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Nowhere at home;: Letters from exile of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman
Book by Goldman, Emma, Berkman, Alexander
- GenresPolitics
282 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
About the author
Alexander Berkman
74 books109 followersAlexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century.
Berkman was born in Vilna in the Russian Empire (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) and emigrated to the United States in 1888. He lived in New York City, where he became involved in the anarchist movement. He was the lover and lifelong friend of anarchist Emma Goldman. In 1892, Alexander Berkman tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick for his role in violently suppressing the Homestead Steel Strike for which he served 14 years in prison. His experience in prison was the basis for his first book, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist.
After his release from prison, Berkman served as editor of Goldman's anarchist journal, Mother Earth, and he established his own journal, The Blast. In 1917, Berkman and Goldman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiracy against 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, Berkman soon voiced his opposition to the Soviet's use of terror after seizing power and their repression of fellow revolutionaries. In 1925, he published a book about his experiences, The Bolshevik Myth.
While living in France, Berkman continued his work in support of the anarchist movement, producing the classic exposition of anarchist principles, Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism. Suffering from ill health, Berkman committed suicide in 1936.
More: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/...
http://www.nndb.com/people/137/000165...
Berkman was born in Vilna in the Russian Empire (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) and emigrated to the United States in 1888. He lived in New York City, where he became involved in the anarchist movement. He was the lover and lifelong friend of anarchist Emma Goldman. In 1892, Alexander Berkman tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick for his role in violently suppressing the Homestead Steel Strike for which he served 14 years in prison. His experience in prison was the basis for his first book, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist.
After his release from prison, Berkman served as editor of Goldman's anarchist journal, Mother Earth, and he established his own journal, The Blast. In 1917, Berkman and Goldman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiracy against 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, Berkman soon voiced his opposition to the Soviet's use of terror after seizing power and their repression of fellow revolutionaries. In 1925, he published a book about his experiences, The Bolshevik Myth.
While living in France, Berkman continued his work in support of the anarchist movement, producing the classic exposition of anarchist principles, Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism. Suffering from ill health, Berkman committed suicide in 1936.
More: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/...
http://www.nndb.com/people/137/000165...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 29, 2010
Last fall my boyfriend and I went to DC and Baltimore for a mini-break - I had been to Baltimore before but hadn't been able to do some of the things I wanted because the first time I went I was visiting my BFF who was there for the annual ALA convention. I hopped a Greyhound and rode down to visit her for the weekend and while we did a lot, there was a lot we missed because we didn't have a vehicle. Whatever we accomplished was the result of a lot of hoofin' it. I also hadn't done my homework before I went to Baltimore, figuring she wouldn't have time to do much and I just planned to see what I could find. It wasn't really until I got back home that I realized I missed out on possibly the best bookstore ever: Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, appropriately named after Emma Goldman, rebel woman.
So in the fall I made it a point to be sure that we located this place. I've had a longtime mental affair with Emma and try to read anything I can get my hands on, and I figured if anyone would have a wealth of Goldman memorabilia and paraphernalia it would be a bookstore/coffeehouse named after her.
Harumph.
I'm not going to attack the bookstore so much as just whine some more about how sad their section on anarchist literature was. There were a couple books by and about Goldman, but nothing that you wouldn't find in a regular store, online, or in a library. A quick look for books on or about Alexander Berkman was even more worthless. I don't remember them even having his book, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist, in stock. And the employees were the worst. They were rude and inattentive and clearly not interested in anything they were doing or any questions their customers might ask. It was too affected. They were young and thought they were cool because they worked in a radical bookstore/coffeehouse, but their emo hairstyles and expensive cell phones gave them away. Red Emma would be disgusted if she could see them.
(Side note: This bookstore/coffeehouse was literally down the street and around the corner from the hotel my BFF and I stayed at the first time I was in Baltimore. How annoying is that?)
Anytime I'm in a used bookstore now, I always take a look in the politics section to see if there's anything Goldman/Berkman related. Generally not. But this particular book I found at Caliban Books here locally, and I found it in the biography section under Goldman. I squealed when I saw it, and it was mine for $10. It's in pretty decent shape too, I might add. 1975 publication date, and someone clearly thought highly enough of it to have it wrapped in Mylar to protect it from the elements, so it's shiny and clean. I like it.
It's a collection of letters between Emma and Alexander as promised in the subtitle, but it also includes letters to and from other people as well. It's divided into different chapters/themes, and the letters within each chapter reflect the theme of that section. On one hand this is nice as far as keeping focus during the reading - if all of the letters in one section are about the politics of anarchism and violence (despite popular belief, violence was not a primary goal or vision of anarchy), then it's easier to follow the thread of logic throughout the letters. On the other hand, chronologically it can be difficult to follow as each section covers letters from the same period. So one can read a letter from Goldman to Berkman in November 1935 in the second chapter, "Communism and the Intellectuals", and then find oneself reading a letter from Berkman to Goldman in November 1935 three chapters later in "Living the Revolution". This disrupts the continuity and actually can be distracting.
Still, their messages are fascinating. Possibly the most interesting chapter is "Women and Men", a collection of letters regarding relationships. Berkman was in a relationship with a woman 30 years his junior who was from the middle class. This woman, Emmy, apparently had issues with Emma because of her former relationship with Berkman back in the day. The letters between Emma and Emmy are my personal favorites, and the ones where Emma calls Alexander out for his concern of his comrade's views of Emmy. She basically told him to grow a pair. Emma Goldman is known for her advocating birth control and free love and often is viewed as being a cold, heartless bitch of a lover. These letters show a somewhat softer side of Emma at times, one which includes her longstanding love, praise, and adoration of Berkman, and this is a side that is not usually discussed in biographies of them. Anarchists aren't supposed to be soft and cuddly I guess.
On a local note, there's I think only one mention of Berkman's attempt to assassinate Henry Clay Frick (whose mansion still stands not far from my house), and that was in passing in one of their letters in which it was possible that Frick was behind their deportation from America. If not him, then maybe that other loser, J. Edgar Hoover. I don't recall there being any discussion in the letters about the Homestead Strike which was disappointing to me since that's what I'm interested in learning more about at this point. Still, this is a great collection for anyone who wants to know more about either Goldman or Berkman in their own words about things they didn't necessarily deem worthy enough to discuss in their memoirs.
So in the fall I made it a point to be sure that we located this place. I've had a longtime mental affair with Emma and try to read anything I can get my hands on, and I figured if anyone would have a wealth of Goldman memorabilia and paraphernalia it would be a bookstore/coffeehouse named after her.
Harumph.
I'm not going to attack the bookstore so much as just whine some more about how sad their section on anarchist literature was. There were a couple books by and about Goldman, but nothing that you wouldn't find in a regular store, online, or in a library. A quick look for books on or about Alexander Berkman was even more worthless. I don't remember them even having his book, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist, in stock. And the employees were the worst. They were rude and inattentive and clearly not interested in anything they were doing or any questions their customers might ask. It was too affected. They were young and thought they were cool because they worked in a radical bookstore/coffeehouse, but their emo hairstyles and expensive cell phones gave them away. Red Emma would be disgusted if she could see them.
(Side note: This bookstore/coffeehouse was literally down the street and around the corner from the hotel my BFF and I stayed at the first time I was in Baltimore. How annoying is that?)
Anytime I'm in a used bookstore now, I always take a look in the politics section to see if there's anything Goldman/Berkman related. Generally not. But this particular book I found at Caliban Books here locally, and I found it in the biography section under Goldman. I squealed when I saw it, and it was mine for $10. It's in pretty decent shape too, I might add. 1975 publication date, and someone clearly thought highly enough of it to have it wrapped in Mylar to protect it from the elements, so it's shiny and clean. I like it.
It's a collection of letters between Emma and Alexander as promised in the subtitle, but it also includes letters to and from other people as well. It's divided into different chapters/themes, and the letters within each chapter reflect the theme of that section. On one hand this is nice as far as keeping focus during the reading - if all of the letters in one section are about the politics of anarchism and violence (despite popular belief, violence was not a primary goal or vision of anarchy), then it's easier to follow the thread of logic throughout the letters. On the other hand, chronologically it can be difficult to follow as each section covers letters from the same period. So one can read a letter from Goldman to Berkman in November 1935 in the second chapter, "Communism and the Intellectuals", and then find oneself reading a letter from Berkman to Goldman in November 1935 three chapters later in "Living the Revolution". This disrupts the continuity and actually can be distracting.
