 | Notes on Reviews of Prison MemoirsBy Alexander Berkman |
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| Notes on Reviews of Prison MemoirsBy Alexander Berkman |
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Globe-Trotting Anarchist, Journalist, and Exposer of Bolshevik Tyranny
: He was a well-known anarchist leader in the United States and life-long friend of Emma Goldman, a young Russian immigrant whom he met on her first day in New York City. The two became lovers and moved in together, remaining close friends for the rest of Berkman's life. (From: Anarchy Archives.)
• "But the 'triumph' of the Bolsheviki over Kronstadt held within itself the defeat of Bolshevism. It exposes the true character of the Communist dictatorship. The Communists proved themselves willing to sacrifice Communism, to make almost any compromise with international capitalism, yet refused the just demands of their own people -- demands that voiced the October slogans of the Bolsheviki themselves: Soviets elected by direct and secret ballot, according to the Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R.; and freedom of speech and press for the revolutionary parties." (From: "The Kronstadt Rebellion," by Alexander Berkman, 1....)
• "Or will the workers at last learn the great lesson Of the Russian Revolution that every government, whatever its fine name and nice promises is by its inherent nature, as a government, destructive of the very purposes of the social revolution? It is the mission of government to govern, to subject, to strenghten and perpetuate itself. It is high time the workers learn that only their own organized, creative efforts, free from Political and State interference, can make their age-long struggle for emancipation a lasting success." (From: "The Russian Tragedy," by Alexander Berkman, The R....)
• "But when the industries will again begin to function more or less systematically, [Soviet] Russia will face a very difficult and complex labor situation. Labor organizations, trade unions, do not exist in Russia, so far as the legitimate activities of such bodies are concerned. The Bolsheviki abolished them long ago. With developing production and capitalism, governmental as well as private, Russia will see the rise of a new proletariat whose interests must naturally come into conflict with those of the employing class. A bitter struggle is imminent. A struggle of a twofold nature: against the private capitalist, and against the State as an employer of labor." (From: "The Russian Tragedy," by Alexander Berkman, The R....)
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Notes on Reviews of Prison Memoirs
[These reviews of my work are] very far from the truth... [kee]pers and jailers are but human, and may occasionally be guilty of abuse of power. It is only an awakened public consciousness that can progressively and successfully cope with such abuses, whether they be perpetrated in congress, in our courts of justice, or in the penitentiaries.
Second bourgeois paper:
A book by a degenerate who did not find prison to his taste. An indecent book, that is both a glorification of assassination and an apology, even justification, of unmentionable crimes. Mr. Comstock had better look into this work.
Third bourgeois paper:
A peculiar work, very uneven both as to merit and worth. It contains much that is good and valuable, but still more of matter that is either pure fabrication or the fancy of a perverse mind.
Fourth bourgeois paper:
An unwholesome book, most of which had better been left unsaid.
Fifth bourgeois paper:
An attempt to be literary at the expense of truth.
The young radical woman:
Simply lovely; just wonderful, wonderful.
The young radical man:
Very intense and absorbing.
The old-time Comrade:
A very fine work, but indicating a decline of the author's revolutionary spirit.
2 Modern American Radicals of Anarchist Tendency:
A (the vague radical)
A great book; very wonderful.
B (the more definite type)
Very good, but it lacks figures and facts to make it stick.
Comrade-Friends:
A --- The beginning, that is the first part of the book, is unconvincing and incomplete.
B. --- The last part, the Resurrection, is incomplete
C. --- The book has neither beginning nor end.
D --- Is the Tunnel incident a reality or a dream?
E --- It has affected me more than Dostoyevsky's Memoirs of a Dead House
F. --- The author pictures him-
self an angel.
G. --- The author has succeeded in being objective.
H --- A thankless task well done.
I --- There should have been more of the movement and less of the author. More revolution and less art.
J --- [A Socialist] The work shows the futility of violence, the impracticality of the Anarchist mind and attitude.
K --- Prison convinced the author of his folly
L --- Prison strengthened the author in his Anarchist views.
M --- Prisons are powerless to break a real revolutionist
N --- (enemy) On the whole, though the book is in spots very good, it is a disappointment
O --- (friend) A great document and valuable contribution to our anarchist literature
(Source: International Institute for Social History's Alexander Berkman archive.)
From : Anarchy Archives
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Notes on Reviews of Prison Memoirs
