Main NI Index | Main Newspaper Index
Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive
From Socialist Appeal, Vol. 4 No. 45, 9 November 1940, p. 3.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
November 11, 1940 marks the 109th anniversary of the hanging of Nat Turner, Negro slave who organized an insurrection against slavery in Virginia. Although put down in blood, this insurrection instilled fear in the hearts of the slaveholders of that area for the next 30 years, and inspired the slaves and abolitionists to carry on their struggle.
Nat Turner was born in Southampton County, Virginia. October 2, 1800, the son of a native of Africa. In his youth he was impressed with the religious customs and superstitions of the neighborhood, and when he was given permission by Iris master to learn to read and write, he trained himself to become a preacher.
What he learned from reading and what lie experienced in his own life convinced him that he and his race were oppressed and that, the only solution was to organize themselves to light for their freedom. He felt that he was a servant of God. and that it was his mission to lead his people in the struggle. He was like the other Negro rebels of his time in that his philosophy was a queer mixture of superstitious belief and a practical understanding that nothing could help the slaves but their own organized efforts to end slavery. As a result, he was able to utilize the superstitions of the Negroes in arousing them for the fight for liberation.
He not only knew how to read, but he had some knowledge of mechanics, and experimented in making pottery, paper and gunpowder. But in spite of this he changed masters several times and once was severely whipped for predicting that some day Negroes would be free.
A number of the white refugees from the successful revolution of San Domingo bad settled in the county, bringing their slaves with them, and there is reason to believe that Nat, who was able to freely move about the neighborhood as a preacher, was inspired by the stories he heard from them about the victories of the armed Negroes.
At one time he escaped from his master and after being at large for a month returned by himself. In all probability he recognized that the problem he was interested in could never be solved by individual action alone, that the job was still to organize and prepare.
When his friends among the slaves asked him why he had returned, his reply was typical. He said that he had a vision to return and wait for his “sign” – a signal that would summon him and others to action. He also said that the “white spirit” and the “black spirit” were in combat and that the “black spirit” was fighting fiercely for freedom.
Finally in July, 1831, he and four other slaves, Nelson Williams, Samuel Frances, Henry Porter and Hark Travis, met together secretly and began to plan the details for an uprising that would begin at his master’s home. Joseph Travis, and then spread throughout the area. There was vague talk about setting up a Negro government, but most of their attention was paid to the practical details of the insurrection.
The plan was to kill the white occupants of the nearby plantations, take their arms, and organize the slaves as they marched from plantation to plantation.
The night before they started the uprising on August 21, Nat is reported to have made the following speech to his men:
“Friends and brothers, we are about to commence a great work tonight! Our race is to be delivered from slavery, and God has appointed us the men to do His biddings; and let us be worthy of our calling. I am told to slay all the whites we encounter, without regard to age or sex.
“We have no arms or ammunition. but we will find them in the homes of our oppressors ... Remember that ours is not a war for robbery, nor to satisfy our passions; it is a struggle for freedom. Ours must be deeds, not words ...”
For three days, the insurgents struck at one point after another, burning the homes and killing the masters who had oppressed them, gathering support as they went along, but slowly. Their numbers increased to more than 200. It is significant that none of the slaves whom they reached refused to take up arms with them, an indication that they too were ready for action.
It is also notable that although it was their intention to kill every white they met, they made one interesting exception: a family of non-slaveholding whites.
They were finally overwhelmed by tremendous forces, who mowed them down and hunted them in the woods until every last rebel was captured. Turner was tried and convicted and calmly went to his death on November 11, declaring he felt no guilt, that he had only been trying to lead the slaves to freedom as Washington had led the American revolution – for freedom, peace and the right to live as human beings.
But this was not the end of it. Fear had struck into the hearts of the slave-owning aristocracy, and everywhere they looked, they saw the figure of Nat Turner arising to plague them. They murdered hundreds of slaves who had had nothing to do with the uprising, and they were so panicky that they took steps to see to it that Negroes would not become preachers in the future. It was reported that even after Turner was hanged, three slaveholders in far-away North Carolina died of fright!
Turner was hanged, but the spirit of revolt that he symbolized was carried on by the slaves and the foes of slavery. The slaves were finally emancipated after a bloody struggle in which they bore arms and carried on in Nat Turner’s heroic spirit.
Today the struggle of Nat Turner is still being conducted – this time against the monstrous injustices and discrimination of a decaying capitalist system that denies the Negroes equal rights in peace time and subjects them to segregation and insult in the armed forces into which they are being drafted “for a war for democracy.”
We honor the heroism and militancy of Nat Turner on the 109th anniversary of his death, and we carry on his traditions in these troubled times by urging the workers, black and white, to learn the military arts, to train themselves how to fight for freedom, to struggle for trade union control of military training so that they will be able to defend their own interests and not those of their oppressors.
Main Militant Index | Main Newspaper Index
Encyclopedia of Trotskyism | Marxists’ Internet Archive
Last updated on 16 November 2020