Alexander Berkman
A revolutionary who spent fourteen years in prison for an attempted assassination, then channeled his fervor into defining the American anarchist movement through writing and organizing.
1870–1936 (age 66)·Russian-American anarchist and writer·Birthday: November 21·The Gilded Age
Biography
Born in Vilnius, Alexander Berkman emigrated to the United States as a young man, his political consciousness already sharpened by the repressive atmosphere of Imperial Russia. In 1892, his belief in 'propaganda of the deed' led him to attempt the assassination of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, an act meant to ignite a worker's revolution. The failed attempt resulted in a brutal fourteen-year prison sentence, a crucible that transformed him. Upon release, he became a vital partner to Emma Goldman, editing her journal *Mother Earth* and co-founding the Ferrer Center. His 1912 prison memoir, *Prison Memoirs of an An Anarchist*, remains a stark classic of radical literature. Deported to Russia in 1919, he witnessed the Bolshevik betrayal of the revolution firsthand, leading to his disillusioned critique, *The Bolshevik Myth*. He spent his final years in France, a persistent voice for a free society, his life a testament to the evolution from violent insurrectionist to a writer who argued that true change resided in the minds of people.
The Gilded Age
1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
Alexander was born in 1870, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Alexander Was Born
The biggest hits of 1870
Alexander's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1870Born
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1875Started school
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1883Became a teenager
President: Chester A. Arthur
1886Could drive
Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York Harbor
President: Grover Cleveland
1888Could vote
President: Grover Cleveland
1891Turned 21
President: Benjamin Harrison
1900Turned 30
Boxer Rebellion in China
President: William McKinley
1910Turned 40
Halley's Comet makes its closest approach
President: William Howard Taft
1920Turned 50
Women gain the right to vote in the US
Home: $3,395President: Woodrow Wilson"Swanee" — Al Jolson
1930Turned 60
Pluto discovered
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $3,510President: Herbert Hoover"Body and Soul" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front
1936Died at 66
Jesse Owens wins four golds at the Berlin Olympics
Gas: $0.19/galPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"The Way You Look Tonight" — Fred AstaireBest Picture: The Great Ziegfeld
Key Achievements
- Published the influential prison memoir 'Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist' in 1912.
- Co-founded the Ferrer Center in New York, a hub for radical education and free thought.
- Was a primary editor and writer for the anarchist journal *Mother Earth* alongside Emma Goldman.
- Authored 'The Bolshevik Myth,' a critical first-hand account of the Russian Revolution's aftermath.
Did You Know?
His attempted assassination of Henry Clay Frick was partly in response to the Homestead Strike.
He taught himself English while working in a soda bottling factory upon first arriving in New York.
He and Emma Goldman were deported to Russia on the USS *Buford*, nicknamed the 'Soviet Ark'.
He wrote an anarchist primer for children titled 'The ABC of Communist Anarchism'.
“The more opposition I encountered, the more I was confirmed in my faith.”
