1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:00:33,100 --> 00:00:37,872 It is Helen Keller who salutes you. 4 00:00:37,896 --> 00:00:42,276 It is Helen Keller who salutes you. 5 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:57,600 You are not familiar with my voice. 6 00:00:57,624 --> 00:01:01,420 You are not familiar with my voice. 7 00:01:10,012 --> 00:01:13,283 I have written from my soul. 8 00:01:13,307 --> 00:01:16,810 I have written from my soul. 9 00:02:48,568 --> 00:02:50,255 Yeah, well, if you offer me dinner 10 00:02:50,279 --> 00:02:52,864 like you did so nicely, I'll take it. 11 00:02:55,117 --> 00:02:57,035 But if you had said, well, time to go. 12 00:03:00,580 --> 00:03:01,580 Mm, well. 13 00:03:09,089 --> 00:03:11,734 There's no way I can have two side by sides here. 14 00:03:11,758 --> 00:03:13,820 I guess I can, if I take this off. 15 00:03:13,844 --> 00:03:15,530 Right, but you're gonna have to take this off. 16 00:03:15,554 --> 00:03:16,554 Yeah. 17 00:03:24,354 --> 00:03:25,354 Tuscumbia... 18 00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:28,418 "Socialism," she replies, 19 00:03:28,442 --> 00:03:31,111 "I am a socialist because I believe in fair play. 20 00:03:32,154 --> 00:03:33,923 "What active socialistic. 21 00:03:33,947 --> 00:03:36,092 "What active socialistic work are you doing now?" 22 00:03:36,116 --> 00:03:38,011 follows the reporter. 23 00:03:38,035 --> 00:03:39,429 "Talking." 24 00:03:39,453 --> 00:03:42,598 No, "Talking." Helen quickly responds with a laugh, 25 00:03:42,622 --> 00:03:45,935 "But wait till I get a chance, then I'll be doing. 26 00:03:45,959 --> 00:03:48,271 "Then, I'll be doing. The highest ambition 27 00:03:48,295 --> 00:03:50,690 "of my life is to help my fellow men. 28 00:03:50,714 --> 00:03:53,467 "To make them see and hear as I do." 29 00:04:18,617 --> 00:04:22,805 On February 6, 1913, Helen Keller delivered her 30 00:04:22,829 --> 00:04:25,308 first talk before a general audience. 31 00:04:25,332 --> 00:04:27,935 She was 32-years-old. 32 00:04:27,959 --> 00:04:30,313 Though she'd already given occasional addresses 33 00:04:30,337 --> 00:04:33,191 at private gatherings in conjunction with her work 34 00:04:33,215 --> 00:04:35,610 on behalf of the blind and deaf, 35 00:04:35,634 --> 00:04:39,322 her spoken voice was deemed largely unintelligible, 36 00:04:39,346 --> 00:04:42,158 necessitating someone, more often than not, 37 00:04:42,182 --> 00:04:44,744 her life-long teacher, Anne Sullivan, 38 00:04:44,768 --> 00:04:48,998 to repeat, sentence by sentence, what Helen said. 39 00:04:49,022 --> 00:04:50,666 The fact that she could speak at all 40 00:04:50,690 --> 00:04:52,794 was regarded to be a marvel, 41 00:04:52,818 --> 00:04:57,006 as much a miracle as were the first reports years earlier, 42 00:04:57,030 --> 00:04:59,175 transmitted around the world, 43 00:04:59,199 --> 00:05:01,678 that a seven-year-old deaf blind child 44 00:05:01,702 --> 00:05:05,872 from Tuscumbia, Alabama, had learned to read and write. 45 00:05:08,417 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaking to a group of reporters 46 00:05:10,544 --> 00:05:13,314 in her hotel the night before her lecture, 47 00:05:13,338 --> 00:05:17,110 Helen is asked what her latest field of interest is? 48 00:05:17,134 --> 00:05:19,195 "Socialism," she replies. 49 00:05:19,219 --> 00:05:22,889 "I am a socialist because I believe in fair play." 50 00:05:24,391 --> 00:05:26,661 "What active socialistic work are you doing now?" 51 00:05:26,685 --> 00:05:28,579 follows the reporter. 52 00:05:28,603 --> 00:05:32,250 "Talking!" Helen quickly responds with a laugh, 53 00:05:32,274 --> 00:05:36,337 "But wait till I get a chance, then I'll be doing. 54 00:05:36,361 --> 00:05:40,675 "The highest ambition of my life is to help my fellow men, 55 00:05:40,699 --> 00:05:43,994 "to make them see and hear as I do." 56 00:05:46,163 --> 00:05:49,809 Despite nearly two years of private vocal training, 57 00:05:49,833 --> 00:05:53,521 Helen privately approaches the event with trepidation, 58 00:05:53,545 --> 00:05:57,024 regarding her voice, as she would for the rest of her life, 59 00:05:57,048 --> 00:05:59,861 to be "defective and halting". 60 00:05:59,885 --> 00:06:03,906 Once the lecture gets underway, stage fright sinks in. 61 00:06:03,930 --> 00:06:08,453 "I felt my voice soaring and I knew that meant falsetto, 62 00:06:08,477 --> 00:06:10,872 "frantically I dragged it down 63 00:06:10,896 --> 00:06:14,083 "till my words fell about me like loose bricks," 64 00:06:14,107 --> 00:06:17,295 Helen later described the experience. 65 00:06:17,319 --> 00:06:21,215 At the end of her talk, Helen leaves the stage in tears, 66 00:06:21,239 --> 00:06:23,426 convinced she has failed, 67 00:06:23,450 --> 00:06:26,220 feeling the lecture to have been an ordeal, 68 00:06:26,244 --> 00:06:29,098 "A pillory where I stood cold, 69 00:06:29,122 --> 00:06:32,935 "riveted, trembling, voiceless." 70 00:06:32,959 --> 00:06:36,439 For Hattie Schlossberg, a reporter who heard Helen Keller 71 00:06:36,463 --> 00:06:41,360 speak in 1913, the experience is altogether different. 72 00:06:41,384 --> 00:06:44,280 "I was not prepared for what did come. 73 00:06:44,304 --> 00:06:47,450 "The effect of her first words was startling. 74 00:06:47,474 --> 00:06:50,286 "It sounds weird and uncanny at first, 75 00:06:50,310 --> 00:06:52,121 "but this feeling passes away 76 00:06:52,145 --> 00:06:55,082 "as soon as one gets accustomed to the tone. 77 00:06:55,106 --> 00:06:57,126 "Her voice is indescribable. 78 00:06:57,150 --> 00:07:01,088 "It seems to come from somewhere in the depths of her." 79 00:07:01,112 --> 00:07:03,758 Thus would begin a nearly 50-year run 80 00:07:03,782 --> 00:07:05,801 on the lecture circuit. 81 00:07:05,825 --> 00:07:09,764 As is the case with virtually all of her political speeches, 82 00:07:09,788 --> 00:07:12,934 no film, photographs, or recordings survive 83 00:07:12,958 --> 00:07:16,312 of the first talk that Helen Keller delivered that night 84 00:07:16,336 --> 00:07:20,316 inside the Hillside elementary school auditorium. 85 00:07:20,340 --> 00:07:23,361 She entitled her talk, "The Heart and the Hand, 86 00:07:23,385 --> 00:07:26,155 "or the Right Uses of Our Senses." 87 00:07:26,179 --> 00:07:29,659 A speech she would deliver a month later under the title, 88 00:07:29,683 --> 00:07:33,996 "The Heart and the Hand, or True Socialism". 89 00:07:34,020 --> 00:07:36,147 These were her words that night. 90 00:13:02,515 --> 00:13:05,703 Writing in the "Ladies' Home Journal" in 1907, 91 00:13:05,727 --> 00:13:08,330 Keller takes the bold step for the time 92 00:13:08,354 --> 00:13:11,166 of addressing how mothers, unknowingly infected 93 00:13:11,190 --> 00:13:13,878 with syphilis by their philandering husbands, 94 00:13:13,902 --> 00:13:17,172 were inducing ophthalmia, the most common cause 95 00:13:17,196 --> 00:13:20,968 of blindness, upon their newborn infants. 96 00:13:20,992 --> 00:13:24,054 While medical science could provide a remedy if promptly 97 00:13:24,078 --> 00:13:27,808 and properly administered, Keller writes how poverty, 98 00:13:27,832 --> 00:13:31,145 lack of education, unequal access to medicine, 99 00:13:31,169 --> 00:13:33,731 and overall lack of institutional support 100 00:13:33,755 --> 00:13:36,025 hindered such initiatives. 