Editing Emma Goldman (section)

== Biography ==

=== Family ===
Emma Goldman was born into an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] family in [[Kovno|Kaunas]] in Lithuania, then within the Russian Empire.{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=24}} Goldman's mother Taube Bienowitch had been married before to a man with whom she had two daughters—Helena in 1860 and Lena in 1862. When her first husband died of [[tuberculosis]], Taube was devastated. Goldman later wrote: "Whatever love she had had died with the young man to whom she had been married at the age of fifteen."{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=447}}

Taube's second [[arranged marriage|marriage was arranged]] by her family and, as Goldman puts it, "mismated from the first".{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=447}} Her second husband, Abraham Goldman, invested Taube's inheritance in a business that quickly failed. The ensuing hardship, combined with the emotional distance between husband and wife, made the household a tense place for the children. When Taube became pregnant, Abraham hoped desperately for a son; a daughter, he believed, would be one more sign of failure.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|p=5}} They eventually had three sons, but their first child was Emma.<ref>The order of birth is unclear; {{harvnb|Wexler|1984|p=13}} notes that although Goldman writes as being her mother's fourth child, her brother Louis (who died at the age of six) was probably born after her.</ref>

Emma Goldman was born on June 27, 1869.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|p=12}}{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=6}} Her father used violence to punish his children, beating them when they disobeyed him. He used a whip on Emma, the most rebellious of them.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|p=13}} Her mother provided scarce comfort, rarely calling on Abraham to tone down his beatings.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|p=12}} Goldman later speculated that her father's furious temper was at least partly a result of sexual frustration.{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=447}}

Goldman's relationships with her elder half-sisters, Helena and Lena, were a study in contrasts. Helena, the oldest, provided the comfort the children lacked from their mother and filled Goldman's childhood with "whatever joy it had".{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=11}} Lena, however, was distant and uncharitable.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=12}} The three sisters were joined by brothers Louis (who died at the age of six), Herman (born in 1872), and Moishe (born in 1879).{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=13–14}}

=== Adolescence ===
[[File:Emma Goldman's family.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|right|Emma Goldman's family in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1882. From left to right: Emma, standing; Helena, seated, with Morris on her lap; Taube; Herman; Abraham.]]
When Emma Goldman was a young girl, the Goldman family moved to the village of [[Papilė]], where her father ran an inn. While her sisters worked, she became friends with a servant named Petrushka, who excited her "first erotic sensations".{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=20}} Later in Papilė she witnessed a peasant being whipped with a [[knout]] in the street. This event traumatized her and contributed to her lifelong distaste for violent authority.{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=28}}

At the age of seven, Goldman moved with her family to the Prussian city of [[Königsberg]] (then part of the [[German Empire]]), and she was enrolled in a ''[[Realschule]]''. One teacher punished disobedient students—targeting Goldman in particular—by beating their hands with a ruler. Another teacher tried to molest his female students and was fired when Goldman fought back. She found a sympathetic mentor in her German-language teacher, who loaned her books and took her to an opera. A passionate student, Goldman passed the exam for admission into a [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]], but her religion teacher refused to provide a certificate of good behavior and she was unable to attend.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|pp=6–7}}

The family moved to the Russian capital of [[Saint Petersburg]], where her father opened one unsuccessful store after another. Their poverty forced the children to work, and Goldman took an assortment of jobs, including one in a [[corset]] shop.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|p=15}} As a teenager Goldman begged her father to allow her to return to school, but instead he threw her French book into the fire and shouted: "Girls do not have to learn much! All a Jewish daughter needs to know is how to prepare [[gefilte fish]], cut noodles fine, and give the man plenty of children."{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=12}}

Goldman pursued an independent education [[autodidact|on her own]]. She studied the political turmoil around her, particularly the [[Nihilist movement|Nihilists]] responsible for assassinating [[Alexander II of Russia]]. The ensuing turmoil intrigued Goldman, although she did not fully understand it at the time.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=23–25}} When she read [[Nikolai Chernyshevsky]]'s novel, ''[[What Is to Be Done? (novel)|What Is to Be Done?]]'' (1863), she found a role model in the protagonist Vera, who adopts a Nihilist philosophy and escapes her repressive family to live freely and organize a sewing [[cooperative]]. The book enthralled Goldman and remained a source of inspiration throughout her life.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=26}}

Her father, meanwhile, continued to insist on a domestic future for her, and he tried to arrange for her to be married at the age of fifteen. They fought about the issue constantly; he complained that she was becoming a "loose" woman, and she insisted that she would marry for love alone.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|p=16}} At the corset shop, she was forced to fend off unwelcome advances from Russian officers and other men. One man took her into a hotel room and committed what Goldman described as "violent contact";{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=22}} two biographers call it rape.{{sfnm|1a1=Chalberg|1y=1991|1p=16|2a1=Falk|2y=1984|2p=14}} She was stunned by the experience, overcome by "shock at the discovery that the contact between man and woman could be so brutal and painful."{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=23}} Goldman felt that the encounter forever soured her interactions with men.{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=23}}

=== Rochester, New York ===
[[File:Emma goldman 1886.jpg|thumb|upright|Emma Goldman in 1886]]
In 1885, her sister Helena made plans to move to New York in the United States to join her sister Lena and her husband. Goldman wanted to join her sister, but their father refused to allow it. Despite Helena's offer to pay for the trip, Abraham turned a deaf ear to their pleas. Desperate, Goldman threatened to throw herself into the [[Neva River]] if she could not go. Their father finally agreed. On December 29, 1885, Helena and Emma arrived at New York City's [[Castle Garden]], the entry for immigrants.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=27}}

They settled upstate, living in the [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]] home which Lena had made with her husband Samuel. Fleeing the rising [[antisemitism]] of Saint Petersburg, their parents and brothers joined them a year later. Goldman began working as a [[seamstress]], sewing overcoats for more than ten hours a day, earning two and a half dollars a week. She asked for a raise and was denied; she quit and took work at a smaller shop nearby.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=30}}

At her new job, Goldman met a fellow worker named Jacob Kershner, who shared her love for books, dancing, and traveling, as well as her frustration with the monotony of factory work. After four months, they married in February 1887.{{sfn|Falk|1984|pp=15–16}} Once he moved in with Goldman's family, their relationship faltered. On their wedding night she discovered that he was impotent; they became emotionally and physically distant. Before long he became jealous and suspicious and threatened to commit suicide should she leave him. Meanwhile, Goldman was becoming more engaged with the political turmoil around her, particularly the aftermath of executions related to the 1886 [[Haymarket affair]] in Chicago and the [[anti-authoritarian]] political philosophy of [[anarchism]].{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=31}}

Less than a year after the wedding, the couple were divorced; Kershner begged Goldman to return and threatened to poison himself if she did not. They reunited, but after three months she left once again. Her parents considered her behavior "loose" and refused to allow Goldman into their home.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|pp=15–17}} Carrying her sewing machine in one hand and a bag with five dollars in the other, she left Rochester and headed southeast to New York City.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|p=27}}

=== Most and Berkman ===
[[File:Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman.jpg|thumb|Goldman enjoyed a decades-long relationship with her lover [[Alexander Berkman]]. Photo c. 1917–1919.]]

