What do you think?
Rate this book
The Bolshevik Myth
When Alexander Berkman (1870-1936) - a leading American anarchist of Russian origin - returned to Russia in 1919, he was welcomed as a hero by the Bolshevik regime. Berkman and his companion and comrade Emma Goldman - having been deported from the United States for their anti-war activities, and fired with revolutionary enthusiasm - were determined to work for the Russian Revolution. The Bolshevik Myth --first published in 1925--is Berkman's account of the two years he spent in the Soviet Union, his meetings with Lenin, Trotsky, Kropotkin, and above all with the Russian people, the ordinary men and women who were suffering hunger, disease and persecution. It is the story of chaos, bureaucratic incompetence and economic ruin. A story of warring revolutionary factions, barbarism, repression and fear, leading to the author's complete disillusionment with the Bolshevik system. In his new biographical introduction, Nicolas Walter, quoting from contemporary publications and unpublished manuscript sources, compares The Bolshevik Myth with Berkman's diary from the period - on which the published book is based - and examines some of the complications of Berkman's relationship with Emma Goldman, whose writings he edited. This edition includes too, the conclusion to the book, left out of the original publication, as the publisher deemed it an 'Anti-Climax'.
350 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1925
About the author
Alexander Berkman
53 books95 followersAlexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century.
Berkman was born in Vilna in the Russian Empire (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) and emigrated to the United States in 1888. He lived in New York City, where he became involved in the anarchist movement. He was the lover and lifelong friend of anarchist Emma Goldman. In 1892, Alexander Berkman tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick for his role in violently suppressing the Homestead Steel Strike for which he served 14 years in prison. His experience in prison was the basis for his first book, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist.
After his release from prison, Berkman served as editor of Goldman's anarchist journal, Mother Earth, and he established his own journal, The Blast. In 1917, Berkman and Goldman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiracy against the newly instated draft. After their release from prison, they were arrested—along with hundreds of others—and deported to Russia. Initially supportive of that country's Bolshevik revolution, Berkman soon voiced his opposition to the Soviet's use of terror after seizing power and their repression of fellow revolutionaries. In 1925, he published a book about his experiences, The Bolshevik Myth.
While living in France, Berkman continued his work in support of the anarchist movement, producing the classic exposition of anarchist principles, Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism. Suffering from ill health, Berkman committed suicide in 1936.
More: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/...
http://www.nndb.com/people/137/000165...
Berkman was born in Vilna in the Russian Empire (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) and emigrated to the United States in 1888. He lived in New York City, where he became involved in the anarchist movement. He was the lover and lifelong friend of anarchist Emma Goldman. In 1892, Alexander Berkman tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick for his role in violently suppressing the Homestead Steel Strike for which he served 14 years in prison. His experience in prison was the basis for his first book, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist.
After his release from prison, Berkman served as editor of Goldman's anarchist journal, Mother Earth, and he established his own journal, The Blast. In 1917, Berkman and Goldman were sentenced to two years in jail for conspiracy against the newly instated draft. After their release from prison, they were arrested—along with hundreds of others—and deported to Russia. Initially supportive of that country's Bolshevik revolution, Berkman soon voiced his opposition to the Soviet's use of terror after seizing power and their repression of fellow revolutionaries. In 1925, he published a book about his experiences, The Bolshevik Myth.
While living in France, Berkman continued his work in support of the anarchist movement, producing the classic exposition of anarchist principles, Now and After: The ABC of Communist Anarchism. Suffering from ill health, Berkman committed suicide in 1936.
More: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/...
http://www.nndb.com/people/137/000165...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 17, 2017
Alexander Beckman was clearly very disheartened by the way that the October Revolution turned out and his analysis in The Bolshevik Myth is a classic of political theory and a warning about all forms of totalitarianism including Drumpfism.
September 22, 2024
Got a lot out of this. Very beautifully written for a diary. Consistently tragic, the death of an optimistic man’s faith in liberated Russia, facing the corruption of the Bolshevik government and military at many levels, both in attempting to collaborate and work with them and speaking to peasants, Jews and intellectuals who were suffering at the hands of ruthless and oppressive authority in a starving nation.
I expected this to be more about Berkmans anarchism and personal struggles with Bolshevik orthodoxy and suppression of free speech, but the most powerful stuff in the book are anecdotes from people he encounters in his travels and windows into their horrors. His open and forgiving attitude towards everyone he meets brings this out of people, and is what he seems to hope is the spirit of the new Russia. It is crushing to see him see how far from the truth this is.
