Posts by dilaceratus

5

Article "Who are Jehovah's Witnesses"? by Neil G. McCluskey, S.J. (1956)

by cabasilas in

i just got this in from ebay this week.

it's a 1956 article by father neil g. mccluskey, s.j.

on the witnesses.

dilaceratus

Thank you for presenting this rather unique historical perspective, Cabasilas.

I am curious about the wine vs. grape juice controversy he mentions as one of the near-schisms in the Bible Student history. There are still a number of Baptist churches that are duking it out on the same subject, but I hadn't heard about it being a significant argument among the Jehovah's Witnesses.

[Dilaceratus]

279

Golden Age Goodies

by Leolaia in

recently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.

i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.

hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.

dilaceratus

Just to wrap up the bow of my thoughts:

Somewhere on this site (although for the life of me I cannot find it) there is a thread with some information claiming that Malcolm X's mother, Louise Little, became a Jehovah's Witness during the many years she was in the state mental institution at Kalamazoo, MI.

And The Nation of Islam's founder, Wallace Dodd Fard, apparently used Rutherford's recordings, encouraged his followers to listen to his radio broadcasts, and incorporated some Watchtower theology into his nascent beliefs.

279

Golden Age Goodies

by Leolaia in

recently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.

i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.

hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.

dilaceratus

I am unsure what exactly Edwin C. Hill was going for with the Black Legion column turning into the Molly Maguires column. Hill was primarily known as a newsreel commentator, but also covered a lot of genuine news stories as a journalist. He wrote a column for Hearst, but, like the headline suggests, it was "human." It could be that he had an evergreen on the Molly Maguires sitting around, and tacked on a few paragraphs to the front about the Black Legion to make it more topical. (The Hearst papers being so rabidly anti-union, and anti-immigrant, a Molly Maguire story would always be acceptable.) In this case, the attempted connection between the Black Legion and the Molly Maguires might have been mostly laziness.

More sinister would be an attempt to link the terrorism of the anti-union Black Legion with the terrorism of the pro-union Molly Maguires in the public's mind, as if they somehow canceled each other out. Hearst papers were always anti-immigrant, and, toward the 1940s, pro-Nazi, but not especially anti-Catholic that I know about.

What is amazing, though, is a few months after this association in a crappy column in a tabloid, the Golden Age has twisted this story into:

The Black Legion, once known as the "Molly
Maguires", and sometimes called the Ancient
order of Hibernians...

Where they could have possibly conceived of this idea, except having seen it in the Post I can't imagine, since, based on the FBI files, it has no basis in fact-- or even speculation. (Actually, Hill's column about the Molly Maguire's is riddled with errors, too.) Like all of their Catholic Hierarchy theories, it seems to have been the work of the psychotically deranged.

-----

The entire midwest in the late 1920s and 30s was filled with violent groups, whose common denominator was an intense hatred for communism. These groups thrived due in large part to support from Detroit manufacturers who were anti-union. As I mentioned a while back, Henry Ford first published the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion in the Dearborn (MI) Independent, and later had published under his name a book entitled The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem, which Hitler read while in prison, and praised in Mein Kampf. (Allegedly, Hitler had a portrsit of Ford in his Munich office, and kept copies of The International Jew to give visitors.) At any rate, Coughlin, the Black Legion, and the Klan were only the most recognizable out of dozens of hate groups running from Pennsylvania to Kansas, but mostly centered in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. Hoover's own racism and obsessive anti-communism kept the FBI from running check on these-- in some cases blatantly-- seditious groups. When they finally did, they took out Coughlin, Brinkley, Pelley, Smith (to some extent), and a few others. I believe the Christian Front was planning to take over the government no more than the Black legion's claims that they had six million members or that--with a single phone call!-- they could hold every place of importance in the State of Michigan in "51 minutes."

-----

I forgot to say earlier that I have actually seen The Black Legion with Humphrey Bogart, as a child late one night on Channel 62, in Michigan. I thought it was incomprehensible, but that could have been from the hacked editing, or from the fact that, having been made in 1937, not much needed to be explained to the audience of the time. I suspect it was just awful.

One film featuring the Black Legion in action that a lot of people will have seen is Malcolm X-- the scene at the beginning where the Little family are chased out of their home, and then it was set on fire, happened in Lansing, MI, and was the work of the Black Legion, not the Klan. The Black Legion then later murdered Malcolm Little's father.

