登陆注册
4245700000004

第4章

Unfamiliar with the language and life of the country, she dwelt more in the past than in the present. It was at this period that she met a young man who spoke Russian. With great joy the acquaintance was cultivated. At last a person with whom she could converse, one who could help her bridge the dullness of the narrow existence. The friendship gradually ripened and finally culminated in marriage.

Emma Goldman, too, had to walk the sorrowful road of married life;she, too, had to learn from bitter experience that legal statutes signify dependence and self-effacement, especially for the woman.

The marriage was no liberation from the Puritan dreariness of American life; indeed, it was rather aggravated by the loss of self-ownership. The characters of the young people differed too widely. A separation soon followed, and Emma Goldman went to New Haven, Conn. There she found employment in a factory, and her husband disappeared from her horizon. Two decades later she was fated to be unexpectedly reminded of him by the Federal authorities.

The revolutionists who were active in the Russian movement of the 80's were but little familiar with the social ideas then agitating Western Europe and America. Their sole activity consisted in educating the people, their final goal the destruction of the autocracy. Socialism and Anarchism were terms hardly known even by name. Emma Goldman, too, was entirely unfamiliar with the significance of those ideals.

She arrived in America, as four years previously in Russia, at a period of great social and political unrest. The working people were in revolt against the terrible labor conditions; the eight-hour movement of the Knights of Labor was at its height, and throughout the country echoed the din of sanguine strife between strikers and police. The struggle culminated in the great strike against the Harvester Company of Chicago, the massacre of the strikers, and the judicial murder of the labor leaders, which followed upon the historic Haymarket bomb explosion. The Anarchists stood the martyr test of blood baptism. The apologists of capitalism vainly seek to justify the killing of Parsons, Spies, Lingg, Fischer, and Engel.

Since the publication of Governor Altgeld's reason for his liberation of the three incarcerated Haymarket Anarchists, no doubt is left that a fivefold legal murder had been committed in Chicago, in 1887.

Very few have grasped the significance of the Chicago martyrdom;least of all the ruling classes. By the destruction of a number of labor leaders they thought to stem the tide of a world-inspiring idea. They failed to consider that from the blood of the martyrs grows the new seed, and that the frightful injustice will win new converts to the Cause.

The two most prominent representatives of the Anarchist idea in America, Voltairine de Cleyre and Emma Goldman--the one a native American, the other a Russian--have been converted, like numerous others, to the ideas of Anarchism by the judicial murder. Two women who had not known each other before, and who had received a widely different education, were through that murder united in one idea.

Like most working men and women of America, Emma Goldman followed the Chicago trial with great anxiety and excitement. She, too, could not believe that the leaders of the proletariat would be killed. the 11th of November, 1887, taught her differently. She realized that no mercy could be expected from the ruling class, that between the Tsarism of Russia and the plutocracy of America there was no difference save in name. Her whole being rebelled against the crime, and she vowed to herself a solemn vow to join the ranks of the revolutionary proletariat and to devote all her energy and strength to their emancipation from wage slavery. With the glowing enthusiasm so characteristic of her nature, she now began to familiarize herself with the literature of Socialism and Anarchism. She attended public meetings and became acquainted with socialistically and anarchistically inclined workingmen. Johanna Greie, the well-known German lecturer, was the first Socialist speaker heard by Emma Goldman. In New Haven, Conn., where she was employed in a corset factory, she met Anarchists actively participating in the movement.

Here she read the FREIHEIT, edited by John Most. The Haymarket tragedy developed her inherent Anarchist tendencies: the reading of the FREIHEIT made her a conscious Anarchist. Subsequently she was to learn that the idea of Anarchism found its highest expression through the best intellects of America: theoretically by Josiah Warren, Stephen Pearl Andrews, Lysander Spooner; philosophically by Emerson, Thoreau, and Walt Whitman.

Made ill by the excessive strain of factory work, Emma Goldman returned to Rochester where she remained till August, 1889, at which time she removed to New York, the scene of the most important phase of her life. She was now twenty years old. Features pallid with suffering, eyes large and full of compassion, greet one in her pictured likeness of those days. Her hair is, as customary with Russian student girls, worn short, giving free play to the strong forehead.

It is the heroic epoch of militant Anarchism. By leaps and bounds the movement had grown in every country. In spite of the most severe governmental persecution new converts swell the ranks. The propaganda is almost exclusively of a secret character. The repressive measures of the government drive the disciples of the new philosophy to conspirative methods. Thousands of victims fall into the hands of the authorities and languish in prisons. But nothing can stem the rising tide of enthusiasm, of self-sacrifice and devotion to the Cause. The efforts of teachers like Peter Kropotkin, Louise Michel, Elisee Reclus, and others, inspire the devotees with ever greater energy.

同类推荐
  • 清波杂志

    清波杂志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说宝带陀罗尼经

    佛说宝带陀罗尼经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 菌谱

    菌谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 沙弥学戒仪轨颂注

    沙弥学戒仪轨颂注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 秘密要术法

    秘密要术法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 邪魅总裁的夫人(全本)

    邪魅总裁的夫人(全本)

    坏蛋,混蛋,王八蛋。。。明明都已经分手了,为什么还来找她?明明是偶然遇到为什么说是她精心策划?这个自以为是的家伙真的是欠扁。。居然跑到她家去洗澡,最可气的是还把她关在了门外。。。摆脱,你要是看我不顺眼就揍我一顿吧,不要这样阴魂不散好不好?这个蠢女人还说什么是偶遇,明明就是故意的策划。。才和自己分手几天啊,就勾搭上了别的男人。。**********************************
  • 杀手神医腹黑三小姐

    杀手神医腹黑三小姐

    凤凌萱怎么也没想到当下最流行的魂穿异世界竟然发生在她的身上。没有渣爹毒母,又没有白莲花姐妹,更没有废材丑女这一梗,直接开始单刷这世界啊。带着重重疑惑开始了逆袭之路,一手银针一块面具,看她如何在双重身份下玩转众人,当疑惑慢慢揭开,原来这早是命中注定的事。
  • 一顾倾城:绝世女相

    一顾倾城:绝世女相

    是刻骨断肠的爱恋,还是沧桑千载的遗憾,深藏在毒钗之间凝练千年揉碎的痴情,终成旷世奇葩。这个从庶女到皇妃再到一朝之相的女子,本以为宫里无爱,只有权力的斗争;早已放下了一切走进宫中,只想过完平平淡淡的一生,然而获得了遥不可及的爱。国家与自己,权力与感情,她该何去何从?
  • 暴君的不死小灵妃

    暴君的不死小灵妃

    “全大陆一绝的炉鼎,一千五百万一次,一千五百万两次……”“两千万两。”男人漆黑的眼眸对上铁笼中那清澈的双眼——她,身份不明,记忆空白,有最傻白甜的性格和最狠辣的手段。“什么都不记得,也会杀人吗?”“杀人?不是生活的日常吗?”傻白甜女孩和高冷主子的爆笑日常,准备好了吗?“别废话!小心我拿斧头砍你!”冷汗——
  • 借借满天星的爱

    借借满天星的爱

    15岁,她认识了他。他说:“你手中的花叫满天星。”16岁,他离开了她;他说:“墨墨,我会把每年开的最美的樱花拍给你看。”而那年,她又结识了他。他看着她喜欢的满天星,低低呢喃:“这花也配你,清淡可爱”。18岁,他咆哮着对她说:“不要叫我哥哥,我不是你哥哥!”22岁,她重逢到他;他说:“这是我的未婚妻。”但那个女孩不是她。终于有一天,他说:“周子末,原来,我真的可以不当你哥哥。”生命中,谁是谁的主角,谁又是谁的配角。她觉得自己是一株满天星,在他和他玫瑰的生命中永远只能作为配角绽放。但她只想开出自己的灿烂,不管不顾,哪怕只是作为配角的满天星,也要做最真,最美,最纯,最瑰丽的那一朵。又有谁能说,满天星的爱,只能是配角之爱呢。~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~群号:100677308开新坑啦,讲述机器人的故事《编号NEO7,说你爱我》http://m.wkkk.net/a/292127/喜欢的话多支持哦~~~~~~
  • 人性的弱点(全集)

    人性的弱点(全集)

    《人性的弱点全集》是一本实用的人际关系著作,从人性本质的角度,挖掘出潜藏在人们体内的弱点,使人们能够充分认识自己,并不断改造自己,从而能有所长进,直至取得最后的成功。
  • 上官妖儿

    上官妖儿

    她是杀人机器,有着两世记忆的她生性无情在一次任务执行中她突然想看看再死一次还有没有以前的记忆她是孤儿身无可恋就这样意外的穿越了到了一个不知名的时代灵魂负在了一个王妃身上她是个庸懒的人,可是要是有人惹到她那人就惨了她武功诡异难测,医术.毒术出神入化看她如何在古代掀起风波
  • 每天读点博弈学

    每天读点博弈学

    《每天读点博弈论》用通俗易懂的文字介绍了博弈论的基本原理,同时运用大量案例讲解了博弈论在职场、生活、投资理财、爱情与婚姻、军事和商业领域的应用,展示了一个妙趣横生的博弈世界。每个读者都能通过《每天读点博弈论》轻松学习博弈论,进而成为生活中的博弈高手。
  • TF之最美的年纪遇见最美的你

    TF之最美的年纪遇见最美的你

    六位明星之间的爱情,喜欢男主角的坏女主,会做出怎样的手段呢?
  • Obsolete

    Obsolete

    Thanks to advancing technology and shifting mores, the amount of change we experience in our lifetimes is truly exceptional. Objects and practices that are commonplace can very quickly become outmoded. In this witty and informative collection of short essays, journalist and social commentator Anna Jane Grossman takes a thoughtful look at what everyday apparatuses, ideas, and behaviors are quickly disappearingor else have already left the wkkk.nete contains essays and entries on more than 100 alphabetized fading subjects, including Blind Dates, Mix Tapes, Getting Lost, Porn Magazines, Looking Old, Operators, Camera Film, Hitchhiking, Body Hair, Writing Letters, Basketball Players in Short Shorts, Privacy, Cash, and, yes, Books. This ode to obsolescence also includes 25 quirky pen-and-ink line illustrations to further help us remember exactly what we’re missing.