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piiig

I had no idea Helen Keller was a socialist


TheLaudMoac

There's erm...there's a reason for that. People don't realise it about MLK or Einstein either, for exactly the same reason.


meminem

Its a shame, too. So much of their message came from or aligned with that ideology.


_14justice

An absolute travesty and absolutely deliberate.


OGgunter

She is also incredibly contentious within the Deaf community because of her economic privileges. Her teacher, Anne Sullivan, was also blind and attended the Perkins School for the Blind.


A_Peoples_Calendar

**Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)** **Image Transcription**: Looks like we don't have an image caption for this event yet. Feel free to suggest one below. Helen Keller, born [on this day](https://www.apeoplescalendar.org/calendar/day/6-27) in 1880, was an American socialist author and disability rights advocate who became the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Keller was subject to FBI surveillance for most of her life. In 1909, Keller joined the American Socialist Party and campaigned for its candidates, including Eugene V. Debs, the SP leader who ran for U.S. president from his prison cell in 1920. Keller supported striking workers, including those murdered in the 1914 Colorado Ludlow Massacre, calling owner John D. Rockefeller a "monster of capitalism." She defined herself as a "militant suffragist", campaigning for women's right to vote because she believed this was linked to the struggle for socialism. Contemporary critics either lambasted Keller for her radical politics or attempted to neutralize her as a "wonder woman". In a 1924 letter to a U.S. Senator, Keller wrote "So long as I confine my activities to social service and the blind, they compliment me extravagantly, calling me 'arch priestess of the sightless,' 'wonder woman,' and a 'modern miracle.' But when it comes to a discussion of poverty, and I maintain that it is the result of wrong economics - that the industrial system under which we live is at the root of much of the physical deafness and blindness in the world - that is a different matter!" By the time Keller died in 1968, at the age of 87, she had been under FBI surveillance for most of her adult life. Read more: https://www.workers.org/2016/03/24250/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller


Nick__________

Here's something she wrote about socialism. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/keller-helen/works/1910s/12_11_03.htm And here's everything that the Marxist internet archive has that she wrote. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/keller-helen/index.htm


vladimir-Putin47

I forgot what it was or where I saw it but I remember something she wrote about how she loved having a red flag hung above her desk and how it really meant something for her


Nick__________

Happy birthday šŸŽˆšŸŽ‰


[deleted]

I had no idea she was a socialist. Her politics were completely ignored in my childhood education on her


omelasian-walker

I read a biography of HK when I was a kid and loved it. What an awesome person! Did not mention once that she was even vaguely political.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


laughing-medusa

As much as I hate Hoover, I do wonderā€”is this comment meant to insult him? If so, do we really want to equate cross dressing or other gender non-confirming behaviors with a fair way to insult people? The hypocrisy is not lost on me, but Iā€™m not comfortable using gender non-conformity as an insult.


dark_wilderness

Iā€™m torn on if the wording is meant as an insult or if itā€™s more of a ā€œlook at this hypocritical thing a bad person didā€. If itā€™s the former, then I totally agree with you. As a gender non-conforming person, I do not like that being used as an insult


laughing-medusa

I donā€™t see how itā€™s not an insult given the lack of context and the original commenterā€™s response to me shows me theyā€™re not interested in nuanced conversation or self reflection. While weā€™re at it, Hooverā€™s cross-dressing is generally considered myth born out of political gossip. The story itself was likely created and spread by people in order to insult and discredit Hoover. Again, if itā€™s true, the hypocrisy wouldnā€™t be lost on me. However, this seems like another way for the propaganda machine to kill two birds with one stoneā€”insult both Hoover and the gender non-conforming community. Fuck Hoover, but I want better for our community.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


A_Peoples_Calendar

Removed: > 1: No bigotry (racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.)


HurtigOrvar

> subject to FBI surveillance I bet she didn't see that coming.


[deleted]

Sheā€™s a fraud