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Trotsky protests too much
"...Ο Τρότσκυ έχει την εντύπωση ότι κάθε επίκριση για την ανάμειξή του στην τραγωδία της Κρονστάνδης απλώς ενδυναμώνει και ενισχύει τον θανάσιμο εχθρό του, τον Στάλιν. Δεν αντιλαμβάνεται ωστόσο ότι εάν κάποιος απεχθάνεται τον βάρβαρο ο οποίος κυβερνά στο Κρεμλίνο και το απάνθρωπο καθεστώς του, δεν σημαίνει ότι απαλλάσσει και τον Λέοντα Τρότσκυ από το έγκλημα κατά των ναυτών της Κρονστάνδης.
Για να είμαι ειλικρινής, δεν βλέπω κάποια ουσιαστική διαφορά ανάμεσα στους δύο πρωταγωνιστές του γενναιόδωρου δικτατορικού συστήματος, πέρα του ότι ο Λέων Τρότσκυ δεν είναι πλέον σε θέση να εφαρμόση τις αγαθοεργίες του, ενώ ο Στάλιν είναι. Όχι, δεν υπερασπίζομαι τον τωρινό άρχοντα της Ρωσσίας. Χρειάζεται ωστόσο να τονίσω ότι ο Στάλιν δεν προέκυψε ως μάννα εξ ουρανού για τον δυστυχή ρωσσικό λαό. Απλώς, συνεχίζει την παράδοση των μπολσεβίκων και μάλιστα με ακόμη πιο ανελέητο τρόπο...". (Από την παρουσίαση στο οπισθόφυλλο του βιβλίου)
Για να είμαι ειλικρινής, δεν βλέπω κάποια ουσιαστική διαφορά ανάμεσα στους δύο πρωταγωνιστές του γενναιόδωρου δικτατορικού συστήματος, πέρα του ότι ο Λέων Τρότσκυ δεν είναι πλέον σε θέση να εφαρμόση τις αγαθοεργίες του, ενώ ο Στάλιν είναι. Όχι, δεν υπερασπίζομαι τον τωρινό άρχοντα της Ρωσσίας. Χρειάζεται ωστόσο να τονίσω ότι ο Στάλιν δεν προέκυψε ως μάννα εξ ουρανού για τον δυστυχή ρωσσικό λαό. Απλώς, συνεχίζει την παράδοση των μπολσεβίκων και μάλιστα με ακόμη πιο ανελέητο τρόπο...". (Από την παρουσίαση στο οπισθόφυλλο του βιβλίου)
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First published January 1, 1938
60 people want to read
About the author
Emma Goldman
362 books1,039 followersEmma Goldman was a feminist anarchist known for her political activism, writing and speeches. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.
Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania), Goldman emigrated to the US in 1885 and lived in New York City, where she joined the burgeoning anarchist movement.Attracted to anarchism after the Haymarket affair, Goldman became a writer and a renowned lecturer on anarchist philosophy, women's rights, and social issues, attracting crowds of thousands.
She and anarchist writer Alexander Berkman, her lover and lifelong friend, planned to assassinate Henry Clay Frick as an act of propaganda of the deed. Although Frick survived the attempt on his life, Berkman was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. Goldman was imprisoned several times in the years that followed, for "inciting to riot" and illegally distributing information about birth control. In 1906, Goldman founded the anarchist journal Mother Earth.
In 1917, Goldman and Berkman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiring to "induce persons not to register" for the newly instated draft. After their release from prison, they were arrested—along with hundreds of others—and deported to Russia.
Initially supportive of that country's Bolshevik revolution, Goldman quickly voiced her opposition to the Soviet use of violence and the repression of independent voices. In 1923, she wrote a book about her experiences, My Disillusionment in Russia. While living in England, Canada, and France, she wrote an autobiography called Living My Life. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she traveled to Spain to support the anarchist revolution there. She died in Toronto on May 14, 1940, aged 70.
During her life, Goldman was lionized as a free-thinking "rebel woman" by admirers, and derided by critics as an advocate of politically motivated murder and violent revolution.Her writing and lectures spanned a wide variety of issues, including prisons, atheism, freedom of speech, militarism, capitalism, marriage, free love, and homosexuality. Although she distanced herself from first-wave feminism and its efforts toward women's suffrage, she developed new ways of incorporating gender politics into anarchism. After decades of obscurity, Goldman's iconic status was revived in the 1970s, when feminist and anarchist scholars rekindled popular interest in her life.
