Helen Keller

[Clarksist]

I recently read on the always absolutely correct Wikipedia [/sarcasm] that Helen Keller was an anarchist. Apparently she wrote a lot for IWW and originally was a big advocate of Eugene's Socialist Party bids. Just wanted to confirm or negate any of this information.

[which doctor]

I've never read that she was necessarily an anarchist, but she was a socialist who became more radical in her later years. And yes, she was a member of the IWW.

[chimx]

i believe she hung a soviet flag in her office, though i believe was a member of the SPUSA

[Janus]

Helen Keller Socialist archive (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/keller-helen/index.htm)

[TC]

Like many members of the IWW (which, is not an anarchist organization, its syndicalist union) Helen Keller was a Marxist (pro-Soviet, pro-Lenin) not an Anarchist, in fact, she didn't especially care for Anarchists:

Helen Keller sayz:

No revolution was ever a sudden outbreak of lawlessness and wreckage incited by an unholy brood of cranks, anarchists and pedagogues...

The Russian Revolution did not originate with Lenin. It had hovered for centuries in the dreams of Russian mystics and patriots, but when the body of Lenin was laid in simple state in the Kremlin, all Russia trembled and wept.[/b] The mouths of hungry enemies fed on new hopes, but the spirit of Lenin descended upon the weeping multitude as with cloven tongues of fire, and they spoke one to another and were not afraid. "Let us not follow him with cowering hearts," they said, "let us rather gird ourselves for the task he has left us. Where our dull eyes see only ruin, his clearer sight discovers the road by which we shall gain our liberty. Revolution he sees, yea, and even disintegration which symbolizes disorder is in truth the working of God's undeviating order; and the manner of our government shall be no less wonderful than the manner of our deliverance. If we are steadfast, the world will be quickened to courage by our deeds."

Men vanish from earth leaving behind them the furrows they have ploughed. I see the furrow Lenin left sown with the unshatterable seed of a new life for mankind, and cast deep below the rolling tides of storm and lightning, mighty crops for the ages to reap.

... [/b] -Midstream: My Later Life, 1929 Helen Keller


I love Russia and all who stand loyally by her in her mighty wrestlings with the giant powers of ignorance and imperialist greed. When I first heard of the glorious words, "Soviet Republic of Russia," it was as if a new light shone through my darkness. I felt that the sun of a better day had risen upon the world. Those glowing, hope-inspiring words, "Soviet Republic of Russia," meant that at last the principles of truth, justice and brotherhood had gained a foothold upon earth, and this thought has run like a shinging furrow through the dark years that have intervened. We have witnessed Russia's superhuman struggle in a world blinded by avarice and calumny. But despite intriques and blockades and the wicked misinterpretations of a stupid, dishonest press, she stands today firmly entrenced in her just cause, while the old social order is collapsing at her feet. ...

If the workers would only use their minds a little, instead of letting others do their thinking for them, they would see quickly through the flimsy arguments of the newspapers they read. They are told that the famine in Russia is caused by "Marxian socialism," and that four years of Bolshevism have brought Russia to the doors of the world begging for bread. If that is true, what has caused the famine in China? What is the cause of undernourishment in some of our southern states? And what is the cause of unemployment throughout this great, rich land? Begging for bread is not uncommon within the capitalistic nations, and these days we hear a great deal of soup kitchens and the bread line. These phenomena occur even in times which the newspapers are accustomed to speak of as "prosperous."

...
-The Toiler, November 19, 1921 Helen Keller


So, there you go.

[Cryotank Screams]

unholy brood of cranks, anarchists and pedagogues...

Unholy broods? And I half expected to be called a demonic no-good knave, but at any rate she appears to have a serious lack of knowledge on Anarchism, Anarchists, and Anarchist praxis, so it is safe to say she wasn't an Anarchist, and by the look of the quotes below, she seems like a Leninist/Lenin worshipper.


the spirit of Lenin descended upon the weeping multitude as with cloven tongues of fire


I see the furrow Lenin left sown with the unshatterable seed of a new life for mankind, and cast deep below the rolling tides of storm and lightning, mighty crops for the ages to reap.

These sound like plagirized bible verses, and to see what I mean, replace Lenin's name, with that of jesus, lol.

[Fawkes]

Yeah, I knew she was a Wobbly but I had never heard anything about her being an anarchist.

[Red October]

likewise. i've never heard anything about her being an anarchist, but i also didnt know she was a marxist. i just thought she was a socialist like debs.

[TC]

In fairness to Helen Keller the lenin-hero-worshipy extract was from a an autobiography; her writing in political publications is a lot less gushy and easier to take seriously (like, "End the Blockade of Soviet Russia").

[Clarksist]

Yeah, I knew she was a Wobbly but I had never heard anything about her being an anarchist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Anarchism

Go down to Famous Anarchists.

That is where I found it... apparently somebody needs to change that... somebody... <_<