Senya Fleshin (Flechine, Flechin) page from the Anarchist Encyclopedia: Anarchists, Anti-Authoritarians...

Senya Fleshin, (1894-1981)

Biographical notes

Senya (Simon) Fleshin (also: Fléchine, Flechin): born in Achtyrka, Ukraine, Russia 1894, died in Mexico City 1981; anarchist, photographer; emigrated to the US in 1910 & worked for Mother Earth in New York; returned to Russia in 1917 & joined the Nabat Confederation of Anarchist Organizations in the Ukraine.

Mollie Steimer (pseudonym of Marthe Alperine): born in Dunaevtsy, Russia 1897, died in Cuernavaca, Mexico 1980; anarquista; emigrated to the USA in 1913; member of the group around Der Shturm (The Storm) New York & Frayhayt (Freedom) New York in 1917; arrested for propaganda against military intervention by the US in Russia in 1918, deported to Russia in 1921;

Fléchine & Steimer met & became companions in Russia; after several arrests allowed to leave Russia in 1923; members of the Joint Committee for the Defense of Revolutionaries Imprisoned in Russia, Berlin 1923-1926, the Relief Fund of the International Working Men's Association (IWMA) for Anarchists & Anarcho-Syndicalists Imprisoned or Exiled in Russia (in Paris & Berlin) 1926-1932 & other relief groups for anarchists; emigrated to Mexico in 1941; their house became a meeting centre for political refugees; corresponded with anarchists around the world.

— source, International Institute of Social History Archives
Photos: http://search.socialhistory.org/Author/Home?author=Fl%C3%A9chine%2C%20Senya

Senya Fleshin

Voline, Steimer, Fleshin

Page created December 2002; updated 2006, 2012

Senya Fleshin was born in Kiev, Russia, on 19th December, 1894. When he was sixteen his family emigrated to the United States & settled in New York. He worked for the Mother Earth, an anarchist journal published by Emma Goldman.

In 1917 Fleshin returned to Russia to take part in the revolution. He was soon in conflict with the Bolshevik government & when he wrote an article criticizing its policies he was arrested & imprisoned.
Soon after being released he met Mollie Steimer, an anarchist who had also been deported from the "Land of the Free".
On 1st November, 1922 Fleshin & Steimer were arrested & charged with aiding criminal elements in Russia ("Dictatorship of the Proletariat"!). The following year they were deported to Germany where they joined Emma Goldman & Alexander Berkman in Berlin.

With Mollie Steimer he opened a photographic studio in Berlin. Fleshin was also active in the Joint Committee for the Defense of Revolutionaries (1923-1926) & the Relief Fund of the International Working Men's Association for Anarchists (1926-32).

When Adolf Hitler came to power Fleshin & Mollie Steimer were forced to flee to Paris. When France was invaded by the German Army the couple moved to Mexico where they ran a photographic studio.
Senya Fleshin died in Mexico City, on 19th June, 1981.

— source, spartacus.schoolnet.co

Use your back button to return to your previous page