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2nd out of 168 books
—
114 voters
Anarchism and Other Essays
by
Emma Goldman
Destruction and violence! How is the ordinary man to know that the most violent element in society is ignorance; that its power of destruction is the very thing Anarchism is combating?- Emma Goldman, from "Anarchism: What It Really Stands For" From the turn of the 20th century to the turn of the 21st, the fiery words of "notorious" anarchist Emma Goldman continue to echo w...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
June 1st 1969
by Dover Publications
(first published 1910)
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"Anarchism urges man to think, to investigate, to analyze every proposition; but that the brain capacity of the average reader be not taxed too much, I also shall begin with a definition, and then elaborate on the latter...." ~E.G.
A fabulous introduction to Anarchism, especially for those of us who find reading and understanding political theory a bit daunting.
A fabulous introduction to Anarchism, especially for those of us who find reading and understanding political theory a bit daunting.
Many of these essays are interesting more for historical perspective than for anything else. Her final essay on the importance of dramatic works for educating and disseminating radical thought is very interesting to read in our age of constant streaming media.
The pieces that felt the most relevant to me are those on women and women's emancipation. Goldman was unpopular with the first-wave feminists of her day because she felt their focus on suffrage was misplaced; that they entrenched class diff...more
The pieces that felt the most relevant to me are those on women and women's emancipation. Goldman was unpopular with the first-wave feminists of her day because she felt their focus on suffrage was misplaced; that they entrenched class diff...more
overall super cool passionate book that brings up important things like um, how to live your life. her language is pretty crass and maybe exaggerated at times. like referring to the catholic church as a heinous black hydra-monster or something. emma goldmans got a revolutionary philosophy even by todays standards. i'd be interested to see what she would have to say about the current shit today, like anarchism as an integral part of the punk scene, the role of women in a globalized world etc. hal...more
I love Emma Goldman. I don’t always agree with her, and that figures, since these essays were written a century ago. So many attitudes have shifted since then. Emma’s statements about women’s nature, her horror of “perversion” – these are limiting beliefs that she didn’t know she had. At one point in her book, she claims that she’s overcome all prejudice.
But so much of what she says is right on, and so much is clarifying. And there’s so much that the world has yet to learn.
It’s sad that this p...more
But so much of what she says is right on, and so much is clarifying. And there’s so much that the world has yet to learn.
It’s sad that this p...more
It was surprising that in this book towards the end Emma put such a pointed focus on Love. Not just in Love vs. Marriage in many of the essays towards the end of the book she speaks of love of humanity and romantic love as essential elements of the revolutionary mind. I've always thought that any true revolutionary is a romantic at heart. Towards the start of the more revealing and less shared elements of her discussion of Anarchism is her note about its fluidity, the inclusion of anarchist cong...more
Clear, well written, and impassioned essays, all of them worth reading and generally still applicable. Goldman is definitely a victim of some kind of projected infamy because everything she writes is unexceptional, not in the aims and ideals she expresses, but rather that she is so level-headed and articulate. What I see is that anarchism is fallen in general because of a lack of people like Goldman, who if they cannot write a manifesto, can still write about the important topics and critical is...more
To be honest, I didn't read every essay, but the ones I did read were thought-provoking and articulate. I picked it up because of an essay she wrote against woman's suffrage, stating it was a middle-class movement that couldn't possibly live up to its claims and was ultimately a waste of energy. She compared the wimpy women of the West to the strapping Russian women, who, apparently, made all kinds of reforms without having the vote. Of course on some fronts she was right, since she had none of...more
Few can compare to Emma Goldman. Bold and outspoken, her passion is infectious through the written word. I can only imagine what she must have been like in person. Goldman is not about defining systems of thought. Of establishing some order of existence. Those who disagree can easily disregard her positions as inconsistent and lacking structure. Of course, the ready-made quip would be “who expects structure from an anarchist?” But such demands for structure miss the real value in Goldman’s work....more
I originally read this book back around 2004/2005. A good friend lent me her copy and I cruised through it quickly. I just reread it. While I still am not an anarchist (I believe in the value of the state), I thoroughly enjoyed her essays and encourage others to read this book. Just like my recent rereading of several of Karl Marx's works, Emma Goldman was a prescient author. Writing over 100 years ago at times, she nails today's political, economic and gender issues. Sadly, the more things chan...more
Most of this is just as fresh today as it was a hundred years ago. There are a couple of sour notes; she's got a weird touch of gender essentialism and mixed messages about sex-positivity, although a lot of it prefigures current thought accurately. It's amazing how much of this thought has been (relatively) mainstreamed--though of course in the fundamental respect we are probably further from the ideal than we were in her day. Maybe I'm wrong; I do live in a bubble. I think people expect young w...more
Reading this collection of essays was like standing on the sidewalk listening to a bitter, half-bonkers old woman ranting from her porch.
