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The Enigmatic Anarchist

Jacqueline Jones, Arvind Dilawar Jacobin
Lucy Parsons's life was rife with contradictions. But her commitment to workers' emancipation was never in doubt.

Massachusetts Executed Two Italian Immigrants 90 Years Ago: Why The Global Fallout Still Matters

Moshik Temkin The Conversation
For many people in 1927 and after, the two men were victims of a deep-seated fear of immigrants. For others, they were criminals and terrorists who benefited from a worldwide campaign led by people who despised America and its institutions.Today, the United States is engaged in a bitter struggle between these same two views, with the xenophobic forces currently in political power, especially in the White House.

Facing the Wind: The Life of Wobbly Organizer Sam Dolgoff

Eric Dirnbach Roar Magazine
According to Anatole, Sam knew everyone in the Left world for decades. One memorable anecdote about his father was when they went to see the movie Reds together. Sam couldn’t keep quiet during the film, as he maintained a running commentary on nearly every major character, whom he had known personally.

books

Left of the Left: My Memories of Sam Dolgoff

Peter Cole Portside
This memoir by physics and geology professor Anatole Dolgoff of his father, IWW activist Sam Dolgoff (1902-1990), beautifully captures the aura of the anarchist and related movements in the United States in the latter half of the 20th century, says reviewer Peter Cole.

Fervently Singing Timely History of Chicago’s ‘Haymarket’ Affair

Hedy Weiss Chicago Sun-Times
“Songbook” frames its story through the memory of Lucy Parsons, the daughter of a slave who later becomes the widow of “anarchist martyr” Albert Parsons, a white man who had served in the Confederate Army, but then found his calling as a charismatic labor leader. There are unquestionably distant echoes of terrorist activity in our own time in this show, along with enduring issues of income inequality, police brutality, and a compromised judiciary and media.

books

Messer-Kruse's Contentious Haymarket History

Rebecca Hill Against the Current, May-June 2016
In left labor circles, it's been a settled question that the Haymarket martyrs, victims of ruling class justice, were framed, and May Day's radical origins are based on remembering the martyrs. The author of the books under review, using a close reading of the trial record, supports the court finding that the accused anarchists conspired to murder police during the epochal 1886 labor demonstration in Chicago. The reviewer strongly disputes the author's conclusions.
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