The Front Page quote from the June 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard
“The task of creating a coherent and free society is the mightiest to which man has summoned himself, and it is the task which now presses urgently upon us"
Professor G. D. Herron
This Month’s Quotation.
The passage quoted on the front cover is from Professor G. D. Herron’s “Why I am a Socialist” (published by C. H. Kerr, Chicago, 1900).
1 comment:
This is why I'm getting a buzz out of posting these quotes. I'd never heard of Herron before now, but by all accounts he was a prominent figure in the reformist Labour movement in the United States in the early 20th century. Of course, h was a sell out in the end . . . but that's a given.
Check out his wiki page for more juicy details:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_D._Herron
Starting in January 1939, and continuing on until December 1941, every issue of the Socialist Standard carried a quotation on its front cover.
More often than not the quoted person was someone famous in their respective field and it's interesting to note the range of individuals selected for inclusion in this exclusive and rarefied company. IYou know I'm joking, right?)
As mentioned above the practice was discontinued in 1942, and my guess it was when wartime paper rationing kicked in and the Editorial Committee for the Standard realised that they no longer had the luxury of being able to have a standalone front cover. It was now the case that every inch of the magazine had to have (socialist) text crammed into it.
A shame, really, because the inclusion of these quotes month-on-month gave a wee window into the SPGB that hitherto was unavailable. This is all the more true for the reader and/or transcriber 75 plus years on.
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