WORKERS KNOW YOUR HISTORY -

- EMMA GOLDMAN'S BIRTHDAY.

      As the struggle of the ordinary people is set to become more harsh, we should always remember those who in their life gave so much to that struggle. We can learn from their deeds, their words and take inspiration from the way they lived their life.
     Today June 27 is the birthday Emma Goldman, born, 27 June 1869, died 14 May 1940, one of the many working class giants that took the full force of the state but never wavered in their believe, never lost their desire for a better world for all.

      On June 27, 1919 Emma Goldman spent her 50th birthday behind prison walls, where she was serving a two year prison term in Jefferson City, Missouri, for her conviction, along with Alexander Berkman, for conspiracy against the Selective Service Act of 1917 (for publicly speaking out against conscription). Today, June 27, 2011 we should take strength from the countless Emma Goldman's across the world and refocus our vision and re-double our efforts to carry on the struggle for that better world for all.
     
       Emma Goldman's writings and speeches touched on the full spectrum of human activity, she had clear thoughts on everything from love to death and all that comes between. Here are a couple of quotes from those two perspectives.
 

Cover of 70th Birthday Commemorative Edition pamphlet (Los Angeles: Libertarian Committee, 1939)

[Kate Sharpley Library]    

  

  Love:          

              Free love? As if love is anything but free! Man has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but all the power on earth has been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered whole nations, but all his armies could not conquer love. Man has chained and fettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless before love. High on a throne, with all the splendor and pomp his gold can command, man is yet poor and desolate, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poorest hovel is radiant with warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of a beggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere.

     Death:

               As to killing rulers, it depends entirely on the position of the ruler. If it is the Russian Czar, I most certainly believe in dispatching him to where he belongs. If the ruler is as ineffectual as an American President, it is hardly worth the effort. There are, however, some potentates I would kill by any and all means at my disposal. They are Ignorance, Superstition, and Bigotry — the most sinister and tyrannical rulers on earth. As for the gentleman who asked if free love would not build more houses of prostitution, my answer is: They will all be empty if the men of the future look like him.

        Responding to audience questions during a speech in Detroit (1898); as recounted in Living My Life (1931), p. 207; quoted by Annie Laurie Gaylor in Women Without Superstition, p. 382

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