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Living My Life, Vol. 2
“You damn bitch of an anarchist, I wish I could get at you. I would tear your heart out and feed it to my dog.” This was one of the less obscene messages received by Emma Goldman (1869-1940), while in jail on suspicion of complicity in the assassination of McKinley. The most notorious woman of her day, she was bitterly hated by millions and equally revered by millions.
The strong feelings she aroused are understandable. She was an alien, a practicing anarchist, a labor agitator, a pacifist in World War 1, an advocate of political violence, a feminist, a proponent of free love and birth control, a communist, a street-fighter for justice — all of which she did with strong intellect and boundless passion. Today, of course, many of the issues that she fought over are just as vital as they were then.
Emma Goldman came from Russia at the age of 17. After an encounter with the sweatshop and an unfortunate marriage, she plunged into the bewildering intellectual and activist chaos that attended American social evolution around the turn of the twentieth century. She knew practically everyone of importance in radical circles. She dominated many areas of the radical movement, lecturing, writing, haranguing, and publishing to awaken the world to her ideas. After World War I she was deported to Russia, where she soon discovered that anarchists were no better liked than in America, despite Lenin’s first gesture of welcome. She escaped with her life but never was allowed to return to the United States.
Emma Goldman was a devastatingly honest woman, who spared herself as little as she spared anyone else. From her account the reader can gain insight into a curious personality type of recurrent a woman who devoted her life to eliminating suffering, yet could make a bomb or assist in staging an assassination. Equally interesting are her comments on other radicals of the period, such as Kropotkin, Berkman, Mooney, Lenin, Trotsky, Haywood, Most, the Haymarket martyrs, and many others. Her autobiography, written with vigor, ranks among the finest in the English language.
The strong feelings she aroused are understandable. She was an alien, a practicing anarchist, a labor agitator, a pacifist in World War 1, an advocate of political violence, a feminist, a proponent of free love and birth control, a communist, a street-fighter for justice — all of which she did with strong intellect and boundless passion. Today, of course, many of the issues that she fought over are just as vital as they were then.
Emma Goldman came from Russia at the age of 17. After an encounter with the sweatshop and an unfortunate marriage, she plunged into the bewildering intellectual and activist chaos that attended American social evolution around the turn of the twentieth century. She knew practically everyone of importance in radical circles. She dominated many areas of the radical movement, lecturing, writing, haranguing, and publishing to awaken the world to her ideas. After World War I she was deported to Russia, where she soon discovered that anarchists were no better liked than in America, despite Lenin’s first gesture of welcome. She escaped with her life but never was allowed to return to the United States.
Emma Goldman was a devastatingly honest woman, who spared herself as little as she spared anyone else. From her account the reader can gain insight into a curious personality type of recurrent a woman who devoted her life to eliminating suffering, yet could make a bomb or assist in staging an assassination. Equally interesting are her comments on other radicals of the period, such as Kropotkin, Berkman, Mooney, Lenin, Trotsky, Haywood, Most, the Haymarket martyrs, and many others. Her autobiography, written with vigor, ranks among the finest in the English language.
528 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1931
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About the author
Emma Goldman
362 books1,040 followersEmma 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 burgeoning anarchist movement.Attracted to anarchism after the Haymarket affair, Goldman became a writer and a renowned lecturer on anarchist philosophy, women's rights, and social issues, attracting crowds of thousands.
She and anarchist writer Alexander Berkman, her lover and lifelong friend, planned to assassinate Henry Clay Frick as an act of propaganda of the deed. Although Frick survived the attempt on his life, Berkman was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. Goldman was imprisoned several times in the years that followed, for "inciting to riot" and illegally distributing information about birth control. In 1906, Goldman founded the anarchist journal Mother Earth.
In 1917, Goldman and Berkman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiring to "induce persons not to register" for the newly instated draft. After their release from prison, they were arrested—along with hundreds of others—and deported to Russia.
Initially supportive of that country's Bolshevik revolution, Goldman quickly voiced her opposition to the Soviet use of violence and the repression of independent voices. In 1923, she wrote a book about her experiences, My Disillusionment in Russia. While living in England, Canada, and France, she wrote an autobiography called Living My Life. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she traveled to Spain to support the anarchist revolution there. She died in Toronto on May 14, 1940, aged 70.
During her life, Goldman was lionized as a free-thinking "rebel woman" by admirers, and derided by critics as an advocate of politically motivated murder and violent revolution.Her writing and lectures spanned a wide variety of issues, including prisons, atheism, freedom of speech, militarism, capitalism, marriage, free love, and homosexuality. Although she distanced herself from first-wave feminism and its efforts toward women's suffrage, she developed new ways of incorporating gender politics into anarchism. After decades of obscurity, Goldman's iconic status was revived in the 1970s, when feminist and anarchist scholars rekindled popular interest in her life.
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 burgeoning anarchist movement.Attracted to anarchism after the Haymarket affair, Goldman became a writer and a renowned lecturer on anarchist philosophy, women's rights, and social issues, attracting crowds of thousands.
She and anarchist writer Alexander Berkman, her lover and lifelong friend, planned to assassinate Henry Clay Frick as an act of propaganda of the deed. Although Frick survived the attempt on his life, Berkman was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. Goldman was imprisoned several times in the years that followed, for "inciting to riot" and illegally distributing information about birth control. In 1906, Goldman founded the anarchist journal Mother Earth.
In 1917, Goldman and Berkman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiring to "induce persons not to register" for the newly instated draft. After their release from prison, they were arrested—along with hundreds of others—and deported to Russia.
Initially supportive of that country's Bolshevik revolution, Goldman quickly voiced her opposition to the Soviet use of violence and the repression of independent voices. In 1923, she wrote a book about her experiences, My Disillusionment in Russia. While living in England, Canada, and France, she wrote an autobiography called Living My Life. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she traveled to Spain to support the anarchist revolution there. She died in Toronto on May 14, 1940, aged 70.
