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June
2, 2003
"A Crusade Without Crusaders"
Anti-Imperialism,
Then and Now
By ANTHONY GANCARSKI
Fred H. Harrington is a forgotten name to many,
though there was a time when he was a big name in American letters.
His academic specialty was American diplomatic history, which
he taught at University of Wisconsin before becoming that school's
president in 1962. His writings, including his 1935 MISSISSIPPI
VALLEY HISTORICAL REVIEW essay "The Anti-Imperialists: Too
Few, Too Feeble", shaped men such as William A. Williams
and others who comprised the "Wisconsin School" of
diplomatic history.
Why does a 1935 discussion of those who
opposed US Imperialism between 1898 and 2000 matter today? Because,
as I type this, plans are being made for US military action throughout
the world. Perhaps because those plans are lower-profile than
the run-up to the recent liberation, the masses aren't thronged
in the streets, protesting the Pentagon's systemic destruction
of strategically-positioned, mineral-rich cultures.
The danger in protesting the Iraqi war
as if it were a singular action cannot be understated. Even if
the invasion of Iraq had been "stopped" -- neglected
is the contention that the 1991 hostilities had never actually
ended -- what really would have changed in the Pentagon? We'd
still have Rumsfeld spinning some delightfully dadaist swill
about "the unknowable", and there would still be "total
information awareness", and Washington would still be leveraging
itself out to support its military-socialism habit. They would
still, like needle junkies, search for veins to tap and rationales
to support their actions.
And we who hate their wars and their
fatuous rationales, in all likelihood, would fare no better than
those who opposed aggression upon Spanish holdings. As Harrington
asserts, "in approaching the anti-imperialist movement,
it is well to bear in mind that it was based almost exclusively
on grounds of abstract political principle. The anti-imperialists
did not oppose colonial expansion for commercial, religious,
or constitutional" reasons, but because they felt "expansion"
ran counter to the principles in which the United States government
finds its rhetorical ballast, or "legitimacy". Government
by, for, and about the people, in other words.
With the advantage of hindsight, it can
be argued that the more internationalist anti-war protesters
in the most recent case would've been better served by recycling
the words and ideas of William Jennings Bryan, who saw aggression
against Spain as an attempt to destroy "that self-evident
truth that governments derive their just powers, not from superior
force, but from the consent of the governed." Or Grover
Cleveland, some guy in the White House between Lincoln and FDR,
who likened colonial aggrandizement to the abandonment of old
landmarks.
History has proven right those who saw
aggression against Spain as a prelude to "perpetual war
for perpetual peace" [to borrow a fashionable phrase.] At
this point, the military is ensconced in public life to a degree
unimaginable to those whose "presidents" aren't former
generals. One of the greater utilities of Harrington's essay
is how it outlines the broad spectrum of opposition to the war,
united in defense of the twained fates of anti-interventionism
and national sovereignty. Andrew Carnegie opposed the wars, as
did leaders of domestic agricultural concerns that would be threatened
by cheap Filipino imports. And, as Harrington puts it, "the
political elements represented in the movement fall into four
distinct groups -- the independents, the Gold democrats, the
Bryan Democrats, and the regular Republicans," including
former President Harrison.
With such a broad coalition of support,
why did the 1890s anti-Imperialist movement fail? Harrington
attributes their lack of success to the extremity of their views
and rhetoric, which ran counter to "the people being stirred
by the thought of distant possessions," a fervor that cooled
with time. Harrington claims also that the "anti-imperialists
were handicapped by the nature of their cause. They were forced
to preach abnegation rather than indulgence, to urge the pride
of renunciation as against the pride of glory and possession."
A brilliant point, and again, it's applicable to the opposition
of the recent cakewalk.
But Harrington saves his most trenchant
criticism of those who opposed foreign wars for his conclusion.
"Most tragic of all", he writes, "was the failure
to unite in support of a political leader. The majority of the
great anti-imperialists showed no disposition to head a great
protest movement. The one available champion of the cause,"
the discredited William Jennings Bryan, "was absolutely
unacceptable to many anti-imperialists. Men found themselves
apologizing rather than fighting for the standard bearer for
their cause." Jesse, Ramsey, call your offices.
One can't help but hear the echoes of
mainstream opponents of the war scuttling to distance themselves
from such as the International ANSWER apparatus. Harrington could've
predicted such an end to an anti-war movement, "a great
crusade without crusaders." Those who opposed taking Spain
on, the historian writes, "wavered every time they met the
enemy" war machine and "suffered a rout from which
they" -- and the nation itself -- "from which they
would never recover."
Anthony Gancarski is a regular CounterPunch columnist. He can
be reached at: Gancarski@Hotmail.com
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