We mourn the loss of our longtime comrade Ron Kelch, who died suddenly on March 25, 2026, at the age of 80. Ron was a Marxist-Humanist and a revolutionary for nearly 60 years. A true son of Detroit, he was shaped by his upbringing in a family whose father worked in the auto industry and whose mother economized to weather the industry’s seasonal layoffs. A serious student and writer of philosophy, history, and current events, whose work was unseparated from his activism, Ron remained faithful to his roots and the values instilled in him from the lessons of his childhood and youth.
Ron co-authored two Marxist-Humanist pamphlets under the pen name Ron Brokmeyer: The Fetish of High Tech and Karl Marx’s Unknown Mathematical Manuscripts and Then and Now: On the 100th Anniversary of the First General Strike in the U.S. He contributed his “The Fetish of High Tech” essay to the special issue of the Quarterly Journal of Ideology on “Marxist-Humanism: Perspectives on Labor.” Later, under his name, he published a series of pamphlets under the collective title “Dialogues on the Dialectic.”
Ron Kelch in the 1970s.
Ron’s writings for News & Letters ranged from essays to leads and editorials to activity reports. He co-authored the “Our Life and Times” column from 1974 to 1980. Organization was important to him, based on the organization of ideas. He participated in “the battle of ideas” by writing reviews of new philosophical works. See his articles since 2014 here: https://newsandletters.org/tag/ron-kelch/.
He created a blog, “The Party of the Concept,” with this statement of purpose: “Confronting how to move forward after Hegel’s total philosophy of freedom and an existing world of unfreedom, the young Hegelian, Karl Marx, saw many post-Hegelians turn inward, focusing only on the inadequacy of philosophy because of its non-realization. Real progress, said Marx, would only come from ‘the party of the concept’ which didn’t turn inward but rather ‘against the inadequacy of the world, which has to be made philosophical.’” Throughout his life, Ron strived to “make the world more philosophical,” as Marx suggested. This striving was a movement both in practical activity leading to reflection, and in the movement of thinking as making sense of the world and as a guide to action.
Ron followed world events, and participated in many protests, but never separated the activity from what is universal in a particular struggle.
Ron Kelch speaking at a News and Letters Committees Convention.
Likewise, in every conversation, he listened carefully to what was being said so that one felt “heard.” Many articles published in News & Letters by others were made possible by his encouragement, engagement and contributions. One example was his work with Htun Lin and other healthcare workers. The Bay Area local published a Supplement to News & Letters featuring voices of Kaiser HMO workers. The ideas expressed there were so objective that the nurses negotiating with Kaiser brought a Supplement into the negotiations, saying to the Kaiser representative: “Look, they criticize us in here, but look at the truth they say about you….We agree with that!” The unique essay “Concrete vs. abstract labor in health care” (available at https://newsandletters.org/PDF-ARCHIVE/1999/1999-10.pdf, page 5) is rightly credited to Htun Lin. He was able to develop it in that form through his sustained dialogue with Ron.
Ron felt responsible for engaging the thought of others. It was not only the people he met in person whose ideas he engaged. So affected was he by the reported suicide of a transgender youth that he felt compelled to answer the statement she made with her final act (see “Marx and transgender”). He saw a universal struggle in a disability rights advocate he didn’t meet, but had heard talk (https://newsandletters.org/making-disabilities-rights-activist/).
Ron’s years of correspondence with incarcerated individuals developed in one case into a successful campaign to have Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin transferred from “the hole” into a prison closer to his home. In the case of another correspondent, a deep and cherished friendship developed. This prisoner said their correspondence literally saved his life by engaging his mind with the ideas of Marxist Humanism when he was losing hope after decades in prison and over 10 years in solitary confinement. Through a teenage activist, who heard Ron talk at a local meeting, Ron got into online discussions of ideas with youth all over the country, for example reading difficult texts such as Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit.
Ron Kelch (second from left) in a support action for the Pelican Bay prisoners’ hunger strike.
Ron’s engagement with others was always an impetus for him to develop his own thinking. He did not claim a knowledge of everything, but he did think deeply. The esteemed Hegelian scholar, H.S. Harris, thought Ron’s critique of his two-volume magnum opus, Hegel’s Ladder, should be published in the academic journal, Clio, on whose editorial board Harris served. Published under the title, “Harris’s Paradox and Dunayevskaya’s New Beginning: Can Hegel’s Method Shape a New Unity of Theory and Practice?” the essay explored the question: “Is there a specifically Hegelian unity of theory and practice for today’s world?” taking off from The Power of Negativity: Selected Writings on the Dialectic in Hegel and Marx by Raya Dunayevskaya together with Hegel’s Ladder.
Ron was invited to give a number of lectures at the Marxist School of Sacramento in the early to mid 2000s. The Dean of the Dept. of Psychology at New College in San Francisco invited Ron to teach the professors in his department about Marx’s humanism. In contrast to the ordinary psychological attitude that their job is to “fix” the individual to be able to function in an inhuman society, the Dean wanted the professors to consider the needed changes to make society fit for human beings.
Ron delivered papers at philosophy conferences. He was a frequent presenter and contributor to discussions of the Institute for the Critical Study of Society, a collection of leftists of various tendencies.
Ron loved life and humanity so deeply that he wanted to contribute to creating a new world, to bring the more philosophical world closer to reality. He argued that philosophy is the most concrete aspect of our lives, which is how he interpreted continuing the legacy of Raya Dunayevskaya.
–Urszula Wislanka
Before I met Ron, I was on my own journey trying to understand Marxist-Humanism. It was a difficult task to take on alone, and I am so grateful for the connections that brought both Ron and Ursula into my life.
Ever since we first met, I have learned so much from Ron. I spent countless hours reading his work on Hegel and Marx constantly grappling with the ‘labor of the negative’ and the complexities of philosophy. Through those struggles, I always knew I could rely on his immense wealth of knowledge and experience. We read so many books and essays together, including our unfortunately unfinished reading of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. Despite it being unfinished, those hours of careful reading and discussion taught me the true meaning of the dialectical self-movement of the mind. For that, I owe both Ron and Ursula my deepest thanks.
Ron was a thorough, lifelong thinker and activist from his days as an existentialist youth to becoming a principled Marxist-Humanist philosopher. He was known for his hard-hitting critiques of various trends, from Communization theory to the work of esteemed Hegelian scholars like H.S. Harris and Karen Ng.
Ron’s constant reminder to us was that the heart of Marx’s philosophy is the concept of ‘species-being,’ that self-generating, creative activity that stands in total contrast to the inhuman objectification of life. He had a masterful writing style; he took his readers seriously, yet he could explain these profound concepts in a way that even a beginner like myself could grasp. That is why I always cherished his writing.
I will never forget our time spent debating and discussing everything from Hegel and Marx to current events. Ron always encouraged me to develop my own thoughts and to work them out in a systematic way. I will never forget his sense of humor, his kindness, or his unwavering passion for a brighter, more human future.
I highly respected Ron and his views on issues. When I could not figure out Hegelian language, Ron always helped me to clarify and grasp the ideas. I was very proud to know him and his willingness to come to Los Angeles and help the local here. He will be missed.
I am so sorry to hear of the death of News and Letters Committee’s Ron Kelch.
He contributed so much to N&L, instilling the idea of proletarian liberation from corrupt capitalism. He always impressed me with how deeply he was involved with Marxist-Humanism.
His voice has been stilled, but our memory of him goes on.
When the Roll Call of the Revolution is announced, the name of Comrade Ron Kelch will be honored.