Click on the headline to link to the Boston Occupier Archives.
Markin comment:
Defend the Occupy movement! Hands Off All Occupy Protestors!
Thursday, March 22, 2012
From Archives Of “Boston Occupier” –Newspaper Of “Occupy Boston” (OB)-Issue Number One-November 18, 2011
Click on the headline to link to the Boston Occupier Archives.
Markin comment:
Defend the Occupy movement! Hands Off All Occupy Protestors!
Markin comment:
Defend the Occupy movement! Hands Off All Occupy Protestors!
Ancient dreams, dreamed-What Peter Paul Markin Learned About His World Despite Himself- Magical Realism 101
Ancient dreams, dreamed-What Peter Paul Markin Learned About His World Despite Himself- Magical Realism 101
A cloudless day, a cloudless Korean War day, talk of peace, merciless truce peace against some heathen communist red menace if not beaten exactly at least held at bay for now day. And blaring over some miniature black and white furry fuzzy television snow in the back room(what did he know of movie house-sized screens) Eisenhower, named, big chief go to Korea breakthrough this and that. Stern, straight-back, upright, remote grandfather Ike whom Peter Paul Markin would toast, milk toast and god bless, along with Big Brother on later noontime walk home to lunch-breaks television salutes. (No, not Orwellian 1984 Animal Farm Big Brother but gentle uncle or grandfatherly, not Ike grandfatherly, stern military but real gentle, Big Brother and maybe you could even talk to him about stuff and he wouldn’t laugh at you but maybe just put on a wry smile like he was realizing for the millionth time that kids say crazy stuff, real crazy, but harmless, stuff if you let them.) Stern too late military-industrial complex warning Ike whom Peter Paul Markin would come to later loathe for his being too late after the horse was let out of the barn, Ike loathe, when he too late himself realized that he was madly for adlai in that great Los Angeles mad rush summer sweat night a few years ahead.
But that mad rush story, and the loathing part too, is for another time and frankly is not a story that fits in with a kid, even a Peter Paul Markin ambient kid, just starting out in school notching up his first infinite school year finish and who this moment is trying to draw, yes, draw some conclusions out of what had just happened from bright dewy day September to moist and sweaty June rollout. He feeling, feeling then somewhere between “knowing it all” (christ, having that superior feeling based on a few letters, a few words, a couple of short stories read, a few numbers put together in different combinations, being able to tell time and tying his shoes, well kind of tying his shoes. This lad is headed for big falls, big falls indeed) and it, school, not being “all that big a deal” like his brother Prescott said. He, let down that a lot things that were supposed to be hurdles, high hurdles too, he just glided over (after learning some tie shoe tricks from Mike Mitchell who would later fall defending his country in some Mekong Delta swamp and no grandmother consolations against that childhood lost there, ever). It was to be the other stuff; the Rasputin evil blue eyes frantic romantic big fish in a small pond stuff that would unravel him in the end. That too, that saga of unraveling, is for another day.
Grandmother peace talk was in the sweltering air too, later to be learned that it was the only kind that mattered, over brooding sores and sons. The kind of peace being talked over many tables in working-class South Boston of distance cousins beaten up bad in some Inchon snow, North Adamsville uncles now coming home safe and sound, Steubenville, Ohio, unknowns but brothers, lost brothers, later to be seen on memorial stones overlooking harbors and Castle Island retreats. Blessed ocean view to wash away salty grandmother tears.
Somebody’s grandmother and some gold star mother too just look out the window across any street you will see them displayed in South Boston, North Adamsville, Steubenville still in Ohio and Muncie too, Indiana though. Maybe not so many such stars in Back Bay, Wellesley, Grosse Point but how was he to know that then. He only heard grandmother talk, grandmother peace talk and sons and uncles home soon safe and sound. That is the peace talk that counts about uncles coming home safe and sound, thank god, in the grandmother sweet cakes smelling air. And not even the Fourth of July yet.
But back to figuring, back to hot, hot, hot end of June day not yet the Fourth of July with sweets, tonics (sodas now) , and ice creams to match those sweet cake smells, figuring out about why Miss Winot (whose name forever after he always spelled “why not” just like she pronounced it for the whole class that very first misty crying day of school when he wasn’t sure that he wanted to stay but he was sure he didn’t want to seem like a baby and run home to Ma like Billy Badger did. ( Billy a kid destined for fifteen minutes of fame, although not the kind that he craved, a seamless death and international notoriety in some back alley Mexican dusty street two pounds, or was it kilos, in his satchel trying, trying unsuccessfully to make that big score he always talked about making and winding up face down for his efforts.)
As Peter Paul placed a blanket, a mother-mandated scratch throwaway blanket so he would not soil his freshly-washed white shorts, only once worn, on grandmother’s sacred parcel one inch by one inch lawn, freshly mown, he thought of the fellowship fields. The welcome young fields that he would play in after the Fourth Of July dust settled down, with his new found clot of friends, all boys of course although being from a boy full family he wondered, wondered about girls, and being scared of them and maybe lifetime not understanding them when they squealed over every little thing. But he didn’t think much about it one way or the other, just a fly buzzing overhead annoyance kind of think.
Yes, Peter Paul laying face up on freshly mown grass near fellowship carved-out fields, fields for slides and swings, diamonded baseball, no, friendlier softball fields, the houses are too close together and to the field in case of oddball batted flies, of gimps, glues, copper-plated portraits, of sweet shaded elms, and one thousand other scenes realized that starting now he too, that nose-flattened against some frozen-paned front window brother of years gone by, had been to foreign places in the time of his time. And ahead some push, some unconsecrated, menaced push, to find his own place in the sun. But fret wondering, constantly wondering, what means this, what means that, and why all the changes, slow changes, fast changes, blip changes, but changes flashing by his head.
A cloudless day, a cloudless Korean War day, talk of peace, merciless truce peace against some heathen communist red menace if not beaten exactly at least held at bay for now day. And blaring over some miniature black and white furry fuzzy television snow in the back room(what did he know of movie house-sized screens) Eisenhower, named, big chief go to Korea breakthrough this and that. Stern, straight-back, upright, remote grandfather Ike whom Peter Paul Markin would toast, milk toast and god bless, along with Big Brother on later noontime walk home to lunch-breaks television salutes. (No, not Orwellian 1984 Animal Farm Big Brother but gentle uncle or grandfatherly, not Ike grandfatherly, stern military but real gentle, Big Brother and maybe you could even talk to him about stuff and he wouldn’t laugh at you but maybe just put on a wry smile like he was realizing for the millionth time that kids say crazy stuff, real crazy, but harmless, stuff if you let them.) Stern too late military-industrial complex warning Ike whom Peter Paul Markin would come to later loathe for his being too late after the horse was let out of the barn, Ike loathe, when he too late himself realized that he was madly for adlai in that great Los Angeles mad rush summer sweat night a few years ahead.
But that mad rush story, and the loathing part too, is for another time and frankly is not a story that fits in with a kid, even a Peter Paul Markin ambient kid, just starting out in school notching up his first infinite school year finish and who this moment is trying to draw, yes, draw some conclusions out of what had just happened from bright dewy day September to moist and sweaty June rollout. He feeling, feeling then somewhere between “knowing it all” (christ, having that superior feeling based on a few letters, a few words, a couple of short stories read, a few numbers put together in different combinations, being able to tell time and tying his shoes, well kind of tying his shoes. This lad is headed for big falls, big falls indeed) and it, school, not being “all that big a deal” like his brother Prescott said. He, let down that a lot things that were supposed to be hurdles, high hurdles too, he just glided over (after learning some tie shoe tricks from Mike Mitchell who would later fall defending his country in some Mekong Delta swamp and no grandmother consolations against that childhood lost there, ever). It was to be the other stuff; the Rasputin evil blue eyes frantic romantic big fish in a small pond stuff that would unravel him in the end. That too, that saga of unraveling, is for another day.
Grandmother peace talk was in the sweltering air too, later to be learned that it was the only kind that mattered, over brooding sores and sons. The kind of peace being talked over many tables in working-class South Boston of distance cousins beaten up bad in some Inchon snow, North Adamsville uncles now coming home safe and sound, Steubenville, Ohio, unknowns but brothers, lost brothers, later to be seen on memorial stones overlooking harbors and Castle Island retreats. Blessed ocean view to wash away salty grandmother tears.
Somebody’s grandmother and some gold star mother too just look out the window across any street you will see them displayed in South Boston, North Adamsville, Steubenville still in Ohio and Muncie too, Indiana though. Maybe not so many such stars in Back Bay, Wellesley, Grosse Point but how was he to know that then. He only heard grandmother talk, grandmother peace talk and sons and uncles home soon safe and sound. That is the peace talk that counts about uncles coming home safe and sound, thank god, in the grandmother sweet cakes smelling air. And not even the Fourth of July yet.
But back to figuring, back to hot, hot, hot end of June day not yet the Fourth of July with sweets, tonics (sodas now) , and ice creams to match those sweet cake smells, figuring out about why Miss Winot (whose name forever after he always spelled “why not” just like she pronounced it for the whole class that very first misty crying day of school when he wasn’t sure that he wanted to stay but he was sure he didn’t want to seem like a baby and run home to Ma like Billy Badger did. ( Billy a kid destined for fifteen minutes of fame, although not the kind that he craved, a seamless death and international notoriety in some back alley Mexican dusty street two pounds, or was it kilos, in his satchel trying, trying unsuccessfully to make that big score he always talked about making and winding up face down for his efforts.)
As Peter Paul placed a blanket, a mother-mandated scratch throwaway blanket so he would not soil his freshly-washed white shorts, only once worn, on grandmother’s sacred parcel one inch by one inch lawn, freshly mown, he thought of the fellowship fields. The welcome young fields that he would play in after the Fourth Of July dust settled down, with his new found clot of friends, all boys of course although being from a boy full family he wondered, wondered about girls, and being scared of them and maybe lifetime not understanding them when they squealed over every little thing. But he didn’t think much about it one way or the other, just a fly buzzing overhead annoyance kind of think.
Yes, Peter Paul laying face up on freshly mown grass near fellowship carved-out fields, fields for slides and swings, diamonded baseball, no, friendlier softball fields, the houses are too close together and to the field in case of oddball batted flies, of gimps, glues, copper-plated portraits, of sweet shaded elms, and one thousand other scenes realized that starting now he too, that nose-flattened against some frozen-paned front window brother of years gone by, had been to foreign places in the time of his time. And ahead some push, some unconsecrated, menaced push, to find his own place in the sun. But fret wondering, constantly wondering, what means this, what means that, and why all the changes, slow changes, fast changes, blip changes, but changes flashing by his head.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Out In The Rebel Night- Rebels In The Time of Early Capitalism- E.J. Hobsbawn’s “Primitive Rebels”
Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for social bandits a term used extensively in Primitive Rebels.
BOOK REVIEW
PRIMITIVE REBELS, E. J. HOBSBAWN, W.W. NORTON AND CO., NEW YORK, 1959
The recently deceased British historian E.J. Hobsbawn, notwithstanding his unrepentant Stalinism to the end, wrote many interesting historical studies in his very long career. The book under review, Primitive Rebels, was an early effort to trace the sociological roots of rebellion in the period of the rise of capitalism. We all know that the development of the capitalist mode of production as it started in Europe was both a long and an uneven process. The way various sections of the poor in European society, mainly rural and small town workers, responded and adjusted to its demands is the core of this study. Not all resistance movements of the time led naturally to the three great political movements that defined the plebian respond to early capitalism-socialism, communism and anarchism- but those are the ones that drew masses of people around their programs and this is the focus of this work.
Professor Hobsbawn divided his study into two basic parts. The agrarian response, particularly in heavily agrarian Southern Europe, and the urban response, particularly in the small towns of Northern Europe, where much of capitalist development gained a huge foothold. Although there are some similarities in the response of both components local conditions such as tradition, geography and custom played a key role in whether the response became an organized one or faded in the capitalist onslaught. To that end he touches upon the history of social banditry and millennialism in the agrarian milieu and the strong pull of anarchism especially in Spain on the other. His case study on peasant anarchism in the period of the Spanish Civil War is worth the attention of Marxists in order to buttress their case for why that political response (or, better, non-political response) was totally inadequate in the face of the necessity of taking state power in order to defeat Franco (the war and then revolution argument).
The strongest part of the book is in his study of the urban plebeians, their rituals and their revolutionary organizations. Here the theories and practice of the great 19th century revolutionary Louis Blanqui and his followers draw Hobsbawn’s interest. Even stronger is his study of the relationship between religion, mainly of the non-conforming sort, and the development of the organized labor movement in Britain. This goes a long way to explaining why the British labor movement was stalled, and still is stalled, in its tracks. In the end, however, the great lesson to be drawn from this work concerns today. I would ask where are the pockets of resistance to late capitalism comparable to those that emerged under early capitalism and how will they response to the effects of “globalization” of the capitalist mode of production. We await our chronicler of that subject.
BOOK REVIEW
PRIMITIVE REBELS, E. J. HOBSBAWN, W.W. NORTON AND CO., NEW YORK, 1959
The recently deceased British historian E.J. Hobsbawn, notwithstanding his unrepentant Stalinism to the end, wrote many interesting historical studies in his very long career. The book under review, Primitive Rebels, was an early effort to trace the sociological roots of rebellion in the period of the rise of capitalism. We all know that the development of the capitalist mode of production as it started in Europe was both a long and an uneven process. The way various sections of the poor in European society, mainly rural and small town workers, responded and adjusted to its demands is the core of this study. Not all resistance movements of the time led naturally to the three great political movements that defined the plebian respond to early capitalism-socialism, communism and anarchism- but those are the ones that drew masses of people around their programs and this is the focus of this work.
Professor Hobsbawn divided his study into two basic parts. The agrarian response, particularly in heavily agrarian Southern Europe, and the urban response, particularly in the small towns of Northern Europe, where much of capitalist development gained a huge foothold. Although there are some similarities in the response of both components local conditions such as tradition, geography and custom played a key role in whether the response became an organized one or faded in the capitalist onslaught. To that end he touches upon the history of social banditry and millennialism in the agrarian milieu and the strong pull of anarchism especially in Spain on the other. His case study on peasant anarchism in the period of the Spanish Civil War is worth the attention of Marxists in order to buttress their case for why that political response (or, better, non-political response) was totally inadequate in the face of the necessity of taking state power in order to defeat Franco (the war and then revolution argument).
The strongest part of the book is in his study of the urban plebeians, their rituals and their revolutionary organizations. Here the theories and practice of the great 19th century revolutionary Louis Blanqui and his followers draw Hobsbawn’s interest. Even stronger is his study of the relationship between religion, mainly of the non-conforming sort, and the development of the organized labor movement in Britain. This goes a long way to explaining why the British labor movement was stalled, and still is stalled, in its tracks. In the end, however, the great lesson to be drawn from this work concerns today. I would ask where are the pockets of resistance to late capitalism comparable to those that emerged under early capitalism and how will they response to the effects of “globalization” of the capitalist mode of production. We await our chronicler of that subject.
From #Ur-Occupied Boston (#Ur-Tomemonos Boston)-General Assembly-The Embryo Of An Alternate Government-Learn The Lessons Of History-Lessons From The Utopian Socialists- Robert Owen And New Lanark -"Education in robert owen's new society: the new lanark institute and schools"
Click on the headline to link to the archives of the Occupy Boston General Assembly minutes from the Occupy Boston website. Occupy Boston started at 6:00 PM, September 30, 2011. The General Assembly is the core political institution of the Occupy movement. Some of the minutes will reflect the growing pains of that movement and its concepts of political organization. Note that I used the word embryo in the headline and I believe that gives a fair estimate of its status, and its possibilities.
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An Injury To One Is An Injury To All!-Defend All The Occupation Sites And All The Occupiers! Drop All Charges Against All Protesters Everywhere!
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Fight-Don’t Starve-We Created The Wealth, Let's Take It, It’s Ours! Labor And The Oppressed Must Rule!
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Below I am posting, occasionally, comments on the Occupy movement as I see or hear things of interest, or that cause alarm bells to ring in my head. The first comment directly below from October 1, which represented my first impressions of Occupy Boston, is the lead for all further postings.
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Markin comment October 1, 2011:
There is a lot of naiveté expressed about the nature of capitalism, capitalists, and the way to win in the class struggle by various participants in this occupation. Many also have attempted to make a virtue out of that naiveté, particularly around the issues of effective democratic organization (the General Assembly, its unrepresentative nature and its undemocratic consensus process) and relationships with the police (they are not our friends, no way, when the deal goes down). However, their spirit is refreshing, they are acting out of good subjective anti-capitalist motives and, most importantly, even those of us who call ourselves "reds" (communists), including this writer, started out from liberal premises as naive, if not more so, than those encountered at the occupation site. We can all learn something but in the meantime we must defend the "occupation" and the occupiers. More later as the occupation continues.
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In the recent past as part of my one of my commentaries I noted the following:
“… The idea of the General Assembly with each individual attendee acting as a “tribune of the people” is interesting and important. And, of course, it represents, for today anyway, the embryo of what the “new world” we need to create might look like at the governmental level.”
A couple of the people that I have talked lately were not quite sure what to make of that idea. The idea that what is going on in Occupy Boston at the governmental level could, should, would be a possible form of governing this society in the “new world a-borning” with the rise of the Occupy movement. Part of the problem is that there was some confusion on the part of the listeners that one of the possible aims of this movement is to create an alternative government, or at least provide a model for such a government. I will argue here now, and in the future, that it should be one of the goals. In short, we need to take power away from the Democrats and Republicans and their tired old congressional/executive/judicial doesn’t work- checks and balances-form of governing and place it at the grassroots level and work upward from there rather than, as now, have power devolve from the top. (And stop well short of the bottom.)
I will leave aside the question (the problem really) of what it would take to create such a possibility. Of course a revolutionary solution would, of necessity, have be on the table since there is no way that the current powerful interests, Democratic, Republican or those of the "one percent" having no named politics, is going to give up power without a fight. What I want to pose now is the use of the General Assembly as a deliberative executive, legislative, and judicial body all rolled into one. In that sense previous historical models come to mind; the short-lived but heroic Paris Commune of 1871 that Karl Marx tirelessly defended against the reactionaries of Europe as the prototype of a workers government; the early heroic days of the Russian October Revolution of 1917 when the workers councils (soviets in Russian parlance) acted as a true workers' government; and the period in the Spanish Revolution of 1936-39 where the Central Committee of the Anti-Fascist Militias acted, de facto, as a workers government. All the just mentioned examples had their problems and flaws, no question. However, merely mentioning the General Assembly concept in the same paragraph as these great historic examples should signal that thoughtful leftists and other militants need to investigate and study these examples.
In order to facilitate the investigation and study of those examples I will, occasionally, post works in this space that deal with these forbears from several leftist perspectives (rightist perspectives were clear- crush all the above examples ruthlessly, and with no mercy- so we need not look at them now). I started this Lessons Of History series with Karl Marx’s classic defense and critique of the Paris Commune, The Civil War In France and today’s presentation noted in the headline continues on in that same vein.
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A Five-Point Program As Talking Points
*Jobs For All Now!-“30 For 40”- A historic demand of the labor movement. Thirty hours work for forty hours pay to spread the available work around. Organize the unorganized- Organize the South- Organize Wal-Mart- Defend the right for public and private workers to unionize.
* Defend the working classes! No union dues for Democratic (or the stray Republican) candidates. Spent the dough on organizing the unorganized and other labor-specific causes (example, the November, 2011 anti-union recall referendum in Ohio).
*End the endless wars!- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops (And Mercenaries) From Afghanistan! Hands Off Pakistan! Hands Off Iran! Hands Off The World!
*Fight for a social agenda for working people!. Quality Healthcare For All! Nationalize the colleges and universities under student-teacher-campus worker control! Forgive student debt! Stop housing foreclosures!
*We created the wealth, let’s take it back. Take the struggle for our daily bread off the historic agenda. Build a workers party that fights for a workers government to unite all the oppressed.
Emblazon on our red banner-Labor and the oppressed must rule!
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Education in robert owen's new society: the new lanark institute and schools
Robert Owen's educational venture at New Lanark helped to pioneer infant schools and was an early example of what we now recognize as community schooling. Yet education was only a single facet of a more powerful social gospel which already preached community building on the New Lanark model as a solution to contemporary evils in the wider world. Ian Donnachie investigates.
contents: introduction · beginnings · the institute · infant schooling ·schooling and adult education · curricula ·civics and environment · dancing, music, drill · happy children · further reading and references · links · how to cite this article
Robert Owen (1771-1858), social and educational reformer, remains a controversial and enigmatic figure. Having profited enormously from enterprise in the early Industrial Revolution he set about trying to remedy its excesses through environmental, educational, factory and poor law reform. Synthesizing reformist ideas from the Age of Enlightenment and drawing on his own experience as an industrialist he constructed A New View of Society (1816), a rallying call for widespread social change, with education at its core. New Lanark, the test-bed for his ideas, became internationally famous.
