of females.52 Xuanzang, the famous Chinese
Buddhist monk writing in the 6th century, cites Buddhist lore to
tell of a kingdom that escaped the havoc wreaked by 500 demons
disguised as women. He writes that the demon-women seduced
shipwrecked merchants and sailors, used them for sexual pleasure until they were bored of them, and imprisoned and later ate
them.53 Notably similar is the famous Greek legend of the Sirens,
who lured sailors to their shores with their songs only to devour
them, and the half-bird half-woman Harpies. While these legends
of foreign kingdoms of women are all clearly too supernatural to
be real histories, they are nevertheless descriptions of faraway,
animalistic, self-contained female societies.
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Although the Chinese legends told many stories of asexual
procreation within these female societies, the pragmatic notion
of sexual procreation simply to avoid extinction is another common thread. Another entry in Suishi locates a kingdom of women
in the west that mated annually with men simply for the purpose
of procreation.54 A similar reasoning is seen in Greek legends as
well; Herodotus documents that, while the male Scythians were
away campaigning in Asia, the women consorted with the male
slaves to “carry on the Scythian race.”55 Strabo mentions a similar
behavior—that whenever the Amazons needed children they went
to the marketplace on the River Halys (western Pontus) to have
intercourse with men.56
The previously mentioned descriptions that the writers of
ancient Greece and China had in common fall almost entirely into
the category of “myth”; some notions are simply too fantastical to
be true, while shared descriptions have no archaeological support.
On the other hand, there are some tales that are historically much
more accurate, in particular the practice of tattooing. Frozen bodies of female warriors in Scythia prove that some of these nomadic
tribes did in fact tattoo themselves, and many depictions in Greek,
nomadic, and Chinese art feature figures with patterned skin. For
the Greeks and Chinese tattooing was “a form of punishment,”
thus many ancient writers of both civilizations tried to explain why
“women would choose to endure pain to decorate their bodies.”
Herodotus wrote that for the Scythians plain skin signalled a lack
of identity, therefore tattoos were considered within the tribe to
be “high class.” Hippocrates argued that tattoos and brandings
instilled strength. Clearchus implied that tattoos were initially
inflicted violently by Scythian women, as the Greeks would do to
their captives. Later the Thracians embraced these “shameful”
tattoos by transforming them into lovely body ornaments.57
Similarly, ancient Chinese sources described tattoos as
“adornments” among the “barbarian” nomads of the north and
west. A compilation of histories from the Warring States period
(475–221 BC), Liji, said some nomads even tattooed their foreheads.
The historical work Zhan Guo Ce from the same period mentions
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western nomads who engraved their left shoulders with tattoos.
Chinese historian Sima Qian (147–85BC) recounts that during
the Emperor’s negotiations with the powerful Xiongnu tribes, they
demanded that Chinese envoys be tattooed before they could
meet the Shanyu (ruler of the tribe).58 That both the Chinese
and Greek authors gave reasons for tattooing––in addition to the
limited archaeological evidence recently discovered––confirms
the practice among the egalitarian nomadic tribes from eastern
Europe to central Asia. However more evidence would be needed
to confirm the other historical descriptions the Greeks and Chinese
shared; it is possible, as Mayor suggests, that travelers transmitted
these stories between civilizations, and that they were not actually
independent observations.
The Characterization of Warrior Women within Mythology
The legends mentioned so far have been about foreign
female warrior societies; distanced from the writer and simply observed. But the tales of female warriors interacting with––or even
becoming incorporated into––the writer’s native civilization, display
the most interesting characterizations. And most notably, unlike
in the legends of “outside” female warriors, the characterizations
by Greek and Chinese authors are radically different from one
another. In Greek mythology, the Amazons are greatly admired,
while in Chinese mythology less so.
From the details of common characterizations of Amazons, it is apparent that the Greek writers aimed to show them
in a positive light. Mayor claims they are clearly “to be admired,
even if admiration is tinged with a degree of amazement.”59 In
Plato’s guardian state in The Republic, Socrates argues that all of the
Amazon qualities could be used to promote excellence, and also
uses them as evidence for why women should be able to vote and
hold office.60 In many ways the Greeks were eager to incorporate
these foreign mythical women into their culture; they called them
the “Daughters of Ares” although it is evident that the Scythians
who inspired the myths of the Amazons did not practice their
religion.61 At the great temple of Artemis, the god Dionysus was
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thought to have fought and killed many Amazons. Not only did the
Greeks make an effort to include the Amazons in their religion,
many cities like Epheseus and Sinope claimed the Amazons as
their founders. Indeed “it was a matter of pride for many cities of
western Asia Minor to claim Amazons as ‘founders.’”62
A strong bond of sisterhood was another famous Amazon
trait, and directly parallels the brotherly love that Greek heroes
were characterized as having for one another.63 Mayor observes
that “pairs of Amazons frequently appear in Greek vase painting
in scenes intended to show their sisterhood and devotion to their
comrades in arms.”64 They are often hunting, fighting, or riding
together; some scenes show Amazons supporting their wounded
companions or carrying their war dead. The Amazon myth of
Penthesilea explains why she came to fight alongside the Trojans
against the Greeks: while hunting one day she hurled a javelin
intended to kill a stag, but accidentally killed her sister Hippolyte
instead. To escape despair and reproach from the other Amazons
she vowed to kill Achilles and bring victory to Troy, or to die trying.65
Not only is her reason for fighting admirably noble, it is also born
out of the sisterly love that frequently characterizes the Amazons.
The Amazons of Greek mythology are frequently masculinized; not only are they formidable in their own territory, they are
“considered as men for their courage rather than as women for
their physical nature.”66 Making an appearance in the Iliad, they
are described as a match for men with equal fighting strength.67
And in scenes of battle they are frequently depicted caring for war
dead; an image that illustrates the profound feelings of comradeship usually reserved for Greek male warriors.68 Some ancient beliefs about physiognomy even maintained that it would be natural
for “manly” Amazons to be especially attracted to “manly” men.69
It is thus logical that in the eyes of the Greeks, the Amazons were thought of as exceptionally sexually desirable because
of their fighting ability and athletic build. Although characterized
as masculine, Hardwick claims that physically the Amazons are
also “generally depicted in a positively feminine way with breast
exposed and drawn in the correct perspective.”70 Andokides’ paint-
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ings of bathing Amazons, featured on vases dated to 530–520 BC,
shows them “unself-conscious, athletic and stark naked.”71 Often
found on jars and vases intended for Greek women’s luxury bath
products Mayors states “there is no doubt that the Amazons were
being depicted in an overtly sexual context.”72 In mythology, the
famously overt sexual story between an Amazon and a Greek
hero is that of the Amazon Penthesilea and Achilles. During the
battle of Troy, Achilles kills her. When he bends down to remove
her helmet he sees her “fierce beauty is undimmed by death.” He
automatically feels remorse for killing the beautiful woman that
could have been his lover. The various Greek writers that tell this
myth clearly try to show the indisputable beauty of the Amazon;
the many men surrounding the mourning Achilles wish that such
a woman would be awaiting their return.73
All of these characteristics lead us to see the Amazons
as equals to the Greek heroes. Persians––outsiders just like the
Amazons––are never depicted in art wounding Greeks.74 But on
an oil flask dating from 575–550 BC, the Amazons certainly are;
they are equal in arms and armor, and are even shown in heroic
nudity. There are many other pieces of ancient Greek art that
depicts Amazons similarly well-matched with the Greek hero they
are fighting.75 The repetitive characterization of Amazons as simultaneously sexually desirable, militarily accomplished, heroic,
noble and loyal shows the Greeks had a profound respect for
these females warriors, and were not denying the potential that
these women possessed. Yet in nearly every myth, the Amazon is
defeated. Penthesilea is slain by Achilles, Heracles kills Hippolyte
and takes her precious belt,76 Antiope is––although not physically
defeated––domesticated by Theseus and loses her Amazonian
qualities.77 Thus the ultimate reason for this positive portrayal is
that if the match were anything other than fair, there could be
no honor for the ultimate Greek victor.78 Defeating an Amazon
was thus a task or trial for a Greek character aspiring to heroic
achievements and victories. In mythology, the status that could
be achieved by defeating an Amazon meant such a feat evolved
to become, as Hardwick put it, “a stock role as an index of heroic
achievement.”79
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It is not until the 16th century CE, during the Qing dynasty,
that strong-willed female warriors appear in written Chinese myths.
Hua Mulan appears earlier than this in various texts, but her story
is not fully developed and recorded until c.1675 in Chu Reho’s
romance Sui Tang Yanyi. Honglou Meng (Dream of the Red Chamber
or Story of the Stone), a long and intricate series of stories, was
first published in the early 18th century and was mostly written
by Cao Xueqin. Jinghua Yuan (Flowers in the Mirror) is a novel,
similar to Honglou Meng in its complex plot, written solely by Li
Ruzhen and completed in 1827. Both of these “novels” have over
100 chapters. Like the Amazons of ancient Greek mythology, the
female warriors in the these Chinese myths have recurring traits;
however they are generally depicted in a less positive way than
the Greek Amazons are.
In many of the stories that include female warriors, the
subject is first dressed as man. The most famous example of this
is the story of Hua Mulan; the story has many versions, placing
her existence anytime between the northern Wei and the Tang
dynasties (386–907 CE). Nevertheless, in every story she “dresses
as a young man and rides to the army camp on the Yellow River
to join the soldiers.” Taking her ill father’s place in the Chinese
army, she fights for 10 to 12 years but no one sees through her
disguise.80 In Jinghua Yuan a similar story appears: the character
Ziying dresses as a boy to substitute for her ailing brother who had
been commissioned to kill the wild beasts in the area.81 In other
stories featured in Jinghua Yuan, Edwards notes that these female
warriors were respected by other male characters for their skills,
but “often this respect for the physical skill is revealed before
the narrator realizes the sex of the archer or warrior.”82 This was
never the case for the Greek Amazon warrior, who was clearly
recognized as physically female no matter how “masculine” she
appeared in character.83
In the cases where the sex of the female warrior is apparent,
they are often hypersexualized: characterized as beautiful, desirable, and pure. Lirong, a character in Jinghua Yuan that repels an
attack from bandits is primarily described as “a beautiful girl.”84
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In Honglou Meng, Jia Baoyu states that men, himself included, are
“creatures of impoverty,” while “the purest essences of the universe
are concentrated in the female species.” Although this could be
considered an entirely positive portrayal, Edwards argues that this
is a “form of abjection of the female, for veneration of the feminine
is still a masculine privilege in which the feminine becomes the
venerated ‘other’ for the masculine self.”85 In contrast, the Greek’s
Amazon warriors were venerated for being masculine. Fourth Sister
Lin, the famous female warrior of Honglou Meng, rallies her female
companions to fight, and “like a troop of lovely flowers” she and her
fellow warriors “rose into the field.”86 Although it is not apparent
from one example, Edwards states that “a triangular link between
battles, flowers and sexual titillation has evolved within the literary discourse of China.”87 Another instance of sexualization is in
Prince Heng’s thoughts of Fourth Sister Lin: “When the rosy lips
framed their harsh commands he could smell the mouth’s sweet
breath;/But the weapons oft shook in the fair white hands, too
weak for such exercise.” While Amazon warriors were definitely
sexualized by the Greek writers, unlike the women warriors of
Chinese myths, they were never characterized as weak. Fourth
Sister Lin is not only sexualized, her physical military ability is
trivialized and criticized; she cannot be taken as a serious threat
to social order but rather a titillating aberration.88
In some causes, the female warrior is not even truly independent––instead she is under the command of a male. In Honglou
Meng, Prince Heng creates an army of female warriors for himself.89
But instead of having a functional purpose within the story, they
simply sate an aristocratic man’s desires; their participation is an
extension of their duties as concubines and handmaidens. 90 These
women are given no agency; within the Qing dynasty’s signifying
system “power is the most polluting substance to a woman.”91 So
while it may seem that these female soldiers are defying the social
norm––which granted, they are––they are still powerless and only
exist at all because of a controlling patriarch’s initiative.92
In various Chinese myths, the primary motivation for a
female warrior is her loyalty to her family and superiors. In Jing-
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hua Yuan, Hongqu swears to kill all the tigers on the mountain to
avenge her mother’s death.93 Another similar character, Jinfeng,
dives for sea slugs because her ailing mother depends on these
rare creatures for nutrition.”94 Hua Mulan fights instead of her
father to “save her family’s honor.”95 Edwards claims that “where
women assume a fighting function,” the “causative and rationalizing
moral principles are either filial piety or loyalty.”96Additionally, the
female warriors of Chinese mythology are never portrayed with
loyalty to their fellow companions, unlike the Greek Amazons who
were characterized for their dedication to one another. None of
the women in Jinghua Yuan work together for extended periods
of time. On the occasional instances when they do cooperate,
the prime motivation is their separate loyalty to a common male
figure, described as “joining together to show their devotion to
the patriarch.”97 In contrast, and similar to the motivation of the
Amazons, men are often portrayed as acting with the Confucian
concept of yi––brotherly loyalty––as justification.98
The primary function of female warriors in Chinese myths
is to act as moral examples to men. When Daughter of Tang in
Jinghua Yuan describes the ancient female swordswomen, she
explains that “they would always make sure that they were acting
morally and if asked to serve a disruptive or illegal cause then they
would refuse.” As mentioned previously, the purity of women was
heavily emphasized, thus it comes as no surprise that they were
also characterized as moral.99 But their roles as moral mirrors
is even more evident in Honglou Meng, when “the captains and
the counsellors and men of high degree/were put to shame by
Fourth Sister’s fidelity.”100 In the story, Fourth Sister Lin shames
the menfolk by her depth of loyalty and devotion to her patriarch.
Edwards suggests that when “women are more moral than the
men a strong condemnation of the depths of depravity into which
society has sunk is implied.” thus establishing them “as defenders
of social morality.”102 They become social mirrors for their menfolk and are consequently constrained within this divinity.103 It is
therefore evident that the characterizations of female warriors in
Greek and Chinese legend are very different. From the evidence
above, one can conclude that the Greeks were more comfortable
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portraying the Amazons as legitimate threats, while the Chinese
preferred to write of warrior women’s abilities as contained within
their cultural norms.
But in one very important respect the stories of the warrior women in Greek and Chinese mythology share a common
thread; the phenomenon of their existence is concluded in the
same way––they either die or relinquish their power. All the warrior
women in Jinghua Yuan are young virgins, but when they become
married women they must forfeit their Amazonian lifestyle or pay
the penalty of death.104 The end of Hua Mulan’s story is similar;
after hearing of her real gender, the Emperor requests that she
join his palace––in some stories as a concubine. Instead of choosing the only option she is given, Hua Mulan refuses and commits
suicide.105 Fourth Sister Lin from Honglou Meng chooses the same
path as well. The warrior women of Chinese mythology are thereby
as Edwards puts it, “tamed by sexual contact with men or death.”106
This phrase also suits the story of the Sarmatians mentioned earlier––where the Scythian men “tame” the Amazons through sex.
At the end of Jinghua Yuan, after the reign of Empress
Wu Zetian (a real historical figure––the only female Emperor in
Chinese history during the Tang dynasty), her female forces are
defeated and a man returns to the throne. The historical and
metaphysical balance between the principles of yin and yang is
described as restored, and the women warriors have returned
overseas or ascended to the realm of immortals.107 When these
female characters in Jinghua Yuan die, their deaths are romanticized as suicide, a fate considered noble by the Chinese writers.
This then, as Edwards claims, “establishes the link between the
expectations of an audience who has become attached to the characters as Amazons, and the ideological requirements of a patriarchal discourse that receives that women can only be men during
temporary periods of social disorders.”108 Similarly, when Greek
Amazons are defeated, Hardwick argues that they are “presented
as assimilated to the property and power-oriented framework of
exclusive citizenship and the oikos (family unit), by displaying qualities of submission and loyalty called for in Greek females.”109 This
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notion of a choice between conformity and death is common to
both Chinese and Greek tales of Amazons, and evidenced by the
fact that like the mythical Chinese warrior women, all Amazons
who fight with Greeks are killed.
The archaeological discoveries of both Scythian and Xiongnu women buried with their weapons and marked with battle
wounds prove that these tribes’ egalitarian social orders were not
figments of Chinese and Greek writers’ imaginations. The similarly
accurate accounts of their lives make it evident that some Greek
and Chinese writers came into close contact with these tribes. The
fantastical tales that also surfaced within both civilizations display
mostly similar characterizations of these foreign warrior women.
Within Chinese historical accounts there is, according to Mayor,
“solid evidence for fighting horsewomen who match the Greek and
other cultures’ written descriptions of Amazons and Scythians.”110
Legends that appeared throughout the time following, but most
notably during the Qing dynasty after 1644, illustrate that women
had the opportunity, as Mayor puts it, “to ‘go Amazon’ during some
periods of Chinese history.”111 However the narratives of warrior
women who interact with civilized society within their stories––in
contrast to myths describing distant, self-contained Amazon societies––are very specific to Greek and Chinese culture. While a threat
to patriarchal power, Chinese warrior women were not nearly as
free or empowered as the Amazons of ancient Greek mythology.
Perhaps Chinese writers wanted to invoke in their readers the
thrill and novelty of a woman picking up arms and fighting with
the valor of a man, but did not want to risk undermining the long
Confucian tradition that placed men above women.112
In contrast, the Amazon characters created by ancient
Greek writers were threatening to the Hellenistic social order in
which women were expected to be domesticated and submissive.
They were militarily just as capable as men, loyal to their companions, and sexually free. At first glance it seems that the Greeks
paid more respect to the power of women than the Chinese did.
However, the Amazons were described as having the same traits as
men only so that they could be legitimate, threatening enemies to
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the Greek male warriors, and upon defeat could provide heroic
status to the victor. But to claim that the Amazon warriors were
just figments of the Greek writers’ imaginations, created only
for destruction, does not account for Greeks’ knowledge of the
egalitarian tribes that surrounded them. In fact, both Chinese
and Greek cultures were likely exposed to (or at least heard historical accounts of) the real warrior women who did in fact exist.
And although the Chinese and Greek characterizations are very
different, they show that the Greeks, like the Chinese, wished to
explain the Amazonian woman by acculturating her. Whether it
is to allow her existence only during periods of turmoil, as is the
case with Chinese myths, or to grant her power so that she can be
an enemy worthy of defeat by a male hero, as the Greeks did, both
cultures find a role for the warrior women within the patriarchal
hierarchy of civilized society.
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Notes
Adrienne Mayor, The Amazons: Lives & Legends of Warrior
Women Across the Ancient World, (Princeton University Press,
2014), 30.
2
Mayor, 57.
3
Mayor, 63.
4
Mayor, 64.
5
S. Stark, et al., eds. 2012. Nomads and Networks: The
Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan, in Mayor, 67.
6
Mayor, 83.
7
V.I. Guliaev, “Amazons in the Scythia: new finds at the
Middle Don, Southern Russia,” World Archaeology, Vol. 35(1):
2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd, 115.
8
Guliaev, 121-123.
9
Mayor, 68.
10
Mayor, 73.
11
Guliaev, 117.
13
Eileen M. Murphy, Iron Age Archaeology and Trauma from
Early, South Siberia, Section 2.4.5.
14
Mayor, 423.
15
Murphy, 2.4.5.
16
Shih Chi as quoted in Murphy, 2.4.9f. This reference,
along with a few others, has been particularly difficult to
confirm, due to lack of accurate citations in the primary source
or because the books are unavailable at the New York Public
Library. From here, these references will be marked with DA.
17
Ssu-ma Ch’ien (Sima Qian), Records of the Grand Historian
of China (Shih Chi) Volume II translated by Burton Watson, 172.
18
Mayor, 419.
19
Mayor, 414-416.
20
Herodotus, 4.110-117, Volume 2, 309-317.
21
Diodorus Siculus 2.44, Volume 2, 30-31.
22
Mayor, 83.
23
Mayor, 27.
24
Mayor, 30.
25
Mayor, 138.
26
Pomponius Mela, 3.35 as quoted in Mayor, 25 DA.
27
Herodotus, 4.117, Volume 2, 316-317.
28
Mayor, 26.
29
Hellanikos, FGr Hist 4F 107 as quoted in Mayor, 86 DA.
30
Diodorus Siculus, 2.45. Volume 2, 32-33.
31
Hippocrates, Air Water Places, 117-119.
1
149
150
Natassia Walley
Mayor, 86.
Mayor, 84.
34
Mayor, 92.
35
Mayor, 94.
36
Shanhai jing jianshu, 7.304, 16.428 (Taibei: Yiwen
yinshuguan, 1959). For a translation, see Hsiao-chieh Cheng
et al., Shan Hai Ching: Legendary Geography and Wonders of
Ancient China (Taipei: National Institute for Compilation and
Translation, 1985) in Jay 221 DA.
37
Hou Hanshu, (Beijing: zhonghua shuju, 1962), 85.2817
as quoted in Jennifer Jay W. “Imagining Matriarchy: “Kingdoms
of Women” in Tang China,” Journal of the American Oriental
Society, Vol. 116, No. 2 (Apr-Jun, 1996), 221-222 DA.
38
Mayor, 418.
39
Diodorus, 2.45 Volume 2, 32-33.
40
Jay, 222.
41
Jay, 224.
42
Xin Tangshu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), 221A.62
18-20 as quoted in Jay, 223 DA.
43
Apollodorus, Library 2, 203. Philostratus, Heroicus 57, 321.
44
Mayor, 145.
45
Liangshu, cited in Gujin tushu jicheng (rpt., Taipei:
Jingwen shuju, 1985) ce 212 (Bian yi dian, j. 41) p. 23b in Jay,
222 DA.
46
Diodorus, 2.45 Volume 2, 32-33.
47
Hellanikos FGr Hist 4F 107 as quoted in Mayor, 85 DA.
48
Shanhai jing jianshu, 7.304, 16.428 in Jay, 221 DA.
49
Hou Hanshu 85.2817 as quoted in Jay, 222 DA.
50
Mayor, 417.
51
Murphy, 2.4.3.
52
Jay, 222.
53
Xuanzang, Buddhist Records of the Western World, 240-241;
279.
54
Xin Tangshu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), 221B.6249.
in Jay, 222 DA.
55
Mayor, 47.
56
Strabo, Geography 11.2.16.
57 Herodotus, 5.6 Volume 3, 6-7. Atheneus, referencing
Clearchus, The Deipnosophists 12.27 in Mayor 105.
58 Ssu-ma Ch’ien, 185.
59 Mayor, 23.
60
Plato, Republic 457c-e, Volumes 5 & 6. See also Laws
804e-814c, Volumes 10 & 11.
32
33
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Mayor, 164.
Mayor, 163.
63
Mayor, 25.
64
Mayor, 25.
65
Mayor, 291.
66
Lorna Hardwick, “Ancient Amazons—Heroes, Outsiders
or Women?” Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 37 No. 1 (April
1990), 20.
67
Hardwick, 15.
68
Mayor, 138.
69
Schmitt Pantel, P. A History of Women in the West,
vol. 1, From Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints (London:
Belknap. 1992), 327-328.
70
Hardwick, 30.
71
Mayor, 120.
72
Mayor, 135.
73
Apollodorus Epitome 5.1. Cf poem 11 of Propertius Elegies
3.11. Pausanias 5.11.6 in Mayor, 297 DA.
74
Mayor, 282.
75
Mayor, 118.
76
Mayor, 249-258.
77
Mayor, 259-270.
78
Mayor, 27.
79
Hardwick, 16.
80
L.X.H Lee, A.D. Stefanowaska, and S. Wiles. Biographical
Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity through Sui. (Armonk New
York: M.E. Sharpe, 2007), 323-338 in Mayor, 427 DA.
81
Li Ju-Chen. Flowers in the Mirror (Jinghua Yuan) translated
and edited by Lin Tai-yi, (University of California Press,
Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1965), 81.
82
Louise Edwards. “Women Warriors and Amazons of the
mid Qing Texts Jinghua Yuan and Honglou Meng,” Modern Asian
Studies 29, 2 (1995), 240.
83
While the notion of women crossdressing as men
certainly isn’t unique to Chinese legend, as the story of Joan
of Arc and many others evidence, the Amazons are never
portrayed as attempting to hide their gender.
84
Ju-Chen, 90.
85
Louise Edwards. “Women in Honglou Meng: Prescriptions
of Purity in the Femininity of Qing Dynasty China,” Modern
China, Vol. 16, No. 4 (October, 1990), 411.
86
Cao Xueqin. Story of the Stone (Honglou Meng, Dream of
the Red Chamber), Volume 3: “The Warning Voice” translated by
61
62
151
152
Natassia Walley
David Hawkes, (Indiana University Press Bloomington, Penguin
Books, 1980), 78.573-74.
87
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 249.
88
Xueqin, 78.571-572.
89
Xueqin, 78.570.
90
Edwards “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 238.
91
Edwards, “Women in Honglou meng: Prescriptions of
Purity,” 418.
92
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 238.
93
Ju-Chen, 53.
94
Ju-Chen, 62.
95
Lee, L.X.H., A.D. Stefanowaska, and S. Wiles. Biographical
Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity through Sui. (Armonk New
York: M.E. Sharpe, 2007), 323-338 in Mayor, 427 DA.
96
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 237.
97
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 242-243.
98
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 237.
99
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 247.
100
Xueqin, 78.574.
102
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 244.
103
Edwards, “Women in Honglou meng: Prescriptions of
Purity,” 412.
104
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 253.
105
Yuan and Yang, Zhongguo funu, 21 as quoted in Edwards
“Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid Qing Texts,” 227
DA.
106
Xueqin, 568. Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons
of the mid Qing Texts,” 253.
107
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 247.
108
Edwards “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 248.
109
Hardwick, 23.
110
Mayor, 419.
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Mayor, 419.
Edwards, “Women Warriors and Amazons of the mid
Qing Texts,” 231.
111
112
Bibliography
Apollodorus. The Library, Volume I: Books 1-3.9. Translated
by James G. Frazer. Loeb Classical Library 121. Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1921.
Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the learned,
translated by C.D. Yonge, B.A. With an appendix of poetical fragments,
rendered into English verse by various authors, and a general index.
London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, 1854.
https://archive.org/details/deipnosophistsor03atheuoft.
Chi’en, Ssu-ma (Sima Qian). Records of the Grand Historian of
China (Shih Chi) Volume II: “The Age of Emperor Wu 140-100
B.C.” Translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press,
1961.
Diodorus Siculus. Library of History, Volume II: Books 2.354.58. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Loeb Classical Library 303.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1935.
Edwards, Louise. “Women in Honglou meng: Prescriptions of
Purity in the Femininity of Qing Dynasty China,” Modern China,
Vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct., 1990), 407-429.
Edwards, Louise. “Women Warriors and Amazons of the
mid Qing Texts Jinghua yuan and Honglou meng,” Modern Asian
Studies 29, 2 (1995) 225-255.
Guliaev, V.I. “Amazons in the Scythia: new finds at the
Middle Don, Southern Russia,” World Archaeology, Vol. 35(1):
2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd, 112-125.
Hardwick, Lorna. “Ancient Amazons—Heroes, Outsiders
or Women?” Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 37 No. 1 (April
1990) 14-36.
154
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Herodotus. The Persian Wars, Volume II: Books 3-4.
Translated by A. D. Godley. Loeb Classical Library 118.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1921.
Hippocrates. Ancient Medicine. Airs, Waters, Places. Epidemics
1, Epidemics 3. The Oath. Precepts. Nutriment. Translated by W.H.S.
Jones. Loeb Classical Library 147. Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1923.
Ishjamts, N. “Nomads in Eastern Central Asia,” In History of
Civilizations of Central Asia, vol. 3, ed. J. Harmatta, 151-69. Paris:
UNESCO, 1996.
