The Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company is an American publishing company. The company was established in Chicago, Illinois, in 1886 as Charles H. Kerr & Co. by

Charles Hope Kerr Charles Hope Kerr (April 23, 1860 – June 1, 1944), a son of abolitionists, was a vegetarian and Unitarian in 1886 when he established Charles H. Kerr & Co. in Chicago. His publishing career is noted for his views' leftward progression towar ...

, originally to promote his Unitarian views. As Kerr's personal interests moved from religion to

populism Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

to Marxism and he became interested in the

labor movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

, the company's publications took a similar turn. During the 1920s Kerr ceded control of the firm to the Proletarian Party of America, which continued the imprint as its official publishing house throughout its four decades of organized existence. Control moved again during the decade of the 1960s, this time to a circle of Chicago radicals with close affinity to the ideas of the Industrial Workers of the World, who gave the company its current operating moniker. The Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company remains in operation in the second decade of the 21st century, making it the oldest radical book publisher in America. The Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company continues to publish books. Its most recent is '' Make Love, Not War: Surrealism 1968!'', with essays by Penelope Rosemont, Don LaCoss and Michael Lowy.

History

Unitarian origins

In March 1878 a magazine called ''Unity'' had been launched by liberal supporter of the

Western Unitarian Conference Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

.Allen Ruff, ''"We Called Each Other Comrade": Charles H. Kerr & Company, Radical Publishers.'' Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1997; p. 29. The wing of the Unitarian movement represented by the new semi-monthly magazine argued that personal character rather than literal belief in a body of written dogma marked the true "test and essence of religion." These so-called "Unity Men" sought wider acceptance among Unitarians for this fundamental idea of the primacy of ethics over belief — a matter of no little controversy among the more conservative church mainstream of the day. A monthly magazine called ''Unitarian'' was established in January 1886 in an attempt to combat the ideas of the "Unity men" — who were seen as undermining Christianity in favor of what was characterized as a new "Ethical Culture." As the controversy between the dissident "ethical" Unitarians and the more conservative "doctrinal" church mainstream heated up, the former felt the need for centralized and expeditious publication of books and other materials reflecting their views. The Georgia-born

, a young man born in 1860 who had joined the staff at ''Unity'' magazine in the middle 1880s, obliged by establishing in Chicago in 1886 a publishing house for the "Unity men" called "Charles H. Kerr & Co." The Unity men aspired to promote a sound relationship between the emerging evolutionary science of the day and enlightened religious belief — or, as Kerr himself put it, "a religion that is rational and a rationalism that is religious."Charles H. Kerr, "Our Cooperative Publishing Business: How Socialist Literature is Being Circulated by Socialists." ''International Socialist Review,'' vol. 1, no. 10 (April 1901), p. 669. The flagship of the fledgling Kerr & Co. was production of the magazine ''Unity'' itself although a literary journal called ''The University'' was also briefly issued before being subsumed. In addition to books and magazines, the early Charles H. Kerr & Co. produced an array of pamphlets and hymnals for use of a network of "Unity Clubs" established around the country.Ruff, ''"We Called Each Other Comrade,"'' p. 32. Topics explored included comparative religion, advanced biblical criticism, evolutionary science, and history. In addition to Unitarian-related material, Kerr also issued a number of volumes of poetry and literature. The company maintained this orientation for approximately 7 years before making a turn to more temporal themes of economics, politics, and sociology.

Populist period

Charles H. Kerr & Co. was first incorporated in 1893, with 1,000 shares of stock authorized with a par value of $10 per share, representing a total

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...

of $10,000. That same year marked a change in the firm's direction away from religious themes and towards hard politics. The company began the publication of a new monthly magazine, initially titled ''New Occasions'' before a name change was made in July 1897 to ''

The New Time ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

.'' The "semi-socialist" publication attained a circulation of over 30,000 before being spun off as an independent commercial entity under the direction of editor

Frederick Upham Adams Frederick Upham Adams (December 10, 1859 – August 28, 1921) was an American inventor, writer, editor, and political organizer. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of an American Civil War veteran and mechanical engineer. He died on A ...