16

Dub email exchange r.e. Crackdown on outside food in D.C.

by ringo5 in

jw
friends

i for a while discounted the reports that suggested there were stern warnings against bringing in outside food and drink into the conventions.

but this email exchange from a few of my relatives concerning tim horton's coffee, which is a basic staple for the dub ministry in canada, shows that they don't mind adding any more regulations to their already extensive list!

(so far, i'm still on their email list) .

dilaceratus

I find it hard to believe that even the mentally weak and easily manipulated members of the Jehovah's Witnesses could be convinced that Tim Horton's serves any beverage that resembles coffee.

Upon one of my violent outbursts concerning this alleged "coffee," and the deep emotional distress it had caused me, a friend who lived in Ontario confessed that she had, on occasion, been forced to swallow same, and the only way to do it without gagging was to keep saying to yourself "It's not supposed to be coffee, it's only supposed to be a hot drink." I have not put this method to the test.

279

Golden Age Goodies

by Leolaia in

recently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.

i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.

hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.

dilaceratus

I have just now gone through the entirety of the FBI file, and find no reference to Rutherford-- hardly surprising, since no one in their right mind would take that nonsense seriously. (It is possible that any letters forwarded to the FBI concerning Rutherford's theory of the Black Legion would have been placed with the others about the Catholic "Fifth Columnists.") One does find, distressingly, the same thing one finds when researching Hoover's FBI investigations into the Klan: endless foot-dragging, and failure to act. The Black Legion were such an abomination that when Rutherford was claiming its actions were carried out by Catholics, it was an accusation that went beyond slur and into pure hate.

An example of the Black Legion's protection of America:

As far as the popularity or circulation of this conspiracy theory goes, there is the vile R. E. Robertson flyer claiming the Black Legion were really Jews (found at blackl1d, P. 39-41), which Leolaia already mentioned, and which bears some resemblance in its stupidity and hate to the Rutherford Catholics in disguise scenario. Here's a New York Post (Hearst paper) column from 27 July 1936 (found at blackl3a P.29,30), trying to make a "subtle" link between the Black Legion and Catholics, which was mirrored in the Golden Age of that November, in even cruder terms:

The other mentions of anything similar come from-- surprise-- Communists!

blackl1f p.12, from the Labour Party:

blackl2e p.37,38, from the Communist Party:

blackl3b p.5, and from the Daily Worker:

In blackl2f p.5-7 there is an odd letter from a Mason with an odd name, Lloyd Paradise, alleging something to do with Coughlin and unmasking the fifth column. There is also an anonymous letter in blackl2f p.8 with a list of pro-Nazi, pro-fascist persons and organizations, including the Black Legion, Coughlin, the KKK, Pelley, etc, which seems to be entirely accurate in its assessment.

Another Detroit newspaper link about the Black Legion, from the Google archive:

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:zqcIv17412kJ:www.freep.com/news/locway/legion3_20010703.htm

Other Curiosities from the FBI file:

black1a p. 14, reporting on a Black Legion meeting:

On April 20th the speaker at the meeting was a peg-legged
man, his left leg being amputated, also his right thumb. This man
derided both political parties, all fraternal organizations, and
all churches. This meeting was attended by about 175 men, and
about 25 candidates were initiated.

[Isaac "Peg Leg" White-- possibly taking the Pirate theme of the Black Legion to an extreme.]

blackl1a p. 30, reporting on Black Legion initiation rites:

LECTURE BY CHAPLAIN

"This organization is one of chivalry and daring, following footsteps
of the gorilla [sic] bands of the south and is based on southern chivalry;
by our enemies we're classed as outlaws and oulaws we are, indeed; we
have no charter; if we were chartered, our roster would have to be
available at all times. You hgave already signified your willing-
ness to join such an organization. We class as our enemies all
negroes, Jews, Catholics, and anyone owing any allegiance to any for-
eign potentate. We fight as gorillas [sic] using any weapon that may
come to our hand, preferably the ballot, and, if necessary, by bear-
ing arms. The Republican party are in the grasp of the rich,
while the Democrats seem to be in the clutches of the Pope. ..."

