From ‘The Blast’, February 12, 1916, San Francisco, edited and published by Alexander Berkman
Reb Raney
I see a scale as I begin to write: On one side is Hearst, Roosevelt, et al., laden with gas bombs and tools made for slaughter. They appear to ascend, for they are held aloft by the inanimate wings of a powerful aeroplane labeled Fear; on the other side of the scale is Margaret Sanger, descending sufficiently to touch the form of a bent, very weary little creature, who plainly is Woman. As she touches the dejected figure, it looks toward the other side of the scale, hesitates for just a moment, and then, without removing its gaze from the terrifying thing above, smiles very faintly but perceptibly. You can see this picture yourself, if you close your eyes and think a moment. It isn’t a fancy. It’s real.
As to how Margaret Sanger was able to do this thing, with the entire weight of institutional decay against her; and notwithstanding her words that “if we could depend upon a strong and consistently revolutionary support in such battles, instead of weakened efforts to effect a compromise with the courts, there would be much greater stimulation for individuals to enter revolutionary activity”: Margaret Sanger herself has proved that “support” is secondary and not primal. She has illustrated that when a man or a woman goes armed with a Purpose, with utter faith in him or herself, and with that sublime indifference which reckons personal safety a matter of no consequence, the result cannot be other than an indentation which is both luminous and lasting. It never occurred to this daring soul to inquire if anyone would stand by her. Her “revolutionary activity” was not the fruit of assurances of support from liberal-minded discerners. No, it was the product of her own discernment, and woe be to the set, immobile thing which collides with the seeing eye that isn’t afraid.
Oh, you labor leaders, and would-be saviors, and argumentative theorists, mark you well the clause, “which reckons personal safety a matter of no consequence.” The fact that Margaret Sanger never for a moment cared what became of her, is why she was able to open the door to a new, freer, wider, loftier sphere for herself and the rest of her statute-bruised sisterhood. If any fault can be found with labor men who have been on trial, it is that they shrink back and sit in silence while professional fakirs deny that Labor itself is On Trial. It is this cringing timidity that invites buckshot in law courts as well as out of them. Support is a thing which responds to Fearlessness. Let the man or woman who acts stand up and face dissension, and dissension — which is as fickle as a Fifth Avenue baby — will resolve itself into the kind of acclaim that moves jurists to listen.
Too long has woman moistened the world with blood gifts wrung from her unwilling frame by her color-blind sons. She has received, sustained, brought forth endlessly, for what? For “the new crop,” as Bismarck called the new edition of infant soldiers-to-be, after the Franco-Prussian war. And this because the printed words “prevention of conception” have been labeled unspeakably vile by the very ones who trade on the workability of the process! Fie, on the whole hypocritical job-lot of phrase-building nincompoops! Man, with all his intellect and sagacity, has chiefly succeeded in marring the very coating of the earth with the bleached corpuscles of his own sons. Nor has he stopped. But Woman has. And surely the birds in the belfries of heaven will concur in saying it was time that a victim should step forth and say: You shall drain us no longer!
The particular point of interest in this case is Mrs. Sanger’s purpose “to separate the idea of prevention conception and birth control from the sphere of pornography.” She shows the keenness of her mind by realizing that this is the vulnerable point of the “nasty” theory argument. Who has not from childhood been told that the sex union is a kaleidoscopic affair-holier than heaven if done by script, but baser than hell if done otherwise. Just so, do the decreers tell us in one breath that woman is the holiest thing the Great Builder ever chiseled, while with pen and paper they write it as their opinion that the same charming creature is only good in spots, and that that person who would save her from having an additional spot should be castigated penally forevermore. As if it is not the same woman and the same acts which have given them the stature and temerity to assail the thing they do not even faintly comprehend!
So all because a single woman stood up and refuted the idea that there was anything “nasty” about any woman, we ladies are hereafter to derive the benefits of sex preparedness. Where are you, Editors, you sleepy absorbers of Annielaurieism? Flick the clots from your worn-out quill pens and speak for that which has come about in spite of you. Never mind your military preparedness or your anti-military preparedness. Here is something moving in your midst, which is going to rust every hole in your cannon belchers and muffle your powder in an eternity of sleep.
The Crowbar Vs. Words – Reb Raney (1916)
From ‘Mother Earth: Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature’ April 1916, New York City, published and edited by Emma Goldman
When a person gets ready to Act, the first thing that person does is to Forget THEORIES.
