EDITORIAL: For what do we give our thanks? - Opinion

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Nov. 22, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

EDITORIAL: For what do we give our thanks?

When the Pilgrims rejected communism, prosperity followed

As our modern gladiators chase a pigskin down the field in Dallas, Detroit and Atlanta, we settle into our living rooms, loosen our belts and remind the little ones this is the day we echo the thanks of the Pilgrims, who gathered in the autumn of 1621 to celebrate the first bountiful harvest in a new land.

The Pilgrims' first winter in the New World had been a harsh one. The wheat the Pilgrims had brought with them to plant would not grow in the rocky New England soil. Nearly half the colonists died.

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But the survivors were hard-working and tenacious, and -- with the help of an English-speaking Wampanoag named Tisquantum (starting a long tradition of refusing to learn three-syllable words, the Pilgrims dubbed him "Squanto") -- they learned how to cultivate corn by using fish for fertilizer, how to dig and cook clams, how to tap the maples for sap. And so they were able to thank the Creator for an abundant harvest that second autumn in a new land.

The only problem with the tale, unfortunately, is that it's not true.

Yes, the Indians did graciously show the new settlers how to raise beans and corn. But in a November 1985 article in The Free Market, a monthly publication of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, author and historian Richard J. Marbury pointed out: "This official story is ... a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attention away from Thanksgiving's real meaning."

In his "History of Plymouth Plantation," the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years because they refused to work in the fields, preferring to steal. Gov. Bradford recalled for posterity that the colony was riddled with "corruption and discontent." The crops were small because "much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable."

Although in the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622 "all had their hungry bellies filled," that relief was short-lived, and deaths from illness because of malnutrition continued.

Then, Mr. Marbury points out, "something changed." By harvest time, 1623, Gov. Bradford was reporting that, "Instead of famine, now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God." Why, by 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists actually began exporting corn.

What on earth had transpired?

In 1623 Gov. Bradford simply "gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit."

Previously, the Mayflower Compact had required that "all profits and benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means" were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, "all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock."

A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take out only what he needed -- a concept so attractive on its surface that it would be adopted as the equally disastrous ruling philosophy for all of Eastern Europe some 300 years later.

"A form of communism was practiced at Plymouth in 1621 and 1622," agrees Tom Bethell of the Hoover Institution in his book "The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity through the Ages."

"Under the arrangement of communal property one might reasonably suspect that any additional effort might merely substitute for the lack of industry of others," Mr. Bethell notes. But once private ownership was substituted, "Knowing that the fruits of his labor would benefit his own family and dependents, the head of each household was given an incentive to work harder."

They say those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Yes, America is a bounteous land, but the source of that bounty lies not primarily in the fertility of our soil or the frequency of the rains. There is hardly a more fertile breadbasket on the face of the earth than the Ukraine, where for decades crops rotted in the fields under a Soviet administration that allowed no farmer a private profit incentive to hire enough help to get the turnips picked.

No, the source of our bounty is the discovery made by the Pilgrims in 1623, that when individuals are allowed to hold their own land as private property, to eat what they raise and keep the profits from any surplus they sell, hard work is rewarded and thus encouraged, and the entire community enjoys prosperity and plenty.

And so it is that on this Thanksgiving Day we ask God's continued blessing on America -- a land blessed most of all by our inherited concept of private property rights, the system that allows each to keep the profit of his sweat and toil -- and for this reason the land of peace and plenty, the envy of mankind, the land of the free.

A version of this editorial first appeared on this page in 1999.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Mike wrote on November 22, 2007 11:18 AM: Politicize the holiday - ABSOLUTELY - if it is correct information. WHY NOT?? We need to KNOW what the basis of the holiday being celebrated! We need to know the lessons that our forefathers learned, so that hopefully, we can avoid the mistakes that they made. This LVRJ article is DEAD ON. I read Bradford's writings over 20 years ago, and knew then that when "socialism" is forced on people (even if a majority vote it in) - society is going to suffer as people are incentivized to not work hard, but to count on "sharing" the wealth that others create (sharing is a polite term for stealing) ...and others realize that the fruits of their own labor are forcefully taken and "given" to the less fortunate - then they decide to not work as hard. Socialism and communism rots people's souls - if a small group wants to set up a voluntary commune - let them. But I shouldn't be taxed to pay for others because they are inherently lazy. William Bradford summed it up - when he remarked that, in retrospect, it was arrogance to presume that they would be something that never could be - sinless, each giving freely, and no one taking senselessly, and no one would seek to give less than a full measure of work (in other words - only in heaven, with perfected humans could their society succeed with the original rules of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." But there are still socialist now who need to learn that lesson - but are too stupid to understand that lesson. douglas wrote on November 22, 2007 11:12 AM: guess i've "toured" quite a few countries then under the communist yoke. most all have been at least economically overthrown since then, even china is mostly capitalistic. who's left ? north korea and cuba, and lately venezuela. good old gus hall, the perennial american communist party, presidential candidate said: "socialism in america will come through the ballot box". with the election of "progressive" candidates at any level of gubmit, gus was right. there were some few benefits to citizens in those communist countries... there was no class envy because everybody had the same brand of bicycle; as under grandpa mao, everyone dressed the same; every child memorized the same "revolutionary" slogans; everyone was employed by the state... at the same wages. the street sweeper was equal in wages and housing to the doctor. coolest was that after the fall of the communist regime in east berlin, records showed that 45% of the citizens were either employees or paid informants of the secret police. and, none of those religions to sap the economy. controlled borders so that any talented citizens [raised and educated by the state] couldn't take their skills to benefit another country [or themselves]. immigrants of course had to be screened to eliminate those with any "counter-revolutionary thought". citizens that exhibited any anti-gubmit leanings were placed in re-education camps. as in today's tibet, political dissident prisoners may languish under torture until death. where are the "progressives" on that issue ? their priority, as the first order of business in the house of representatives was to replay the lost florida elections. howard wrote on November 22, 2007 10:55 AM: Capitalism works everytime it is tried. If liberals would have landed on Plymouth Rock they would still be there waiting for a hand out. Mark Wilson wrote on November 22, 2007 09:09 AM: Grumpy is right on in his historical analysis of the catastrophic consequences of communism. Given this fact, I take pity on the rest of the writers who take offense to the LVRJ's compression of the colonist to the Bolshevik revolution. As Mark wrote, "If Hillary or Obama is elected next year, socialism will follow." If our political system -- local, state and federal -- continue to shift to the left, what will there be to be truly thankful for? I think that is a fair question. By the way, Senator Joe McCarthy was not wrong in his quest to unmask communist influence in the U.S. and purge it. Declassified documents in 1996 prove this. The likes of Hillary, Hussein Obama, Hollywood, the media and upper academia also serve to make McCarthy's warnings of communist influence in the U.S. prophetic. Mark Wilson Ron wrote on November 22, 2007 08:59 AM: Mark, are you still alive? I would of thought all your pessimistic views of the world would have caused so such depression you would lost all hope and disappeared by now. You must be the saddest, most hopeless person in the world. We should all feel sorry for you. But.........WE DON'T!!!! tim wrote on November 22, 2007 08:49 AM: poor Tim, just hates it when socialism is exsposed for what it is, a failure. me thinks he is living in the wrong country, maybe a year in the great socialist country russia would be a refreshing wake up call. Mark wrote on November 22, 2007 07:26 AM: If Hillary or Obama is elected next year, socialism will follow. What are you prepared to do to fight it? How far will you go? grumpy wrote on November 22, 2007 05:49 AM: Tim, what you refer to as "yellow journalism" is easily verified as fact given the availability of historical evidence. Like it ir not communism is a proven failure--our embryonic nation (not even a nation back then)found that out 3 centuries before the Bolsheviks. Why did the west always have to feed Mother Russia during the cold war? It wasn't for lack of resourses as the then Soviet Union occupied one sixth of the earth's land. It was because of the failed promise of communism. Sometimes it is good to be reminded as such. Having said all that, I do agree that this Holiday should not be politicized. Tim, I wish you and your a happy and blessed Thansgiving. JRR wrote on November 22, 2007 04:07 AM: Tim thank you; my family fled from Eastern Europe (Yugoslavia) and we forgave what happened there, because it is history, (as matter of fact one of my relatives was tortured because of his pro-democratic leanings by the communists). nevertheless politizing a holday such as Thanksgiving is actually more unamerican in my opinon than communal property. --JRR Tim wrote on November 22, 2007 03:26 AM: The LVRJ editorial board continues their holiday tradition of making anticommunism a partisan weapon. The LVRJ’s extreme anti-communist suspicion of the Pilgrims inspired today’s wonderful piece of yellow journalism. Like Senator Jos. McCarthy finding a Red in every office of the State department, the LVRJ has uncovered communist infiltration of the early settlers of Cape Cod. I thought the purpose of today’s holiday was to celebrate a “day of thanksgiving” and give thanks to the manifold mercies of God at the conclusion of this year’s harvest season. Silly me. Let’s hear it for the LVRJ and their demagogic, reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations against the Plymouth settlers! Next month, the LVRJ will take on that terrible commie “evildoer” Santa Claus and his notorius “red” outfit.