''The Blast'' was a semi-monthly anarchist periodical published by

Alexander Berkman Alexander Berkman (November 21, 1870June 28, 1936) was a Russian-American anarchist and author. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century, famous for both his political activism and his writing. B ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, USA from 1916 through 1917. The publication had roots in Emma Goldman's magazine '' Mother Earth,'' having been launched when her former consort Berkman left his editorial position at that publication.

History

Background

'' Mother Earth'' was an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

magazine established in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in March 1906 by Russian-Jewish émigré

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

(1869-1940) and Max Baginski (1864-1943). Beginning in March 1907, the editorial staff was joined by

(1870-1936), a consort of Goldman's since 1886. Berkman had gained fame (or infamy) for his part in the July 1892 attempted assassination of

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a major ...

, the manager of the

Carnegie Steel Company Carnegie Steel Company was a steel-producing company primarily created by Andrew Carnegie and several close associates to manage businesses at steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century. The company was forme ...

who in the previous month had emerged victorious in the bitter and violent

Homestead Strike The Homestead strike, also known as the Homestead steel strike, Homestead massacre, or Battle of Homestead, was an industrial lockout and strike that began on July 1, 1892, culminating in a battle in which strikers defeated private security agent ...

of the company's steel works at

Homestead, Pennsylvania Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the Monongahela River valley southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an imp ...

. Jailed for his failed attempt at political murder, Berkman was only released in May 1906, having served 14 years in prison for his crime. Berkman's joining of the editorial staff of ''Mother Earth'' was thus in the nature of a reunion. In September 1914 Berkman and Goldman split, with Berkman hitting the road in an attempt to organize "Anti-Militarist Leagues" in opposition to

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 to federate the dispersed array of local anarchist groups into a unified organization. He arrived in California in the spring of 1915 where he became involved in the defense of Mathew Schmidt and David Caplan, anarchists recently arrested following years living underground in connection with the October 1910 fatal bombing of the newspaper plant of the conservative ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

.'' Berkman became a primary organizer of the Caplan-Schmidt Defense League in the summer of 1915 and henceforth devoted the bulk of his time to this legal fight, ending his formal editorial connection with ''Mother Earth.''

Establishment

The first issue of ''The Blast'' appeared dated January 15, 1916 with cover art by anarchist cartoonist

Robert Minor Robert Berkeley "Bob" Minor (15 July 1884 – 26 January 1952), alternatively known as "Fighting Bob," was a political cartoonist, a radical journalist, and, beginning in 1920, a leading member of the American Communist Party. Background Robe ...

. Joining Editor and Publisher Berkman at the time of the 8-page magazine's launch was E.B. Morton as Associate Editor and M. Eleanor Fitzgerald as Business Manager. In an introductory editorial statement, Berkman noted that the provocatively-named publication would be both destructive and constructive in intent:

"Before a garden can bloom, the weeds must be uprooted. Nothing is therefore more important than to destroy. Nothing more necessary and difficult....

"To destroy the Old and the False is the most vital work. We emphasize it: to blast the bulwarks of slavery and oppression is of primal necessity. It is the beginning of really lasting construction."

The journal was originally conceived by Berkman as a "revolutionary labor paper" rather than a strictly anarchist newspaper. ''The Blast'' focused on the California labor situation and provided news about national labor events and leaders of radical political movements. Berkman ultimately published 29 issues of ''The Blast.''

Preparedness Day Bombing

The sensational July 1916

Preparedness Day Bombing The Preparedness Day Bombing was a bombing in San Francisco, California, United States, on July 22, 1916, of a parade organised by local supporters of the Preparedness Movement which advocated American entry into World War I. During the parade a ...

of the San Francisco Preparedness Day Parade — a terrorist attack which killed 8 and wounded more than 40 others — took place while Berkman was already publishing ''The Blast'' in that same city.Richard Drinnon, "Blast, San Francisco, 1916-1917," in Joseph R. Conlin (ed.), ''The American Radical Press, 1880-1960.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974; pg. 402. The editorial location of the semi-monthly anarchist magazine combined with its inflammatory name proved irresistible to local authorities, who raided the paper's offices on July 29, 1916 without a

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...

.Pateman, "Introduction," pg. 6. No evidence was located on the premises and there were no arrests made. When radical labor leaders Warren K. Billings and

Tom Mooney Thomas Joseph Mooney (December 8, 1882 – March 6, 1942) was an American political activist and labor leader, who was convicted with Warren K. Billings of the San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916. It quickly became apparent that Mo ...

as well as Mooney's wife

Rena Mooney Renas may refer to: Places *Rena, Badajoz, a municipality in Extremadura, Spain *Rena, Norway, a village in Innlandet county, Norway *Rena, Washington, a community in Clallam County, Washington, United States People *Rena (given name), list of pe ...

