Lucy Parsons
Encyclopedia
Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons (born circa 1853 – March 7, 1942) was an American
labor organizer and radical
socialist. She is remembered as a powerful orator.
, likely as a slave, to parents of Native American
, Black American and Mexican
ancestry.
In 1871 she married Albert Parsons
, a former Confederate
soldier, and both were forced to flee from Texas north to Chicago
by intolerant reactions to their interracial marriage.
Described by the Chicago Police Department
as "more dangerous than a thousand rioters" in the 1920s, Parsons and her husband had become highly effective anarchist organizers primarily involved in the labor movement in the late 19th century, but also participating in revolutionary
activism
on behalf of political prisoner
s, people of color, the homeless and women. She began writing for The Socialist and The Alarm, the journal of the International Working People's Association
(IWPA) which she and Parsons, among others, founded in 1883. In 1886 her husband, who had been heavily involved in campaigning for the eight hour day, was arrested, tried and executed on November 11, 1887, by the state of Illinois
on charges that he had conspired in the Haymarket Riot an event which was widely regarded as a political frame-up, and which marked the beginning of May Day
labor rallies in protest.
In 1892 she briefly published Freedom: A Revolutionary Anarchist-Communist Monthly, and was often arrested for giving public speeches or distributing anarchist literature. While she continued championing the anarchist cause, she came into ideological conflict with some of her contemporaries, including Emma Goldman
, over her focus on class politics over gender and sexual struggles.
In 1905 she participated in the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World
, and began editing the Liberator, an anarchist newspaper that supported the IWW in Chicago. Lucy's focus shifted somewhat to class struggles around poverty and unemployment, and she organized the Chicago Hunger Demonstrations in January 1915, which pushed the American Federation of Labor, the Socialist Party, and Jane Addams
' Hull House to participate in a huge demonstration on February 12. Parsons was also quoted as saying, "My conception of the strike of the future is not to strike and go out and starve, but to strike and remain in and take possession of the necessary property of production." (Wobblies! 14) Parsons anticipated the sit-down strikes in the US and, later, workers' factory takeovers in Argentina
.
In 1925 she began working with the National Committee of the International Labor Defense
in 1927, a communist-led organization that defended labor activists and unjustly-accused African Americans such as the Scottsboro Nine
and Angelo Herndon
. While it is commonly accepted by nearly all biographical accounts (including those of the Lucy Parsons Center
, the IWW, and Joe Knowles) that Parsons joined the Communist Party
in 1939, there is some dispute, notably in Gale Ahrens' essay "Lucy Parsons: Mystery Revolutionist, More Dangerous Than A Thousand Rioters", which can be found in the anthology Lucy Parsons: Freedom, Equality, Solidarity. Ahrens also points out, in "Lucy Parsons: Freedom, Equality and Solidarity: Writings and Speeches, 1878 - 1937", that the obituary which the Communist Party had published on her death made no claim that she had been a member.
Parsons continued to give fiery speeches in Chicago's Bughouse Square into her 80s, where she inspired Studs Terkel
.
One of her last major appearances was at the International Harvester in February 1941. She died on March 7, 1942, in a house fire. Her lover, George Markstall, died the next day from wounds he received while trying to save her. She was believed to be 89 years old. After her death, police seized her library of over 1500 books and all of her personal papers.
She is buried near her husband, near the Haymarket Monument, at the Waldheim Cemetery
(now Forest Home Cemetery), in Forest Park, Illinois
(then part of the city of Chicago).
In 2004, the City of Chicago named a park for her. On July 16, 2007, a book that purportedly belonged to Lucy Parsons was featured on a segment of the American Public Broadcasting Service
television show, History Detectives
. During the segment it was determined that the book, which was a biography of co-defendant August Spies' life and trial, was most likely a copy published and sold by Parsons as a way to raise money to prevent her husband's execution. The segment also provided background on Parsons' life and the Haymarket affair.
and Lucy Parsons represented different generations of anarchism. This resulted in ideological and personal conflict. Carolyn Ashbaugh has explained their disagreements in depth:
In 1908, after Captain Mahoney (of the New York Police Department) crashed one of Goldman’s lectures in Chicago, newspaper headlines read that every popular anarchist had been present for the spectacle, “with the single exception of Lucy Parsons, with whom Emma Goldman is not on the best of terms.” Goldman reciprocated Parsons’s absence by endorsing Frank Harris' book The Bomb, which was a largely fictional account of the Haymarket Affair and its martyrs road to death. (Parsons had published The Famous Speeches of the Haymarket Martyrs, a non-fictional, first-hand recounting of the Haymarket martyrs' final speeches in court.)
