******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
A search at marxists.org of her name turns up lots of stuff by and about her - including her role in the CP leadership in the early '20's. See btw the letter by James P. Cannon to her arguing against a separate women's group. On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 9:32 AM Louis Proyect via Marxism < marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** > #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. > #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. > ***************************************************************** > > NY Times, March 5, 2020 > The Unlikely Life of a Socialist Activist Resonates a Century Later > By Jennifer Szalai > > Rebel Cinderella > From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes > By Adam Hochschild > Illustrated. 303 pages. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $30. > > She was an impoverished Jewish immigrant from Russia who had started > working in a cigar factory at the age of 11; he was the scion of an > old-money Episcopalian family who enjoyed a mansion on Madison Avenue > and a weekend house with a bowling alley. > > When Rose Pastor married James Graham Phelps Stokes on the shores of > Connecticut in 1905, the couple insisted on omitting the word “obey” > from the ceremony. They became active members in the Socialist Party, > lending their support to a labor movement under siege during a time of > widening inequality. > > Rose’s socialist commitments were seamlessly aligned with her life > experience; Graham’s were more surprising, but he took to them with the > ardor of a convert. Writing to his “darling Mother,” who like many women > of her station put a lot of stock in her own charitable deeds, he asked > whether she “recognized the injustice of the system which provides you > with your great income at the expense of others; and whether you > recognized the relation between this system and the terribly widespread > suffering which you endeavor so earnestly to relieve.” > > In “Rebel Cinderella,” Adam Hochschild writes movingly about an unlikely > pair who also served as a potent symbol. The public was so fascinated by > the couple that some Americans kept scrapbooks documenting Rose’s > fairy-tale ascent. For several years, she was mentioned in the press > more than any other American woman. Hochschild notes that as the Gilded > Age yielded to the Progressive Era, Rose and Graham seemed like the > ideal embodiment of socialist ambitions: “What could better symbolize > the hope of human brotherhood than such a marriage of rich and poor, > native-born and immigrant, Gentile and Jew?” > > Hochschild is a superb writer who makes light work of heavy subjects, > having published books about the conflagration of World War I and the > brutal colonialism of Belgium’s King Leopold II. In “Rebel Cinderella,” > he brings his roving curiosity to bear on a figure whose public life > coincided with the roiling decades of the early 20th century, with its > grotesque economic disparity, vicious anti-Semitism, seething white > nationalism and swelling anti-immigrant fervor. The time of upheaval > that he writes about bears an unnerving resemblance to our own. > > The name Rose Pastor Stokes may no longer be familiar, but Hochschild > found plenty of newspaper clippings in his research, along with > thousands of letters, unpublished memoirs, Rose’s diary and even reports > detailing the surveillance of her by the predecessor of the F.B.I. > Unearthing some mournful poetry Rose wrote about her time in the cigar > factory, Hochschild corroborates her grim portrait with notes made by a > factory inspector. Where information is scant or nonexistent, he deploys > elegant workarounds that evoke a vivid sense of time and place. About > Graham’s bachelor years before meeting Rose, he writes: “For unmarried > men of his class and time, any sexual experience was likely to be > furtive and paid for.” > > When Rose met Graham she was working as a reporter for The Jewish Daily > News (a job she was offered after writing an occasional column about > factory life), living on the Lower East Side as the sole breadwinner in > a household that included four of her younger siblings and their mother. > Graham had a medical degree and was living in settlement housing, where > the wealthy lived alongside the poor, which appealed to his sense of > noblesse oblige. He was charmed by her, recounting in a letter how much > he enjoyed her 25th birthday, when she invited him to her humble > apartment and offered him a glass of milk, bread and butter, an egg and > a banana. She was charmed by him, too, recalling years later that he had > reminded her of “the young Abe Lincoln.” > > They embarked on a partnership that was remarkable — at least at first. > His ample funds afforded a material security that allowed them to devote > all of their time to the socialist cause. Rose proved to be a > charismatic orator, holding forth with the exuberance and volume that > were essential before the advent of loudspeakers and mics. She would > eventually take to writing plays, believing they were a tool for > justice, and she had an instinct for theatrical gestures. During a > restaurant workers’ strike, she suggested putting salt in the sugar > bowls and replacing the drinking water with vinegar. > > As Rose was flourishing, though, Graham seemed to languish, and a little > more than halfway through “Rebel Cinderella,” Hochschild foreshadows a > dark turn. Graham had started a book on the Founding Fathers but never > finished it, and ran for elected office several times without success. > He was never as popular a speaker as his wife, and would get petulant > when she had been away for what he felt was too long. But he could be > petulant when Rose was at home, too, accusing her of “loafing” when she > was convalescing from bronchitis. “The terrible loneliness of one’s soul > in such moments!” she confided in her diary. > > World War I was the external shock that did in their marriage, as Graham > began supporting American involvement in the war and even sent letters > to the State Department to name former comrades he suspected of being > German agents. Rose initially sided with Graham, but she soon recoiled. > She felt like she was betraying her own class and ideals, and was > particularly disturbed by an invitation to visit the White House, or > “the seat of Capitalist power,” as she put it. “What is wrong with me > that I elicit such an invitation?” > > Hochschild suggests that Rose’s story should speak to us because in our > new Gilded Age, “the appeal of making that magical leap from poverty to > great affluence is once again resurgent.” But the parallels, as he > acknowledges, aren’t exact. The Cinderella scenario seems hopelessly > retrograde — not to mention that a social safety net, however fraying, > exists largely because of efforts by agitators like Rose. Hochschild’s > book shows us what a radical movement looked like from the inside, with > all of its high-flown idealism and personal intrigues. Whatever > protections we take for granted once seemed unfathomable before they > became real. > > Follow Jennifer Szalai on Twitter: @jenszalai. > > _________________________________________________________ > Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm > Set your options at: > https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/acpollack2%40gmail.com _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