Emma Goldman was angry about pretty much everything (in some ways a woman after my own heart) and her solution was 'tear it all down.' Okay, I get that, but this book spends almost no time on what things will look like after the destruction or how we're even going to get to that point: government does bad things to people? We're better off without it. Religion...more
Emma Goldman was angry about pretty much everything (in some ways a woman after my own heart) and her solution was 'tear it all down.' Okay, I get that, but this book spends almost no time on what things will look like after the destruction or how we're even going to get to that point: government does bad things to people? We're better off without it. Religion...more
Destruction and violence! How is the ordinary man to know that the most violent element in society is ignorance; that it's power of destruction is the very thing Anarchism is combating?- Emma Goldman, from "Anarchism: What It Really Stands For" From the turn of the 20th century to the turn of the 21st, the fiery words of "notorious" anarchist Emma Goldman continue to echo with passion, insight, and intelligence. Beyond the title essay, Goldman's impassioned calls for equality, individual freedom...more
I am going to preface this review with the fact that I am not an anarchist. I think it would be lovely if it could successfully be achieved, but I also know it would require an overhaul of everything that I do not believe possible. However, the ideas and observation Emma Goldman shares are worth examining and at the very least thinking about. Even though this work was published in 1910, her essays on especially the problem of class struggle and capitalism are disturbingly relevant to today's pol...more
The quick descriptions of Emma Goldman's life in the intro are more interesting than her essays, and I think I should probably just find a biography somewhere.
The brilliant mind of American Anarchism sounds a bit self-righteous and hopeless in this collection of essays, dismissing almost all movements and progress as blind, confused, or retroactive. It seems that in her youth, the people who came to hear Anarchist speakers actually wanted to learn, wanted to be independent, wanted to revolt, bu...more
The brilliant mind of American Anarchism sounds a bit self-righteous and hopeless in this collection of essays, dismissing almost all movements and progress as blind, confused, or retroactive. It seems that in her youth, the people who came to hear Anarchist speakers actually wanted to learn, wanted to be independent, wanted to revolt, bu...more
Anybody interested in politics, particularly alternative politics, ought to read this collection. Goldman is a seminal figure in American (and European) social and political history. I like much of her stuff. She's a passionate advocate for justice and a pathfinder in important ways. She often generalizes, however, and makes some claims that would be difficult to viably support. In particular, she sometimes writes about the world in a way that overlooks indigenous peoples and their politics and...more
"If I can't dance it's not my revolution" Emma Goldman.
This is not a really riveting analysis of theoretical anarchism; rather, it is a collection of some thought-provoking essays like "The Psychology of Political Violence," "Minorities v. Majorities" and "The Hypocrisy of Puritanism."
I recommend it for someone who's looking to get familiar with a largely forgotten body of leftist thinking, or just someone looking to consider basic political and sociological assumptions.
It was nice to listen to these essays as I was going to sleep. Hear them free...more
I recommend it for someone who's looking to get familiar with a largely forgotten body of leftist thinking, or just someone looking to consider basic political and sociological assumptions.
It was nice to listen to these essays as I was going to sleep. Hear them free...more
Emma Goldman is definitely one of the most inteligent human beings that ever walked on earth, and not only she could rationalize her ideas, she would put them in action.
The main topics of this book are the following:
Emma belives the mass is less inteligent than a few individual minds.
"I know so well that as a compact mass it has never stood for justice or equality. It has supressed the human voice, subdued the human spirit, chained the human body".
The government anules individualism and the...more
The main topics of this book are the following:
Emma belives the mass is less inteligent than a few individual minds.
"I know so well that as a compact mass it has never stood for justice or equality. It has supressed the human voice, subdued the human spirit, chained the human body".
