1906

The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “Kristofer Hansteen” (1906)

July 28, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
“OF the earth, unearthly—” The sentence remained unfinished as I had written it two years and a half ago when Disease laid its hand on me, and all my MSS. ended in a dash. It was a description of Kristofer Hansteen, an explanation of his work in Norway. And now that I am ready to pick up the thread of life again, I read that he is dead—of the earth no more, he who hardly ever belonged to it. At this moment the most insistent memory I have of that delicate, half-aërial personality are the words: “When the doctors told […]
The Sex Question

L. I. Peretz, “Hope and Fear” (1906; Voltairine de Cleyre, tr.)

July 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
HOPE AND FEAR.* (Translated from the Jewish of L. I. Peretz.) . . . My heart is with you. My eye does not get weary looking at your flaming banner; my ear does not get tired listening to your powerful song . . . My heart is with you; man’s hunger must be appeased, and he must have light; he must be free, and he must be his own master, master over himself and his work. And when you snap at the fist which is trying to strangle you, your voice, and your ardent protest, preventing you from being heard […]
fiction

Lizzie M. Holmes, “The Worst of Crimes” (1906)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
The Worst of Crimes. There are crimes for which we imprison and hang, and consider our duty well done. We brand men as felons for stealing a few dollars or injuring a fellow being, perhaps in a fit of anger, and set them aside, a class by themselves too low for human kindness. But there are acts committed by good men which we do not punish by law that work more evil in the world than any petty thief or common murderer could bring about. And men who grow rich by these acts are honored and respected and pointed at […]
fiction

Lizzie M. Holmes, “The True Teachings” (1906)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
The True Teachings. Once upon a time there was a good and wise being who was the chief of all the people in the land, and greatly beloved and honored by them. He left them to the care of several of his favorite sons, who at different times came and dwelt among them and taught them how to live, so as to attain -the greatest happiness. One especially, whom all the people who knew him loved dearly, came and lived a simple, truthful life, and taught the people that they were all brothers and the children of one father. He […]
The Sex Question

Lizzie M. Holmes, “Trade Unionism the Only Hope” (1906)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Trade Unionism The Only Hope. IT SHOULD be self-evident that in trade unionism the toiler finds his only hope and security while we live under the commercial system which reigns today. Sugar coat it as we may, labor is today a commodity, and the capitalist goes into the market and buys it as cheaply as it can be purchased. So there seems to be no limit to the lowering of wages were there no preventing forces. Men’s very necessities compel them to compete with one another until the very lowest possible living price is reached. The fact that a man […]
The Sex Question

Lizzie M. Holmes, “Trade Unionism the Only Hope” (1906)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Trade Unionism The Only Hope. IT SHOULD be self-evident that in trade unionism the toiler finds his only hope and security while we live under the commercial system which reigns today. Sugar coat it as we may, labor is today a commodity, and the capitalist goes into the market and buys it as cheaply as it can be purchased. So there seems to be no limit to the lowering of wages were there no preventing forces. Men’s very necessities compel them to compete with one another until the very lowest possible living price is reached. The fact that a man […]
fiction

Lizzie M. Holmes, “A Plain Story of Plain Folks” (1906)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
A Plain Story of Plain Folks. Somewhere at the head of the long, dusty, noisy room a bell rank out, the big wheel slowed up, the sewing machines on the long tables ceased their clatter and the new silence seemed to settle down with a startling emphasis on ears accustomed for so many hours to a ceaseless din and turmoil. It was hot, suffocating unwholesome, and the very air seemed to reek with weariness and lassitude. The hands were too tired for their usual banter and chaff as they passed one another, but piled up their work and hurried away […]
The Sex Question

Emma Goldman, “Russell Sage” (1906)

June 28, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
RUSSELL SAGE. Emma Goldman. WHAT an indictment against Society! Impure and poisonous, indeed, must have been the soil that nurtured such a plant. The champions of the capitalistic system assert that the majority will ever have to live in poverty and misery, and that millions of backs are to remain forever bent, to sustain the magnificent structure called civilization. Were we all to toil to produce the mere necessities of life—they say—who would foster art, poetry, and literature? Surely, there must be a select few. By their culture and aestheticism, by their refinement and beauty, they illuminate and elevate those […]
The Sex Question

Emma Goldman, “The Tragedy of Woman’s Emancipation” (1906)

June 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
The Tragedy of Woman’s Emancipation By Emma Goldman I BEGIN my article with an admission: Regardless of all political and economic theories, treating of the fundamental differences between the various groups within the human race, regardless of class and race distinctions, regardless of all artificial boundary lines between woman’s rights and man’s rights, I hold that there is a point where these differentiations may meet and grow into one perfect whole. With this I do not mean to propose a peace treaty. The general social antagonism which has taken hold of our entire public life to-day, brought about through the […]
The Sex Question

Emma Goldman, “Police Brutality” (1906)

June 27, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
POLICE BRUTALITY. Liberty by the grace of the police and the might of the club was again brought home to us in the most brutal and unspeakable manner. A club of young boys and girls, peaceably assembled Saturday night, October 27th, to listen to a discourse as to whether or not Leon Czolgosz was an Anarchist. At the close of the meeting three of the speakers—Julius Edelson, M. Moscow, and M. Rubinstein—were arrested and placed under $1,000 bail each. Tuesday, October 30th, a meeting was called to protest against the arrest of these boys and the suppression of free speech. […]