The Firebrand & Free Society
The Iconic Anarchist Paper of the Turn of the 20th Century
The Firebrand (1895-1897)
Volume 1 (Portland, January 1895-February 1896)
Volume 2 (Portland, February 1896-January 1897)
Volume 3 (Portland, January 1897-September 1897)
Free Society (1897-1904)
Volume 4 (San Francisco, December 1897-November 1898?)
Volume 5 (San Francisco, November 1898?-November 1899?)
Volume 6 (San Francisco, November 1899?-December 1900)
Volume 7 (Chicago, February 1901-?)
Volume 8 – Missing? Not run?
Volume 9 (Chicago, January 1902-December 1902)
Volume 10 (Chicago, January 1903-December 1903)
Volume 10b (Chicago, January 1904-February 1904)
Volume 11 (New York, ?-November 1904? – Missing)
For almost a decade, the newspapers lovingly published by Maria and Abraham Isaak and a varying host of their comrades were vital nodes of anarchism in the English speaking world. When the couple and their friends launched The Firebrand in remote Portland, Oregon in 1895, they had no idea the impact their words would come to have. Over the following years, Firebrand and its successor Free Society would play a vital role in shaping and defining gilded age radicalism, and in pushing out the limits on human freedom and equality. The papers married a biting anarchist political opposition to state and capital with a deep understanding of contemporary free love and women’s right’s advocacy to produce a paper that sometimes ruffled feathers among stodgier anarchist circles.
Any study of turn-of-the-century anarchism in the English language requires a nod towards these papers. For this reason we are thrilled to present a gift in anticipation of May Day: 136 newly scanned issues of The Firebrand and Free Society, more than doubling the total previously available online. We hope this substantial contribution to the digitization of these papers will assist other students of anarchist history.
The Isaak’s launched The Firebrand in Portland, Oregon in 1895 with their friends Henry Addis, Mary Squires, and J.H. Morris in the midst of a depression and the failure of a a local upsurge by the “populist” movement. Addis previously contributed to The Beacon, an anarchist paper in San Francisco. The members of the Firebrand group had grown increasingly disillusioned with by the compromising and the exclusionary nature of Portland’s local reform and radical movements.
During its nearly three-year run in Portland, The Firebrand grew from providing biting local commentary to becoming one of the foremost papers in english-speaking anarchist. By its late run, comrades across the continent and even the Atlantic eagerly received and distributed copies. In particular The Firebrand became known for its synthesis of the emerging body of political-economic Anarchist-Communist theory with long-running us-based feminist currents. While this occasionally received side-eyes from sometimes sexist comrades that The Firebrand group gave too much attention to such matters, it would prove to be an enduring contribution to the us-based anarchist movement. Openness towards love and sex also proved to be the paper’s demise when local authorities, eager to suppress it, declared a Walt Whitman poem published on the front page to be “obscenity” liable for prosecution under the Comstock postal censorship law.
Following this prosecution, The Firebrand group split. Some members traveled north, where their strong circle of supporters around Tacoma had founded what became the Home colony. Members of the circle frequented the colony over the years, while some came to live there. The Isaak’s traveled south to San Francisco where with the help of local comrades like Sigismund Danielewicz and Viroquia Daniels they soon revived The Firebrand as Free Society.
Free Society carried the torch onward. Publishing in the years when the US escalated imperial expansion beyond its original settler-colonial borders, Free Society took on a notably anti-imperialist tone, fervently advocating against war and colonization in The Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Hawaii. This fervent advocacy may have played a role in the paper’s most infamous association: Leon Czolgosz’s 1901 assassination of President William McKinley. Czolgosz’s brother fought as a grunt in The Philippines and came back traumatized; reading Free Society encouraged Czolgosz to see the broader evil in the war, which he came to blame on the president who oversaw it (see Moon Ho-Jung’s Menace to Empire: Anticolonial Solidarities and the Transpacific Origins of the US Security State). While Free Society‘s publishers kept their distance from Czolgosz before and after the assassination, the connection was hard to shake.
The editors were, though, still white settlers publishing in 1900. While the contributors to The Firebrand and Free Society typically took a strong stance against anti-asian bigotry, against the horrific wave of lynchings of black people, and against us imperialism abroad, they also frequently centered their own perspectives in the matter, or overly simplified conflicts between colonizers abroad. The Firebrand, for instance, once “stood up” for a group of homesteaders seeking to privatize a shoreline for clamming because it was being held in trust by the federal government; yet the very reason for that trust was that the land was still utilized by indigenous people from the area, who the settlers sought to displace. In-common with many turn-of-the-century “anti-imperialist” movements, Free Society covered the war between the british empire and the white settler boars in South Africa, with the Boars generally portrayed as a valient anti-imperialists despite their own society’s ongoing colonial actions.
