The decision to record my experiences, observations, and reactions during my stay in Russia I had made long before I thought of leaving that country. In fact, that was my main reason for departing from that tragically heroic land. The strongest of us are loath to give up a long-cherished dream. I had come to Russia possessed by the hope that I should find a new-born country, with its people wholly consecrated to the great, though very difficult, task of revolutionary reconstruction. And I had fervently hoped that I might ...
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The decision to record my experiences, observations, and reactions during my stay in Russia I had made long before I thought of leaving that country. In fact, that was my main reason for departing from that tragically heroic land. The strongest of us are loath to give up a long-cherished dream. I had come to Russia possessed by the hope that I should find a new-born country, with its people wholly consecrated to the great, though very difficult, task of revolutionary reconstruction. And I had fervently hoped that I might become an active part of the inspiring work. I found reality in Russia grotesque, totally unlike the great ideal that had borne me upon the crest of high hope to the land of promise. It required fifteen long months before I could get my bearings. Each day, each week, each month added new links to the fatal chain that pulled down my cherished edifice. I fought desperately against the disillusionment. For a long time I strove against the still voice within me which urged me to face the overpowering facts. I would not and could not give up. Then came Kronstadt. It was the final wrench. It completed the terrible realization that the Russian Revolution was no more. I saw before me the Bolshevik State, formidable, crushing every constructive revolutionary effort, suppressing, debasing, and disintegrating everything. Unable and unwilling to become a cog in that sinister machine, and aware that I could be of no practical use to Russia and her people, I decided to leave the country. Once out of it, I would relate honestly, frankly, and as objectively as humanly possible to me the story of my two years' stay in Russia. I left in December, 1921. I could have written then, fresh under the influence of the ghastly experience. But I waited four months before I could bring myself to write a series of articles. I delayed another four months before beginning the present volume.
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Emma Goldman's career as a labor organizer and Socialist advocate is a common theme in Socialist literature of the early 20th Century. These writers fail to provide their readers with the end of the story. When Ms. Goldman went to the Soviet Union, she found not a "worker's paradise," but rather a murdering dictatorship. The worker was being used as a pawn, and the rhetoric of labor was only a cover story for Lenin's personal ambition. This book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the US labor movement, Socialism, or the early development of the Soviet Union. Perhaps Emma's best service as a "working-class hero" would have been to share her hard lesson, and to warn the American labor movement away from Socialist leanings -- but of course they didn't listen.
Thomas D
Nov 8, 2012
Russia Seen by Emma
What a remarkable portrait of the early days of the revolution in Russia! This is an intimate description of how the Russian Revolution was stolen by a small but determined group; how the Bolsheviks managed to subvert the ideals that inspired the people's revolt against a post-feudal capitalist order.