It was also interesting to get a bit of the history of this period that I am not really familiar with. Many leftists acknowledge the tragedy of the USSR only as the result of Stalins ascent to power and transformation of a previously sound revolutionary government. This book provides glimpses of Lenin and Trotskys own brutalities and presents a project doomed from the beginning.
I expected this to be more about Berkmans anarchism and personal struggles with Bolshevik orthodoxy and suppression of free speech, but the most powerful stuff in the book are anecdotes from people he encounters in his travels and windows into their horrors. His open and forgiving attitude towards everyone he meets brings this out of people, and is what he seems to hope is the spirit of the new Russia. It is crushing to see him see how far from the truth this is.
It was also interesting to get a bit of the history of this period that I am not really familiar with. Many leftists acknowledge the tragedy of the USSR only as the result of Stalins ascent to power and transformation of a previously sound revolutionary government. This book provides glimpses of Lenin and Trotskys own brutalities and presents a project doomed from the beginning.
May 29, 2017
My full review: http://willy-akhdes.blogspot.co.id/20...
April 25, 2024
I would recommend anyone and everyone read this book.
It is so tight, no words are wasted.
As a diary it is extraordinary. It's so visceral and beautifully written. It is so thematic, watching this story of revolutionary idealism ( at least the idealism in the russian revolution I imagine Berkman remained an anarchist idealist all.his life) be slowly chipped away at and crushed by the weight of Bolshevik despotism, thuggery and endless, endless bureaucracy. It is heartbreaking and horrifying and seeing hopes slowly drain out of people, who then cling on to new hopes, that are then crushed is incredibly potent and moving and crushing. So much tension, so much encroaching morbidity but some beauty in the sadness of it all.
The situation in Russia and Ukraine during this book is harrowing and cruelty is relentless.
The story of Ukraine is almost disgusting how much it now mirrors the same pain again almost one hundred years later. I do not know how people still.live there
The writing style is magnetic, the fact it is a diary is crazy.
Definitely definitely read it if you have any inclination to.
It is so tight, no words are wasted.
As a diary it is extraordinary. It's so visceral and beautifully written. It is so thematic, watching this story of revolutionary idealism ( at least the idealism in the russian revolution I imagine Berkman remained an anarchist idealist all.his life) be slowly chipped away at and crushed by the weight of Bolshevik despotism, thuggery and endless, endless bureaucracy. It is heartbreaking and horrifying and seeing hopes slowly drain out of people, who then cling on to new hopes, that are then crushed is incredibly potent and moving and crushing. So much tension, so much encroaching morbidity but some beauty in the sadness of it all.
The situation in Russia and Ukraine during this book is harrowing and cruelty is relentless.
The story of Ukraine is almost disgusting how much it now mirrors the same pain again almost one hundred years later. I do not know how people still.live there
The writing style is magnetic, the fact it is a diary is crazy.
Definitely definitely read it if you have any inclination to.
April 18, 2023
This is one of the best books I've ever read.
I would've never expected an anarchist diary to be so engaging and emotional. It's so well written and interesting; it reads like a novel.
It's a must-read in my opinion.
I would've never expected an anarchist diary to be so engaging and emotional. It's so well written and interesting; it reads like a novel.
It's a must-read in my opinion.
April 7, 2024
On March 5th 1921, Berkman - terrified of the idea the world worker's uprising could devour itself - describes his proposal that a negotiation committee be established to salvage relations between the Bolsheviks and the Krondstadt sailors, as though popular cooperation were driving the civil war. On the same date, the true powers - Trotsky, Zinoviev, the Bolshevik leaders - agreed on a document of unconditional surrender towards the ones who were at one point their most faithful servants, threatening: "If you persist you will be shot like partridges." The invasion proceeded as intended; the island fortress was crushed; the culling of sailors began shortly after.
This juxtaposition between what Berkman hoped and what actually *was* is a common sight in "The Bolshevik Myth". In the diarized retelling of his anarcho-missionary trip across the nascent USSR during the 1917-1921 Civil War, Berkman offers himself up as a dreamer who cannot look at his beloved worker's revolution with anything but wide-eyed hope. Repeatedly, Lenin's revolution crushes these dreams with absolute unconcern. This is a bitter, frank tale of Berkman's witness to the murder of his own dream, in which he makes no serious attempt to defend his naivete or shy from the fact.
This juxtaposition between what Berkman hoped and what actually *was* is a common sight in "The Bolshevik Myth". In the diarized retelling of his anarcho-missionary trip across the nascent USSR during the 1917-1921 Civil War, Berkman offers himself up as a dreamer who cannot look at his beloved worker's revolution with anything but wide-eyed hope. Repeatedly, Lenin's revolution crushes these dreams with absolute unconcern. This is a bitter, frank tale of Berkman's witness to the murder of his own dream, in which he makes no serious attempt to defend his naivete or shy from the fact.