During her life, Goldman was lionized as a free-thinking "rebel woman" by admirers, and derided by critics as an advocate of politically motivated murder and violent revolution.Her writing and lectures spanned a wide variety of issues, including prisons, atheism, freedom of speech, militarism, capitalism, marriage, free love, and homosexuality. Although she distanced herself from first-wave feminism and its efforts toward women's suffrage, she developed new ways of incorporating gender politics into anarchism. After decades of obscurity, Goldman's iconic status was revived in the 1970s, when feminist and anarchist scholars rekindled popular interest in her life.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
August 11, 2022
You want to be a true radical? Then you must be ready to play the Long Game. I mean, the really Long Game. You must be prepared to work for generations yet unborn, and willing to accept that you may never live to see your goals achieved.
Emma Goldman lived such a life. Her incredible autobiography illustrates a life lived uncompromisingly for ideals never achieved. Yet she remained undaunted, unbowed, and largely, without bitterness. Living My Life is her personal record, passed on to us, of how to live for the Long Game.
The bulk of volume two examines her hardest trial — seeing what she believed to be her dream achieved turned into a nightmare. Two years she spent in Russia. She believed that the people’s Revolution had finally been accomplished, the culmination of her lifetime work and dreams. What she found instead was that the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” was a lie — the vicious rule of the Tsar replaces with the equally vicious rule of the Party operatives.
Volume two roughly covers from 1910 until 1930. It includes her campaigns for birth control, free speech fights, struggles on behalf of Labor, and work against participation in the Great War and conscription. Her anti conscription campaign resulted in two years of imprisonment and deportation to Russia. Her ordeals in Russia comprise the set piece of this volume.
Goldman’s writing is clear and compelling. The life she recorded was extraordinary. She played the Long Game well.
Emma Goldman lived such a life. Her incredible autobiography illustrates a life lived uncompromisingly for ideals never achieved. Yet she remained undaunted, unbowed, and largely, without bitterness. Living My Life is her personal record, passed on to us, of how to live for the Long Game.
The bulk of volume two examines her hardest trial — seeing what she believed to be her dream achieved turned into a nightmare. Two years she spent in Russia. She believed that the people’s Revolution had finally been accomplished, the culmination of her lifetime work and dreams. What she found instead was that the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” was a lie — the vicious rule of the Tsar replaces with the equally vicious rule of the Party operatives.
Volume two roughly covers from 1910 until 1930. It includes her campaigns for birth control, free speech fights, struggles on behalf of Labor, and work against participation in the Great War and conscription. Her anti conscription campaign resulted in two years of imprisonment and deportation to Russia. Her ordeals in Russia comprise the set piece of this volume.
Goldman’s writing is clear and compelling. The life she recorded was extraordinary. She played the Long Game well.
March 31, 2020
4.5/5
The influenza epidemic raging through the country had reached our prison, and thirty-five inmates were stricken down. In the absence of any hospital facilities, the patients were kept in their cells, exposing the other inmates to infection. At the first sign of the disease I had offered my services to the physician. He knew I was a trained nurse and he welcomed my aid. He promised to see Miss Smith about letting me take care of the sick, but days passed without bringing results. Later I learned that the head matron had refused to take me out of the shop. I was already enjoying too many privileges, she had said, and she would not stand for more.Today, in my area, quarantine was extended from another week to another month. Depending on how much farther it goes on, my career trajectory as a librarian will probably be disrupted, and I will lose out on one last occupation title and recent professional reference before I've completed the max number of units for my master's. Still, I'm far better off than most: I am guaranteed some amount of distance work until the beginning of May; online subscriptions are still putting out notices for distance jobs in my field; and my savings, both personal and generational, will see me out a year or two, should the requirement for rent continue apace. I am not in as good a position as those who are being paid regardless of work performance, but I am better off than my sister who still has to physically go into work (for the government of all things). The three million and counting that are applying for unemployment benefits tell me that many do not have my monetary guarantee, and that $1,200 check that is currently circulating around my rumor mills has already excluded sex workers, an already severely marginalized demographic that has been one of the most seriously impacted by the pandemic, from its coverage. I haven't even begun to speak of the uneven distribution of resources to states under Trump, how the pandemic prevention infrastructure that was built to contain Swine Flu and Ebola was destroyed in 2018 for the sake of funding, the on air call for millions to go to work and sacrifice themselves for the sake of the economy, etc, etc. So: what would Emma Goldman make of all this? I get an inkling from the above quote, but it's a brave new world of ours, and in the coming months, there is a good chance that neither I nor Goldman will/would know what to do.
Not being officially permitted to nurse, I sought means to aid the sick unofficially. Since the influenza invasion our cells were being left unlocked at night. The two girls assigned to nursing were so hard-worked that they would sleep all through the night, and the orderlies were my friends. That offered me a chance to make hurried calls from cell to cell and do what little was possible to make the patients more comfortable.
What better excuse needs the European bourgeoisie for its reactionary methods than the ferocious dictatorship in Russia?My penchant for bildungsroman style works displays itself in my downgraded rating for this second volume compared to the first. It is all of one work, of course, but GRAmazon is arbitrary in its distinctions between segmented work (Journey to the West), complete unabridged set (Three Kingdoms), and both (In Search of Lost Time), so I will pick and choose my ratings whenever the opportunity is given. In any case, the beginning and the end were rather a transitory muddle, but the middle section of Goldman's time in Russia is a five star work in and of itself, lending itself well to an individual packaging if such hasn't already occurred. I have been seeking for some time now a reconciliation between my political beliefs and the truths of Russia's October Revolution, and Goldman's testimony is that in full. She had some notable interactions with names I recognized, including some inordinately positive ones with Evelyn Scott and Rebecca West, but that goes to show the lubrication of social intercourse, even when one of the participants is a hardened anarchist. Honestly, though, I read this because I want to know how to think, and the sheer coincidence that I read it during this kind of "interesting times" that form the basis of supposed (apocryphal and racist, as per Euro usual) curses means, when the curtain lifts and life starts getting back to "normal", I don't know where I'm going to find myself. After all this, anarchism strongly appeals, but as that's riddled with its own egos and backstabbings and discourse, so until I get a more direct conduit into a living landscape of that community, I'm going to shove all of my 'weirder' social convictions (free healthcare, neighborhood direct democracy, legalized sex work, places of employment forbidding sick workers with full recompense, etc, etc), into "queer", the only label I hold to with any sense of security.
