My Disillusionment in Russia.
Goldman’s Denunciation Of Communist Rule
Goldman, Emma. My Disillusionment In Russia. London: C.W. Daniel, (1925).
8vo.; red cloth; spine label; a shelf-worn copy, edges and preliminaries lightly damp-stained; else good.
First English edition of Goldman’s scathing account of her disappointing brush with the realities of life under Bolshevism. Contains her preface denouncing the sloppy printing and politically-inspired editing of the 1923 American edition of this title. Inscribed by Goldman on the front endpaper: Emma Goldman, Toronto, July 1927.
In 1917 Goldman and Berkman had welcomed news of the revolution in Russia and ardently defended the Bolsheviks, whom they believed were acting like anarchists despite their Marxism. Arriving in Russia in January 1920, they soon became disillusioned with the increasing centralization, beaurocratization, and militarization of the revolution. The brutal suppression of the Kronstadt Revolt in March 1921 persuaded them that the true workers’ revolution had been crushed by Bolshevik terrorism. (AR, p. 359)
Goldman began work on this account of her heartbreak over the cruelties of “revolutionary” life just after leaving Russia in March, 1921. In 1924, her writing completed, she embarked on a lecture tour of England, Germany and Canada. This volume was inscribed during the last leg of her lengthy tour, proceeds of which went to support the many radical dissidents languishing in Soviet prisons.
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