Search Results: Radicalism from Le Bookiniste, ABAA-ILAB-IOBA

New York: New York Committee for the General Strike for Peace, 1961-1963. A collection of nine rare leaflets and letters concerning the General Strike for Peace, which in the early 1960s sought a ban on the testing of nuclear weapons as well as global disarmament. This material belonged to Jackson Mac Low (1922-2004), poet, performance artist, and peace activist.Eight of these items were issued by the New York Committee for the General Strike for Peace, for which Mac Low was one of the organizers. (Julian Beck and Judith Malina of the Living Theatre were also organizers.) The collection also includes a letter from the Committee for Nonviolent Action. The General Strike for Peace consisted of three different phases, the first of which took place in early 1962, followed by additional calls to strike in November 1962 and then again in May 1963. On January 29, 1962, more than 300 people marched down Fifth Avenue in New York calling for a worldwide general strike for peace. The New York Times was there:… Read More

Detroit: The Radio League of the Little Flower, 1933. First Edition. Small Octavo pamphlet measuring 7 3/4 x 5 inches (197 x 128 mm), [16] pages, in stapled printed wrappers.
Transcript of a radio broadcast by Father Coughlin in which he says government action so far has amounted only to a "lateral attack" against the Depression. What's needed, he says, is a "frontal attack," and rails against money changers, international bankers, the Federal Reserve, and the gold standard.
Coughlin's rant is actually fairly moderate compared to his views some years later, when he was openly anti-Semitic and sympathetic to Hitler and Mussolini.
OCLC shows only a handful of institutional holdings. SCARCE.
CONDITION: Some edge wear and soiling with a couple of small nicks to the wrappers and a light vertical crease throughout the bottom third of the pamphlet. Internally clean and unmarked. A Very Good copy.

Everett, Washington: Socialist Party of Washington, [1915]. First Edition, First Printing. Single sheet folded to make 4 pages, each 6 1/8 x 9 1/8 inches (155 x 232 mm). Pages toned, lightest edge wear. A Very Good or better copy.A parable of early 20th-century capitalism from a Socialist point of view. A greedy rooster takes over the chicken yard after reading pages from a book dealing with profits, rent and "rights of capital." The rooster says to himself, "What a fool I have been to scratch all my life for a living when this book tells me how I can get a living for nothing and without work, for why should I work when I can make the other chickens work for me?" So the conniving rooster tricks the rest of the flock into giving up their land and paying him rent. The rooster, according to the author, acts just like the Rockefellers, Morgans and Carnegies.OCLC shows a single institutional holding, at Hamilton College.

New York: Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League to Champion Human Rights, 1947. Two mimeographed leaves, measuring 11 x 8 1/2 inches (278 x 215 mm), bound with paper clip, and signed in ink by James Sheldon at end. Letter concerning trial and conviction of leaders of a white-supremacist, neo-Nazi group in Atlanta, the Columbians. Professor James H. Sheldon, administrative chairman of the Anti-Nazi League, has signed the letter in ink and says he is going to Atlanta to assist in the trial of Ira Jett, a leader of the Columbians. This group wanted to rid the country of Blacks and Jews and favored violence to achieve those goals. In his letter, Sheldon says Homer Loomis Jr. and Emory Burke, two other leaders, "have already been sentenced to the chain gang...." Georgia authorities had arrested Loomis and Burke on charges that included incitement to riot and possessing explosives. During their trial, Loomis's father, Homer Loomis Sr., a New York attorney, told the court: "Every Jew from New York to Jerusalem… Read More

New York: Masses & Mainstream, Inc., 1951. First Edition, First Printing. A theatre review by Lorraine Hansberry appears in this issue of Masses & Mainstream, the cultural magazine of the Communist Party USA. Hansberry (1930-1965) wrote an enthusiastic review of William Branch's "A Medal for Willie," which the Committee for the Negro in the Arts presented at Harlem's Club Baron. The play concerns the mother of a young African-American who was killed in the Korean War. Willie's mother, Mrs. Jackson, was due to receive a medal from a general, but she refuses to accept it, calling out the racism and hypocrisy of Jim Crow America. "This is good," Hansberry writes in her review. "This is exciting and moving....Watching the play, I experience the glorious feeling that perhaps now -- in our time -- the dream of a New Harlem Theatre shall be realized."
Although she points out a few flaws in the play, she concludes her review, writing: "But the play is a powerful indictment of Negro oppression. It has terrific… Read More

