In Luisa Capetillo's three-act play written in 1907, Influences of Modern Ideas, Angelina, the daughter of a rich Puerto Rican businessman and landowner, educates herself by reading the works of European writers, philosophers, and anarchists. After reading Tolstoy's The Slavery of Our Times, she is convinced that the slavery of our times is the inflexible wage law.
As the workers go on strike in her hometown of Arecibo, Angelina tries to convince her father to give his property-home, factories, land-to the working class. The stage is set for Capetillo, a militant feminist, anarchist, and labor leader, to express her passions: the fight for workers' rights; the struggle for justice and equality, for women as well as workers; and the education of all classes and sexes. Social protest themes appear throughout Capetillo's writings. This volume combines plays, fiction, essays, propaganda, letters, poems, philosophical reflections, and journal entries in a never-before-available English translation. Also includes a facsimile of the original Spanish-language text, Influencias de las ideas modernas, first published in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1916. Most of the pieces in this collection were written between 1912 and 1916 while Capetillo was living and working as a labor leader in Tampa and Ybor City, Florida; New York City; and Havana, Cuba. The editor's comprehensive introduction surveys Luisa Capetillo's life and work, placing her ideologies in social and historical context. At once a sharp critique and a celebration of the gathering fervor of world politics, her work examines both her native Puerto Rico and the world outside, providing a sense of the workers' movement and the condition of women at the turn of the century. She embraces the humanistic thinking of the early 20th century and envisions a world in which economic and social structures can be broken down, allowing both the worker and the woman to be free.