Has anyone come across information pertaining to Kelly's Army, a contingent of the 1894 industrial army movement that included Coxey's Army? Charles T. Kelly (also spelled Kelley depending on the source) worked in San Francisco as a printer before and after he led a group of unemployed men through the country on their way to Washington, D.C. to petition the government for federally funded work relief. In 1914 he attempted to lead another army to Washington, but was arrested and jailed in Sacramento. After his jail time he changed his radical ways and devoted himself to charity work, most notably as the Secretary of the Hope Hall Social Service, part of the Working Men's Christian Association. Current History Magazine published his article entitled "Are Radicals Insane?" in 1924, but other than that literary contribution, "General" Kelly seems to have disappeared from the historical record. - Ryan Sprau

-- Ryan Sprau (cjborbely@msn.com), November 15, 1997

Answers

There is some information on Kelley and Jacob Coxey in _Industrial Relations in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1900-1918_ by Robert Edward Lee Knight, published University of California Press 1960. There isn't much more than the information in your post.

Good Luck, Carolyn

-- carolyn feroben (funfifty@pacbell.net), September 17, 1998.

Those interested in Charles Kelly and Kelly's Industrial Army may wish to order the June 1971 issue of The Palimpest, a magazine published by: the State Historical Society, 402 Iowa Ave., iowa City, IA 52240

-- Keith Bowden (kbowden@laredo.cc.tx.us), February 29, 2000.

Those interested in Charles Kelly and Kelly's Industrial Army may wish to order the June 1971 issue of The Palimpest, a magazine published by: the State Historical Society, 402 Iowa Ave., Iowa City, IA 52240.....This edition is dedicated solely to Kelly's Army's visit to Iowa and is a far more complete account than Jack London's account of the experience. Fascinating reading!

-- Keith Bowden (kbowden@laredo.cc.tx.us), February 29, 2000.

Elia Peattie, a nineteenth century journalist, wrote an interesting article on Kelly's army when they passed through Omaha in the April 22, 1894, issue of the Omaha World-Herald. The article, "Are They Anarchists," found on p.11, is an interesting contemporary view. She basically lauds their high expectations and devoted leader. Interesting primary research for those interested in a citizen's point of view.

-- Susanne Bloomfield (bloomfields@unk.edu), June 27, 2001.

Jack London The Road (1907) deals with Kell(e)y's Army in the cap. entitled 'Two Thousand Stiffs'. How accurate this is may of course be debatable.

-- (slang@blueyonder.co.uk), August 17, 2002.

Hey Sprau,

I think it's a user error on your part. If you looked hard enough you would be able to find the information you were looking for instead of playing on a computer. My two bits.

Mr. Garth

-- Dick Garth (garthvader@aol.com), December 15, 2002.

ÇäÓÇäíÉ ßì ÊÐáíá

-- YourEmailAddress (Your Full Name@greenspun.com), May 24, 2003.

Read Jack Londons "The Road" And get a Job!

-- Chewy Chitlins (scootox64@cox.net), September 23, 2003.

I wonder if Kelly's "Industrial Army" was inspired by the "Industrial Army" in Edward Bellamy's book "Looking Backward."

The pledge of allegiance was authored by the self-proclaimed socialist Francis Bellamy. Bellamy was the first cousin of the socialist Edward Bellamy. Edward Bellamy's futuristic novel, "Looking Backward," was published in 1888, and described life in the year 2000. It described a totalitarian society where all private transactions are outlawed, where the government places all men in an "industrial army" and where the monolithic government school system is operated specifically as part of the "industrial army" system. Of course, all of the preceding was portrayed as a dandy utopia just as it was portrayed by so many apologists for the industrial armies of socialist hell-holes worldwide.

Few people know that the pledge was written in 1892 by a self- proclaimed National Socialist in the U.S., to promote socialism in the most socialistic institution -government schools as part of an "Industrial Army" scheme.

Few people know that the original salute to the flag was like the Nazi salute and that "Nazi" means "National Socialist German Workers' Party." (Eye-popping photos are only at http://members.ij.net/rex/pledge1.html ) An easy mnemonic device to remember that Nazis were socialists and that "Nazi" means "National Socialist German Workers’ Party" is that the horrid swastika resembles overlapping "S" shapes for "socialism," and that the Nazis often used stylized "S" symbolism. (See http://members.ij.net/rex/swastikanews.html )

The book spawned a socialist movement in the U.S. known as "Nationalism," with the Nationalist magazine, and "Nationalist Clubs" whose members wanted the federal government to nationalize most of the American economy. Francis Bellamy was a member of this movement and a vice president of its socialist auxiliary group.

Francis Bellamy had often lectured on the so-called "virtues of socialism and the evils of capitalism." In 1891, he was forced to resign from his church because of his socialist activities and sermons. He then joined the staff of the magazine "Youth's Companion" and wrote the pledge of allegiance, first published therein.

In the original articles about the Pledge of Allegiance, Francis Bellamy promotes government schools and snipes at the many better alternatives, and urges that education should come only from government. It is consistent with the government school monopoly in the book "Looking Backward" and the "industrial army" promoted by the Bellamys.

Bellamy lived during the time when schools were becoming socialized heavily in the United States. When the U.S. Constitution was written, children received private educations (schools are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution).

Edward Bellamy's book was translated into 20 foreign languages. It was popular among the elite in pre-revolutionary Russia, and was even read by Lenin's wife. John Dewey and the historian Charles Beard intended to praise the book when they stated that it was matched in influence only by Das Kapital.

Francis Bellamy lived from 1855 to1931. Edward Bellamy lived from 1850-1898. Edward Bellamy was spared witnessing the horrors that his socialism caused to the rest of humanity. Francis Bellamy lived in the U.S. during the first 14 years of mass atrocities under the industrial army of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Francis Bellamy might not have known about the horrors of his socialist ideas in the U.S.S.R. at that time. Francis Bellamy lived long enough to see a similar salute and philosophy espoused by the industrial army of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. If Edward Bellamy's fictional character had awakened in the year 2000 he would have learned that since 1887 Bellamy's philosophy had set and was holding all the worst records for shortages, poverty, misery, starvation, atrocities and mass slaughter.

The socialist Wholecaust occurred under the industrial armies of the socialist trio of atrocities (see http://members.ij.net/rex/socialists.jpg): the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 62 million deaths, 1917-'87; the People's Republic of China, 35 million, 1949-'87; and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, 21 million, 1933-'45 (numbers from Professor R. J. Rummel's article in the Encyclopedia of Genocide (1999)).

After the National Socialist German Workers' Party tried to impose socialism on the world, many U.S. citizens were disturbed by the Pledge's similar salute and that it was written by a socialist in "Nationalist" groups in the U.S. Although the salute changed, the pledge remained the same.

There is something more disturbing than all of the above: Most children are never told any of the preceding history in government schools, even though there is often a totalitarian-style robotic recital of the pledge as a collective by children in government schools en masse on cue from the government every single day.

It is a wonder why anyone recites the Pledge of Allegiance. It is probably because of rampant ignorance about the Pledge's origin and history.

No one would trust the government to tell you the truth if it ran the newspapers. Why would anyone expect the government to tell children the truth in government schools? As Libertarians say: The separation of school and state is as important as the separation of church and state. And that is the real solution to the pledge debate and all other school issues: remove government from education.

Rex Curry is an attorney, and can be reached at rexy@ij.net

to learn more visit http://members.ij.net/rex/pledge1.html

-- RexCurry.net (rexy@ij.net), May 05, 2004.