From the Archives

From the Archives

Declaration of Sentiments and Constitution of the New-England Labor-Reform League (1869)

October 21, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Having met to promote associative effort for the emancipation of labor, it is proper to indicate reasons which inspire this action, and the objects we aim to accomplish. Believing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, inalienable privileges, we affirm the right of every human being to the means necessary to secure and maintain them. Land, mines, air, water, vegetables, animals, all material and spiritual objects, unmodified by human skill are natural wealth, to be held free and common;

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From the Archives

Henry Edger, “Prostitution and the International Woman’s League” (1877)

September 19, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Henry Edger, “Prostitution and the International Woman’s League,” The Radical Review 1, no. 3 (November 1877): 397-418. PROSTITUTION AND THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN’S LEAGUE. Human questions need for their effectual study to be regarded from all points of view, and from all points of view simultaneously. — Richard Congreve. A YEAR or two ago there were distributed to a select few in this and some other countries some pamphlets, —one the Prospectus, and another the “ Constitution and By-laws,” of a projected “International Woman’s League,” the object of which League is stated to be “ the advancement and elevation of woman […]
From the Archives

Henry Olerich, “What the American Civil War Has Not Done” (1893)

August 24, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
PERHAPS all well-informed persons admit that chattel slavery was the cause of the American Civil War. All other questions that were incidentally drawn into the controversy were but secondary, and would likely have been treated as ordinary questions of politics. The animosity which caused the Civil War was created by the agitation of the slave question; and it is altogether probable that if slavery had not been introduced in to the United States, the Civil War would not have occurred. The previous union of the southern with the northern states is evidence that a friendly feeling between them had once existed, and if no enmity had been created between them by the agitation of the slavery question, there would not have been a desire to secede; for no one desires to withdraw from a partnership that is harmonious and profitable.

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From the Archives

Margaret C. Anderson, “Art and Anarchism” (1916)

August 16, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Art and Anarchism MARGARET C. ANDERSON WHEN “they” ask you what anarchism is, and you scuffle around for the most convincing definition, why don’t you merely ask instead: “What is art?” Because anarchism and art are in the world for exactly the same kind of reason. An anarchist is a person who realizes the gulf that lies between government and life; an artist is a person who realizes the gulf that lies between life and love. The former knows that he can never get from the government what he really needs for life; the latter knows that he can never […]
From the Archives

Arturo M. Giovannitti, “The Constructive Side of Syndicalism” (1907)

August 8, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Like all the other new theories that have loomed up in the horizon on the troubled waters of capitalist society, or, for that matter, any society whatever, syndicalism is naturally going to be very much maligned, calumniated, and revolted against, not only by those that are not in sympathy with it from the economic point of view, but also from those that are sincere in their beliefs and earnest in uplifting mankind to the higher plane of civilization. It has been ever so throughout history, and it is so today.

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From the Archives

Arturo M. Giovannitti, “Syndicalism—The Creed of Force” (1913)

August 7, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
  Syndicalism—The Creed of Force BY ARTURO M. GIOVANNITTI “As a revolutionary organization the Industrial Workers of the World, aims to use any and all tactics that will get the results sought with the least expenditure of time and energy. The question of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ does not concern us.” To interpret this statement from Andre Tridon’s “The New Unionism” we asked Mr. Giovanitti, as a leader in the I. W. W., to express his personal views on the ethics of industrial unionism. Born in Campobasso, Italy, he has been a coal miner in Canada, a student at Union Theological […]
From the Archives

Sidney H. Morse, “Ethics of the Homestead Strike” (1892)

July 4, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
“Ethics of the Homestead Strike” appeared in the third volume of The Conservator over the signature “* * *.” In the next volume, another tale, “A Social Symphony: In Six Movements,” appeared with the same signature. It was, however, interrupted after the fourth “movement.” The style of the work suggests it is another work by Sidney H. Morse, so I have included it here, at the end of “Ethics.” Related links: in The Conservator [Google Books] pamphlet [Google Books] Bilbliography: * * * [Sidney H. Morse], “Ethics of the Homestead Strike,” The Conservator 3 no. 6 (August, 1892): 42-44; 3 […]
From the Archives

Sidney H. Morse, “So the Railway Kings Itch for an Empire, Do They?” (1877)

July 4, 2019 Shawn P. Wilbur
Related links: The Radical Review [Google Books] pamphlet [Internet Archive] A page from Benjamin R. Tucker’s catalog, identifying Morse as “A Red-Hot Striker.” SO THE RAILWAY KINGS ITCH FOR AN EMPIRE, DO THEY? By “A RED-HOT STRIKER.” (Being a letter to Mr. W. M. Grosvenor, whose slander of working-people in the “International Review” has stirred me up mightily.) Scranton, Pa., September 15, 1877. COMPLIMENTS to Mr. Grosvenor. So you and Jay Gould want an Empire, do you? I’m glad you’ve shown your hand. It’s what I’ve been expecting that some of you fellows would do. You run up Tom Scott […]