About
Alexander Berkman, born Ovsei Osipovich Berkman in Vilnius (Russian Empire), emigrated to the United States in 1888. Radicalized by the Haymarket executions, he attempted to assassinate industrialist Henry Clay Frick in 1892 and served 14 years in prison. Co-editor of the anarchist journal Mother Earth with Emma Goldman, he published his prison memoirs in 1912. Deported to Soviet Russia in 1919, he became critical of Bolshevism and recounted his experience in The Bolshevik Myth. His work Now and After (1929) is a reference of communist anarchism. Exiled in France, he died in Nice in 1936.
* 1870-11-21 — † 1936-06-28
Major works
- Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist (1912)memoir
- The Bolshevik Myth (1925)narrative
- Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism (1929)essay
Key milestones
- 1892Attempted to assassinate Henry Clay Frick during the Homestead Strike.
- 1919Arrested under the Espionage Act and deported to Soviet Russia.
- 1936Died by suicide in Nice, France.
Themes
AnarchismCritique of BolshevismImprisonmentFreedom of speechSocial justice
Sources: anb.org · catalog.hathitrust.org