Franklin Rosemont 1943 - 2009

Franklin Rosemont, celebrated poet, artist, historian, publisher, street speaker, and surrealist activist, has died in Chicago aged just 65. He was active in the Sixties in the Wobblies and as part of the group around Rebel Worker. He translated Breton's writings in English (published in the UK by Pluto Press), and was the author of one of the best books on the life of Joe Hill. A tribute to Franklin by David Roediger, Paul Garon, and Kate Khatib, has been posted on InterActivist Info Exchange:

"Between the history he himself helped create and the history he helped uncover, Franklin was never without a story to tell or a book to write—about the IWW, SDS, Hobohemia in Chicago, the Rebel Worker, about the past 100 years or so of radical publishing in the US, or about the international network of Surrealists who seemed to always be passing through the Rosemonts’ Rogers Park home. As engaged with and excited by new surrealist and radical endeavors as he was with historical ones, Franklin was always at work responding to queries from a new generation of radicals and surrealists, and was a generous and rigorous interlocutor. In every new project, every revolt against misery, with which he came into contact, Franklin recognized the glimmers of the free and unfettered imagination, and lent his own boundless creativity to each and every struggle around him, inspiring, sustaining, and teaching the next generation of surrealists worldwide."

Read the full text of the tribute here:

http://info.interactivist.net/node/12524