On her first day in New York City, Goldman met two men who would have a significant and enduring influence on the course of her life. At Sachs' Café, a gathering place for radicals, she was introduced to [[Alexander Berkman]], an anarchist who invited her to a public speech that evening. They went to hear [[Johann Most]], editor of a radical publication called ''[[Freiheit (1879)|Freiheit]]'' and an advocate of "[[propaganda of the deed]]"—the use of violence to instigate change.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|pp=27–28}} She was impressed by his fiery oration, and Most took her under his wing, training her in methods of public speaking. He encouraged her vigorously, telling her that she was "to take my place when I am gone."{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=40}} One of her first public talks in support of "the Cause" was in Rochester. After convincing Helena not to tell their parents of her speech, Goldman found her mind a blank once on stage. She later wrote, suddenly:{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=51}}

{{Blockquote|something strange happened. In a flash I saw it—every incident of my three years in Rochester: the Garson factory, its drudgery and humiliation, the failure of my marriage, the Chicago crime...I began to speak. Words I had never heard myself utter before came pouring forth, faster and faster. They came with passionate intensity...The audience had vanished, the hall itself had disappeared; I was conscious only of my own words, of my ecstatic song.}}

Excited by the experience, Goldman refined her public persona during subsequent engagements. She quickly found herself arguing with Most over her independence. After a momentous speech in [[Cleveland]], she felt as though she had become "a parrot repeating Most's views"{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=52}} and resolved to express herself on the stage. When she returned to New York, Most became furious and told her: "Who is not with me is against me!"{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=54}} She left ''Freiheit'' and joined another publication, ''[[Die Autonomie]]''.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=53}}

Meanwhile, Goldman had begun a friendship with Berkman, whom she affectionately called Sasha. Before long they became lovers and moved into a communal apartment with his cousin [[Modest Stein|Modest "Fedya" Stein]] and Goldman's friend, Helen Minkin, on [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]].{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=57}} Although their relationship had numerous difficulties, Goldman and Berkman would share a close bond for decades, united by their anarchist principles and commitment to personal equality.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=57–58}}

In 1892, Goldman joined with Berkman and Stein in opening an ice cream shop in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]]. After a few months of operating the shop, Goldman and Berkman were diverted to participate in the [[Homestead Strike]] near [[Pittsburgh]].<ref>{{cite web | title = People & Events: Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919) | publisher = [[PBS]] | date = March 11, 2004 | url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/peopleevents/p_frick.html | access-date = July 10, 2015 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150712130323/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/peopleevents/p_frick.html | archive-date = July 12, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | last = Southwick | first = Albert B. | title = Emma Goldman pays a visit | newspaper = [[Telegram & Gazette]] | location = [[Worcester, Massachusetts]] | date = June 26, 2014 | url = http://www.telegram.com/article/20140626/COLUMN21/306269974/0 | access-date = July 10, 2015 | archive-date = July 10, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150710212452/http://www.telegram.com/article/20140626/COLUMN21/306269974/0| url-status = dead }}</ref>

=== Homestead plot ===
{{further|Homestead Strike}}
Berkman and Goldman came together through the [[Homestead Strike]]. In June 1892, a steel plant in [[Homestead, Pennsylvania]], owned by [[Andrew Carnegie]] became the focus of national attention when talks between the [[Carnegie Steel Company]] and the [[Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers]] (AA) broke down. The factory's manager was [[Henry Clay Frick]], a fierce opponent of the union. When a final round of talks failed at the end of June, management closed the plant and locked out the workers, who immediately went on strike. [[Strikebreaker]]s were brought in and the company hired [[Pinkerton National Detective Agency|Pinkerton guards]] to protect them. On July 6, a fight broke out between 300 Pinkerton guards and a crowd of armed union workers. During the twelve-hour gunfight, seven guards and nine strikers were killed.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=61–62}}

[[File:Henry Clay Frick.jpg|thumb|upright|Goldman and Berkman believed that a retaliatory assassination of [[Carnegie Steel Company]] manager [[Henry Clay Frick]] (''pictured'') would "strike terror into the soul of his class" and "bring the teachings of Anarchism before the world".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1984|p=63}}.</ref>]]

When a majority of the nation's newspapers expressed support of the strikers, Goldman and Berkman resolved to assassinate Frick, an action they expected would inspire the workers to revolt against the capitalist system. Berkman chose to carry out the assassination and ordered Goldman to stay behind in order to explain his motives after he went to jail. He would be in charge of "the deed"; she of the associated propaganda.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=63–65}} Berkman set off for Pittsburgh on his way to Homestead, where he planned to shoot Frick.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=65}}

Goldman, meanwhile, decided to help fund the scheme through [[prostitution]]. Remembering the character of Sonya in [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]]'s novel ''[[Crime and Punishment]]'' (1866), she mused: "She had become a prostitute in order to support her little brothers and sisters ... Sensitive Sonya could sell her body; why not I?"{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=91}} Once on the street, Goldman caught the eye of a man who took her into a [[bar (establishment)|saloon]], bought her a beer, gave her ten dollars, informed her she did not have "the knack," and told her to quit the business. She was "too astounded for speech".{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=91}} She wrote to Helena, claiming illness, and asked her for fifteen dollars.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|p=45}}

On July 23, Berkman gained access to Frick's office while carrying a concealed handgun; he shot Frick three times, and stabbed him in the leg. A group of workers—far from joining in his ''attentat''—beat Berkman unconscious, and he was carried away by the police.{{sfnm|Chalberg|1991|pp=42–43|2a1=Falk|2y=1984|2p=25|3a1=Wexler|3y=1984|3p=65}} Berkman was convicted of attempted murder<ref>{{cite news |title=Alexander Berkman, the Anarchist, to Be Deported; Case of Emma Goldman Now Up for Decision|work=The New York Times|date=November 26, 1919|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/11/26/archives/alexander-berkman-the-anarchist-to-be-deported-case-of-emma-goldman.html}}</ref> and sentenced to 22 years in prison.{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=106}} Goldman suffered during his long absence.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=65}}

