John Spargo
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John Spargo (31 January 1876 – 1966) was a British progressivist writer and muckraker whose exposé The Bitter Cry of Children explores the living conditions of children in poverty stricken households.
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[edit] Life
Spargo was born on 31 January 1876 in the small village of Long Downs in the parish of Stithians, Cornwall, England. His parents were Thomas Spargo (1850-1920) and Jane Hocking Spargo (1851-1900), whose maiden name was also Spargo. As a young man he trained as a stonecutter, and became a lay Methodist minister. He was attracted to the socialist doctrines of early English marxist Henry Hyndman and would serve on the executive council of the Social Democratic Federation before immigrating to New York City in 1901, and to Vermont in 1909. He became a leader of the Socialist Party of America and wrote an early English-language biography of Karl Marx. He left the party due to a disagreement with its anti-war policies in 1917 and formed the Social Democratic League of America. He subsequently collaborated with\for U.S. entry into World War I. Spargo sat on the executive committee of the short lived National Party, which attempted to meld pro-war sentiments with progressive politics. The Party dissolved following disappointing returns in the elections of 1918. John Spargo became wealthy off his books. In the 1920s, Spargo turned away from leftist politics, developing his own theories of what he called "socialized individualism",Eventually he would oppose Roosevelt's New Deal.
Spargo would become the Director-Curator of the Bennington, Vermont Historical Museum and write several books on ceramics.
He researched and wrote a booklet on the history of his family name. Spargo is also the name of the locality around Mabe Church in the parish of Mabe. He postulated that evidence supported the place name and Spargo family name being in existence c. 400AD. This pre-dated the arrival by some 400 years of the Christian Church.
[edit] Works by John Spargo
- Spargo, John (1906). The Bitter Cry of Children.
- Eugene V. Debs, Incarnate Spirit of Revolt - 1908 [1]
- Spargo, John (1908, 2003). The Spiritual Significance of Modern Socialism. ?, University Press of the Pacific, 96 pages. ISBN 1-4102-0602-5.
- Spargo, John (1909, 2005). Karl Marx: His Life and Work. ?, University Press of the Pacific, 428 pages. ISBN 1-4102-0760-9.
- Spargo, John (1909). The Marx He Knew [1]. ?, Charles H. Kerr & Company.
- Spargo, John (1912, 2005). Applied Socialism: A Study of the Application of Socialistic Principles to the State. ?, University Press of the Pacific, 348 pages. ISBN 1-4102-0592-4.
- Spargo, John (1914). Socialism and Motherhood. B.W. Huebsch.
- Spargo, John (1916-01-08). The Truth About "Preparedness." (PDF) 4. Socialist Party of America. Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
- Spargo, John (1919, 2003). The Psychology of Bolshevism. ?, University Press of the Pacific. ISBN 1-4102-0622-X.
- Spargo, John (2007). Bolshevism: The Enemy of Political and Industrial Democracy[2]. ?, University Press of the Pacific id = ISBN 1-4102-0600-9, 404.
- Spargo, John (1921, 2004). The Jew and American Ideals[3]. ?, Kessinger Publishing, 160 pages. ISBN 1-4179-2733-X.
- Spargo, John (1926, 1948). Early American Pottery and China. The Century Co., Garden City Publishing Co., 393 pages.
- Spargo, John (?, 2003). Americanism and Social Democracy. ?, University Press of the Pacific, 340. ISBN 1-4102-0723-4.
- Spargo, John (?, 2002). The Common Sense of Socialism: A Series of Letters Addressed to Jonathan Edwards, of Pittsburg. ?, Fredonia Books (NL), 196 pages. ISBN 1-58963-998-7.
- Spargo, John (?,2004). The Greatest Failure in All History:A Critical Examination of the Actual Workings of Bolshevism in Russia. ?, University Press of the Pacific, 508 pages. ISBN 1-4102-1568-7.
- Spargo, John (?, 2003). Marxian Socialism and Religion: A Study of the Relation of the Marxian Theories to the Fundamental Principles of Religion. ?, University Press of the Pacific, 212 pages. ISBN 1-4102-0619-X.
- Spargo, John (?, 2003). Sidelights on Contemporary Socialism. ?, University Press of the Pacific, 156 pages. ISBN 1-4102-0611-4.
- Spargo, John (?, 2001). Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism and Socialism. ?, University Press of the Pacific, 264 pages. ISBN 0-89875-577-8.
[edit] External links
- Works by John Spargo at Project Gutenberg
- Excerpts from The Bitter Cry of Children:
- "Work in the coal breakers is exceedingly hard and dangerous...". [2]
- "According to the census of 1900, there were 25,000 boys under sixteen years of age employed in and around the mines and quarries of the United States..." [3]
- "I could not do that work and live, but there were boys of ten and twelve years of age doing it for fifty and sixty cents a day..." [4]
- "The life of Marx: Karl Marx: His Life and Work, by John Spargo (National Labour Press, Manchester, 8s 6d)", The Guardian, Thursday September 21, 1911, 1911-09-21. Retrieved on 2006-09-30.
[edit] References
- ^ Debs, Eugene (1908). in Bruce Rogers: Debs: His Life, Writings and Speeches. The Appeal to Reason, 499-509.
- ^ Spargo, John (1906). The Bitter Cry of Children. Macmillan, 163-165.
- ^ ibid.
- ^ ibid.
[edit] Further reading
- Ruotsila, Markku (September 2006). John Spargo and American Socialism. Palgrave Macmillan, 344 pages. ISBN 1-4039-7500-0.
- Radosh, Ronald (December 1965). "John Spargo and Wilson's Russian Policy, 1920". Journal of American History 52: 548–565. Organization of American Historians. doi:.
