Today in Labor History March 29, 1797: William Godwin married Mary Wollstonecraft. Godwin was an English journalist, philosopher and novelist. And one of the first modern proponents of anarchism. His most famous books are “An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice” and “Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams,” a mystery novel that attacks aristocratic privilege. Wollstonecraft was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights, and is regarded by many as one of the founding feminist philosophers. Her most famous book was “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792). She died 11 days after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein.
Today in Labor History March 25, 1811: Oxford University expelled Percy Bysshe Shelley for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism. Shelley was an English Romantic poet, radical in both his art and his politics. His poem "The Mask of Anarchy," which he wrote in 1819 after the Peterloo Massacre, is one of the first modern descriptions of nonviolent resistance. His admirers included Karl Marx, Gandhi and George Bernard Shaw. He was married to Mary Shelley, author of “Frankenstein.”
Today in History August 30, 1797: Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright was born. She is most famous for her novel, “Frankenstein.” However, she wrote several other novels, including the historical novels Valperga (1823) and Perkin Warbeck (1830), the apocalyptic novel The Last Man (1826). She married the romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelly. Her father was the early anarchist philosopher, William Godwin. And her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a writer and a feminist activist. Mary Shelley was a political radical throughout her life, influenced by the anarchism of her father.