The Blast: The Complete Collection

by Alexander Berkman (Editor)

“The pages of The Blast seem to smell of black powder, or better, seem to have blown out of the eye of a social hurricane. A sense of absolute emergency pervades almost every column.” —Richard Drinnon After serving as editor for Emma Goldman’s Mother Earth , Alexander Berkman moved to San Francisco and started his own newspaper. This historical reprint of the complete 29 issues features articles, letters, news and editorials by Berkman and his revolution-minded contemporaries. Topics include the political trial of labor activists Mooney-Billings, a profile of Pancho Villa, the imprisonment of the Magon brothers, arrests of Goldman and Margaret Sanger for birth control agitation, and anti--conscription actions. Complete with powerful political artwork and photos.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Alexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century.

Berkman was born in Vilna in the Russian Empire (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) and emigrated to the United States in 1888. He lived in New York City, where he became involved in the anarchist movement. He was the lover and lifelong friend of anarchist Emma Goldman. In 1892, Alexander Berkman tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick for his role in violently suppressing the Homestead Steel Strike for which he served 14 years in prison. His experience in prison was the basis for his first book, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist.

After his release from prison, Berkman served as editor of Goldman's anarchist journal, Mother Earth, and he established his own journal, The Blast. In 1917, Berkman and Goldman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiracy against 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, Berkman soon voiced his opposition to the Soviet's use of terror after seizing power and their repression of fellow revolutionaries. In 1925, he published a book about his experiences, The Bolshevik Myth.

While living in France, Berkman continued his work in support of the anarchist movement, producing the classic exposition of anarchist principles, Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism. Suffering from ill health, Berkman committed suicide in 1936.

More: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/...

http://www.nndb.com/people/137/000165...

Reviews

[karly · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Blast: The Complete Collection" is, as the name implies, the collection of the the newspaper alexander berkman put out during his time in san francisco during, i think, 1916 and 1917. it is relatively boring reading through all the material about san francisco legislation, but the parts about the larger workers' movement and prisoner support are quite interesting. There are lots of advertisements for balls and banquets on anarchist holidays. i wish we still had these.

[River · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice collection of primary source material for folks doing research on anarchist history. I found some interesting stuff in here for sure, but it's definitely not the kind of thing you would read cover-to-cover (unless you are a bigger nerd than me).

[Doug Brunell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some reviews have called this book a chore to read through. That is not inaccurate. Reading reprints of a 1916 anarchist paper can be trying, but it is an amazing piece of history that we seem to be living in again. Labor woes. Women under fire. Immigrants being mistreated. Out-of-control police. It's all here, and the fact that much of it is ongoing throughout the issues gives readers a very clear sense of the conditions America, particularly California and the Pacific Northwest were under at the time.

This is a great read for anyone interested in history or anarchism. If that's not you, maybe it should be.