Anarchy in the PA

The Wooden Shoe celebrates 30 years of subverting the man.

by Will Dean

anniversaries

On the steps in front of Wooden Shoe Books, Philly's all-volunteer anarchist bookstore, there's one word: Forward. The tiled directive is a relic from the early 20th century, when the building housed a Jewish Socialist newspaper of the same name. The spirit and desire for change the word represents dovetail nicely with the now 30-year-old store.

Members of Philadelphia Solidarity, a group of active left-wing organizers in the 1960s and '70s, originally founded the Shoe in the tiny basement of a building on 20th and Sansom streets in 1976.

"It was a mixture of left-wing ideologies, with socialists, communists and anarchists, at the beginning," says James Generic, a member for six years and its unofficial historian — he wrote his senior thesis at Temple about the Shoe. "Then in the '80s it became more anarchist."

Photo By: Michael T. Regan

With its radical politics the Shoe would seem a lightning rod for negative attention, but according to Albo Jeavons, a staffer for the last 24 years, the store has had a relatively peaceful three decades. The only physical assault on the store was actually by some of its own members. On the night of Oct. 8, 1978, some collective members who felt that by actually selling books the Shoe was stifling revolution, broke in and stopped the toilet, destroying most of the stock. Jeavons recalls that years later the Shoe received an apology from one of the perpetrators with a check for a few hundred dollars.

Mostly, the Wooden Shoe has been a magnet for innovative thought.

It hosted the 1993 Mid-Atlantic Anarchist Gathering, as well as activist superstars Howard Zinn and Gary Webb, author of Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras.

Then, on Feb. 12, 1996, Ash Wednesday, an electrical fire destroyed the store. Using money from insurance and fundraisers, the members opened up their larger and present location at Fifth and South streets.

Now there are about 45 active members in the Wooden Shoe collective, but Generic estimates that over 2,000 people have worked there over the years.

Thirty years is a long time for any business to stay afloat. But it's an especially long time when you're in the business of not making money. Instead of succumbing to the profit motive, the Shoe spreads information about alternatives to capitalism and centralized authority. "It's good to keep these ideas out there. We're like those Irish monks and Muslim scholars who copied books," Generic says, referring to the practice of hand-copying ancient texts to preserve them during the Middle Ages in Europe.

The Shoe's preservationists, though, are more concerned with providing information for the present than for posterity. The store's an "infoshop," part of a group of informally associated (see www.infoshops.org and www.infoshopnetwork.org places offering information about anarchist communities and local social justice activism. Some are simply open spaces with books and magazines, but most are bookshops.

Although the Shoe is not officially affiliated with other groups, its members are active outside the store. Former Shoe staffers started West Philly's A-Space, and members are also active in Anarchist Black Cross, Act Up, Philly's Pissed, Philly Stands Up, and numerous other groups.

"The Shoe is an important space not just as a bookstore but as an organizing center for different groups," says John Prisk of Anarchist Black Cross, a group that does support work for prisoners and used the basement for group meetings before getting an office in West Philly's LAVA Space.

The Shoe is also a destination. Recently a man walked in and announced, "I've been traveling and I just got into the city." Staffer Emre Ozdemir invited him in and showed him some fliers for local events.

The man, who requested anonymity, has spent the last 15 years hopping freight trains across America. Infoshops are invaluable to him when arriving in a new place.

Welcoming new people is important to the Shoe. "During the '80s there was a conflict between the original labor-organizer founders and the new punk-rock-squatter members," Generic explains. "Punk is great... [but] we hope to be part of a bigger movement for social justice."

That spirit of openness, along with new members, has helped fuel a resurgence. The collective just received federal nonprofit status, which they hope will help them provide even more of a base for local groups. "We want to use the donations to set up a community grant program to help local groups have events which we couldn't do with just the money we got from the bookshop," says Aaron Marcus, who worked on the Shoe's non-profit application. In addition, the Shoe is now hosting movie nights every other Saturday, and just opened up the basement so groups can use it for meetings.

"I've seen this place go through a lot of different phases," Jeavons reflects, "and this is the most cohesive and involved it's ever been."

(w_dean@citypaper.net)

The Wooden Shoe celebrates its 30th anniversary with an all day party at the store on Sun., Dec. 10, 508 S. 5th St., 215-413-0999, www.woodenshoebooks.com, and a dance party on Fri., Dec. 29, at Sal's on 12th, 200 S. 12th St., 215-731-9930.