Jocelyn

Brooklyn

Other/Almost

I have always been struck by a description of the Bolshevik Revolution written by an extraordinary and unfamous witness, Bertha Fox. She wrote her story as part of an autobiography contest for Jewish immigrants sponsored by the historical organization, YIVO in 1942. "Now everyone emerged from their cellars, from their dark, forlorn watches. They found their voices on a porch or a corner or a rooftop. Speaker after speaker representing Lenin and Trotsky marched to music through the street with their deep red flags. People played and spoke and sang. It was lively and joyful. They opened the prisons and freed the political prisoners--arise liberated ones! The streets were packed like Broadway on New Year's Eve when you just have to go with the flow of the crowd. People shouted, 'Long live freedom! Long live the Russian people! Long live internationalism! Hurrah!'" (My Future Is in America, p. 224). She's also reflective about "lessons," in her own way...meaning she has political insight....