and two others, were arrested for the crime, Berkman again had occasion to take part in a nationwide legal defense effort, cooperating closely with Mooney-Billings Defense Committee principal Robert Minor in the effort. In addition to founding the first local Mooney-Billings defense organization, Berkman travelled the country raising funds and public consciousness in support of the effort and winning the commitment of prominent New York attorney W. Bourke Cockran to work on the case on a

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

basis.Drinnon, "Blast," pg. 403. Many pages of ''The Blast,'' unsurprisingly, were committed to the Mooney-Billings defense effort. This activity led to another police raid on ''The Blast's'' offices on December 31, 1916. In this second raid the publication's mailing list and editorial correspondence was seized. By May 1917 the editorial office of ''The Blast'' had been moved from the uncomfortably tense San Francisco to New York City, where it was located in the same building as the editorial office of ''Mother Earth.'' Shortly thereafter California authorities, despite having "absolutely no real evidence to go on" from their December raid, nevertheless obtained a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

indictment of Berkman on a charge of murder in association with the Preparedness Day bombing. By the time of the California indictment Berkman had already been arrested and detained in New York City along with Emma Goldman on charges of conspiracy to undermine wartime

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

, however, and the West coast case against him came to naught.

Termination and legacy

''The Blast'' was shut down in June 1917 in the aftermath of Berkman's arrest for encouraging resistance to the draft. The publication's final issue, dated June 1, 1917, featured an

anti-militarist Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (esp ...

cartoon by

Maurice Becker Maurice Becker (1889– August 28, 1975) was a radical political artist best known for his work in the 1910s and 1920s for such publications as ''The Masses'' and '' The Liberator''. Biography Early years Maurice Becker was born in Nizhni-Novg ...

on the cover and a short piece signed by Berkman inside which boldly declared:

"Conscription is the abdication of your rights as a citizen. Conscription is the cemetery where every vestige of your liberty is to be buried. Registration is its undertaker.

"No man with red blood in his veins can be forced to fight against his will. But you cannot successfully oppose conscription if you approve of, or submit to, registration....

"The consistent
conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
to human slaughter will neither register nor be conscripted."

For their opposition to the American war effort, Berkman and Goldman were convicted of conspiracy to induce people not to register for the draft, as called for by the

Selective Service Act of 1917 The Selective Service Act of 1917 or Selective Draft Act () authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription. It was envisioned in December 1916 and brought to President ...

.Pateman, "Introduction," pg. 7. Both were sentenced to two years in federal prison and began serving their sentences on February 2, 1918. Berkman would spend the duration of the war and all of 1919 in the

Atlanta Federal Penitentiary The United States Penitentiary, Atlanta (USP Atlanta) is a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Atlanta, Georgia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justic ...

before being deported to

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

along with Goldman aboard the so-called Red Ark at the end of year, together with 200 other anarchists and sundry radicals.Drinnon, "Blast," pp. 405-406. The complete run of 29 issues of ''The Blast'' were re-published in book form by anarchist publisher

AK Press AK Press is a worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. Operated out of Chico, California, the company is collectively owned. History AK was founded in Stirling, Sc ...

in 2005.

Contributors

* Leonard D. Abbott *

Charles Ashleigh Charles Ashleigh (1892–1974) was an English labour activist, writer, and translator who became prominent in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and later the Communist Party of Great Britain. Life Ashleigh was born in West Hampstead, Londo ...

Emanuel Haldeman-Julius Emanuel Haldeman-Julius (''né'' Emanuel Julius) (July 30, 1889 – July 31, 1951) was a Jewish-American socialist writer, atheist thinker, social reformer and publisher. He is best remembered as the head of Haldeman-Julius Publications, the crea ...

* Ed Gammons *

Lydia Gibson Lydia Gibson (1891-1964) was an American socialist illustrator who contributed work to ''The Masses,'' '' The Liberator,'' '' The Workers' Monthly,'' ''New Masses,'' and other radical publications. Biography Early years Lydia Gibson was born i ...

* David Leigh *

Tom Mann Thomas Mann (15 April 1856 – 13 March 1941), was an English trade unionist and is widely recognised as a leading, pioneering figure for the early labour movement in Britain. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a ...

Margaret Sanger Margaret Higgins Sanger (born Margaret Louise Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966), also known as Margaret Sanger Slee, was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term "birth control ...

* Warren Van Valkenburgh *

Mary Heaton Vorse Mary Heaton Vorse (October 11, 1874 – June 14, 1966) was an American journalist and novelist. She established her reputation as a journalist reporting the labor protests of a largely female and immigrant workforce in the east-coast textile indus ...

Charles Erskine Scott Wood Charles Erskine Scott Wood or C.E.S. Wood (February 20, 1852January 22, 1944) was an American author, civil liberties advocate, artist, soldier, attorney, and Georgist. He is best known as the author of the 1927 satirical bestseller, '' Heavenly ...

References

External links

The Blast
partial archive of The Blast at Libcom {{DEFAULTSORT:Blast Biweekly magazines published in the United States Anarchist periodicals published in the United States Defunct political magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1916 Magazines disestablished in 1917 Magazines published in San Francisco