YOURS OR MINE. AN ESSAY, TO SHOW THE TRUE BASIS OF PROPERTY, AND THE CAUSES OF ITS UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION. BY E.H. HEYWOOD. THE NEW-ENGLAND LABOR-REFORM LEAGUE... TWENTIETH THOUSAND.
Boston: Printed at the Office of "Weekly American Workman" 1869. 22, [2] pp. Original printed blue wrappers [some light edge chipping and toning], stitched. Very Good.
This printing, designated "20th thousand," is the earliest edition located at the Library of Congress or on OCLC as of August 2017. It is Heywood's only Boston-published work. There are undated editions of the "Fortieth Thousand."
"YOURS OR MINE attempted to solve the problem of property ownership. It was an investigation of the basis upon which property was held and the reasons why it was inequitably distributed. The labor reform movement should seek 'fundamental equity,' he said, and not become another 'assault on vested interests,' a 'raid of the have-nothings upon the have-somethings.' ...Heywood believed that occupancy and use were the real valid titles to ownership, despite the fact that society acquiesced in other claims to ownership in the belief that such deference performed some benefit to the 'general welfare.'" [Martin, James: MEN AGAINST THE STATE, 1953, page 111.]
A graduate of Brown University, Heywood was a public speaker, author, abolitionist, suffragist, and individual anarchist. He believed that small communities should govern themselves without a central authority. Interested in labor reform, he was a founder of the Worcester Labor Reform League, and a delegate to the National Labor Union. In addition to his other causes, he believed in "free love," opposed marriage for subjecting women to sexual slavery, and supported free choice for women in sexual relations, birth control and abortion. Arrested three times and jailed twice under the Comstock laws, he was not dissuaded from following his own path. [See, DAB; Martin at pages 105-125.]. Item #34035
Price: $450.00