Parsons was solely dedicated to working class liberation, condemning Goldman for “addressing large middle-class audiences”; Goldman accused Parsons of riding upon the cape of her husband’s martyrdom. “[N]o doubt,” Candace Falk wrote (Love, Anarchy, and Emma Goldman), “there was an undercurrent of competitiveness between the two women. Emma generally preferred center stage.” Goldman planned on preserving her place in the spotlight as an American anarchist laureate by shoving risqué sexual and kinship discourse into “the center of a perennial debate among anarchists about the relative importance of such personal issues”.
In The Firebrand, she wrote, “Mr. [Oscar] Rotter
[a free love advocate] attempts to dig up the hideous ‘Variety’ grub and bind it to the beautiful unfolding blossom of labor's emancipation from wage-slavery and call them one and the same. Variety in sex relations and economic freedom have nothing in common.” Goldman responded:
Parsons responded: "The line will be drawn sharply at personalities as we know these enlighten no one and do infinitely more harm than good."
Goldman, in her autobiography, Living My Life
, briefly mentioned the presence of "Mrs. Lucy Parsons, widow of our martyred Albert Parsons", at a Chicago labor convention, noting that she "took an active part in the proceedings". Goldman later would acknowledge Albert Parsons for becoming a socialist and anarchist, proceeding to praise him for having "married a young mulatto"; there was no further mention of Lucy Parsons.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
labor organizer and radical
Radical left
Radical left is a term used in the names of several political movements:* Det Radikale Venstre, a social-liberal party in Denmark* Radical Party of the Left , a social-liberal party in France...
socialist. She is remembered as a powerful orator.
Life
Lucy (or Lucia) Eldine Gonzalez was born around 1853 in TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, likely as a slave, to parents of Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, Black American and Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
ancestry.
In 1871 she married Albert Parsons
Albert Parsons
Albert Richard Parsons was a pioneer American socialist and later anarchist newspaper editor, orator, and labor activist...
, a former Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
soldier, and both were forced to flee from Texas north to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
by intolerant reactions to their interracial marriage.
Described by the Chicago Police Department
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
as "more dangerous than a thousand rioters" in the 1920s, Parsons and her husband had become highly effective anarchist organizers primarily involved in the labor movement in the late 19th century, but also participating in revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
on behalf of political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s, people of color, the homeless and women. She began writing for The Socialist and The Alarm, the journal of the International Working People's Association
International Working People's Association
The International Working People's Association , sometimes known as the "Black International," was an international anarchist political organization established in 1881 at a convention held in London, England...
(IWPA) which she and Parsons, among others, founded in 1883. In 1886 her husband, who had been heavily involved in campaigning for the eight hour day, was arrested, tried and executed on November 11, 1887, by the state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
on charges that he had conspired in the Haymarket Riot an event which was widely regarded as a political frame-up, and which marked the beginning of May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
labor rallies in protest.
In 1892 she briefly published Freedom: A Revolutionary Anarchist-Communist Monthly, and was often arrested for giving public speeches or distributing anarchist literature. While she continued championing the anarchist cause, she came into ideological conflict with some of her contemporaries, including Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma 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....
, over her focus on class politics over gender and sexual struggles.
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
, and began editing the Liberator, an anarchist newspaper that supported the IWW in Chicago. Lucy's focus shifted somewhat to class struggles around poverty and unemployment, and she organized the Chicago Hunger Demonstrations in January 1915, which pushed the American Federation of Labor, the Socialist Party, and Jane Addams
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
' Hull House to participate in a huge demonstration on February 12. Parsons was also quoted as saying, "My conception of the strike of the future is not to strike and go out and starve, but to strike and remain in and take possession of the necessary property of production." (Wobblies! 14) Parsons anticipated the sit-down strikes in the US and, later, workers' factory takeovers in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
.
In 1925 she began working with the National Committee of the International Labor Defense
International Labor Defense
The International Labor Defense was a legal defense organization in the United States, headed by William L. Patterson. It was a US section of International Red Aid organisation, and associated with the Communist Party USA. It defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active in the civil rights and...
in 1927, a communist-led organization that defended labor activists and unjustly-accused African Americans such as the Scottsboro Nine
Scottsboro Boys
The Scottsboro Boys were nine black teenage boys accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. The landmark set of legal cases from this incident dealt with racism and the right to a fair trial...
and Angelo Herndon
Angelo Herndon
Angelo Braxton Herndon was an African American labor organizer arrested and convicted for insurrection after attempting to organize black industrial workers in 1932 in Atlanta, Georgia...
. While it is commonly accepted by nearly all biographical accounts (including those of the Lucy Parsons Center
Lucy Parsons Center
The Lucy Parsons Center, located in the South End of Boston, Massachusetts, is an all-volunteer, nonprofit collective, operating as both a radical, independent bookstore and a community center for individuals to drop in, as well as a free meeting and event space for local activist groups.- History...