Convinced Goldman was involved in the plot, police raided her apartment. Although they found no evidence, they pressured her landlord into evicting her. Furthermore, the ''attentat'' had failed to rouse the masses: workers and anarchists alike condemned Berkman's action. Johann Most, their former mentor, lashed out at Berkman and the assassination attempt. Furious at these attacks, Goldman brought a toy horsewhip to a public lecture and demanded, onstage, that Most explain his betrayal. He dismissed her, whereupon she struck him with the whip, broke it on her knee, and hurled the pieces at him.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=65–66}}{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=105}} She later regretted her assault, confiding to a friend: "At the age of twenty-three, one does not reason."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1984|p=66}}.</ref>

=== "Inciting to riot" ===
When the [[Panic of 1893]] struck in the following year, the United States suffered one of its worst economic crises. By year's end, the unemployment rate was higher than 20%,<ref>[http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=538 "Panic of 1893"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080507042708/http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=538 |date=May 7, 2008 }}. [http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/index.php Ohio History Central] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220025233/http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/index.php |date=February 20, 2008 }}. Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Retrieved on December 18, 2007.</ref> and "hunger demonstrations" sometimes gave way to riots. Goldman began speaking to crowds of frustrated men and women in New York City. On August 21, she spoke to a crowd of nearly 3,000 people in [[Union Square (New York City)|Union Square]], where she encouraged unemployed workers to take immediate action. Her exact words are unclear: undercover agents insist she ordered the crowd to "take everything&nbsp;...&nbsp;by force".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Chalberg|1991|p=46}}.</ref> But Goldman later recounted this message: "Well then, demonstrate before the palaces of the rich; demand work. If they do not give you work, demand bread. If they deny you both, take bread."{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=123}} Later in court, Detective-Sergeant Charles Jacobs offered yet another version of her speech.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|pp=58–59}}

[[File:Emma Goldman surrounded by crowd.jpg|thumb|Goldman (shown here in [[Union Square (New York City)|Union Square]], New York in 1916) urged unemployed workers to take [[direct action]] rather than depend on charity or government aid.]]

A week later, Goldman was arrested in [[Philadelphia]] and returned to New York City for trial, charged with "inciting to riot".{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=76}} During the train ride, Jacobs offered to drop the charges against her if she would inform on other radicals in the area. She responded by throwing a glass of ice water in his face.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|p=57}} As she awaited trial, Goldman was visited by [[Nellie Bly]], a reporter for the ''[[New York World]].'' She spent two hours talking to Goldman and wrote a positive article about the woman she described as a "modern [[Joan of Arc]]."<ref>[[Nellie Bly]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20150415182809/http://sunsite3.berkeley.edu/Goldman/Samples/bly.html "Nelly Bly Again: She Interviews Emma Goldman and Other Anarchists"], ''[[New York World]]'', September 17, 1893.<!--The reporter's name was spelled Nellie Bly, but the article's title spelled it "Nelly" Bly.--></ref>

Despite this positive publicity, the jury was persuaded by Jacobs' testimony and frightened by Goldman's politics. The assistant district attorney questioned Goldman about her anarchism, as well as her atheism; the judge spoke of her as "a dangerous woman".{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|p=60}} She was sentenced to one year in the [[Roosevelt Island|Blackwell's Island]] Penitentiary. Once inside, she suffered an attack of [[rheumatism]] and was sent to the infirmary. There, she befriended a visiting doctor and received informal training in [[nursing]], eventually being placed in charge of a 16-bed women's ward in the infirmary.<ref name="Essex 2023">{{cite journal |last=Essex |first=Ryan |title=Anarchy and Its Overlooked Role in Health and Healthcare |journal=[[Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=32 |issue=3 |date=January 9, 2023 |doi=10.1017/s096318012200072x |issn=0963-1801 |pmid=36621771 |pages=397–398 |s2cid=255544686 |quote=At the time Blackwell's Island (now Roosevelt Island) housed over 8,000 prisoners, medical care was limited and there were few nurses. Goldman was recruited by one of the prison doctors who treated her for an illness. She was put in charge of a 16-bed ward after only informal nursing training.|doi-access=free }}</ref> She also read dozens of books, including works by the American activist-writers [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and [[Henry David Thoreau]]; novelist [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]; poet [[Walt Whitman]], and philosopher [[John Stuart Mill]].{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=78}} When Goldman was released after ten months, a raucous crowd of nearly 3,000 people greeted her at the [[Bowery Theatre|Thalia Theater]] in New York City. She soon became swamped with requests for interviews and lectures.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=78–79}}

To make money, Goldman decided to continue the medical studies she had started in prison, but her preferred fields of specialization—[[midwifery]] and [[massage]]—were unavailable to nursing students in the US. She sailed to Europe, lecturing in London, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. She met with renowned anarchists such as [[Errico Malatesta]], [[Louise Michel]], and [[Peter Kropotkin]]. In [[Vienna]], she received two diplomas for midwifery and put them immediately to use back in the US.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=84–85}}

Alternating between lectures and midwifery, Goldman conducted the first cross-country tour by an anarchist speaker. In November 1899, she returned to Europe to speak, where she met the Czech anarchist [[Hippolyte Havel]] in London. They went together to France and helped organize the 1900 International Anarchist Congress on the outskirts of Paris.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=85–89}} Afterward, Havel immigrated to the United States, traveling with Goldman to Chicago. They shared a residence there with friends of Goldman.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|p=68}}

=== McKinley assassination ===
{{further|Assassination of William McKinley}}
[[File:First photograph of Leon F. Czolgosz, the assassin of President William McKinley, in jail.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Leon Czolgosz]] insisted that Goldman had not guided his plan to assassinate US President [[William McKinley]], but she was arrested and held for two weeks.]]
On September 6, 1901, [[Leon Czolgosz]], an unemployed factory worker and anarchist,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parker |first=LeRoy |date=December 1907 |title=The Trial of the Anarchist Murderer Czolgosz |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/783764.pdf |journal=The Yale Law Journal |publisher=The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc. |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=80–94|doi=10.2307/783764 |jstor=783764 }}</ref> shot US President [[William McKinley]] twice during a public speaking event in [[Buffalo, New York]]. McKinley was hit in the breastbone and stomach, and died eight days later.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|pp=65–66}} Czolgosz was arrested, and interrogated around the clock. During interrogation he claimed to be an anarchist and said he had been inspired to act after attending a speech by Goldman. The authorities used this as a pretext to charge Goldman with planning McKinley's assassination. They tracked her to the residence in Chicago she shared with Havel, as well as with Mary and [[Abe Isaak]], an anarchist couple and their family.{{sfnm|1a1=Drinnon|1y=1961|1p=68|2a1=Chalberg|2y=1991|2p=73}} Goldman was arrested, along with Isaak, Havel, and ten other anarchists.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=104}}

Earlier, Czolgosz had tried but failed to become friends with Goldman and her companions. During a talk in Cleveland, Czolgosz had approached Goldman and asked her advice on which books he should read. In July 1901, he had appeared at the Isaak house, asking a series of unusual questions. They assumed he was an infiltrator, like a number of police agents sent to spy on radical groups. They had remained distant from him, and Abe Isaak sent a notice to associates warning of "another spy".{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=103–104}}

Although Czolgosz repeatedly denied Goldman's involvement, the police held her in close custody, subjecting her to what she called the "third degree" ([[wikt:third degree|intense interrogation by police]]).{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=300}} She explained her housemates' distrust of Czolgosz, and the police finally recognized that she had not had any significant contact with the attacker. No evidence was found linking Goldman to the attack, and she was released after two weeks of detention. Before McKinley died, Goldman offered to provide nursing care, referring to him as "merely a human being".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Chalberg|1991|p=76}}.</ref> Czolgosz, despite considerable evidence of [[mental illness]], was convicted of murder and executed.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|p=74}}

Throughout her detention and after her release, Goldman steadfastly refused to condemn Czolgosz's actions, standing virtually alone in doing so. Friends and supporters—including Berkman—urged her to quit his cause. But Goldman defended Czolgosz as a "supersensitive being" and chastised other anarchists for abandoning him.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|p=78}} She was vilified in the press as the "high priestess of anarchy",{{sfn|Falk|2003|p=461}} while many newspapers declared the anarchist movement responsible for the murder.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=106–112}} In the wake of these events, [[socialism]] gained support over anarchism among US radicals. McKinley's successor, [[Theodore Roosevelt]], declared his intent to crack down "not only against anarchists, but against all active and passive sympathizers with anarchists".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Chalberg|1991|p=81}}.</ref>

=== ''Mother Earth'' and Berkman's release ===
{{main|Mother Earth (magazine)}}

After Czolgosz was executed, Goldman withdrew from society and, from 1903 to 1913, lived at 208–210 East 13th Street, New York City.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Greenhouse|first=Steven|date=August 30, 1996|title=New York, Cradle Of Labor History|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/08/30/arts/new-york-cradle-of-labor-history.html|access-date=May 1, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Scorned by her fellow anarchists, vilified by the press, and separated from her love, Berkman, she retreated into anonymity and nursing. "It was bitter and hard to face life anew," she wrote later.{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=318}}

Using the name E. G. Smith, she left public life and took on a series of private nursing jobs while suffering from severe depression.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=115}} The US Congress' passage of the [[Anarchist Exclusion Act]] (1903) stirred a new wave of oppositional activism, pulling Goldman back into the movement. A coalition of people and organizations across the [[left-wing politics|left]] end of the political spectrum opposed the law on grounds that it violated [[freedom of speech]], and she had the nation's ear once again.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=116}}

After an English anarchist named [[John Turner (anarchist)|John Turner]] was arrested under the Anarchist Exclusion Act and threatened with deportation, Goldman joined forces with the [[Free Speech League]] to champion his cause.{{sfn|Falk|2004|p=557}} The league enlisted the aid of noted attorneys [[Clarence Darrow]] and [[Edgar Lee Masters]], who took Turner's case to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|US Supreme Court]]. Although Turner and the League lost, Goldman considered it a victory of propaganda.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|pp=84–87}} She had returned to anarchist activism, but it was taking its toll on her. "I never felt so weighed down," she wrote to Berkman. "I fear I am forever doomed to remain public property and to have my life worn out through the care for the lives of others."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Chalberg|1991|p=87}}.</ref>

In 1906, Goldman decided to start a publication, "a place of expression for the young idealists in arts and letters".{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=377}} ''[[Mother Earth (magazine)|Mother Earth]]'' was staffed by a cadre of radical activists, including Hippolyte Havel, [[Max Baginski]], and [[Leonard Abbott]]. In addition to publishing original works by its editors and anarchists around the world, ''Mother Earth'' reprinted selections from a variety of writers. These included the French philosopher [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]], Russian anarchist [[Peter Kropotkin]], German philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]], and British writer [[Mary Wollstonecraft]]. Goldman wrote frequently about anarchism, politics, labor issues, atheism, sexuality, and feminism, and was the first editor of the magazine.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|pp=88–91}}{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=121–130}}

[[File:Mother Earth 1912.jpg|thumb|upright|Goldman's ''[[Mother Earth (magazine)|Mother Earth]]'' magazine became a home to radical activists and literary free thinkers around the US.]]

On May 18 of the same year, Alexander Berkman was released from prison. Carrying a bouquet of roses, Goldman met him on the train platform and found herself "seized by terror and pity"{{sfn|Goldman|1970a|p=384}} as she beheld his gaunt, pale form. Neither was able to speak; they returned to her home in silence. For weeks, he struggled to readjust to life on the outside: An abortive speaking tour ended in failure, and in Cleveland he purchased a revolver with the intent of killing himself.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|p=94}}{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|pp=97–98}} Upon returning to New York, he learned that Goldman had been arrested with a group of activists meeting to reflect on Czolgosz. Invigorated anew by this violation of [[freedom of assembly]], he declared, "My resurrection has come!"<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Goldman|1970a|p=391}}.</ref> and set about securing their release.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|p=98}}

Berkman took the helm of ''Mother Earth'' in 1907, while Goldman toured the country to raise funds to keep it operating. Editing the magazine was a revitalizing experience for Berkman. But his relationship with Goldman faltered, and he had an affair with a 15-year-old anarchist named [[Becky Edelsohn]]. Goldman was pained by his rejection of her but considered it a consequence of his prison experience.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|p=97}} Later that year she served as a delegate from the US to the [[International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam]]. Anarchists and [[syndicalism|syndicalists]] from around the world gathered to sort out the tension between the two ideologies, but no decisive agreement was reached. Goldman returned to the US and continued speaking to large audiences.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=135–137}}

=== Reitman, essays, and birth control ===
For the next ten years, Goldman traveled around the country nonstop, delivering lectures and agitating for anarchism. The coalitions formed in opposition to the Anarchist Exclusion Act had given her an appreciation for reaching out to those of other political positions. When the [[United States Department of Justice|US Justice Department]] sent spies to observe, they reported the meetings as "packed".{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=166}} Writers, journalists, artists, judges, and workers from across the spectrum spoke of her "magnetic power", her "convincing presence", her "force, eloquence, and fire".{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=168}}

