Leonard Dalton Abbott
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
publicist, politician, and freethinker. Originally a socialist, Abbott turned to libertarian anarchism
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
in the first decade of the 20th century. He is best remembered as a leader of the so-called "Modern School movement" of those years.
Early years
Leonard D. Abbott was born in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
on May 20, 1878. Leonard's father, Lewis Lowe Abbott, was a prosperous New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
metal merchant of Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
ethnic stock and a graduate of Yale College
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. In January 1876, the elder Abbott took a position with the firm of Dickerson & Co. and on behalf of that firm spent the next two decades in Liverpool representing the commercial interests of American firms abroad. It was owing to this employment situation that Leonard, the child of American parents, was born abroad.
Leonard came to the United States for the first time in 1897, settling in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Under the influence of the British socialist-turned-anarchist William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
, Abbott engrossed himself in the socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
movement, in which he remained an active worker up to 1905.
Shortly after his arrival in America, Abbott became the art editor for The Literary Digest
Literary Digest
The Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...
, one of the leading news weeklies of he period. Abbott also reported on the American socialist movement to the British Labour Annual each year from 1899 to 1901.
Abbott was a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of America (SDP), an organization based in Chicago and headed by journalist Victor L. Berger
Victor L. Berger
Victor Luitpold Berger was a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and an important and influential Socialist journalist who helped establish the so-called Sewer Socialist movement. The first Socialist elected to the U.S...
and union activist Eugene V. Debs
Eugene V. Debs
Eugene Victor Debs was an American union leader, one of the founding members of the International Labor Union and the Industrial Workers of the World , and several times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President of the United States...
. He was a keynote speaker at a June 1900 convention which united the forces of the Chicago SDP and an organization formerly hailing from the Socialist Labor Party of America
Socialist Labor Party of America
The Socialist Labor Party of America , established in 1876 as the Workingmen's Party, is the oldest socialist political party in the United States and the second oldest socialist party in the world. Originally known as the Workingmen's Party of America, the party changed its name in 1877 and has...
behind the Presidential
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
candidacy of Eugene Debs and Benjamin Hanford
Benjamin Hanford
Benjamin Hanford was an American politician during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He made two unsuccessful runs for the post of Vice President of the United States, as Eugene Debs' running mate as a candidate of the Social Democratic Party, in 1904 and 1908.-Early life:Benjamin Hanford...
. Abbott was named a candidate of the combined Social Democratic Party for New York State Treasurer
New York State Treasurer
The New York State Treasurer was a state cabinet officer in the State of New York between 1776 and 1926. During the re-organization of the state government under Governor Al Smith, the office was abolished and its responsibilities transferred to the new Department of Audit and Control headed by the...
by that same gathering.
In 1901, Abbott became one of seven members of the editorial board of a new illustrated socialist magazine published in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, The Comrade. In its inaugural issue, the editors of the monthly declared their intention was not to deal with the economic factor of the socialist movement, but rather with "such literary and artistic productions as reflect the soundness of the Socialist philosophy." The new century was seen by the editors as marking the dawn of a new era of artistic creation:
"The fires on the old altars are dead. The religion of today is impotent; the Art of today is parasitic; the life of today is stifled. Into this miasma of commercialismCommercialismCommercialism, in its original meaning, is the practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business. Today, however, it primarily refers to the tendency within open-market capitalism to turn everything into objects, images, and services sold for the purpose of generating profit...
is coming the breath of a new ideal. Men are growing conscious of the fact that present social forms are passing. They are beginning to understand that they can take hold of the world and fashion it anew after their desires, and it is in this instinct of creation that they become likest unto gods. The sensitive soul of the poet and the artist is quickest to respond to this instinct, and everywhere the artistic sense is finding expression in Socialist terms."
In conjunction with his role as a member of the editorial board of The Comrade, Abbott became a frequent contributor of biographical sketches on such worthies as the socialist novelist Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter
Edward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, socialist philosopher, anthologist, and early gay activist....
, poet Edward Markham, and painters Vasily Vereshchagin and Jean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet
Jean-François Millet was a French painter and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France...
. The publication survived until 1905, at which time it was dissolved and its subscription list taken over by The International Socialist Review
International Socialist Review (1900)
The International Socialist Review was a monthly magazine published in Chicago, Illinois by Charles H. Kerr & Co. from 1900 until 1918. The magazine was chiefly a Marxist theoretical journal during its first years under the editorship of A.M. Simons. Beginning in 1908 the publication took a turn to...
of Chicago.
In addition to his writing for The Comrade, Abbott sat on the editorial board of the Chicago publication Socialist Spirit from 1900 to 1903 and edited The Free Comrade with J.W. Lloyd from 1900 to 1902. Abbott was also an associate editor of Current Literature for over a quarter century.
Pedagogical work
After about 1905, Abbott's interests turned to libertarian education, in which he at once assumed a commanding presence. He was associated in the publication of The Commonwealth, Current Opinion, and The Modern School.Abbott sat on the first executive board of the Rand School of Social Science
Rand School of Social Science
The Rand School of Social Science was formed in New York City by adherents of the Socialist Party of America in 1906. The school aimed to provide a broad education to workers, imparting a politicizing class-consciousness, and additionally served as a research bureau, a publisher, and the operator...
, started through the volition of his friends George D. Herron
George D. Herron
George D. Herron was an American clergyman, lecturer, writer, and Christian socialist activist. Herron is best remembered as a leading exponent of the so-called "Social Gospel" movement and for his highly publicized divorce and remarriage to the daughter of a wealthy benefactor which scandalized...
and Carrie Rand Herron. He was also influential in the establishment of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society
Intercollegiate Socialist Society
The Intercollegiate Socialist Society was the a Socialist student organization from 1905-1921. It attracted many prominent intellectuals and writers and acted as the unofficial Socialist Party of America student wing...
, and the Ferrer School
Modern School (United States)
The Modern Schools, also called Ferrer Schools, were United States schools, established in the early twentieth century, that were modeled after the Escuela Moderna of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, the Catalan educator and anarchist...
of Stelton, New Jersey.
Abbott was influential in the foundation in New York City in 1911 of what was to become the Stelton Modern School, together with other leading anarchists such as Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
, Voltairine de Cleyre
Voltairine de Cleyre
Voltairine de Cleyre was an American anarchist writer and feminist. She was a prolific writer and speaker, opposing the state, marriage, and the domination of religion in sexuality and women's lives. She began her activist career in the freethought movement...
, and Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century....
. Commonly called the "Ferrer Center," the facility was established just two years after the execution for sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
of Francisco Ferrer
Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia
Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia was a Spanish Catalan free-thinker and anarchist....
. The Ferrer Center first held meetings on St. Mark's Place, in Manhattan’s Lower East Side
Lower East Side, Manhattan
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
, but twice moved elsewhere, first within lower Manhattan, then to Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
.
Starting in 1912, the school’s principal was the philosopher Will Durant
Will Durant
William James Durant was a prolific American writer, historian, and philosopher. He is best known for The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife Ariel Durant and published between 1935 and 1975...
, who also taught there. Besides Berkman and Goldman, the Ferrer Center faculty included the Ashcan School
Ashcan School
The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, is defined as a realist artistic movement that came into prominence in the United States during the early twentieth century, best known for works portraying scenes of daily life in New York's poorer neighborhoods. The movement grew out of a group...
painters Robert Henri
Robert Henri
Robert Henri was an American painter and teacher. He was a leading figure of the Ashcan School in art.- Early life :...
and George Bellows
George Bellows
George Wesley Bellows was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City, becoming, according to the Columbus Museum of Art, "the most acclaimed American artist of his generation".-Youth:Bellows was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio...
, and its guest lecturers included writers and political activists such as Margaret Sanger, Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
, and Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...
. Student Magda Schoenwetter recalled that the school used Montessori methods and equipment, and emphasised academic freedom rather than fixed subjects, such as spelling and arithmetic.
Abbott was a public proponent of free speech and pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
and served for a time as president of the Free Speech League. In this capacity he became involved in a free speech fight in Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
by the Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
in 1914 over a ban on outdoor public meetings enacted by that community. Not accidentally, Tarrytown was the location of the estate of industrialist John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
.
In July 1914, radical anarchists who frequented the Ferrer Center, and loosely associated with its adult education program, plotted to bomb the mansion of Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
chairman Rockefeller. On failing to enter the Rockefeller estate in Tarrytown. The group took the bomb back to the Lexington Avenue apartment of Louise Berger
Louise Berger
Louise Berger was a Latvian anarchist, a member of the Anarchist Red Cross and editor of Emma Goldman's Mother Earth Bulletin in New York. Berger became well known outside anarchist circles in 1914 after a premature bomb explosion at her New York City apartment , which killed four persons and...
(a school habitué and an editor of the Mother Earth Bulletin), where it exploded, killing four people, including three of the bombers, and wounding many others. The Ferrer Center became politically notorious and was shortly compelled to leave New York City for the comparative isolation of Stelton, New Jersey. Abbott was among those who addressed a mass meeting attended by 5,000 in remembrance of those killed in the explosion.
Works
- The Society of the Future. Girard, KS: J.A. Wayland, 1898. —Part of the series "One Hoss Philosophy," no. 7.
- "William Morris's Commonweal," The New England Magazine, vol. 20, no. 4 (June 1899), pp. 428–433.
- "A Latter-Day Brook Farm," International Socialist Review, vol. 1, no. 11 (May 1901), pp. 700–703.
- "The Poetry of Edward Carpenter," The Comrade (New York), vol. 1, no. 2 (November 1901), pp. 39–40.
- A Socialistic Wedding: Being the Account of the Marriage of George D. Herron and Carrie Rand. New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1901.
- "Edwin Markham: Laureate of Labor," The Comrade (New York), vol. 1, no. 4 (January 1902), pp. 74–75.
- "Verestchagin, Painter of War," The Comrade (New York), vol. 1, no. 7 (April 1902), pp. 155–156.
- "In Memoriam: Emile Zola," The Comrade (New York), vol. 2, no. 2 (November 1902), pg. 26.
- "A Tribute to Elizabeth Cady Stanton," The Comrade (New York), vol. 2, no. 3 (December 1902), pg. 58.
- "Millet: The Painter of the Common Life," The Comrade (New York), vol. 2, no. 7 (April 1903), pp. 149–151.
- "The Influence of Emerson and Thoreau," The Comrade (New York), vol. 2, no. 10 (July 1903), pp. 222–224.
- The Root of the Social Problem. Published with Owen Lovejoy's "Prepare of Campaign of 1904." New York: Socialistic Co-operative Publishing Association, 1903.
- Ernest Howard Crosby: A Valuation and a Tribute. Westwood, MA: Ariel Press, 1907.
- Sociology and Political Economy. New York: Current Literature, 1909.
- Francisco Ferrer: His Life, Work, and Martyrdom. New York: Francisco Ferrer Association, 1910.
- "A History of the Ferrer Association," in Bayard Boyesen, The Modern School in New York. New York: Francisco Ferrer Association, 1911.
- International Anarchist Manifesto on the War. London: n.p., 1915.
Further reading
- Paul Avrich, The Modern School Movement: Anarchism and Education in the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980.
External links
- Finding Aid for the Modern School Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries, New Brunswick, New JerseyNew Brunswick, New JerseyNew Brunswick is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, USA. It is the county seat and the home of Rutgers University. The city is located on the Northeast Corridor rail line, southwest of Manhattan, on the southern bank of the Raritan River. At the 2010 United States Census, the population of...
. Retrieved August 1, 2010. - The Stelton Modern School: The History, Talking History.org, March–May 2001. Retrieved August 1, 2010.