Voltairine de Cleyre

The Sex Question

Sadakichi Hartmann, “Voltairine de Cleyre” (1915)

August 5, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE By Sadakichi Hartmann THE first and only time I heard Voltairine de Cleyre lecture was at Walker’s N. Y. Liberal Club, way back in 1894. The topic was “Mary Wollstonecraft, the Apostle of Equal Rights.” The even delivery, the subdued enthusiasm of her voice, the abundance of information, thought and argument, and the logical sequence of the same made a deep impression upon me. I was at that time a lecture fan, and able to make comparisons of her straightforward method with the performances of other public speakers. She had nothing of the pompous, climax-building elocutionary oratory […]
The Sex Question

Leonard D. Abbott, “Voltairine de Cleyre’s Posthumous Book” (1914)

August 5, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE’S POSTHUMOUS BOOK By Leonard D. Abbott. THERE is a famous painting which shows the Statue of Liberty looming up through the mists of New York Harbor. At the base of the statue ships are concealed by a fog. In the background, the sky-scrapers of the metropolis are stained by a heavy and unwholesome atmosphere. The only sunlight in the picture falls on the head and the uplifted torch of the womansymbol of Liberty. She is rising triumphant over commercialism, and her torch is strong and steadfast. It is in some such way as this that I think […]
reviews

Lilian Hiller Udell, “An American Anarchist” (1914)

August 3, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
An American Anarchist Selected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre. [Mother Earth Publishing Association, New York.] Into every generation are born certain personalities that have the gift of attracting vast multitudes within their orbit, dominating them, animating them with a single purpose, directing them to a common goal. There are other personalities more richly gifted, of more extended vision, who nevertheless live and die unknown to the greater number of their contemporaries. Aristocrats of the mind, these latter disdain to practice the arts by which popularity is gained and held. They attract, but do not seek to dominate. They persuade, but […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “Cremation” (1890)

August 1, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
For the Boston Investigator. CREMATION. Mr. Editor:—An article in the Truth Seeker from the pen of A. B. Bradford upon the subject of cremation suggested to me the propriety of describing a visit to the Chelten Hills cemetery made by a friend and myself some months ago. Much of the prejudice prevailing among even Freethinkers against this method of disposing of the dead is owning to ignorance of the process of cremation, and the surrounding of the last home of the silent. One bitter winter evening, by a queer accident, the manager of the Cremation Society called upon my friend, […]
obituaries and funeral orations

Voltairine de Cleyre, “Dyer D. Lum”

July 31, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Dyer D. Lum February 15, 1839–April 6, 1893 One of the silent martyrs whose graves are trodden to the level by their fellows’ feet, almost before it is seen that they have fallen, completed his martyrdom one year ago to-night. There are thousands of such, why then commemorate this one? Let our answer be that in this one we commemorate all the others, and if we have chosen his day and name, it is because his genius, his work, his character was one of those rare gems produced in the great mine of suffering and flashing backward with all its changing lights […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “A Correction” (1902)

July 31, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
A Correction. Dear Lillian: Lucifer makes me say: “If it shall happen that Society condemns anything which my conscience doesn’t approve, I shall not be scared from my position by being told that Society is NOT on my side.” It should read “that Society is on my side.” Every radical claims to be brave enough to stand against society; what I was claiming was to stand with it when it went my way. Please make correction in Lucifer. Voltairine de Cleyre. Voltairine de Cleyre, “A Correction,” Lucifer the Light-Bearer, Third Series, 6 no. 30 (August 7, E. M. 302 (C. […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “Mechanics and Vacant Land” (1890)

July 31, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
Mechanics and Vacant Land.—While my views in general accord with those of the Twentieth Century editors, I cannot forbear to offer a criticism upon Mr. M’Cready’s recent advice to the unemployed of San Francisco. In your issue of March 20 he says: “Do you know I think if those 25,000 men. . . would justly, quietly and persistently assert their right to apply their labor to 25,000 patches of vacant land, they would give the constituted authorities a problem that wouldn’t be solved in a hurry.” Now, while it is true that the land monopoly is the root monopoly, it […]
The Sex Question

Jay Fox, “Voltairine de Cleyre” (1923)

July 31, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE. (Report of Speech at Voltairine de Cleyre Memorial Meeting.) Coming to this meeting I rode with a green conductor, a young man who was probably making his lirst trip, and I was struck by his awkwardness in performing apparently so simple a task and by his efforts to conceal the fact of his amateurishness. He fumbled the change, got the transfers mixed, forgot to pull the bell—and all the time he chewed gum and tried to act like a veteran. He tried to deceive us and put on a bold front in spite of all the evidence […]
The Sex Question

Leonard D. Abbott, “A Priestess of Pity and of Vengeance” (1912)

July 31, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
A PRIESTESS OF PITY AND OF VENGEANCE ON June 19 Voltairine de Cleyre died in Chicago. The daily papers in most cases did not even record the fact. The news reached the radical public through the medium of her friends and through memorial meetings held in Chicago and New York. Very few realize even yet that one of the most remarkable characters of our time has passed on. Her reputation, I venture to predict, will last for centuries. She was an Anarchist, “a priestess of pity and of vengeance,” as W. T. Stead once called Louise Michel. In the sad […]
The Sex Question

Voltairine de Cleyre, “A Memorial Oration” (1913)

July 31, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur
A Memorial Oration [November 11, 1901] Let me begin with a confession. I make it sorrowfully and with self-disgust; but in the presence of great sacrifice we learn humility, and if my comrades could give their lives for their belief, why let me give my pride. Yet I would not give it, for personal utterance is of trifling importance, were it not that I think at this particular season, it will encourage those of our sympathizers whom the recent outburst of Savagery may have disheartened, and perhaps lead some who are standing where I once stood to do as I […]