Ervin, Lorenzo Komboa; Peter Hudis: The Claustrophobia Collective
St. Louis, MO, 2001
St. Louis, MO: One Thousand Emotions, 2001. An account of the Cincinnati riots by black and anti-racist activists. From April 9-13, 2001, rioting, looting, and violence took place in Cincinnati following the police killing of Stephen Thomas, an unarmed black teen. In "Black People Have the Right to Rebel," the black anarchist Lorenzo Komboa Ervin argues for black resistance to white supremacy and capitalist oppression. In "Cincinnati's Black Rebellion Exposes U.S. Racial Injustice," professor Peter Hudis provides an "anatomy of the revolt" and describes the events as an "act of liberation." And in the titular essay, "How Fast It All Blows Up: From Uprising to Recuperation," the anti-racist Claustrophobia Collective offers their perspective on offering "meaningful solidarity and support in a riot situation."
Zine format, photocopied, 28 p., color photographs throughout. Rubbing, else Fine.
Los Angeles, 1969
Los Angeles: American Christian Freedom Society, 1969. The American Challenger's editor was the Rev. Uriah Fields who helped found the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1955, which coordinated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Fields worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr. before falling out with him over King's alleged sympathy for Communism. He also accused boycott leaders - including King - of misusing MIA funds, which he described in his bitter 1959 book, The Montgomery Story: The Unhappy Effects of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Fields' detractors claimed that he resigned over his bitterness at not being chosen to lead the boycott (which was later acknowledged by Fields himself.
In this issue of the American Challenger, Fields disavows the notion of "Negro history" and "Negro History Week," and claims that both are constructs of the white establishment and uneducated blacks. Instead, he asserts the importance of African-American or black history and closes by stating, "African-Americans must demand that black history, including African-American history, be taught in our schools and colleges, not only in black schools or to black students but to all students." Fields published the American Challenger until 1974, although all issues appear uncommon. Less than six institutions in OCLC hold any issue.
One sheet folded (8 ½" x 7") and printed in blue, 4 p., photograph of Fields. Initials of the Wisconsin State Historical society to the top of the front cover; mailing label and discard stamp to the rear cover.
n.p., 1940
n.p.: Recruiting Publicity Agency, 1940. An informational brochure on Citizens' Military Training Camps, which were originally known as Plattsburg Camps in 1913, 1914, and 1916 and initiated by General Leonard Wood. The purpose of the camps was to "develop the manhood of the Nation by bringing together young men of high and different types, both native and foreign born, from all sections of the country, on a common basis of equality and under the most favorable conditions of outdoor life; to teach them the privileges, duties and responsibilities of American citizenship; to stimulate the interest of the youth of this country in the importance of military training as a benefit to the Nation and the individual taking such training; to inculcate self-discipline and obedience; and to develop these young men physically, mentally and morally." Includes information on eligibility requirements, an outline of the camp's four courses, endorsements from Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh, and an unidentified mother, and descriptions of the camps in Fort Dix, New Jersey (Infantry and Signal Corps), Fort Niagara, N.Y. (Infantry), Fort Hancock, N. J. (Sandy Hook) (Coast Artillery), and Madison Barracks, N.Y. (Field Artillery).
Folded sheet (7 ½" x 3 ¾"), 12 panels. Light wear to folds, rubbing, Near Fine.
Baron, Rose
New York City, 1935
New York City: International Labor Defense, 1935. A pamphlet that "describes the work done by the Prisoners' Relief Department of the International Labor Defense [the legal arm of the Communist Party and the predecessor to the Civil Rights Congress] to help make the prison days a little brighter for the political prisoners and to help maintain their families while they are in jail."
Political prisoners profiled include Tom Mooney, John J. Cornelison, William Hudson, John Sekat, J. B. McNamara, Haywood Patterson, Ned Cobb, Clinton Moss, Sam Moss, Judson Simpson, and Alf White, as well as descriptions and photographs of some of the families. Concludes with a section on how the ILD and the Prisoners' Relief Department fund and sustain their work. Baron was editor of the ILD's magazine, Labor Defender, and District Secretary of the NYC ILD.
