Subscription Book for I.W.W. Publications
[Chicago]: [Industrial Workers of the World / I.W.W. / IWW], 1963. Ephemera. SIGNED. Unpaginated. [7.5cm x 17.5cm]. Printed green wraps; side staple bound. Wraps mildly soiled. Five completed duplicate forms; carbon copy pages removed. Item #68141
Subscription book belonging to a young Franklin Rosemont. Rosemont was an anarchist, a noted labor scholar, an author, co-founder of the Chicago Surrealist Group and, along with his wife Penelope, steward of the world's oldest socialist publisher, Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co.
As an agent for the Industrial Workers of the World, then 20-year-old Rosemont solicited subscriptions for I.W.W. publications: Industrial Worker, Industrialisti (Finnish Daily) and Bermunkas (Hungarian Weekly). This book features new subscribers Milton Monson, Bernard Marszalek (expelled from Rosemont's alma mater Roosevelt University for protesting the refusal to hire anti-Vietnam War and labor activist Staughton Lynd), Ben Gadd, Joseph Wood and (charmingly) Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rosemont. Both of Franklin's parents were active union members; Henry, a printer and typographer, led strikes in the publishing industry, while Sally Kaye Rosemont was a jazz musician elected President of Organized Women Musicians in 1965. During the Vietnam War, the group successfully convinced Sears and other large department stores to replace displays of military weapon-themed children's toys with toy instruments.
Price: $200.00