An interesting aspect of all modern revolutionary movements is the division between “thought leadership” and “field leadership.” The men who shepherd the ideological boundaries and lodestones of the movement are oftentimes completely incapable of deploying the conclusions of all the thinking. They must identify, educate, then incorporate characters and types more suited to the mechanics of the “situation on the ground.” By way of modern example, we see that the postmarxist professoriate is well suited to spinning up revolutionaries and firebrands in their (publicly funded) classrooms, but when they deign to march with the foot soldiers, they are knock-kneed and pathetic.
The American rebellion was no exception. The men of the time were far harder, far more resilient, then the overwhelming majority of men in current year, but that fact is irrelevant. While the fiery exhortations of the Black regiment of rebellion inspiring pastors were sufficient to whip up frenzied mobs, they were both unwilling and unable to get in front of the hooligans and “make things happen.” Someone else, a different type of man, was needed to “immanentize the eschaton” with brickbats and broken bones.
Enter Ebenezer Mackintosh (1737-1816)1, a Boston cobbler & gang leader. Oliver describes him as “He was sensible & manly, & performed their dirty Jobs for them with great Eclat2.” Here is a description by Oliver of Mackintosh “running” the mob
“He dressed genteely; & in Order to convince the publick of that Power with which he was invested, he paraded the Town with a Mob of 2000 Men in two Files, & passed by the Stadthouse, when the general Assembly were sitting, to display his Power. If a Whisper was heard among his followers, the holding up his Finger hushed it in a moment: when he had fully displayed his Authority, he marched his Men to the first Rendevouz, & order’d them to retire peacably to their several Homes; & was punctually obeyed.”3
The link in foot note 1 goes into interesting detail about the man, but he is not unique in regards to the role he plaid in the rebellious infection that festered in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which in turn infected the rest of the colonies. These “agents of chaos” are ubiquitous and necessary in all “people’s movements” because the twisted and disfigured minds that come up with the rhetoric of rebellion almost never have the physique, stamina, or identity require to manifest the magic from words into deeds.
Likewise ubiquitous is what happens to these agents the moment the intellectual vanguard has achieved their purpose, or moved on to the next movement. Mackintosh was so busy being a “people’s general” that his business suffered and collapsed, leading to his becoming a drunk and a pauper.
“This unhappy Fellow was always ready for the Drudgeries of his Employers, untill by neglecting his Business, he was reduced to part with his Last & all, took to hard drinking, was thrown into a Jail, & died.”4
Oftentimes these types of street tough ringleaders are bottom floor IQ simpletons with brutal violence in their hearts and not much else, but that is not as ubiquitous as one might expect. Indeed, it is rather often the case that these bruisers have more nobility and loyalty in their hearts than the all of the vanguard combined, often to their own detriment.
“…to the eternal Disgrace of his rich Employers, when he supplicated some of them for 2 or 3 Dollars to relive his Distress, he was refused the small Pitance, because at that Time they had no further Service for him; & had he not possessed a Soul endowed with superior Honor to any of his Employers, he would have brought several of them to the Gallows.”5
Previously, I have asserted an axiom that never fails to engender pushback from all points on the political compass: all revolutions are left-wing; all coups are right-wing. I stand by this assertion, and I sincerely believe time & tide will prove that I, and the guy I stole it from, have the predominant right of it. The argumentation connected to this axiom is outside the scope of this addendum to the recording, but it popped into my head with every other keystroke as I rush this to “print.”6 If you dig into any revolutionary event or era, you will find factoids, curios, and elements that repeat in all of the other revolutionary instances. Mackintosh represents one critical element upon which the success of all revolutions wholly depend:
The Useful Idiot.
https://boston1775.blogspot.com/2011/11/ebenezer-mackintosh-captain-of-south.html
Pronounced “ayy-claw,” it means “brilliant display or effect.”
Oliver, Chap III, pg 54
Oliver, Chap III, pg 55
Oliver, Chap III, pg 55
Yes, I am pretending we are in a neo-Colonial era with digital tricorn hats and muzzle-loaded smartphones, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.
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