Deportation: Its Meaning and Menace
New York: M.E. Fitzgerald, 1919. Disbound (previously saddle-stapled) in printed self-wraps. 32pp. Pamphlet penned by Alexander Berkman (b. Russia, 1870-1936) and Emma Goldman (b. Russia, 1869-1940) on the brink of their deportation from the United States to the Soviet Union on the infamous "Red Ark."
Berkman and Goldman were well-known anarchist agitators in the United States at the time, and often targets of state repression -- but it was only under President Woodrow Wilson's newly inked "Espionage Act" of 1917 that charges were able to be brought about (for demonstration and oration against military conscription) that gave enough weight to ensure their deportation.
While being held at Ellis Island awaiting their exile, Berkman and Goldman authored this polemic from their cell on smuggled scraps of paper. This "last message to the people of America" eloquently and passionately warns of the new dangers posed by repressive tactics like deportation in a social climate that has, through the advent of the first World War, heightened senses of nationalism and attendant panic over "foreigners". These sentiments, the authors argue, will be exploited by state powers in order to stifle a plurality of dissenting voices -- a dangerous and unhealthy practice for a "practicing" Democracy.
An unfortunately timely document, and one in the vein of other great deported thinkers such as C.L.R. James (whose own screed he self-published and sent to members of the Congressional branch in an effort to state his case). Fair condition. Staples removed; toned and soiled wraps separated but rejoined with a paper backstrip; shallow chipping about edges; contents show minor foxing but otherwise clean. Item #3927
Price: $900.00