New York: Masses & Mainstream, Inc., 1953. First Edition, First Printing. The October 1953 issue of Masses & Mainstream, the cultural magazine of the Communist Party USA. Among the articles: Herbert Aptheker defends Alger Hiss; Editor Samuel Sillen says literary critic Van Wyck Brooks should do more to support writers battling McCarthyism; and Gladys Tayler Yang writes glowingly about education in the "New China." (Worth noting: Yang later spent four years in detention during the Cultural Revolution.) This issue is scarce in commerce. PHYSICAL DETAILS: Small Quarto ( 7 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches; 197 x 134 mm), 64 pages, in stapled wrappers (soft cover). CONDITION: Light vertical crease throughout, some soiling and rubbing to wrappers, stains to a couple of pages but otherwise bright and unmarked. About Very Good.

New York: Masses & Mainstream, Inc. , 1953. First Edition, First Printing. The April 1953 issue of Masses & Mainstream, the cultural magazine of the Communist Party USA. This is M&M's first issue since the death of Stalin and contains various tributes to the Soviet leader ("The death of Joseph Stalin was a grievous blow to the partisans of progress everywhere," writes Editor Samuel Sillen, who focuses on Stalin's contributions to culture.) Other tributes follow, including a frontispiece drawing of Stalin by Hugo Gellert. In other articles, historian Herbert Aptheker attacks conservatism and anti-Communism. There's also a short story by Meridel Le Sueur, poems by Aaron Kramer and Bert Meyers, and more. Scarce in commerce. PHYSICAL DETAILS: Small Octavo (7 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches; 197 x 135 mm), 64 pages, in stapled wrappers (soft cover). CONDITION: Rubbing and soiling to wrappers and a couple small stains internally. About Very Good.

New York: Masses & Mainstream, Inc., 1954. First Edition, First Printing. The November 1954 issue of Masses & Mainstream, the cultural magazine of the Communist Party USA. Articles include a look at American news correspondents in Moscow; an excerpt from a book about artist Robert Minor; an appreciation of the late Minnesota Communist Bill Herron; the Soviet approach to dealing with teenagers; and more. Scarce in commerce. PHYSICAL DETAILS: Small Octavo (7 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches; 198 x 135 mm), 64 pages, in stapled wrappers (soft cover). CONDITION: Heavy rubbing and light soiling to the wrappers, rusting to staples, light creasing to a few page corners. About Very Good.

New York: Masses & Mainstream, Inc., 1948. Octavo (8 x 5 1/2 inches; 204 x 135 mm), 10 issues bound together into a single volume, title in gilt to spine. The first 10 issues of Masses & Mainstream, a cultural magazine (with generous dollops of politics) closely associated with the Communist Party USA. Masses & Mainstream featured articles by numerous left-wing authors, such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Pablo Neruda, Howard Fast, Meridel Le Sueur, Thomas McGrath, Louis Aragon, Anna Louise Strong, Paul Éluard, Philip Bonosky, Herbert Aptheker, and many more. Illustrators included William Gropper, Ben Shahn, and Milton Avery, among others. Vol. 1, No. 1 contains an illustration by Picasso accompanying an article about him. Masses & Mainstream had a distinguished lineage, being the successor to a number of left-wing magazines that included The Masses, The Liberator, and New Masses. It ceased publication in 1963. Bound copies of the first year's 10 issues are uncommon in the antiquarian book trade. CONDITION:… Read More

Folio (14 x 11 inches; 355 x 280 mm), bound volume in illustrated wrappers (soft cover).
SIGNED and numbered 36/70 by Joseph Beuys on the front cover. A rare collection of the first year of Pour, a radical/anarchist, French-language magazine in Brussels, for 1973-74. Beuys was a supporter of Pour and sometimes raised money on behalf of the magazine, which at first appeared twice monthly and then became a weekly. The cover is stamped in German and English with the contact details for Beuys's organization in Düsseldorf, the Organization for Direct Democracy Through Referendum.
The collection begins with a prospectus, laying out the aims of the magazine as well as details on circulation and financing. That's followed by the 29 issues published during the first year, each containing 8 pages, with the exception of a 16-page special issue.
Pour focused on Belgian politics, strikes, antinuclear actions, prisons, deficiencies in the health system, feminism, outrages by multinational corporations and the… Read More

[San Francisco]: Communications Co., 1974. Early Printing.
An early printing of the Weather Underground's far-left political philosophy. $1.50 price on the cover. Numerous black-and-white photos and illustrations. PHYSICAL DETAILS: Octavo (8 3/8 x 5 1/4 inches; 214 x 140 mm), pp. 185, [7], in orange illustrated wrappers (soft cover). CONDITION: Some soiling to wrappers, small tear at bottom of spine where it meets the front panel, bookstore stamp to title page, occasional foxing and staining, typewritten text of page 28 laid in since the original page did not print for some reason. About Good overall.

