[p2p-research] more on Josiah Warren; quite fascinating (I hope the hyperlinks transfer because there is a lot of data here)

[Matt Boggs]

Josiah Warren

1874 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1874>  Death of Josiah Warren
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_Warren>  (b. date unknown, 1798
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1798> ), American reformer, inventor,
musician, printer, typographer, author (
<http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/warren/truecivtoc.html
> True Civilization; Equitable Commerce; Manifesto
<http://tmh.floonet.net/articles/manifesto.html> , written at Robert Owen
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/may14.html> 's community, New Harmony
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/feb25.html> ).

He was a co-founder, with Stephen Pearl Andrews
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/mar22.html>  (1812
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812>  - '86
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1886> ), of  Modern Times
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Past_and_present_anarchist_communities#Modern_
Times_.281851_to_late_1860s.29>  community. Warren is sometimes called "the
first individualist anarchist
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individualist_anarchism>  in America".

>From January <http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/jan1.html>  1833
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1833> , Warren published The Peaceful
Revolutionist <http://www.crispinsartwell.com/warrenpeaceful.htm> , arguably
the first anarchist paper in the world. Philosopher John Stuart Mill
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/may20.html> , an admirer of Warren, in
his Autobiography adopted Warren's phrase, 'sovereignty of the individual
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereignty_of_the_individual> '.

"He took an active part in Robert Owen's communistic experiment at New
Harmony, Indiana, in 1825-'6, and was so discouraged by its failure that he
was on the point of abandoning any further attempt in that direction when,
as he said, 'a new train of thought seemed to throw a sudden flash of light
upon our past errors, and to show plainly the path to be pursued.' He
forthwith gave up the idea of maintaining a communal system of society, and
sought to attain the same ends through individual sovereignty. He held that
the proper reward of labor was a like amount of labor, and elucidated his
theory by a supposition. 'If I am a bricklayer, and need the services of a
physician, an hour of my work in bricklaying is the proper recompense to be
given the physician for an hour of his services.' He proved the sincerity of
his belief in this idea by establishing what was known as the 'time store'
in Cincinnati, Ohio, which he conducted with fair success for two years,
giving and receiving labor-notes in transactions with his customers. He
propounded his theories in a work entitled the 'True Civilization,' and some
of his views elicited the commendation of John Stuart Mill."   Source
<http://www.famousamericans.net/josiahwarren/> 

"Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews were brilliant and idealistic men,
social reformers whose dream was to create a utopia where everyone would
live in harmony, where profit would be a dirty word and absolute personal
freedom – including ``free love' – would be the ultimate goal.

"So it was almost 150 years ago that Warren and Andrews founded Modern
Times, a social experiment that occupied, for a volatile 13 years, the land
that now is part of Brentwood. Short-lived though it was, Modern Times left
its mark as a place whose time had not yet come: Its maverick residents, who
never numbered more than 150, were free to cohabit with or without marriage.
To be sure, this was what gave the place its reputation as a 'Sodom of the
pine barrens,' but it was only part of what Modern Times was about. The
village operated harmoniously for several years without police, courts or
crime. All residents were allowed total personal freedom as long as their
actions hurt no one else. Food, clothing, land and housing – all the
necessities – were sold at cost."   Source
<http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-historytown-hist005i,0,
6851909.story> 

Warren was cited in the article on Anarchism
<http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/britanniaanarchy.ht
ml>  by none other than Prince Peter Kropotkin
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/dec9.html>  in the famed 1910 edition of
The Encyclopaedia Britannica. Others Kropotkin cites include Stephen Pearl
Andrews <http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/mar22.html> , Lysander Spooner
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/jan19.html> , Benjamin Tucker
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/apr17.html> , Herbert Spencer
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/apr27.html> , Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/jan15.html> , August Spies
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/dec10.html> , Albert Parsons
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/jun24.html> . Kropotkin adds: "anarchism
is connected with all the intellectual movement of our own times. J. S. Mill
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/may20.html> 's Liberty, [Herbert]
Spencer <http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/apr27.html> 's Individual versus
the State, Marc Guyau's Morality without Obligation or Sanction, and
Fouillée's La Morale, I'art et la religion, the works of Multatuli (E.
Douwes Dekker) <http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/feb19.html> , Richard
Wagner <http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/may22.html> 's Art and
Revolution, the works of Nietzsche
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/oct15.html> , Emerson
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/may25.html> , W. Lloyd Garrison
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/dec12.html> , Thoreau
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/jul12.html> , Alexander Herzen
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/apr6.html> , Edward Carpenter
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/aug29.html>  and so on; and in the
domain of fiction, the dramas of Ibsen
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/mar20.html> , the poetry of Walt Whitman
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/may31.html> , Tolstoy
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/aug28.html> 's War and Peace, Zola
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/apr2.html> 's Paris and Le Travail".

"On May 18, 1827, an historic date, he opened a little general store at the
corner of Fifth and Elm Streets in Cincinnati. He called it the Equity
Store, but as soon as people found out about it, this became the most
popular retail business in the city, and was known because of its method of
computing price as the 'time store.' Price was based on the principle of
equal exchange of labor, measured by time occupied and exchange with other
kinds of labor. All goods were marked with their cost plus overhead, usually
about four percent. It was, incidentally, the first self-service business.
The customer selected what he wished, brought it to the counter, the clerk
computed the time spent in service, and the customer gave a labor note, 'Due
to Josiah Warren on demand, thirty minutes in carpenter work, John Smith'
or, 'Due to Josiah Warren on demand, ten minutes in needlework, Mary
Brown.'"   Source:
<http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/communalism6.htm#16.%20Josiah%20Warren>
Communalism, by Kenneth Rexroth

World's First Continuous Sheet Press 
"About this time he found that in order to build such a press as he
contemplated and his ambition dictated, it was necessary for him to go to
Cincinnati so that he could have his work done, and sometime in March he
went to Cincinnati, taking me with him. He soon had his work room for the
iron work and machinery, also cabinet shops, office and printing office for
job work such as business cards, advertisements, etc. The writer, then only
13 years of age, did the typesetting and card-printing; this work was done
on one of my father's job presses. The building where this work was done,
and where the first continuous sheet press was ever built and worked, was in
the middle of the magnificent block facing the splendid fountain on Fifth
Street. The block at that time was considered a splendid structure, being
two stories high. 

"The work of building the press progressed rapidly for those times, and job
printing was carried on by the writer. Finally the great and beautiful press
was finished, and fully tested. It proved capable of striking off from forty
to sixty copies per minute—an achievement in printing never before heard of
or imagined. As it was the intention to use this mammoth press for the
presidential campaign of 1840 as soon as it had been thoroughly tested, this
magnificent printing press was placed on board the steamboat Rover on New
Year's Eve, 1840 – I shall never forget that night.

Moving the Press to Evansville 
"It was cold, and a terrible wind, snow and a hail storm [were] in full
blast as we pulled out from the wharf. As the Rover was the last boat which
was expected to leave for some time, she was well crowded with passengers.
It got colder and colder, and the ice was forming rapidly. Finally we cut
our way to shore several miles from Madison, Indiana, or 57 [miles] above
Louisville. 

"In the morning we were informed by the Captain that the prospects were very
flattering for a starve-out or a walkout of seven miles to Madison, and all
hands started on a dismal walk through the snow, the beautiful snow. We made
the trip, got to Louisville, stayed three days, and it kept freezing harder.
As no stages were running, my father made arrangements to go in a sleigh,
got up at 4 A.M., took the sleigh, rode three hours, stopped for breakfast,
and finding we were nearly frozen, we concluded to walk the balance of the
way home—one hundred and seventy five miles. This distance we made on foot
in six and a half days to New Harmony. It took the Rover over two months to
do it [to Evansville], as she was icebound all that time."
Josiah Warren <http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/warren.html> , by his
son George W Warren <http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/warren.html>
(the enterprise was a $6,000 investment by the sons of New Harmony
<http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/kade/newharmony/home.html>  founder, Robert Owen
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/may14.html> )

Josiah Warren: A Bibliography
<http://www.crispinsartwell.com/warrenbibliography.htm>
<http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/warren/warren.html>
Josiah Warren Archive    Early progressives in the Book of Days
<http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/articles.html#radicals>  

Example of Warren's Universal Typography
<http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/warren1.html>     New Harmony
Scientists, Educators, Writers
<http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/nh.html> & Artists

'The Free Love Movement and Radical Individualism', by Wendy McElroy
<http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle1996/le961210.html>     Josiah Warren Project
<http://www.crispinsartwell.com/josiahwarren.htm>     More
<http://www.famousamericans.net/josiahwarren/> 

 

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