Alexander Berkman

Alexander Berkman - USA, 1860-1936
Born Ovsei Osipovich Berkkan, usually known as Alex or Sasha Berkman
Born in Lithuania, Alex Berkman moved to Russia and then the US, becoming an anarchist. A leading figure in the moevment alongside friend and occasional lover Emma Goldman he was imprisoned after he attempted to assassinate a steel boss responsible for the deaths of workers in the 1892 Homestead strike. Deported to Russia, he left for Germany and later died in France in 1936.
Key texts: What is Anarchism?

Links on libcom.org
Biography of Alexander "Sasha" Berkman, 1860-1936
Alex Berkman archive
Biography of Emma Goldman
Emma Goldman archive
The Homestead Strike, 1892
Alex Berkman search results on libcom.org

Foreword
We live at a time when two civilisations are struggling for their existence. Present society is at death grips with the New Ideal. The Russian Revolution was but the first serious combat of the two forces, whose struggle must continue till the final triumph of the one or of the other.

Preface

Clarity of ideas is not characteristic of the average mind. Many people still continue to think and to talk of the Russian Revolution and of the Bolsheviki as if the two were identical. In other words, as if nothing had happened in Russia during the last three years.

Yes, my friend, it has always been so. That is, law and government have always been on the side of the masters. The rich and powerful have always doped you by 'God's will', with the help of the church and the school.

But must it always remain so?

Alex Berkman's classic, and easy to read, introduction to anarchist politics. A very good starting point for people interested in getting a general overview of the theory and practice of anarchism

Registration is the first step of conscription. The war shouters and their prostitute press, bet on snaring you into the army, tell you that registration has nothing to do with conscription.

They lie.

Tyranny must be opposed at the start. Autocracy, once secured in the saddle, is diffucult to dislodge. If you believe that America is entering the war "to make democracy safe," then be a man and volunteer.

But if you know anything at all, then you should know that the cry of democracy is a lie and a snare for the unthinking.