John Spargo

John Spargo
John Spargo was a British-born American socialist, writer, and political activist, best known for his early work advocating for labor reforms and social justice. He authored "The Bitter Cry of the Children" (1906), a significant exposé on child labor in the United States, which highlighted the harsh conditions faced by child workers in factories and mines. Spargo was also a founding member of the Socialist Party of America, though he later became disillusioned with socialism and shifted towards more conservative political views.

Author's Books:


INTRODUCTION It is not a long time since the kindest estimate of Socialism by the average man was that expressed by Ebenezer Elliott, "the Corn-Law Rhymer," in the once familiar cynical doggerel:—"What is a Socialist? One who is willingTo give up his penny and pocket your shilling."There was another view, brutally unjust and unkind, expressed in blood-curdling cartoons representing... more...

Socialism is undoubtedly spreading. It is, therefore, right and expedient that its teachings, its claims, its tendencies, its accusations and promises, should be honestly and seriously examined.—Prof. Flint. My Dear Mr. Edwards: I count it good fortune to receive such letters of inquiry as that which you have written me. You could not easily have conferred greater pleasure upon me than you have by... more...

A PACIFIST TURNED ANTI-SEMITE About five years ago I was honored by an invitation to join with a well-known American capitalist and certain other men and women in an attempt to bring about the termination of the great World War. The manufacturer in question believed that it was possible to "get the boys out of the trenches by Christmas," and to that end organized an expedition which is now... more...

THE MARX HE KNEW I The pale, yellow light of the waning day streamed through the dusty window panes of the little cigar shop, and across the bench where old Hans Fritzsche worked and hummed the melody of Der Freiheit the while. The Young Comrade who sat in the corner upon a three-legged stool seemed not to hear the humming. His eyes were fixed upon a large photograph of a man which hung in a massive... more...

CHAPTER I THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND I For almost a full century Russia has been the theater of a great revolutionary movement. In the light of Russian history we read with cynical amusement that in 1848, when all Europe was in a revolutionary ferment, a German economist confidently predicted that revolutionary agitation could not live in the peculiar soil of Russian civilization. August Franz von... more...