Evening star., 1901-09-09

broad forehead: earnest, dilating gray eyes
under straighs heavily marked brows.
There Is Emma Goldman, the anarchist.
She has the mouth of a worker and the
eyes of an enthusiast. Her fact Is quiet, but
1t is the face of Slav and the quiet means
self-control. not indifference. No one would
think of calling the woman handsome. She
would pass unnoticed in a crowd but no
one who had talked with her and studied
her would forget her. One sees many such
faces among the girl students of Russia,
intelligent, desperately earnest, lighted
from within by an ideal and purpose, yet
calm as mask, save for the eyes,
The woman's Greed.
She Is quoted as saying:
81 was an anarchist when I left Russia to
come to America, but had hardly formu-
lated my belief The final influence that
crystallized my views was the hanging OF
the Chicago anarchists in 1887. 1 followed
that case carefully and it made me an
active anarchist. / was living with my
family in Rochester then, and the nearest
thing to a radical society the town had was
social democratic society, tame as
house cat. ] came away to New York and
went to work in a factory. That showed
me new side of life. My family had been
well-to-do. and L hadn't come in actual
contact with the want and suffering of the
world until Joined the wage earners.
"Of course the experience strengthened
my revolutionary ideas. When the Waist
1888 l led the strike. That is, in way 1
led it, / have never been an anarchist
leader. / cannot afford it. A leader must
be diplomat. / am not diplomat.
leader of a party makes concessions to his
party for the sake of holding his power.
He must give way to his followers in order
to be sure they will sustain him. l can't
do all that. L am an anarchist because L
love individual freedom and will not sur
render that freedom.
DSp I'm
81 soon saw that the safest and wisest
way to keep myself free was not to be
leader. That is why 1 am connected with
no party. 1 am member of no group. 1
stand outside. I take no pay. 1 accept no
favors. What 1 do 1 do individually for
love of the cause. There is no party to
back me, but there is no party to say You
must do this and you must not do that
You are paid. You owe 1t to US. You must
bow to the majority / bow to nothing
except my idea of right. I am free and
will stay free. Individual freedom and re-
sponsibility-there is the basis for true an
archy.
Il have never propagated violence
don't know Of a single truly great anar-
chist leader who ever did advocate violence.
Where violence comes with anarchy 1t Is
a result Of the conditions, not of anarchy.
There is Ignorance, cruelty, starvation, pow
erty. suffering and some victim grows tired
Of waiting. He believes a decisive blow
win call public attention to the wrongs of
his country and may hasten the remedy.
He and perhaps one or two intimate friends
or relatives make plan. They do not
have orders. They do not consult other
anarchists If man came to me and told
me he was planning assassination
would think him an utter fool and refuse to
pay any attention to him. The man who
has such plan, If he is earnest and hon
est, knows no secret is safe when told. He
does the deed himself; runs the risk him
self: pays the penalty himself. I honor
him for the spirit that prompts him. 1t is
no small thing for man to be willing to
lay down his life for the cause Of human
ity. The act Is noble, but 1t Is mistaken.
Anarchy's Best Futre Lies Here.
mo. I have never advocated violence,
but neither do 1 condemn the anarchist
who resorts to 1t. I look behind him for
the conditions that made him possible, and
my horror is swallowed up in pity. Per-
haps under the same conditions I would
have done the same.
I'VE in America haven't yet reached
conditions-economic conditions, I mean
that necessarily breed violence. l am
thankful for that; but we are nearer such
conditions than the old-time Americans
ever dreamed we would be. and unless
something is done to stop it the time will
come. L have great faith in America. An
archy's best future lies In America