Stapled, illustrated wrappers (6" x 4 ½"), 30 p., 11 photographs, two illustrations. Near Fine.
Francis, Dr. Marianne (ed.)
Central Point, Oregon, 1967
Central Point, Oregon: Solar Light Center, 1967. Starcraft was the newsletter of the Solar Light Center founded by Marianne Francis and husband Kenneth Kellar in Oregon in 1966. The couple had previously established the Santa Barbara Space Craft Research Society where they hosted lectures for leading figures in Ufology. Francis later changed her name to Aleuti Francesca and the name of her organization to the Solar Light Retreat.
Content includes telethought transmissions from numerous entities as channeled through Francis, UFO sightings, Occult Chemistry and the Periodic Table, Center news, etc. Included are Vol. 2, Nos. 2-3, Summer/Fall, 1967 and Vol. 3, Nos. 3-4, Fall/Winter, 1968.
Stapled, illustrated wrappers (8 ½" x 7"), each issue 28 p., illus. Fine.
San Francisco, [195-]
San Francisco: California state organization of the Communist party, U.S.A., [195-]. An issue of the CPUSA's pre-convention discussion bulletin featuring issues of interest to the California party members. The two internal pages feature two articles under the heading "The Party and the struggle for Negro rights." In "Deep are the roots of special oppression of the Negro woman," Eleanor Broady of the Los Angeles chapter focuses on the role of black women in the party, especially as related to the "touchy question in the party...[on] the predominantly one-sided social relationship of men and women in the party as far as the Negro women and white men are concerned." In "On the waterfront, significant gains," P. T. provides an update on advances in Negro rights "particularly in the Marine Cooks & Stewards union." Other articles include, "United Front and the Elections" by William Schneiderman, "Building the party - the seamen do it" by A. R., , "Strike Struggles - Some Key Conclusions" by Al Richmond, "Our Vanguard Role in the Shops" by an unidentified autoworker, "For a new approach in the needle trade" by an unidentified needle trades worker and "The Jewish community - advanced anti-fascist sector" by anonymous.
Tabloid format printed in black on newsprint, [4] p. Center fold, slightly mis-folded, else Fine.
New York, 1943
New York: State, County and Municipal Workers of America (CIO), 1943. A large format publication issued for the third biennial convention of the State, County and Municipal Workers of America held in Cleveland from September 22-25, 1943. The program is "dedicated to the 850,000 CIO members in the Armed Forces...serving in the fight against fascism..." and begins with a message on how the union embodies the CIO's slogan of Work - Give - Fight. The bulk of the publication profiles union members in various professions (firefighters, librarians, zoo attendants, nurses, teachers, etc.) contributing to the war effort. Other sections cover the union's newspaper and the CIO's stance against racial discrimination. Heavily photo-illustrated.
Stapled, illustrated wrappers (12" x 9"), [24] p., illus. Some light rubbing, but about Near Fine. Only five copies in OCLC.
[Evans, H. W.]
[Atlanta], 1936
[Atlanta]: [Research Alliance], 1936. An anti-immigration card issued during the Great Depression depicting a slovenly dressed immigrant kicking a nativist into the Atlantic with the caption, "Nine million Americans walk the streets, six million foreigners hold good jobs, why?" The verso lists immigration statistics and demands for a law requiring all illegal residents to return to the country where they were born. The bottom portion invites "voting Americans" to petition their Congressman. The card was issued by the Research Alliance, a Ku Klux Klan front group, and bears the copyright of H. W. Evans, the stridently nativist Imperial Wizard of the KKK from 1922-1939.
Printed on both sides of 6 " x 3 ¼" card stock. Some toning, else Fine.
