A lituana, emigrante nos EUA, Emma Goldman, nasceu a 27 de Junho de 1869, no seio de uma família judia de hábitos excessivamente puritanos, família que abandona aos 16 anos, fugindo à violência paterna.
Emma entrou em contacto com o pensamento revolucionário em S. Petersburgo, ingressando na organização “A Vontade do Povo”, envolvendo-se em lutas sindicais já a trabalhar nos EUA, numa indústria têxtil, sendo neste país que adere ao movimento anarquista.
No papel de jornalista e propogandista houve lutas que a levaram várias vezes à cadeia.
A oposição ao recrutamento militar para a 1ª guerra custou-lhe a deportação para a Rússia, que abandona, mais tarde, desiludida com os hábito autoritários e de repressão, que denunciará, da revolução bolchevique, partindo para Espanha em plena guerra civil e mais tarde emigrando para o Canadá.
Emma Goldman é um dos rostos do movimento de luta das mulheres, sendo conhecida como agitadora e propagandista em defesa da liberdade sexual da mulher, e de denúncia contra o carácter ditatorial do casamento.
Adepta do amor livre, Emma é hoje uma figura maior na história da luta em defesa da liberdade sexual da mulher, de denúncia contra o carácter ditatorial do casamento, contra a desigualdade das mulheres, advogando em defesa do planeamento familiar.
Publicações
Revista Mother Earth ( Mãe Terra ) de 1908 a 1917,
Patriotismo, uma ameaça para a liberdade, 1908
Um belo ideal , 1908
Em que acredito, 1908
Anarquismo e outros ensaios, 1910
Anarquismo, o que realmente defende , 1911
O significado social do drama moderno , 1914
Amor e casamento , 1914
My Dissillusionment in Russia, 1923
Vivendo a minha vida , 1931
Voltairine De Cleyre , 1932
"On the night of December 21, 1919, together with two hundred and forty-eight other political prisoners (…) Our anti-war agitation added fuel to the war hysteria of 1917, and thus furnished the Federal authorities with the desired opportunity to complete the conspiracy begun against me in Rochester, N.Y., 1909. (…)
All my life Russia's heroic struggle for freedom was as a beacon to me. The revolutionary zeal of her martyred men and women, which neither fortress nor katorga could suppress, was my inspiration in the darkest hours. (...)
Rarely has a revolution been fought with as little violence as the Russian Revolution. Nor would have Red Terror followed had the people and the cultural forces remained in control of the Revolution. This was demonstrated by the spirit of fellowship and solidarity which prevailed throughout Russia during the first months after the October revolution. But an insignificant minority bent on creating an absolute State is necessarily driven to oppression and terrorism.
There is another objection to my criticism on the part of the Communists. Russia is on strike, they say, and it is unethical for a revolutionist to side against the workers when they are striking against their masters. That is pure demagoguery practised by the Bolsheviki to silence criticism.
It is not true that the Russian people are on strike. On the contrary, the truth of the matter is that the Russian people have been locked out and that the Bolshevik State--even as the bourgeois industrial master--uses the sword and the gun to keep the people out. In the case of the Bolsheviki this tyranny is masked by a world-stirring slogan: thus they have succeeded in blinding the masses. Just because I am a revolutionist I refuse to side with the master class, which in Russia is called the Communist Party.
Till the end of my days my place shall be with the disinherited and oppressed. It is immaterial to me whether Tyranny rules in the Kremlin or in any other seat of the mighty. I could do nothing for suffering Russia while in that country. Perhaps I can do something now by pointing out the lessons of the Russian experience. Not my concern for the Russian people only has prompted the writing of this volume: it is my interest in the masses everywhere." Emma Goldman, My Disillusionment In Russia
