Emma Goldman cytaty

Emma Goldman była anarchistką znaną ze swych radykalnych wolnościowo-socjalistycznych oraz feministycznych pism i wypowiedzi.

Urodziła się w rodzinie żydowskiej na Litwie . W wieku 13 lat, w okresie represji politycznych po zabójstwie cara Aleksandra II, przeniosła się wraz z rodziną do Petersburga. Z powodu trudnej sytuacji ekonomicznej zmuszona była porzucić szkołę i rozpocząć pracę w fabryce. Tam po raz pierwszy zetknęła się z ideami rewolucyjnymi i anarchistycznymi.

Jako szesnastolatka wyjechała do USA. Powieszenie czterech anarchistów po zamieszkach w Chicago w maju 1886 roku pchnęło ją ostatecznie w kierunku ruchu anarchistycznego. W wieku 20 lat wyszła za mąż za rosyjskiego emigranta; małżeństwo nie było udane, ale nie rozwiodła się, co pozwoliło jej zachować amerykańskie obywatelstwo.

Po rozstaniu z mężem Emma Goldman przeniosła się do Nowego Jorku, gdzie poznała innego rosyjskiego anarchistę Aleksandra Berkmana. Stanowili razem parę głównych liderów ruchu anarchistycznego tego okresu w Stanach. Jej wykłady, które prowadziła w wielu miastach, przyciągały tłumy. Legenda głosi, że w celu zakupienia broni postanowiła zostać prostytutką, co rzekomo wyperswadował jej pierwszy klient . Znana z radykalizmu obyczajowego i światopoglądowego, często stawała się celem ataków jako inspiratorka zamachów i aktów terroryzmu. O swoim udziale w jej wykładzie wspomina między innymi Henry Miller. Przyjaźniła się z postępowymi wydawczyniami „The Little Review”, wydającymi między innymi zakazanego w Europie Ulissesa Joyce’a. Brała też udział w feministycznych walkach o kontrolę urodzeń, za co również była aresztowana, wraz z Margaret Sanger, w 1886 roku. W 1893 roku została uwięziona za „publiczne nakłanianie do kradzieży”, w 1901 zatrzymana na dwa tygodnie za „publiczne zachęcanie do zabójstwa prezydenta USA” ; w 1917 dostała dwa lata więzienia za organizowanie manifestacji antywojennych, w 1919 deportowana z USA do Rosji za rzekome inspirowanie zamachu na właściciela fabryki.

Była wraz z Aleksandrem Berkmanem wieloletnią redaktorką czasopisma anarchistycznego Mother Earth, pisała również na temat literatury i analizowała ją pod kątem społecznym.

Początkowo gorąco poparła idee rewolucji październikowej, szybko jednak przeżyła rozczarowanie spowodowane represjami, biurokracją, przymusem pracy, a także zniszczeniami spowodowanymi wojną domową. Użycie Armii Czerwonej do pacyfikacji strajków sprawiło, że Goldman zrewidowała swoje poglądy na użycie przemocy, teraz uważała że można jej użyć jedynie do samoobrony. Deportacje komunistów i anarchistów na Syberię, regularne czystki i pacyfikacje strajków metodą wojskową spowodowały, że ostatecznie opuściła Rosję w 1921 roku. Mieszkała w Rydze, Niemczech, Francji i ostatecznie w Londynie, skąd wyjechała w 1936 roku do Hiszpanii wspierać tamtejszych rewolucjonistów anarchistycznych w hiszpańskiej wojnie domowej.

Zmarła w Toronto i została pochowana na cmentarzu w Chicago, niedaleko grobów ofiar zamieszek z 1886 roku.

Zasłynęła sloganem „Jeśli nie mogę do tego tańczyć, to nie jest moja rewolucja”.



✵ 27. Czerwiec 1868 – 14. Maj 1940   •   Natępne imiona ఎమ్మా గోల్డ్‌మేన్, ايما گولڊمين
Emma Goldman Fotografia

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Emma Goldman: 113   Cytatów 4   Polubienia

Emma Goldman słynne cytaty

„Anarchizm wyzwala człowieka z więzów religii, spod panowania własności i władzy; to obrona równości społecznej opierającej się na wolności stowarzyszania się jednostek.”

Anarchism stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion and liberation of the human body from the coercion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. It stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals… (ang.)
Źródło: Anarchism and Other Essays, Nowy Jork 1911

„Jeśli nie mogę tańczyć, to nie jest moja rewolucja.”

If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution. (ang.)
Źródło: Living My Life, Nowy Jork 1931

„Każda śmiała próba dokonania wielkiej zmiany istniejących warunków, każda wzniosła wizja dla ludzkości była zaliczana do utopii.”