-Peter Kropotkin
In [Lenin's] early writings I would find that he had for years advocated and defended such methods of attack against his political opponents, methods to "cause them to be loathed and hated as the vilest of creatures." He had used such tactics when his victims could defend themselves; why should he now not add insult to injury when he had the whole of Russia as his forum?After this, I have at least Smedley (one book on hand), Kropotkin (none on hand), Berkman (none on hand, but a beautiful NYRB Classic edition does beckon), and Figner (I had already added her Memoirs of a Revolutionist to track down by way of Ginzburg's Journey into the Whirlwind) to fill in the gaps. Smedley will hopefully give me a better picture of the world outside of Europe/Neo-Europe, as the fact that Goldman didn't have much to say about Lucy Parsons or Virendranath Chattopadhyaya (called Smedley's "Hindu friend Chato", actually her common-law husband, the concept of which Goldman was supposedly such a fan of) didn't give me much confidence in the idea that she would have paid any anarchists from beyond the pale much heed (course, I hardly recognized every single name in this work, but one has to wonder). All in all, mountains upon mountains of further reading to do, and ideally some actual interpersonal interactions to go with it (I do the most uncharacteristic things when bored out of my mind, and attempting virtual communications with local grassroots collectives might end up being one of them). Did I agree with everything Goldman said? Lord no. Do I think she did some good? Considering how one of my absolute favorite parts of this autobiography is when she and her comrades started mobilizing the military/ship personnel to fight for their rights during the her deportation from the US to Russia, absolutely. Do I want to know how much the Penguin edition cut out of this? Probably not. Do I want everyone to read this? If it scares them into thinking critically about what their government is doing for them (should The Shock Doctrine not already have done so) and what that means for their implicit trust in the idea that future = progress: they better.
The more I live, the more am I convinced that no truthful and useful social science, and no useful and truthful social action is possible but the science which bases its conclusions, and the actions which bases its acts, upon the thoughts and the inspirations of the masses.
-Peter Kropotkin
[T]here had never been an ideal, however humane and peaceful, which in its time had been considered "within the law."
April 19, 2015
This is the second part of Emma Goldman’s memoirs of life as an anarchist in the early years of the Twentieth Century, and it describes the later, more “mature” (or at least older) segment of her career as a revolutionary. While it is still a thrilling, highly accessible, at times inspiring, read, it also has a somewhat more somber tone, as Emma is increasingly discouraged by what she sees in the world around her and betrayed by people she once believed in.
The volume begins with the death of Voltairine De Cleyre, a fellow rebel and feminist, and describes how Emma became involved with the fight to make information about birth control widely available. She goes on the road, speaking and working side-by-side with her lover, Ben Reitman, who was probably the most important man in her free-loving life to this point. However, the story quickly turns to more significant question of her opposition to the United States’ entry in World War One, her arrest and imprisonment for anti-patriotic agitation, and her eventual deportation to the newly founded Soviet Union. This part of the story dominates my memory of this book, because of the extremes that she and Alexander Berkman went to not to see the direction that the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” was taking and her gradual but brutal confrontation with the truth of Soviet society. Here we get descriptions of her interactions with the important leaders of the Russian Revolution, including Lenin and Trotsky, as well as many of the anarchist enemies of the new State, including Nestor Makhno. She and Berkman slowly come to realize that the “Workers’ State” is as much a sham as any capitalist one, and this section includes fascinating details of the revolutionary period and its developments.
By the end of the book, Emma lives in London, in exile from both the US and USSR, and spends most of her time lecturing about the past. She observes the political activities of the day, but no longer becomes actively involved. It seems a sad ending, but at some level it is also a reflection of the intensity of her youthful life and her need to finally live her life for herself more than her causes as an older woman. Although a great deal of hardship and suffering is described, one never gets the sense that Goldman regrets having lived with the intensity and passion she did. She is simply ready for a rest, and to pass along the torch to a younger generation. This autobiography is the flame of that torch, and no doubt continues to motivate young activists and those determined to wrest as much life as they can out of their time in this world
The volume begins with the death of Voltairine De Cleyre, a fellow rebel and feminist, and describes how Emma became involved with the fight to make information about birth control widely available. She goes on the road, speaking and working side-by-side with her lover, Ben Reitman, who was probably the most important man in her free-loving life to this point. However, the story quickly turns to more significant question of her opposition to the United States’ entry in World War One, her arrest and imprisonment for anti-patriotic agitation, and her eventual deportation to the newly founded Soviet Union. This part of the story dominates my memory of this book, because of the extremes that she and Alexander Berkman went to not to see the direction that the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” was taking and her gradual but brutal confrontation with the truth of Soviet society. Here we get descriptions of her interactions with the important leaders of the Russian Revolution, including Lenin and Trotsky, as well as many of the anarchist enemies of the new State, including Nestor Makhno. She and Berkman slowly come to realize that the “Workers’ State” is as much a sham as any capitalist one, and this section includes fascinating details of the revolutionary period and its developments.
By the end of the book, Emma lives in London, in exile from both the US and USSR, and spends most of her time lecturing about the past. She observes the political activities of the day, but no longer becomes actively involved. It seems a sad ending, but at some level it is also a reflection of the intensity of her youthful life and her need to finally live her life for herself more than her causes as an older woman. Although a great deal of hardship and suffering is described, one never gets the sense that Goldman regrets having lived with the intensity and passion she did. She is simply ready for a rest, and to pass along the torch to a younger generation. This autobiography is the flame of that torch, and no doubt continues to motivate young activists and those determined to wrest as much life as they can out of their time in this world
March 9, 2013
Emma Goldman,anarchist, had intelligence and bold determination that saved many lives and brought injustices to the surface. Her life was intertwined with that of Sasha Bernhardt, beginning at the Chicago Hay Market tragedy. Sasha, incensed by such injustices, was sentenced to 22 years for an offence legally calling for only seven.
