DOCSLIB.ORG

Transcendental Wild Oats”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Transcendental Wild Oats” “HOW COLD AN ARCADIA WAS THIS”: TRANSCENDENTALIST COMMUNES IN THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE AND “TRANSCENDENTAL WILD OATS” by Shellie Melnick Michael Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Middle Tennessee State University May 2016 Dissertation Committee Dr. Alicia Renfroe, Chair Dr. William Brantley Dr. Carl Ostrowski ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am immensely grateful to my dissertation chair, Dr. Alicia Renfroe. Her expertise and guidance have been invaluable, especially in combination with her unflagging encouragement and kindness. I cannot imagine having a better mentor. I recognize how fortunate I am that Dr. R. agreed to work with me and then gave me so much of her time. I also appreciate the advice and support of my committee members, Dr. Carl Ostrowski and Dr. William Brantley. They were among the many MTSU English Department faculty members and administrators who made the program such a wonderful experience. Finally, I thank my family. My parents, Jay and Ethel Melnick, and my sister, Jari Melnick Rouas, have always been my best cheering squad. My husband, Mark Michael, and my son, Alec Michael, showed me boundless love and patience through all my years as a graduate student. Reaching this milestone would not be possible without the two of them. i ABSTRACT This dissertation examines Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance (1852) and Louisa May Alcott’s “Transcendental Wild Oats” (1873) with a two-fold purpose. The first is to put these texts into conversation with one another to highlight commonalities as well as provide insights into each. Both Hawthorne’s novel and Alcott’s short story are works of fiction set at Transcendentalist communes based on places that actually existed and at which each writer lived: Brook Farm and Fruitlands, respectively. This dissertation considers how the two writers portray attempts to live by Transcendentalist precepts at the fictionalized communities. To explore The Blithedale Romance and “Transcendental Wild Oats,” this dissertation establishes and applies a framework for analyzing any texts about utopian communities, whether historical and fictional, or whether that fiction is speculative or real-world. The analytical framework involves looking at sets of conflicts or dichotomies that utopian texts tend to confront; the second purpose of this dissertation is to illustrate the application of this methodology. The recurring tensions explored here are those between thought and action, between the individual and society, and between men and women—three binaries that overlap with tensions within Transcendentalism or were of interest to Transcendentalists. The methodology provides a way to examine how two works of real-world utopian fiction, The Blithedale Romance and “Transcendental Wild Oats,” handle these tensions in depicting life at Transcendentalist communes. Applying this methodology also puts these two texts into conversation with other works of fiction about real-world utopias as well as other works by Hawthorne and Alcott. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS page CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER TWO: BACKGROUND . 13 Utopian Fiction: An Overview . 14 American Utopian Communities: A Review of Scholarship and Brief History. 21 Review of Scholarship about the Primary Texts . 36 Background on The Blithedale Romance . 45 Background on “Transcendental Wild Oats” . 54 CHAPTER THREE: THOUGHT VS. ACTION . 61 Thought vs. Action in Transcendentalism . 61 Thought vs. Action in The Blithedale Romance . 64 Thought vs. Action in “Transcendental Wild Oats” . 103 CHAPTER FOUR: THE INDIVIDUAL VS. SOCIETY . 147 The Individual vs. Society in Transcendentalism . 147 The Individual vs. Society in The Blithedale Romance . 151 The Individual vs. Society in “Transcendental Wild Oats” . 190 CHAPTER FIVE: MEN VS. WOMEN . 205 Men vs. Women in Transcendentalism . 205 Men vs. Women The Blithedale Romance . 212 Men vs. Women in “Transcendental Wild Oats” . 250 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION . 278 Summary . 278 Directions for Future Research . 288 WORKS CITED . 291 iii 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION In the Foreword to the essay collection America's Communal Utopias (1997), Paul S. Boyer writes, From the days of the Puritans to the latest California commune, the impulse to form highly cohesive communities knit together by a common ideology and a shared vision of social harmony has been a constant in American history. While communalism enjoyed its greatest efflorescence in the 1820-1850 era (with a second wave in the post-1960 years), it has never been absent from the American experience. (xi) In the early 1840s, during the nineteenth century “efflorescence,” two American writers—Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott—each spent six months at a commune. Their communes—Brook Farm and Fruitlands, respectively—were founded by Transcendentalist thinkers to apply Transcendentalist ideals to experimental living arrangements. In 1852, eleven years after leaving Brook Farm, Nathaniel Hawthorne published The Blithedale Romance and thus became the first American writer, if not the first in the world, to write fiction based on his own experience at an intentional community. Thirty years after leaving Fruitlands, Louisa May Alcott fictionalized her experience in her 1873 short story “Transcendental Wild Oats.” This dissertation examines The Blithedale Romance and “Transcendental Wild Oats” with a two-fold purpose. The first is to put