Forty Years in the Struggle The Memoirs of a Jewish Anarchist Forty Years in the Struggle The Memoirs of a Jewish Anarchist By Chaim Leib Weinberg Translated by Naomi Cohen Edited and annotated by Robert P. Helms Litwin Books, LLC Duluth, Minnesota Published in 2008 by Litwin Books, LLC P.O. Box 3320 Duluth, MN 55803 Translation copyright Wooden Shoe Books, 2001. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Weinberg, Chaim Leib, 1861-1939. [Fertsik yor in kamf far sotsyaler bafrayung. English] Forty years in the struggle : the memoirs of a Jewish anarchist / by Chaim Leib Weinberg ; translated by Naomi Cohen ; edited and annotated by Robert P. Helms. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: "Memoir of Chaim Leib Weinberg, prominent member of the late 19th and early 20th century Philadelphia Jewish anarchist community, translated from the original Yiddish"--Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-0-9802004-3-0 (alk. paper) 1. Anarchism--United States--History. 2. Jewish labor unions--United States-- History. 3. Weinberg, Chaim Leib, 1861-1939. 4. Jewish anarchists--United States--History--19th century. 5. Jewish anarchists--United States--History--20th century. 6. Jewish anarchists--United States--Biography. I. Helms, Robert P. II. Title. HX843.W413 2008 335'.83092--dc22 2008045354 Contents Introduction & Acknowledgments ix Original Introduction xix Chapter 1 1 Chapter 2 11 Chapter 3 19 Chapter 4 27 Chapter 5 31 Chapter 6 45 Chapter 7 55 Chapter 8 65 Chapter 9 71 Chapter 10 79 Chapter 11 87 Chapter 12 91 Chapter 13 97 Chapter 14 101 Chapter 15 107 Chapter 16 115 Chapter 17 119 Chapter 18 123 Chapter 19 125 Appendix A—Cohen 129 Appendix B—Frumkin 133 Appendix C—Polinow 143 Appendix D—Malamut 147 Appendix E—Kobrin 151 Endnotes 161 Index 197 Weinberg’s World: An Introduction By Robert P. Helms This story, told by one colorful figure among the anarchists of Philadelphia does not tell the entire story of the city’s movement, nor does one man’s experience with anarchism present the long and dramatic saga of the idea and its believers. The memoirs of Chaim Leib Weinberg offer an interesting sliver of a larger picture, holding to an exclusively working class, folkloric niche. The author was an incredible orator and story teller: these were the talents that set him apart from most of his contemporaries. Because he devoted half a century to practicing his oral craft, he left a clear mark on the radical culture he lived within. The Jewish anarchists were but one of several ethnic anarchist groups that flourished in the US during Weinberg’s career. Some of the other groups were the Germans, the Italians, the Spaniards, the Bohemians, Russians, and the French. English-speaking anarchists, both American and immigrant, were there in great number as well. Philadelphia had its share of each. During Weinberg’s heyday, Jews accounted for the majority of Philadelphia’s anarchists. In addition to the cases Weinberg will tell you about, many anarchists of Philadelphia were leading intellectuals of the city. To cite a few examples, Voltairine de Cleyre, Weinberg’s comrade, debated publicly on women’s issues with the famous paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in an anarchist club in 1893. The anarchists conveyed their ideas so well that they convinced Daniel Garrison Brinton, the pre-eminent ethnologist who explored the religions and languages of American Indians. A group of anarchist physicians, all friends of Weinberg’s, founded Mount Sinai Dispensary (later Hospital) in 1899.1 Thus not only was the caricature of the drunken, terroristic anarchist that often appeared in the mainstream press not accurate, but the true picture was often the polar opposite.2 x HELMS’ INTRODUCTION Why have I, a goy, who can barely pick out proper names in a Yiddish text—much less read it—undertaken to edit and introduce this autobiography, which was written by a Jew, in a Jewish language, and which is mostly about Jewish people? The answer is that, if I didn’t arrange for the translation and publication of this book, I would not have been able to read it, and that would have made me lose more sleep than I could spare. My examination of these memoirs stems from my long-term research project on the early anarchists of Philadelphia, which is now near completion. Weinberg’s memoirs, which he dictated as an old man to a young fellow-anarchist named Marcus Graham in 1930, are one of the few sources that shed a focused light on my subject. After it was recorded, the manuscript lingered for 22 years before Weinberg’s comrades published it in book form. The book, in turn, has been forgotten by all save a handful of scholars who focus on the early Jewish labor movement. Historians of anarchism rarely refer to it, perhaps because there are so many other, more glamorous