New Anarchist Library: No. 7 in a Series

ALEXANDER BERKMAN (1870-1936) was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century, famous for both his political activism and his writing.

Berkman's rebeliousness exhibited itself early, when as a student he was in a group which read Nihilist works and other forbidden literature.  Attracted to radical ideas early, he was expelled from school after submitting an atheistic essay to his instructors.  He emigrated to the United States in 1887 and quickly involved himself in the city's radical political communities, joining the fight to free the men convicted of the Haymarket Bombing.  He was the one-time lover and lifelong friend of anarchist Emma Goldman, whom he met on her first day in New York City.  In 1892, undertaking an act of propaganda of the deed, Berkman made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate businessman Henry Clay Frick, for which he served 14 years in prison.  His experience in prison was the basis for his first book, PRISON MEMOIRS OF AN ANARCHIST (1912).

After his release from prison, Berkman served as editor of Goldman's anarchist journal, "Mother Earth."  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 and Goldman soon became disillusioned, voicing their 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 (and its concluding chapter, THE "ANTI-CLIMAX").

While living in France, Berkman continued his work in support of the anarchist movement, producing the classic exposition of anarchist principles, THE ABC OF ANARCHISM (1929), which historian Paul Avrich described as "the clearest exposition of communist anarchism in English or any other language."  Suffering from ill health, Berkman committed suicide in 1936.


The following books are in PDF format unless otherwise indicated:

* ABC of Anarchism (Freedom Press, 1995)
* Anti-Climax: My Concluding Chapter of My Russian Diary (Fitzgerald, 1925)
* Bolshevik Myth, The (Diary 1920-1922) (Hutchinson, 1925)
* Deportation: Its Meaning and Menace (1919) [with Emma Goldman]
* Fragment of the Prison Experiences of Alexander Berkman (Stella Comyn, 1919)
* Life of an Anarchist: A Berkman Reader (Seven Stories, 2004) — PDF + ePUB
* Kronstadt Rebellion, The (Der Syndikalist, 1922)
* Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist (Mother Earth, 1912 / AK, 2016) — PDF + ePUB


These reprints from the Anarchist Library are also included (all PDF):

* Anti-War Manifesto of the Anarchist International [1915] (AL, 2020)
* Bolshevik Myth [1920-22] (AL, 2009)
* Bolsheviks Shooting Anarchists [1922] (AL, 2011)
* Deportation [1919] (AL, 2010)
* Down With the Anarchists [1910s] (AL, 2020)
* In Reply to Kropotkin [1914] (AL, 2012)
* Kronstadt Rebellion [1922] (AL, 2009)
* Need of Translating Ideals into Life [1910] (AL, 2012)
* Only Hope of Ireland [1916] (AL, 20098)
* Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist [1912] (AL, 2009)
* Prisons and Crime [1906] (AL, 2011)
* Russia Tragedy, The [1922] (AL, 2009)
* Russian Revolution and the Communist Party [1922] (AL, 2009)
* Sacco and Vanzetti [1929] (AL, 2009)
* Some Reminiscences of Kropotkin (AL, 2009)
* Suggestions for Discussion [1928] (AL, 2020)
* To Our Comrades Everywhere [1928] (AL, 2020)
* To the Youth of America [1917] (AL, 2010)
* War Dictionary [1917] (AL, 2009)
* What is Communist Anarchism [1929] (AL, 2009)

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