Engines for Progressive Thought

The articles by Maureen Flanagan and Shelton Stromquist argue for two different groups of people as the main shapers of the Progressive movement at the turn of the twentieth century.  Flanagan emphasises the role of women over that of men in Chicago in the growth of progressive thought while Stromquist describes the role of labor over that of the middle class.  Clearly, there were many contributors to the Progressive movement including both women and labor.

Flanagan argues that politically and socially active women focused their efforts on making the city "a place where the health and welfare of all members should be sought"1.  She supports this claim by describing the ideological differences between Chicago's City Club, a men's club, and the Women's City Club, which had as members many of the wives and daughters of the City Club.  On the various issues discussed in the article, namely garbage collection, public education, and the limits of police power during labor unrest, the City Club first researched the problem and then found the most fiscally sound and generally conservative path.  The City Club opposed municipal control of utilities, and supported the opinions of the courts as related to strikes.  The Women's City Club, on the other hand, did not rely on fiscal evidence to choose a position, rather, they supported the side which they felt would contribute most to the general well being of the populace.  In doing so, they supported greater municipal regulation, and even ownership, of utilities in order to ensure public health, and sided with labor even to the point of joining the picket lines.  Of these two clubs, one made up of professional men, the other of women from the same level of society, the women tended to favour the move toward progressivism, while the men took a conservative and risk averse position.

Stromquist claims that the progressive movement was "congealed in a crucible of class polarisation and conflict"2, noting that, "Class conflict and mass protest created conditions that invited reform but did not wholly dictate the outcomes"3.  Organized labor and the working class, argues Stromquist, created enough unrest to unsettle establishment politics in Cleveland to force the Republican and especially the Democratic parties to reevaluate their platforms and to add some reformist planks.  Because of Cleveland's labor unrest, especially the 1899 Streetcar Strike, an independent candidate for Governor, Samuel P. Jones, running as a pro-labor reform candidate, carried Cleveland, especially working class neighborhoods.  Jones' success frightened the established parties and brought progressive ideas into their platforms.  

Each paper illustrates the power of groups of focused activists.  The women of the Women's City Club believed that they needed to make their cities safer and that the way to do so was to support progressive ideals.  Cleveland's workers wanted fair wages and fair treatment, to accomplish this they took direct action which polarised the city and propelled a progressive independent candidate to a position which threatened the established political machine.  Both of these groups, and many others, contributed to the coalition calling for progressive change in the 1912 presidential election.

1.  Maureen A. Flanagan, "Gender and Urban Political Reform: The City Club and the Woman's City Club of Chicago in the Progressive Era," The American Historical Review 95, no. 4 (October 1990): pg. #1050, doi:10.2307/2163477.

2.  Shelton Stromquist, "The Crucible of Class: Cleveland Politics and the Origins of Municipal Reform in the Progressive Era," Journal of Urban History 23, no. 2 (1997): pg #194, doi:10.1177/009614429702300203.

3.  Ibid.

"Every Dog" (No Distinction of Color) "Has His Day."

Cartoon B is an opinion from Thomas Nast about anti-Chinese sentiment that led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  This cartoon was published in 1879 and references the rising force in California, and national politics  Denis Kearney, "a real American."  


Kearney worked to organise unions and fought for workers rights and for the removal of Chinese labor from the US.  Much of what Kearney fought for helped the average working man eventually, for example the eight hour work day and the right to organise.  Kearney felt that immigrant, especially Chinese immigrant, labor was detrimental to the American worker as they were willing to work for less and do jobs others did not want, Kearney's work helped eventually to pass SB 1070.  Oops, check that, The Chinese Exclusion Act.  


The signs on the wall that the Chinese man and the Indian are reading indicate that "foreigners are not wanted," a problem when looking too closely at Kearney who was born in Ireland and did not arrive in America until he was in his twenties.  Pat Irish, esquire indeed.  The wall mentions other immigrant groups who were persecuted before prospering, the Irish, the Dutch, the Germans.


The Indian who is reading the wall tells the Chinese man, "Pale face 'fraid you crowd him out, as he did me."  This is a reference to the westward expansion of the United States that led to the defeat of the Native Americans and the establishment of the reservation system.  Ironically, a key tool for the expansion of the United States were the railroads, built largely with Chinese labor.


The final comment in the cartoon is the African American sitting in the background with the legend "My Day is Coming" printed on the wall above him.  This emphasises the racism that is endemic in the nation, anyone who is not white will have a turn on the exclusion and deportation ride.

"The Chinese Exclusion Act." Teaching American History in Maryland - Documents for the Classroom - Maryland State Archives. Accessed February 13, 2012. http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000136/html/t136.html.

"The Heathen Chinee : Words by Bret Harte ; Music by F.B." Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE. Accessed February 13, 2012. http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/flipomatic/cic/brk5426.

"Item 003." Immigrant and Ethnic America at HarpWeek.com. Accessed February 13, 2012. http://immigrants.harpweek.com/ChineseAmericans/2KeyIssues/DenisKearneyCalifAnti.htm.

Universal rights, myth or reality?

For my blog post on the French Revolution, I am going to propose a theory on the proper foundations for “universal human rights.” I will try to articulate my thoughts clearly, but it is a thoroughly soggy topic for a necessarily short post.

     
The prompt for this post states that there are “really just two contenders for foundations -- either “nature” or “nature’s God.” I think that both of these conditions fit into Bentham’s

“nonsense on stilts” category, to me the idea of “nature” and “nature’s God” are interchangeable, both implying some omnipotent force which has, among other things, the ability to invest the collection of conveniently formed atoms that is mankind with an undefined set of inalienable rights. I suggest therefore, that there are no inalienable rights.

     
The idea of “inalienable” rights that cannot be taken away from a human is preposterous, there are things that ought not be taken away, but rights are taken away from humans at every turn. Ask Olaudah Equiano who’s right to freedom was alienated. Ask Ai Weiwei who’s right to free expression has been alienated. Ask the families of the fifty-thousand people who have died during the current civil war in Mexico who’s right to not be killed in the street has been alienated. Sometimes this goes even goes to conflicts between my rights and your rights, if I interfere with your rights, the state can interfere with mine. 

     
What if, when the French declaration says, “The law is the expression of the general will,”1 we substitute “rights are” for “the law is?”  Rights are not determined by any mysterious force of nature or by someone’s invisible friend or deity, rather they are agreed upon by society, by the general will.  

     
For an example of the general will evolving and searching for what rights humans are  entitled, we can look at this week in the news of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Are the rights awarded to humans in California that are in a long term, committed relationships with other humans dependent on their sexual orientation? Unless there is empirical evidence that granting these rights will harm society or other humans, I see no reason to draw a line. And no, apocryphal tales of ancient lands attributed to someone’s invisible friend are not empirical evidence.

     
Since there are no natural inalienable rights, are there things that are absolute rights that

every human has? I say yes, things like freedom of expression, the right to resist tyranny and oppression, and so on, this is not the space for an exhaustive list and weighing of every possible right.  From where then do these absolute rights arise? A trickier question. As humans, we are conscious of ourselves and our behaviors, since we know what we are doing, we ought to strive to do right. We ought to strive for universally humane behavior, others deserve the same treatment we feel we deserve. The simple chore of looking at oneself in the mirror every day and coming to terms with our actions and facing our conscience is the foundation of absolute rights.

1 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, in Lynn Hunt, ed., The French Revolution and Human

Rights: A Brief Documentary History, trans. Lynn Hunt (Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press,

1996), pg. #78.