The Ninth Article.-- In the ninth place, we are burdened with a great evil in the constant making of new laws.We are not judged according to the offense, but sometimes with great ill will, and sometimes much too leniently.In our opinion we should be judged according to the old written law so that the case shall be decided according to its merits, and not with partiality.
The Tenth Article.-- In the tenth place, we are aggrieved by the appropriation by individuals of meadows and fields which at one time belonged to a community.These we will take again into our own hands.
It may, however, happen that the land was rightfully purchased.When, however, the land has unfortunately been purchased in this way, some brotherly arrangement should be made according to circumstances.
The Eleventh Article.-- In the eleventh place we will entirely abolish the due called Todfall (that is, heriot) and will no longer endure it, nor allow widows and orphans to be thus shamefully robbed against God's will, and in violation of justice and right, as has been done in many places, and by those who should shield and protect them.
These have disgraced and despoiled us, and although they had little authority they assumed it.God will suffer this no more, but it shall be wholly done away with, and for the future no man shall be bound to give little or much.
Conclusion.-- In the twelfth place it is our conclusion and final resolution, that if any one or more of the articles here set forth should not be in agreement with the word of God, as we think they are, such article we will willingly recede from when it is proved really to be against the word of God by a clear explanation of the Scripture.
Or if articles should now be conceded to us that are hereafter discovered to be unjust, from that hour they shall be dead and null and without force.
Likewise, if more complaints should be discovered which are based upon truth and the Scriptures and relate to offenses against God and our neighbour, we have determined to reserve the right to present these also, and to exercise ourselves in all Christian teaching.For this we shall pray God, since He can grant these, and He alone.The peace of Christ abide with us all.
The Peasant War in GermanyFrederick Engels'
THE PEASANT WAR IN GERMANYCOMMENTS
BY D.RIAZANOV, 1925 F our hundred years have passed since the great Peasant War in Germany.It differs from similar peasant uprisings of the Fourteenth Century in Italy, France and England, in that these uprisings were of a more or less local character and were directed against the money economy then in the process of development, while the Peasant War, unfolding in the epoch of early capitalism which was creating a world market, was intimately related to the events of the Reformation.This more complex historic background, compared with the background of the Fourteenth Century, rendered more complex the class grouping whose struggle determined the whole course of the Peasant War.The role of proletarian elements also becomes more pronounced compared with earlier uprisings.
It was natural that, with the growth of a democratic movement in Germany, especially after the July Revolution in France, attention should be directed towards the study of the great Peasant War.A series of popular brochures and works examining individual phases of the movement made their appearance, and in 1841 there was published the monumental work of [Wilhelm]
Zimmermann, which, to the present time, remains the most detailed narrative of the events of the Peasant War in Germany.
It was also natural that the German communists, confronted with the necessity of determining how far the peasantry could be relied upon as a revolutionary factor, should have carefully studied the history of the Peasant War.Their attention was particularly drawn to the leaders of the Peasant War, one of whom was Thomas Muenzer.It is characteristic that as early as 1845, Engels, in one of his first articles for the Chartist "Northern Star," called the attention of the English workers to this "famous leader of the Peasant War of 1525," who, according to Engels, was a real democrat, and fought for real demands, not illusions.
Marx and Engels, who very soberly regarded the role of the peasantry in the realization of a social revolution never underestimated its role as a revolutionary factor in the struggle against the large landowners and the feudal masters.They understood very well that the more the peasantry falls under the leadership of revolutionary classes which unite it, the more capable it is of general political actions.Led by the revolutionary proletariat, supporting its struggle against capitalism in the city and the village, the peasantry appeared to be a very important ally.This is why Marx and Engels, during the revolution of 1848-49, mercilessly exposed the cowardly conduct of the German bourgeoisie, which, currying favour with the Junkers and afraid of the proletariat, had refused to defend the interests of the peasantry.
