21 Facts About Johann Most

Johann Joseph "Hans" Most was a German-American Social Democratic and then anarchist politician, newspaper editor, and orator.

Johann Most is credited with popularizing the concept of "propaganda of the deed" in the United States.

Johann Most was subjected to physical abuse by his stepmother and a schoolteacher; his aversion to religion earned him more beatings at school.

Johann Most developed frostbite on the left side of his face as a young child.

Johann Most's condition worsened and Most was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

At the age of twelve, Johann Most organized a strike of students against a particularly hated teacher, resulting in his expulsion from school.

Johann Most was apprenticed to a bookbinder, for whom he had to bind books from dawn until sunset, a condition which Johann Most later likened to slavery.

Johann Most saw in the doctrines of Karl Marx and Ferdinand Lassalle a blueprint for a new egalitarian society and became a fervid supporter of Social Democracy, as the Marxist movement was known in the day.

Johann Most engaged himself as editor of socialist newspapers in Chemnitz and Vienna, both were suppressed by the authorities, he worked as editor of the Berliner Freie Presse.

Johann Most was repeatedly arrested for his verbal attacks on patriotism, religion, ethics and for his gospel of terrorism, preached in prose and in many songs such as those in his Proletarier-Liederbuch.

Johann Most first traveled to France but was forced to leave at the end of 1878, settling in London instead.

In March 1881, Johann Most expressed his delight in the pages of the Freiheit over the assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and advocated its emulation; for this Johann Most was imprisoned by British authorities for a year and a half.

Johann Most promptly began agitating in his adopted land among other German emigres.

Johann Most resumed the publication of the Freiheit in New York.

Johann Most was imprisoned in 1886, again in 1887, and in 1902, the last time for two months for publishing after the assassination of President McKinley an editorial in which he argued that it was no crime to kill a ruler.

Johann Most is best known for a pamphlet published in 1885: The Science of Revolutionary Warfare, a how-to manual on the subject of bomb-making which earned the author the moniker "Dynamost".

Berkman and Goldman were soon disillusioned as Johann Most became one of Berkman's most outspoken critics.

In Freiheit, Johann Most attacked both Goldman and Berkman, implying Berkman's act was designed to arouse sympathy for Frick.

Goldman was enraged, and demanded that Johann Most prove his insinuations.

Johann Most's grandson was Boston Celtics radio play-by-play man Johnny Most.

Some of Johann Most's writings were translated into Italian, Spanish, Russian, Yiddish, French, Polish, and other languages.