J. William Lloyd

From the Archives

J. Wm. Lloyd, et al., “The Whisper Song of the Catbird” (1911)

December 18, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

September 14, 1908.—Yesterday, while a visitor was mending his automobile down near the woodpile, I noticed the low singing of a bird, apparently very close and behind me, in some tall weeds between the grape-vines and the woodpile. Today I heard it again, and thought it a Catbird’s voice. After repeated trials, I at last located the singer. He was a Catbird, not over four or five feet from me, sitting trustfully on a stick among the weeds, quite unconcerned, and singing in such a low, fine voice that I could only just hear him. […]

From the Archives

J. William Lloyd, “Forced or Free—The Two Socialisms” (1902)

October 2, 2018 Shawn P. Wilbur

THAT the drift of evolution is toward socialism few thinkers doubt. It appears in education, religion, industry, government, everything. All over the world free schools, free libraries, free reading rooms, etc., reveal a profound conviction that knowledge is a human birthright. In religion there is a rapidly accelerating tendency to waive dogma, leave creed to conscience, & concentrate on humanitarian work. Proposals to rub out sectarian lines & minimize sects are heard every day, and as a matter of almost unconscious fact such unity is every day being attained. Practically only some half-a-dozen sects remain, & these faded. […]

Anarchist Beginnings

J. Wm. Lloyd, “A Free Socialist” (1895)

August 10, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

My statement that henceforth I was no Anarchist, but a Free Socialist, was intended to refer to my public profession. Having stated that my view of Anarchism was that it was the doctrine “that the invasion of one human being by another was in the highest degree wrong, foolish, dangerous, and inexpedient—that this was Anarchism and this only,” and having, in conclusion, stated that my renunciation of the name Anarchist did “not mean any change of views,” it, of course, follows that, although I reject the name Anarchist, I, in my heart, still regard myself as one. […]