Annie Besant
With Annie Besant (1847-1933) we have a wife in the innermost political circle of the British Empire. Born into an impoverished family, she had married the Anglican pastor Besant, from whom she separated in 1873, after the birth of two children, for her devotion to atheism. She joined the freethinker Charles Bradlaugh , who in 1866 founded the National Secular Society and propagated a separation of state and church and birth control.
In 1875, Annie Besant began a relationship with the then 19-year-old and yet unknown George Bernard Shaw and should have brought him into contact with the right people. Later they will both write for the Fabian Society and make speeches.
In 1884, Annie Besant had become very close to Edward Aveling , who lived in her house for several months. Aveling became the partner of Eleanor “Tussy” Marx, the youngest daughter of Karl Marx, in the same year, and Friedrich Engels hired him for the English translation of the first volume “Das Kapital” by Karl Marx.
On November 13, 1887, the brutal crackdown on police led to “Bloody Sunday” in London. The demonstration of several 10,000 workers was organized by the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Irish National League. Charles Bradlaugh wanted to prevent his followers from participating because of the feared police attack, but Annie Besant took a leading role, as did George Bernhard Shaw, who made speeches.
Then Annie Besant, along with William Thomas Stead of the Law and Liberty League, organized help and financial support for the detainees and injured in the demonstration.
Along with Herbert Burrows, Annie Besant was a key organizer of the London match girl strike of 1888 . Members of the Fabian Society, such as George Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb and Graham Wallas, distributed funds to support the workers. Charles Bradlaugh, elected to the House of Commons, delivered a parliamentary speech and public pressure forced the owner, a leading liberal, to make far-reaching concessions to the strikers.
In the unincorporated London Dock Strike of 1889 , Annie Besant helped Fabianer Ben Tillett at meetings and agitation to build a union organization. Again, public support ensured the success of the strike.
In the spring of 1889 Annie Besant was to discuss the book “The Secret Doctrine” by Helena Blavatsky for the Pall Mall Gazette of William Thomas Stead. Allegedly, she was enlightened while reading, met immediately with the Blavatsky and became a member of the Theosophical Society in May 1889. Annie Besant immediately professionally declared herself a student of the old Blavatsky, moved into their household and became immediately the closest and soon indispensable colleague who held all the threads and connections in their hands. Her membership of the Fabian Society Annie Besant 1890 officially went out and ended their relations with the Marxists.
When Blavatsky died in 1891, Annie Besant was one of the leading Theosophists ready for succession. She had to reckon with resistance from the side of Henry Steel Olcott, so they could first take the lead only for Europe and had to leave the organization in India Henry Olcott. After his demise in February 1907, Annie Besant, faithful to Blavatsky’s methods, explained to the theosophists that their occult masters had demanded them as spokespersons of all theosophists. Although Rudolf Steiner in Germany distanced himself immediately from this too obvious fraud with the fictional masters and their vote for the Besant, but knew other reasons to support their leadership claim, and could win the majority of German theosophists for the Besant.
Writings of Annie Besant:
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I was surprised to see an article about Blavatsky and Steiner at VT, a site I normally think of in terms of foreign policy and conspiracy. Blavatsky (1831-1891) and Steiner (1861-1925) are important figures in the evolution of Western spiritual thought, Blavatsky in particular for introducing spiritual ideas from the East to the West. This was the beginning of the New Age movement. Unlike the author, I quite like Steiner. It is difficult reading but there are genuine insights there. Reincarnation is a given. It is worth noting that Steiner believed the life of Jesus had cosmic significance. Aside from his writings on spirituality he is also known for Waldorf education and Biodynamic farming.
Many years ago I read Rudolf Steiner’s “Theosopy of the Rosicrucian” ISBN-13: 978-0854404018, and I thought it gave me a lot. All in all I thought the Theosophical Publishing House had many interesting titles, for example the yoga books by Ernest Wood. If someone thinks all this this is nonsense (blödsinn), then yoga is clearly not for him. https://www.theosophyforward.com/theosophical-encyclopedia/883-ernest-wood
Pooh! That was a long one. After a while it became clear that this was from an article originally written in Germany. The article’s main focus seems to be Rudolf Steiner. It is suggested that he was sympathetic to the British during WWII, and may have had some influence on the outcome (?) Rudolf Steiner was at first with the Theosophical Society, but soon created his own organisation Anthroposophie. He wanted to put more emphasis on man (anthropos) and less on god (theos). Not everybody today thinks theosophy is all nonsense, like the author of this article says. I imagine for example that believers in extraterrestrials would find Blavatsky‘s “Secret Doctrine” fascinating.
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