Emma Goldman and the Autobiography of the People

Abstract

AbstractAnarcha-feminist Emma Goldman wrote her 1931 autobiography to evaluate her early politics and American radicalism at the turn of the century. I find in Living My Life two approaches to antiauthoritarian action: Adversarial politics seeks to emancipate the masses by contesting the agents of state, market, or patriarchy, but it falters when radicals act for those with whom they share few experiences. Empathetic politics builds that needed solidarity, by encouraging radicals to learn from the masses and by educating the masses on the conditions that motivate radicals to act. I follow Goldman’s transition between these approaches through narratives of early life and politics, prison, nursing, and her assistance with Alexander Berkman’s attack on Henry Clay Frick and her defense of William McKinley’s assassin. Living My Life proposes that radicals summon the people through shared experience, expanding our understanding of radical thought and the relevance of autobiography for political theory.