101 00:13:36,049 --> 00:13:38,819 In an address before the Massachusetts Association 102 00:13:38,843 --> 00:13:42,180 for Promoting the Interests of the Blind, Keller says. 103 00:14:54,961 --> 00:14:57,439 Concurrent with Helen Keller's research 104 00:14:57,463 --> 00:14:59,900 into the social causes of blindness, 105 00:14:59,924 --> 00:15:04,238 in 1908 her teacher, Anne Sullivan, passes along to Helen 106 00:15:04,262 --> 00:15:09,118 a newly published book of essays by British author HG Wells 107 00:15:09,142 --> 00:15:12,621 entitled "New Worlds For Old". 108 00:15:12,645 --> 00:15:15,124 Depicting in detail the stories of children 109 00:15:15,148 --> 00:15:18,252 and workers living lives of grinding poverty, 110 00:15:18,276 --> 00:15:21,630 and incorporating numerous sociological studies, 111 00:15:21,654 --> 00:15:24,299 the book argues for what Wells called 112 00:15:24,323 --> 00:15:27,011 a "constructive socialism" as the way 113 00:15:27,035 --> 00:15:29,430 to confront these problems. 114 00:15:29,454 --> 00:15:33,434 Additionally, as observed by historian Philip Foner, 115 00:15:33,458 --> 00:15:36,478 "New Worlds For Old" also pointed out a role 116 00:15:36,502 --> 00:15:38,981 Helen herself could play in the movement 117 00:15:39,005 --> 00:15:41,567 for a new and better society. 118 00:15:41,591 --> 00:15:45,279 Over and above the promoting of its main constructive ideas 119 00:15:45,303 --> 00:15:48,490 and their more obvious and practical applications, 120 00:15:48,514 --> 00:15:51,952 Wells writes, "An immense amount of intellectual work 121 00:15:51,976 --> 00:15:54,580 "remains to be done for socialism. 122 00:15:54,604 --> 00:15:57,332 "The battle for socialism is to be fought, 123 00:15:57,356 --> 00:16:00,627 "not simply at the polls and in the market place, 124 00:16:00,651 --> 00:16:03,362 "but at the writing desk and in the study." 125 00:16:04,781 --> 00:16:08,677 In earnest, Helen begins to educate herself on the issues, 126 00:16:08,701 --> 00:16:11,346 remarking to a friend years later, 127 00:16:11,370 --> 00:16:13,640 "Something asleep in me awoke 128 00:16:13,664 --> 00:16:15,875 "when I read the radical literature." 129 00:16:17,376 --> 00:16:20,647 Her reading list includes German socialist periodicals 130 00:16:20,671 --> 00:16:23,650 printed in Braille, selected articles from the 131 00:16:23,674 --> 00:16:27,863 National Socialist and International Socialist Review, 132 00:16:27,887 --> 00:16:31,033 Karl Marx's "Value, Price, and Profit", 133 00:16:31,057 --> 00:16:33,494 as well as "The Communist Manifesto", 134 00:16:33,518 --> 00:16:38,165 about which she declares, "if it isn't imposed as tyranny, 135 00:16:38,189 --> 00:16:41,901 "it is one of the finest pieces of literature ever written". 136 00:16:42,944 --> 00:16:45,923 She reads Karl Kautsky's classic exposition 137 00:16:45,947 --> 00:16:49,384 of the Erfurt Program, "The Class Struggle". 138 00:16:49,408 --> 00:16:52,805 Adopted at the Erfurt Party Congress of 1891, 139 00:16:52,829 --> 00:16:55,682 the German Workers' Party program argued that 140 00:16:55,706 --> 00:16:59,561 because capitalism, by its very nature, must collapse, 141 00:16:59,585 --> 00:17:02,481 the immediate task for socialists was to work 142 00:17:02,505 --> 00:17:05,692 for the improvement of workers' lives rather than for 143 00:17:05,716 --> 00:17:09,595 the revolution, which, it is believed, was inevitable. 144 00:17:11,097 --> 00:17:15,244 In an April 1911 editorial in the Matilda Ziegler Magazine 145 00:17:15,268 --> 00:17:18,956 for the Blind, Helen urges the sightless to study 146 00:17:18,980 --> 00:17:22,042 the economic problems of the seeing 147 00:17:22,066 --> 00:17:24,920 by reading two popular socialist primers, 148 00:17:24,944 --> 00:17:27,923 Robert Hunter's "Poverty" and Edmond Kelly's 149 00:17:27,947 --> 00:17:30,217 "Twentieth Century Socialism". 150 00:17:30,241 --> 00:17:34,221 "Not for theory, as it is scornfully called", she writes, 151 00:17:34,245 --> 00:17:37,707 "but for facts about the labor conditions in America." 152 00:18:03,399 --> 00:18:05,711 As Helen's reading list grows, 153 00:18:05,735 --> 00:18:09,423 so too does her intellectual curiosity. 154 00:18:09,447 --> 00:18:12,551 At one point, she requests the National Institute 155 00:18:12,575 --> 00:18:15,471 for the Blind in London to translate into braille 156 00:18:15,495 --> 00:18:19,474 a copy of Mikhail Bakunin's "God and the State". 157 00:18:19,498 --> 00:18:23,312 A book that preaches atheism, destruction of the state, 158 00:18:23,336 --> 00:18:25,254 and the embrace of anarchism. 159 00:18:26,422 --> 00:18:28,817 While the Institute has previously offered 160 00:18:28,841 --> 00:18:32,279 to do transcripts of books for Helen without charge, 161 00:18:32,303 --> 00:18:36,057 its Secretary General draws the line at Bakunin. 162 00:19:06,879 --> 00:19:09,858 Despite her status as one of the most revered 163 00:19:09,882 --> 00:19:12,194 and renowned figures in the nation, 164 00:19:12,218 --> 00:19:14,947 Helen Keller's forays into politics, 165 00:19:14,971 --> 00:19:16,865 especially at a time when women 166 00:19:16,889 --> 00:19:19,368 were still deprived of the right to vote, 167 00:19:19,392 --> 00:19:23,539 are frequently met with fierce criticism, willfully ignored, 168 00:19:23,563 --> 00:19:28,377 or pardoned as being the result of bad influences upon her. 169 00:19:28,401 --> 00:19:31,004 States one newspaper editorial: 170 00:19:31,028 --> 00:19:34,508 "Helen Keller, struggling to point the way for the deaf, 171 00:19:34,532 --> 00:19:37,261 "dumb and blind is inspiring. 172 00:19:37,285 --> 00:19:39,846 "Helen Keller preaching socialism; 173 00:19:39,870 --> 00:19:43,100 "Helen Keller passing on the merits of the copper strike; 174 00:19:43,124 --> 00:19:44,726 "Helen Keller sneering at the 175 00:19:44,750 --> 00:19:47,187 "Constitution of the United States; 176 00:19:47,211 --> 00:19:51,233 "Helen Keller under these aspects is pitiful. 177 00:19:51,257 --> 00:19:53,068 "She is beyond her depth. 178 00:19:53,092 --> 00:19:56,029 "She speaks with the handicap of limitation 179 00:19:56,053 --> 00:20:00,075 "which no amount of determination or science can overcome. 180 00:20:00,099 --> 00:20:04,746 "Her knowledge is, and must be, almost purely theoretical, 181 00:20:04,770 --> 00:20:07,082 "and unfortunately this world 182 00:20:07,106 --> 00:20:10,609 "and its problems are both very practical." 183 00:20:12,278 --> 00:20:16,091 When in 1913, Helen Keller publishes her book, 184 00:20:16,115 --> 00:20:18,677 "Out Of The Dark: Essays, Letters, 185 00:20:18,701 --> 00:20:21,930 "and Addresses on Physical and Social Vision", 186 00:20:21,954 --> 00:20:25,934 including articles such as "How I Became a Socialist", 187 00:20:25,958 --> 00:20:29,271 "The Workers' Right", "The Modern Woman", 188 00:20:29,295 --> 00:20:32,274 and a "Letter to an English Woman Suffragist", 189 00:20:32,298 --> 00:20:36,611 it manages, in the words of her biographer Dorothy Herrmann, 190 00:20:36,635 --> 00:20:40,139 to "practically destroy her angelic image." 191 00:21:18,761 --> 00:21:21,656 ♪ There's a winding trail 192 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,659 ♪ Through the meadow grass 193 00:21:24,683 --> 00:21:29,164 ♪ And over the sunny hill 194 00:21:29,188 --> 00:21:31,917 ♪ To the wildwood wind 195 00:21:31,941 --> 00:21:34,378 ♪ Where a lad and lass 196 00:21:34,402 --> 00:21:39,299 ♪ Were thronged at their own sweet will ♪ 197 00:21:39,323 --> 00:21:41,802 ♪ A brown little lad 198 00:21:41,826 --> 00:21:44,554 ♪ With a freckled nose 199 00:21:44,578 --> 00:21:46,765 ♪ And a wee bony lass 200 00:21:46,789 --> 00:21:50,018 ♪ Like a sweet wild rose 201 00:21:50,042 --> 00:21:52,104 ♪ Over the hilltop 202 00:21:52,128 --> 00:21:55,023 ♪ And through the veil 203 00:21:55,047 --> 00:21:58,217 ♪ Treading the winding... 