Who was Dorothy Day, and why is she one of Bernie Sanders's heroes?

[pnwmom]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/24/the-pope-name-dropped-a-radical-catholic-activist-and-bernie-sanders-couldnt-be-happier/

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was the lone Democratic presidential hopeful -- and the only Jewish contender -- in the House chamber for Pope Francis's speech. When he left, he was beaming, as the pope had cited an American Catholic whom Sanders had plenty of praise for.

"The name Dorothy Day has not been used in the United States Congress terribly often," said Sanders in a short interview. "She was a valiant fighter for workers, was very strong in her belief for social justice, and I think it was extraordinary that he cited her as one of the most important people in recent American history. This would be one of the very, very few times that somebody as radical as Dorothy Day was mentioned."

Day was arguably the least famous of the four Americans Francis cited in the speech, but she was a vital and controversial figure on the American left. Like Martin Luther King -- also cited by Francis -- she had a thick FBI file, compiled by agents tracking her support for democratic socialism and opposition to foreign wars. "We need to change the system," Day wrote in 1956. "We need to overthrow, not the government, as the authorities are always accusing the Communists 'of conspiring to teach [us] to do,' but this rotten, decadent, putrid industrial capitalist system which breeds such suffering in the whited sepulcher of New York."

SNIP

Sanders, well aware of Day's views and her critics, considered it bold and telling that Francis would praise her. "He is willing to identify with an extraordinarily courageous woman whose life was about standing with the poorest people in America, and having the courage to stand up to the very powerful," he said. "You know, her newspaper was the Catholic Worker, and she stood with the workers of America and fought for justice."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Day

Dorothy Day, Obl.O.S.B. (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist, Christian socialist and devout Catholic convert. She advocated the Catholic economic theory of distributism. In the 1930s, Day worked closely with fellow activist Peter Maurin to establish the Catholic Worker Movement, a pacifist movement that continues to combine direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf. She co-founded a newspaper, the Catholic Worker, in 1931, and served as its editor from 1933 until her death in 1980.

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/08/magazine/the-patron-saint-of-paradox.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

The Patron Saint Of Paradox
By Paul Elie
Published: November 8, 1998

When she died, a multitude came down to the old dwelling off the Bowery to pay their respects, the way people had come to Catholic Worker houses for soup ever since the Depression. There were Catholic Workers, social workers, migrant workers, the unemployed; addicts, alcoholics, anarchists; Protestants, Jews and agnostics; the devout and the strident and the curious, there to see what a saint looked like.

Dorothy Day died in 1980, at the age of 83. She was one of the greatest religious figures of the century, and one of the most paradoxical. She was a Catholic and she was an anarchist. She condemned poverty and she advocated it. She founded the Catholic Worker, a loose aggregation of ''houses of hospitality,'' communal farms, newspapers and round-table discussions for ''further clarification of thought'' -- and called her memoirs ''The Long Loneliness.'' The movement was wary of authority, yet revered her as its leader. She humbled herself before God and sat for a portrait by Richard Avedon.

SNIP

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....

I haven't had a chance to listen to the Pope's speech, I'm going to have to make time for it.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. The Catholic Worker movement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Worker_Movement

The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous[1] communities of Catholics and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ."[2] One of its guiding principles is hospitality towards those on the margin of society, based on the principles of communitarianism and personalism. To this end, the movement claims over 213 local Catholic Worker communities providing social services.[3] Each house has a different mission, going about the work of social justice in its own way, suited to its local region.

Catholic Worker houses are not official organs of the Catholic Church, and their activities, inspired by Day's example, may be more or less overtly religious in tone and inspiration depending on the particular institution. The movement campaigns for nonviolence and is active in opposing both war and the unequal global distribution of wealth. Dorothy Day also founded The Catholic Worker newspaper, still published by the two Catholic Worker houses in New York City and sold for a penny a copy.

-------

I used to hang out with some Catholic Worker folks in DC back in the '90s.

Then I moved out West, and lo and behold! What do I find out today? That the movement is headquartered just a few miles away from me in Santa Rosa, CA.

http://www.catholicworker.org/

[pnwmom]

3. Thanks, Comrade Grumpy! n/t

[restorefreedom]

4. bernie just did an interview on msnbc

and referred to her as a socialist, which she might have been (not that there's anything wrong with that.)

but I can already hear the right wing slams against the pope, his message, and any progressive that agrees with him. We better be prepared for it.

[pnwmom]

5. She WAS a socialist, and provided a strong example to Sanders and millions of others. n/t

[restorefreedom]

6. and she did amazing work

which is why the righties are going to go apeshit over this pope's "commie" message and anyone who espouses anything similar, like bernie.

Dorothy Day was an amazing person and gave her whole life to caring for the poor. But we have to remember that the GOP losers don't give two shits about the poor. So they will probably prattle on about how this country is inching its way toward socialism. Not trying to be pessimistic but rather trying to be prepared.

it's going to be an ugly election and I am afraid we're going to have to get used to it.

edit. I just realize this is in GD and not GDP, so sorry to emphasize so much the political aspects of this. But I do think it's gonna come up.

[RufusTFirefly]

14. I'm pretty sure Day was an anarchist, not a socialist.

Even though she is frequently referred to as the latter, I don't think she ever self-identified as such.

[pnwmom]

16. Wikipedia says she was a socialist -- but she lived a long life, so maybe she identified

as both at different periods of her life? She was a Catholic convert and that might have been connected with her socialism (as it is with those who believe in Latin American liberation theology.)

