Adapted from a 1955 talk, this essay starts by fixing the meaning of veganism. Cross then identifies the root of the existing relationship: humans assume a moral right to use animals for their own ends. Better treatment cannot resolve that assumption because it leaves the authority to use intact.
What this text contributes
This is the strongest of the three texts on someonehood and relationship. It explains how an animal becomes a resource in human thought, why conditions are secondary to the asserted right of use, and why food is one practice among many rather than the meaning of veganism.
“It is in itself a principle, and not a set of practices.”
Reading guide
The relationship is the issue
Cross asks what a right relationship between humans and animals would be. The present relationship begins with a human claim of authority over animals and treats their lives as available for human purposes.
Better conditions leave the right to use intact
The majority view permits animal use if hardship and suffering are reduced. Cross directs attention underneath those conditions to the prior claim that humans have a moral right to use animals at all.
Diet is one consequence
Food receives early practical emphasis because alternatives are urgently needed, but Cross is explicit that the principle also entails ending hunting, vivisection, forced labour, and every other form of exploitation.
Information should meet inward conviction
Cross opens by favouring the free flow of information over outward pressure. People should settle their conduct through inward conviction, a useful foundation for outreach that appeals to their own sense of justice.
Read the original
This page is an annotated guide, not a replacement for the text. Follow the archive links for the complete writing and page scans.
- Read the full transcript and source notesLeslie Cross archive
- View the original issue scanThe Vegan, winter 1955
Suggested citation: Leslie J. Cross, “The Vegan Story,” The Vegan, vol. 9, no. 7 (winter 1955), 16–20.