Anarchism and Other Essays

Background

Emma Goldman, a noted anarchist agitator in the United States, published the first issue of Mother Earth in March 1906. Though she had written extensively for other periodicals, Mother Earth was her first experience with editing and publishing a political journal. Goldman funded the journal's publication through extensive lecture tours throughout the United States.

Ben Reitman, Goldman's tour manager and romantic partner, suggested that she revise her lectures for publication. Goldman herself was becoming frustrated with the limitations of lecturing to crowds. She believed the audiences were generally more interested in the spectacle of a controversial anarchist speaker than in the content of her lectures. "I am not sanguine enough to hope that my readers will be as numerous as those who have heard me," she wrote. "But I prefer to reach the few who really want to learn, rather than the many who come to be amused."

Goldman completed the manuscript at a farm in Ossining, New York, while recovering from knee injuries. The process took two months. Alexander Berkman edited the final proofs. Upon its completion, publishers were uninterested in the collection. Reitman suggested self-publishing the book through Mother Earth's printers, who had agreed to print the book on credit.

An earlier version of "The Traffic in Women", entitled "The White Slave Traffic", first appeared in Mother Earth's January 1910 edition.

Contents

• "Biographic Sketch" written by Hippolyte Havel
• "Anarchism: What It Really Stands For"
• "Minorities Versus Majorities"
• "The Psychology of Political Violence"
• "Prisons: A Social Crime and Failure"
• "Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty"
• "Francisco Ferrer and The Modern School"
• "The Hypocrisy of Puritanism"
• "The Traffic in Women"
• "Woman Suffrage"
• "The Tragedy of Woman's Emancipation"
• "Marriage and Love"
• "The Drama: A Powerful Disseminator of Radical Thought"

Reception and legacy

"The Traffic in Women" has been cited in feminist discussions of marriage, sexuality, and prostitution for a century following its publication. Lori Jo Marso argues that Goldman's essays, in conjunction with her life and thought, make important contributions to ongoing debates in feminism, including around "the connections and tensions between sexuality, love and feminist politics". Miriam Schneir included the essay in her anthology, Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings.

References

References

1. Horowitz, Irving. (2005). "The Anarchists". Aldine Transaction.
2. Watson, Martha. (1987). "Emma Goldman". Twayne Publishers.
3. Goldman, Emma. (2012). "Living My Life, Vol. 1". Dover Publications.
4. Goldman, Emma. (1910). "Anarchism and Other Essays". Mother Earth Publishing Association.
5. Goldman, ''Living'', pp. 472-475
6. Glassgold, Peter. (2012). "Anarchy! : An Anthology of Emma Goldman's Mother Earth.". Counterpoint.
7. Gilman, C.P.. (1910). "Comment and Review". The Forerunner.
8. (June 1910). "Books". The Pacific Unitarian.
9. (February 1911). "Literature". International Socialist Review.
10. (2012). "Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered". Paradigm Publishers.
11. Pateman, Carole. (1999). "What's Wrong with Prostitution?". Women's Studies Quarterly.
12. Rubin, Gayle S.. (2011). "Deviations: A Gayle Rubin Reader". Duke University Press.
13. Marso, Lori Jo. (2003). "A Feminist Search for Love: Emma Goldman on the Politics of Marriage, Love, Sexuality and the Feminine". Feminist Theory.
14. (1994). "Feminism: The Essential Historical Writings". Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.