Anarchism and Other Essays - Emma Goldman

In the 1890s and for years thereafter, America reverberated with the name of the notorious Anarchist, feminist, revolutionist, and agitator, Emma Goldberg. A Russian Jewish immigrant at the age of 17, she moved by her own efforts from seamstress in a clothing factory to internationally known radical lecturer, writer, editor, and friend of the oppressed. This book is a collection of her remarkably penetrating essays, far in advance of their time, originally published by the Mother Earth press which she founded. In the first of these essays, Anarchism: What It Really Stands For , she says, Direct action, having proven effective along economic lines, is equally potent in the environment of the individual. In Minorities Versus Majorities she holds that social and economic well-being will result only through the non-compromising determination of intelligent minorities, and not through the mass. Other pieces deal with The Hypocrisy of Puritanism ; Prisons: A Social Crime and Failure ; The Psychology of Political Violence ; The Drama: A Powerful Disseminator of Radical Thought ; Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty ; and The Tragedy of Woman's Emancipation . A biographical sketch by Hippolyte Havel precedes the essays. Anarchism and Other Essays provides a fascinating look into revolutionary issues at the turn of the century, a prophetic view of the social and economic future, much of which we have seen take place, and above all, a glimpse into the mind of an extraordinary woman: brilliant, provocative, dedicated, passionate, and what used to be called high-minded.