Monday, June 24, 2013

Philip Josephs: "Down With Russian Tyranny!"

Here's a picture of a young Philip Josephs, taken in Glasgow sometime before leaving for New Zealand. From Sewing Freedom

"As well as establishing a small tailor shop at 64 Taranaki Street, Josephs quickly bolstered the ranks of the [Wellington] city’s radicals, involving himself in solidarity demonstrations against the injustices suffered by his fellow Russian workers during the 1905 Revolution. At the same time as Parisian and London workers gathered in their hundreds to hear Russian anarchists like Kropotkin speak on the massacre of Bloody Sunday and the situation in Russia, Josephs was bringing the horrors of his homeland to the workers of Wellington. On numerous occasions Josephs publicly voiced his disgust at the oppressive nature of the Russian government—describing from the platform at one mass meeting the “wretched conditions of the Working Class in Russia.” “Doloi S Russki Samoderszavie!” (Down With Russian Tyranny!) also featured Josephs as a main speaker, where he “spoke with force and earnestness on the evening’s theme… explaining something of the revolutionary propaganda, and describing some of the scenes of horror that incited the revolters to count no odds in their struggle for freedom.”