and accessible sources available. Weinberg left his mark on the common workers who heard his voice, which disappeared along with the sounds and smells of his audience. Unlike his contemporary Emma Goldman, whose amazing career has had the unfortunate side-effect of over-dominating the historical record of anarchism in the United States, Weinberg wrote no articles, edited no newspaper, served no prison term, and was shadowed by far fewer detectives. Because he gave his speeches only in Yiddish, the journalists who described his public appearances were usually writing for Yiddish papers, and so even that small body of evidence is far beyond the reach of the general public. Weinberg is a folkloric entity, and the present volume will offer the very first dose of his medicine that has been available for half a century. The major sources that fill in the gaps of this tale include the memoirs and letters of Joseph J. Cohen, Weinberg’s Philadelphia comrade; the personal letters of his other comrades, especially the celebrated Voltairine de Cleyre; the extensive published research of the late Paul Avrich, whose FORTY YEARS IN THE STRUGGLE xi eloquent and thorough books serve as the desk-references of anyone writing about dead anarchists; and information gleaned from contemporary newspapers, both radical and mainstream. These recollections are those of an old man who spoke from memory, sometimes over forty years after the events he described. He used no written records to clear the lens of time, nor did he ask others to send their recollections and thus build a more complete history. He gives a story without most of its dates, which makes it difficult to track many of the episodes for further information. I have given information for individuals mentioned as far as is available, but many names must stand as they are. I have done my best, and I hope that others will spot tales in this volume that have seen light in places where I haven’t looked. Weinberg’s accounts have generally squared well with other sources, and I have pointed out the few instances where there is an apparent inconsistency or a noteworthy difference of opinion. This was a man who gave thousands upon thousands of public speeches, but never, as far as anyone can tell, laid down a pen against a piece of paper. Thus we find his permanent testimony to be a snapshot of his mind, spoken on the moment, with no preparation. There has been a need to reconstruct the picture of the old anarchist’s family, associates, and contemporary figures in the anarchist movement. Weinberg has the noticeable habit of omitting from his tale everyone who did not fit into what he considered his world in 1930, if the person had once been his comrade. He makes no mention of any love-partner in America save Yetta, who was with him in his later life. He barely mentions the fact that he had offspring, and yet we can see that there were one or two. Also missing are his experiences as an advocate of Free Love (which he certainly was), perhaps out of respect for Yetta. He barely mentions Emma Goldman, who was, for three quarters of the period he writes about, the most famous anarchist in America. We can easily surmise that Weinberg had never forgiven Goldman’s bitter criticisms and public bull- whipping of Johann Most, from whom he drew his inspiration. In 1892, Most had treated the attempt by Alexander Berkman xii HELMS’ INTRODUCTION to kill the industrialist Henry Clay Frick with derision, which angered Goldman intensely. At the time, Most’s hardcore followers shunned Goldman, and in some cases the rift remained for life. Weinberg seems to be such a case. His name never appears in the long public saga of Goldman’s speeches and Free Speech fights at Philadelphia, with dozens of speakers of different radical stripes chiming in on her behalf. For her part, Goldman mentions Weinberg only once in passing as “an eloquent Yiddish agitator,” in her own memoirs, Living My Life, which were being written at the same time as Weinberg’s, and published in 1931.3 Perhaps Weinberg’s most glaring omission is that of his longtime comrade Joseph J. Cohen, who didn’t neglect to mention Weinberg when he wrote his own accounts of Jewish anarchism in America, and whose accounts included many of the same events and personalities. There was a falling out between the two at the Sunrise Colony in 1933, which Chaim never let go of. We have included Cohen’s remarks in the present volume. At the same time, Weinberg omits to criticize Samuel Gordon, his fellow Mostian, who was intensely despised within the movement for showing indifference when his former lover and benefactor Voltairine de Cleyre was near death and in need of help.4 He makes passing mention of Thomas Hamilton Garside as a labor activist, forgetting to mention that Garside later turned up as a Deputy U.S.