ByDorothy Day
Summary: Excerpts from her letters while on an across country pilgrimage to Wheaton and Rock Island, Illinois, then Denver, Colorado. Reasserts the need to “go to the poor” and spread the good news by speaking and the works of mercy. Comments on a prison strike noting many are in jail for petty theft while “robber barons” get away with murder. Says “Property is theft.” (DDLW #516). The Catholic Worker, December 1971, 2.
ByCatholicWorker.org
In this interview with Jeff Dietrich and Susan Pollack, originally published in the December 1971 Catholic Agitator, Dorothy Day discusses her journey from socialism to anarchism and Catholicism, highlighting how her early readings of Jack London and Upton Sinclair influenced her political views. Day emphasizes the spiritual and practical aspects of anarchism, rooted in the belief that social change must start from the bottom up. She praises the anarchistic nature of the Catholic Church, where conscience is supreme, and shares her thoughts on the intersection of anarchism and Catholicism. Day recounts her collaboration with Peter Maurin in founding the Catholic Worker movement, focusing on the principles of hospitality, community, and voluntary poverty. She stresses the importance of living out one’s beliefs through direct action and personal sacrifice, citing the influence of figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez.
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Tells of bare cupboards and comments on hunger in the world. Says the war in Laos and Cambodia is producing “a reflected violence at home.” Quotes St. Augustine on giving what is superfluous to the poor and that giving be combined with respect for others. (DDLW #514) The Catholic Worker, Oct/Nov 1971, p. 2
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Continues her account of a visit to Russia. Recounts a visit to Red Square, Lenin’s tomb, the graves in the Kremlin wall, and comments on Russian writers. (The Catholic Worker, October-November 1971, 3, 6. DDLW #515).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Reflects on the massacre of forty-two in the Attica prison uprising and sees new repression and brutality forthcoming. Asks us to reflect on Jesus who forgave his torturers. Suggests that no one would know the majority profess being Christians in this country. (The Catholic Worker, September 1971, 1. DDLW #512).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Describes her trip to Poland and the Russian cities of Leningrad and Moscow where she visits museums, Churches, and cemeteries. Visits the grave of Dostoevsky and debates with a group of Soviet writers about the works of Solzhenitisn. Notes his role in keeping faith in God alive in Russia through his writings. (The Catholic Worker, September 1971, 1, 7, 8. DDLW #513).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Preparing to depart for a peacemaking pilgrimage of Eastern Europe and Russia, she recalls her early fascination with Russia and the role Russian novelists played in her religious conversion. Especially singles out Dostoevsky’s character Fr. Zossima. Apologizes for being behind in her correspondence and confesses to being fearful of take-offs and landings of planes. (The Catholic Worker, July-August 1971, 2, 8. DDLW #511).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: “Travelogue” of a speaking trip to South Dakota where she admires rural family life, the folk university movement, and a sod hut. Comments on the women’s liberation movement. (The Catholic Worker, June 1971, 2, 5, 6, 8. DDLW #510).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Notes recent anti-war protests and describes visits to the Berrigan brother’s mother. Tells of a new Catholic Worker rural hostel in Schenectady, New York, a visit to Worcester, MA, and a visit to her daughter in Vermont. Keywords: prison, war taxes (The Catholic Worker, May 1971, 1, 2, 7. DDLW #509).
ByDorothy Day
Summary: Recalls the beginnings of their food line and the comradeship in cooking and serving “sturdy soup” and bread, and the occasional dangers in their work. (DDLW #508) The Catholic Worker, Mar/Apr 1971, p. 2.
ByDorothy Day
Summary: A plea not to prejudge Angela Davis and Communists. Continues with many stories of interracial actions of Catholic Workers from the 30s onward, tying the horrible past and present war in Southeast Asia. Reminds us of the primarcy of the spiritual in the “little it is we do, or can do.” Yet we are bound together, “members one of another.” Even from evil God can bring great good. (DDLW #933: The Catholic Worker, Feb 1971, pp. 2, 6, 8).
