Anarchism

R. A. Dague writes an open letter to General Harrison Gray Otis regarding the war between capitalists and organized labor. Dague addressed Otis as a comrade because they are both members of the G. A. R. (Grand Army of the Republic), having enlisted on the side of the Union in the Civil War. But the choices Otis has since made are bringing destruction and violence as capitalists fight to crush labor unions. Dague references the Los Angeles Times Bombing as abhorrent but believes that violence on the part of organized labor is justified in self-defense against actions taken by capitalists. He believes that Socialists are the only ones who can resolve the conflict peacefully by convincing workers to vote rather than strike or boycott. Dague himself is a capitalist with profound sympathy for the working class and poor who are just trying to better their lives.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-14

This Times article discusses President Roosevelt’s campaign against anarchism in the United States, especially in light of several recent anarchist attacks in the United States in 1908. The article suggests if Roosevelt can figure out a way to suppress anarchist doctrines, he will be doing a great service to mankind.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-10

Marie-Francois-Sadi Carnot lies in state after being assassinated by an Italian anarchist. In the right foreground, a female figure holding a sword labeled “Law and Order” is stepping on a large snake labeled “Anarchism.” A wreath resting against the sarcophagus is labeled “Sympathy and Respect of the Civilized World.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-07-11

The child king Alfonso XIII, as a wooden puppet, is slumped over on the “Throne of Spain” with a clergyman standing next to him. On the walls to the right are portrait paintings of “Charles V, Ferdinand and Isabella, [and] Philip II.” On the left, an arm labeled “Home Riots” reaches through the curtains with a torch to ignite a bomb labeled “Anarchy” next to the throne.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-06-08

A female figure labeled “Cuba,” holding the Cuban flag, is caught in a frying pan labeled “Spanish Misrule” that is being held above flames labeled “Anarchy” raging between fighting factions labeled “Insurgents” on the left and “Autonomists” on the right, on the island of Cuba.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-05-11

Newspaper article reviewing the events of the attempted assassination of President McKinley, the arrest of Leon F. Czolgosz, and the public’s reaction.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-09

William Jennings Bryan rides on the shoulders of the “Tammany” Tiger, carrying a banner that states “Repudiation and National Dishonor.” Accompanying him are, on the left, John Peter “Altgeld” holding a torch burning “Arnachism” [sic] and, on the right, Benjamin R. “Tillman” with a patch labeled “S.C. Primaries” over one eye and holding a pitchfork that appears to be soiled with manure.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-10-14

Print shows two large male figures, one, wearing business attire, is labeled “Commercial Trust,” he is holding paper labeled “Order to Raise Wages” and the other labeled “Labor Trust” is armed with a bomb, a handgun, and a rifle, and is holding paper labeled “Order to Strike.” Behind the “Labor Trust” are unemployed families, explosions, and anarchy; behind the “Commercial Trust” is order, as men head for factories. Caption: Commercial Trust (to Labor Trust) – While you are denouncing me, why don’t you include yourself? You use violence and destroy property, while I use peaceful methods and not only lower prices but raise wages, as the statistics of the last fifteen years will show.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-06-07

“Britannia” stands on the left, holding “Concessions to Ireland,” and “Hibernia” stands on the right in a militant pose. Between them is a nasty looking man with two “Dynamite” bombs slung over his shoulders.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1884-06-11

The British Lion carries W. E. Gladstone, dressed as a woman, on his back, as they head into the sea after departing the “British Consul” in advance of “Anarchy, Riot, [and] Bloodshed.” The lion is labeled “Moral Complicity, British Prestige, Peril, Profits, [and] Responsibilities.” Gladstone’s dress is labeled “Vacillation, Procrastination, Irish Trouble, [and] Timidity.” On the shore is a set of jaws labeled “Brag & Bluster,” and the lion is stepping on a gunboat labeled “Thunderer.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-06-21

James Russell Lowell, minister to England, turns his back on an Irishman who is dressed like Uncle Sam and is in the custody of the British military for anarchistic activities. Lowell holds a paper that states, “All such persons should be made to understand distinctly that they cannot be Irishmen and Americans at the same time! J. R. Lowell.” Caption: Minister Lowell–“No, sir, you are not the kind of American citizen I am sent here to protect!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1882-03-22

Uncle Sam and a female figure identified as Liberty stroll through a park among trees labeled “Equal Rights, Free Press, Free Schools, Free Speech, Free Ballot, Constitution, [and] Religious Liberty.” Around the bases of the trees are many mushrooms labeled “Total Abstinence Fanatics, Monopoly, Socialist, Nihilist, Dynamiter, Communist, Anarchist, Demagogism, Bribery, [and] Corrupt,” and a vine labeled “Protection” is beginning to strangle a tree labeled “Unrestricted Commerce.” Puck, sitting on a tree branch, tells Uncle Sam that he needs to clear out the fungus before it destroys “Liberty’s” park. Some of the mushrooms have faces that might be identified. Caption: Uncle Sam – Hello, Puck, are you “up a tree”? – Puck – No, but you will be if you don’t clear this stuff out pretty soon!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-02-25

