Ivanov Kirill

Emily Thomas

Civil Rights

11.18.16

Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman was a very influential historical figure, a fighter for

freedom and a huge believer in what purity of humanity really means. She

dedicated her entire life to what she believed the most and had a strong

passion to spread her beliefs and deliver it to peoples minds for them to

maybe reconsider their own. This woman was strong believer in anarchism

and equality of all humans, her influential persona had a large affect on

womens rights history. Goldman was different, her ideas and things so

strongly believed into werent what mainstream people of America were used

to, it was revolutionary and not everyone was ready for that change. Though

her will was strong enough to continue to fight and bring harmony into this

world filled with chaos. Emma became a largely recognizable and influential

figure in an anarchist movement that fought for rights of women and poor

working class, as well as freedom of expression and freedom of reproduction.

Emma Goldman was born in 1869, on June 27th in a small town of

Kovno, on the lands of the Russian Empire, and which is now a part of

Lithuania. She was born into a lower class family of Russian/Jewish

shopkeepers. Most of her childhood she spent in the city of Saint Petersburg,

which was the capital of the Russian Empire back in those days. The world
that grew around her was influenced by fear that the government authorities

and police infused into people, which would make every single person think

twice before saying something anywhere in front of anyone. Her family would

have to move a lot in search of new opportunities and sustain their

possibility to survive in that brutal world. She would eventually move to

America with her older half-sister, Helena, with great hopes to start a new life

away and forget all of those nightmares. In 1885 she sailed over seas.

Unfortunately for Emma, her romantic expectations were quite soon

absolutely ruined by the sad reality of a life of working class people in

America. The new world appeared to be even harsher then the one she so

desperately ran away from. The growing inequality and horrible working

conditions were the only two things that she was surrounded by in America.

It became a nightmare after nightmare, and she knew she had to do

something about it. She knew, she had to change the world, if it wasnt going

to change around her, and so she didnt lower her hands. She believed in

justice, and so justice had to prevail, but the path that she was about to take

would be far from easy.

In 1886 a protest took place on the streets of Chicago that has really

inspired her to take action. What was intended to be a peaceful

demonstration, turned into a bloody massacre. Authorities werent happy at

all even with a peaceful movement on the streets and to avoid the spread of

the movement police were called to stop the demonstration, but an explosive

thrown at the police from someone from in the protesting group turned the
streets of the city into a chaotic scene from a war movie. People from both

sides were injured and killed. After this madness settled the mess was still

there for someone to clean up, and the worst part was, there had to be

someone to blame for all that mess. Things only got worse. In this

atmosphere of hysteria, the anarchist leaders were accused for all that mess,

even with the clear lack of evidence.

Not to long after, Emmas political views also brought changes into her

personal life. She wasnt happy with her marriage, and at one point just left

everything and moved to New York, where she very soon became a part of

the local anarchist movement.

Emmas first opportunity to shine and really get her thoughts out there

to make an impact, came to her when Johann Most, the great anarchist

orator, noticed Goldman's potential and a strong will to make a difference.

He arranged a speaking tour for her, the first one in her life. Even though she

was unhappy with her previous marriage it didnt stop her form moving on.

So, in that environment she happened to find someone who would

share everything she did and would love her for who she was. His name was

Alexander Berkman, a man who immigrated from Russia, just like she did,

and wanted to change that filthy world that surrounded them as bad as she

did. They both were ready to move forward and dedicate their lives to

anarchism. Their strong connection grew and a bond was created: she fell in

love, and this time for real. A large amount of causes through out Emmas

life which she worked so hard towards, were all reflections of her extremely
passionate dedication to the principles of anarchism. In late 1889, her and

her first great love even made a pact "to dedicate [themselves] to the Cause

in some supreme deed, to die together if necessary, or to continue to live

and work for the ideal for which one of [them] might have to give his life."

(from Emma Goldman, Living My Life (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931), 62).

This new environment sparked her political activism, and she was fully

submerged by it. As soon as there appeared a bit of light on the horizon, just

when Goldman was picking up momentum, something bad happened, again.

Her tough life, full of struggles and lack of justice continued. Alexander was

arrested for an attempted murder on the owner of the Carnegie Steel

Company after he provoked a deadly conflict with the workers of the factory

where he and Emma worked.

Things would sadly only continue going downhill for her. A famous

assassination of President William McKinley happened in 1901, and

everything turned against Emma. Anyone would think, how would a

presidential assassination relate to an immigrant from Russia, but this is

where her path of bad luck continued. Leon Czolgosz, the man who killed

William McKinley apparently happened to make an appearance at one of

Emmas speeches in Cleveland, so Goldman and her other fellow members of

the movement were arrested. Though, after a bit of time the authorities had

no right to keep her any longer due to the lack of evidence of accusations,

so, they had no choice but to eventually release her.

