Background
John was born on January 31, 1876 in Stithians, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, the son of Thomas Spargo, a stonemason, and Jane Hocking.
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(Quite incidentally in my book Poverty I made an estimate ...)
Quite incidentally in my book Poverty I made an estimate of the number of underfed children in New York City. If our experts or our general reading public had been at all famihar with the subject, my estimate would probably have passed without comment, and, in any case, it would not have been considered unreasonable. But the public did not seem to realize that this was merely another way of stating the volume of distress, and, consequently, for several days the newspapers throughout the country discussed the statement and in some instances severely criticised it. One prominent charitable organization, thinking that my estimate referred to starving children, undertook, without delay, to provide meals for the children. In the midst of the excitement Mr. Spargo kindly volunteered to investigate the facts at first hand. His inquiry was so searching and impartial and the data he gathered so interesting and valuable that I urged him to put his material in some permanent form. The following admirable study of this problem is the result of that suggestion. (Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.) About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology. Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org
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(Excerpt from Americanism and Social Democracy At the sug...)
Excerpt from Americanism and Social Democracy At the suggestion Of many friends I have included in the volume a documentary sur vey of the controversy upon the question 'of war policy which created such a sorry division in the ranks Of American Socialists. It seems to me well that such a summary Of the con troversy, with the full text of the most im portant documents, should be available to the student and to the general reader. For my own share in that controversy I have no apologies to Ofier and the several documents must speak for themselves. I am quite con tent to abide by the judgment of the Ameri can public and by the judgment Of my Socialist friends when the passions Of the times have subsided. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(Excerpt from Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism and Sociali...)
Excerpt from Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism and Socialism I trust that the statement of the Syndicalist position which I shall make will satisfy most thoroughly Of all the thoughtful Syndicalist, who knows just why he is a Syndicalist, and is not merely a victim of the glitter Of new phrases. I shall impute nothing to my Syndicalist friends which is not frankly set forth in their own literature. My own interest, not less than theirs, requires a perfectly true and balanced account of the essentials of Syndicalism and a disregard for non-essentials im posed upon it by individual idiosyncrasies. This is not easy of attainment, for Syndicalism is in the formative stage. Its doctrines are not fully developed, its philosophy is rather chaotic. But I shall try to state the case for Syndicalism more clearly and consecutively than has yet been done in English, with a determination to be scrupulously fair. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(The Common Sense of Socialism is a political science clas...)
The Common Sense of Socialism is a political science classic text by John Spargo. I presume, Mr. Edwards, that you are not one of those persons who believe that there is nothing the matter with America; that you are not wholly content with existing conditions. You would scarcely be interested in Socialism unless you were convinced that in our existing social system there are many evils for which some remedy ought to be found if possible. Your interest in Socialism arises from the fact that its advocates claim that it is a remedy for the social evils which distress you—is it not so?
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John was born on January 31, 1876 in Stithians, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, the son of Thomas Spargo, a stonemason, and Jane Hocking.
At the age of ten Spargo entered the tin mines as a "half-timer, " dividing his day between the workplace and the elementary schools. At fourteen he left school and worked full-time in a foundry.
In the 1890's Spargo worked as a stonecutter and Methodist lay preacher, and continued his studies through extension courses at Cambridge and at Oxford. He left the ministry for the labor movement and served on the executive council of the Social Democratic Federation from 1896 to 1901.
By 1899, when he publicly opposed the Boer War, Spargo was a well-regarded socialist intellectual, known especially for his prodigious memory and oratorical prowess.
Spargo immigrated to the United States in February 1901 and settled in the New York City area. He worked on a Jewish encyclopedia, edited an artistic socialist monthly, The Comrade (1901 - 1904), lectured and published widely on socialism, and helped found the Socialist party and the Prospect House Social Settlement in Yonkers. Spargo became a United States citizen in 1907. Robert Hunter's controversial Poverty (1904) prompted Spargo to subject the evidence to "strict scientific scrutiny. "
In 1909, Spargo took up residence in Bennington Center (later Old Bennington), Vermont. There he wrote seven more books on socialism, most notably Karl Marx: His Life and Work (1909). He also served on the Executive Committee of the Socialist party. The Socialism he espoused during these years was that of the party's center and right wing: it was evolutionary, grounded in a faith in universal suffrage and democratic politics, and remarkably tolerant of capitalist reforms. Spargo's Socialism, weakened by Wilsonian liberalism and child-labor reforms, was further undermined by World War I and the Russian Revolution.
In 1916, convinced that Socialist opposition to the war confounded an opportunity to extend collectivism, Spargo joined a select group of party intellectuals, including Algie Simons and Upton Sinclair, in resigning from the Socialist party. The next year, with Samuel Gompers and George Creel, he helped organize the American Alliance for Labor and Democracy to counter antiwar propaganda. He traveled to England, France, and Italy to persuade socialist movements there to support the conflict, and he served in Rome as a member of the United States Committee on Public Information.
The ascendancy of the Bolsheviks, moreover, confirmed Spargo's deep-seated anxiety that a Socialist state and individual liberty would be incompatible. Pressing his views through the State Department, Spargo became a major architect of the Wilson administration's anti-Bolshevik policy. But Spargo's conversion was neither just a reaction to Bolshevism nor the outgrowth of a pragmatic effort to build Socialism on a foundation of wartime collectivism. The wartime performance of the American economy and the boom of the 1920's convinced Spargo that a just and unified society could best be achieved through a largely unfettered, highly productive industrialism--not, he insisted, capitalism. This perspective was apparent in 1919, when Spargo served as a delegate to the First Industrial Conference, called to revive wartime labor-management cooperation.
In 1954, Spargo retired as director and curator of the Bennington Historical Museum and from all other diocesan and civic offices, though he continued to write and to tend an elaborate garden. He died in Old Bennington.
(Excerpt from Syndicalism, Industrial Unionism and Sociali...)
(Excerpt from Americanism and Social Democracy At the sug...)
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
(Quite incidentally in my book Poverty I made an estimate ...)
(The Common Sense of Socialism is a political science clas...)
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
He was active in the Episcopal diocese of Vermont.
By the mid-1920's, Spargo had repudiated socialism and become a Republican, and a decade later he was speaking out against the New Deal.
Quotations:
"I am opposed to a national party-owned organ because I am opposed to the heresy hunter all the time. (Applause. ) I am opposed to a national party-owned organ because I will not trust the party integrity, I will not trust the party interests, I will not trust the party faith to the judgment of any one man, no matter how great he may be. (Applause. ) If Editor Wayland, of the Appeal to Reason, makes a mistake, the Socialist Party stands firm, but if somebody who is declared to be for the time being the infallible literary pope of the movement makes a mistake, that mistake carries with it the Socialist Party. "
"The claim for an equal chance for every child born into the world carries with it that most fundamental of claims, that every child has a right to be well-born into the world. And that ideal can never be realized until every mother-to-be is safeguarded by all the arts and resources of our civilization to the end that she may bring her baby into the world with joy–healthy of body, glad of heart, serene of soul, unafraid of the future, unterrified by want or the fear of it, secure in the consciousness that the child she bears is heir to all the riches and advantages of earth. "
On January 24, 1901, he married Prudence Edwards; they had one child. His wife having died in 1904, he married Mary Amelia Rose Bennetts on March 30, 1905; they had three children.