I will [...] list web sites, and resources, that I think may be helpful, and will list ANY AND ALL web sites I'm sent for left, anarchist, communist, trotskyist, leninist, pacifist, etc. groups - you need to make up your own minds. I have enough bias to go around for all of us - what you need is a chance to hear many views.

Two web sites now. The Socialist Party USA (of which I'm a member - I'm also a member of the Committees of Correspondence of Democracy and Socialism and a member of Democratic Socialists of America) has a web site: sp-usa.org and the War Resisters League has a web site that is very useful right now with materials for opposing the war in Iraq: www.warresisters.org John Metz runs an excellent website that lists virtually all left groups and personalities - he sent me the address and I've lost it for the moment. Write John for the website. John Metz: revsocialist@xxxxxxxxxxx

Now we begin. You may expect me to begin with names that are familar - Stalin or Marx, Lenin or Trotsky, Debs or Thomas. But the roots of socialism go back before any of these men were born. While there have always been "communal" or "socialist" type cultures throughout history (those of you who are students of the Christian gospels will know that the local groups of the very early Christian Church functioned as a communist societies), socialism as an embracing system begins with the industrial revolution.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

It is sobering to realize that in the year 1800 no one could travel faster than a horse. No signal could be sent faster than by smoke signals or drums. When the sun set, the only light was some kind of fire, torch, or candle. While steam engines had been experimented with late in the 17th century, railroads and steam ships did not yet exist. Even weapons we take for granted - such as revolvers -- did not come into existence until well into the 18th century.

And the vast majority of people lived on the farm, grouped into small villages. Most people would live their entire lives without ever seeing "a great city". 1800 is not a thousand years ago - it is just a very little over 200 years ago. It is the immediate past.