S.C.U.M. Society for Cutting Up Men Manifesto.: With an Introduction by Vivian Gornick.

London: The Olympia Press,, 1971. First UK edition, first impression. Solanas wrote this radical feminist text between 1965 and 1967, originally self-publishing mimeographed copies to distribute in New York (selling them for one dollar to women, two dollars to men), the text of which differs slightly to this edition and lacks the introductions by Maurice Girodias and Vivian Gornick added here. The manifesto opens: "Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and destroy the male sex". The controversial text, which has been interpreted both straightforwardly and as a parody on patriarchal philosophical tracts, has become notorious. It is nevertheless now seen as a key piece of the 1960s feminist canon, with radical feminist activists of the time finding within it "something no one else was articulating: a wild and uncompromising insistence that female subordination was utterly primal. What it voiced was new and profoundly compelling: incandescent, unladylike rage, which, once unleashed, fundamentally reshaped the women's movement" (Hamilton). In 1968 Solanas was sentenced to a three-year prison term for shooting Andy Warhol, an event referenced on the rear cover of this work. Solanas's life was the basis for the 1996 film I Shot Andy Warhol. Octavo. Original pictorial paper wrappers, lettering to to spine in white, and to front cover in black and white. Front cover image of Solanas by Fred W. McDarrah. Minor rubbing to edges, small faint damp stain to outer edge, contents clean. A very good copy indeed, bright and fresh. Marybeth Hamilton, "Remembering 1968: The S.C.U.M. Manifesto for the Society for Cutting up Men" in History Workshop Journal, July 2018.