John Reed: date and place of birth, family and children, journalistic career, photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

John Silas Reed is a well-known writer and journalist, a political activist who fought with all his might for the establishment of communist power. An American, a native of Portland, was born in 1887. Date of birth - October 22. The young man received an excellent education at Harvard, at first he became a reporter, although his soul asked for fame. The true sphere and environment in which he navigated like a fish in water turned out to be a revolution.

Quick reference

It so happened that due to social and political beliefs, John Silas Reed learned from his youth what bondage is. Authorities first arrested the young man when he was 26 for participating in a labor strike organized in Patterson. In 1914 he was exiled for four months, and during this period the writer happened to meet Pancho Villa. Then he will write a work that will subsequently make the author popular - "Rebellious Mexico". The book was created under the impression of the strength of the personality of the leader of the revolution.

The First World War began, at the same time, changes came to the life of a young man. As a journalist, John Reed travels to the European powers where the fighting is unfolding. He repeatedly calls to reassess the events, to recognize the war as unjustified. Watching the life of the townsfolk, the correspondent calls for an understanding of a simple fact: from these battles, ordinary people only suffer, starve and die. In 1917, he came to Petrograd, took part in the storming of the palace, and later wrote a book. This work will become almost a desktop edition of Lenin, who will speak warmly about the writer who supported communism more than once.

The man belongs to the founders of the American Communist Party. In 1919, he happened to take part in the first Comintern Congress as a representative of a political organization. The cause of John Reed's death was typhus. The place of death is the Russian capital. The remains were buried near the walls of the Kremlin.

And if in more detail

Future famous communist author John Reed was born in Portland. This coastal city, washed by the Pacific waves, was famous for the first strike against Kolchak's army: it was here that the workers protested, refusing to load ammunition on ships. In an atmosphere of resistance and willingness to defend his ideals, John was born.

As contemporaries will later recall, the boy was very lucky with his family. The father of the child, as some said, seemed to have descended from the pages of the works of Jack London. The parent of the writer John Reed was straightforward, stronga man, a typical representative of the western American lands. He was naturally gifted with wit. Friends and the writer himself will remember: the man did not tolerate pretenders and hated hypocrites. He opposed those in power, did not forgive we alth and tried to resist those people who, using their money, seized local natural resources. Reed's father struggled with all his might against the trusts, and they, in turn, against him. He was beaten more than once, he was left without a job, he was the object of persecution. As the son would later proudly say, his father never gave up.

Life and surroundings

John Reed's family gave the child good opportunities to grow up and be brought up in an environment of desire for combat. From his father, the boy received a sharp mind, courage and courage of the spirit. From an early age, he showed natural talents, thanks to which he managed, after completing his basic school education, to go to study abroad. Education John Reed, largely at the insistence of his parents, received at Harvard University. In those days, rich American citizens, oil kings, tycoons who made their fortunes in the coal and steel trade usually sent their children here.

The choice of the rich was not accidental: sending a child to study at Harvard, there was no doubt that four years of the child would pass in a luxurious environment, study would be diluted with sports activities, and science would be taught impartially. There is no doubt: no radicalism in education is foreseen. As Reid's parents well knew, it was in such places that the defenders of the current order, the adherents ofreactionism.

Years and experience

Four years in a prestigious educational institution became for John Reed a source of not only knowledge, but also ideas about life around. A charming and talented young man soon found himself in the center of attention, became a favorite of his peers and teachers. Every day he was in contact with people from the privileged class, listened to sociological lectures filled with pompous phrases, capitalist sermons in the department of political economy. Perceiving Harvard as the basis of plutocracy, Reed decided to fight it from the inside, and right within the walls of his university he organized the Socialist Club. Some called it a slap in the face of the ignorant, and teachers said that this was nothing more than a whim that would soon pass. Adults believed that the desire for radicalism would go away when the young man faced the realities of life.

The future author of numerous books, John Reed, completed his education, received a degree and set off on a free voyage of life. Enthusiasm, writing talent, love of life made him an expressive, attractive person, who in a short time managed to achieve success in the chosen direction. He showed his talents as a writer during his studies, when he was the editor of a local socialist publication. After graduating, he begins to write prose, including drama, poetry. A bunch of offers come from publishers, magazines are ready to pay a young author a lot of money, and newspapers send orders for the description of the most important incidents abroad.

