Mollie Steimer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mollie Steimer, around 1918

Mollie Steimer , pseudonym for Marthe Alperine , ( Russian Молли Штеймер ; born November 21, 1897 in Dunajewzy , Russia , † July 23, 1980 in Mexico City ) was a Russian author, political activist and anarchist .

Life

Under her pseudonym Mollie Steimer, Marthe Alperine became known in the international anarchist movement as a woman who was uncompromisingly committed to anarchism. Born in Russia, her family emigrated to New York City (USA) in 1913 . Steimer worked in a textile factory and when she was 20 she joined the Jewish group Frayhayt (Freedom). At that time, Steimer was interested in the works of August Bebel ( women and socialism ), Michail Bakunin ( statehood and anarchy ), and Peter Kropotkin ( memoirs of a revolutionary ). In New York City she temporarily lived in a six-room apartment with members of the Frayhayt group . The group distributed anti-war leaflets of around 10,000 copies, some of which were confiscated. Police investigations led to the Frayhayt group and in October 1918 Steimer was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

In court (on October 10, 1918) she explained her anarchist worldview with the words that anarchism represents a new social order and that every person should have the same freedom to develop physically and mentally without authoritarian interference. The Supreme Court upheld the verdict in 1919, and she was expelled from the United States in lieu of jail time . She traveled to Petrograd , where she lived with a friend, Senya Fleshin , also an anarchist. Both organized a group to support anarchist prisoners in Russia. There she worked with the publisher Vsevolod Wolin of the magazine Golos Truda ( The Voice of Work ) and was a member of the Nabat, an association of anarchist organizations. On November 1, 1922, she was arrested for her activities together with Fleshin on the grounds: “Aiding a criminal organization” or “criminal elements”. Samuel Lipman, Gabriel Prober, Jacob Abrams and Jacob Schwartz were also arrested. Schwartz died in prison as a result of abuse.

Steimer was sentenced to two years' exile in Siberia, fled to Moscow and was arrested again there. In Berlin, Emma Goldman had asked the anarchist May Picqueray , who was traveling to Moscow as a delegate of the Federation of Metalworkers, to campaign for the release of Mollie Steimer and Senya Fleshin. Picqueray went to Leon Trotsky's office in Moscow and handed him a request for the release of the two prisoners. They were released and expelled from Russia a few weeks later. After their deportation, Steimer and Fleshin lived alternately in Berlin and Paris.

In Berlin they met Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman . There Steimer wrote for various anarchist magazines and later in Paris she joined a group of anarchists who lived in exile. Emma Goldman characterized Steimer as a fanatic with an iron will who campaigns with all her soul for the anarchist ideal.

In later years she lived with Fleshin in Mexico City, where they ran a photo studio. Steimer died of a heart attack in 1980.

further reading

  • Abe Bluestein, Fighters for Anarchism: Mollie Steimer and Senya Fleshin . Libertarian Publications Group, New York 1983.
  • Paul Avrich , anarchist portraits; Szajkowski, Zosa. Double Jeopardy — The Abrams Case of 1919 . American Jewish Archives, April 23, 1971, pages 8-32.
  • Naomi Shepherd, A Price Below Rubies: Jewish Women as Rebels and Radicals . 1993.

DVD

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See also: Rudolf Berner: The invisible front . Pages: 12, 16, 21, 88, 91, 93, 107, 114 f., 117 f., 132. Libertad Verlag , Potsdam 1997. ISBN 3-922226-23-X
  2. ↑ Author: Eric L. Goldstein . Jewish Women's Archive. About M. Steimer. English, accessed July 29, 2011
  3. ↑ biography . English, accessed July 29, 2011
  4. ↑ Steimer's conviction in N.Y.C. ( Memento of the original from August 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . English, accessed April 29, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.blackwellreference.com
  5. ↑ Arrest and death of J. Schwartz . English, accessed July 29, 2011
  6. ^ Author: Bernhard Thomas . May Picqueray campaigned for the release of Steimer and Fleshin. French, accessed July 29, 2011
  7. ↑ Author: Stefan Müller ( Memento of the original from August 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Deportation from the USA and Russia. English, accessed July 29, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.blackwellreference.com
  8. ^ E. Goldman on Mollie Steimer . English, accessed July 29, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Steimer, Mollie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alperine, Marthe; Штеймер, Молли (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian anarchist
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Dunayevtsy , Russia
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1980
Place of death Mexico city