these texts into conversation with one another to highlight commonalities as well as provide insights into each. Both Hawthorne’s novel and Alcott’s short story are set at Transcendentalist communes based on those at which 2 each writer spent time. This dissertation considers how the two writers portray attempts to live by Transcendentalist precepts at the fictionalized communities. To explore The Blithedale Romance and “Transcendental Wild Oats,” this dissertation establishes and applies a framework for analyzing any texts about utopian communities, whether historical and fictional, or whether that fiction is speculative or real-world. The analytical framework involves looking at sets of conflicts or dichotomies that utopian texts tend to confront; the second purpose of this dissertation is to illustrate the application of this methodology. The recurring tensions explored here are those between thought and action (or theory and practice), between the individual and society, and between men and women. Other recurring tensions in utopian texts include those between the authentic and the artificial, between the urban and the pastoral, and between success and failure. Although these tensions appear in both The Blithedale Romance and “Transcendental Wild Oats,” this dissertation does not address them. Instead, the focus here is on the three binaries that overlap with tensions within Transcendentalism or were of interest to Transcendentalists. Exploring these binaries puts The Blithedale Romance and “Transcendental Wild Oats” into conversation with one another as well as with other fiction about real-world utopias, and with other works by Hawthorne and Alcott. The remainder of this introductory chapter first discusses the subgenre of real-world utopian fiction and then moves to discuss the analytical framework used in the three literary analysis chapters. Chapter Two: Background provides an overview of utopian literature and utopian history, and then a survey of scholarship on The Blithedale Romance and “Transcendental Wild Oats” as well as background on those texts. The 3 literary analysis chapters each focus on one binary: Chapter Three is Thought vs. Action, Chapter Four is The Individual vs. Society, and Chapter Five is Men vs. Women. Each of these three literary analysis chapters opens by briefly describing Transcendentalist thought on that chapter’s central topic. The literary analysis chapters then examine Hawthorne’s treatment of the binary before moving to Alcott’s treatment of it. Chapter Six, the conclusion, summarizes the analysis and points to directions for future research. The Blithedale Romance and “Transcendental Wild Oats” belong to a literary subgenre that does not appear to have been specifically defined as such. This dissertation refers to it as real-world utopian fiction. Definitions of the utopian fiction genre do not generally include works based on communities that actually existed or types of communities that actually existed, such as Transcendentalist community, Shaker villages, or 1960s hippie communes. Rather, utopian literature is generally seen as a form of speculative fiction. This dissertation expands the category of utopian literature, or highlights an often overlooked subcategory of it, by discussing the generic properties of non-speculative utopian fiction. Two widely accepted definitions emphasize the imaginative dimensions of utopian literature. In Utopianism: A Very Short Introduction, eminent utopian scholar Lyman Tower Sargent defines a literary utopia as “a non-existent society described in considerable detail and normally located in time and space” (6). Usually, the author presents that society as “considerably better than the society in which the reader lived” (Sargent, Short Introduction 6). Similarly, Fátima Vieira’s essay in The Cambridge Companion to Utopia claims that “one of the main features of utopia as a literary genre is 4 its relationship to reality. Utopists depart from the observation of the society they live in, note down the aspects that need to be changed and imagine a place where those
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hawthorne's Concept of the Creative Process Thesis
    48 BSI 78 HAWTHORNE'S CONCEPT OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS By Retta F. Holland, B. S. Denton, Texas December, 1973 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. HAWTHORNEIS DEVELOPMENT AS A WRITER 1 II. PREPARATION FOR CREATIVITY: PRELIMINARY STEPS AND EXTRINSIC CONDITIONS 21 III. CREATIVITY: CONDITIONS OF THE MIND 40 IV. HAWTHORNE ON THE NATURE OF ART AND ARTISTS 67 V. CONCLUSION 91 BIBLIOGRAPHY 99 iii CHAPTER I HAWTHORNE'S DEVELOPMENT AS A WRITER Early in his life Nathaniel Hawthorne decided that he would become a writer. In a letter to his mother when he was seventeen years old, he weighed the possibilities of entering other professions against his inclinations and concluded by asking her what she thought of his becoming a writer. He demonstrated an awareness of some of the disappointments a writer must face by stating that authors are always "poor devils." This realistic attitude was to help him endure the obscurity and lack of reward during the early years of his career. As in many of his letters, he concluded this letter to his mother with a literary reference to describe how he felt about making a decision that would determine how he was to spend his life.1 It was an important decision for him to make, but consciously or unintentionally, he had been pre- paring for such a decision for several years. The build-up to his writing was reading. Although there were no writers on either side of Hawthorne's family, there was a strong appreciation for literature.
    [Show full text]
  • Anna Bronson Alcott Pratt
    ANNA BRONSON ALCOTT PRATT • Mr. Amos Bronson Alcott born November 29, 1799 as Amos Bronson Alcox in Wolcott, Connecticut married May 23, 1830 in Boston to Abigail May, daughter of Colonel Joseph May died March 4, 1888 in Boston • Mrs. Abigail (May) “Abba” Alcott born October 8, 1800 in Boston, Massachusetts died November 25, 1877 in Concord, Massachusetts • Miss Anna Bronson Alcott born March 16, 1831 in Germantown, Pennsylvania married May 23, 1860 in Concord to John Bridge Pratt of Concord, Massachusetts died July 17, 1893 in Concord • Miss Louisa May Alcott born November 29, 1832 in Germantown, Pennsylvania died March 6, 1888 in Roxbury, Massachusetts • Miss Elizabeth Sewall Alcott born June 24, 1835 in Boston, Massachusetts died March 14, 1858 in Concord, Massachusetts • Abby May Alcott (Mrs. Ernest Niericker), born July 26, 1840 in Concord, married March 22, 1878 in London, England to Ernest Niericker, died December 29, 1879 in Paris “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Anna Bronson Alcott HDT WHAT? INDEX ANNA BRONSON ALCOTT ANNA BRONSON ALCOTT 1829 By this point Minot Pratt was at work as a printer in Boston. He and his bride were married by the Reverend Waldo Emerson at his 2d Unitarian Church on Hanover Street in the North End — quite possibly this was the first couple which Emerson united in matrimony.1 NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT 1. They would have three sons, one of whom, John Bridge Pratt, would become an insurance man and marry an Alcott daughter, Anna Bronson Alcott.
    [Show full text]
  • 108 Left History 6.1 Edward Alexander, Irving Howe
    108 Left History 6.1 Edward Alexander, Irving Howe -Socialist, Critic,Jew (Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1998). "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds ..." -Emerson It is interesting to speculate on how Irving Howe, student of Emerson, would have responded to this non-biographic, not-quite-intellectual-historical survey of his career. For it is a study that keeps demanding an impossible consistency from a life ever responding to changing intellectual currents. And the responses come from first a very young, then a middle-aged, and eventually an older, concededly wiser writer. Alexander's title promises four themes, but develops only three. We have socialist, critic, Jew; we don't have the man, Irving Howe. In place of a thesis, Alexander offers strong opinions: praise of Howe for letting the critic in him eventually moderate the socialism and the secular Jewishness, but scorn for his remaining a socialist and for never becoming, albeit Jewish, a practicing Jew. If Howe could have responded at all, it would, of course, have been in a dissent. Yet he might have smiled at Alexander's attempts to come to tenns with one infuriating consistency: Howe's passion for whatever he thought and whatever he did, even when he was veering 180 degrees from a previous passion. Mostly, the book is a seriatim treatment of Howe's writings, from his fiery youthful Trotskyite pieces to his late conservative attacks on joyless literary theorists. Alexander summarizes each essay or book in order of appearance, compares its stance to that of its predecessors or successors, and judges them against an implicit set of unchanging values of his own, roughly identifiable to a reader as the later political and religious positions of Commentary magazine.
