* * *
116 Henri Maspero, Ancient China, 1927, as quoted in The Socialist Phenomenon, Igor Shafarevich, pp. 167-171.
117 Also see Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, book three, China pp. 636-823.
118 Kuo Mo-jo (Guo Mo-ruo), The Period of the Slave-Owning Social Structure, in Russian; original in Chinese, Moscow, 1956, cited in Shafarevich, The Socialist Phenomenon, p. 167.
119 All quotes from The Book of Lord Shang, translated by J. J.-L. Duyvendak, 1928, See a PDF version of this book (accessed July 20, 2013) at http://classiques.uqac.ca//classiques/duyvendak_jjl/B25_book_of_lord_shang/duyvlord.pdf, Chapter V, paragraph 20, p. 159.
120 Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee. Ames, Roger T.. Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation. SUNY Press, 2006, p. 25; see also, Jonathan Clements, The First Emperor of China, 2006..
Chapter 14: Assyrians: Ruthless, Blood-drenched Socialists
The Assyrians built their mighty power sometime around 750 B.C. Violence and bloodshed seemed to be the standard enforcement tool of Assyria and other ancient tyrannies of the Mesopotamia region during this period.
STORY: There’s a familiar pattern of reckless disregard for human life among many of the ancient kingdoms. These patterns of mass slaughter repeat themselves throughout history, as recently as with today’s modern socialistic and communistic countries.
It was rare when a tyrant in ancient times could anticipate a nice, quiet retirement after ruling his realm. Leadership often changed hands through assassination, outright murder, uprisings, rebellions, and palace intrigue. If a king’s son wanted power, killing good old Dad was the quickest way to get promoted. If the son was not liked by the people or the army, he was made a corpse before he could ascend his father’s throne. For example, of the first 47 Roman emperors, 24 were assassinated.
Extreme Violence a Way of Life
Assyria is a shocking example of violence and gore. Enough records were left behind to show that the Assyrians had no regard for their foes or citizens who didn’t obey. As historian Will Durant describes it, “The Assyrians seemed to find satisfaction—or a necessary tutelage for their sons—in torturing captives, blinding children before the eyes of their parents, flaying men alive, roasting them in kilns, chaining them in cages for the amusement of the populace, and then sending the survivors off to execution.”121
Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal (about 860 B.C.) describes putting down an uprising and how “all the chiefs who had revolted I flayed, with their skins I covered the pillar, some in the midst I walled up, others on stakes I impaled, still others I arranged around the pillar on stakes .... As for the chieftains and royal officers who had rebelled, I cut off their members.”122
No Wonder Jonah Skipped Out on the Lord
Assyria and Nineveh have an additional place of importance for students of the Bible. Knowing these added details about Assyria suddenly makes it clear why Jonah disobeyed God. Jonah had been ordered by God to visit the Assyrian capital city of Nineveh, “for their great wickedness is come up before me.”123
Rather than endure the extreme atrocities for which Assyria was famous, Jonah fled from his assignment and took a ship in exactly the opposite direction, toward Tarshish. It required a violent storm and a large fish swallowing Jonah and keeping him for three days and nights to convince Jonah that obedience is more important than the burning, flaying, cutting, dismemberment, blinding, tongue-lopping, beheading, roasting tortures of Nineveh.
And so, in fear and trembling, Jonah went to the great city and began calling them to repentance.
Much to Jonah’s surprise, the people of Nineveh hearkened to his message and actually started to repent. Jonah fully expected the Lord to destroy them for their great wickedness, but the Lord later explained that there were innocents in that city who needed saving.124
Elements of Socialism
Long before Jonah was born, the Assyrian kings told their subjects that they ruled with a heavenly mandate, that they were the incarnation of the god Shamash, the sun. The king’s lieutenants were anxious that everyone support this doctrine, and assured the masses that the king owned all things because of his divine connections. So, pay attention and do your job, they told the quivering masses.
The Assyrian government was an instrument of war, ever striving toward progress in the military arts. The king’s troops were organized and trained to be quickly adaptable—to remain as effective against the enemy as against the king’s own citizens.
The people were divided into five classes—the nobility, the craftsmen who were organized into guilds, the free workmen, the peasants, and the hordes of slaves captured in war.
There was no private ownership for the workers. They were bound to the land of the great estates and had all things provided for them in exchange for working the land and raising the animals.
The only science that flourished was that of war. An interesting side note is that the philosophers of the time showed no effort to explain life or the world around them. Instead, they filled their time listing objects—all objects—and attempted to catalogue them. From those lists, the modern world has adopted several words translated through the Greek such as camel, shekel, rose, ammonia, cane, cherry, sesame, and myrrh, among others.
