March 2, 1916
WOMAN ANARCHIST TAKES STRONG GROUND AGAINST FORCE
Miss Rebecca Edelson Declares Her "Hunger Strike" Was a Physical Demonstration of the Value of Nonresistance
Edelson explains she is against force. Also discusses sex, women's role in life, and monogamy.
Rebecca Edelson, the philosophical anarchist who transplanted the hunger strike to American soil and made effective use of it on Blackwell's Island in 1914, has come to Philadelphia to preach nonresistance as a substitute for force and militarism. Miss Edelson's creed is this:
Force is the greatest detriment to progress in the world. Coercion, both physical and mental, suppresses the development of the individual. Force has been carried to perfection in the international melee of militarism, the result of it stupendous slaughter of human beings.
"My hunger strike," said Miss Edelson, "was my first practical protest against force. I was arrested in New York because I preached a policy of nonintervention toward Mexico. I logically could not use force to fight force and therefore adopted the hunger strike as a means of passive resistance. It was successful."
It is difficult to make the general public realize that an anarchist does not believe in force and is generally opposed to it, added Miss Edelson.
"I stand irretrievably opposed to force--force on the part of nations as well as by individuals. Each nation at war honestly thinks itself the instrument to be used to crush force. And each nation has developed its own coercive cohorts of men and arms to preach the barbarism of force. They use force to down force. It makes a vicious circle," explained Miss Edelson.
Even though Miss Edelson is an enthusiastic industrialist, in fact, a leader of strikes, she objects to the use of force by the working people to obtain their ends.
"Firstly, the worker gains nothing by using force," she says. "No matter what degree of force he uses, whether it be sabotage or the methods of the MacNamaras, who were accused of employing dynamite in their fight, the worker will always be overcome. The odds are always against him. Nonresistance is the only means for him. He must lay down his tools. Let him ignore the Government, not oppose it. The world cannot exist without the worker."
But Miss Edelson is hopeful. She believes that the cult of force is giving way to one of humanitarianism. The present cry for militarism in America in only on the surface. A country no longer goes to war with an avowed statement of aggression. in the present war each country backed its call to the colors on the plea of defense against militarism.
Ideals will develop as militarism decreases. Freedom for nations from militaristic, forceful intentions, freedom for individuals from coercive social restrictions. Not even in the United States, the war shop of the Allies and the happy hunting ground for militaristic propaganda, does Becky, as she is known to radicals throughout the country, feel that militarism will flourish.
"I don't believe we are headed for preparedness. I am sure that if any the effort were made today to force conscription on the workingman of America there would be the bitterest opposition. Twenty years from now, if the rapid propaganda continues, the germ of force may be instantaneous objection to compulsory military service."
Women after the war will begin to lead a normal sex life, Miss Edelson predicts. Each generation has its big group of reactionaries and a minute one of radicals. The radical of today is the reactionary of tomorrow. The war has hurried up the process, and women, who in Miss Edelson's opinion are not yet the mental equal of man, will develop to the same plane.
"To put it crudely, the female will develop into a woman. The added responsibility thrust on her in all the countries at war will force her to develop mentally and physical reaction will follow.
"Barrier's that have existed through the centuries will be broken down. The artificial form of life practiced by men and women today will disappear under the new regime. The reaction against artificial stimulation on the material life practiced today has endangered the progress of the human race.
"I believe that monogamy is the ideal solution for the man and woman problem. But I believe that the right companion is found only through experimentation. Won't the world ever realize that we radicals are the most moral people in the world?" was the last comment on present conditions made by Miss Edelson.
The problem of the ideals to be followed by America in contradiction to the militarism of the Eastern nations is the topic of Miss Edelson's lecture at Grand Hall, 410 Wharton street, tonight.
