Arbeiter Fraint

[mariab]

It was one of William Morris's favourite newspapers----even though he couldn't understand it he had a great love and comradely feeling for it---as do I!

Norma,
it appears that after a while William Morris' got quite disillusioned with the IWEC. He apparently only attended meetings as a speaker out of obligation.
I need to further read on this, when I finish my deadlines.

[Natalie Severn]

Yes,I know---he became a fanatical anarchist...true....seriously Maria.

[mariab]

So Norma, would you say that William Morris in later years became more or less radical than Philip Krantz and William Wess? I'll have to read about this. (But after my deadline, which incidentally is a conference paper about The conflict between state and church in Verdi's Risorgimento operas. Has tons of politics in there, but pertaining to 1848, the reunification of Italy, Napoleon III, and the Pope, not anarchism, obviously.)

[Natalie Severn]

Hi Maria,
I think he was a bit of a rich middle class dreamer ,dear old William Morris.A deeply sincere man with some powerful ideals but also a bit reckless on occasion-in my view.Some things didn't need to have happened at Trafalgar Square on Bloody Sunday.That said he was profoundly honourable and committed and with a great sense of justice.These other Jewish radicals you mention were very serious , very political and very poor.Some of them were anarchists but others were good old fashioned socialists at base.I think it a pity that William Morris threw himself in with the Anarchists.It seemed to destroy him in the end.
Must dash Maria,will get back to you.

Verdi---Oh my---now you are talking!

[lynn cates]

Morris

Hello Norma. Thanks.

Just finished vol 2 of Morris' letters. I tried to get vol 3, but the cost was prohibitive.

Cheers.
LC

[Chris]

Courtesy of Lynn, a translation of page 3 of the 12 October 1888 edition is now available. It can be found in the wiki section here:

http://wiki.casebook.org/index.php/Arbeter_Fraint%2C_October_12_1888%2C_page_3

[lynn cates]

late

Hello Chris. Thanks.

Sorry for the delay. Found I had a cost overrun (50%--due to extra time needed).

Happy New Year.

Cheers.
LC

[Bridewell]

"But tell me, you fine, good-hearted people, what is it that happened here about which you are making such a commotion? One mad murderer killed 6 women. But aren’t there much greater and more horrific slaughters every day, and you do not even make a peep?"

It's interesting that the Arbeter Freint, after the Double Event & before the Kelly murder, is referring to 6 women murdered. Presumably they are including Martha Tabram, but which of the others to make up the numbers?

[lynn cates]

Smith

Hello Bridewell. I presume they are reckoning Emma Smith.

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

So sorry to hear about the 50% cost overrun, Lynn.
By the by, I can give you price quotes for an additional translator from London, if you wish.

[lynn cates]

quality

Hello Maria. C'est la Vie.

Thanks for the suggestion. I know some who work more cheaply, but quality is good too.

Cheers.
LC

[mariab]

The one that's been suggested to me is apparently one of London's top translators, and naturally I'm suggesting this only as an additional solution. But this is best discussed per email.
Anyways, back to polishing another 60p. of my book manuscript. The night is young...

[lynn cates]

page 4

Hello All. Here is p.4 of the Arbeter Fraint for October 12, 1888.

Cheers.
LC

[P. 4, col.1]
Socialism strives to get rid of private property and all such things via which, if someone owns them, it is possible to rob the people, to exploit them. This school of thought also strives to eliminate of all kinds of government and authority, because as long as the people are governed, they will always be misled and robbed, because thievery and rulership both go hand in hand, come from the same source—from egoism and avarice—and have one and the same purpose: to impoverish the working masses, the people, and to make them unhappy.
The elimination of private property and instituting of collective or community property on one side and the destruction of government and authority on the other side must bring about the political and economic liberation of the workers from their slavery, must [as a consequence] bring with it equality and true freedom. And in such a condition, it is natural that then the best possible solidarity will exist, true fraternity.
Therefore, Socialism is liberty, equality and fraternity!
Awake.
____________//____________
Dreams of Tomorrow.
________
1 9
While I was still a child, Up, rise up you working people
She moved my breast. In the south, the east, the north!
I saw her in my dream Raise the flag of fire red
Like an adorned spring night. For freedom far and wide.


[P. 4 col. 1 cont’d]
2 10
In the light of day, in the dark of night Refresh yourselves. In the heat of battle
She lives deep in my heart, With a strong hand swing your sword.
She hates, she loves, she sobs, she laughs, Awaken the foe, press him,
Makes me happy, makes me sad. Beat him, pummel him until he sinks.

3 11
[She] pours into my weak breast Throw . . . . . . .
Courage to fight for what is right: . . . . . . . . . . [sic]
For the people’s woes, the people’s anguish, Lords [?], kings, magnates ---
For the oppressed slave. All. . .all mankind!

4 12
Sound brightly, Oh my harp. Have no fear, brothers dear!
Into the still night! Fight for freedom and what’s right.
Sound sweet notes, sharp ones A thousand deaths are preferable
For you Freedom; it is you I mean! Than living like a slave.

