Albert Meltzer
Albert Meltzer | |
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Anarchist |
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Albert Isidore Meltzer (7 January 1920 – 7 May 1996) was an English
Early life
Meltzer was born in
As the
Views
Meltzer believed that the only true type of anarchism was communistic. He opposed the individualist anarchism of people such as Benjamin Tucker, believing that the private police that some individualists support would constitute a government.[5]
Activism
Albert Meltzer was a contributor in the 1950s to the long-running anarchist paper Freedom before leaving in 1965 to start his own venture Wooden Shoe Press. Soon Meltzer was to be involved in a long and bitter dispute with fellow anarchist and former comrade at Freedom Press Vernon Richards which entangled many of their associates and the organisations with which they were involved and continued after both their deaths. Although the feud started in a dispute arising from the possibility of Wooden Shoe moving into Freedom premises, there were also political differences. Meltzer advocated a more firebrand and proletarian variety of anarchism than Richards and often denounced him and the Freedom collective as "liberals".
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Meltzer was a co-founder of the anarchist newspaper
Meltzer also was involved in the founding of the
Meltzer also helped to found the Kate Sharpley Library.[8] He was involved in producing the library's publications, and helped shape its philosophy.[9]
He joined the
Acting on behalf of – and with – the boy's natural father, in 1983 he was charged with harbouring an 8-year-old boy who had been kidnapped by his birth mother from his adoptive mother on the way to school.[10] He was acquitted.[11] The birth mother was under the mistaken belief that she could not be convicted of kidnapping her natural child, the law having changed weeks earlier. She was later acquitted because she was under the mistaken belief that her son was being abused. Reporting of the case in City Limits described Meltzer as a 'gentle and generous soul who is one of the leading figures in British anarchism'. Police examination of seized diaries and address books led them to interview a doctor specialising in diseases of the gums, something Meltzer himself attributed to his poor handwriting and the similarity of the words gun and gum.[11]
Notes and references
- ^ ISBN 9781873176931. Archivedfrom the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Meltzer (1996), I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels - Chapter I, archived from the original on 6 October 2019, retrieved 25 February 2019
- ^ "Obituary Albert Meltzer". The Times. London. 15 May 1996. p. 21.
- ^ Nicolas Walter, obituary,The Independent, 10 May 1996.
- ^ "Metlzer, Albert. Anarchism: For and Against, AK Press". Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2006.
- ^ "Anarchism: Arguments for and against". Spunk Library. Archived from the original on 25 October 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ Henry, Georgina (ed.). "Flowers". The Guardian. Vol. 96. p. 233.
- ^ "Kate Sharpley Library History". Kate Sharpley Library. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
- ^ "Albert Meltzer and the fight for working class history". KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library (76): 3. October 2013. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
- ^ "Two face child snatch charges". The Daily Telegraph. 28 November 1983. p. 17.
- ^ a b "24 The New Left; "Anarchy'; Lost Weekend; Venice Observed". Kate Sharpley Library. Archived from the original on 11 May 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
External links
- Anarchist Archives entry on Meltzer link checked 16 June 2009
- Articles by or about Meltzer collected on libcom.org link checked 16 June 2009
- Albert Meltzer page at the Kate Sharpley Library link checked 16 June 2009
- I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels: Sixty Years of Commonplace Life and Anarchist Agitation - Published by AK Press
- Black Flag no. 208, June 1996. An edited version also appeared in The Guardianlink checked 16 June 2009
- Aileen O'Carroll An obituary for Meltzer link checked 16 June 2009
- John Patten "Albert Meltzer 1920–1996: a tribute", Kate Sharpley Library, originally appeared Freedom v. 63 No. 16, 10 August 2002. link checked 16 June 2009
- Nicolas Walter "Obituary: Albert Meltzer" Obituary by longtime associate of Freedom Press, The Independent Friday, 10 May 1996 (Note legal notice) link checked 16 June 2009
- Ros Wynne-Jones "After the anarchy, the comedy" The Independent Sunday, 26 May 1996. Report on funeral and feud. link checked 16 June 2009
- Donald Rooum "Freedom, Freedom Press and Freedom Bookshop: A short history of Freedom Press" Information for Social Change Number 27 Summer 2008, pp. 29–36 ISSN 1364-694X includes an account of the feud with Vernon Richards from an associate of Richards. link checked 16 June 2009.