Red Dynamite by Carl Weinbe

[BH]

This is a book about the Scopes Trial to some extent and the cultural background history behind opposition to the theory of evolution by religious people.

According to the book to the common believeing person evolution was against the plain teachings of the Bible on the origins of life and man but to others not so heavenly minded it was felt in their best interest to oppose it because of their fear of communism. The book goes on and on about various creationist leaders opposition to communism but doesnt go into detail about why communism had anything to do with evolution, at least as far in the book yet . I'm about half way through this book and I think I know why from other books I've read. More below.

First, as an aside, I have had a lot of regular joe people in real life and on the net tell me they didnt think it really matters if evolution were the case. what happened in the past really has no bearing today. They believed in creationism but went on about how we need creationism to be true to have morals, order and so forth regardless of what happened in the past that really has no day to day affect on us anymore

Second a few years ago I did a self study of the major works of Karl Marx, Engels, Belford Bax, Deitzgen, Bebel, ect . In one of these works one of the authors rejoiced in the theory of evolution because it showed things changed in the natural world and often for the better. The theory of evolution could be used to explain to mistreated and exploited people things can change for them if they changed themselves and enviroment. Now I can understand why so many in leadership would have wanted creationism to prevail, at least to most in the general public mind. It was perceived as a potential source of breakdown in the social order they were on top of or benefitted from. The communists and other reform minded groups were using the theory of evolution not as a survival of the fittest doctrine but more as make yourself more fit by changing your thought patterns and environments. This was not tolerable to those with vested in interests in how things were then and evolution had to be opposed for that reason and not just religious reasons, though they used the cover of religion to do so.

In going to keep reading Red Dynamite and sees how this plays out in it.

 

[steve_bank]

At the time of the trial I don't think the reality of Stalinism was well known. Until that point some saw Russian communism as a utopia.


I think The Grange farmer movement and other mvements were based in socialism.

Farmers' movement - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Scopes trial - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Scopes trial, formally The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, and commonly referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial, was an American legal case from July 10 to July 21, 1925, in which a high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school.[1] The trial was deliberately staged in order to attract publicity to the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, where it was held. Scopes was unsure whether he had ever actually taught evolution, but he incriminated himself deliberately so the case could have a defendant.[2][3]

Scopes was found guilty and was fined $100 (equivalent to $1,500 in 2021), but the verdict was overturned on a technicality. The trial served its purpose of drawing intense national publicity, as national reporters flocked to Dayton to cover the high-profile lawyers who had agreed to represent each side. William Jennings Bryan, three-time presidential candidate and former secretary of state, argued for the prosecution, while Clarence Darrow served as the defense attorney for Scopes. The trial publicized the fundamentalist–modernist controversy, which set Modernists, who said evolution was not inconsistent with religion,[4] against fundamentalists, who said the word of God as revealed in the Bible took priority over all human knowledge. The case was thus seen both as a theological contest and as a trial on whether evolution should be taught in schools.

 

[lpetrich]

Vladimir Lenin died in January 21, 1924. So his successor Joseph Stalin was in power for only a year and a half, and his farm collectivization and his purges were some years in the future.

But the Communist revolutionaries who had taken over Russia had seemed plenty threatening even then.

 

[Bomb#20]

This is a book about the Scopes Trial to some extent and the cultural background history behind opposition to the theory of evolution by religious people.

According to the book to the common believeing person evolution was against the plain teachings of the Bible on the origins of life and man but to others not so heavenly minded it was felt in their best interest to oppose it because of their fear of communism. The book goes on and on about various creationist leaders opposition to communism but doesnt go into detail about why communism had anything to do with evolution, at least as far in the book yet . I'm about half way through this book and I think I know why from other books I've read. More below. ...

Funny story abut that. William Jennings Bryan, the fundamentalist who famously argued for creationism at the Scopes Trial, was a raging left-winger who hated evolution not just because it was anti-Biblical but because he thought it was capitalist.

 

[Hermit]

William Jennings Bryan [...] was a raging left-winger

Only in the United States of America...

Politicians who advocated the eight-hour day, a minimum wage, the right of unions to strike and women's suffrage were regarded as enlightened capitalists in Australia and several European countries. Some "raging left-wing" policies were actually implemented by such conservative luminaries as Benjamin Disraeli, the UK's Prime Minister from 1874 to 1880 and again for ten months in 1886 and Otto von Bismarck, Germany's Chancellor from 1871 to 1890. In Australia union strikes were legal since its foundation, women were voting since 1904 and the concept of a minimum wage was implemented following the Harvester case in 1907. Nobody regarded any of these policies as "raging left-wing".