204 00:22:57,234 --> 00:23:01,089 Founded in 1901, the Socialist Party of America 205 00:23:01,113 --> 00:23:05,260 was by 1912, an exponentially expanding force 206 00:23:05,284 --> 00:23:07,429 on the political landscape. 207 00:23:07,453 --> 00:23:09,431 According to official records, 208 00:23:09,455 --> 00:23:12,434 the Party had more than 1,000 of its members elected 209 00:23:12,458 --> 00:23:16,938 to political office in 337 towns and cities. 210 00:23:16,962 --> 00:23:20,233 This included 56 Socialist mayors, 211 00:23:20,257 --> 00:23:23,111 305 aldermen and councilmen, 212 00:23:23,135 --> 00:23:27,741 22 police officials, 155 school officials, 213 00:23:27,765 --> 00:23:30,035 and four pound-keepers. 214 00:23:30,059 --> 00:23:34,581 The Socialist cause was promoted by 323 papers 215 00:23:34,605 --> 00:23:39,127 and periodicals, including five daily newspapers in English, 216 00:23:39,151 --> 00:23:41,338 eight in other languages, 217 00:23:41,362 --> 00:23:44,299 262 weeklies in English, 218 00:23:44,323 --> 00:23:46,510 36 in other languages, 219 00:23:46,534 --> 00:23:48,303 and 12 monthlies. 220 00:23:48,327 --> 00:23:52,390 10 in English and two in other languages. 221 00:23:52,414 --> 00:23:55,393 Total circulation of this press was estimated 222 00:23:55,417 --> 00:23:57,253 to have been more than two million. 223 00:23:58,379 --> 00:24:01,149 "The Appeal to Reason", published in Kansas 224 00:24:01,173 --> 00:24:03,151 and always the most widely read 225 00:24:03,175 --> 00:24:05,320 of the Socialist publications, 226 00:24:05,344 --> 00:24:09,157 whose motto was "Socialism is not just a theory, 227 00:24:09,181 --> 00:24:12,536 "it is a destiny", reaches a circulation 228 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,914 of nearly 700,000 in that year. 229 00:24:15,938 --> 00:24:18,667 And, in 1912, as candidate for the 230 00:24:18,691 --> 00:24:22,337 Socialist Party of America in the Presidential election, 231 00:24:22,361 --> 00:24:26,007 Eugene Debs receives nearly one million votes. 232 00:24:26,031 --> 00:24:28,385 This was before women's suffrage 233 00:24:28,409 --> 00:24:31,704 and represents 6% of the popular vote. 234 00:25:31,597 --> 00:25:34,909 A source of tremendous media attention at the time, 235 00:25:34,933 --> 00:25:39,539 Helen Keller's graduation in 1904 from Radcliffe College, 236 00:25:39,563 --> 00:25:42,876 Harvard's segregated sister institution, 237 00:25:42,900 --> 00:25:46,421 establishes her as the first blind-deaf individual 238 00:25:46,445 --> 00:25:48,781 to ever graduate from college. 239 00:25:50,783 --> 00:25:54,554 Even before receiving her degree, Helen's awareness of her 240 00:25:54,578 --> 00:25:58,767 class privilege and unique opportunities is growing. 241 00:25:58,791 --> 00:26:01,102 She would come to describe Harvard as 242 00:26:01,126 --> 00:26:04,439 "perhaps the most imposing monument to dead ideas 243 00:26:04,463 --> 00:26:07,925 "in this country where such monuments are numerous." 244 00:26:09,134 --> 00:26:11,905 Pressed as to why she came to this opinion, 245 00:26:11,929 --> 00:26:15,283 she replied that, "They did not teach me about things 246 00:26:15,307 --> 00:26:18,620 "as they are today, or about the vital problems 247 00:26:18,644 --> 00:26:19,913 "of the people. 248 00:26:19,937 --> 00:26:23,291 "They taught me Greek drama and Roman history, 249 00:26:23,315 --> 00:26:26,044 "the celebrated achievements of war, 250 00:26:26,068 --> 00:26:28,963 "rather than those of the heroes of peace. 251 00:26:28,987 --> 00:26:33,301 "For instance, there were a dozen chapters on war 252 00:26:33,325 --> 00:26:37,305 "where there were a few paragraphs about the inventors, 253 00:26:37,329 --> 00:26:40,809 "and it is the over-emphasis on the cruelties of life 254 00:26:40,833 --> 00:26:43,436 "that breeds the wrong ideal. 255 00:26:43,460 --> 00:26:47,232 "Education has taught me that it was a finer thing 256 00:26:47,256 --> 00:26:51,343 "to be a Napoleon than to create a new potato." 257 00:26:53,512 --> 00:26:57,450 Accepting an invitation years later to speak at Radcliffe, 258 00:26:57,474 --> 00:27:00,120 Helen tells the attendees: 259 00:27:00,144 --> 00:27:04,332 "I have never attached great value to academic fame, 260 00:27:04,356 --> 00:27:07,168 "and I am not much interested in whether 261 00:27:07,192 --> 00:27:10,839 "or not people praise Radcliffe's scholarship. 262 00:27:10,863 --> 00:27:15,677 "What I care about is that every thought, every work, 263 00:27:15,701 --> 00:27:20,706 "every act should be vital with the will to serve mankind." 264 00:29:04,142 --> 00:29:07,956 One month after delivering her first public lecture, 265 00:29:07,980 --> 00:29:10,250 Helen Keller is invited to speak 266 00:29:10,274 --> 00:29:14,128 at the 1913 Woman's Suffrage Procession, 267 00:29:14,152 --> 00:29:18,216 the first suffrage parade to be held in Washington, DC, 268 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,969 and strategically scheduled for the day prior 269 00:29:20,993 --> 00:29:24,305 to the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson. 270 00:29:24,329 --> 00:29:26,933 Firmly opposed to the idea of women 271 00:29:26,957 --> 00:29:30,395 having the right to vote, Wilson, a Democrat, 272 00:29:30,419 --> 00:29:33,439 takes office characterizing those women who campaigned 273 00:29:33,463 --> 00:29:37,151 for suffrage as "totally abhorrent". 274 00:29:37,175 --> 00:29:39,654 Organized by Alice Paul for the 275 00:29:39,678 --> 00:29:42,824 National American Woman Suffrage Association, 276 00:29:42,848 --> 00:29:46,160 the procession draws some 8,000 marchers, 277 00:29:46,184 --> 00:29:49,706 featuring nine bands, four mounted brigades, 278 00:29:49,730 --> 00:29:52,834 and over 20 floats, who lead their parade 279 00:29:52,858 --> 00:29:57,297 before thousands of spectators, many of them, mostly men, 280 00:29:57,321 --> 00:29:59,323 in town for the inauguration. 281 00:30:00,657 --> 00:30:03,011 After proceeding for a few blocks, 282 00:30:03,035 --> 00:30:05,847 crowds of spectators move into the street 283 00:30:05,871 --> 00:30:10,018 impeding the ability for many marchers to pass. 284 00:30:10,042 --> 00:30:12,520 Women are shoved, tripped, insulted, 285 00:30:12,544 --> 00:30:16,858 spat upon, while police officers either stand idly by 286 00:30:16,882 --> 00:30:19,694 or are seen reveling in the commotion. 287 00:30:19,718 --> 00:30:23,197 For the next six hours, ambulances fight their way in 288 00:30:23,221 --> 00:30:26,993 and out of the crowd attempting to retrieve the injured. 289 00:30:27,017 --> 00:30:29,621 By day's end, over 200 people are 290 00:30:29,645 --> 00:30:32,040 treated at local hospitals. 291 00:30:32,064 --> 00:30:35,376 So exhausted and unnerved by the experience 292 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,004 and her attempts to reach the grandstand, 293 00:30:38,028 --> 00:30:40,715 Helen Keller finds herself unable to later 294 00:30:40,739 --> 00:30:43,468 speak at Constitution Hall. 295 00:30:43,492 --> 00:30:45,720 The following day she recounts her impressions 296 00:30:45,744 --> 00:30:47,388 for the syndicated press, 297 00:30:47,412 --> 00:30:50,749 although few transmit the full extent of her report. 