. Adams ran into financial difficulties shortly after taking over the magazine, however, and the publication was soon terminated and its subscription list sold to ''

The Arena An arena is an enclosed area that showcases theatre, musical performances or sporting events. Arena, ARENA, or the Arena may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Arena, Saskatchewan, Canada * Arena, Iran * Arena, Calabria, Italy * La ...

'', a monthly edited by

B. O. Flower Benjamin Orange Flower (October 19, 1858 – December 24, 1918), known most commonly by his initials "B.O.", was an American muckraking journalist of the Progressive era. Flower is best remembered as the editor of the liberal commentary magazin ...

. Kerr & Co. were greatly influenced by the growth of the People's Party during the 1890s and issued a wide array of titles on such prominent populist themes as

monetary reform Monetary reform is any movement or theory that proposes a system of supplying money and financing the economy that is different from the current system. Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals: * A return t ...

, railroad regulation, government control of the banking industry, and related matters. Although some of these titles skirted the edge of socialism, it was not until the spring of 1899 that a decisive turn was made to the international socialism espoused by Karl Marx. A close association was quickly established between the Kerr and Co. and a new Chicago socialist weekly newspaper edited by

A. M. Simons Algie Martin Simons (1870–1950) was an American socialist journalist, newspaper editor, and political activist, best remembered as the editor of ''International Socialist Review (1900), The International Socialist Review'' for nearly a decade. ...

, ''The Workers Call.''

Socialist publisher

In January 1900 Simons was brought on board Kerr & Co. as a vice president with a view to launching a new magazine. This would be the ''International Socialist Review (1900), International Socialist Review'' (ISR), a publication which would emerge as among the most important American socialist periodicals during the first two decades of the 20th century. The publication launched with approximately 800 subscribers and by the end of its first year had more than quadrupled this total. With additional individual issues sold in bulk an increased press run of 10,000 copies was predicted by Kerr early in 1901. The firm was funded as a socialist publisher by the sale of stock, with about $500 worth of stock taken by Kerr personally and a small handful of wealthy benefactors and a somewhat larger amount generated through sale of individual shares at $10 each.Kerr, "Our Cooperative Publishing Business," p. 670. Stockholders were not paid dividends and were offered no promise of increased valuation, but rather were allowed to purchase Kerr publications at a deep discount off cover price. The company's pocket-sized "Pocket Library of Socialism" series of 5 cent pamphlets — each covered in distinctive red cellophane — were priced as cheaply as $6 per 1,000 copies when purchased by stockholders; Kerr's small cloth-bound "Standard Socialist Series" of works by Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Karl Kautsky, and other leading theoretician (Marxism), Marxist theoreticians sold at a 50 percent discount, plus freight.Kerr, "Our Cooperative Publishing Business," p. 671. While not a lucrative business model, this promise of cheap socialist literature made the purchase of Kerr stock extremely attractive to locals of the Social Democratic Party of America and its immediate successor, the Socialist Party of America. A very close relationship developed between the company and the organized socialist movement in America, with Kerr handling the bulk of publishing book-length manuscripts and no small number of pamphlets, while the Socialist Party largely limited its publishing efforts to propaganda leaflet (information), leaflets and a somewhat tighter array of pamphlets, particularly during the party's earliest years. Kerr was noted for his translation from the French of the radical workers' movement anthem, "The Internationale;" his version became the English words sung in the United States (although a different, anonymous English translation is sung in Britain and Ireland). Kerr's version was widely circulated in the IWW's ''Little Red Songbook''. In 1906 Kerr published the first volume of Karl Marx's ''Das Kapital.'' Kerr & Co. followed this effort with the publication of volumes 2 and 3 of ''Capital,'' making use of original translations made by ''ISR'' editorial staff member Ernest Untermann and thus becoming the first publisher of this material in the world in the English language. In addition to the first English edition of Marx's Das Kapital, Kerr also published the first English edition of Friedrich Nietzsche's 'Human All Too Human' in 1908, translated by Alexander Harvey, a Belgian-born American journalist.

Increased radicalization

in 1908, publisher Charles H. Kerr, unhappy with what he perceived the scholastic and overly theoretical bent of ''International Socialist Review,'' dismissed editor Simons and himself took over the publication's editorial role, assisted by the capable radical Mary Marcy. Reflecting Kerr's own increasingly radical politics, the magazine's political line moved further to the left wing of the socialist movement, with new emphasis given to current events in the strike movement and the activity of the Industrial Workers of the World. The magazine also soon changed in form, making increased use of graphics for the illustration of rather shorter articles printed on glossier paper stock. Although a somewhat polarizing decision, alienating the moderate wing of the Socialist Party, ''ISR's'' circulation and influence grew significantly in the years following these changes. During World War I, the US government denied mailing privileges to all Kerr publications, alleging them to be seditious violations of the Espionage Act of 1917. The ban dealt a fatal blow to the ''ISR,'' never a profitable publication in the best of times. In Canada a 1918 Order in Council of the Canadian government made it illegal for any Canadian to possess any literature published by Charles H. Kerr & Co., under penalty of a $5,000 fine or five years' imprisonment.

Post-war period

Immediately after the war, Charles Kerr came into close contact with the Scottish-born Detroit radical John Keracher through the latter's "Proletarian University" movement and its need for Marxist literature. In 1920, Keracher took a faction out of the underground Communist Party of America and established a small rival organization, the Proletarian Party of America (PPA). Keracher became a member of the Kerr Board of the Directors in 1924 and in 1928 Charles Kerr sold him the bulk of his controlling shares in the firm. Thereafter, the Proletarian Party controlled the operations of Kerr & Co., publishing a number of Keracher's works, including ''How the Gods Were Made'' (1929), ''Producers and Parasites'' (1935), ''The Head-Fixing Industry'' (1935), ''Crime: Its Causes and Consequences'' (1937), and ''Frederick Engels'' (1946). Owing to poor finances and the small size of the organization, comparatively few additional Kerr titles were ever published by the PPA, although the backlist of the company was no doubt invaluable in maintaining the tiny organization's solvency.

New ownership in the 1960s

Following the departure of the Proletarian Party from the scene in the 1960s, Charles H. Kerr & Co. was kept alive by a group of midwestern radicals close to the IWW under its new moniker, Charles H. Kerr Publishing Co. Among this group was Fred W. Thompson, Joseph Giganti, Virgil J. Vogel, and Burt Rosen. Among their major publications were the “Haymarket Scrapbook” Edited by David Roediger and Franklin Rosemont” and the “Big Red Songbook” an anthology of essays and songs of the Wobblies edited by folklorist Archie Green, et al. Today, the Company advertises "Subversive literature for the whole family since 1886."

Company publications

Magazines

*''Unity'' magazine. iarchive:UnityMagazine-volumes19And20, Vol. 19-20 (1887-88) , iarchive:UnityMagazine-volumes21And22, Vol. 21-22 (1888-89) * ''The New Time'' magazine. (1897–1899). * ''International Socialist Review.'' iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol01, Vol. 1 (1900-01) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol02, Vol. 2 (1901-02) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol03, Vol. 3 (1902-03) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol04, Vol. 4 (1903-04) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol05, Vol. 5 (1904-05) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol06, Vol. 6 (1905-06) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol07, Vol. 7 (1906-07) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol08, Vol. 8 (1907-08) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol09, Vol. 9 (1908-09) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol10, Vol. 10 (1909-10) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol11, Vol. 11 (1910-11) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol12, Vol. 12 (1911-12) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol13, Vol. 13 (1912-13) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol14, Vol. 14 (1913-14) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol15, Vol. 15 (1914-15) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol16, Vol. 16 (1915-16) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReview1900Vol17, Vol. 17 (1916-17) , iarchive:InternationalSocialistReviewVol.18-1917-18, Vol. 18 (1917-18)

International Library of Social Science

The International Library of Social Science, started at the beginning of 1906. was a collection of volumes described as "positively indispensable to the student of socialism." Each volume cost ().

References

External links

* * Tim Davenport (ed.)

Early American Marxism website, www.marxisthistory.org/ * Allen Ruff
"Charles H Kerr Publishing Co. and Wisconsin's 21st Century Politics"
Shaping San Francisco, 2011.—Audio file.
Charles H. Kerr Company Records
at the Newberry Library {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in Illinois Companies based in Chicago Industrial Workers of the World in Illinois Political book publishing companies Publishing companies established in 1886