Jay, Jennifer W. “Imagining Matriarchy: “Kingdoms of
Women” in Tang China,” Journal of the American Oriental Society,
Vol. 116, No. 2 (April-June, 1996) 220-229.
Ju-Chen, Li. Flowers in the Mirror. Translated and edited by
Lin Tai-yi, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los
Angeles, 1965.
Mayor, Adrienne. The Amazons: Lives & Legends of Warrior
Women Across the Ancient World. Princeton University Press, 2014.
Murphy, Eileen M. Iron Age Archaeology and Trauma from
Early, South Siberia. BAR International Series 1152, December
31.
Philostratus. Heroicus. Gymnasticus. Discourses 1 and 2.
Edited and translated by Jeffrey Rusten, Jason König. Loeb
Classical Library 521. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, 2014.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 10 & 11. Translated by
R.G. Bury. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press;
London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967 & 1968. http://www.
perseus.tufts.edu.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6. Translated by Paul
Shorey. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press;
London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969. @http://www.perseus.
tufts.edu.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Schmitt Pantel, P. A History of Women in the West, vol. 1, From
Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints. London: Belknap. 1992
Strabo. Geography, Book 11. http://perseus.uchicago.edu/
about.html.
Tsiang, Hiuen (Xuanzang). Buddhist Records of the Western
World (Si-Yu-Ki). Translated by Samuel Beal. Kegan Paul,
Trench, Trubner & Co LTD, London. Paragon Book Reprint
Corp, New York, 1968.
Xueqin, Cao. Story of the Stone (Honglou Meng, Dream of the
Red Chamber). Volume 3:“The Warning Voice.” Translated by
David Hawkes, Indiana University Press Bloomington, Penguin
Books, 1980.
155
156
Natassia Walley
For all the great and indispensable achievements the Internet
has brought to our era, its emphasis is on the actual more than the
contingent, on the factual rather than the conceptual, on values
shaped by consensus rather than by introspection. Knowledge of
history and geography is not essential for those who can evoke their
data with the touch of a button. The mindset for walking lonely
political paths may not be self-evident to those who seek confirmation
by hundreds, sometimes thousands of friends on Facebook.
In the Internet age, world order has often been equated with
the proposition that if people have the ability to freely know and
exchange the world’s information, the natural human drive toward
freedom will take root and fulfill itself, and history will run on
autopilot, as it were. But philosophers and poets have long separated
the mind’s purview into three components: information, knowledge,
and wisdom. The Internet focuses on the realm of information,
whose spread it facilitates exponentially. Ever-more-complex
functions are devised, particularly capable of responding to questions
of fact, which are not themselves altered by the passage of time.
Search engines are able to handle increasingly complex questions
with increasing speed. Yet a surfeit of information may paradoxically
inhibit the acquisition of knowledge and push wisdom even further
away than it was before.
The poet T. S. Eliot captured this in his “Choruses from ‘The
Rock’”: “Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom
we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in
information?”
Facts are rarely self-explanatory; their significance, analysis,
and interpretation—at least in the foreign policy world—depend
on context and relevance. As ever more issues are treated as if of
a factual nature, the premise becomes established that for every
question there must be a researchable answer, that problems and
solutions are not so much to be thought through as to be “looked
up.” But in the relations between states—and in many other fields—
information, to be truly useful, must be placed within a broader
context of history and experience to emerge as actual knowledge.
And a society is fortunate if its leaders can occasionally rise to the
level of wisdom.
Kissinger, Henry (2014-09-09). World Order (pp. 348-350).
Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
Twilight of the Decadents: Wagner, Nietzsche,
Mahler and the Death, Transfiguration, and
Resurrection of the Nineteenth-Century
Zeitgeist
Alexander Tyska
I. Introduction
I
n the year 1878, the great German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the great German composer Richard Wagner
decided they could no longer be friends.1 This was because when
he saw a copy of Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal, Nietzsche found so
many things utterly opposed to his own ideology that the two could
no longer come together on similar terms. Things were further
confirmed for Nietzsche when Parsifal premiered in 1882. Even
though their split was almost inevitable, and had been regarded as
a possibility by Nietzsche as early as 1876,2 it was because of Parsifal
that he would go on to write entire pieces about why he hated
Wagner’s work. In these books, The Case of Wagner and Nietzsche
contra Wagner, Nietzsche even went as far as recanting his past
admiration for Wagner’s earlier works, such as the monumental
Der Ring des Nibelungen and the revolutionary Tristan und Isolde.
Alexander Tyska is a Junior at the University of Chicago Laboratory High
School, where he wrote this paper for Christopher Janus’ Advanced Topics
in Modern European History course in the 2014/2015 academic year.
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Alexander Tyska
However, the precise reasons for why the two split up are
more complicated, and are far larger than a mere personal difference of opinion. In fact, they represent two strains of nineteenthcentury thought coming to full light. One stated that religion should
no longer be part of the human race’s collective consciousness and
the world’s collective affairs, and that instead man should think
for himself and create his own moral tenets. The other argued
that man could only find redemption for his ills (as defined by
his own long-embedded morality) beyond the world; looking to
the beyond, to heaven, to God, and to the afterlife, rather than
to the tangible world of mortals.
Simply put, the difference is thus: Nietzsche believed that
the world we live in was all there was, and that life on earth, as a
tangible construct, needed to be affirmed through struggle, and,
finally, through the will’s victory over the moral depravity (the weakness, i.e. the “master-slave morality”3) of Christianity. Wagner, on
the other hand, affirms in his final work that redemption through
love––an idea he views in a similar manner to the Christians by
way of renunciation of the material world in favor of a beyond––is
the only way the evils of the world, be they monetary greed or lust
for the flesh, can be put to rest. The issue Nietzsche took with this
is that redemption through love favors death and the afterlife as
the source of the redemption, directly in contrast to the idea of
the will’s affirmation of the physical existence of man on earth as
opposed to in the heavens.
In essence, their disagreement can be seen as a vignette for
the age-old question of man vs. God. It was thus that Wagner and
Nietzsche’s differing views on the world, its morality, and through
those constructs, the struggles of the human will, came to codify
two different manifestos of a world view for the coming twentieth
century. Through the antipodal nature of their two viewpoints,
the zeitgeist of the nineteenth century was ritualistically murdered.
They were two manifestos that would be hugely influential: not
a single composer after Wagner’s death would be without his
influence, and Nietzsche would achieve almost the same level of
impact on European philosophy. But despite the polar-opposite
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nature of their beliefs, there was one notable aspect in which they
were synthesized.
That synthesis was brought about by Gustav Mahler––an
Austrian composer and successor to Wagner as the chief representative (albeit unrecognized by the general public as such until
decades after his death) of music’s progression to modernism. It
was Mahler who took the zeitgeist “murdered” by Nietzsche and
Wagner, transfigured it, and finally, resurrected it. Mahler was
indebted to Wagner for the tonal language of his music, as well
as his techniques for orchestration and expressing the sort of
monumental emotions that make his eleven mature symphonic
works (nine complete symphonies, one symphony for tenor and
baritone/contralto and one unfinished symphony) the greatest
final product of the Austro-German tradition, as well as the beginning of a new age of dissonance and atonality. Outside of the
purely musical realm, Nietzsche’s philosophical influence shows up
throughout Mahler’s opus. Notably, in his Third Symphony, where
“Zarathustra’s Roundelay,” a poem from Nietzsche’s book Thus
Spoke Zarathustra is used as the text for a movement that features
a female singer.4 But some of Wagner’s philosophical ideas show
up as well, including the most important of them all: redemption
through love. Mahler, however, reconciles these ideas with those of
Nietzsche truly to create a synthesis, using Nietzsche’s view of the
will in conjunction with a Wagnerian redemption in the afterlife, as
well as other Christian-based themes such as resurrection––which
is reconciled to Nietzsche by how it serves as a mirror for his own
idea or postulate of the cyclical, eternal recurrence of the universe.
II. Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born on 22 May 1813 in the
Brühl quarter of Leipzig, in the Kingdom of Saxony. His mother
was, without a doubt, Johanna Rosine Wagner, and his father was
supposedly Carl Friedrich Wagner, a police clerk. But it has also
been postulated that Richard’s actual father was Ludwig Geyer,
an actor, his mother’s lover, and later her husband and Wagner’s
stepfather.5 In any case, Wagner’s dubious parentage was mir-
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Alexander Tyska
rored by the lack of a sense of security in his childhood. He felt
unloved by his mother and never believed that he really knew who
his father was. Both of these problems would have a profound
effect on him and on the themes which he would later choose to
express in his music. It was during the years (1820–1822) of both
Geyer’s death and the Dresden premiere of Carl Maria von Weber’s revolutionary “romantic opera” Der Freischütz, which brought
romanticism to music in its totality, that Wagner received his first
piano lessons and began to take an interest in music.6 During his
teenage years and early adulthood he came to have an interest
in Greek tragedy, Goethe, and Shakespeare, as well as the idea of
the theatrical drama in general. It was also during this time that
Wagner mastered the art of musical composition.
Many years later, after a brief spell at the University of
Leipzig, numerous early compositions, and several jobs, both
minor and major as a chorus master and conductor, Wagner
landed a dream position as Kappellmeister (court music director)
to King Friedrich Augustus II of Saxony at Dresden in 1843.7
This had been in the wake of his first major public success––his
opera Rienzi, which premiered in Dresden in 1842.8 Rienzi, the
six-hour-long story of a fourteenth-century populist politician is
an interesting entry in Wagner’s opus for a number of reasons.
Although it was composed shortly before his first mature work, it
is not at all reflective of Wagner’s mature style. Furthermore, it
was written in the formulaic manner of Wagner’s antithesis––the
German grand opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. This led to
a relatively un-artistic work featuring numerous choruses, ballet
music, extended repetitions of major pieces of thematic material,
and a plot with very little common sense put into its construction.
Nonetheless, Rienzi could certainly be seen as a successful output
of this genre of nineteenth-century opera and can be viewed as a
direct thematic starting point for many of his later works. It also
differs from other grand opera in the sense that its libretto was
written by the composer himself (even if sometimes inspired by
other writings) rather than by an independent librettist. Wagner
sought to create a total work of art by synthesizing drama and music, never using in this or in any of his subsequent works a single
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libretto written by another author. The tragic nature of its plot and
the heroic central character of Rienzi himself mirror the agonies
and the ecstasies of later Wagnerian heroes such as Siegfried and
Tristan, albeit in not as spectacular or heaven-storming a way.
Wagner’s first mature work is one of the defining points
in his life. Composed between 1840 and 1841, it was called Der
Fliegende Holländer––The Flying Dutchman.9 From the first stormy,
typhoon-like notes of the overture, it is clear that this is Wagner
the heaven-stormer, who would be remembered for his ability to
create music of a dramatic, programatic, and unprecedentedly
emotional nature. Besides the music, which appears for the first
time on the public scene in Wagner’s own voice, the story of Der
Fliegende Holländer is totally Wagnerian in thematic nature and
construct, with ideas that can still be seen reflected in his later
masterworks. The plot revolves around Wagner’s favorite theme:
redemption through love. In the story, a ship’s captain, the title
Dutchman himself, is doomed to sail the seas for eternity until the
day he is forgiven for his sins, redeemed by a woman’s love. That is
exactly what happens at the opera’s end, when Senta, the heroine,
throws herself into the sea in order to save the Dutchman from
his eternal curse. The two are then perpetually transfigured, and
the Dutchman is redeemed. After Der Fliegende Holländer came two
more middle-period compositions: Tannhäuser and Lohengrin––
the first composed from 1842–1845 and premiered in 1845, and
the second composed from 1845–1848 and not premiered until
185010––thanks to Wagner’s participation in the 1848 German
revolution, for which he was sent into exile, not to return until
1860.11 Both of these works, written on high romantic medievalist
themes, furthered the development of Wagner’s skills as both a
composer and a dramatist, and also helped establish his international reputation even further––especially with Lohengrin––which
would earn him huge financial support from King Ludwig II of
Bavaria in the years to come.
Tannhäuser was not without import either. More structurally
sound than Lohengrin, but somewhat less popular,Tannhäuser does
a great deal to set the foundations for what are perhaps Wagner’s
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Alexander Tyska
greatest works. For one thing, its story presents a duality of the
sacred and the profane, with the central character, a knight called
Heinrich von Tannhäusen, torn between his pure love for Elisabeth,
a mortal woman, and his untamed erotic desire for the goddess
of love, Venus. This serves to represent what would ultimately be
the nineteenth-century’s great argument of atheism versus faith in
the divine, and also presents a sort of trial for some of the themes
and ideas the next work he was to complete would express.
This next major composition came after a halt in work on
another of Wagner’s projects which would which would become
his largest work: Der Ring des Nibelungen. In 1857, after Wagner
completed the second act of Siegfried, the third chapter of the
Ring, he decided to break off and begin a project which had its
initial origins in a prose draft he had written for a libretto three
years prior.12 He was inspired to take this action partly because
of his love for Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of Otto Wesendonck, at whose house Wagner had stayed during part of his exile
in Switzerland. Wagner’s passion for Mathilde was so inflamed
that he composed a set of five lieder, or art songs, setting poetry
she had written to music.13 The texts of these poems are, for the
most part, unremarkable, but the music to which they are set was
Wagner’s magnificent trial piece for what was to become his most
revolutionary and emotionally-charged work: Tristan und Isolde.
Wagner composed Tristan und Isolde from 1857 to 1859, and
what he achieved with it would shake the foundations of art and
music. It is a story of the doomed love affair between the Breton
knight Tristan and Isolde, the Irish noblewoman betrothed to
King Marke of Cornwall. Although the story itself was inspired by
medieval romances by writers such as Gottfried von Strassburg, it
is Wagner’s ending and central theme which gives this work such
unmatched power. Wagner not only took his own ideas of the power
of love into account when writing Tristan: he also took those of
the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer,
a pessimist, believed in ultimately renouncing the physical world
in favor of the perpetually unknown which lies beyond death.
This view, interestingly enough, was not tied with any sort of re-
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ligious doctrine per se, as Schopenhauer himself was an atheist.
But after Wagner read Schopenhauer’s great work, The World as
Will and Representation, ideas such as this would define Wagner’s
vision of a staged musical work infused with ancient Greek ideas
about tragedy and drama that would be codified in a single word:
gesamtkunstwerk, or “total work of art”.14 Unlike his earlier operas,
which had been described as “romantic opera” or, in the case of
Tannhäuser, “grand romantic opera”, Tristan was simply described
as “drama” or, more precisely, “music drama.”15 And in the end this
was what it would truly come to represent: the ultimate pinnacle
of Wagner’s synthesis of music and theatre, creating an unrivaled
emotional canvas for his tragedy.
Tristan’s musical significance is exceptional. From the
beginning of the vorspiel or prelude to Act I, Wagner makes stunning use of dissonance to convey a sense of longing and desire.
This is perhaps the most famous chord in the history of music: the
Tristan chord. From the moment it first appears in the prelude
it is used throughout the rest of the opera to convey the same
emotions. The most powerful thing about the chord is that it
never resolves. In Act I, Tristan and Isolde fall in love thanks to a
magical potion, and in Act II they meet in the garden of the King
of Cornwall’s castle at night in order to consummate their love.
The second scene of Act II consists entirely of a duet between the
two characters called Liebesnacht or “night of love,” It lasts well
over half an hour, and incorporates much of the music Wagner
originally used in the Wesendonck Lieder. Towards the end of the
duet, the two lovers come finally to Wagner’s Schopenhauerian
conclusion: that they must renounce life on earth and die so that
they might be together in a state of rapture for eternity.
It is Tristan who first proposes the idea, and Isolde immediately agrees. Soon after this declaration, the two sing an
ode praising the night which has granted them the chance to be
united. This finally leads them to the duet’s conclusion, where the
Tristan chord desperately tries to resolve and the opera reaches
its ecstatic climax, where King Marke and the court return from
a hunting trip and discover the two lovers in the garden. Tristan
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Alexander Tyska
is then wounded in a fight and goes back to Brittany, where he
dies. Isolde arrives on the scene, sings her famous aria Liebestod,
“love-death,” envisions Tristan’s resurrection, and is ambiguously
“transfigured” on his body.
Tristan premiered in 1865, thanks in part to Wagner’s return to economic stability after his exile with help from Ludwig
II of Bavaria, and was met with a reception almost as rapturous as
the Liebesnacht duet itself. Audience members fainted, wept, and
many found themselves unable to sleep for weeks afterwards. Wagner had left his permanent mark on the art form and the world
once and for all, and, with fewer than twenty years left in his life,
he would go on to create some of his greatest works. Tristan was
followed by Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1868, Wagner’s only
comic opera, which asserts the value of art and explores ideas
about its future. Meistersinger was followed by the completion of
the Ring cycle, where Wagner picked up with Act III of Siegfried
in 1871, and finally finished Götterdämmerung in 1874.16 In 1876,
at the Bayreuther Festspielhaus, a theatre built with money from
Ludwig II specifically for the Ring, the complete cycle was finally
premiered, with Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, the first two operas
which were completed before he began Tristan and the final two,
Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, which he completed in 1871 and
1874. In 1882, Wagner’s last opera, Parsifal, premiered at Bayreuth,
and in 1883, at the age of seventy, Wagner died. In his life he
composed a body of works that created a whole new set of musical conventions for the century to come. As the father of musical
modernism, Wagner’s influence would have a lasting impact on
all the avant-garde composers of the twentieth century.
But for all this good, there was a darker side to Wagner’s
genius. He was noted for his antisemitic writings, both earlier in
his career when he resented Giacomo Meyerbeer and Felix Mendelssohn, both Jewish, and both more successful than he was at
the time, and later in his life when he became increasingly fanatic.
But Wagner’s antisemitism is more indicative of a person deeply
troubled and insecure than a person bent on extermination of
a people. That does not make it right, but it serves to separate
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165
Wagner from the perversion of his music by Adolf Hitler and the
Nazis. In any case, Wagner will always remain one of the most important and admired composers of the romantic era, and not even
the perverse ideologies of fascists will destroy the glory of his art.
III. Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born on 15 October 1844
at Röcken, a village not far from the town of Lützen in the Prussian Province of Saxony. He was the son of Carl Ludwig Nietzsche
and Franziska Oehler, and his father’s and mother’s ancestors
had been Protestant ministers.17 This is important to take note of
when looking at the ideas and opinions he would form later in
life. His father died in 1849 after going mad in 1848, and after
that his mother cared for him. From early on, Friedrich was very
intellectually inclined, but at home he found that there was little
to sustain his interests.18
Luckily enough, when he was fourteen years old he was
admitted to a high level German boarding school called Schulpforta
(a school which the poet Friedrich Gottfried Klopstock and the
historian Leopold von Ranke had both attended), and it was here
that he was able to pursue his interests with more fervor.19 While
at Schulpforta, Nietzsche became friends with one of his fellow
students, Paul Deussen, who would go on to become an important
Orientalist scholar and translator of Sanskrit. During their university
years, both young men came under the influence of the pessimist
philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, whom Nietzsche discovered
in 1865, after he read in one sitting a copy of The World as Will and
Representation that he found in a used bookstore. Although later on
he would come to completely reject Schopenhauer’s philosophy of
pessimism and renunciation, his influence on the young Nietzsche
was massive. Outside of the philosophical realm, there were also
many significant literary influences that dominated Nietzsche in
his youth: these included Jean Paul Richter, Friedrich Hölderin
and David Strauss.20
After he graduated form Schulpforta in 1864, Nietzsche went
to the University of Bonn, where he read philology, the study of
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Alexander Tyska
interpreting classical and biblical texts. But he did not stay in Bonn
for long. In 1865, he followed a classicist he admired, Friedrich
Wilhelm Ritschl, to the University of Leipzig, where he registered to
complete his studies.21 While he was studying at Leipzig, Nietzsche
established his reputation as a master classicist, writing excellent
papers on ancient Greek poets such as Theognis and Simonides,
and philosophers like Aristotle. Not long after he left university,
without a doctorate, he took up a professorship at the University
of Basel in Switzerland in 1869, where he remained for ten years.
In 1872, Nietzsche published his first book. The Birth of
Tragedy expressed his own ideas about the art form, including its
position as a medium that transcended the pains of human existence, its place as part of the Dionysian (disorder and impulse)
and Apollonian (order and reason) view of the world, and finally,
how it can be combined with a Schopenhauerian view of music as
the supreme form of art.22 Nietzsche then goes on to show how this
is codified in the operas of his then friend Richard Wagner, whose
opus he regarded as a rebirth of the ancient Greek tragedy. The
book was then and is still today regarded as highly flawed, but it
nonetheless was an important starting point in Nietzsche’s career as
a philosophical writer, with a wild, almost untamed style of prose that
seemed to ally itself more with Dionysus than Apollo. Although Wagner loved Nietzsche’s book, the renowned philologist Ulrich von
Wilamowitz-Möllendorff published an extremely negative review of
it, which essentially destroyed Nietzsche’s reputation as a classicist.23
Nietzsche then went on to write On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral
Sense, a work which addresses the issue of what truth is when
looked at through the lens of morality.24 This was followed by a
cultural critique called Unfashionable Observations, written between
1873 and 1876, which contains writings on David Strauss, the writing of histories, Schopenhauer, and Wagner.25 The first two are
highly critical, but the second two honor their subjects. In 1878,
Nietzsche wrote Human, All-Too Human, which contained some
of his first veiled criticisms of Wagner, and could be regarded as
the beginning of the split in their friendship.26 The next major
work was Daybreak: Reflections on Moral Prejudices, in 1881, where
Nietzsche began to formulate his famous “will to power” concept,
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which describes how man struggles to achieve affirmation, and
thus his highest possible state of existence. Following this came
The Gay Science of 1882, which was the first of Nietzsche’s works to
deal with the “God is dead” idea. This, along with “will to power”
and “eternal return” was what Nietzsche explored in his next
book, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, written from 1882–1883, where the
journeys and philosophical experiences of a prophet named after
the father of Zoroastrianism present the famous idea of the übermensch or “over-man,” i.e., the man who has destroyed the chains
of Christian morality, and who has instead created his own morals
for the sake of leading humanity to a more meaningful existence.
After Zarathustra came Nietzsche’s other late works, including Beyond Good and Evil (1886) and On the Genealogy of Morals
(1887), both of which furthered his attacks on the origins of morality and the nature of human values.27 In 1888, Nietzsche wrote
several works, including Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, Ecce
Homo, and two writings criticizing the works of his former friend
Wagner: The Wagner Case and Nietzsche contra Wagner.28 Not long
after the latter was completed, Nietzsche went completely mad
on 3 January 1889, and was totally insane from that point until his
death on 25 August 1900. From the time of his breakdown until
his death he was cared for by his mother and his sister.
Nietzsche’s writings presented an extraordinarily new view
of the world to the nineteenth-century intellectual community. It
took some time for his work to be recognized, but at the end of the
day he came to be recognized as one of the greatest minds of the
nineteenth-century as well as one of the first existentialist thinkers
in continental philosophy. His view of the world centered around
the affirmation of life would serve as one of the most important
concepts from the age when modernity was on the rise.
IV. Nietzsche and Wagner as friends and enemies
In November of 1868, shortly after Friedrich Nietzsche
returned to the University of Leipzig following an injury he had
sustained during service in a Prussian cavalry regiment (he damaged several muscles after attempting to leap into the saddle of
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his horse and was unable to walk for months), the young student
close to leaving university met a man whom he would later regard
as perhaps his greatest friend: Richard Wagner.29 At the time, the
positions of these two great men in the world were very different.
Nietzsche was a completely unknown student of philology,
and Wagner was close to achieving almost universal recognition as
the greatest composer in the world. Despite this, and the obvious
difference in age, there were innumerable reasons for the two
men to become friends. Both of them had spent their youths in
deep admiration for the ancient art of Greek tragedy, and both
had been deeply influenced by the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer. There was another thing. A musical genius with a strong
but amateur interest in philosophy encountered a philosophical
genius with a strong but amateur interest in music. The situation
was made possible by the vicinity of Wagner’s home in Switzerland,
Tribschen, to Nietzsche’s residence at Basel, where he was a professor at the university.30 Wagner, having been in exile for a number
of years in Switzerland, came to love the outstanding beauty of
the Swiss Alps, which served as a muse for his works, notably Der
Ring des Nibelungen, where the sublime, untarnished qualities of
nature are a central theme. Nietzsche, too, took inspiration from
the Swiss landscape, as the naturalistic nature of his book Thus
Spoke Zarathustra credits.
The friendship of Nietzsche and Wagner was still in a very
good place when Der Ring des Nibelungen premiered in 1876 at the
first Bayreuth Festival. It was in this same year that Nietzsche wrote
the fourth and final installment of his series of four essays called
Unfashionable Observations. This final essay was entitled Richard
Wagner in Bayreuth. It certainly was positive but not enthusiastic,
praising the supremacy and the majesty of the composer’s art, but
by no means to the extent of his earlier book, The Birth of Tragedy, in which he had proclaimed Wagner as leading the rebirth
of Greek tragedy. Before publishing the final version of this new
piece, the draft had been much more critical of Wagner. Nietzsche
had decided, with some advice from friend and Wagnerian Peter Gast, to rewrite the critical parts of the essay and present a
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more favorable picture of Wagner the genius. But after the first
Bayreuth Festival, Nietzsche concluded that Wagner’s art was not
the supreme achievement he once had thought it too be. This
was reflected in his book of 1878, Human, All-Too Human, where
Wagner the genius was described in a veiled manner as Wagner
the ultranationalist and Wagner the anti-Semite.
This was the same year that Wagner sent Nietzsche a copy
of Parsifal, which Nietzsche immediately regarded as making use
of an over-Christianized view of the moral compass and a further
extended view of Schopenhauerian renunciation. For Nietzsche,
this could not be forgiven. He had once admired Schopenhauer,
but now had come to reject his pessimism. Now, he would reject
Wagner as well. He sent Wagner a copy of Human, All-Too Human,
and the former friend of Nietzsche got the message. The Bayreuther
Blätter, a Wagnerian newsletter, denounced the philosopher just
months after Wagner received the copy of Nietzsche’s book.31
Nietzsche knew he hated Parsifal even before it premiered on
the stage, showing how close the correspondence and friendship
between Wagner and Nietzsche had been. It also fantastically
displays just how volatile these two geniuses truly were, with no
ability whatsoever to personally reconcile with each other after
their ultimate break.
The Parsifal–Human, All-Too Human incident aside, there
are many generally accepted ideas about what led to the end of
the Nietzsche–Wagner friendship. First, there is Schopenhauer.
When they met in 1868, both Wagner and Nietzsche were very
much in equal admiration of Schopenhauer’s philosophy, and
Nietzsche certainly still was in 1874 when he wrote the third essay
of Unfashionable Observations, entitled “Schopenhauer as Educator.”
But by the time Nietzsche received the copy of Parsifal from Wagner in 1878, his respect for the philosophy of Schopenhauer was
waning. And by the time he set out to compose the first of the two
late Wagner writings, The Case of Wagner, he had certainly broken
with Schopenhauer completely. In this writing he attributed the
Ring Cycle’s failure to its Schopenhauerian ending.32
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From this comes the contrast of Wagner’s ultimate view of
the world to Nietzsche’s own ultimate view of things. For Wagner,
it is clear that after some soul searching in more sexual works
like Tannhäuser (despite its Christian ending) and Tristan und
Isolde (despite its ending with physical death), Wagner prefers the
Schopenhauerian view that the world and all its pains should be
renounced in favor of the mysteriousness of what is to be found
beyond the tangible realm. Nietzsche, on the other hand, totally
favors a view of life affirmation, directly in contrast to any ideas
involving a state beyond the termination of life.
