This book is a 2-volume record of life and work of the English political activist Charles Bradlaugh (1833–1891), written by his daughter, that features his parliamentary struggle, politics and teachings. Bradlaugh was an advocate of trade unionism, republicanism, and universal suffrage, and he opposed socialism. His anti-socialism was divisive, and many secularists who became socialists left the secularist movement because of its identification with Bradlaugh's liberal individualism. He was a supporter of Irish Home Rule, and backed France during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1880, he was elected as the Liberal MP for Northampton. His attempt to affirm as an atheist ultimately led to his temporary imprisonment, fines for voting in the Commons illegally, and a number of by-elections at which he regained his seat on each occasion. Bradlaugh was finally allowed to take an oath in 1886. Eventually, a parliamentary bill which he proposed became law in 1888 which allowed members of both Houses of Parliament to affirm, if they so wished, when being sworn in. The new law resolved the issue for witnesses in civil and criminal court cases.
Part I:
Parentage and Childhood
Youth
Army Life
Marriage
Hyde Park Meetings, 1855
Early Lectures and Debates
A Clerical Libeller
The “National Reformer” and the Government Prosecutions
Italy
Platform Work, 1860–1861
“Kill the Infidel”
Debates, 1860–1866
The Reform League, 1866–1868
Provincial Lecturing, 1866–1869
Ireland
Northampton, 1868
Southwark Election, 1869
Litigation, 1867–1871
Lectures, 1870–1871
France — the War
The Commune, and After
A Dozen Debates
Republicanism and Spain
First Visit to America
Two Northampton Elections, 1874…
In the United States Again
The Prosecution of Mr Bradlaugh and Mrs Besant
An Unimportant Chapter
More Debates
Some Later Lectures
The “Watch” Story
Peace Demonstrations, 1878
The National Secular Society…
Part II (by John M. Robertson):
Philosophy and Secular Propaganda
Political Doctrine and Work
The Parliamentary Struggle
Closing Years
