Description

Jay Fox (1870-1961) was a journalist, intellectual, and labor militant, whose influence rippled across the country. In Writing Labor s Emancipation, historian Greg Hall traces Fox s unorthodox life to shed light on the shifting dynamics in US labor radicalism from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Radicalized as a teenager after witnessing the Haymarket tragedy, Fox embarked on a lifetime of organizing for labor unions, helping build anarchist communities (including Home, Washington), and, perhaps most notably, working as a writer. Thanks to his accessible writing style, insightful working-class perspective, and sharp wit, he became a popular and influential voice, often in dialogue with fellow anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Lucy Parsons. Drawing on previously unused sources, Hall both explores Fox s life and shines a light on the utopians, revolutionaries, and union men and women with whom Fox associated and debated. Hall s research ultimately provides valuable knowledge of the lived experiences of working-class Americans and brings to light alternative visions for activism and social change–