The Digger and Christian Anarchist #13

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Irve been thinking about Christian joy a 1ot foi this article and I a-'t vuays wind up with cliches. ![e all know them so perhaps the bes,t way to explain the joy of be.ing- a Chris,tian is to define our terms.

Firstly_ the Christian is happyand fuII of ')oy.because s/frrlhEs, aecepted'a- program l-ald.. b'y the creatoi of .the unil ,9o* vers,e- and epiomiaed, by the. life Eqd teachings of: Jesui:..; Mty Fomg-peoplg accept the plan ,.

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eas1ly while other:s rejeet it shows us howeve.r that many pe'op1e_hate denied the plin and , ri-diculed the pi?n throiighout_ their lives:onIy to accept it at the. end* I for one f-eel that an intelligent, questioning, caring atheist may be close_r to acceptance than a dogmatic, ,

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hateful, person who clai-ms-to be a Christian.

Beyond the acc.epta.nqp of : plan the which .Jesus, ,enrbodied, two of the main polnts of the' p1an. are tfOrgiv'eness oi sins t, and the, gift of , eternal l-if e t .

V,hy .should for:giveness of sin make us joyful? lr/hat is sin? .Today-we think of sln'in the narrowest of terms, but sin is much more than merely doing that which we innately felt is wrong.

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Sin is pain, sin is erroli, sin is res,trlction, sin 1s loneliaess, sin is everything that is not o f, God in our lives. Sin is the NOHIVIAL state of our be.1ng. Eve.n though we strive to do good, the best of us continues to live irl e.rror.. Sin is error. and errrr

is lack of truth and Jesus said ItYou shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.?t Jesus insists that Gods plan is the prograrn of. libe.rati-on. THe Ci:riltiSn is joyful becaus e s/ne is accepling "the plah and knous that the fog has lifted, th re.-. strictions, no longer apply. The Christian accepts all challenges,

What is EternaL life?

IFIHADAI{A}O{ER that matter what 1s l-ife? IsFor Then and Now it seventy years of strivinE? fs it a short space of littie ,[bour']-80- A.D. whi]-e Ularcus joys and woas cior^rned with, f,al]"Aur$l-iusi.was: sti1l qmperor, pâ‚Ź.ring limbs, pain, senility, andppc0tionl bf the broke 'Christians the. grave? N9, that is iife but ever. rnany stionger than At without the p1in. When the. place,s, parti,cularly in GauI, ?od{ go?s, [ou gor But as sin ,the Christians had become so numerous alld so zealous thal they ation, 1ife. must be ete,rnal and publiclyi;irisulted the Roman gods, the death of the body nrerely Iaughed pri-ests the-pagan at sloughing off of-a husk. lhu ,,and made 'ihemsol-ves generally Uoes a caterpillar die when it jectionable.. For eiample r &o :I :op spins a cocoon (so like a shroud) )l ,,influential young man narned SymDoes a snake die when it sheds lived in the city who ,i irphorian, it skin-? No, the snake fivesi* pf:::Au!un. a solemn disturbed on with a new skin ana th6 cat_' procession in honour of the goderpillar becomes a butlerfly.

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So having ac.c.epted

the plan

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l-ook forward not to death but merely^cf,aqg?.. Death is .surely .a painful and sad thing to have to endure, but it-is not

just a pLr.ase, even ? ll?S.$v, Learnrng as is I111'e and .experience, .blrth. It r s - a1l the same thilg,and iils ifi-jruia part of, an . eternal fife acc_ . ording to the p.lan,- a life of joy and ful,lnes,s. Death is the one most overpowering, eviI, mind numb_ingIy terrifyinE' fact

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that people have.to face. Con_ sci-ousI-y or- unconsciously 1t moulds our lives on eartit.

Some pe.ople will not accept that, some people doltt have to. Thalis .]oYr

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Sg", this kinE dom of .God is, within us. The grace.: of the Holy Spirit shines forth and warms us, and; ove,rflow-' ing with roany varied,scents, into nolv found

lhu alr ar.ound us, regales with neavenly_,de-J_ight., our s.enses,, as it fifls

our hearts wlth joy inexpressflble. >i<)k>i<>i<)l<>k>i>1.>i<>k>k>l<;fl<>k>i<>i<>i<>k>k>l<>i<>1.

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dess Cybelle, shouting his e ontempt,foz" a1.L. ridolatry and su.p-.: erstitiorr, I Summoned before, a.

judge, and asked why he'r'efus.dd the respect due the mother of the gods, Symphorian replied: ttl adore lhe lrue God, but as. for this idol of your demons;-if rI have an opporlunity I wil:"I -'break it with a 'hammer before your eyesltt The ';udge had hlm flogged and throwh in prisor:-, 'and questioned again bfter i few days., wiren he was offered fulJ. pardon if he would cons.enL to the formal saci"ifices required by the law of the land. Symphorian refused, with the mosl insulting language, so that the judge had :

Lo read .the'death. sentence"

In the early hours of Sept.

1980, eight''Ghiistian activists enteieO tne' Gendral Electrtc of Prussia, Pennsylvania. fn a matter of minutes they hammered the casings of two ivlark 12 A warheads and poured a bottle of blood on the weapons and on nearby classified blueprints. They then sat d own and began praying and s inging tilt security 'offici-als'and police came to &rre,st ,

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CATHOTIC WORKERS

VISIT

0n Friday October the tenth

Chuck Angus., Brit Julie Egan of the

Griffin and toronto Catholic \dorker visited with us and presented,, their work and philosophy at the Peterborough Public Llbrary. Il ..was , real treat to meet, hear, and tafk with them" They told us al_l about their house of hospitali'ty in Torontc. At pres-ent four-teen people are living in that house - under lhcse circumstances ,vou realiy need to have a community feeling. Icluded in that number ar.e three srnall babies.

T]." communily is a succe.ss despite the fact that (naturally) all forms of grantr or.loans are not sought. the house and iis extended family run on personal charit1,, and varied amounts kicked in by the fclks v;ho live the re

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Apparently the storefrcnt on Queen street will be closed as it is felt'that it reaItry is not desparately needed and the funcis will be more useful at the house.

The turrrout was less than it should have been, a,s we had some problems wlth the media advertising the evening. Still we had some- twenty odd (very odd) follcs show up aiici for a group that size a good donatlon was raised as mJr cap was passed around. A special treat for me was meeting the I,4cCaffreys who drove down especially from- their farm at !ililno'about 150 miles away and though they :

had to return right aftEr the-

presentation, it vras a real pleasure to meet and talk for a while. and everybody involved ^ lilyself from Projects For Ctranle thank all those who came out and-were so

generous, and we thank Chuck, Brit, and Julie for fighting the traffic on a b.usy long weekend to get here. Th; whofe

thing makes me think'that the radical- Christian community here in Peterborough ought to be in closer contact and see if we can?t get rnore of a community spirit going here " lrlhat about it? Comments?

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Le GUINS

ANARCHIJ?

l'{y novel The Dispossessed is about a small worldful of people

who call thernselves Odonians.

The name is t aken f ron'r the f ound.-

er of their society. Odo, who lived several generations before the time of the novel, and who therefore doesntt get into the acti-on - except implicity, in that the 'action staited rviih hoIM.

' 0donianism i-s anarchisrn., No! the bomb in the pocket stuff, which is lerrorism, whatever name it tries to dignify itself vii'"h; not the" social-Darwinist econornic tlibertarianisml of the far right; but anarchism as prefigured ln early Taoist thought, a-ncl expounded by Shelley anci Kropotkin" Goldman and Goodman. Anarchismb principal target is the authoritarian state (capitalist or socialist); its principal moral-. practical theme is cooperation (solidarity, mutual a id). It is the most idealistic, and to me the most interesti-ng, of all .oo1itical theories.

BAD NEWS

BEAE.ER

The Christian, and particurarly'the Christian anarchist is often 'accused of being to harsh, to critical, of despairing. of the worl-d. This is because s/ne consistently speaks out on the evils of the world, the faulty systems i,rhich plague people rather than help them .to become better people.

They ar"e in good company. in the sixth century ts.C" the prophet Jeremiah was similarly char"ged.

Th-s was at a t ime when ihe Bab-'l-oni-an empife"was attacking a' iircakened Israeland which culminr:teC in the 'ciefeat of Israel and t,]re deportation by the thousalnds rnto Babylona '

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want to be a clowner bui he yras doing the Lordis inori< and he told._ ii; like it waS . Historlshows, ihat Jeremiah_ v,/as right and the scoffers were wrong

Christian anarch'i st, but v..e are not excused f rom denouncing eviJ_.