Uncle Sam, Columbia, and Puck sit at a table, ready to enjoy a Thanksgiving turkey dinner in a gallery with paintings on the wall in the background. Uncle Sam is gesturing toward these paintings, which depict Irish uprisings and unrest in England, volcanoes in Java, earthquakes in Italy, “Cholera” as the grim reaper in Egypt, French colonialism, anarchy in Spain, German militarism, and Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, standing on the body of a peasant in a painting titled “Russian Reform.” On the far right, at a dock labeled “U.S. Navy,” a ship in disrepair leans to one side. A bulldog gnaws on a bone labeled “New York” beneath a bench on the left. Caption: Uncle Sam – “Well, we seem to be getting along a little better than the rest of the world, and if we can’t be thankful for all that we have, we may at least be thankful that there are some things we haven’t.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1883-11-28

The World. Vol. XLII. No. 14,631. New York, Wednesday, September 11, 1901. Pages 1-4:

Page 1: Banner headline: President’s Wound Reopened; Slight Change for Worse – Sub-headline 1: Emma Goldman in Jail Charged With Conspiracy. – Sub-headline 2: Vehemently Denies that She Inspired Czolgosz. – Sub-headline 3: Anarchist Queen Declares She Met Him Only Once and Then Only for a Moment – Makes a Detailed Statement Covering Her Movements for the Last Two Months. – “Story of the Arrest of Anarchist Queen.” – reports details of the arrest of Emma Goldman. – “Prof. Mazzoni, the Pope’s Surgeon, Thinks Second Bullet Will Have to Be Removed.” – “President Takes Food for the First Time.” – “All Day Long the Reports Were Glowing.” – Doctors expect rapid recovery. – Three illustrations of Emma Goldman.

Page 2: “Vice- President Roosevelt and Senator Hanna Leave for Home” – (new headline of story cont’d from page 1) – “Secret Anarchist Den on Third Avenue. Emma Goldman Made it Her Headquarters in This City and Has Spoken There Twice Since Her Return From Paris Last December.” – “President Will See His Intimate Friends Friday.” – Friends and Cabinet members allowed to visit with McKinley – “Italian Police Knew of Paterson Plot.” – Reports that Italian Police had tips about the assassination plot – “Will Make New York Too Hot for the Reds.” – New York Police cracking down on Anarchists city-wide – Photographs of Vice-President Roosevelt, District Attorney Penny, & John G. Milburn (taken in Buffalo September 10, 1901).

Page 3: “Emma Goldman, Defiant in Her Denials, Held for Conspiracy.” – reports of Emma Goldman’s arrest and her claims of non-involvement. – “President a Witness at Czolgosz’s Trial? He May Either Appear Personally in Court, Through There Is No Power to Compel Him, or May Give Testimony Before a Commission.” – “Beans for Anarchist Soaked by the Police.” – Package of baked beans, sent to Czolgosz, suspected to be poisoned. – “Government to Put the Reds Behind Bars.” – Anarchists to be arrested country-wide on conspiracy charges. – “Roosevelt’s View of Czolgosz Crime.” – Vice- President Roosevelt’s statement denouncing the assassination attempt. – Large illustration of McKinley shaking hands at the Pan-American Exposition. Caption: “President McKinley Shaking Hands with Cuban Commissioner Before Temple of Music Ten Minutes Before the Shooting”

Voice of the People, Vol. III, No. 29, September 14, 1901, p. 1-8 (complete):

Page 1: – “Still Favorable” – Update on McKinley’s condition as of September 12

Page 4: – “Anarchy Doomed” – Anti-anarchist article

Page 5: – Portrait drawings of President M’Kinley, Leon Czolgosz and Emma Goldman as well as a diagrams showing where the bullets entered McKinley’s body and the location of the Temple of Music on the Exposition grounds – “A Cowardly Foe” – Synopsis of the shooting, McKinley’s condition as of September 10, the case against Czolgosz, and the anti-anarchist backlash

This article argues that the passion for independence can lead to anarchy and that “independence is flatly and absolutely contrary to Christianity.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08

Puck, as a professor, shows a slide of the germs infecting the Democratic Party. Shown are William Jennings Bryan labeled “Bryanism,” William Randolph Hearst who is labeled “Yellow Journalism,” a man labeled “Anarchism” and an old man labeled “Populism,” and a firebrand labeled “Platforms” with flames labeled “Chicago” and “Kansas City.” “Free Riot” and “Free Silver” also appear among the germs on the slide. Caption: Puck — Gentlemen, we have here the most dangerous germs in the body politic.

Comments and Context

Puck prided itself on being independent, but had generally supported Democrats since its founding in 1876. Around the time of this cartoon, with the 1904 Democratic presidential nominating convention weeks away, the magazine proved its partisan bona fides — at this time a conservative streak of democracy — by offering avuncular advice by a magic-lantern lecture.

A “Labor Agitator” sits in the center with strings attached to marionettes or puppets from all walks of life and social classes. The vignettes around the central figure show these puppets in actual life situations as union leaders and labor agitators. Depicted are a “Walking Delegate” who is “willin’ ter arbitrate” with a school principal on behalf of his son, and “The Progressive Prisoner,” a “Labor Agitator,” an “Infant Class Agitator,” and “Madame President” of the “Marriageable Women’s Union,” as well as “The District President” of the “Cook Ladies’ Union,” also school-ground bullies who prevent children from getting an education.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1903-01-14

A. L. Drummond introduces George B. Cortelyou to Atherton Brownell, who has information about anarchy. Drummond advised Brownell to go to Washington, D.C., to tell his story.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-11-22

President Roosevelt would like to discuss the German proposal relating to anarchists with Secretary of State Hay.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-04-30