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This collection consists of letters from anarchist writers and labor organizers Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman to their friends Virginia and Lee Hersch, along with a couple miscellaneous private publications.

This collection includes letters from Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman Americans Virginia and Lee Hersch in Paris, dated June 1930 to March 1934. All but one of the Goldman letters were written from "Bon Esprit" in St. Tropez (the last letter was written after Goldman moved to London).

Goldman first writes Hersch on June 10, 1930 with a request to send autographed bookplates to Arthur Leonard Ross. In that letter, Goldman writes how glad she is to have met the Hersches, and to "count you among my friends." Subsequent letters are increasingly warm and intimate, as Goldman shares news of mutual friends, makes arrangements for her to visit the Hersches in Paris, and reports on her travels, writing, and concerns about Alexander Berkman.

The Berkman letters were written from Nice, France. Like Goldman, Berkman discuss his political and philosophical ideas, as well as his efforts not to be expelled by the French government, mutual friends, and concerns about personal finances and health. In particular, his letter of July 6, 1933, mentions his "psychic disgust with the world at large, [and] my situation…." before going on to comment on the futility of both Russian state capitalism and U.S. private capitalism: "The result is the same: man is turned into a slave of the State or of the private owner."

In addition, the collection holds an undated memo reviewing Goldman's Living My Life, a limited edition of Voltairine de Cleyre inscribed by Emma Goldman for Virginia Hersch, and a 20-page booklet of letters of appreciation for Berkman's sixtieth birthday celebration in 1930.

Mrachnyi, a Russian immigrant anarchist, who at various times went by the surnames Clevans, Klavansky, and Mratchny, was editor of Freie Arbeiter Stimme in the 1930s. The papers consist of correspondence relating to personal matters and editorial work, three radiograms reporting on the Spanish Civil War, some miscellaneous documents, and six circulars and one manifesto of the Association Internationale des Travailleurs. Contains letters from many leading anarchists including Emma Goldman. The papers are in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and Yiddish, with the Russian and Yiddish items accompanied by translations.

The collection consists primarily of personal and editorial correspondence, and also includes documents and circulars from the Association Internationale de Travailleurs (International Workingmen's Association). The correspondence mainly concerns the international anarchist movement and the anarchist, anti-Fascist role in the Spanish Civil War. Mrachnyi was known to most of the correspondents under the pseudonyms Mraschnyi or Mratchny, but he also used his original name, Klavansky, in Europe and Clevens in the United States. His wife used the name Johanna Clevens, reverting to her maiden name, Boetz, after their divorce.

The papers are in English, French, German, Russian,Spanish, and Yiddish. Translations of most of the Russian items were provided by Charles Gilbert. Articles received for publication in Fraye Arbeter Shtime (Freie Arbeiter Stimme) have been removed to the FAS collection.