For her many attempts to achieve change, Emma was deported from the USA to Russia under horrific conditions. The truths of what hapened in the Bolshevik revolution, that she once believed in, was far from what she found when she arrived in Russia after the tsarists were removed from power.
The 2nd volume covers her two years in Russia, her struggle to come to grips with the horrific truths, especially in regards to the Kronstadt murders. There was little she could achieve there under the conditions and restrictive communist rules, except the completion of work recording past history for the Russian museum archives.
Her goal was to relate to the world what was really happening in her beloved Russia, though noone wanted to believe it. She did write a book which was published in New York though attempts were made to disguise the truth by cutting it short.
She was aware of Maknov's successes. She met his wife who tried to convince Emma & Sasha to meet with him. Emma soon learned of Maknov's wife's arrest and then murder, but was not in a secure position to meet with Maknov to help continue the struggle.
Tired and devasted, Emma left for England; after mediocer success there, she made several appearances in Canada. (Edmonton and Toronto appeared to be her most successful. One important issue raised by Emma, was corporal punishment in schools.)
Emma finally retired to France to write her memoirs.
For her many attempts to achieve change, Emma was deported from the USA to Russia under horrific conditions. The truths of what hapened in the Bolshevik revolution, that she once believed in, was far from what she found when she arrived in Russia after the tsarists were removed from power.
The 2nd volume covers her two years in Russia, her struggle to come to grips with the horrific truths, especially in regards to the Kronstadt murders. There was little she could achieve there under the conditions and restrictive communist rules, except the completion of work recording past history for the Russian museum archives.
Her goal was to relate to the world what was really happening in her beloved Russia, though noone wanted to believe it. She did write a book which was published in New York though attempts were made to disguise the truth by cutting it short.
She was aware of Maknov's successes. She met his wife who tried to convince Emma & Sasha to meet with him. Emma soon learned of Maknov's wife's arrest and then murder, but was not in a secure position to meet with Maknov to help continue the struggle.
Tired and devasted, Emma left for England; after mediocer success there, she made several appearances in Canada. (Edmonton and Toronto appeared to be her most successful. One important issue raised by Emma, was corporal punishment in schools.)
Emma finally retired to France to write her memoirs.
September 21, 2009
This was my first time reading the second volume of this autobiography. In general, I enjoyed the first volume better, I think because it had more details about her personal life. Romantically, she kind of slows down at this point in her life, although I was cheered that she had an affair with someone much younger than her when she was in her 50s.
The first and last parts of the book revolve mainly around her lecture tours, which I didn't find very interesting. The central part about her time spent with Sasha in Russia however, were illuminating. Imagine it--- she had a meeting with Lenin! It was surprising that it took her so long to realize that the Bolsheviks were horrible. Maybe it was a different time then, and it took longer for idealistic people to stop believing in something. Also, the part about Nester Makhno's offer (and I won't spoil it here) simply broke my heart.
It made me want to read more about the Kronstadt rebellion.
The first and last parts of the book revolve mainly around her lecture tours, which I didn't find very interesting. The central part about her time spent with Sasha in Russia however, were illuminating. Imagine it--- she had a meeting with Lenin! It was surprising that it took her so long to realize that the Bolsheviks were horrible. Maybe it was a different time then, and it took longer for idealistic people to stop believing in something. Also, the part about Nester Makhno's offer (and I won't spoil it here) simply broke my heart.
It made me want to read more about the Kronstadt rebellion.
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September 11, 2014O MY GAWD.
I'm so in love with Emma after reading this book. Such a fascinating book. What a life she led! And she drops so many names of other anarchists and activists that this book will be a great reference for further research. It's 950 pages but it's such a fun page turner. It's not too long.
I'm so in love with Emma after reading this book. Such a fascinating book. What a life she led! And she drops so many names of other anarchists and activists that this book will be a great reference for further research. It's 950 pages but it's such a fun page turner. It's not too long.
October 12, 2007
someday i will write an alternative history short story i came up with when i read these 2 volumes way back when...
May 10, 2015
This is vol 2, starting on page 504.
Bailed early; just could not get interested.
Bailed early; just could not get interested.
September 20, 2011
Simply fascinating.
The bulk of this volume deals with Emma's deportation and the time she spent in Bolshevik Russia. I've been meaning to study more the history of the Russian Revolution, and beginning that with the memoirs of an anarchist was accidental, but illuminating.
Emma is just so brutally honest in her portrayal of herself. Her romance regarding the Revolution, and her creeping horror at seeing beneath the Soviet veneer, really made an impact on me.
Reading this book, about some of the most dramatic events that have taken place in the last 100 years of human history, has made me reflect a lot. What does revolution mean? How does an anti-authoritarian movement prevent the rise of dictators? Why does it all even matter?
I confess that I finished the book feeling a little gloomy, particularly when Emma described the Soviet slaughter of the town of Kronstadt. Yesterday's Heroes of the Revolution are the next day lying massacred in the streets. And 90 years later, today, it has ceased to matter, and no one remembers. Why do we fight so hard for justice, for peace, for equality? The world has always been so violent, so deadly, so horribly unfair to the vast majority of people. What's the point of even trying?
Goldman spent her whole life ferociously trying to change the hearts and minds of people around her - and her influence seems to have just disappeared with her. Are we all doomed to a similar fate?
Yeah. The book made me feel a little defeatist and depressed. I'll shake it off. But this autobiography has made me think deeply. Now I think I really, really need to read something a bit more hopeful.
