Quick Search:

L.A. Motler: a deaf anarchist

Emery, Steve and O'Brien, Dai ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4529-7568 (2025) L.A. Motler: a deaf anarchist. Anarchist Studies, 33 (1). pp. 29-58.

[thumbnail of LA Motler Revised 190424.docx] Text
LA Motler Revised 190424.docx - Accepted Version
Restricted to Repository staff only until 20 March 2026.

[thumbnail of LA Motler Revised 190424.pdf] Text
LA Motler Revised 190424.pdf - Accepted Version
Restricted to Repository staff only until 20 March 2026.

[thumbnail of LA Motler a Deaf Anarchist submitted 080823.docx] Text
LA Motler a Deaf Anarchist submitted 080823.docx - Submitted Version
Restricted to Repository staff only

Abstract

There has been little written about disabled anarchists, or consideration of how disability and anarchism intersect. When there has been attention paid to this, disabled anarchists’ disabilities have tended to be downplayed or ignored. In this paper, we write about the politics of Leonard Augustine Motler, a deaf anarchist who was active in the early part of the twentieth century. We place his anarchism and his deafness in the context of the time, showing how Motler’s deafness and experiences living as a deaf man influenced his politics. Taking a narrative enquiry approach, we offer historical context on his life, and offer a preliminary analysis of his written work, published in a range of left-wing and anarchist publications, including his own magazine, Satire. In writing this article we hope to show that disabled people have, and do, contribute to radical political movements, and that exploring and recognising those contributions is vitally important.

Item Type: Article
Status: Published
DOI: 10.3898/AS.33.1.02
Subjects: D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain > DA566 20th century
H Social Sciences > HX Socialism. Communism. Anarchism
School/Department: School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI: https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/11827

University Staff: Request a correction | RaY Editors: Update this record