For they starve the little frightened child
Till it weeps both night and day:
And they scourge the weak, and flog the fool,
And gibe the old and gray,
And some grow mad, and all grow bad,
And none a word may say.
—Oscar Wilde.
Never before in the history of governments has the sound of a pistol shot so startled, terrorized, and horrified the self-satisfied, indifferent, contented, and indolent public, as has the one fired by Leon Czolgosz when he struck down William McKinley, president of the money kings and trust magnates of this country.
Not that this modern Cesar was the first to die at the hands of a Brutus. Oh, no! Since man has trampled upon the rights of his fellow men... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) During my ninety days in the United States
old friends and new, including people I had never met before,
spoke much of my years in exile. It seemed incredible to them
that I had been able to withstand the vicissitudes of banishment
and come back unbroken in health and spirit and with my ideal
unmarred. I confess I was deeply moved by their generous tribute.
But also I was embarrassed, not because I suffer from false modesty
or believe that kind things should be said about people only after
their death, but rather because the plight of hosts of political
exiles scattered over Europe is so tragic that my struggle to
survive was hardly worth mentioning.
The lot of political refugees, even prior
to the war, was never free from str... (From: University of Berkeley.) I begin with an admission: Regardless of all political and economic theories, treating of the fundamental differences between various groups within the human race, regardless of class and race distinctions, regardless of all artificial boundary lines between woman's rights and man's rights, I hold that there is a point where these differentiations may meet and grow into one perfect whole.
With this I do not mean to propose a peace treaty. The general social antagonism which has taken hold of our entire public life today, brought about through the force of opposing and contradictory interests, will crumble to pieces when the reorganization of our social life, based upon the principles of economic justice, shall have become a reality.
Peace... (From: Anarchy Archives.) TROTSKY PROTESTS TOO MUCH
By Emma Goldman
.
PRICE TWOPENCE
In America Five Cents
Published by THE ANARCHIST COMMUNIST FEDERATION
INTRODUCTION.
This pamphlet grew out of an article for Vanguard, the Anarchist monthly published in New York City. It appeared in the July issue, 1938, but as the space of the magazine is limited, only part of the manuscript could be used. It is here given in a revised and enlarged form.
Leon Trotsky will have it that criticism of his part in the Kronstadt tragedy is only to aid and abet his mortal enemy, Stalin. It does not occur to him that one might detest the savage in the Kremlin and his cruel regime and yet not exonerate Leon Trotsky from the crime against... (From: Anarchy Archives.) Dedicated
As my last contribution before going to Jefferson City, Mo., prison for two years, to the Boylsheviki in Russia in appreciation of their glorious work and their insiration in awakening Boylshevism in America. MOTHER EARTH PUBLISHING ASS'N
4 JONES STREET, NEW YORK And yet it is of the utmost importance that the people in America should understand the true meaning of the Boylsheviki, their origin, and the historic background which makes their position and their challenge to the world so significant to the masses.
Boylsheviki is the plural term for those revolutionists in Russia who represent the interests of the largest social groups, and who insist upon the maximum social and economic demands for those groups.
At ... (From: Anarchy Archives.) Published Essays and Pamphlets
An Unexpected Dash Through Spain by Emma Goldman [Published in The Road to Freedom (New York)]
[Part I, Vol. 5, no. 8, April, 1929]
SITTING tucked away in quiet St. Tropez, at work on my
autobiography, I was as far from the thought of a trip to Spain
as if I had been living in Tokio, Shanghai or Kamchatka. I did
plan a rest away from my book during the Christmas holidays. One
needs a break, even in the most ideal love life, and the process
of reliving and writing one's past is anything but ideal. Au
contraire, as we say in France! It is very painful, with much of
the bitter and nothing of the sweet that love represents. Writing
strenuously for five months entitled me to a rest; even my
e... (From: University of Berkeley.) WRITTEN IN RED
Bear it aloft, O roaring flame!
Skyward aloft, where all may see.
Slaves of the world! our cause is the same;
One is the immemorial shame;
One is the struggle, and in One name--
MANHOOD--we battle to set men free. VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE
THE FIRST TIME I MET HER--THIS MOST GIFTED AND BRILLIANT
ANARCHIST WOMAN AMERICA EVER PRODUCED--was in Philadelphia, in
August 1893. I had come to that city to address the unemployed
during the great crisis of that year, and I was eager to visit
Voltairine of whose exceptional ability as a lecturer I had heard
while in New York. I found her ill in bed, her head packed in
ice, her face drawn with pain. I learned that this experience
repeated itself with Voltairine a... (From: University of Berkeley.) It is strange what time does to political causes. A generation ago it seemed to many American conservatives as if the opinions which Emma Goldman was expressing might sweep the world. Now she fights almost alone for what seems to be a lost cause; contemporary radicals are overwhelmingly opposed to her; more than that, her devotion to liberty and her detestation of government interference might be regarded as placing her anomalously in the same part of the political spectrum as the gentlemen of the Liberty League, only in a more extreme position at its edge. Yet in this article, which might be regarded as her last will and testament, she sticks to her guns. Needless to say, her opinions are not ours. We offer them as an exhibit of valiant co... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) "What I believe" has many times been the target of hack writers. Such blood-curdling and incoherent stories have been circulated about me, it is no wonder that the average human being has palpitation of the heart at the very mention of the name Emma Goldman. It is too bad that we no longer live in the times when witches were burned at the stake or tortured to drive the evil spirit out of them. For, indeed, Emma Goldman is a witch! True, she does not eat little children, but she does many worse things. She manufactures bombs and gambles in crowned heads. B-r-r-r!
Such is the impression the public has of myself and my beliefs. It is therefore very much to the credit of The World that it gives its readers at least an opportunity to learn ... (From: Anarchy Archives.) For well-nigh half a century the leaders of woman suffrage have been claiming that miraculous results would follow the enfranchisement of woman. All the social and economic evils of past centuries would be abolished once woman will get the vote. All the wrongs and injustices, all the crimes and horrors of the ages would be eliminated from life by the magic decree of a scrap of paper.
When the attention of the leaders of the movement was called to the fact that such extravagant claims convince no one, they would say, “Wait until we have the opportunity; wait till we are face to face with a great test, and then you will see how superior woman is in her attitude toward social progress.
The intelligent opponents of woman suf... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.) We boast of the age of advancement, of science, and progress. Is it not strange, then, that we still believe in fetish worship? True, our fetishes have different form and substance, yet in their power over the human mind they are still as disastrous as were those of old.
Our modern fetish is universal suffrage. Those who have not yet achieved that goal fight bloody revolutions to obtain it, and those who have enjoyed its reign bring heavy sacrifice to the altar of this omnipotent deity. Woe to the heretic who dare question that divinity!
Woman, even more than man, is a fetish worshiper, and though her idols may change, she is ever on her knees, ever holding up her hands, ever blind to the fact that her god has feet of clay. Thus woman has... (From: Anarchy Archives.)