The bulk of this volume deals with Emma's deportation and the time she spent in Bolshevik Russia. I've been meaning to study more the history of the Russian Revolution, and beginning that with the memoirs of an anarchist was accidental, but illuminating.
Emma is just so brutally honest in her portrayal of herself. Her romance regarding the Revolution, and her creeping horror at seeing beneath the Soviet veneer, really made an impact on me.
Reading this book, about some of the most dramatic events that have taken place in the last 100 years of human history, has made me reflect a lot. What does revolution mean? How does an anti-authoritarian movement prevent the rise of dictators? Why does it all even matter?
I confess that I finished the book feeling a little gloomy, particularly when Emma described the Soviet slaughter of the town of Kronstadt. Yesterday's Heroes of the Revolution are the next day lying massacred in the streets. And 90 years later, today, it has ceased to matter, and no one remembers. Why do we fight so hard for justice, for peace, for equality? The world has always been so violent, so deadly, so horribly unfair to the vast majority of people. What's the point of even trying?
Goldman spent her whole life ferociously trying to change the hearts and minds of people around her - and her influence seems to have just disappeared with her. Are we all doomed to a similar fate?
Yeah. The book made me feel a little defeatist and depressed. I'll shake it off. But this autobiography has made me think deeply. Now I think I really, really need to read something a bit more hopeful.
January 5, 2014
Not as interesting as Vol. 1, but once I picked it up, I still couldn't put it down. Emma's ability to convey anything in a captivating manner is on display, and a large portion of the book is taken up with her account of Russia in the years following the revolution of 1917. She provides an excellent first hand perspective of the hypocrisy and abuses and their variability across the country which culminates in a scathing critique of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. As such, this book's historical importance cannot be overstated.
February 9, 2015
I have to admit to preferring the first volume, when Emma was young and starry eyed and full of positive energy. This volume is sad and written by a woman who begins to feel defeated by the world. That said I love this way of learning history and learned more about the Russian revolution, Lenin and Trotsy than I ever thought I would. If there was a third book I would read it, but sadly this is the end of Emma's autobiography.
June 22, 2008
An incredible finish to nearly a 1000 page memoir of E.G. The most fascinating chapter for me was her discussion of Bolshevik Russia and the destruction of the Revolutionary ideal via the dictatorship under Lenin and Trotsky. I thought it ended rather abruptly unfortunately. I highly recommend this work. Both volumes give a tremendous history of the U.S. and world politics. I <3 Emma Goldman! :)
December 12, 2025
Masterpiece of moral witness and revolutionary clarity, showing that Bolsheviks were just capitalists with worse aesthetics. Basically, Emma Goldman proves that if anarchism was a sin, it would still be holier than every state ever built.
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July 15, 2023Emma Goldman’s autobiography is an absolutely riveting account of an endlessly fascinating and inspiring life, and a story ripe with crucial lessons for radicals today. There is so much to say about this book and the life story it details. First of all, it’s an absolute page-turner. While heavy on the details, it’s ceaselessly captivating and suspensful. Goldman is a fantastic writer and the whole thing is simply eminently readable. The book is also of course a goldmine of information for anyone interested in anarchist and radical history and for a comparative analysis of anarchist tactics then and now. One of the things that struck me most repeatedly was that the kind of activism Emma was engaged in, which was mainly focused on propagandizing to as many people as possible through public speaking, is largely unheard of today. The idea of addressing large, heterogenous crowds, often even consisting largely of ideological opponents, as the main way of advancing anarchism, would honestly seldom most anarchists minds today. Now, of course, Emma did not “just talk” - she was a nurse, an organizer of mutual aid initiatives, a prisoner organizer, a theorist and many other things. But her main tactic, I think, can be said to be that of a “campaigner”, which means both that she brought people over to anarchism through persuasion and that she engaged in very much public-facing pressure campaigns, about, say, free speech, conditions in Russia, opposition to the draft, labor struggles, undertaken on the premise that public attention and pressure might stay the hands of oppressors.
This, I would emphasize, is in quite clear contrast to the insurgent, direct action-based tactics of the anarchist movement today, but which were also very prevalent at Emma’s time of activity. I don’t exactly point this out as a criticism of Emma -- but I do think it would be quite unfortunate for readers to get the impression that her quite selective approach to anarchist activism exhausts the ways to approach activism, or even that they are the main tool in the anarchists’ toolbox. Although I won’t really get into it at length right now, there may also be something to be said for a critique of the anarchist as a celebrity, which Emma certainly was. Having said this, we should probably be better at reaching people who don’t already agree with us. Reading about Emma, I admire her ability to address diverse people not already convinced of radical ideas while in no way that she watering down of shirking away from some of the most radical implications of anarchism. I feel proud and blessed that our most famous evengelist was also a staunch militant. I guess the closest thing we have today would be, like, breadtube?
Now I turn to the one aspect of the book that I found more gripping and fascinating than any other: Goldman’s account of her time in the newly born USSR, where she gradually comes to accept the fact of the Bolshevik betrayal of the revolution. It is shocking to read how Emma was at first a staunch defender of Lenin, even to the point of getting into bitter conflict with other anarchists about it. We easily recognize the factional strifes of today in Emma’s argument that while the reactionary world is at Russia’s throats, we ought not openly condemn the Bolshevik regime, and that such “internal” disputes will have to wait until a later date. It is equally disturbing to read Emma’s accounts of her own internal turmoil, how she while in Russia refused to accept what was plain before her eyes, that the blood soaked “dictatorship of the proletariat” was to be regarded as an implacable enemy of any anarchist. Emma is admirably open about how, yeah, she really fucked up there! We get to follow her internal dialogue as she piece by piece discards her excuses for the Bolshevik nightmare and comes to the gut-wrenching realization that Lenin’s regime has becomes the hangmen of the revolution. Exactly since she makes this journey, that she does not start out as an enemy of the Bolshevik, only being dragged kicked and screaming into becoming one by the regime’s own ghastly atrocities, I think her story may be able to serve as an important counterweight to the abominable presence to this day of “radical” apologists for that nightmarish dictatorship and its tyrannical leaders like Lenin and Trotsky, mass-murderers of workers, strikers, peasants and anarchists.
