Escritoras y Pensadoras Europeas

Emma Goldman (1869 - 1940)

por José A. Pérez-robleda

Emma Goldman

Emma Goldman (27 de junio de 1869 – 14 de mayo de 1940). Fue una de las pioneras en la lucha por la emancipación de la mujer, al tiempo que una célebre anarquista, conocida por sus escritos y sus manifiestos radicales, libertarios y feministas, fue considerada una de las mujeres más peligrosas de EE.UU.

Enma Goldman nació en Kaunas, Lituania donde su familia, de ascencia judia, regentaba un pequeño hotel. En 1884, cuando contaba 16 años, Emigró a los Estados Unidos yendo de un matrimonio impuesto por su padre. Allí trabajó como obrera textil y se unió al movimiento socialista libertario. Animada por El ahorcamiento de cuatro anarquistas a consecuencia del motín de Haymarket. Unos años desupes Emma se había convertido en una revolucionaria anarquista. Por esta epoca Emma se casa y se separa, diez meses despues, con un inmigrante Ruso, de quien obtiene la ciudadania americana, que mantiene no divorciandose de el.

Las encarcelaciones de Emma:

1893 - es encarcelada en la penitenciaria de las islas Blackwell. Públicamente instigó a los obreros en paro a Demandez du travail, s’ils ne vous donnent pas de travail, demandez du pain, s’ils ne vous donent du pain ni du travail, prenez le pain (Pedid trabajo, si no os lo dan, pedid pan, y si no os dan ni pan ni trabajo, coged el pan).

1901 - fue encarcelada junto con 9 personas más por participar en el complot de asesinato contra el Presidente William McKinley. Uno de ellos, León Czolgosz le había disparado pocos días antes. Emma, le conoció semanas más tarde y se vio con él una sola vez, al ser arrestada dijo: "¿Tengo yo la culpa de que un loco haga una mala interpretación de mis palabras?"

1916 - El 11 de febrero de 1916 es detenida y encarcelada de nuevo por la distribución de un manifiesto en favor de la contracepción. Durante varios años, y cada vez que daba una conferencia, esperaba ser arrestada, por eso iba siempre pertrechada con un buen libro.

1917- es encarcelada por tercera vez, de nuevo junto con Alexander Berkman por conspirar contra la ley que obligaba al servicio militar en los Estados Unidos. Dos años despues expulsada de EE.UU.

Durante la audiencia en la que se trataba de su expulsión, J. Edgar Hoover, que era el presidente de la misma, calificó a Emma como una de las mujeres más peligrosas de América. dos años despues es deportada a Rusía donde residió con A. Bekman (1902 - 1922) De esta época datan sus escritos: Mon désenchatment en Russie (My Disillusionment in Russia) y Mon autre désenchantement en Russie (My Further Disilusionement in Russia).

Pronto descubre que el papel que deseaba para la mujer en una sociedad ideal y por venir no se daría en la russia comunisa, para Goldman, Lenin (1870-1924) y Trotsky (1877-1940), estaban obsesionados con el control de la maquinaria del estado, y la revolución rusa no era necesariamente la revolución bolchevique. Esta diferenciación, se torna fundamental para entender las eventuales críticas que la anarquista rusa le haría a los procesos que estaban sucediéndose en su país desde julio de 1917. Los bolcheviques, encontraron muy duro, a veces desprenderse, de la plataforma dejada por los Zares en lo que respecta a las relaciones de pareja, a las condiciones de género y a la discriminación de las minorías, como los homosexuales, a los que Lenin y los suyos persiguieron de una forma feroz. Cuando Goldman critica al estado soviético lo hace de forma integral, no por partes. Y esas críticas por ejemplo incluyen la condición de la mujer, de la familia, del matrimonio, del amor libre y de los niños.

Disconforme con el autoritarismo soviético, se instaló definitivamente en Canadá. En 1936, Goldman colaboró a sus 67 años, con el gobierno español republicano en Londres y Madrid durante la Guerra Civil española. Cabe destacar el vehemente artículo que escribió sobre el conocido anarquista español Buenaventura Durruti titulado Durruti is Dead, Yet Living.

