Emma Goldman

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Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman (1869 — 1940) was an influential atheist, feminist, and anarcho-communist, especially notable for her multiple arrests for birth control advocacy and education. Goldman founded the journal Mother Earth, where she supported Margaret Sanger's arguments supporting birth control, a decision which ultimately led to repeated arrests for violating the Comstock laws and her eventual deportation back to Russia. She was regularly described as one of the "two most notorious anarchists in the United States"[1] In an era when the anarchist movement was "serious business". Goldman became well known for her spirited defense of fun. Perhaps her best known comment[2] is "If I can't dance I don't want to be in your revolution."

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[edit] Beliefs

Although active during the heydey of first-wave feminism Goldman was openly hostile towards the suffragettes. She was an admirer of both Nietzsche and Max Stirner, incorporating their ideas both into her criticisms of Christianity[3] and marriage and gender relations.

[edit] Regarding marriage

Goldman was an early-advocate of extending marriage privileges to same-sex couples (and unmarried, mixed gender couples, and just about any other combination of humans) and was strongly critical of laws restricting divorce. She stated "I believe in the marriage of affection. That is the only true marriage. If two people care for each other they have a right to live together so long as that love exists. When it is dead what base immorality for them still to keep together!"[4]

[edit] Christianity

Goldman claimed that the primary purpose of religion in general and Christianity specifically was to perpetuate class distinctions and prevent proletariat revolution.[5]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. "Emma Goldman and A. Berkman Behind the Bars" New York Times, 16 June 1917 [1]
  2. This was not an actual quotation, but a paraphrase invented by a journalist.
  3. "The Failure of Christianity" [2]
  4. Interview with the New York World, 17 Sept. 1893 [3]
  5. "The Failure of Christianity" "the subtleness of the Christian teachings is a more powerful protection against rebellion and discontent than the club or the gun."
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