Life in motion

In the life of John Reed, places constantly changed each other. He was a traveler, big roads attracted and pulled an active young man. Already in those days, his contemporaries knew: if you want to keep abreast of the latest events, you just need to follow Reed. As soon as something significant happened somewhere, the young man immediately found himself at the epicenter. Others compared him to a petrel, marveling at his talent for being able to do it anywhere and everywhere.

Patterson became the scene of a textile workers' strike. Reed was at the center of the storm. A riot began in Colorado, with which the authorities tried to fight by shooting at the defiant, using clubs to the right and left. Reed was in a rebel group. Peons in Mexico began to rebel - and Reed, saddling a horse, walked with him. Recent events have been described in The Met. Later, John Reed will tell about them in his book. The publication will be published under the name "Revolutionary Mexico". It will be created in a rather lyrical spirit, the author will talk about deserts and mountains, cacti. These beauties forever struck his heart, but even more impressed were the locals, who at that moment were an exploited class. The church and a few landowners, in whose hands capital and power were concentrated, benefited from this. In his book, Reed will later tell how shepherds drive their flocks, how they sing songs by the fire, how they fight for their lands, being barefoot, hungry and cold.

War and its heart

John Reed was on his wave even during the period of the imperialist war. He succeeded wherever important events of that era took place. He was brought to the French lands, he fought for the German working class and supported the Turkish rebels, visited Italy and the Balkans, and then came to Russia. Even then, he specialized in scandalous revelations, and his name became a real nightmare for officials. Reed actively collected materials from which it followed that it was those in power who organized the pogroms of the Jewish quarters. Then Reid was arrested, and Boardman Robinson was captured with him. However, ingenuity, wit and simple luck allowed the writer to soon free himself from power structures and start another adventure, without which life seemed to stop for Reed.

The last thing that could scare Reed was danger. His life path was such that in many ways it turned into an element, without which he could not exist. The front lines, the most dangerous territories, the forbidden zones attracted the journalist and the writer. In many ways, this was the wife of John Reed - Louise Bryant. Contemporaries will remember her straightforwardness, courage, bravery. These character traits were surprisingly set off by the graceful, sweet appearance of a woman. In 1915, together with her chosen one, she leaves for New York, in 1916 they marry. A few years later, the man will literally die in the arms of his chosen one, and she will die in 1936. It will happen that the cause of her death will also be a serious illness. The couple had no children.

Travel and work

John Reed traveled the fronts, visited manycountries, and one adventure in his life was replaced by another. The man cannot be called an adventurer: he was a professional journalist, a caring person. He did not observe, like other correspondents, from the sidelines the suffering of people. On the contrary, the man empathized with everyone he met, the sense of justice given to him from birth was offended by the pictures of the torment that ordinary people endure. He set himself the task of eradicating evil, tearing it out, destroying the foundation itself. With such thoughts, he arrived in New York, where he actively took up work. After the Mexican experience, he realized that the responsibility for what was happening was not at all on those who protested, but on those who supplied them with weapons and gold. This means that the source of troubles is the large companies of America and England, dealing in oil, weapons, competing with each other and destroying human lives for this.

Returning from Petterson, John Reed makes a dramatic performance dedicated to the battle between the working class and the capitalists. After a trip to Colorado, he talks about what happened in Ludlo - about how the miners were thrown out of their houses, how people were forced to live in tents that were set on fire, and those who tried to escape were shot. He will talk about the victims, including dozens of children and women. He will turn to Rockefeller, who owns the scene, and blame him for the murders.

Radicalism and new milestones

The numerous battlefields that John Reed went through made him strong, ready to do anything to achieve his goal. He was not one of the idle talkers who wanted to talkabout different aspects of the conflict. He cursed the war as a fact, not accepting the atrocities that people go to. In the Liberator magazine, John published without demanding remuneration for this: Reed sent his best creations here. Immediately, his article against the war came out, calling for soldiers to be wrapped in straitjackets.