Along with Schopenhauer’s views on life versus the afterlife,
there is the way Wagner and Nietzsche viewed the will as taken
from his writings and their own ideas. This idea of the will could
be defined as humanity’s driving force: the thing that drives man
to achieve his greatest possible goals. For Nietzsche, who interprets
it as the “will to power,” it is the will’s ultimate victory that greets
the übermensch. For Schopenhauer, however, the will is part of what
must be renounced in order for man to free himself from an endless drive to satisfaction through sexual intercourse––it was this
theme that Wagner sought to explore in Tristan. In the end, along
with his opinion of affirmation, it was this Schopenhauerian view
that Wagner would take in stride, and it was this rejection of the
will through a Christian-Schopenhauerian mode that Nietzsche
found in Parsifal that disgusted him so much.
V. Analyzing the Wagner writings: The Case of Nietzsche
In order to assess the nature of Nietzsche’s final 1888–1889
critiques of Wagner, it is necessary to view them from what might be
called a mediating perspective. This means that in order to grasp
these two works in their entirety, they must be looked at through
the lens of the critic and the criticized alike. We need to look not
only at what Nietzsche said, but at how Wagner or a Wagnerian
might respond. Can the apparently polar opposite nature of these
opinions be reconciled? The answer is yes, but before the synthesis
can be found we need to examine the Nietzschean thesis and the
Wagnerian antithesis.
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V.i. The Case of Wagner, analyzed
The Case of Wagner is a throughly fascinating essay. It gives
great insight not only to the obvious subject matter, but also to
Nietzsche’s thought in general––especially the way he was thinking in the months just before his loss of sanity. In the preface,
Nietzsche tells the reader that “My greatest experience was a recovery. Wagner is merely one of my sicknesses.”33 This statement
could serve to define the main point of the book. For example,
he surprisingly refers to how he believes Georges Bizet’s opera
Carmen is better and more worthy of praise than anything Wagner
composed. “Yesterday I heard––would you believe it?––Bizet’s masterpiece for the twentieth time. Again I stayed there with tender
devotion; again I did not run away. How such a work makes one
perfect!”34 This is particularly interesting. There is almost certainly
no serious musicologist who would share in this opinion, and in
all likelihood Nietzsche would not disagree. But then again, the
remark is meant to drive home the point: Wagner is a disease, and
Carmen was Nietzsche’s cure.
Following the Carmen comparison, Nietzsche goes into
detail about how he takes issue with the Wagnerian redemption
theme. He relates that in every one of Wagner’s operas there is
a hero or heroine who needs to be redeemed, and how it was
this that ruined the ending of the Ring. According to Nietzsche,
Wagner turned a work that looked towards the beginning of a
golden age of man at the end of Siegfried, with the uniting of the
title hero and his beloved Brünnhilde in the renunciation of the
old gods of Valhalla, into nothing more than a Schopenhauerian
declaration of redemption. At the end of Götterdämmerung, following Siegfried’s murder, Brünnhilde immolates herself in his
funeral pyre, so that she might sacrifice herself to redeem him for
his misdeeds, and so that she might be united with him eternally
in death. Nietzsche’s issue with this, of course, was that it was not
affirming life on earth, but was rather serving to look towards
rejecting life in favor of death, just like Tristan. However, it is not
clear that Brünnhilde is rejecting the will entirely, at least as Nietzsche defines it. The will is, for Nietzsche, the ultimate driving
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force towards human fulfillment. Is it not will in this sense that
drives her to unite herself with Siegfried in death? For Brünnhilde,
the victory is achieved by way of grasping at a state of eternity in
death, which for her is fulfillment. But Nietzsche disagrees with
Brünnhilde (and thus with Wagner) about what fulfillment should
be. When Nietzsche’s own concept is looked at through a wider
lens, it is possible to see that the ending of the Ring is an example
of the will to power, although one contrary to what Nietzsche saw
as its proper fulfillment.
After covering his issues with Schopenhauerian redemption in the Ring and Wagner’s other operas, Nietzsche moves on to
some broader ideas. First among them is the issue of the decadent,
a person who is defined by the weakness of will that Nietzsche saw
as characteristic of the late nineteenth-century. In this context, this
means a person, like Wagner, overcome with a sense of passion
who is made weak by the art which expresses this passion. But, as
Nietzsche admits, he too is affected by this decadence: “I am, no
less than Wagner, a child of this time; that is, a decadent.” The
difference is that Nietzsche was able to overcome this decadence.
How? Through philosophical understanding. “I comprehended
this, I resisted it. The philosopher in me resisted.”35 Although
Nietzsche admits that he once thought that Wagner was a great
musician, Wagner also claims to be a great poet and dramatist,
presenting a total work of art that expresses deep, universal truth.
Why does Nietzsche think this is not true? Because Wagner is,
in Nietzsche’s mind, not a great dramatist like Shakespeare or
Aeschylus, but an actor. Wagner the actor is capable of deceiving his audiences: he gives them the illusion that a great epic, a
great drama, is taking place before them. The sheer emotional
power of Wagner’s music, according to Nietzsche, is not enough
to sustain the truth of what he thinks is his great philosophical
message. Being overcome by emotion is the sign of a decadent,
and therefore suggests Wagner’s music is weak.
Just because a work displays great emotional content, it
does not have to be incapable of expressing truth. It is through
the audience’s emotional experience of such a work that they
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recognize truth. The audience member will feel at least sympathy,
and, hopefully, empathy for the hero. Empathy will enable the
viewer to enter the viewpoint of the character, and thus can gain
access to the truth that the character is experiencing. In Tristan,
the prelude, the Liebesnacht duet, and the Liebestod aria show us
not just deep emotional power, but also deep truth about the
nature of longing, love and death. Here Wagner’s total work of
art, combining music and drama, is victorious for the ages. Here
Nietzsche’s argument, that of Wagner the liar, that of Wagner the
actor, is false. Nietzsche felt the emotional power of the experience, but he was unable to comprehend the truth it expressed.
V.ii. Nietzsche contra Wagner, analyzed
Nietzsche contra Wagner, the last thing Nietzsche wrote before
losing his sanity, is as interesting in content as it is in purpose. In
the preface to this work, Nietzsche points out that it is essentially
a compendium of all his earlier writings on Wagner. It shows
Nietzsche was keenly concerned about ensuring that his readers
would understand his views on the Wagner opus. But why did he
care so much about what other people thought of his views? This
was a man who had spent most of his life surrounded by those
who disagreed with him. The reason for his concern lies in how
much respect Nietzsche formerly had for Wagner, and how much
energy he devoted to honoring Wagner’s art in his first work, The
Birth of Tragedy, which cost him his career as a classicist. Nietzsche
now wanted to show the world that he was capable of self-criticism
despite his strong set of ideals, and through doing so, could also
display his intellectual supremacy over the other decadents of the
late nineteenth-century.
Nietzsche begins the main body of his work by describing
his initial admiration of Wagner. Above all, it is from how Wagner
has suffered as an individual that Nietzsche admires him, and also
from his sheer musical genius which brought so much new material into the world of music. “Here is a musician who is a greater
master than anyone else in the discovering of tones peculiar to
suffering, oppressed, and tormented souls, who can endow even
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dumb misery with speech.”36 But then comes the critical edge.
Nietzsche goes on to describe how Wagner is extremely adept at
creating small, sublime, and utterly ecstatic moments, but that his
goal is to create works on a monumental scale never before seen.
“He does not see that his spirit has another desire and bent—a
totally different outlook—that it prefers to squat peacefully in the
corners of broken-down houses: concealed in this way, and hidden
even from himself, he paints his really great masterpieces, all of
which are very short, often only one bar in length—there, only, does
he become quite good, great and perfect, perhaps there alone.”37
Here arrives Nietzsche’s problem of the artist. The artist may be
a creative genius, but he may not know what his genius is best at
creating. Nietzsche believes Wagner to be a creator of music solely
for the sake of pleasing the decadents––as we saw in The Case of
Wagner––he is only breaking convention to please the mob, and
creates new concepts such as “unending melody” to do so.
This is where Nietzsche’s argument begins to suffer as a
result of his own personal view of the world. The creation of new
techniques of composition was not done by Wagner for the sake of
playing to the mob, but because he felt it was the only way to give
the listener an expression of a certain emotion, mood, or feeling.
This was precisely the case with the use of dissonance in the Tristan
chord, which was done to create a sense of painful longing, as with
the invention of a brand new instrument, the Wagner tuba, which
Wagner wanted so that he could hear the Valhalla leitmotif played
in Das Rheingold with a supreme sense of regality and nobility.38
This was not the work of a showman who wanted to please the
mob; this was the art of a man who fought the conventions of the
nineteenth-century sound world for the sake of expressing emotions never before painted on the musical canvas.
The final major issue Nietzsche takes with Wagner is what
he calls “Wagner as the apostle of chastity.” This is where Nietzsche
lays out his problems with the glorification of purity and chastity
through a Christian lens in Parsifal, the work which served as the
final catalyst for the split in their friendship. Nietzsche has no
qualms about condemning utterly this final opera of Wagner’s.
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He puts it in the simplest terms possible: Parsifal is “a bad work.”
Nietzsche’s reasoning for this mainly is tied to the aforementioned
chastity problem. In the opera, the hero, foolish but pure Parsifal,
is glorified for his ability to reject the sexual advances of Kundry,
and, by doing so, is capable of rescuing the Holy Lance from the
villainous demon Klingsor. In the process, Parsifal is able to redeem Amfortas, King of the Grail Knights, who lost the spear after
being himself seduced by Kundry. He then baptizes and redeems
Kundry, who was guilty of laughing at Christ when he was crucified, and had been cursed as a result. The problem of sex versus
chastity appears to be black and white, but it is not that simple.
In Parsifal, it must be noted that sex is only condemned
when those involved in it either have a higher task that their sexual
desires keep them from completing, or when their sexual activity is without emotional feeling and for the sake of the sensation
alone. None of the characters in the story is an ordinary person,
and there is no indication that how sex is addressed refers to
the real world.39 What conclusion is then to be drawn? Wagner
is merely trying to propose that although sex is not empirically
evil, it can be perverted to evil means just like anything else—as
Wagner’s own music was by the Nazis. Here was where Nietzsche
was again damaged by his own bias. He could only see Parsifal as
a black and white canvas, where sex and the will were rejected in
a Christian-Schopenhauerian mode.
There is a further issue with the standard black-and-white
Christian view of Parsifal. Although explicitly created on the
subject of Christian themes, Parsifal is a Schopenhauerian work,
not a mass for the stage. Its central theme, like that of the clearly
pagan Ring, is redemption through love. But in Parsifal, there is
no redemption connected to the rejection of the will. If anything,
it is more in line with Nietzsche’s affirmation principle, which accepts the absoluteness of life, but at the same time confirms that
the struggle of the will is a highly painful and ultimately futile
one. Futile in the sense that it can never achieve perpetual satisfaction, thanks to death. The main problem in the opera when
dealing with this concept of life-affirmation on earth is its clear
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focus on the otherworldly, and, especially in regards to Kundry,
the afterlife. But, similarly to Brünnhilde, it is Kundry’s will that
she should be redeemed, and it is Parsifal’s will that brings her to
redemption through love.
The problem, and the place where Nietzsche’s criticism
may have some validity, is that it is, perhaps, God’s love that redeems. But on the other hand, it is perhaps that of Parsifal. This
may be true given how Wagner ends his opera, with the squires
of the Grail Knights proclaiming “Miracle of supreme salvation!
The redeemer redeemed!”40 after Parsifal heals and redeems
Amfortas with the Holy Lance. This line is mysterious, and it
has never been agreed whether or not the redeemer is Christ or
Parsifal. However, considering Christ is never directly mentioned
by name in the opera, it may well be Parsifal who is the redeemer.
This could imply that it is through man that the idea of divinity
came into the world, and thus that the Christian aspect is used
only as an elaborate metaphor, but this cannot be said for sure.
The only thing in Parsifal that remains undisputed is the majesty
and sublime aesthetic beauty of its music.
VI. How Nietzsche and Wagner can be Reconciled: The Case of
Mahler
How can these two ideologies be reconciled? Wagner’s
promotes death as a vehicle for redemption through love and the
renunciation of life, and Nietzsche promotes the affirmation of
life on earth, and the acceptance of the “will to power” concept
as a tool to achieve fulfillment on earth and only on earth. These
seem to be antipodal and impossible to reconcile. Nonetheless,
the artistic achievements of another great man, who was himself
indebted to them both, shows the way to a reconciliation. This
man was Gustav Mahler.
If discussing Mahler as a synthesis of Nietzsche and Wagner is the goal, it makes sense to start by discussing the latter of
the two; as he, like Mahler, was a great composer. When looking
at Mahler, it is clear from the start that he is musically the direct
successor to Wagner as the bearer of the torch of musical mod-
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ernism. Wagner’s first and only totally modernist work was Tristan
und Isolde, but since he had not written it solely for the sake of
breaking convention, he did not make these new techniques such
as dissonance and atonality the norm of his later works. Although
there are elements of both present in Meistersinger, the Ring, and
Parsifal, they are not the dominant force. The dominant force
is late romanticism––but late romanticism on the brink of losing tonality and chord resolution. What makes Mahler such an
excellent successor to Wagner is that he, too, followed a similarly
cautious path. His symphonies are not dominated by dissonance,
but they make excellent use of it. They instead serve to extend late
romanticism as codified by Wagner in his late works.
For all that Mahler is indebted to Wagner, he is, remarkably, a composer with a totally unique voice. There is no Mahler
that sounds like Wagner unintentionally, and there are parts of
Mahler’s music where Wagner is directly referred to for the sake
of displaying a particular mood or emotion. This is the case in
the finale of Mahler’s First Symphony, where he quotes a theme
from Parsifal, and in the finale of his Seventh, where he quotes
Meistersinger.
But for all the obvious musical influence that Wagner has
on Mahler, where does the Wagnerian ideology appear in Mahler’s
canon? The answer lies in a further exploration of Wagner’s favorite
theme, redemption through love, as it can be found in the works
of Mahler. For one thing, death, resurrection, eternity, and the
idea of an afterlife are ever-present in Mahler’s symphonies. This
primarily results from the aftermath of Mahler’s far from happy
childhood, where he witnessed the death of several of his siblings
from illness. The grief that these tragedies imprinted on Mahler
left him naturally curious about what life meant and about what
there was to be said for the concept of a life after death.
When it came to the expression of these philosophical
questions in Mahler’s music, his form was unique. In his Second
Symphony, for example, Mahler explores the age-old questions: is
there life after death? Is it all for nothing? In the first movement,
he gives us a long funeral march for the death of a great man,
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which expresses the darkness of death and grief, but still affirms
the great and wonderful mystery of it. In the second, he gives us
a memory of the great man in life. In the third movement, we
see a description of the madness and seemingly joke-like nature
of life. But towards the end of this scherzo, the joking music is
seemingly struck by lighting: we hear a great cosmic explosion, to
which no precise meaning can be attached. Following the scherzo’s
extraordinary end, there is a brief song for contralto where the
singer expresses a desire to be lifted above the world and taken
into heaven––to return once more to the arms of God. Mahler,
however, does not end his symphony with an ascension into heaven.
He ends it with a highly metaphorical resurrection. The finale,
after an ecstatic return to the world of the living, concludes with a
hymn for chorus, featuring text by Klopstock, as well as by Mahler
himself. What makes this interesting is that nothing in the text of
the final movement implies that the person in question (that is,
the person whose funeral is represented in the first movement)
has been taken into heaven. If anything, the figure in question has
conquered death by returning to life through totally inexplicable
means, and will, in Mahler’s words, be led to God.
Here it is important to take note of some facts about
Mahler’s life. He was born not as a Christian, but as a Jew. He
became a Christian not because he had found a new source of
faith, but because he wanted to get a job as director of the Vienna
Court Opera, which required him to convert. Mahler got the job,
but remained an agnostic until the end of his life. So what does
this mean for the Resurrection Symphony? Surely it can not be
called a purely Christian work, if the man who wrote it was a Jew
who converted to Christianity solely for the sake of his artistic
career. But the presence of Wagner’s own favorite theme in the
Christian mode cannot be rejected altogether. The Resurrection
is about redemption through love just as much as Parsifal. The
only difference is how the use of Christian ideas and a Christian
influenced text can be reconciled with a purely secular philosophy.
Even though some of Mahler’s major works may feature
Christian themes, they are not to be regarded as an affirmation
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of the afterlife. This may seem totally contradictory in the case
of the Eighth Symphony, which features not only a hymn to the
creator spirit, but also the final scene of Goethe’s Faust, where
the title character ascends into heaven after he is redeemed for
his sins through the love of Marguerite––the “eternal feminine.”
What is significant here is that Mahler does not use Goethe’s
scenario to affirm the existence of the afterlife, or the possibility
thereof, but to further extol the same model he used in his Second
Symphony: the idea that redemption by love was shown through
Christ’s sacrifice was created by man, just as Faust’s redemption
was at the hands of a woman. In both cases it is clear that Mahler
is seeking to present redemption as a thing of this earth created by
humans. At the same time, he uses Christian themes to show how
truly significant they have been for the history of his civilization.
The use of Christian themes to reflect a worldly view is
most present in the Eighth Symphony. The Resurrection is not
an ascension into heaven, but rather a return to life on earth. In
this sense, the Second Symphony is an extension of the themes
explored in his First Symphony, where they were looked at in a
purely naturalistic light. Mahler’s First Symphony is itself an earthshattering work, and the struggle it depicts is very much the same.
The opening movement of the First Symphony shows the
world born in spring time, the second movement the joy man feels
at the sight of nature’s beauty, but the third takes things to a very
dark place. It is a funeral march, with a theme taken as the melody
from the song “Frère Jacques” played in minor key. The dark, almost evil music of the march is then interspersed with Jewish folk
dance tunes that Mahler recalled from his childhood. The nature
of how this third movement expresses death, however, could not
be called simple. Again, Mahler uses the metaphor, and to very
great effect. Here, death may not necessarily have occurred, but
it is ever present, and from it no one can escape. In the finale,
first there is a great storm of battle, a struggle of the human will
to overcome adversity. This stormy music of battle is interspersed
with passionate lyrical episodes, written in almost the same vein
as the Tristan prelude. It seems clear that Mahler is trying to de-
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pict the will in struggle, but what could these passionate episodes
mean? The answer is simple: Love.
In this finale, Mahler shows that love is the only way for
the will’s earthly struggle to be redeemed from the endless injury
and suffering that it causes its possessor as he seeks to overcome
the problem of mortality. In Mahler’s case it is the want, but not
the possession, of a woman’s love. This woman was the soprano
Johanna Richter, who had rejected Mahler’s advances shortly before
he composed the First Symphony.41 In any case, this allusion to
personal experience only further seeks to confirm the Mahlerian
belief in the affirmation of struggle by way of redemption through
love. What is lost and hurt in the will’s struggle, love and only love
redeems. The symphony reaches its concluding point with a heroic
return to the life-affirming spring music of the first movement,
and ends with a heroic expression of victory over death by accepting mortality and rejecting the pain caused by it in favor of love.
Here is where Nietzsche comes in. As we have seen, this
notion of redemption through love was clearly very prevalent in
Mahler’s works. This might not have pleased Nietzsche because
of how much he detested Wagner’s uses of it, but because Mahler
uses redemption through love to affirm life, it is possible he could
have agreed with this Mahlerian idea. From here, the synthesis
continues. Mahler was certainly well acquainted with Nietzsche’s
philosophy, and the notion of the “will to power” especially can be
found throughout many of his works. But there is another theme
that Mahler had already explored using his mirror of Christianity
that he would also look at through Nietzsche’s lens: eternity.
In his Third Symphony, Mahler set out again to do what
he saw as ideal for a symphonic piece: the construction of a total
work of art by creating a universal composition, one that could be
said to encompass the whole world. The Third Symphony exemplifies this idea, and each of its movements represents a different
course of nature. The movements successively represent the dawn
of spring, the blossoming of summer, and the animals in the forest. From here he moves directly into a sung movement, where
he features Nietzsche’s own poem from Thus Spoke Zarathustra––
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181
“Zarathustra’s Roundelay.” He seeks to ask what man really looks
for in eternity, just as Nietzsche did, and it is thus that there could
be no greater choice of text:
O man, take care!
What does the deep midnight declare?
“I was asleep—
From a deep dream I woke and swear:
The world is deep,
Deeper than day had been aware.
Deep is its woe;
Joy—deeper yet than agony:
Woe implores: Go!
But all joy wants eternity—
Wants deep, wants deep eternity.”42
Here, Nietzsche’s conclusion is simple: the world is full of woe, but
more powerful, indeed deeper, than woe, is joy. Joy wants eternity,
and in wanting eternity joy clearly wants fulfillment. The only
way to achieve fulfillment, in Nietzsche’s thought, is to triumph
over woe and depravity (i.e. Christianity) in order to create the
übermensch. In Mahler’s mind, the problem is almost exactly the
same. But instead of seeking the übermensch, perhaps Mahler looks
for fulfillment on earth to accept the futility of struggle and, in
doing so, finds the redemption from pain in love.
Following this song, the next movement addresses the idea
of the afterlife in heaven, but here Mahler gives us clues to show
that his image of heaven is anything but literal. His movement
addressing the notion of God’s kingdom features a song sung by
a children’s choir. Who better to believe one of man’s constructions than a naive child? Mahler juxtaposed his very serious song
featuring Nietzsche’s text with a cheery song about heaven sung
by children. The one he believed to be more valid was clearly the
former. The impassioned finale is written to express what Mahler
saw as the truth that could be found in the ideal form of love. (He
titled the movement “What Love Tells Me.”) 43
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Alexander Tyska
After the Third Symphony and many other monumental
works, Mahler was not finished with eternity. One of his final compositions, Das Lied von der Erde, or, The Song of the Earth, seeks to
codify, for the ages, what Mahler thought of this titanic concept.
In Das Lied, Mahler sets the texts of six Tang Dynasty era poems
to music, and, in the last, called The Farewell, he seeks once and
for all to combine the ideals of the will to power, redemption
through love, and the notion of death with yet another Nietzchean
concept: eternal return. There are hints of eternal return in the
First and Second symphonies, but it comes through clearly in Das
Lied von der Erde. For Nietzsche, the concept essentially states that
either man must grasp that it is possible for everything that has
ever occurred, no matter how great or how terrible, to happen
again, or rather, that he must live life as if that were literally to
happen. In any case, The Farewell creates the ultimate synthesis by
showing how, despite the futility of the will’s struggle, despite the
redemption it might find in love, and despite the inevitability of
death and oblivion, something will always go on. Mahler ends the
Tang poem with words he himself wrote:
Everywhere, the beloved earth
blooms in the spring and
is newly green! Everywhere and forever
the distances are blue and bright!
Forever . . . forever . . . ”44
What Mahler is saying here is quite simple. Even though man may
wander off and fade away into eternity as an individual, the world
as nature will return and renew itself for eternity. Here, finally,
we can see the ultimate intellectual synthesis of Nietzsche and
Wagner. In Mahler, we find a man who uses the will for his own
purposes, who comprehends the good to be found in redemption
through love, and who affirms that, although life on earth is all
there is, there will always be the renewal, and the eternal return,
the eternal resurrection, of nature, forever. In this way, he brings
together in a coherent unity Wagner’s principle, which promotes
love as a vehicle for redemption, and then Nietzsche’s, which promotes the affirmation of life on earth, and the acceptance of the
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will to power to achieve fulfillment on earth and only on earth.
But the price to pay for this synthesis is the rejection of individual,
personal survival in favor of the survival of the world as nature.
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Notes
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and The Case of
Wagner, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York, Vintage Books of
Random House, Inc., 1967), 149–150.
2
Barry Millington, ed., The Wagner Compendium: A Guide
to Wagner’s Life and Music (London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.,
1992), 383–384.
3
Walter Kaufmann, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist,
Antichrist (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1968), 302.
4
Jonathan Carr, Mahler: A Biography (Woodstock and New
York: The Overlook Press, 1997), 26.
5
Millington, The Wagner Compendium, 94.
6
Millington, The Wagner Compendium, 12.
7
Martin Geck, Richard Wagner: A Life in Music, trans.
Stewart Spencer (London and Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 2013), 39.
8
Millington, The Wagner Compendium, 274.
9
Ibid., 276.
10
Ibid., 279–282.
11
Ibid., 14–16.
12
Ibid., 292–298
13
Ibid., 318.
14
Geck, Richard Wagner: A Life in Music, 9-12.
15
Millington, The Wagner Compendium, 279–290.
16
Ibid., 292–295.
17
“Friedrich Nietzsche”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
last modified April 29, 2011, accessed February 22, 2015.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/.
18
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Friedrich Nietzsche.”
19
Kaufmann, Nietzsche, 24–25.
20
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Friedrich Nietzsche.”
21
Kaufmann, Nietzsche, 26.
22
Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy and The Case of Wagner,
32–36.
23
Kaufmann, Nietzsche, 27.
24
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Friedrich Nietzsche.”
25
Kaufmann, Nietzsche, 477.
26
Walter Kaufmann, translator’s note to The Case of Wagner
in The Birth of Tragedy and The Case of Wagner, 149–150.
27
Kaufmann, Nietzsche, 478.
28
Ibid., 178.
29
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Friedrich Nietzsche.”
1
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185
Ibid.,
Kaufmann, translator’s note to The Case of Wagner, 302.
32
Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner, 164.
33
Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner, 155.
34
Ibid., 157.
35
Ibid., 155.
36
Friedrich Nietzsche, I: The Case of Wagner, II: Nietzsche
contra Wagner, and III: Selected Aphorisms, trans. Anthony M.
Ludovici (Edinburgh and London, T.N. Foulis, 1911), 58.
37
Ibid., 58.
38
Terry Quinn, Richard Wagner: The Lighter Side (Milwaukee,
Amadeus Press, 2013), 21.
39
Deryck Cooke, “The Symbolism of Parsifal,” liner notes
to Wagner: Parsifal, Orchester und Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele
conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch, Philips Classics 289 464
756-2, CD, 1962.
40
Ibid.,
41
Carr, Mahler, 38–47.
42
“Zarathustra’s Roundelay,” World Heritage Encyclopedia,
last modified 2015, accessed March 1, 2015, http://ebook.
worldlibrary.net/article/WHEBN0003113714/Zarathustra.
43
Carr, Mahler, 72.
44
“Das Lied von der Erde—The Farewell,” San Francisco
Symphony Keeping Score, last modified 2011, accessed 1
March 2015, http://www.keepingscore.org/content/farewelldas-lied-von-der-erde-song-earth-symphony-tenor-and-contraltoor-baritone-and-orc.
30
31
Bibliography
Adorno, Theodor W. Mahler: A Musical Physiognomy.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Carr, Jonathan. Mahler: A Biography. Woodstock, New York:
Overlook Press, 1998.
Cooke, Deryck. Liner notes to Wagner: Parsifal. Conducted by
Hans Knappertsbusch. Bayreuther Festspiele. Philip. 50. 289 464
756-2. CD. 2001.
“Farewell—Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth),
A Symphony for Tenor and Contralto (or Baritone) and
Orchestra, after Hans Bethge’s The Chinese Flute.” Farewell Das Lied von der Erde. Accessed March 1, 2015. http://www.
keepingscore.org/content/farewell-das-lied-von-der-erde-songearth-symphony-tenor-and-contralto-or-baritone-and-orc.
186
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Geck, Martin, and Stewart Spencer. Richard Wagner: A Life
in Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Kaufmann, Walter Arnold. Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist,
Antichrist. 3rd ed. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University
Press, 1968.
Liebert, Georges. Nietzsche and Music. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2004.
Nietzsche, Friedrich, and Walter Kaufmann. The Portable
Nietzsche. New York: Viking Press, 1954.
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Anthony M. Ludovici.
