Post by FRED on Apr 19, 2005 10:47:04 GMT
LEAH FELDMAN. 1899/1993.
In the early eighties when attending the AIT Conference in Madrid I came in contact with an old lady Leah Feldman. I had met Leah before in London at the Bookshop, 121 Railton Rd. In Madrid she like myself and others were attending the Conference of the International Workers Association of which the Direct Action Movement was the British section.
Leah was born in Warsaw in 1899.Even as a schoolgirl she was interested in anarchism and eventually landed up in London where she joined her sister as a sewing machinist and was able to attend anarchist meetings without too much police interference. There was an active Yiddish speaking movement in the East End of London and as a yiddish speaker Leah took her place.
At the time of the Russian Revolution many of the men returned to Russia to take their part in the struggle but some met only death and imprisonment, not only from the Whites but from the Bolshevik Government. Leah made her own way to Russia and was not charmed by what she saw . She was a worker and saw more of real life than the visiting trade union officials or the intelligentsia. While she was there the last permitted Anarchist demonstration took place with the death of Peter Kropotkin. For this funeral the Government released Anarchist Political prisoners on parol for the funeral. In a impressive display of discipline all of them returned after the funeral.
Anarchism grew in the Ukraine with the peasant army led by Mahkno. Leah on arrival joined the struggle by enlisting in the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army not to fight but to carry out other means of struggle which in view of the fluid nature of things that were being done there by our comrades was no less dangerous.
After struggling first against the Whites and then the Reds the Anarchist struggle failed and the workers and peasants fled abroad, at least those who were lucky. Leah was amongst them. By means of a marriage of convenience to an ex serviceman at the cost of ten pounds she became a British Citizen.They never lived together, but many years later she used to visit him in a geriatric ward and bring him gifts and tobacco.
Prior to WW2 she visited Palestine and Poland . In Palestine she helped form a federation of anarchists. Leah met an old friend in Palestine from the days in Russia, Paula Green, who was married to an atheist. His name was Ben Gurion and he became Prime Minister of Israel. His wife never took part in the life of the prime minister remaining a passive anrchist.
When Leah returned to London it was for further struggle and she threw herself in to raising money for German anti-fascist sailors who organised themselves in to a resistance group. She also threw herself in to work for the Spanish Anarchist Movement when the revolution broke out there.
She never rested for long and as late as 1960 she was to be found smuggling arms in to Spain for the Spanish resistance who continued the fight against Francoism. She was refered to as the "Mahknovist Granny".
Her last years were sad, like many people living to old age she had lost her old friends and relations, but she didn't give up.In Madrid at the IWA conference she was with a group of comrades from London, Australian, British and Dutch. She went to visit political prisoners in jail for supporting the cause by individual actions. (Trying to rob a bank) The comrades from Black Flag took good care of her, they needed to she was quite blind. Still, she never gave up and visited various anarchist events as long as she was able.
When we look at the politicians and others fighting for power and position it is refreshing to find people like Leah Feldman. People who have served all their lives a cause that cannot bring instant gratification in either money or postion.
In the early eighties when attending the AIT Conference in Madrid I came in contact with an old lady Leah Feldman. I had met Leah before in London at the Bookshop, 121 Railton Rd. In Madrid she like myself and others were attending the Conference of the International Workers Association of which the Direct Action Movement was the British section.
Leah was born in Warsaw in 1899.Even as a schoolgirl she was interested in anarchism and eventually landed up in London where she joined her sister as a sewing machinist and was able to attend anarchist meetings without too much police interference. There was an active Yiddish speaking movement in the East End of London and as a yiddish speaker Leah took her place.
At the time of the Russian Revolution many of the men returned to Russia to take their part in the struggle but some met only death and imprisonment, not only from the Whites but from the Bolshevik Government. Leah made her own way to Russia and was not charmed by what she saw . She was a worker and saw more of real life than the visiting trade union officials or the intelligentsia. While she was there the last permitted Anarchist demonstration took place with the death of Peter Kropotkin. For this funeral the Government released Anarchist Political prisoners on parol for the funeral. In a impressive display of discipline all of them returned after the funeral.
Anarchism grew in the Ukraine with the peasant army led by Mahkno. Leah on arrival joined the struggle by enlisting in the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army not to fight but to carry out other means of struggle which in view of the fluid nature of things that were being done there by our comrades was no less dangerous.
After struggling first against the Whites and then the Reds the Anarchist struggle failed and the workers and peasants fled abroad, at least those who were lucky. Leah was amongst them. By means of a marriage of convenience to an ex serviceman at the cost of ten pounds she became a British Citizen.They never lived together, but many years later she used to visit him in a geriatric ward and bring him gifts and tobacco.
Prior to WW2 she visited Palestine and Poland . In Palestine she helped form a federation of anarchists. Leah met an old friend in Palestine from the days in Russia, Paula Green, who was married to an atheist. His name was Ben Gurion and he became Prime Minister of Israel. His wife never took part in the life of the prime minister remaining a passive anrchist.
When Leah returned to London it was for further struggle and she threw herself in to raising money for German anti-fascist sailors who organised themselves in to a resistance group. She also threw herself in to work for the Spanish Anarchist Movement when the revolution broke out there.
She never rested for long and as late as 1960 she was to be found smuggling arms in to Spain for the Spanish resistance who continued the fight against Francoism. She was refered to as the "Mahknovist Granny".
Her last years were sad, like many people living to old age she had lost her old friends and relations, but she didn't give up.In Madrid at the IWA conference she was with a group of comrades from London, Australian, British and Dutch. She went to visit political prisoners in jail for supporting the cause by individual actions. (Trying to rob a bank) The comrades from Black Flag took good care of her, they needed to she was quite blind. Still, she never gave up and visited various anarchist events as long as she was able.
When we look at the politicians and others fighting for power and position it is refreshing to find people like Leah Feldman. People who have served all their lives a cause that cannot bring instant gratification in either money or postion.
