Gustav Spiller (1864 - February 1940) was a Hungarian-born ethical and sociological writer who was active in Ethical Societies in the United Kingdom. He helped to organize the

First Universal Races Congress The First Universal Races Congress met in 1911 for four days at the University of London as an early effort at anti-racism. Speakers from a number of countries discussed race relations and how to improve them. The congress, with 2,100 attendees, ...

in 1911.

Life

Born in Budapest to a Jewish family, Gustav Spiller came to London in 1885 and gained work as a

compositor Compositor may refer to: * Compositor (typesetting), a person or machine which arranged movable type for printing ** Paige Compositor, a device developed to replace manual compositors, which was a commercial failure * Compositing software, used i ...

. Influenced by Stanton Coit, until 1901 he worked as a printer work for the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

for six months every year, using the rest of his time for self-education. In 1901 he became a lecturer for the Ethical movement, and in 1904 the salaried secretary of the International Union of Ethical Societies. Spiller and Felix Adler organized the

International Moral Education Congress The International Moral Education Congress was an international academic conference held in Europe six times between 1908 and 1934. It convened because of an interest in moral education by many countries beginning a decade before the inaugural eve ...

, held at the University of London in September 1908. There Spiller promoted the idea of a Universal Races Congress, which took place in London in 1911 with financial support from John E. Milholland. By 1920 Spiller had joined the Labour Office of the League of Nations in Geneva.''The Humanist: An Organ of the Ethical Movement'', 1920, p.71

Works

* ''Songs of Love and Duty for the Young'', 1894 * ''The mind of man; a text-book of psychology'', London, S. Sonnenschein & Co., 1902 * ''Hymns of Love and Duty for the Young'', 1903 * ''Faith in Man: the religion of the twentieth century'', 1908 * ''Report on moral instruction (general & denominational) and on moral training in the schools of Austria, Belgium, the British Empire, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, & the United States'', 1909 * (ed.), ''Papers on inter-racial problems, communicated to the first Universal Races Congress, held at the University of London, July 26–29, 1911'', London: P. S. King, 1911. * ''The training of the child; a parent's manual'', London: Jack; New York: Dodge Pub. Co., 1912 * ''The meaning of marriage: a manual for parents, teachers, young people (over 18), and husbands and wives; also for spinsters and bachelors, widows and widowers'', 1914 * ''A new system of scientific procedure; being an attempt to ascertain, develop, and systematise the general methods employed in modern enquiries at their best'', London: Watts & Co., 1921 * ''The ethical movement in Great Britain: a documentary history'', 1934 * ''The origin and nature of man; an enquiry into fundamentals, reconciling man's proud achievements with man's humble descent'', London: Williams & Norgate Ltd., 1935

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiller, Gustav 1864 births 1939 deaths Writers from Budapest Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom British non-fiction writers Ethical movement Hungarian emigrants to England British male writers Hungarian people of Jewish descent British people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Austro-Hungarian emigrants to England Male non-fiction writers