R.F. Kampfer was the pen name of my comrade Neil Chacker (1942-2004). He was a longtime UAW union activist and socialist and he also wrote a humor column in Against the Current magazine. “RF” stands for “rank and file” (as in member of the union, not its paid leadership) or Roter Frontkämpferbund (German communists who took up arms against the Nazis). Kampfer means fighter.

Neil was what you might call a real character. He had a wicked yet dry sense of humor, he had sailor tattoos a half century before they were cool, basically dressed like a leather daddy, smoked a pipe, and would get arrested doing civil disobedience on a picket line at the drop of a hat. I first saw him in action at mass pickets during the Detroit Newspaper Strike in the late 1990s and he meant business. Over time I got to know him personally and was in a socialist organization with him for many years. His wife Eliza Karg, who also passed just four years after Neil, was also a socialist activist and healthcare worker who wrote a book about fighting sexual harassment in the workplace.

Although he wasn’t a book collector, Neil loved history and was an avid reader. So when I started this blog years ago it made sense to name it after Neil. His daughter, who is also a mensch and a comrade, loved the idea and so it has stuck. I’ve built this collection over 20 years and I’ll build over the next 20, but it’s nickname will always be the same. The R.F. Kampfer Revolutionary Literature Archive. You can read about Neil here.

Brad

PS: Sorry I haven’t been posting on this platform as much recently, be sure to check out Radical_Archive on Instagram for the latest content!