Review: Of Romantic Revolutionaries and Death Camp Wardens.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 15, 2014
I read this book immediately after readingThe Master of Confessions: The Making of a Khmer Rouge Torturer, which described the background and trial of "Comrade Duch."  Comrade Duch was the prison warden of S-21, one of Cambodia's many death camps where 12,000 to 15,000 human beings were tortured to give spurious confessions - and to implicate others in non-existent reactionary plots - before being taken to the "killing fields" to be struck on the back of the head with an axe hanlde and have their throat cut.At his trial, Comrade Duch explained that in the morality of Khmer Rouge, "good" was that which advanced the interests of the proletariat, even if that meant driving city dwellers into the countryside to engage in slave labor in die in the millions.In reading this book, we see the spirit of Comrade Duch being celebrated in some way.This is the story of how the lives of Henry Clay Frick and Alexander Berkman, and Berkman's long-time lover, Emma Goldman.  Frick was the Steve Jobs of the 19th Century.  Frick pioneered coke production in the steel-foundry city of Pittsburgh and formed a partnership with Andrew Carnegie to run Carnegie's empire. By the 1890s, the industrial struggle had reached a fever pitch as workers attempted to unionize, and fought the Pinkertons and state militias in pitched battles.In the background of this story is the famous Homestead Strike where Frick sought to shut out the workers who had unionized from Carnegie's steel mills, while the workers fought pitched battles with guns and cannons against the Pinkertons who intended to drive the workers out of the mill and let non-union workers in.  This book provides a brief description and background for the Homestead Strike, but if the reader wants to get a feel for what the industrial culture probably felt like to radicalized workers, a good fiction book to read would be Jack London'sThe Iron Heel.Alexander Berkman was a radical Russian immigrant who had hooked up with the equally radical Russian immigrant Emma Goldman. Both were anarchist caught up in the ideology of the "propaganda of the deed." Goldman decided that the Homestead Strike and the deaths of workers called for an "attentat" - an act of violence designed to symbolize and encourage other such actions.  Goldman and Berkman decided that the attentat would involve the murder of Frick.At that time, Frick was a 42 year old, whose wife had just given birth to a child who was dying. Berkman traveled from New York to Ptitsburgh and secured a gun.  He had manufactured a dagger.  After missing several opportunities to kill Frick, Berkman went to Frick's offices, burst into a meeting, shot Frick twice in the neck - fearing that Frick might be wearing a bulletproof vest - and was wrestled into submission by workers, an associate of Frick and the bleading Frick.  In a demonstration of moxie, Frick was treated in his office, refused anesthesia and returned to work after the bullets had been removed.Berkman was tried for attempted murder and given a 21 year sentence.  (He was released early because of a corrupt political deal to rewrite a statute to release someone else.)  Goldman used her connection to the event to promote herself into radical fame. When Berkman was released in 1905, she and Berkman resumed their relationship for a time, before cheating on each other. They were re-united when they were arrested for protesting American involvement in World War I and both were sent to the newly created Soviet Union (which is the subject of Berkman's bookThe Bolshevik Myth, which describes Berkman's discovery that the state of his dreams was an oppressive fraud.What do we think about someone like Berkman and Goldman, who could casually plot the murder of another human being because it benefited the workers or the proletariat?  Isn't that the same philosophy that Comrade Duch relied in casually murdering 12,000 fellow Cambodians?  How hard would it have been for Berkman to have become the warden of a death camp if given the opportunity for the revolution?  This is Berkman's justification for murder://Like ending the life of a czar in their native Russia, Goldman and Berkman were convinced that Frick's death would be a mortal blow to the ruling class. To them, it was not murder. "A revolutionist would rather perish a thousand times than be guilty of what is ordinarily called murder," Berkman said. But this was different. "To remove a tyrant is an act of liberation, the giving of life and opportunity to an oppressed people.""Could anything be nobler than to die for a sublime cause?" Berkman asked. He located his copy of The Science of Revolutionary Warfare by Johann Most. The author, who had been one of Goldman's bedmates, was the best-known anarchist in New York. He was notorious for promoting the "propaganda of the deed," the idea of conducting violent political acts to inspire others. The book convinced Berkman that the best course of action would be to construct a bomb with a fuse. This way, he could survive the attack and use his trial to justify his actions. "Of course,"//Morris, James McGrath (2014-05-05). Revolution By Murder: Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and the Plot to Kill Henry Clay Frick (Kindle Single) (Kindle Locations 197-204).  . Kindle Edition.Are we supposed to read that and sigh in admiration for the nobility of Berkman's sentiments?It's hard to appreciate those sentiments after seeing them played out in full in Comrade Duch.The day of Berkman's departure for the Soviet Union, Frick and the other radical received the news that Frick had died of a heart attack. Berkman offered the following bon mot://As the date of their deportation neared, Goldman and Berkman attended a farewell dinner in their honor in Chicago. A reporter rushed in announcing Frick's death from a heart attack. "Deported by God," said Berkman. "I'm glad he left the country before me."Morris, James McGrath (2014-05-05). Revolution By Murder: Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and the Plot to Kill Henry Clay Frick (Kindle Single) (Kindle Locations 596-598).  . Kindle Edition.The book is a brief but thorough examination of this slice of American history.  It lacks reflection, which is may be part of its obligation to be brief. The book is equivocal on who was in the right. Frick is presented on the facts as a man of honor and law. Thus when Berkman is captured, this is the description://"Don't shoot," said the wounded Frick. "We have him now, leave him to the courts."The deputy, reinforced by the arrival of the police, held Berkman firmly in his grasp and asked Frick if this was the man who did the shooting. "Yes," replied Frick, "but bring him closer. I want to get a good view of him."One of the officers yanked Berkman's head back by his hair, and Berkman's eyes met Frick's. The industrialist's face was ashen gray, his beard was streaked red, and blood oozed from his neck. A strange feeling of shame came over Berkman. With defiant hatred, he looked Frick full in the face.//Morris, James McGrath (2014-05-05). Revolution By Murder: Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, and the Plot to Kill Henry Clay Frick (Kindle Single) (Kindle Locations 363-367).  . Kindle Edition.Thus, Frick shows a mercy and an admirable discipline that Berkman was apparently incapable of showing in the clutches of his ideological fixation.On the other hand, the end of the book is a paen to the love and friendship of Berkman and Goldman.If the Khmer Rouge had been crushed, perhaps we too would be reading tragic romances about the stifled ambition of Comrade Duch.I recommend this book as a good and brief introduction to the subject, albeit I think that the reader should really ponder what the meaning of this history really ought to be.