Born in Kovno in the Russian Empire (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania), Goldman emigrated to the US in 1885 and lived in New York City, where she joined the burgeoning anarchist movement.Attracted to anarchism after the Haymarket affair, Goldman became a writer and a renowned lecturer on anarchist philosophy, women's rights, and social issues, attracting crowds of thousands.
She and anarchist writer Alexander Berkman, her lover and lifelong friend, planned to assassinate Henry Clay Frick as an act of propaganda of the deed. Although Frick survived the attempt on his life, Berkman was sentenced to twenty-two years in prison. Goldman was imprisoned several times in the years that followed, for "inciting to riot" and illegally distributing information about birth control. In 1906, Goldman founded the anarchist journal Mother Earth.
In 1917, Goldman and Berkman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiring to "induce persons not to register" for the newly instated draft. After their release from prison, they were arrested—along with hundreds of others—and deported to Russia.
Initially supportive of that country's Bolshevik revolution, Goldman quickly voiced her opposition to the Soviet use of violence and the repression of independent voices. In 1923, she wrote a book about her experiences, My Disillusionment in Russia. While living in England, Canada, and France, she wrote an autobiography called Living My Life. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she traveled to Spain to support the anarchist revolution there. She died in Toronto on May 14, 1940, aged 70.
During her life, Goldman was lionized as a free-thinking "rebel woman" by admirers, and derided by critics as an advocate of politically motivated murder and violent revolution.Her writing and lectures spanned a wide variety of issues, including prisons, atheism, freedom of speech, militarism, capitalism, marriage, free love, and homosexuality. Although she distanced herself from first-wave feminism and its efforts toward women's suffrage, she developed new ways of incorporating gender politics into anarchism. After decades of obscurity, Goldman's iconic status was revived in the 1970s, when feminist and anarchist scholars rekindled popular interest in her life.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 4, 2023
From the back cover of the pamphlet:
Emma Goldman’s fiery 1938 polemic clearly outlines how Trotsky was not some lost hope or bright alternative to the Stalinist terror but another flavour of the same poison.
Her disagreements were not theoretical, nor subtle shades of ideological difference, but center on the brutality of political power used to starve, murder and destroy any opposition.
Goldman argues that Trotsky offered just a different version of oppression to the Russian people and was equally responsible for crushing the revolution, alienating workers from their own liberation.
The focus of this pamphlet is a critique of two 1938 articles by Trotsky and John G. Wright in 'New International' with specific reference to the Kronstadt rebellion where sailors demanded reforms from the tyranny of the Bolshevik government. They were ruthlessly crushed by the dictatorship of which Trotsky and Lenin played important parts. A key critique of anarchists when discussing the Russian revolution is that the Marxists were not liberators but a different kind of dictatorship. One of the things Marxist-Leninist organisations have done for decades is to try and sugar coat or explain away the dictatorship or plead special causes. Anarchists at the time and later historians have roundly debunked the Marxist-Leninist arguments that the tyranny was due to civil war, outside forces etc. (in short, all the things Lenin 'regrettably' did, he did before the 'special factors' mattered, furthermore, anarchists challenge Marxist-Leninists asking them to 'read what Lenin wrote' with 'study what Lenin did').
This short pamphlet does not go into to much detail of the Kronstadt rebellion - an excellent overview is here https://www.anarchistfaq.org/afaq/app..., however the importance of Goldman's essay is that she, and her friend Alexander Berkman where in Petrograd at the time of the rebellion, and thus, what we have is a first hand account of perspectives on the ground at the time. Of particular interest are Goldman's views on why Petrograd did not 'support' the rebellion, particularly due to the actions of the Cheka imprisoning working class activists and the use of the military busting strikes and breaking up meetings.
The thrust of Goldman's piece is to remind the reader not to rehabilitate Trotsky in light of his eventual expulsion from Stalinist Russia. Seeing as it's an essay of 50 or so pages and is a rebuttal to two other articles, it is interesting as a quick read and to experience Goldman's incisive writing but is probably not essential. It should pique readers to learn more about the Kronstadt rebellion, although it is a shame that even in 2023 there are Marxist-Leninists trying to justify their slaughter of the Kronstadt sailors.
