Woman of Mystery

Again it was getting late and so I pulled an item from my "to blip" list. I was puttering in the front room, clearing clutter and sorting through my research scrap-books. One of these years I'll finish writing my magnum opus, but I have enough material for five or six. Anyway I arranged the table to show about 1/4 of the scrap-books, threw down a coffee sack, and placed in the center one of my favorite discoveries.

In 1904 Emma Goldman arrived in the city on a speaking tour and precipitated her third Free Speech fight here, but not her last. That's a good story, but one unexpected detail thrilled me.

There was a court hearing, and a sketch artist working for a mainstream daily paper was in attendance. Sketching the famous Emma was easy, and hers was done from a photograph. At bottom right is Abraham Brandschain, and this is the only known image of him, but he's not an important character. But at top right, wearing the hat, is Natasha Notkin (1870-c.1928), one of the four our five most important and publicly known anarchists of the city between the late 1880's and her death. All American anarchists, and anyone at all who looked at the subject here, knew her name. For all that, her name occurs in print only as treasurer of fundraiser drives, local agent for anarchist papers, or very warmly mentioned in other people's writings. There are only two very brief examples of her own words, and no sample of her handwriting. I had been raking the Earth for traces of her for ten years, and while looking through the old papers for Emma's visit, there was her face on page one! I was floored.

For tweny years, Notkin organized the annual "Russian Tea Party" to raise money for anarchist prisoner relief and newspapers. It was usually held in a large venue with professional musicians from among the comrades performing. She made her living first as a sales lady in a drug store, then in 1905 she got her own license and soon opened her own store.

In April 1903, Natasha's words appeared as follows in Free Society:

Natasha Notkin, Philadelphia: "The sudden death of Comrade Brady has almost broken my heart. He was a good man and comrade. I wish I could have taken his place, for I often think I would be happy if I could take a long, long rest, and a good sleep."
Editor: "Comrade Notkin certainly deserves a rest, for it is almost due to her untiring efforts that the propaganda in the English language is still alive."

Every source speaks of her with respect, and all anarchist mentions of Natasha glow with love. They called her the soul of the movement.

The lady standing at left has nothing to do with Natasha Notkin. That's an 18th century 1% person I picked up at the local thrift shop.