Rudolf Grossmann (1882–1942), known by his pseudonym Pierre Ramus, was an Austrian anarchist and pacifist.
Early life and career
Rudolf Grossmann was born April 15, 1882, in Vienna. His father was a Jewish merchant and his mother was Catholic. Grossmann's participation in Social-Democratic propaganda led him to cut off relations with his parents and schooling. He was sent to New York family in 1895 where he soon joined the socialist movement. As a late teen, Grossmann worked with the '' New Yorker Volkszeitung'' and ''Gross-New-Yorker Zeitung''. He wrote on
antimilitarism
Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (especi ...
,
anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchism, anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade uni ...
, and
communist anarchism
Anarchist communism is a Far-left politics, far-left political ideology and Anarchist schools of thought, anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property, private real property but retention ...
, influenced by
Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism.
Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...
and
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
. He met
Johann Most
Johann Joseph "Hans" Most (February 5, 1846 – March 17, 1906) was a German-American Social Democratic and then anarchist politician, newspaper editor, and orator. He is credited with popularizing the concept of "propaganda of the deed" in the Un ...
and published in his '' Freiheit''.
With friends, he published the short-lived anarchist monthly ''Der Zeitgeist'' from April to July 1901. Its anticapitalist content sought to be a mix of "honest, unfanatical, and studious social-revolutionary elements" and declared the need for revolution by any means necessary, akin to romantic anarchist periodicals from the 1880s. The magazine also covered literature with topical book reviews. The first issue, on May Day 1901, included contributions from Most and Georg Biedenkapp. Biedenkapp's satirical supplement ''Der Tramp'' continued to publish through November. It was the era's last revolutionary German-language anarchist periodical in New York City.
The repression surrounding the late 1901 anarchist
assassination of William McKinley
William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, six months into his second term. He was shaking hands with th ...
likely affected Grossmann's propaganda. His planned Austrian-Hungarian newspaper did not materialize. Grossmann went to
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.1902 silk dyers strike there, seeking to foment a
general strike
A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...
beyond the silk dyers' conditions alone. He spoke to crowds of workers in June but had left town by the time the workers rioted in the apex of the strike. Grossmann was arrested along with other speakers for inciting to riot. New York anarchists had started a
legal defense fund
In the United States, a legal defense fund (or LDF) is an account set up to pay for legal expenses, which can include attorneys' fees, court filings, litigation costs, legal advice, or other legal fees. The fund can be public or private and is se ...
by the time he was released on bail in August.
Grossmann was convicted in October and sentenced to five years of hard labor. His appeal to the
New Jersey Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases cha ...
was denied despite multiple witnesses confirming that he had not been in Paterson. Grossmann absconded to England by way of Canada and adopted multiple pseudonyms: Pierre Ramus, Friedrich Stürmer, and Klarent Morleit. He moved between London, Berlin, and Vienna, and received a doctorate in economics (1910). In Austria, he spent time as an editor, antimilitary activist, and sex reformer. In 1938, he left for Switzerland, France, and Morocco. Boarding a ship to Vera Cruz, Mexico, en route to the United States to reunite with his family, Grossmann died after a week at sea in May 1942.