UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE LIBRARYPRISON MEMOIRS
OF AN
ANARCHIST
BY
ALEXANDER BERKMAN
NEW YORK
Mother Earth Publishing Association
1912
Published September, 1912
Second Edition, 1920
241 GRAPHIC PRESS, NEW YORK
To all those who in and out of prison
fight against their bondage
"But this I know, that every Law
That men have made for Man,
Since first Man took his brother's life,
And the sad world began,
But straws the wheat and saves the chaff
With a most evil fan."
AS INTRODUCTORY
I wish that everybody in the world would read thisbook. And my reasons are not due to any desire on mypart that people should join any group of social philosophersor revolutionists. I desire that the book bewidely read because the general and careful reading ofit would definitely add to true civilization.
It is a contribution to the writings which promotecivilization; for the following reasons:
It is a human document. It is a difficult thing to besincere. More than that, it is a valuable thing. To beso, means unusual qualities of the heart and of the head;unusual qualities of character. The books that possessthis quality are unusual books. There are not manydeliberately autobiographical writings that are markedlysincere; there are not many direct human documents.This is one of these few books.
Not only has this book the interest of the humandocument, but it is also a striking proof of the power ofthe human soul. Alexander Berkman spent fourteenyears in prison; under perhaps more than commonlyharsh and severe conditions. Prison life tends to destroythe body, weaken the mind and pervert the character.Berkman consciously struggled with these adverse, destructiveconditions. He took care of his body. Hetook care of his mind. He did so strenuously. It wasa moral effort. He felt insane ideas trying to take possessionof him. Insanity is a natural result of prisonlife. It always tends to come. This man felt it,consciously struggled against it, and overcame it. Thatthe prison affected him is true. It always does. But hesaved himself, essentially. Society tried to destroy him,but failed.
If people will read this book carefully it will tendto do away with prisons. The public, once vividlyconscious of what prison life is and must be, would notbe willing to maintain prisons. This is the only bookthat I know which goes deeply into the corrupting, demoralizingpsychology of prison life. It shows, in pictureafter picture, sketch after sketch, not only the obviousbrutality, stupidity, ugliness per