[[File:MargaretSanger-Underwood.LOC.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Goldman joined [[Margaret Sanger]] in crusading for women's access to [[birth control]]; both women were arrested for violating the [[Comstock Law]].]]
In the spring of 1908, Goldman met and fell in love with [[Ben Reitman]], the so-called "Hobo doctor". Having grown up in Chicago's Tenderloin District, Reitman spent several years as a drifter before earning a medical degree from the [[University of Illinois College of Medicine|College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago]]. As a doctor, he treated people suffering from poverty and illness, particularly [[venereal disease]]s. He and Goldman began an affair. They shared a commitment to [[free love]] and Reitman took a variety of lovers, but Goldman did not. She tried to reconcile her feelings of jealousy with a belief in freedom of the heart but found it difficult.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=140–147}}

Two years later, Goldman began feeling frustrated with lecture audiences. She yearned to "reach the few who really want to learn, rather than the many who come to be amused".{{sfn|Goldman|1969|p=45}} She collected a series of speeches and items she had written for ''Mother Earth'' and published a book titled ''[[Anarchism and Other Essays]].'' Covering a wide variety of topics, Goldman tried to represent "the mental and soul struggles of twenty-one years".{{sfn|Goldman|1969|p=45}}<!-- 45 or 49? -->

When [[Margaret Sanger]], an advocate of access to [[contraception]], coined the term "birth control" and disseminated information about various methods in the June 1914 issue of her magazine ''The Woman Rebel,'' she received aggressive support from Goldman. The latter had already been active in efforts to increase birth control access for several years. In 1916, Goldman was arrested for giving lessons in public on how to use contraceptives.<ref>Alice S. Rossi. ''The Feminist Papers: From Adams to de Beauvoir.'' Lebanon, New Hampshire: Northeastern University Press, 1988, p. 507</ref> Sanger, too, was arrested under the [[Comstock Law]], which prohibited the dissemination of "obscene, lewd, or lascivious articles", which authorities defined as including information relating to birth control.<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1984|pp=210–211}}.</ref>

Although they later split from Sanger over charges of insufficient support, Goldman and Reitman distributed copies of Sanger's pamphlet ''Family Limitation'' (along with a similar essay of Reitman's). In 1915 Goldman conducted a nationwide speaking tour, in part to raise awareness about contraception options. Although the nation's attitude toward the topic seemed to be liberalizing, Goldman was arrested on February 11, 1916, as she was about to give another public lecture.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/feb11.html |title=Today in History: February 11 |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=January 28, 2014 }}</ref> Goldman was charged with violating the Comstock Law. Refusing to pay a $100 fine, she spent two weeks in a prison workhouse, which she saw as an "opportunity" to reconnect with those rejected by society.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=211–215}}

=== World War I ===
Although President [[Presidency of Woodrow Wilson|Woodrow Wilson]] was re-elected in 1916 under the slogan "He kept us out of the war", at the start of his second term, he announced that Germany's continued deployment of [[unrestricted submarine warfare]] was sufficient cause for the US to enter [[World War I|the Great War]]. Shortly afterward, Congress passed the [[Selective Service Act of 1917]], which required all males aged 21–30 to register for military [[conscription]]. Goldman saw the decision as an exercise in [[militarism|militarist]] aggression, driven by capitalism. She declared in ''Mother Earth'' her intent to resist conscription, and to oppose US involvement in the war.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|pp=186–187}}{{sfn|Wexler|1984|p=230}}

[[File:Goldman.jpg|thumb|upright|Goldman on a streetcar in 1917, perhaps during a strike or demonstration]]

To this end, she and Berkman organized the [[No conscription league|No Conscription League]] of New York, which proclaimed: "We oppose conscription because we are internationalists, antimilitarists, and opposed to all wars waged by capitalistic governments."{{sfn|Berkman|1992|p=155}} The group became a vanguard for anti-draft activism, and chapters began to appear in other cities. When police began raiding the group's public events to find young men who had not registered for the draft, Goldman and others focused their efforts on distributing pamphlets and other writings.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|pp=186–187}} In the midst of the nation's patriotic fervor, many elements of the political left refused to support the League's efforts. The Women's Peace Party, for example, ceased its opposition to the war once the US entered it. The [[Socialist Party of America]] took an official stance against US involvement but supported Wilson in most of his activities.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|p=129}}

On June 15, 1917, Goldman and Berkman were arrested during a raid of their offices, in which authorities seized "a wagon load of anarchist records and propaganda".<ref name="nyt1">{{cite news |title=Emma Goldman and A. Berkman Behind the Bars|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1917/06/16/archives/emma-goldman-and-a-berkman-behind-the-bars-anarchist-headquarters.html|date=June 16, 1917|access-date=December 17, 2007}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that Goldman asked to change into a more appropriate outfit, and emerged in a gown of "royal purple".<ref name="nyt1"/><ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1984|p=232}}.</ref> The pair were charged with conspiracy to "induce persons not to register"<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Chalberg|1991|p=134}}.</ref> under the newly enacted [[Espionage Act of 1917|Espionage Act]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Trials of Emma Goldman, Anarchist|first=Francis H.|last=Shaw|journal=The Review of Politics|volume=26|issue=3|pages=444–445|date=July 1964|quote=Prosecuted under the Espionage Act of 1917 for obstructing the draft, Emma Goldman... |doi=10.1017/S0034670500005210|s2cid=143738107 }}</ref> and were held on US$25,000 bail each. Defending herself and Berkman during their trial, Goldman invoked the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]], asking how the government could claim to fight for democracy abroad while suppressing free speech at home:<ref>''Trial and Speeches of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman in the United States District Court, in the City of New York, July 1917'' (New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association, 1917)</ref>

<blockquote>We say that if America has entered the war to make the world safe for democracy, she must first make democracy safe in America. How else is the world to take America seriously, when democracy at home is daily being outraged, free speech suppressed, peaceable assemblies broken up by overbearing and brutal gangsters in uniform; when free press is curtailed and every independent opinion gagged? Verily, poor as we are in democracy, how can we give of it to the world? </blockquote>

The jury found Goldman and Berkman guilty. Judge [[Julius Marshuetz Mayer]] imposed the maximum sentence: two years' imprisonment, a $10,000 fine each, and the possibility of [[deportation]] after their release from prison. As she was transported to [[Missouri State Penitentiary]], Goldman wrote to a friend: "Two years imprisonment for having made an uncompromising stand for one's ideal. Why that is a small price."{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=235–244}}

In prison, she was assigned to work as a seamstress, under the eye of a "miserable gutter-snipe of a 21-year-old boy paid to get results".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Chalberg|1991|p=141}}.</ref> She met the socialist [[Kate Richards O'Hare]], who had also been imprisoned under the Espionage Act. Although they differed on political strategy—O'Hare believed in voting to achieve state power—the two women came together to agitate for better conditions among prisoners.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|pp=141–142}} Goldman also met and became friends with [[Gabriella Segata Antolini]], an anarchist and follower of [[Luigi Galleani]]. Antolini had been arrested transporting a satchel filled with dynamite on a Chicago-bound train. She had refused to cooperate with authorities and was sent to prison for 14 months. Working together to make life better for the other inmates, the three women became known as "The Trinity". Goldman was released on September 27, 1919.{{sfn|Wexler|1984|pp=253–263}}

