AnArChY =

Most anarchists today would consider themselves liberals, but have you ever noticed how closely many of the principles of modern anarchism follow conservative values? Less government, helping end oppression, free speech, right to bear arms, etc.

Have a look...



Anarchism: contrary to authority, the name given to a principle or theory of life and conduct under which society is conceived without government - harmony in such a society being obtained, not by submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, as also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilized being. (Noble but Naive)

The modern anarchist movement was lead by Anna Goldman "Queen of the Anarchists", a Jewish woman born in 1869 in East Prussia (now Russia). She came to the United States from Russia in 1885.

Emma was incredibly controversial during her own lifetime. Teddy Roosevelt called her a "madwoman... a mental as well as a moral pervert", the New York Times said she was a "mischievous foreigner... apart from the mass of humanity". The San Francisco Call said she was a "despicable creature... a snake... unfit to live in a civilized country". The government called her the "ablest and most dangerous" anarchist in the country.

Goldman often lectured on anarchist topics such as feminism, homosexuality, decentralization and opposition to hierarchy, free sex, birth control and labor rights.

She eventually fell in love with a man named Ben Reitman, who had many adulterous affairs while with Anna. Goldman soon found herself harboring extreme feelings of jealousy; in contrast to the principles of anarchism that she lectured on.

Unions and laborers distanced themselves from Goldman and the anarchist movement because they were already making advancements through strikes (better working conditions, 40-hour work week, etc.). In essence, the laborers were seeking capitalism for themselves, in contrast to Goldman's principles of anarchy.

Goldman worked with Lenin and Marxists towards the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Goldman dreamed of bringing communism / socialism to America.

Anna Goldman was opposed to war and nationalism and felt that it always led to the lower class fighting against each other for the upper classes gain. She was arrested for obstructing the draft and opposing US involvement in WWI. Goldman was deported to Russia where she witnessed the revolution she had helped bring about in Russia. Goldman also witnessed the terrible economic conditions that were brought on in Russia.

Anna Goldman didn't directly condone violence but said that, "change never comes without it." The right to bear arms was an important aspect of Goldman's beliefs, strengthened in 1921 when she witnessed the slaughter of Libertarian sailors (long considered heroes of the revolution) who revolted at Kronstadt against the Bolshevik government. Goldman changed her mind about communism / socialism after witnessing the suppression of rights by the Bolsheviks to prevent dissent.

Goldman left Russia and vowed to admit her error and to lecture against communism / socialism. She wrote a long series of articles and two books about her experience in and the ideological contradictions she perceived within Soviet Russia. Her former enemies on the right praised her, while her former comrades on the left cursed her. She longed to return to America.

Before her death in 1940, Goldman wrote, "I am not wanted anywhere. The movement has not accomplished anything good, anywhere."

While attempting to save an Italian anarchist from deportation and certain death in Fascist Italy, Emma was finally silenced by a stroke and died in Toronto. After her death, Goldman was permitted to return to America to be buried in Chicago.

(In the end, Anna Goldman supported free speech, woman's rights, less government and other conservative principles. Goldman's views were originally based on her religious convictions. Some experts on the political philosophy of anarchism today, refer to the movement as a "paradise for Christians".)

* From ETV - American Experience, 2004

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/timeline/