The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-13
NOTED WOMEN ANARCHISTS.
NOT NECESSARY TO GO TO THE OLD
WORLD TO FIND THEM.

New York. Oct. 11.-"What makes a
woman anarchist? Heredity, education
or environment"
The question was put to a woman
whose anarchy is thorough, but philo-
sophical, and wholly contemplative.
This is her answer: The woman an
archist is born. Men may be convert
ed, but women-never. 1 mean by that
the revolt against conditions must be
inborn-although a woman may go
through half her life before realizing
her revolutionary capacities. l am far
from saying it is a divine discomfort.
Anarchy, no more than anything else,
can turn ordinary human creatures in
to angels or demi- gods. But your an
archist must be born to kick against
the pricks of conditions social, finan-
cial, governmental. A woman who en-
braces the doctrine in its entirety
swings herself free of church and law,
creeds and communions, ordinances of
marriage and baptism. Indeed it is a
question if the social revolt is not
keener and more vigorous than that
against civil authority. All and twice
tel slavers, anarchy alleges specifically
against the the institution of marriage.
One cardinal doctrine is that the de-
struction of the family is the salvation
of the race. Family ties, it is held,
hold men and women in bondage to ex-
listing conditions and hamper them for
great deeds. And this is why l say
that a woman must be born for it, 1t
takes a very special fiber thus to brave
all the old gods"
Possibly she was right. Certainly the
personnel of the women who are or
have been opponents of anarchy goes
far to justify her. Though they are
dotted and spIotched through the whole
history of civilization, one needs go
no further back than Charlotte Cor
day to demonstrate how tragically
fixed idea may overturn the most in
tensely feminine temperament if only
the fiber of anarchy" be present.
Youth, beauty, high breeding, careful
nurture, awaited nothing against the
volcanic stress of the revolution. She
had never seen Citizen Murat-who
was, it appears, after all, no bad sort
but she hated in him his crimes-that
is to say, the crimes laid to him by
common report. And so she slew him,
and paid for it with her life. Martyr
though she was, one cannot escape the
conclusion that in spite of her pure
blood, her sheltered life and pious
training, she had something in common
with the unspeakable Theraigne de Mer-
incourt and her band of gutter bred
furies, who haunted the guillotine to
revile the aristocrats even when their
heads rolled from the block.
To-day anarchy and nihilism in
Russia have their Cordays-wit-
ness Vera Sassulitch. Princesses,
even are among the most ar
dent propagandists, and adroit and
powerful agents of the cult. Indeed,
it is said the Russian secret police
fear women of the highest class even
more than the students or the secret
societies. Naturally these revolution
airy grand duchesses and grand danes
generally are wary of letting their ten
denotes become known-not only on
personal grounds, but because 1t would
limit their usefulness. So long as they
go unsupported they can furnish the
workers with the two things most
needed-information and money. Thus
it happens that in actual work they
are not given even number, but des-
ignated simply as o.
The supreme of feminine contradic-
tons is Louise Michel, anarchist, pc
troleuse, fiery communist, and further
the most self-sacrificing simple-mind-
ed and warm hearted of women. Ac-
cording to anarchist belief, she was
tremendously well-born, for although
her mother was a peasant girl, her
father was the young heir to the cas-
tie of Broncourt. OF course there could
be no talk of marriage-but Louise
and her mother lived at the castle, the
aristocratic grandparents holding that
right, and justice demanded it. This
was before the Second Empire. Louise,
by refusing to take the oath of allie
glance to Napoleon Ill, lost her
chance of a teachers place and for
years endured pinching poverty. But
she went heart and soul, over to the
Paris Reds-spoke and worked Tor
them, and when the crash of the en-
pire eliminated in the terrors Of the
commune, made herself the incarna-
ton of it's murderous tendencies. SEN
tence Of death passed on her in De.
cember, II, was committed to i'm
prisonment and deportation. After the
general amnesty of 80 she came home
but again got into trouble, was SEN
fenced for five years, but when par
doned not long after refused 1.-THE in
suit of a pardon" and had to be forced
out of prison. She has lived since in
London, devoting herself less to an
archy than to the advancement of wo-
men, and by her daily way aud walk
contradicting all that is cruel or VIC
lent in her creed.
Beside her the American women an.
archists seem Grass and cheap. The
most notorious of them, Emma Gold
man, at present under an especial ban
is of Russian birth and semi Ameri-
can breeding. She was brought here
at Z, but has spent much time abroad
Her hold upon anarchy and anarchists
is a standing marvel. Her personal
ity is dominant even domineering, SO
much so that men, in the mass, resent
1t, and women. without exception, are
her critical detractors. Ugly. non-mag
netic, with a harsh, almost croaking
voice, that becomes a scream at the
least provocation, she yet holds atten-
ton upon first hearing by the force
and passion of her speech. Mentally
she is acute, but so narrow that, once
heard. there is no need of further lis
tening. The fact that she is nearly
always supremely illigocal in no wise
detracts. for she addresses audiences |
more illogical even than herself. She |
has lived 1.-The free life" with various |
of them the noto- |
rious Most, whom later she soundly |
thrashed. The cheers evoked by her |
speeches are mainly due to the fact |
that she has said what the most part |
Of her audience has been thinking. |
more forcibly than they could say II |
for themselves. And her weight. with |
out a friendly personal following, l. |
not perhaps so astonishing when one |
takes into consideration that in an |
archy and cognate beliefs from their |
very nature, there are no friends-ev- |
cry mans hand Is against every other |
mans. except in so far as the other r. |
20 the realization OF his own |