Commune

1920 · réf. 256949 — n.p. 1920. 11.25x16 inch broadside horizontal fold minor toning; "Marcus Graham group 1920" penciled in bottom margin couple of old paper tape repairs on blank verso. The date is confirmed by its citation in a Congressional report "Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer On Charges Made Against Department Of Justice By Louis F. Post And Others." "We have on many occasions issued to you calls for action. We have told you that protest meetings will not help to free the thousands of social war prisoners but only by real action through the starting of the general strike throughout the entire country will they be freed. You did not listen to us who urged action. You chose the easier road. You listened instead to politicians who asked you to beg of the exploiters of America to be so kind as to release those whom they imprisoned. We remind you of the mistakes that you have made and how you have been fooled and betrayed." Warns that those who participate in May Day parades sponsored by the National Security League "will be traitors to our class" calling on readers to mark May Day instead by forming anarchist groups to begin a general strike. "When we march or hold our meetings we must never forget to be armed to repel those misguided soldiers or policemen who will dare to attack us as they have done until now! . The First of May should be the signal for the start of the social revolution in this country." The author whose original name was Shmuel Marcus went by many pseudonyms the best-known of which was Marcus Graham; he claimed to be a native of Montreal but when the United States attempted to deport him to Canada Canada refused on the grounds that there was no actual evidence of his Canadian citizenship. Other attempts to deport him to Mexico and the Soviet Union were similarly rebuffed. The author went on to edit the newspaper Man! one of the most important American anarchist publications of the 1930s. unknown books