298 00:31:48,306 --> 00:31:50,910 While Helen Keller's recounting of the events 299 00:31:50,934 --> 00:31:54,831 of the Woman Suffrage Pageant receives little circulation, 300 00:31:54,855 --> 00:31:57,542 her concurrent critique of the swearing in of 301 00:31:57,566 --> 00:31:59,961 President Woodrow Wilson does, 302 00:31:59,985 --> 00:32:03,631 even leading one newspaper editor to describe it as 303 00:32:03,655 --> 00:32:06,300 "The most remarkable printed anywhere 304 00:32:06,324 --> 00:32:09,327 "on the inauguration in Washington yesterday." 305 00:33:16,394 --> 00:33:18,372 When interviewed by the press, 306 00:33:18,396 --> 00:33:21,918 Helen underscores that she is not just a suffragist 307 00:33:21,942 --> 00:33:24,378 but a "militant suffragist". 308 00:33:24,402 --> 00:33:28,382 As she explains to a reporter for "The New York Times", 309 00:33:28,406 --> 00:33:31,886 "I believe that suffrage will lead to socialism 310 00:33:31,910 --> 00:33:36,015 "and to me, socialism is the ideal cause." 311 00:33:36,039 --> 00:33:38,935 Mindful of the fact that the right to vote was itself no 312 00:33:38,959 --> 00:33:43,564 guarantee of the fostering of fundamental structural change, 313 00:33:43,588 --> 00:33:47,485 in her 1911 "Letter to an English Woman Suffragist", 314 00:33:47,509 --> 00:33:51,096 she expounds further on the nature of the problem. 315 00:38:29,207 --> 00:38:33,020 Following the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, 316 00:38:33,044 --> 00:38:36,690 a small, vocal, and highly influential group of bankers, 317 00:38:36,714 --> 00:38:40,236 lawyers, and businessmen launches a campaign to persuade 318 00:38:40,260 --> 00:38:43,697 the Wilson administration and the country at large 319 00:38:43,721 --> 00:38:47,392 that the United States needs to prepare itself for war. 320 00:38:48,435 --> 00:38:50,538 Led by General Leonard Wood 321 00:38:50,562 --> 00:38:53,040 and former President Theodore Roosevelt, 322 00:38:53,064 --> 00:38:55,543 the so-called "Preparedness Movement" 323 00:38:55,567 --> 00:38:59,213 argues for an immediate build-up of naval and land forces 324 00:38:59,237 --> 00:39:01,048 and the instituting of compulsory 325 00:39:01,072 --> 00:39:02,907 universal military training. 326 00:39:04,409 --> 00:39:06,887 With the Socialist Party at the forefront of opposition 327 00:39:06,911 --> 00:39:09,849 to any such build-up, it is announced that on 328 00:39:09,873 --> 00:39:14,687 December 19th, 1915, Helen Keller will publicly present 329 00:39:14,711 --> 00:39:17,231 the Socialist interpretation of the causes of the 330 00:39:17,255 --> 00:39:21,634 European war and the dangers confronting the United States. 331 00:39:22,552 --> 00:39:24,238 Sponsored by the Labor Forum 332 00:39:24,262 --> 00:39:27,533 and to be held at Washington Irving High School in New York, 333 00:39:27,557 --> 00:39:30,744 it is further announced that, "Miss Keller will advocate 334 00:39:30,768 --> 00:39:33,038 "the General Strike as the speediest way 335 00:39:33,062 --> 00:39:36,083 "to end the European conflict." 336 00:39:36,107 --> 00:39:38,586 By the time the event gets underway, 337 00:39:38,610 --> 00:39:41,755 there are an estimated 2,000 in attendance, 338 00:39:41,779 --> 00:39:45,259 and hundreds more who have to be turned away. 339 00:39:45,283 --> 00:39:49,579 Her speech is called "Menace of the Militarist Program". 340 00:42:38,831 --> 00:42:41,101 At the conclusion of her remarks, 341 00:42:41,125 --> 00:42:43,270 the crowd rises to its feet 342 00:42:43,294 --> 00:42:45,189 and collectively breaks out 343 00:42:45,213 --> 00:42:47,256 into the singing of La Marseillaise. 344 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,611 Exiting the school building, 345 00:42:50,635 --> 00:42:53,280 Helen is greeted by a large crowd. 346 00:42:53,304 --> 00:42:55,449 According to a report the following day 347 00:42:55,473 --> 00:42:58,619 in the "New York Times", when "Miss Keller told the throng 348 00:42:58,643 --> 00:43:01,622 "that she would speak, so great was the rush towards 349 00:43:01,646 --> 00:43:04,792 "the steps to hear her that the police reserves 350 00:43:04,816 --> 00:43:07,795 "of East 22nd Street Station were called out 351 00:43:07,819 --> 00:43:09,320 "to restore order." 352 00:43:10,488 --> 00:43:13,300 Helen repeats her appeal for workers not to serve 353 00:43:13,324 --> 00:43:15,928 in the proposed army of defense, 354 00:43:15,952 --> 00:43:20,599 again concluding with a call for a "world-encircling revolt" 355 00:43:20,623 --> 00:43:23,852 upon which there is a concerted rush towards her, 356 00:43:23,876 --> 00:43:27,398 provoking police officers to lift Helen off her feet 357 00:43:27,422 --> 00:43:30,174 and carry her to a waiting automobile. 358 00:43:31,509 --> 00:43:34,113 In the days immediately following the talk, 359 00:43:34,137 --> 00:43:36,865 pro-preparedness groups demand that the 360 00:43:36,889 --> 00:43:39,660 New York City Board of Education revoke the 361 00:43:39,684 --> 00:43:42,788 Labor Forum's permit to ever again use the 362 00:43:42,812 --> 00:43:47,167 Washington Irving High School building for public meetings. 363 00:43:47,191 --> 00:43:50,504 Going even further, protesters declare 364 00:43:50,528 --> 00:43:53,716 "that no organization that lends itself to furthering 365 00:43:53,740 --> 00:43:57,970 "the propaganda of disloyalty and anarchy be permitted 366 00:43:57,994 --> 00:44:00,556 "to occupy public school halls 367 00:44:00,580 --> 00:44:03,809 "in order to disseminate their doctrines." 368 00:44:03,833 --> 00:44:07,044 Helen is quick to issue a response. 369 00:44:30,777 --> 00:44:33,380 Following her talk at the Labor Forum, 370 00:44:33,404 --> 00:44:37,593 Helen leaves for a lengthy lecture tour throughout the West. 371 00:44:37,617 --> 00:44:40,220 Spurred by the impassioned response Helen's 372 00:44:40,244 --> 00:44:42,389 speech received from the audience, 373 00:44:42,413 --> 00:44:46,393 and with its aftermath still swirling about in the press, 374 00:44:46,417 --> 00:44:49,730 the Women's Peace Party and the Labor Forum 375 00:44:49,754 --> 00:44:52,983 jointly reach out to Helen requesting she return 376 00:44:53,007 --> 00:44:55,569 to New York to deliver a second speech, 377 00:44:55,593 --> 00:44:58,596 this time to be held at Carnegie Hall. 378 00:45:00,056 --> 00:45:02,075 Enthusiastic about the prospect, 379 00:45:02,099 --> 00:45:04,536 Helen makes one stipulation, 380 00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:06,604 that admission to the talk be free. 381 00:45:07,730 --> 00:45:09,875 All of the trade unions in New York City 382 00:45:09,899 --> 00:45:12,419 and their members are invited. 383 00:45:12,443 --> 00:45:17,049 On January 5, 1916, a packed audience comprised 384 00:45:17,073 --> 00:45:19,927 principally of women assembles in Carnegie Hall 385 00:45:19,951 --> 00:45:22,638 to hear Helen Keller again speak 386 00:45:22,662 --> 00:45:26,099 on the subject of militarism and resistance. 387 00:45:26,123 --> 00:45:28,268 As Helen takes the stage and advances 388 00:45:28,292 --> 00:45:30,020 to the front of the platform, 389 00:45:30,044 --> 00:45:32,272 she is cheered for 15 minutes 390 00:45:32,296 --> 00:45:35,359 before she can deliver her first words. 391 00:45:35,383 --> 00:45:38,570 Women rise to their feet, waving their handkerchiefs, 392 00:45:38,594 --> 00:45:41,448 shouting and applauding until exhaustion. 