Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
With pencil and scraps of paper concealed behind the personsof friends who had come to say good-bye at the Ellis IslandDeportation Station, Alexander Berkman hastily scribbled the lastlines of this pamphlet.
I think it is the best introduction to this pamphlet to say thatbefore its writing was finished the rulers of America began deportingmen directly and obviously for the offense of striking againstthe industrial owners of America.
The “Red Ark” is gone. In the darkness of early morning itslipped away, leaving behind many wives and children destituteof support. They were denied even the knowledge of the sailingof the ship, denied the right of farewell to the husbands andfathers they may never see again. After the boat was gone, womenand children came to the dock to visit the prisoners, bringing suchlittle comforts as are known to the working class, seedy overcoatsfor the Russian winter, cheap gloves and odds and ends of food.They were told that the ship was gone. The refined cruelty of thething was too much for them; they stormed the ferry-house, brokea window, screamed and cried, and were driven away by soldiers.
The “Red Ark” will loom big in American history. It is thefirst picturesque incident of the beginning effort of the War Millionairesto crush the soul of America and insure the safety of thedollars they have looted over the graves of Europe and throughthe deaths of the quarter million soldier boys whom Americanmothers now mourn.
Yes, the “Red Ark” will go into history. Alexander Berkmanand Emma Goldman whom the screaming harlots of the yellowpress have chosen to call the “leaders” of those whose distinctionis that they have no leaders, are more fortunate than otherwise.Berkman and Goldman have been deported as “Russians.” Theywere born in Russia, but they did their thirty years’ work of enlightenmentin this, our America. I think they are therefore Americans,in the best sense, and the best of Americans. They foughtfor the elementary rights of men, here in our country when othersof us were afraid to speak, or would not pay the price. In all4the leading cities of this land, they have contributed to the intellectuallife of the younger, aspiring generation. I venture to saythat there is hardly a liberal in the United States whose life has notbeen influenced directly or indirectly and made better, by AlexanderBerkman and Emma Goldman.
Alexander Berkman spent in American prisons more years thanI like to remember. He did it deliberately. He did it for the welfareof men, and the American portion of mankind. He neverhesitated to offer his life for his brother. I recall a picture; it isin Russia. We were gathered in Moscow. It looked as thoughthe Revolution were going to its death. Everywhere the Sovietarmies were retreating, the masses were sinking into despair, theGerman working class was not rising in rebellion as we