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69 speechatthe infidel Convention May 4, 1845 New York, New York At the close of this convention, Rose publicly disagreed with Owen and the Convention Committee about the naming of the convention, and urged an identity-affirming approach that was well ahead of its time. She called for the convention to proudly claim the name of “Infidel,” with which the freethinkers had been tarred. They should seek to make a name given in derision respectable, she said, through living up to their principles (Suhl 1990, 87). She was so persuasive that this and subsequent Owenite freethought conventions were known as Infidel conventions. This particular convention was called to coincide with a visit by Robert Owen to New York City. Owen made brief opening remarks, urging support for those in Europe who were just beginning to fight for an ideal of liberty modeled upon the “true brotherhood” found in the United States, and Rose followed, speaking in praise of Owen and his remarks. Rose’s second speech at the convention, included here, is one of the clearest statements of her socialist beliefs, identifying “isolation of interest” and the misallocation of resources as the root cause of poverty. The Boston Investigator reported the convention proceedings in its May 14, 1845, edition, where this excerpt appeared, and continued its report in the May 28 edition. n My Friends: After what you have heard from our dear and venerable father, Robert Owen, I could wish that nothing more should be said. He has truly remarked that the evils of society are caused by ignorance and unkindness, and that the reform of those evils is to be brought about by the diffusion of knowledge and universal charity. There are many reforms; this is an age of reform; every one acknowledges that society is in a wrong state, and ought to be reformed. What makes man act wrong? Is it his desire to do it? We have been and are yet told that the heart of man is wicked, and in accordance with this, such arrangements have been made in society as to fulfill the prophecy, and make him bad indeed. It is the greatest libel that has ever been put upon nature. Every human being has a tendency to do good, but the fundamental error, that man forms his own opinions, feelings, and acts, has made him bad. He was considered as a being independent of every man around him; hence followed the isolated condition of society. These two fundamental errors are the cause of all evil; they make every man an enemy to his neighbor. Tell me, my friends, will the preaching “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” as long as 70 ernestIne l.rose isolated interests exist, avail us anything? So long as the precept exists, Every one for himself, and some supernatural power for us all—how much can you love your neighbor? There is a great deal of poverty in the world; but is there any necessity for poverty? Is there any collective poverty ? There is no such thing as poverty; there is ten times more in the world than would maintain all in yet unknown luxury. Yet how much misery there is in our midst; not because there is not enough, but owing to the misdirection of it. Those who create the most, get the least; those who build the largest castles, often have not where to lay their heads: and then we say that man is bad by nature, because if he has not a crumb to eat, he will take some from his neighbor. Why is it man has never been placed in a position to make himself happy? Isolation of interest is the cause— the contrary is the remedy. I have thrown out these few hints for you to reflect on. We must inquire what sort of beings we are, and are we rightly situated? Ponder over these questions. The welfare of the race depends upon them, and the application of the remedy is the reversion of the present arrangements of society. Ignorance is the evil—knowledge will be the remedy. Knowledge not of what sort of beings we shall be hereafter, or what is beyond the skies, but a knowledge pertaining to terra firma, and we may have here all the power, goodness and love that we have been taught belongs to God himself. ...

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