, the IWW, and Joe Knowles) that Parsons joined the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
in 1939, there is some dispute, notably in Gale Ahrens' essay "Lucy Parsons: Mystery Revolutionist, More Dangerous Than A Thousand Rioters", which can be found in the anthology Lucy Parsons: Freedom, Equality, Solidarity. Ahrens also points out, in "Lucy Parsons: Freedom, Equality and Solidarity: Writings and Speeches, 1878 - 1937", that the obituary which the Communist Party had published on her death made no claim that she had been a member.
Parsons continued to give fiery speeches in Chicago's Bughouse Square into her 80s, where she inspired Studs Terkel
Studs Terkel
Louis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
.
One of her last major appearances was at the International Harvester in February 1941. She died on March 7, 1942, in a house fire. Her lover, George Markstall, died the next day from wounds he received while trying to save her. She was believed to be 89 years old. After her death, police seized her library of over 1500 books and all of her personal papers.
She is buried near her husband, near the Haymarket Monument, at the Waldheim Cemetery
German Waldheim Cemetery
German Waldheim Cemetery, also known as Waldheim Cemetery, was a cemetery in Forest Park, a suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. It was originally founded in 1873 as a non-religion specific cemetery, where Freemasons, Roma, and German-speaking immigrants to Chicago could be buried without...
(now Forest Home Cemetery), in Forest Park, Illinois
Forest Park, Illinois
Forest Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in the United States. The population was 15,688 at the 2000 census...
(then part of the city of Chicago).
In 2004, the City of Chicago named a park for her. On July 16, 2007, a book that purportedly belonged to Lucy Parsons was featured on a segment of the American Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television show, History Detectives
History Detectives
History Detectives is a documentary television series on PBS. A group of researchers help people to seek answers to various historical questions they have, usually centering around a family heirloom, an old house or other historic object or structure...
. During the segment it was determined that the book, which was a biography of co-defendant August Spies' life and trial, was most likely a copy published and sold by Parsons as a way to raise money to prevent her husband's execution. The segment also provided background on Parsons' life and the Haymarket affair.
Conflict with Emma Goldman
Emma GoldmanEmma Goldman
Emma 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....
and Lucy Parsons represented different generations of anarchism. This resulted in ideological and personal conflict. Carolyn Ashbaugh has explained their disagreements in depth:
In 1908, after Captain Mahoney (of the New York Police Department) crashed one of Goldman’s lectures in Chicago, newspaper headlines read that every popular anarchist had been present for the spectacle, “with the single exception of Lucy Parsons, with whom Emma Goldman is not on the best of terms.” Goldman reciprocated Parsons’s absence by endorsing Frank Harris' book The Bomb, which was a largely fictional account of the Haymarket Affair and its martyrs road to death. (Parsons had published The Famous Speeches of the Haymarket Martyrs, a non-fictional, first-hand recounting of the Haymarket martyrs' final speeches in court.)
Parsons was solely dedicated to working class liberation, condemning Goldman for “addressing large middle-class audiences”; Goldman accused Parsons of riding upon the cape of her husband’s martyrdom. “[N]o doubt,” Candace Falk wrote (Love, Anarchy, and Emma Goldman), “there was an undercurrent of competitiveness between the two women. Emma generally preferred center stage.” Goldman planned on preserving her place in the spotlight as an American anarchist laureate by shoving risqué sexual and kinship discourse into “the center of a perennial debate among anarchists about the relative importance of such personal issues”.
In The Firebrand, she wrote, “Mr. [Oscar] Rotter
Oscar Rotter
Oscar Rotter , also with the German spelling Oskar Rotter, was a German-born New York physician and proponent of free love and contraception. Rotter's books included The Sexes and Love in Freedom and Jealousy, the Foe of Freedom, and he published articles on free love, rebutting the views of Lucy...
[a free love advocate] attempts to dig up the hideous ‘Variety’ grub and bind it to the beautiful unfolding blossom of labor's emancipation from wage-slavery and call them one and the same. Variety in sex relations and economic freedom have nothing in common.” Goldman responded:
Parsons responded: "The line will be drawn sharply at personalities as we know these enlighten no one and do infinitely more harm than good."
Goldman, in her autobiography, Living My Life
Living My Life
Living My Life is the 993-page autobiography of Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman, published in two volumes in 1931 and 1934 . Goldman wrote it in Saint-Tropez, France, following her disillusionment with the Bolshevik role in the Russian revolution...
, briefly mentioned the presence of "Mrs. Lucy Parsons, widow of our martyred Albert Parsons", at a Chicago labor convention, noting that she "took an active part in the proceedings". Goldman later would acknowledge Albert Parsons for becoming a socialist and anarchist, proceeding to praise him for having "married a young mulatto"; there was no further mention of Lucy Parsons.
External links
- The Lucy Parsons Project
- The Lucy Parsons Center, a radical bookstore in BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...