Alexander Berkman

The anarchist couple of Berkman (left)

and his wife Goldman smile for a photo.

In the 8^th Chapter of Ragtime, Emma Goldman recounts her love story with Alexander Berkman. Doctorow uses historical allusions to tie together accurate historic accounts of Berkman with the plot and themes of the novel. A common theme regarding Berkman is Anarchism vs. Capitalism. Goldman recounts the story of Berkman assassinating Frick, to tell the reader more about his and her view on anarchism. To understand Emma Goldman, and to thus understand the novel it is important to know Alexander Berkman’s story. Berkman was born in Europe, and after his father died, moved to Lithuania and then into the United States. He thought he was going to find freedom in the United States but found it to be more oppressive even than governments in Soviet Russia. He was convinced that “wealthy corporate leaders owned the American political system.” He made it his life goal to stop this. He participated in numerous labor strikes and preached anarchism until the day he and his passionate lover Emma decided to murder the general manager of Carnegie Steel Company, Henry Frick. His failed attempt was described thoroughly by Doctorow. In jail, Berkman wrote The Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist that was published just after he was released from jail. Once freed he published an anarchist paper The Blast, and protested the draft of World War I. He and his wife were eventually deported to Russia for protesting on the behalf of mistreated criminals. Berkman appears many times in the next few years in American history, it will be interesting to see if E.L. Doctorow bring his character back into the plot.

By Tabor Edwards

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"Alexander Berkman with Emma Goldman." National Archives and Records Administration. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

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Aurand, Harold W. "labor radicals during the Gilded Age." In Hoogenboom, Ari, and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: The Development of the Industrial United States, 1870 to 1899, Revised Edition (Volume VI). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHVI166&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 2, 2011).