=== Deportation ===
[[File:Emma Goldman's deportation photo, 1919.jpg|thumb|upright|Goldman's deportation photo, 1919]]
Goldman and Berkman were released from prison during the United States' [[First Red Scare|Red Scare of 1919–20]], when public anxiety about wartime pro-German activities had expanded into a pervasive fear of Bolshevism and the prospect of an imminent radical revolution. It was a time of social unrest due to union organizing strikes and actions by activist immigrants. [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Alexander Mitchell Palmer]] and [[J. Edgar Hoover]], head of the [[United States Department of Justice|US Department of Justice's]] General Intelligence Division (now the FBI), were intent on using the [[Anarchist Exclusion Act]] and its [[Immigration Act of 1918#Definition of anarchist|1918 expansion]] to deport any non-citizens they could identify as advocates of anarchy or revolution. "Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman," Hoover wrote while they were in prison, "are, beyond doubt, two of the most dangerous anarchists in this country and return to the community will result in undue harm."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Drinnon|1961|p=215}}.</ref>

At her deportation hearing on October 27, 1919, Goldman refused to answer questions about her beliefs, on the grounds that her American citizenship invalidated any attempt to deport her under the Anarchist Exclusion Act, which could be enforced only against non-citizens of the US. She presented a written statement instead: "Today so-called [[Alien (law)|aliens]] are deported. Tomorrow native Americans will be banished. Already some patrioteers are suggesting that native American sons to whom democracy is a sacred ideal should be exiled."<ref>{{cite news |title=Deportation Defied by Emma Goldman|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/10/28/archives/deportation-defied-by-emma-goldman-anarchist-leader-refuses-to.html|date=October 28, 1919|access-date=February 4, 2010}}</ref> [[Louis Freeland Post|Louis Post]] at the [[United States Department of Labor|Department of Labor]], which had ultimate authority over deportation decisions, determined that the revocation of her husband Kershner's American citizenship in 1908 after his conviction had revoked hers as well. After initially promising a court fight,<ref>{{cite news |title=Will Fight Deportation|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/12/01/archives/will-fight-deportation-emma-goldman-and-berkman-hailed-as-martyrs.html|date=December 1, 1919|access-date=February 4, 2010}}</ref> Goldman decided not to appeal his ruling.{{sfn|Post|1923|pp=13–14}}

The Labor Department included Goldman and Berkman among 249 aliens it deported ''en masse,'' mostly people with only vague associations with radical groups, who had been swept up in [[Palmer Raids|government raids]] in November.{{sfn|McCormick|1997|pp=158–163}} ''[[USAT Buford|Buford]]'', a ship the press nicknamed the "Soviet Ark", sailed from the Army's [[New York Port of Embarkation]] on December 21.<ref name=Ark>{{cite news |title='Ark' with 300 Reds Sails Early Today for Unnamed Port|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/12/21/archives/ark-with-300-reds-sails-early-today-for-unnamed-port-bufords.html|date=December 21, 1919|access-date=February 1, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Clay |first1=Steven E. |title=U. S. Army Order Of Battle 1919–1941 |series=Volume 4. The Services: Quartermaster, Medical, Military Police, Signal Corps, Chemical Warfare, And Miscellaneous Organizations, 1919–41 |volume =4 |year=2011 |location=Fort Leavenworth, KS |publisher=Combat Studies Institute Press |isbn=978-0984190140 |lccn=2010022326 |url=http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/OrderOfBattle/OrderofBattle4.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916224518/http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/OrderOfBattle/OrderofBattle4.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 16, 2012 |access-date=October 23, 2014}}</ref> Some 58 enlisted men and four officers provided security on the journey, and pistols were distributed to the crew.<ref name=Ark />{{sfn|Post|1923|p=4}} Most of the press approved enthusiastically. The Cleveland ''Plain Dealer'' wrote: "It is hoped and expected that other vessels, larger, more commodious, carrying similar cargoes, will follow in her wake."{{sfn|Murray|1955|pp=208–209}} The ship landed her charges in [[Hanko, Finland|Hanko]], Finland, on Saturday, January 17, 1920.<ref>{{cite news |title=Soviet Ark Lands its Reds in Finland|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1920/01/18/archives/soviet-ark-lands-its-reds-in-finland-buford-reaches-hango-and.html|date=January 18, 1920|access-date=February 1, 2010}}</ref> Upon arrival in Finland, authorities there conducted the deportees to the Russian frontier under a flag of truce.{{sfnm|1a1=Murray|1y=1955|1pp=207–208|2a1=Post|2y=1923|2pp=1–11}}

=== Russia ===
[[File:Emma Goldman gives eulogy at Peter Kropotkin's funeral.jpg|thumb|right|Here, Emma Goldman delivers a eulogy at [[Peter Kropotkin]]'s funeral procession. Immediately in front of Goldman stands her lifelong comrade [[Alexander Berkman]]. Kropotkin's funeral was the occasion of the last great demonstration of anarchists in Moscow—tens of thousands of people poured into the streets to pay their respects.]]
Goldman initially viewed the Bolshevik revolution in a positive light. She wrote in ''[[Mother Earth (magazine)|Mother Earth]]'' that despite its dependence on Communist government, it represented "the most fundamental, far-reaching and all-embracing principles of human freedom and of economic well-being".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1984|p=243}}.</ref> By the time she neared Europe, she expressed fears about what was to come. She was worried about the ongoing [[Russian Civil War]] and the possibility of being seized by anti-Bolshevik forces. The state, anti-capitalist though it was, also posed a threat. "I could never in my life work within the confines of the State," she wrote to her niece, "Bolshevist or otherwise."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=17}}.</ref>

She quickly discovered that her fears were justified. Days after returning to [[Petrograd]] (Saint Petersburg), she was shocked to hear a party official refer to free speech as a "bourgeois superstition".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Chalberg|1991|p=150}}.</ref> As she and Berkman traveled around the country, they found repression, mismanagement, and corruption<ref name="livingmylife">Goldman, Emma. ''Living My Life''. 1931. New York: [[Dover Publications]] Inc., 1970. {{ISBN|0-486-22543-7}}.</ref> instead of the equality and worker empowerment they had dreamed of. Those who questioned the government were demonized as [[counter-revolutionary|counter-revolutionaries]],<ref name="livingmylife"/> and workers labored under severe conditions.<ref name="livingmylife"/> They met with [[Vladimir Lenin]], who assured them that government suppression of press liberties was justified. He told them: "There can be no free speech in a revolutionary period."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Drinnon|1961|p=235}}.</ref> Berkman was more willing to forgive the government's actions in the name of "historical necessity", but he eventually joined Goldman in opposing the Soviet state's authority.{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|pp=236–237}}