Like other editors, Reid was prosecuted by the courts. He was accused of treason against the state. The prosecutor insisted on the maximum severity of the guilty verdict, and the jury chose true patriots. They even set up an orchestra playing national music near the courthouse. However, this did not prevent Reed and his friends from logically and reasonably proving their position. The man admitted that his duty is to fight for changes in society. He talked about the horrors on the battlefields. Many will remember: the description was strong, lively, and some of the jurors, although prejudiced against the speaker, were imbued with what they heard to tears. The editors were acquitted.

He alth and ideals

By the time America entered the inter-ethnic struggle, Reid had an operation, one kidney was removed, and for he alth reasons the man became unfit for military service. As he said himself, what frees him from the obligation to fight other peoples will not prevent him from fighting class injustice. In 1917, he leaves for Russia, where the approach of a new era is felt.

Assessing the circumstances, John realized: the proletariat will surely come to power here, no other outcome is possible. Reid worries about delayworries about delays. His contemporaries will remember: in the morning a man woke up irritated that there was still no revolution. As soon as a signal was given from Smolny, Reed appeared in the forefront. He was everywhere and everywhere, built barriers, applauded Lenin, was present at the Winter Palace, and told about everything he saw and heard in a work published a little later.

Not a second to do nothing

In many ways, the death of John Reed is due precisely to his activity during the 1917 revolution. He compiled useful information, was everywhere where something important happened. He worked tirelessly, but this is precisely what undermined his he alth: in the future, when a man falls ill with typhus, he will not have a chance of being cured precisely because of the exhaustion of the body. But it will be later, during the revolution, Reed did not think about such consequences. He diligently collected posters and periodicals, especially passionately collecting posters. If it was not possible to obtain a new such item legally, he could rip it off the wall.

However, posters were printed very quickly in that era, so there were almost no places on the fences. They were glued to each other, and Reed will later recall: once, when separating such a glued foot, he counted 16 layers in it. Both revolutionary and counter-revolutionary groups tried to promote their ideas in this way, and for Reed, all these posters became evidence, materials, food for the mind and creativity. His collection will be the envy of many. In 1918, he arrives in New York, where local justice deprives John of the right to own the accumulated. However, Reidresorting to all possible tricks, he returns the most valuable exhibits to himself and hides them in a secret room, the very one where he will write a book about the revolution in Russia.

I'm not afraid of anything

Reed's opponents tried to steal the manuscript at least six times. In the dedication, Reed will mention a publisher who almost went bankrupt by undertaking to cooperate. The bourgeoisie renounced the truth, hated the revolution in Russia and hushed up the truth in every possible way, literally drowning it in accusations and lies. The political slander took its toll on Reid: those publications whose editors used to line up to ask a journalist for material now refused to publish it. The man found a way out: he began to address the audience during mass rallies. Then came his own magazine. He traveled all over the country, told people the truth about what was happening, and then organized the Communist Party.

It seemed that there was only one way to silence a person: put him behind bars. Reed is arrested no less than 20 times. However, the jury acquitted the man, someone agreed to bail him, in other cases the trial was postponed, and the journalist had the opportunity to speak again and again. It was said that every American city considers it a matter of honor to arrest Reed at least once.

How it ended

On one of his illegal returns to New York, the writer is extradited, he ends up in solitary confinement in Finland. John has to return to the USSR, the collection of information for a new work begins. Probably while travelingIn the Caucasus, he becomes infected with typhus. Exhausted by overwork, Reed could not cope with the disease and died in the arms of his wife on 1920-17-10

He was not the only victim of his time. Many of Reed's friends and associates died young. Others were closed in prisons for the rest of their lives, someone became a victim of a pogrom. One of Reed's friends died on board a ship in the heart of the storm, another died in an airplane crash while spewing calls to fight the intervention.

The October Revolution was predominantly made by the hands of Russians, residents of the Caucasus and Ukraine, Tatars - but not only them. The French, natives of America and England, Germans took part in the historical event. Among foreign figures, one of the most significant is John Reed, who gave his life for the sake of establishing a fair order and equality.