<br >Preface<br >With joy and envy I read the lives of those great<br >women of the past--the "Moscow Amazons" of the<br >ties， seventies， and eighties who helped assassinate t<br >"P6troleuses" who mounted the barricades of Paris l<br >Commune， and all the other brave， single-minded<br >devoted .their lives to the revolution: Rosa Luxerc<br >Goldma~ Louise Michel， La Pasionafia.<br > Their/!Jives are so direct， their stories high drama<br >with the s[~tions of their birth， skip quickly to the cr<br >of childhood--the one riveting moment when the ~，<br >unspeakable cruelty or the touching kindness of a co<br >(an aunt， a teacher)awakens them from their slur<br >cence to pose their destiny. They brood， then plung~<br >reading the book that will change their lives by its stl<br >tions or wrestling with the idea that will launch the<br >implacable commitment. Nothing will keep them nc<br >ing the provinces for St. Petersburg， for Zurich，<br >Paris， where "the new ideas fill the air." Studying 1<br >university or philosophy in a workers study group， th<br >every night， sometimes till dawn， passionately deba<br >ideas with their "little circle" or reading the forbidd<br >pass secretly， from hand to hand， until at last they t~<br > cable step by which they merge their lives with t<br > "comrades" in "the Great Cause" of "our genera1<br > times they speak of love， but men are by no means<br > element in their lives.) Long before they die， which<br > pared to do at any time， each one knows the very wo<br > to pass on to the future:<br > Sofia Bardina: "Persecute us--you have material<br > while， gentlemen， butwe have moral strength， tll<br > ideas; and ideas， alas， you cannot pierce with bayor<br ><br >