In March 1921, strikes erupted in Petrograd when workers took to the streets demanding better food rations and more [[Trade union|union]] autonomy. Goldman and Berkman felt a responsibility to support the strikers, stating: "To remain silent now is impossible, even criminal."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Drinnon|1961|p=237}}.</ref> The unrest spread to the port town of [[Kronstadt]], where the government ordered a military response to suppress striking soldiers and sailors. In the [[Kronstadt rebellion]], approximately 1,000 rebelling sailors and soldiers were killed and two thousand more were arrested; many were later executed. In the wake of these events, Goldman and Berkman decided there was no future in the country for them. "More and more", she wrote, "we have come to the conclusion that we can do nothing here. And as we can not keep up a life of inactivity much longer we have decided to leave."{{sfn|Wexler|1989|pp=47–49}}

In December 1921, they left the country and went to the Latvian capital city of [[Riga]]. The US commissioner in that city wired officials in Washington DC, who began requesting information from other governments about the couple's activities. After a short trip to [[Stockholm]], they moved to [[Berlin]] for several years; during this time Goldman agreed to write a series of articles about her time in Russia for [[Joseph Pulitzer]]'s newspaper, the ''[[New York World]].'' These were later collected and published in book form as ''[[My Disillusionment in Russia]]'' (1923) and ''[[My Further Disillusionment in Russia]]'' (1924). The publishers added these titles to attract attention; Goldman protested, albeit in vain.{{sfn|Wexler|1989|pp=56–58}}

=== England, Canada, and France ===
Goldman found it difficult to acclimate to the German leftist community in Berlin. Communists despised her outspokenness about Soviet repression; liberals derided her radicalism. While Berkman remained in Berlin helping Russian exiles, Goldman moved to London in September 1924. Upon her arrival, the novelist [[Rebecca West]] arranged a reception dinner for her, attended by philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]], novelist [[H. G. Wells]], and more than 200 other guests. When she spoke of her dissatisfaction with the Soviet government, the audience was shocked. Some left the gathering; others berated her for prematurely criticizing the Communist experiment.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|pp=161–162}} Later, in a letter, Russell declined to support her efforts at systemic change in the Soviet Union and ridiculed her anarchist idealism.<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=96}}.</ref>

[[File:Sacvan.jpg|thumb|The 1927 executions of Italian anarchists [[Nicola Sacco]] (right) and [[Bartolomeo Vanzetti]] were troubling for Goldman, then living alone in Canada.]]

In 1925, the spectre of deportation loomed again, but [[James Colton]], a Scottish anarchist Goldman had first met in Glasgow whilst on a speaking tour in 1895,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Goldman |first1=Emma |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/71239513 |title=Vision on fire : Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution |last2=Porter |first2=David |publisher=AK Press |year=2006 |isbn=1-904859-57-7 |edition=2nd |location=Edinburgh |pages=36 |oclc=71239513 |orig-date=1983}}</ref> had offered to marry her and provide [[British nationality law|British citizenship]]. Although they were only distant acquaintances, she accepted and they were married on June 27, 1925, Goldman's 58th birthday. Her new status gave her peace of mind and allowed her to travel to France and Canada.{{sfn|Falk|1984|pp=209–210}} The pair sporadically exchanged correspondence until Colton's death in 1936.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letters of Emma Goldman and James Colton |url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-and-james-colton-letters-of-emma-goldman-and-james-colton |access-date=March 3, 2022 |website=The Anarchist Library |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Colton, James, 1860–1936 |url=http://libcom.org/history/colton-james-1860-1936 |access-date=March 3, 2022 |website=libcom.org |language=en}}</ref> Life in London was stressful for Goldman; she wrote to Berkman: "I am awfully tired and so lonely and heartsick. It is a dreadful feeling to come back here from lectures and find not a kindred soul, no one who cares whether one is dead or alive."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=111}}.</ref> She worked on analytical studies of drama, expanding on the work she had published in 1914. But the audiences were "awful," and she never finished her second book on the subject.{{sfn|Wexler|1989|p=115}}

Goldman traveled to Canada in 1927, just in time to receive news of the impending executions of Italian anarchists [[Nicola Sacco]] and [[Bartolomeo Vanzetti]] in Boston. Angered by the many irregularities of the case, she saw it as another travesty of justice in the US. She longed to join the mass demonstrations in [[Boston]]; memories of the [[Haymarket affair]] overwhelmed her, compounded by her isolation. "Then," she wrote, "I had my life before me to take up the cause for those killed. Now I have nothing."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Chalberg|1991|p=164}}.</ref>{{sfn|Wexler|1989|p=122}}

In 1928, she began writing her autobiography, with the support of a group of American admirers, including journalist [[H. L. Mencken]], poet [[Edna St. Vincent Millay]], novelist [[Theodore Dreiser]] and art collector [[Peggy Guggenheim]], who raised $4,000 for her.<ref>Mary V. Dearborn, ''Mistress of Modernism: The Life of Peggy Guggenheim'', Houghton Mifflin, 2004, pp. 61–62</ref> She secured a cottage in the French coastal city of [[Saint-Tropez]] and spent two years recounting her life. Berkman offered sharply critical feedback, which she eventually incorporated at the price of a strain on their relationship.{{sfn|Wexler|1989|p=135}} Goldman intended the book, ''[[Living My Life]],'' as a single volume for a price the working class could afford (she urged no more than $5.00); her publisher [[Alfred A. Knopf]] released it as two volumes sold together for $7.50. Goldman was furious, but unable to force a change. Due in large part to the [[Great Depression]], sales were sluggish despite keen interest from libraries around the US.{{sfn|Chalberg|1991|pp=165–166}} Critical reviews were generally enthusiastic; ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'', and ''[[Saturday Review (US magazine)|Saturday Review of Literature]]'' all listed it as one of the year's top non-fiction books.{{sfn|Wexler|1989|p=154}}

In 1933, Goldman received permission to lecture in the United States under the condition that she speak only about drama and her autobiography—but not current political events. She returned to New York on February 2, 1934, to generally positive press coverage—except from Communist publications. Soon she was surrounded by admirers and friends, besieged with invitations to talks and interviews. Her visa expired in May, and she went to [[Toronto]] in order to file another request to visit the US. This second attempt was denied. She stayed in Canada, writing articles for US publications.{{sfn|Wexler|1989|pp=158–164}}