 As an orator that would speak on behalf of the anarchist movement

Emma continued to get continuous threats from the Pigs and even regular

civilians would try and do anything to stop her from talking. Nothing could

stop her though. She still continued to fight for her right to speak and

champion the freedom of expression, though unfortunately when you want

something really bad, there is always a price to pay. Her case wasnt an

exception. She got arrested in 1893 for stimulating unemployed and

homeless people to demonstrate in order to be heard and get relief instead

of relying on electoral process. After her arrest Goldman relied upon the first

amendment, that preaches the freedom of speech, but unfortunately to her

grief, she lost. Sadly, freedom of expression in 19th century was only a dream

that many of American people wished was a reality. Even the government

tried eventually to suppress Emmas beliefs and the spread of her ideas, but

it only led to a lot of people who previously were against her, turn against

the authorities and support her right, and the right of all Americans, to speak

freely. She continued to champion this concept and even started giving

lectures and speeches in the new organization called Free Speech League,

that she worked for in 1903. Not only she became a pretty influential speaker

and a fighter for freedom of speech, she also was a birth control pioneer for

birth control movement. Her actions led to the creation of a strong link

between free speech and reproductive rights.

Emma Goldman started to strongly believe that the birth control was

very significant for womens independence, sexual and economic. This belief
took a pretty significant part in her head after she started working as a nurse

for immigrants and poor people in 1890s on the Lower East Side. That belief

was strong enough to even provoke her on some brave, but by those times,

illegal actions. For example, after attending a Neo-Malthusian congress in

France, Paris, in 1900 she would bring contraceptive devices back into the

United States. In 1915, she continued working with Margaret Sanger in a

large movement for birth control, reading lectures and giving speeches

facilitating the right of women to be able to decide on their own to deliver

the child or not, without governmental interference or regulations, and it

would bring prospective results. In one of the letters that Goldman wrote to

Margaret she stated Not one of my lectures brings out such crowds as the

one on the birth strike. (Emma Goldman: A Guide to Her Life and

Documentary Sources (Chadwyck-Healey Inc., 1995), and that was also true.

Out of all of her written and published pieces presented at her speeches and

lectures The Women Rebel in Sangers magazine would become a bestseller.

With all of those brave things, and unfortunately illegal ones that she

did, would get her arrested a couple times, but all of those sacrifices would

end up being worth it. One of her trials that took place in 1916, turned into a

national forum on birth control, and attracted as well as gained huge support

from a lot of popular artists, writers as well as influential intellectuals of that

period.

Her motivation to defend the reproductive rights was directly related to

anarchism, which she passionately and strongly supported her entire life.
Emma envisioned and defined anarchism for herself as "the philosophy of a

new social order based on liberty unrestricted by man-made law; the theory

that all forms of government rest on violence, and are therefore wrong and

harmful, as well as unnecessary." (from Emma Goldman, "Anarchism: What it

Really Stands For," in Anarchism and Other Essays (New York: Mother Earth

Publishing Association, 1910), 56).

During her career Emma continued to fight for womens sexual, social

and economic freedom. "I demand the independence of woman, her right to

support herself; to live for herself; to love whomever she pleases, or as many

as she pleases." (from Emma Goldman, "Marriage," Firebrand (Portland, OR),

July 18, 1897). Goldman stated in one of her writings in 1897. Her

unbelievable passion and determination to change the society and give

reproductive and sexual freedom over their bodies would get her frequently

arrested. She also was against the modern program that fought to open

professional opportunities and jobs for women, because she believed that it

was just creating a well done illusion of improvement to an already wrong

and corrupt system.

Emma Goldman was strongly convinced that the governments

prohibition of abortion was destroying womens freedom of choice, so, that

made her a very noticeable figure in a fight for access to birth control. She

admired everything that the idea of anarchism stood for, the idea of

freedom, equality of all humans and etc. She sacrificed a lot in her life: from

moving far away from her home with hopes that the new world would be
better, and losing people that meant a lot to her, to moving from place to

place due to constant threats from people because of what she believed and

spoke out for and dealing with multiple arrests for her radical actions. Even

after her death in 1940, a large footprint of her great works wasnt left

unnoticed. Her never ending fight for workers, womens rights as well as

sexual freedom largely contributed to a change of a modern American

society. Her efforts also contributed to improvement of free speech and

legislation of birth control in the country. Emma Goldmans determination

and passion for a change to better our society still inspires people and

activists of different groups from all over the world. Even people who didnt

agree with her ideas and beliefs could find a lot to admire from her

determination, passion, motivation and unwillingness to follow everyones

mainstream, because without those incredibly unique character traits, non of

her achievements would ever been achieved.

Works Cited:

Quotation beginning "made a pact" from Emma Goldman, Living My Life (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1931), 62.

Quotation beginning "the philosophy of a new social order" from Emma Goldman,
"Anarchism: What it Really Stands For," in Anarchism and Other Essays (New York:
Mother Earth Publishing Association, 1910), 56.

Quotation beginning "I demand the independence of woman" from Emma Goldman,
"Marriage," Firebrand (Portland, OR), July 18, 1897.

PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2016

"Today in History - February 11." The Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 27
Nov. 2016.

"Introduction." Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2016

"Sharing Stories Inspiring Change." Emma Goldman | Jewish Women's

Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.