# John Rety

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**John Rety** (born **Janos Réty**; 8 December 1930 – 3 February 2010) was a [Hungarian-British](/source/Hungarians_in_the_United_Kingdom) [anarchist](/source/Anarchist), [poet](/source/Poet), publisher and chessplayer.[1][2]

## Life

Born in [Budapest](/source/Budapest), Hungary, Rety attended an English nursery school in Budapest. A child when [World War II](/source/World_War_II) broke out, he was separated from his [Jewish](/source/Jewish) parents in 1944, and carried messages for the [Resistance](/source/Austrian_resistance).[3] His grandmother was shot on the last day of the war.[4] In 1947, after performing an anti-war play on the steps of the [Budapest parliament](/source/Hungarian_Parliament_Building),[5] he left for a holiday with his aunt in Britain, and was forced to stay after the aunt burnt his passport.[citation needed]

After a job translating for a Czech publisher who spoke no English,[3] he started a Soho underground paper, *Intimate Review*, with contributions from young writers including [Doris Lessing](/source/Doris_Lessing), [Bill Hopkins](/source/Bill_Hopkins_(novelist)), [Laura Del-Rivo](/source/Laura_Del-Rivo), [Frank Norman](/source/Frank_Norman), [Alun Owen](/source/Alun_Owen), and [Cressida Lindsay](/source/Cressida_Lindsay), while [Bernard Kops](/source/Bernard_Kops). [Feliks Topolski](/source/Feliks_Topolski) and [Ralph Steadman](/source/Ralph_Steadman) produced artwork. In 1953 he published a comic [epistolary novel](/source/Epistolary_novel), *Supersozzled Nights*. After the threat of libel action forced *Intimate Review* to close, he co-edited other short-lived publications, *Cheshire Cat* and *Fortnightly.* Rety was the first to publish [Colin Wilson](/source/Colin_Wilson). He contributed the essay "So Much Work to Do" in *Colin Wilson, a Celebration* (Cecil Woolf,1988). This was reprinted in *The Sage of Tetherdown: personal recollections of Colin Wilson by his friends*, published by Paupers' Press in 2020. After meeting his partner Susan Johns in 1958, they opened a second-hand furniture shop in [Camden High Street](/source/Camden_High_Street), and Rety also trained as a painter at [City and Guilds Art School](/source/City_and_Guilds_Art_School).[citation needed]

Politically involved in the anti-nuclear [Committee of 100](/source/Committee_of_100_(United_Kingdom)), from 1964 to 1969 he edited the anarchist weekly *[Freedom](/source/Freedom_(British_newspaper))*, increasing its circulation and smoothing over sectarianism in British anarchism with his cheerfully inclusive editorial approach.[6] (At the time, he later confessed, he'd never read any of the anarchist classics - and though he later found [Kropotkin](/source/Kropotkin) readable, he could never really understand [Proudhon](/source/Proudhon) or [Bakunin](/source/Mikhail_Bakunin).[7]) He was active against the [Vietnam War](/source/Vietnam_War), participating in the [Grosvenor Square](/source/Grosvenor_Square) demonstration as well as a 13-day fast at [Speaker's Corner](/source/Speaker's_Corner). Initially convinced of the innocence of [Stuart Christie](/source/Stuart_Christie), accused of carrying explosives to assassinate [Francisco Franco](/source/Francisco_Franco), Rety helped coordinate an international solidarity campaign, despite a personal feeling of betrayal on learning the truth.[6]

In 1982 he co-founded the Torriano Meeting House in [Kentish Town](/source/Kentish_Town), hosting weekly poetry readings. [Stephen Spender](/source/Stephen_Spender) and [Adrian Mitchell](/source/Adrian_Mitchell) were among the hundreds of poets who performed at Torriano.[6] A 2003 anthology included the work of [Dannie Abse](/source/Dannie_Abse), [John Arden](/source/John_Arden), [Oliver Bernard](/source/Oliver_Bernard), [John Heath-Stubbs](/source/John_Heath-Stubbs) and [Dilys Wood](/source/Dilys_Wood).[1] The anthology appeared with his Hearing Eye Press, founded in 1987, which ultimately published over 150 books. He also became poetry editor of the *[Morning Star](/source/Morning_Star_(UK_newspaper))*: an anthology of work that appeared there, *Well Versed*, went into two editions.[1]

