# XXV: Archangel and Return explained — My Disillusionment in Russia

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

## What happens

The expedition, now reduced to three members including Alexander Berkman and the narrator, travels to Archangel via Moscow, Vologda, and Yaroslavl to collect historical materials for the Museum of the Revolution. In Archangel, they encounter a surprisingly humane Communist chairman who employs former nuns and counter-revolutionaries in his department, demonstrating a pragmatic and compassionate approach to revolutionary governance. The expedition collects valuable documents, posters, and artifacts, including a velvet table cover painted by nuns as a gift to American children. After a snowstorm forces them to abandon plans to reach Murmansk, they celebrate Christmas Eve in their train car. Returning to Petrograd, they find the city embroiled in a heated debate over the role of trade unions, with factions led by Lenin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, and the Labour Opposition (Kollontai and Schliapnikov). The chapter concludes with news that the Museum's expeditions may soon be placed under political commissars, threatening their independence.

## Themes in this chapter

### State Power vs. Individual Freedom

The trade union debate highlights the tension between state control and workers' autonomy, with the Labour Opposition demanding liberation from bureaucratic yoke.

### Ethics and Revolutionary Means

The Archangel chairman's compassionate approach—employing nuns and former counter-revolutionaries—contrasts with the harsh methods of the Cheka, raising questions about revolutionary ethics.

### Suffering of the People

The chairman's personal loss of his entire family, including his twelve-year-old sister, to White terror illustrates the human cost of the civil war.

## Character check-ins

### Alexander Berkman

Member of the expedition to Archangel, traveling with the narrator and the Secretary.

### Lunacharsky

Mentioned as the person to contact for sending paints and canvas to the Archangel chairman.

### Lenin

Leads a faction in the trade union debate, denounces the Labour Opposition as 'anarcho-syndicalist' and advocates its suppression.

### Zinoviev

Leads a faction in the trade union debate; his influence in Petrograd requires Trotsky to struggle for permission to speak.

### Trotsky

Leads a faction advocating military discipline in trade unions; engages in a public debate with Zinoviev.

### Alexandra Kollontai

Heads the Labour Opposition, demanding liberation of workers from bureaucratic state control; her pamphlet is suppressed.

## Key lines

> A revolutionary period, he remarked, necessitated stern measures, even violence; but other methods should be tried first.

The chairman acknowledged that revolution sometimes requires harsh actions, but believed that alternative approaches should be attempted before resorting to violence.

_Reflects the chairman's pragmatic and humane approach to revolutionary governance._

> The Labour Opposition voiced the discontent and aspirations of the rank and file. It was a battle royal, with Trotsky and Zinoviev chasing each other over the country in separate special trains, to disprove each other’s contentions.

The Labour Opposition represented the workers' true feelings, while Trotsky and Zinoviev engaged in a dramatic nationwide campaign to argue their opposing views.

_Highlights the intensity and personal rivalry within the Communist Party over trade union policy._

## Links

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