The Authentic Thanksgiving Narrative

This post presents a complete and authentic Thanksgiving narrative. It is an inspiring and uplifting story about human survival, adaptation and triumph over starvation and death. It takes place in Plymouth, Jamestown and Xiaogang, China. The Chinese celebrate Thanksgiving on the same day as Americans; it’s called Gan’en Jie, or feel thankful holiday. They decorate with pumpkins, corn and nuts, connect with family and friends and eat sesame turkey (or duck), cranberries and ginger-pumpkin pie.

The Usual Feel-Good Thanksgiving Narrative

Americans are cannonaded with the narrative of Pilgrims celebrating their abundant first harvest and sharing it with native Americans. It is a warm, fuzzy, multi-cultural, feel-good, politically correct narrative. However, it is incomplete and largely untrue. The Pilgrims’ first harvest ended with them eating rats; over 50% died, most from starvation. In Jamestown, two-thirds died; when another 500 settlers arrived, 440 of them starved to death within six months. In desperation, they resorted to cannibalism. In Xiaogang, people ate roots and ground tree bark into flour to avoid starvation.

The Authentic Story of the Pilgrims

The Pilgrims were governed by the Mayflower Compact that established communal property; everything went into a common stock and was withdrawn as needed. This was pure communism and it soon resulted in mass starvation. Governor Bradford took action. He immediately instituted private property rights, granting a parcel of land to each family. This made everyone uber-industrious and much corn was planted.

If the Pilgrims could not make socialism work, no one ever can. They were deeply religious, homogeneous, few in number and their survival depended on one another. Nonetheless, they starved to death en masse rather than work collectively. They chose death over socialism. Yet, the following year, with private property rights, these same people produced a veritable bounty and celebrated the first Thanksgiving in America.

The Authentic Story of Jamestown

As in Plymouth, everything was placed into a common store owned by everyone and hence, no one. There was no direct connection between work and benefit. Soon there was starvation amidst plenty and 478 out of 576, (83%) died. A new governor, Sir Thomas Dale, arrived. His first action was to give every man three acres. Overnight, the colony prospered as people became inventive and industrious. John Rolfe, husband of the first Pocahontas, wrote about how private property turned everything around. The following year Jamestown enjoyed an abundant harvest due entirely to abandoning socialism for private property. As in Plymouth, the very same settlers who had starved under collectivism now prospered when granted private property rights.

A Chinese Thanksgiving: The Story of Xiaogang

The Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”) abolished private land ownership and forced farmers onto communes. Over 40 million starved to death, with survivors clinging to life. In the village of Xiaogang there was no food. A young farmer, Yan Hongchang, organized a clandestine meeting with the heads of each family. They divided the commune’s land into individual family plots. Each family agreed to submit its share of the quota to the state, but got to keep the rest. The next year, Xiaogang produced a grain harvest of 100 metric tons, equal to 20 years of quotas. The CCP tried to suppress news of the Xiaogang miracle, but word spread like wildfire. Within two years, China abandoned collective farming and allowed people to farm their own land.

The Authentic Narrative for Thanksgiving

A Parable for Our Children and Grandchildren

Once upon a time, good and righteous people seeking a better life came to settle in America; they had sincere and lofty ideas about how they would govern themselves in the new world. They believed that sharing all work and benefits equally was just and even noble. They strove gallantly to make such a socialist system work. But after enduring social dissonance and unfathomable hardships, they came to the realization that a system of communal property is incompatible with human nature. They quickly took decisive action and instituted private property rights. The next harvest resulted in a veritable cornucopia and they held a feast to celebrate, inviting their Wampanoag neighbors. Today, we celebrate this as the first Thanksgiving in America.

Pilgrims starved rather than collectivize, choosing death over socialism.

The authentic Thanksgiving narrative is one of early Americans overcoming starvation, death and collectivism. It is about understanding that socialism always results in starvation amidst plenty. It is about understanding that severing the link between work and benefit is contrary to human nature. It is about understanding that socialism is such a perversion that people chose starvation over living and working communally. People in Plymouth, Jamestown and Xiaogang literally chose death over socialism. Yet, all these same people who, one year earlier, starved under socialism suddenly became industrious, inventive and prosperous when they had property rights. And that, dear readers, is the complete and authentic narrative for Thanksgiving!

This year, resolve to share the real Thanksgiving narrative with others. To our Chinese readers, happy Gan’en Jie; to everyone else, a happy and authentic Thanksgiving!

Our next post presents MLLG’s inimitable take on identity politics in America.

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More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us