I do noti think there is an\r,one who takes quite'.such a fierce_ ple asure i-r 'things being thc,r-

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selves a,s I do. Thi startiine

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wetness of water excites arid 'intoxicates me; tire fireiness

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The priests as it turned oui ' were anong the chief of these ttGlad hnde rs rr o io while t hc. people insisted on wealing ?rrose coloured glassâ&#x201A;Źstt, dour old Jerentiah continued.' He didn t t l-ike t he r ole he \,ras pla,"*ing eLthe r, He clicln tt

of fire, the stee'l iness of stee'l , the nnutterable muddincss, of mud G. I(. Ches berton

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reren:iah pointed ou',, t.he iow i,.,rrs,l level to which Israel had (aga.in) 'sr-ink and ,,varned of *u"y : drsasters to corne, all directly or indirectly because of the ,:eopl-e turning a.,,vay f rorn God. .;=remiah became known as a wet bL-anket, a gloomy Gus. fofi<s la,-rgheC at him and said ltl,ihatts the sad news fiom the Lord tcday Jeremiah? tf Jeremiah aitacked lhose who insisted'that thlngs weren?t all that bad, thal things were getting better, that good times vrere just around the corner. .

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sciples, v;ould the worid rn Fiis netr of faith. but the Srearer fishes brol.:e tho, ng! ald escaped out of ir, and all the r"'est' hb.ve sliitpcd'thr.ough the holes made Uy'ttre greater f ishes, so. thal ihe net hils rernaineC quit"e enpty. The great' er fishes who br"oke ihe net are the rulers,_ emporers,. popes"

Kr_ngs, rlrho have no]. renounced

power'and instead of true Christ-. ianity have put on vrhat is simplrI

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Jsech Helchitsky

I5th century

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FEW CHURCH PLA,CTICES i,lTlICH I,IERE DISCONTINUND ,AFTER THli THIITD C]]TITURY ,,!,HICI1 IiIE IIOULD LIKE TO JJE RE-INT:IUDUCED.

night before,) . The choice of, these two days was determined in opposition. to the Jewish c ustom of f'asting on l4ond.ays a nd Thursdays, and the Christians gave them the t itl'e rs,tation. daysr, r,vhich was derived from the word S at"io, meaning a picket or guard, ioeo that Chris.tiar s were by fasting, standing on wa.t-ch f,or the return of, the Lord" :; There .we.re many practic es of thB early church ir&1ch hrere abar.tConed. f or vari-ous rea^soras; throrl.ghout ihe centuri,es, as vre f ind. more, tlra! appeal to usr w0 r,uitrl publicise the.m a nd reccmend, them"

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The early Christ_ian churih h{as, ei church without tenrpl_es or buildings. That was wh'bn the chr.irch wa.s truly th9 body of membership and not a piJre of brick. lil:en services, hrere not "held out of doors they were held j-n s,omeones home. We would like.to see fewe.r people g.oing into a churchbuiliciing on Sundays, ..and more

services held in peoples homes,.

The_agape or love feas,t. usua1ly followed the 'eucharist and was a time for fel-l-owship and'enjo1,. ment of a fes.tive nature. fieie. is something especlally 1bveIy : about people eating together:, rtHeIlo'.i you Lj-t,t,l.e fat father'li, (especialty today when people lhe devil said;t'o. the 'priest. gra-b some'thing on the run anC l?ili:rat made you lie so to those cionrt comrnune at meal_ times,) " poor mis,led people? lvhat tortures of hefl did you depict?

There is a loL of fasting going on Donrt you know,they are al ready today for health reas.onsl Eut in the ea"rly church fasting'tvas a rna-' in the-ir earthly lives? Donrt activity ha-rring two-aspects" . you k:ro.w thaf 'you, and the authlg" moral the as wel1 5s, the physical. orities of the State are my rettThj-s is. thc fast that f have p?es.entatives o.n earth? It ls chosen, sai-th the Lori, not t.hat,a. you that make them suffe-r the man should humble -his souli_, but lains of hell wi-th rnrhich: you that he loos,e every band o.i. iniqthreaten them. DonrU you know. uLty, untie thg fasienings of haish this? trfe}1; :thge, come inrith mei il rgreements, restore to 1ibert1, 1,5"* The devi-l- grabhed the prie st- by that"Are b4uised, tep.r in pieies.. the col-lar, lifted him high in every un just cngagemcnt, f,bed t,he th'e air, a nd carried hi-n'r to a hungry with thy bree.d, i:lothe the factory, to an ir,on foundrl, He. naked, bring the homeiess inbo thv., house. rr (the Epistle of Barnabas r' ,and hur:r:y'ingr to and'fro, and--toi'Ic. 130 A,D. ). - nOn the day on which ing in th'e s corching heaL. Very you fas,t-.'you wj-ll taste n6thing .but soon the thick, haavy ai-r and bread and walerl and having r.efk-' the heat are too much for the oned up the price of the dishes of priest.. illith tears in his eyes. that day which you intended to have he pleads r,rith the devil' rl,et ree' eatenr you will give it to.a wi-dol,s goJ-Let me leave this hel-l-l .r an orphan, or to some person in woi;t.rf (Hermas)' In thre sLcond cent- ,t?Oh my dear. fri_end, I must sho,w ,,you many Jnore placesr Tl:e devil ury fasting was exDected on r,Vednesday and Frida.y in each week i.,e. on .ggts lq1d of him again and drags those days, food was not taken be.fore 3 in the afternoon (starting the r.