This, I would emphasize, is in quite clear contrast to the insurgent, direct action-based tactics of the anarchist movement today, but which were also very prevalent at Emma’s time of activity. I don’t exactly point this out as a criticism of Emma -- but I do think it would be quite unfortunate for readers to get the impression that her quite selective approach to anarchist activism exhausts the ways to approach activism, or even that they are the main tool in the anarchists’ toolbox. Although I won’t really get into it at length right now, there may also be something to be said for a critique of the anarchist as a celebrity, which Emma certainly was. Having said this, we should probably be better at reaching people who don’t already agree with us. Reading about Emma, I admire her ability to address diverse people not already convinced of radical ideas while in no way that she watering down of shirking away from some of the most radical implications of anarchism. I feel proud and blessed that our most famous evengelist was also a staunch militant. I guess the closest thing we have today would be, like, breadtube?
Now I turn to the one aspect of the book that I found more gripping and fascinating than any other: Goldman’s account of her time in the newly born USSR, where she gradually comes to accept the fact of the Bolshevik betrayal of the revolution. It is shocking to read how Emma was at first a staunch defender of Lenin, even to the point of getting into bitter conflict with other anarchists about it. We easily recognize the factional strifes of today in Emma’s argument that while the reactionary world is at Russia’s throats, we ought not openly condemn the Bolshevik regime, and that such “internal” disputes will have to wait until a later date. It is equally disturbing to read Emma’s accounts of her own internal turmoil, how she while in Russia refused to accept what was plain before her eyes, that the blood soaked “dictatorship of the proletariat” was to be regarded as an implacable enemy of any anarchist. Emma is admirably open about how, yeah, she really fucked up there! We get to follow her internal dialogue as she piece by piece discards her excuses for the Bolshevik nightmare and comes to the gut-wrenching realization that Lenin’s regime has becomes the hangmen of the revolution. Exactly since she makes this journey, that she does not start out as an enemy of the Bolshevik, only being dragged kicked and screaming into becoming one by the regime’s own ghastly atrocities, I think her story may be able to serve as an important counterweight to the abominable presence to this day of “radical” apologists for that nightmarish dictatorship and its tyrannical leaders like Lenin and Trotsky, mass-murderers of workers, strikers, peasants and anarchists.
February 1, 2021
Valla çocukluk ve ilk gençlik yıllarımda sıkça duyduğum "azılı anarşist" tanımlamasıyla en ufak bir ilgisi yok bu kitap sayesinde tanıdığım Emma Goldman'ın. Çevirmen, Goldman'ın kapitalizm ile mücadele ederken üç temel kurumu hedef aldığını belirtiyor kitabın sonunda: aile, kilise ve devlet. Kilise ve devlete karşı olan fikirlerini çok net görebildim. Bir kurum olarak aileyi dışlayan fikirlerini ise,bu konudaki tutum ve davranışlarıyla ben pek bağdaştıramadım açıkçası. Bu "azılı anarşist" son derece anaç tavırlı, yemek yapmayı, misafir ağırlamaya seven bir kadınmış meğer.
Asi ve boyun eğmeyen bir karaktere sahip, empati kurma yeteneği yanında toplumsal olaylara ve insan doğasına son derece duyarlı bir insanmış E.G. İdeallerine sıkı sıkı bağlıymış ama hiç de bağnaz değilmiş anladığım kadarıyla.
Anarşizmin ne olduğu konusunda yanlış bir algı oluşturulmasına şaşırmıyor insan Emma Goldman'ın yaşadıklarını okuyunca. Anarşizm kuramını daha çok merak ediyor insan kitap sayesinde.
Goldman, Ekim Devrimini hazırlayan koşulları sınırlı da olsa, Amerika'daki sürgün yaşamlar üzerinden gözler önüne seriyor kitabın bu cildinde. Bu cildin beni en çok etkileyen bölümü Goldman'ın Rusya'da geçirdiği 21 ay oldu. Özellikle Ekim Devrimi (sözde devrim mi demek gerekir aslında?) sonrası Rusya'da yaşananları okuyunca, devrim gibi kıymetli bir amaçla yola çıkanların iktidara geldiklerinde yaptıkları bana o kadar tanıdık geldi ki devrim gibi iddialı bir amaç uğruna yapılmış büyük hataların bugün sıradan bir iktidar değişiminde bile katbekat yapıldığını görmek biraz ürküttü beni. Bu da zaten devrimin başarısızlığının açık bir göstergesi oluyor galiba. Diktatoryal eğilimlere sebep olarak işçinin, köylünün yaratıcı işler gerçekleştirecek yetenekten yoksun olmasını ileri sürmek falan ne kadar tanıdık geliyor insana okurken.
Amerika'da gördüğüm doğum kontrol yasakları, zorunlu askerlik ve savaş karşıtı mücadelelerinde tuttuğunu koparan, cesur, atılgan Emma Goldman'ı sınır dışı edilince gittiği Ekim Devrimi sonrası Rusya'sında pek göremedim açıkçası. Ama okudukça, Goldman'ın, Ekim Devrimi sonrası Bolşeviklerin yanlış yaptıklarını kabullenmekte zorlanmasını, kabullenme aşamasını geçtikten sonra bir ideal olarak Ekim Devrimine zarar vermemek adına ve biraz da karşı devrimci olarak algılanmaktan korktuğu için susmasını ve bütün bu sebeplerden dolayı kendisini kıstırılmış hissetmesini anlamak çok zor olmadı. Bu zor döneminde bile en azından yeri geldiğinde lafı gediğine koyma hünerini gösterebilmiş olmasına seviniyor insan doğrusu.
