William Howitt: "Colonisation and Christianity: A
Popular History of the Treatment of the Natives by the Europeans in all their
Colonies." London, 1838,
"If money, according to Augier, "comes into the
world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek," capital comes dripping
from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt".
Karl Marx
It should be as given that this graphic novel about the
early Quaker abolitionist Benjamin Lay will resonate with today's struggles against
oppression and modern-day wage slavery.
The story of Benjamin Lay's life is long and complex. Still,
it is to illustrator Daniel Lester and historians Markus Rediker and Paul Buhle
credit that this graphic novel does justice to Lay's life and brings his
remarkable story to a wider and younger audience.
Benjamin Lay was born to a Quaker family in Copford, Essex,
in the late part of the 17th Century. He was born a dwarf and ran away to sea
from an early age. It would not be an overstatement to say that Lay led a
diverse life. He worked as a shepherd, glove maker, sailor, and bookseller. His
worldview was a complex mixture of
Quakerism, vegetarianism, animal rights, opposition to the death
penalty, and abolitionism. Lay, while being anti-slavery, was not
anti-capitalist. He did shun the trappings of wealth that his business acumen
brought him. While in America, he lived in a cave with a library of two hundred
books. His 12 years at sea were a seminal period for him as he experienced the
horrors of the transatlantic slave trade in the West Indies.
Lay saw slavery as an abomination and would dedicate his life
to its abolition. His campaign was unorthodox, and his radical movement included
what can only be called "guerrilla theatre" against the Quaker capitalist
ruling elite who owned slaves. In a Burlington Friends Meeting House in New
Jersey, he enacted one of his guerilla actions at a prayer meeting denouncing
the slave owners in the room. One of his more famous actions was soaking slave
owner Quakers in fake blood. Lay said, "All slave-keepers that keep the
innocent in bondage, pretending to lay claim to the pure and holy Christian
religion, commit a notorious sin. Thus shall God shed the blood of those
persons who enslave their fellow creatures." Such was the class hatred of
the ruling Quaker elite. Lay was only "reinstated to the fold" in
2017. The Abington Quakers of Pennsylvania recognised him as "a Friend of
the Truth". London Quakers followed suit by declaring "unity"
with Lay's spirit.
As Sabrina Jones points out, "Arriving in Philadelphia,
the Lays were dismayed to find the "City of Brotherly Love" was also
rife with the buying and selling of "fellow creatures" by members of
their faith community. For his dogged denunciation of Quaker slaveholders, Lay
was thrown out of four Quaker meetings, including Abington Friends, near
Philadelphia, where he eventually settled in a cave with Sarah and his library
of hundreds of books. Though largely self-taught, Lay wrote a fierce polemic of
a book. All Slave-Keepers that Keep the Innocent in Bondage, Apostates was
printed by Benjamin Franklin, who discretely left his name off it to avoid
offending his Quaker clients. It was published without the approval of the
Quaker leaders, who bought ads in the newspaper to disavow the book and its
author."[1]
As Markus Rediker states in his book Lay despite heavily
influencing 19th-century U.S. abolitionists, was lost to history. You might say
Rediker rescued Lay from the condescension of history. For most of his life,
Lay led almost a single-handed campaign against the Quaker elite, who made
handsome profits from slavery. His initial campaign took place in America. In
Prophet Against Slavery, Rediker explains the importance of Lay. "David
Lester, Paul Buhle and I created this graphic novel to recover his inspiring
life for our tumultuous times," He was a revolutionary, attacking rich men
who "poison the earth for gain". He believed that human beings and
animals were "fellow creatures" within the natural world.
Honestly, I have never been a great fan of graphic novels,
but artist David Lester's book, while not an easy read, turns out to be a
stunning visual experience. He keeps his storyline simple and lets his drawings
give the reader a deeper insight. This graphic novel is adapted from the superb
biography The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First
Revolutionary Abolitionist by Marcus Rediker. Rediker did an essay for this
book.
As Rediker highlights in his book Lay's significance was
that he was one of the first radicals to call an end to all slavery in whatever
form it took. He refused to consume anything produced by slave labour. Lay was
opposed by a significant section of Quakers, who had grown fat on slavery. As
Rediker points out, these Quakers played a massive part in the bloody rise of
American capitalism. The New England Puritans and Quakers became some of
America's most significant industrial leaders.
As Karl Marx wrote, "The discovery of gold and silver
in America, the extirpation, enslavement, and entombment in mines of the
aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East
Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black
skins, signalised the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. These
idyllic proceedings are the chief momenta of primitive accumulation.[2]
Although only touched upon in Lester's book is Lay's acknowledgement
of the importance of the English Revolution to his struggle against slavery. Lay
had a deep connection to the radicals of
the English Revolution. Rediker said, "I've identified five major
influences, and the first and the most important of these was a specifically
radical variant of Quakerism. Now Quakerism goes back, actually, to the English
Revolution. It began as one of many radical Protestant groups.
The others were the Levellers, the Diggers, the Seekers, and
the Ranters. The Quakers are all part of this. Those groups arose during the
English Revolution when royal censorship broke down as the king, King Charles
I, and Royalists did battle with Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentary side.
These radical groups burst into print in that situation, offering from below
their solutions to the day's problems. Quakers were part of this, and there was
a man named James Naylor, who was an especially radical Quaker. I basically
argued in my book that Benjamin Lay channelled this early generation of
Quakers. They were very activist. They performed at street theatre. They were
very confrontational. He managed a couple of generations later to reach back to
them in order to revive that spirit of Quakerism."
It would appear that Benjamin Lay is many things to many
people. Lester writes, "I think of this book as being an activist book. It's
meant to propel activism, and Benjamin Lay's story is pointing activists to the
importance of having a long-term view of social revolution. For Lay to do what
he did for 27 years dedicatedly is inspiring. He had the integrity, fortitude
and stamina needed to work in a situation where you might not live to see the
results of your activism. In some cases, revolutions occur overnight. But we
know that revolutions can backslide and can be full of problematic areas. So,
you must be in for the long haul and know it's a long, messy road to social
progress."
I can understand why Lay is attractive to elements within
the Psuedo Left. Despite his seemingly revolutionary activism, Lay was no anti-capitalist,
let alone an early Marxist. However, Lay's life and struggle contain lessons
for today's workers in struggle and is an important introduction to students in
schools and colleges and the wider public.
Notes
The return of Benjamin Lay-by Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker-Tuesday, 13 June – Saturday, 8 July 2023-Finborough Theatre-https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/the-return-of-benjamin-lay/
[1]
https://www.dsausa.org/democratic-left/from-slaveowners-to-abolitionists/
[2] Karl Marx. Capital Volume One-Chapter Thirty-One: Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist-https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch31.htm