Still, their messages are fascinating. Possibly the most interesting chapter is "Women and Men", a collection of letters regarding relationships. Berkman was in a relationship with a woman 30 years his junior who was from the middle class. This woman, Emmy, apparently had issues with Emma because of her former relationship with Berkman back in the day. The letters between Emma and Emmy are my personal favorites, and the ones where Emma calls Alexander out for his concern of his comrade's views of Emmy. She basically told him to grow a pair. Emma Goldman is known for her advocating birth control and free love and often is viewed as being a cold, heartless bitch of a lover. These letters show a somewhat softer side of Emma at times, one which includes her longstanding love, praise, and adoration of Berkman, and this is a side that is not usually discussed in biographies of them. Anarchists aren't supposed to be soft and cuddly I guess.
On a local note, there's I think only one mention of Berkman's attempt to assassinate Henry Clay Frick (whose mansion still stands not far from my house), and that was in passing in one of their letters in which it was possible that Frick was behind their deportation from America. If not him, then maybe that other loser, J. Edgar Hoover. I don't recall there being any discussion in the letters about the Homestead Strike which was disappointing to me since that's what I'm interested in learning more about at this point. Still, this is a great collection for anyone who wants to know more about either Goldman or Berkman in their own words about things they didn't necessarily deem worthy enough to discuss in their memoirs.
January 18, 2008
"Red Emma" Goldman is considered a founding mother of Syndicalism, a far Left Radical in every way. Her longtime romance and professional partnership with Alexander Berkman is chronicled in this selection of their correspodence.
Alexander "Sasha" Berkman was, like Emma, a Jewish American Radical. He is most famous for his assassination attempt on the American industrialist Frick. He and Emma were eventually deported.
Berkman and Goldman were friends with my family in the early part of the 1900s. Some of their mutual comrades and friends appear in this book: the Gershoys (Leo was an NYU professor and Communist), Harry Kelly, etc. These letters are what one would expect from Left Wing Anarchists of teh time -- idealist, intellectual, passionate, wildly anti-establishment, anti-religious, and anti-American, creative, earnest, self-righteous, and just a little bit crazy.
The editors' (highly sympathetic) Introduction does a nice job of helping someone living almost a century later to understand how Anarchism was considered a Left wing movement, distinct from but related to Marxism, rather than a Far Right one. But I'm still a little confused -- it was for de-centralization and the rest of teh far Left was (and is) for total centralization. In the end, what united Anarachism and Communism was a mutual antipathy to Western capitalism, religion, morality and social order. (Maybe analogous to the way the Far Left in contemporary Europe is working working with certain Islamic facists).
Anyway, Goldman and Berkman are fascinating charachters. Their earnestness and intellect are compelling.
Whatever your politics (I am not any more drawn to Syndicalism than before) this is very interesting reading. Despite Berkman having systematically destroyed many of his letters to protect the contents from the authorities, the Drinnons have collected quite a batch of correspondence gold.
As far as I know this book has not been reprinted since this 1975 edition. My used copy has held up very well. The name index is excellent, though I wish their was a topic and place index. Also, the book could use a timelines.
But overall, very entertaining and educating.
Alexander "Sasha" Berkman was, like Emma, a Jewish American Radical. He is most famous for his assassination attempt on the American industrialist Frick. He and Emma were eventually deported.
Berkman and Goldman were friends with my family in the early part of the 1900s. Some of their mutual comrades and friends appear in this book: the Gershoys (Leo was an NYU professor and Communist), Harry Kelly, etc. These letters are what one would expect from Left Wing Anarchists of teh time -- idealist, intellectual, passionate, wildly anti-establishment, anti-religious, and anti-American, creative, earnest, self-righteous, and just a little bit crazy.
The editors' (highly sympathetic) Introduction does a nice job of helping someone living almost a century later to understand how Anarchism was considered a Left wing movement, distinct from but related to Marxism, rather than a Far Right one. But I'm still a little confused -- it was for de-centralization and the rest of teh far Left was (and is) for total centralization. In the end, what united Anarachism and Communism was a mutual antipathy to Western capitalism, religion, morality and social order. (Maybe analogous to the way the Far Left in contemporary Europe is working working with certain Islamic facists).
Anyway, Goldman and Berkman are fascinating charachters. Their earnestness and intellect are compelling.
Whatever your politics (I am not any more drawn to Syndicalism than before) this is very interesting reading. Despite Berkman having systematically destroyed many of his letters to protect the contents from the authorities, the Drinnons have collected quite a batch of correspondence gold.
As far as I know this book has not been reprinted since this 1975 edition. My used copy has held up very well. The name index is excellent, though I wish their was a topic and place index. Also, the book could use a timelines.
But overall, very entertaining and educating.
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September 23, 2010Nowhere at Home: Letters from Exile of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman by Richard Drinnon (1977)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews