1953 February 10

Theodore Schroeder, Early Free Speech Advocate, Dies

 

Theodore Schroeder was the founder and leader of the Free Speech League (1902 – end date unknown). The FSL preceded the ACLU and handled a number of important free speech cases in the years before World War I.

Schroeder published several books on free speech. The Free Speech League faded away during the civil liberties crisis of World War I and eventually disappeared, although the exact date of its demise is not known. Interestingly, Schroeder and Roger Baldwin of the National Civil Liberties Bureau had disagreed on free speech issues, with Schroeder apparently taking the stronger pro-free speech position.

One of the early cases taken by the Free Speech League involved English anarchist John Turner, who was the first victim of the repressive 1903 Immigration Act. See March 13, 1904 for a speech by Turner explaining his case. The FSL was also involved with the radical I.W.W. in the pre-World War I years, rendering assistance in its “free speech fights,” mainly on the west coast. The federal government raided the I.W.W. office in Chicago and seized all of its documents. Subsequently, over 100 members, including the top leaders, were prosecuted and convicted. The I.W.W. never never regained its pre-war strength.

Learn about Schroeder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sch.roeder

Read: David Rabban, Free Speech in its Forgotten Years (1997)

Read Schroeders’s Free Speech for Radicals: http://ia600406.us.archive.org/15/items/cu31924030461630/cu31924030461630.pdf

Learn about the 100 Year fight for free speech in America: Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey Stone, The Free Speech Century (2018)

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