Charles Hope Kerr (April 23, 1860 – June 1, 1944), a son of

abolitionists Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

, was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

and Unitarian in 1886 when he established Charles H. Kerr & Co. in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. His publishing career is noted for his views' leftward progression toward

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and support for the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

Biography

Early life

Charles' father, Alexander Kerr was born in

Fetterangus Fetterangus ( gd, Fothair Aonghais, sco, Fishie) is a small village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, located just to the north of Mintlaw. Fetterangus is often called "Fishie", though the origin of this nickname is unknown. Lord Pitfour is credited ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He was the son of George and Helen Legge Kerr. When he was about seven the family emigrated first to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and then three years later in 1838 to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

Career

Kerr started his career at a Unitarian publisher and joined the staff of the ''Unity'' magazine in the mid-1880s. To support the magazine, he eventually established his own publishing house Charles H. Kerr & Co. in 1893. Influenced by the US People's Party, Kerr began to publish more political works on topics like land reform, including a new monthly magazine ''New Occasions''. In January 1900,

Algie Martin 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. ...

was hired by Kerr to launch a new, more explicitly socialist magazine, what would become the '' International Socialist Review''. Over the years, Kerr's company became a leading publisher of socialist, communist, anarchist, and

Wobbly The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...

works. In 1908, Kerr fired Simons and assumed responsibility for the ''International Socialist Review'' when it was a major left-wing voice within the

Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...

Kerr was noted for his translation from the French of the radical workers' anthem, "

The Internationale "The Internationale" (french: "L'Internationale", italic=no, ) is an international anthem used by various communist and socialist groups; currently, it serves as the official anthem of the Communist Party of China. It has been a standard of th ...

;" 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 ''

Little Red Songbook 180px, The ''Little Red Songbook'' Since the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) songs have played a large part in spreading the message of the One Big Union. The songs are preserved in the ''Little Red Songbook''. Definition ...

'' of the

. Kerr was active in partisan politics as well. He was on the National Campaign Committee of the

Social Democratic Party of America The Social Democratic Party of America (SDP) was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1898. The group was formed out of elements of the Social Democracy of America (SDA) and was a predecessor to the Socialist Party of ...

and later the

. He was on the executive committee of the

Socialist Party of Chicago The Chicago Socialist Party (CSP) is the local chapter of the Socialist Party USA in Chicago, Illinois and traces its origins back to the Cook County Socialist Party and the Socialist Party of America. It is a democratic socialist organization t ...

, including a brief stint as treasurer. He was secretary of the

Socialist Party of Illinois The Socialist Party of Illinois (SPIL) is a political party in the state of Illinois. It was affiliated with the Socialist Party of America. It was founded in September 1901, though the grouping met in 1900 at a convention in Chicago and supported E ...

in 1902.

Vegetarianism

Kerr was a vegetarian and his company published J. Howard Moore's ''

The Universal Kinship ''The Universal Kinship'' is a 1906 book by American zoologist, philosopher, educator and socialist J. Howard Moore. In the book, Moore advocated for a secular Sentiocentrism, sentiocentric philosophy, called the Universal Kinship, which mandated ...

''.

Works

Articles: * "What Socialism Is," ''International Socialist Review,'' (1917) Compilations: * ''Unity songs resung'' (1884) Translations: * ''The right to be lazy, and other studies'' (1907)

References

Bibliography

''The International Socialist Review''
(ISR), 1900
''The Militant Proletariat''
*Tim Dayton

* H.L. Green
"Charles H. Kerr,"
''The Free Thought Magazine'' hicago vol. 14, no. 1 (Jan. 1896), pp. 1, 48-50.

External links

* * Tim Davenport (ed.)
"Publications by Charles H. Kerr & Co. (1885-1940s): Listed Alphabetically by Author,"
Corvallis, OR: Early American Marxism website, 2014.
Charles H. Kerr Company Records
at

the Newberry Library The Newberry Library is an independent research library, specializing in the humanities and located on Washington Square in Chicago, Illinois. It has been free and open to the public since 1887. Its collections encompass a variety of topics rela ...

* (previous page of browse report as 'Kerr, Charles H., 1860–' without '1944')
Charles H. Kerr Company
at LC Authorities, 5 records, an
at WorldCatMay Walden Papers
a
the Newberry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Charles Hope 1860 births 1944 deaths American publishers (people) American socialists American vegetarianism activists People from Chicago Social Democratic Party of America politicians Socialist Party of America politicians from Illinois