I. The Case of Wagner ; II. Nietzsche Contra Wagner ; III. Selected
Aphorisms. Edinburgh: T.N. Foulis, 1911.
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Richard Wagner. The
Nietzsche-Wagner Correspondence. New York: Boni and Liveright,
1921.
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Walter Arnold
Kaufmann. On the Genealogy of Morals. New York: Vintage Books,
1967.
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Walter Kaufmann. The
Birth of Tragedy and the Case of Wagner. New York: Vintage Books,
1967.
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, and Peter Fritzsche. Nietzsche
and the Death of God: Selected Writings. Long Grove, Illinois:
Waveland Press, 2013.
Quinn, Terry. Richard Wagner: The Lighter Side: An Illustrated
Collection of Interesting Facts, Quips, Quotes, Anecdotes, and
Inspirational Tales from the Life and Works of the German Composer.
Milwaukee: Amadeus Press, 2013.
Wicks, Robert. “Friedrich Nietzsche.” Stanford University.
May 30, 1997. Accessed February 19, 2015. http://plato.
stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/.
“Zarathustra’s Roundelay.” Zarathustra’s Roundelay.
Accessed March 1, 2015. http://ebook.worldlibrary.net/
article/WHEBN0003113714/Zarathustra.
Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
Hegel: A Force of History
Will Gutzman
Abstract
It is well known that Hegel has had enormous influence
on philosophy, modern politics, anthropology, social science, and
psychology. To paraphrase Professor G. R. G. Mure: to attempt a
short paper on Hegel is bit like trying to fit boundless riches into
a small room.1 Indeed, just a summary of Hegel’s philosophy takes
ten volumes, and his collected works fill more than fifty volumes.
With that in mind, this article explores only a small part of Hegel’s
“riches” through this concise thesis: Hegel’s dense and opaque
philosophy influenced many subsequent ideologies—notably
Marxism and Fascism—which consequently played a role in sowing the seeds of later major historical events. Concepts that will be
used to illuminate this premise include the Hegelian dialectical
method, Hegel’s concept of the state, his belief in the necessity
of war, and his opaque writing style.
Introduction
Germany has a long history of producing major historical
figures. During the eighteenth century, the German states were
home to some of the most consequential philosophers, writers,
William Gutzman is a Senior at Flintridge Preparatory School in La
Cañada, California, where he wrote this paper for Joshua Perlman’s
Honors European History course in the 2014/2015 academic year.
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Will Gutzman
and artists in all of Europe—Kant, Goethe, Schelling, Schopenhauer, Beethoven, Schiller, Hölderlin, and the Schlegel brothers
to name just a few.2 One southern German state in particular,
Swabia, was “…the cradle of more thinkers and poets than any
other German region.”3 And one Swabian who had a massive
impact on the world was the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel’s extraordinarily dense philosophy influenced
many subsequent philosophies of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries—notably Marxism and Fascism—and because of this
influence played a role in sowing the seeds of subsequent major
historical events. In essence, Hegel’s philosophy, which was meant
to explain history, ended up helping to shape it. How did Hegel’s
philosophical legacy impact Marx, the father of Communism? And
how did others modify Hegel’s philosophy to establish Fascist,
totalitarian regimes? Key Hegelian concepts that spawned such
different philosophies included Hegel’s dialectical method, his
idea of the state, and his belief in the necessity of war. Additionally, Hegel’s opaque (some say impenetrable) writing style made
such wide-ranging interpretations of his philosophies possible.
Background
Hegel was such a prolific writer that it is possible only
to touch upon even a small sampling of the philosophical fields
he wrote about. Indeed, as one Hegel historian notes, “it took
Hegel ten volumes to summarize his philosophy,” and his Gesammelte Werke (collected works) “run to more than fifty volumes…”.4
Nevertheless, it is important to understand something of Hegel’s
life to appreciate the formation of his far-reaching philosophical
worldview. Hegel was born in the city of Stuttgart on August 27,
1770, to Georg Ludwig and Maria Magdalena Louisa Hegel. He
was the oldest of three surviving children (four other siblings died
shortly after birth). An inquisitive child, Hegel was a voracious
reader from a young age. He attended German School at the age
of three and Latin School at the age of five. He was given Shakespeare’s complete works (in German translation) at the age of
eight. His remarkable curiosity extended to all areas of academia.
As a child, he studied the major Greek philosophers in Greek.
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Later, while studying at a Gymnasium (which is similar to a prep
school in the United States), Hegel studied French and Hebrew.
He also learned English, apparently from a private tutor. In addition, he was an avid student of politics, art, religion, literature,
and was well-versed in natural science and mathematics. Clearly,
the scope of his scholarship was not confined to philosophy. At age
18 he completed his Gymnasium work and began his theological
studies at the University of Tübingen. While at Tübingen he was
befriended by Friedrich Hölderlin, who would go on to become
Germany’s greatest poet aside from Goethe, and the future philosopher Friedrich Schelling.5 Hegel broadened his already extensive
intellectual horizons by engaging in wide-ranging philosophical
discussions with these schoolmates. Indeed, they all railed against
the political and theological narrow-mindedness and inertia of
the university, and began developing new belief systems about
reason and freedom. In the wider world outside Germany, the
French Revolution and Napoleon, as will be discussed later, had
a powerful effect on Hegel’s worldview.
After completing his studies, he cycled through various
teaching positions, an editorial post, the headmaster position at
a Nuremberg Gymnasium, and a short stint as a professor at the
University of Heidelberg. During this entire time he continued to
refine his philosophical concepts and write extensively. However,
he and his philosophy only became famous once he was hired
as a professor at the University of Berlin in 1818.6 He remained
at this post for the remainder of his life. He died on November
14, 1831, likely from a cholera epidemic that had swept through
Russia and Europe.7
Influence
Hegel lived during a time of great tumult. Major upheavals such as the French Revolution, the Romantic Movement, and
the Industrial Revolution all combined to transform Europe like
no period since the Renaissance.8 This politically and culturally
charged era greatly influenced Hegel’s worldview. The revolutionary figure Napoleon, born in 1769—only one year before
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Hegel—had a particularly significant impact on Hegel. Like many
others of his time, Hegel revered Napoleon as the embodiment
of the weltgeist (world spirit) come to change the world. Hegel
believed in Napoleon’s ultimate goal of liberty through the common people overthrowing a repressive aristocracy. These changing
times seemed to mean that even the most fundamental things—
like leaders, political systems, cultural institutions, and even old
philosophies—could be overthrown. Just as Napoleon sought to
conquer the world with his army, Hegel sought to master it with his
mind. It is also interesting to note that these revolutionary philosophical ideas were also evident in music during that period. The
German composer Ludwig van Beethoven—who was, like Hegel,
born in 1770—“broke free from the world of confectionary that
dominated the [classical] era. His works have an unmistakable
philosophical...underpinning.”9 Also, Beethoven thought so highly
of the revolutionary Napoleon that he initially dedicated his Third
Symphony to him. However, once Napoleon proclaimed himself
the Emperor of France, people throughout Europe (including
Beethoven, Hegel, and others) became disgusted by Napoleon’s
power lust. It is clear that Hegel lived in a time when revolution
and change were affecting Europe and its culture. Hegel took part
in this revolutionary spirit in his own way, through his philosophical writings. Indeed, one of the most important parts of Hegel’s
revolutionary philosophy was the incorporation of history into
philosophical thought. In fact, Hegel’s philosophy was so vast it
essentially encompassed all of history. In addition to its vast scope,
his philosophy was so dense and open to multiple interpretations
that “even Hegel conceded that ‘only one man understands me,
and even he does not.’”10
The key component of Hegel’s philosophical-historical
system is his dialectical method. Considered by many to be his most
important contribution, the Hegelian dialectic is an ever-repeating
three-stage process which begins with a thesis. This thesis could
be an anything from an idea to an existing human or historical
condition. The thesis, in turn, gives rise to the antithesis; this is the
opposite of the thesis. Finally, a synthesis combines the two and
resolves the issue. Eventually, this synthesis becomes the new thesis,
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191
and the process begins anew.11 Hegel used this dialectical method
to describe historical events and change. In fact, Hegel’s dialectic
in action is history. As an example, the development of Western
society from Ancient Greece to the Germany of Hegel’s time was
seen as a massive, centuries-long process of thesis, antithesis, and
finally synthesis. The thesis began in Ancient Greece, a society
in which people were a part of a harmonious larger community.
However, through Socrates’ questioning, the need for independent conscience and thought was realized. Over time, the Greek
community eventually gave way to Christianity and ultimately
the Reformation (which was the antithesis, according to Hegel).
The Reformation “[brought] acceptance of the supreme right of
individual conscience” and thus was in direct opposition to Greek
society.12 However, the antithesis was also not perfect because,
“[p]ut into practice, the principle of absolute freedom turn[ed]
into the Terror of the French Revolution.”13 The synthesis of this
centuries-long dialectical struggle culminated in “…German
society…which [Hegel] saw as harmonious because it [was] an
organic community, yet preserv[ed] individual freedom because
it [was] rationally organized.”14 In fact, Hegel believed that the
“Prussian monarchy was the nearest thing on earth to the realization of an ideal state.”15 The dialectical method, used by Hegel
to glorify the Prussian state—a state which was the synthesis of all
that had gone before it—was a powerful philosophical tool for
Hegel as well as later philosophers. In essence, Hegel’s theory of
the dialectic shows the growth of freedom in history.
One of the most important ways Hegel influenced a later
philosopher, Karl Marx, was through Hegel’s dialectical method.
Starting in 1836, Marx began studying at the University of Berlin,
where Hegel himself had taught up until his death in 1831. In fact,
“…Marx down to the end of his life acknowledge[d] his profound
admiration for Hegel, [and] indeed express[ed] his contempt
for the small minds that criticized him without understanding
him.”16 Indeed, Marx admired Hegel’s concept of the dialectical
method to such an extent that it formed the theoretical (if not
intellectual) basis for Marx’s own philosophy, which was to become
Communism. However, while Marx took the dialectical method
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Will Gutzman
from Hegel—which was a dialectic of ideas—he transformed it for
his own purposes into a purely materialist dialectic. In particular,
Marx used his own dialectic to show that people were alienated
from their work under capitalism; this is the thesis. These feelings
of worker alienation eventually resolve (after worker revolt) to
feelings of contentment and joy in work. The way in which this
dialectical transformation (i.e., synthesis) from alienation to joy
occurs is through the implementation of Marx’s philosophy of
Communism which is the antithesis of alienated labor.17
While the dialectical method was important to the formation of Marx’s own philosophy, another Hegelian concept that
Marx took from Hegel (and also transformed) was the idea of the
state. Hegel claimed that the ultimate expression of freedom was
the state, and that the will of the state is the will of the people.
The Hegelian state allows for the “widest scope for freedom of
action” because all “[h]uman actions are performed in social contexts.”18 However, Marx found problems with Hegel’s claim that
people live through the state, i.e., the state’s will is the universal
will of the people. Marx believed that the “Hegelian state was
but an empty abstraction, a ‘mystical substance,’ a projection or
alienation of our ‘practical, sensuous activity’ onto an ideal but
mythical realm.”19 The main critique that Marx made against the
Hegelian state was that it was essentially backwards. Hegel was
an idealist, and he therefore asserted that ideas were not formed
based on the material world. Instead, to Hegel, ideas were independent and had “…godlike power to create reality.”20 Marx, on
the other hand, was a materialist, and believed that thoughts had
to be thought by someone and could not create reality on their
own.21 Marx’s own dialectical materialist philosophy (known as
Marxism) ultimately became known in practice as Communism.
Under Marx’s philosophy, the state would eventually wither away
to be replaced by a stateless, classless, and lawless society.
Besides Communism, it is ironic that Hegel’s idea of the
state also influenced Fascism, a worldview which is radically different from Communism. Because of Hegel’s opaque writing style,
Fascists in the twentieth century handpicked bits and pieces of
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Hegel’s philosophy, and then transfigured them for their own
nationalist and militarist ends. For example, the Fascists interpreted Hegel’s philosophy of the state to mean that the state was
the most important part of society—even more important than
the individual—and the most important part of the state was the
ruler. Hegel said:
Frederick II [of Prussia] may be named as the ruler under whom the
new era attained actuality….His immortal work is a domestic code of
laws, the [Prussian] Common Law [Landrecht]. He furnished a unique
example of how the father of a family energetically provides for and
regulates the welfare of his household and dependents.22
The seeds of totalitarian Fascism cloaked in benevolent language—
note the mention of a father figure—are seen in this direct quote
from Hegel. Hegel claimed that a constitutional monarch (i.e.,
father figure) would be benevolent to all, would be enlightened,
would express the will of the people, and would look after their
welfare. The Fascists took Hegel’s concept of the benevolent father
figure/leader, but changed it to mean a totalitarian leader who
would have complete and utter authority over all aspects of the
state permanently. So, in the hands of twentieth century Fascists,
Hegel’s idea of the state was warped in such a way that it ultimately
helped produce dictatorial leaders as well as the mass carnage of
two world wars.
In addition to his concept of the state, Hegel’s theory of
the necessity of war was used by the discordant philosophies of
Communism and Fascism for their own ends. As discussed earlier, Marx’s dialectical materialism was based on Hegel’s general
dialectical structure, but Marx called for workers to violently
overthrow capitalists through class warfare, and to form a new
society that had no separate classes or even private property ownership.23 Marx’s use of war—class warfare in this case—sprang from
Hegel’s concept of the necessity for war. Marx’s worldview eventually was used in the violent Communist revolutions (i.e., wars) in
several countries, some examples of which were Russia (1917),
China (1949), and Cuba (1953). This is not to say that Hegel was
seminally responsible for these uprisings. Like the Marxists, the
Fascists also used Hegel’s writings on war. Indeed, the Fascists used
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them to “[influence]…the speeches and writings of many German
philosophers and writers in the First World War.”24 The same held
true for World War II; Fascist leaders took Hegel’s theories and
twisted them in order to glorify war. By the end of World War II,
as Hegel biographer Terry Pinkard points out:
Hegel was blamed in Anglophone countries for the German authoritarianism that led to the First World War and for the kind of nationalist
worship of the state embodied by the Nazis that led to the Second
World War….his name became associated with the moral disasters
of the twentieth century.25
Hegel’s idea that war was sometimes necessary as a dialectical
method of two opposing ideologies battling and forming a new,
better ideology (i.e., the synthesis), coupled with his beliefs that
the German people were destined for some kind of great future,
made some people think that Hegel “[could] hardly avoid a share
of the responsibility for the two World Wars that disfigured the
twentieth century.”26 However, Hegel did not advocate war for
the reasons that Hitler did (i.e., to purify and expand [through
Lebensraum] the Fatherland), nor did Hegel advocate that German
states should rule in a totalitarian way. In fact, Hegel was “acutely
aware of [war’s] evils, even though he held that there were times
when it was…necessary.”27 Indeed, Hegel said “in his Lectures…
‘[a nation] should not, arbitrarily, start a war against another.’”28
Additionally, Hegel hated totalitarianism and “develop[ed] his
organic model of the state to prevent it. It was one of the chief
aims of his organic state to avoid the ‘machine state’ of Prussian
absolutism….”29 However, Hegel’s influence on the Fascists helped
to cause immense suffering and misery in the twentieth century.
Various totalitarian regimes appropriated Hegel’s dense and obscure philosophy of the necessity of war and perverted it to make
it their own. They also excluded parts of his philosophy when it
was expedient to do so. For example, totalitarian regimes did not
find it convenient to incorporate Hegel’s rules of warfare where
he directly instructs those who would wage a war to prosecute it
humanely and ensure that violence not be perpetrated against
families, private property, “…or private persons.”30
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195
Conclusion
The German poet Heinrich Heine warned not to underestimate men of thought who quietly sit in their studies; men of
action are almost always agents—albeit unwitting ones—of these
philosophers. Hegel was one of these quiet (but consequential)
philosophers sitting in his study. He was an extremely influential
thinker who shaped philosophical thought after him more than
almost any other modern philosopher. There is an essential question in the study of history that asks: “Is history shaped by great
individuals or by underlying trends and forces?” While Hegel was
certainly influenced by the revolutionary time in which he lived, he
in turn impacted trends in his own time. In fact, Hegel transcended
his time and made an entirely new philosophy that directly and
powerfully influenced Marxism and Fascism—two diametrically
opposed philosophies—and thus subsequent world history. Indeed,
Hegel’s legacy is so profound that he also influenced everything
from Existentialism to Darwinism to Phenomenology to Analytic
Philosophy. Overall, “[Hegel] has dominated the century since his
death, and the force of his impact is anything but spent, considering that both Marxism and Fascism are incomprehensible without
an understanding of [him].”31 Indeed, Hegel not only wrote about
philosophy in a historical sense; he helped to shape history itself.
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Notes
G. R. G. Mure, The Philosophy of Hegel (London: Oxford,
1965), vii.
2
Franz Wiedmann, Hegel: An Illustrated Biography trans.
Joachim Neugroschel (New York: Pegasus, 1968), 14.
3
Carl J. Friedrich, Introduction to The Philosophy of Hegel by
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, ed. and trans. Carl J. Friedrich
(New York: Modern Library, 1953), xiv.
4
Paul Strathern, Hegel in 90 Minutes (Chicago: Ivan R.
Dee, 1997), 29.
5
Mure, The Philosophy of Hegel, 41.
6
Anthony Kenny, The Rise of Modern Philosophy (New York:
Oxford University, 2006), 111-112; Frederick Beiser, Hegel,
(New York: Routledge, 2005), 17.
7
Terry Pinkard, Hegel: A Biography (New York: Cambridge,
2000) 652-658.
8
Strathern, Hegel in 90 Minutes, 7.
9
Scott Horton, “Hegel—Purpose, Results and the
Philosophical Essence,” Harpers Magazine, August 14, 2010,
http://harpers.org/blog/2010/08/hegel-purpose-results-andthe-philosophical-essence/.
10
Strathern, Hegel in 90 Minutes, 10.
11
Diané Collinson, Fifty Major Philosophers: A Reference Guide
(New York City: Routledge, 1988), 97.
12
Peter Singer, Hegel: A Very Short Introduction (N.p.: Oxford
University, 1983), 100-102.
13
Ibid., 102.
14
Ibid., 102.
15
Kenny, The Rise of Modern Philosophy, 116.
16
Friedrich, Introduction to The Philosophy of Hegel, xv-xvi.
17
Jeffery Abramson, Minerva’s Owl: The Tradition of Western
Political Thought (Cambridge: Harvard College, 2009), 318-320.
18
Kenny, The Rise of Modern Philosophy, 300-301.
19
Abramson, Minerva’s Owl: The Tradition of Western Political
Thought, 307.
20
Ibid., 308.
21
Ibid., 307-308.
22
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Political Writings ed.
Laurence Dickey and H. B. Nisbet., trans. H. B. Nisbet (New
York: Cambridge, 1999), 209-210.
23
J.W., Burrow, The Horizon Book of Makers of Modern Thought
(New York: American Heritage, 1972), 337-339.
1
THE CONCORD REVIEW
197
Constance I. Smith, “Hegel on War,” Journal of the
History of Ideas 26, no. 2 (1965): 282, http://www.jstor.org/
stable/2708234.
25
Pinkard, Hegel: A Biography, xii-xiii.
26
Kenny, The Rise of Modern Philosophy, 302.
27
Smith, “Hegel on War,” 285.
28
Ibid., 285.
29
Beiser, Hegel, 242-243.
30
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Philosophy of Right trans.
S.W. Dyde (Mineola, New York: Dover, 2005), 199.
31
Friedrich, Introduction to The Philosophy of Hegel, xv.
24
Bibliography
Sources Cited
Abramson, Jeffery. Minerva’s Owl: The Tradition of Western
Political Thought. Cambridge: Harvard College, 2009.
Abramson, Professor of Government and Law and Fellow
of the Frank C. Erwin, Jr., Centennial Chair in Government at
the University of Texas at Austin, provides an accessible guide
to the political thought and tradition that connects Hegel to
Marx. He also describes Marx’s critique of Hegel.
Beiser, Frederick. Hegel. New York: Routledge, 2005.
Beiser, a Philosophy Professor at Syracuse University,
provides a detailed overview of Hegel’s philosophy. Beiser
places Hegel’s thought in the context of the German romantic
movement. He also explains and analyzes the Hegelian
dialectical method as well as Hegel’s legacy.
Burrow, J.W. The Horizon Book of Makers of Modern Thought.
New York: American Heritage, 1972.
This is a series of scholarly articles on a number of
the world’s great philosophers, including Hegel and Marx.
Professor Burrow (University of Sussex), a leading intellectual
historian in Britain, specialized in social thinkers and historians
of the 18th and 19th centuries. To a certain extent, Burrow’s
love of the historiographical tradition (as opposed to the
modern school curriculum which left students, in Burrow’s
view, without any sense of a “sweeping overview”) parallels
the all-encompassing worldviews of both Hegel and Marx. His
198
Will Gutzman
article on Marx highlights this tradition, as does another article
in this book on Hegel written by George Kelly.
Collinson, Diané. Fifty Major Philosophers: A Reference Guide.
New York City: Routledge, 1987.
Collinson’s book contains a detailed overview of the major
western philosophers, which includes Hegel. Her essay on
Hegel provides a short biography as well as a concise analysis of
the main thrust of Hegel’s powerfully original work. She also
makes the connection to philosophers who influenced Hegel
as well as those he himself influenced. Collinson is a writer and
was formerly Senior Lecturer and Staff Tutor in Philosophy at
the Open University.
Friedrich, Carl J. Introduction to The Philosophy of Hegel. By
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Edited and translated by Carl
J. Friedrich. New York: Modern Library, 1953. xiii-lxiv.
Friedrich, Professor of Government at Harvard University,
was a well-known scholar of political science, philosophy,
history and law. This book includes Friedrich’s translations
of a sampling of Hegel’s work, including selections from
Phenomenology of the Spirit, The Science of Logic, The Philosophy of
History, and The Philosophy of Right and Law. Friedrich’s notes
and essays accompany Hegel’s writings.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. Philosophy of Right.
Translated by S.W. Dyde. Mineola, New York: Dover
Publications, 2005. Original printing 1896.
This book provides a translation of one of Hegel’s seminal
texts. This work clearly shows Hegel’s ability to investigate
questions in great depth and from multiple angles. It also
depicts Hegel’s combining of the law and politics. Prior to this
(and sometimes even today) the law was seen as something of
a skeleton; whereas, politics was the living, functioning entity.
This distinction is done away with by Hegel. Dyde was an
historian at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. Political Writings. Edited
by Laurence Dickey and H. B. Nisbet. Translated by H. B.
Nisbet. New York: Cambridge, 1999.
This book provides translated Hegel texts in areas ranging
from lectures on the philosophy of history to the German
Constitution to the relationship of religion to the state. Dickey
THE CONCORD REVIEW
199
is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
and Nisbet is Professor of Modern Languages at the University
of Cambridge. The extensive notes, along with an introductory
essay, provide details on Hegel’s influences and, in turn, the
influence he exerted on others.
Horton, Scott. “Hegel—Purpose, Results and the
Philosophical Essence.” Harpers Magazine, August 14, 2010.
http://harpers.org/blog/2010/08/hegel-purpose-results-andthe-philosophical-essence/.
Horton’s essay illustrates the philosophical linkages
between Hegel and Beethoven, two seminal figures who
lived during a period of massive social and artistic upheaval.
Common intellectual precepts are discussed working their
way into both art and philosophy. Horton is a writer, New York
attorney, and a lecturer at Columbia Law School.
Kenny, Anthony. The Rise of Modern Philosophy. New York:
Oxford University, 2006.
Kenny has been Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University
as well as the President of the British Academy. His book covers
the emergence of the intellectual schools of thought from the
early 16th through early 19th centuries that shaped modern
thought. In essence, it is a guide to the history of philosophy.
Mure, G. R. G. The Philosophy of Hegel. London: Oxford,
1965.
Mure was the former Warden of Merton College, Oxford,
as well as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford. He specialized
in the works of Hegel. In his book, Mure summarizes and
sets out the main principles of Hegel’s system. He also gives a
biographical sketch of Hegel along with a brief account of his
early writings which is meant to illuminate the development of
Hegel’s thought.
Pinkard, Terry. Hegel: A Biography. New York: Cambridge,
2000.
Pinkard, Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University,
writes a very thorough, highly-detailed account of Hegel’s
academic career and private life. He also depicts the social,
political, and cultural framework that influenced Hegel.
Hegel’s reputation and legacy are also explored.
200
Will Gutzman
Singer, Peter. Hegel: A Very Short Introduction. N.p.: Oxford
University, 1983.
Singer, the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at
Princeton University, covers Hegel’s ideas in dialectics,
metaphysics, religion, history, ethics, and politics, and
knowledge. The four works he discusses are Lectures on the
Philosophy of History, Philosophy of Right, The Phenomenology of
Mind, and Science of Logic. He also gives an account of Hegel’s
influence on Marx and other philosophers.
Smith, Constance I. “Hegel on War.” Journal of the History
of Ideas 26, no. 2 (1965): 282-285. http://www.jstor.org/
stable/2708234.
Smith’s article notes that there are strongly conflicting
opinions on what Hegel meant when he wrote about war. She
argues that Hegel does not exalt war, but rather describes it as a
historical fact. She points out that Hegel was “acutely aware” of
evils of war, but he was also cognizant of the fact that there are
occasions when war is necessary.
Strathern, Paul. Hegel in 90 Minutes. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee,
1997.
Strathern was a lecturer in philosophy and mathematics
at Kingston University. His book provides a concise overview
of Hegel’s life and philosophical worldview. He includes some
writings and quotes from Hegel’s major works.
Wiedmann, Franz. Hegel: An Illustrated Biography. Translated
by Joachim Neugroschel. New York: Pegasus, 1968.
Dr. Franz Widemann, like Hegel, was born in Stuttgart
and studied at the University of Tübingen. He was the Chair of
the Philosophy Department at the Philosophical-Theological
Institute at Dillingen. This detailed biography of Hegel
also contains numerous quotes of Hegel’s contemporaries.
It provides primary source information, as well as political
and economic context. It also details opposing Hegelian
philosophical schools that spring up after Hegel’s death.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Additional Sources Consulted But Not Cited
Althusser, Louis. The Spectre of Hegel. Translated by G.M.
Goshgarian. London: Verso, 1997.
Avineri, Shlomo. “Hegel Revisited.” Journal of Contemporary
History 3, no. 2 (1968): 133-147. http://www.jstor.org/
stable/259779.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. The Philosophy of Hegel.
Edited and translated by Carl J. Friedrich. New York: Modern
Library, 1953.
Jones, W. T. Kant and the Nineteenth Century. N.p.: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, 1952.
Kojeve, Alexandre. Introduction to the Reading of Hegel.
Compiled by Raymond Queneau. Edited by Allan Bloom.
Translated by James H. Nicholas, Jr. N.p.: Basic, 1969.
Lloyd, Spencer, and Andrzej Krauze. Hegel for Beginners.
London: Icon, 1996.
Plant, Raymond. Hegel: An Introduction. 2nd ed. N.p.: Basil
Blackwell, 1972.
Stepelevich, Lawrence S., ed. Young Hegelians. New York:
Cambridge, 1983.
Tubbs, Nigel. “Hegel’s Educational Theory and Practice.”
British Journal of Educational Studies 44, no. 2 (June 1996): 181199. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3121731.
Warburton, Nigel. A Little History of Philosophy. N.p.: Yale
Univeristy, 2011.
Winter, Robert, Arthur G. Coons Professor of the History
of Ideas, Emeritus, Occidental College. Personal interviews,
December 2013.