Emma Goldman murió en Toronto en 1940 y está enterrada en Chicago, en el mismo cementerio donde estarían los mártires de la masacre de Haymarket de 1887. El gobierno De EE.UU. No consideró que el cadaver de Emma Goldman entrañase ya peligro alguno.


Obras

Goldman, Emma and Johann Most (1896). "Anarchy Defended by Anarchists,"
Metropolitan Magazine,vol. IV, No. 3; October.
Goldman, Emma (1897). "Anarchy." Labor Leader. XXI
(June 5, 1897).
--- (1906). "The Tragedy of Woman's "Emancipation." Mother Earth. v.1
(March 1906). pp. 9-18.
--- (1906). "The Child and Its Enemies." Mother Earth. v.1 (April 1906).
pp. 7-14.
--- (1907). "La Ruche (The Beehive)." Mother Earth. v.2 (November 1907).
pp. 275-77.
--- (1908). A Beautiful Ideal. Chicago: J.C. Hart
and Company.
--- (1908). "Patriotism: A Menace to Liberty." New York: Mother
Earth Publishing Association.
--- (1908). "What I Believe." New York World (July 19, 1908).
--- (1908). What I believe. 2d ed. New York: Mother
Earth Publishing Association.
--- (1909). "The Easiest Way: An Appreciation." Mother Earth. v.4 (May
1909). pp. 86-92.
--- (1909). "Francisco Ferrer." Mother Earth. v. 4 (November 1909).
pp. 275-77.
--- (1910). Anarchism and Other Essays: with
biographic sketch by Hippolyte Havel. New
York: Mother Earth Publishing Association.
Reprint, New York: Dover, 1969.
--- (1910). "The White Slave traffic." New York: Mother Earth
Publishing Association.
--- (1910). "The White Slave Traffic." Mother Earth. v.4 (January
1910). pp. 344-51.
--- (1911). "Anarchism: What It Really Stands For." New York:
Mother Earth Publishing Association.
--- (1911). "The Psychology of Political Violence." New York:
Mother Earth Publishing Association.
--- (1911). "Die Masse." Der Sozialist. Berlin:
August 1, 1911.
--- (1913). "Syndicalism: Its Theory and Practice." Mother Earth. v.7
(January 1913). pp. 373-78.
--- (1913). "Syndicalism: Its Theory and Practice." Mother Earth. v.7
(February 1913). pp. 417-22.
--- (1913). "Victims of Morality." Mother Earth. v.8 (March 1913).
pp. 19-24.
--- (1913). "The Failure of Christianity." Mother Earth. v.8 (April
1913). pp. 41-48.
--- (1913). Victims of Morality, and The Failure of
Christianity: two lectures by Emma Goldman. New York:
Mother Earth Publishing Assoc.
--- (1913). "Syndicalism: The Modern Menace to Capitalism."
New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association.
--- (1914). The Social Significance of the Modern Drama
Boston: Gorham Press.
--- (1914). "Marriage and Love." 2nd ed. New York: Mother Earth
Publishing Association.
--- (1914). "La Tragédie de L'Emancipation Féminine",
trans. E. Armand. St. Joseph, Orleans, France: La Laborlease.
--- (1914). "Intellectual Proletarians." Mother Earth. v.8 (February
1914). pp. 363-70.
--- (1915). "Preparedness: The Road to Universal Slaughter." Mother
Earth. v.10 (December 1915). pp. 331-38.
--- (1916). "The Philosophy of Atheism." Mother Earth. v.10
(1916). pp. 410-16.
--- (1916). "The Social Aspects of Birth Control." Mother Earth. v.11
(April 1916). pp. 468-75.
--- (1916). Philosophy of Atheism and the Failure of Christianity.
New York: Mother Earth Publishing Association.
--- (1916). "Preparedness: The Road to Universal Slaughter." New York:
Mother Earth Publishing Association.
--- (1917). "The Promoters of the War Mania." Mother Earth. v.12 (March
1917). pp. 5-11.
--- (1917). "The Woman Suffrage Chameleon." Mother Earth. v.12 (May
1917). pp. 78-81.
--- (1917). "The Holiday." Mother Earth. v.12 (June 1917). p. 97.
--- (1917). "Trial and Speech 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.
--- (1918). "The Truth About the Bolsheviki." New York: Mother
Earth Publishing Association.
--- (1919). Deportation: Its Meaning and Menace. New York: Mother Earth
Publishing Assoc.
--- (1919). "A Fragment of the Prison Experiences of Emma Goldman
and Alexander Berkman." New York: Stella Comyn.
--- (1922) The Crushing of the Russian Revolution.
London: Freedom Press.
--- (1922). "Bolsheviks Shooting Anarchists." Freedom. London:
January.
--- (1922). "Russia." New York World. New York: March 26
through April 4, 1922.
--- (1922). "Persecution of Russian Anarchists." Freedom.
London: August 1922.
--- (1922). "The Bolshevik Government and the Anarchists." Freedom.
