To Show Courage against Falsehoods
(Jonathan Hodor POV)
You looked at the small crowd and sighed, you'd felt a great deal of this same hatred before, in the meeting halls of Germany and Poland before…the unpleasantness.
You still shuddered remembering the Pogrom of your homeland and its effects on so many that had come here, the Russian and Baltic Jew and Ukrainian Jew…and hundreds more like you as their homes were burned and belongings stolen.
You knew damn well of the madness they claimed, the false cry's for glory and the calls for son's and brother's who will likely never return. When you were born, it was your uncle you lost in the November Uprising against the Russian Imperial Dogs.
The National Struggle for the homeland, TO BUILD A HOME defined the reason that you suffered greatly in your early years. It gave a sense of purpose and a feeling of anger that all young men felt to those who bullied others.
These men felt no different, fighting for an idea?
With a misguided sense of pride and nobility.
The fire in their eyes didn't show a great deal of love for their fellow man. They thought everyone was…well you'd rather NOT repeat what their paper called men like you.
The firebrand stood telling his political brand in the same fervor that you remembered the Nationalist poet Aleksander Fredo used to describe the homeland in his poems, the call to arms and the Uprising…there was a key difference however and it in turn sickened you.
You sighed and looked at the firebrand and slowly waded forward. "I rebuke you, good sir…I MUST IN HONEST HEART REBUKE YOU!"
The Crowd parted slightly as you strode forward and looked at the man as he looked down upon you.
He was quiet for a moment as you both looked upon you and looked.
"I must beg your pardon sir…I didn't expect a debate tonight, and you have me at a disadvantage." He said. " I didn't expect a reactionary in our midst."
The murmuring of the crowd and the violent glares came quickly and for a moment, you felt that they would tear you apart where you stood. "If you are narrow minded enough to call every man who disagrees with you a reactionary , then the so-called "Statest" papers might have been correct in the regard of your political intolerece."
It was a subtle jab, but you were certain it got the point across in what you were trying to do…open the mind?
Or perhaps prove what you already expected? After all, you've read Marx's paper and his words…why should you expect any different from them?
They call for violence, and they beget violence…in turn.
The man said nothing as you waited for a responce. "I am here…to ask to give a speech…to speak plainly on the matters you see to propagate?"
"And why should we listen to YOU!" A voice from the crowd shouted.
"Because listening to your elders is the first step to true wisdom…we learned this lesson with difficulty." You said.
"An Honest debate? On what? The merits of listening to the reactionary's who raised us…those who have given UP! On the DREAM OF A BETTER WORLD! The one's who sit and drone away at their lost chances in life!" He shouted.
You shrugged and took a moment to climb onto the stage, though your old bones made it difficult for a moment. "They struggled, loved you and fed you, and helped you through the hard times…least you could do is…try to gain something positive from it."
"And what would you oh great elder? Have to say about any of us?" He said.
You looked to the crowd ahead of you and the firebrand for a moment. "I see lost and angry people looking for an answer and getting lies and falsehoods in return to make themselves feel better."
He looked at you. "How would you know of what we are prepared to sacrifice?"
You looked firmly for a moment and tried to hide the gag. "You glorify violence…the struggle, the purges and more. All I see before me…are people who haven't sacrificed a damn thing beyond their time."
"You call for the dissolution of the state…of the radical evils of capitalism and its excesses. And what then? Have you honestly answered the biggest question of a moment such as this "What will you replace it with?" You said.
The hardest question…the one they could only offer ideas for but nothing sustainable. Could they organize a greater protective compact? Who would drive economic and social welfare so they could work?
You've heard many answers in your life "The Dictatorship of the Proletariate, a Greek Style Democracy?"
The silence as he tried to answer you showed the answer you expected. They didn't have a real plan, probably some revolutionary committee that will fall to Tyranny in a few decades or get killed off by the mob they created when they broke or failed their promises.
You sighed. "I've heard it all before…the same lies different speakers. I lost my uncle to the nationalist spring of 1831, when we attempted to drive the Russians out of Poland,I lost two brothers to the Pogrom that followed. I fought in the 1863 Uprising and battled the Russians and I crossed the sea to this land and fought for it to end the intolerance of Slavery and its ilk."
"THEY FAILED, THEY DID NOT END IT, JUST CHANGED ITS FACE WE ARE NO FREER NOW!" He said.