Robert Owen moved on to the world stage, using New Lanark, however inappropriate, as a model for his Village Scheme, where rather than profit mutual co-operation would be the prevailing ethos. Owen later translated his ideas to the United States, attempting to establish a Community of Equality at New Harmony (1824-28) in Indiana. This was followed by a fantastic and abortive scheme to colonise part of the new Mexican republic on communitarian principles.
Robert Owen returned to Britain, continuing his propaganda campaign, by promoting labour exchanges, consumer co-operatives, trade unions and other Owenite organisations. By the 1830s the man had become a movement headed by Owen as Social Father. Always education, for what Robert Owen was by then calling the New Moral World, was central to his thinking.
Beginnings
The beginning of 1814 undoubtedly represented a major turning point in Robert Owen's development of New Lanark as a test-bed for his social psychology and economic philosophy. Reinstated as director of New Lanark and supported in capital and ideals by his philanthropic sleeping partners, who were safely located far away in London and thus unlikely to interfere much in day-to-day management, he had at last been able to pursue his goals. At that moment Robert Owen had entered what was undoubtedly the most dynamic and productive phase of his life. His continued success in business at New Lanark coincided with, and indeed made possible, his rise to national and international prominence as a social reformer and philanthropic savant following the publication of his essays on A New View of Society. There is no doubt that New Lanark played a vital role in his propaganda campaign for improved social conditions and the re-ordering of society. The further reforms and innovations he introduced after 1814 built on what had been achieved and showed how his community ideals could be applied to Old Society.
As Robert Owen made clear, the prime vehicle for social reform was education, which figured prominently in A Statement Regarding the New Lanark Establishment, the prospectus Robert Owen drew up in 1812 to attract potentially sympathetic partners. Education remained the key element of on-going reform at New Lanark, and like the enterprise itself the schools took on their own momentum. They were also the centre of attention as far the majority of visitors were concerned.
According to Robert Owen's autobiography he had begun 'to clear the foundation for the infant and other schools, to form the new character of the rising population' in 1809, though it is possible that his memory was defective and that work did not start until much later. Certainly A Statement Regarding the New Lanark Establishment described the planned 'New Institution', and provided a detailed account of his ideas for its development at that point. When New Lanark was advertised for sale in the Glasgow Herald of 24 December 1813, a building 145 ft long by 45 ft broad 'at present unoccupied' was described as having been 'planned to admit of an extensive Store Cellar, a Public Kitchen, Eating and Exercise Room, a School, Lecture Room and Church.' Quite likely this was what ultimately became the Institute and was said by Owen in his statement to have been erected at a cost of £3,000. The articles of the new partnership, by which Robert Owen was bound, called for the establishment of a school run on Lancasterian lines. Teaching aids would be provided by the British and Foreign School Society, the brain-child of Owen's partners, among others, and religious instruction was to be non-sectarian, with the Bible being used only as an aid to reading. Now that Robert Owen was in effective control of the mills and village, the long-planned building to be entirely devoted to education could be fitted out to his specifications at the cost of another £3,000. Some uncertainty surrounds the date of the building ranging with the mills which was also used as a school. It was marked as 'Public Kitchen' on a plan of 1809 but if built by then was certainly never used as a school at that time. When Griscom visited New Lanark ten years later he noted that this building was 'nearly completed' and had been designed as 'a kitchen for the whole village'. At that point Robert Owen thought this refectory could save £4-5,000 a year, 'besides the superior training and improved habits it will produce', but it never became a reality. Unfortunately most of the descriptions leave us somewhat confused about which activities were pursued in the Institute and which in the School. To all intents and purposes they were probably interchangeable as far as the instruction of the children was concerned. William Davidson, writing in 1828 long after Robert Owen's departure, observed dancing being taught in the school, which was also used for lectures given in rooms which still housed the 'historical maps and paintings' as well as a terrestrial globe 19ft in circumference.
The Institute
As events transpired the new Institute for the Formation of Character was not formally opened until New Year's Day 1816. In a lengthy 'Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark', mercifully punctuated by a musical recital, Robert Owen expounded his educational aims and explained to an audience of 1,200 villagers the main objects of the Institute. The basis of his speech was a reiteration of the central thesis underpinning A New View of Society in which he articulated his unfailing belief in some sort of material determinism 'that the character of man is without a single exception, always formed for him'. He stressed the importance of a proper education from early years saying that 'it must be evident to those who have been in the practice of observing children with attention, that much of good or evil is taught to or acquired by a child at a very early period of its life; that much of temper or disposition is correctly or incorrectly formed before he attains his second year; and that many durable impressions are made at the termination of the first 12 or even 6 months of his existence'. Robert Owen probably got much of this from his own experience. But a critque of Pestalozzi's methods was published in Paris as early as 1805 and it is possible he may have known of this and had it translated by his boys' tutor. In essence his theory of character formation and general education involved the belief that social training ought to begin from the very moment a child 'can walk alone'.
The Institute for the Formation of Character with its school was considered by many who visited New Lanark to be 'one of the greatest modern wonders' and Robert Owen, revelling in the role of paternalist laird, took great pride in showing it off. Many descriptions of the Institute's arrangements survive, but the most helpful is that furnished by the young Robert Dale Owen, who following his return from Switzerland occupied himself in teaching and writing a book about the school and its curriculum, published in 1824. According to the younger Owen:
The principal school-room is fitted up with desks and forms on the Lancastrian plan, having a free passage down the centre of the room. It is surrounded, except at one end where a pulpit stands, with galleries, which are convenient when this room is used, as it frequently is, either as a lecture-room or place of worship.
The other and smaller apartment on the second floor has the walls hung round with representations of the most striking zoological and mineralogical specimens, including quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, insects, shells, minerals etc. At one end there is a gallery, adapted for the purpose of an orchestra, and at the other end are hung very large representations of the two hemispheres; each separate country, as well as the various seas, islands etc. being differently coloured, but without any names attached to them. This room is used as a lecture- and ball-room, and it is here that the dancing and singing lessons are daily given. It is likewise occasionally used as a reading-room for some of the classes.
The lower storey is divided into three apartments, of nearly equal dimensions, 12 ft high, and supported by hollow iron pillars, serving at the same time as conductors in winter for heated air, which issues through the floor of the upper storey, and by which means the whole building may, with care, be kept at any required temperature. It is in these three apartments that the younger classes are taught reading, natural history, and geography.
Dale Owen's Outline of the System of Education at New Lanark (1824) is perhaps the fullest description of the New Lanark schools, and is of particular value when set alongside the elder Owen's memories of the infant school in The New Existence and his later autobiography. According to Owen, the school was attended by 'every child above one year old', although some observers thought the youngest were probably two or three years old. During the first few months of the nursery schools Robert Owen 'daily watched and superintended ... knowing that if the foundation were not truly laid, it would be in vain to expect a satisfactory structure'. With his usual finesse in matters of human relations he 'acquired the most sincere affections of all the children' and apparently also won over the parents 'who were highly delighted with the improved conduct, extraordinary progress, and continually increasing happiness of their children.'
Infant school
Robert Owen was cautious about the selection of teachers in the 'new rational infant school', for 'it was in vain to look to any old teachers upon the old system of instruction by books'. He says he had very little belief in books, which is strange given his own enthusiasm for reading as a boy. At any rate Robert Owen evidently parted with the old dominie at New Lanark and selected from the villagers 'two persons who had a great love for and unlimited patience with infants.' His unlikely choice was a former handloom weaver, James Buchanan, condescendingly described as a 'simple-minded, kind-hearted individual who could hardly read or write himself', but who was willing to do exactly what Robert Owen told him. Buchanan's assistant was to be Molly Young, a seventeen year old village girl.
Robert Owen's instructions to his new infant master and assistant were simple :
They were on no account ever to beat any one of the children or to threaten them in any word or action or to use abusive terms; but were always to speak to them with a pleasant voice and in a kind manner. They should tell the infants and children (for they had all from 1 to 6 years old under their charge) that they must on all occasions do all they could to make their playfellows happy - and that the older ones, from 4 to 6 years of age, should take especial care of younger ones, and should assist to teach them to make each other happy.
Much of this came indirectly from Pestalozzi, who also emphasised the importance of kindness and common sense in his teaching. It was all apparently very Utopian, echoing the views of Bentham, Robert Owen's partner, regarding the greatest happiness of the greatest number. But by 'happy' Owen meant 'docile', an adjective that recurs in much of his writing at the time.
The nursery school occupied the play-ground in front of the Institute in fine weather, and on wet days the three main rooms on the ground floor. The principle on which the school was run we would call the play principle, no child being forced in any way, not even to mid-morning rest, although 'when an infant felt inclined to sleep it should be quietly allowed to do so'. Toys were rarely seen, for to Robert Owen's mind 'thirty or fifty infants, when left to themselves, will always amuse each other without useless childish toys'. When they became bored or distracted 'a young active teacher will easily find and provide something they will be interested in seeing and hearing explained'. Robert Owen's lengthy description of the infants' actual instruction is worth quoting in part:
The children were not to be annoyed with books; but were to be taught the uses and nature or qualities of the common things around them, by familiar conversation when the children's curiosity was excited so as to induce them to ask questions respecting them.
The schoolroom for the infants' instruction was furnished with paintings, chiefly of animals, with maps, and often supplied with natural objects from the gardens, fields and woods - the examination and explanation of which always excited their curiosity and created an animated conversation between the children and their instructors.
The children at four and above that age showed an eager desire to understand the use of maps of the four quarters of the world upon a large scale purposely hung in the room to attract their attention. Buchanan their master, was first taught their use and then how to instruct the children for their amusement - for with these infants everything was made to be amusement.
It was most encouraging and delightful to see the progress which these infants and children made in real knowledge, without the use of books. And when the best means of instruction or forming character shall be known I doubt whether books will be ever used before children attain their thirteenth year.
Again the emphasis on observation and experience was borrowed from Pestalozzi. But the infants at New Lanark were, in Robert Owen's opinion, completely unlike others of their age, indeed, he said 'unlike the children of any class of society'. Griscom took a more pragmatic view, probably shared by Owen, when he observed that 'this baby school is of great consequence to the establishment, for it enables mothers to shut up their houses in security, and to attend to their duties in the factory, without concern for their families.' As Robert Owen showed his visitors around children would come forward to be patted.
In addition to this elementary instruction, those over two were given dancing lessons and those four and upwards taught singing. Military-style exercises were also a major feature of both schools, and the sight of youthful marches led by fife and drum was frequently remarked upon by contemporaries, especially the upper class dignitaries who much approved of such discipline. Conformity in the children was further reinforced by a 'beautiful dress of tartan cloth, fashioned in its make after the form of a Roman toga'. However, like the kilt and plaid worn by older boys this was thought by some of Robert Owen's partners to encourage sexual promiscuity. According to Captain Donald Macdonald of the Royal Engineers, who like the laird, Archibald Hamilton of Dalzell, had become a convert to the New System and who accompanied Robert Owen on the visit of inspection to Harmonie in 1824-25, the New Lanark dresses and plaids were part of the baggage. Owen showed them to fellow passengers and apparently had them copied in New York to be displayed there and in Washington along with his plans and models of the Village Scheme. The dress code for the new communities was another subject about which Robert Owen said little about unless pressed to do so.
Schooling and adult education
Dale Owen also left a detailed report of the school for the older children of the community. At the time of writing the Institute had been functioning for nearly eight years, and although it was in some respects a biased account, Dale Owen's Outline, did make some attempt to assess his father's experiment. The age group concerned was that from about five to ten or twelve, the majority of youngsters being removed from school at ten by their parents to begin a full day's work in the mills. Most working children, however, continued their education at evening classes in the Institute. Attendance at the school for all ages was practically free - the payment being only 3d per month for each child, hardly sufficient, said Owen, 'to pay for the consumption of books, ink and paper'.
Robert Owen gave details of attendance at day and evening classes in the Institute during 1816 the Select Committee on Education of that year. It is interesting to note that prior to his reduction of working hours average attendance at evening schools was often less than 100 per night. After the opening of the Institute and reduction of the working day to ten and three-quarter hours (less meal-breaks) attendance rose rapidly. In January 1816 the average was 380, rising to 396 in March. According to Owen's evidence this upward trend continued giving an average of 485 per evening session. The annual cost of running the schools in 1816 was said to be £700, £550 being for the salaries of a headmaster and ten assistants, and £150 for materials, lighting and heating.
Curricula
In the preparatory classes all the children learned to read, write and cipher. Owen adopted in part the methods of Lancaster, whereby certain boys and girls chosen to be monitors passed on lessons learned by rote to other children, in a sense the factory system applied to education. Great difficulty was experienced in finding suitable books for the pupils. Tales of adventure, voyages and travel were popular, and though much misrepresented on the fact Owen consented to the use of the Bible and catechism. Children were questioned on all they read, and encouraged to look upon books as a means to an end. In writing, copy-books were abandoned as soon as possible, and the children encouraged to develop their own style. Arithmetic was at first taught 'on the plan generally adopted at that time in Scotland', but soon after Pestalozzi's system of mental arithmetic was introduced.
Proceeding alongside these elementary studies, and forming perhaps the most notable feature of Owen's educational system in the Institute, was instruction by lecture, discussion and debate, in geography, natural science, ancient and modern history, and what we might well call civics or contemporary studies, all subjects much favoured by Pestalozzi. These lectures were a feature of both day and evening schools, and would be attended by 40-50 children, though possibly over 100 on some occasions. As far as the subject matter allowed the lecture would be illustrated with maps, pictures and diagrams, aids always much favoured by Robert Owen. The talk was usually short, so as not to lose the attention of the young listeners and time would be allowed for questions. Robert Owen also loved plans and models and contemporary prints show the extensive use made of visual material for all age groups. Outstanding in this respect were geography and history, which both had an important place in the curriculum at New Lanark. The history time-charts or 'Streams of Time', as well as other visual aids were painted by one of the teachers, Catherine Whitwell. A sister of the Owenite architect, Stedman Whitwell, who produced designs for a community and accompanied Owen on the second journey to New Harmony, she was said to be an advocate of free love. Following her dismissal from New Lanark by Owen's partners she later taught at the Orbiston Community. Her teaching aids were certainly as novel for the time as her ideas about sexual relations:
Seven large maps or tables, laid out on the principle of the Stream of Time, are hung round the spacious room. These being made of canvass, may be rolled up at pleasure. On the Streams, each of which is differently coloured, and represents a nation, are painted the principal events which occur in the history of those nations. Each century is closed by a horizontal line, drawn across the map. By means of these maps, the children are taught the outlines of Ancient and Modern History, with ease to themselves, and without being liable to confound different events, or different nations. On hearing of any two events, the child has but to recollect the situation on the tables of the paintings, by which those are represented, in order to be furnished at once with their chronological relation to each other. If the events are contemporary, he will instantly perceive it.
Many years later in 1903, when Frank Podmore, Robert Owen's most distinguished biographer, first visited New Lanark, he was shown some of the original visual aids described in this account. Podmore's guide, John Melrose, told him that in his boyhood thirty years before he and the other village children still danced every morning from 7.15 to 8.00 am! According to Melrose the painting and maps were only taken down when the old school closed, half a century after Robert Owen left New Lanark.
Civics and environment
Both Robert Owen and his son were at pains to stress how everything was made relevant for the children, that they should understand what they were learning and why, and that they should enjoy what they were doing. Geography lessons played a prominent part in the education of children at New Lanark, and seem to have been practical as well as relevant. Geography also had a strong moral undertone, for the children were often reminded that but for an accident of birth they might have been born into a different society with values totally unlike those of their own. They were taught to respect other people's ideas and way of life and never to be uncharitable or intolerant. Field studies were important, and youngsters were encouraged to go out into the woods and fields surrounding the village, through which Robert Owen cut paths and walks, collecting specimens and making observations. Robert Owen himself painted a fascinating picture of a geography lesson during which something like 150 children vied with each other in pointing out places on large wall-maps:
This by degrees became most amusing to the children, who soon learned to ask for the least-thought-of districts and places, that they might puzzle the holder of the wand, and obtain it from him. This was at once a good lesson for 150 - keeping attention of all alive during the lesson. The lookers-on were as much amused, and many as much instructed as the children, who thus at an early age became so efficient, that one of our Admirals, who had sailed round the world, said he could not answer many of the questions which some of these children not 6 years old readily replied to, giving the places most correctly.
Robert Owen aimed at giving children a good basic education, fitting the village youth for the world of work in the mills, but at the same time posing no threat to the existing order of society.
Dancing, music, drill
Yet in spite of all this, what most impressed the 20,000 odd visitors who came to gape at New Lanark between 1815 and 1825, was the importance of dancing, music and military exercise in the school curriculum. Dancing lessons were begun two years of age and visitors were astonished to see how 'these children, standing up 70 couples at a time in the dancing room, and often surrounded by many strangers, would with the uttermost ease and natural grace go through all the dances of Europe, with so little direction from their master, that the strangers would be unconscious that there was a dancing-master in the room'. Dancing lessons were also given in the evening and Griscom saw 50 or 60 young people thus engaged. 'Owen', he noted, ' has discovered that dancing is one means of reforming vicious habits. He thinks it effects this by promoting cheerfulness and contentment, and thus diverting attention from things that are vile and degrading'. The children were also taught to sing in harmony in choirs of 200 or more, performing settings of Scottish and other traditional songs, to the delight of Robert Owen and his visitors. Before the close of the evening school all the pupils would gather in one room and sing a hymn, presumably religious rather than secular. It is not without its interest that singing and music later featured prominently in the social life of New Harmony, and that much of the New Lanark repertoire was carried across the Atlantic by William Owen and others, including Joseph Applegarth, another ardent Owenite who taught at New Lanark and participated in the organisation of the schools at New Harmony and Orbiston Comunity. In addition both boys and girls were regularly drilled in the playground in front of the Institute 'with precision equal, as many officers stated, to some regiments of the line.' Contemporary accounts described these military exercises in glowing detail, though in the context of the time this was probably quite understandable and was less sinister than it might have appeared. Robert Owen nevertheless expounded on their value in several of his writings.
Happy children
Robert Owen was not without his critics, but few could quarrel with his system of education at New Lanark. He seems to have evolved a system based on a mixed bag of contemporary social and educational thought linked to benevolent paternalism, deriving from earlier experience in Manchester and of running New Lanark. His basic assumption that character could be formed under favourable conditions seemed to work in that context, and if we are not to discount the multitude of evidence about the New Lanark schools, he succeeded in creating a system which was able to produce conforming and apparently happy (or docile) children equipped with basic literacy and numeracy. Robert Owen's community was certainly not unique in this regard for Archibald Buchanan in 1816 reported a thirst for knowledge and a high level of literacy among the cotton spinners of Catrine (Ayrshire) and other mills under his management. In many other industrial districts throughout Britain the same observations could no doubt have been made.
However, New Lanark was different, at least according to Dr Henry Macnab, who in 1819 had been sent to report on the place by Robert Owen's most regal supporter, the Duke of Kent. 'The children and youth in this delightful colony', wrote Macnab, 'are superior in point of conduct and character to all the children and youth I have ever seen. I shall not attempt to give a faithful description of the beautiful fruits of the social affections displayed in the young, innocent and fascinating countenances of these happy children'. Robert Owen's educational venture at New Lanark certainly helped to pioneer infant schools and the claims he made for his achievements were not far removed from reality. Yet education was only a single facet of a more powerful social gospel which already preached community building on the New Lanark model as a solution to contemporary evils in the wider world.
Further reading
Donnachie, I. (2000) Robert Owen. Owen of New Lanark and New Harmony, East Linton: Tuckwell Press. 290+xii pages. The first major biography of Robert Owen in over fifty years, and it provides a much needed exploration of his thinking and life. There is a substantial coverage of the Robert Owen's educational endeavours. (This piece is adapted from pages 156-171 of this book - but there is a lot more besides).
