Moralistic High
Everyone gets a lift by contributing to the greater good. You might be a person with flaws, but those flaws are eclipsed by standing on the moral high ground. Moral superiority is easier to achieve than overcoming personal flaws, therefore, it is very seductive.
Moral superiority trumps civil law — at least this might be true in cases in which a particular law is contested. For example, when it is illegal for a black person to sit in the front of a bus, and that law is held to be immoral, and the goal is to see black people in the front of the bus, then direct action consists of breaking that law.
However, moral superiority also justifies breaking laws unrelated to the desired outcome, for example, when traffic is blocked in pursuit of changing government policy regarding climate. Once the goal and the crime are disconnected, there is no crime that is not justified by moral superiority.
- Frustrated abolitionist John Brown attacked a federal arsenal in 1859 — an arsenal belonging to the very army that would ultimately secure the freedom of US slaves.
- Between 1912 and 1914, British suffragettes attempted to kill high-ranking politicians with letter bombs. They planted bombs on trains used by people uninvolved in their fight.
- The Weather Underground, a splinter ground of the Students for a Democratic Society, bombed government buildings in protest of the Vietnam War.
- The anti-imperialist Red Army Faction killed the chairman of Deutsche Bank, Alfred Herrhausen — who happened to be the leading voice calling for the easing of third world debt.
Moralistic highs feel good, like other highs. Unlike drug highs, morality highs are limited only by the very thing that launched them. In other words, the only way one knows one has gone too far is when one’s sense of morality is violated. Drug highs have at least the advantage of being limited by the supply of drugs.
Social Evolution or Regression
A program of activism might be aimed at bringing about social evolution (or regression) in a particular direction. Success is certainly not a reasonable goal, If it were, every moment that the change has not been achieved would be confirmation of failure. Social change might require decades, and might follow a long stream of failure. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the primary mover behind an 1848 declaration calling for women’s right to vote. Stanton died in 1902, 54 years later and 18 years before women got the right to vote in the US.
This is counter-intuitive, so it is worth restating: winning is not a reasonable goal. Not giving up, however, is. This is what history teaches us. Successful movements are built on layers of failure.
Camaraderie
If you perceive some practice as a social injustice or politically regressive, your values do not wholly match the society in which you were raised. Instead of endlessly quarreling with the entourage you inherited, you might well wish to associate with other people who share your values. In some cases, a full-fledged subculture might await you.
Annie Kenney was a militant suffragette active in the early 1900s, holding high office in the Women’s Social and Political Union. She is noteworthy for being the only high-profile suffragette who had experience working in a factory— starting at age ten. She was imprisoned 13 times during the struggle. She wrote:
The work we gave them as new-comers! A Girton girl or a charwoman, it made no difference. A piece of chalk was given to them with a paper giving the names of the streets in which they must chalk notices of meetings to be held, or we would give them a bell and tell them where and how to ring it, what to say and how to say it, and gradually we would give them final responsibility for any work in hand. This throwing them on themselves brought them out as it brought me out, when I had an orange-box and a bell given to me, and when I was told to hold three meetings every night in different parts of the town or city where we were stationed. In the early days I thought nothing of having a hard morning’s work sending out handbills and chalking pavements, of speaking at a factory at twelve o’clock, of speaking at the docks at 1.30, of holding a women’s meeting at three, and a large open-air one at seven, and when it was over I would address envelopes for letters which I sent out to the sympathizers or members in the district.
What a school for experience, what opportunities for the active temperaments, what a chance for those who loved adventure, speculation. Growth was certain, whether good or bad. One grew richer in experience and far more able to accept responsibilities, and shoulder burdens. If experience expands consciousness, no wonder we all felt conscious of our ability to serve once war was declared. Our powers of expression were increased. We were educated in the school of necessity, to meet any new situation, face and overcome it, and we were expected to come out with flying colours and be a credit to the Cause. We were taught to become masters of ourselves. No matter what our beliefs were on any subject, religious, social, or political, we were taught never to give vent to our desires, feelings, or ideas, but to stand firm on one question, which was: “Will you give women the Vote?”
The changed life into which most of us entered was a revolution in itself. No home-life, no one to say what we should do or what we should not do, no family ties, we were free and alone in a great brilliant city, scores of young women scarcely out of their teens met together in a revolutionary movement, outlaws or breakers of laws, independent of everything and everybody, fearless and self-confident.
Annie Kenney, Memories of a Militant, 1924, Edward Arnold & Co.
Live in your future world now.
Professional Development
Non-profit organizations are ready to give positions of responsibility to inexperienced people, for lack of options. As an activist, one may practice leadership skills, learn office management, graphic art, public speaking, and much more.
Summary
Only two of the four possible motivations for becoming an activist have a long-term out-look, and they both are centered on the activist. Social evolution is of course a goal, but this is possible when the activist is sustained by the effort, not drained by it. A healthy society is based on activities that benefit the individual as well as the group.