Till the end of my days my place shall be with the disinherited and oppressed. It is immaterial to me whether Tyranny rules in the Kremlin or in any other seat of the mighty. I could do nothing for suffering Russia while in that country. Perhaps I can do something now by pointing out the lessons of the Russian experience. Not my concern for the Russian people only has prompted the writing of this volume: it is my interest in the masses everywhere. The masses, like the individual, may not readily learn from the experience of others. Yet those who have gained the experience must speak out, if for no other reason than that they cannot in justice to themselves and their ideal support the great delusion revealed to them. EMMA GOLDMAN. Berlin, July, 1922. FOOTNOTE: [1] Mother Earth Publishing Association, New York, February, 1917. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE v CHAPTER I. DEPORTATION TO RUSSIA 1 II. PETROGRAD 11 III. DISTURBING THOUGHTS 22 IV. MOSCOW: FIRST IMPRESSIONS 32 V. MEETING PEOPLE 46 VI. PREPARING FOR AMERICAN DEPORTEES 57 VII. REST HOMES FOR WORKERS 67 VIII. THE FIRST OF MAY IN PETROGRAD 74 IX. INDUSTRIAL MILITARIZATION 79 X. THE BRITISH LABOUR MISSION 90 XI. A VISIT FROM THE UKRAINA 94 XII. BENEATH THE SURFACE 107 XIII. JOINING THE MUSEUM OF THE REVOLUTION 118 XIV. PETROPAVLOVSK AND SCHLÜSSELBURG 126 XV. THE TRADE UNIONS 132 XVI. MARIA SPIRIDONOVA 141 XVII. ANOTHER VISIT TO PETER KROPOTKIN 153 XVIII. EN ROUTE 160 XIX. IN KHARKOV 166 XX. POLTAVA 194 XXI. KIEV 211 MY DISILLUSIONMENT IN RUSSIA CHAPTER I DEPORTATION TO RUSSIA On the night of December 21, 1919, together with two hundred and forty-eight other political prisoners, I was deported from America. Although it was generally known we were to be deported, few really believed that the United States would so completely deny her past as an asylum for political refugees, some of whom had lived and worked in America for more than thirty years.