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sees workmen threshjmg the grain. the dust. and heat are ins,ufferable..

The overs;eor carries. a knout and unrnerc.ifully beats, anyone who faltrs Lo the ground overcome by hard toi-L- or hunger,

these men. end women whom 1rou. are .frightening with t he pic-

ture of a hell hereafter did, you not. knorar that they are in hell right here, before they die?It

Dostoevsky

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huts where, theile same workers live

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.f*Uur:ii;..i#ri ;,tii..',,, ,,*irj,,, ;',i''' -,iiiil .,=i'ii r^rith their fami-Ij-es - dirty, co1d, smoky, ill sme1,1ing hol-es. The The Projects For Change Food devil grins. He point"s out the pov- Bank i-s reaIIy taking off" Bins erty and hardships. rodrich are at home fCr reci-eving donat idns ar,e now here inStal led at Harvest" House, 682 George st. II., Kelceyrs Eanefax r?lilel-L lsn?t this enough? he askei? .Nutrition Centre, &1/+ George st" And it seems as if even he, the. deviLl 'N.', andi The Incredlble B-ulk, in plties the people. The pious; servan! Peterborough Square" Pleas;e be of Go.d can hardly bearrrlet it, lVith up- generous, and j-ncidently supporL llfted hands, he begs: me go thes,e merchants vrho are, gi-ving auny from here. Yes J YesJ this, is cf tr.,e,rel spaee. i

hell on earthlrt

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then you seeo And still promise them another he.ll-" You tor?t!{e11

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things in l-ife are "free. best If people did r,shat they enjoy most what would they do? play games, hike, work together, make lover tet togelher with other people - all of which cos! little or nothing. To mix poe"r.ry and hurnour into our f ives ,'is neither costly or exhausting,' I The drug of affluence robs us many of lifes deeper pleasof ttTake off your sil,ken elothes r, ures. Jesus said that t o enter said the. devil t o the priest,, put .on the good life we must become as your anklles he.avy chains such as Ilttle children. Think of the joys and pleasures of childhood. wear; down on unfortunates lle these Unless and, floor then we move beyond the frills filthy the cold - and pleasures and artificial and talk to them about a helli that stilJ:ttNo, live simply anshlered the. as children we wil-l Noltt awaits them! ttl experience priest", never the joy of the cannot thlnk of anything I1ert, age . Joy is innoCentr uomore dreadful. than this.. I entreat. complicated, and simple. Simyou let.ila go &wff1r.from heret" plicity and pleasure are olC ItYes , this is hell. The re. can be fric:.ds. no worse hel} than t his. Did you not know it? Did you not- knol^r that

ture the,m to. de.ath mentally when they are already all- but dead physical1yl Come I uril,I qho.w you one more hell - one more, the.ve.ry worst.rf He 'took him to a prisnn and shovled him a dungeon, with it.s jl'oul air and the meny human forn:s, robbed of all henlth and energy, lying on the

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Dear Digger:

only thing I cantt agree with l1:eyour in f ronN page stuff in is tha.t itJesus. is the Chrlst,ilLZ, t6e only hope of sal-vatlo" ,"0 the i only way to knbw Goci. rr I believe Jesus was a real_ fella who came to understand some'deep stuff and had the guts to live wLat he.believed. I dontt see horc he coul_d be the only hope of salvation or only way to know God. Christlhu :-ans are a minority in a world pop_ ula.ted with Buddhists, Hindus, Mus_. li-ns etc.

Their spirituat :oaihsr

heroes, an4 heroinbs are ;u.-st as ho lv as the Christians.. lvlaking Jesus the onlv=h;p;-;f satvation turns hls good exar:nple i.nto a sup_ ersiition, a graven--ima ge almost, a. oad dynamic warned against when-

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the ten commandments hit l{oses.