Daha önce devrim sonrasında hayata geçirilen uygulamaları Çevengur isimli bir romanda okumuş ancak bazı şeylere pek anlam vermemiştim. Oysa şimdi, Rusya'daki devrim sonrası koşullar konusunda biraz daha aydınlandığımı hissediyorum Emma Goldman'ın yakın tanıklığı sayesinde. Sık sık okuduğum, duyduğum, devrime ilişkin hayal kırıklıklarının sebeplerini Goldman sayesinde biraz daha iyi gördüm.
Gorki'nin, yazarına, Çevengur'un hoş karşılanmayabileceğini söylerken kendisi ne kadar hoşnuttu böyle bir eserden merak ettim doğrusu Goldman'ı okuduktan sonra. Gorki beni biraz hayal kırıklığına uğrattı açıkçası. Bir ara tekrar Gorki okumalıyım diye geçirdim içimden.
Goldman sayesinde bazı sorulara cevap bulduğum gibi neyse ki yeni sorular da oluştu kafamda:
1) Kitapta sık sık belirtilen, söz konusu dönemdeki Rusya'yı dışarıdan tehdit eden unsurlar tam olarak neydi?
2) Planlanan devrim nasıldı?
3) Lenin’in yanlış uygulamalardaki sorumluluğu neydi?
4) En çok okuduğum Rus yazarını, Gorki'yi yanlış mı anlamış ve hissetmiştim bir zamanlar?
5) Goldman tiyatro ile neden yakından ilgiliydi? Hitabet yeteneği ve gücü ile tiyatroya ilgisi arasında bir ilişki var mıydı?
Çevirmen Emine Özkaya'nın kitap sonunda yer alan açıklamasında Emma Goldman'ın ölümüyle ilgili bir şeyler de okumak isterdim. "Hayatımı Yaşarken" bu haliyle yarım kalmış bir macera romanı gibi benim için.
Okunacaklar:
1) Devlet ve Devrim, V. İ. Lenin
2) Lenin 2017, V.İ. Lenin ve Slavoj Žižek
3) Dans Edemeyeceksem Bu Benim Devrimim Değildir, Emma Goldman
4) Modern Dramanın Toplumsal Uyumu, Emma Goldman
5) Küçük Burjuvalar, Maksim Gorki
6) Lenin, Maksim Gorki
Asi ve boyun eğmeyen bir karaktere sahip, empati kurma yeteneği yanında toplumsal olaylara ve insan doğasına son derece duyarlı bir insanmış E.G. İdeallerine sıkı sıkı bağlıymış ama hiç de bağnaz değilmiş anladığım kadarıyla.
Anarşizmin ne olduğu konusunda yanlış bir algı oluşturulmasına şaşırmıyor insan Emma Goldman'ın yaşadıklarını okuyunca. Anarşizm kuramını daha çok merak ediyor insan kitap sayesinde.
Goldman, Ekim Devrimini hazırlayan koşulları sınırlı da olsa, Amerika'daki sürgün yaşamlar üzerinden gözler önüne seriyor kitabın bu cildinde. Bu cildin beni en çok etkileyen bölümü Goldman'ın Rusya'da geçirdiği 21 ay oldu. Özellikle Ekim Devrimi (sözde devrim mi demek gerekir aslında?) sonrası Rusya'da yaşananları okuyunca, devrim gibi kıymetli bir amaçla yola çıkanların iktidara geldiklerinde yaptıkları bana o kadar tanıdık geldi ki devrim gibi iddialı bir amaç uğruna yapılmış büyük hataların bugün sıradan bir iktidar değişiminde bile katbekat yapıldığını görmek biraz ürküttü beni. Bu da zaten devrimin başarısızlığının açık bir göstergesi oluyor galiba. Diktatoryal eğilimlere sebep olarak işçinin, köylünün yaratıcı işler gerçekleştirecek yetenekten yoksun olmasını ileri sürmek falan ne kadar tanıdık geliyor insana okurken.
Amerika'da gördüğüm doğum kontrol yasakları, zorunlu askerlik ve savaş karşıtı mücadelelerinde tuttuğunu koparan, cesur, atılgan Emma Goldman'ı sınır dışı edilince gittiği Ekim Devrimi sonrası Rusya'sında pek göremedim açıkçası. Ama okudukça, Goldman'ın, Ekim Devrimi sonrası Bolşeviklerin yanlış yaptıklarını kabullenmekte zorlanmasını, kabullenme aşamasını geçtikten sonra bir ideal olarak Ekim Devrimine zarar vermemek adına ve biraz da karşı devrimci olarak algılanmaktan korktuğu için susmasını ve bütün bu sebeplerden dolayı kendisini kıstırılmış hissetmesini anlamak çok zor olmadı. Bu zor döneminde bile en azından yeri geldiğinde lafı gediğine koyma hünerini gösterebilmiş olmasına seviniyor insan doğrusu.
Daha önce devrim sonrasında hayata geçirilen uygulamaları Çevengur isimli bir romanda okumuş ancak bazı şeylere pek anlam vermemiştim. Oysa şimdi, Rusya'daki devrim sonrası koşullar konusunda biraz daha aydınlandığımı hissediyorum Emma Goldman'ın yakın tanıklığı sayesinde. Sık sık okuduğum, duyduğum, devrime ilişkin hayal kırıklıklarının sebeplerini Goldman sayesinde biraz daha iyi gördüm.
Gorki'nin, yazarına, Çevengur'un hoş karşılanmayabileceğini söylerken kendisi ne kadar hoşnuttu böyle bir eserden merak ettim doğrusu Goldman'ı okuduktan sonra. Gorki beni biraz hayal kırıklığına uğrattı açıkçası. Bir ara tekrar Gorki okumalıyım diye geçirdim içimden.
Goldman sayesinde bazı sorulara cevap bulduğum gibi neyse ki yeni sorular da oluştu kafamda:
1) Kitapta sık sık belirtilen, söz konusu dönemdeki Rusya'yı dışarıdan tehdit eden unsurlar tam olarak neydi?
2) Planlanan devrim nasıldı?
3) Lenin’in yanlış uygulamalardaki sorumluluğu neydi?
