The Accidental Anarchist

In 1904-1905, my grandfather was an officer in the Russian army. He kept 28 handwritten notebooks in which he told stories about the war and life in Poland and Russia during those years. An orthodox Jew, he was born in Vishigrod (Wyszygrod), Poland. Impulsive, he ran away from Yeshiva at the age of 12 to seek adventure in the great city of Warsaw, and began an extended period of his life during which he was always in trouble. Following the war, he returned to Warsaw to organize a strike among bakers who had then been working 20 hours/day, 6 days/week; became involved in a revolutionary movement to free Poland from Russian control; and later became a full-blown anarchist, wanting to overthrow Czar Nicholas II (of Nicholas and Alexandra fame/infamy) who ignored the starvation and hardships of Russia's (and Poland's) populations. For his efforts, he was imprisoned 16 times and sentenced to death 4 times; each time he was freed by some miraculous, last-minute intervention.

Type: Blog

Language: English

Category: Society