''The Agitator'' was a radical newspaper published by Jay Fox of the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

Home Colony in the American state of

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

from 1910 to 1912. In 1913 the paper was briefly relaunched as ''The Syndicalist'' as the official organ of William Z. Foster's Syndicalist League of North America, at which time it was moved first to Lakebay, Washington and thereafter to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. ''The Agitator'' and its successor were among the most important written vehicles for anarchosyndicalist ideas in America during the decade of the 1910s.

Publication history

Background

Philadelphia-born radical labor activist

William Z. Foster William Z. Foster (born William Edward 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 ...

left home as a youth to make his own way as an itinerant worker, employed as a deckhand aboard merchant ships and traveling around the United States in pursuit of employment.Dubofsky, ''"The Agitator,"'' pg. 113. By 1909 he had made his way to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, coming into contact with the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), whose members are nicknamed "Wobblies", is an international labor union founded in Chicago, United States in 1905. The nickname's origin is uncertain. Its ideology combines general unionism with indu ...

(IWW), a radical

syndicalist Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goal of gainin ...

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. Foster became a member of the IWW upon his arrival but soon became disaffected with the organization's

dual union Dual unionism is the development of a union or political organization parallel to and within an existing labor union. In some cases, the term may refer to the situation where two unions claim the right to organize the same workers. Dual unionism ...

strategy, organizing workers in opposition to other unions already in the field. A brief stint in Europe in 1910 served only to solidify Foster's views on the matter. He returned home committed to the idea of working as a member of the unions of the

American Federation of Labor The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutual ...

and " boring from within" their ranks to radicalize these previously cautious and conservative bodies. Foster sought to launch a newspaper as an expression of his views, initially remaining within the ranks of the IWW and attempting to steer the organization to his point of view.Dubofsky, ''"The Agitator,"'' pg. 115.

Launch

''The Agitator'' was launched as a bi-monthly

tabloid newspaper A tabloid is a newspaper format characterized by its compact size, smaller than a broadsheet. The term originates from the 19th century, when the London-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. used the term to de ...

Home, Washington Home is a census-designated place in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The 2010 Census placed the population at 1,377. The community lies on the Key Peninsula and borders the waters of Carr Inlet, an extension of Puget Sound. Home is n ...

on November 15, 1910.Melvyn Dubofsky, ''"The Agitator:'' Home, Washington, 1910-1912; ''The Syndicalist:'' Lakebay, Washington, and Chicago, 1913," in Joseph R. Conlin (ed.), ''The American Radical Press, 1880-1960.'' In Two Volumes. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1968; vol. 1, pg. 114. The editorial task was handled by Jay Fox. The paper concentrated upon the

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 ...

and strikes conducted by the IWW, and was sharply critical of the measured electoral strategy of the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of America ...

(SPA). The political line of Fox's publication evolved steadily, beginning from a committed

perspective. In addition to purely political topics, the paper gave space to more avant-garde social ideas not generally part of the discourse of radical newspapers of the day, including coverage of feminist issues and the culture of

nudism Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

Name change

In 1913 Foster joined forces with Fox, changing the name of ''The Agitator'' to ''The Syndicalist'' and moving the editorial office of the publication away from the Home colony to the town of Lakebay, Washington.

References

External links