393 00:45:41,472 --> 00:45:43,700 For the next hour and 10 minutes, 394 00:45:43,724 --> 00:45:46,954 Helen lays out the arguments for resisting the move toward 395 00:45:46,978 --> 00:45:48,789 increased military buildup 396 00:45:48,813 --> 00:45:52,125 and the implementation of conscription. 397 00:45:52,149 --> 00:45:54,962 She denounces the tactics of fear-mongering 398 00:45:54,986 --> 00:45:57,381 being used to argue for armaments, 399 00:45:57,405 --> 00:46:00,801 and outlines the connections between the banking industry, 400 00:46:00,825 --> 00:46:04,805 foreign investments, and the munitions industry. 401 00:46:04,829 --> 00:46:07,808 "Behind the preparedness propaganda" Helen says, 402 00:46:07,832 --> 00:46:09,977 "is an attempt to divert attention away 403 00:46:10,001 --> 00:46:14,398 "from the hard realities of economic strife at home." 404 00:46:14,422 --> 00:46:17,693 She denounces the fundamental flaws of the system. 405 00:46:17,717 --> 00:46:21,488 She points out that, "the ballot does not make a free man 406 00:46:21,512 --> 00:46:23,740 "out of a wage slave. 407 00:46:23,764 --> 00:46:26,743 "There has never existed a truly free 408 00:46:26,767 --> 00:46:30,330 "and democratic nation in the world," she states. 409 00:46:30,354 --> 00:46:34,960 "From time immemorial men have followed with blind loyalty 410 00:46:34,984 --> 00:46:39,006 "the strong men who had the power of money and of armies. 411 00:46:39,030 --> 00:46:43,010 "Even while battlefields were piled high with their own dead 412 00:46:43,034 --> 00:46:45,345 "they have tilled the lands of the rulers 413 00:46:45,369 --> 00:46:48,599 "and have been robbed of the fruits of their labor. 414 00:46:48,623 --> 00:46:51,143 "What workers want," Helen declares, 415 00:46:51,167 --> 00:46:53,687 "is nothing short of the reorganization 416 00:46:53,711 --> 00:46:56,815 "and reconstruction of their whole lives, 417 00:46:56,839 --> 00:47:00,694 "until every individual has a chance to be well-born, 418 00:47:00,718 --> 00:47:03,864 "well nourished, rightly educated." 419 00:47:03,888 --> 00:47:06,992 She urges for a nationwide strike against war 420 00:47:07,016 --> 00:47:08,726 and weapons manufacture. 421 00:47:09,852 --> 00:47:12,539 She concludes by bidding the audience, 422 00:47:12,563 --> 00:47:17,336 "Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction. 423 00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:20,738 "Be heroes in an army of construction." 424 00:47:23,032 --> 00:47:27,554 In the audience that night is poet Anna Strunsky Walling, 425 00:47:27,578 --> 00:47:30,748 who writes of the impact of the experience. 426 00:47:34,752 --> 00:47:37,856 "You walked forward as if you wanted to run; 427 00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:41,401 "Eagerness was in your feet, in the lift of your head, 428 00:47:41,425 --> 00:47:43,487 "in your brilliant smile. 429 00:47:43,511 --> 00:47:46,073 "You walked forward and took your place 430 00:47:46,097 --> 00:47:50,369 "at the edge of the platform, facing the great audience. 431 00:47:50,393 --> 00:47:53,163 "Impenetrable night was around you, 432 00:47:53,187 --> 00:47:55,749 "though the light of enthusiasm flashed 433 00:47:55,773 --> 00:47:58,210 "from thousands of eyes more brilliant 434 00:47:58,234 --> 00:48:01,254 "than the brilliant illumination of the hall. 435 00:48:01,278 --> 00:48:03,924 "Impenetrable silence, though music 436 00:48:03,948 --> 00:48:08,178 "and speaking had preceded you, and now, at sight of you, 437 00:48:08,202 --> 00:48:11,390 "the thousands broke into applause. 438 00:48:11,414 --> 00:48:14,101 "You stood in the dark of the night, 439 00:48:14,125 --> 00:48:16,436 "in the silence of the tomb, 440 00:48:16,460 --> 00:48:21,274 "a spear of light, a star, a voice. 441 00:48:21,298 --> 00:48:25,278 "Oh, unforgettable experience of my soul! 442 00:48:25,302 --> 00:48:27,906 "When first the effulgence of your courage 443 00:48:27,930 --> 00:48:31,475 "and your youth laid its spell upon me!" 444 00:48:41,902 --> 00:48:44,798 Though never averse to the situational use of force 445 00:48:44,822 --> 00:48:48,635 when necessary to advance revolutionary aspirations, 446 00:48:48,659 --> 00:48:51,179 Helen Keller maintained a life-long commitment 447 00:48:51,203 --> 00:48:55,308 to speaking out against military adventurism. 448 00:48:55,332 --> 00:48:57,561 Reflecting back many years later 449 00:48:57,585 --> 00:49:02,089 on the period of the 1916 Preparedness debate, Helen wrote. 450 00:49:32,328 --> 00:49:35,515 As Helen Keller's embrace of socialist ideas grows 451 00:49:35,539 --> 00:49:39,895 more fervent, so too does her dissatisfaction with rising 452 00:49:39,919 --> 00:49:44,024 factionalism within the Socialist Party of America. 453 00:49:44,048 --> 00:49:48,153 After the 1912 elections, and following much argument, 454 00:49:48,177 --> 00:49:51,364 the constitution of the Socialist Party is amended 455 00:49:51,388 --> 00:49:54,993 to ban membership by any who would advocate the tactical 456 00:49:55,017 --> 00:49:57,704 use of sabotage or violence. 457 00:49:57,728 --> 00:50:00,874 In a debate with Party President Eugene Debs, 458 00:50:00,898 --> 00:50:04,544 syndicalist organizer Big Bill Haywood proclaims that, 459 00:50:04,568 --> 00:50:08,006 "No Socialist can be a law-abiding citizen. 460 00:50:08,030 --> 00:50:11,218 "When we come together and are of a common mind, 461 00:50:11,242 --> 00:50:13,386 "and the purpose of our minds is to overthrow 462 00:50:13,410 --> 00:50:16,723 "the capitalist system, we become conspirators 463 00:50:16,747 --> 00:50:19,559 "against the United States Government." 464 00:50:19,583 --> 00:50:22,562 While many attack the anti-sabotage clause, 465 00:50:22,586 --> 00:50:26,108 including Walter Lippman, Max Eastman, Margaret Sanger, 466 00:50:26,132 --> 00:50:29,402 and others, Helen Keller doesn't sign. 467 00:50:29,426 --> 00:50:33,073 Instead, writing in the socialist daily The New York Call, 468 00:50:33,097 --> 00:50:35,742 she chastises the infighting. 469 00:50:35,766 --> 00:50:39,538 "It fills me with amazement to see such a narrow spirit, 470 00:50:39,562 --> 00:50:42,541 "and such ignoble strife between two factions 471 00:50:42,565 --> 00:50:46,586 "which should be one, and that, too, at a most critical 472 00:50:46,610 --> 00:50:49,131 "period in the struggle of the proletariat. 473 00:50:49,155 --> 00:50:50,590 "What? 474 00:50:50,614 --> 00:50:52,425 "Are we to put differences of party tactics 475 00:50:52,449 --> 00:50:54,952 "before the desperate needs of the workers?" 476 00:50:56,453 --> 00:50:59,307 While never fully breaking her ties with party affiliation, 477 00:50:59,331 --> 00:51:02,269 within a few short years, it becomes manifest 478 00:51:02,293 --> 00:51:06,106 where Helen's affinities lie when she aligns herself with 479 00:51:06,130 --> 00:51:10,360 the foremost radical labor organization in the country. 480 00:51:10,384 --> 00:51:13,864 Known variously as the Industrial Workers of the World, 481 00:51:13,888 --> 00:51:18,451 the IWW, or the Wobblies, it is founded in 1905 482 00:51:18,475 --> 00:51:22,289 in Chicago as an international labor organization 483 00:51:22,313 --> 00:51:26,334 united as a social class aiming to supplant capitalism 484 00:51:26,358 --> 00:51:31,339 and wage labor with a program of "industrial democracy". 485 00:51:31,363 --> 00:51:34,176 Even with general public awareness of Helen Keller's 486 00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:38,471 socialist sympathies, her joining forces with the IWW 487 00:51:38,495 --> 00:51:41,099 is feared to be a tipping point. 