Wooden Shoe Books
Encyclopedia
Wooden Shoe Books & Records is an infoshop
run on the principles of consensus decision-making by an all-volunteer anarchist collective
in Philadelphia. It has existed for 34 years. The current storefront is located at 704 South Street.
peasants often resisted early industrial capitalism
by tossing their wooden shoes into the gears of a factory machine, in order to get a break after having worked long hours.
The early founders of the Wooden Shoe collective were members of Philadelphia Solidarity (PS), a group of labor-orientated libertarian socialists
. Along with others interested in working-class struggle, PS opened the store in December 1976. It was located on 112 South 20th street, right near Sansom Street, in Philadelphia.
The store was vandalized
on October 8, 1978. Members of the collective flooded the store’s floor with water, ruining most of the inventory. The Wooden Shoe on 20th and Sansom burnt to the ground on February 12, Ash Wednesday
, 1997 in an electrical fire.
As of December 2006, The Wooden Shoe's application for 501(c)3 status with the Internal Revenue Service
to become a non-profit organization
was approved.
Infoshop
An infoshop is a storefront or social center that serves as a node for the distribution of political information, typically in the form of books, zines, stickers and posters. Infoshops often serve as a meeting space and resource hub for local activist groups....
run on the principles of consensus decision-making by an all-volunteer anarchist collective
Collective
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project to achieve a common objective...
in Philadelphia. It has existed for 34 years. The current storefront is located at 704 South Street.
History
The collective gets its name from the "sabot" (French for "wooden shoe"). FrenchFrench people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
peasants often resisted early industrial capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
by tossing their wooden shoes into the gears of a factory machine, in order to get a break after having worked long hours.
The early founders of the Wooden Shoe collective were members of Philadelphia Solidarity (PS), a group of labor-orientated libertarian socialists
Libertarian socialism
Libertarian socialism is a group of political philosophies that promote a non-hierarchical, non-bureaucratic, stateless society without private property in the means of production...
. Along with others interested in working-class struggle, PS opened the store in December 1976. It was located on 112 South 20th street, right near Sansom Street, in Philadelphia.
The store was vandalized
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
on October 8, 1978. Members of the collective flooded the store’s floor with water, ruining most of the inventory. The Wooden Shoe on 20th and Sansom burnt to the ground on February 12, Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
, 1997 in an electrical fire.
As of December 2006, The Wooden Shoe's application for 501(c)3 status with the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
to become a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
was approved.
External links
- Wooden Shoe Books & Music official site
- Wooden Shoe Books on Infoshop.org
- Wooden Shoe Hologram Example of Wooden Shoe Hologram