Learn About Our Radical Past Through Larry Gara’s Radical Quizzes

Between 1989 and 2002, Larry Gara produced four “radical quizzes” for WRL’s Nonviolent Activist to encourage everyone to learn about our radical past. The first, “A Radical Quiz,” was published in the September 1989 issue. Gara, a professor at Wilmington College in Ohio, a WWII resister, and a long-time WRL member, wrote an introduction for the first quiz. Gara said:

“Our view of history contributes to the way we think about ourselves and the society of which we are a part, like it or not. Much public school history excludes virtually everything but wars and politics. Valley Forge, Gettysburg and Normandy constitute our links with the past, and those who died fighting in such places are pictured as the only heroes of the nation. College courses are somewhat better, with at least a passing mention of reform movements, and in recent years an inclusion of a few blacks and women. Yet very few history courses tell of the significant role which dissenters have played in our past. The myth that change takes place only through the ballot box is still perpetuated.

Traditional history neglects the long, complex and varied campaign to abolish slavery, the sixty-year struggle of women for the vote, the strong socialist movement in the years preceding World War I, and especially the contributions of the war resistance movement. The latter is particularly notable in its absence. One can search in vain through the many recent publications about World Wars I and II for a mention of those who resisted the wars and what they contributed to our heritage. They were fighting war itself, while their contemporaries were fighting in a war. To deny their very existence is to deprive all current resisters of their roots.

With some effort, it is possible to recapture this hidden aspect of our radical history. Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States is a good place to start. There is substantial literature for virtually all of the radical movements. An excellent introduction to our nonviolent radical history is The Power of the People by Robert Cooney and Helen Michalowski. Peter Brock’s massive Pacifism in the United States from the Colonial Era to the First World War contains a wealth of information. Charles Chatfield’s For Peace and Justice: Pacifism in America, 1914-1941 and Lawrence S. Wittner’s Rebels Against War: The American Peace Movement 1941-1960 cover the more recent period.

This quiz is designed to whet your appetite for a deeper knowledge of our radical past. Look up those names and events that are unfamiliar and you’ll be on your way.”

Two more quizzes by Gara appeared in Nonviolent Activist in October/November 1991 and November/December 1997. A fourth Radical Quiz co-authored by Gara and Judith Mahoney Pasternak appeared in the March/April 2002 issue.

[Answers to the 12 questions: 1B, 2A, 3B, 4D, 5B, 6C, 7A, 8B, 9D, 10B, 11A, 12D]