Frank Kitz (1849 – 8 January 1923) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

Life

Born in the

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open ...

area of London as Francis Platt, he was illegitimate and grew up in poverty.

E. P. Thompson Edward Palmer Thompson (3 February 1924 – 28 August 1993) was an English historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He is best known today for his historical work on the radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in ...

and Peter Linebaugh, ''William Morris: Romantic to Revolutionary'', p.281 He later claimed that his father was a German refugee from the

revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europ ...

, although his biological father was asserted by Florence Boos to have been John Lewis, an English watchmaker. He supported the ideals of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

in his youth, and attended radical meetings, such as those of the

Reform League The Reform League was established in 1865 to press for manhood suffrage and the ballot in Great Britain. It collaborated with the more moderate and middle class Reform Union and gave strong support to the abortive Reform Bill 1866 and the succe ...

, participating in the Hyde Park riot of 1867.Ed. Norman Kelvin, ''The Collected Letters of William Morris, Volume II, Part B: 1885-1888'', p.383 Platt completed an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

as a dyer, and travelled extensively looking for, being particularly impressed by the poverty he saw in the industrial cities of northern England. On several occasions, he supported himself by enlisting in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

and then absconding.William R. McKercher, ''Libertarian Thought in Nineteenth Century Britain'', pp.165, 213 Around 1874, he took the surname "Kitz", and settled in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

. There, he joined the Democratic and Trades Alliance Association, soon renamed as the

Manhood Suffrage League The Manhood Suffrage League was a nineteenth-century ultra-radical and, later, socialist club. The organisation was founded in 1874 as the Democratic and Trades Alliance Association. Most of its initial members were tailors or shoemakers ba ...

. In this organisation, he met veterans of the Chartist movement, and also of the

International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...

, and served for a time as the league's secretary. By 1877, the league was in decline, and Kitz, fluent in both English and German, founded the English Revolutionary Society, which brought together league members and recent German immigrants. This moved into premises on Rose Street, and became widely known as the

Rose Street Club The Rose Street Club (sometimes the International Rose Street Club and earlier the Local Rights Association for Rental and Sanitary Reform) was a far-left, anarchist organisation based in what is now Manette Street, London. Originally centr ...

.Constance Bantman, ''The French Anarchists in London, 1880-1914'', p.28 In 1879, he set up a printing shop on Boundary Street in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an imp ...

, and began putting out propaganda, particularly focusing on supporting rent strikes.

Johann Most Johann Joseph "Hans" Most (February 5, 1846 – March 17, 1906) was a German-American Social Democratic and then anarchist politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of "propaganda of the deed". His g ...

, a former German parliamentarian, and the editor of '' Freiheit'', became prominent in the Rose Street Club. In 1881, he was sentenced to hard labour for publishing an article calling for assassinations of rulers; Kitz then took over the editorship for a short time. Frank Kitz socialism talk in Loughborough poster 1889

Frank Kitz socialism talk in Loughborough poster 1889

In 1880, Kitz merged the Rose Street Club with Joseph Lane's Homerton Social Democratic Club. This was closed by police in 1882, by which time the two had founded the Labour Emancipation League (LEL), a libertarian socialist organisation, which merged into the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James C ...

two years later. In the new organisation, he became associated with

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

, working with him politically, while also sometimes working for him, using his skills in dyeing. Along with most other former members of the LEL, he joined Morris' Socialist League split in 1885. Kitz worked with Lane to develop a radical leftist grouping in the new party, and in 1888 they achieved a majority, Kitz becoming the league's secretary. In the league's 1890 elections, Kitz was selected to replace Morris as editor of ''

Commonweal Commonweal or common weal may refer to: * Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community * Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group * ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Catholic-oriented magazin ...

'', its journal.

and Peter Linebaugh, ''William Morris: Romantic to Revolutionary'', pp. 522, 566 Morris then left the league, although Kitz retained a favourable opinion of him. Many other posts were won by anarchists supportive of violence, such as Charles Mowbray. Kitz disagreed with this, and resigned from the editorship in February 1891, when the league ceased national operations, instead associating himself with the ''

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

'' group. Kitz maintained a low profile for the next twenty years, working full-time as a dyer, although he remained supportive of anarchism. In 1909, he began public speaking on anarchist matters again, and wrote his memoirs, published by ''Freedom'' in a series entitled "Recollections and Reflections". As a result of this activity, he lost his job, and found himself again in poverty. In his last years, he survived from the old age pension, while ''Freedom'' organised two financial appeals for him. Balham died on the 8th of January 1923 at St James' Infirmary in

Balham Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...

, London.Nick Heath,
Kitz, Frank, 1849-1923", ''libcom''

References

External links

marxists.org Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich En ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitz, Frank 1849 births 1923 deaths English anarchists People from Kentish Town Social Democratic Federation members Socialist League (UK, 1885) members