[New Hampshire], 1914
[New Hampshire], 1914. A broadside for a women's suffrage meeting at Davis Hall in Contoocook (Hopkinton), NH, featuring addresses by prominent NH figures: Hon. Andrew L. Felker, NH Commissioner of Agriculture; Hon. James O. Lyford, Secretary Concord Board of Trade; and Levin J. Chase, Esq., Member New Hampshire Legislature, Ward II., Concord. We were unable to determine the exact date of this meeting, but Felker became Commissioner in 1914 and Lyford was already Secretary of the Concord Board of Trade at that time, so the meeting was likely held between 1914-1916. In 1912, we find Levin J. Chase on the Executive Committee of the New Hampshire Men's League for Equal Suffrage. The meeting may have been sponsored by the local grange, which used Davis Hall as its meeting place; and according to Lorayne Billings, the grange actively supported the suffrage movement in NH (Billings, One Grand Park: Remaking New Hampshire Farms into Summer Homes, 1870-1930, 131n261).
Printed in black on yellow stock (14 ¼" x 11"). A number of closed tears, some creasing and soiling.
Freed, Rev. James W. (compiled by)
Webberville, Mich, 1973
Webberville, Mich: J. W. Freed, 1973. Second printing. A legal manual for Posse Comitatus adherents and "to aid White Christian Americans in the coming struggle to establish The Kingdom of God in these United States" (p. 1). Freed, a Christian Identity minister from Michigan, provides a history of America's Christian founding and the tenets of Biblical and Christian Common Law found in the founding charters of many of the original states. It is Biblical, Christian Common Law, and Constitutional Law that gives Posse Comitatus the legal authority to oppose those public servants who violate those laws and in some instances put them to death.
Freed then describes examples of those who are subject to punishment: usurers, tax officials, revenue agents, judges, school officials who promote race-mixing, busing, sex ed., atheism, drugs, and free love, politicians who promote no-win wars, one-world government, abortion, fluoridation, higher taxes, anti-gun legislation, and television officials who promote filth, pornography, anti-Christ views on marriage, divorce, promiscuity, and race-mixing.
The rest of the manual includes the details of Freed's own legal case with Michigan tax officials over his refusal to pay income tax, and includes reproductions of Posse Comitatus documents issued to government officials. Inside the rear cover is a pocket that includes four blank documents that other activists can use against their own public officials. An insightful primary source document that provides an intimate look at the Posse Comitatus (Sovereign Citizen) movement and its overlap with Christian Identity and racial nationalism.
Metal spiral bound sheets (11" x 8 ½"), 66 p., document reproductions. Light edge wear, else Near Fine. One copy in OCLC at the Univ. of Kansas.
Dunne, William F.
New York, 1935
New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1935. Three open letters to newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, in which the Communist journalist William Dunne accuses him of "conducting a campaign designed to encourage the most vicious nationalism, sanctifying in the name of 'Americanism' the vicious onslaught being made on the wages, working conditions, unions and other organizations of the working class."
Stapled, illustrated wrappers (7 ¼" x 5"), 47, [1] p. Some toning to wrappers, darker to the rear wrapper, about Near Fine.
Chicago, 1969
Chicago: The Conspiracy, 1969. Four items in support of the Chicago Eight (later, Chicago 7), which included prominent activists Bobby Seale, Dave Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, John Froines, and Lee Weiner, who were arrested on conspiracy charges following violent protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The Conspiracy was the support organization founded in the wake up of the arrests to support the defendants. Kathleen Cleaver and Susan Sontag are listed as secretaries. Includes:
Conspiracy! An 8-page booklet (8 ½" x 11"), photographs.
A leaflet on joining The Conspiracy.
A tri-fold brochure on joining The Conspiracy.
A flyer reprinting an open letter to the New York Times in support of the Chicago Eight and soliciting donations to the Chicago Defense Fun. Signed in print by the members of the Committee to Defend the Conspiracy, which included prominent activists such as Noam Chomsky, Nat Hentoff, Benjamin Spock, Susan Sontag, Christopher Lasch, Norman Mailer, etc.
