The participants in early anti-feudal popular-revolutionary movements were men and women of mature age. They placed the most emphasis on trying to receive the knowledge that had been inaccessible for them until then. Therefore the question of adult education was at the foreground at all times. The education and schooling of children, thus, always appeared as a secondary/subordinate issue.
(...)

This problem, first brought to attention by the heretic movements followed by the early revolutionary movements, is highlighted throughout the entire history of the evolution of socialism and remains a timely problem everywhere even today, when the liberation of people from various forms of economic, political, social and, last but not least, cultural tyrannies has taken or is taking place. (...)

The analysis and review of heretic movements, their ideologies and the practical, educational and teaching activities deriving form the latter, are justified (apart from the above mentioned reasons) by other, equally important aspects as well.

In western countries many things have been written about the history of heretic movements. At the conference of historians held in Rome in 1955, an entire topic, titled `Populist Religious Movements and Heresies in the Middle Ages` was dedicated to medieval heretic movements leading up to the Hussite movement. As Mr. Morghen, a professor of history, summarised in his closing remarks, the common essence of the presentations and talks, valuable from a number of aspects, given by English, German, French and Italian historians is the following: `It seems unquestionable that medieval religious movements were inspired by neither class-consciousness nor economic demands. Their only driving force was nothing else but religion, the religious faith and aspirations of huge masses of people.`

Upon agreeing on a common starting point, the presenters tried to deny, either explicitly but rather implicitly, Engels` views and those of Marxist researchers in general. The essence of these views is the notion of `religious cover`, meaning that religious ideas in any given case express realistic, worldly demands.

The above described attitude seems to be dominating Western historical works evaluating both early, as well as late heretic movements. We will, at the right time, review some works of dominant representatives of this aspect.

First let us emphasize that it should be an important task of Marxist historiography to deny the above viewpoint, even when its minor details are concerned, by way of facts and arguments. All the more so because it cannot be accidental that it was after World War II that these Western tendencies came to the foreground, in parallel with the growth of the socialist camp and the emerging fear from the “communist menace”.

Without of doubt, one of the indirect means of the ideological fight against communism is trying to prove that it is not a result of evolution and natural development, but that it is unprecedented neither in populist/popular-revolutionary movements nor anywhere else.

This is what emphasising the religious character of the heretic movements is trying to support, much like denying the active participation of the Anabaptists in the peasant war, and the murky and negative description of the Munster commune. (...)

The ambitions/endeavours/efforts of the heretic movements to/towards public education and training/schooling, and the consistent realisation of these in the course of the various movements, clearly prove the primarily social, political character of the movements. They prove what had already been stated by Engels that in the case of medieval heretic movement‘s religious ideology is but a cover/disguise, the true essence behind it being the economic, social aspirations of peasant-plebeian strata.

There has never existed, in the course of history, a truly religious movement that set itself the aim of public education and the enlightenment of the people, a religious movement that enforced these efforts, throughout centuries, with growing intensity, as consistently as the heretic movements did.

The consistent realisation of these aims could only take place as a result of the enlightening aspirations of peasant-plebeian movements, of popular-revolutionary movements, originating from and intertwining with economic and political fights. 

Beyond the fact that so far we have only examined an up till now almost unexplored stage of the prehistory of Marxist pedagogy, after having explored the educational and pedagogical aspirations of early medieval popular-revolutionary movements, the above viewpoint has also justified what we chose as a subject of our research.
 

Questions regarding public education and the tuition of people at the time of the German peasant war. The evolution of Anabaptism and its efforts is people’s tuition.

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The question of where, when and under what circumstances Anabaptism was born, is still undecided in western historical studies.

It might strike as odd what efforts the western researchers, mainly living in the United States nowadays, made in order to set the date of  the birth. They assert, with the same intensity, that it was born exactly in 1525 – not before that and not after that.

We wonder why is it necessary and if it is possible at all to determine the year, even the day of the birth of a movement of popular origin? Even if it is not possible, yet some people, including the most well-known scientists in this area, find it necessary.

Having accepted that Anabaptism was born not before 1525, all those statements -including those of Engels’- will fail, which attach significant role to this heretic movement, before and in the peasant war itself. 

Some of the main aims of overseas scientists dealing with this question are being the overall denial of the political character and the revolutionary tendencies of Anabaptism, the denial of everything that aimed at social progress, and emphasizing the exclusivness and the explicitly religious character of the movement. 