We hope to provide a more fleshed-out analysis of Free Society and The Firebrand at some point, but in the interests of sharing promptly for the holiday, we suggest some further reading for the interested. Jessica Moran and Alecia Jay Giombolini have published an article and thesis respectively on The Firebrand. Information on Free Society is readily available in many anarchist works covering the turn-of-the twentieth century, but an extensive treatment is offered in Kathy E. Ferguson’s Letterpress Revolution: The Politics of Anarchist Print Culture.
The Firebrand
Volume 1 – Portland – January 1895-February 1896
40 of approx. 52 issues (77% complete) – Nos. 2-7, 9, 11, 16, 23, 48 missing
1-1_27-January-1895 – 1-8_17-March-1895 – 1-10_31-March-1895 – 1-12_14-April-1895 – 1-13_21-April-1895 – 1-14_28-April-1895 – 1-15_5-May-1895 – 1-17_25-May-1895 – 1-18_2-June-1895 – 1-19_9-June-1895 – 1-20_23-June-1895 – 1-21_30-June-1895 – 1-22_7-July-1895 – 1-24_21-July-1895 – 1-25_28-July-1895 – 1-27_11-August-1895 – 1-28_18-August-1895 – 1-29_25-August-1895 – 1-30_1-September-1895 – 1-31_8-September-1895 – 1-32_15-September-1895 – 1-33_22-September-1895 – 1-34_29-September-1895 – 1-35_6-October-1895 – 1-36_13-October-1895 – 1-37_20-October-1895 – 1-38_27-October-1895 – 1-39_3-November1895 – 1-40_10-November-1895 – 1-41_17-November-1895 – 1-42_24-November-1895 – 1-43_1-Decemberr-1895 – 1-44_8-December-1895 – 1-45_15-December-1895 – 1-46_22-December-1895 – 1-47_29-December-1895 – 1-49_12-January-1896 – 1-50_19-January-1896 – 1-51_26-January-1896 – 1-52_2-February-1896
Volume 2 – Portland – February 1896-January 1897
43 of approx. 52 issues. (83% complete) – Nos. 1, 9, 17, 20, 25-26, 28-29, 33 missing
2-2_17-February-1896 – 2-3_23-February-1896 – 2-4_1-March-1896 – 2-5_8-March-1896 – 2-6_15-March-1896 – 2-7_22-March-1896 – 2-8_29-March-1896 – 2-10_12-April-1896 – 2-11_19-April-1896 – 2-12_26-April-1896 – 2-13_3-May-1896 – 2-14_10-May-1896 – 2-15_17-May-1896 – 2-16_24-May-1896 – 2-18_7-June-1896 – 2-19_14-June-1896 – 2-21_28-June-1896 – 2-22_5-July-1896 – 2-23_12-July-1896 – 2-24_19-July-1896 – 2-27_9-August-1896 – 2-30_30-August-1896 – 2-31_6-September-1896 – 2-32_13-September-1896 – 2-34_27-September-1896 – 2-35_4-October-1896 – 2-36_11-October-1896 – 2-37_18-October-1896 – 2-38_25-October-1896 – 2-39_1-November-1896 – 2-40_8-November-1896 – 2-41_15-November-1896 – 2-42_22-November-1896 – 2-43_29-November-1896 – 2-44_6-December-1896 – 2-45_13-December-1896 – 2-46_20-December-1896 – 2-47_27-December-1896 – 2-48_3-January-1897 – 2-49_10-January-1897 – 2-50_17-January-1897 – 2-51_24-January-1897 – 2-52_31-January-1897
Volume 3 – Portland – January 1897-September 1897
31 of approx. 34 issues. (91% complete) – Nos. 1-3, 26 missing
3-4_28-February-1897 – 3-5_7-March-1897 – 3-6_15-March-1897 – 3-7_21-March-1897 – 3-8_28-March-1897 – 3-9_4-April-1897 – 3-10_11-April-1897 – 3-11_18-April-1897 – 3-12_25-April-1897 – 3-13_2-May-1897 – 3-14_9-May-1897 – 3-15_16-May-1897 – 3-16_23-May-1897 – 3-17_30-May-1897 – 3-18_6-June-1897 – 3-19_13-June-1897 – 3-20_20-June-1897 – 3-21_27-June-1897 – 3-22_4-July-1897 – 3-23_11-July-1897 – 3-24_18-July-1897 – 3-25-26_25-July-1897 – 3-27_1-August-1897 – 3-28_15-August-1897 – 3-29_22-August-1897 – 3-30_29-August-1897 – 3-31_5-September-1897 – 3-32_12-September-1897 – 3-33_19-September-1897 – 3-34_26-September-1897
Free Society
Volume 4 – San Francisco – December 1897-November 1898?
1 of approx. 52 issues. (2% complete) – Nos. 2-52 missing
Volume 5 – San Francisco – November 1898?-November 1899?