The government anules individualism and the...more
Going off this text alone, one wonders how it is that Goldman became the Godmother of Anarchism, known throughout the world for her trenchant defense of the poor, the indigent, the huddled masses kept down by "the yoke of capital." Part frothing at the mouth, part political invective, part confused and disorganized rambling, the book greatly disappointed me. Where are the carefully reasoned arguments, the evidence, the organization necessary to convince anyone of her claims? She appeals to a hig...more
It took me a year or two of marching with a black bandanna on, going to Anarchist Black Cross meetings, sitting in with Food Not Bombs, going anti-commercial Christmas caroling, reading radical literature, talking to former squatters, and playing folk punk shows, but at a certain point I realized the "anarchist scene" wasn't for me. If I had read this book earlier, I feel like I may have saved myself some trouble.
I think many of Goldman's points, in many of her essays, raise valid concerns. I be...more
I think many of Goldman's points, in many of her essays, raise valid concerns. I be...more
Late 19th/early 20th-century radical, Emma Goldman was an early advocate of birth control, workers' unions and women's rights. Horrified by the outcome of the Haymarket Riots in Chicago, Emma helped a group of radicals change the way workers were treated, subsequently putting her on a political blacklist and treated as a criminal in any anarchist movement that occurred throughout the country. Outspoken and confident in her beliefs regarding birth control and free love, she was the target for man...more
This is a valuable read for its historical value. Some things might seem outdated in perspective, but fundamentally, the motivations for anarchism are still valid. One thing I didn't agree with was the justification for the so-called "propaganda of the deed", basically an apology for violence, or what it's now called terrorism. I've never been able to wrap my head around senseless political violence, so maybe I'm more of an "anarcho-pacifist". However, she seemed to have been a very advanced fre...more
Actually not very good. Her ideas on politics and anarchism and even women are appallingly stupid.
I think this is a period piece that really has little use for people who are seriously considering anarchistic ideas today. It should really be read as nothing more than an interesting look at the history of the movement, since very little of her arguments and ideas are worth much of anything.
Here is an example to show my point, one of the major issues that is always brought up when arguing about an...more
I think this is a period piece that really has little use for people who are seriously considering anarchistic ideas today. It should really be read as nothing more than an interesting look at the history of the movement, since very little of her arguments and ideas are worth much of anything.
Here is an example to show my point, one of the major issues that is always brought up when arguing about an...more
As much as I wanted to like this, and considering that I agreed with a fair number of points, the lack of depth was too troubling for me to get over. Where there was some supporting evidence, most of the arguments rested on virtually every logical fallacy nameable. Though it was fun to listen to this critically and test myself on figuring out the fallacies.
mp3 via iTunes via librivox.org
mp3 via iTunes via librivox.org
Don't usually read essays or political writings but when i got into this i found it incrediabally interesting, in particular reading it with the benefit of hindsight and knowing about the great events of the century that where shortly going to follow.
I admire her personality and resume but she's more of an icon than an original thinker. Though I agree with almost everything she stands for, her essays were more the stuff of propaganda than reasoned argument. In her introduction she discusses the difference between spoken and written word: how the former relies on the speakers ability to convince through passion and performance while the latter is more fixed and meant to stand closer scrutinization. She more or less admits her essays found the...more
"Anarchism" is such a quotable little essay, I feel it would ruin the fun of getting them in context to repeat them here. Just go away and read the essay - it's not long, and I'm sure you'll enjoy.
According to Goldman's essay on Anarchism,
"Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessi...more
"Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessi...more
This is a very interesting collection of works by a woman that terrified the nation. She was very popular with people that would listen, so take a moment to see why we have a 40 hour work week.
A bit about Emma from The Public Domain Review, including links to some of her works:
http://publicdomainreview.org/2011/01...
http://publicdomainreview.org/2011/01...
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Emma Goldman was a feminist anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.
Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania), Goldman emigrated to the US in 1885 and lived in New York City, where she joined the bu...more
More about Emma Goldman...
Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania), Goldman emigrated to the US in 1885 and lived in New York City, where she joined the bu...more
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“The philosophy of Atheism represents a concept of life without any metaphysical Beyond or Divine Regulator. It is the concept of an actual, real world with its liberating, expanding and beautifying possibilities, as against an unreal world, which, with its spirits, oracles, and mean contentment has kept humanity in helpless degradation.”
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Oct 24, 2012 02:18pm