Running head: EMMA GOLDMAN 1

Emma Goldman:

International Woman of Mystery

Isabel Esperanza Acosta

University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

Emma Goldman was an anarchist who advocated for sexual freedom, birth control, political

reforms and philosophy by traveling throughout the world lecturing to a wide range of audiences.

She was also a well known writer and political activist and is credited to have contributed

immensely towards the development of anarchist political philosophy in America and Europe.

She is not taught in schools and especially not to children. Emma can be seen through the bad

side of anarchy or how is it not something that is frown upon. She is most renowned as a great

speaker and activist who fearlessly worked for the causes she believed in. Emma Goldman was
EMMA GOLDMAN 2

an important woman in history that school children should be taught about and looked up to, as a

woman who stood up for what she felt needed to have changes. Children would most likely

remember her by her nickname as opposed to her formal one, Red Emma.

Emma Goldman: International Woman of Mystery

Emma Goldman was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Russia. Her mother, Taube

Bienowitch, and her father, Abraham Goldman had a very troubled relationship which therefore

greatly bothered Emma as a young girl. She had two half-sisters and three brothers. She had a

difficult childhood, as her father was very violent and used to beat up the children while her

mother remained distant and aloof. She had a loving relationship only with her elder half-sister,

Helena. She was a bold and rebellious teen who tried her best to fight against violent authorities

including her father and unscrupulous teachers.

Why was Emma Goldman so passionate about her beliefs?

Emma Goldman had a very difficult childhood. Aside from that, she began to see the value

of rights and how the government was not tending to those and decided to do something about it.

Along with her other influences, she developed the anarchy against the government and

advocated for sexual freedom, birth control, political reforms and philosophy. With this, people

began to see that you didn't have to follow the rules all the time with the fear that something

would happen to you if you didn't. She was arrested numerous times but that didn't stop her from

continuing to advocate for her causes. Many people have no idea who she is or what she did in

the past. For example, with Helen Keller, she was also against the government but that

information is not taught in schools. Society attempts to hide the majority of history in order to

show sides that only the government wants you to know about. If more people new that anarchy

happened in the past, most would fear it may happen again. On the other hand, it should be

taught in schools because it shows you do not always have to do what you are told. Humans are

not robots. Humans have their own way of thinking outside of the box even though we are

molding into all thinking the same way. Emma was extremely passionate about her beliefs and

didn't back down with the hardships she was faced and that is something to admire.

Who helped Emma Goldman throughout her life and achievements?

Emma Goldman was influenced by Peter Kroptlkin, Mikhail Bakunin, Karl Max, and many more

people who she began to be further involved with the idea of anarchy. She also had a life long

relationship with anarchist Alexander Berkman with whom she often participated in anarchist

and political activities. She moved to New York in 1889 where she met anarchist Alexander

Berkman who introduced her to Johann Most, the editor of Die Freiheit. Impressed after

listening to Mosts lecture on anarchism, she became his protg. She formed a relationship with
EMMA GOLDMAN 4

Alexander Berkman and the two planned to assassinate Henry Clay Frick, the manager of the

Carnegie Steel Company in the wake of the Homestead Strike in 1892. Their assassination

attempt however failed and Berkman was imprisoned. She and Berkman spent some time in

Russia in exile during 1920-21 before moving to Berlin. She published two books about her

experiences in Russia: My Disillusionment in Russia (1923) and My Further Disillusionment

in Russia (1924). She founded the magazine Mother Earth in 1906. The magazine contained

articles on anarchist topics like womens empowerment, birth control, labor rights, governmental

control, etc. She joined hands with Margaret Sanger, an advocate of contraception, and published

information about the various methods of contraception in the June 1914 issue of the journal

The Woman Rebel. All these people had major influences in her life. Without any of them, she

would not have had the path of life that she did. Although we still have some of the issues that

she advocated for today, the work she put into making a change has made a difference in today's

society and how womens rights have progressed throughout the years up into present day.