    [Show full text]
  • F, Sr.Auifuvi
    NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE' S USE OF WITCH AND DEVIL LORE APPROVED: Major Professor Consulting Professor Iinor Professor f, sr. auifUvi Chairman of" the Department of English Dean of the Graduate School Robb, Kathleen A., Nathaniel Hawthorne;s Fictional Use of Witch and Devil Lore. Master of Arts (English), December, - v 1970, 119 pp., bibliography, 19 titles. Nathaniel Hawthorne's personal family history, his boy- hood in the Salem area of New England, and his reading of works about New England's Puritan era influenced his choice of witch and Devil lore as fictional material. The witch- ci"aft trials in Salem were evidence (in Hawthorne's inter- pretation) of the errors of judgment and popular belief which are ever-present in the human race. He considered the witch and Devil doctrine of the seventeenth century to be indicative of the superstition, fear, and hatred which governs the lives of men even in later centuries. From the excesses of the witch-hunt period of New England history Hawthorne felt moral lessons could be derived. The historical background of witch and Devil lore, while helpful in illustrating moral lessons, is used by Hawthorne to accomplish other purposes. The paraphernalia of witchcraft with its emphasis on terrible and awesome ceremonies or practices such as Black Sabbaths, Devil compacts, image-magic, spells and curses, the Black Man in'the forest, spectral shapes, and familiar spirits is used by Hawthorne to add atmospheric qualities to his fiction. Use of the diabolic creates the effects of horror, suspense, and mystery. Furthermore, such 2 elements of witch and Devil doctrine (when introduced in The Scarlet Letter, short stories, and historical sketches) also provide an aura of historical authenticity, thus adding a v dimension of reality and concreteness to the author's fiction.
    [Show full text]
  • Louisa May Alcott - Realistic Child
    133 Louisa May Alcott - Realistic Child of the Concord Renaissance Karen Ann Takizawa ルイザ ・メイ ・オルコット― コンコー ド・ルネッサンスの現実主義的落し子 カ レ ン ・ア ン ・滝 沢 1994年 、 清 泉 女 学 院 短 期 大 学 の ドラ マ セ ミナ ー の 学 生 達 が ル イ ザ ・メ イ ・オ ル コ ッ トの 代表作7若 草物語」を脚色し、上演することなった。 このことが、彼女の作品 と時代 につ い て 調 べ 、 マ サ チ ュ ー セ ッ ツ 州 コ ン コ ー ド(当 時 の 超 絶 主 義 の 中 心 地)に あ る 彼 女 の 故 郷 へ文学巡礼の旅 をするきっかけ となった。ルイザ ・メイ ・オルコッ トは、今は少女小説の 作 家 で あ る と思 わ れ て い る が 、 純 文 学 を 書 く作 家 で も あ り、 ま た 収 入 を 得 る た め の 作 品 も 書いた現実主義的作家でもあった。 Introduction In 1994, the students in my Drama Seminar at Seisen Jogakuin College chose to write and perform a play based on Louisa May Alcott's most famous work, Little Women. This project led to an investigation into her life and times and a literary pilgrimage to her former home in Concord, Massachusetts, both of which will be discussed in this report. The Place of Louisa May Alcott in American Literature Louisa May Alcott lived for much of her life in Concord, Massachusetts, where her father, Bronson Alcott, was active as one of the leaders of the nineteenth century Transcendentalist movement. Among his friends were three of the major American writers of the day, Ralph Waldo Emerson, author of Nature, Henry David Thoreau, 134 Bu!.
    [Show full text]
  • Hawthorne's Conception of History: a Study of the Author's Response to Alienation from God and Man
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1979 Hawthorne's Conception of History: a Study of the Author's Response to Alienation From God and Man. Lloyd Moore Daigrepont Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Daigrepont, Lloyd Moore, "Hawthorne's Conception of History: a Study of the Author's Response to Alienation From God and Man." (1979). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3389. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3389 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1.The sign or “target” for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is “Missing Page(s)”. If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure you of complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark it is an indication that the film inspector noticed either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, or duplicate copy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dial and the Transcendentalist Theory of Reading
    University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2008 The Dial and the Transcendentalist Theory of Reading Emily A. Cope University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Cope, Emily A., "The Dial and the Transcendentalist Theory of Reading. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2008. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/348 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Emily A. Cope entitled "The Dial and the Transcendentalist Theory of Reading." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English. Dawn Coleman, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Janet Atwill, Martin Griffin Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Emily Ann Cope entitled “The Dial and the Transcendentalist Theory of Reading.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English.
    [Show full text]
  • E.-Michael-Jones-Hawthorne-The-Angel-And-The-Machine.Pdf
    FAITH & REASON THE JOURNAL OF CHRISTENDOM COLLEGE Fall 1982 | Vol. VIII, No. 3 Hawthorne: The Angel and the Machine E. Michael Jones Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) is justly famous as one of America’s premier novelists and short story writers. Over a writing career stretching from 1829 until his death, Hawthorne consistently probed the moral and spiritual conficts which he observed in his own life and, mainly, in the lives of the Puritan and Transcendentalist New Englanders with whom he spent most of his life. Both Puritanism and Transcendentalism, of course, deal with the material world and the human body in ways which tend to make them either confict with or irrelevant to the human spirit. Therefore, Hawthorne was never far in his works from a struggle with the fundamental identity of man as a unity of body and soul. As Michael Jones points out below The Blithedale Romance is a novel uniquely situated in Haw- thorne’s life and experience to lend itself to an illuminating examination of the confict within the author about human na- ture. This examination in turn sheds light on a whole chapter of American history as well as some of the recurring spiritual tensions of our own time. “He is a man, after all!” thought I--his Maker’s own truest image, a philanthropic man!-not that steel engine of the Devil’s contrivance, a philanthropist!”-But, in my wood-walks, and in my silent chamber, the dark face frowned at me again. “We must trust for intelligent sympathy to our guardian angels, if any there be,” said Zenobia.
    [Show full text]
  • From Transcendentalism to Progressivism: the Making of an American Reformer, Abby Morton Diaz (1821-1904)
    East Tennessee State University Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University Electronic Theses and Dissertations Student Works 5-2006 From Transcendentalism to Progressivism: The Making of an American Reformer, Abby Morton Diaz (1821-1904). Ann B. Cro East Tennessee State University Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd Part of the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Cro, Ann B., "From Transcendentalism to Progressivism: The akM ing of an American Reformer, Abby Morton Diaz (1821-1904)." (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2187. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2187 This Thesis - Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. From Transcendentalism to Progressivism: The Making of an American Reformer, Abby Morton Diaz (1821-1904) ____________________ A thesis presented to the faculty of the Department of Cross-Disciplinary Studies East Tennessee State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Liberal Studies ___________________ by Ann B. Cro May 2006 ____________________ Dr. Theresa Lloyd, Chair Dr. Marie Tedesco Dr. Kevin O’Donnell Keywords: Abby Morton Diaz, Transcendentalism, Abolition, Brook Farm, Nationalist Movement ABSTRACT From Transcendentalism to Progressivism: The Making of an American Reformer, Abby Morton Diaz (1821-1904) by Ann B. Cro Author and activist Abby Morton Diaz (1821-1904) was a member of the Brook Farm Transcendental community from 1842 until it folded in 1847.
    [Show full text]
  • Alcott Family Papers 1814-1935
    The Trustees of Reservations – www.thetrustees.org THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS ARCHIVES & RESEARCH CENTER Guide to Alcott Family Papers 1814-1935 FM.MS.T.1 by Jane E. Ward Date: May 2019 Archives & Research Center 27 Everett Street, Sharon, MA 02067 www.thetrustees.org [email protected] 781-784-8200 The Trustees of Reservations – www.thetrustees.org Box Folder Contents Date Extent: 6 boxes Linear feet: 3 lin. ft. Copyright © 2019 The Trustees of Reservations ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION PROVENANCE Transcendental manuscript materials were first acquired by Clara Endicott Sears beginning in 1918 for her Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Massachusetts. Sears became interested the Transcendentalists after acquiring land in Harvard and restoring the Fruitlands Farmhouse. Materials continued to be collected by the museum throughout the 20th century. In 2016, Fruitlands Museum became The Trustees’ 116th reservation, and these manuscript materials were relocated to the Archives & Research Center in Sharon, Massachusetts. In Harvard, the Fruitlands Museum site continues to display the objects that Sears collected. The museum features four separate collections of significant Shaker, Native American, Transcendentalist, and American art and artifacts. The property features a late 18th century farmhouse that was once home to the writer Louisa May Alcott and her family. Today it is a National Historic Landmark. These papers were acquired by a combination of purchases and donations up through the 1980s. OWNERSHIP & LITERARY RIGHTS The Alcott Family Papers are the physical property of The Trustees of Reservations. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. CITE AS Alcott Family Papers, Fruitlands Museum. The Trustees of Reservations, Archives & Research Center.