5 13
I want to sing for freedom! So refresh yourselves, dare to live!
With freedom I will be happy. The payoff is very large!
May my voice pierce deeply Spare no effort, do your utmost.
Into the suffering heart. Happiness then will be our fate!

6 14
Only to Freedom do I want to complain, A genuine citizenship is coming.
About my suffering, my feelings. Minerva• will govern.
Awful is my drudgery. [There will be] no masters, no slaves,
My breast oppressed, my heart is still. No popery [?]
Only righteousness will govern us.

7 15
Tomorrow is empty. My hands and feet A free land will be formed;
are in chains. The world will be born anew
My shoes and pants are threadbare. Raise your hands in the air.
Freedom come quickly to save me. Freedom has been sworn [to you].
Before I am completely crushed.

8 16
The tired sun has gone. The sun comes, the rays shine,
The sky is colored fire-red. The golden time is near.
Freedom plays [a role] in all my battles. I will sing, play, dance
It comes to pull me out of poverty. From morning until evening. N. P.
[P. 4 col. 1 cont’d]
______________//______________
Letters to the Editor
________
London the 5th of October, 1888
Dear Brother,
It has already been such a long time that the foreign Yiddish newspapers are screaming that in London we should not allow the free money-eaters, who cheat our poor brothers of their last shilling, but it doesn’t seem to help. We were under the impression that the workers had already become a bit smarter. In the end, it seems that in London there is a new gang of thieves that go from house to house and take the food out of the workers’ mouths. Namely: From Russia there came to London a man named Yankev Tsinen, who found a new way to con poor workers out of their paltry pension.
He, Yankev Tsinen, just like Moyshe Mendel of Jerusalem, assumed the name of “the messenger from Kovno,” and goes around from house to house stealing money by nailing up charity boxes from the Yeshiva of Kovno.

[P. 4, col. 2]
He takes the money for himself and stuffs his belly. His belly is full of the blood of poor workers. It wouldn’t be so bad if Kovno would at least benefit in some way from this, but the unfortunate [yeshiva] boys will still have to suffer quite a bit before they get even a cent• from this “messenger.” The accounting is quite plain: from the money he earns in London, he takes his living expenses off the top, and from the rest, which he cannot manage to eat, he sends half to his wife and he simply keeps the other half for himself. Kovno has yet to see anything, as I will explain to you in the next letter.
I ask you, my dear brothers, don’t you have anything else to do with you hard-earned money? I think that with those shillings you could rather warm your poor, small children, who are walking around naked and barefoot.•
Because of this,•• dear brothers, let us call a general meeting and let’s see what this “messenger” did with the money. Perhaps he will respond that he has a receipt from Kovno [saying] that he did send something, in which case I will ask that he show that receipt at the general meeting, where I will also be and will demonstrate the falsity of it all.
In the meantime I ask of you, my dear brothers, that until the whole thievery is exposed, no one should give any money and not let [anyone] take anything out of the charity boxes. I hope to expose everything at the meeting and will see that all the poor workers get back their blood money, for which they toil from 6 in the morning until twelve at night.
Aaron Gamze
Although the W[orkers’] Fr[iend] has little to do with charity boxes for yeshivas, no one forces people to put them up and no one forces the foolish worker to give away his with-blood-earned pennies to swindlers for foolishness. We make this letter public so that the poor worker might see how blind he is. The editors.
[P. 4, col. 2 cont’d]
_______________
International Workers’ Education Club
40 Berner St., Comercial Rd.
___________
Notice
The new rules have already been worked out and take effect on Friday the 12th of October. As with all matters pertaining to the club, this will be given over to a committee, and at the next meeting the committee will be elected. All members are requested to come on time.
_____________
In the evening [?] the 13th of October
Program [?] by Mrs. Shok and Gen. Semuel
Admission to the program is free
Sunday evening: Concert and Dance
__________________________________________________ ____
The Bootmakers’ and Finishers’ Union
Meet every Sunday evening in the Public House
Black Eagle, Pelhand St., Brick Lane E.
__________________________________________________ ___________
Jewish Carpenters’ Apprentices Union
Meet every Sunday evening in the Public House
69, Brick Lane, E.
__________________________________________________ ____
London Tailors’ and Machinists’ Society
Meet every Sunday evening at 7:30 in
“Man in the Moon,” Plough St., Commercial Rd.
__________________________________________________ ___________
“The Knights of Freedom” Group
Meet every Sunday at 6 o’clock in the evening at
7 Spelman Street, Spitalfields, London, E.
Address donations and business letters to E. Ritterman
__________________________________________________ ______________________



[P. 4, col. 2 cont’d]

