“The Reddest of the Red”–More Ignored History

Most of the Forty-Eighter socialists and communists that infested this country after the failed socialist revolts in Europe in 1848-49 are people we are told precious little about. Their influence on and in this country during and after the War Between the States is a subject that is mostly ignored by historians, or downplayed by those few that do give it a passing comment.

The man this article is about is one of those mostly ignored by those who peddle histories of that time period. The title of this article is what August von Willich was called by many in Cincinnati, Ohio where he was the editor of a radical, far-left newspaper. He had settled in this country, like many other Forty-Eighters, in 1853 after fleeing Europe because of his part in the socialist revolts there in 1848-49.

Willich was an officer in the Prussian army when he chanced to meet that beneficent reformer, Karl Marx. Shortly after that Willich became what one web site called a Marxian socialist. When the War Between the States broke out Willich, who by then had dropped the “von” from his name rushed to join the Union cause. In 1861 he was made a colonel in the 32nd Indiana–a German-American regiment.

Another web site listed him as a “convinced republican.” That seems a bit contradictory until you understand how the term “republican” is used in Communist circles. By Communist definition a republic is “a collectivist totalitarian state dependent on and subservient to the Soviet Union, Red China, or some Communist power center,” Admittedly that is a modern definition but it would have fit the communist mindset in the 19th century.

Like most leftists, Willich had a rather condescending view of Americans. He once stated that “…in this republic a beginning is possible only through the German element…” In other words, this country just would not make it without German socialist influence and help and Willich and his Forty-Eighter friends who had fled their own countries after their revolutions has failed were now here–and more than ready to help in the formation of a socialist United States. In fact, that was their main goal here.

In our book “Lincoln’s Marxists” published in 2011, Walter Kennedy and I deal with this very subject–the socialist desire to import their revolution to this country. Until we had published our first edition of this way back in 2007 and then a second edition in 2011, almost no one had touched this subject in over 50 years and our current crop of “Civil War historians” were not about to awaken the reading public with any of this information. It was better just to write books about battles and generals and ignore the reasons many of them fought–except for the slavery issue–which was blown out of all proportions and made the sole cause of the war–a proposition that is ludicrous if you really study the issues.

We noted in “Lincoln’s Marxists” on page 180 that “Willich was impatient with Americans because they did not share his ‘communist’ vision for their country and for their future. It is not uncommon for radicals, especially those on the left to be impatient with those who do not share their ideology.”

Willich was a dogmatic socialist, eventually becoming a general, who “did not hesitate to sermonize on the merits of the communist/socialist system.” One of the few who even noted this was William L. Burton in his book “Melting Pot Soldiers.” Burton observed that Willich lectured his soldiers about the virtues of socialism. This in this country in the 1860s–Union soldiers being prepped on the greatness of socialism! You have to wonder–if Willich was doing this, how many other socialist or communist officers were doing the same thing that we are never told about. The “history” books are silent regarding any of this.

If the Forty-Eighter socialists were the backbone of the early Union army as Friedrich Engels, Marx’s close associate contended, how much socialist indoctrination went on at that time that we were never told about–and what effect did some of that have in the army later on?

It would seem that this country has been on the road to communism much longer than anyone wants to believe. And maybe many of the “historians” love to have it so.