Scarce TLS, two pages, 8 x 10.75, Mother Earth Publishing Association letterhead, May 18, 1916. Letter to Margaret Deland of the American Author’s Fund, criticizing her support of Allied soldiers in World War I. In part: “I appreciate your devotion in behalf of these victims of the blood stained war in Europe, but I find it rather inconsistent on your part…to do so much for them when there are any number of real soldiers of liberty in the United States. It is true that they are not killed off at once in the trenches and the battle field, but they die nevertheless by the scores in the economic war which is going on in the United States…Thirty million American people…are in a semi-state of starvation…I see no one of those who make large fortunes by their pen, ready to come to the rescue of these thirty million victims...I suppose I will lay myself open to the silly accusation that I favor Germany because I repudiate utterly the idea that soldiers now ‘lying wounded in France’ have fought for liberty...those who are willing to see behind the scenes, know as well as I that not a single principle of human liberty is involved on the European war. Nothing but the desire for military conquest and material aggrendisement [sic] on the part of the governments and the stupid creduelty [sic] of the masses are back of the war...Even England with her hypocritical claim of having entered the war in behalf of human liberty, has taken off her mask from her lying face at last when she murdered in cold blood the finest and most brilliant men of Ireland. You as a creative woman and artist ought to sympathize with the poets and writers who now lie dead...What a farce! What a hideous mockery!” Intersecting folds (one vertical fold passing through a single letter of the signature), several small tape-repaired edge tears and separations, and scattered creases, otherwise fine condition. Goldman was the editor of Mother Earth, an anarchist journal that began to openly call for opposition to US entry into World War I in 1917. Congress passed the Espionage Act in June 1917, and according to the new laws Goldman’s advocacy against conscription made her guilty of obstructing the military draft. She was sentenced to two years in prison for her subversive actions, and later deported under the Anarchist Exclusion Act. An exceptional letter with direct relevance to Goldman’s anti-war efforts. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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