Emma Goldman in Exile

Publisher:  Oxford University Press
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX7934

The second and final volume of Wexler's life of Emma Goldman tells the story of her forced exile to Russia in 1919, the Spanich Civil War and finally her death in 1940 in Toronto. She became an eyewitness to the new Soviet state but had no qualms about airing her disagreements with their policies. Goldman would become dissolusioned with Lenin and Russia and ended up in political limbo-seen as pariah by the left and courted by the conservatives. The great triumph of the period was the brief time in Barcelona in 1936 when anarchism went from theory to reality. That moment however was fleeting as the communists defeated their leftist allies then themselves were destroyed by Franco. Goldman returned to North America a disappointed woman. As Wexler points however out she was one of the few who spoke out against the purges and massacres while others hid their cowardice behind cant.

Subject Headings

• Anarchism