# Preparing for American Deportees explained — My Disillusionment in Russia

> Chapter companion for My Disillusionment in Russia by Emma Goldman.

## What happens

Emma Goldman is tasked with preparing living quarters in Petrograd for a thousand American deportees expected to arrive. She faces bureaucratic red tape, scarce resources, and the challenge of mobilizing reluctant workers. Despite initial obstacles, she successfully renovates three hotels, only to discover that the arriving group are Russian war prisoners, not American deportees, due to an official's blunder.

## Themes in this chapter

### Disillusionment with Revolution

Goldman's initial hope for the kursanti fades as she sees their privilege and lack of work ethic; the deportees' enthusiasm is dampened by Russian workers' cynicism.

### State Power vs. Individual Freedom

Goldman rejects using the Cheka, contrasting bourgeois police with the revolutionary Cheka; the state's bureaucratic control stifles individual initiative.

### Suffering of the People

Starving 'speculators' (including a one-armed old man and children) are forced to work; hunger and deprivation are pervasive.

## Character check-ins

### Emma Goldman

Narrator and protagonist; takes charge of preparing quarters for American deportees, navigating bureaucracy and using persuasion over coercion.

### Kaplun

Secretary to Ravitch; grants Goldman access to departments and offers Cheka as a last resort, but Goldman declines.

### Alexander Berkman

Member of the Reception Committee; leaves for the Latvian border to meet the exiles.

### Ravitch

Minister of Internal Affairs for the Northern District; too occupied to actively participate in the preparations.

### Lisa Zorin

Informs Goldman of the deportees' arrival and asks her to join the Commission.

### Chicherin

Notifies Zorin about the deportees; his office's blunder causes the mix-up with war prisoners.

## Key lines

> I had never called upon the police before, I informed him; why should I do so in revolutionary Russia?

Goldman refuses to involve the Cheka, arguing that she never needed police in bourgeois countries and shouldn't need them in revolutionary Russia.

_Highlights Goldman's principled stance against using state coercion._

> They were no speculators, they protested; they were starving, they had received no bread in two days. They were compelled to go out to the market to sell matches or thread to secure a little bread.

The prisoners claim they are not speculators but starving people forced to sell small items for bread.

_Illustrates the harsh reality of hunger and the criminalization of survival._

> The prepared hotels were locked and sealed; they were not to be used for the returned war prisoners because 'they were prepared for American deportees who still might come.'

Despite the mix-up, the hotels remain unused for the war prisoners because they were designated for the American deportees who might still arrive.

_Shows bureaucratic rigidity and wasted effort._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters/vi-preparing-for-american-deportees
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/my_disillusionment_in_russia_se/chapters