London: October.
--- (1923). My Disillusionment in Russia. Garden City,
New York: Doubleday; reprint, New York: Thomas
Crowell, 1970.
--- (1923) Dos Anos in Russia. New York: Aurora.
--- (1924). My Further Disillusionment in Russia. Garden City, NY:
Doubleday, Page and Co.
--- (1924). "Women of the Russian Revolution." Time and Tide (England),
May 8, 1924, p. 452.
--- (1925). The Bolshevik Myth. New York: Boni
& Liveright.
--- (1925). My Disillusionment in Russia. London: C.W. Daniel Co.
(complete uncut text).
--- (1925). "War Against War." The Hague: International Anti-Militarist
Bureau.
--- (1925). "Appeal by Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, and Others."
Letters from Russian Prisons. ed. Roger Baldwin. New York:
Albert and Charles Boni.
--- (1925)."Russian Trade Unionism". Westminister Gazette
England: April 7.
--- (1925). "Women of the Russian Revolution." Time and Tide.
England: May 8.
--- (1926). "Johann Most." American Mercury. VIII.
June: 158-66.
--- (1926). "Foremost Russian Dramatists." Unpublished manuscript,
International Institute for Social History, folder EGIII.
--- (1926). "Reflections on the General Strike." Freedom. London:
August-September.
--- (1931). Living My Life. New York: Knopf.
--- (1931). "The Voyage of the Buford." American Mercury. XXIII.
July, pp. 276-86.
--- (1931). "The Assassination of McKinley." American Mercury.
XXIV. September, pp. 53-67.
--- (1931). "Emma Goldman Defends Her Attack on Henry George." The
Road to Freedom. VIII, no. 3. November.
--- (1932). "Most Dangerous Woman in the World Views U.S.A. from Europe."
British Guiana New Day Chronicle. February 21.
--- (1932). Voltairine De Cleyre, Berkeley Heights, N.J.:
Oriole Press.
--- (1932). "America by Comparison." In American's Abroad, 1918-1931.
ed. Peter Neagoe. The Hague: Servire Press.
--- (1934). "The Tragedy of the Political Exiles." Nation, October 10,
1934, pp. 401-2.
--- (1934). "Was My Life Worth Living?" Harper's Monthly Magazine.
CLXX. December: 52-58.
--- (1935). "There Is No Communism In Russia." American Mercury.
XXXIV. April: 393-401. (French Version)
--- (1936). "Anarchists and Elections". Vanguard. June-July.
--- (1936). "Anarchists and Elections." Vanguard. III. August-
September: pp. 19-20.
--- (1936). "Berkman's Last Days." Vanguard. III. August-September:
pp. 12-13.
--- (1936). "Emma Goldman's First Address to the Spanish Comrades at
a Mass-Meeting Attended by Ten-Thousand People." CNT-AIT-FAI.
September 25.
--- (1936). "Enlarged Text of Emma Goldman's Radio Talk in Barcelona,
23 September 1936." CNT-AIT-FAI. September 25.
--- (1936)."Whom the Gods Wish to Destroy They First Strike Mad."
CNT-AIT-FAI October 6.
--- (1936). "The Soviet Executions." Vanguard. III. October-
November: 10.
--- (1937). "Emma Goldman on the United Front in
Spain". Spanish Revolution. January 8, 1937.
--- (1937). "The Soviet Political Machine." Spain and the World. I
June 4: 3.
--- (1937). "Naïve Anarchists." (letter). New York Times.
July 4.
--- (1937). "Madrid is the Wonder of the World." Spain and the World.
I. October 13.
--- (1937). "Reports on Spain." Spanish Revolution. December 6.
--- (1938). "Trotsky Protests Too Much." Glaskow: Anarchist
Communist Federation.
--- (1938). "Preface." Pensieri e battadlie. Camillo Berneri. Paris:
Edito a Cura Dei Comitato Camillo Berneri.
--- (1938). "On Spain." Spanish Revolution. March 21.
--- (1940). The Place for the Individual in Society.
Chicago: Free Society Forum.
--- (1953). "Letters from Prison." In The Little Review Anthology,
edited by Margaret Andeerson. New York: Hermitage Press.
--- (1969). Anarchism and Other Essays. Port
Washington, NY: Kennikat Press.
--- (1970) The Traffic in Women and Other Essays on Feminism. Edited by
Alix Kates Schulman. NY: Times Change Press.
--- (1975). Nowhere at Home: The Letters from Exile
of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. ed. R.
Drinnon and A. M. Drinnon. New York: Shocken.
--- (1979). A Woman Without A Country. Sanday:
Cienfuegos Press.
--- (1983). Vision on Fire: Emma Goldman on the
Spanish Revolution. ed. D. Porter. New Paltz,
NY: Commonground Press.
--- (1983). Red Emma Speaks: an Emma Goldman Reader.
Ed. by Alix Kates Shulman. New York: Schocken
Books.

