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In the course of her address of May 6, Miss Goldman first outlined the principles of anarchy
and detailed the methods whereby she hoped to accomplish the ends of anarchy. Her talk was full
of forceful passages, and some cases more notable for their strength than for their elegance.
"Men under the present state of society," she said, "are mere products of circumstances.
Under the galling yoke of government, ecclesiasticism, and a bond of custom and prejudice, it is
impossible for the individual to work out his own career as he could wish. Anarchism aims at a
new and complete freedom. It strives to bring about the freedom which is not only the freedom
from within but a freedom from without, which will prevent any man from having a desireto
interfere in any way with the liberty of his neighbor.
"Vanderbilt says, 'I am a free man within myself, but the others be damned.' This is not the
freedom we are striving for. We merely desire complete individual liberty, and this can never be
obtained as long as there is an existing government.
"We do not favor the socialistic idea of converting men and women into mere producing
machines under the eye of a paternal govenment. We go to the opposite extreme and demand the
fullest and most complete liberty for each and every person to work out his own salvation upon
any line that he pleases. The degrading notions of men and women as machines is far from our
ideals of life.
"Anarchism has nothing to do with future governments or economic arrangements. We do not
favor any particular settlement in this line, but merely ask to do away with the present evils. The
future will provide these arrangements after our work has been done. Anarchism deals merely
with social relations, and not with economic arrangement."
The speaker then deprecated the idea that all Anarchists were in favor of violence or bomb
throwing. She declared that nothing was further from the principles they support. She went on,
however, into a detailed explanation of the different crimes committed by Anarchists lately,
declaring that the motive was good in each case, and that these acts were merely a matter of
temperament.
Some men were so constituted, she said, that they were unable to stand idly by and see the
wrong that was being endured by their fellow-mortals. She herself did not believe in these
methods, but she did not think they should be condemned in view of the high and noble motives
which prompted their perpetration. She continued: "Some believe we should first obtain by force
and let the intelligence and education come afterwards."
Miss Goldman did not hesitate to put forward a number of sentiments far more radical and
sensational than any ever publicly advanced here. During Miss Goldman's lecture a strong detail
of police was in the hall to keep her from uttering sentiments which were regarded as too radical.
This accounts for the fact that the speaker did not give free rein to her thoughts on this occasion.
By reason of anarchistic uprisings elsewhere it was thought best by the city officials to curb the
utterances of the woman.
Chicago Daily Tribune, Sept. 8, 1901
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