Emma Goldman: Another Viewpoint - Essay Example

Emma Goldman: Another Viewpoint At the roots of many of the beliefs, which fostered Emma Goldman's adoption of anarchism and desire to help the working class, were the teachings of her Jewish parents. They began with her birth on June 27, 1869, in the province of Kaunas, (Kovno), Lithuania. The Jewish teachings she received as well as the anti-Semitism that prevailed in Russia, helped to mold the person she later became. At some point in Goldman's young years, her family moved to St. Petersburg. It was during these impressionable years that she worked as an operator in a corset factory. While there, she was introduced to the revolutionary philosophy of Chernyskevsky, the leader of the 1860's Democratic Revolution Movement in Russia. In these environments, Goldman discovered the seeds that motivated her strong opposition to governments. Not only did she oppose government, she believed that all forms of organizations, including that of religions, were frosted with a need to control individuals and was, therefore, detrimental to their freedom and rights to have an abundant life. Goldman worked as a midwife and a nurse prior to her career as a writer and anarchist. During this time, she witnessed many examples of what she believed to be crimes against women, including deaths as the result of pregnancies. These incidents, no doubt, further ignited her desire to alleviate the suffering of others, and in particular that of women. In her belief that each individual should have the right to "share at the table of life...," Goldman would not have been classified as a modern-day feminist. Most likely, her views on the rights of individuals would not have coincided with feminists ideals to fight for the rights of women today. Human rights were always at the forefront of her efforts-not pluralism as many think is the case in enforcing the US Affirmative Action Law that feminists now espouse. If she were still alive, she would continue to seek the liberation of workers, including men and women. The inhumane treatment of the working class as that in America, Britain, Russia, China, Spain, and other parts of the world would still capture her anarchist spirit. As in Goldman's days, news about these peoples is seldom brought to the attention of the populace by the governments; instead, the leaders of these countries prefer to extol their virtues in support of the laboring. Human trafficking, sweatshops, use of the under-aged for labor, failure to pay minimum wage, fear of deportation, and all crimes against those who prostitute themselves to earn a living continue to beg for assistance from personalities portrayed by the Goldman heroism. It is through such radicals as Goldman and their pleas that public awareness is raised, not through our governments' spins, which prefer to ensnare us into believing that these inequities are being removed. Rather, the gap continues to widen as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In 1886, when Goldman immigrated to America, she was a young woman of 16 or 17. The following year, in 1887, she learned of the Chicago Haymarket massacre and trial. This knowledge affected her in a way that ignited the anarchic course her life then took. Not until she heard the history of the massacre and the trial from the lips of another young woman, Johanna Greie, was her passions aroused to such a degree as to invoke her into action. Goldman first heard Grie at a meeting of German Socialists in Rochester. Grier spoke to the group about the events that led up to the Haymarket incident-how it was a peaceful meeting of organized workers until the police attacked the workers. She told about the police brutality that resulted in the beatings of men and women and the deaths of several individuals. Up until this time, Goldman knew much about the meaning of anarchism but not that it had a movement all its own. Upon learning about the movement, she began to call herself an anarchist. In time, she came up with her own definition for the philosophy of anarchism, which was: "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.{Anarchism} stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion or religion, the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property;a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to individual desires, tastes, and inclinations." Amidst her efforts to fight capitalism and improve the conditions of the working class, Goldman also spoke whenever possible for a woman's right to be in control of her body. She was one of the pioneers, if not the first, to speak out publicly against the suffering caused women by multiple childbirths. She believed that the way to alleviate much of human misery was by controlling the size of the family. She argued that it was the right of the woman to decide whether to bear children. She believed that abortions had become as prevalent as to be one of America's greatest ailments. In one of her Mother Earth publications, she wrote "So great is the misery of the working classes that seventeen abortions are committed to every one hundred pregnancies." She distributed birth control literature and spoke to workers wherever she found an audience. In 1916, she was arrested for the distribution of birth control literature but this did not stop her efforts, it made her even more determined to attempt to educate those who would listen about the dangers she believe inherent in subjecting women to unlimited pregnancies. Today, Emma Goldman's life continues to shine as an outstanding example for the rights of a woman to decide for herself issues such as abortion, marriage, lesbianism, religion, and employment. Her liberal views were never that either sex be granted privilege over the other. She appears to have accepted, without comment, her role as a subordinate to the men in her life. In fact, there is much evidence to support a belief that this role helped her accomplish what she set out to do in addressing issues for change in human rights. It was often through her intimate relationships with the men that she was able to gain entrance into so many places in the world. These included some of the different countries in which she lived. Moreover, through the males in her life that possessed traits of leadership and attained a certain amount of power, she was more accessible to the public. Yet, she remained independent and determined to make her own way in the world financially through her writings. In whatever country Goldman found herself -her native Russia, America, England, Canada or Spain, she fought the same wars, those against the enslavement of the peoples through government, pregnancies until death, or other human atrocities. Neither imprisonment nor deportation stopped her. Each setback until her death in 1940, at the age of 70, made her even more fervent about her mission in life. Goldman was a self-acclaimed atheist and believed as the multiple pregnancies of women that the God upheld throughout the world of believers caused many of the world's ills. Despite these beliefs, perhaps her spirit more embodied that of Christ than of those who claimed to be his disciples. She fought for the right of every man, woman, and child to feel at home in the world-a world in which she believe all should share in its wealth! It is ironic that one of her last wishes was granted when the US government gave permission for her to be buried alongside the Haymarket anarchist martyrs in Chicago. In posterity, her life has become one that has gained the respect and admiration of many. Researchers and biographers continue to study her. One of their fascinations about her is that of the complexity of her character-that that she wrote about as well as that written about her. As the world changes, scholars want to know more about the impact Goldman's life served to have on the present time and the rights of others. She would be happy to know that a large portion of women throughout the world can now decide their fate in regards to childbirth. Yet, she would also be saddened to know that more has not been done in the 65 years since her death to develop a world of plenty for all! Perhaps her greatest accomplishment in life was to pave the way for women to pick up the gauntlet and begin the fight that brought about the changes in how the issue of birth control is perceived. There is no way of knowing how many lives were saved as the result of her public outcries and spread of educational materials regarding contraceptives. Even J. Edgar Hoover, who believed her to be one of the worst criminals of the times and imprisonment could not squelch her. In spite of her deportation from America, she never lost her love for this country-a country that, perhaps, is only now growing to love her. References: Drinnon, Richard. The Life of Emma Goldman, 29, Nikolai Chernyskevshy's What Is To Be Done (1863) Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays, *(1910, New York, Dover Publications, 1969), 50, 62. Falk, Candace, et al, Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, Vol. I - Made for America, 1890-1891. Berkeley: U of California P, 2003. ISBN 0520086708 Falk, Candace, et al. Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, Vol. 2 - Making Speech Free, 1902-1909. Berkeley: U of California P, 2004. ISBN 0520220086708 Goldman, Emma. Living My Life, page 207, New York: A.A. Knopf, 1931. ISBN 0486225437 Goldman, Emma. Living My Life, Volume I, Chapter I, New York: A.A. Knopf, 1931. ISBN 0486225437 Read More