elage she read seminal books and learned about
significant men and ideas. Anarchism assumed definite meaning; the
struggle by the many in want against the few in power, then so
pathetically feeble, became to her a war unto death; the goal of social
freedom appeared tangible and alluringly near. For months her voracious
hunger for knowledge seemed insatiable, her capacity for emotion
inexhaustible. This tremendous release of energy was in truth the
expression of long-pent-up zeal. She threw herself into the radical
movement of the East Side with the enthusiasm of an inspired visionary.

Her first years in New York were a period of preparation. Along with her
work in sweatshops, which she had to do to earn her living, she found
time to familiarize herself with the latest libertarian literature and
to spend hours on end in intellectual discussion. Nor was she able to
remain a passive onlooker even during her early apprenticeship. With
John Most's helpful guidance she went on her first "tour of agitation"
only a few months after reaching New York. She addressed several
meetings in as many cities on the eight-hour day, then a timely topic,
and discovered that she was able to hold the attention of an audience
and to think quickly while facing its inimical questioning.

That winter the newly formed Cloakmakers' Union called its first general
strike. Emma immediately "became absorbed in it to the exclusion of
everything else." Her task was to persuade the timid girl workers to
join the strike. With prodigious energy she exhorted them at meetings,
encouraged them at dances and parties, and thus influenced many to
partake in the common effort to improve working conditions in the
sweatshops. The strike leaders were greatly impressed by her dynamic
qualities as an organizer and public speaker.

Emma's association with John Most became strained to the breaking point
when she perceived that he esteemed her more as a lover than as a fellow
anarchist. His arrogance irritated her and, much as she admired his
impassioned eloquence and incisive mind, she could not accept the
acquiescent role he had assigned her. When his high-handed behavior
resulted in a factional split, she sided with those who rejected his
domination. Some time later, when Most derided Berkman's attempt to kill
Henry C. Frick and disavowed the theory of "propaganda of the deed" of
which he had been the chief exponent, she came to hate him. At the first
opportunity sh