I sornel.,,hat r:eject Heaven and Hel-1 too, Iiel_l is literallv* on earth ar:d. has been for some t:_me. What is:up_ for graUi. Anyi{9g,,'en.is is possible, if, could be-a -thing. llea';en tof onencss.-vrith the Earth Ilother'"- body and souJ- merging into tn. soiL. ihto the ecological neat_ ncss of ifie planet" He'tl could vel:y well b_e a coffin, body and soltl keqt I'roin Big Mommas earthy ellrbr'.=. CJ..'

folks seem to put God and some timcs they.are separate en[ities), t^n ? position o.f .power over ( a femlnist concept)- tneir believers instead ef ,oower withr'I a more liberaNing perspective" believe the pe.rspective on Jesus should be more like the ]uluslim, that he i-s one of a long line of respected p_rophets .- l-ike we hold Gandhi, King,' [Iot'f , Dorothy Dat, Emma GoIdman etc" in our .memoriei" They give us Nhe boost we need for ihe funky job of monkey wrenching and creating ner,r societies in the shelI of lhe old, blah, b1ah, b1ah....

Manl,

Jesus into a blender (though

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Thornton Kimesr--Klndred Community Des l{oines IAr-US of A

Deab Thornton

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Glad to aet the letter.

I do belleve that Jesus is Christ , the only way to salvation, but that is my belief, others-cbvlously have theirs. Actua11y thou.ih Christians are a minority in the world tha t in. no way diminishes their truths',- just as being a majority does not enhance someone elses. As to Heaven and HeIl, whatever Heaven is I ?m sure it will be beautiful and I hope after a l_ifetime here I will be ready for it. For thought on the theory of Hel] being on earth, refer back in this issue. It?s a theory I sympathise with but actually I think if Heaven is the ultimate good trip, then Hel1 need be nothing rnore than an absence of Heaven (or anything else), a big zero, death, the grave in fact.

So Hell would take its meaning as an antithesis of Heaven. iome .oeople te1l me they have no use for reading about what Gandhi, Day, Goldman and others did in their time, that it is sterile history and leads only to hero worship. I hourever find great insplration in their work, Iil,here would we be today tcithout them? Idhere will_ our= grandcl,ildren be (supposing the world lasts that long) without us to keep the faith. Good to hear from ya" Kenny 1

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they came for the Communists, .rrFirst but I was. not a Oommunist s,o I did ' nothing Then they came for the Social Democrats, but f was not a Social Democratr so I did nothing.

Then they carne for the-trade Unionists, but I was not a trade Unionist so I did nothing.

Then they came for the Catholics and the Jews but I was neibher and I did nothing.

At last they came for me and there was no ene l-eft" Rev" Martin l'liemol-1er Nazi Prlson Survivor >i< >i< >i<

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FOODBANK lr

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UPDATE

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Due to the kindness of paul Stranor- manager of Brookside

Iou may now make foodbank {GA, donations there.

The IGA is

across from the Burnham Manor at Lansdowne (hwy Z8?) and the old Keene rd. r!tt ti rtetd, rlro!r.i tit9tt tlr:titttt ttrtri "lt!til.t

01" darv as Jesus was ,^lalcing by the sea of Gatrilee He saw iiriroit and his brother And.rew fishing with nets. They were commercfalfishermen. ??How the fishlng???askd.

Jesus. rrNot very.good. sir. rf replied the brothers. ttWell- if you come with me, Itll make you flshers of men.trsaid Jesus.

(Mark L, l6-t?) This is given

by Ivlalcolm Ivluggeridge as an example of Jesust dry sense of hu-

Inor.

the apostle had been charged by the Jews rvith heresy. As he was a Roman citizen he appealed to be tried in Rome in frbnt of the emperotr. In the meantime, Ie spent two years wrder arrest j-n Caesarea (tre wanted the state Uo pay for the trip to Ro,le and to be his body;uard). One day King Herod and his wife Bernice eame to visit the Roman Aovernor Festlr.s and Paul was brought before them to state his case. He spoke so eJ-oguently that king Aggrippa said ?tln brief r you want me tb'become a ChristiS.nJrr Paul replied, rrBrief or not I wish to God thatyou all could be just l-ike me . . excepN for these chalns of c ourseitt ';,!;r.i1: : .':r'; '.riiri-i'i"r:' ''; ' Paul-

ttMI sociaLi_sm was from be_ ginning a revolt against thethe intell_ ectual degradation-of the factory hands and Lhe .damned ugliness of- all that, capitallst-lndustiiallsm pro_-duced, and it was not prj-marlly i revolt against the crublty and- in_ justice of the possessing- classes or against the mlsery of-the poor. it was not so much the .fi.., that concerned me as theworkin! working man not so much what he got fiom working as rtrhat he did by torking" rr Eric Gilt (r88e - r94O)

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ig*n,;riffi ffir,.:i.; ii"i frjjliri ; Don?t forget to write. It?s -Digger/CA, 642 GeorEe st. N., ,

PeterborouSh, Ont.,

Canada

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