201
“The Secret Victory”
202Richard Bernstein, Dictatorship
Will ofGutzman
Virtue
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994, pp. 223-227
If the space invader has become the hero and the earthling
the villain, similar inversions have taken place in at least one other
cinematic prototype—the cowboy-and-Indian adventure, the classic
in this case being Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves of 1990. Never
mind that Costner uses a historical event that never happened (the
defection of a Civil War cavalry officer to the Indians) and transforms
the warlike, scalp-taking, torturing, predatory, patriarchal, malechauvinistic Sioux Indians into a group that might have founded the
Ethical Culture Society. Dances With Wolves replaces one myth, that of
the brave settler and the savage Indian, with another—the morally
advanced friend-of-the-earth Indian (“Never have I seen a people
more devoted to family,” the cavalry defector says with reverence) and
the malodorous, foulmouthed, bellicose white man.
The desire to put the Indian on a pedestal of superior moral
awareness defeats even simple truth. In 1991 two American Indians
were the subjects of best-selling books. They became icons of the
New Consciousness, and they continued to be so even after it was
discovered in both cases that their most admirable qualities had been
invented for them by white men. One of them, Chief Seattle, became
identified with a statement reproduced on posters in practically every
multicultural school in America, the statement about “The earth is our
mother” and “I have seen a thousand rotting buffalos on the prairie,
left by the white man who shot them from a passing train.” These
quotes reappear every year on Earth Day and form the centerpiece of
Brother Eagle, Sister Sky: A Message from Chief Seattle, which sold 280,000
copies in its first six months in print. The problem is that Chief
Seattle’s ecological views were invented by a screenwriter named Ted
Perry for a 1972 film about environmentalism. Very little is actually
known about Chief Seattle himself because he left scant written record
of himself, but it is known that he spent his entire life in the Pacific
Northwest and never saw buffalo or the prairie.
The Education of Little Tree and the cult that grew up around
him brings into even sharper relief our collective search for new
heroes of virtue. Little Tree, which was on top of the New York Times
paperback best-seller list for thirty weeks in 1991, won the Abby Award
from the American Booksellers Association, and drew twenty-seven
film offers, is supposedly about Native American Forrest Carter’s
heartwarming Cherokee upbringing, in which white people are
depicted as fools and ignoramuses. The evidence is that, in fact,
the book was written in the late 1970s as a kind of gag by a certain
Asa Carter, a former speechwriter for Alabama’s governor George
Wallace, a member of the anti-integrationist White Citizens’ Council
and a founder in 1957 of the Ku Klux Klan of the Confederacy. Even
after it was revealed that Carter was no Cherokee but actually a white
supremacist, the book remained a Times bestseller. A new printing of
one hundred thousand copies was ordered by the publisher.
Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
Footbinding in China:
A Curious Look at the Male Role
in a Tool of Social Subjugation
Melodie Liu
F
or centuries, Chinese mothers tightly bound their
daughters’ feet to alter them into highly coveted “golden lotus”
shapes. This included forcing up the arch and creating a cleft in
the sole of the foot, requiring the bones to break and the skin to
rot and peel away.1 After two years of torturous suffering, the girls’
feet would ideally measure only three inches in length. These
mimicked the feet of famed 10th-century dancer Yaoniang, who
was said to have performed atop a giant gilded lotus in the court
of Li Yu, last ruler of the Southern Tang dynasty.2 Mothers knew
that their daughters’ feet would serve as the main determinants of
their future prospects. To matchmakers, rich rulers, and prospective mothers-in-law, the quality of their feet spoke volumes about
their upbringing and strength of character. By the Qing dynasty,
neatly bound feet were necessary for the navigation of almost
every Chinese province’s social structure.
Historians trace mythological beginnings of the practice
to the Southern Tang dynasty of the Five Dynasties period. In the
Melodie Liu is a Senior at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino,
California, where she wrote this paper as an Independent Study in the
2014/2015 academic year.
204
Melodie Liu
course of a thousand years, footbinding became ingrained in Chinese culture, due to its erotic appeal and symbiotic relationship
with class distinction. By the mid-twentieth century, criticism from
Western cultures and internal nationalist pressure had eradicated
the practice from China. The purpose of this essay is to explore
how male forces facilitated the practice’s beginnings, institutionalization, and eventual downfall.
Historiography
Ming- and Qing-dynasty scholars recognized that footbinding spread through emulation, once it became aesthetically favored
in a certain area.3 This meant that investigation of the practice’s
beginnings necessitated research of its mythological origins. At
first, because the practice was a sensitive taboo, it was mentioned
only sporadically in travelogues and notation books, informal
mediums through which myths, rumors, and history could all be
recorded together in one train of thought.4 Consequently, scholars’
origins research followed tradition and substantiated hypotheses
through allusions found in classical literary texts. However, as Ming
scholar Yang Shen acknowledged, studying literary texts gives rise
to conflicting origin theories, as endless allusions can be drawn
from vernacular poems and plays that might not have actually been
referring to the physical practice of footbinding.5 For example,
because the 9th-century poem The Fragrant Toilette describes a girl
with six-inch feet and precedes the story of 10th-century dancer
Yaoniang, should it replace the legend as the most probable origin
story?6 Myth and history could not be separated in contemporary
records and literary text, which made it difficult for scholars to
prove that one origin theory held more water than another, and
even more difficult to prove that said literature or myth gave rise
to the first physical emulations of footbinding. With that being
said, some of the legend of Yaoniang is grounded in fact—Tang
Buddhist statues often featured bejeweled lotus pedestals, and
ruler Li Yu celebrated Buddhism, which might have intersected
with his wife’s appreciation for court dance. By the 15th century,
most Chinese people referred to the legend of Yaoniang as the
principle origin story of footbinding.7
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205
Although the beginnings of the practice remain shrouded in mystery, it is true that footbinding reached its height in
popularity in the Ming and Qing dynasties.8 A few non-Chinese
peoples living in China did abstain from binding, such as the
Mongols, Tibetans, and Hakka, but the majority of China caught
onto the trend in various forms.9 Sichuan women were famous
for “cucumber feet” instead of “golden lotuses,” opting for a less
extreme style that only involved folding the four small toes under
the foot, instead of forcing up the arch.10 Shanxi women in the
northwest preferred flat soles, dismissing the broken arches of
the southerners as “goosehead bumps.”11 The regional variations
in style raise debate over what defines bound feet; hence, this
complicates demographic information that could speak to the
evolution of the trend.12 In addition, there is limited research
about footbinding in poor, rural communities. Christina Turner
roughly estimated the intensity of the practice in each province
by using anecdotal evidence from travelogues and notation books,
but she surmised that there is not enough evidence to generalize
about large rural areas.13 Regardless, the information that can be
extracted from records suggests that if parents could afford to bind
their daughters’ feet, they would try; it was regarded as a cultural
norm that even those in remote provinces strived to follow. For
example, rural villages in Yunnan Province only stopped binding
in 1957, around twenty years after most areas in China did so.14
In addition, multiple accounts describe how the first Empress of
the Ming dynasty, who had been brought up as a peasant,15 was
ridiculed at a lantern festival for having natural feet. A villager
even made a lantern and riddle alluding to her feet, to which the
emperor responded by executing his entire clan.16 Qin Shihuang
himself, founder of the Qing dynasty, hand-picked small-footed
women for his court.17 Historical fact cements footbinding as an
expected facet of a well-groomed woman’s appearance.
The prevalence of such a strange practice has prompted
intellectuals to speculate over the rationale behind it. In the first
comprehensive English history of footbinding to be published,
Howard S. Levy suggested that the bound foot holds a certain
sexual allure. He explained that because feet were cleaned and
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Melodie Liu
bound in privacy, they created “mystery,” and that the “tiny and
fragile appearance of the foot aroused in the male a combination
of lust and pity.”18 This attraction aligned with and possibly sprang
from Neo-Confucian ideals of the female: self-consciousness, a ladylike mystique, and a willingness to remake oneself.19 To support
his theory, Levy referred to the myriad erotic literature centered
on bound feet, an example of which being the infamous Ming
dynasty novel The Golden Lotus. The anonymous author wielded
the burgeoning demand for three-inch feet in intimate scenes,
perpetuating the mystification and taboo surrounding them in
the process.20 Over the centuries, the popularity of footbinding
swelled and became extreme; in this fashion, an eccentric practice
became a trend and a norm. Levy also suggested that the practice
allowed men to keep a tighter rein on wives and daughters by
confining them to their quarters, citing for evidence a Chinese
manual that implied that footbinding was a “restraining device.”21
Indeed, once girls underwent the process, they were crippled for
life and would need to use canes or lean on other people.22 This
limitation upon physical mobility effectively confined them to the
domestic sphere.
Thorstein Veblen, author of The Theory of the Leisure Class,
explained the durability of the practice by pointing out that it was
a vehicle to display wealth and affluence.23 Families who could
afford to cripple their daughters, thereby sacrificing sources of
labor and income, easily appeared to be well-off. It was reported
by some Westerners that women in Hong Kong had feet so small
and delicate, they spent the day lying in bed and had servants to
carry them around.24 Additionally, an immense culture of fashion
bloomed around the appreciation for bound feet—embroidery,
an expensive and time-consuming recreation, became all the
rage. Regardless of the rationale behind the foot-bound woman’s
appeal, she was inarguably a major emblem of opulence within
China for centuries.25
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207
An Encumbrance, Yet an Opportunity
Women’s lives revolved around a painful cultural inconvenience directed towards the aesthetic preferences of men. Between
the ages of five and seven, when supposedly their bones were malleable and they understood bodily discipline, girls began several
years of protracted pain and suffering.26 Mothers exercised teng ai
(literally, “pain” and “love”) when coaxing them into walking circles
around the room to break their bones more quickly. Accounts
tell of girls losing their appetites, constantly feeling as if their feet
were on fire, and, in their weakest moments, trying desperately
to tear off the bindings.27 As Howard Levy wrote, footbinding was
an “integral part of a man’s society which taught women to obey
a strict and comprehensive moral code.”28 After the initial years
of bone-breaking and skin-rotting, girls would have to patiently
tend to the maintenance of their feet for the rest of their lives,
along with the rest of the physical responsibilities conferred on
women, such as childbirth.29 Thus, footbinding was a mother’s way
of introducing her daughter to the later pains of womanhood.
The trend was so pervasive that people shunned those who
did not participate. Early Qing dynasty scholar Lu Qi’s central
message in Hsin-fu p’u, “Instructions for the New Wife,” was that
wives should be obedient and willing to follow every demand of
her husband and in-laws.30 Carefully mapped-out social guidelines
controlled their every movement, joining arms with the practice of
footbinding to restrain physical defiance. Other writers outlined
more behavioral standards that justified the perpetuation of footbinding: Liu-hsien, a widely read 17th-century writer, declared that
unbound girls were crude and walked noisily.31 He also observed
that parents bound their daughters’ feet to discourage them from
tanning in the sun, preferring that they abstain from rough labor
and remain indoors to embroider. Liu-hsien’s words reveal that
social protocol and existing gender roles kept the practice firmly
in vogue.
208
Melodie Liu
Despite obvious burdens, the practice provided women
an otherwise rare opportunity to raise their socioeconomic standings by marrying up. Men and their mothers surveyed potential
wives with special attention toward their feet. If well-bound, they
signified that the woman was obedient, refined, and from a wellto-do family.32 Mothers also looked for a proficiency with textiles,
as they needed help with producing and patching up apparel
for the family.33 Neighbors scrutinized the red wedding shoes
traditionally offered as part of a dowry when a match was agreed
upon—whether new brides initially lost or gained respect in their
husbands’ communities depended on their embroidery skills.34
Once they settled in their new homes, wives stayed at home to
embroider while men worked in the fields.35
The clothing-production culture was most pronounced
in the Jiangnan countryside, where the cotton and silk industries
were especially lucrative.36 Economic historian Li Bozhong argued
that if a peasant woman there worked for 260 days, she could earn
enough rice to feed two family members. For this reason, women in
Jiangnan received more respect in their families and communities.
As a labor-intensive yet pleasant pastime, weaving simultaneously
encouraged female companionship and competition, and, as with
other forms of art, it offered inner peace within the confines of
society. The protagonist of the aforementioned novel The Golden
Lotus displayed the immense pride and enjoyment that women
took from weaving as she carefully chose fabrics and dyes for her
clothing.37 Only after the Communists’ official ban upon footbinding would women start to accept commercially-produced shoes.38
Women made their own worlds out of footbinding, albeit under
cultural demands that they had no chance to accept or decline.39
Unfortunately, there are few primary sources that could
lend a deeper understanding of how women managed psychologically. Because they did not traditionally receive educations, we do
not have the benefit of examining personal diary entries or other
written records. However, a certain Madame Xuan, wife of a Ming
dynasty scholar, authored a chantefable named Judge Bao Judging
the Case of Imperial Uncle Cao that offers firsthand insight on what
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209
kinds of expectations women dealt with. Chantefables, a sing-along
type of storytelling that was common in wealthy households, went
to great lengths to paint the appearances of each character so that
the audience could visualize the story.40 Zhang, the wife of Judge
Bao, is described formulaically: “she paints her brows skillfully and
applies lipstick lightly...piles a high coiled dragon chignon on her
head,” and “wears a headdress of gold phoenix and pearls.” “Lavishing attention on the clothing, makeup, hairstyle, and jewelry,” 41
as Dorothy Ko writes, conveys Zhang’s high social status and hints
at the ever-present expectation laid upon women like her to look
presentable. Thus, Madame Xuan illustrated a complex culture
of fashion that directed scrutiny upon women and exacerbated
their social anxiety.
The verbs of “sizing up” and “inspecting” made frequent
appearances in vernacular Qing dynasty plays, further indicating a
culture that condoned open judgment of others’ physical appearances.42 A girl in the play The Wife and Her Mother-in-Law reflects
the pressure to look presentable as she carefully tends to her
“gilded lilies” before her mother-in-law comes to “inspect” her.43
In fact, inspection became a profession for Li Yu, self-professed
connoisseur of bound feet. Li made a business out of his “skill” at
determining women’s characteristics through the quality of their
shoe embroidery and the size of their feet.44 Wealthy patrons could
enlist Li to scout potential concubines by observing their feet and
rating each on a scale of, ironically, “natural beauty.” Although
women were expected to have bound feet and thereby present
a false, contrived exterior, men also wanted them to look effortlessly beautiful. A gritty reality hid behind idealistic expectations
and the guise of sexual appeal: the maintenance of deformed feet
was a mundane routine of replacing smelly bindings and applying
medicine on the corns and bunions that frequented their skin.45
To cope with the various pressures they faced in their
patriarchal society, women found solace amongst other women.
Those of Jiangyong County in the Hunan province even created
a secret written language called nushu to protect their letters
from the probing male eye.46 The special script was often written
210
Melodie Liu
on fans and other embroidered fabrics to be discreetly given to
female friends. A girl could feel comfortable communicating
her innermost worries and desires to another in her community,
strengthening her network of friendships and sense of female
camaraderie. The secrecy of the script was extreme; women usually wanted their nushu writings burned when they died, in order
to preserve the authenticity and purity of their work from “male
pollution.” For this reason, existing artifacts of nushu writing are
rare and precious. Another Hunan tradition was for young girls
to pair up as laotong (“old sames”), in essentially a “female marriage.”47 Two girls of similar age and personality would vow to
comfort each other in the midst of hardship, a formalized bond
meant to last for eternity. The development of this support system
acknowledged the challenges of womanhood.
In the end, footbinding was simply a practice born from
and perpetuated by reigning predilections. It only somewhat differs from modern practices like plucking eyebrows and wearing
high heels, driven by the universal inclination to follow beauty
standards. Some literary texts from the Ming dynasty even record
instances of foot-bound men.48 As an oral Hunanese story went,
a soldier once followed an astrologer’s advice to rear his son as a
girl, and later the boy married into a prosperous family. What may
have started as a tall tale became a vogue for men: in Beijing, it
was customary by 1906 for boys of the upper classes to bind their
feet in order to fit the narrow shoes then in style. Although they
only used bindings to compress their feet temporarily, the fact
that even men began to adopt a form of footbinding elucidates
the power of aesthetic preference and emulation.
The End of an Age-Old Institution
Initial attempts to abolish footbinding failed miserably.
In an effort to assimilate the newly acquired Chinese people into
their own, the Manchus banned the practice in the 17th century
but did not manage to extinguish a norm of such cultural and
social import.49 Eradication was finally achieved only when antifootbinding was tacked onto a larger movement to emancipate
THE CONCORD REVIEW
211
women. Intellectual and cultural exchanges with Westerners
toward the end of the Qing dynasty sparked the beginning of the
women’s liberation movement. The end of the Second Opium
War welcomed an influx of white missionaries and entrepreneurs,
including Reverend MacGowan of the London Missionary Society.50
In 1875, upon hearing the frightening wails of a young girl in a
nearby house, he stumbled upon the practice, intruding on the
worst moments of the binding process. Fifteen years later, MacGowan organized a local rally and urged Chinese women to stop
desecrating their “natural, God-given bodies.” The idea was given
a name, tianzu (“natural” or “heavenly” “feet”), soon championed
by the Heavenly Foot Society, which was founded by Kang Youwei
in 1883 to encourage women to abandon chanzu (“bound feet”).
MacGowan also appealed to intellectuals by utilizing the ideal of
gender equality, in suggesting that because men’s and women’s
feet were similarly structured, one gender did not deserve to be
enchained to self-mutilation on the other’s account. He became
the first of many in the Christian missionary community to devote
themselves to liberating Chinese women.51
Once footbinding gained international exposure, it became
something of a national urgency. Men perceived that the practice
presented their people to the world as one of weak mothers and
unhealthy offspring, of people less civilized than Westerners.52
Somewhat using footbinding as a scapegoat for China’s collapsing
empire and gradual colonization, many men joined the movement
in the need to restore national pride.53 Their actions often cruelly
estranged women whose feet were already bound. One such man
was Reverend Ye, who reprimanded mothers for inflicting such
enormous pain on their daughters and mindlessly adhering to
fashion.54 However, he paid little attention to the fact that in binding their daughters’ feet, they could help their daughters marry
up. In admonishing them, Ye demonized those he perceived to
be the sole perpetrators of the practice and who turned a blind
eye towards the reality: footbinding flourished because men loved
bound feet, and women simply learned to do what they could for
themselves.
212
Melodie Liu
Some reformist thinkers actively turned upon the entire
gender. Liang Qichao, an influential writer of the 19th century,
declared in a widely read essay that since women were not wageearners, they burdened the husbands and sons who had to feed
them.55 He also stated that since most women were uneducated,
they were “no better than beasts.” Such thinking ignored the
fact that women were traditionally discouraged from pursuing
an education. Liang also overlooked their laborious domestic
work—raising children, producing apparel and commercial cloth,
and attending to in-laws’ every need. As always, gender roles hurt
every gender involved, albeit in different ways. It would be ignorant
to claim that Chinese men only benefited from the patriarchal
power dynamics, burdened as they were by the pressure to be the
breadwinners of the family. However, it was doubly ignorant of
Liang to imply that women were unproductive leeches upon their
husbands and sons. Soon after he released his essay, a New Year’s
print in market town Yangliuqing scolded women for depending
on men for food and money.56 It concluded with a nationalist
sentiment: “China is weak: this is the most serious sickness.” Supposedly, this “sickness” stemmed from a gender labor imbalance
that burdened only men.
Other men who championed tianzu kept their focus on
liberating women, but still paid little heed to the trouble they
caused for them. The movement didn’t only aim to stop girls from
starting the binding process—it also pushed women to release
their bindings and revert to their natural states (fangzu).57 This
meant that in addition to having suffered through the binding
process as a child, women were forced to acknowledge that their
bravery had been in vain due to shifting aesthetic preferences.
Achieving complete fangzu was also anatomically impossible;
once feet were bent and broken, they could never fully function
again. A man in Daixi, a Wuxi county, composed a lighthearted
song that outlined fangzu as a simple step-by-step procedure that
could somehow miraculously reverse years of damage and destruction.58 In reality, fangzu was a never-ending process, and walking
on shrunken feet without bindings was “extremely difficult and
painful.”59 Some Suzhou women wrote and distributed a widely
THE CONCORD REVIEW
213
read pamphlet that prescribed pain relief.60 Predictably, realistic
advice for the reversion process could only be administered to
women by fellow women.
Conservative communities initially refused to budge in the
face of the budding movement, viewing footbinding with their
own sort of nationalism. Scholar Gu Hongming, famed defender
of footbinding, proposed that bound feet were not a symbol of
China’s weakness but rather the very essence of its exquisite culture.61 In response to the accusations that footbinding unfairly
confined women, Gu argued that clear bodily distinctions between
males and females signaled a gender harmony and thus a superior
civilization. As he nostalgically painted behavioral differences,
he immortalized Chinese women as passive, demure, and obedient domestic caretakers.62 Although Gu’s writing was filled with
flowery praise for women, the conservative feminine ideals that
he highlighted further chained women to existing gender roles.
The widespread establishment of local natural-foot societies slowly but surely eradicated these traditional ways of thinking.
Most of these societies followed the same protocol.63 Plain, direct
communication pragmatically targeted commoners and shaped
the practice as fruitless and economically wasteful. Local women
joined the movement to liberate themselves, vowing to attempt
fangzu, halt their daughters’ binding processes, or prevent their
sons from marrying women with bound feet. It was easy for locals
to participate; with help from officials, they spread the movement through mass meetings, chants, and songs. In communities
across China, rallies held at churches, schools, and other places
of public gathering “[put] the female body on display.”64 One
widely documented rally at a school in Daixi was held to commemorate the liberation of a girl named Cai Aihua. The entire
school watched as Cai Aihua “vehemently” spoke of the “crime”
inflicted upon her and, with an almost religious air, vowed that
“starting today the binders would be unwrapped.” Other rallies
attacked footbinding aesthetically and used pictures and X-rays
to illustrate the unnaturalness of the bound foot.65 In a culture
that expected women to be shy and reserved, visual display held
214
Melodie Liu
shock value, and rallies were public spectacles. Organizers of these
rallies seemed to know that if the bound foot was demystified, it
would lose its erotic appeal. Although public rallies were instrumental in eliminating the practice, the theatrical ways in which
they were conducted degraded and alienated women whose feet
were already bound.
In some particularly stubborn communities, the movement was bureaucratized. Military governor Yan Xishan of Shanxi
began a “Six Policies” campaign in 1917 to modernize the province, relying on a strict system of fines to discourage binding.66 In
accommodation of the low literacy level, Yan organized speeches
and relied on state agents to administer fines. He also relied on
“social surveillance,” goading neighbors to tattle on one another.
A disturbing facet of the campaign was that Yan assigned supervisors to investigate house by house and gauge how many villagers
still practiced footbinding, essentially licensing men to intrude
on women’s living quarters. Numerous accusations erupted that
feet inspection was “an excuse for fondling women,” which was
entirely plausible, given the practice’s longstanding sexual appeal.
Although the bureaucratized campaign in Shanxi was
overwhelmingly led by men with arguably suspicious motives,
some women signed up to be feet inspectors. Thus, women in
Shanxi bifurcated into a handful of young literates and older
generations. Similarly, female participants in local natural-foot
societies drew away from their kin as they fought to override
tradition. Men turned against women, and young women turned
against old women; one can only imagine how psychologically
devastating this was for mothers and grandmothers, who received
the full brunt of the anti-footbinding movement. If they wanted
to keep pace with the shifting minds in their families and communities, they had no choice but to start fangzu.67 The cruelest
consequence was that even when women engaged in fangzu, they
could not retrieve their former esteem. As the living remnants of
a source of national embarrassment, they constantly faced ridicule
and hostility in the streets.68
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215
By the late 1940s, the practice had disappeared significantly
from areas in which it had existed for generations. In Tinghsien, a
rural area near Beijing, no new cases of footbinding were reported
after 1920,69 and in Amoy, a southern city on an island near Kinmen, only 4.5% of women had bound feet in 1937.70 Although
men’s anti-footbinding efforts were rarely considerate of women,
they did play an enormous part in engendering their physical
emancipation from footbinding. In addition, the introduction of
Western ideologies, which by then contained fewer gender-based
divisions of labor, led to the opening of more girls’ schools in the
last decade of the 19th century, empowering women in the long
run.71 Correspondingly, opening ports to foreigners after the Second Opium War paved the way for future commercial exchange
and development. Women benefited from the industrialization
that swept China after the decade of Communist rule; taking new
sources of employment in factories meant that they became official
wage-earners, warranting greater respect within their communities and more say in family finances.72 The combined increases in
educational and employment opportunities for women launched
an ongoing erosion of traditional gender roles that have ruled
China for centuries.
In conclusion, although footbinding primarily confined
women, it also gave them the opportunity to raise their socioeconomic standings. The foundations of this antiquated institution
crumbled when Westerners exercized influence and Chinese men
made active efforts to reverse the trend that they had passively encouraged. Halting the practice was a necessary step in the journey
towards gender equality, but China left behind a generation of
older women in the process.
Although footbinding has faded, the female heritage that
blossomed around it has survived. The history of the practice tells
a painful yet proud story of resilience in the face of hardship, of
exquisite embroidery, “old sames,” and a secret written language.
That female heritage lives on in records, literature, and memories.
216
Melodie Liu
Notes
Howard S. Levy, Chinese Footbinding: The History of a
Curious Erotic Custom (New York: Bell Pub, 1967), 29.
2
Dorothy Ko, Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of
Footbinding (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press,
2005), 114.
3
Ibid., 128.
4
Ibid., 111.
5
Ibid., 114.
6
Ibid., 111.
7
Ibid., 114.
8
Levy, 48-49.
9
Ibid., 53.
10
Hill Gates, Footbinding and Women’s Labor in Sichuan
(Routledge, 2014), 7.
11
Ko, 194.
12
Ibid., 10.
13
Laurel Bosson, et al., “Feet and Fabrication: Footbinding
and Early Twentieth-Century Rural Women’s Labor in Shaanxi”
Modern China 37, no. 4 (Summer 2011): 348, http://www.jstor.
org/stable/23053328 (accessed June 24, 2015).
14
Beverley Jackson, Splendid Slippers: A Thousand Years of an
Erotic Tradition (Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press, 1997),
155.
15
Rosenlee Li, Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical
Interpretation (State University of New York Press, 2006), 178.
16
Ping Wang, Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China
(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000), 33.
17
Ibid., 30.
18
Levy, 32.
19
C. Fred Blake, “Foot-Binding in Neo-Confucian China
and the Appropriation of Female Labor” Signs: Journal of Women
in Culture and Society 19, no. 3 (Spring 1994): 677, http://www.
jstor.org/stable/3174774 (accessed June 24, 2015).
20
Wang, 66.
21
Levy, 30.
22
Blake, “Foot-Binding in Neo-Confucian China and the
Appropriation of Female Labor,” 677.
23
Saman Rejali, “From Tradition to Modernity:
Footbinding and Its End (1839- 1911)—the History of the
Anti-Footbinding Movement and the Histories of Bound-feet
Women in China” Prandium: The Journal of Historical Studies
1
THE CONCORD REVIEW
217
3, no. 1 (Fall 2014): 2, http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.
php/prandium/editor/submission/21844/ (accessed June 25,
2015).
24
Jackson, 48.
25
Most comprehensive English research on footbinding
has been compiled in recent decades, with most of its factual
basis scavenged and translated from old Chinese records; when
footbinding became a source of international shame, it ceased
to be often mentioned in Chinese texts of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. Only research published in English has
been used to complete this paper.
26
Blake, “Foot-Binding in Neo-Confucian China and the
Appropriation of Female Labor,” 681.
27
Ibid., 682.
28
Levy, 23.
29
Blake, “Foot-Binding in Neo-Confucian China and the
Appropriation of Female Labor,” 684.
30
Paul Ropp, “The Seeds of Change: Reflections on the
Condition of Women in the Early and Mid Ch’ing” Signs 2, no.
