Your Stories: Submitted Stories
- Some of My Radical Family's Stories
Stories abound about my grandmother, who was an anarchist (as well as an immigrant, a Russian Jew). For instance, once she had to escape through a window from a meeting which was subject to a "Palmer raid," which was a raid done on suspected radicals who were immigrants, to round them up and deport them. She was at least acquainted with Emma Goldman, who was the stage manager of my grandfather's theater company during a tour of America. (My grandfather was a Russian actor who toured the U.S. at least a couple of times on the Russian-language theater circuit. My mother was the result of an affair between him and my grandmother.)
My grandmother also knew someone who had been in the Kerensky government, who stayed with her for awhile in New York. I do not know if this was before or after the Mensheviks were overthrown.
We also had a friend of the family who had worked on "The Masses" for a brief period when he was quite young, and had met John Reed (who Warren Beatty portrayed in "Reds" -- Hugo was one of the elderly people interviewed in "Reds"). He once described to me how an editor friend of his had been abruptly deported -- the understood price of being an immigrant radical in the U.S.
My mother herself had many interesting experiences due to this unusual background, including attendance at an anarchist school which has been the subject of at least one book and dissertation. One of her friends from this school moved to the Soviet Union in 1929. My mother got the address of one of his children from his cousin at a school reunion, and we visited his children's families when we visited the Soviet Union in 1977. One of them was interested in immigrating back to the U.S.; I wonder if he's done so now that the Soviet Union has disintegrated.
This is as much an alternate view of the immigrant experience as it is an alternate U.S. view of "the Revolution."
- Kay
Minneapolis, MN
- The Cossack and His Wife
My mother's family fled Russia between the two revolutions. Her father, who had been a Cossack, was wanted by the Bolsheviks. Her mother had been a well-educated and wealthy young woman, making her a target as well.
My maternal grandparent's story is one of hope and despair, opposites attracting, and of a family that rebuild itself in a new country. My grandmother was a rich Jewish young lady. My grandfather had seen his family die of starvation and learned to blame the Jews. He was very proud of his service as a Cossack, his duty being the transfer of Jewish prisoners to Siberia. Many times he told the story of torturing or killing Jews. He told those stores with pride. Yet he met my grandmother and they married.
When they reached this country with their children, my grandfather took a job in a factory, my grandmother cleaned houses and cooked for others. They raised their children, all of whom married and had children of their own.
We did not learn that my grandmother was Jewish until my grandfather died, at the age of 100. She had died at 36, never revealing to her children that she was Jewish.
- Nancy
Bloomington, IN
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