8 of approx. 52 issues. (15% complete) – Nos. 1-30, 32-33, 36-38, 42-47, 49-52? missing
5-31_11-June-1899 – 5-34_2-July-1899 – 5-35_9-July-1899 – 5-39_6-August-1899 – 5-40_13-August-1899 – 5-41_20-August-1899 – 5-48_15-October-1899
Volume 6 – San Francisco – November 1899?-December 1900
47 of approx. 58 issues. (81% complete) – Nos. 1-6, 22-23, 27, 34, 41 missing
6-7_31-December-1899 – 6-8_7-January-1900 – 6-9_14-January-1900 – 6-10_21-January-1900 – 6-11_28-January-1900 – 6-12_4-February-1900 – 6-13_11-February-1900 – 6-14_18-February-1900 – 6-15_25-February-1900 – 6-16_4-March-1900 – 6-17_11-March-1900 – 6-18_18-March-1900 – 6-19_25-March-1900 – 6-20_1-April-1900 – 6-21_8-April-1900 – 6-24_29-April-1900 – 6-25_6-May-1900 – 6-26_13-May-1900 – 6-28_27-May-1900 – 6-29_3-June-1900 – 6-30_10-June-1900 – 6-31_17-June-1900 – 6-32_24-June-1900 – 6-33_1-July-1900 – 6-35_15-July-1900 – 6-36_22-July-1900 – 6-37_29-July-1900 – 6-38_5-August-1900 – 6-39_12-August-1900 – 6-40_19-August-1900 – 6-42_2-September-1900 – 6-43_9-September-1900 – 6-44_16-September-1900 – 6-45_23-September-1900 – 6-46_30-September-1900 – 6-47_7-October-1900 – 6-48_14-October-1900 – 6-49_21-October-1900 – 6-50_29-October-1900 – 6-51_4-November-1900 – 6-52_11-November-1900 – 6-53_18-November-1900 – 6-54_25-November-1900 – 6-55_2-December-1900 – 6-56_9-December-1900 – 6-57_16-December-1900 – 6-58_23-December-1900
Volume 7 – Chicago – February 1901-?
9 of approx. 52 issues. (81% complete) – Nos. 1-6, 22-23, 27, 34, 41 missing
7-1_3-February-1901 – 7-2_10-February-1901 – 7-3_17-February-1901 – 7-5_3-March-1901 – 7-8_24-March-1901 – 7-14_5-May-1901 – 7-15_12-May-1901 – 7-31_1-September-1901 – 7-36_10-October-1901
Volume 8?
Volume 9 – Chicago – January 1902-December 1902
52 of approx. 52 issues. (100% complete) – no known issues missing
9-1_5-January-1902 – 9-2_12-January-1902 – 9-3_19-January-1902 – 9-4_26-January-1902 – 9-5_2-February-1902 – 9-6_9-February-1902 – 9-7_16-February-1902 – 9-8_23-February-1902 – 9-9_2-March-1902 – 9-10_9-March-1902 – 9-11_16-March-1902 – 9-12_23-March-1902 – 9-13_30-March-1902 – 9-14_6-April-1902 – 9-15_13-April-1902 – 9-16_20-April-1902 – 9-17_27-April-1902 – 9-18_5-May-1902 – 9-19_11-May-1902 – 9-20_18-May-1902 – 9-21_25-May-1902 – 9-22_1-June-1902 – 9-23_8-June-1902 – 9-24_15-June-1902 – 9-25_22-June-1902 – 9-26_29-June-1902 – 9-27_6-July-1902 – 9-28_13-July-1902 – 9-29_20-July-1902 – 9-30_27-July-1902 – 9-31_3-August-1902 – 9-32_10-August-1902 – 9-33_17-August-1902 – 9-34_24-August-1902 – 9-35_31-August-1902 – 9-36_7-September-1902 – 9-37_14-September-1902 – 9-38_21-September-1902 – 9-39_28-September-1902 – 9-40_5-October-1902 – 9-41_12-October-1902 – 9-42_19-October-1902 – 9-43_26-October-1902 – 9-44_2-November-1902 – 9-45_9-November-1902 – 9-46_16-November-1902 – 9-47_23-November-1902 – 9-48_30-November-1902 – 9-49_7-December-1902 – 9-50_14-December-1902 – 9-51_21-December-1902 – 9-52_28-December-1902
Volume 10 – Chicago – January 1903-December 1903
8 of approx. 52 issues. (15% complete) – 1-19, 21-23, 25-26, 28,32, 34-37, 39-41, 43-51 missing
10-19_10-May-1903 – 10-20_17-May-1903 – 10-24_14-June1903 – 10-27_5-July-1903 – 10-33_16-August-1903 – 10-38_20-September-1903 – 10-42_18-October-1903 – 10-52_27-December-1903
Volume 10b – Chicago – January 1904-February 1904
5 of approx. 8 issues. (63% complete) – nos. 4-6 missing
10b-1_3-January-1904 – 10b-2_10-January-1904 – 10b-3_17-January-1904 – 10b-7_14-February-1904 – 10b-8_21-February-1904