-----

One other curiosity which has been nagging at me-- what on earth was Rutherford referring to when he spoke of " 'open' Catholics " being the disguised German Communists and/or Black Legionnaires? What is an "open" Catholic supposed to be, in Rutherford's mind?

279

Golden Age Goodies

by Leolaia in

recently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.

i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.

hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.

dilaceratus

At the risk of making yet another post following up on my own, I think the article on the Black Legion bears a close reading, particularly in light of the earlier article Leolaia cited, where the Golden Age is accepting the commendations of the Kourier, an organ of the Ku Klux Klan.

Obviously the Golden Age viewed the Roman Catholic "Hierarchy" as the main enemy, since they had masterminded a plot to take over the world. Yet, in this frenzy of insane speculation, notice that the Jews and the Negroes are said to be the pawns of the Catholics, and thus, presumably, enemies as well.

The way the author uses "Protestant" strikes me as a code word. The article defends "Protestants" from charges that they would be involved with the Black Legion-- yet, notably, never condemns the actions of the Black Legion.

The article claims that the Communists in Germany were really disguised Catholics. Besides being insane, this also paints Communists as enemies.

At what point does one have to conclude that the bizarre and hateful conspiracy theories of Joseph Rutherford and the authors of the Golden Age bear only marginal differences with those popularized by the Ku Klux Klan and other nativist groups of the era?

279

Golden Age Goodies

by Leolaia in

recently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.

i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.

hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.

dilaceratus

***g36 11/04 p.95 The Food-Poisoning at Manchester, N.H***

The Food-Poisoning at Manchester, N.H.

SAID Lena Potenza, concerning the food poi-
soning at Manchester, N.H.:

I can see how anxious the public press is to mis-
represent and magnify matters concerning Jehovah's
witnesses. The doctors made every one take castor oil,
with orange juice, whether they were sick or not, if
they had partaken of the food and were with the party
who was taken to the hospital. Every one had to give
the hospital his name and place of residence. It
looks as if most of the friends were poisoned. In
such a crowd, who knows but there might have been
one of Satan's imps present, trying to destroy the
Lord's people in that way. This is some more free
publicity for the Jw's.

279

Golden Age Goodies

by Leolaia in

recently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.

i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.

hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.

dilaceratus

***g36 11/04 p.90 Kingdom Publishers in the Western States [sic]***

Curious Coincidences on a Steamship

ON A certain steamship plying out of New
York harbor a certain second mate wit-
nessed faithfully to his shipmates for four
years, with little response and much bitter per-
secution and opposition. Now he is startled by
the death of the first assistant engineer, the dis-
missal of the chief engineer and the second as-
sistant engineer, the complete invalidism of the
first mate, the virtual insanity of the captain
followed by his dismissal, and wonders if these
are really judgments of Jehovah God against
these men for their rejection and vilification of
the truth.

279

Golden Age Goodies

by Leolaia in

recently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.

i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.

hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.

dilaceratus

***g36 11/04 p.88 Kingdom Publishers in Pennsylvania***

"Preservation," "Life," "Jehovah," in Philadelphia

JEHOVAH'S witnesses in Philadelphia have
three cars the color of three of Judge Ruth-
erford's books. The three cars visit certain
sections in rotation, according to a fixed sched-
ule, and each makes a speciality, on its particu-
lar night, of broadcasting the address suitable
to its particular color of car, "Preservation,"
"Life," or "Jehovah," as the case may be. It works
well. A fourth car, painted Rose Carthame,
the color of Riches, has just been completed.

279

Golden Age Goodies

by Leolaia in

recently i had the pleasure to examine a stash of 1920s and 1930s golden age magazines, among the rarest of watchtower publications.

i thought it would be a fun idea to have a thread in which i share with you some of the amazing, ridiculous, hilarious things contained therein.

hence, this is the first post of a series of excerpts, scans, etc.

dilaceratus

Dear Leolaia,
I was reminded of Manson when I read that, as well.
This Golden Age scenario stinks of Klan propaganda. The Black Legion were so violent, and so notorious, that even the Klan had to denounce them. My immediate suspicion is that the Golden Age correspondent hatched his ideas not using his Witness training, but borrowed them whole from Klan apologists. Someone more conversant with Klan and Black Legion history would be able to say whether this Catholic conspiracy excuse was common among Klan sympathisers.
[Dilaceratus]