Traducciones

Viviendo mi vida : autobiografía de Emma Goldman (1995)
Goldman, Emma
Fundación de Estudios Libertarios Anselmo Lorenzo
(Obra completa)

ISBN: 84-86864-17-8


Dos años en Rusia : diez artículos publicados en The World (1978)
Goldman, Emma
José J. de Olañeta, Editor
ISBN: 84-86864-17-8
(agotado)

Tráfico de mujeres y otros ensayos sobre feminismo (1977)
Goldman, Emma
Editorial Anagrama, S.A.
ISBN: 84-339-0743-3
(agotado)

Bibliografía Crítica

Anderson, Margaret. "The Challenge of Emma Goldman." Little Review, May
1914, 5-9.
Baldwin, R. (1931). "A Challenging Rebel Spirit." New York Herald
Tribune, October 25, 1931.
Berry, E. (1969). "Rhetoric for the Cause: The Analysis and Criticism of
the Persuasive Discourse of Emma Goldman, Anarchist Agitator 1906-1919."
Ph.D. dis., University of California at Los Angeles, 1969.
Buhle, M.J. (1985). "Emma Goldman". In These Times.
January 23-29, pp. 10-11.
Calberg, John. (1991). Emma Goldman: American Individualist.
ed. Oscar Handlin. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Cole, Stephen. (1995). Emma Goldman: A Guide to Her Life
and Documentary Sources. ed. Sally Thomas.
Alexandria, VA, USA: Chadwyck-Healey.
Drinnon, R. (1957). "Emma Goldman: A Study of American Radicalism." Ph.D. dis.,
University of Minnesota.
Drinnon, R. (1961). Rebel in Paradise: A Biography of
Emma Goldman. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Duberman, Martin B. (1991). Mother Earth: an epic drama of Emma
Goldman's life. New York: St. Martin's Press
"Emma Goldman". The Nation. March 21, 1934, p. 320.
Ewing, C. C. "Emma Goldman's Participation in the Labor Free Speech
Fight in San Diego 1912-1915." Master's Thesis, University of North
Carolina, 1975.
Falk, C. (1984). Love, Anarchy and Emma Goldman.
New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Frazer, W. L. (1974). Emma Goldman and the Iceman Cometh. Gainesville,
University Presses of Florida.
Ganguli, B. Emma Goldman: Portrait Of A Rebel Women.
New Delhi:Allied, 1979.
Glassgold, Peter (2001). Anarchy!: an anthology of Emma Goldman's Mother
earth. Wshington, D.C.: Counterpoint.
Goldsmith, Margaret L. Seven Women Against the World. London: Methuen, 1935.
Haaland, Bonnie. (1993). Emma Goldman: Sexuality and the Impurity
of the State. Montreal; New York: Black Rose Books.
Howe, Leslie A. On Goldman. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, c2000.
Ishill, J. (1957). Emma Goldman: A Challenging Rebel.
Berkeley Heights, NJ: Oreole Press.
Kern, R. (1976). "Anarchist Principles and Spanish
Reality: Emma Goldman as a Participant in
the Civil War 1936-39". Journal of
Contemporary History. vol. 11, no. 293.
Madison, C. A. (1947). "Emma Goldman: Biographical Sketch." New York: Libertarian
Book Club, 1960. Reprint from Critics and Crusaders. New York:
Fredrick Ungar Publishing Company.
Marsh, Margaret S. Anarchist Women 1870-1920, Philadelphia, Temple University
Press, 1981.
McManus, M. (1992). "The Rhetorical Failure of Emma Goldman: A Drammatistic and
Dialectic Conflict Analysis." Master's thesis, Auburn University.
Moritz, T. & Albert Moritz (2001). The World's Most Dangerous Woman: A
New Biography of Emma Goldman. Vancouver, Toronto: Subway Books.
Morton, M. (1992). Emma Goldman and the American Left.
New York, N.Y.: Twayne Publishers.
Peirats, J. (1978). Emma Goldman: Anarquista de Ambos
Mundos. Madrid: Campo Abierto Ediciones.
Poirier, S. (1988). "Emma Goldman, Ben Reitman, and
Reitman's Wives: A Study in Relationships".
Women's Studies 14: February, pp. 277-97.
Reedy, William Marion (1908). "Emma Goldman, the daughter of the
dream."
Rosenberg, K. (1984). "The 'Autumnal Love' of Red
Emma". Harvard Magazine. January-February,
pp. 52-56.

Quesada Monge, Rodirgo (2001)
EL ANARQUISMO DE EMMA GOLDMAN (1869-1940)
Y LOS LÍMITES DE LA UTOPÍA
Espéculo. Revista de estudios literarios. Universidad Complutense de
Madrid
Schulman, A. K. (1970). "The Most Dangerous Wopman in the World." Women: A
Journal of Liberation (Spring 1970). Reprinted in The Traffic in
Women and Other Essays on Feminism.
Shulman, A. K. To The Barricades: The Anarchist Life
of Emma Goldman. New York: Crowell, 1971.
Solomon, M. (1987). Emma Goldman. Boston: Twayne
Publishers.
The Observer (aka: Salem Bland). (1934). "Emma Goldman On Hitlerism."
Toronto Daily Star. January 12.
Waldstreicher, David. (1990). Emma Goldman. New York: Chelsea
House Publishers.
Weinberger, H. (1940). Emma Goldman: Speech Delivered
At Her Funeral, Chicago, May 17th, 1940, Berkeley
Heights, N.J.: Oriole Press.
Wenzer, Kenneth C. (1996). Anarchists adrift: Emma Goldman and Alexander
Berkman. St. James, NY: Brandywine Press.
Wexler, A. (1980). "The Early Life of Emma Goldman".
The Psychohistory Review. 8:4:1-21.
--- (1981). "Emma Goldman on Mary Wollstonecraft".
Feminist Studies. Vol. 7, no. 1.
--- (1982). "Emma Goldman in Love". Raritan.
vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 131-32.
--- (1984). Emma Goldman in America. Boston: Beacon.
--- (1984). Emma Goldman: An Intimate Life. New York:
Pantheon Books.
--- (1989). Emma Goldman in Exile: From the Russian
Revolution to the Spanish Civil War. Boston:
Beacon Press.

Enlaces de interés

Texto Representativo

Durruti Is Dead, Yet Living
By Emma Goldman

[Published in 1936. Obtained from the Hoover Institution on
War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford, California.]


Durruti, whom I saw but a month ago, lost his life in the street-battles of Madrid.

My previous knowledge of this stormy petrel of the Anarchist and revolutionary movement in Spain was merely from reading about him. On my arrival in Barcelona I learned many fascinating stories of Durruti and his column. They made me eager to go to the Aragon front, where he was the leading spirit of the brave and valiant militias, fighting against fascism.

I arrived at Durruti's headquarters towards evening, completely exhausted from the long drive over a rough road. A few moments with Durruti was like a strong tonic, refreshing and invigorating. Powerful of body as if hewn from the rocks of Montserrat, Durruti easily represented the most dominating figure among the Anarchists I had met since my arrival in Spain. His terrific energy electrified me as it seemed to effect everyone who came within its radius.

I found Durruti in a veritable beehive of activity. Men came and went, the telephone was constantly calling for Durruti. In addition was the deafening hammering of workers who were constructing a wooden shed for Durruti's staff. Through all the din and constant call on his time Durruti remained serene and patient. He received me as if he had known me all his life. The graciousness and warmth from a man engaged in a life and death struggle against fascism was something I had hardly expected.

I had heard much about Durruti's mastery over the column that went by his name. I was curious to learn by what means other than military drive he had succeeded in welding together 10,000 volunteers without previous military training and experience of any sort. Durruti seemed surprised that I, an old Anarchist should even ask such a question.

"I have been an Anarchist all my life," he replied, "I hope I have remained one. I should consider it very sad indeed, had I to turn into a general and rule the men with a military rod. They have come to me voluntarily, they are ready to stake their lives in our antifascist fight. I believe, as I always have, in freedom. The freedom which rests on the sense of responsibility. I consider discipline indispensable, but it must be inner discipline, motivated by a common purpose and a strong feeling of comradeship." He had gained the confidence of the men and their affection because he had never played the part of a superior. He was one of them. He ate and slept as simply as they did. Often even denying himself his own portion for one weak or sick, and needing more than he. And he shared their danger in every battle. That was no doubt the secret of Durruti's success with his column. The men adored him. They not only carried out all his instructions, they were ready to follow him in the most perilous venture to repulse the fascist position.

I had arrived on the eve of an attack Durruti had prepared for the following morning. At daybreak Durruti, like the rest of the militia with his rifle over his shoulder, led the way. Together with them he drove the enemy back four kilometers, and he also succeeded in capturing a considerable amount of arms the enemies had left behind in their flight.

The moral example of simple equality was by no means the only explanation of Durruti's influence. There was another, his capacity to make the militiamen realize the deeper meaning of the antifascist war--the meaning that had dominated his own life and that he had learned to articulate to the poorest and most undeveloped of the poor.

Durruti told me of his approach to the difficult problems of the men who come for leave of absence at moments when they were most needed at the front. The men evidently knew their leader--they knew his decisiveness--his iron will. But also they knew the sympathy and gentleness hidden behind his austere exterior. How could he resist when the men told him of illness at home--parents, wife or child?

Durruti hounded before the glorious days of July 1936, like a wild beast from country to country. Imprisoned time on end as a criminal. Even condemned to death. He, the hated Anarchist, hated by the sinister trinity, the bourgeoisie, the state and the church. This homeless vagabond incapable of feeling as the whole capitalistic puck proclaimed. How little they knew Durruti. How little they understood his loving heart. He had never remained indifferent to the needs of his fellows. Now however, he was engaged in a desperate struggle with fascism in the defense of the Revolution, and every man was needed at his place. Verily a difficult situation to meet. But Durruti's ingeniousness conquered all difficulties. He listened patiently to the story of woe and then held forth on the cause of illness among the poor. Overwork, malnutrition, lack of air, lack of joy in life.

"Don't you see comrade, the war you and I are waging is to safeguard our Revolution and the Revolution is to do away with the misery and suffering of the poor. We must conquer our fascist enemy. We must win the war. You are an essential part of it. Don't you see, comrade?" Durruti's comrades did see, they usually remained.

Sometimes one would prove abdurate, and insist on leaving the front. "All right," Durruti tells him, "but you will go on foot, and by the time you reach your village, everybody will know that your courage had failed you, that you have run away, that you have shirked your self-imposed task." That worked like magic. The man pleads to remain. No military brow-beating, no coercion, no disciplinary punishment to hold the Durruti column at the front. Only the vulcanic energy of the man carries everyone along and makes them feel as one with him.

A great man this Anarchist Durruti, a born leader and teacher of men, thoughtful and tender comrade all in one. And now Durruti is dead. His great heart beats no more. His powerful body felled down like a giant tree. And yet, and yet--Durruti is not dead. The hundreds of thousands that turned out Sunday, November 22nd, 1936, to pay Durruti their last tribute have testified to that.

No, Durruti is not dead. The fires of his flaming spirit lighted in all who knew and loved him, can never be extinguished. Already the masses have lifted high the torch that fell from Durruti's hand. Triumphantly they are carrying it before them on the path Durruti had blazoned for many years. The path that leads to the highest summit of Durruti's ideal. This ideal was Anarchism--the grand passion of Durruti's life. He had served it utterly. He remained faithful to it until his last breath.

If proof were needed of Durruti's tenderness his concern in my safety gave it to me. There was no place to house me for the night at the General-Staff quarters. And the nearest village was Pina. But it had been repeatedly bombarded by the fascists. Durruti was loathe to send me there. I insisted it was alright. One dies but once. I could see the pride in his face that his old comrade had no fear. He let me go under strong guard.

I was grateful to him because it gave me a rare chance to meet many of the comrades in arms of Durruti and also to speak with the people of the village. The spirit of these much-tried victims of fascism was most impressive.

The enemy was only a short distance from Pina on the other side of a creek. But there was no fear or weakness among the people. Heroically they fought on. "Rather dead, than fascist rule," they told me. "We stand and fall with Durruti in the antifascist fight to the last man."

In Pina I discovered a child of eight years old, an orphan who had already been harnessed to daily toil with a fascist family. Her tiny hands were red and swollen. Her eyes, full of horror from the dreadful shocks she had already suffered at the hands of Franco's hirelings. The people of Pina are pitifully poor. Yet everyone gave this ill-treated child care and love she had never known before.

The European Press has from the very beginning of the antifascist war competed with each other in calumny and vilification of the Spanish defenders of liberty. Not a day during the last four months but what these satraps of European fascism did not write the most sensational reports of atrocities committed by the revolutionary forces. Every day the readers of these yellow sheets were fed on the riots and disorders in Barcelona and other towns and villages, free from the fascist invasion.

Having travelled over the whole of Catalonia, Aragon, and the Levante, having visited every city and village on the way, I can testify that there is not one word of truth in any of the bloodcurdling accounts I had read in some of the British and Continental press.

A recent example of the utter unscrupulous news-fabrication was furnished by some of the papers in regard to the death of the Anarchist and heroic leader of the antifascist struggle, Buenaventura Durruti.

According to this perfectly absurd account, Durruti's death is supposed to have called forth violent dissension and outbreaks in Barcelona among the comrades of the dead revolutionary hero Durruti.

Whoever it was who wrote this preposterous invention he could not have been in Barcelona. Much less know the place of Buenaventura Durruti in the hearts of the members of the CNT and FAI. Indeed, in the hearts and estimation of all regardless of their divergence with Durruti's political and social ideas.

In point of truth, there never was such complete oneness in the ranks of the popular front in Catalonia, as from the moment when the news of Durruti's death became known until the last when he was laid to rest.

Every party of every political tendency fighting Spanish fascism turned out en masse to pay loving tribute to Buenaventura Durruti. But not only the direct comrades of Durruti, numbering hundreds of thousands and all the allies in the antifascist struggle, the largest part of the population of Barcelona represented an incessant stream of humanity. All had come to participate in the long and exhausting funeral procession. Never before had Barcelona witnessed such a human sea whose silent grief rose and fell in complete unison.

As to the comrades of Durruti--comrades closely knit by their ideal and the comrades of the gallant column he had created. Their admiration, their love, their devotion and respect left no place for discord and dissension. They were as one in their grief and in their determination to continue the battle against fascism and for the realization of the Revolution for which Durruti had lived, fought and had staked his all until his last breath.

No, Durruti is not dead! He is more alive than living. His glorious example will now be emulated by all the Catalan workers and peasants, by all the oppressed and disinherited. The memory of Durruti's courage and fortitude will spur them on to great deeds until fascism has been slain. Then the real work will begin--the work on the new social structure of human value, justice and freedom.

No, no! Durruti is not dead! He lives in us for ever and ever.

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