For America.
We are announcing to all our readers and friends in America that we have turned over the main agency of “Worker’s Friend” for all of America to the “Pioneers for Freedom” group in New York. In matters of money and other business dealings one should apply to the following address:
B. Rudashevsky, 125, Norfolk St., New-York [sic]
We are letting all of our friends and readers know that we have turned over the agency in the greater New York area in America to the New York “Worker’s Friend” committee. In matters of money and other business dealings one should apply to: Isidore Priluzka, 39, Prince Street, top floor, Newark, N. J.
__________________________________________________ ______________________
One can get the “Worker’s Friend” at
H. Adler, Corn. Essex & Grand St[s]., New-York.
Silbeguide, 83, Canal Street
M. Freedman, 429 Lombard St., Philadelphia, Pa.
J. Dyshe, 3, Little Templar Street, Leeds.
M. Jacobson, 1 House, 6 Court, Dukenfield St., Liverpool.
__________________________________________________ ______________________
The New York Jewish Folk Newspaper
A weekly workers’ paper, price 2 ½ pence
Can be bought at the London agent M. Weidenfield
51, Christian St., Commercial Rd., London, E

[P. 4, col. 3]
[Russian ad]
Thomas Bolas, Leaflet Press, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane, London, E. C.
__________________________________________________ _________________
Yiddish ad: Tailoring [picture of a scissor] work: I do a good job, inexpensive and prompt, with either my material or that of the customer
M. Eagalovitz
25 Brushfield St., Bishopsgate, E.
__________________________________________________ ___________________
The London Cloth Cutters’ Workers’ Cooperative
Announces to all that is undertaking
All Hand Tailoring Work
At cost
The cooperative is not looking to make a profit for itself; it only wants to cover its costs, [the price] a worker would earn in a sweatshop, so the profit remains with the one ordering the work. Whatever the cleanliness and the value [?] of the work calls for, it is done in the best possible manner, since the cooperative consists of the best tailoring workers. All orders accepted at S. Goldman, 130 Rothshild’s Building, Commercial St. [In Yiddish]
130, Rothschild’s Buildings, Commercial Street, E. [in English]
__________________________________________________ ______________________

[P. 4, col. 3 cont’d]
Let it be Known
That the
Worker’s Friend’s
Issues for its whole second year
From the time the newspaper began to be published weekly,
Including the featured story
“Les Miserables”•
the famous novel by Victor Hugo
nicely hardcover bound, price 4/9 If sent by mail
postage and handling extra. Express mail available.
__________________________________________________ ___________Just released!
Lopatin’s
Biography
Written by
Father Lavrav ••
And
The Lawsuit••• of 21 Nihilists
In Petersburg, May 1887
A fascinating brochure – price 2 p., with postage 2 ½ p.
__________________________________________________ ______________________
Socialist Literature
The following brochures published by the Socialist Library in German-Yiddish are sold in the ___________ and by agents of “Worker’s Friend”.

How Does One Survive, cost 2 ½ pennies.
Father Lavrav and the Jewish Worker
Price 1 penny.
The Debate, 2 notebooks, price in London 2 pence; in the provinces 3 pence; in America 6 cents.
The Haggadah in a new addition, price 2 pence; with postage 2 ½ p.

[P. 4, col. 3 cont’d]

Lamentations•••• or workers’ songs of lament. Price 1 penny.
G-d’s Holiday. Price one penny.
Agents receive the usual discount.

__________________________________________________ ______

Can be purchased at:
W. Wess, 40 Berner St., Commercial Rd., London E.

The Eight Chicago Martyrs—one beautiful picture of the
Chicago Martyrs,
Size 24 by 18 inches. Price I/3; more for postage & handling if sent by mail.

Anarchism: its philosophy and scientific foundation. A 200-page book from [?] parsons, together with a beautifully produced picture of the author: in English or German. Price 2/3; very finely bound with gilt, 1/6.

================================================== ====
The “Worker’s Friend” Printing Office,
40, Berner St., Commercial Rd.

[mariab]

Thanks for this Lynn, and thanks to Dr. Turtletaub.

By the by, what strikes me as interesting is this:
Notice
The new rules have already been worked out and take effect on Friday the 12th of October. As with all matters pertaining to the club, this will be given over to a committee, and at the next meeting the committee will be elected. All members are requested to come on time.
New rules shortly after the Stride murder?

PS.: By the by, I might have found a local translator here in Chicago for the AF paragraphs containing references to “Schwartz“. The translator's name? Schwartz! And unfortunately "schwartz" also means "black" in Yiddish, so don't get your hopes up.

Oh, and any idea who were the “8 Chicago martyrs"? Are these the 8 anarchists who got tried for murder after the Chicago Haymarket riot?

[lynn cates]

replies

Hello Maria. Thanks. Yes, new rules. But I am intrigued that, just like the Farringdon Club, they had a ruling elite. Wonder if they met just after the murder to discuss actions to be taken?

I had thought that "Schwartz" was like the German in that respect.

Yes, I had presumed the "martyrs" were the "Haymarket Rioters."

Now, I must have a good cry. (90% cost overrun.)

Cheers.
LC