Skeins of supposition and contention have no place in a determined mind. Paper teachings, mostly, are only piffle, anyhow. One reason the old world flops now and then is because it has become Unbalanced with the weight of meaningless treatises. This reference does not include written Information. There is a vast difference between written matter which eggs on Action and written matter which persuades the mind that some little fool man or woman has solved the problem of cerebral vision and digestion.
Since MOTHER EARTH believes in Free Speech, I am going to take advantage of that fact and state a differing opinion as to the possible benefit of a Special Birth Control issue of the magazine: the people who read MOTHER EARTH believe in Birth Control, most of them know about it, and the majority Practice it, which is more important. It’s just like whispering into the ear of the Family for a Radical to put forth Radical sentiments in a Radical publication. The Noise is needed to give tone to other quarters. If information on the subject is to be given out, that is another matter.
As to the predicament of our brave little Emma, no one could possibly feel worse if she were meted out a jail sentence than the undersigned. I am her friend, before mush, after soup and while the nuts are being cracked. But her offense merits a jail sentence, according to the code. Most actions that are worth a thrush’s whiff do. If she hadn’t really committed a Worthy Offense, our hand-clapping would be so many gaseous echoes. To fight for the Justification of her act is fine, I am right there. Only my idea of fighting is this: DO the thing that she did only do it Moreso. And repeat the offense so often that the Keepers will forget to lock the door on Emma Goldman or any other man or woman who will voice submerged thought fearlessly. For Birth Control, like any other imperative requirement, is really submerged thought which only needs the touch of courageous defiance to ignite it effectively.
At the Emma Goldman Protest Mass Meeting, held in San Francisco, March 10th, where between three and four hundred people assembled to show their interest in and approval of Birth Control agitation. Information in quantity was actually given out without charge, and to my mind, such means are the only telling means in propaganda of this nature. When asked to contribute “for the purpose of disseminating written information on this subject,” the audience in a stampede of enthusiasm, threw its dollars, half-dollars, quarters, dimes and nickels on the platform. The place rang like a cashier’s counting slab. And when it came time to give out the information, the audience lapped up the hand-bills on Preventives like Boston terriers let loose on a bowl of fresh milk. One husband and wife who carried evidence of lack of information in the form of a little girl on the husband’s back, grabbed the Service Sheets with such avidity that they like to have destroyed a considerable packet in their mad rush to capture the whole supply.
Actions of this stamp, compassing distribution, are what will make it possible for us to think what we please, say what we please, and do as we please; and until we can frankly, freely, openly express ourselves and live our lives, civilization, so-called, is not worth a tinker’s damn. It is up to those who Know to see that Others know. And this can only be done by running the gauntlet of half-baked decrees, dust-covered prerogatives and over-clothed Decreers.
An Urgent Appeal to My Friends – Emma Goldman (1916)
From ‘Mother Earth: Monthly Magazine Devoted to Social Science and Literature’ April 1916, New York City, published and edited by Emma Goldman
In her contribution on the subject of Birth Control my friend Rebekha Raney takes issue with me on the efficacy of MOTHER EARTH appearing as a special Birth Control number. Since Rebekha and I believe in free speech I take the liberty to tell her that her objections are based on considerable naiveté regarding radicals and their beliefs.
Not only is there a number of M. E. readers who do not believe in Birth Control, but a great many radicals everywhere have excommunicated me from their lives because I discuss the subject and devote space in MOTHER EARTH to it.
In justice to my critics I wish to say that their objections are due largely to the fact that they look upon Birth Control only as a very small phase in a much larger social setting; namely the freedom of expression in life, labor and art which is constantly being interfered with and curtailed by the reactionary forces.
Yet I hold Birth Control to be a tremendously important phase, first because it is tabooed and the people who advocate it are persecuted. Secondly it represents the immediate question of life and death to masses of people. That is the principle reason for the present issue of MOTHER EARTH. There is another one, my own arrest. I have no other medium of communication with the public at large except through our magazine. If our readers doubt this, the conspiracy of silence which has so far been observed by the conservative and even the so-called radical press should convince them of this fact.
Since my preliminary hearing, February 28th, hardly an [a]llusion to my case has appeared in any of the papers. A few protest meetings have taken place, one in Seattle, Washington, on February 27th, one in San Francisco, on March 10th, and our own in Carnegie Hall on March 1st. For the rest there has been a dead silence.
That is exactly what the authorities want. But if they build upon that as a safe basis to railroad me they will find themselves woefully mistaken, as I am quite determined to give them considerable trouble. The first step is this issue of MOTHER EARTH which treats the Birth Control question from every angle; historic, scientific, social, economic and above all from the point of view of Woman, which of them all is the most decisive.
Friends, do you want to help through the medium of publicity? If so, send for bundles of MOTHER EARTH, Spread the magazine in meetings, among your friends, everywhere that will arouse interest in my case.
Now for the larger work. Before I go before Special Sessions I want to make an adequate and strong defense which is subsequently to be published and circulated in an edition of 100,000 copies. Between now and the trial we must carry on a propaganda campaign through letters and circulars, Lastly and in a measure the most important, if the outcome of my trial is against me MOTHER EARTH will remain without the main source of subsistence. I must repeat once more that our magazine though much better placed than heretofore is not self supporting and would discontinue if I should stop lecturing, But I cannot permit that, not after ten terrible years of struggle. MOTHER EARTH MUST BE SECURED.
Friends, I ask not for myself but for the one thing dearest in all the world to me, my work, our work the larger and more important aspect of which Birth Control is indeed a small phase — Anarchism, the complete economic and social emancipation of man. For this I ask your support.
Send your contributions at once to The Emma Goldman Defense Committee, 20 East 125th St., N. Y. City. Write letters, arrange protest meetings, pass strong resolutions, have them signed and sent to the District Attorney, Edward Swann.
Also
Ukraine police launch nationwide search for draft dodgers, by Verity Bowman (2025)
Russian deserters risk deportation from Germany, from Deutsche Welle (2024)
Emma Goldman (1869 – 1940), by the Museum of Contraception and Abortion (2020)
Anarchism and the First World War, by Matthew S. Adams (2019)
Decolonising Feminism, by Susanna Ounei-Small (1995)
The Black Spectre of War, by Emma Goldman (1938)
Reg. Reynolds Answers Emma Goldman on Palestine (1938)
Letter to Magnus Hirschfeld on Louise Michel, by Emma Goldman (1923)
The Woman Suffrage Chameleon, by Emma Goldman (1917)
The Promoters of the War Mania, by Emma Goldman (1917)
No Conscription!, by the No-Conscription League of New York (1917)
Speeches Against Conscription, by Emma Goldman (1917)
Registration, by Alexander Berkman (1917)
The War Hysteria and Our Protest, by Leonard D. Abbott (1917)
The Social Aspects of Birth Control, by Emma Goldman (1916)
Preparedness, by R. E. Bell / Alexander Berkman (1916)
The Psychology of War, from The Blast (1916)
Why War?, from The Blast (1916)
Good Prospects for Anti-Militarism, by Emma Goldman (1916)
Echoes of War, by Estella Arteaga (1916)
Armed / The Conscious Workers, by Juanita Arteaga (1916)
Skirmishes, by Juanita Arteaga (1916)
Anti-War Manifesto, by The Anarchist International (1915)
Preparedness, the Road to Universal Slaughter, by Emma Goldman (1915)
The Revolutionist and War, by Anna Strunsky (1915)
Concerning Atrocities, by James Peter Warbasse (1915)
War and the Worker, by W. S. Van Valkenburgh (1915)
First Year of the War, by Emma Goldman (1915)
Observations and Comments on Kropotkin and the European War, from Mother Earth (1915)
To the Anti-Militarists, Anarchists, and Free Thinkers, by Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis (1915)
If We Must Fight, Let It Be For The Social Revolution, from Mother Earth (1914)
In Reply to Kropotkin, by Alexander Berkman (1914)
Down with Wars!, by Isolina Bórquez (1914)
Our Moral Censors, by Emma Goldman (1913)
Victims of Morality, by Emma Goldman (1913)
Blaming the Fester, by Rebekah E. Raney (1912)
The Workers and War, by Lucy Parsons (1912)
Anarchism and Other Essays, by Emma Goldman (1910)
As to Militarism, by Emma Goldman (1908)
To the Conscripts, from l’anarchie (1906)
National Atavism, from Mother Earth (1906)
Which Makes the Greater Savage, the Blanket or the Uniform?, by Emily G. Taylor (1902)
The Effect of War on the Workers, by Emma Goldman (1900)
The Conscripts Strike, by Louise Michel (1881)