As a [chess](/source/Chess) player, reaching a [FIDE](/source/FIDE) [rating](/source/Elo_rating_system) of 2034,[6] he played for Middlesex and London University as well as represented England in the [European Senior Chess Championship](/source/European_Senior_Chess_Championship).[3] For most of his life he travelled on a stateless person's document, but finally obtained a British passport in his late seventies, after Hungary joined the EU.[8]

Rety died in London, survived by his partner and two children: his daughter [Emily Johns](/source/Emily_Johns) is editor of *[Peace News](/source/Peace_News)*.[citation needed]

## References

1. Pilgrim, John (18 March 2010). ["John Rety obituary"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/mar/18/john-rety-obituary). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*. Retrieved 19 June 2021.

1. Foxell, Nigel (23 October 2011). ["John Rety: Poet and anarchist who ran the Hearing Eye publishing house"](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-rety-poet-and-anarchist-who-ran-hearing-eye-publishing-house-1970450.html). *[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)*. [Archived](https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220613/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-rety-poet-and-anarchist-who-ran-hearing-eye-publishing-house-1970450.html) 13 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 19 June 2021.

1. ["John Rety"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/7347759/John-Rety.html). *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)*. 2010-03-01.

1. Eyres, Harry (2010-03-05). ["Tribute to a well-versed soul"](https://www.ft.com/content/e3f92442-27e0-11df-9598-00144feabdc0). *[Financial Times](/source/Financial_Times)*

1. Carrier, Dan (2010-02-11). ["Tributes to John Rety, celebrated poet from Torriano Meeting House who has died from a heart attack"](https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/tributes-john-rety-celebrated-poet-torriano-meeting-house-who-has-died-heart-attack). *[Camden New Journal](/source/Camden_New_Journal)*

1. Rai, Milan (2010-02-26). ["John Rety: "The point is this""](https://web.archive.org/web/20110124011727/http://www.freedompress.org.uk/news/2010/02/26/john-rety-%E2%80%9Cthe-point-is-this%E2%80%9D/). *[Freedom](/source/Freedom_(British_newspaper))*. Archived from [the original](http://www.freedompress.org.uk/news/2010/02/26/john-rety-%E2%80%9Cthe-point-is-this%E2%80%9D/) on 2011-01-24.

1. ["John Rety; Editor of Freedom Magazine | Anarchism in the UK with Ian Bone #2"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO3boDJbZLM). *[YouTube](/source/YouTube)*. 2021-10-11.

1. Bagley, Richard (2010-03-26). ["Obituary: John Rety 1930 to 2010"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130112221737/http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/88455). *[Morning Star](/source/Morning_Star_(British_newspaper))*. Archived from [the original](http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/88455) on 2013-01-12.

## External links

- [Four-part interview](https://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&p=98D069BC80C50B06) with [Ian Bone](/source/Ian_Bone)
- [Utopia & Praxis May68-May08 - In conversation with John Rety](https://www.youtube.com/YbPvwIoE1fk) on YouTube
- [Hearing Eye Press](http://www.hearingeye.org/)

## Further reading

- [Kociejowski, Marius](/source/Marius_Kociejowski). *God's Zoo: Artists, Exiles, Londoners* (Carcanet, 2014) contains a biographical chapter "The Poet, the Anarchist, the Master of Ceremonies - Whose tale contains a desk inlaid with Midnight Blue"
- Rety, John. "Notebook in hand, New and Selected Poems" (Stonewood Press, 2012), contains a biographical chapter by John Rety's daughter, Emily Johns.
- Rety, John. "So Much Work To Do," in *The Sage of Tetherdown: personal recollections of Colin Wilson by his friends* edited by Colin Stanley (Paupers' Press, 2020)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [John Rety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rety) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rety?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.