In 1919, at the height of the anti-leftist Palmer Raids conducted by the Wilson administration, the anarchist activist and writer Emma Goldman was deported to the nascent Soviet Union. Despite initial plans to fight the deportation order in court, Goldman eventually acquiesced in order to take part in the new revolutionary Russia herself. While initially supportive of the Bolsheviks, with some reservations, Goldman's firsthand experiences with Bolshevik oppression and corruption prompted her titular disillusionment and ...
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In 1919, at the height of the anti-leftist Palmer Raids conducted by the Wilson administration, the anarchist activist and writer Emma Goldman was deported to the nascent Soviet Union. Despite initial plans to fight the deportation order in court, Goldman eventually acquiesced in order to take part in the new revolutionary Russia herself. While initially supportive of the Bolsheviks, with some reservations, Goldman's firsthand experiences with Bolshevik oppression and corruption prompted her titular disillusionment and eventual emigration to Germany. In My Disillusionment in Russia, Goldman records her travels throughout Russia as part of a revolutionary museum commission, and her interactions with a variety of political and literary figures like Vladimir Lenin, Maxim Gorky, John Reed, and Peter Kropotkin. Goldman concludes her account with a critique of the Bolshevik ideology in which she asserts that revolutionary change in institutions cannot take place without corresponding changes in values. My Disillusionment in Russia had a troubled publication history, since the first American printing in 1923 omitted the last twelve chapters of what was supposed to be a thirty-three chapter book. (Somehow, the last chapters failed to reach the publisher, who did not suspect the book to be incomplete.) The situation was remedied with the publication of the remaining chapters in 1924 as part of a volume titled My Further Disillusionment in Russia. This Standard Ebooks edition compiles both volumes into a single volume, following the intent of the original manuscript.
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Add this copy of My Disillusionment in Russia to cart. $21.70, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2023 by Culturea.
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Fine. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 328 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Add this copy of My Disillusionment in Russia to cart. $23.32, new condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2023 by Culturea.
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New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 328 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Emma Goldman's career as a labor organizer and Socialist advocate is a common theme in Socialist literature of the early 20th Century. These writers fail to provide their readers with the end of the story. When Ms. Goldman went to the Soviet Union, she found not a "worker's paradise," but rather a murdering dictatorship. The worker was being used as a pawn, and the rhetoric of labor was only a cover story for Lenin's personal ambition. This book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the US labor movement, Socialism, or the early development of the Soviet Union. Perhaps Emma's best service as a "working-class hero" would have been to share her hard lesson, and to warn the American labor movement away from Socialist leanings -- but of course they didn't listen.
Thomas D
Nov 8, 2012
Russia Seen by Emma
What a remarkable portrait of the early days of the revolution in Russia! This is an intimate description of how the Russian Revolution was stolen by a small but determined group; how the Bolsheviks managed to subvert the ideals that inspired the people's revolt against a post-feudal capitalist order.