Owen, R. (1927) A New View of Society and other writings (ed. G. D. H. Cole), London: Dent. 298 + xx pages. Includes 'New View' plus, for example, addresses to the inhabitants of New Lanark and to the working classes; pieces on manufacturing and the employment of children; and schemes fore the relief of the poor and the emancipation of mankind. In the archives: Robert Owen. An Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark. This famous address on the significance of education for social change was delivered by Robert Owen on the opening of the Institute for the Formation of Character on January 1, 1816.
Owen, R. D. (1824) Outline of the System of Education at New Lanark, Glasgow.
Books on Robert Owen:
Altfest, K. C. (1977) Robert Owen as an Educator, Boston: Twayne.
Siraj-Blatchford, J. (1997) Robert Owen: Schooling the innocents, Ticknall: Educational Heretics Press.
Biographical material:
Cole, G. D. H. (1930) The Life of Robert Owen (revised edition), London: Macmillan.
Harrison, J. F. C. (1969) Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
McNab (1819) The New Views of Mr Owen of Lanark Impartially Examined, London
Morton, A. L. (1962) The Life and Ideas of Robert Owen, London: Lawrence and Wishart. 186 pages.
Owen, R. (1857) Life of Robert Owen by Himself, London.
Owen, R. D. (1874) Threading My Way. Twenty years of autobiography, London.
Podmore, F. (1923) Robert Owen. A biography, London: George, Allen and Unwin.
Pollard, S. and Salt, J. (eds.) (1971) Robert Owen: Prophet of the poor, London: Macmillan.
Links
New Lanark, the object of a major conservation project since the 1970s, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Institute and School described here are fully restored, and a Regency style classroom, laid out on Lancasterian lines, and with replica visual aids can be seen by visitors. You can visit the website at www.newlanark.org and see for yourself. There is the opportunity to take a 360 degree trip around the classroom (not to be missed: http://www.newlanark.org/attractions.shtml).
See, also, the New Harmony website and the Robert Owen Memorial Museum.
How to cite this article: Donnachie, I. (2003) 'Education in Robert Owen's New Society: The New Lanark Institute and Schools', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/thinkers/et-owen.htm.
Ian Donnachie is Reader in History at The Open University and co-author with George Hewitt of Historic New Lanark, Edinburgh University Press, 1993, 1999, ISBN 0 7486 0420 0 [View details at Amazon or at www.eup.ed.ac.uk]. He is also vice-chair of the Friends of New Lanark.
This article has been adapted by the author from Ian Donnachie, Robert Owen. Owen of New Lanark and New Harmony, Tuckwell Press, 2000, ISBN 1 86232 131 0, pp. 156-171. [View details at Amazon or at www.tuckwellpress.co.uk].
© Ian Donnachie 2000, 2003.
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An Injury To One Is An Injury To All!-Defend All The Occupation Sites And All The Occupiers! Drop All Charges Against All Protesters Everywhere!
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Fight-Don’t Starve-We Created The Wealth, Let's Take It, It’s Ours! Labor And The Oppressed Must Rule!
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Below I am posting, occasionally, comments on the Occupy movement as I see or hear things of interest, or that cause alarm bells to ring in my head. The first comment directly below from October 1, which represented my first impressions of Occupy Boston, is the lead for all further postings.
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Markin comment October 1, 2011:
There is a lot of naiveté expressed about the nature of capitalism, capitalists, and the way to win in the class struggle by various participants in this occupation. Many also have attempted to make a virtue out of that naiveté, particularly around the issues of effective democratic organization (the General Assembly, its unrepresentative nature and its undemocratic consensus process) and relationships with the police (they are not our friends, no way, when the deal goes down). However, their spirit is refreshing, they are acting out of good subjective anti-capitalist motives and, most importantly, even those of us who call ourselves "reds" (communists), including this writer, started out from liberal premises as naive, if not more so, than those encountered at the occupation site. We can all learn something but in the meantime we must defend the "occupation" and the occupiers. More later as the occupation continues.
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In the recent past as part of my one of my commentaries I noted the following:
“… The idea of the General Assembly with each individual attendee acting as a “tribune of the people” is interesting and important. And, of course, it represents, for today anyway, the embryo of what the “new world” we need to create might look like at the governmental level.”
A couple of the people that I have talked lately were not quite sure what to make of that idea. The idea that what is going on in Occupy Boston at the governmental level could, should, would be a possible form of governing this society in the “new world a-borning” with the rise of the Occupy movement. Part of the problem is that there was some confusion on the part of the listeners that one of the possible aims of this movement is to create an alternative government, or at least provide a model for such a government. I will argue here now, and in the future, that it should be one of the goals. In short, we need to take power away from the Democrats and Republicans and their tired old congressional/executive/judicial doesn’t work- checks and balances-form of governing and place it at the grassroots level and work upward from there rather than, as now, have power devolve from the top. (And stop well short of the bottom.)
I will leave aside the question (the problem really) of what it would take to create such a possibility. Of course a revolutionary solution would, of necessity, have be on the table since there is no way that the current powerful interests, Democratic, Republican or those of the "one percent" having no named politics, is going to give up power without a fight. What I want to pose now is the use of the General Assembly as a deliberative executive, legislative, and judicial body all rolled into one. In that sense previous historical models come to mind; the short-lived but heroic Paris Commune of 1871 that Karl Marx tirelessly defended against the reactionaries of Europe as the prototype of a workers government; the early heroic days of the Russian October Revolution of 1917 when the workers councils (soviets in Russian parlance) acted as a true workers' government; and the period in the Spanish Revolution of 1936-39 where the Central Committee of the Anti-Fascist Militias acted, de facto, as a workers government. All the just mentioned examples had their problems and flaws, no question. However, merely mentioning the General Assembly concept in the same paragraph as these great historic examples should signal that thoughtful leftists and other militants need to investigate and study these examples.
In order to facilitate the investigation and study of those examples I will, occasionally, post works in this space that deal with these forbears from several leftist perspectives (rightist perspectives were clear- crush all the above examples ruthlessly, and with no mercy- so we need not look at them now). I started this Lessons Of History series with Karl Marx’s classic defense and critique of the Paris Commune, The Civil War In France and today’s presentation noted in the headline continues on in that same vein.
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A Five-Point Program As Talking Points
*Jobs For All Now!-“30 For 40”- A historic demand of the labor movement. Thirty hours work for forty hours pay to spread the available work around. Organize the unorganized- Organize the South- Organize Wal-Mart- Defend the right for public and private workers to unionize.
* Defend the working classes! No union dues for Democratic (or the stray Republican) candidates. Spent the dough on organizing the unorganized and other labor-specific causes (example, the November, 2011 anti-union recall referendum in Ohio).
*End the endless wars!- Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops (And Mercenaries) From Afghanistan! Hands Off Pakistan! Hands Off Iran! Hands Off The World!
*Fight for a social agenda for working people!. Quality Healthcare For All! Nationalize the colleges and universities under student-teacher-campus worker control! Forgive student debt! Stop housing foreclosures!
*We created the wealth, let’s take it back. Take the struggle for our daily bread off the historic agenda. Build a workers party that fights for a workers government to unite all the oppressed.
Emblazon on our red banner-Labor and the oppressed must rule!
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Education in robert owen's new society: the new lanark institute and schools
Robert Owen's educational venture at New Lanark helped to pioneer infant schools and was an early example of what we now recognize as community schooling. Yet education was only a single facet of a more powerful social gospel which already preached community building on the New Lanark model as a solution to contemporary evils in the wider world. Ian Donnachie investigates.
contents: introduction · beginnings · the institute · infant schooling ·schooling and adult education · curricula ·civics and environment · dancing, music, drill · happy children · further reading and references · links · how to cite this article
Robert Owen (1771-1858), social and educational reformer, remains a controversial and enigmatic figure. Having profited enormously from enterprise in the early Industrial Revolution he set about trying to remedy its excesses through environmental, educational, factory and poor law reform. Synthesizing reformist ideas from the Age of Enlightenment and drawing on his own experience as an industrialist he constructed A New View of Society (1816), a rallying call for widespread social change, with education at its core. New Lanark, the test-bed for his ideas, became internationally famous.
Robert Owen moved on to the world stage, using New Lanark, however inappropriate, as a model for his Village Scheme, where rather than profit mutual co-operation would be the prevailing ethos. Owen later translated his ideas to the United States, attempting to establish a Community of Equality at New Harmony (1824-28) in Indiana. This was followed by a fantastic and abortive scheme to colonise part of the new Mexican republic on communitarian principles.
Robert Owen returned to Britain, continuing his propaganda campaign, by promoting labour exchanges, consumer co-operatives, trade unions and other Owenite organisations. By the 1830s the man had become a movement headed by Owen as Social Father. Always education, for what Robert Owen was by then calling the New Moral World, was central to his thinking.
Beginnings
The beginning of 1814 undoubtedly represented a major turning point in Robert Owen's development of New Lanark as a test-bed for his social psychology and economic philosophy. Reinstated as director of New Lanark and supported in capital and ideals by his philanthropic sleeping partners, who were safely located far away in London and thus unlikely to interfere much in day-to-day management, he had at last been able to pursue his goals. At that moment Robert Owen had entered what was undoubtedly the most dynamic and productive phase of his life. His continued success in business at New Lanark coincided with, and indeed made possible, his rise to national and international prominence as a social reformer and philanthropic savant following the publication of his essays on A New View of Society. There is no doubt that New Lanark played a vital role in his propaganda campaign for improved social conditions and the re-ordering of society. The further reforms and innovations he introduced after 1814 built on what had been achieved and showed how his community ideals could be applied to Old Society.
As Robert Owen made clear, the prime vehicle for social reform was education, which figured prominently in A Statement Regarding the New Lanark Establishment, the prospectus Robert Owen drew up in 1812 to attract potentially sympathetic partners. Education remained the key element of on-going reform at New Lanark, and like the enterprise itself the schools took on their own momentum. They were also the centre of attention as far the majority of visitors were concerned.
According to Robert Owen's autobiography he had begun 'to clear the foundation for the infant and other schools, to form the new character of the rising population' in 1809, though it is possible that his memory was defective and that work did not start until much later. Certainly A Statement Regarding the New Lanark Establishment described the planned 'New Institution', and provided a detailed account of his ideas for its development at that point. When New Lanark was advertised for sale in the Glasgow Herald of 24 December 1813, a building 145 ft long by 45 ft broad 'at present unoccupied' was described as having been 'planned to admit of an extensive Store Cellar, a Public Kitchen, Eating and Exercise Room, a School, Lecture Room and Church.' Quite likely this was what ultimately became the Institute and was said by Owen in his statement to have been erected at a cost of £3,000. The articles of the new partnership, by which Robert Owen was bound, called for the establishment of a school run on Lancasterian lines. Teaching aids would be provided by the British and Foreign School Society, the brain-child of Owen's partners, among others, and religious instruction was to be non-sectarian, with the Bible being used only as an aid to reading. Now that Robert Owen was in effective control of the mills and village, the long-planned building to be entirely devoted to education could be fitted out to his specifications at the cost of another £3,000. Some uncertainty surrounds the date of the building ranging with the mills which was also used as a school. It was marked as 'Public Kitchen' on a plan of 1809 but if built by then was certainly never used as a school at that time. When Griscom visited New Lanark ten years later he noted that this building was 'nearly completed' and had been designed as 'a kitchen for the whole village'. At that point Robert Owen thought this refectory could save £4-5,000 a year, 'besides the superior training and improved habits it will produce', but it never became a reality. Unfortunately most of the descriptions leave us somewhat confused about which activities were pursued in the Institute and which in the School. To all intents and purposes they were probably interchangeable as far as the instruction of the children was concerned. William Davidson, writing in 1828 long after Robert Owen's departure, observed dancing being taught in the school, which was also used for lectures given in rooms which still housed the 'historical maps and paintings' as well as a terrestrial globe 19ft in circumference.
The Institute
As events transpired the new Institute for the Formation of Character was not formally opened until New Year's Day 1816. In a lengthy 'Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark', mercifully punctuated by a musical recital, Robert Owen expounded his educational aims and explained to an audience of 1,200 villagers the main objects of the Institute. The basis of his speech was a reiteration of the central thesis underpinning A New View of Society in which he articulated his unfailing belief in some sort of material determinism 'that the character of man is without a single exception, always formed for him'. He stressed the importance of a proper education from early years saying that 'it must be evident to those who have been in the practice of observing children with attention, that much of good or evil is taught to or acquired by a child at a very early period of its life; that much of temper or disposition is correctly or incorrectly formed before he attains his second year; and that many durable impressions are made at the termination of the first 12 or even 6 months of his existence'. Robert Owen probably got much of this from his own experience. But a critque of Pestalozzi's methods was published in Paris as early as 1805 and it is possible he may have known of this and had it translated by his boys' tutor. In essence his theory of character formation and general education involved the belief that social training ought to begin from the very moment a child 'can walk alone'.
The Institute for the Formation of Character with its school was considered by many who visited New Lanark to be 'one of the greatest modern wonders' and Robert Owen, revelling in the role of paternalist laird, took great pride in showing it off. Many descriptions of the Institute's arrangements survive, but the most helpful is that furnished by the young Robert Dale Owen, who following his return from Switzerland occupied himself in teaching and writing a book about the school and its curriculum, published in 1824. According to the younger Owen:
The principal school-room is fitted up with desks and forms on the Lancastrian plan, having a free passage down the centre of the room. It is surrounded, except at one end where a pulpit stands, with galleries, which are convenient when this room is used, as it frequently is, either as a lecture-room or place of worship.
The other and smaller apartment on the second floor has the walls hung round with representations of the most striking zoological and mineralogical specimens, including quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles, insects, shells, minerals etc. At one end there is a gallery, adapted for the purpose of an orchestra, and at the other end are hung very large representations of the two hemispheres; each separate country, as well as the various seas, islands etc. being differently coloured, but without any names attached to them. This room is used as a lecture- and ball-room, and it is here that the dancing and singing lessons are daily given. It is likewise occasionally used as a reading-room for some of the classes.
The lower storey is divided into three apartments, of nearly equal dimensions, 12 ft high, and supported by hollow iron pillars, serving at the same time as conductors in winter for heated air, which issues through the floor of the upper storey, and by which means the whole building may, with care, be kept at any required temperature. It is in these three apartments that the younger classes are taught reading, natural history, and geography.
Dale Owen's Outline of the System of Education at New Lanark (1824) is perhaps the fullest description of the New Lanark schools, and is of particular value when set alongside the elder Owen's memories of the infant school in The New Existence and his later autobiography. According to Owen, the school was attended by 'every child above one year old', although some observers thought the youngest were probably two or three years old. During the first few months of the nursery schools Robert Owen 'daily watched and superintended ... knowing that if the foundation were not truly laid, it would be in vain to expect a satisfactory structure'. With his usual finesse in matters of human relations he 'acquired the most sincere affections of all the children' and apparently also won over the parents 'who were highly delighted with the improved conduct, extraordinary progress, and continually increasing happiness of their children.'
Infant school
Robert Owen was cautious about the selection of teachers in the 'new rational infant school', for 'it was in vain to look to any old teachers upon the old system of instruction by books'. He says he had very little belief in books, which is strange given his own enthusiasm for reading as a boy. At any rate Robert Owen evidently parted with the old dominie at New Lanark and selected from the villagers 'two persons who had a great love for and unlimited patience with infants.' His unlikely choice was a former handloom weaver, James Buchanan, condescendingly described as a 'simple-minded, kind-hearted individual who could hardly read or write himself', but who was willing to do exactly what Robert Owen told him. Buchanan's assistant was to be Molly Young, a seventeen year old village girl.
Robert Owen's instructions to his new infant master and assistant were simple :
They were on no account ever to beat any one of the children or to threaten them in any word or action or to use abusive terms; but were always to speak to them with a pleasant voice and in a kind manner. They should tell the infants and children (for they had all from 1 to 6 years old under their charge) that they must on all occasions do all they could to make their playfellows happy - and that the older ones, from 4 to 6 years of age, should take especial care of younger ones, and should assist to teach them to make each other happy.
Much of this came indirectly from Pestalozzi, who also emphasised the importance of kindness and common sense in his teaching. It was all apparently very Utopian, echoing the views of Bentham, Robert Owen's partner, regarding the greatest happiness of the greatest number. But by 'happy' Owen meant 'docile', an adjective that recurs in much of his writing at the time.
The nursery school occupied the play-ground in front of the Institute in fine weather, and on wet days the three main rooms on the ground floor. The principle on which the school was run we would call the play principle, no child being forced in any way, not even to mid-morning rest, although 'when an infant felt inclined to sleep it should be quietly allowed to do so'. Toys were rarely seen, for to Robert Owen's mind 'thirty or fifty infants, when left to themselves, will always amuse each other without useless childish toys'. When they became bored or distracted 'a young active teacher will easily find and provide something they will be interested in seeing and hearing explained'. Robert Owen's lengthy description of the infants' actual instruction is worth quoting in part:
The children were not to be annoyed with books; but were to be taught the uses and nature or qualities of the common things around them, by familiar conversation when the children's curiosity was excited so as to induce them to ask questions respecting them.
The schoolroom for the infants' instruction was furnished with paintings, chiefly of animals, with maps, and often supplied with natural objects from the gardens, fields and woods - the examination and explanation of which always excited their curiosity and created an animated conversation between the children and their instructors.
The children at four and above that age showed an eager desire to understand the use of maps of the four quarters of the world upon a large scale purposely hung in the room to attract their attention. Buchanan their master, was first taught their use and then how to instruct the children for their amusement - for with these infants everything was made to be amusement.
It was most encouraging and delightful to see the progress which these infants and children made in real knowledge, without the use of books. And when the best means of instruction or forming character shall be known I doubt whether books will be ever used before children attain their thirteenth year.
Again the emphasis on observation and experience was borrowed from Pestalozzi. But the infants at New Lanark were, in Robert Owen's opinion, completely unlike others of their age, indeed, he said 'unlike the children of any class of society'. Griscom took a more pragmatic view, probably shared by Owen, when he observed that 'this baby school is of great consequence to the establishment, for it enables mothers to shut up their houses in security, and to attend to their duties in the factory, without concern for their families.' As Robert Owen showed his visitors around children would come forward to be patted.
In addition to this elementary instruction, those over two were given dancing lessons and those four and upwards taught singing. Military-style exercises were also a major feature of both schools, and the sight of youthful marches led by fife and drum was frequently remarked upon by contemporaries, especially the upper class dignitaries who much approved of such discipline. Conformity in the children was further reinforced by a 'beautiful dress of tartan cloth, fashioned in its make after the form of a Roman toga'. However, like the kilt and plaid worn by older boys this was thought by some of Robert Owen's partners to encourage sexual promiscuity. According to Captain Donald Macdonald of the Royal Engineers, who like the laird, Archibald Hamilton of Dalzell, had become a convert to the New System and who accompanied Robert Owen on the visit of inspection to Harmonie in 1824-25, the New Lanark dresses and plaids were part of the baggage. Owen showed them to fellow passengers and apparently had them copied in New York to be displayed there and in Washington along with his plans and models of the Village Scheme. The dress code for the new communities was another subject about which Robert Owen said little about unless pressed to do so.
Schooling and adult education
Dale Owen also left a detailed report of the school for the older children of the community. At the time of writing the Institute had been functioning for nearly eight years, and although it was in some respects a biased account, Dale Owen's Outline, did make some attempt to assess his father's experiment. The age group concerned was that from about five to ten or twelve, the majority of youngsters being removed from school at ten by their parents to begin a full day's work in the mills. Most working children, however, continued their education at evening classes in the Institute. Attendance at the school for all ages was practically free - the payment being only 3d per month for each child, hardly sufficient, said Owen, 'to pay for the consumption of books, ink and paper'.
Robert Owen gave details of attendance at day and evening classes in the Institute during 1816 the Select Committee on Education of that year. It is interesting to note that prior to his reduction of working hours average attendance at evening schools was often less than 100 per night. After the opening of the Institute and reduction of the working day to ten and three-quarter hours (less meal-breaks) attendance rose rapidly. In January 1816 the average was 380, rising to 396 in March. According to Owen's evidence this upward trend continued giving an average of 485 per evening session. The annual cost of running the schools in 1816 was said to be £700, £550 being for the salaries of a headmaster and ten assistants, and £150 for materials, lighting and heating.
Curricula
In the preparatory classes all the children learned to read, write and cipher. Owen adopted in part the methods of Lancaster, whereby certain boys and girls chosen to be monitors passed on lessons learned by rote to other children, in a sense the factory system applied to education. Great difficulty was experienced in finding suitable books for the pupils. Tales of adventure, voyages and travel were popular, and though much misrepresented on the fact Owen consented to the use of the Bible and catechism. Children were questioned on all they read, and encouraged to look upon books as a means to an end. In writing, copy-books were abandoned as soon as possible, and the children encouraged to develop their own style. Arithmetic was at first taught 'on the plan generally adopted at that time in Scotland', but soon after Pestalozzi's system of mental arithmetic was introduced.
Proceeding alongside these elementary studies, and forming perhaps the most notable feature of Owen's educational system in the Institute, was instruction by lecture, discussion and debate, in geography, natural science, ancient and modern history, and what we might well call civics or contemporary studies, all subjects much favoured by Pestalozzi. These lectures were a feature of both day and evening schools, and would be attended by 40-50 children, though possibly over 100 on some occasions. As far as the subject matter allowed the lecture would be illustrated with maps, pictures and diagrams, aids always much favoured by Robert Owen. The talk was usually short, so as not to lose the attention of the young listeners and time would be allowed for questions. Robert Owen also loved plans and models and contemporary prints show the extensive use made of visual material for all age groups. Outstanding in this respect were geography and history, which both had an important place in the curriculum at New Lanark. The history time-charts or 'Streams of Time', as well as other visual aids were painted by one of the teachers, Catherine Whitwell. A sister of the Owenite architect, Stedman Whitwell, who produced designs for a community and accompanied Owen on the second journey to New Harmony, she was said to be an advocate of free love. Following her dismissal from New Lanark by Owen's partners she later taught at the Orbiston Community. Her teaching aids were certainly as novel for the time as her ideas about sexual relations:
Seven large maps or tables, laid out on the principle of the Stream of Time, are hung round the spacious room. These being made of canvass, may be rolled up at pleasure. On the Streams, each of which is differently coloured, and represents a nation, are painted the principal events which occur in the history of those nations. Each century is closed by a horizontal line, drawn across the map. By means of these maps, the children are taught the outlines of Ancient and Modern History, with ease to themselves, and without being liable to confound different events, or different nations. On hearing of any two events, the child has but to recollect the situation on the tables of the paintings, by which those are represented, in order to be furnished at once with their chronological relation to each other. If the events are contemporary, he will instantly perceive it.
Many years later in 1903, when Frank Podmore, Robert Owen's most distinguished biographer, first visited New Lanark, he was shown some of the original visual aids described in this account. Podmore's guide, John Melrose, told him that in his boyhood thirty years before he and the other village children still danced every morning from 7.15 to 8.00 am! According to Melrose the painting and maps were only taken down when the old school closed, half a century after Robert Owen left New Lanark.
Civics and environment
Both Robert Owen and his son were at pains to stress how everything was made relevant for the children, that they should understand what they were learning and why, and that they should enjoy what they were doing. Geography lessons played a prominent part in the education of children at New Lanark, and seem to have been practical as well as relevant. Geography also had a strong moral undertone, for the children were often reminded that but for an accident of birth they might have been born into a different society with values totally unlike those of their own. They were taught to respect other people's ideas and way of life and never to be uncharitable or intolerant. Field studies were important, and youngsters were encouraged to go out into the woods and fields surrounding the village, through which Robert Owen cut paths and walks, collecting specimens and making observations. Robert Owen himself painted a fascinating picture of a geography lesson during which something like 150 children vied with each other in pointing out places on large wall-maps:
This by degrees became most amusing to the children, who soon learned to ask for the least-thought-of districts and places, that they might puzzle the holder of the wand, and obtain it from him. This was at once a good lesson for 150 - keeping attention of all alive during the lesson. The lookers-on were as much amused, and many as much instructed as the children, who thus at an early age became so efficient, that one of our Admirals, who had sailed round the world, said he could not answer many of the questions which some of these children not 6 years old readily replied to, giving the places most correctly.
Robert Owen aimed at giving children a good basic education, fitting the village youth for the world of work in the mills, but at the same time posing no threat to the existing order of society.
Dancing, music, drill
Yet in spite of all this, what most impressed the 20,000 odd visitors who came to gape at New Lanark between 1815 and 1825, was the importance of dancing, music and military exercise in the school curriculum. Dancing lessons were begun two years of age and visitors were astonished to see how 'these children, standing up 70 couples at a time in the dancing room, and often surrounded by many strangers, would with the uttermost ease and natural grace go through all the dances of Europe, with so little direction from their master, that the strangers would be unconscious that there was a dancing-master in the room'. Dancing lessons were also given in the evening and Griscom saw 50 or 60 young people thus engaged. 'Owen', he noted, ' has discovered that dancing is one means of reforming vicious habits. He thinks it effects this by promoting cheerfulness and contentment, and thus diverting attention from things that are vile and degrading'. The children were also taught to sing in harmony in choirs of 200 or more, performing settings of Scottish and other traditional songs, to the delight of Robert Owen and his visitors. Before the close of the evening school all the pupils would gather in one room and sing a hymn, presumably religious rather than secular. It is not without its interest that singing and music later featured prominently in the social life of New Harmony, and that much of the New Lanark repertoire was carried across the Atlantic by William Owen and others, including Joseph Applegarth, another ardent Owenite who taught at New Lanark and participated in the organisation of the schools at New Harmony and Orbiston Comunity. In addition both boys and girls were regularly drilled in the playground in front of the Institute 'with precision equal, as many officers stated, to some regiments of the line.' Contemporary accounts described these military exercises in glowing detail, though in the context of the time this was probably quite understandable and was less sinister than it might have appeared. Robert Owen nevertheless expounded on their value in several of his writings.
Happy children
Robert Owen was not without his critics, but few could quarrel with his system of education at New Lanark. He seems to have evolved a system based on a mixed bag of contemporary social and educational thought linked to benevolent paternalism, deriving from earlier experience in Manchester and of running New Lanark. His basic assumption that character could be formed under favourable conditions seemed to work in that context, and if we are not to discount the multitude of evidence about the New Lanark schools, he succeeded in creating a system which was able to produce conforming and apparently happy (or docile) children equipped with basic literacy and numeracy. Robert Owen's community was certainly not unique in this regard for Archibald Buchanan in 1816 reported a thirst for knowledge and a high level of literacy among the cotton spinners of Catrine (Ayrshire) and other mills under his management. In many other industrial districts throughout Britain the same observations could no doubt have been made.
However, New Lanark was different, at least according to Dr Henry Macnab, who in 1819 had been sent to report on the place by Robert Owen's most regal supporter, the Duke of Kent. 'The children and youth in this delightful colony', wrote Macnab, 'are superior in point of conduct and character to all the children and youth I have ever seen. I shall not attempt to give a faithful description of the beautiful fruits of the social affections displayed in the young, innocent and fascinating countenances of these happy children'. Robert Owen's educational venture at New Lanark certainly helped to pioneer infant schools and the claims he made for his achievements were not far removed from reality. Yet education was only a single facet of a more powerful social gospel which already preached community building on the New Lanark model as a solution to contemporary evils in the wider world.
Further reading
Donnachie, I. (2000) Robert Owen. Owen of New Lanark and New Harmony, East Linton: Tuckwell Press. 290+xii pages. The first major biography of Robert Owen in over fifty years, and it provides a much needed exploration of his thinking and life. There is a substantial coverage of the Robert Owen's educational endeavours. (This piece is adapted from pages 156-171 of this book - but there is a lot more besides).
Owen, R. (1927) A New View of Society and other writings (ed. G. D. H. Cole), London: Dent. 298 + xx pages. Includes 'New View' plus, for example, addresses to the inhabitants of New Lanark and to the working classes; pieces on manufacturing and the employment of children; and schemes fore the relief of the poor and the emancipation of mankind. In the archives: Robert Owen. An Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark. This famous address on the significance of education for social change was delivered by Robert Owen on the opening of the Institute for the Formation of Character on January 1, 1816.
Owen, R. D. (1824) Outline of the System of Education at New Lanark, Glasgow.
Books on Robert Owen:
Altfest, K. C. (1977) Robert Owen as an Educator, Boston: Twayne.
Siraj-Blatchford, J. (1997) Robert Owen: Schooling the innocents, Ticknall: Educational Heretics Press.
Biographical material:
Cole, G. D. H. (1930) The Life of Robert Owen (revised edition), London: Macmillan.
Harrison, J. F. C. (1969) Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
McNab (1819) The New Views of Mr Owen of Lanark Impartially Examined, London
Morton, A. L. (1962) The Life and Ideas of Robert Owen, London: Lawrence and Wishart. 186 pages.
Owen, R. (1857) Life of Robert Owen by Himself, London.
Owen, R. D. (1874) Threading My Way. Twenty years of autobiography, London.
Podmore, F. (1923) Robert Owen. A biography, London: George, Allen and Unwin.
Pollard, S. and Salt, J. (eds.) (1971) Robert Owen: Prophet of the poor, London: Macmillan.
Links
New Lanark, the object of a major conservation project since the 1970s, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Institute and School described here are fully restored, and a Regency style classroom, laid out on Lancasterian lines, and with replica visual aids can be seen by visitors. You can visit the website at www.newlanark.org and see for yourself. There is the opportunity to take a 360 degree trip around the classroom (not to be missed: http://www.newlanark.org/attractions.shtml).
See, also, the New Harmony website and the Robert Owen Memorial Museum.
How to cite this article: Donnachie, I. (2003) 'Education in Robert Owen's New Society: The New Lanark Institute and Schools', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/thinkers/et-owen.htm.
Ian Donnachie is Reader in History at The Open University and co-author with George Hewitt of Historic New Lanark, Edinburgh University Press, 1993, 1999, ISBN 0 7486 0420 0 [View details at Amazon or at www.eup.ed.ac.uk]. He is also vice-chair of the Friends of New Lanark.
This article has been adapted by the author from Ian Donnachie, Robert Owen. Owen of New Lanark and New Harmony, Tuckwell Press, 2000, ISBN 1 86232 131 0, pp. 156-171. [View details at Amazon or at www.tuckwellpress.co.uk].
© Ian Donnachie 2000, 2003.
All Out For The Verizon Workers In Boston- Thursday March 22 -5 PM: Meet at Dewey Sq.
Click on the headline to link to the IBEW Local 2222 website
March & Rally to Stop Corporate Greed
By Website Editor
Created 03/11/2012 - 1:47pm
Verizon has made tens of billions in profits and its top executives walked away with $283 million in the last four years. But when it comes to the 45,000 workers who make Verizon's success possible, suddenly the company cries broke.
Verizon has sent thousands of American jobs overseas, and wants to outsource even more jobs, gut pensions, charge current and retired employees thousands of dollars more for health benefits, and cut disability benefits for workers inured doing their jobs.
Join us for a national day of action in support of good jobs and the U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act.
Thursday, March 22
5PM: Meet at Dewey Sq.
5:30PM: March to Verizon Wireless
6:00PM: Rally at 185 Franklin St. in Boston
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source URL:
http://ibew2222.org/march_%2526amp%3B_rally_to_stop_corporate_greed
March & Rally to Stop Corporate Greed
By Website Editor
Created 03/11/2012 - 1:47pm
Verizon has made tens of billions in profits and its top executives walked away with $283 million in the last four years. But when it comes to the 45,000 workers who make Verizon's success possible, suddenly the company cries broke.
Verizon has sent thousands of American jobs overseas, and wants to outsource even more jobs, gut pensions, charge current and retired employees thousands of dollars more for health benefits, and cut disability benefits for workers inured doing their jobs.
Join us for a national day of action in support of good jobs and the U.S. Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act.
Thursday, March 22
5PM: Meet at Dewey Sq.
5:30PM: March to Verizon Wireless
6:00PM: Rally at 185 Franklin St. in Boston
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source URL:
http://ibew2222.org/march_%2526amp%3B_rally_to_stop_corporate_greed
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
May Day 2012-10 Ways to #BuildPower for #M1GS.
10 Ways to #BuildPower for #M1GS.
by Occupy May First on Monday, March 19, 2012 at 2:14pm ·
With the American Spring just starting, us folks at #BuildPowerShowPower thought it would be good to wrap up some of the ideas going around on how to help #BuildPower for #M1GS!
[1] Work Within Occupy: There are hundreds of Occupy groups still holding regular meetings and events. Chances are, there's one nearby. (And if there isn't yet - it's easy to start one!) General Assemblies are open to everyone, and everyone has a voice in the consensus planning process. So find your nearest Occupation and go to a GA! If they haven't already endorsed the General Strike, propose it to the group and start planning marches, distributing fliers, and forming direct action groups. If you have any networks in other cities, try to talk to them about doing the same and getting them involved!
[2] Spread On Social Media: Follow #M1GS, @OWSMayDay, @OccupyM1, and @OccupyGenStrike on Twitter. Also be sure to RSVP on Facebook and follow facebook.com/OccupyGeneralStrike & facebook.com/OccupyMayFirst. You can also look for city-specific events! Try to get these pages posted on as many online sites and locations as possible, whether it is your organization, occupy groups, sympathetic blogs. Make sure to invite all your friends, retweet and share announcements coming from #M1GS
[3] Start Affinity Groups: You can take action on your own. All you need are a few friends. Affinity groups are groups of people who know each other and come together autonomously for a particular action. Find a few people who are interested in helping you out on a project you have in mind - whether it's making fliers and literature to distribute, or shutting down a Wall Street bank in your hometown. You could start a boycott, or occupy a bank, school, or a public space. Get creative!
[4] Start Strike Committees: The bulk of organizing for #M1GS needs to happen in local communities. Some cities have built May 1st general strike commitees outside their occupy movements; some cities are working through exisiting May Day coalitions and groups; some cities established/ or are working through an existing commitee of their local Occupy movement. But a local, public group not limited to any one political group or tendency is a general concept that has taken on different forms in different cities. Start your neighborhood strike committee today!
[5] Talk to Labor: Due to federal laws, most unions are forbidden from organizing strikes for political reasons. However, unions and labor groups are still some of our strongest allies. During last year's General Strike in Oakland, many unions encouraged their workers to take the day off or attend demonstrations after work. Not long after Occupy Oakland shut down ports in solidarity with striking Longshoreman, their employers caved to the union's demands in a new contract. Get in touch with local unions and labor organizations, let them know about the plans for a General Strike, find out what they're working on and how you can help, and encourage them to let their members know about May 1st and get involved in organizing directly.
[6] Outreach to Community Organizations: The more folks that we can work together with the better. It's likely to take on different forms in different cities. Where unions don't endorse reach out to sympathetic community organizations and other neighborhood instutions like small businesses who might close shop to let their employees off for the day. This way we don't lose momentum if some organizations don't want to get on board. This way we can #BuildPower!
[7] Organize Your Workplace, Campus, or Community: If you're a unionized worker, encourage your union to support the General Strike. Whether your workplace is union or not, you can encourage co-workers to take a sick day on May 1st. If you can't afford to lose out on pay, that's okay - there will be plenty of celebrations, marches, and direct actions throughout all hours of the day. Invite your community to attend. If you're a student at a high school or college, spread the word to walk-out of class on May 1st. If you're not a worker or student, organize your friends! Organize strike councils in your workplace! Organize strike councils in your schools! Organize strike councils in your community!
[8] Mass Canvassing: Depending on your Occupy or Strike Committee's capacity compared to population size, you might want to divide up the city by neighborhood and go door to door. Folks with smaller Occupies and Strike Commitees compared to popuplation size might want to find locations with heavy foot traffic of a broad-swath of the 99%. For anyone who hasn't done mass canvassing before, it's good to develop a standard, short "pitch" to get a conversation started, even if you don't use it/ or don't use the exact phrasing every time. The pitch shouldn't be too long but should provide the basic information of what your trying to talk about and draw someone into conversation so that you can dialogue. It's also good to have literature for people to have, but it's generally more effective to hand out literature after you've had a conversation than just to randomly hand out literature if possible.
[9] Creation of Agitational Literature & Propaganda: Each Occupy has made it's own call. #BuildPowerShowPower and #StrikeEverywhere have made calls for the General Strike! Get your group to endorse or make a call for the General Strike. We need a lot of people to write agitational pieces on #M1GS to distribute locally and share with others to distribute in other cities. We need graphic artists to work on stickers, posters, videos, graphics for online distribution that can agitate around #M1GS. OccuPrint collects, prints, and distributes posters from the worldwide Occupy movement, and they have a ton of amazing General Strike posters! Call2Create has also headed this call! The more the merrier and the more we can try share each others stuff and create a variety of stuff the better.
[10] Join the General Strike Movement: InterOccupy hosts regular calls to organize May 1st activities. Check out their schedule and join in the conversation. Below are links to cities and others that has endorsed the General Strike, if there are any missing please help us by commenting so we can all link up and get involved!
Occupy May 1st Links:
Occupy Los Angeles 19 December, 2011, http://www.occupymay1st.org/2012/01/04/occupy-los-angeles-general-strike-meeting-2/
Occupy Boston, 7 January 2012, http://www.occupyboston.org/2012/01/08/ob-endorses-call-general-strike/
Occupy Tampa, 7 January 2012, http://www.occupytampa.org/general-assembly/ga-minutes-1072012/
Occupy Pasadena, 8 January 2012, http://www.occupypasadena.org/2012/01/
Occupy Phoenix, 8 January 2012, http://occupyphx.org/assemblies/ga/proposals-for-ga-11012/
Occupy Williamsburg, 17 January 2012, http://magicmuscle.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/occupy-williamsburg-banner-drop-quotes-drake-calls-for-general-strike/
Occupy Long Beach, 17 January 2012, http://occupylb.org/2012/01/17/ga-notes-january-17th-2012/
Occupy Oakland, 29 January 2012, http://occupyoakland.org/2012/01/occupy-oakland-decides-to-participate-in-the-global-general-strike-on-may-day/
Occupy Ventura, 7 February 2012, http://occupyventura805.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/minutes-from-occupy-805-ga-february-7-2012/
Occupy Portland, OR, 10 February 2012, http://www.portlandgeneralassembly.org/2012/02/a-day-without-the-99-on-may-day/
Occupy Wall Street, 14 February 2012, http://www.nycga.net/2012/02/13/proposal-in-support-of-may-day-2012/
Occupy Sydney, 18 February 2012, http://www.occupysydney.org.au/2012/03/05/occupy_sydney_general_strike_may_1st/
Occupy Detroit, 21 February 2012, http://www.occupy-detroit.us/2012/02/24/minutes-of-the-41st-occupy-detroit-general-assembly-february-21-2012/
Other May 1st 2012 Related Links:
Strike Everywhere Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/307864259256522/
Phoenix May Day Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/phoenixmayday
Detroit General Strike: http://www.generalstrikedetroit.info/
http://generalstrikedetroit.tumblr.com/
http://www.facebook.com/events/133920430061332/
Canada: http://www.facebook.com/events/388009564557975/
Occupation Coordination http://www.occupymay1st.org/groups/occupation-coordination/
Occupy Los Angeles General Strike Committee General, Occupy May 1st: http://www.occupymay1st.org/groups/occupy-los-angeles-general-strike-committee-general/
Occupy May Day – General Strike Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/337068492974144/
Occupy Call 2 Create: http://www.call2create.org/
May Day 2012 Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/327486667289414/
May Day, General Strike 2012 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MayDay.GeneralStrike.2012
by Occupy May First on Monday, March 19, 2012 at 2:14pm ·
With the American Spring just starting, us folks at #BuildPowerShowPower thought it would be good to wrap up some of the ideas going around on how to help #BuildPower for #M1GS!
[1] Work Within Occupy: There are hundreds of Occupy groups still holding regular meetings and events. Chances are, there's one nearby. (And if there isn't yet - it's easy to start one!) General Assemblies are open to everyone, and everyone has a voice in the consensus planning process. So find your nearest Occupation and go to a GA! If they haven't already endorsed the General Strike, propose it to the group and start planning marches, distributing fliers, and forming direct action groups. If you have any networks in other cities, try to talk to them about doing the same and getting them involved!
[2] Spread On Social Media: Follow #M1GS, @OWSMayDay, @OccupyM1, and @OccupyGenStrike on Twitter. Also be sure to RSVP on Facebook and follow facebook.com/OccupyGeneralStrike & facebook.com/OccupyMayFirst. You can also look for city-specific events! Try to get these pages posted on as many online sites and locations as possible, whether it is your organization, occupy groups, sympathetic blogs. Make sure to invite all your friends, retweet and share announcements coming from #M1GS
[3] Start Affinity Groups: You can take action on your own. All you need are a few friends. Affinity groups are groups of people who know each other and come together autonomously for a particular action. Find a few people who are interested in helping you out on a project you have in mind - whether it's making fliers and literature to distribute, or shutting down a Wall Street bank in your hometown. You could start a boycott, or occupy a bank, school, or a public space. Get creative!
[4] Start Strike Committees: The bulk of organizing for #M1GS needs to happen in local communities. Some cities have built May 1st general strike commitees outside their occupy movements; some cities are working through exisiting May Day coalitions and groups; some cities established/ or are working through an existing commitee of their local Occupy movement. But a local, public group not limited to any one political group or tendency is a general concept that has taken on different forms in different cities. Start your neighborhood strike committee today!
[5] Talk to Labor: Due to federal laws, most unions are forbidden from organizing strikes for political reasons. However, unions and labor groups are still some of our strongest allies. During last year's General Strike in Oakland, many unions encouraged their workers to take the day off or attend demonstrations after work. Not long after Occupy Oakland shut down ports in solidarity with striking Longshoreman, their employers caved to the union's demands in a new contract. Get in touch with local unions and labor organizations, let them know about the plans for a General Strike, find out what they're working on and how you can help, and encourage them to let their members know about May 1st and get involved in organizing directly.
[6] Outreach to Community Organizations: The more folks that we can work together with the better. It's likely to take on different forms in different cities. Where unions don't endorse reach out to sympathetic community organizations and other neighborhood instutions like small businesses who might close shop to let their employees off for the day. This way we don't lose momentum if some organizations don't want to get on board. This way we can #BuildPower!
[7] Organize Your Workplace, Campus, or Community: If you're a unionized worker, encourage your union to support the General Strike. Whether your workplace is union or not, you can encourage co-workers to take a sick day on May 1st. If you can't afford to lose out on pay, that's okay - there will be plenty of celebrations, marches, and direct actions throughout all hours of the day. Invite your community to attend. If you're a student at a high school or college, spread the word to walk-out of class on May 1st. If you're not a worker or student, organize your friends! Organize strike councils in your workplace! Organize strike councils in your schools! Organize strike councils in your community!
[8] Mass Canvassing: Depending on your Occupy or Strike Committee's capacity compared to population size, you might want to divide up the city by neighborhood and go door to door. Folks with smaller Occupies and Strike Commitees compared to popuplation size might want to find locations with heavy foot traffic of a broad-swath of the 99%. For anyone who hasn't done mass canvassing before, it's good to develop a standard, short "pitch" to get a conversation started, even if you don't use it/ or don't use the exact phrasing every time. The pitch shouldn't be too long but should provide the basic information of what your trying to talk about and draw someone into conversation so that you can dialogue. It's also good to have literature for people to have, but it's generally more effective to hand out literature after you've had a conversation than just to randomly hand out literature if possible.
[9] Creation of Agitational Literature & Propaganda: Each Occupy has made it's own call. #BuildPowerShowPower and #StrikeEverywhere have made calls for the General Strike! Get your group to endorse or make a call for the General Strike. We need a lot of people to write agitational pieces on #M1GS to distribute locally and share with others to distribute in other cities. We need graphic artists to work on stickers, posters, videos, graphics for online distribution that can agitate around #M1GS. OccuPrint collects, prints, and distributes posters from the worldwide Occupy movement, and they have a ton of amazing General Strike posters! Call2Create has also headed this call! The more the merrier and the more we can try share each others stuff and create a variety of stuff the better.
[10] Join the General Strike Movement: InterOccupy hosts regular calls to organize May 1st activities. Check out their schedule and join in the conversation. Below are links to cities and others that has endorsed the General Strike, if there are any missing please help us by commenting so we can all link up and get involved!
Occupy May 1st Links:
Occupy Los Angeles 19 December, 2011, http://www.occupymay1st.org/2012/01/04/occupy-los-angeles-general-strike-meeting-2/
Occupy Boston, 7 January 2012, http://www.occupyboston.org/2012/01/08/ob-endorses-call-general-strike/
Occupy Tampa, 7 January 2012, http://www.occupytampa.org/general-assembly/ga-minutes-1072012/
Occupy Pasadena, 8 January 2012, http://www.occupypasadena.org/2012/01/
Occupy Phoenix, 8 January 2012, http://occupyphx.org/assemblies/ga/proposals-for-ga-11012/
Occupy Williamsburg, 17 January 2012, http://magicmuscle.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/occupy-williamsburg-banner-drop-quotes-drake-calls-for-general-strike/
Occupy Long Beach, 17 January 2012, http://occupylb.org/2012/01/17/ga-notes-january-17th-2012/
Occupy Oakland, 29 January 2012, http://occupyoakland.org/2012/01/occupy-oakland-decides-to-participate-in-the-global-general-strike-on-may-day/
Occupy Ventura, 7 February 2012, http://occupyventura805.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/minutes-from-occupy-805-ga-february-7-2012/
Occupy Portland, OR, 10 February 2012, http://www.portlandgeneralassembly.org/2012/02/a-day-without-the-99-on-may-day/
Occupy Wall Street, 14 February 2012, http://www.nycga.net/2012/02/13/proposal-in-support-of-may-day-2012/
Occupy Sydney, 18 February 2012, http://www.occupysydney.org.au/2012/03/05/occupy_sydney_general_strike_may_1st/
Occupy Detroit, 21 February 2012, http://www.occupy-detroit.us/2012/02/24/minutes-of-the-41st-occupy-detroit-general-assembly-february-21-2012/
Other May 1st 2012 Related Links:
Strike Everywhere Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/307864259256522/
Phoenix May Day Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/phoenixmayday
Detroit General Strike: http://www.generalstrikedetroit.info/
http://generalstrikedetroit.tumblr.com/
http://www.facebook.com/events/133920430061332/
Canada: http://www.facebook.com/events/388009564557975/
Occupation Coordination http://www.occupymay1st.org/groups/occupation-coordination/
Occupy Los Angeles General Strike Committee General, Occupy May 1st: http://www.occupymay1st.org/groups/occupy-los-angeles-general-strike-committee-general/
Occupy May Day – General Strike Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/337068492974144/
Occupy Call 2 Create: http://www.call2create.org/
May Day 2012 Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/327486667289414/
May Day, General Strike 2012 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MayDay.GeneralStrike.2012
Ancient dreams, dreamed-What Peter Paul Markin Learned About His World- Magical Realism 101
A young, very young not ready for school young, tow-headed boy, Peter Paul Markin by name, fiery blue, ocean-spooned blue eyes, bulging out of his small head (later in frantic romantic times they would be called bedroom come hither eyes or, in bad times, also frantic romantic, Rasputin-like evil eyes or some such thing but just then they were just fiery innocent blue eyes) watched the still accumulating snow falling out the front window. His nose, childhood cold sniffling red nose, flattened against all caution on the frozen front window pane watching the snow fall as he wondered, and wondered. Cursed wondered. Although he did not know it then or if he did he could not name it except as gnaw, lifetime curse wondered what everything is this blessed universe was about and why, why to distraction, why. Maybe it was something sunken deep in those homeland ocean blue eyes, but there he was wondering.
Wondering, young as he was, why he was cooped up, and bundled up, quilt covering him (funny word he thought, all q-starting words were funny then except when he had to utter them which he had the devil’s own time doing and was constantly getting laughed at, laughed at by brothers and playmates, even Ma, jesus even Ma, to establish wonder hurts and maybe a clue to those Rasputin evil eyes). And under the quilt a blanket and under the blanket a sweater to cut down on precious heating expenses as he sat in front of that frozen front window in that cold-water flat down in the Adamsville Housing Authority apartment complex. (The “projects” that even as young as he was, too young for school young, understood and called the place and understood, and was made to understand, constantly understand, by a fuming maternal grandmother across town that it was no place for Mayfair swells, if he had known who or what those people were then.)
And wondering why, when it came right down to it, the projects or not, that he had to share a small crowded room with his brothers who shunned him over into some scarecrow corner and made him “like” it, or threatened to. And why his mother and father were always bickering (or what he thought was bickering because they sure were not happy when they were talking about not having enough money for this or that, especially for kids’ treat stuff like going to the Paragon Amusement Park up in Olde Saco like they did last summer).
But this day, this snowing January day, right after the New Year and just after one of his older brothers, Prescott, had returned to school, the first grade, over at Adamsville South Elementary School at the close of Christmas vacation he was wondering most about what it would be like when he is chance to go to school. There was no hint of the madnesses or crazes that he would later have cause to wonder about once he actually got there it was just wonder. Just brother kinship, brother gone loneliness, about it wondering. And about the great big world of books, and crayons, and pastes, and drawing, and learning letters (although he knew a few already) and singing songs and well, everything that Prescott told him about, with an air of “know it all” but also an air of “it is not all that it is cracked up to be.”
See what Peter Paul was wondering about really was not so much about what Prescott had to say when he came home from school each day and he peppered him with questions about what he did, or didn’t do, or about being a “know it all” or even about the shortcomings of knowing it all but when he would, counting the days in his head, be able to see for himself what it was all about and then be able to wonder some different wonder. Maybe some of that sing-song wonder or book wonder that he had heard so much about.
Oh maybe there was just a little hint of madness after all, or of crazes beyond that sadness, brother kinship sadness, sadness and not understanding of time marching as he, that older brother, had gone off to foreign places, foreign elementary school reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic places and, he, the nose flattened against the window brother, was left to ponder his own place in those kind of places, those foreign-sounding places, when his time came. If he has a time, had the time for the time of his time, in that red scare (but what knows he of red scares only brother scares), cold war, cold nose, dust particles in the clogging air 1950s night.
Wondering, young as he was, why he was cooped up, and bundled up, quilt covering him (funny word he thought, all q-starting words were funny then except when he had to utter them which he had the devil’s own time doing and was constantly getting laughed at, laughed at by brothers and playmates, even Ma, jesus even Ma, to establish wonder hurts and maybe a clue to those Rasputin evil eyes). And under the quilt a blanket and under the blanket a sweater to cut down on precious heating expenses as he sat in front of that frozen front window in that cold-water flat down in the Adamsville Housing Authority apartment complex. (The “projects” that even as young as he was, too young for school young, understood and called the place and understood, and was made to understand, constantly understand, by a fuming maternal grandmother across town that it was no place for Mayfair swells, if he had known who or what those people were then.)
And wondering why, when it came right down to it, the projects or not, that he had to share a small crowded room with his brothers who shunned him over into some scarecrow corner and made him “like” it, or threatened to. And why his mother and father were always bickering (or what he thought was bickering because they sure were not happy when they were talking about not having enough money for this or that, especially for kids’ treat stuff like going to the Paragon Amusement Park up in Olde Saco like they did last summer).
But this day, this snowing January day, right after the New Year and just after one of his older brothers, Prescott, had returned to school, the first grade, over at Adamsville South Elementary School at the close of Christmas vacation he was wondering most about what it would be like when he is chance to go to school. There was no hint of the madnesses or crazes that he would later have cause to wonder about once he actually got there it was just wonder. Just brother kinship, brother gone loneliness, about it wondering. And about the great big world of books, and crayons, and pastes, and drawing, and learning letters (although he knew a few already) and singing songs and well, everything that Prescott told him about, with an air of “know it all” but also an air of “it is not all that it is cracked up to be.”
See what Peter Paul was wondering about really was not so much about what Prescott had to say when he came home from school each day and he peppered him with questions about what he did, or didn’t do, or about being a “know it all” or even about the shortcomings of knowing it all but when he would, counting the days in his head, be able to see for himself what it was all about and then be able to wonder some different wonder. Maybe some of that sing-song wonder or book wonder that he had heard so much about.
Oh maybe there was just a little hint of madness after all, or of crazes beyond that sadness, brother kinship sadness, sadness and not understanding of time marching as he, that older brother, had gone off to foreign places, foreign elementary school reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic places and, he, the nose flattened against the window brother, was left to ponder his own place in those kind of places, those foreign-sounding places, when his time came. If he has a time, had the time for the time of his time, in that red scare (but what knows he of red scares only brother scares), cold war, cold nose, dust particles in the clogging air 1950s night.
Out In The 1950s Technicolor Crime Noir Night- Van Heflin’s “Black Widow”-A Review
Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for the 1950s film noir Black Widow
DVD Review
Black Widow, starring Gene Tierney, Van Heflin, Ginger Rodgers, George Raft,
No question the draw of crime noir for this reviewer is the great black and white photography and the shadowy effects that medium has on heightening the drama of a film, especially films set in big grimy, hard-boiled cities like New York where the seamy side is hard to draw in unless you use such technique. And in the end that is what kind of does in this Technicolor film under review, Black Widow. Many of the actors, Gene Tierney, Van Heflin and George Raft in particular, cut their teeth on noir but here much of that skill goes to waste along with some soapy and indifferent dialogue that is calculated to make true aficionados of the genre weep.
That said, the plot line here and the mis-directions away from the real killer are actually not too bad. Writer Van Heflin unwittingly takes a budding Podunk girl, a budding Podunk writer gal, just freshly arrived in the big city under his wing. She is no fading violet though when it comes to moving her own career along. Unfortunately she has an affair and becomes, oh no, pregnant with an older man, an older married man whose actor wife (played by Ginger Rodgers) is, well, to be kind a bitch on wheels. Especially to those who try to take her “kept” husband away. Needless to say old Brother Heflin has to move heaven and earth to get out from under the “frame” someone has gone to great lengths to place around his poor writers head. Including sowing doubts in the head of his actor wife (played in kind of a syrupy way by Gene Tierney. She is no Laura here.). The plot line however cannot make up for that 1950s “color” that makes this one a wash.
DVD Review
Black Widow, starring Gene Tierney, Van Heflin, Ginger Rodgers, George Raft,
No question the draw of crime noir for this reviewer is the great black and white photography and the shadowy effects that medium has on heightening the drama of a film, especially films set in big grimy, hard-boiled cities like New York where the seamy side is hard to draw in unless you use such technique. And in the end that is what kind of does in this Technicolor film under review, Black Widow. Many of the actors, Gene Tierney, Van Heflin and George Raft in particular, cut their teeth on noir but here much of that skill goes to waste along with some soapy and indifferent dialogue that is calculated to make true aficionados of the genre weep.
That said, the plot line here and the mis-directions away from the real killer are actually not too bad. Writer Van Heflin unwittingly takes a budding Podunk girl, a budding Podunk writer gal, just freshly arrived in the big city under his wing. She is no fading violet though when it comes to moving her own career along. Unfortunately she has an affair and becomes, oh no, pregnant with an older man, an older married man whose actor wife (played by Ginger Rodgers) is, well, to be kind a bitch on wheels. Especially to those who try to take her “kept” husband away. Needless to say old Brother Heflin has to move heaven and earth to get out from under the “frame” someone has gone to great lengths to place around his poor writers head. Including sowing doubts in the head of his actor wife (played in kind of a syrupy way by Gene Tierney. She is no Laura here.). The plot line however cannot make up for that 1950s “color” that makes this one a wash.
From "Occupy Quincy"-Fight Back- A Community Discussion On War And The Economy On Wednesday March 21, 2012 At 7:00 PM
Markin comment:
Call me a "homer" but anyone in Quincy, this old working-class town where I came of political age back in hte 1960s, can desperately use a little alternative thinking and struggle against the bosses' status quo. Attend this discussion and help turn the tide for our side.
From "Occupy Quincy"-Fight Back- A Community Discussion On War And The Economy On Wednesday March 21, 2012 At 7:00 PM
Sponsors a community discussion on:
"War and the Occupy Movement."
With Dr. Paul Atwood: Senior Lecturer on American Studies at UMass Boston, Interim Director of The William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences, Vietnam Era Veteran and member of Veterans for Peace, author of "War and Empire: The American Way of Life".
And
"The Foreclosure Crisis"
With Steve Meacham: Organizing Coordinator for City Life/Vida Urbana, a leader in the Foreclosure Eviction Defense Campaign. In response to the devastating impact of the foreclosure crisis on communities in Boston, City Life launched a major campaign in 2007, the Post-Foreclosure Eviction
Defense campaign to help keep people facing foreclosure in their homes.
Join us for a timely discussion of these important issues.
WEDNESDAY MARCH, 21st
7:00 - 8:45 PM
Thomas Crane Public Library
Main Branch -- Quincy Center
("Quincy Center" on T / Free Parking)
E-mail: Sou thShoreOccupygg mail.com
Info at OccupyQuincy.org
"Occupy Quincy.MA" on Facebook.
Call me a "homer" but anyone in Quincy, this old working-class town where I came of political age back in hte 1960s, can desperately use a little alternative thinking and struggle against the bosses' status quo. Attend this discussion and help turn the tide for our side.
From "Occupy Quincy"-Fight Back- A Community Discussion On War And The Economy On Wednesday March 21, 2012 At 7:00 PM
Sponsors a community discussion on:
"War and the Occupy Movement."
With Dr. Paul Atwood: Senior Lecturer on American Studies at UMass Boston, Interim Director of The William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences, Vietnam Era Veteran and member of Veterans for Peace, author of "War and Empire: The American Way of Life".
And
"The Foreclosure Crisis"
With Steve Meacham: Organizing Coordinator for City Life/Vida Urbana, a leader in the Foreclosure Eviction Defense Campaign. In response to the devastating impact of the foreclosure crisis on communities in Boston, City Life launched a major campaign in 2007, the Post-Foreclosure Eviction
Defense campaign to help keep people facing foreclosure in their homes.
Join us for a timely discussion of these important issues.
WEDNESDAY MARCH, 21st
7:00 - 8:45 PM
Thomas Crane Public Library
Main Branch -- Quincy Center
("Quincy Center" on T / Free Parking)
E-mail: Sou thShoreOccupygg mail.com
Info at OccupyQuincy.org
"Occupy Quincy.MA" on Facebook.
A Call To Action-United National Antiwar Coalition Conference-March 23-25,2012 - Stamford Hilton Hotel, CT
Click on the headline to link to the United National Antiwar Coalition website for details on workshops, directions, registration and accommodations.
A Call To Action-United National Antiwar Coalition Conference-March 23-25,2012 - Stamford Hilton Hotel, CT
SAY NO! TO THE NATO/G8 WARS & POVERTY AGENDA
A CONFERENCE TO CHALLENGE THE WARS OF THE 1% AGAINST THE 99* ABROAD AND AT HOME
March 23-25,2012 - Stamford Hilton Hotel, CT
The US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the G-8 world economic powers will meet in Chicago, May 15-22,2012 to plan their economic and military strategies for the coming period. These military, financial, and political leaders, who serve the 1 % at home and abroad, impose austerity on the 99% to expand their profits, often by drones, armies, and police.
Just as there is a nationally-coordinated attempt to curb the organized dissent of the Occupy Wall St. movements, the federal and local authorities want to deny us our constitutional rights to peacefully and legally protest within sight and sound range of the NATO/G-8 Summits. We must challenge them and bring thousands to Chicago to stand in solidarity with all those fighting US-backed austerity and war around the globe.
To plan these actions and further actions against the program of endless war of the global elite, we will meet in a large national conference March 23-25 in Stamford CT. This conference will bring to¬gether activists from the occupy movements, and the antiwar, social justice and environmental move¬ments. We will demand that Washington Bring Our War Dollars Home Now! and use these trillions immediately for human needs.
The conference program will feature movement leaders, educators, grassroots activists, 40 workshops, and discussion/voting sessions on an action program. A partial list of presenters include: Ann Wright, Bill McKibben, Glen Ford, Vijay Prashad, Saadia Toor, Cynthia McKinney, Malik Mujahid, Ian Angus, Monami Maulik, Elliot Adams, Bruce Gagnon, David Swanson, Lucy Pagoada, and Clarence Thomas.
A conference highlight will be the relationship between the Wars Abroad and the racist War at Home on the Black Community, addressing unemployment, the New Jim Crow of mass incarceration, police brutality, the prison industry, and the racist death penalty.
