Long before efforts
such as CopyLeft
and Creative
Commons,
political publishers in the United States struggled with the challenge
of making content available to "the Movement" and at the same time
attempting to limit abuse by corporations and conservatives.
Below are some examples of restrictive text published in Left documents from the early 1970s.
Below are some examples of restrictive text published in Left documents from the early 1970s.
Prairie Fire, political statement of the Weather Underground, 1974; Communications Company, Eugene, OR
Towards a Science for the People, 1972; A People's Press, Brookline, MA
All Power to the People; The Story of
the Black Panther Party, 1970; Peoples Press, San Francisco, CA.
Note the
similarity of the above text to the
copyright notice in the title page of Debs: His Life Writings and
Speeches, 1908 edition published by The Appeal to Reason
newspaper:
“Copyright by The Appeal to Reason:
NOTE—Copyright protection is taken upon this volume for the sole
purpose of protecting the work of Comrade Debs from prejudiced misuse
by pirate Capitalist publishers, and will not be invoked against
Socialist and Labor Publications and Comrade publishers, they giving us
notice.”
Unite Against the War: posters from an exhibition of May, 1970; 1970, Western Star Press, Kentfield, CA