Henry
David Thoreau (1817-1862)
Writer of one of the greatest and most influential classics of American
radicalism: "
Civil Disobedience", which
was written as a lecture for the Concord, Massachusetts, lyceum in January
1848. Over the years it has served a powerful inspiration for Tolstoy,
Gandhi and the Industrial Workers of the World, as well as for
contemporary activists in the civil rights, anti-war and radical
environmentalist movements.
"How does it become a man to behave toward this American government
today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it....
Under a government which imprsons any injustly, the true place for a
just man is also a prison." - Thoreau