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Sounds like Anarchists were the Terrorists of the early 20th century; unless contained they would bring about the end of Western Civilization as we know it. I w
by mustpax 17y ago
Sounds like Anarchists were the Terrorists of the early 20th century; unless contained they would bring about the end of Western Civilization as we know it. I wonder what new amorphous threat we will worry about a hundred years from now.
From Part 1a, Formal Charges:
We are informed and believe and charge that Professor Albert Einstein is inadmissible to the United States on the following grounds
a) Albert Einstein believes in, advises, advocates or teaches a doctrine which, in a legal sense, as held by the courts in other cases, “would allow anarchy to stalk in unmolested” and result in “government only in name.”
b) Albert Einstein advises, advocates or teaches, and is a member of _and_ affiliated with groups that are in “militant” and admittedly ”illegal” opposition to the most fundamental principle of organized government.
Edit: It has been pointed out that these formal charges are made by The Women Patriot Corporation, not the FBI.
- proemeth 17y agoI think what's disguised behind "anarchy" is communism, civil rights movement, maybe unions movements and zionism too.
- mustpax 17y agoYes, most likely. What’s striking for me is that the anarchist charge is the go-to indictment for the FBI in this case. Reading the indictment, you get the sense they think it is the most damning.
- rms 17y agoThose causes are certainly sympathetic to anarchism, but I'm pretty sure that the early 20th century anarchists really were anarchists. They were pretty open about their goals; just like the people we currently call terrorists. Libertarian socialism is now the most polite label for the anarchist political philosophy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_socialism I prefer to call it left libertarianism.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- radley 17y agoThat particular letter is from a group self-identified as "The Women Patriot Corporation". They're upset that Countess Michael Karolyi didn't get a visa, so they go on a 16-page jihad: if the countess doesn't get one, then Einstein shouldn't get one either and it should be revoked.
- mustpax 17y agoThanks for the correction, duly noted.
- radley 17y agoIt looks like a typical garbage collection file: a collection of letters to the government from people suggesting or accusing Einstein of communism, anarchy, or any anti-government suggestions. Looking through, it appears whack-jobs are not a TV-made phenomena (as we've been led to believe) and that whack-jobs have been prevalent in society for much longer than any of us suspected. This give me great pause and concern...
- rationalbeaver 17y agoCareful there. Undue concern about other whack-jobs is exactly what made them whack-jobs in the first place. ;) I guess we can take hope from the fact that despite the best efforts of the whack-jobs, the FBI let him stay.
- anigbrowl 17y agoI was concerned too, but then I reflected that if it's always been this way and we got this far, it must be survivable.
- khafra 17y agoIt was survivable before we invented nukes. We've gotten by on luck for half a century, and now we're working on nanotechnology and genetic engineering.
- paulgerhardt 17y agoSee also the curious case of James Tilly Mathews who in c.1810 believed "that a gang of criminals and spies skilled in "pneumatic chemistry" had taken up residence at London Wall in Moorfields (close to Bethlem) and were tormenting him by means of rays emitted by a machine called the "Air Loom". The torments induced by the rays included "Lobster-cracking", during which the circulation of the blood was prevented by a magnetic field..." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tilly_Matthews#The_.22Air_Loom.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tilly_Matthews#The_.22Air... Well before the days of satellites, aluminum foil, and Major League Baseball.
- wingo 17y agoI was recently given a collection of Einstein's writings (http://www.alphadecay.org/libro/la-mentalidad-militar http://www.alphadecay.org/libro/la-mentalidad-militar) and was quite perturbed to find that he thought that a "supranational" world government was the answer to the threat of atomic war. Funny to find, then, that he was on the hook for anarchism...