Was Jack the Ripper an Anarchist?

 

Was Jack-the-Ripper an Anarchist?

by Christopher Draper

On Sunday 30th September 1888 “Jack-the-Ripper” slashed the throat of Elizabeth Stride in the yard of East London’s “International Working Men’s Educational Club (IWMEC)”. The club’s membership largely comprised impoverished East European Jewish socialists and anarchists and the shadow of suspicion fell upon them as the “Church Times” identified the killer as a “Russian Anarchist.” Author Randy Williams now claims all five Ripper murders were committed by IWMEC’s resident steward Lewis Diemschitz, assisted by club members. While “Ripperologists” weigh the merits of this sensational accusation I’d like to offer an anarchist perspective.

Crime Scene 1888

Founded in 1885 by Morris Winchevsky at 40 Berner Street, Whitechapel IWMEC was the centre of London’s Jewish anarchist movement. The building fulfilled many roles; it was a social centre serving meals and refreshments, the headquarters of Arbeter Fraint (The Worker’s Friend) newspaper, a 200 seat lecture room/theatre and an organising hub for trade unions and the local branch of the Socialist League. For poor politically conscious immigrants the IWMEC was a haven but as far as the authorities and the wealthy, orthodox Jewish establishment were concerned the club posed an unwelcome challenge.

IWMEC occupied a three storey end terraced building with an extensive adjacent courtyard running along the side. Entrance to this yard was theoretically closed off from Berner Street by two large wooden gates but these were often left wide open.

The Victim

Elizabeth Stride was the Ripper’s third victim. Like many fellow East-Enders, Stride was an immigrant, born Elisabeth Gustafsdotter in 1843 in her parents’ detached farmhouse a dozen or miles so west of Gothenburg, Sweden. Despite, or perhaps because of, her very strict upbringing Elisabeth soon found herself with no permanent partner, syphilis and a stillborn child. The social stigma blighted her life prompting her in 1866 to seek a new beginning in England where she worked as a domestic servant. After catching the eye of John Stride, a 47 year old carpenter the “pretty 25 year old” in 1869 married at St Giles in the Fields church, becoming Elisabeth Stride. They ran their own Poplar coffee house for a few years but when the business collapsed their relationship deteriorated and they separated on several occasions. After the Princess Alice steamship sank in the Thames in 1878 with the loss of 650 lives Elisabeth never again returned to John but exploited the event to claim that her husband and mythical children had all drowned on board and she was left bereft of family and income! Scrounging and prostitution became a way of life and in November 1884, soon after learning her estranged husband had just passed away in Stepney Sick Asylum she was arrested in Commercial Street for being drunk and disorderly and soliciting. This became a regular occurrence as her behaviour was increasingly affected by drink and the likely effects of tertiary syphilis causing fits and symptoms similar to dementia.

The Crime

On the evening of Saturday 29 September 1888 Elisabeth left her lodgings at 32 Flower & Dean Street wearing “a rusty black dress of a cheap kind of sateen with a velveteen bodice over which was a black diagonal worsted jacket with fur trimmings”. Although a number of people came forward claiming to have seen her that night there’s no reliable account until around 11.45 pm when a labourer, William Marshall, standing at the door of his 64 Berner Street lodgings saw a man and woman, who he late identified as Stride, having a conversation on the other side of the road. At 12.30 am PC William Smith saw the same couple as he walked along Berner Street. Despite Israel Shwartz claiming to see a man push a woman to the ground by the entrance to IWMEC yard at about 12.45 am he didn’t intervene.

At 1am Lewis Diemschitz arrived at the yard with his pony and cart after a long day spent south of the river selling costume jewellery at Westow Hill Market near Crystal Palace. As he entered the yard his pony shied to one side and he noticed in the darkness a bundle lying near the wall. Lighting a match to illuminate the darkness and realising it was a woman’s body, he rushed into the club seeking assistance. A number of members rushed out and by the light of candles saw the woman’s throat had been cut and so ran for the police.

On their arrival the police found Elisabeth’s body was still warm and concluded she must have been attacked not long before 1am. Either Diemschitz interrupted the killing or he was himself the killer.

Events seemed to confirm the former conclusion when “Jack’s” fourth victim, Catherine Eddowes was discovered just forty-five minutes later in Mitre Square by PC Edward Watkins of the City Police. She too must have been killed immediately before her corpse was discovered for she’d only been released from police custody (for drunkenness) at 1am and had then been seen alive at 1.35am. The killer must therefore have completed his foul work between 1.35am and 1.45am and Diemschitz had an unassailable alibi as he remained throughout this period in the IWMEC yard alongside police officers attending to Stride’s corpse.

Diemschitz the Ripper?

Randy Williams refuses to accept this simple explanation and instead turns the evidence on its head, insisting that Diemschitz artfully constructed this perfect alibi by murdering Stride but employing two fellow club members Isaac Kozelbrodski and Samuel Friedman to commit a Ripper-style murder elsewhere! The simpler scenario is that Diemschitz interrupted “Jack’s” handiwork and his unsatiated bloodlust caused him to attack another woman a mile away to complete his grisly mutilations. In place of this psycho-sexual motivation Williams offers a risible conspiracy theory -

Diemschitz and his associates “committed the killings as a form of Socialist/Anarchist propaganda…they wanted to discredit the British Empire by showing the world the poverty, famine, homelessness, disease and prostitution that was going on such a short distance from Buckingham Palace.”

Anarchism Misunderstood

Williams equates anarchy to chaos fuelled by violence and identifies an international anarchist mastermind who orchestrated this grand plan from on high – a celebrity who did actually appear at the club on occasions, a name familiar to many in Victorian society but for work of a very different order – Peter Kropotkin! If Williams had actually read Kropotkin writings he might have realised how ludicrous his conspiracy appears to the unbiased observer. Kropotkin enjoyed an international reputation as a geographer and scholar and as an anarchist urged upon England a constructive, environmentally balanced and pacific path to a cooperative society. As the contemporary critic Georg Brandes observed, “Seldom have there been revolutionaries so humane and mild…He has never been an avenger but always a martyr. He does not impose sacrifices upon others; he makes them himself.” Kropotkin was certainly critical of British imperialism but never suggested the remedy was murder and mayhem.

Evidence Misrepresented

Williams’ “evidence” is riddled with errors and inconsistencies; in one place the double murders occurred six miles apart, elsewhere “all crimes took place within 10 minutes walking distance from the club” but it’s most important to counter his characterisation of the anarchist trio as inherently violent criminals. William backs up his character assassination with two vital pieces of evidence. Firstly the 1886 conviction of Friedman for what amounted to rape and secondly the 1889 conviction of all three for assaulting police and members of the public.

A “Samuel Freeman” was indeed imprisoned for indecent assault in 1886 but the name was neither identical nor uncommon and the conviction wasn’t in Whitechapel but Warwick so why has Williams assumed it’s the same man? The 1889 convictions rest on Victorian class, race and political prejudice for far from the trio committing assault they were merely attempting to defend themselves and fellow members as the club building was attacked and broken into by a stone-throwing mob. Many witnesses testified in favour of the defendants but to no avail.

In Conclusion

There’s always money to be made in discovering “the real Jack-the-Ripper” and as the list of the already nominated is so extensive Randy Williams has resorted to barrel-scraping. If you enjoyed Dan Brown you’ll love Randy Williams.