William Charles Owen (1854–1929) was a British–American anarchist best known for his activism during the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

and English-language translations of Mexican anarchist

Ricardo Flores Magón Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón (, known as Ricardo Flores Magón; September 16, 1874 – November 21, 1922) was a noted Mexican anarchist and social reform activist. His brothers Enrique and Jesús were also active in politics. Followers of ...

Early life and career

William C. Owen was born in

Danapur Danapur is a Indian satellite town and one of the 6 sub-divisions (Tehsil) in Patna district of Bihar state.Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

, India to an aristocratic family in 1854 while his family was stationed in India with the British army. He attended school in England, and studied law in London. Upon completion, he moved to the United States in 1884, whereupon he settled and taught in California, among other jobs. Owen became interested in socialism and translated multiple works by anarchist

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...

into English. He later met the figure on a visit to England, and their correspondence brought Owen into anarchism. Owen returned to the United States to work in newspapers. He spent two years at the Klondike during its gold rush, which influenced his attitudes towards

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

and land exploitation. Owen became an activist for anarchist, labor, and prison reform in southern California. He worked as a court reporter and wrote the 1910 ''Crime and Criminals'' against the American jails. With the

in the early 1910s, Owen befriended the Mexican anarchist

and for six years remained close while Owen edited the English-language section of Magón's anarchist newspaper ''

Regeneración () was a Mexican anarchist newspaper that functioned as the official organ of the Mexican Liberal Party. Founded by the Flores Magón brothers in 1900, it was forced to move to the United States in 1905. Jesús Flores Magón published the paper ...

''. Owen wrote about the Mexican Revolution for other English-language anarchist journals and published both a pamphlet, ''The Mexican Revolution'' (1912), and a newspaper, ''Land and Liberty'' (1914–1915). (" Tierra y Libertad" was a slogan of the Magón

Mexican Liberal Party The Mexican Liberal Party (PLM; es, Partido Liberal Mexicano) was started in August 1900 when engineer Camilo Arriaga published a manifesto entitled ''Invitacion al Partido Liberal'' (Invitation to the Liberal Party). The invitation was addr ...

.) Owen fought Magón's arrest from 1912 to 1914, but was himself included in a 1916 warrant. With advance notice and faced with deportation, Owen absconded for England, where he supported Kropotkin's call for

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

support in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and wrote for the English anarchist periodical ''

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

'', of which he later became an editor. Owen died in

Worthing, England Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

, on June 9, 1929.

Works

Anarchism versus Socialism (1922)

Early life and career

Works

References

Further reading