Chicago: Revolutionary Workers League U.S.A., 1939. Quarto-sized document (11 x 8 1/2 inches; 280 x 215 mm), [4], 57, [1] mimeographed pages, stapled three times along left side.Rare document articulating the ideology of the Revolutionary Workers League U.S.A., a Marxist, anti-Stalinist organization based in Chicago. An introductory statement calls it a draft that must still be approved by the Central Committee and RWL membership. The document emphasizes an anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist stance as well as support for the Spanish Republic and the Black working class in the United States. It also criticizes Stalinism for warping the Soviet Union, yet says the working class should support the USSR in the event of war. The paper was issued in January 1939, just nine months before the outbreak of World War II.OCLC shows only one institutional holding under this title, at the Chicago History Museum (OCLC Accession Number: 270690440). OCLC lists another document with a slightly different title, "Draft… Read More

New York: The Devin-Adair Company, 1949. First Edition, First Printing.
A "Special Edition" of John T. Flynn's anti-socialist, anti-communist tract, The Road Ahead, distributed by the Committee for Constitutional Government. He argues that America is well on the road to British-style socialism. PHYSICAL DETAILS: 12mo (7 3/8 x 4 7/8 inches; 188 x 124 mm), 207, [1] pages, in stapled, illustrated wrappers (soft cover). CONDITION: Soiling and rubbing to wrappers, pages heavily toned, occasional foxing, but pages are clean and unmarked. About Very Good.

New York: People's Artists Inc., 1952. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo (8 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches; 208 x 140 mm), 16 pages, in stapled wrappers.An issue of Sing Out dedicated to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who "sit in the death house at Sing Sing awaiting execution for supposedly stealing atomic secrets." This issue presents "My Loved One," a new song by Edith Segal, as well as other songs to help in the fight to free the Rosenbergs. And the cover reprints a tender letter from Ethel to Julius."Let us make sure that we will not have to sing a dirge in memory of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg -- but that our voices will resound in a song of victory and joy and peace when justice is won." Alas, the Rosenbergs were executed June 19, 1953. SCARCE. CONDITION: Some toning and edge wear to the wrappers, staples rusted. A Very Good copy.

Robeson, Paul, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Roscoe Dungee.
To the President and Congress of the United States of America [Petition] and Typed Letter Bearing Signatures of Robeson, Du Bois, and Dungee. New York: [Communist Party USA], 1947.
Single-page typed letter and two-page petition, printed on rectos only. Each page 8 1/2 x 11 inches (215 x 280 mm).
A rare typed letter bearing signatures of Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Roscoe Dungee, asking recipients to sign a petition against banning the Communist Party USA. We believe the signatures were printed, as does an autograph expert we consulted.
In any case, the three African-American leaders sprang into action after President Truman's Labor Secretary, Lewis B. Schwellenbach, told Congress that the Communist Party should be outlawed. Schwellenbach was concerned about Communist control and infiltration of labor unions and thought no Communist should be allowed to lead a union.
The letter is dated March 22, 1947, and carries the address of 23 West 26th… Read More

New York: Voice of Freedom Committee, Spring, 1951. First Edition, First Printing. Newsletter consisting of 4 mimeographed leaves measuring 11 x 8 1/2 inches (280 x 218 mm), first leaf with text on both sides, all leaves stapled.
The Voice of Freedom Committee, chaired by the writer Dorothy Parker, was a left-wing group that fought the increasing anti-Communist hysteria of American broadcasting.
This issue of the group's Voice of Freedom newsletter says major radio networks have failed to devote any coverage to "the world's biggest news story -- the story of America's cry for peace" and lists examples of peace groups being ignored. Another article chides television networks for "sexy children's entertainment."
There's also an appeal from Rockwell Kent to submit art works for an exhibition on the influence of mass communications. Readers can also fill out a coupon to become a "Monitor" of radio broadcasts.
This issue of Voice of Freedom appears to be rare. Although some half-dozen institutions hold… Read More