4) En çok okuduğum Rus yazarını, Gorki'yi yanlış mı anlamış ve hissetmiştim bir zamanlar?
5) Goldman tiyatro ile neden yakından ilgiliydi? Hitabet yeteneği ve gücü ile tiyatroya ilgisi arasında bir ilişki var mıydı?
Çevirmen Emine Özkaya'nın kitap sonunda yer alan açıklamasında Emma Goldman'ın ölümüyle ilgili bir şeyler de okumak isterdim. "Hayatımı Yaşarken" bu haliyle yarım kalmış bir macera romanı gibi benim için.
Okunacaklar:
1) Devlet ve Devrim, V. İ. Lenin
2) Lenin 2017, V.İ. Lenin ve Slavoj Žižek
3) Dans Edemeyeceksem Bu Benim Devrimim Değildir, Emma Goldman
4) Modern Dramanın Toplumsal Uyumu, Emma Goldman
5) Küçük Burjuvalar, Maksim Gorki
6) Lenin, Maksim Gorki
March 7, 2022
Equally as interesting as Volume I. This volume proceeds into Goldman’s American imprisonment for unfree speech, followed by her deportation to Russia soon after the Bolshevik Revolution. Goldman’s narration of her grudging conclusion that the glorious proletarian Revolution had given rise not to an egalitarian, cooperative dictatorship of the proletariat, but rather to the cruel, oppressive autocracy of Lenin’s Communist Party is poignant.
Goldman presents herself as an idealist, committed, passionate, fearless. She presents Alexander Berkman similarly. The two are often described as lovers but I don’t think she mentions physical intimacy between them in any phase or their 30 year relationship as comrades. I’m not bothered either way. I just think it’s interesting that probably the one Jeopardy fact everyone knows about one or both of these significant figures in American radicalism is wrong. Or maybe I’ve just forgotten a chapter describing their hookup(s).
If you like to read labor history, these volumes are likely to please. Goldman is a very good writer who elaborates her experience with reason and insight, passion and some humor. Sometimes her listing of worthy comrades begins to resemble the tedious Old Testament begats, but I (browse past them and) see it as giving due credit.
Goldman presents herself as an idealist, committed, passionate, fearless. She presents Alexander Berkman similarly. The two are often described as lovers but I don’t think she mentions physical intimacy between them in any phase or their 30 year relationship as comrades. I’m not bothered either way. I just think it’s interesting that probably the one Jeopardy fact everyone knows about one or both of these significant figures in American radicalism is wrong. Or maybe I’ve just forgotten a chapter describing their hookup(s).
If you like to read labor history, these volumes are likely to please. Goldman is a very good writer who elaborates her experience with reason and insight, passion and some humor. Sometimes her listing of worthy comrades begins to resemble the tedious Old Testament begats, but I (browse past them and) see it as giving due credit.
October 8, 2023
A truly inspiring life and read. I found her first hand experience through the horrors of the Russian revolution especially interesting.
Her evolution. From supporting the revolution and the Bolshevik dream from afar.
But once deported from America and forced to immerse herself in the communist dictatorship under Lenin. Waking from her anarchist revolutionary dreams into the despotic nightmare of communist Russia.
The anti-Semitism and Pogroms of southern Russia and Ukraine. The cheka death squads and prisons. The paranoia and fear of being deemed anti-revolutionary or bourgeois, thrown in prison and executed or "liquidated" as Lenin like to say.
It was terrifying and hard to put down.
There were also a great many much more positive and beautiful parts to the book as well. Her relationship with her "Sasha" Alexander Berkman. The history of America and all the political struggles. The great friendships she made.
Her times in prison could have been a book of their own.
Well Done E.G.!
I am a lifelong fan and I am looking forward to reading your book on anarchism.
Her evolution. From supporting the revolution and the Bolshevik dream from afar.
But once deported from America and forced to immerse herself in the communist dictatorship under Lenin. Waking from her anarchist revolutionary dreams into the despotic nightmare of communist Russia.
The anti-Semitism and Pogroms of southern Russia and Ukraine. The cheka death squads and prisons. The paranoia and fear of being deemed anti-revolutionary or bourgeois, thrown in prison and executed or "liquidated" as Lenin like to say.
It was terrifying and hard to put down.
There were also a great many much more positive and beautiful parts to the book as well. Her relationship with her "Sasha" Alexander Berkman. The history of America and all the political struggles. The great friendships she made.
Her times in prison could have been a book of their own.
Well Done E.G.!
I am a lifelong fan and I am looking forward to reading your book on anarchism.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2023
Some who reached their haven found it to be another hell. Others found a better life for themselves.
I wish I was like Emma Goldman! I wish I had the courage to venture into the unknown in search of something better. One may argue that many have set out in the same path but never reached there goal. While this is a concern, it is not lost to me that the inverse is also true. Those who choose to remain in their comfort zone sometimes don't have it better than the ones who decided to fight.
September 13, 2025
The first volume was about U.S.A while the second part focuses on mostly Bolshevic Russia of the time. The second volume shows the contradictions of emma and her friends experienced after forced to leave America and failed to find what they always imagined here. Russia was an idealised state for them. Although this volume unfolds in a somewhat darker tone, Emma never feels hopeless. Somehow, she always manages to emerge from incredibly hopeless moments and find ways to live again — once more inspiring, once more deeply comforting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2020
O livro mais longo que li depois da sequência do Harry Potter. As mil páginas da autobiografia da Emma são uma imersão bastante razoável na história do anarquismo e na sociedade dos Estados Unidos, Europa e Rússia do fim do XIX e início do XX. De quebra uma oportunidade ler um texto em inglês daquela época, com várias palavras que não usamos mais nos dias de hoje. Valeu a pena a aventura, embora um pouco cansativa.
July 11, 2023
This book, along with Vol. 1, should be required reading for all radical leftists.
November 3, 2025
Reminds me of college.
June 16, 2007
second half, with a description of her time in the USSR
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews