John Keracher

John Keracher (16 January 1880 – 11 January 1958) was a Scottish-born American Marxist activist and author. He helped found the Proletarian Party of America in 1920, and was its leader for several decades. He also managed the Charles H. Kerr & Co. book publishing firm after its founder retired.

Biography

Early years John Keracher was born on January 16, 1880, in Dundee, Scotland. The self-taught son of a shoemaker, he was exposed at a young age to the "impossibilist" Scottish socialist tradition associated with Daniel De Leon. While in his early twenties, Keracher left for England. After living there a number of years, he emigrated in 1909 to the United States. He settled in Detroit,

Political activism In April 1910, Keracher joined the Michigan chapter of the Socialist Party of America (SPA).

Keracher believed in the primacy of Marxist education of the working class to prepare them for governance upon the inevitable assumption of power through socialist revolution. This education program took shape through the formation of local "Proletarian Clubs", later united under the banner of the "Proletarian University of America", a proto-party organization headed by Keracher. His university formed study circles in towns throughout Michigan as well as in cities around the country, including Buffalo, Rochester, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

In 1916, Keracher won election as secretary of state of the Michigan Socialist Party.

Keracher was a delegate to the June 1919 National Conference of the Left Wing in New York City; he had been invited by the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party. He attended with four other expelled Michigan Socialist Party leaders: Oakley Johnson, Dennis Batt, Al Renner, and A.J. MacGregor.

In September 1919, Keracher participated in the founding of the Communist Party of America at a convention in Chicago. Unlike some of his comrades who viewed the recent Bolshevik Revolution as a prelude to a similar upheaval in the U.S., Keracher did not expect an imminent Communist Revolution, as historian Theodore Draper notes:

In early January 1920, Keracher was arrested during the so-called Palmer Raids being conducted nationwide. Although many in the Justice Department believed that he, as a resident alien from Scotland, was deportable since he held political views that ultimately advocated "force and violence", deportation proceedings against him were dismissed later in the year by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Immigration.

Also in January 1920, Keracher and the Michigan socialists were ousted from the newly formed Communist Party. The Michiganders refused to "go underground" and become a secret organization, as the CP leadership was advising in the wake of the Palmer Raids. After the CP split, the Michigan socialists in June 1920 formed the Proletarian Party of America (PPA); Keracher was named the Party's first leader. As the organization grew, local branches emerged in at least 38 U.S. cities.

Keracher moved from Detroit to Chicago in the mid-1920s, the city where the PPA was thereafter headquartered. His prior work with the Proletarian University had brought him into friendly contact with Charles H. Kerr of the Chicago-based Kerr publishing company. In 1924, Keracher became a member of the Charles H. Kerr & Co. board of directors. When Kerr retired in 1928, he sold his controlling shares in the company to Keracher.

Over the next few decades, Keracher led the PPA while also overseeing Charles H. Kerr & Co. As the PPA's chief spokesman and publicist, Keracher went on cross-country speaking tours. He wrote party convention bulletins, along with articles and editorials for the PPA's official organ, the Proletarian News. He authored numerous pamphlets, such as How the Gods Were Made (1929), Producers and Parasites (1935), Crime: Its Causes and Consequences (1937), and Frederick Engels (1946).

Death and legacy In 1954, with his health beginning to fail, Keracher retired as Executive Secretary of the Proletarian Party, passing the mantle to Al Wysocki. Keracher moved to Los Angeles, where he remained active in party affairs.

Keracher died of a heart ailment on January 11, 1958. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1935. Revised and expanded second edition, 1955. Crime: Its Causes and Consequences. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., n.d. [c. 1937]. Frederick Engels. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1946. Wages and the Working Day. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co, 1946. "We". Chicago: Proletarian Party of America, n.d. [c. 1946]. — leaflet. "Death of Al Renner". Proletarian News (Chicago), vol. 18, no. 9, whole no. 198 (Sept. 1949), pp. 2, 8. "Thirty-Five Years of Proletarian Party". Proletarian News (Chicago), vol. 24, no. 7 (July 1955).