    [Show full text]
  • Communism and Relations with Communists
    No.5 IN A SERIES OF OCCASIONAL PAPERS ON THE NATURE OF .· COMMUNISM AND RELATIONS WITH COMMUNISTS IRVING HOWE 112 EAST 19th STREET • NEW YORK, N. Y. 10003 ~t:. L)l,) ON THE NA URE OF COMMUNISM AND RE . ONS WITH COMMUNISTS By IRVING HOWE The following article was written for a special purpose. It wa.r comMis.ri.IYC •y tJu League for Industrial Democracy aJ part of a group of writings to be submitted t• a .r~cial c01tj1rence of Stu­ dents for a .Democratic Society held dur_ing Christmas week 1965. The ~~r i.J .,. eff•rt to explain to younger student radicals the attitude toward Communism held by persons like myself on the democratic left. When the LID proposed to rel.Jrint this paper for wider circulation, I . thought at first of rewriting it, so that there would be no evidence of the special occa.rion for which it was produced. But on second thought, I have left the paper as it was written, so that it will retail its character and, perhaps, interest as a contribution to the discussion between generations. - I. H. I shall attempt something here that may be country has been demagogically exploited for re­ in1modest and impractical-to suggest, in com­ actionary ends. pressed form, the views held by persons like my­ In any case, we would favor various steps to­ self, those who call themselves democratic social­ ward the demilitarization of central Europe; to­ ists, on a topic of enormous complexity. For the wards arrangements with China in behalf of stab­ immediate purpos·es of provoking a discussion, ility in the Far East; and towards all sorts of these notes may, however, be of some use.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond the First 100 Days Toward a Progressive Agenda
    PUBLISHED BY THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA May /June 1993 Volume XXI Number 3 REMEMBERING IRVING HOWE 1920-1993 BEYOND THE FIRST 100 DAYS TOWARD A PROGRESSIVE AGENDA • FIXING THE ECONOMY • FIGI-ITING RACISM • REVITALIZING LABOR INSIDE DEMOCRATIC LEFT Coming to Grips with Clintonomics DSAction . 14 by Mark Levinson ... 3 Remembering Ben Dobbs by Steve Tarzynski. 15 Race In the Clinton Era by Michael Eric Dyson . 7 We Need Labor Law Reform by Jack Sheinkman ... 16 On the Left by Harry Fleischman. 11 Notes On European Integration by Peter Mandler . 19 Irving Howe, 1920 - 1993 Remembrances by Jo-Ann Mort and Janie Higgins Reports ... 24 cover photos: Irving Howe courtesy of Harcourt Brace Jack Clark . 12 Jovanovich; Biii Clinton by Brian Palmer/Impact Visuals. Correction A photo credit was missing from page 15 of the Mark Your Calendar: March/April issue. The -upper photo on that page should have been credited to Meryl Levin/Impact The 1993 DSA Convention Visuals. November 11 • 14 upcoming screenings of the film Los Angeles, California MANUFACTURING CONSENT: NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE MEDIA Join Barbara Ehrenreich, San Diego Ken Theatre May 20-24 Corvallis Oregon Stau June4 Jose Laluz, and Cornel West Sacramento Crest Tlreatre June 9-10 Seattle Neptune June 10-16 Milwaukee Oriental Tlieater June 11-17 more information soon Denver Mayan Tlreatre June 25 - July 1 Chicago Music Box July 3 and 4 CLASSIFIEDS DEMOCRATIC LEFT DEATH ROW INMATE 15 yrs Managing Editor ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE needs friends, Ron Spivey, Box Michael Lighty AMERICAN LEFT, now in 3877C4104, Jackson, CA 30233 PAPERBACK, 970 pp., doz­ Production ens of entries on and/or by "A SHORT APPREHENSIVE David Glenn DSAers.
    [Show full text]