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J.A Andrews was a Melbourne anarchist and publisher. As a journalist he contributed to Melbourne Punch, Sydney Bulletin, Melbourne Herald.

In 1887 he became active in the Melbourne Anarchist Club. He was a leading theoretician, influence by Kropotkin’s anacho-communism as well as editing latter issues of the clubs magazine, Honesty.

Andrews moved to New South Wales, where he edited Anarchy (1891) and published a regular magazine Revolt. In 1894 he published A Handbook of Anarchy. He was arrested for its publication and gaoled for three months, and then subsequently goaled for a further 5 months for seditious libel in Revolt. He returned to Victoria, where he published Each according to his needs, and a short-lived magazine entitled Reason.

See Andrew Reeves, 'Andrews, John Arthur (1865 - 1903)', Australian Dictionary of Biography Online.

While he retained his anarchism as an ideal, he gave support to emerging Labor Party. He was appointed editor of the labour newspaper, Tocsin, early in 1900s through his friendship with fellow poet Bernard O’Dowd.

He died in 1903.

Resources

Journals

• Honesty, April 1887 to Nov 1888. Image PDF Details
• Reason: A Monthy Magazine of Social and General Philosophy, no. 2, J.A. Andrews [This scan courtesy of the State Library of Victoria], Melbourne, 15 March, 26 pp. images PDF Details
• Reason: A Monthy Magazine of Social and General Philosophy, no. 1, J.A. Andrews [This scan courtesy of the State Library of Victoria], Melbourne, 1 Jauary, 1896, 20 pp. images PDF Details

Newspapers

• Andrade, David A. (ed.), 'Honesty', An outspoken advocate of social reform on the basis of Justice, Equity, & Liberty, vol. 2, no. 1, Cooperative Publishing Company, Melbourne, February 1889, 8 pp. PDF Details

Newspaper Articles

• Andrews, J. A., 'Australian Socialist League, Melbourne', Australian Radical (Newcastle, N.S.W.), 26 January 1889. Image PDF Details
• Andrews, J. A., 'Nihilism', Australian Radical (Newcastle, N.S.W.), 10 November 1888. Image PDF Details
• Andrews, J.A., 'What is communism?', Australian Radical (Newcastle, N.S.W.), 17 August 1889. Image PDF Details
• Andrews, J.A., 'Communist-anarchism V. individualist proprietism', Australian Radical (Newcastle, N.S.W.), 2 February 1889. Image PDF Details
• Andrews, J.A., 'The kernel of things', New Order (Sydney), 1 September 1894. Image PDF Details

Pamphlets

• Andrews, J.A., The social question, To lighten the darkness of society and abate the present class warfare by uniting the conscientous and intelligent of all the classess in the earnest REVOLT against the bondage of social superstitions and barabarisms, J.A. Andrews, Sydney, 1894. Image PDF Details

Songs

• Andrews, J.A., Sons of the south, Barrier Socialist Songster, Broken Hill. Image PDF Details