1 (Fall 1976): 5, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3173419 (accessed
June 24, 2015).
31
Jackson, 21.
32
Ibid., 57.
33
Bosson, et al., “Feet and Fabrication: Footbinding and
Early Twentieth-Century Rural Women’s Labor in Shaanxi,”
349.
34
Jackson, 57.
35
Wang, 164.
36
Ko, 139.
37
Ibid., 212.
38
Jackson, 60.
39
Blake, “Foot-Binding in Neo-Confucian China and the
Appropriation of Female Labor,” 678.
40
Ko, 199.
41
Ibid., 201.
42
Ibid., 155.
43
Ibid., 178.
44
Ibid., 154.
45
Blake, “Foot-Binding in Neo-Confucian China and the
Appropriation of Female Labor,” 688.
46
Wang, 166.
47
Ibid., 170.
48
Levy, 192.
218
Melodie Liu
Ibid., 62.
Ko, 14.
51
Levy, 85.
52
Wang, 42.
53
Ibid.
54
Ko, 16.
55
Ibid., 58. Liang Qichao wrote this essay in 1896-1897.
56
Ibid., 21.
57
Levy, 206.
58
Ko, 47.
59
Wang, 41.
60
Ko, 49.
61
Ibid., 31.
62
Ibid.. 31.
63
Levy, 74.
64
Ko, 42.
65
Wang, 39.
66
Ko, 56.
67
Because older, traditional women were not educated,
first-person accounts are unfortunately not among the written
records that can be scavenged from this transitional period.
The voices of the younger, incendiary women blend in with the
men’s in existing records, while the voices of the old remain
mute.
68
Wang, 41.
69
Levy, 91.
70
Ibid.
71
Rejali, “From Tradition to Modernity: Footbinding and
Its End (1839- 1911)—the History of the Anti-Footbinding
Movement and the Histories of Bound-feet Women in China,”
6.
72
Leslie T. Chang, Factory Girls: From Village to City in a
Changing China (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2008), 284.
49
50
THE CONCORD REVIEW
219
Bibliography
Blake, C. “Foot-Binding in Neo-Confucian China and the
Appropriation of Female Labor.” Signs: Journal of Women in
Culture and Society 19(3): 1994. Retrieved June 24, 2015, from
JSTOR.
Bossen, L., Xurui, W., Brown, M., & Gates, H. “Feet and
Fabrication: Footbinding and Early Twentieth-Century Rural
Women’s Labor in Shaanxi.” Modern China 37(4): 2011.
Retrieved June 24, 2015, from JSTOR.
Chang, L. Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing
China. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2008.
Gates, H. Footbinding and Women’s Labor in Sichuan (Vol.
123). Routledge, 2014.
Jackson, B. Splendid Slippers: A Thousand years of an Erotic
Tradition. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press, 1997.
Ko, D.Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding.
Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2005.
Levy, H. Chinese Footbinding: The History of a Curious Erotic
Custom. New York: Bell Pub. 1967.
Rejali, S. “From Tradition to Modernity: Footbinding and
Its End (1839- 1911)—the History of the Anti-Footbinding
Movement and the Histories of Bound-feet Women in China.”
Prandium: The Journal of Historical Studies 3(1): 2014. Retrieved
June 25, 2015, from http://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/
prandium/index.
Ropp, P. “The Seeds of Change: Reflections on the
Condition of Women in the Early and Mid Ch’ing.” Signs:
Journal of Women in Culture and Society 2(1): 1976. Retrieved June
24, 2015, from JSTOR.
220
Melodie Liu
Rosenlee, L. Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical
Interpretation. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006.
Wang, P. Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China. Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 2000.
Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
Promulgation of Denialism in the South
African HIV and AIDS epidemic
Hailey Fuchs
A
South African teenager living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a disease that causes the demise of the
entire immune system,1 once said, “There’s something that happens when you discover that you’re HIV positive; your world all
of a sudden becomes small. You just feel as though it is the end of
the world.”2 This teenager is not alone as millions of South Africans face similar terrifying struggles. In fact, as of 2013, 17.9% of
South Africans were infected with HIV,3 so a crisis clearly exists in
this nation. The prevalence of HIV in South Africa today can be
partially attributed to President Thabo Mbeki.4 In 1999,5 Mbeki
publicly and erroneously declared that HIV was not the only cause
of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which is widely
held by conventional scientists to be a late stage of HIV,6 and he
claimed that society must accept a multiplicity of causes to create
a successful treatment.7
Originally introduced to the idea while surfing the Internet in the late 1990’s,8 President Mbeki believed in the theory
of “denialism,” the pseudoscientific idea that HIV did not lead
to AIDS. He also espoused the denialist belief that antiretroviral
Hailey Fuchs is a Senior at the Winsor School in Boston, Massachusetts,
where she wrote this paper for Julian Braxton’s African History &
Literature course in the 2014/2015 academic year.
222
Hailey Fuchs
drugs were deleterious to patients9 despite the overwhelming
scientific evidence that showed that HIV was the only cause of
AIDS and that antiretroviral drugs were beneficial.10 Denialists
like Mbeki are simply one subsection of pseudoscientists, those
who misrepresent accumulated scientific knowledge and do not
adhere to conventional research techniques, in some cases, to
achieve personal profit. Pseudoscientists deem the mainstream
scientific industry corrupt and legitimize their claims by saying
that the industry is trying to suppress their unorthodox beliefs.11 As
pseudoscience was not common in South Africa prior to Mbeki’s
presidency, Mbeki was a catalyst in the spread of denialism and
pseudoscientific theories.12
In fact, denialism played a crucial role in the spread of
the HIV and AIDS epidemic in South Africa as it promoted a
suppression of antiretroviral drug treatment. A Harvard study13
recently compared the number of people in South Africa who
underwent antiretroviral treatment between 2000 and 2005 to
what could have been possible with widespread antiretroviral drug
treatment. The study found that, as a result of Mbeki’s denialist
stance that prompted him to reject antiretroviral drugs, more than
330,000 South African lives were lost to AIDS.14 Furthermore, a
survey conducted in South Africa in the early 2000s found that a
quarter of the population did not believe that HIV caused AIDS
due to the widespread denialist propaganda in South Africa at
the time.15 While these denialist supporters were the minority,
their ignorance demonstrated the catastrophic effects of Mbeki’s
stance. Because denialism was accepted by some segment of the
populace, Mbeki clearly deterred people from using antiretroviral
drugs that could prevent further transmission, which allowed the
disease to spread widely and rapidly.16
Though the fatal effects of denialism are widely recognized,
exactly how denialism propagated in South Africa is unclear. In
fact, suspicion of the West and the desire to maintain South Africa’s
sovereignty drove President Mbeki’s administration to support denialism and promote false information that contradicted scientific
evidence. Concurrently, international and domestic propaganda as
THE CONCORD REVIEW
223
well as the government’s suppression of opposing views stimulated
the promulgation of denialist theories and suppression of empirical evidence. These efforts by the South African government and
other organizations enabled the spread of denialism, a factor in
the proliferation of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in South Africa.
Suspicion of the West and Protection of Sovereignty as Impetuses for Denialism
In fact, South African officials’ denialism and rejection of
antiretroviral treatment and scientific information from Western
powers and Western-created organizations was due, in part, to
their fear that it reinforced African stereotypes and infringed on
South Africa’s sovereignty. As President Mbeki had been a strong
participant in the movement for South African independence,
he was suspicious of the West,17 so the South African government
rejected donations of antiretroviral treatment from Western
organizations including the German pharmaceutical company
Boehringer Ingelheim. In 2000, Boehringer Ingelheim offered
nevirapine, an antiretroviral drug, to prevent mother-to-child HIV
transmission during childbirth, but the South African government
restricted the availability of nevirapine to “two pilot sites per province;”18 it refused to take full advantage of this important offer
due to its aversion to the West19 and the government’s intent to
protect itself.20 With widespread antiretroviral treatment, South
Africa would have been able to save hundreds of thousands of
lives.21 Ultimately, the South African government’s need to rectify
the incorrect Western perceptions of Africans and protect South
Africa’s own sovereignty drove it to reject international donations
and therapies.
Specifically, the South African government did not accept
antiretroviral drugs because it believed the aid supported the
West’s racist sentiments. Perhaps the most important support of
denialism and evidence of Mbeki’s suspicion of the West come
from Mbeki’s speech to the African National Congress Caucus
Parliament in Cape Town on September 20, 2000.22 While there is
no transcript of the speech on account of the fact that the meet-
224
Hailey Fuchs
ing was private, three senior African National Congress (ANC)
members characterize the speech as a scolding of the American
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).23 In this speech to more than
two hundred people, Mbeki allegedly stated that the West believed
that his idea of “African Renaissance,”24 or African rebirth, threatened Western dominance in the world.25 He hypothesized that the
CIA was partnering with pharmaceutical companies to undermine
him because, by questioning antiretroviral drugs, he endangered
the profits of American pharmaceutical companies.26 In addition,
in an issue of African National Congress Today, regarding Western
influence in the HIV and AIDS epidemic, the African National
Congress (ANC) wrote that South Africa would not be “forced to
adopt policies and programmes inimical to the health of people.
That we are poor and black does not mean that we are available to
be bought, whatever the price.”27 The ANC, which Thabo Mbeki28
was both a part of and led,29 believed that the Western form of
medicine symbolized the West’s racism and prejudice. Because the
ANC was the majority party in South Africa,30 and Thabo Mbeki
was a leading member, this statement demonstrated that the South
African government rejected Western medicine because it would
not cede to the racist sentiments of the West. Thus, South African
officials refused to adopt a medical program they believed was
founded on prejudice.
In addition to wanting to challenge the West’s racism,
government officials did not want the West to infringe on their
affairs in order to maintain complete sovereignty over their own
nation. In an issue of African National Congress Today, the ANC
wrote, “If we allow these agendas and falsehoods to form the
basis of our health policies and programmes, we will condemn
ourselves to the further and criminal deterioration of the health
condition of the majority of our people.”31 The ANC believed that
ceding to Western programs implied that South Africa would be
subject to continued interference from the West. As a result of a
distrust of the West due to colonialism,32 the ANC did not want
previous colonial powers to use medical science as justification
for renewed oppression of South Africa and intervention in South
African sovereignty.33 Furthermore, in response to statistics on the
THE CONCORD REVIEW
225
HIV epidemic in South Africa from the World Heath Organization (WHO), a Western-created United Nations organization34
with headquarters based in Sweden,35 Mbeki said, “The WHO
will answer for itself and South Africa, of course, will answer for
ourselves.”36 He refused to accept the truth of the statistics because
Mbeki wanted to isolate himself from this international organization. As a result of the Mbeki administration’s desire to maintain
South Africa’s own sovereignty, it rejected Western medicine and
Western-based statistics.
International Denialist Propaganda in South Africa Supported
by Domestic Officials
Because Mbeki aimed to spread denialist ideas as a result
of his suspicion of the West, he used an international organization, The Rath Health Foundation, as a means of propagating
the theory that antiretroviral drugs were harmful and offered no
benefit. The Rath Health Foundation, a German organization
founded by entrepreneur Mathias Rath that began operating in
South Africa in 2004, spread information that exposed people to
pseudoscientific denialist beliefs. As the Rath Health Foundation
adamantly supported the South African government and its stance37
on HIV and AIDS,38 the organization elicited no resistance from
the government39 despite the organization’s Western origins.40 Rath
Health Foundation advertised in many national newspapers and
handed out pamphlets, posters, and newspapers in Cape Town.41 In
the Rath Health Foundation’s newspaper, Rath himself wrote, “All
ARVs [or antiretroviral drugs] are severely toxic and attack the immune system of patients already suffering from immune deficiency.
As a result, the immune system of AIDS patients taking ARV drugs
is further weakened.”42 Through his propaganda, Rath convinced
many of the citizens of South Africa that antiretroviral drugs were
deleterious, and after reading this incorrect information, citizens,
in fear, would not attempt to obtain the few antiretroviral drugs
available. Rath also wrote, in support of the South African government’s denialist policies, “We, the people of South Africa, are in
this struggle firmly on the side of our government, a government
226
Hailey Fuchs
that has become the beacon of hope for the entire developing
world.”43 Through use of the first person, Rath attempted to personally connect with the people of South Africa, and by his strong
support of the government, citizens were deterred from fighting
against the government’s stance. Influenced by their exposure to
such propaganda, doctors across the country encouraged their
patients to take Rath’s drugs rather than antiretroviral drugs; the
doctors were convinced that Rath would cure their patients and
prevent further disease.44 Rath’s propaganda demonstrates that
external organizations that supported denialism contributed to
the promulgation of the theory.
Because domestic government officials supported organizations that openly donated to denialist companies and invited
denialists to national conferences, they allowed these international
denialists to spread their ideas. Ultimately, the success of Rath’s
propaganda in South Africa can be attributed to Mbeki’s lack of
intervention. Under Mbeki’s leadership, the government donated
to the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), an
organization that tried to bring awareness to the disease45 and was
openly funded by Rath.46 While the government donated because
this organization publicly advocated nutrition over antiretroviral
treatment,47 Rath supposedly supported this organization to gain
support from locals. In 2005, NAPWA wrote a letter of support for
Rath in a court case48 in which he was accused of running harmful
clinical trials.49 By donating money to NAPWA, the government allowed the Rath Health Foundation and its supporters to thrive and
spread denialist ideas. In another instance of government officials
condoning Rath’s propaganda, Mathias Rath ran an experiment
in Khayelitsha, where he gave high-dose vitamins to HIV patients
in 2005. His experiment did not contain a control group and
did not receive adequate authorization50 from organizations like
the Medicines Control Council and the University of Limpopo.51
Multiple organizations52 even found that some patients were
taking antiretroviral drugs during the trial.53 He then published
his flawed research, which supported the denialist claim that his
micronutrients were beneficial. Nonetheless, Health Minister
Tshabalala-Msimang54 invited Rath, as well as pseudoscientists
THE CONCORD REVIEW
227
Rasnick and Mblongo, to present their findings from the trial at
the National Health Council.55 Thus, Tshabalala-Msimang quietly
condoned their flawed research by allowing denialists to present
the results as accepted science. In fact, a physician working in
Khayelitsha, Marta Darder, even stated, “The government could
have stopped him; it never did.”56 Because President Mbeki’s
administration refused to denounce or stop Rath, it became an
implicit accomplice to the dissemination of incorrect information
about HIV and AIDS.
Thabo Mbeki’s adamant public support of denialists fostered the proliferation of suspicion of antiretroviral drugs amongst
the population. Mbeki told a doctor at Kimberley hospital:
You can’t say the response to a healthy human body is drugs.
Your first response is proper feeding. The Minister of Health repeats
this thing every day and what do they do, they mock her. It’s like she’s
some crazy person of the moon! Doctors know extremely well that you
need proper nutrition; you need clean water; you need these health
conditions. That’s the broad spectrum of a response you can say to
the people in the hospital and that’s what the government will do.57
Mbeki addresses his critics by portraying them as ignorant and
blind to the government’s reasoning. Because the media publicized
Mbeki’s lesson to this doctor, other doctors were given misinformation about the efficacy of antiretroviral drug alternatives. Moreover,
at a speech in Parliament, Mbeki said, A “large volume of scientific
evidence alleg[es] that, among other things, the toxicity of this
drug is such that it is in fact a danger to health,” and it would be
“irresponsible” to ignore the “dire warnings” of the scientists.58
Here, Mbeki gave the populace the fallacy that antiretroviral drugs
are dangerous, discouraging many from taking them. Therefore,
Mbeki’s public calumny of antiretroviral treatment engendered
the propagation of incorrect information about the disease and
the efficacy of antiretroviral drugs.
Weakening of Opposition
Nonetheless, the Treatment Action Campaign tried to reveal the science behind HIV and AIDS to reverse the catastrophic
effects of this propaganda, but Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang
228
Hailey Fuchs
thwarted their efforts and disabled the viability of the opposition.
In 2003,59 a civil disobedience movement of the Treatment Action
Campaign60 pushed the South African Cabinet to permit and utilize antiretroviral drugs in the public health sector.61 After the announcement of the plan, the Health Minister inhibited the project’s
ability to raise money. She also publicly emphasized the negative
side effects of the drugs, which scared and confused patients who
then bought natural alternatives to antiretroviral drugs. While this
project had aimed to have 54,000 people on antiretroviral drugs
by March of 2004, fewer than 18,000 patients were using the drugs
by March of 2006;62 hence, the Health Minister had thwarted the
efforts of any empiricists in the government. Because she publicly
denounced and interfered with patients’ access to antiretroviral
drugs, the Health Minister not only limited the public’s ability to
see the positive effects of the drugs but also diverted business to
traditional and denialist healers.63
While Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge,
a member of Mbeki’s regime, attempted to reform the health care
system, President Mbeki and Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang
suppressed any possible threat to their policy. On July 18, 2005,
higher government officials told Madlala-Routledge, a scientificbased research advocate, that she was no longer permitted to
publicly discuss the topic of HIV and AIDS. She said, “They told
me that I was not to talk about AIDS. And that I was not to disagree with my minister.”64 Thus, Mbeki and Tshabalala-Msimang
suppressed her voice in order to spread their own beliefs and prohibit any discussion of the facts. When the Health Minister went
on sick leave in October of 2006, Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe
Madlala-Routledge spoke publicly about the diseases again65 and
openly supported Western HIV treatments and antiretroviral
drugs.66 Furthermore, she declared the infant mortality from HIV
and AIDS in South African hospitals to be a national emergency,
angering the Mbeki administration as she allowed the public to
see a disturbing result of his policies.67 Madlala-Routledge similarly stated that the government was infiltrated by “denialism at
the highest levels;”68 she explicitly revealed the corruption in the
government, and by berating the denialist stance, she threatened
THE CONCORD REVIEW
229
Mbeki’s and Tshabalala-Msimang’s public support. In response,
Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang wrote on the ANC website
that she was upset that people were using her leave of absence “as
an opportunity to turn others into champions of a campaign to
rid our government of the so-called HIV and AIDS denial at the
highest level.”69 Clearly, the Health Minister was upset that the
Deputy Health Minister was undermining her denialist approach.
Nonetheless, Madlala-Routledge and the Interim Minister of Health
created a “National Strategic Plan” to reduce the number of new
HIV cases by 50% and increase antiretroviral coverage to 80% by
2011.70 Once Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang returned from
her sick leave, she repealed much of the progress accomplished
by Madlala-Routledge.71 In August of 2007,72 Health Minister
Tshabalala-Msimang and President Thabo Mbeki discharged
Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge73 as she had
support from empiricists nationwide including “medical staff and
AIDS prevention activists.”74 President Mbeki and Health Minister
Tshabalala-Msimang clearly felt threatened by Madlala-Routledge
and suppressed her opposition so that their denialist views would
not be challenged.
Despite efforts from these opponents, Mbeki’s vehement
support for denialism ultimately fostered the promulgation of the
theory. Nonetheless, under President Jacob Zuma, South Africa
has significantly reduced its rate of AIDS deaths. In 2002, under
Mbeki’s rule, AIDS caused 43.6% of deaths in South Africa, but in
2014, AIDS accounted for just 31.1% of deaths in South Africa.75
Clearly, the rollout of antiretroviral treatment and the government’s scientific stance under Zuma’s leadership has proven
more effective.76 Nonetheless, while some may believe that the
blatant disregard for scientific evidence fostered by denialists has
disappeared, denialism actually still plays a role in the current
Ebola epidemic. Many citizens of Sierra Leone, such as Zainab
Koroma, believe that Ebola is a hoax. Karoma stated, “I honestly
don’t believe Ebola exists. There could be a lot of other diseases
killing people.”77 Even today, people remain misinformed about
the accuracy of scientific information. In South Africa’s HIV and
AIDS epidemic, Mbeki spread denialism because he mistrusted
230
Hailey Fuchs
the scientific industry and Western influence; in the current Ebola
epidemic, organizations must overcome similar falsehoods and
create trust between scientists, doctors, and citizens. With that
relationship, communities will learn to accept and appreciate the
scientific information vital to their health. Denialism in the HIV
and AIDS epidemic demonstrates that a critical factor in preventing the proliferation of misinformation is a strong leader who will
promote trust between the citizens and the sources of accurate
scientific information.
Appendix
Timeline
1942
Thabo Mbeki is born to two members of the South African
Communist party (Deegan 214).
1960
A Mangabey monkey transmits a form of HIV to a human
in Guinnea-Bissau, West Africa (“Timeline of AIDS in Africa”).
1983
HIV and AIDS first appear in South Africa (“Timeline of
AIDS in Africa”).
1987
The first antiretroviral drug is licensed and distributed to
some patients (“Timeline of AIDS in Africa”).
1989
Thabo Mbeki becomes leader of the African National
Congress’ international department (Deegan 214).
1993
The prevalence of HIV and AIDS in South Africa increases
by 60% (“Timeline of AIDS in Africa”).
1994
Nelson Mandela becomes the first post-apartheid leader of
South Africa, signaling the termination of an organized system
THE CONCORD REVIEW
231
of oppression and racism in South Africa (“The Long Walk of
Nelson Mandela”).
1998
After she reveals that she was HIV positive on national
television, a South African AIDS activist is beaten to death by
her neighbors (“HIV/AIDS in South Africa).
1998
Zackie Achmat founds the Treatment Action Campaign
to urge the government to allow greater access to AIDS drugs
(“HIV/AIDS in South Africa”).
1999
Thabo Mbeki becomes President of South Africa (Jacobs
and Calland 1).
President Mbeki publicly declares that HIV is not the sole
cause of AIDS, and antiretroviral drugs are toxic (“Timeline of
AIDS in Africa”).
Nevirapine, an AIDS drug that prevents mother-to-child
transmission, is licensed (“Timeline of AIDS in Africa”).
2000
President Mbeki establishes the Presidential AIDS Advisory
Panel, filled equally with AIDS denialists and scientists. He aims
to analyze both sides of the debate and come to a conclusion
about the cause of AIDS (Geffen 2).
President Mbeki accuses the CIA of working with
pharmaceutical companies to undermine him because he
believes his denialist beliefs threaten the companies’ profits
from antiretroviral drugs (Butcher).
President Mbeki essentially refuses to publicly discuss HIV
and AIDS (“HIV/AIDS in South Africa”).
The pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim
offers to donate nevirapine, an effective antiretroviral drug, but
the South African government only partially accepts its offer
(Bosely).
2003
A Treatment Action Campaign prompts the South African
government to allow antiretroviral drugs in the public health
sector, but Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang thwarts these
232
Hailey Fuchs
efforts (Nattrass “AIDS and the Scientific Governance of
Medicine in Post-Apartheid South Africa”).
2004
Mathias Rath expands his business into South Africa.
(Geffen 6)
2005
The Mbeki administration prohibits empiricist Deputy
Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge from publicly
discussing HIV and AIDS (Specter).
A study finds that there are over 900 deaths per day due to
AIDS in South Africa (Bosely).
2006
South African Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang
publicly declares that a natural concoction of olive oil, lemon,
and garlic would cure HIV (“HIV/AIDS in South Africa”).
Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang goes on sick leave,
and Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge begins
to speak publicly about HIV and AIDS again (Kalichman 131).
2007
The Mbeki administration dismisses Deputy Health
Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge (Kalichman 131).
2009
Jacob Zuma is elected President of South Africa and
publicly denounces denialism (“HIV/AIDS in South Africa”).
2014
A study finds that AIDS accounts for 31.1% of deaths in
South Africa, whereas, in 2002, AIDS caused 43.6% of deaths
(Wilkinson).
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233
Notes
“NIAID: The Relationship Between the Human
Immunodeficiency Virus and the Acquired Immunodeficiency
Syndrome,” AidsTruths.org, last modified April 25, 2009,
accessed December 11, 2014, http://www.aidstruth.org/
NIAIDRelationshipBetweenHIVandAIDS.
2
“South Africa Teens with HIV/AIDS,” video file, 3:16,
YouTube, posted by TV2Africa, July 3, 2013, accessed January 6,
2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f_Q-ooOClc.
3
“Global HIV and AIDS Epidemic,” AVERT, accessed
December 14, 2014, http://www.avert.org/global-hiv-aidsepidemic.htm.
4
Thabo Mbeki was born to two members of the South
African Communist Party. Mbeki, also an outspoken member
of the Communist party, went on to become Deputy President
under Nelson Mandela’s leadership and was elected to the
presidency after a rival was assassinated (Heather Deegan,
The Politics of the New South Africa: Apartheid and After (Harlow,
England: Longman, 2001), 214).
5
For a timeline on the history of HIV, AIDS, and
denialism in South Africa, see the appendix.
6
“Timeline of AIDS in Africa,” AVERT, accessed
November 18, 2014, http://www.avert.org/timeline-aids-africa.
htm.
7
“HIV/AIDS in South Africa,” Medwiser, accessed
November 18, 2014, http://www.medwiser.org/hiv-aids/
around-the-world/hivaids-in-south-africa/.
8
Seth C. Kalichman, Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories,
Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy (New York: Copernicus Books,
2009), 133.
9
Nicoli Nattrass, “AIDS and the Scientific Governance
of Medicine in Post-Apartheid South Africa,” African Affairs,
last modified February 7, 2008, accessed December 11, 2014,
http://afraf.oxfordjournals.org/content/107/427/157.full.
10
“NIAID: The Relationship Between,” AidsTruths.org.
11
Nathan Geffen, “Echoes of Lysenko: State-Sponsored
Pseudo-Science in South Africa,” Center for Social Science
Research, 2006, 2, accessed November 18, 2014, http://www.
tac.org.za/community/files/wp149.pdf.
12
Ibid., 2.
13
Ibid.,1.
14
Ibid., 1.
1
234
Hailey Fuchs
Bradly J. Condon and Tapen Sinha, Global Lessons from
the AIDS Pandemic: Economic, Financial, Legal, and Political
Implications (Berlin: Springer, 2008), 258.
16
“HIV/AIDS in South Africa,” Medwiser.
17
Kalichman, Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, 133.
18
Sarah Bosely, “Mbeki Aids denial ‘caused 300,000
deaths,’” The Guardian, November 26, 2008, 1, accessed
November 18, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/
world/2008/nov/26/aids-south-africa.
19
Michael Specter, “The Denialists: AIDS Denial in South
Africa,” The New Yorker, March 12, 2007, accessed December 11,
2014, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/12/thedenialists.
20
Kalichman, Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, 135.
21
Chigwedere et al., “Estimating the Lost Benefits,” 1.
22
“Mbeki Says CIA Had Role in HIV/AIDS Conspiracy,”
United Press International (Johannesburg), October 6, 2000,
accessed December 11, 2014, http://www.nelsonmandela.org/
omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv03445/04lv04206/05lv04302/0
6lv04303/07lv04308.htm.
23
The CIA has been linked to South Africa’s Apartheid
government, which imposed white supremacy for much of
the twentieth century (Tim Butcher, “Paranoia Claims after
Mbeki Tells of CIA Plot,” The Telegraph, October 7, 2000,
accessed December 11, 2014, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/1369309/
Paranoia-claims-after-Mbeki-tells-of-CIA-plot.html.).
24
President Mbeki believed in the idea of “African
Renaissance;” he aimed to create a rebirth of the African
identity and to create a black middle and upper class through a
“black empowerment” after the racist Apartheid regime (Jacobs
and Calland 114).
25
Butcher
26
“Mbeki Says CIA Had Role in HIV/AIDS Conspiracy,”
United Press International (Johannesburg), October 6, 2000.
27
“Debunking AIDS Denialism,” Treatment Action
Campaign, accessed November 18, 2014, http://www.tac.org.
za/community/debunking.
28
Thabo Mbeki was the head of the African National
Congress’ international department (Deegan, 214).
29
Deegan, 214.