Dorothy Day, Obl.O.S.B. (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist, Christian socialist and devout Catholic convert. She advocated the Catholic economic theory of distributism. In the 1930s, Day worked closely with fellow activist Peter Maurin to establish the Catholic Worker Movement, a pacifist movement that continues to combine direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf. She co-founded a newspaper, the Catholic Worker, in 1931, and served as its editor from 1933 until her death in 1980.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Day

[nxylas]

17. I thought she self-identified as a distributist

I could be wrong in that, though.

[pnwmom]

18. Distributism is a Catholic economic theory, according to that linked Wiki article.

And there are different opinions on whether it's a kind of socialism or in opposition to both capitalism and state-run socialism.

[RufusTFirefly]

21. Day's suspicion of (and even hostility toward) the state would make her a bad fit as a socialist

That said, she shared many social justice positions with socialists.

Unfortunately, Americans (and, yes, that would include me) are not especially sophisticated in differentiating between out-of-the-mainstream ideologies, often equating, for example, communism with socialism (even though the two groups, both surprisingly vocal in 1930s America, absolutely hated each other), socialism with anarchism (read Orwell's Homage to Catalonia to get a better sense of just how complex the political picture really is), and yes, socialism with democratic socialism. (No, Virginia, Bernie doesn't want the state to control the means of the production.) And now we even have the appellations "far leftist" and "fringe left", which, as far as I can tell in the politically constrained United States of America, basically just mean "people I don't agree with."

Of course, even anarchists have deep divisions. Unfortunately, when most Americans think anarchism, the first group that springs to mind is black bloc, primarily because they are the most provocative (and destructive). But black bloc's relationship with anarchists is similar to the Weather Underground's relationship with the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). It's worth noting that some of the principal founders of the Occupy movement were anarchists (they emphasized consensus, mutual aid, and prefigurative politics) and that well-known anarchists include Noam Chomsky, Ursula LeGuin, and David Graeber, anthropologist and author of the outstanding book Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Hardly the sort of people you'd expect to see breaking store windows.

At any rate, like another well-known, present-day figure, Dorothy Day was definitely "evolving", although her rather consistent rejection of the state would seem to put her pretty squarely in the anarchist camp, Wikipedia not withstanding.

[LoveIsNow]

26. Maybe she was an anarcho-socialist

Or a social anarchist. The great thing about the radical left is that we can always come up with a super-specific label for you.

[rug]

7. Lamont, California, 1973. Farmworkers' strike.

http://www.dorothydaydoc.com/

[shrike]

8. "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living."

One of those statements attributed to Dorothy Day.

When she died, some who attended her funeral reported bizarre occurrences: for example, during the mass light bulbs and light fixtures in the church popped and went dark.

[annabanana]

15. I thought that was Mother Jones. . . n/t

[shrike]

22. It's been attributed to Dorothy Day

But it could have been Mother Jones or even someone else. Stories grow up around these people and take on a life of their own. But more important is the example they set: Dorothy Day AND Mother Jones.

[Cheese Sandwich]

9. Her life and work are very inspiring

Thank you for posting the thread pnwmom .

[DrBulldog]

10. I will bet the mortgage that ...

. . . Hillary Clinton never heard of Dorothy Day.

[NonMetro]

12. Neither Had I

Or 90% of other Americans. So what?

[RufusTFirefly]

13. I'm not a Clinton supporter, but I think that's an unfair, uncharitable statement.

I'm sorry you made it.

Although I'm not at all religious, I've definitely heard of Dorothy Day and had great respect and admiration for her.

It doesn't surprise me to learn that both the Pope and Bernie are fans.

[navarth]

28. yup, not helpful to be uncharitable nt

[kwassa]

27. I'll bet she has.

I've heard of Dorothy Day, she was famous in her time, and I am just a few years younger than Hillary. I would be shocked if Hillary didn't know of her.

[Koinos]

11. Martin O'Malley is well acquainted with both Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.

[FairWinds]

19. Professional Political Philosophy Alert !

She is most properly characterized as a . .
Get ready for it !! Cue drum roll . .

social anarchist

[pnwmom]

20. At core, she was deeply Catholic -- the other labels are unimportant.

Just a way for non-Catholics who didn't grow up with the theology to make sense of her views.

[shrike]

23. She was a complex woman, but yes, she was deeply Catholic. n/t

[shrike]

24. More info: on Dorothy Day

Day was born in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, and initially lived a bohemian life. It involved various love affairs and an abortion. A Day biographer, Robert Coles, described her as “a woman who had been, in her twenties, a well-known journalist and essayist, a novelist, a close friend of writers such as Eugene O’Neill, Mike Gold, John Dos Passos, and Malcolm Cowley.”

It was in 1932 she met, Maurin, a French immigrant, and a man of deep intellect. The two began publishing The Catholic Worker May 1, 1933, priced at one cent, and published to this day at the same price.

snip

In June 1955, Day joined a group of pacifists in refusing to participate in civil defense drills. Day and six others took the position that their refusal was not a legal dispute but rather one of philosophy. As quoted on her Wikipedia page, Day said she was doing “public penance” for the United States’ first use of an atom bomb.

In June 1955, Day joined a group of pacifists in refusing to participate in civil defense drills. Day and six others took the position that their refusal was not a legal dispute but rather one of philosophy. As quoted on her Wikipedia page, Day said she was doing “public penance” for the United States’ first use of an atom bomb.

[pnwmom]

25. Interesting! Do you have a link, for more? n/t