The Struggle for Liberty

Charles Joseph Smith

[Reprinted from Land and Freedom, January-February 1940]

The struggle for liberty is long and slow. But it is worth while. "Only in broken gleams and partial light has the sun of Liberty yet beamed among men." We have never enjoyed the full warmth and light of that sun. Not yet has it permeated every corner of our lives. The soul of man still yearns to freely express itself. But let us not depreciate the few gleams that come through. We know they trace their origin to the great, beautiful sun of Liberty. And it must be remembered that those gleams were won with great sacrifice.

In the midst of tyranny and oppression, and a defiling of the rights of man, the voice of Liberty continues to whisper, "These others have a right to live, too." A hero harkens, and to the call he dedicates his life. With what agony and blood a few concessions are won is too well known. And with what ease they can be lost again need not be cited. The recent experiences of Spain, China, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Finland have shocked us. We imagined that Ormuzd had triumphed. We underestimated the strength of the powers of darkness. But we must not deceive ourselves. Ahriman does win victories, and there are times when Ormuzd, wounded, is compelled to retreat.

Therefore, let us not slip into a complacent inertia, satisfied with the few rays that have been won. Let us rather take them as a weapon to continue the struggle. Let us use them to beat back the dark clouds of injustice, so that the full light of Liberty may shine forth! The few gleams that come are a challenge to us. That they are shining at all, means that so much of the dark forces have been dispersed! Knowledge does not come to us all at once. We must constantly struggle for it and keep on winning it. So it may be that our understanding of Liberty has to come slowly. Perhaps it is not something that springs full-armed and perfected like Pallas from the head of Zeus. Rather, it has humble beginnings and grows only with the growth of intelligence, tolerance, and love.

When the English barons forced King John to sign the Magna Charta, that was certainly not the consummation of Liberty. Was it not class interest that prompted them to curb the Plantagenet? Yet, in spite of themselves, they advanced the cause of Liberty. It was a step forward, in that it restored some rights to a group of people who had somehow lost them in the course of history. It was a great achievement for that period.

George Washington was essentially aristocratic, as were many of the early statesmen and leaders of our country. At that time the step toward freedom and democracy may have had to be taken in a cautious way. Perhaps a sudden, violent advance causes us to slip and fall rather than make progress. The Russian Revolution is a case in point. We know too that the work of Liberty was not fully accomplished with the work of Abraham Lincoln. But who can deny that his name belongs among those of the heroes of Liberty? Did he not have a vision of equal rights, and did he not strive for a restoration of rights to a greater group of people than before? Universal suffrage did not sweep away all the clouds. But did not another gleam come through?

THE steps toward Liberty in the past have meant the attainment of certain rights for special groups of people. The progress of Liberty has been in the broadening of these attainments to larger and larger groups. True Liberty will be achieved only with the realization of the universal brotherhood of mankind. True Liberty can stop at nothing less. For what is Liberty but the recognition of the rights of all the sons of men? Are we ready for such liberty? Would we recognize it if it came thus, full-grown? We wonder. After all, Liberty comes to us only as we are able to comprehend it.

Thus far, we have only appreciated the reflections of the sun of Liberty rather than the sun itself. The toilers for Liberty in the past have striven mostly for political and intellectual freedom. But, slowly, mankind is beginning to realize that economic freedom is the basic form of Liberty. Political, yes, even intellectual freedom, may be said to derive from economic freedom. But the work of those who toiled for Liberty has not been in vain. The rays of the sun do not penetrate an overcast sky. The clearer and purer the atmosphere, the more radiant is the solar glow. Our forebears in the struggle for Liberty have helped to clear that atmosphere. We, who toil for economic freedom, will find our work easier because of what they did.

"Please, Son Carry On!"