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A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an
impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...
speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden
crate A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport or store large, heavy items. Steel and aluminium crates are also used. Specialized crates were designed for specific products, and were often made to be reusa ...
originally used for shipment of soap, or other dry goods, from a manufacturer to a retail store. The term is also used
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wit ...
ically to describe a person engaging in often flamboyant, impromptu, or unofficial public speaking, as in the phrase, "Get off your soapbox." Hyde Park in London is known for its Sunday soapbox orators, who have assembled at its
Speakers' Corner A Speakers' Corner is an area where open-air public speaking, debate, and discussion are allowed. The original and best known is in the northeast corner of Hyde Park in London, England. Historically there were a number of other areas desig ...
since 1872 to discuss religion, politics, and other topics.
Blogs A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
can be used as soapboxes within the context of the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
, and are often used for promotional purposes.


History


Origins of the term

Throughout the 19th Century and into the 20th, prior to the invention of
corrugated fiberboard Corrugated fiberboard or corrugated cardboard is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and is used for making corrugat ...
, manufacturers used wooden crates for the shipment of wholesale merchandise to retail establishments. Discarded containers of every size, well-constructed and sturdy, were readily available in most towns. These "soapboxes" made free and easily portable temporary platforms for street corner speakers attempting to be seen and heard at improvised "outdoor meetings", to which passersby would gather to hear often provocative speeches on religious or political themes. The decades immediately preceding World War I have been called the "Golden Age of Soapbox Oratory".Raymond Challinor, ''The Origins of British Bolshevism.'' London: Croom Helm, 1977; pg. 36. Working people had little money to spend and public speakers pushing their social or political agendas provided a form of mass entertainment. Radical political parties, intent on bringing what they perceived as an emancipatory message to the working class, were particularly intent upon making use of "street meetings", with their speeches and leaflets, to advance their specific message. Street-corner oratory could also present its share of problems. Chief among these was the policy of local law enforcement authorities, who sometimes saw in radical political discourse a form of incitement to crime and violence and a threat to
public order In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as "crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e., it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal ...
. Additionally, large street corner crowds listening to "soapboxers" would often obstruct public walkways or spill into public streets, creating inconveniences to pedestrians or vehicular traffic alike. Consequently, local authorities would often attempt to restrict public oratory through licensing or prescriptive banning. This conflict between dedicated political or religious partisans and civil authorities intent upon the maintenance of public order made soapboxing a matter of frequent public contention. Throughout its history, soapboxing has been tied to the right to speak. From the period 1907 to approximately 1916, the Industrial Workers of the World conducted dozens of
free speech fights Free speech fights are struggles over free speech, and especially those struggles which involved the Industrial Workers of the World and their attempts to gain awareness for labor issues by organizing workers and urging them to use their collective ...
in the United States, particularly in the West and the Northwest, in order to protect or reclaim their right to soapbox. Many prominent
socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the econ ...
and other radicals began their political careers in these or similar free speech fights, including Seattle newspaper publisher
Hermon Titus Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the ...
,
Socialist Party of Washington The Socialist Party of Washington was the Washington state section of the Socialist Party of America (SPA), an organization originally established as a federation of semi-autonomous state organizations. During the 1910s, the Socialist Party of Wa ...
leaders
Alfred Wagenknecht Alfred Wagenknecht (August 15, 1881 – August 26, 1956) was an American Marxist activist and political functionary. He is best remembered for having played a critical role in the establishment of the American Communist Party in 1919 as a leader ...
and
L.E. Katterfeld Ludwig Erwin Alfred "Dutch" Katterfeld (15 July 1881 – 11 December 1974) was an American socialist politician, a founding member of the Communist Labor Party of America, a Comintern functionary, and a magazine editor. Biography Early life ...
, IWW activist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and prominent
syndicalist Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...
William Z. Foster William Zebulon Foster (February 25, 1881 – September 1, 1961) was a radical American labor organizer and Communist politician, whose career included serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1945 to 1957. He was previ ...
. Additional problems could be presented to street corner orators from rival political groups or
hecklers A heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes. Hecklers are often known to shout encouraging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set-piece speeches, with the intent of di ...
.Challinor, ''The Origins of British Bolshevism,'' pg. 37. A skilled and effective "soapboxer" had to be clever, having the ability to express political opinions with clarity, to have ready answers for common objections, to be able to deflect hostility with humor or satire, and to be able to face difficulty or danger with fortitude. Soapboxing proved to be what one historian has called "a hard, but nevertheless necessary, process in the development of revolutionary leaders".


Contemporary soapboxing

During the 1960s, a
Free Speech Movement The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a massive, long-lasting student protest which took place during the 1964–65 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The Movement was informally under the central leadership of B ...
was initiated on the Berkeley, California Campus over fund-raising at an intersection and other political freedoms, and the fight eventually spread to other college campuses across the United States. As advertising professionals transitioned their craft to politics, they were reputed to be "selling candidates like soap", an expression with roots in 19th-century sales tactics to differentiate soap products. In the 1992 UK general election, the Conservative Party was widely expected to be defeated by
Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader o ...
's Labour Party. Conservative leader John Major took his campaign into the streets, delivering many addresses from an upturned soapbox. This approach stood in contrast to the Labour Party's seemingly slicker campaign and it chimed with the electorate, along with hard-hitting negative campaign advertising focusing on the issue of Labour's approach to
taxation A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or ...
. Major won in excess of 14 million votes, the highest popular vote for a political party in a British general election. Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee included blurbs titled "Stan's Soapbox" in some of his comic books to share his opinions on various topics with readers.


References


Further reading

* * * {{Cite book, title=A summer in the park : a journal written from diary notes, June 4th 2000 to October 16th 2000, last=Allen, first= Tony, date=2004, publisher=Freedom Press, isbn=1904491049, location=London, oclc=60403933 Public speaking Metaphors referring to objects Activism by type