Lucy Parsons (1851-1942) was an activist and labor rights organizer in Chicago. A self-proclaimed anarchist who lied about her heritage her entire adult life, Parsons is a historical figure who does not easily fit into the mold of who we often celebrate. I find her story fascinating and it raises considerations that are increasingly relevant today.
While Lucy Parsons claimed that she was of Mexican and Indigenous heritage, she was born in Virginia to an enslaved woman named Charlotte and most likely her enslaver Thomas Taliaferro. Taliaferro relocated to Texas, taking Lucy (then known as Lucia) and her mother with him. While in Texas, she gained freedom from slavery and underwent her schooling.
In 1873 she moved to Chicago with her white, former confederate soldier husband Albert Parsons. They became connected to a community of German American immigrants and the social labor movement of the time. Together, they led the first May Day parade joining 80,000 workers in Chicago and workers around the country in advocating for the 8-hour workday. In 1887, she helped organize the Working Women’s Union, which focused on equal pay for women working as homemakers, seamstresses, and servants.
Lucy Parsons worked in the background of the labor movement until Albert Parsons was accused and later executed for his alleged involvement in the Haymarket Affair of 1886, which was the aftermath of a riot that was caused when an unidentified person threw a bomb at a group of police officers who were attempting to disperse a labor rights demonstration.
Lucy Parsons advocated for her husband’s release and after the state hanged him, she continued to work with white socialists and became a founder of the Industrial Workers of the World. Parsons often spoke with inflammatory and provocative language, and published a revolutionary anarchist-communist journal called Freedom.
Throughout all of this, she maintained that she was not Black and focused on class struggle rather than racial justice specifically. Additionally, she did not support women’s suffrage.
Today, it would be easy to label Lucy Parsons as problematic. And yes, being against women’s right to vote is problematic. Also, anarchism is a widely accepted political stance even now. I can imagine a situation where someone like her would be ostracized from liberal groups. But at the same time, the work that Lucy Parsons did for workers was invaluable.
The work also is far from done. Union membership has decreased in the US over time. We’ve made strides in Illinois with the Paid Leave for All Workers Act, but we still need paid parental leave and other mandated protections for better work-life balance.
As we focus on local politics, supporting our unions, and improving our communities, we should meet people where they are and empower them to do the work they feel called to do. You don’t have to be perfect or have “perfect” politics to work towards a just society. If we get too caught up on in-fighting and maintaining a form of political purity culture, we’re only going to hinder our own progress towards our larger goals. Am I saying that we shouldn’t hold people with harmful beliefs or who perpetrate harmful actions accountable? No! Am I saying that anyone regardless of if they have discriminatory stances on our rights should be allowed to lead our groups or gain our support in elections? Also, no. I’m saying that we need to call each other in before kicking each other out.
We are up against a powerful and dangerous system of oppression, the same system that killed Albert Parsons and many others to help the wealthiest and most powerful people maintain the control of, and exploitation of, the masses. We need all the help we can get, and through collaboration, empathy, solidarity, and education we can effectively continue the fight that Lucy Parsons and our foremothers fought before us.
Sources
https://aas.princeton.edu/news/radical-existence-lucy-parsons-goddess-anarchy https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1886-lucy-parsons-i-am-anarchist/
https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2020/06/25/lucy-parsons
https://nuhw.org/lucy-gonzalez-parsons/
https://wams.nyhistory.org/industry-and-empire/labor-and-industry/lucy-parsons/
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/lucy-parsons-tribute-to-a-heroine-of-labor/
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf