Goldman, Emma (1869–1940)

AbstractArriving in the United States from Russia in 1885, during the first great wave of Jewish immigration from eastern Europe, Emma Goldman soon became the best known anarchist in the United States. With her comrade Alexander Berkman, she worked for over 50 years toward the anarchist goal of a decentralized, self‐governing society voluntarily organized by free and creative individuals. Goldman spoke, wrote, and organized on behalf of labor, free speech, free love, free schools, birth control, radical drama, political prisoners, prostitutes, the general strike, antimilitarism, and revolutions in Russia, Spain, and Mexico. Her monthly journalMother Earthenjoyed substantial circulation from 1906 to its closure by the US government in 1918, reaching as many as 10,000 readers annually. She published four books:Anarchism and Other Essays(1910) compiled some of her best known speeches and articles;The Social Significance of the Modern Drama(1914) collected her summaries and interpretations of progressive European plays for American audiences;My Disillusionment in Russia(1923) voiced her early and unforgiving criticism of the Bolsheviks for strangling the nascent Russian Revolution; and her autobiography,Living My Life(1934), crafted her life as an exemplary rebel for a global audience. She also wrote many thousands of letters, creating the needed energy for sustained political struggle in the face of uneven achievements, persistent state persecution, and the loneliness of exile.