Helen Keller, Wobbly
Helen Keller became a prominent socialist, and later a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.
Although the FBI file refers to Helen Keller as a "non-Communist", during the McCarthy era anyone who even communicated with suspected communists was smeared.
Albert Einstein was frequently tarred with the same FBI brush, and his associations are also mentioned in Helen's FBI file.
Helen Keller is the first wobbly to be commemorated on a U.S. coin:
An image of Hellen Keller, a longleaf pine branch and magnolias as well as the words "Spirit of Courage," will be under Keller's image on the Alabama quarter.
The state's quarter is the second coin in the U.S. Mint's 50 State Quarter Program to be released this year. It is also the first circulating coin to contain Braille. Keller's name is also printed in English.
Helen traveled the country and gave many speeches.
A marxist organization has faithfully kept many of her writings online. Here are three selected links:
And here is an index to some of her writings:
Helen Keller Reference Archive
At least three major motion pictures have been made about Helen Keller, including The Miracle Continues about her life after her remarkable childhood. Not one of them even hints at the social outrage that animated her writings for the rest of her life.
Helen, along with Jack London, lives on as a shining example of how the censorship of ideas continues in our society.
Jack London shared the racism that was common to his time, and was something of a selective socialist. Yet he was an amazing writer. His social writings outrage and inspire.
Today it seems as if the prose that moved hundreds of thousands to embrace the socialist cause never existed. Today he is celebrated only for his "dog stories".
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