15
THE CONCORD REVIEW
235
“South Africa Profile,” BBC News, last modified May 19,
2014, accessed December 11, 2014, http://www.bbc.com/
news/world-africa-14094918.
31
“Debunking AIDS Denialism,” Treatment Action
Campaign.
32
Kalichman, Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, 135.
33
Nattrass, “AIDS and the Scientific,” African Affairs.
34
“History of WHO,” World Health Organization, accessed
December 11, 2014, http://www.who.int/about/history/en.
35
“About Who,” World Health Organization, accessed
December 13, 2014, http://www.who.int/about/structure/en/
36
Ibid.
37
Similar to Mbeki, Rath publicly stated that racist
sentiments were a factor in the HIV and AIDS epidemic
(Claire Laurier Decoteau, Ancestors and Antiretrovirals (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2013), 96-97).
38
Geffen, “Echoes of Lysenko: State-Sponsored,” 7.
39
Decoteau, 95.
40
The South African government refused to explicitly
publicize support of the Rath Health Foundation, but it did
overlook Rath’s suspicious and unscrupulous clinical trials
(Decoteau, 95).
41
Ibid, 5-6.
42
Geffen, “Echoes of Lysenko: State-Sponsored,” 6.
43
Ibid, 7.
44
Specter, “The Denialists: AIDS Denial.”
45
“Who Are We?,” National Association for People Living
With HIV & AIDS, accessed January 13, 2015, http://www.
napwasa.org/.
46
Geffen, “Echoes of Lysenko: State-Sponsored,” 12.
47
Nathan Geffen, Debunking Delusions: the Inside Story of the
Treatment Action Campaign (Cape Town, South Africa: Jacana
Media, 2010), 49.
48
Geffen, “Echoes of Lysenko: State-Sponsored,” 12.
49
“Wrongs of Rath,” Treatment Action Campaign, accessed
January 14, 2015, http://www.tac.org.za/content/wrongs-rath.
50
Geffen, “Echoes of Lysenko: State-Sponsored,” 8.
51
Nattrass, “AIDS and the Scientific,” African Affairs.
52
One organization was the Treatment Action Campaign,
a foundation that attempts to bring affordable HIV and AIDS
treatment to patients. The other organization was the news
agency Health-E (“Fighting for Our Lives: The History of the
Treatment Action Campaign” 6).
30
236
Hailey Fuchs
Geffen, “Echoes of Lysenko: State-Sponsored,” 7-8.
Health Minister Tshabalala-Msimang also invited
Robert Giraldo, another AIDS denialist, to the meeting of
the Southern African Health Ministers to spread his denialist
beliefs. Thus, the health minister also aimed to extend the
theory of denialism internationally (Nattrass 78).
55
Geffen, “Echoes of Lysenko: State-Sponsored,” 11.
56
Specter, “The Denialists: AIDS Denial.”
57
“Debunking AIDS Denialism,” Treatment Action
Campaign.
58
Daniel J. Walken, “Mbeki’s AZT Claims Set off Debate,”
AP News Archive, last modified November 2, 1999, accessed
December 11, 2014, http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1999/
Mbeki-s-AZT-Claims-Set-Off-Debate/id-607457eaa6794e0f8c417
8ea65168fd9.
59
Nattrass, “AIDS and the Scientific,” African Affairs.
60
The Treatment Action Campaign is an organization that
aims to facilitate access to affordable HIV and AIDS treatment
and to bring attention to unwarranted suffering of HIV and
AIDS patients (“Fighting for Our Lives: The History of the
Treatment Action Campaign” 6).
61
Nattrass, “AIDS and the Scientific,” African Affairs.
62
Ibid.
63
Ibid.
64
Ibid.
65
Kalichman, Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, 131.
66
Ibid, 131.
67
Ibid, 131.
68
Nattrass, “AIDS and the Scientific,” African Affairs.
69
Specter, “The Denialists: AIDS Denial.”
70
Nattrass, “AIDS and the Scientific,” African Affairs.
71
Ibid.
72
Ibid.
73
“HIV/AIDS in South Africa,” Medwiser.
74
Ibid.
75
Kate Wilkinson, “Has Jacob Zuma Hurt the Fight against
AIDS More than Thabo Mbeki?,” Africa Check, last modified
September 23, 2014, accessed December 13, 2014, http://
africacheck.org/reports/has-jacob-zuma-hurt-the-fight-againstaids-more-than-mbeki/.
76
Ibid.
77
Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, “Skeptics in Sierra Leone Doubt
Ebola Virus Exists,” National Public Radio, August 6, 2014,
53
54
THE CONCORD REVIEW
237
accessed December 12, 2014, http://www.npr.org/blogs/
goatsandsoda/2014/08/06/338234063/skeptics-in-sierra-leonedoubt-ebola-virus-exists.
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The Old Regime in Canada
Chapter XXIV, Francis Parkman
The Francis Parkman Reader,
New York, Da Capo Press, 1998, pp. 266-268
Not institutions alone, but geographical position, climate,
and many other conditions unite to form the educational influences
that, acting through successive generations, shape the character of
nations and communities.
It is easy to see the nature of the education, past and
present, which wrought on the Canadians and made them what
they were. An ignorant population, sprung from a brave and
active race, but trained to subjection and dependence through
centuries of feudal and monarchical despotism, was planted in the
wilderness by the hand of authority, and told to grow and flourish.
Artificial stimulants were applied, but freedom was withheld.
Perpetual intervention of government—regulations, restrictions,
encouragements sometimes more mischievous than restrictions, a
constant uncertainty what the authorities would do next, the fate
of each man resting less with himself than with another, volition
enfeebled, self-reliance paralyzed—the condition, in short, of
a child held always under the rule of a father, in the main wellmeaning and kind, sometimes generous, sometimes neglectful,
often capricious, and rarely very wise—such were the influences
under which Canada grew up. If she had prospered, it would have
been sheer miracle. A man, to be a man, must feel that he holds his
fate, in some good measure, in his own hands.
But this was not all. Against absolute authority there was
a counter influence, rudely and wildly antagonistic. Canada was at
the very portal of the great interior wilderness. The St. Lawrence
and the Lakes were the highway to that domain of savage freedom;
and thither the disfranchised, half-starved seigneur, and the
discouraged habitant who could find no market for his produce
naturally-enough betook themselves. Their lesson of savagery was
well learned, and for many a year a boundless license and a stiffhanded authority battled for the control of Canada. Nor, to the last,
were Church and State fairly masters of the field. The French rule
was drawing towards its close when the intendant complained that
though twenty-eight companies of regular troops were quartered in
the colony, there were not soldiers enough to keep the people in
order. One cannot but remember that in a neighboring colony, far
more populous, perfect order prevailed, with no other guardians
than a few constables chosen by the people themselves.
Copyright 2015, The Concord Review, Inc., all rights reserved
From Revolution to Reform: The Creation of a
Unified Socialist Party in France
Peter Kirgis
Introduction
In the last week of May of 1871, 25,000 members of the
Paris Commune lay dead on their barricades.1 Their glorious
Commune had been crushed after mere months. Those not killed
would soon be exiled to New Caledonia. But out of these ashes, a
resilient socialist force emerged that would vie for power within
the French government through countless splits, wars, and defeats.
After almost a decade of absence from French politics following
the fall of the Commune, socialists would rise again to take up
the gauntlet in the name of the worker.
Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier began the
socialist movement in France in the first half of the 19th century.
Nicknamed “Utopian Socialists,” they envisioned idealistic societies
in which the bourgeoisie and the proletariat would join together
to form a single, classless society. But in the second half of the
19th century, these thinkers lost out to a new type of socialism:
Marxism. In 1848, in The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx outlined
his plan for a new “scientific” socialism in which the proletariat
would rise and conquer the bourgeoisie. But Marx’s radical phiPeter Kirgis is a Senior at Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port
Washington, New York, where he wrote this paper for Peter Macrigiane’s
Social Science Research course in the 2014/2015 academic year.
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Peter Kirgis
losophy remained largely insignificant in France until after the
Commune in 1871.
Despite its failure to remain in power, the Paris Commune
triggered the rise of organized socialism in France. The reforms
enacted by the Commune became the staples of socialist party
platforms, such as a minimum wage, the separation of church
and state, and the creation of social welfare programs. Acting as a
unifying force among socialists, the Commune gained significance
for the socialist movement as ex-Communards returned to France
in the late 1870s. The Paris Commune was the source of the first
political socialist movement in France.
But the rise of socialism in France in the late 1870s and
early 1880s was beset by conflict. Jules Guesde and Paul Brousse
founded the first socialist party in France, the Fédération des Travailleurs Socialistes de France (FTSF), in 1879, but differences in ideology
forced a split between the two just three years later. Brousse then
directed the rise of Possibilism, the socialist belief that the proletariat revolution was not inevitable, and therefore, the workers
should work for reform. Brousse’s Possibilists took control of the
FTSF while Guesde and the Marxists left to form the Parti Ouvrier
Français (POF). In France, the Marxists and Possibilists fought for
control and votes for the next decade.
After its foundation in 1889, the Second International
Workingmen’s Association (Second International) provided
a battleground for the conflict between the two factions. Jean
Jaures, an Independent socialist, took up the side of the reformists
against the rigid Marxism of Guesde. Jaures helped orchestrate the
settlement at the Amsterdam Congress of 1904 that combined the
two socialist parties to form the Section Française de l’Internationale
Ouvrière (SFIO), a mixture of the principles of Guesde’s revolutionary Marxism and Brousse’s Possibilism. The SFIO remained the
leading French socialist party until 1969, and the present French
socialist party, the Parti Socialiste (PS), acts as a continuation of
the SFIO, following the same doctrine.
This 35-year span of French history, from 1870 to 1905,
spawned a new age for socialism in France. The Paris Commune
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245
gave birth to a new socialist vision in France. The combination of
the new, radical ideology of the Commune and its tremendous
unifying force among socialists created a spark in France that soon
became a legitimate and powerful political force. First Guesde,
then Brousse, and finally Jaures advanced the socialist movement
in France until its triumph in 1905 when it became the SFIO. By
1905, the French socialist movement had returned to the primary
goal of the Commune: to improve the life of the worker through
reforms within the present political system. Thus, the Paris Commune not only sparked the French socialist movement, but it also
foreshadowed the state of the socialist party over the course of
the entire 20th century.
Marxism Prior to the Paris Commune
Marxism’s founding principles lie in a complex theory of
historical progress and economic succession. The crux of Marx’s
historical theory in relation to socialism is his explanation of the
societal relations between the lord and serf, the capitalist and
the laborer, the “oppressor and oppressed”2 in his words. Marx
believed that these relationships formed social classes based on
the control over the means of production. Each economic system
represented a specific social relationship in history.
Marx believed that capitalism formed as individuals wished
to increase their economic efficiency and revolutionize the industrial and global markets. Capitalism represented the relationship
between the bourgeoisie, the capitalists who owned the means of
production, and the proletariat, who sold their labor for a wage.
Marx considered this system to be the logical succession of more
basic feudal relationships. But capitalism was unique in its scale.
Capitalism collected thousands of workers under a single capitalist,
performing a single task, instead of individual lords having serfs
carry out agricultural and domestic duties on the manor.
Marx believed capitalism provided a logical progression
into socialism for many reasons. First, capitalism centralized many
workers under a single authority. It gave workers a unified goal: to
rid themselves of their oppressor. But capitalism also worked against
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the capitalists directly. Marx believed that capitalists, looking to
increase efficiency and lower costs, would compete and decrease
the number of capitalists in the system. Over time, a few capitalists would drive most of their competitors into the proletariat. As
the number of capitalists decreased and the number of workers
increased, it would become easier and easier for the now enormous
proletariat to overthrow the “rulers” of capitalism.3 In addition,
the crises and depressions of capitalism would wreak further havoc
on the system.4 Thus, capitalists would weaken themselves while
strengthening their enemies.5
Marx, alongside his close friend Friedrich Engels, outlined
these theories in his famous pamphlet The Communist Manifesto in
1848. The goal of the pamphlet was to unite the growing power
of socialism under a single doctrine. Marx wished to prepare the
workers of each country for the impending collapse of capitalism.
The final call of the pamphlet, ‘Workers of the World, Unite’6
demonstrated his thoughts on the necessity of homogeneity among
workers. The manifesto planned to accomplish two goals: first, to
educate the proletariat about the “inevitable” fall of capitalism
and the rise of socialism, followed by the rise of Communism,
and second, to unite the workers of Europe under a single goal.
In the manifesto, Marx stressed his belief in the idea that
workers could not improve their situation within the capitalist
system. The capitalist system profited off of their dependency on
wage labor, so capitalists would prevent them from rising within
the social hierarchy.7 Twenty years later, Marx similarly stated in
Das Capital that, “In proportion as capital accumulates, the lot of
the labourer…must grow worse.”8 With this principle in mind, the
first followers of Marx believed that participation in the “bourgeois”
government would only lead to small reforms that would make
the workers temporarily content and less likely to participate in
the proletariat revolution.
Jules Guesde, a Frenchman who was part of first generation of Marxist followers, held traditional Marxist views. He
believed that the “ballot…was a hindrance to the emancipation
of the workers” and the workers’ goal should be “abolition and
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247
destruction”9 of the state. Guesde conceded that a political party
was necessary for the workers due to the political nature of the
proletariat revolution but argued that the workers should not look
to the capitalist government for reforms.10 Guesde advocated the
formation of a political party with a structured and “scientific”
doctrine to provide unity and stability for the Marxist movement,
not to gain representation in the Chamber of Deputies.
Frenchmen like Guesde took Marx’s ideals to heart, and
by 1870, with the defeat by Prussia, the problems of the Second
Empire decided them to attempt to establish Marx’s ideals in their
own government through a coup.
The Commune and Its Aftermath
In 1867, Paris was at its finest. The Great Exposition marked
the culmination of the Second Empire under Emperor Napoleon
III. But there were underlying tensions between social classes in
Paris. Workers had been subjected to appalling social conditions
under Napoleon III. High cost of living, large slums, widespread
child labor, and a lack of job security created hatred among the
proletariat towards the French government.11 The Parisian workers
also believed that, as the center of French culture and society, they
should have a greater degree of autonomy in government than
was available under the Second Empire. Inspired by the growing
popularity of socialism throughout Europe, French workers looked
to achieve higher standards of living.
The Franco-Prussian War and the Rise of the Commune
In July 1870, Prussia invaded France, instigating the FrancoPrussian War. In the Battle of Sedan on September 1, Napoleon
III was captured and the Second Empire fell. Facing a fractured
army, Prussian Emperor Wilhelm I and his army marched on Paris
virtually unopposed and began a four-month long siege of the city.
Under the siege, Parisians suffered extreme poverty, starvation,
and cold. On January 28th, Paris capitulated, its entire population
exhausted and desperate. Under the treaty between the French
National Assembly12 and the Prussian army, the leader of the new
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government, Adolphé Thiers, allowed the Prussians to march
through Paris in exchange for a small bordering territory, Belfort.13
With the lifting of the siege, Thiers’s provisional government established itself in the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. But the government was immediately challenged by the citizen militia of Paris
known as the National Guard. A combustible mix of frustration
and boredom during the siege created an army of workers lusting
for revolution following the armistice. Members of the National
Guard took guns paid for by public conscription to the fortress
of Montmartre on the outskirts of Paris. Thiers felt the danger
of the already aggravated National Guard gaining weapons and
sent battalions of the regular French army, called the Versaillais,
to retrieve the guns. On arriving at Montmartre, though, the Versaillais realized they had no means of transporting the artillery
back to the Hotel de Ville.14 The National Guard soon arrived,
along with a mob. In the resulting chaos, many members of the
Versaillais sided with the National Guard, and the mob lynched the
generals of battalions. In just a day, the balance of power in Paris
had shifted. Fearing for their own safety, Thiers and the French
Government evacuated their offices in Paris and fled to Versailles.
In Paris, a power vacuum ensued, and the Comité Central of the
National Guard took control of the city.
The Commune in Power
The first extensive action of the Comité Central of the National Guard was to hold elections for a municipal government,
the Commune of Paris, on March 26th. The results put “Reds,” the
term given to the proletariat revolutionaries, in office in proportion of four to one. Twenty-one members out of 90 were actual
workers, and another 30 were writers, journalists, and painters.15
While the workers did not hold a majority, this election resulted
in a dramatic increase in representation of the workers from the
revolution of 1848, in which the bourgeoisie took hold of the political arena. These results created a government truly represented
by workers, not members of the bourgeoisie.
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Upon election, the Commune instigated reforms to meet
the demands of the workingman. On the second day of meeting, the Commune organized commissions, such as executive,
labor, and industry commissions, to carry out the various tasks of
governing Paris. The Commune also began immediate reforms
to benefit the workers who had suffered during the siege. The
council exempted workers from rents for the past nine months,
decreased the interest rates of pawned goods for food from the
exorbitant rates under the reign of Louis Napoleon, and gave a
pension of 600 francs a year to widows of men who died in the
Franco-Prussian War.16 The Commune also began a series of social reforms, prohibiting gambling and looting, and separating
church and state. The Communal reforms were overwhelmingly
successful; as one citizen claimed, “Robberies, assaults, and other
crimes became a very rare occurrence.”17 Perhaps the most important reform of the Commune was to create a uniform wage. The
Commune decreed that the wage of any government employee
could not exceed 6,000 francs,18 effectively creating a uniform
wage between government and workers.
But the Commune imposed few changes on life during
the Second Empire. The Commune left much of the bourgeoisie
and old institutions in place. Although socialist doctrine advocated
the elimination of private property, the Commune left private
property undisturbed. The Commune reopened many theaters
during the first days, creating a sense of peace and tranquility
within Paris.19 While many members of the bourgeoisie fled Paris
after the rise of the Commune, a significant number of doctors
and writers remained. The middle-class remained almost entirely
untouched during the Commune and was not forced to partake
in any of the actions of the Commune.20 After achieving their
original goals of societal reform, the Commune did little else to
achieve a socialist revolution.
The Decline and Fall of the Commune
The Commune’s decline was primarily the result of radicalization and disorganization. Just as the moderates that governed
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Peter Kirgis
the National Assembly from 1789-1792 lost out to the radicals of
the Reign of Terror, the moderates of the Paris Commune lost out
to the radicals. The Commune actually shared remarkable similarities to its predecessor almost a century earlier. The revolutionary
party from the French Revolution, the Jacobins, came to dominate
the Commune from mid-April onward. During the Commune and
in the French Revolution, the Jacobins used terror to discourage
reactionaries. The Commune established a Committee of Public
Safety on April 28th with Raoul Rigault, perhaps the most radical
member of the Commune, at its head. He arrested citizens without
due process and ordered thousands of executions.21 Rigault also
turned to the destruction of public property to enforce Jacobin
policies, like the destruction of the Vendome Column, just as the
Jacobins had done in the French Revolution. These policies only
undermined the authority of the Commune and angered those
who would otherwise have been indifferent towards the Commune.
But the Commune might have survived if not for the antagonism of those within the provisional government and in the
Prussian army. On April 1st, after only three days of the Commune,
Thiers’s provisional government declared war on the Commune.
The French army was not ready for a full civil war, though, so
he did not attempt to invade Paris. But Thiers was comfortable.
The Commune did not take over the bank, nor did it attack the
provisional government in Versailles immediately, and Thiers had
time to stockpile weapons and soldiers. By the time the Communards marched on Versailles, on April 3rd, Thiers had organized
his troops. His army slaughtered the Communards, and executed
all Communard prisoners. The Versaillais spent the next month attacking bridges and stations on the outskirts of Paris, and in late
April, besieged the city for the second time in less than six months.
Under pressure from Otto von Bismark and the Prussian
government, Adolphé Thiers needed to invade Paris to maintain
the vital Prussian support in his efforts against the Commune.
When the Versaillais entered the city, though, they came in largely
unopposed. Because of internal disputes between the Comité Central, the council of the Commune, and the Committee of Public
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251
Safety, few policies could be quickly enacted, and most of the
council was more occupied with improving the city than preparing for the advancing Versaillais.22 The Commune had virtually no
communication between districts, and it was unprepared for the
mobile attack of the Versaillais. Also, despite creating some barricades in the streets, the Commune failed to build second lines
of barricades to stop soldiers who turned the first barricade. As
a result, La Semaine Sanglante (“The Bloody Week”)23 damaged
Paris beyond belief.
During La Semaine Sanglante, thousands of Communards
fought on the barricades against the organized armies of the
French Government. By May 26th, only one of the twenty districts
in Paris stood in the Commune’s hands. The National Guard
fought valiantly, but they were overwhelmed, and on May 28th the
remaining Communards surrendered. Following their surrender,
Thiers began killing the captured Communards. Over the next two
days, 2,300 prisoners were executed.24 Those prisoners taken out
of the city were kept at Versailles under intolerable conditions,
without food, water, or medical attention. Thiers and the Versaillais executed five times more prisoners than the Commune did
over its two-month reign.
The Interpretation and Effect of the Commune
Seen as the first “successful” proletarian revolution, the
Paris Commune was given a great deal of thought by domestic
French socialists and European socialists in the International
Workingmen’s Association (First International).25 During the previous French uprisings of 1830 and 1848, either the workers were
defeated or their power was usurped by the bourgeoisie. So, while
the French Army quickly defeated the Commune, the Commune
was the first government to be established in France that was truly
a government of the proletariat. Although the Commune did little
to change the system of capital and labor,26 as time passed, the actions of the Commune mattered little in the eyes of socialists such
as Marx and Guesde compared to its image among the people.
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Marx viewed the Commune through the lens of his own
socialism. Praising the Commune as the “most glorious deed
of our party since the June insurrection [of 1848] in Paris,”27
he interpreted the Commune’s goals to be the goals of socialist
revolutionaries. Marx assumed the Commune wished to abolish
private property and create a “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” with
the ultimate goal of establishing a Communist state. He believed
that the republic of the Commune was an intermediate goal in
the path to the workers controlling the government.28 Thus, in a
speech to the First International Congress on May 30, 1870, just
two days after the fall of the Commune, Marx claimed that the
Commune and its “martyrs” would be “forever celebrated as the
glorious harbinger of a new society.”29 From the beginning, Marx
created a Europe-wide image of the Commune as a revolutionary
Marxist government.
But virtually none of Marx’s claims accurately reflected the
reforms of the Commune. The Commune’s reforms such as rent
exemptions and restrictions on pawning, along with the separation of church and state and the creation of a workingmen’s wage,
suggest that the overall goal of the Commune was to reform the
present political system. None of the actions of the Commune
suggested rigid Marxist goals, such as the abolition of private
property and destruction of class. The workers of the Commune
wanted to make their lives better for the next day, so they could
feed their families and enjoy a higher standard of living.
Even as early as 1876, the actual history of the Commune
was left behind, and the myth had begun. Marx’s persuasive words
ensured that the Commune would become a powerful image within
the socialist world, and much of the Commune’s significance came
through interpretation by Communists and Socialists throughout
Europe.30 Socialists represented the Commune as “the Parisian
proletariat’s great bid for social and economic emancipation,”31
spurring on workers to pursue political action and unite to fight
the bourgeoisie and capitalism. Therefore, at least in the late
1870s and early 1880s, the impact of the Commune came in its
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253
unifying image among socialists, instead of the effect of its actual
structure and reforms.
But while the myth of the Commune had a vast impact on
socialists and Communists into the 20th century, the actions of the
Commune foreshadowed the path of French socialism over the
next 30 years. The Commune was a reformist group, and its goals
paralleled those of the great social democratic and evolutionary
socialist thinkers. The reforms of the uniform wage and separation
of church and state embodied the goals of a party that wished to
improve the life of the worker within the existing political structure.
These ideas would be reiterated at socialist conferences under the
title of reformism for the rest of the 19th century.
The Revival and Split of French Socialism (1878-80)
After the fall of the Commune, the socialist movement
in France was in shambles. The Commune was brutally crushed,
and its participants were exiled from the country. The French
government, having exiled all of the Communards and their supporters, had effectively killed socialism in France. Much of France
was looking for stability after such a humiliating defeat in the
Franco-Prussian War in 1871, so few people were eager to pursue
revolutionary action. The First International Workingmen’s Association, the main socialist organization in Europe, was outlawed
in France, fully isolating French socialists from their fellow radicals
throughout Europe. Consequently, until the end of the decade,
organized Marxism remained very quiet in France.32
But following the first amnesties of the Communards in
March of 1879, socialism rose out of the Commune’s ashes to
become a powerful force in the French Third Republic. Marxists
had been laboring for such amnesty, organizing demonstrations
and making speeches in all of France’s major cities,33 and with its
enactment, a new age of socialism began. The Commune’s leaders streamed back into France, and the promise of socialism filled
workers with hope for a brighter future.
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Peter Kirgis
Jules Guesde was one of those exiled for supporting the
Commune in 1871. During the Commune, Guesde had written
articles commending the efforts of the Commune and “denouncing
the treachery of the Government of National Defense.”34 Guesde
was given the choice between five years in prison and exile, and
so he fled to Switzerland and remained there until 1876, when
he returned to France.
Upon his return to France after his exile, Guesde founded
L’Egalité, the first Marxist newspaper in France.35 Along with the
first amnesties of the Communards, L’Egalité sparked a revival
among socialists and the working class. Guesde used his newspaper
to propagate his goal of unifying the extremely diverse socialists
under a single political party. From the beginning, Guesde wanted
his newspaper to “[lay] the groundwork for a workers’ party in
France.”36
During the Second Empire and the Franco-Prussian War,
Paul Brousse had worked with Guesde on a radical newspaper, Les
Droits de l’Homme.37 Brousse, like Guesde, supported the Commune,
but he did not play an active role in the Commune’s proceedings,
much to Guesde’s displeasure.38 Brousse fled to Spain after the
First International was outlawed in France and joined the Jura
Federation, an anarchist section of the First International. Brousse
interpreted the Commune as an anarchist body, and for the first
half of the 1870s, Brousse worked within the anarchist framework.
Over the next decade, though, Brousse became disillusioned by
the failures of anarchism and began to move back towards the
socialist revival in France. By the time Brousse returned to France
in 1880, he had developed strong ideas on the nature of a socialist
party and movement.
Socialists throughout France had radically different interpretations of Marxian doctrine. Many socialists followed Marx to
every last sentence of the Communist Manifesto, but some socialists began to doubt the effectiveness of Marx’s theories on class
revolution. This second branch became popularly known as Possiblists,39 because they believed in gradual change for the worker
within the capitalist system. While Guesde and the rigid Marxists
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followed the path of the original Marxist theory, the Possibilists
led by Brousse composed new and distinct ideas on Marxism and
the ultimate socialist goals.
Possibilists thought that, while the workers would triumph
in the social revolution, they would be forced to suffer until such
a revolution occurred. Possibilists wished to prepare the worker
for the revolution by establishing municipal governments run by
workers, thereby giving them practical experience in a socialist
society.40 With those principles in mind, they strove to create a party
that had the interests of the worker in mind, not the visions of
middle class thinkers like Marx. Marx envisioned a classless society
after a social revolution, and his efforts were directed at achieving
that goal. According to Marx, even if the worker lived a terrible
life at the present, it would be worth it after they were freed from
the capitalist society. But workers in France, living in the miserable conditions of the Second Empire of Louis Napoleon, needed
something in the present, not the promise of a better future.
Possibilists began to debate the prospect of obtaining
reforms while waiting for the revolution through participation in
government. Common workers’ goals were the eight-hour workday
and universal manhood suffrage. But these reforms, they reasoned,
could never be enacted if the workers were without representation in the government. So socialists and workers alike began to
preach a Marxism in which socialists would work to gain votes in
the Chamber of Deputies, work with the “bourgeois” government,
and make life better for the workers within the current political
structure. The workers would still wait for the proletariat revolution and conquer the bourgeoisie upon its arrival, but they saw
no reason not to work for a better life in the meantime. In the
second half of the 1870s, this type of moderate socialism saw a
dramatic rise in support.