Every daring attempt to make a great change in existing conditions, every lofty vision of new possibilities for the human race, has been labelled Utopian. (ang.)
Źródło: Socialism: Caught in the Political Trap, (1912), w: Red Emma Speaks, Part 1, Alix Kates Shulman 1972.

Emma Goldman: Cytaty po angielsku

“Anarchism stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion and liberation of the human body from the coercion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government. It stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals…”

Emma Goldman książka Anarchism and Other Essays

Wariant: Anarchism, then, really stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; the liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraint of government.
Źródło: Anarchism and Other Essays

“Love, the strongest and deepest element in all life, the harbinger of hope, of joy, of ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all conventions; love, the freest, the most powerful moulder of human destiny; how can such an all-compelling force be synonymous with that poor little State and Church-begotten weed, marriage?
Free love? As if love is anything but free!”

"Marriage and Love" in Anarchism and Other Essays (1911)
Kontekst: Love, the strongest and deepest element in all life, the harbinger of hope, of joy, of ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all conventions; love, the freest, the most powerful moulder of human destiny; how can such an all-compelling force be synonymous with that poor little State and Church-begotten weed, marriage?
Free love? As if love is anything but free! Man has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but all the power on earth has been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered whole nations, but all his armies could not conquer love. Man has chained and fettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless before love. High on a throne, with all the splendor and pomp his gold can command, man is yet poor and desolate, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poorest hovel is radiant with warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of a beggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere.

“Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think.”

Anarchism: What It Really Stands For (1910) http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_archives/goldman/aando/anarchism.html
Kontekst: Someone has said that it requires less mental effort to condemn than to think. The widespread mental indolence, so prevalent in society, proves this to be only too true. Rather than to go to the bottom of any given idea, to examine into it's origing and meaning, most people will either condem it alltogether, or rely on some superficial or perjudicial definition of non-essentials

“It is everywhere present, in habits, tastes, dress, thoughts and ideas.”

"The Individual, Society and the State" (1940) http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/goldman/works/1940/individual.htm
Kontekst: The strongest bulwark of authority is uniformity; the least divergence from it is the greatest crime. The wholesale mechanisation of modern life has increased uniformity a thousandfold. It is everywhere present, in habits, tastes, dress, thoughts and ideas. Its most concentrated dullness is "public opinion." Few have the courage to stand out against it. He who refuses to submit is at once labelled "queer," "different," and decried as a disturbing element in the comfortable stagnancy of modern life.

“Its first ethical precept is the identity of means used and aims sought. The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and wellbeing.”

Emma Goldman książka My Disillusionment in Russia

My Disillusionment in Russia (1923)
Kontekst: Its first ethical precept is the identity of means used and aims sought. The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and wellbeing. Unless this be the essential aim of revolution, violent social changes would have no justification. For external social alterations can be, and have been, accomplished by the normal processes of evolution. Revolution, on the contrary, signifies not mere external change, but internal, basic, fundamental change. That internal change of concepts and ideas, permeating ever-larger social strata, finally culminates in the violent upheaval known as revolution.

“The whole history of man is continuous proof of the maxim that to divest one's methods of ethical concepts means to sink into the depths of utter demoralization.”

Emma Goldman książka My Disillusionment in Russia

My Disillusionment in Russia (1923)
Kontekst: The great and inspiring aims of the Revolution became so clouded with and obscured by the methods used by the ruling political power that it was hard to distinguish what was temporary means and what final purpose. Psychologically and socially the means necessarily influence and alter the aims. The whole history of man is continuous proof of the maxim that to divest one's methods of ethical concepts means to sink into the depths of utter demoralization. In that lies the real tragedy of the Bolshevik philosophy as applied to the Russian Revolution. May this lesson not be in vain.

“Perhaps even more than constituted authority, it is social uniformity and sameness that harass the individual most.”

"The Individual, Society and the State" (1940) http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/goldman/works/1940/individual.htm
Kontekst: Perhaps even more than constituted authority, it is social uniformity and sameness that harass the individual most. His very "uniqueness," "separateness" and "differentiation" make him an alien, not only in his native place, but even in his own home. Often more so than the foreign born who generally falls in with the established.

“The inherent tendency of the State is to concentrate, to narrow, and monopolize all social activities; the nature of revolution is, on the contrary, to grow, to broaden, and disseminate itself in ever-wider circles. In other words, the State is institutional and static; revolution is fluent, dynamic.”

Emma Goldman książka My Disillusionment in Russia

My Disillusionment in Russia (1923)
Kontekst: The STATE IDEA, the authoritarian principle, has been proven bankrupt by the experience of the Russian Revolution. If I were to sum up my whole argument in one sentence I should say: The inherent tendency of the State is to concentrate, to narrow, and monopolize all social activities; the nature of revolution is, on the contrary, to grow, to broaden, and disseminate itself in ever-wider circles. In other words, the State is institutional and static; revolution is fluent, dynamic. These two tendencies are incompatible and mutually destructive. The State idea killed the Russian Revolution and it must have the same result in all other revolutions, unless the libertarian idea prevail.

