Talk:Alfred Henry Lewis

9 meals from anarchy

Without citation, there is a tidbit widely repeated on the internet: "In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.”"

I have found no legitimate citation, just people mentioning it, including survivalists/preppers. The quote is also variously attributed to Trotsky, Lenin, Frederick Upham Adams, Heinlein, Niven, Red Dwarf, lol. If anyone has read through his stuff and can find a citation, that would be awesome. Tkech (talk) 16:52, 21 June 2020 (UTC)

Here's the original quotation from New York Journal (New York [N.Y.]), October 13, 1896:

Those of us who are well fed, well garmented and well ordered, ought not to forget that necessity makes frequently the root of crime. It is well for us to recollect that even in our own law-abiding, not to say virtuous cases, the only barrier between us and anarchy is the last nine meals we've had. It may be taken as axiomatic that a starving man is never a good citizen. With this in our mind, what shall be said of the man who arranges famine, who forces a labor strike with its privation, its rioting, its disorder, its bayonet thrusting, and its blood-letting as an incident in his money heaping? If necessity breeds crime, what is he who creates the necessity?

Devourthemoon (talk) 04:02, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

References