Document 21.5 Mollie Steimer, Trial Testimony, 1918

Mollie Steimer | Trial Testimony, 1918

Mollie Steimer, the youngest defendant in the Abrams case, emigrated from Russia in 1912 at the age of fifteen. Steimer worked in a shirtwaist factory in New York City’s garment industry. Her discontent grew under the strain of this monotonous, low-paying work, and in 1917 she joined Frayhayt and the anarchist movement. Press reports on the trial emphasized her youthful appearance and defiant demeanor, including her refusal to stand when the judge entered the courtroom. At the proceedings, she offered the following explanation of anarchism.

ANARCHISM is a new social order where no group shall be governed by another group of people. Individual freedom shall prevail in the full sense of the word. Private ownership shall be abolished. Every person shall have an equal opportunity to develop himself well, both mentally and physically. We shall not have to struggle for our daily existence as we do now. No one shall live on the product of others. Every person shall produce as much as he can, and enjoy as much as he needs—receive according to his need. Instead of striving to get money, we shall strive towards education, towards knowledge.

While at present the people of the world are divided into various groups, calling themselves nations, while one nation defies another—in most cases considers the others as competitive—we, the workers of the world, shall stretch out our hands towards each other with brotherly love. To the fulfillment of this idea I shall devote all my energy, and, if necessary, render my life for it.

Source: Sentenced to Twenty Years in Prison (New York: Political Prisoners Defense and Relief Committee, 1919), 20.