“We Americans claim to be a peace-loving people. We hate bloodshed; we are opposed to violence. Yet we go into spasms of joy over the possibility of projecting dynamite bombs from flying machines upon helpless citizens.”

What is Patriotism? (1908)
Kontekst: We Americans claim to be a peace-loving people. We hate bloodshed; we are opposed to violence. Yet we go into spasms of joy over the possibility of projecting dynamite bombs from flying machines upon helpless citizens. We are ready to hang, electrocute, or lynch anyone, who, from economic necessity, will risk his own life in the attempt upon that of some industrial magnate. Yet our hearts swell with pride at the thought that America is becoming the most powerful nation on earth, and that she will eventually plant her iron foot on the necks of all other nations.
Such is the logic of patriotism.

“I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things." Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world — prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own closest comrades I would live my beautiful ideal.”

Emma Goldman książka Living My Life

This incident was the source of a statement commonly attributed to Goldman that occurs in several variants:
If I can't dance, it's not my revolution!
If I can't dance, I don't want your revolution!
If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.
A revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having.
If there won't be dancing at the revolution, I'm not coming.
Living My Life (1931)
Kontekst: At the dances I was one of the most untiring and gayest. One evening a cousin of Sasha, a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he were about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway. It was undignified for one who was on the way to become a force in the anarchist movement. My frivolity would only hurt the Cause.
I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business. I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things." Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world — prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own closest comrades I would live my beautiful ideal. (p. 56)

“After all, it means thirteen dollars per month, three meals a day, and a place to sleep. Yet even necessity is not sufficiently strong a factor to bring into the army an element of character and manhood.”

What is Patriotism? (1908)
Kontekst: Our writer claims that militarism can never become such a power in America as abroad, since it is voluntary with us, while compulsory in the Old World. Two very important facts, however, the gentleman forgets to consider. First, that conscription has created in Europe a deep-seated hatred of militarism among all classes of society. Thousands of young recruits enlist under protest and, once in the army, they will use every possible means to desert. Second, that it is the compulsory feature of militarism which has created a tremendous anti-militarist movement, feared by European Powers far more than anything else. After all, the greatest bulwark of capitalism is militarism. The very moment the latter is undermined, capitalism will totter. True, we have no conscription; that is, men are not usually forced to enlist in the army, but we have developed a far more exacting and rigid force--necessity. Is it not a fact that during industrial depressions there is a tremendous increase in the number of enlistments? The trade of militarism may not be either lucrative or honorable, but it is better than tramping the country in search of work, standing in the bread line, or sleeping in municipal lodging houses. After all, it means thirteen dollars per month, three meals a day, and a place to sleep. Yet even necessity is not sufficiently strong a factor to bring into the army an element of character and manhood. No wonder our military authorities complain of the "poor material" enlisting in the army and navy. This admission is a very encouraging sign. It proves that there is still enough of the spirit of independence and love of liberty left in the average American to risk starvation rather than don the uniform.

“Revolution, on the contrary, signifies not mere external change, but internal, basic, fundamental change. That internal change of concepts and ideas, permeating ever-larger social strata,”

Emma Goldman książka My Disillusionment in Russia

My Disillusionment in Russia (1923)
Kontekst: Its first ethical precept is the identity of means used and aims sought. The ultimate end of all revolutionary social change is to establish the sanctity of human life, the dignity of man, the right of every human being to liberty and wellbeing. Unless this be the essential aim of revolution, violent social changes would have no justification. For external social alterations can be, and have been, accomplished by the normal processes of evolution. Revolution, on the contrary, signifies not mere external change, but internal, basic, fundamental change. That internal change of concepts and ideas, permeating ever-larger social strata, finally culminates in the violent upheaval known as revolution.

“There are, however, some potentates I would kill by any and all means at my disposal. They are Ignorance, Superstition, and Bigotry — the most sinister and tyrannical rulers on earth.”

Responding to audience questions during a speech in Detroit (1898); as recounted in Living My Life (1931), p. 207; quoted by Annie Laurie Gaylor in Women Without Superstition, p. 382
Kontekst: Ladies and gentlemen, I came here to avoid as much as possible treading on your corns. I had intended to deal only with the basic issue of economics that dictates our lives from the cradle to the grave, regardless of our religion or moral beliefs. I see now that it was a mistake. If one enters a battle, he cannot be squeamish about a few corns. Here, then, are my answers: I do not believe in God, because I believe in man. Whatever his mistakes, man has for thousands of years past been working to undo the botched job your God has made.
As to killing rulers, it depends entirely on the position of the ruler. If it is the Russian Czar, I most certainly believe in dispatching him to where he belongs. If the ruler is as ineffectual as an American President, it is hardly worth the effort. There are, however, some potentates I would kill by any and all means at my disposal. They are Ignorance, Superstition, and Bigotry — the most sinister and tyrannical rulers on earth. As for the gentleman who asked if free love would not build more houses of prostitution, my answer is: They will all be empty if the men of the future look like him.