488 00:51:41,123 --> 00:51:43,977 One week following her Carnegie Hall speech, 489 00:51:44,001 --> 00:51:46,980 Helen is interviewed at length by Barbara Bindley 490 00:51:47,004 --> 00:51:49,274 for the "New York Tribune". 491 00:51:49,298 --> 00:51:53,153 If Helen's recent call for "one great world-wide union" 492 00:51:53,177 --> 00:51:55,655 and for "globe-encircling revolt" 493 00:51:55,679 --> 00:51:57,949 hadn't made it clear enough, 494 00:51:57,973 --> 00:52:00,994 the Tribune article would leave no doubts. 495 00:52:01,018 --> 00:52:04,789 Early in the conversation, the interviewer asks Helen 496 00:52:04,813 --> 00:52:06,958 how it was that she first gravitated 497 00:52:06,982 --> 00:52:09,026 toward being a social crusader. 498 00:56:45,761 --> 00:56:48,114 Whether because of, or in spite of, 499 00:56:48,138 --> 00:56:51,493 having been born in the South in the 1880s 500 00:56:51,517 --> 00:56:54,954 to a father who'd owned slaves before the Civil War 501 00:56:54,978 --> 00:56:58,291 and who'd served as a captain in the Confederate Army, 502 00:56:58,315 --> 00:57:01,127 Helen Keller emerged as a public advocate 503 00:57:01,151 --> 00:57:03,630 against racial injustice. 504 00:57:03,654 --> 00:57:07,884 Paying tribute to her in 1931, African-American writer, 505 00:57:07,908 --> 00:57:11,804 scholar, and activist WEB Dubois described having 506 00:57:11,828 --> 00:57:15,225 encountered Helen as a child when she first attended 507 00:57:15,249 --> 00:57:18,961 the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Massachusetts. 508 00:57:20,254 --> 00:57:23,816 "When I was studying Philosophy under William James, 509 00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:28,613 "we made an excursion one day out to Roxbury. 510 00:57:28,637 --> 00:57:32,700 "We stopped at the Blind Asylum and saw a young girl 511 00:57:32,724 --> 00:57:37,729 "who was deaf and dumb and who yet, by infinite pains 512 00:57:39,189 --> 00:57:42,669 "and loving sympathy, had been made to speak without words 513 00:57:42,693 --> 00:57:45,362 "and to understand without sound." 514 00:57:47,281 --> 00:57:48,675 Oh dear me. 515 00:57:48,699 --> 00:57:49,950 My hearing 516 00:57:51,285 --> 00:57:53,805 aids began to fail, 517 00:57:53,829 --> 00:57:55,098 and so they make a sound. 518 00:57:55,122 --> 00:57:56,683 And I'm sorry. 519 00:57:56,707 --> 00:57:58,476 Well, let's just start again from the beginning. 520 00:57:58,500 --> 00:57:59,936 Right-o. 521 00:57:59,960 --> 00:58:04,190 "We stopped at the Blind Asylum and saw a young girl 522 00:58:04,214 --> 00:58:09,153 "who was deaf and dumb and who yet, by infinite pains 523 00:58:09,177 --> 00:58:13,992 "and loving sympathy, had been made to speak without words 524 00:58:14,016 --> 00:58:17,495 "and to understand without sound. 525 00:58:17,519 --> 00:58:19,706 "She was Helen Keller. 526 00:58:19,730 --> 00:58:22,166 "Perhaps because she was blind 527 00:58:22,190 --> 00:58:24,877 "to color difference in this world, 528 00:58:24,901 --> 00:58:27,505 "I became intensely interested in her 529 00:58:27,529 --> 00:58:32,302 "and all through my life I have followed her career. 530 00:58:32,326 --> 00:58:36,389 "Finally, there came the thing that I had somehow 531 00:58:36,413 --> 00:58:41,418 "sensed would come, Helen was in her own state, Alabama, 532 00:58:42,919 --> 00:58:46,923 "being feted and made much of by her fellow citizens. 533 00:58:47,924 --> 00:58:49,694 "And yet courageously, and frankly, 534 00:58:49,718 --> 00:58:52,030 "she spoke out on the inequity 535 00:58:52,054 --> 00:58:54,991 "and foolishness of the color line. 536 00:58:55,015 --> 00:58:57,327 "It cost her something to speak. 537 00:58:57,351 --> 00:59:01,205 "They wanted her to retract but she stayed serene 538 00:59:01,229 --> 00:59:05,084 "in the consciousness of the truth that she had uttered. 539 00:59:05,108 --> 00:59:10,048 "And so it was proven, as I knew it would be, 540 00:59:10,072 --> 00:59:13,176 "that this woman who sits in darkness 541 00:59:13,200 --> 00:59:17,096 "has a spiritual insight much clearer 542 00:59:17,120 --> 00:59:20,933 "than that of many wide-eyed people who stare 543 00:59:20,957 --> 00:59:25,962 "uncomprehendingly at this prejudiced world." 544 01:01:14,446 --> 01:01:19,260 On April 7, 1917, one day following the U.S. Congress' 545 01:01:19,284 --> 01:01:21,471 declaration of war on Germany 546 01:01:21,495 --> 01:01:24,265 and formal entry into World War I, 547 01:01:24,289 --> 01:01:27,226 an emergency meeting of the Socialist Party of America 548 01:01:27,250 --> 01:01:29,336 convenes in St. Louis, Missouri. 549 01:01:30,170 --> 01:01:32,148 By an overwhelming majority, 550 01:01:32,172 --> 01:01:34,859 the Party denounces America's entry as 551 01:01:34,883 --> 01:01:36,944 "a crime against the people", 552 01:01:36,968 --> 01:01:40,656 declares it a war "imperialistic on both sides", 553 01:01:40,680 --> 01:01:43,826 and pledges "continuous, active, and public opposition 554 01:01:43,850 --> 01:01:46,954 "to the war, through demonstrations, mass petitions, 555 01:01:46,978 --> 01:01:49,624 "and all other means within our power. 556 01:01:49,648 --> 01:01:52,335 "We will not willingly give a single life 557 01:01:52,359 --> 01:01:54,670 "or a single dollar." 558 01:01:54,694 --> 01:01:57,882 Within two months, President Wilson signs into law 559 01:01:57,906 --> 01:02:02,470 the Espionage Act, enabling sentences up to 20 years 560 01:02:02,494 --> 01:02:04,597 for anyone willfully interfering 561 01:02:04,621 --> 01:02:07,541 with military operations or recruitment. 562 01:02:09,042 --> 01:02:11,646 Immediately socialists throughout the country are indicted, 563 01:02:11,670 --> 01:02:15,650 convicted and jailed, a third of Socialist meeting halls 564 01:02:15,674 --> 01:02:19,028 are destroyed, and dissemination of the majority 565 01:02:19,052 --> 01:02:22,865 of socialist publications are banned from the mails. 566 01:02:22,889 --> 01:02:26,077 On June 15th, 1917 in New York, 567 01:02:26,101 --> 01:02:29,372 Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman are arrested 568 01:02:29,396 --> 01:02:31,666 during a raid on their offices, 569 01:02:31,690 --> 01:02:35,878 charged with conspiracy to "induce persons not to register" 570 01:02:35,902 --> 01:02:38,238 and sentenced to two years in prison. 571 01:02:39,155 --> 01:02:42,802 In July, 1917 in North Dakota, 572 01:02:42,826 --> 01:02:46,055 Kate Richards O'Hare is sentenced to five years in prison 573 01:02:46,079 --> 01:02:48,891 for making an anti-war speech. 574 01:02:48,915 --> 01:02:52,937 On September 5th, 1917, a national dragnet 575 01:02:52,961 --> 01:02:57,966 rounds up 166 senior members of the IWW, 576 01:02:59,175 --> 01:03:00,987 raiding the headquarters of the Socialist Party 577 01:03:01,011 --> 01:03:04,657 and of the IWW and 20 branch offices 578 01:03:04,681 --> 01:03:07,743 of the IWW in different states. 579 01:03:07,767 --> 01:03:11,372 Among them are many of Helen's close friends and allies, 580 01:03:11,396 --> 01:03:13,916 provoking her to send an impassioned appeal 581 01:03:13,940 --> 01:03:15,942 directly to President Wilson. 582 01:04:20,006 --> 01:04:22,676 Helen puts the President on notice. 583 01:04:34,604 --> 01:04:36,856 She makes the argument squarely. 584 01:05:03,008 --> 01:05:05,611 She lays her cards fully on the table, 585 01:05:05,635 --> 01:05:08,638 valiantly divulging more to the President. 586 01:09:25,478 --> 01:09:29,124 When Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik revolutionary forces 587 01:09:29,148 --> 01:09:33,045 seize power in Russia in the Fall of 1917, 588 01:09:33,069 --> 01:09:35,297 in a nearly bloodless coup d'etat, 589 01:09:35,321 --> 01:09:38,425 the enthusiasm it generates among progressive circles 590 01:09:38,449 --> 01:09:40,285 worldwide is electric. 591 01:09:41,327 --> 01:09:43,472 For Helen Keller as for many, 592 01:09:43,496 --> 01:09:46,642 the establishment of the world's first constitutionally 593 01:09:46,666 --> 01:09:50,354 socialist state offers, from afar, 594 01:09:50,378 --> 01:09:53,649 the promise that the dream of a more egalitarian 595 01:09:53,673 --> 01:09:56,151 and just restructuring of the world 596 01:09:56,175 --> 01:09:58,553 could in fact be made a reality. 597 01:10:48,561 --> 01:10:51,874 By the late 1930s, with the arrival of reports 598 01:10:51,898 --> 01:10:55,377 on the wave of political purges, mass executions 599 01:10:55,401 --> 01:10:58,172 and incarcerations in the Soviet Union, 600 01:10:58,196 --> 01:11:00,716 Helen's support of the Russian experiment 601 01:11:00,740 --> 01:11:04,053 becomes tempered, albeit somewhat. 602 01:11:04,077 --> 01:11:07,681 Belatedly she would in time turn against Stalin, 603 01:11:07,705 --> 01:11:09,558 though her conviction in the promise 604 01:11:09,582 --> 01:11:11,727 of the Soviet dream endured, 605 01:11:11,751 --> 01:11:14,688 gaining new traction when the Russian Army combats 606 01:11:14,712 --> 01:11:17,006 Nazi Germany during World War II. 607 01:11:18,424 --> 01:11:21,320 Following a forthright dinner discussion with a staunch 608 01:11:21,344 --> 01:11:24,656 critic of the Soviet Union in 1943, 609 01:11:24,680 --> 01:11:27,242 Helen decides to follow up with a letter 610 01:11:27,266 --> 01:11:30,561 hoping to clarify any misunderstanding. 611 01:12:34,667 --> 01:12:38,814 As Helen confided to a friend about the exchange days later, 612 01:12:38,838 --> 01:12:41,150 "Alas, I am incorrigible, 613 01:12:41,174 --> 01:12:44,153 "but what can one do when one believes that the truth 614 01:12:44,177 --> 01:12:47,972 "is the highest compliment human beings can pay each other?" 615 01:12:50,266 --> 01:12:52,161 So the question is about the Soviet Union, 616 01:12:52,185 --> 01:12:53,662 and particularly about Lenin. 617 01:12:53,686 --> 01:12:55,330 So what was Leninism? 618 01:12:55,354 --> 01:12:58,000 Well, here we have to look at the facts. 619 01:12:58,024 --> 01:13:00,127 Now, you know, if you look at the facts, 620 01:13:00,151 --> 01:13:02,337 I think here's what you find. 621 01:13:02,361 --> 01:13:06,008 Lenin was a right-wing deviation of the Socialist Movement 622 01:13:06,032 --> 01:13:07,843 and he was so regarded. 623 01:13:07,867 --> 01:13:09,678 He was regarded as that by the Marxists, 624 01:13:09,702 --> 01:13:11,346 by the mainstream Marxists. 625 01:13:11,370 --> 01:13:13,849 We've forgotten who the mainstream Marxists were 626 01:13:13,873 --> 01:13:15,350 because they lost. 627 01:13:15,374 --> 01:13:17,352 And you only remember the guys who won. 628 01:13:17,376 --> 01:13:20,314 But if you go to that period, 629 01:13:20,338 --> 01:13:22,566 the mainstream Marxists, were people like, for example, 630 01:13:22,590 --> 01:13:25,194 Anton Pannekoek, who was head of education 631 01:13:25,218 --> 01:13:28,221 for the Marxist movement. 632 01:13:29,680 --> 01:13:31,492 He was one of the people who Lenin later 633 01:13:31,516 --> 01:13:33,518 denounced as an infantile leftist. 634 01:13:34,727 --> 01:13:36,371 But he was one of the leading intellectuals 635 01:13:36,395 --> 01:13:38,707 of the actual Marxist movement. 636 01:13:38,731 --> 01:13:41,210 Rosa Luxemburg was another mainstream Marxist, 637 01:13:41,234 --> 01:13:42,170 and there were others. 638 01:13:42,194 --> 01:13:43,545 And they were very... 639 01:13:43,569 --> 01:13:46,673 in fact, Trotsky was one up until 1917. 640 01:13:46,697 --> 01:13:49,051 They were all very critical of Leninism 641 01:13:49,075 --> 01:13:51,053 because of this, what they regarded as this 642 01:13:51,077 --> 01:13:53,764 opportunistic vanguardism. 643 01:13:53,788 --> 01:13:56,350 The idea that the radical intelligentsia 644 01:13:56,374 --> 01:13:59,228 were gonna exploit popular movements 645 01:13:59,252 --> 01:14:01,188 to seize state power. 646 01:14:01,212 --> 01:14:03,232 And then to use that state power 647 01:14:03,256 --> 01:14:06,485 to whip the population into the society that they chose. 648 01:14:06,509 --> 01:14:09,071 After all, the core of Socialism was understood 649 01:14:09,095 --> 01:14:12,074 to be workers control over production. 650 01:14:12,098 --> 01:14:13,408 That was the core. 651 01:14:13,432 --> 01:14:14,701 That's where you begin with 652 01:14:14,725 --> 01:14:16,078 and then you go on with other things. 653 01:14:16,102 --> 01:14:17,913 But the beginning is control 654 01:14:17,937 --> 01:14:19,831 by the workers over production, 655 01:14:19,855 --> 01:14:21,190 and that's where it begins. 656 01:14:22,441 --> 01:14:25,754 Then Lenin took power in October 1917 657 01:14:25,778 --> 01:14:26,922 in what's called a revolution, 658 01:14:26,946 --> 01:14:29,115 but in my view it ought to be called a coup. 659 01:14:31,826 --> 01:14:33,762 And things followed that coup, 660 01:14:33,786 --> 01:14:36,265 or revolution if you want to call it that. 661 01:14:36,289 --> 01:14:37,641 One of the things that followed it 662 01:14:37,665 --> 01:14:39,893 was the immediate moves to destroy 663 01:14:39,917 --> 01:14:41,895 the Soviets and the factory councils. 664 01:14:41,919 --> 01:14:43,438 Those were some of the first moves 665 01:14:43,462 --> 01:14:46,942 of Lenin and Trotsky, Trotsky joined at that point, 666 01:14:46,966 --> 01:14:48,443 after they took state power. 667 01:14:48,467 --> 01:14:50,445 In fact, if you look at what Lenin wrote 668 01:14:50,469 --> 01:14:52,281 after that period, or did, 669 01:14:52,305 --> 01:14:54,950 you'll find it's a reversion to the earlier position. 670 01:14:54,974 --> 01:14:58,954 This sort of left deviation is that, a deviation. 671 01:14:58,978 --> 01:15:02,457 You could ask why, in my view it was just opportunistic. 672 01:15:02,481 --> 01:15:04,626 He knew that in order to gain power, 673 01:15:04,650 --> 01:15:05,961 he was gonna have to go along with 674 01:15:05,985 --> 01:15:08,046 the popular currents that were developing. 675 01:15:08,070 --> 01:15:11,550 Which were in fact, spontaneous, and libertarian, 676 01:15:11,574 --> 01:15:15,304 and socialist, as most popular movements are. 677 01:15:15,328 --> 01:15:17,806 Have been in fact since the 17th century. 678 01:15:17,830 --> 01:15:20,809 And being an astute politician, which he was, 679 01:15:20,833 --> 01:15:22,311 he sort of went along with that 680 01:15:22,335 --> 01:15:25,022 and talked the line that the people wanted to hear. 681 01:15:25,046 --> 01:15:26,815 It's just like when an American politician 682 01:15:26,839 --> 01:15:28,483 goes somewhere and his pollsters tell him, 683 01:15:28,507 --> 01:15:29,901 say so and so and he says it. 684 01:15:29,925 --> 01:15:31,653 Doesn't mean he believes in it. 685 01:15:31,677 --> 01:15:34,656 And I think Lenin was doing the same thing without the polls 686 01:15:34,680 --> 01:15:37,659 Well, after that, comes the view that 687 01:15:37,683 --> 01:15:39,328 all of this is Socialism. 