How the Mighty Fall
Assyria relied on the wrong system to retain power and a place in history. Instead of strengthening its populace by living principles of prosperity, Assyria relied on iron-fisted force and the pillars of Ruler’s Law. Over the years, this approach weakened the entire culture and made them vulnerable to attack.
In 626 B.C., the Babylonians and several allies swept through the Assyrian strongholds and set the land to ruin. Palaces fell into mounds of burned-out rubble, Nineveh was smashed and set afire, and its population was slaughtered or hauled away as slaves.
And just that quickly, in an instant of horrible bloodshed, the mighty and seemingly unconquerable Assyrian dynasty of terror and ruthlessness was suddenly and simply ... no more.
Seven Pillars in Ancient Times
The predominant pillars of socialism in operation for the first three thousand years of recorded human history were the all-powerful rulers and the suppression and destruction of personal rights. In whatever form the leader maintained control, the ownership of all things rested in the priest, Pharaoh, Wang, and whatever classes of leadership and nobility that were allowed to wallow in the spoils.
Dispensing material necessities came at the whim of the rulers. All things went to a storehouse or treasure city, and were doled out to the masses according to levels of production. In times of war, the allegiance and loyalty of the soldiers was secured with additional allowances, but these bestowals of bribery were always tied to strict obedience to the hand that fed them.
Future tyrants would exact similar atrocities as the Assyrians had, to force the population to bow to the rulers. Examples include the Inca, the Maya, Soviet Russia, Communist China, and North Korea, who deployed the same strategies for the same ends.
With such terror exacted on enemies and conquered peoples, the Assyrians kept the fear of death among its people, promising torture by dismemberment, and other atrocities, as a reminder to the populous to support all edicts from the throne.
Socialism at Work
People in the ancient world had to be tricked with superstitions into following the regimented life. The idea of god in the form of their leader solved one of socialism’s greatest challenges: how do we conquer the human trait of self-interest so people will blindly obey?
A tool of socialism is compelling the people to believe a lie. With no other information available, lies can be well masked and the people’s ignorance can then be used against them very effectively.
Today, the lies come in many forms, and if this closing summary sounds repetitive, it’s for a reason: there is nothing new about socia
lism.
In ancient times as now, the value of a nation’s currency that was not based on the intrinsic value of precious metals was simply fabricated, made up, declared. Today, No one really knows how much a dollar is worth—or a yen or a shekel or a ruble or a euro. The worth is hidden by official government policy, manipulated as needed.
Another lie is that freedom, free enterprise, and capitalism cannot solve national problems. Painting these best solutions in the darkest light creates a false image and people willingly surrender the free market, those freedoms to try, buy, sell, and fail, and accept as a substitute complete regulation by the government.
The historical record of ancient times shows us that most people are content to be followers so long as their needs are met. But as the government strives to meet more needs, it must extract more taxes and sacrifices from the people, and with that comes more force plus all of the associated controls, lies, enticements, and masters. Top-down government must function in this fashion.
When the people have lost control of who rules them, a class of elites rises up, and true to human nature, they’ll resort to anything necessary to stay in power, no matter what rights they violate in others. “Might makes right” is the mantra of the despot.
Learning to Recognize Socialism
Sociologists assume that prehistoric peoples practiced socialism with all things in common as a necessity for survival. They see socialism as “natural.” What are some of the inherent problems that would have existed if these assertions are valid?
How long did the Sumerian civilization last? How old is the United States? Which culture put a man on the moon, tied the world together electronically, cured diseases, and tripled the ancient life-expectancy that had averaged 24 years? What made the difference?
How did Sumerian elites get food and services? Who did all the work in Sumer? Who owned the property?
What did John Stuart Mill say about the natural inclinations of mankind? What did he offer as the best motivating influence to nudge people toward positive attitudes and prosperity?
What are three ways that Egypt was different from Sumer?
How did the Egyptian rulers guarantee more work from a family besides the labors of the adult male? Was there a minimum wage?
When Nimrod eliminated the relevancy of God, whom did he put in God’s stead as the all powerful?
Why did Shang Yang want a weak people? What were his “ten evils”? What was his “One Thing”? How did he turn husband against wife, child against parent, friend against neighbor?
What role did religion play in holding power over the Assyrian people? Why was the Biblical Jonah afraid to enter the Assyrian capital of Nineveh and call them to repentance?
Which of the ancient civilizations had an all-powerful ruler? Which of them allowed private property ownership? Which of them pretended to be demigods who should be worshiped?
Are there any aspects of government rule or cultural norms that make you feel weak or vulnerable in society? What would you change to feel independent, self-sufficient, and strong again?
Do you think a few aspects of socialism are necessary to help freedom succeed? Is that question the same as asking, How many cockroaches do you want in your mashed potatoes?
Part III--SOCIALISM IN CLASSICAL HISTORY
“From Rome to ruins, the classical forms marched bravely toward the chasm, determined and assured that all was well.”
* * *
121 Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, Assyria, pp. 265-284; The Encyclopedia Britannica, 13th Edition, 1926, Assyria.
122 Quoted by Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq (3rd ed.), 1992, pp. 290-291.
123 Jonah 1:2.
124 For full story see See Bible, the Book of Jonah.
Chapter 15: Draco and His Draconian Ideas
Draco’s motto should have been: “In death we trust.” It was 621 B.C. when Draco rose to power, feverishly bent on forcing people to do good and be good.
STORY: Before 621 B.C., the Greeks didn’t do a very good job of writing things down, especially their laws. Many of their provincial customs and “whatever worked” rules were passed along orally from ruler to ruler and arbitrarily enforced—but not written. That created some problems.
And Then Came Draco
Historians don’t know a lot about Draco, and they guess that he came from the nobility class. He apparently rose to take power as Athens’ chief magistrate sometime around 621 B.C. According to Aristotle,125 Draco wrote down an elaborate code of laws—a constitution of sorts—that reached into every aspect of Athenian life. Ridding Athens of deeply rooted problems was Draco’s good and worthy goal. It’s how he went about doing it that won him a place in infamy.
Off With Their Heads
Draco’s strict and unforgiving laws put the death penalty on almost everything. Plutarch wrote that Draco’s death penalty “was appointed for almost all offenses, insomuch that those that were convicted of idleness were to die, and those that stole a cabbage or an apple to suffer even as villains that committed sacrilege or murder.”126
Plutarch also recorded a comment by Draco showing his callous attitude toward death. When asked why Draco had made so many offenses punishable with execution, he replied, “Small ones deserve that [death], and I have no higher [punishment] for the greater crimes.”127
Besides his fixation on the death penalty, Draco was a typical ruler. He bribed the privileged class so they would keep him in power, and granted them private property ownership and the right to vote. The masses of working peasants were generally denied these rights.
Instant Results
As was expected, the punishment of instant death for the least little infraction virtually paralyzed the Athenians in every regard. Crime was reduced, but at the horrible cost of perpetual fear among the people, and the loss of their personal freedoms. Nevertheless, Draco’s drastic impositions did rid the city of age-old problems. His ruthless actions led to a new word in the English vocabulary—”draconian,” meaning cruel and harsh.
Killing With Love
Draco’s overnight elimination of crime was so popular that the people believed he had actually performed a miracle. In gratitude and respect, he was surrounded with cheering, adoring crowds everywhere he went. Certainly much of the acclaim was to curry his favor lest they befoul themselves in something and be condemned to die (see any of the public displays of support and sorrow laughably staged for the national press in North Korea as a modern example of the same robotic and fear-driven behavior).
And then one day, Draco entered an Athenian theater and the enamored spectators rose to their feet in a raucous cheer of accolades for their great leader. He was at the height of his popularity and strode to a center place so that all might cherish him. As tokens of the people’s high esteem for him, or at least to further the theme of currying his favor, several hundred admirers rushed to honor him by casting to him their cloaks, robes, hats, and flowers. The outpouring was so sudden and massive that he was completely covered by their gifts and was literally smothered to death.
They buried him right where he died.
A man named Solon (638-539 B.C.),128 the so-called father of democracy in Greece, came along later and abolished nearly all of Draco’s laws except death for murder.
* * *
125 Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution.
126 Plutarch, The Life of Solon.
127 John Dryden, Plutarch’s Livers in Eight Volumes, Vol. 1, p. 342, J. Tonson, 1727.
128 Ibid.
Chapter 16: Sparta: Warrior Socialists
Making war central to Sparta’s existence from 750 to about 371 B.C. is a good example of information control to retain power. Mussolini tried it in Italy some 2,500 years later under the name “fascism.”
STORY: Hanging off the souther
n end of Greece is a hand-shaped peninsula that was invaded around 1000 B.C. The invaders were a primitive and rude people called the Dorians. They settled in Sparta and quickly spread to enslave the local Greeks in Laconia. Although outnumbered by perhaps 20 to 1, the invaders inflicted such horrors that the Laconians acquiesced. And so began Sparta, the most powerful city-state in ancient Greece.
Over the centuries, Sparta became fanatical about producing the finest warriors in the world. Its entire social and economic structure was built around that goal. No greater honor existed than to die in glorious battle for the state.
Lycurgus and His Plan
Sparta’s military-oriented culture was first established by a man named Lycurgus. He appeared on the scene around 800 B.C. Ancient historians such as Herodotus, Plato and Polybius reported that Lycurgus had gone to the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi for ideas about how to reform Sparta’s laws. He returned with some interesting innovations, for example, a class of rulers in the form of a council of 30 elders, each serving for life. These men controlled society. They could decide what laws were voted on and could veto any lower decision-making body. They also served as a supreme court.
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