“True, we have no conscription; that is, men are not usually forced to enlist in the army, but we have developed a far more exacting and rigid force--necessity”

What is Patriotism? (1908)
Kontekst: Our writer claims that militarism can never become such a power in America as abroad, since it is voluntary with us, while compulsory in the Old World. Two very important facts, however, the gentleman forgets to consider. First, that conscription has created in Europe a deep-seated hatred of militarism among all classes of society. Thousands of young recruits enlist under protest and, once in the army, they will use every possible means to desert. Second, that it is the compulsory feature of militarism which has created a tremendous anti-militarist movement, feared by European Powers far more than anything else. After all, the greatest bulwark of capitalism is militarism. The very moment the latter is undermined, capitalism will totter. True, we have no conscription; that is, men are not usually forced to enlist in the army, but we have developed a far more exacting and rigid force--necessity. Is it not a fact that during industrial depressions there is a tremendous increase in the number of enlistments? The trade of militarism may not be either lucrative or honorable, but it is better than tramping the country in search of work, standing in the bread line, or sleeping in municipal lodging houses. After all, it means thirteen dollars per month, three meals a day, and a place to sleep. Yet even necessity is not sufficiently strong a factor to bring into the army an element of character and manhood. No wonder our military authorities complain of the "poor material" enlisting in the army and navy. This admission is a very encouraging sign. It proves that there is still enough of the spirit of independence and love of liberty left in the average American to risk starvation rather than don the uniform.

“Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere.”

"Marriage and Love" in Anarchism and Other Essays (1911)
Kontekst: Love, the strongest and deepest element in all life, the harbinger of hope, of joy, of ecstasy; love, the defier of all laws, of all conventions; love, the freest, the most powerful moulder of human destiny; how can such an all-compelling force be synonymous with that poor little State and Church-begotten weed, marriage?
Free love? As if love is anything but free! Man has bought brains, but all the millions in the world have failed to buy love. Man has subdued bodies, but all the power on earth has been unable to subdue love. Man has conquered whole nations, but all his armies could not conquer love. Man has chained and fettered the spirit, but he has been utterly helpless before love. High on a throne, with all the splendor and pomp his gold can command, man is yet poor and desolate, if love passes him by. And if it stays, the poorest hovel is radiant with warmth, with life and color. Thus love has the magic power to make of a beggar a king. Yes, love is free; it can dwell in no other atmosphere.

“He who refuses to submit is at once labelled "queer," "different," and decried as a disturbing element in the comfortable stagnancy of modern life.”

"The Individual, Society and the State" (1940) http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/goldman/works/1940/individual.htm
Kontekst: The strongest bulwark of authority is uniformity; the least divergence from it is the greatest crime. The wholesale mechanisation of modern life has increased uniformity a thousandfold. It is everywhere present, in habits, tastes, dress, thoughts and ideas. Its most concentrated dullness is "public opinion." Few have the courage to stand out against it. He who refuses to submit is at once labelled "queer," "different," and decried as a disturbing element in the comfortable stagnancy of modern life.

“If voting changed anything, it would be made illegal”

Variants:
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal."
"If voting changed anything it would be illegal."
"If voting made a difference it would be illegal."
"If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it." - also incorrectly attributed to American humorist Mark Twain or American peace activist Philip Berrigan..
Although often attributed to Goldman, there is no evidence that she made this statement. The earliest known example of this quote is from a 1976 newspaper opinion piece: "If voting could change anything, it would be made illegal".
Disputed
Źródło: Snopes.com - Election Dissection http://www.snopes.com/mark-twain-voting-quote/
Źródło: Borden, Robert S., "Voting is Dishonest and Fraudulent" https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5211342/if_voting_could_change_anything_it/, The Sun (Lowell, Massachusetts), 1976-09-24, p. 7

“The most violent element in society is ignorance.”

Wariant: The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.

“When we can't dream any longer we die.”

Quoted by Margaret C. Anderson in "Emma Goldman in Chicago" http://books.google.com/books?id=zstCAQAAMAAJ&q=%22When+we+can't+dream+any+longer+we+die%22&pg=PA321#v=onepage, Mother Earth magazine (December 1914)

“Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread.”

Emma Goldman książka Anarchism and Other Essays

Źródło: Anarchism and Other Essays

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