International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

Born to a Jewish family in Kiev in the Ukraine, Fleshin emigrated to New York around 1910, where he worked for Emma Goldman 's anarchist journal Mother Earth . In 1917, Fleshin returned to Russia to participate in the revolution. In Petrograd, he became active in the group around Voline 's anarchist daily Golos Truda (The Voice of Labor). Afterwards, he served the Ukrainian Anarchist Confederation and its paper Nabat (The Alarm), both linked to Nestor Makhno 's rebellion. In November 1920, when the Confederation was broken up, Fleshin was arrested. After his release from prison in Moscow, he returned to Petrograd and worked at the Museum of Revolution. There, he met Mollie Steimer . Fleshin and Steimer were expelled from the Soviet Union for their relief work on behalf of imprisoned Russian anarchists in September 1923. Living in Berlin and Paris, both continued their relief work until 1933. A talented photographer, Fleshin was invited to Berlin by Russian avant-garde photographer Sasha Stone in 1929; the couple worked there until Hitler came to power and they had to return to France. After the German invasion Fleshin found a secure place in the unoccupied sector, but was separated from his companion. In 1941, however, Fleshin and Steimer were reunited in Mexico City, where Fleshin operated a photographic studio. There he formed close ties to the group Tierra y Libertad ... log in or subscribe to read full text