How was she punished? Why?

The 1917 sedition trial of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman ended with a two-

year prison term for each and followed by deportation. This ranks among the more egregious

events in the history of political repression of the United States masquerading as protection of

the democracy. A group of young anarchists in New York were arrested for printing a protest

against American intervention in the Russian Revolution; they drew sentences of as high as

fifteen years each. One of the reasons Emma was arrested was how she kept alive the action of

free speech during the time liberals and progressives had been shocked and outraged but

remained silent towards another protest of an exclusionary act. A piece of her speech addressed
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to the jury on July 9, 1917 on the matter of an anti-conscription trial is stated as such,

Gentlemen of the jury, whatever your verdict will be, as far as we are concerned, nothing will

be changed. I have held ideas all my life. I have publicly held my ideas for twenty-seven years.

Nothing on earth would ever make me change my ideas except one thing; and that is, if you will

prove to me that our position is wrong, untenable, or lacking in historic fact. But never would I

change my ideas because I am found guilty. I may remind you of two great Americans,

undoubtedly not unknown to you, gentlemen of the jury; Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry

David Thoreau. When Thoreau was placed in prison for refusing to pay taxes, he was visited by

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emerson said: "David, what are you doing in jail?" and Thoreau

replied: "Ralph, what are you doing outside, when honest people are in jail for their ideals?"

Gentlemen of the jury, I do not wish to influence you. I do not wish to appeal to your passions. I

do not wish to influence you by the fact that I am a woman. I have no such desires and no such

designs. I take it that you are sincere enough and honest enough and brave enough to render a

verdict according to your convictions, beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt.

Conclusions/Synthesis

Emma can be seen through the bad side of anarchy or how is it not something that is

frown upon. She is most renowned as a great speaker and activist who fearlessly worked for the

causes she believed in. Emma Goldman was an important woman in history that school children

should be taught about and looked up to, as a woman who stood up for what she felt needed to

have changes. What made Emma Goldman memorable was the extraordinary force of life in her

that burned, without rest or respite, on behalf of human integrity. Through her performance,

anarchism made people love life more. Anarchism is the political philosophy that comes closest

to addressing the anguish of the stifled spirit, and in Emma Goldman it found a way to come to
EMMA GOLDMAN 6

life. Social injustice may or may not be the cause of her exorbitant sense of insult but it was

intimate. She loved the United States more than any other country she had previously lived in.

She never stopped being amazed by Americans appetite for protest as she saw one part of the

body politic or another rise up to claim what the democracy had promised but failed to deliver.

Despite Americas capitalist brutality, this was the place where rebel seemed most

unconquerable. Emma was welcomed as a friend of the revolution everywhere she went, and

once again found herself exhorting large crowds. She still resented the fact that after all the work

she had done for the movement she was saddled with the anxiety of having to make a living and

could not rely on the comrades to provide for her. She still had hoped that everything would

work out in the way that it should. Unfortunately, she later on suffered a massive stroke that left

her speechless and paralyzed on one side. Her legacy went on beyond her years. She was not a

thinker, she was an incarnation. It was not theory or analysis that made her memorable; it was the

life that she had burned on behalf of human integrity. That insight eased the heart, cleared the air,

clarified the spirit. If she were alive in the 1960s, she would have been as excited by the rise of

the new left and liberationist movements as they were by her. All of her achievements can be

reflected in todays society. Had she had been alive during the 2016 election and the start of the

presidency in 2017, she would be one of the main woman in the marches and most likely a

speaker as well. She would also love to see the amount of people advocating for the issues they

feel should be changed. Emma Goldman reflects how anarchy is something to be taught, learned,

and reflected by those who choose to pursue the matter further. The people should be allowed to

decide for themselves if anarchy is a good or bad thing, not simply neglected of the information

of an anarchism activist who advocated for change.

Above is one of the few photographs taken of Emma Goldman during her anarchism.
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Above is a photograph of the magazine Emma Goldman founded. Mother Earth Magazine

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