Emma Goldman: The Most Dangerous Woman in America

It is not without reason that Emma Goldman was quoted as being “the most dangerous woman in America” at her time (qtd in Moritz & Mortiz, 2001). Extremely critical of social arrangements, she was particularly known for her political actions and speeches (Moritz & Mortiz, 2001). Furthermore, as an anarchist, Emma Goldman viewed the state, the church, and social conventions as “artificial restraints which prevent humans from achieving their full potential” (Morton, 1992) — an ideology which also perfectly explains women’s oppression.

Emma Goldman was born in an Orthodox Jewish family on June 27, 1869, in present-day Lithuania (Goldman, Emma; 2001). Her father was a man of traditions who did not think that Emma should get an education as a woman (Moritz & Mortiz, 2001). However, Emma finally went to college in Konigsberg and St. Petersburg, where she was introduced to some radical movements and to the nihilism ideology (closely linked to anarchism) (Moritz & Mortiz, 2001). In 1885, she immigrated to the United States with her half-sister in order to avoid the marriage that her father had arranged for her (Goldman, Emma; 2001). But in the United States, Goldman did not live an American dream; she was constrained to sew for ten hours a day in a factory, only to get an underpaid wage (Goldman, Emma; 2001).

In 1889, Goldman moved to New York City where she joined the anarchist movement (Emma Goldman Collection, n.d.). She later traveled throughout the United States to advocate “the anarchist philosophy, women's rights, and social issues such as birth control” (Emma Goldman Collection, n.d.). For doing so, Goldman was many times incarcerated. In prison, however, she made good use of her time by learning to become a nurse (Goldman, Emma; 2001). She then later worked as a nurse in New York’s deprived neighborhoods where she witnessed the effects of the lack of birth control and having no access to abortion. As a result, she began to campaign all over the U.S. to address these problems (Shaw & Lee, 2009). Emma Goldman was finally imprisoned and deported to Russia for her involvement in the movement against World War I (Shaw & Lee, 2009). There, she became disillusioned with communism and finally moved to England to support the anti-Soviet campaign (Goldman, Emma; 2001).

Emma Goldman’s most significant achievements include a monthly anarchist magazine which she began publishing in 1906 (Morton, 1992). Mother Earth contained anarchist articles, as well as articles “on social issues such as birth control, the reform of laws affecting marriage, women’s sexual freedom, and the upbringing of children” (Goldman, Emma; 2001). Her determination in advocating birth control despite its illegality at the time is another of her significant achievements. Emma Goldman was also a strong advocate of free love and argued against the oppression of the institution of marriage on women (Moritz & Mortiz, 2001). Finally, Emma Goldman developed the anarcho-feminist doctrine which argues that feminists should fight against all forms of hierarchy as patriarchy is the original form of all oppressive authorities (Anarcho-feminism).

Although she lived during the first-wave feminism, being an anarchist, Goldman saw the government as the ultimate source of oppression on individuals and, therefore, totally disapproved of the women’s suffrage movement (Goldman, Emma; 2001). During the second-wave feminism, however, Emma Goldman’s doctrine was again at the center of attention as the movement advocated for the same women’s rights which Goldman spent a lifetime promoting (Goldman, Emma; 2001).

References

Emma Goldman Collection. (n.d.). University of Illinois at Chicago. Retrieved May 27, 2013, from http://www.uic.edu/depts/lib/specialcoll/services/rjd/findingaids/EGoldmanb.html

Goldman, Emma. (2001). In Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers. Retrieved from http://0-www.credoreference.com.library.capilanou.ca/entry/abcwsr/goldman_emma

Moritz, T., & Moritz, A. F. (2001). The World's Most Dangerous Woman: a New Biography of Emma Goldman. Vancouver: Subway Books.

Morton, M. J. (1992). Emma Goldman and the American Left: Nowhere at Home. New York, N.Y.: Twayne Publishers.

Shaw, S. M., & Lee, J. (2009). Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.