Louisa, Virginia, 1988
Louisa, Virginia: Community Publications Cooperative, 1988. A broken run of 61 of the first 75 issues of this important, and long-running, resource focused on communes, cooperatives and intentional communities. Established in 1972 as an inter-communal communication network, the magazine was a merger of Alternatives (formerly The Modern Utopian), Communitarian, and Communitas and featured representatives from each of these publications as well as communal members from various communes. Issues were primarily theme-based and included articles that were both practical and conceptual, lengthy letters from members of fledgling and long-standing communities, resource lists, and directories. Issue 30 was published jointly with the School of Living publication Green Revolution and issues 37-38 were replaced by a nearly 200-page book titled A Guide to Cooperative Alternatives: Community Participation, Social Change, Well-Being, Appropriate Technology, Networking... (included here), and 71/72 is a double issue. Communities is still published today in both print and digital formats.
Included in this run are issues: 1-17, 19-39, 41, 43, 46, 48-55, 57-58, 60, 62, 66-67, 69-73, 75.
Stapled wrappers (generally 11" x 8 ½"), various pagination, although most issues are 64 p., illustrated. "Shalom House" stamp to the front cover of most issues, mailing label of Dick Wempe (Father Richard Wempe founder of Shalom House) to the rear cover. A VG run.
Rochester, Anna
New York, 1932
New York: International Pamphlets, 1932. On the ways by which Wall Street and the capitalist ruling class control the government, foment war, and oppress the working class. Profiled are J. P. Morgan & Co., the Rockefellers, Kuhn, Loeb & Co., and other financial firms. Rochester claims that only the Communist Party threatens the power and influence of Wall Street.
Stapled, photo-illustrated wrappers (7 ¼" x 5"), 16 p. A Near Fine copy.
San Francisco, 1988
San Francisco: Kerista Consciousness Church, 1988. A special issue of Utopia 2, a quarterly publication of the Kerista Commune. In this "handbook of Scientific Utopianism," the group outlines its approach to rock music, neotribal roots, sex & family life (esp. polyfidelity), utopian psychology, children (multiple parenting), religion & mythology, economics (including Kerista's successful business, the woman-run Abacus, Inc.,), as well as the future vision as outlined in the Kerista Planetary Prosperity Plan, and the group's approach to decision-making and social contracts. The publication concludes with a lifestyle questionnaire to gauge the reader's compatibility with Kerista's "blueprint for heaven on earth."
Stapled newsprint wrappers (11" x 8 ½"), 52 p., illus. Mailing label to the rear cover, slight roll near spine. A Near Fine copy.
Griffin, Des
South Pasadena, California, 1980
South Pasadena, California: Emissary Publications, 1980. Second Printing / First Printing. Two books from the right wing conspiracy theorist, Des Griffin. In Fourth Reich of the Rich, Griffin explores the international Conspiracy and the involvement of the Illuminati, the Bilderbergers, the U.N., the International Financiers, and families such as the Rothschilds and Rockefellers. In Descent Into Slavery, the sequel to Fourth Reich, Griffin focuses on the International Bankers as the locus of totalitarian One World Government. Both books published by Griffin's Emissary Publications, which published similar titles by other authors and distributed conspiracy theory classics.
Both books perfect-bound with illustrated covers, 306, [10] p., illus.; 351, [10] p., illus. Fourth Reich is the second printing (1977) and Descent is a first (1980). Griffin has inscribed the title page of Fourth Reich. Some rubbing to wrappers, both books Near Fine. Both titles in SIBA.
Nashville, Tenn, 1969
Nashville, Tenn: The Southern Movement Press, 1969. An issue of the Southern Student Organizing Committee's newspaper, which focuses on radical organizing in the South. Content is primarily organized by state and includes original and reprinted articles on SSOC activities in North & South Carolina, Florida, West Virginia, Arkansas, Georgia and Alabama. Also included is a report on the Southern Liberation Front's participation in a D.C. anti-war rally. The cover features a photomontage of that rally. The SSOC also published a newsletter called the New Rebel and a magazine called the New South Student. It appears that only half a dozen issues of the Phoenix were published.
Tabloid format printed in black on newsprint, 12 p., illus. Green X marked through postage square, light chipping along the fore edge.
San Francisco, 1987
San Francisco: Performing Arts Social Society, Inc, 1987. A scarce single issue of this quarterly computer journal associated with the controversial Kerista commune. The journal's stated purpose was to "foster the use of computers in improving the human condition in the 21st century," but it also served to market the varied products and services of Abacus, Inc., the commune's woman-owned enterprise, which became an early retailer of Apple computers after a group of Abacus women stormed an Apple conference in 1985 and pitched their enterprise before Apple CEO John Sculley. Abacus also published The Utopian Classroom.
The Node offered readers well written articles on computer hardware and software and the philosophical implications of harnessing technology for social good. Each issue also featured Mitch Slomiak's column, "The Computer Rabbi," Even Eve's comic strip, "Far Out West," book and software reviews, adverts for computers and computer services, and inducements to become a member or subscriber of Kerista's many entrepreneurial initiatives and publications (Abacus also published The Utopian Classroom). The Node appears to have ceased publication with Vol. 6, No. 1 (included here).
Side-folding tabloid format, 32 p., illus. Mailing label and penned address to the back cover, else Near Fine. Less than a dozen institutions holding any issue in OCLC.
[Thomas, Earl W.?]
Silver Spring, Maryland, 1977
Silver Spring, Maryland: White Legion Books / Steppingstones, 1977. Three items from an obscure Maryland far right imprint that existed in the 1970s to disseminate (and briefly, to publish) racial nationalist, revisionist, Indo-Aryan, National Socialist, anti-Semitic, anti-Communist, and other rightist material. Established as the White Legion Review/White Legion Books in 1973, a secondary publication called Steppingstones was issued in 1974 to publish longer reviews, articles, and interviews. In 1975, the first English language edition of Paul Rassinier's controversial Holocaust revisionist work, Le Drame des Juifs Européens (1964), was published as The Drama of the European Jews by Steppingstones Publications from a translation by Harry Elmer Barnes. In his article, "A Brief History of Holocaust Revisionism," Willis Carto claimed, "In 1975, Earl W. Thomas of Silver Spring, Maryland, had Barnes translate Rassinier's Drama of the European Jews, added a foreword by Michael Hardesty and published it under Steppingstones Publications." Since Barnes died in 1968, it was a strange error for Carto to make, especially since he knew and worked with Barnes before his death. Still, Carto's article provides the only reference to the individual likely behind White Legion/Steppingstones, Earl W. Thomas, Jr. Included here are:
White Legion Review, Vol. 1, No. 4, Autumn 1973. Folded, unbound sheets, [8] p. A list of distributed titles with descriptions. Wilcox Collection stamp to the front page.
Steppingstones, Vol. 1, No. 8, Summer 1976. Large tabloid format (22" x 15 ½"), 4 p. The front page includes a long review of The Drama of the European Jews by Michael Hardesty. A few passages neatly underlined in red ink. Inside and back pages include other distributed titles with a few adverts for other rightist publications.
Steppingstones, May 1977. First printing. Tabloid format printed in black on newsprint, [4] p. The front page includes an interview with the German born, British psychologist Dr. Hans Esenck whose controversial findings on race and IQ made him a target for equalitarian academics and activists. The interview was taken from the first issue of the British publication Beacon. The other three pages consist of an article called "White Roots" written in response to Alex Haley's Roots. Includes 11 photographs showing racial differences between groups.
Kansas City, Missouri, 1972
Kansas City, Missouri: People's Yellow Pages, 1972. One of the many "people's yellow pages" issued during the 1960s and 70s, this one by a collective in Kansas City, Missouri. A national directory of "places to buy the everyday essentials at a reduced rate, groups that are involved in that big arena called social change, services available to the public, people who have skills and resources, and other bits and pieces of information others have found valuable." Organized alphabetically by service, individual, organization, and publication. Includes two indices.
Stapled newsprint wrappers (10 ¾" x 8 ¼"), [1], 54, [5] p., illus. Sticker ghost to the top corner of the front wrapper, penned name, toning along the spine. Seven copies in OCLC, most in Kansas libraries.