688 01:15:39,352 --> 01:15:41,955 And why should the communist parties take that view? 689 01:15:41,979 --> 01:15:45,042 I think the reason is because they wanted to 690 01:15:45,066 --> 01:15:49,504 sort of exploit the moral force of Socialism, 691 01:15:49,528 --> 01:15:50,964 which was quite real. 692 01:15:50,988 --> 01:15:53,175 You know, it's kind of hard to remember that today. 693 01:15:53,199 --> 01:15:55,135 But at that time it was very real. 694 01:15:55,159 --> 01:15:59,431 This was regarded as a progressive moral force 695 01:15:59,455 --> 01:16:03,310 and by associating their own destruction of Socialism 696 01:16:03,334 --> 01:16:04,770 with the aura of Socialism, 697 01:16:04,794 --> 01:16:07,814 they hope to gain credit in the working classes 698 01:16:07,838 --> 01:16:12,361 and other group progressive sectors. 699 01:16:12,385 --> 01:16:15,447 Now, the West also identified that with Socialism. 700 01:16:15,471 --> 01:16:17,532 And they did it for the opposite reason. 701 01:16:17,556 --> 01:16:20,160 They wanted to associate Socialism 702 01:16:20,184 --> 01:16:23,872 with the brutality of the Russian state 703 01:16:23,896 --> 01:16:25,749 that undermines Socialism. 704 01:16:25,773 --> 01:16:27,959 So what you had is is that two major 705 01:16:27,983 --> 01:16:30,528 world propaganda agencies, 706 01:16:31,570 --> 01:16:33,674 for their own and quite different reasons, 707 01:16:33,698 --> 01:16:35,884 were claiming that this is Socialism. 708 01:16:35,908 --> 01:16:38,387 That this destruction of Socialism is Socialism. 709 01:16:38,411 --> 01:16:40,472 It's very hard to break out of 710 01:16:40,496 --> 01:16:42,349 the control of the world's two major 711 01:16:42,373 --> 01:16:44,559 propaganda agencies when they agree. 712 01:16:44,583 --> 01:16:46,561 They agreed for different reasons. 713 01:16:46,585 --> 01:16:49,189 But they basically agreed and that 714 01:16:49,213 --> 01:16:50,965 then became doctrine and dogma. 715 01:17:41,974 --> 01:17:45,287 Among the 20,000 books hurled into the infamous 716 01:17:45,311 --> 01:17:48,123 Berlin bonfires of 1933, 717 01:17:48,147 --> 01:17:51,209 an event organized by the German Student Union 718 01:17:51,233 --> 01:17:53,712 accompanying Hitler's rise to power, 719 01:17:53,736 --> 01:17:56,882 was Helen Keller's "Out Of The Dark". 720 01:17:56,906 --> 01:17:59,718 In an "Open Letter to the Students of Germany", 721 01:17:59,742 --> 01:18:01,160 Helen responded. 722 01:18:33,526 --> 01:18:38,256 In 1946, while Helen travels throughout war-torn Europe, 723 01:18:38,280 --> 01:18:39,758 visiting with those blinded 724 01:18:39,782 --> 01:18:42,219 or otherwise disabled by the war, 725 01:18:42,243 --> 01:18:45,597 a malfunctioning furnace in her home in Connecticut 726 01:18:45,621 --> 01:18:48,683 burns the entire house to the ground. 727 01:18:48,707 --> 01:18:51,436 All of Helen's possessions are destroyed, 728 01:18:51,460 --> 01:18:54,856 including all her papers, letters, mementos, 729 01:18:54,880 --> 01:18:57,859 as well as the manuscript for her long-planned 730 01:18:57,883 --> 01:19:00,928 biography of her teacher, Anne Sullivan. 731 01:19:02,388 --> 01:19:04,866 Within a year, through the generosity of friends, 732 01:19:04,890 --> 01:19:07,035 the house is rebuilt. 733 01:19:07,059 --> 01:19:11,498 Regarding the loss, Helen publicly conceals her sorrow, 734 01:19:11,522 --> 01:19:14,543 simply remarking that she is happy to be rid 735 01:19:14,567 --> 01:19:17,504 of the dangerous old furnace. 736 01:19:17,528 --> 01:19:21,049 When, eight years later, at age 74, 737 01:19:21,073 --> 01:19:24,636 Helen finishes the re-writing of her book, "Teacher", 738 01:19:24,660 --> 01:19:27,889 she expresses gratefulness that the earlier manuscript 739 01:19:27,913 --> 01:19:30,809 had burned, now convinced that she'd 740 01:19:30,833 --> 01:19:32,918 found the proper perspective needed. 741 01:19:49,059 --> 01:19:54,064 On September 11, 2001, beyond the catastrophic loss of life 742 01:19:55,524 --> 01:19:57,586 resulting from the attacks on the World Trade Center, 743 01:19:57,610 --> 01:20:00,755 fiery debris falling from the South Tower 744 01:20:00,779 --> 01:20:03,341 strikes a building one block away, 745 01:20:03,365 --> 01:20:05,677 housing, among other businesses, 746 01:20:05,701 --> 01:20:09,264 the headquarters of the Helen Keller International. 747 01:20:09,288 --> 01:20:13,101 Founded in 1915 by George Kessler and Helen Keller 748 01:20:13,125 --> 01:20:16,271 and established initially to treat veterans blinded 749 01:20:16,295 --> 01:20:19,941 in World War I, the Helen Keller International 750 01:20:19,965 --> 01:20:24,154 has evolved into one of the oldest nonprofit organizations 751 01:20:24,178 --> 01:20:26,406 dedicated to preventing blindness 752 01:20:26,430 --> 01:20:29,784 and reducing malnutrition worldwide. 753 01:20:29,808 --> 01:20:32,120 The building is severely damaged, 754 01:20:32,144 --> 01:20:34,080 and two workers are killed when they are 755 01:20:34,104 --> 01:20:36,583 trapped inside the elevators. 756 01:20:36,607 --> 01:20:39,920 Within the offices of the Helen Keller International, 757 01:20:39,944 --> 01:20:41,880 fire breaks out. 758 01:20:41,904 --> 01:20:45,050 In addition to the loss of the entire institutional 759 01:20:45,074 --> 01:20:47,135 archives of the organization, 760 01:20:47,159 --> 01:20:50,472 is an irreplaceable collection of photos, letters, 761 01:20:50,496 --> 01:20:52,807 and books of Helen Keller. 762 01:20:52,831 --> 01:20:55,477 While virtually all is destroyed, 763 01:20:55,501 --> 01:20:57,979 those sifting through the rubble discover, 764 01:20:58,003 --> 01:21:02,067 singed but intact, a terra cotta bust of Helen 765 01:21:02,091 --> 01:21:07,096 bestowed as a gift on her first trip to Japan in 1937. 766 01:21:08,681 --> 01:21:11,117 Following the end of World War II, 767 01:21:11,141 --> 01:21:16,146 Helen returns to Japan in 1948, sent by Douglas MacArthur 768 01:21:17,314 --> 01:21:19,834 as America's first Goodwill Ambassador. 769 01:21:19,858 --> 01:21:22,379 With an irony that does not escape her, 770 01:21:22,403 --> 01:21:26,007 she tours the country making an appeal for new laws 771 01:21:26,031 --> 01:21:29,618 on behalf of the welfare of the physically disabled. 772 01:21:30,995 --> 01:21:33,848 Accompanied by her secretary Polly Thomson, 773 01:21:33,872 --> 01:21:35,833 she revisits Hiroshima. 774 01:25:46,917 --> 01:25:50,647 Toward the close of "Midstream: My later life", 775 01:25:50,671 --> 01:25:54,609 Helen Keller's second autobiography, is a chapter, 776 01:25:54,633 --> 01:25:59,322 part confession, part testament, part invitation, 777 01:25:59,346 --> 01:26:02,975 entitled "Thoughts that will not let me sleep". 778 01:31:14,452 --> 01:31:17,390 Miss Keller, I shall ask you a few questions, 779 01:31:17,414 --> 01:31:20,351 and Miss Thomson will transmit them to you. 780 01:31:20,375 --> 01:31:23,271 Tell me Miss Keller, I know you will realize 781 01:31:23,295 --> 01:31:26,774 the question isn't as impertinent as it may sound. 782 01:31:26,798 --> 01:31:28,859 Are you happy? 783 01:31:28,883 --> 01:31:36,075 - Yes, I am happy. - Happiness comes from within. 784 01:31:36,099 --> 01:31:43,273 I have time and faith, I am happy. 785 01:31:44,065 --> 01:31:46,544 If you could have one wish granted, 786 01:31:46,568 --> 01:31:47,568 what would it be? 787 01:31:48,445 --> 01:31:56,286 I would wish for light in every eye and in every mind.