The full text can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...
Emma Goldman’s fiery 1938 polemic clearly outlines how Trotsky was not some lost hope or bright alternative to the Stalinist terror but another flavour of the same poison.
Her disagreements were not theoretical, nor subtle shades of ideological difference, but center on the brutality of political power used to starve, murder and destroy any opposition.
Goldman argues that Trotsky offered just a different version of oppression to the Russian people and was equally responsible for crushing the revolution, alienating workers from their own liberation.
The focus of this pamphlet is a critique of two 1938 articles by Trotsky and John G. Wright in 'New International' with specific reference to the Kronstadt rebellion where sailors demanded reforms from the tyranny of the Bolshevik government. They were ruthlessly crushed by the dictatorship of which Trotsky and Lenin played important parts. A key critique of anarchists when discussing the Russian revolution is that the Marxists were not liberators but a different kind of dictatorship. One of the things Marxist-Leninist organisations have done for decades is to try and sugar coat or explain away the dictatorship or plead special causes. Anarchists at the time and later historians have roundly debunked the Marxist-Leninist arguments that the tyranny was due to civil war, outside forces etc. (in short, all the things Lenin 'regrettably' did, he did before the 'special factors' mattered, furthermore, anarchists challenge Marxist-Leninists asking them to 'read what Lenin wrote' with 'study what Lenin did').
This short pamphlet does not go into to much detail of the Kronstadt rebellion - an excellent overview is here https://www.anarchistfaq.org/afaq/app..., however the importance of Goldman's essay is that she, and her friend Alexander Berkman where in Petrograd at the time of the rebellion, and thus, what we have is a first hand account of perspectives on the ground at the time. Of particular interest are Goldman's views on why Petrograd did not 'support' the rebellion, particularly due to the actions of the Cheka imprisoning working class activists and the use of the military busting strikes and breaking up meetings.
The thrust of Goldman's piece is to remind the reader not to rehabilitate Trotsky in light of his eventual expulsion from Stalinist Russia. Seeing as it's an essay of 50 or so pages and is a rebuttal to two other articles, it is interesting as a quick read and to experience Goldman's incisive writing but is probably not essential. It should pique readers to learn more about the Kronstadt rebellion, although it is a shame that even in 2023 there are Marxist-Leninists trying to justify their slaughter of the Kronstadt sailors.
The full text can be read here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra...
May 18, 2021
To put the message of this in the least academic way possible, the message is: “Fuck Stalin, Trotsky, Lenin, and all Bolsheviks.” Emma Goldman, much like other anarchist intellectuals, despises bolshevism and authoritarian communism. In her hatred for this sect of communists, she seems to have a more playful tone whereas a Pyotr Kropotkin, Malatesta, or Berkman has a serious tone and a very deep and thought out, in depth, reactions. Emma Goldman’s response to Leon Trotsky doesn’t examine the underlying ideology and immorality behind his thinking and actions, she just does a surface level critique; what she does is like a person saying “Hitler is bad because he killed people based on race” whereas an intellectual, which Emma Goldman is, don’t get me wrong, would write an essay tying in fascism, racism, authoritarianism, statism, etc. Emma Goldman didn’t do an in depth analysis of Bolshevism or authoritarianism, and that’s okay, I don’t think that was the goal; if you’re looking for a serious analysis of Bolshevism or Authoritarianism, see “The struggle against fascism begins with the struggle against bolshevism” by Otto Rühle, or “Ur-fascism” by Umberto Eco.
July 17, 2020
It's interesting to read Emma Goldman rip Trotsky a new one along with whole Bolshevist persecution of Anarchists.
https://www.marxists.org/reference/ar...
https://www.marxists.org/reference/ar...
January 2, 2021
Really good defence of the Anarchist side, shining light on the whole "it was a petty bourgeois uprising stirred by White Army generals" discourse.
May 11, 2020
A concise and thorough debunking of Trotsky's attempts to paint himself as wounded martyr. The text goes beyond debunking the myths about Trotsky's role in the Russian revolution and examines how the rise of Stalin and his repression grew out of the logic and repression of the other Bolshevik leaders.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews