'The anti-man Crusade' - Ernest Belfort Bax, 1913.

WomenAreAlwaysRigh · 2014-05-02T00:09:06+00:00

From the essay:

Again, according to the law of England, the right to maintenance accrues solely to the woman. Formerly this privilege was made dependent on her cohabitation with the man and generally decent behaviour to him. Now even these limitations cease to be operative, while the man is liable to imprisonment and confiscation of any property he may have. A wife is now at full liberty to leave her husband, while she retains her right to get her husband sent to gaol if he refuses to maintain her – to put the matter shortly, the law imposes upon the wife no legally enforceable duties whatever towards her husband. The one thing which it will enforce with iron vigour is the wife’s right of maintenance against her husband. In the case of a man of the well-to-do classes, the man’s property is confiscated by the law in favour of his wife. In the case of a working man the law compels her husband to do corvée for her, as the feudal serf had to do for his lord. The wife, on the other hand, however wealthy, is not compelled to give a farthing towards the support of her husband, even though disabled by sickness or by accident; the single exception in the latter case being should he become chargeable to the parish, in which case the wife would have to pay the authorities a pauper’s rate for his maintenance. In a word, a wife has complete possession and control over any property she may possess, as well as over her earnings; the husband, on the other hand, is liable to confiscation of capitalised property or earnings at the behest of the law courts in favour of his wife. A wife may even make her husband bankrupt on the ground of money she alleges that she lent him; a husband, on the other hand, has no claim against his wife for any money advanced, since a husband is supposed to give, and not to lend, his wife money, or other valuables.

DavidByron2 · 2014-05-02T02:44:41+00:00

He mostly wrote about socialism of course. Here's a list of his stuff at marxists.org

http://www.marxists.org/archive/bax/

It is not often remembered especially on this board but the original men's movement was and is the labor movement -- socialism. The labor movement was about improving working men's rights within the traditional male sphere -- paid outside work. Ordinary men never had power within their "male sphere" the way that ordinary working women had power within their traditional women's sphere. Industrialisation made it much worse as capitalism created hugely exploitative working conditions under the threat of unemployment (itself largely absent in a rural economy).

tallwheel · 2014-05-02T00:55:56+00:00

There is an ernestbelfortbax.com? That's awesome.

Title	'The anti-man Crusade' - Ernest Belfort Bax, 1913.
Author	WomenAreAlwaysRigh
Upvotes	3
Comments	3
Date	May 2, 2014 12:07 AM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/24i1h8/the_antiman_crusade_ernest_belfort_bax_1913/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/the-anti-man-crusade-ernest-belfort-bax-1913.1001106 https://theredarchive.com/post/1001106

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