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The Art of Book Design: Socialist Readings for Children


John Spargo. Socialist Readings for Children. New York, The Woman’s National Progressive League, 1909.

Look at how happy those children are. They have health care and will get a good education.

 

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The book is available to read at The Internet Archive

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Comments

  1. says

    I know someone who absolutely would go mad with joy if they had a copy.

    Ok…. some searching indicates that Spargo is a really interesting character. Also, he did another book The Bitter Cry of The Children… It was on amazon.com for $5 until someone bought it just now.

    And oops, Spargo appears to have been an anti-semite: abe. So much for the idea that socialism is a jewish enterprise, huh?

    So, I guess that Spargo’s intellectual rigor was only skin-deep.

  2. voyager says

    Marcus,
    I’m not so sure about the anti-semitism charge. The reviews on Amazon of his book The Jew and American Ideals call him a defender of the Jews:

    The author explains in the foreword that he is writing ‘without the knowledge of any Jew.’ He says: ‘It is not a defense of the Jew. It is not a pro-Jewish argument. It is a defense of American ideals and institutions against anti-Semitism; a plea for Christian civilization.’ As a matter of fact, the Jews, in the long, painful story of their persecutions, have not had a more valiant, convincing defender than John Spargo…. -- Christian Register

    and

    “Mr. Spargo renders another real service in this reasonable protest against anti-Semitism.” -The Churchman

    Both reviews are by Christian sources so they could be suspect, but it appears that Spargo thought that anti-semitism was an un-Christian way to behave and thus obliquely supported the Jews

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