All-American Anarchist: Joseph A. Labadie and the Labor Movement (Great Lakes Books) [Hardcover]

Carlotta R. Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Great Lakes Books | Publication Date: June 1998

This engaging biography chronicles the life and work of Joseph A. Labadie, Detroit's controversial individualist anarchist and nationally prominent labor organizer at the height of Gilded Age labor ferment. A flamboyant and colorful personality, he was one of Detroit's most popular figures, affectionately known as its "Gentle Anarchist."

Labadie, in his activities as unionist, socialist, anarchist, and passionate social agitator, was involved in a profusion of worker and radical causes. The book follows his idiosyncratic life from a childhood among a Pottawotami tribe in the Michigan woods through his involvement in the Socialist Labor Party, Knights of Labor, Greenback movement, trades councils, typographical union, eight-hour-workday campaigns and the rise of the American Federation of Labor. The story of his relationships with Samuel Gompers, Terence Powderly, Eugene Debs, Johann Most, Benjamin Tucker, Emma Goldman, Peter Kropotkin and the Haymarket anarchists illuminates their personalities and the flavor of the era in which they lived.

Labadie also promoted his libertarian philosophy by campaigning against protectionism, patent and copyright laws, labor bureaus and labor legislation, compulsory taxation and schooling, and anything he believed limited personal liberty.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"All-American Anarchist" is an excellent piece of scholarship that will be must-reading for all American social and labor historians. But for us general readers, here is a moving biography of a man who fought mostly for lost causes, but who nonetheless "influenced the outcome of those causes that survived." A fitting epitaph for anybody, anytime. -- Joseph H. Dugas, The Grand Rapids Press, 9/20/98

An eminently readable biography...Anderson adeptly shows the diversity of thought in the decades following the Civil War...offers a poignant look at a man who believed "in the ability of the unique individual standing alone, self-led, self-governed, to make a difference." As in Herbert Gutman's pathbreaking study of Joseph McDonnell, Anderson also illustrates how communities transcend national sentiment when dealing with local sons with good hearts and pure motives. She also adds to the growing body of literature suggesting that Gilded Age and Progressive Era political labels be approached skeptically. In the whirl of activities, crises, and possibilities between 1877 and 1919, few achieved ideological purity. -- Robert E. Weir, Labor History, Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring, 1999

This well-written biography traces [Labadie's] career as a writer, anarchist, and trade unionist, conveying the failed aspirations of an American-born leftist. His story provides insights into the trials and tribulations of the working class and the early labor movement, especially the rise and fall of the Knights of Labor, the turmoil surrounding the Haymarket Square tragedy, and a growing distrust of labor radicalism...provides a much needed "from the bottom-up" perspective on American history. -- R.F. Zeidel, Choice, February 1999

[Labadie's] life was interesting and important, and Carlotta Anderson's account of it is well-researched and well-written. Although she never knew him-she was only two when he died-she successfully conveys the character of her eccentric ancestor and the atmosphere of the American left a century ago, and her book will stand as one of the best biographies not just of an American but of any anarchist. -- (Freedom (London), 2/6/99)

From the Author

The story of Labadie's deeds, thoughts, and beliefs is abundantly revealed through the treasure trove of documents he saved, which are now housed in the Labadie Collection of the University of Michigan. As Labadie's descendant, I was able to consult additional family scrapbooks, letters and other personal papers. I have tried to bring Labadie and his time and place to life in a narrative that would absorb and inform the non-specialist as well as the scholar. My aim was to use Labadie's experiences as a thread to lead the reader through the labyrinth of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century social ferment and reform efforts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: Wayne State Univ Pr (T) (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814327079
• ISBN-13: 978-0814327074
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,758,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Forgotten Origins of the Libertarian Movement, May 20, 2007

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This review is from: All-American Anarchist: Joseph A. Labadie and the Labor Movement (Great Lakes Books) (Hardcover)

Libertarians today are often considered extreme conservatives. Their opposition to taxation and government regulation is widely regarded as a defense of "big business" and the popular press, to the extent they mention libertarians at all, tends to see them as a branch of the Republican Party. But liberarianism is actually a radical philosophy with deep roots in the history of American reform movements, most notably abolitionism and especially the labor movement. Detroit labor organizer Joseph Labadie was a radical printer and tradesman who helped found both the Knights of Labor and the later AFL, particularly its Michigan wing. But Labadie also came to realize that the state was no friend of organized labor. Unlike modern labor historians who try to wrestle America's labor movement into a Marxist paradigm (Philip Foner and his intellectual heirs come to mind here) Labadie came to believe that true socialism would find its best expression in free markets and anarchism. This fabulous biography by Carlotta Anderson covers Labadie's extensive career.

Joseph Labadie was a self educated printer who lived in Michigan and migrated to Detroit. The boom and bust cycle of the early 19th century caused tremendous economic hardship upon workers and Labadie quickly fell in with trade unionists and members of America's very diverse socialist party. He was a founding member of the Knights of Labor and remained throughout his life an advocate for the working poor. But Labadie also felt education was the key to any successful social reform and he practiced what he preached. A careful reader, he soon had mastered the works of Adam Smith, Herbert Spencer, Thoreau, and especially the writings of Josiah Warren and Pierre Joseph Proudhon. Reading the latter, he came to realize that demanding workers receive their fair share of production was in fact a type of property right. (This was the basis of Proudhon's famous paradox, namely that property is both theft and liberty.) The way to insure that workers received their due was to destroy government privileges which allow businesses to skim value from their workers. Ever the idealist, Labadie was not content to simply end government established "monopolies." He also thought that government itself could be abolished once people realized their true interests.

Labadie continued his work for over 50 years. Beyond hs efforts to establish workers' equality he defended those who were victims of an unjust legal system, wrote prodigious amounts of poetry, protested US entry into World War II, and advocated alternative health care. But his greatest legacy was the collection of letters, newspapers, tracts and broadsides that he and his wife collected over the years. These became the basis for the justly famed Labadie collection at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Much of America's radical history would have been lost were it not for this gentleman anarchist who was widely respected by all of Detroit.

Labadie's influence, however, extended far beyond that of his collection. His son Laurence also became a prolific anarchist writer. Long after individualist anarchism had died out and trade unions had succumbed to begging the state for monopolistic privileges of their own, Laurence kept up the lonely fight for freedom from government and proper renumeration of workers. But the 20th century also saw a variety of different issues arise and the younger Labadie addressed these as they came up. Nuclear war, integration of schools, and agrarian reforms including the beginnings of the modern organic health movement all received his incisive commentary. In the process he created a body of work which went on to inspire modern libertarianism.

On the whole then, Anderson's volume is an excellent introduction to American labor history as seen from the perspective of one of its most prominent (but now largely forgotten) proponents. But it is much more than that. This book illustrates why American historians consistently fail to understand and appreciate America's labor movement. Instead of trying to explain how labor was co-opted by "capitalism," they should understand that for 19th century workers, true free market capitalism was their ideal. If anything, the movement was co-opted by an older economic system: merchatilism. Although not widely recognized, this is in fact the economic system that characterizes America today. Ms. Anderson has done an admirable job of presenting an historical alternative that was never tried. She is to be commended for this. All students of American history and especially labor history should read this book.