by Emma Goldman
Taken from The Russian Tragedy (A Review and An Outlook) (Berlin: Der Syndikalist, 1922).
To write a biographic sketch of even an ordinary man within the limited space at my disposal would be difficult. But to write about one whose personality is so complex and whose life so replete with events as that of Alexander Berkman, is almost an insurmountable task. To do justice to such a rich and colorful subject one must not be so limited by space as I am. Above all, one should be removed, in point of time and distance, from the life to be portrayed. Which is not the case in the present instance.
I shall therefore not attempt a biography at the present time. I shall merely joint down a few outstanding features in the life and activities of our Comrade, which may serve as an introduction to something bigger yet to be written. Perhaps it may lead the reader to acquaint himself with Alexander Berkman’s own story, the “Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist”, which portrays the various phases of his life and his ideal much more forcefully and intimately than any biographer could do. Continue reading A Sketch of Alexander Berkman→
Ha pasado un año desde la muerte de Francisco Ferrer. Su martirio ha llamado a la indignación casi universal contra la camarilla de sacerdotes y dominadores que condenaron a un noble hombre a la muerte. Los elementos pensantes y progresivos de todo el mundo han vociferado su protesta sin ambigüedades. En todas partes se ha manifestado simpatía por Ferrer, víctima moderna de la Inquisición Española, y se ha expresado profundo aprecio por su obra y propósito. En resumen, la muerte de Ferrer ha tenido éxito —como probablemente ningún otro martirio de la historia reciente— en despertar la consciencia social de las personas. Ha esclarecido la actitud eternamente inalterable de la iglesia como enemiga del progreso; ha expuesto convincentemente al Estado como el calculador rival del avance popular; ha, finalmente, despertado profundo interés en el destino de los infantes y la necesidad de la educación racional.
There was a time when men imagined the Earth as the center of the universe. The stars, large and small, they believed were created merely for their delectation. It was their vain conception that a supreme being, weary of solitude, had manufactured a giant toy and put them into possession of it.
When, however, the human mind was illumined by the torch-light of science, it came to understand that the Earth was but one of a myriad of stars floating in infinite space, a mere speck of dust.
E. Armand, the editor of L’etre Nouvelle, writes to me from a Paris jail. He has been arrested on the charge of uttering counterfeit money. The evidence against him, aside from a probably malicious denunciation, is said to consist of one counterfeit coin, found by searching his room in his absence. What he feels worst over, however, is that all his books and papers have been seized. Apparently, he thinks it will be harder to get these back than to get acquitted on the charge of counterfeiting. I think so, too.
It was suggested to me by those who were the means of securing me this opportunity of addressing you, that probably the most easy and natural way for me to explain Anarchism would be for me to give the reasons why I myself am an Anarchist. I am not sure that they were altogether right in the matter, because in giving the reasons why I am an Anarchist, I may perhaps infuse too much of my own personality into the subject, giving reasons sufficient unto myself, but which cool reflection might convince me were not particularly striking as reasons why other people should be Anarchists, which is, after all, the object of public speaking on this question.
Leaving aside the great question of “Crime and Punishment” which occupies now so many prominent lawyers and sociologists, I shall limit my remarks to the question: “Are prisons answering their purpose, which is that of diminishing the number of antisocial acts?
A short introduction to the life and ideas of Emma Goldman
by Bernard Dubbeld
12 pages – English
Original publication date: Unknown (circa 2000)
A condensed but concise and straightforward introduction to the extraordinary life and work one of the foundational writers and activists in anarchism.
Modern philanthropy has added a new role to the repertoire of penal institutions. While, formerly, the alleged necessity of prisons rested, solely, upon their penal and protective character, to-day a new function, claiming primary importance, has become embodied in these institutions — that of reformation.
Hence, three objects — reformative, penal, and protective — are now sought to be accomplished by means of enforced physical restraint, by incarceration of a more or less solitary character, for a specific, or more or less indefinite period. Continue reading Prisons and Crime→
by Emma Goldman
Taken from The Russian Tragedy (A Review and An Outlook) (Berlin: Der Syndikalist, 1922).
To write a biographic sketch of even an ordinary man within the limited space at my disposal would be difficult. But to write about one whose personality is so complex and whose life so replete with events as that of Alexander Berkman, is almost an insurmountable task. To do justice to such a rich and colorful subject one must not be so limited by space as I am. Above all, one should be removed, in point of time and distance, from the life to be portrayed. Which is not the case in the present instance. Continue reading A Sketch of Alexander Berkman→
Comenzaré admitiendo lo siguiente: sin tener en cuenta las teorías políticas y económicas que tratan de las diferencias fundamentales entre las varias agrupaciones humanas; sin miramiento alguno para las distinciones de raza o de clase, sin parar mientes en la artificial línea divisoria entre los derechos del hombre y de la mujer, sostengo que puede haber un punto en cuya diferenciación misma se ha de coincidir, encontrarse y unirse en perfecto acuerdo. Continue reading La tragedia de la emancipación de la mujer – Emma Goldman→
