Burnette Haskell (June 11, 1857 – November 16, 1907) was an American radical best known for co-founding the Kaweah Co-operative Commonwealth. He was also involved in

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 ...

and

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

causes.

Life

Burnette Haskell was born in

Sierra County, California Sierra County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 3,236, making it California's second-least populous county. The county seat is Do ...

, in 1857. He attended

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, and the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

. Haskell was admitted to the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law ...

in 1879 and worked with the California Republican State Committee before turning to labor organizing. He worked on ''The Truth'', which was associated with the San Francisco Trade Assembly. Haskell frequently changed his political leanings, leading to his reputation in the labor movement as "brilliant but erratic". Inspired by

Laurence Gronlund Laurence Gronlund (; Available July 13, 1844 – October 15, 1899) was a Danish-born American lawyer, writer, lecturer, and political activist. Gronlund is best remembered for his pioneering work in adapting the Marxism, International Socialism ...

's 1884 ''Co-operative Commonwealth'', he organized the Cooperative land Purchase and Colonization Association of California with James Martin the next year. The group was closely connected with the anarchists, socialists, and unionists of the San Francisco International Workingmen's Association. Haskell and Martin led 53 colonists to found the Kaweah Co-operative Commonwealth in the Sierra forest (now

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890, and toda ...

) of

Tulare County, California Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great La ...

, in 1885. The group supported itself through timber harvesting and grew to 150 colonists. Socialist Gerald Geraldson and Gronlund supplied outside financial aid as well. The colony dissolved in January 1892 between a government land suit, colonist factionalism, and difficulties with Haskell's personality. Other sources claim that the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

colluded with politicians to seize the colony's land. Eminent domain was used in 1890 to turn the colony's land into part of

. Haskell died in California in 1907.

Personal life

Haskell married Annie Fader, a socialist and suffragist, in 1882. Their son, Astaroth, known as Roth, was born in 1886. The couple split in 1897 but remained married through Haskell's 1907 death.

Life

Personal life

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading