Frases de Alexander Berkman

Alexander Berkman foi um escritor e ativista lituano, figura de destaque no movimento anarquista dos Estados Unidos no início do século XX.

Nascido na cidade de Vilnius, na época pertencente ao Império Russo, imigrou para os Estados Unidos em 1888. Viveu na cidade de Nova Iorque, onde se envolveu com o movimento anarquista e conheceu Emma Goldman, que tornou-se sua amante e companheira de longa data. Em 1892, após um conflito ocorrido na greve de Homestead, tentou assassinar o industrial Henry Clay Frick em um ato de propaganda pela ação. Ainda que Frick tenha sobrevivido ao atentado, Berkman foi condenado pelo crime e passou 14 anos na prisão. Suas experiências no cárcere foram a base de seu primeiro livro, Memórias de um Anarquista Aprisionado.

Logo após ter sido posto em liberdade, assumiu a função de editor do periódico anarquista Mother Earth de Emma Goldman, e logo depois criou também o seu próprio periódico, The Blast. Em 1917, ele e Goldman foram condenados a dois anos de prisão por conspirar contra o recém-proclamado Ato de Alistamento Militar Seletivo de 1917, que exigia o alistamento de todos os homens entre 21 e 30 anos. Em 1919, foram deportados junto com outros anarquistas e socialistas estrangeiros para a Rússia. Inicialmente simpatizante da Revolução Bolchevique, Berkman logo se tornou um opositor do regime soviético, após tomar conhecimento da repressão imposta pelo governo bolchevique contra grupos políticos dissidentes. Em 1925, ele publicou um livro baseado em suas experiências na Rússia, chamado O Mito Bolchevique.

Viveu seus últimos anos na França, onde produziu a clássica exposição dos princípios anarquistas, Agora e Depois: O ABC do Anarquismo Comunista. Passou os últimos anos de sua vida em condições precárias, trabalhando como editor e tradutor e dependendo da ajuda financeira de amigos. Sofrendo de graves problemas de saúde, Berkman cometeu suicídio em 1936. Wikipedia  

✵ 21. Novembro 1870 – 28. Junho 1936
Alexander Berkman photo
Alexander Berkman: 6   citações 0   Curtidas

Alexander Berkman: Frases em inglês

“The social revolution means much more than the reorganization of conditions only: it means the establishment of new human values and social relationships, a changed attitude of man to man, as of one free and independent to his equal; it means a different spirit in individual and collective life, and that spirit cannot be born overnight. It is a spirit to be cultivated, to be nurtured and reared, as the most delicate flower it is, for indeed it is the flower of a new and beautiful existence.”

What Is Anarchism? (1929), Ch. 26: "Preparation" http://libcom.org/library/what-is-anarchism-alexander-berkman-26
Contexto: If your object is to secure liberty, you must learn to do without authority and compulsion. If you intend to live in peace and harmony with your fellow-men, you and they should cultivate brotherhood and respect for each other. If you want to work together with them for your mutual benefit, you must practice cooperation. The social revolution means much more than the reorganization of conditions only: it means the establishment of new human values and social relationships, a changed attitude of man to man, as of one free and independent to his equal; it means a different spirit in individual and collective life, and that spirit cannot be born overnight. It is a spirit to be cultivated, to be nurtured and reared, as the most delicate flower it is, for indeed it is the flower of a new and beautiful existence.

“If your object is to secure liberty, you must learn to do without authority and compulsion.”

What Is Anarchism? (1929), Ch. 26: "Preparation" http://libcom.org/library/what-is-anarchism-alexander-berkman-26
Contexto: If your object is to secure liberty, you must learn to do without authority and compulsion. If you intend to live in peace and harmony with your fellow-men, you and they should cultivate brotherhood and respect for each other. If you want to work together with them for your mutual benefit, you must practice cooperation. The social revolution means much more than the reorganization of conditions only: it means the establishment of new human values and social relationships, a changed attitude of man to man, as of one free and independent to his equal; it means a different spirit in individual and collective life, and that spirit cannot be born overnight. It is a spirit to be cultivated, to be nurtured and reared, as the most delicate flower it is, for indeed it is the flower of a new and beautiful existence.

“Once on the road of terrorism, the State necessarily becomes estranged from the people.”

Alexander Berkman livro The Bolshevik Myth

"The Bolshevik Myth" in Anarchism : A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas, Vol. 1 (2005) edited by Robert Graham, p. 312. <!-- Montreal: Black Rose Books -->
Contexto: Terrorism is tempting with its tremendous possibilities. It offers a mechanical solution, as it were, in hopeless situations. … the principles of terrorism unavoidably rebound to the fatal injury of liberty and revolution. Absolute power corrupts and defeats its partisans no less than its opponents. A people that knows not liberty becomes accustomed to dictatorship: fighting despotism and counter-revolution, terrorism itself becomes their efficient school. Once on the road of terrorism, the State necessarily becomes estranged from the people.

“Inhumanity is the keynote of stupidity in power.”

Alexander Berkman livro Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist

Fonte: Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist

“"Man's inhumanity to man" is not the last word. The truth lies deeper. It is economic slavery, the savage struggle for a crumb, that has converted mankind into wolves and sheep.”

Alexander Berkman livro Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist

Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist (1912), Ch. 18: "The Solitary" http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/prison/chapter18ii.html