I read Emma Goldman’s Anarchism and Other Essays a few years ago and have been meaning to revisit it and provide some review and analysis that might help someone else who is looking into reading it. Emma Goldman was once referred to as “the most dangerous woman in America” after the many times she had been arrested by local police forces who were afraid she would incite anyone who heard her talks into a riotous frenzy. She conducted numerous speaking tours across America with the intent of hitting any possible destination and often would speak to crowds in the middle of the street where hundreds would listen completely enthralled by the words of this amazing woman.
Possibly the most captivating aspect of Goldman’s work is her absolute understanding of the psyche of the oppressed. She understands the pathology of poverty, systematic violence, and alienation while being acutely aware that expressing even the most fleeting remark in support of those driven to commit ‘political violence’ could change the law’s view of her from that of an energized speaker to a lawless provocateur. Her absolute expertise in toeing the line of legally ‘acceptable’ speech stands less as a testament to the openness of the law at the time, but at her magnetic ability to stir up a crowd that would destroy any lawman who came after her in the public streets.
When asked to defend political violence, Goldman explains: “homicidal outrages have, from time immemorial, been the reply of goaded and desperate classes, and goaded and desperate individuals, to wrongs from their fellowmen, which they felt to be intolerable,” concluding that these acts are the “violent recoil from violence.” It is through this lens that we have to understand political violence, as the last act of defense by a victim who has exhausted all other avenues and, in desperation, is willing to give up everything for the simple human desire to make an impact on a situation that otherwise would have them completely ignored and forgotten.
On to the question of whether this violence can be or is justified, Goldman forces us to provide the answer ourselves simply by the analysis of political violence and its origins. If it is the violent system of oppression that leaves a person no choice but political violence, then it is that system which has caused the violence, and that system which is to blame. As to whether those who perpetrate so called ‘political violence’ should be punished for these acts, her answer is equally apparent. These people have not acted against us, they have acted against this system, and in doing so they have acted for us. It is this system that we should eliminate and these people whom we should exalt.
When reading Goldman’s work, one automatically feels her magnetic charisma and electric style. Even just as a reader, separated by the expanse of time, it is impossible not to fall for the energy in her words. We quickly imagine ourselves in a crowd listening to her throw these rallying cries at us with such conviction that we hardly understand how we believed anything else. It is no wonder that those who sought to postpone the anarchist revolution rightfully called her ‘the most dangerous woman in America.’
You can read Emma Goldman’s Anarchism and Other Essays here: Anarchism and Other Essays at The Anarchist Library
And you can read more about Emma Goldman’s extremely exciting life here: Emma Goldman The Most Dangerous Woman in America