Workshop Topics Include:
Occupy Wall St. & the Fight Against War x Global Economic Crisis Climate Crisis and War oo Women and War oo War at Home on Black Community oo War on the U.S.-Mexico Border oc Islamophobia as a Tool of War oo War and Labor's Fight Back oo Defense of Iran oo Afghanistan after Ten Years of Occupation oo Is the U.S. Really Withdrawing from Iraq? oo War on Pakistan oo Updates on Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, and Yemen oo What Next for the Arab Spring? oo Occupation of Haiti oo U.S. Intervention in Honduras, Colombia, and the rest of Latin America x> Drone Warfare and Weapons in Space oo Fight for Our Right to Protest oo Civil Liberties oo Guantanamo, Torture and Rendition oo U.S. Combat Troops Involved in New Scramble for Africa oo Somalia oc Control of Media oo Imperialism oc Nonviolence & Direct Action oo Palestine: UN Recognized Statehood or Civil Resistance oc Breaking the Siege of Gaza & Ending Occupation oo Veterans Rights oo Immigrant Rights and War °o No War, No Warming oo Bring Our War $$ Home Campaigns.
www.unacpeace.org
**************
A Call To Action-United National Antiwar Coalition Conference-March 23-25,2012 - Stamford Hilton Hotel, CT
SAY NO! TO THE NATO/G8 WARS & POVERTY AGENDA
A CONFERENCE TO CHALLENGE THE WARS OF THE 1% AGAINST THE 99* ABROAD AND AT HOME
March 23-25,2012 - Stamford Hilton Hotel, CT
The US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the G-8 world economic powers will meet in Chicago, May 15-22,2012 to plan their economic and military strategies for the coming period. These military, financial, and political leaders, who serve the 1 % at home and abroad, impose austerity on the 99% to expand their profits, often by drones, armies, and police.
Just as there is a nationally-coordinated attempt to curb the organized dissent of the Occupy Wall St. movements, the federal and local authorities want to deny us our constitutional rights to peacefully and legally protest within sight and sound range of the NATO/G-8 Summits. We must challenge them and bring thousands to Chicago to stand in solidarity with all those fighting US-backed austerity and war around the globe.
To plan these actions and further actions against the program of endless war of the global elite, we will meet in a large national conference March 23-25 in Stamford CT. This conference will bring to¬gether activists from the occupy movements, and the antiwar, social justice and environmental move¬ments. We will demand that Washington Bring Our War Dollars Home Now! and use these trillions immediately for human needs.
The conference program will feature movement leaders, educators, grassroots activists, 40 workshops, and discussion/voting sessions on an action program. A partial list of presenters include: Ann Wright, Bill McKibben, Glen Ford, Vijay Prashad, Saadia Toor, Cynthia McKinney, Malik Mujahid, Ian Angus, Monami Maulik, Elliot Adams, Bruce Gagnon, David Swanson, Lucy Pagoada, and Clarence Thomas.
A conference highlight will be the relationship between the Wars Abroad and the racist War at Home on the Black Community, addressing unemployment, the New Jim Crow of mass incarceration, police brutality, the prison industry, and the racist death penalty.
Workshop Topics Include:
Occupy Wall St. & the Fight Against War x Global Economic Crisis
www.unacpeace.org
**************
Monday, March 19, 2012
Saint Patrick’s Day Peace Parade: A Day When The Words Veterans and Peace Came Together –Came Together Very Nicely- The Struggle Continues –On To May Day 2012-From "Occupy Boston"
Click on the headline to link to materials related to the Veterans For Peace-initiated Saint Patrick's Day Peace Parade In South Boston on March 18, 2012.
Thanks to all those who helped organize, marched in, donated funds to, donated time to, helped spread the word about, or just gave us their good wishes in the just concluded 2nd Annual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday March 18th. Many of us have been through lots of protests and other street actions in the struggle against war, against inequality, and against injustice but our well-received march through the working-class neighborhoods of Southie ranks very high, very high indeed, in the annals of those struggles.
Of course no one event, even a parade of the army of the righteous to spread the word to the kindred, will turn the swords into plowshares, right the incredible disparity between the rich and poor, or give indignant voice to the oppressed and voiceless so the struggle continues. And continues in other forms on other days. So we throw our very pleasant memories in the back of our minds and roll up our sleeves for the next struggle. And I just happen to have an event for you to focus on- May Day 2012
May Day 2012 is a day, as we have dubbed it, when we want to show a different face of the struggle- the struggle against social and political inequality to the bosses. A day when the 99% shows the 1% that we created the wealth and we are ready to take it. It’s ours. A day when we say no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no chores (nobody will have a problem with that last one). More later. For now though-All Out On May Day
*************
From the General Strike Working Group of Occupy Boston:
Occupy May Day- A Day Without the 99%
On May 1st Occupy Boston calls on the 99% to strike, skip work, walk
out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking and business for a
day without the 99%.
NO WORK.
Request the day off. Call out sick. Small businesses are encouraged to
close for the day and join the rest of the 99% in the streets. If you
must work, don’t worry - there will be actions planned for all
hours of the day.
NO SCHOOL.
Walk out of class. Occupy the universities. Kick out the
administration. Participate in student strike actions or plan your
own. It’s your future. Own it.
BLOCK THE FLOW.
In the early hours on May 1st the 99% will converge on the Boston
Financial district for a day of direct action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. The
Financial District Block Party will start at 7:00 AM on the corner of
Federal Street & Franklin Street in downtown Boston. Banks and
corporations are strongly encouraged to close down for the day.
There will be a May Day rally at Boston City Hall Plaza at noon followed by
solidarity marches and other creative actions throughout the day.
EVERYONE TO THE STREETS!
We call upon all of the 99% to join in this day of action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. No work. No
school. No chores. No shopping. No banking. Let’s show the 1% that we
have the power. Let’s show the world a day without the 99%.
Thanks to all those who helped organize, marched in, donated funds to, donated time to, helped spread the word about, or just gave us their good wishes in the just concluded 2nd Annual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday March 18th. Many of us have been through lots of protests and other street actions in the struggle against war, against inequality, and against injustice but our well-received march through the working-class neighborhoods of Southie ranks very high, very high indeed, in the annals of those struggles.
Of course no one event, even a parade of the army of the righteous to spread the word to the kindred, will turn the swords into plowshares, right the incredible disparity between the rich and poor, or give indignant voice to the oppressed and voiceless so the struggle continues. And continues in other forms on other days. So we throw our very pleasant memories in the back of our minds and roll up our sleeves for the next struggle. And I just happen to have an event for you to focus on- May Day 2012
May Day 2012 is a day, as we have dubbed it, when we want to show a different face of the struggle- the struggle against social and political inequality to the bosses. A day when the 99% shows the 1% that we created the wealth and we are ready to take it. It’s ours. A day when we say no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no chores (nobody will have a problem with that last one). More later. For now though-All Out On May Day
*************
From the General Strike Working Group of Occupy Boston:
Occupy May Day- A Day Without the 99%
On May 1st Occupy Boston calls on the 99% to strike, skip work, walk
out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking and business for a
day without the 99%.
NO WORK.
Request the day off. Call out sick. Small businesses are encouraged to
close for the day and join the rest of the 99% in the streets. If you
must work, don’t worry - there will be actions planned for all
hours of the day.
NO SCHOOL.
Walk out of class. Occupy the universities. Kick out the
administration. Participate in student strike actions or plan your
own. It’s your future. Own it.
BLOCK THE FLOW.
In the early hours on May 1st the 99% will converge on the Boston
Financial district for a day of direct action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. The
Financial District Block Party will start at 7:00 AM on the corner of
Federal Street & Franklin Street in downtown Boston. Banks and
corporations are strongly encouraged to close down for the day.
There will be a May Day rally at Boston City Hall Plaza at noon followed by
solidarity marches and other creative actions throughout the day.
EVERYONE TO THE STREETS!
We call upon all of the 99% to join in this day of action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. No work. No
school. No chores. No shopping. No banking. Let’s show the 1% that we
have the power. Let’s show the world a day without the 99%.
Saint Patrick’s Day Peace Parade: A Day When The Words Veterans and Peace Came Together –Came Together Very Nicely- The Struggle Continues –On To May Day 2012
Click on the headline to link to materials related to the Veterans For Peace-initiated Saint Patrick's Day Peace Parade In South Boston on March 18, 2012.
Thanks to all those who helped organize, marched in, donated funds to, donated time to, helped spread the word about, or just gave us their good wishes in the just concluded 2nd Annual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday March 18th. Many of us have been through lots of protests and other street actions in the struggle against war, against inequality, and against injustice but our well-received march through the working-class neighborhoods of Southie ranks very high, very high indeed, in the annals of those struggles.
Of course no one event, even a parade of the army of the righteous to spread the word to the kindred, will turn the swords into plowshares, right the incredible disparity between the rich and poor, or give indignant voice to the oppressed and voiceless so the struggle continues. And continues in other forms on other days. So we throw our very pleasant memories in the back of our minds and roll up our sleeves for the next struggle. And I just happen to have an event for you to focus on- May Day 2012
May Day 2012 is a day, as we have dubbed it, when we want to show a different face of the struggle- the struggle against social and political inequality to the bosses. A day when the 99% shows the 1% that we created the wealth and we are ready to take it. It’s ours. A day when we say no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no chores (nobody will have a problem with that last one). More later. For now though-All Out On May Day
*************
From the General Strike Working Group of Occupy Boston:
Occupy May Day- A Day Without the 99%
On May 1st Occupy Boston calls on the 99% to strike, skip work, walk
out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking and business for a
day without the 99%.
NO WORK.
Request the day off. Call out sick. Small businesses are encouraged to
close for the day and join the rest of the 99% in the streets. If you
must work, don’t worry - there will be actions planned for all
hours of the day.
NO SCHOOL.
Walk out of class. Occupy the universities. Kick out the
administration. Participate in student strike actions or plan your
own. It’s your future. Own it.
BLOCK THE FLOW.
In the early hours on May 1st the 99% will converge on the Boston
Financial district for a day of direct action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. The
Financial District Block Party will start at 7:00 AM on the corner of
Federal Street & Franklin Street in downtown Boston. Banks and
corporations are strongly encouraged to close down for the day.
There will be a May Day rally at Boston City Hall Plaza at noon followed by
solidarity marches and other creative actions throughout the day.
EVERYONE TO THE STREETS!
We call upon all of the 99% to join in this day of action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. No work. No
school. No chores. No shopping. No banking. Let’s show the 1% that we
have the power. Let’s show the world a day without the 99%.
Thanks to all those who helped organize, marched in, donated funds to, donated time to, helped spread the word about, or just gave us their good wishes in the just concluded 2nd Annual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday March 18th. Many of us have been through lots of protests and other street actions in the struggle against war, against inequality, and against injustice but our well-received march through the working-class neighborhoods of Southie ranks very high, very high indeed, in the annals of those struggles.
Of course no one event, even a parade of the army of the righteous to spread the word to the kindred, will turn the swords into plowshares, right the incredible disparity between the rich and poor, or give indignant voice to the oppressed and voiceless so the struggle continues. And continues in other forms on other days. So we throw our very pleasant memories in the back of our minds and roll up our sleeves for the next struggle. And I just happen to have an event for you to focus on- May Day 2012
May Day 2012 is a day, as we have dubbed it, when we want to show a different face of the struggle- the struggle against social and political inequality to the bosses. A day when the 99% shows the 1% that we created the wealth and we are ready to take it. It’s ours. A day when we say no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no chores (nobody will have a problem with that last one). More later. For now though-All Out On May Day
*************
From the General Strike Working Group of Occupy Boston:
Occupy May Day- A Day Without the 99%
On May 1st Occupy Boston calls on the 99% to strike, skip work, walk
out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking and business for a
day without the 99%.
NO WORK.
Request the day off. Call out sick. Small businesses are encouraged to
close for the day and join the rest of the 99% in the streets. If you
must work, don’t worry - there will be actions planned for all
hours of the day.
NO SCHOOL.
Walk out of class. Occupy the universities. Kick out the
administration. Participate in student strike actions or plan your
own. It’s your future. Own it.
BLOCK THE FLOW.
In the early hours on May 1st the 99% will converge on the Boston
Financial district for a day of direct action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. The
Financial District Block Party will start at 7:00 AM on the corner of
Federal Street & Franklin Street in downtown Boston. Banks and
corporations are strongly encouraged to close down for the day.
There will be a May Day rally at Boston City Hall Plaza at noon followed by
solidarity marches and other creative actions throughout the day.
EVERYONE TO THE STREETS!
We call upon all of the 99% to join in this day of action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. No work. No
school. No chores. No shopping. No banking. Let’s show the 1% that we
have the power. Let’s show the world a day without the 99%.
Free Bradley Manning Rides The Veterans For Peace-Initiated Saint Patrick's Day Peace Parade On March 18th
Private Bradley Manning was well honored at the VFP-initiated Saint Patrick's Day Peace Parade in South Boston on March 18th. People "begged" to wear Bradley Manning stickers. Over 500 were distributed. Why? Well one reason was that we of the anti-war movement had very little influence on ending the Iraq war but we can try to save the only hero of that war. Free Bradley Manning!
***
Saint Patrick’s Day Peace Parade: A Day When The Words Veterans and Peace Came Together –Came Together Very Nicely- The Struggle Continues –On To May Day 2012
http://www.facebook.com/OccupyBoston#!/Occupy.May1.Boston
Thanks to all those who helped organize, marched in, donated funds to, donated time to, helped spread the word about, or just gave us their good wishes in the just concluded 2nd Annual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday March 18th. Many of us have been through lots of protests and other street actions in the struggle against war, against inequality, and against injustice but our well-received march through the working-class neighborhoods of Southie ranks very high, very high indeed, in the annals of those struggles.
Of course no one event, even a parade of the army of the righteous to spread the word to the kindred, will turn the swords into plowshares, right the incredible disparity between the rich and poor, or give indignant voice to the oppressed and voiceless so the struggle continues. And continues in other forms on other days. So we throw our very pleasant memories in the back of our minds and roll up our sleeves for the next struggle. And I just happen to have an event for you to focus on- May Day 2012
May Day 2012 is a day, as we have dubbed it, when we want to show a different face of the struggle- the struggle against social and political inequality to the bosses. A day when the 99% shows the 1% that we created the wealth and we are ready to take it. It’s ours. A day when we say no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no chores (nobody will have a problem with that last one). More later. For now though-All Out On May Day
*************
From the General Strike Working Group of Occupy Boston:
Occupy May Day- A Day Without the 99%
On May 1st Occupy Boston calls on the 99% to strike, skip work, walk
out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking and business for a
day without the 99%.
NO WORK.
Request the day off. Call out sick. Small businesses are encouraged to
close for the day and join the rest of the 99% in the streets. If you
must work, don’t worry - there will be actions planned for all
hours of the day.
NO SCHOOL.
Walk out of class. Occupy the universities. Kick out the
administration. Participate in student strike actions or plan your
own. It’s your future. Own it.
BLOCK THE FLOW.
In the early hours on May 1st the 99% will converge on the Boston
Financial district for a day of direct action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. The
Financial District Block Party will start at 7:00 AM on the corner of
Federal Street & Franklin Street in downtown Boston. Banks and
corporations are strongly encouraged to close down for the day.
There will be a May Day rally at Boston City Hall Plaza at noon followed by
solidarity marches and other creative actions throughout the day.
EVERYONE TO THE STREETS!
We call upon all of the 99% to join in this day of action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. No work. No
school. No chores. No shopping. No banking. Let’s show the 1% that we
have the power. Let’s show the world a day without the 99%.
***
Saint Patrick’s Day Peace Parade: A Day When The Words Veterans and Peace Came Together –Came Together Very Nicely- The Struggle Continues –On To May Day 2012
http://www.facebook.com/OccupyBoston#!/Occupy.May1.Boston
Thanks to all those who helped organize, marched in, donated funds to, donated time to, helped spread the word about, or just gave us their good wishes in the just concluded 2nd Annual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday March 18th. Many of us have been through lots of protests and other street actions in the struggle against war, against inequality, and against injustice but our well-received march through the working-class neighborhoods of Southie ranks very high, very high indeed, in the annals of those struggles.
Of course no one event, even a parade of the army of the righteous to spread the word to the kindred, will turn the swords into plowshares, right the incredible disparity between the rich and poor, or give indignant voice to the oppressed and voiceless so the struggle continues. And continues in other forms on other days. So we throw our very pleasant memories in the back of our minds and roll up our sleeves for the next struggle. And I just happen to have an event for you to focus on- May Day 2012
May Day 2012 is a day, as we have dubbed it, when we want to show a different face of the struggle- the struggle against social and political inequality to the bosses. A day when the 99% shows the 1% that we created the wealth and we are ready to take it. It’s ours. A day when we say no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no chores (nobody will have a problem with that last one). More later. For now though-All Out On May Day
*************
From the General Strike Working Group of Occupy Boston:
Occupy May Day- A Day Without the 99%
On May 1st Occupy Boston calls on the 99% to strike, skip work, walk
out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking and business for a
day without the 99%.
NO WORK.
Request the day off. Call out sick. Small businesses are encouraged to
close for the day and join the rest of the 99% in the streets. If you
must work, don’t worry - there will be actions planned for all
hours of the day.
NO SCHOOL.
Walk out of class. Occupy the universities. Kick out the
administration. Participate in student strike actions or plan your
own. It’s your future. Own it.
BLOCK THE FLOW.
In the early hours on May 1st the 99% will converge on the Boston
Financial district for a day of direct action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. The
Financial District Block Party will start at 7:00 AM on the corner of
Federal Street & Franklin Street in downtown Boston. Banks and
corporations are strongly encouraged to close down for the day.
There will be a May Day rally at Boston City Hall Plaza at noon followed by
solidarity marches and other creative actions throughout the day.
EVERYONE TO THE STREETS!
We call upon all of the 99% to join in this day of action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. No work. No
school. No chores. No shopping. No banking. Let’s show the 1% that we
have the power. Let’s show the world a day without the 99%.
Saint Patrick’s Day Peace Parade: A Day When The Words Veterans and Peace Came Together –Came Together Very Nicely- The Struggle Continues –On To May Day 2012
Click on the headline to link to materials related to the Veterans For Peace-initiated Saint Patrick's Day Peace Parade In South Boston on March 18, 2012.
Thanks to all those who helped organize, marched in, donated funds to, donated time to, helped spread the word about, or just gave us their good wishes in the just concluded 2nd Annual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday March 18th. Many of us have been through lots of protests and other street actions in the struggle against war, against inequality, and against injustice but our well-received march through the working-class neighborhoods of Southie ranks very high, very high indeed, in the annals of those struggles.
Of course no one event, even a parade of the army of the righteous to spread the word to the kindred, will turn the swords into plowshares, right the incredible disparity between the rich and poor, or give indignant voice to the oppressed and voiceless so the struggle continues. And continues in other forms on other days. So we throw our very pleasant memories in the back of our minds and roll up our sleeves for the next struggle. And I just happen to have an event for you to focus on- May Day 2012
May Day 2012 is a day, as we have dubbed it, when we want to show a different face of the struggle- the struggle against social and political inequality to the bosses. A day when the 99% shows the 1% that we created the wealth and we are ready to take it. It’s ours. A day when we say no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no chores (nobody will have a problem with that last one). More later. For now though-All Out On May Day
*************
From the General Strike Working Group of Occupy Boston:
Occupy May Day- A Day Without the 99%
On May 1st Occupy Boston calls on the 99% to strike, skip work, walk
out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking and business for a
day without the 99%.
NO WORK.
Request the day off. Call out sick. Small businesses are encouraged to
close for the day and join the rest of the 99% in the streets. If you
must work, don’t worry - there will be actions planned for all
hours of the day.
NO SCHOOL.
Walk out of class. Occupy the universities. Kick out the
administration. Participate in student strike actions or plan your
own. It’s your future. Own it.
BLOCK THE FLOW.
In the early hours on May 1st the 99% will converge on the Boston
Financial district for a day of direct action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. The
Financial District Block Party will start at 7:00 AM on the corner of
Federal Street & Franklin Street in downtown Boston. Banks and
corporations are strongly encouraged to close down for the day.
There will be a May Day rally at Boston City Hall Plaza at noon followed by
solidarity marches and other creative actions throughout the day.
EVERYONE TO THE STREETS!
We call upon all of the 99% to join in this day of action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. No work. No
school. No chores. No shopping. No banking. Let’s show the 1% that we
have the power. Let’s show the world a day without the 99%.
Thanks to all those who helped organize, marched in, donated funds to, donated time to, helped spread the word about, or just gave us their good wishes in the just concluded 2nd Annual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday March 18th. Many of us have been through lots of protests and other street actions in the struggle against war, against inequality, and against injustice but our well-received march through the working-class neighborhoods of Southie ranks very high, very high indeed, in the annals of those struggles.
