Free Society
Encyclopedia
Free Society was a major anarchist
newspaper in the United States
at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Most anarchist publications in the US were in Yiddish, German, or Russian, but Free Society was published in English, permitting the dissemination of anarchist thought to English-speaking populations in the US.
The newspaper was established as The Firebrand in 1895 in Portland, Oregon
by the Isaak family, Abe Isaak, Mary Isaak, and their children, along with some associates; the organization served as "the headquarters of anarchist activity on the [West] Coast". The publication staunchly advocated free love
and women's rights
, and critiqued "Comstockery" -- censorship of sexual information. Deliberately defying "Comstockism" in an act of civil disobedience
, The Firebrand published Walt Whitman
's "A Woman Waits for Me" in 1897; A.J. Pope, Abe Isaak, and Henry Addis were quickly arrested and charged with publishing obscene information for the Whitman poem and a letter "It Depends on the Women", signed by A.E.K. The A.E.K. letter presented various hypotheticals of women refusing or assenting to sex with their husbands or lovers, and argued that true liberation required education of both sexes and particularly women.
After Isaak was released, the Isaak family moved the publication to San Francisco, California
, and resumed publication under the name Free Society. However, while Free Society continued to discuss free love and advocate for equality of the sexes, it did not openly defy the Comstock laws again.
The paper was particularly known for its advocacy of free love
, bringing an anarchist critique to bear on social relations and women's rights
.
Notable contributors included:
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
newspaper in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. Most anarchist publications in the US were in Yiddish, German, or Russian, but Free Society was published in English, permitting the dissemination of anarchist thought to English-speaking populations in the US.
The newspaper was established as The Firebrand in 1895 in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
by the Isaak family, Abe Isaak, Mary Isaak, and their children, along with some associates; the organization served as "the headquarters of anarchist activity on the [West] Coast". The publication staunchly advocated free love
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
and women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
, and critiqued "Comstockery" -- censorship of sexual information. Deliberately defying "Comstockism" in an act of civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
, The Firebrand published Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...
's "A Woman Waits for Me" in 1897; A.J. Pope, Abe Isaak, and Henry Addis were quickly arrested and charged with publishing obscene information for the Whitman poem and a letter "It Depends on the Women", signed by A.E.K. The A.E.K. letter presented various hypotheticals of women refusing or assenting to sex with their husbands or lovers, and argued that true liberation required education of both sexes and particularly women.
After Isaak was released, the Isaak family moved the publication to San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, and resumed publication under the name Free Society. However, while Free Society continued to discuss free love and advocate for equality of the sexes, it did not openly defy the Comstock laws again.
The paper was particularly known for its advocacy of free love
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
, bringing an anarchist critique to bear on social relations and women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
.
Notable contributors included:
- Kate AustinKate AustinKate Cooper Austin was an American journalist and advocate of feminist and anarchist causes.Austin was raised in a Universalist and spiritualist family in Hook's Point, Iowa, where she married in August 1883. Around the same time, her father discovered Lucifer, an anarchist/free love journal...
- Voltairine de CleyreVoltairine de CleyreVoltairine de Cleyre was an American anarchist writer and feminist. She was a prolific writer and speaker, opposing the state, marriage, and the domination of religion in sexuality and women's lives. She began her activist career in the freethought movement...
- Michael Cohn
- Jay FoxJay FoxJay Fox was a trade unionist, communist, and anarchist who lived in the town of Home, Washington which he inhabited for more than half a century. Fox was involved in the anarchist movement in Home, Washington, and Chicago, Illinois...
- Emma GoldmanEmma GoldmanEmma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
- Lizzie Holmes
- William Holmes
- C. L. James
- Harry KellyHarry Kelly (anarchist)Harry May Kelly was an American anarchist and lifelong activist in the Modern School movement.- Early life and work :...
- James F. Morton, Jr.
- Ross WinnRoss WinnRoss Winn was an anarchist writer and publisher who was best known for publishing several radical political journals and trying to promote anarchism within the historically conservative southern United States....