by StarmanSkye » Sun May 14, 2006 4:17 pm
DE: Sorry for my strident tone -- Offense was not my intent. Since you're a pretty sharp person, I was surprised to see you paying fealty to the fake Democrat=Left claptrap -- almost as misleading as the GOP smearing and vilifying Democrats for being 'liberal'. It's simply wrongheaded sloppy thinking that gets mainstreamed thru unquestioned, unchallenged media repitition. It's bad enough that such labeling creates false divisions, it's much worse that it discourages real discussion and critical debate.<br><br>I'll try to pay more attention to how I frame my comments. <br><br>I agree re: the fascist takeover can be traced to the 1913 Federal reserve Act. But even before that, the corporate roots of American fascism can be traced to the 1898 Spanish-American war, and is heavily linked with the DuPont empire, which built a global empire on the back of being a primary gunpowder supplier, later diversifying to chemicals, manufacturing, textiles, weapon systems, rubber, plastics -- and was the first to process plutonium.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/dupont.html">coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/...upont.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>--excerpt--<br>In the 1930s, the du Pont and Morgan family empires dominated the American corporate elite and their representatives were central figures in organizing and funding the American Liberty League. The du Pont family was so complicit in this fascist organization that James Farley, FDR's postmaster general and one of his closest advisors, said the American Liberty League "ought to be called the American Cellophane League" because "first it's a Du Pont product and second, you can see right through it'" (Donald R. McCoy, Coming of Age). Gerard Colby, in his book DuPont Dynasty, outlines the family's pivotal role in creating and funding the League. (Click here for an excerpt.) The Dickstein-McCormack Committee learned that weapons and equipment for the fascist plotters’ Croix de feu-like superarmy “could be obtained from the Remington Arms Co., on credit through the Du Ponts.” Du Pont had acquired control of the arms company in 1932.<br><br> The du Pont Co., formed in 1802 by Elèuthere Irénée du Pont de Nemours, dominated U.S. gunpowder sales for more than a century. Elèuthere I. du Pont’s father, Pierre Samuel, a French economist, politician and publisher had helped negotiate the Paris Treaty to end America’s revolution. His rightwing views made French radicals very suspicious and they sentenced him to the guillotine. Somehow, he and his son, Elèuthere, were released and escaped to America, where they arrived January 1, 1800, with a vast fortune.<br><br>To challenge England’s domination of the global gunpowder trade, Napoleon helped E.I. du Pont establish an American gunpowder business in 1802. Pierre returned to France and negotiated the French sale of about a million square miles of land to America (Louisiana Purchase, 1803). Meanwhile, his son made his first gunpowder sales to a close family friend, President Thomas Jefferson.<br><br>Du Pont produced only gunpowder. They were the main supplier of this product during many wars, including:<br><br>* War of 1812 (supplying the U.S. against Britain/Canada)<br><br>* South American wars (supplying both Spain and Bolivar’s republics)<br><br>* Mexican-American War, 1846 (supplying the U.S.)<br><br>* Indian Wars, 1827-1896 (supplying Manifest Destiny’s genocidal westward expansion)<br><br>* Crimean War, 1854 (supplying both England and Russia)<br><br>* U.S. Civil war, 1861-1865 (supplying the Northern states)<br><br>* Spanish-American War, 1898 (supplying the U.S.)<br><br>* WWI, 1914-1918 (supplied all U.S. orders; 40% of the Allies’ needs)<br><br>In 1897, when they agreed with European competitors to divide up the world, du Pont got exclusive control of gunpowder sales in the Americas. By 1905, du Pont had assets of 60 million and controlled all U.S. government orders. Du Pont bought out 100 of its American competitors and closed most of them down (1903-1907). In 1907, U.S. anti-Trust laws created two competitors for du Pont and in 1912 the government ordered du Pont to divest from some explosives production. Du Pont then diversified into newspaper publishing, chemicals, paints, varnishes, cellophane and rayon. WWI was particularly profitable. Du Pont, the world’s largest producer of dynamite and smokeless gunpowder, made unheard-of net profits of $250 million.<br><br>Between the wars, du Pont was the world’s top manufacturer of explosives, the world’s leading chemical company and the top producer of cars and synthetic rubber, another strategic war material. By the 1930s, it owned Mexican and Chilean explosive companies and a Canadian chemical company. Although still the top U.S. gunpowder supplier, this product represented only 2% of its total production.<br><br>Du Pont’s General Motors Co. funded a vigilante/terrorist organization to stop unionization in its Midwestern factories. Called the “Black Legion,” its members wore black robes decorated with a white skull and crossbones. Concealed behind their slitted hoods, this KKK-like network of white-supremacist thugs threw bombs into union halls, set fire to labor activists’ homes, tortured union organizers and killed at least 50 in Detroit alone. Many of their victims were Blacks lured North by tales of good auto-plant jobs. One of their victims, Rev. Earl Little, was murdered in 1931. His son, later called Malcolm X, was then six. An earlier memory, his first, was a night-time raid in 1929 when the Legion burnt down their house. Gerard Colby had this to say about the Black Legion in his book Dupont Dynasty (1984):<br><br>"But corporate executives did not give up the tactic of vigilante groups, and on June 1, 1936, Cowdrick wrote Harry Anderson, G.M's labor relations director, to ask his opinion of the Sentinels of the Republic. Anderson was apparently unaware of Irénée du Pont's support of this organization, but offered his own home-brew alternative. "With reference to your letter of June 1 regarding the Sentinels of the Republic," he replied a few days later, "I have never heard of the organization. Maybe you could use a little Black Legion down in your country. It might help."<br><br>The "Black Legion" Anderson referred to was indeed a great help to General Motors in its struggle to prevent auto workers from unionizing. With members wearing black robes and slitted hoods adorned with white skull and crossbones, the Black Legion was the terror of Michigan and Ohio auto flelds, riding like Klansmen through the night in car caravans, bombing union halls, burning down homes of labor militants, and flogging and murdering union organizers. The organization was divided into arson squads, bombing squads, execution squads, and anti-communist squads, and membership discipline on pain of torture or death was strictly enforced. Legion cells filled G.M. factories, terrorizing workers and recruiting Ku Klux Klansmen.<br><br>Since 1933 the Black Legion's power had permeated police departments."<br><br>The Legion, claiming 200,000 members in Michigan, was divided into distinct squads, each focused on a different aspect of their work for du Pont: arson, bombing, execution and anti-communism. The Legion’s cells within GM factories intimidated workers, targeted Jews and recruited for the KKK. They worked together to stop Reds and unions that demanded their labour rights.<br><br>--end quote--<br><br>Rgrdz;<br>Starman<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
