Emma Goldman: A Threat?

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Emma Goldman: A Threat?

The book Emma Goldman: American Individualist tells the true story of an anarchist’s struggles through, life, love, and standing up for what you believe in. Emma Goldman was born on June 27, 1869 in the city of Kovno located within the Russian Empire (currently known as Kaunas in Lithuania) into a Jewish family. Most men during this time wanted their wives to bear sons; Goldman’s father, Abraham Goldman, was no different. Goldman’s mother was very content with Goldman’s sisters, Helena and Lena, and didn’t want to have any more children. When Goldman was born she was rejected by her father. This rejection affected Goldman throughout her life.

While living in her father’s house, Goldman became a victim of her father’s abuse, and of her mother’s lack of emotion. Her eldest sister, Helena, showed Goldman as much love as she possibly could but was still unable to fill the void.

Goldman’s father moved the family to the small Jewish town of Papile, where he was then an innkeeper. At the age of six, Goldman, became very close to a family servant by the name of Petrushka. Petrushka showed Goldman how the world was without punishment and rules. Suddenly, Goldman’s father dismissed Petrushka and her carefree world came crashing down.

At the age of seven, Goldman was forced to the Prussian seaport of Konigsberg to live with an aunt and uncle and to attend a private Jewish elementary school. The move was not very different for Goldman. She was forced to share a bed with her aunt, and her uncle was even more of a bully then her father. Her uncle believed that it was a waste of time to educate a girl and immediately removed Goldman from school. Goldman wanted to stay in school, and when she objected to being withd...

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... Goldman met Alexander Berkman, one of the two men who would change her life that day. Berkman invited her to join him at a public speech. The other man that changed her life that day, Johann Most, was the public speaker Berkman and Goldman listened to. Goldman was impressed by Most’s speech and Most decided to teach Goldman the method of public speaking and Most’s beliefs.

Goldman followed and spoke of Most’s beliefs at many different rallies. It was not until an elderly man challenged Goldman with this question, “What are the men of my age to do while we wait for a day that we will never live to see?” (Chalberg 40), that Goldman started thinking for herself. When she spoke to Most about her doing her own thinking, Most would hear nothing of it. Most’s reaction caused Goldman to leave his anarchist fold for a future that she was one hundred percent in control over.

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