Of course no one event, even a parade of the army of the righteous to spread the word to the kindred, will turn the swords into plowshares, right the incredible disparity between the rich and poor, or give indignant voice to the oppressed and voiceless so the struggle continues. And continues in other forms on other days. So we throw our very pleasant memories in the back of our minds and roll up our sleeves for the next struggle. And I just happen to have an event for you to focus on- May Day 2012
May Day 2012 is a day, as we have dubbed it, when we want to show a different face of the struggle- the struggle against social and political inequality to the bosses. A day when the 99% shows the 1% that we created the wealth and we are ready to take it. It’s ours. A day when we say no work, no school, no shopping, no banking, and no chores (nobody will have a problem with that last one). More later. For now though-All Out On May Day
*************
From the General Strike Working Group of Occupy Boston:
Occupy May Day- A Day Without the 99%
On May 1st Occupy Boston calls on the 99% to strike, skip work, walk
out of school, and refrain from shopping, banking and business for a
day without the 99%.
NO WORK.
Request the day off. Call out sick. Small businesses are encouraged to
close for the day and join the rest of the 99% in the streets. If you
must work, don’t worry - there will be actions planned for all
hours of the day.
NO SCHOOL.
Walk out of class. Occupy the universities. Kick out the
administration. Participate in student strike actions or plan your
own. It’s your future. Own it.
BLOCK THE FLOW.
In the early hours on May 1st the 99% will converge on the Boston
Financial district for a day of direct action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. The
Financial District Block Party will start at 7:00 AM on the corner of
Federal Street & Franklin Street in downtown Boston. Banks and
corporations are strongly encouraged to close down for the day.
There will be a May Day rally at Boston City Hall Plaza at noon followed by
solidarity marches and other creative actions throughout the day.
EVERYONE TO THE STREETS!
We call upon all of the 99% to join in this day of action to demand an
end to corporate rule and a shift of power to the people. No work. No
school. No chores. No shopping. No banking. Let’s show the 1% that we
have the power. Let’s show the world a day without the 99%.
Writer’s Corner- William Kennedy’s “Ironweed”- Tales Of The Albany Irish Diaspora
Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for part of William Kennedy’s Albany saga, Ironweed.
Book Review
Ironweed, William Kennedy, The Viking Press, New York, 1983
The paragraphs below were used to review the book that this film is based on. Since the film very closely follows the story line of the book the comments there can, for the most part, stand here. I would only add that Jack Nicholson’s role as ex- baseball player, hard guy, and hobo “alkie” Fran is probably more understated that the book character (and more understated for him, given some of his more in-your-face roles like in The Shining or Five Easy Pieces). Meryl Streep, well is Merlyn Streep, and plays the role of Helen, Fran’s street companion/lover, to a tee (although she might be a tad bit more beautiful that your average woman rummy). The surprise treat is the secondary role played by raspy singer-songwriter Tom Waits as Fran’s sidekick, Rudy. On reflection though, for those, like me, who know Waits’ later musical, work his role should not be surprised. Who else lately could fill that kind of ‘lost soul’ hobo role so naturally?
William Kennedy is, at least in his Albany stories, my kind of writer. He writes about the trials and tribulations of the Irish diaspora as it penetrated the rough and tumble of American urban WASP-run society, for good or evil. I know those people, their follies and frauds, like the back of my hand. Check. Kennedy writes, as here, about that pervasive hold that Catholicism has even on its most debased sons and daughters, saint and sinner alike. I know those characteristics all too well. Check. He writes about that place in class society where the working class meets the lumpen-proletariat-the thieves, grifters, drifters and con men- the human dust. I know that place well, much better than I would ever let on. Check. He writes about the sorrows and dangers of the effects alcohol on working class families. I know that place too. Check. And so on. Oh, did I mention that he also, at some point, was an editor of some sort associated with the late Hunter S. Thompson down in Puerto Rico. I know that mad man’s work well. Check
The above, in a tangential way, gets you pretty much all you need to know about the why of reading this book (and other stories by Kennedy), except a little something about the plot line. Well, that is fairly simple. Old time baseball star Fran and his erstwhile companion, a gifted singer, Helen are drunks working their way through the edges between skid row and respectability. And, mainly, losing to the lure of the bottle and to the hard, hard struggle that it takes just to get through the day when your options are limited. Put that task together with trying to survive in the jungles, with its endless twisted characters, of Great Depression (that other one in the 1930s) Albany, trying to figure out when life went wrong and trying to figure out why it all went wrong- while fighting a losing battle against society’s expectations- and one’s family’s. This will provide enough dramatic tension to keep you interested. Oh did I mention that Kennedy writes with verve, with an uncanny understanding of his characters (although only Fran and Helen get the full treatment here) and with no holds barred, or punches pulled down there on cheap street. See, that is why Kennedy and Thompson connected in the literary world. They KNOW the underside of life. Read this thing, please.
Book Review
Ironweed, William Kennedy, The Viking Press, New York, 1983
The paragraphs below were used to review the book that this film is based on. Since the film very closely follows the story line of the book the comments there can, for the most part, stand here. I would only add that Jack Nicholson’s role as ex- baseball player, hard guy, and hobo “alkie” Fran is probably more understated that the book character (and more understated for him, given some of his more in-your-face roles like in The Shining or Five Easy Pieces). Meryl Streep, well is Merlyn Streep, and plays the role of Helen, Fran’s street companion/lover, to a tee (although she might be a tad bit more beautiful that your average woman rummy). The surprise treat is the secondary role played by raspy singer-songwriter Tom Waits as Fran’s sidekick, Rudy. On reflection though, for those, like me, who know Waits’ later musical, work his role should not be surprised. Who else lately could fill that kind of ‘lost soul’ hobo role so naturally?
William Kennedy is, at least in his Albany stories, my kind of writer. He writes about the trials and tribulations of the Irish diaspora as it penetrated the rough and tumble of American urban WASP-run society, for good or evil. I know those people, their follies and frauds, like the back of my hand. Check. Kennedy writes, as here, about that pervasive hold that Catholicism has even on its most debased sons and daughters, saint and sinner alike. I know those characteristics all too well. Check. He writes about that place in class society where the working class meets the lumpen-proletariat-the thieves, grifters, drifters and con men- the human dust. I know that place well, much better than I would ever let on. Check. He writes about the sorrows and dangers of the effects alcohol on working class families. I know that place too. Check. And so on. Oh, did I mention that he also, at some point, was an editor of some sort associated with the late Hunter S. Thompson down in Puerto Rico. I know that mad man’s work well. Check
The above, in a tangential way, gets you pretty much all you need to know about the why of reading this book (and other stories by Kennedy), except a little something about the plot line. Well, that is fairly simple. Old time baseball star Fran and his erstwhile companion, a gifted singer, Helen are drunks working their way through the edges between skid row and respectability. And, mainly, losing to the lure of the bottle and to the hard, hard struggle that it takes just to get through the day when your options are limited. Put that task together with trying to survive in the jungles, with its endless twisted characters, of Great Depression (that other one in the 1930s) Albany, trying to figure out when life went wrong and trying to figure out why it all went wrong- while fighting a losing battle against society’s expectations- and one’s family’s. This will provide enough dramatic tension to keep you interested. Oh did I mention that Kennedy writes with verve, with an uncanny understanding of his characters (although only Fran and Helen get the full treatment here) and with no holds barred, or punches pulled down there on cheap street. See, that is why Kennedy and Thompson connected in the literary world. They KNOW the underside of life. Read this thing, please.
Out Of The 1940s Crime Noir Night- American Psycho 101- “Born To Kill”- A Review
Out Of The 1940s Crime Noir Night- American Psycho 101- “Born To Kill”- A Review
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Kill_(1947_film)
Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for the 1940s crime noir Born To Kill.
DVD Review
Born To Kill, starring Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Warner Brothers 1948
No question the possible combinations of criminal conspiracies and conspirators in any crime noir are almost infinite. Here stone-cold killer meets stone-cold femme fatale (well mostly stone cold that is) in one of those crime noir efforts that you can’t really root for anybody to break out of the trap- the crime doesn’t pay trap that is a signature message of these vehicles. That is the plight of the ”inmates” of the film under review, Born To Kill, that despite its title is not a relentless slice and dice at every clip crime noir out of the 1940s. But neither is it one that will have you bursting out crying at the end.
Here’s why. One very stone-cold killer (played frankly, a little woodenly given later pyscho killers that the movies have produced, by Lawrence Tierney) with a very short, make that a very,very short fuse, gets offended by some guy in Reno trying to “make time” with some frail that he is interested in and in a fit of pique beats him senseless, and dead. A familiar crime theme although not usually is Reno. The frail comes in and observes the foul deed and she too must fall. On advice of a friend, who should have fled from this guy on day one and counted himself lucky, our American pyscho is told to scram until things cool down. So he beat it to the coast, ‘Frisco, of course. And through that set of circumstances he meets our stone-cold femme fatale (played more convincingly by Claire Trevor). Nothing good can come of this combination and nothing does.
Why? Well our pyscho has post –World War II American-sized dreams of riches and power and he expects to gather it in through his association with our dear femme fatale’s sister who controls a media empire (newspapers back in the day, okay). Except, well, of course, an except Ms. Femme Fatale has gotten under his skin and he under hers. Remember now our boy has a short fuse so you know that nothing but murder and mayhem are going to come out of all this if he gets a little bit miffed. And he does by of all people the guy who was trying to help him scram back in Reno (played by perennial bad boy Elisha Cook,Jr.) Go figure. As for the rest, see the film and learn yet again that even pyschos get their just desserts-if only in the movies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Kill_(1947_film)
Click on the headline to link to a Wikipedia entry for the 1940s crime noir Born To Kill.
DVD Review
Born To Kill, starring Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Warner Brothers 1948
No question the possible combinations of criminal conspiracies and conspirators in any crime noir are almost infinite. Here stone-cold killer meets stone-cold femme fatale (well mostly stone cold that is) in one of those crime noir efforts that you can’t really root for anybody to break out of the trap- the crime doesn’t pay trap that is a signature message of these vehicles. That is the plight of the ”inmates” of the film under review, Born To Kill, that despite its title is not a relentless slice and dice at every clip crime noir out of the 1940s. But neither is it one that will have you bursting out crying at the end.
Here’s why. One very stone-cold killer (played frankly, a little woodenly given later pyscho killers that the movies have produced, by Lawrence Tierney) with a very short, make that a very,very short fuse, gets offended by some guy in Reno trying to “make time” with some frail that he is interested in and in a fit of pique beats him senseless, and dead. A familiar crime theme although not usually is Reno. The frail comes in and observes the foul deed and she too must fall. On advice of a friend, who should have fled from this guy on day one and counted himself lucky, our American pyscho is told to scram until things cool down. So he beat it to the coast, ‘Frisco, of course. And through that set of circumstances he meets our stone-cold femme fatale (played more convincingly by Claire Trevor). Nothing good can come of this combination and nothing does.
Why? Well our pyscho has post –World War II American-sized dreams of riches and power and he expects to gather it in through his association with our dear femme fatale’s sister who controls a media empire (newspapers back in the day, okay). Except, well, of course, an except Ms. Femme Fatale has gotten under his skin and he under hers. Remember now our boy has a short fuse so you know that nothing but murder and mayhem are going to come out of all this if he gets a little bit miffed. And he does by of all people the guy who was trying to help him scram back in Reno (played by perennial bad boy Elisha Cook,Jr.) Go figure. As for the rest, see the film and learn yet again that even pyschos get their just desserts-if only in the movies.
On The 9th (Oops, Really 21st) Anniversary Of The Iraq War - Obama- Immediate, Uncondtional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops From Afghanistan !
Markin comment:
The entry from January 15, 2010 of American Left History concerning the idea of the 20th anniversary of the American Iraq War and not just the 8th anniversary of the current war is reprinted below. Certainly for the vast majority of Iraqi workers and peasants that 20 year number is closer to the truth. Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./ Allied Troops (And Mercenaries)From Iraq!
******
*From The “Catholic Worker” Website- A Washington Demonstration Today On The 20th Anniversary Of The American “Presence” In Iraq
Markin comment:
In the nature of my political work, and having a little time to do such things, I am responsible in my circle for “surfing” the blogosphere. Most of the time it comes up dry for an idea for a commentary but today I have one from a seemingly unusual source, at least for me, the Catholic Worker. This organization, founded in the 1930s by Dorothy Day among others, is no stranger to this blogger. I will discuss that below in a separate note. What is important here is that they are organizing a demonstration and other events today to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the American “presence” in Iraq. That event is worthy of some comment.
Of course, tracing back the American occupation in Iraq to the first George Bush administration’s murderous rampage in Iraq, complete with saturation bombing beginning on the night of January 15, 1991 at about 7:00PM EST, is exactly right. Although in general memory most people split the first Bush (41) Iraq War from the second Bush (43) March 2003 Iraq War that is wrong. The “interlude” Clinton Democratic administration’s savage and murderous economic blockade, no fly zone, and occasional bombings count as well. The days of counting wars in a few years and done are, apparently, over. The notion of the age thirty and hundred years wars that we read about in our old childhood history books and that we thought were well done and over is still with us. Although I cannot support the pacifist and religiously-derived philosophical non-violent thrust of the Catholic Worker program for this day as set forth in their announcement I can appreciate their efforts in commemorating the nature of modern war, and war-makers. And just in case it is not clear who they are and what they are doing- Obama-Immediate. Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops (And Mercenaries) From Iraq And Afghanistan!
Note: The Catholic Worker spirit hovered, and hovered profusely in every room, around my growing up households both when we lived down at the edge, the flotsam and jetsam edge, of society in the old public housing projects when we were grindingly poor-struck and later when we moved an inch up to the regular poor, downwardly-mobile working class neighborhood of my teen years. I may have known the name Dorothy Day (and a little later, Ammon Hennessey, from out in Utah desert country, Joe Hill House Catholic outpost to Western bums, tramps, and hoboes, and also drifters, grifters, and midnight sifters he turned none away, as far as I knew) better than the pope’s. Well, maybe not as well, but close. Why? Well, for one, old grandma, crippled-up, house-bound , sweet, high saint Roman Catholic grandma, beatified grandma, no, not that “beat” beatified but beatitude-worthy, primo tuna fish sandwich on Friday- making grandma who was “hip” to the Catholic Worker movement in the 1930s when New York-based Ms. Day came to Boston to spread the non-communist (although not anti-communist, remember those were "popular front" days) good tidings. And that fuse was carried over in my mother’s generation, although not the tuna-fish sandwich stuff (at least she was not as good as grandma at it, no way). Lesson: the meek may not inherit the earth, but they sure as hell should. And you and I, being “hip,” can show the way. How? By fighting for a workers party (an earthly workers party) that fights for a workers government (ditto, on the earthy thing). Here and now.
*********
Markin comment March 19, 2011:
As, unfortunately, has become an unwanted tradition on the annual anniversaries of the start of this 2003 phase of the Iraq war, I make the same propaganda points as in previous years and repost from those previous years. This 8th anniversary is no different. All U.S./Allied Troops (and mercenaries) out of Iraq Now!
*On The 7th Anniversary- All Out On March 20th To End The Afghan And Iraq Wars-A Guest Commentary From "National Assembly"
Markin comment:
I have already argued in previous entries about the importance of massing in Washington, D.C. on March 20th for this event. Bring your own slogans and banners, but be there to start building the long-delayed and needed divorce from one Barack Obama who has been given a pass on war issues- for no known rational reason. We knew, because he made it clear from the beginning what his priorities were in 2008, and he rubbed our noses in it last year. Now we need to get our priorities clear. Obama- Troops Out Now!
**********
Below is a repost, in a seemingly endless series of reposts of last year's, the 6th anniversary of the Iraq War,of my comment.
Commentary
On this the Sixth Anniversary of the Iraq invasion I repost my entries from previous years. There is essentially nothing new to add, except to replace the name Bush with Obama in the slogan- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal of All U.S./Allied Troops from Iraq and Afghanistan!
From March 19, 2008
Today I will go to downtown Boston and participate in my nth demonstration against the Iraq War. I will have my banner, I will shout and I ....will be frustrated that in many fundamentals we (meaning here the anti-war movement) are no closer to forcing a total troop withdrawal from Iraq than 5 years ago. But, my frustration will pass. In fact it has already. I will shout to the bitter end- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal of All United States/Allied Troops and Mercenaries From Iraq and Afghanistan!
Below I have reposted, as much as it pains me, a comment I made as we approached last year’s 4th Anniversary of the Iraq War. Damn.
COMMENTARY
WRITTEN ON MARCH 19, 2007 THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN INVASION AND OCCUPATION OF IRAQ.
This will be short and sweet for four years of war without an effective extra-parliamentary (or for that matter, parliamentary) opposition in an unpopular war led by an unpopular President speaks for itself. That said, the slogan Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal from Iraq by the United States and its rapidly dwindling coalition forces retains its validity. As does the fight for a straight no vote on the war budget. And, finally, as does the validity of the desperately necessary fight to form anti-war soldiers and sailors solidarity committees. Otherwise this time next year we will be writing about the fifth year of the war. Forward.
***************
I will not repost the 2006, 2005, 2004 entries because you have already read enough on this grim subject.
The entry from January 15, 2010 of American Left History concerning the idea of the 20th anniversary of the American Iraq War and not just the 8th anniversary of the current war is reprinted below. Certainly for the vast majority of Iraqi workers and peasants that 20 year number is closer to the truth. Immediate, Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./ Allied Troops (And Mercenaries)From Iraq!
******
*From The “Catholic Worker” Website- A Washington Demonstration Today On The 20th Anniversary Of The American “Presence” In Iraq
Markin comment:
In the nature of my political work, and having a little time to do such things, I am responsible in my circle for “surfing” the blogosphere. Most of the time it comes up dry for an idea for a commentary but today I have one from a seemingly unusual source, at least for me, the Catholic Worker. This organization, founded in the 1930s by Dorothy Day among others, is no stranger to this blogger. I will discuss that below in a separate note. What is important here is that they are organizing a demonstration and other events today to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the American “presence” in Iraq. That event is worthy of some comment.
Of course, tracing back the American occupation in Iraq to the first George Bush administration’s murderous rampage in Iraq, complete with saturation bombing beginning on the night of January 15, 1991 at about 7:00PM EST, is exactly right. Although in general memory most people split the first Bush (41) Iraq War from the second Bush (43) March 2003 Iraq War that is wrong. The “interlude” Clinton Democratic administration’s savage and murderous economic blockade, no fly zone, and occasional bombings count as well. The days of counting wars in a few years and done are, apparently, over. The notion of the age thirty and hundred years wars that we read about in our old childhood history books and that we thought were well done and over is still with us. Although I cannot support the pacifist and religiously-derived philosophical non-violent thrust of the Catholic Worker program for this day as set forth in their announcement I can appreciate their efforts in commemorating the nature of modern war, and war-makers. And just in case it is not clear who they are and what they are doing- Obama-Immediate. Unconditional Withdrawal Of All U.S./Allied Troops (And Mercenaries) From Iraq And Afghanistan!
Note: The Catholic Worker spirit hovered, and hovered profusely in every room, around my growing up households both when we lived down at the edge, the flotsam and jetsam edge, of society in the old public housing projects when we were grindingly poor-struck and later when we moved an inch up to the regular poor, downwardly-mobile working class neighborhood of my teen years. I may have known the name Dorothy Day (and a little later, Ammon Hennessey, from out in Utah desert country, Joe Hill House Catholic outpost to Western bums, tramps, and hoboes, and also drifters, grifters, and midnight sifters he turned none away, as far as I knew) better than the pope’s. Well, maybe not as well, but close. Why? Well, for one, old grandma, crippled-up, house-bound , sweet, high saint Roman Catholic grandma, beatified grandma, no, not that “beat” beatified but beatitude-worthy, primo tuna fish sandwich on Friday- making grandma who was “hip” to the Catholic Worker movement in the 1930s when New York-based Ms. Day came to Boston to spread the non-communist (although not anti-communist, remember those were "popular front" days) good tidings. And that fuse was carried over in my mother’s generation, although not the tuna-fish sandwich stuff (at least she was not as good as grandma at it, no way). Lesson: the meek may not inherit the earth, but they sure as hell should. And you and I, being “hip,” can show the way. How? By fighting for a workers party (an earthly workers party) that fights for a workers government (ditto, on the earthy thing). Here and now.
*********
Markin comment March 19, 2011:
As, unfortunately, has become an unwanted tradition on the annual anniversaries of the start of this 2003 phase of the Iraq war, I make the same propaganda points as in previous years and repost from those previous years. This 8th anniversary is no different. All U.S./Allied Troops (and mercenaries) out of Iraq Now!