"So you're telling me…I wasted my life?" You said. " I came here with only my clothes on my back, a knife and my Torah to build a home free to choose and you're going to tell me…a man who has given everything for my homelands…BOTH OF THEM! That it was all for naught?"
"LOOK AT YOURSELVES!! You suffer, you complain and you plot to kill men and women out of selfish greed…you think you are all owed something for your suffering!!" You shouted.
"And you think BLOWING Someone up or shooting a politician will change that?! You claim to fight for the working class, you follow the works of some Russian thinker who's probably never worked a god damn day in his life!" You stopped. "And worse of all…your all…"
"I can't believe you've all made Murder a virtue. I've only one question, for all of my anger, and distaste of your methods…when will the violence STOP. If you answer that in clear words, I will acknowledge some nobility and support this endeavor." You said.
"You think resisting the Tyranny of the state is not a noble cause? That we've no right to throw our grievances at the tyrants?" He said. "Were the Martyrs of Haymarket not enough of a showing that they will never give us peace?!"
You nodded. "You never answered my question? WHEN. WILL. THE. VIOLENCE. STOP. WHEN WILL YOU GIVE YOUR PEOPLE PEACE!"
"I've had enough...that you think you can strut in here and shame us with the commandment "Thou shall not murder!" They've had no trouble breaking all of the commandments of God? Why shouldn't we have the strength to break them as well?" He said.
And therein...lies the truth of the matter. "The Ends do not justify the means...the Means Justify the Ends."
"And you will never have peace...because you do not understand the most important virtue when taking violence against another man...when to stop." You said.
"You begin a cycle of death and chaos that will never end, you may find those who support you...but far more will stand against you." You finished.
The Firebrand looked at you. "You seem far too certain that everyone else will stand with the
American System?"
How arrogant were these people? This was...you knew anarchists had different branches but this one seemed particularly inclined to the Revolution.
Do they know the Human Cost? The Line of Orphans and Widows?
"I've spilled my blood for it...for millions yet unborn, and you call me, and Man who has fought Slaver's and Tyrants a force of evil? Have you ever died to make a man truly free?" You said.
"Have you all forgotten...your father's and brother's sacrifices? Would they have stood with you in this trial? Would you love them for what they have done for you, so you may live in a better, more perfect union by your own hands?" You said.
"Let it go...and choose the path you think is right for yourself. Not what some firebrand or some headline in a newspaper says. Stay if you truly believe BUT CHOSE ON YOUR TWO OWN FEET! The Path you want for your children."
You waited...and closed your eyes.
One....
Two....
Three...
Four...
You opened them and it looked as if nothing changed.
Then one person looked at you, he looked to be a longshoreman who worked ships, and you recognized him from your Synagogue. He knew of both your words and your charecter.
He stood up and left throwing the anarchist pamplet on the floor and putting his boot over it. A symbol of rejection.
The Son, followed his father...and then his lover.
Then a whole row did the same.
Followed by a block...and then a whole section.
You counted to four again, and nearly the entire hall was empty.
It had a capacity of nearly 500 people?
"Are you happy now?" The firebrand said. "They will return to their lives having never done a damn thing to fight the capitalist that enslaves them?! Their children will grow up in the bondage of capitalism and its mistakes! All because-"
"All because I asked them to choose what really matters? An Idea...or the possibility of a kinder future not drenched in blood." You said. "I did the kindest thing I could, give an opinion and a choice."
"They chose wrong...they CHOSE WRONG!" He said.
"Who are you to decide what is right and wrong in the choices of man? That is their right to choose, not yours." You said.
And then it was over...the Speech, Debate? Rant? was over.
You had given them the choice and a second opinion from the outside...and let them decide for themselves the path they walked in life.
It would be hard...but... then again life rarely was easy.
AN: GOD!! This was a hellish thing to write...
But I hope my message was clear.
And this was a Member of the The Society of Friends of All Faiths that did this.
And Jonathan Hodor, born 1830, lived to see a good bit of his family killed in the 1831 Uprising and the Pogram. FOUGHT in the 1863 Uprising and the Civil War.
A Man who knows more about tyranny and sacrifice, and the perfect man to point out certain hypocrisies using his own wisdom.
I hope you enjoy this
@Physici It took me all morning.
