Henry Geiger (August 10, 1908 – 15 February 1989) was the editor, publisher, and chief writer of MANAS Journal which was published from 1948–1988.
He*+ “had been variously a chorus boy on Broadway, a journalist, a conscientious objector in World War II, a commercial printer, and a lecturer at The United Lodge of Theosophists in Los Angeles.”
Geiger began work as an actor when he was sixteen and spent three years working with the Theater Guild before becoming a journalist. While working as an actor, he had a small role in the original production of The Garrick Gaieties in 1925. During World War II, Geiger was a conscientious objector and was a member of the Civilian Public Service program. He worked at the CO Camp 76 at Glendora, where he helped found the pacifist newspaper Pacifica Views. The four-page weekly provided pacifists with "a forum for discussing pacifist ideas and methods of applying non-violent action to social reform".
Geiger published the first issue of his MANAS journal in January 1948, while living in Los Angeles.[ Abraham Maslow called him “the only small ‘p’ philosopher America has produced in this century.” Geiger was also an advocate of Edward Bellamy's type of socialism. Some of Geiger's associates, such as Lewis Hill, would later be involved in the creation of Pacifica Radio.
+++++++
Rulers and Ruled (Henry Geiger)
These are days of great need felt by rulers as well as the ruled.
The ruled commonly admit their helplessness, at least to each other, while the rulers pretend that only stubborn men of evil intentions stand in the way of the good of all. These enemies of mankind must be chastened, the rulers say, or the time will come when we shall have to eliminate them by a just war.
The ruled hate the thought of what war will cost, how many millions of lives war will take, and the decades or even centuries recovery will require. But the ruled also have become used to having their decisions made for them by others, and find it difficult to imagine standing apart from the plans of the rulers.
The rulers have all the tools of coercion, including the habits of obedience of the people, on their side. And the rulers have habits of their own, which include the expectation of being obeyed. So, century after century, we have wars. In this century (written in 1987 ) there have been two great wars dozens of smaller wars, until poverty, want, and starvation are a prevailing condition in many parts of the world, with little or no prospect of relief from this trend.
Why, then, are preparations for war not reduced or set aside entirely?
(from the Power of Words, MANAS Journal, February 1987)