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John Henry Mackay




John Henry Mackay ( Greenock , Scotland , 1864 - Stahnsdorf 1933 ) was an Individualist Anarchist , thinker, writer, and Homosexual .

Raised in Germany , Mackay was the friend of Benjamin Tucker , and the author of ''Die Anarchisten'' (The Anarchists) ( 1891 ) and ''Der Freiheitsucher'' (The Searcher for Freedom) ( 1921 ). Mackay was published in the United States in Tucker's magazine, '' Liberty ''. He also wrote using fictional forms, using the Pseudonym 'Sagitta' such as the novel of the Berlin boy-bars, ''Der Puppenjunge'' (1926).

The writings & theories of Mackay had a significant influence on Adolf Brand 's organisation Gemeinschaft Der Eigenen from 1906 . Mackay had then lived in Berlin for a decade, and had become a friend of scientist and Gemeinschaft der Eigenen co-founder Benedict Friedlander .

Mackay was a key populariser of the work of Max Stirner ( 1806 - 1856 ) outside Germany, writing a biography of the philosopher. This added greatly to the understanding of the work of Nietzsche among English-speakers.

Richard Strauss set one of his poems to music, in the well-known song "Morgen".

Mackay committed suicide ten days after the Nazi book burnings at the Institut Für Sexualwissenschaft .


FURTHER READING



  • "On the Nameless Love and Infinite Sexualities: John Henry Mackay, Magnus Hirschfeld and the Origins of the Sexual Emancipation Movement", ''Journal of Homosexuality'', Vol 50, No.1, 2005.




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