Harry Kelly (anarchist)
Harry Kelly | |
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Modern School movement |
Harry May Kelly (1871–1953) was an American
Biography
Early life and work
Born in a thirteen-room house in Saint Charles, Missouri and
Years in England
Kelly is one of the living Anarchists who contribute real thought to the movement, a man who can state his theory of society in scientific, logical and precise manner and in convincing language.
Scholar Lawrence Veysey observed that Kelly shared with his father "at least two major traits—a migratory restlessness and a certain interest in books and ideas".[7] Kelly moved to England in 1898, partly to meet his father's relatives, but also to engage with London's renowned circle of anarchist revolutionaries, a prospect which he had looked forward to with impatience.[2][7] It was there, among newfound friends and comrades, anarchist thinkers and propagandists, that Kelly spent his happiest days, and in the words of Havel "fortified his ideal with historical, economical and social facts and data".[2]
In England, he worked alongside prominent anarchist intellectual Peter Kropotkin, with whom he formed a close friendship, visiting the Russian often at his home in Bromley, Kent and finding him to be an enthusiastic comrade and great teacher.[2] Though he became increasingly less active in the labor movement whilst in England, he collaborated on the prominent London anarchist newspaper Freedom, alongside Kropotkin, Tcherkesow, Louise Michel, Max Nettlau and John Turner until his return to the United States in 1904.[1][2][8]
Return to America
On his return from Europe, Kelly continued selling printing equipment for American Machine and Foundry until 1920, with the exception of several weeks in 1911 when he became a full-time professional organizer for the
Thought and activism
On his return to the United States from England, Kelly established libertarian communities and schools in
He was a close friend of
In a speech celebrating Kelly's fiftieth birthday, Havel elaborated:
Yet Kelly is not satisfied with having merely a desire; what he is longing for is to translate his desire into deeds. He is not content in having an ideal --- lie works for the realization of his ideal. Consequently he is always willing to put aside his private life and to act at every opportunity as speaker, organizer or writer , as the occasion requires. Like Francisco Ferrer, the martyred founder of the Modern Schools in Spain, he has to preach the gospel at all times.
— Havel, Hippolyte, Harry Kelly: An Appreciation by Hippolyte Havel, January 23, 1921
Kelly's attitude towards his life divided between wage labor and activism was one of ambivalence.[1]
Death
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Kelly died in New Rochelle, New York in 1953.[6] He was buried near the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument at Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois.
Works online
- 1908: "Anarchism: A Plea for the Impersonal", in Mother Earth, Vol. II, No. 12 (February 1908). 555–562.
- 1912: "A Review of the Year", in Mother Earth, Vol. VI, No. 11 (January 1912). 331–334.
See also
Education portal
References
- ^ JSTOR 2712642.
- ^ Anarchy Archives. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
- ^ Glassgold 2001, p. 385
- ^ a b c Veysey 1978, p. 91
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 155
- ^ a b c Trahair 1999, p. 213
- ^ a b Veysey 1978, p. 92
- ^ Avrich 1988, p. 156
- ^ Buchan, Perdita. "Utopia, NJ", New Jersey Monthly, February 7, 2008. Accessed February 27, 2011. "Free Acres had some famous residents in those heady early days: actors James Cagney and Jersey City–born Victor Kilian, writers Thorne Smith (Topper) and MacKinlay Kantor (Andersonville), and anarchist Harry Kelly, who helped found the Ferrer Modern School, centerpiece of the anarchist colony at Stelton in present-day Piscataway."
- ^ Perlin 1979, p. 8
- ^ Avrich 1992, p. 221
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-691-00609-1.
- OCLC 59858243.
- ISBN 1-904859-27-5.
- Glassgold, Peter (2001). Anarchy!: An Anthology of Emma Goldman's "Mother Earth". Washington: Counterpoint. ISBN 1-58243-040-3.
- Perlin, Terry (1979). Contemporary Anarchism. New Brunswick: Transaction Books. ISBN 0-87855-097-6.
- Trahair, Richard (1999). Utopias and Utopians. Westport: Greenwood Press. p. 213. ISBN 0-313-29465-8.
- ISBN 0-226-85458-2.
Further reading
- Gay, Kathlyn; Gay, Martin (1999). "Kelly, Harry". Encyclopedia of Political Anarchy. ISBN 978-0-87436-982-3.
- Sutton, Robert P. (2005). "Kelly, Harry". Modern American Communes: A Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-313-32181-8.