*On The 7th Anniversary- All Out On March 20th To End The Afghan And Iraq Wars-A Guest Commentary From "National Assembly"
Markin comment:
I have already argued in previous entries about the importance of massing in Washington, D.C. on March 20th for this event. Bring your own slogans and banners, but be there to start building the long-delayed and needed divorce from one Barack Obama who has been given a pass on war issues- for no known rational reason. We knew, because he made it clear from the beginning what his priorities were in 2008, and he rubbed our noses in it last year. Now we need to get our priorities clear. Obama- Troops Out Now!
**********
Below is a repost, in a seemingly endless series of reposts of last year's, the 6th anniversary of the Iraq War,of my comment.
Commentary
On this the Sixth Anniversary of the Iraq invasion I repost my entries from previous years. There is essentially nothing new to add, except to replace the name Bush with Obama in the slogan- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal of All U.S./Allied Troops from Iraq and Afghanistan!
From March 19, 2008
Today I will go to downtown Boston and participate in my nth demonstration against the Iraq War. I will have my banner, I will shout and I ....will be frustrated that in many fundamentals we (meaning here the anti-war movement) are no closer to forcing a total troop withdrawal from Iraq than 5 years ago. But, my frustration will pass. In fact it has already. I will shout to the bitter end- Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal of All United States/Allied Troops and Mercenaries From Iraq and Afghanistan!
Below I have reposted, as much as it pains me, a comment I made as we approached last year’s 4th Anniversary of the Iraq War. Damn.
COMMENTARY
WRITTEN ON MARCH 19, 2007 THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICAN INVASION AND OCCUPATION OF IRAQ.
This will be short and sweet for four years of war without an effective extra-parliamentary (or for that matter, parliamentary) opposition in an unpopular war led by an unpopular President speaks for itself. That said, the slogan Immediate Unconditional Withdrawal from Iraq by the United States and its rapidly dwindling coalition forces retains its validity. As does the fight for a straight no vote on the war budget. And, finally, as does the validity of the desperately necessary fight to form anti-war soldiers and sailors solidarity committees. Otherwise this time next year we will be writing about the fifth year of the war. Forward.
***************
I will not repost the 2006, 2005, 2004 entries because you have already read enough on this grim subject.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
On The 141st Anniversary Of The Paris Commune-From The Pages Of "Workers Vanguard"-Revolutionary Women in the Paris Commune
Workers Vanguard No. 987
30 September 2011
Revolutionary Women in the Paris Commune
(Young Spartacus pages)
Both historians who defend the Commune and those who despise it have written much about the women who participated at every conjuncture in the Commune. In fact, depictions of women became metaphors for attitudes toward the Commune as a whole. To the bourgeoisie, Parisian women who supported the Commune were crazed viragoes who were “drunk with hate.” Depictions of bloodthirsty whores culminate in the bourgeoisie’s favorite image of the pétroleuses. Supposedly, these were the fanatical Communard women who in the last days, with their innocent children in tow, torched the great buildings of Paris. In reality, the bourgeoisie masks with these fabrications what really happened—the bourgeoisie drowned tens of thousands of proletarian men, women and children in a river of blood.
The most well-known female figure, the heroic Louise Michel, embodied the fervent determination of the Commune. Politically she was an anarchist, a follower of Bakunin. She was there on the morning of March 18, rousing Paris upon seeing Thiers’ troops in Montmartre. She volunteered to assassinate Thiers at Versailles, where the reactionary bourgeois government resided. She even snuck there and brought back newspapers to prove to her comrades that she could pull it off. She was a nurse with the ambulance companies and a fighter at the Fort of Issy and on the barricades. Defiant at her trial after the crushing of the Commune, she remained politically active for the rest of her life. The French bourgeoisie has since sanitized her image to turn her into a harmless feminist.
However, Michel was not central to the formation of the Women’s Union for the Defense of Paris and Aid to the Wounded. The Women’s Union was one of the most politically advanced expressions of revolutionary working-class consciousness in the Commune. It was able to lead and organize the widespread popular ferment among women because its precepts reflected the revolutionary proletarian perspective of the Marxist wing of the First International. The Women’s Union became the recognized intermediary between women in the city and the Commune government. No other group had such sustained citywide influence, from its founding in April to the end of the Commune on the barricades.
Elisabeth Dmitrieff along with Nathalie Le Mel were the leading forces behind the Women’s Union. Twenty years old, the Russian Dmitrieff was sent to Paris by Marx shortly before the Commune arose. She stepped forward to become a main advocate for women and to propagandize for a socialist perspective. Nathalie Le Mel, an active member of the First International and a former militant strike leader in the bookbinders union, worked alongside her.
On 11 April 1871, the Journal Officiel of the Commune devoted much of its front page to an appeal by “a group of citizens” to the democratic-minded women of Paris. The appeal called for the women to attend a meeting that evening with the purpose of forming “a women’s movement for the defence of Paris.” It also expressed the need for “the active collaboration of all the women of Paris who realize...that the present social order bears in itself the seeds of poverty and the death of Freedom and of Justice; who therefore welcome the advent of the reign of Labour and of Equality.” The appeal further stated that it was not just the Versailles government that was guilty of betraying Paris, it was equally “the privileged...who have always lived on [the people’s] sweat and grown fat on [the people’s] misery.” The civil war was “the final act of the eternal antagonism between right and might, between work and exploitation, between the people and its executioners!”
At its first meeting, the Women’s Union sent a proposal to the Executive Commission of the Commune soliciting material aid to set up facilities in each arrondissement (city district) town hall and to subsidize the printing of circulars, posters and notices for distribution. The Executive Commission immediately began to implement the meeting’s proposal by printing the entire text of the Address of the Union in the Journal Officiel on April 14, with a summary of the decisions taken at the meeting.
The Address illustrates the view of the Women’s Union on the source of women’s oppression. The designation ouvrière (worker) was placed under the name of six of the seven signatories to indicate their working-class origins. It referred to the Commune as a government whose ultimate objective was the abolition of all forms of social inequality, including discrimination against women. Most significantly, it described discrimination against women as a means by which the ruling classes maintain their power:
“That the Commune, representing the principle of the extinction of all privileges and of all inequality, should therefore consider all legitimate grievances of any section of the population without discrimination of sex, such discrimination having been made and enforced as a means of maintaining the privileges of the ruling classes.
“That success of the present conflict whose aim is...ultimately to regenerate Society by ensuring the rule of Labour and Justice, is of equal significance to the women as it is to the men of Paris.”
—quoted in Eugene Schulkind, “Socialist Women During the 1871 Paris Commune,” Past & Present (February 1985)
Every member of the Women’s Union had to contribute ten centimes and to acknowledge the authority of the Union’s Central Committee. The arrondissement committees set up by the Women’s Union had rotating presidents aided by a board, which was subject to recall by members. The arrondissement committees’ functions included providing non-religious personnel for welfare institutions, such as orphanages and hostels for the elderly.
The Women’s Union also intervened in the political clubs that had taken over churches and had become mass “speakouts” and organizing centers for Parisian women and men. With women mounting the church pulpits, these gatherings gave voice to widespread hatred of the church. At one meeting a woman suggested that the bodies of 60,000 Parisian priests (her count) should be used instead of sandbags for constructing barricades.
On April 16, the Commune authorized conversion of abandoned workshops into worker-owned cooperatives. Immediately after the enactment of this decree, all types of labor associations in Paris were invited by the Commission of Labor and Exchange to assist in planning its implementation. The Commune invitation was addressed to unions and associations “of both sexes” and explicitly called on “women citizens, whose devotion to the Social Revolution is so invaluable, not to disregard the all-important question of the organization of production.”
Léo Frankel, a Hungarian Marxist and member of the First International, led the Commune’s Commission of Labor and Exchange. He was the main link between the Commune leadership and the Women’s Union, providing it with money and assistance. The Commission of Labor and Exchange let the Women’s Union substitute its own plan for women’s cooperatives for the one the Commission had already drafted, prior to the creation of the Union. A committee of nine representatives from labor organizations, including Nathalie Le Mel from the Executive Commission of the Women’s Union, met in mid May to coordinate their efforts.
The Women’s Union advertised for women to meet and form associations to run workshops in all the traditional women’s trades, such as the needle trades, feather processing, artificial flowers and laundry. In a plan submitted to the Commission of Labor and Exchange, the Women’s Union elaborated on what it envisioned as the goals of the Commune. It stated that the “Revolution of 18th March represents the point in history at which the proletariat will have...brought to fruition the age-old struggle for social equality,” and continued, “to establish firmly the foundations for the new political organization that is its necessary prerequisite, the Commune must complete the partial victory of the People, not by limiting itself to the urgent needs of military defence, but by embarking unequivocally on the path of social reform” (quoted in Schulkind, “Socialist Women During the 1871 Paris Commune”). There is evidence that workshops were formed to produce munitions, sandbags and uniforms.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s reactionary views toward women dominated the French section of the First International. Proudhon had preached the triple inferiority of women for supposed physical, intellectual and moral reasons. He used pseudoscientific claptrap to “prove” that the subordination of women was inevitable. So it is all the more remarkable that the Commune threw off this backward philosophy in favor of the fight for the complete equality of men and women. This is not to say that there still wasn’t much backward thinking among the Parisians as a whole. But in spite of the influence of anti-women bigotry, the Commune gave women positions of responsibility, appointed them to administer welfare institutions, sent them on liaison missions to provincial cities and included them on commissions to reform education and open new schools for girls, such as a school for industrial design.
In May, placards appeared calling for peace with Versailles, signed by an anonymous group of women citizens. Two days later, the Women’s Union responded with its own posters, denouncing the “anonymous group of reactionary women” who had written such a “shocking proclamation.” It wrote in the name of “social revolution, the right to work, and equality and justice” and excoriated these women for calling for conciliation with the “cowardly assassins” of Versailles. The wall posters also affirmed the view of the Women’s Union that the civil war was a class conflict.
A final tragic note is that on the day before the Versailles troops entered the city to crush the Commune, the Women’s Union was launching the Federal Chamber of Working Women to reorganize women’s work based on federated laborers’ associations. Instead, the Women’s Union organized women for the barricades, where many soon faced their final hour.
A few months after the massacre of the Commune, Léo Frankel wrote in a republican newspaper a passionate denunciation of those who opposed women’s equality:
“Women are deprived of their rights by the claim that their mental and physical faculties are inferior to those of men because nature designed women to be mother, wife and housekeeper. Thus, in all our laws and in all our institutions, women are considered as inferior to men, as being servants of men.
“All the objections produced against equality of men and women are of the same sort as those which are produced against the emancipation of the Negro race…. Firstly people are blindfolded and then they are told that they have been blind since birth.”
—quoted in Schulkind, “Socialist Women During the 1871 Paris Commune”
In a letter to Dr. Ludwig Kugelmann dated 17 April 1871, Marx argued against the defeatist position that one should only take up arms when victory is certain. He strongly made the point that political leadership is key. The Marxists Léo Frankel and Elisabeth Dmitrieff intervened into the short-lived Commune with a revolutionary proletarian program. Conscious of their goal of an egalitarian classless society, they helped lay the basis for future working-class struggles. Marx wrote:
“World history would indeed be very easy to make if the struggle were taken up only on condition of infallibly favourable chances. It would, on the other hand, be of a very mystical nature, if ‘accidents’ played no part. These accidents themselves fall naturally into the general course of development and are compensated again by other accidents. But acceleration and delay are very dependent on such ‘accidents,’ which included the ‘accident’ of the character of those who at first stand at the head of the movement....
“Whatever the immediate results [of the Commune] may be, a new point of departure of world-historic importance has been gained.”
30 September 2011
Revolutionary Women in the Paris Commune
(Young Spartacus pages)
Both historians who defend the Commune and those who despise it have written much about the women who participated at every conjuncture in the Commune. In fact, depictions of women became metaphors for attitudes toward the Commune as a whole. To the bourgeoisie, Parisian women who supported the Commune were crazed viragoes who were “drunk with hate.” Depictions of bloodthirsty whores culminate in the bourgeoisie’s favorite image of the pétroleuses. Supposedly, these were the fanatical Communard women who in the last days, with their innocent children in tow, torched the great buildings of Paris. In reality, the bourgeoisie masks with these fabrications what really happened—the bourgeoisie drowned tens of thousands of proletarian men, women and children in a river of blood.
The most well-known female figure, the heroic Louise Michel, embodied the fervent determination of the Commune. Politically she was an anarchist, a follower of Bakunin. She was there on the morning of March 18, rousing Paris upon seeing Thiers’ troops in Montmartre. She volunteered to assassinate Thiers at Versailles, where the reactionary bourgeois government resided. She even snuck there and brought back newspapers to prove to her comrades that she could pull it off. She was a nurse with the ambulance companies and a fighter at the Fort of Issy and on the barricades. Defiant at her trial after the crushing of the Commune, she remained politically active for the rest of her life. The French bourgeoisie has since sanitized her image to turn her into a harmless feminist.
However, Michel was not central to the formation of the Women’s Union for the Defense of Paris and Aid to the Wounded. The Women’s Union was one of the most politically advanced expressions of revolutionary working-class consciousness in the Commune. It was able to lead and organize the widespread popular ferment among women because its precepts reflected the revolutionary proletarian perspective of the Marxist wing of the First International. The Women’s Union became the recognized intermediary between women in the city and the Commune government. No other group had such sustained citywide influence, from its founding in April to the end of the Commune on the barricades.
Elisabeth Dmitrieff along with Nathalie Le Mel were the leading forces behind the Women’s Union. Twenty years old, the Russian Dmitrieff was sent to Paris by Marx shortly before the Commune arose. She stepped forward to become a main advocate for women and to propagandize for a socialist perspective. Nathalie Le Mel, an active member of the First International and a former militant strike leader in the bookbinders union, worked alongside her.
On 11 April 1871, the Journal Officiel of the Commune devoted much of its front page to an appeal by “a group of citizens” to the democratic-minded women of Paris. The appeal called for the women to attend a meeting that evening with the purpose of forming “a women’s movement for the defence of Paris.” It also expressed the need for “the active collaboration of all the women of Paris who realize...that the present social order bears in itself the seeds of poverty and the death of Freedom and of Justice; who therefore welcome the advent of the reign of Labour and of Equality.” The appeal further stated that it was not just the Versailles government that was guilty of betraying Paris, it was equally “the privileged...who have always lived on [the people’s] sweat and grown fat on [the people’s] misery.” The civil war was “the final act of the eternal antagonism between right and might, between work and exploitation, between the people and its executioners!”
At its first meeting, the Women’s Union sent a proposal to the Executive Commission of the Commune soliciting material aid to set up facilities in each arrondissement (city district) town hall and to subsidize the printing of circulars, posters and notices for distribution. The Executive Commission immediately began to implement the meeting’s proposal by printing the entire text of the Address of the Union in the Journal Officiel on April 14, with a summary of the decisions taken at the meeting.
The Address illustrates the view of the Women’s Union on the source of women’s oppression. The designation ouvrière (worker) was placed under the name of six of the seven signatories to indicate their working-class origins. It referred to the Commune as a government whose ultimate objective was the abolition of all forms of social inequality, including discrimination against women. Most significantly, it described discrimination against women as a means by which the ruling classes maintain their power:
“That the Commune, representing the principle of the extinction of all privileges and of all inequality, should therefore consider all legitimate grievances of any section of the population without discrimination of sex, such discrimination having been made and enforced as a means of maintaining the privileges of the ruling classes.
“That success of the present conflict whose aim is...ultimately to regenerate Society by ensuring the rule of Labour and Justice, is of equal significance to the women as it is to the men of Paris.”
—quoted in Eugene Schulkind, “Socialist Women During the 1871 Paris Commune,” Past & Present (February 1985)
Every member of the Women’s Union had to contribute ten centimes and to acknowledge the authority of the Union’s Central Committee. The arrondissement committees set up by the Women’s Union had rotating presidents aided by a board, which was subject to recall by members. The arrondissement committees’ functions included providing non-religious personnel for welfare institutions, such as orphanages and hostels for the elderly.
The Women’s Union also intervened in the political clubs that had taken over churches and had become mass “speakouts” and organizing centers for Parisian women and men. With women mounting the church pulpits, these gatherings gave voice to widespread hatred of the church. At one meeting a woman suggested that the bodies of 60,000 Parisian priests (her count) should be used instead of sandbags for constructing barricades.
On April 16, the Commune authorized conversion of abandoned workshops into worker-owned cooperatives. Immediately after the enactment of this decree, all types of labor associations in Paris were invited by the Commission of Labor and Exchange to assist in planning its implementation. The Commune invitation was addressed to unions and associations “of both sexes” and explicitly called on “women citizens, whose devotion to the Social Revolution is so invaluable, not to disregard the all-important question of the organization of production.”
Léo Frankel, a Hungarian Marxist and member of the First International, led the Commune’s Commission of Labor and Exchange. He was the main link between the Commune leadership and the Women’s Union, providing it with money and assistance. The Commission of Labor and Exchange let the Women’s Union substitute its own plan for women’s cooperatives for the one the Commission had already drafted, prior to the creation of the Union. A committee of nine representatives from labor organizations, including Nathalie Le Mel from the Executive Commission of the Women’s Union, met in mid May to coordinate their efforts.
The Women’s Union advertised for women to meet and form associations to run workshops in all the traditional women’s trades, such as the needle trades, feather processing, artificial flowers and laundry. In a plan submitted to the Commission of Labor and Exchange, the Women’s Union elaborated on what it envisioned as the goals of the Commune. It stated that the “Revolution of 18th March represents the point in history at which the proletariat will have...brought to fruition the age-old struggle for social equality,” and continued, “to establish firmly the foundations for the new political organization that is its necessary prerequisite, the Commune must complete the partial victory of the People, not by limiting itself to the urgent needs of military defence, but by embarking unequivocally on the path of social reform” (quoted in Schulkind, “Socialist Women During the 1871 Paris Commune”). There is evidence that workshops were formed to produce munitions, sandbags and uniforms.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s reactionary views toward women dominated the French section of the First International. Proudhon had preached the triple inferiority of women for supposed physical, intellectual and moral reasons. He used pseudoscientific claptrap to “prove” that the subordination of women was inevitable. So it is all the more remarkable that the Commune threw off this backward philosophy in favor of the fight for the complete equality of men and women. This is not to say that there still wasn’t much backward thinking among the Parisians as a whole. But in spite of the influence of anti-women bigotry, the Commune gave women positions of responsibility, appointed them to administer welfare institutions, sent them on liaison missions to provincial cities and included them on commissions to reform education and open new schools for girls, such as a school for industrial design.
In May, placards appeared calling for peace with Versailles, signed by an anonymous group of women citizens. Two days later, the Women’s Union responded with its own posters, denouncing the “anonymous group of reactionary women” who had written such a “shocking proclamation.” It wrote in the name of “social revolution, the right to work, and equality and justice” and excoriated these women for calling for conciliation with the “cowardly assassins” of Versailles. The wall posters also affirmed the view of the Women’s Union that the civil war was a class conflict.
A final tragic note is that on the day before the Versailles troops entered the city to crush the Commune, the Women’s Union was launching the Federal Chamber of Working Women to reorganize women’s work based on federated laborers’ associations. Instead, the Women’s Union organized women for the barricades, where many soon faced their final hour.
A few months after the massacre of the Commune, Léo Frankel wrote in a republican newspaper a passionate denunciation of those who opposed women’s equality:
“Women are deprived of their rights by the claim that their mental and physical faculties are inferior to those of men because nature designed women to be mother, wife and housekeeper. Thus, in all our laws and in all our institutions, women are considered as inferior to men, as being servants of men.
“All the objections produced against equality of men and women are of the same sort as those which are produced against the emancipation of the Negro race…. Firstly people are blindfolded and then they are told that they have been blind since birth.”
—quoted in Schulkind, “Socialist Women During the 1871 Paris Commune”
In a letter to Dr. Ludwig Kugelmann dated 17 April 1871, Marx argued against the defeatist position that one should only take up arms when victory is certain. He strongly made the point that political leadership is key. The Marxists Léo Frankel and Elisabeth Dmitrieff intervened into the short-lived Commune with a revolutionary proletarian program. Conscious of their goal of an egalitarian classless society, they helped lay the basis for future working-class struggles. Marx wrote:
“World history would indeed be very easy to make if the struggle were taken up only on condition of infallibly favourable chances. It would, on the other hand, be of a very mystical nature, if ‘accidents’ played no part. These accidents themselves fall naturally into the general course of development and are compensated again by other accidents. But acceleration and delay are very dependent on such ‘accidents,’ which included the ‘accident’ of the character of those who at first stand at the head of the movement....
“Whatever the immediate results [of the Commune] may be, a new point of departure of world-historic importance has been gained.”
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