Frank Jacob Emma Goldman and the Russian Revolution Frank Jacob Emma Goldman and the Russian Revolution From Admiration to Frustration This book has been published in Open Access Format thanks to financial support from Nord Universitet, Norway ISBN 978-3-11-067928-1 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-067940-3 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-067949-6 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. International For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020916180 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available from the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2020 Frank Jacob, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover Illustration: Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman around 1917–1919, Wikimedia Commons Print and Binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com For Emma, whose ideas will be important as long as there is no equality and no freedom for all. Contents  Introduction 1  Emma Goldman’s Identity: Anarchist, Anarcha-Feminist, Publicist, and Revolutionary 17 The Anarchist 22 The Anarcha-Feminist 31 The Publicist 45 The Revolutionary 51  Early Perceptions of the Russian Revolution 57 Anarchism and the Russian Revolution 60 The International Anarchists and the Russian Revolution 66 Goldman and Early Perceptions of the Russian Revolution 74  Trial and Deportation 85  Arrival and Life in Russia 119  Against Bolshevism 143  No Support for Anti-Bolshevist Emma 177  Conclusion 211  Works Cited 217 Unpublished Sources 217 Newspapersand Other Periodicals 217 Published Primary and Secondary Works 218 Index of Persons 233 Index of Places 235 1 Introduction Revolutionisthenegationoftheexisting,aviolentprotestagainstman’sinhumanityto manwithallthethousandandoneslaveriesitinvolves.Itisthedestroyerofdominantval- uesuponwhichacomplexsystemofinjustice,oppression,andwronghasbeenbuiltupby ignoranceandbrutality.ItistheheraldofNEWVALUES,usheringinatransformationof thebasicrelationsofmantoman,andofmantosociety.Itisnotamerereformer,patching upsomesocialevils;notamerechangerofformsandinstitutions;notonlyare-distributor ofsocialwell-being.Itisallthat,yetmore,muchmore.Itis,firstandforemost,theTRANS- VALUATOR,thebearerofnewvalues.ItisthegreatTEACHERoftheNEWETHICS,inspiring manwithanewconceptoflifeanditsmanifestationsinsocialrelationships.Itisthemen- talandspiritualregenerator.¹ Emma Goldman(1869–1940) was atrue believer in the powerof revolutionsto createanew worldaswellasanewsocietyandthereby,regardlessofbeingan anarchist, in awayfollowedthe basicconsideration of Friedrich Engels (1820– 1895)that“therightfor revolutionis[…]the only true‘historical right’”² forev- eryone. Although she might have disagreed that a revolution, according to En- gels,was the base for this right and at the same time needed a modern state forittobeexpressed.Formanyofherearlybiographers,Goldmanwasa“chal- lengingrebel,”³evena“rebelinparadise,”⁴becauseshecontestedastate,name- ly the United States, that for many resembled the values of liberty much more than Goldman’s country of origin, i.e. Czarist Russia. However, the famous fe- male anarchist’s life, to quote American Women’s Studies scholar Loretta Ken- singer, “spanned many important moments of social upheaval in the United States”andasan“anarchist,aradical,aJewishimmigrantescapingtheincreas- ingrepressionofCzaristRussia,sherosetobeoneofthemostinfamousfigures of her times.”⁵ Due toher steady political activism,orradicalism dependingon  EmmaGoldman,MyFurtherDisillusionmentinRussia(GardenCity,NY:Doubleday,Pageand Co.,1924),https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-my-further-disillusionment-in- russia.  Friedrich Engels, “Einleitung zu Karl Marx, Klassenkämpfe in Frankreich 1848 bis 1850 (1895),” inMarx-Engels-Werke,vol.22(Berlin:Dietz,1956‐),524,citedinManfredKossok,“Im GehäusederselbstverschuldetenUnmündigkeitoderUmgangmitderGeschichte,”inManfred Kossok, Sozialismus an der Peripherie: Späte Schriften, ed. Jörn Schütrumpf (Berlin: Dietz, 2016),80.AlltranslationsfromGerman,ifnotstatedotherwise,aremyown.  JosephIshill,EmmaGoldman:AChallengingRebel(BerkeleyHeights,NJ:OriolePress,1957).  Richard Drinnon, Rebelin Paradise:ABiography ofEmmaGoldman(Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress,1982[1961]).  LorettaKensinger,“RadicalLessons:ThoughtsonEmmaGoldman,Chaos,Grief,andPolitical ViolencePost-9/11/01,”FeministTeacher20,no.1(2009):52. OpenAccess.©2020FrankJacob,publishedbyDeGruyter. Thisworkislicensedunderthe CreativeCommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives4.0License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110679403-001 2 1 Introduction one’sperspective,Goldman,almost60yearsafterAllenGuttmann’sevaluation, still ranks among “the most famous of American radicals.”⁶ In contrast to the radical image often attached to Goldman by her political enemies, British jour- nalist Henry W. Nevinson (1856–1941) introduced her at “Foyle’s twenty-ninth literary luncheon” in London on 1 March 1933 as a“real champion of freedom” and“awomanwhohasdevotedallherlife,amidstterriblesuffering,indignities andlosstothecauseoffreedomandfreedomalone.”⁷TheimageofEmmaGold- man was ambivalent,to say the least, during her life, and it has remained am- bivalent until today. Veryoften,shewasreferredtoasa“QueenoftheAnarchists”⁸orthe“most dangerous anarchist in America,”⁹ while some characterized her as a“cultural radical”¹⁰ or simply “a born refusenik.”¹¹ Hailed by feminist historians like Alice Wexler and Clare Hemmings as “one of the most respected members of an international radical movement”¹² as well as “the larger-than-life anarchist activistandpoliticalthinker”¹³withinthehistoryofAmericanradicalismingen- eral,andAmericananarchisminparticular,hercontemporariesliketheGerman anarchistRudolfRocker(1873–1958)¹⁴alsoclaimedhertobe“withoutanydoubt oneofthemostoutstandingandcuriouspersonalities”¹⁵ofhertime.Eventually,  AllenGuttmann,“JewishRadicals,JewishWriters,”TheAmericanScholar32,no.4(1963):563.  EmmaGoldman,“AnAnarchistLooksatLife,”textofaspeechbyEmmaGoldman,heldat Foyle’stwenty-ninthliteraryluncheon(London,UK),March1,1933,EmmaGoldmanPapers,In- ternationalInstituteforSocialHistory,Amsterdam(henceforthEGP-IISH),No.191,3.  ShariRabin,“‘TheAdventofaWesternJewess’:RachelFrankandJewishFemaleCelebrityin 1890s America,” in“Gender and Jewish Identity,” special issue, Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women’sStudies&GenderIssues22(2011):121;AndreaRichandArthurL.Smith,RhetoricofRev- olution(Durham,NC:Moore,1979),60.  KathyE.Ferguson,EmmaGoldman:PoliticalThinkingintheStreets(Lanham,MD:Rowman& Littlefield,2011),21.  RobertWolfe,RemembertoDream:AHistoryofJewishRadicalism(NewYork:JewishRadical EducationProject,1994),11.  VivianGornick,EmmaGoldman:RevolutionasaWayofLife(NewHaven,CT:YaleUniversity Press,2011),3.  AliceWexler,EmmaGoldman:AnIntimateLife(NewYork:PantheonBooks,1984),xv.  ClareHemmings,ConsideringEmmaGoldman:FeministPoliticalAmbivaleceandtheImagi- nativeArchive(Durham,NC/London:DukeUniversityPress,2018),1.  OnRocker’slifeandwork,seeWilliamJ.Fishman,EastEndJewishRadicals1875–1914(Lon- don:FiveLeaves,2004[1975]),229–310;MinaGraur,AnAnarchist“Rabbi”:TheLifeandTeach- ingsofRudolfRocker(NewYork:St.Martin’sPress,1997);PeterWienand,Der“geborene”Rebell: RudolfRockerLebenundWerk(Berlin:KKV,1981).  RudolfRocker,“ZumGeleit,”inEmmaGoldman,DieUrsachendesNiedergangesderrussi- schenRevolution(Berlin:DerSyndikalist,1922),3.