This trend leads as far as not only detaching Anabaptism from populat-revolutionary movements, but some scientists deny even the relationships with the progressive circles in Basel, with Erasmus, and through him, with More and his Utopia. Because, as one distinguished scientist dealing with the past of the Anabaptists puts it,   „…where the Bible rules, there is no place for, and there is no need for social utopias”.

It will become clear later that this viewpoint, just as putting the date of the birth of the movement to 1525, is completely unacceptable.

It is not a presumption that we set against a presumption, but it is facts that clearly prove how close the connection between Anabaptists and the actions of the German peasant war and even to Munzern himself was, right from the beginnings. We cannot ignore the line either, which lead to humanist circles in Basel.

The Anabaptist movement was not born from one day to the other, thus we cannot define precisely which year it was formed in. Its evolution and its development cannot be separated from earlier medieval heretic movements either. Obviously it cannot be accidental that Zwickau, the German city where Anabaptists appear in large numbers for the first time, is located close to the Czech border.
The social, political aims that the movement set itself are not entirely new, but they came up in a higher level, in accordance with a higher level of social development.

As for the religious frame of the ideology of the movement, even contemporaries stated that the name „anabaptist” does not exatcly cover the ideology, and when its essence is concerned, it does not cover it at all.

It is not the necessity of anabaptising what Anabaptists. It was christening children what they opposed. They thought that children first have to become worthy of it, they have to consciously accept baptism and eveything that it means. Is is therefore not re-christening what is needed, but christening only when the child, as a result of a regular ethicoreligious education, has become matured for it. According to/In comformity with this principle, which principle already incorporates the importance of the education of children, they re-chrisened even thos adults who joined the movement in their mature age.

That was the cornedstone of the movement`s religious ideology, which represented an increased moral responsibility in itself for each member. Responsibility  for what one has accepted consciously, as opposed to the baptism of new borns, and what derived from the latter, notably the catholic and official interpretation of the tenet of grace.

The rejection of baptising babies was not a new phenomenon among heretic movements. Even followers and leaders of „donatism”, a heretic movement formed as early as the 4th century, despite their insufficient knowledge of the Bible, stated that there is no word about child-baptism in the Bible. Only with force can one originate it from there, similarly to the way Augustinus, an ardent adversary to donatists, found the basis of the right for persecuting heretics in the Bible, in the words of Jesus himself. The more widespread the knowledge of the Bible became among the peasant-plebeian strata through the forthcoming centuries, the more common this „heretic” idea had become, the direct consequence of what was the dismissal of child-baptism. Even the Catars refused baptism, together with other sacraments, and replaced them with different rites. Husitism also holds an opposing viewpoint against child-baptism.

Behind all these things there lies the though that becomes explicit/formulated in Anabaptism: the idea that noone can be made Christin against his or her will, since for that one needs to be personally converted, a confession of faith and a mature decision is needed.

Thus Anabaptism had been formed in the spirit of/on the basis of the idea of Chrisitanity taken up voluntarily and consciously; the movement that, as Engels point it out, was held together, apart from the above mentioned things, by the opposition of every ruling class.

This latter thing was what held the movement together, as well as the main reason.cause of its birth. Therefore it cannot be questionable that the deepest social roots of Anabaptism go back to the German peasant-plebeian movements of the turn of the 16th century.

The supporting class of Anabaptism was identical with that of medieval peasant-plebeian heretic movements. Most of its followers were from the peasant-plebeian strata. Their joining to the movement can be put down to their miserable way of life and their intensifying oppression in the beginning of the 16th century.

These are the strata that determine dominantly the ideological character of the movement. Keeping in mind the later development of the movement`s ideology, it is not possible to disregard the effect that humanism, especially the humanist circle established in Basel between 1515 and 1520, had on the peasant-plebeian wing of the movement. Although it is not as significant as the one mentioned above, we should as well examine certain democratizing tendencies of German humanism in the 1510s and 1520s.

We think Lutherian reformation is only relevant to our problem area where people`s education and tuition is concerned. Even with this we wish to emphasize that we do not consider Anabaptism a „reformed” herecy, as it is regarded in werstern historical works. We do not see it as a heretic movement tha had grown out of the ideology of Lutherian reformation, then turning against in the first place.

In connection with this we find it necessary to underline the fact that Anabaptism is a peasant-plebeian heretic movement that originated from people`s movements and that developed in unity with those. This is exactly why Anabaptism, after the initial hopes and the disappointment afterwards, turned against Lutherian reformation and went on with and developed those anti-feudal aspirations that early „protestant herecy” had represented –as the forerunner of popular reformation- as against feudal catholicism.