into the kamera (large cell) of their male comrades in order to consider joint action in the matter. The authorities sent for the guards who used violence to pull the women out of the cell, Spontaneously there began a new hunger strike, the men immediately throwing their bread and other food out of the cell, as a protest against the brutality toward the women. Within a few days the women were at night transferred to another prison—the House of Correction. The circumstances of the transfer were such that the women felt convinced they were being taken to execution. They threw off their upper clothing in order that the executioners might not possess themselves of it. Five of the hunger striking men were taken from their cell at night, subjected to violence and sent on a cart to Kholmogori. These five were: Karasik, Lukin, Tarasiuk, Silayev, and Mokhov. They continued their hunger strike during the transfer and upon their arrival at the new place. The women grew so weak from the second hunger strike that on the fifth day they were transferred to the camp. Soon Katznelson appeared there and declared that all the Anarchists, both the men and the women, would be sent to Kholmogori and that there they would be placed in a separate wing with full autonomy and all their demands satisfied. The women consented. Then Katznelson suggested that they send one of their number as a delegate to terminate the hunger strike at Kholmogori, because—as he correctly assumed—the prisoners there would give no credence to the communication of the authorities. The hunger strike was stopped on the sixth or seventh day, but the woman delegate was not called for and the administration acted very ambiguously. Then the women began the third hunger strike. They (with the exception of L. Altshuler who fell sick as a result of long hunger) together with the remaining men were transferred to Kholmogori. No news has since been received from there.
This letter needs no comment. . . .
Workers of Europe and America, we are powerless in this situation. Only YOU can help and save these tortured victims, these men and women martyred for their devotion to the Revolution.
We know, comrades, that you also have a hard struggle against the reaction in your own country. We know what great sacrifices you are making in the fight against capitalistic imperialism. Yet we feel sure that you will not withhold your sympathy and solidarity from these victims of Communist reaction,—a reaction more brutal and degraded because it is carried on by alleged Socialists and in the name of the proletariat.
In this spirit we appeal to you, comrades. Not sporadic protests, but world-wide INTERCESSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY PROLETARIAT can save the lives, the honor and the dignity of the Russian revolutionists.
With fraternal greetings.
ALEXANDER BERKMAN. EMMA GOLDMAN. G. MAXIMOFF. MARK MRATCHNY.
RUDOLF ROCKER. A. SHAPIRO. A. SOUCHY. VLADIMIR.
VOLIN. E. YARTCHUK.
August, 1922
Address all communications to:
F. Kater, Kopernikusstr. 25 II, Berlin O. 34.
