An article in the December 1, 2025, edition of The New York Times provided an in-depth look into the life of Jessica Mitford, who is best known, I believe, for having authored The American Way of Death.
But did you know she was a communist? Well, I didn't, or had forgotten that fact, if I ever knew it.
The recent article in The Times is titled this way: "The High-Born Rebel Who Took Up the Cause of the Commoner." It provides a lot of background on Mitford, known to her family and friends as "Decca," and the article includes the picture above, in which Jessica/Decca is at the far left. That picture also appears in an earlier Times' article, "The 6 Mitford Sisters, Their Jewelry and a New TV Series." That article was published on May 25th of last year.
Oddly enough, The most recent Times' article made me think about our Declaration of Independence, and particularly its claim that it is "self-evident" that "all [persons] are created equal."
I know that the Declaration actually says that it is all "men," not all "persons" who are created "equal," but I think we now all believe that the 1776 expression was certainly intended to apply to everyone, not just males. Of course, there may be an argument to the contrary, since if it was truly "self-evident" to our Founding Fathers (and to those who came after them) that men and women were "equal," politically and governmentally speaking, then it is a little difficult to explain why women didn't get the right to vote, as our nation came into existence, and why the Constitution was amended to give freed [male] slaves the right to vote in 1870, but women only got the right to vote in 1919, almost fifty years later.
Anyway, here is how the recent article mentioning all of the Mitford sisters made me start thinking about the Declaration of Independence, and its claim that all persons are created equal. There were six sisters, and they were all quite different in their political preferences, not to mention in other things, too.
The oldest sister, Nancy, became a novelist and parodied the upper classes. No real political involvements are mentioned. The next oldest sister, Pamela, went into seclusion at an early age, and it is intimated that she lived as a lesbian - again, no real "political" views are mentioned. Diana, the next in line, called the "great beauty of the family," was a bonafide Fascist, who got married at the home of Joseph Goebbels. Unity, the next sister, went to Germany to pursue a romance with Hitler, and ended up as one of his inner circle. Then came Decca (Jessica), who became a Communist. The youngest, Deborah was a Duchess, with "royalty" her seeming political preference.
I have always thought that it is critical to understand that "Equal" does not mean "the Same," or "Similar," and this listing of the different political affiliations of the Mitford sisters made me think about it again. If, in fact, if we are "all Equal," as the Declaration claims is "self-evident," this is obviously not because we are similar, or are in any way "the same." We are, all of us, totally "different" from one another. We are not created "the Same." If there is anything that is "self-evident" that's it. The Mitford women illuminate how true that is.
But what, then, does it mean to affirm that it is "self-evident" that all of us are "created equal"?
That language in the Declaration, it seems to me, is the strongest possible affirmation that we are absolutely "Equal" in our rights, and privileges, and in our absolutely proper demand that we receive equal treatment by our government, despite every possible difference that might be cited to divide us.
What about "transgender" persons, to pick a "hot topic?" Transgender persons, like women, like person with dark skin, like everyone in all their manifold distinctiveness are totally and absolutely "equal" to everyone else with respct to their claim upon the society, which is to be enforced and enabled by our government.
Why the article on the Mitford sisters made me think of this is not completely clear, but that single family, in its differences, does illustrate how we need to understand that our society and our government is committed - must be committed - to treating everyone "equally," no matter how "different" they may be.
Isn't that a wonderful understanding of what it means to be alive?
We live in a nation that has been founded on what we have claimed as a self-evident truth that we are "Equal," and that this radical equality of all humans, everywhere, is the only relevant thing when it comes to government. Our "differences," so often held to be of such importance, have no real relevance, at all, when we consider our government, and how it is supposed to act.
Despite differences, we are "all in this together." Once we think about it, that is, indeed, "self-evident." All different. All "Equal." All "in it together."
How great!
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