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What I want, is for every greasy, grimy tramp in the country, to arm himself with a knife or a gun, and stationing himself at the doorways of the rich, shoot or stab them as they come out.

Lucy Parsons, Late 1930s May Day Rally.

#ancom #lucy parson #may day #amman hennacy #quote #anarchy #gun #knife #haymarket #praxis

I guess the most outspoken person I ever met, did a lot of time for it too, 37 times in jail. ' Guy that took me off the freight trains when I got back from Korea, and many of you have heard me speak about him before, and are tired of it. Yeah I was just cruising the country drunk most of the time, angry at what I'd seen and done, and didn't know if I could live in the country any more. There was a house down in Salt Lake, I was on the Western Pacific freight trains coming south out of Ogden, Utah. I heard there was a house outside the Roper Yards in Salt Lake, with a lantern on it, and inside it was warm, 'cause it was real cold out, it was early spring, and there was food, and a clothing barrel, so you could change your duds. And I found it, it was called the Joe Hill House of Hospitality, one of the Catholic Worker houses. Dorothy Day's people, you know and Peter Maurin. But mainly I found old Ammon Hennacy, in his late sixties, Ammon Hennacy had come out there to start the Joe Hill House. Ammon Hennacy was a Catholic, Anarchist, Pacifist, draft dodger in two World Wars, tax refuser, vegetarian, wise guy, one man revolution in America, he called himself. I think that about covers it. Ammon was tough, but not hard. He was tough without that brittle hardness a lot of tough men have that would shatter if you struck it too hard. "Love in Action" Dorothy Day called him, using Dostoyevsky's words “Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.”. ' He had that harsh, dreadful love, and little chisel shaped fingernail that he'd jab at you. I've got scars from that damn thing. He would back you into a rhetorical corner from which there was no philosophical escape hatch, he had you dead to rights, you'd say "Ammon I'll change, I promise, I'll change, just please don't talk to me anymore!". Oh god, the man could talk, oh boy he could talk. He just didn't do free speech he flogged it to death. He never went to the ballot box, Ammon didn't, you know. Ammon Hennacy's body was his ballot. ' He cast it on behalf of the people around him every day of his life, and he never had anything, he just got the satisfaction of knowing he was doing the right thing. You could never tell him he hadn't voted. Like I said, that body ballot. He'd say, "Yeah I did, I did vote, I just didn't assign responsibility to other people to do things, I accepted responsibility and made sure things got done." Little bit of a different way of looking at voting isn't it? Think about it. Many times we stood up in front of Federal District Judge Rader(?), that old fart, and Ammon would have been picketing against war taxes illegally, it didn't matter, he'd still hold his sign up there and pass out leaflets and talk, fasting every day for the years since Hiroshima, long fasts. He'd get busted for picketing illegally, and he'd stand up but he'd never plead innocent or guilty, he plead anarchy. And Judge Rader(?) would say "Anarchist?! What is an Anarchist Hennacy?" And Hennacy would say, "Well an Anarchist is anybody who don't need a cop to tell him what to do." ' Fundamentalist Anarchist. I like that. And Rader would say, "But Ammon you broke the law, what about that?" And Ammon would say, "Aw Judge, your damn laws, the good people don't need them and the bad people don't obey them so what use are they anyway?". He had that kind of short-hand that pares the fat off all the arguments. “Anybody who doesn’t need a cop to tell him what to do” on Ammon Hennacy - Utah Phillips (1999)

Let's see, let's try one of Woody Guthrie's old Robin Hood bandit songs. Let's see if it's still in my head:

If you'll gather 'round me, children A story I will tell 'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, an outlaw Oklahoma knew him well

It was in Oklahoma City.. nope

It was in the town of Shawnee On a Saturday afternoon His wife beside him in his wagon And into town they rode

A deputy sheriff approached him In a manner rather rude Vulgar words of language That Mrs Floyd overheard

Pretty Boy grabbed a log chain And the deputy grabbed his gun In the fight that followed He laid that deputy down

Yes, he took to the trees and timber To lead a life of shame Every crime in Oklahoma Was added to his name

Yeah he took to the trees and timber Down by the river shore But Pretty Boy found a welcome At every farmers door

There's many a starving family The same old story told How the outlaw paid their mortgage And saved their little home

Others tell of a stranger Who stopped to beg a meal Underneath the napkin Slipped a thousand-dollar bill

It was in Oklahoma City Upon one Christmas Day Come a whole car load of groceries With a note to say:

"Well, you say that I'm an outlaw You say that I'm a thief Here's a Christmas dinner For the families on relief"

Now, as through this world you'll ramble There's lots of funny men Some will rob you with a six-gun And some with a fountain pen

And as through this world you ramble And through this world you roam You won't never see an outlaw Drive a family from its home Pretty Boy Floyd - Utah Phillips (Woody Guthrie, 1939?)

#folk #poetry #outlaw #ramble #oklahoma #woody guthrie #utah phillips #pretty boy floyd #making speech free

Would you have freedom from wage slavery Then join in the grand Industrial band Would you from misery and hunger be free Come on, Do your share lend a hand