workingclasshistory:

On this day, 27 June 1880, disabled American author, socialist, and lecturer, Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama.
Keller is famous for being the first deafblind person to receive a bachelor’s degree. However, often omitted from mainstream accounts of her life is the fact that she was a revolutionary socialist.
She joined the Socialist Party of America and supported workers during the Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912. Keller subsequently became a member the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union, telling the New York Tribune: “I found out the Socialist party was too slow. It is sinking into the political bog. It is almost, if not quite, impossible for the party to keep its revolutionary character so long as it occupies a place under the government and seeks office under it. The government does not stand for the interests the Socialist party is supposed to represent… The true task is to unite and organise all workers on an economic basis, and it is the workers themselves who must secure freedom for themselves, who must grow strong… Nothing can be gained by political action. That is why I became an IWW.”
Helen Keller continues to be an inspiration for many disabled and non-disabled people around the world.
Learn more about the IWW and its revolutionary history in our podcast series: https://workingclasshistory.com/tag/iww/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1748483882003421/?type=3