The Chicago Seed

An Alternative Voice From An Underground Source

By Amy Martin

"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one."—A. J. Liebling

The Chicago Seed was an underground, biweekly newspaper published in Chicago from 1967-1971. It, like many other independent publications of the era, was organized in response to the mainstream media's disregard for those opinions valued by the countercultural movement. Cultural and political activists sought an alternative media through which to promote their views and found resources through membership with both LNS (Liberation News Service), and UPS (Underground Press Syndicate). Both organizations were affiliated with The Seed, supporting the paper that, begun as a celebration of peace, love and various drugs, had, at the end of its four year run, become a politically engaged compilation of social commentary and appeals for revolutionary involvement.

By incorporating revolutionary ideals through a union of both presentation and content, The Chicago Seed created a visual declaration of the spirit of the countercultural movement in Chicago. The editors of The Seed hoped to create a kind of ongoing dialogue with the community at large, making their publication easily accessible at bookstores across the city.

The Seed's design mirrored its politics. In contrast to the strict black and white columned format of typical newsprint, The Seed favored a more expressive aesthetic, reflecting the sense of upheaval spreading throughout the city. Article text does not adhere to justified margins, but instead seems to flow around and across the colorful graphics and illustrations accompanying most articles. Shading effects blur and confuse the distinction between feature articles and the paper's advertisements, as The Seed creates a maze of text, with articles jumping from page to page without warning. This chaotic design reflected the sense of revolution and cultural and political turbulence of the time, but such creativity came at a price, as articulated by one reader in a Letter to the Editor—"the Seed is the most imaginative paper ever printed, but its content is often nil" (Volume 3, No. 5).

The Seed's content was focused on appeals for an interchange of action and ideas promoted through its articles, advertisements, and features. Beginning with a disclaimer, one issue proposes, "Volume 3, No. 12 of the Seed is a wave that laps at the edges of our collective and individual consciousness. Contradictions are the product of personal freedom. They will be resolved in favor of collective harmony". This brief statement asserts The Seed's engagement with the cooperative force of the community, both as a collective readership and as a civil force. The paper also included a "Movement Scoreboard," dedicated to reporting updates on the actions and developments of revolutionary groups. The style was as straightforward as the box scores in your typical Sports section (Volume 3, No. 13). Including briefs on the Black Panthers, Young Lords, Young Patriots, SDS, White Panthers, and Dopers, the "Movement Scoreboard" informally detailed sentencing information, arrests, and trial announcements.

For example, one week the paper reported that nine Seed staff and contributing members were arrested for conducting a "small recreation of the convention". The accompanying article cited the injustice of the arrest but focused more on rallying readers in support of their Seed editors, pleading "We go to trial October 20 at 321 North LaSalle, come and see us there [...] We need money [...] If you can help with the money or were a witness to any of the arrest, call or write us at the Seed". This personal appeal was sure to garner support and action from readers who related to, and felt a sense of community and familiarity with, the staff of the Seed who so openly injected not only their views and beliefs, but their very selves into each issue. Proposing a communal effort to make a visible change, the Seed worked to enliven people throughout the span of its readership. In one issue they wrote,

People are leaving the Seed, the cities, and even in a few cases, the planet [...] It's always darkest before dawn, It acts on us, too, and sometimes we wander away from the community. This is Volume 4, No. 13, and we hope that it brings us closer to you, even as it brings us closer to an awareness of exactly how important it is to change things around. Together we can find the ways.

Promoting local opportunities for the public to organize, advertisements also served as a means through which to inspire readers, calling for people to act out and get involved in the movement. This approach placed value and importance on readers' specific issues and concerns. For example, one advertisement read:

Repression is everywhere [...] People are beginning to respond [...] Here in Chicago, people are fed up with having our people killed [...] We have had enough. Everybody, and especially everybody on the North Side, should fight back. Come to the 'Defense Meeting February 8, 1970'. Some of the issues to be discussed: All cops out of our schools, An end to the Gang Intelligence Unit, Control of the housing project cops housing project residents, No more cops at community meetings, No more stop and frisk, No more unreasonable bail. Come, and put a stop to the shit that is going down. Bring your problems, cases, and ideas.

Incorporating the revolutionary spirit and energy of the movements of the sixties and seventies into both the presentation and content of the popular underground newspaper, The Chicago Seed took the issues and struggles of value to the countercultural movement, and brought them to light and to the people. With design straying as far as possible from the rigid, monochromatic columns of mainstream papers, The Chicago Seed's spreads reflect the spirit of insurgency ripe in Chicago. Engaging readers on a personal level and adopting a tone of familiarity, at times even crudeness, writers and editors of The Chicago Seed made the radically political content of every issue accessible from a streetwise perspective, further echoing a move towards collective revolution. With this approach, The Chicago Seed became an essential resource pointing the community towards action and providing the community with activists.