Writing Labor’s Emancipation: The Anarchist Life and Times of Jay Fox

Jay Fox (1870-1961) was a journalist, intellectual, and labor militant whose influence rippled across the country. In Writing Labor’s Emancipation, historian Greg Hall traces Fox’s unorthodox life to highlight the shifting dynamics in US labor radicalism from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century.

Radicalized as a teenager after witnessing the Haymarket tragedy, Fox embarked on a lifetime of union organizing, building anarchist communities (including Home, Washington), and writing. Thanks to his sharp wit, he became an influential voice, often in dialogue with fellow anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Lucy Parsons.

Hall both explores Fox’s life and shines a light on the utopians, revolutionaries, and union men and women with whom Fox associated and debated. Hall’s research provides valuable knowledge of the lived experiences of working-class Americans and reveals alternative visions for activism and social change.