1917.02.26: This Is the Story of Sweet Marie!

February 26, 1917

This Is the Story of Sweet Marie!

GLORY TO BETSY, GRACIOUS GEE

New York, Feb. 26.—"Sweet Marie" Gans [sic], leader of New York's east side food rioters, is the lady who:

Threatened to kill John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Led the free speech fight at Tarrytown.

Gave up the stage for the soapbox.

And, they say, swears like a trooper.

The latter is given as the reason they call her "Sweet Marie," a name the police handed her. She's 26, has been an expert saleswoman, ranging from delicassen [sic] to laces. Lately her salesmanship has been that of the street corner, with the anarchist magazine, Mother Earth as the wares. 

Sweet Marie is a member of the "Red Angels," anarchist group that has been the "flying squad" in many a radical gathering. Every member is put down in the policeman's mind as a "dangerous girl."

Miss Gans, first a "private" in the ran[k]s, became a "corporal," displacing Becky Edelson; now she's the recognized leader among this particular group of adherents of Emma Goldman.

The neatest thing about her is her tongue, which is drilled in harangue and repartee. Anybody that starts an argument with Miss Gans has to dig for cover.

Her unkempt garments drape and conceal the figure of a cloak model; for Sweet Marie believes no longer in milady's toilette.

Her eyes are blue and her teeth are perfect; she has the complexion of a rural belle, and her laughter ripples like the waves of the Danube beside which she was born. You'd take her for Irish, but she really is an Austrian Jew.

1916.05.16: Reds' Demonstration Fails.

May 16, 1916

Mayor Mitchel Guarded from "Reds"

Reds' Demonstration Fails.

Becky Edelson, Emma Goldman, et al, had planned another courier demonstration, but their plans when amiss.

1916.04.11: Free Speech Martyr Speaks For Peace

April 11, 1916

Free Speech Martyr Speaks For Peace

Becky Edelson of New York whose hunger strike for free speech made her famous, is now fighting for peace.

See also:

1916.04.07: Edelson Speaks In Chicago

April 7, 1916

Free Speech Martyr Speaks For Peace

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1916-04-07/ed-1/seq-30/#date1=1916&index=0&date2=1916&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=BECKY+Becky+Edelson&proxdistance=5&state=Illinois&rows=20&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=becky+edelson&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

1916.03.02: Edelson in Philadelphia

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.

1914.08.01: Last Reference To Jane Est Found On Newspaperarchive

August 1, 1914

As To Hunger Strikes.

Becky Edelsohn, Jane Est and the rest of the I.W.W. crowd are using--but with a little less violence--the identical methods of the British militants, and for exactly the same purpose.

1914.07.30: MATTEAWAN CURE FOR HUNGER STRIKERS.

July 30, 1914

MATTEAWAN CURE FOR HUNGER STRIKERS.

New York.--Having refused to eat until released, Jane Est, the anarchist agitator, has been transferred to theMatteawan asylu. Commisioner of Correction. Katherine B Davis says that Becky Edelson now imprisoned at Blackwell's Island, will receive the same treatment unless She changes her tactics.

See also:

El Paso Herald, July 31 ,1914
Washington Herald, July 27, 1914
Porthsmouth Daily Times, July 27, 1914
East Oregonian, July 31, 1914

1914.07.28: I.W.W. TRIALS BEGIN TODAY.; Becky Edelson, Hunger Striking on Eggs, to Attend Under Subpoena.

I.W.W. TRIALS BEGIN TODAY.

Becky Edelson, Hunger Striking on Eggs, to Attend Under Subpoena.

Trials of nine I.W.W. agitators are to begin before Justine Moorhouse in Tarrytown this morning. The prisoners are to be tried separately, and the building will be guarded heavily by the police. 

Becky Edelson will leave the workhouse this morning and be taken to Tarrytown to appear as a witness and a defendant in the trials. She was subpoenaed yesterday.

All the other defendants will assemble at the Ferrer School in East 107th Street at 7:30 A.M. With their followers, they will take trolley cars to Hastings to Tarrytown by a New York Central train. 

Miss Edelson's aged mother, Mrs. Lena Edelson, sat in the office of Assistant District Attorney Ellison, yesterday, weeping about her and denouncing Alexander Berkman and other anarchists. She cried out that the District Attorney ought to do something "to stop the hunger-striking foolishness." Mrs. Edelson lives with friends at 2,704 West Third Street, Brighton Beach.

Dr. Katharine B. Davis, Commissioner of Correction, said Becky Edelson's physical condition remained excellent, and that no forcible feeding would be attempted for some time. the young woman refused all meals offered to her, but early in the morning she took the whites of two eggs.

1914.07.25: HUNGER STRIKER WANTS FREEDOM

July 25, 1914

Reba Edelson Says She Did Not Eat as Workhouse Official Says She Did.

NEW YORK, July 25.—"Feed me forcibly or let me out to get a square meal," was the plea today of Reba Edelson, I. W. W. agitator, who declared for a hunger strike when she was take to the workhouse a few days ago to serve a sentence. Becky confided to Dr. Katz, house physician, that she was "sick and tired of this whole business."

"Do you mean that you want to get out of here after your promise to starve to death?" asked Dr. Katz with much concern.

"I didn't eat as you said I did," declared Becky. “You are giving me a black eye among Berkman, Tucker and other great men and I want to get out and tell the world what a pack of liars you all are.”