Brousse became the leader of the new Possibilist branch
of Marxism. Brousse was a strong believer in municipal socialism,
in which local municipalities would advocate reforms for the
workers. Brousse did not believe in “scientific” Marxism because
he felt it did not accurately represent the goals of the workers, of
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whom many were unable to understand the complexities of such
thought. As a result, Brousse favored a program that would appeal
to the majority of workers in order to achieve electoral success
and access to the Chamber of Deputies. In 1880, Brousse clashed
over this issue with Guesde.
At the 1879 Marseilles Congress, Jules Guesde founded
the first socialist political party in France, the Fédération des Travailleurs Socialistes de France (FTSF) under the doctrinal belief that the
emancipation of the working-class could only be achieved through
revolutionary socialism. The resulting party platform, named the
Minimum Programme due to its lack of clear reforms and policies
and focus on revolutionary action, was a victory for revolutionary
Marxism in France because it established revolution as the ultimate
goal of all political action. But French socialists failed to achieve
much unity out of this platform due to differing interpretations
of its policies among members of the Marseilles Congress.41
The establishment of the Minimum Programme proved to
be a damaging mistake for the Guesdists. Guesde had written the
Minimum Programme with both Marx and Engels. Guesde did not
invite many prominent French socialists to the writing of the party
platform and thus alienated himself from people like Brousse and
Benoit Malon who, in 1882, would orchestrate the exclusion of
Guesde and his followers from the French socialist movement. The
Minimum Programme also sparked a revival of nationalism within
the socialist party. After the humiliating defeat by the Germans
in the Franco-Prussian War, revenge against Germany rose to the
top of the agenda of many French politicians and workers. Many
viewed Karl Marx, a German, orchestrating the French socialist
movement as another example of the corrupting influence of the
Germans. Guesde’s association with Marx severely damaged his
reputation, as well as that of Marxism in France as a whole.
After an unsuccessful electoral campaign under the
Minimum Programme in 1881, the FTSF decided it was time for a
change. The Minimum Programme was abandoned at the Reims
Congress in 1881 in favor of the new Municipal Programme drafted
by Brousse. Brousse divided the programme into two main sections:
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municipal socialism and the “public service theory.” Municipal
socialism advocated “effective action at a local level.”42 The public
service theory, something Brousse had first encountered during
his anarchist days, described the organization of public services
necessary for workers, such as communication and education, as
divided into a local Commune and a federal government, called
the State.43 Similar in purpose to municipal socialism, the public
service theory advocated the organization of public services to
meet the immediate needs of the working class. With a mission
to establish a party that connected directly to the everyday goals
of the workingman, Brousse achieved more widespread electoral
success than the elitist party of Guesde was able to achieve.
In 1882, Paul Brousse took full control of the Possibilist
branch under the Municipal Programme. With little support, the
Guesdists removed themselves from the St. Etienne Congress to
form the Parti Ouvrier Français (POF), and the Possibilists took
control of socialism in France, to remain in that position for the
next decade. The St. Etienne Congress also marked the height of
Brousse’s influence within the French socialist movement.44 Brousse
had achieved his goal: to establish a socialist program in which,
not doctrine, but the will of the workers, would guide the party.
While Brousse was initially successful in eliminating the
Guesdists and assuring a Possibilist platform for the party, the split
between the Marxists and Possibilists severely injured the socialist
movement. Marxism appealed to voters in many of the industrial
areas of France, where workers were more directly centralized
under capitalism.45 Each party took electoral votes from the other,
weakening the political impact of each. Further schisms within the
party, such as the formation of another political party, the Parti
Ouvrier Socialiste Révolutionnaire (POSR), in 1890, caused the socialist
party to become completely divided in ideology and tactics. Some
of Brousse’s important allies, most significantly Benoit Malon, also
broke away from the FTSF, leaving Brousse severely weakened.46
Brousse slowly began to lose influence within the socialist movement, and his role within the FTSF shrank over the 1880s.
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The problems of the Third Republic further weakened
the unity of the French socialist parties. In 1884, a Jewish military
officer named Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of sending French
secrets to the Germany military. Almost every person in France
had a distinct opinion on the Dreyfus Affair, as it became known,
and the socialist parties were no exception. Guesde did not come
to the aid of Dreyfus because he felt that the workers should not
concern themselves with an affair of the bourgeoisie.47 But, a
new figure in French socialism, Jean Jaures, supported Dreyfus.
Jaures passionately described the “unjustly persecuted” Dreyfus as
“humanity itself at its highest degree of misery and despair.”48 A
recent convert from republicanism, Jaures sparked the proletariat
into action against the anti-Dreyfusards. From this point forward,
Jaures became an influential leader of the proletariat. But this also
began the direct conflict between Guesde and Jaures.
Among socialists, the Millerand Case was perhaps the most
divisive issue of the Third Republic. Alexandre Millerand, a prominent socialist, entered the Waldeck-Rousseau Cabinet in 1899 as
the Minister of Commerce. By joining the cabinet, Millerand was
advocating socialist participation in the bourgeois government,
the thing Guesde hated most. Worse yet, a fellow member of the
cabinet was the Marquis de Gallifet, the officer who had directed
the slaughter of the Communards in 1871.49
Jaures sided with Millerand, a close personal friend. His
support of Millerand’s decision to enter the cabinet rested on
his desire to preserve the Republic. Because of his republican
background, he understood the value of the Republic, even if he
believed the final goal was socialism. He felt that the WaldeckRousseau Cabinet had the same immediate aims as the socialists,50
and so it was his duty to support it. But Guesde did not feel the
same responsibility. In his mind, Millerand was a sellout to the
bourgeoisie, and the socialists of the POF could have no association
with such a person. Again, the two branches of French socialism
represented by Guesde and Jaures had been drawn further apart.
Thus, at the turn of the century, the French socialist movement was virtually impotent. The divided socialist parties did not
THE CONCORD REVIEW
259
hold majorities in the Chamber of Deputies, did not have strong
local backings in the countryside and cities, and had begun to
look weak in the eyes of socialists around the world, especially in
Germany. But the new figure in French socialism, Jean Jaures, gave
socialists hope. Jaures quickly became seen as a man of the people,
with his dramatic speeches and vigorous defenses of both Dreyfus
and Millerand. But Jaures would need to do more than please
workers to achieve his goal; he would have to unite the parties.
Jean Jaures and The Second International
The year 1902 marked the most trying time for French
socialism. Jaures quickly realized how difficult it was to work
within the French socialist system. The split between Jaures and
Guesde over the issues of the Third Republic was formalized. The
Guesdist radicals and Blanquists, another radical socialist faction,
formed the Parti Socialiste de Français, while Jaures joined with the
remnants of the Possibilist party and the independents to form
the Parti Socialiste Français.51 While some might consider this result
to be a success for Jaures, as his party was more successful, Jaures
was decidedly opposed to two separate socialist parties. From the
beginning of his involvement in the socialist movement, his goal
had been to achieve complete unity.
In the years following the 1902 split, Jaures became even
more resolute in his belief that unity within the party was of the
utmost importance. This viewpoint allowed Jaures to gain support
and recognition he might have lost had he been solely focused on
his ideas about socialism. In response to the calls for the expulsion
for Millerand and the condemnation of reformism, he implored
people to remain focused on the fight for unity. Ironically, it was
Jaures who truly embodied the international slogan first used by
Marx, “Working men of all countries, unite!”52
Coinciding with the obstacles of the French socialists was
the international debate over reformism. A German named Eduard
Bernstein intensified the conflict begun by the French Possibilists
over reformism. Bernstein began the socialist movement known as
evolutionary socialism. Under evolutionary socialism, capitalism
260
Peter Kirgis
would not spontaneously collapse, and socialism was therefore
not inevitable.53 Consequently, Bernstein advocated complete
socialist participation in the bourgeois government, and his goal
was present-day reforms for workers.
Because of the similar nature of the conflicts in France and
Germany, the Second International became a battleground for
the debate over reformism. Both Guesde and Jaures were active
members in the Second International, along with German Marxists
such as Karl Kautsky and August Bebel. Through congresses held
each year, the delegates of the Second International gave speeches
and held open discussions to enact universal socialist measures.
At the Dresden Congress in 1903, the revolutionary Marxists produced the most direct condemnation of reformism, the
Dresden Resolution. Under the Dresden Resolution, any sort of
participation in bourgeois government was condemned.54 The
policy strengthened the position of revolutionary socialists in
France who, under Guesde, enacted the Dresden Resolution domestically within the POF. Jaures, who believed that participation
in the existing French government to obtain reforms was in the
best interests of the workers, saw the resolution as a blow to French
socialism, but he did not actively oppose the resolution because
he feared it would hurt his ultimate goal of unity.55
In the months leading up to the Amsterdam Congress of
1904, Jaures realized the Amsterdam Congress would offer an
opportunity to realize his goal of unity. Because of the reactionary politics associated with reformism within the Second International, it seemed likely that a resolution regarding reformism
would be enacted at the Amsterdam Congress. Jaures knew that
the Germans were bent on abolishing reformism, but he remained
hopeful that the party could be unified, even if it was under a
“revolutionary” doctrine. Jaures felt that if the party was unified,
some of the members might moderate the Guesdists and shift
the party towards a more reformist stance.56 Thus, he entered the
Amsterdam Congress with high hopes.
From the beginning of the Amsterdam Congress, the debate
over reformism raged. Jaures and Guesde immediately debated
THE CONCORD REVIEW
261
the proper course of action in France in front of the delegates.
Having heard their arguments, the delegates of the Second International sided with Guesde and universally endorsed the policies
of the Dresden Resolution. But the delegates also ordered that
there should only be one unified socialist party in each country.
For the rest of the Congress, Jaures fought tirelessly against the
Dresden Resolution, arguing that the scorning of reforms was
both unnecessary and even detrimental to the path to socialism.
He fought against what he perceived to be the influence of the
Germans who did not understand French politics. In one of the
most famous socialist speeches, Jaures criticized the Germans as
having “never conquered universal suffrage on the barricades…
they received it from above” and having “no revolutionary tradition.”57 But, Jaures was unsuccessful, and revolutionary socialism
was declared the policy of the French party. Because of this decision, many Independent socialists and those who supported Jaures
left the party, but Jaures remained, still hoping to unify the party,
as well as to maintain unity between the French and Germans.58
While the Amsterdam Conference officially condemned
reformism, it importantly ordered the formation of a single socialist party in France. In a sense, while the congress marked a failure
for reformism, it also marked the culmination of over half a decade of work towards French socialist unity. The “Pact of Union”
laid down the framework for the new French socialist party with
a “revolutionary ethos and reformist tactics.”59 At a congress for
the French socialist party, Jaures decided to side with unity over
reformism, and he accepted the Pact of Union among his party.
Out of the Pact of Union, the Section Française de l’Internationale
Ouvrière (SFIO) was born, signifying the completion of French
socialist unity.
By 1905, Jaures had transformed the splintered socialist
movement into a single party. Jaures used all of his political ability to maintain cooperation between his politics and those of the
revolutionaries while enacting reformist principles within the
French government. Jaures even became the unquestioned leader
of the SFIO. Until his assassination in 1914, Jaures worked tirelessly
262
Peter Kirgis
to maintain the unity of the party through compromise, keeping
the SFIO in the forefront of French politics. In the words of one
historian who described the SFIO: “It was Jaures…He created it.
He kept it together.”60
Conclusion
In 1914, the international socialist movement collapsed.
The common goals the socialists had shared in the previous decades fell apart as nationalism emerged as the leading ideological
force.61 Since the beginning of political socialist thought, one of
the tenets of the movement had been both that socialism defied
national boundaries and that the workers were fighting for something beyond a nation’s trivial national quarrels. But as Europe
spiraled into war, socialists began to choose sides and put their
national identity above their socialist identity. Had the French
socialists not unified their parties in 1905, the combination of the
nationalistic tensions in World War I and the influence of even
more radical Communism would have permanently fragmented
the socialist party and prevented it from ever working within the
republican framework.
While the Germans had socialists working in various levels
of politics as early as 1861,62 there were almost no French socialists working in politics until the late 1870s. As a result, German
socialism had much more time to gain staying power before the
conflicts of the Great War. But the unified SFIO created in 1905,
while splitting at the Tours Congress in 1920, managed to remain
a potent force in French politics until it was succeeded by the
Parti Socialiste (PS), the socialist party in power today, in 1969.
The SFIO and PS, which shared almost all of the same ideological
goals, managed to deter the force of Communism in France and
helped the center-left become one of the most powerful political
parties in France from 1980 onward.
The period from the Commune to unification established
the unique ideology of both the SFIO and PS as pragmatic parties who were willing to make compromises with both moderate
and radical parties in order to achieve their socialist goals. While
THE CONCORD REVIEW
263
other parties throughout Europe inevitably became radicalized
and joined the Communist movement, the tradition of reformism
that Brousse and Jaures established enabled the French socialists
to avoid that damaging influence and allowed them to work successfully within French politics. In countries like Russia and Italy,
the socialist ideology that began within the Second International
became extremely radicalized into Communism and Fascism, respectively, and prevented these countries from developing strong
social democratic parties that would work within a republican
system of government.
The Paris Commune, though studied in great detail for its
effect on Marx and Lenin, along with other Communists, has not
been recognized as the spark for the socialist movement in the
Third Republic. Both Guesde and Brousse studied the Commune
and its reforms, and both took much away from its actions. The
amnesty of the Commune also provided the necessity of a political
party to organize the elections of exiled leaders. The Commune
was in fact a harbinger, just not the way Marx anticipated. Instead
of signaling the future of revolutionary socialist societies as Marx
claimed, the Commune foreshadowed the new Possibilist movement that rose in France. The Commune acted as both a guiding force for the Possibilist policies of the party and served as a
reminder of what the French socialists were fighting for.
Jules Guesde, Paul Brousse, and Jean Jaures each played
an invaluable role in creating a cohesive party that would challenge to win seats in the French government for the entire 20th
century and the beginning of the 21st century. While none of
these individuals single-handedly put together the French party,
each of them made important contributions that allowed it to
progress. Guesde founded the first party, setting the movement
in motion; Brousse created a party that worked within the present
French system, establishing the reformist movement in France;
and Jaures unified their two philosophies under a single party
and platform. Today, when the Parti Socialiste is perhaps the most
powerful socialist party in Europe, the thirty-year period in which
264
Peter Kirgis
the French socialist movement was founded and united resonates
as one of the most important periods in French history.
THE CONCORD REVIEW
265
Notes
Stewart Edwards, ed., The Communards of Paris, 1871
(Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1973), 158.
2
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto
(New York: Penguin Group, 2011), 64.
3
Thomas Sowell, Marxism: Philosophy and Economics 6th ed.
(New York: William Morrow and Company, 1985), 81.
4
Robert L. Heilbroner, The Worldly Philosophers: the Lives,
Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers (New York: Simon
and Schuster, 1986), 147.
5
Marx and Engels, 78.
6
Ibid., 104.
7
Sowell, 79.
8
Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd ed.
(New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1978), 431.
9
Samuel Bernstein, “Jules Guesde, Pioneer of Marxism
in France,” Science and Society 4, no. 1 (Winter, 1940): 32.,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40399300 (accessed September 2,
2014).
10
Ibid., 40.
11
Alistair Horne, The Fall of Paris: the Siege and the Commune
1870-1871, Rev. ed. (New York: Penguin Group. 2007), 294-295.
12
The National Assembly was the restored government
following the collapse of the Second Empire, composed
primarily of nobles and monarchists.
13
Alistair Horne, The Terrible Year: the Paris Commune 1871
(New York: The Viking Press, 1971), 15.
14
Horne, The Fall of Paris, 270.
15
Ibid., 109, 112.
16
Ibid., 330-331.
17
Ibid., 305.
18
Karl Marx and V.I. Lenin, The Civil War in France: the Paris
Commune, 2nd ed. (New York: International Publishers, 1989),
14.
19
Horne, The Terrible Year, 120.
20
Ibid., 97.
21
Ibid., 134.
22
Ibid., 146.
23
Bloody Week, or La Semaine Sanglante in French, is the
common name for the mass killings that went along with the
suppression of the Commune from May 21 to May 28.
24
Horne, The Fall of Paris, 416.
1
266
Peter Kirgis
The International Workingmen’s Association was a
left wing organization aiming to unite groups under socialist
doctrine. The International Workingmen’s Association became
subsequently known as the First International in Europe.
26
David Stafford, From Anarchism to Reformism: a Study of
the Political Activities of Paul Brousse within the First International
and the French Socialist Movement, 1870-1890 (Toronto: Toronto
University Press, 1971), 19.
27
Marx and Lenin, 86.
28
Ibid., 60.
29
Marx and Lenin, 60.
30
Jean T. Joughin, The Paris Commune in French Politics,
1871-1880: The History of the Amnesty of 1880 (New York: Russell
and Russell, 1973), 11.
31
Ibid., 156.
32
Ibid., 65.
33
Ibid., 155.
34
Bernstein, 32.
35
Ibid., 34.
36
Ibid., 35.
37
Paul Avrich, Anarchist Portraits (Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1988), 241.
38
Stafford, 25.
39
The Possibilist branch may also be referred to as:
reformist, revisionist, and eventually social democrat at the end
of the 19th century.
40
Stafford, 187.
41
Ibid., 165.
42
Ibid., 171.
43
Ibid., 58.
44
Ibid., 197.
45
Bernstein, 45.
46
Stafford, 197.
47
Bernstein, 55.
48
La Petite République, August 10, 1898, qtd. in Ibid., 55.
49
Harvey Goldberg, The Life of Jean Jaurès (Madison,
Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962), 250.
50
James Joll, The Second International 1889-1914 (London:
Shenval Press, 1955), 85.
51
Ibid., 99.
52
Marx and Lenin, 104.
53
Joll, 93.
54
Ibid., 99.
25
THE CONCORD REVIEW
267
Goldberg, 312
Ibid., 324.
57
Ibid., 328.
58
Joll, 104.
59
Goldberg, 338.
60
Ibid., 341.
61
Joll, 184.
62
Ibid., 8.
55
56
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Edwards, Stewart, ed. The Communards of Paris, 1871.
Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1973.
This source provided much of the detail for the section on
life under the Paris Commune. It provided documents written
by the Comité Central, accounts of both bystanders living in Paris
and of participants of the Commune itself, and letters written
by members of the Commune to each other. The docments in
the work created a clear picture of the scene in Paris under the
Commune.
Marx, Karl, and V.I. Lenin. The Civil War in France: The Paris
Commune. New York: International Publishers, 1989.
This source displayed the three speeches Marx gave to the
First International at the time of the Paris Commune. These
speeches portrayed the view of the Commune among socialists
throughout Europe, and also showed Marx’s attitude toward
the Commune in the 1880s.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto.
New York: Penguin Books, 2011.
This source was the backbone to the introduction of this
paper. As perhaps the most influential socialist document of
the 19th century, it acted as the starting point for the research.
Marx and Engels attempt to convince the working class of
Europe to unite to overthrow the capitalist system.
Tucker, Robert C., ed. The Marx-Engels Reader. 2d ed. New
York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1978.
This source provided most of Marx’s and Engels’s works
from 1837 to 1893. Marx’s works directly before the Commune
268
Peter Kirgis
and for the next ten years after it were the most important.
That was the period in which Marx was most concerned with
French politics because he had become aware of the growing
influence of the French socialist party.
Secondary Sources
Avrich, Paul. Anarchist Portraits. Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1988.
This source detailed Brousse’s life during the 1870s
and early 1880s while Brousse was living outside of France.
Avrich’s study was especially insightful on Brousse’s shift from
anarchism to reformism. Avrich detailed many other anarchists
in this work, so his writing on Brousse was often general.
Bernstein, Samuel. “Jules Guesde, Pioneer of Marxism
in France.” Science and Society 4, no. 1 (Winter, 1940): 29-56.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40399300 (accessed December 27,
2014).
This source was an excellent account of Guesde’s work
in sparking the first French Marxist party. Bernstein mainly
uses newspapers and other primary sources to show Guesde’s
rise in French socialist politics. Bernstein also describes the
lasting impacts of Guesde’s work in French socialism, especially
leading up to World War I.
Derfler, Leslie. Alexandre Millerand: The Socialist Years. The
Hague: Mouton, 1977.
While not cited in the footnotes, Derfler’s study of
Alexandre Millerand, the socialist who participated in the
Waldeck-Rousseau Cabinet in 1899, was very important because
Millerand and the Millerand Case was perhaps the single most
influential factor in dividing the socialist party at the turn of
the 20th century. Derfler’s work showed how different members
of the socialist party reacted to Millerand’s involvement.
Goldberg, Harvey. The Life of Jean Jaurès. Madison:
University of Wisconsin Press, 1962.
Goldberg’s comprehensive biography of Jean Jaures,
the central figure to this paper, served both as a portrayal of
Jaures’s socialist views as well as an informative analysis of the
results of the socialist unity in 1905. Goldberg gives detailed
THE CONCORD REVIEW
269
descriptions of each of Jaures’s interactions with both the
Second International and his fellow French socialists.
Heilbroner, Robert L. The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives,
Times, and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers. Rev. 6th ed. New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1986.
Heilbroner gives a concrete summary of the economic
views of the first French Utopian Socialists and Karl Marx.
Heilbroner’s summaries showed the progression from the more
abstract thinking of the Utopian Socialists to the “scientific”
socialism of Marx. Heilbroner views both the Utopian Socialists
and Marx in terms of their philosophical beliefs, instead of
their actions.
Horne, Alistair. The Terrible Year: The Paris Commune, 1871.
New York: Viking Press, 1971.
Alistair Horne, in The Terrible Year, neutrally depicts all of
the events in Paris from the end of the Franco-Prussian War in
late 1870 to the defeat of the Communards in May of 1871. As a
supplement to Horne’s larger work, The Fall of Paris, The Terrible
Year is extraordinarily specific, describing almost every single
day of the Commune’s existence. Horne, having researched
this period for nineteen years, uses documents and diaries to
tell the story of the Communards.
Horne, Alistair. The Fall of Paris; the Siege and the Commune,
1870-1871. Rev. ed. New York: Penguin Group. 2007.
This source, while very similar to The Terrible Year, further
describes the cause of the Paris Commune, specifically the
Franco-Prussian War. While the work is partially different in
subject, the style is very similar. Again, Horne gives an unbiased
account of the Commune, highlighting its rise and fall without
determining the conclusions the reader should take from the
Commune.
Joll, James. The Second International, 1889-1914. New York:
Harper & Row, 1966.
The Second International discussed the events in the
Second International that coincided with the French fight for
unity. It was most useful in its description of the events in 1904
and 1905 that showed the debates between Guesde and Jaures.
Joll’s work was one of the most important sources in the second
half of the paper.
270
Peter Kirgis
Joughin, Jean T. The Paris Commune in French Politics,
1871-1880; The History of the Amnesty of 1880. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins Press, 1955-56.
This source portrayed the Marxist twisting of the effect
of the Commune, and the fight for amnesty that unified the
French socialists. It described the importance of the events
after the Commune and their effect on the French socialist
movement in the next thirty years.
Sowell, Thomas. Marxism: Philosophy and Economics. New
York: William Morrow and Company, 1985.
Sowell gives a basic summary of Marx’s economic thinking,
specifically his view of historical materialism and his roots in
Hegelian dialectics. This source also describes the different
periods of history in terms of the economic relationships
of Marx. This was useful in understanding Marx’s, and
consequently Guesde’s, view of socialism.
Stafford, David. From Anarchism to Reformism, a Study of the
Political Activities of Paul Brousse within the First International and
the French Socialist Movement 1870-90. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1971.
Since Paul Brousse has not been studied by many
historians, Stafford’s work on Brousse’s actions in the 1870s and
80s was vital to this paper. Stafford’s study acted as the opposing
view of Bernstein’s study of Guesde, and so their viewpoints and
actions in the late 1870s could be compared. This work was also
useful in its account of the formation of the Possibilist party in
1882.
Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim. The Proud Tower: A Portrait of
the World before the War, 1890-1914. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
Tuchman’s study of the different political groups and
nations in Europe in the buildup to the First World War,
while not cited in the footnotes, was the spark to this paper.
Tuchman’s description of the French Possibilists and her view
of Jaures as a socialist hero became two of the main ideas of this
paper. This source displayed both a fascinating tale of French
socialism from the Paris Commune to World War I and the
importance of this period for French socialism.
®
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Notes on Contributors
Sam Duffy (Tape v. Hurley) is a Senior at the Collegiate
School on Manhattan Island, where he is a Stanford Reischauer
Scholar and co-editor in chief of the yearbook. He is captain of
the squash team, and he received a Herzig Research Grant to visit
the major Asian American museums in this country. He would like
to thank the Herzig Fund and his teacher, Dr. LeeAnna Keith.
Evan Kim (Lincoln and Religion) is a Senior at the
Polytechnic School in Pasadena, California, where he is a member
of the varsity water polo team. He has performed as a soloist on
the cello in various chamber groups and orchestras.
Emma Jade Wexler (Margaret Sanger) is a Senior at the
Blake School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she is a nationally
competitive policy debater and a National Forensic League AllAmerican. She plans to become a doctor.
Sihak Lee (Imperial Cult in Rome) is a Senior at Buckingham
Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where
he is president of the Latin Club and a member of the Liberty in
North Korea Club. He has been a hockey goalie for twelve years,
and will be team captain this year. He also plays jazz trumpet.
Sooah Kang (Manchus in Qing Dynasty) is a Senior at Seoul
International School in Seoul, South Korea, where she is a history
buff and an aspiring engineer. She plays the violin and has been
on the Honor Roll for the past three years.
Natassia Walley (Warrior Women) is a Senior at Saint Ann’s
School in Brooklyn, New York, where she is co-founder and leader
of the Gender Equality Coalition, and she worked as a summer
research assistant on microfinance and other subjects at the
University of Toronto. She is taking Chinese for a third year and
went on Saint Ann’s China trip.
Alexander Tyska (Twilight of the Decadents) is a Junior at
the University of Chicago Laboratory High School in Chicago,
THE CONCORD REVIEW
Illinois, where his interests include medieval England, political
philosophy, Gothic architecture and Romantic and post-Romantic
music. He is part of the school Scholastic Bowl and the Battle of
the Bard Shakepeare Slam teams.
Will Gutzman (Friedrich Hegel) is a Senior at Flintridge
Preparatory School in La Cañada, California, where he plays soccer
and also the viola.
Melodie Liu (Footbinding in China) is a Senior at Monta
Vista High School in Cupertino, California, where she won a
grand prize in the IMAS Young Musicians contest (piano). She
performed in Carnegie Hall and she also studied at the Stanford
Humanities Institute Summer Program. She will be captain of the
school’s Bollywood dance team this year.
Hailey Fuchs (Denial in South Africa) is a Senior at the
Winsor School in Boston, Massachusetts, and she worked last
year at the Weinstock Laboratory of the Dana-Farber Cancer
Institute in Boston, studying BCR-ABL, a fusion gene resulting
from the translocation of chromosome 2 and chromosome 9.
She examined whether the presence of BCR-ABL affects the
frequency of translocation in a cell. She plans to be an oncologist
after medical school. She plays the flute in the Claflin Hill Youth
Symphony Orchestra, and she is a member of her school’s Jewish
Club and Model United Nations. She is taking AP Calculus BC,
AP French, and Honors Physics, among other courses.
Peter Kirgis (Socialism in France) was a Junior at the Paul
D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York, where
he took the Social Science Research Seminar. He is moving for
his Senior year to attend the Hellgate High School in Missoula,
Montana.
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