Jim Farmelant >
So what is the class character of the Freemasons? How has it changed over the years. It seems to me that back in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Freemasons were predominantly bourgeois in character with many aristocrats also belonging. Back then, the Freemasons served as a conduit of Enlightenment ideas throughout Europe and America. Some of the American founders such as Ben Franklin and George Washington were certainly Masons. Jefferson was probably a Mason too. The dollar bill has Masonic symbols on it. Over in Europe, Motzart was a Freemason and Masonic symbolism is featured in some of his operas like The Magic Flute. Since, Freemasonry has long been condemned by the Catholic Church, the Freemasons have often been at the center of anticlerical politics in Catholic countries. In the 19th century, the anarchist revolutionary, Mikhail Bakunin made a point of joining a Masonic lodge in Paris. Marx & Engels, as far as I know, had no association with Freemasonry, even though there are still people on the extreme right who like to talk about conspiracies of Freemasons, Jews, and communists to take over the world. The issue of what impact the Freemasons and other kinds of secret societies have had on working class organization is an interesting one and one that I think merits further exploration. I think that E.P. Thompson addressed the issue to some extent in his *The Making of the English Working Class*. Perhaps Waistline can say something more about the role of Freemasonry among African-American workers. CB: Yes, I'm thinking we do a little mini-research project on the masons and freemasons, as I do not know a lot about them; though I see from the above that you already have a lot of information on the subject. Sounds like the rightwing puts masons in good company. I can recite some personal knowledge as an outsider who has socialized with some masons who are workers and worker-entrepreneurs here in Detroit, in the general context that Waistline mentioned. My impression is that back in the era of the rise of the bourgeoisie, freemasons may have been a potent organization within the bourgeois revolutionary mechanisms. Sounds like a sort of "international" of the bourgeoisie as revolutionaries. Perhaps a sort of superguild. Then I wonder about the roots in actual masons from feudalism, which would still be maybe a guild of the archaic and original type. I wonder whether miners had some kind of guild. Maybe masons were miners of the rocks and stones that they built with. Finally, would the more recent masons have preserved some "philosophy" from working class elements from the feudal period in the secret rituals and texts; and, if so, are there some rational crumbs or kernels in medieval working class, and perhaps materialist, philosophy that we could recover. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [email protected] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