In February and March 1936, Berkman underwent a pair of [[prostate gland]] operations. Recuperating in [[Nice]] and cared for by his companion, Emmy Eckstein, he missed Goldman's sixty-seventh birthday in [[Saint-Tropez]] in June. She wrote in sadness, but he never read the letter; she received a call in the middle of the night that Berkman was in great distress. She left for Nice immediately but when she arrived that morning, Goldman found that he had shot himself and was in a nearly comatose [[paralysis]]. He died later that evening.{{sfnm|1a1=Wexler|1y=1989|1pp=193–194|2a1=Drinnon|2y=1961|2pp=298–300}}

=== Spanish Civil War ===
In July 1936, the [[Spanish Civil War]] started after an attempted ''coup d'état'' by parts of the [[Spanish Army]] against the government of the [[Second Spanish Republic]]. At the same time, the [[Anarchism in Spain|Spanish anarchists]], fighting against the [[National faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalist forces]], started [[Spanish Revolution of 1936|an anarchist revolution]]. Goldman was invited to [[Barcelona]] and in an instant, as she wrote to her niece, "the crushing weight that was pressing down on my heart since Sasha's death left me as by magic".{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|pp=301–302}} She was welcomed by the [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]] (CNT) and [[Federación Anarquista Ibérica]] (FAI) organizations, and for the first time in her life lived in a [[Revolutionary Catalonia|community run by and for anarchists]], according to true anarchist principles. "In all my life", she wrote later, "I have not met with such warm hospitality, comradeship and solidarity."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=232}}.</ref> After touring a series of [[collectives]] in the province of [[Huesca (province)|Huesca]], she told a group of workers: "Your revolution will destroy forever [the notion] that anarchism stands for chaos."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Drinnon|1961|p=303}}.</ref> She began editing the weekly ''CNT-FAI Information Bulletin'' and responded to English-language mail.{{sfn|Wexler|1989|p=205}}

[[File:CNT FAI flag.svg|thumb|Goldman edited the English-language ''Bulletin'' of the [[Anarcho-syndicalist]] organizations [[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]] (CNT) and [[Federación Anarquista Ibérica]] (FAI) during the [[Spanish Civil War]].]]

Goldman began to worry about the future of Spain's anarchism when the CNT-FAI joined a coalition government in 1937—against the core anarchist principle of abstaining from state structures—and, more distressingly, made repeated concessions to Communist forces in the name of uniting against fascism. In November 1936, she wrote that cooperating with Communists in Spain was "a denial of our comrades in Stalin's concentration camps".<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=209}}.</ref> The USSR, meanwhile, refused to send weapons to anarchist forces, and disinformation campaigns were being waged against the anarchists across Europe and the US. Her faith in the movement unshaken, Goldman returned to London as an official representative of the CNT-FAI.{{sfn|Wexler|1989|pp=209–210}}

Delivering lectures and giving interviews, Goldman enthusiastically supported the Spanish anarcho-syndicalists. She wrote regularly for ''[[Spain and the World]]'', a biweekly newspaper focusing on the civil war. In May 1937, Communist-led forces [[Barcelona May Days|attacked anarchist strongholds]] and broke up agrarian collectives. Newspapers in England and elsewhere accepted the timeline of events offered by the [[Second Spanish Republic]] at face value. British journalist [[George Orwell]], present for the crackdown, wrote: "[T]he accounts of the Barcelona riots in May&nbsp;...&nbsp;beat everything I have ever seen for lying."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=216}}.</ref>

Goldman returned to Spain in September, but the CNT-FAI appeared to her like people "in a burning house". Worse, anarchists and other radicals around the world refused to support their cause.{{sfn|Wexler|1989|p=222}} The Nationalist forces declared victory in Spain just before she returned to London. Frustrated by England's repressive atmosphere—which she called "more fascist than the fascists"<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=226}}.</ref>—she returned to Canada in 1939. Her service to the anarchist cause in Spain was not forgotten. On her seventieth birthday, the former Secretary-General of the CNT, [[Mariano R. Vázquez]], sent a message to her from Paris, praising her for her contributions and naming her as "our spiritual mother". She called it "the most beautiful tribute I have ever received".<ref>Both quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=232}}.</ref>

=== Final years ===
[[File:Emma-Goldman-Grave-Forest-Home-Cemetery-Il.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Tombstone of Emma Goldman, Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, IL|Goldman's grave in Illinois' [[German Waldheim Cemetery|Forest Home Cemetery]], near those of the anarchists executed for the [[Haymarket affair]]. The dates on the stone are incorrect.]]

As the events preceding [[World War II]] began to unfold in Europe, Goldman reiterated her opposition to wars waged by governments. "[M]uch as I loathe [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]], [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini]], [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] and [[Francisco Franco|Franco]]", she wrote to a friend, "I would not support a war against them and for the democracies which, in the last analysis, are only Fascist in disguise."<ref name="WexEx236">Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=236}}.</ref> She felt that Britain and France had missed their opportunity to oppose fascism, and that the coming war would only result in "a new form of madness in the world".<ref name="WexEx236"/>

=== Death ===
On Saturday, February 17, 1940, Goldman suffered a debilitating stroke. She became paralyzed on her right side, and although her hearing was unaffected, she could not speak. As one friend described it: "Just to think that here was Emma, the greatest orator in America, unable to utter one word."<ref>Quoted in {{harvnb|Wexler|1989|p=240}}.</ref> For three months she improved slightly, receiving visitors and on one occasion gesturing to her address book to signal that a friend might find friendly contacts during a trip to Mexico. She suffered another stroke on May 8 and she died six days later in [[Toronto]], aged 70.{{sfn|Wexler|1989|pp=240–241}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Emma Goldman, Anarchist, Dead. Internationally Known Figure, Deported From The U.S., Is Stricken In Toronto. Disillusioned By Soviets Opposed Lenin And Trotsky As Betrayers Of Socialism Through Despotism. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/05/14/archives/emma-goldman-anarchist-dead-internationally-known-figure-deported.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 14, 1940 |access-date=April 20, 2008 }}</ref>

The US [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]] allowed her body to be brought back to the United States. She was buried in [[German Waldheim Cemetery]] (now named Forest Home Cemetery) in [[Forest Park, Illinois|Forest Park]], Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, near the graves of those executed after the [[Haymarket affair]].{{sfn|Drinnon|1961|pp=312–313}} The [[bas relief]] on her grave marker was created by sculptor [[Jo Davidson]],<ref name="Avrich2005">{{cite book|last=Avrich|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Avrich|title=Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8z8mdUYp-6gC|access-date=December 14, 2015|year=2005|publisher=AK Press|isbn=978-1904859277|page=491}}</ref> and the stone includes the quote "Liberty will not descend to a people, a people must raise themselves to liberty".