Dr Marie Goldsmith (1871–⁠1933) was an evolutionary biologist and political activist. She was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, before emigrating at a young age with her family to Paris where she spent the rest of her life. Goldsmith was a prolific scientist and political theorist; her writing spanned hundreds of essays, articles, and books across multiple continents and languages. She was an influential correspondent of many of the biggest names of her time, including two-time French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and radical geographer Peter Kropotkin.

Unfortunately, little if any of Goldsmith's oeuvre was ever translated into English or any other single language. As a result, her manifold contributions have been overlooked by scholars and laypeople alike.

Now, nearly one hundred years after her passing, our goal is to bring Goldsmith's work and ideas into the 21st century. Søren Hough completed his PhD in Biochemistry while at Churchill College and has partnered with an experienced historian named Christopher Coquard to correct this blind spot in the historical record. You can listen to a brief overview of our project presented at a 2021 conference or by heading to our official website.

The mission of the Marie Goldsmith Project is to produce two books. The first is a translation of her famous Russian-language political tract, Revolutionary Syndicalism and Anarchism: Struggle with Capital and Power (1920), which has never been translated into English. The second book is an English-language anthology of Goldsmith’s writing selected from her hundreds of articles written in Yiddish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian, among others. In both cases, we will carefully annotate these publications so that they are accessible to a wide audience.

Down the line, we hope to produce a scholarly biography of her life and ideas to help readers better understand Goldsmith's significance in the history of scientific and political development.

To accomplish these goals we will need funds to cover a variety of expenses — roughly £10,000 per book. One of the largest costs is professional translation to ensure we are accurately representing Goldsmith's words. Other fees include software tools, archival labour by our research assistants, and (eventually) printing fees.

Thank you for taking the time to consider supporting this project. If we can answer any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.