April 17, 2020
Ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον βίωμα από κάποιον που το έζησε από κοντά, όπως ο Μπέρκμαν. Ένας άνθρωπος που πήγε με τόση όρεξη στην επαναστατική ΕΣΣΔ για να καταλήξει στην απογοήτευση και να αποχωρήσει από αυτήν κάποια χρόνια μετά. Ένα από τα πιο ενδιαφέροντα σημεία του βιβλίου είναι οι σημειώσεις για τα διάφορα άτομα που συναντάει ο Μπέρκμαν. Συνήθως είναι φανατικοί μπολσεβίκοι, πολύ από αυτούς υπέρ της καταστολής και των διώξεων αριστερών και αναρχικών. Οι σημειώσεις όμως έχουν προστεθεί τώρα σε αυτήν την έκδοση του βιβλίου από το Πανοπτικόν και σχεδόν όλοι τους (ελάχιστες οι εξαιρέσεις από ότι θυμάμαι) απέφυγαν μετά τις εσωτερικές εκκαθαρίσεις του Στάλιν και εκτελέστηκαν.
January 16, 2024
This book is the diary of a man who is deported from the USA in 1919 to what would become the USSR. It follows him being an initial supporter of the Bolsheviks and his slow disillusionment with how they run things, culminating in 1921 where he basically condemns them as monsters.
It's nice to look at a major historical event from the first person and it really humanises the people involved. Our hero actually meets with far-left legends like Lenin and Kropotkin, whilst also engaging in casual discussion with people he meets about the future of Russia. He meets people who are addicts, mercenaries, power hungry, trolls and people trying to find out what is happening to their families. It is shocking that people in 1920 are pretty much exactly the same as now but we are more addicted to screens. Berkman has a talent for humanising people and now I want to read his other work.
Still, I wish he tried to answer why the revolution got corrupted, and if their arguments that they need a dictatorship to survive were valid. He points out a lot of corruption and inefficiency, but never refutes the core argument, which prevents this book being perfect. It also got a little repetitive and dry at times.
It's nice to look at a major historical event from the first person and it really humanises the people involved. Our hero actually meets with far-left legends like Lenin and Kropotkin, whilst also engaging in casual discussion with people he meets about the future of Russia. He meets people who are addicts, mercenaries, power hungry, trolls and people trying to find out what is happening to their families. It is shocking that people in 1920 are pretty much exactly the same as now but we are more addicted to screens. Berkman has a talent for humanising people and now I want to read his other work.
Still, I wish he tried to answer why the revolution got corrupted, and if their arguments that they need a dictatorship to survive were valid. He points out a lot of corruption and inefficiency, but never refutes the core argument, which prevents this book being perfect. It also got a little repetitive and dry at times.
March 22, 2019
Sudah berapa kali kita mendengar kalimat "sejarah ditulis oleh pemenang?" . Tentu saja hal itu benar, namun jika kita berada dalam pusaran sejarah, semestinya kita menuliskan jejak-jejak peristiwa tersebut. Alexander Berkman telah berhasil membongkar dan mengoyak Mitos Bolshevik selama berdirinya Uni Soviet. Walaupun tulisannya mengandung emosi tersendiri atas kekejaman Kaum Komunis terhadap sayap revolusioner lain.
January 9, 2018
Berkman menceritakan bagaimana kondisi Rusia setelah revolusi 1917 melalui pengalamannya mengunjungi berbagai kota dan bertemu berbagai tokoh, tentu dengan perspektif personalnya sebagai seorang anarkis. Hal-hal yang saya pelajari dari buku hariannya ini: revolusi sebenar-benarnya itu sulit, dan yah, sejarah manusia memang kejam.
November 30, 2018
Paparan reportase dari tokoh2 penting soviet rusia setelah revolusi bolshevik, dikemas dgn segala pandangan2 yang dimuat begitu mudah untuk dirasakan kondisi para rakyat, buruh dan petani setelah pergantiam rezim.
July 30, 2022
An invaluable firsthand account of the Bolsheviki from an anarchist perspective.
August 20, 2023
Un poco peñazo pero bueno.
March 23, 2024
The USSR kinda sucked tbh. Why are so many communists such big fans of Lenin again??
April 7, 2014
My Amazon Review -
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1S8FB2A...
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1S8FB2A...
January 16, 2024
Mi reseña en bookwyrm
https://lectura.social/user/rsf92/rev...
https://lectura.social/user/rsf92/rev...
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews