Emma Goldman
 

-  russ. - amerik. Anarchistin  -

 

geb. 1869 in Kovno (Russland)   -   gest. 1940 in New York
 

Emma Goldman came to the United States in 1886. Her early schooling consisted of a wretchedly oppressive religious education, which was mercifully shortlived. As a girl she witnessed the cruel beating of a peasant that was to leave its mark upon her. In her last few months of school, she came into contact with radical students, which also left an important influence. On arriving in the United States, she settled in Rochester, where exhausting factory work and an unhappy marriage ending in divorce made her decide to resettle in New York.

In New York she came into contact with anarchist circles and expanded her great oratorical talents on behalf of the movement. She was a great champion of women's rights and fought for birth-control methods with Margaret Sanger. She wrote a great number of articles, traveled widely on behalf of the anarchist movement, suffered deportation to Russia with Alexander Berkman, made her way back to the U.S. She spent a number of years in England, Canada, and Spain, agitating, sometimes enduring imprisonment and always giving her life and energies to her ideals. She was described as a highly dynamic and attractive personality with an impressive and untainted crusading zeal. Some of her books are: Anarchism and Other Essays, The Social Significance of the Modern Drama, My Disillusionment in Russia, Living My Life, and numerous pamphlets.