Living my Life
Living My Life is the autobiography of Lithuanian-born anarchist Emma Goldman, who became internationally renowned as an activist based in the United States. It was published in two volumes in 1931 (Alfred A. Knopf) and 1934 (Garden City Publishing Company). Goldman wrote it while living in Saint-Tropez, France, following her disillusionment with the Bolshevik role in the Russian Revolution. The text thoroughly covers her personal and political life from early childhood through to 1927. The book has constantly remained in print since, in original and abridged editions. Since the autobiography was published nine years before Goldman died in 1940, it does not record her role in the Spanish Civil War. )
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What Hacker News says
- 1. Oh weird an article about anarchism on that website.
2. reads article
3. This isn't even an article. It's a terrible dustcover bio.
4. Oh right I didn't actually expect anything, why am I disappointed?
But seriously, at least mention Haymarket by name. Goldman was an exceptional person, but if you want to talk about the context of anarchism, at least give readers some way to find the threads of what it meant to be involved in the labor movement at the time.
If anyone is interested, but won't bother to read Goldman's autobiography Living My Life, it's worth at least reading Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, which does a great job laying out the context of the early 20th century anarchist movement.
- I'm happy to hear you've had the same reaction to it I've always had. The words flow with some supernatural precision. I always return to it, for the beautiful writing, for reminders of her lifelong commitment to an ideal. If you want to read more from her, check out her autobiography: "Living My Life" http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-living-m...
- At the dances I was one of the most untiring and gayest. One evening a cousin of Sasha [Alexander Berkman], a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he were about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway. It was undignified for one who was on the way to become a force in the anarchist movement. My frivolity would only hurt the Cause.
I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business, I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement should not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things."
-- Emma Goldman, Living My Life (1931) http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/goldman/Features/danceswithfemin...
