V oltairine DeCleyre: An Introduction to American Left-Wing Anarchism Marian Leighton BLACK ROSE 2 The history of American radicalism requires much further Spring 1975 in-depth exploration. This is particularly true of the American anarchist tradition. Ask an anarchist of today who he-she 1 Voltairine DeCleyre: An IntroduetloD to Amerieaa claims as radical intellectual forebears and, depending upon if Left-WiIlg Aaarchism he-she is of the left-wing or right-wing, they will reply by Marian Leighton Bakunin-Emma Goldman-Kropotkin or Benjamin Tucker-Jos­ iah Warren-Lysander Spooner, respectively. 8 The Making of an Anarebist by Voltairine DeCleyre \ ~ Interestingly, that 16 "Only in the Dual Realm" I this reply would lead one to believe i right-wing anarchism is more indigenous a part of the American poem by George Therese Dickenson i' 18 Terrorism or Revolution radical experience than left·wing anarchism which, based on the by Raoul Vaneigem work of Bakunin, Goldman, Kropotkin, Berkman would seem more rooted in the nineteenth century European urban insurrec­ 41 Autopsy of an Occupation: Post Mortem Critique of the LIP by John Hess tionary tradition. Is this in any way a fair distinction? Is it at that the left-wing anarchist tradition intellectually 55 Time Payments: Regular or Revolving all significant ··the heart lesson seems to rely so heavily upon an imported radicalism that -double image largely grew out of a European background? Ifthis is true, does a novel of short stories by Marie Nares it matter in any way? Of course, it also remains to be seen just how much more "American" the right-wing or laissez-faire 64 Interview with Esther and Sam Dolgoff by Doug Richardson anarchist tradition is. 83 WDdcat - Dodge Truck, JUDe 1974 Motivation for interest in the above relationships has greater by Millard Berry, Ralph Franklin, AJan Franklin, Cathy significance than an esoteric quibbling over historical anteced­ Kauflin, Marilyn Werbe, Richard. WieBke, Peter Werbe. 106 For Douglas Drawing ents. Nor do I pose the above questions on any chauvinistic poem by George Therese Dickenson assumption that a radical tradition that is "truly American" is Book Reviews: superior to the "imported immigrant variety." However, more The Maklmovist Movement legitimately, the relationship of contemporary left-wing anar­ review essay by Bill Nowlin chism to an ongoing American radical historical experience Women, Resistance & Revolution could be important for sorting out the bases for appeal that reviewed by Marian Leighton mayor may not exist between anarchism and various American New Books of lD.terest subcultures other than those of anarchism's usual constituency of counter·culture youth and fairly sophisticated intellectual radicals. In addition to concern with "to whom and for what Black Rose Magazine reasons does anarchism appeal", there is the larger question of Box 474 accounting for the experiential roots of American anarchism. Somerville, Mass. 02144 Cover design by David Dobereiner Just how much is glib historical simplification in stressing the Back Cover by Pierre Biller relationship between left-wing anarchism and European social­ Subscriptions: $4.00 for 4 issues. Institutions: ism and right-wing anarchism and American indiginous radic­ CIr.......:..1 thank harli $6.00. alism? After all, the right-wing anarchists also emphasize their ~ s to Geoff Hall, Bob Hernandez, and C e !I Gamble. intellectual legacy from Adam Smith, Max Stirner, Nietzsche (as did Emma Goldman), and contemporarily the Russian-born J1 ment and expulsion at the hands of her Massachusetts Bay Ayn Rand. Left-wing anarchists affirm their interest in the Colony inquisitors and the treatment which Emma Goldman home-grown radicalism of Thoreau, Eugene Debs, Big Bill . suffered from the US government nearly three hundred years Haywood, and other Wobblies. The point remains, however, later. that the anarcho-capitalists can legitimately "capitalize" on the strain of individualism in native American radicalism. The The crucial period to consider in the relationship of the two left·wing anarchists, in contrast, were most active and perhaps main strands which create American anarchism, native Ameri­ most effective in this country during a period when the can left-wing individualism and Anarcho-communism (later Marxist-scientific socialist analysis and organizational policies Anarcho-syndicalism), is the 1880's through the First World had obvious relevance to urban immigrants faced with the War. Not only was this the time of greatest immigrant labor horrors of the expanding factory system. activity and Anarcho-communist growth and agitation, but was also the scene of the left-wing anarchist individualist The comparativly greater knowledge of left-wing anarchism demise. Benjamin Tucker, probably the most important popu­ during this particular period, the labor and unemployment larizer of the tradition, left America in 1908 and never agitation of the 1880's through the First World War, should be returned. The style of protest which he ~d known and many no surprise. This was also probably the period when anarchism before him, that of stem ethical judgment and verbal protest, reached the greatest number of Americans. The principal and a course of withdrawal from and passive non-resistance to anarchist agitators of that time are those still most well-known the unethical government, had been replaced by more active to us today. However, this association of left-wing anarchism at forms of protest, larger organized resistance, and direct its height to scientific socialism should not preclude investiga­ actionism as a form of protest. tion by contemporary anarchists into left-wing anarchist ante­ cedents in America prior to the 1880's. Nor should we, as has so Certainly not all American left-wing anarchists left their often been the case, allow the judgments of European socialists homeland. Among those who stayed was Voltairine deCleyre. to distort our vision of many of the radical scenes in this As a native American anarchist, her politics and ethical choices country prior to the European socialist impact here, particular­ had been for the most part typical of those held by left-wine ly the socialist anti-clericalism in looking at American religious individualist anarchists of the period preceding great influence radicalism, the oldest radical tradition in this country by European socialism. She was in her early anarchism both a pacifist and non-resistant, favoring individual solutions to Although I do not concur with the author in all of her social problems evaluations, a good basic work to read on anarchism prior to the period of Anarcho-communist activity is Eunice Schuster's During her early radical days she was a Free Thought lecturer, Native American Anarchism: A Study of Left-wing Anarchist stressing the rights of the individual against encroachment by Individualism. Schuster's main point, with which I agree, is larger social/political units. She relied for inspiration upon and that the demise of the left-wing anarchist individualist tradition was widely acquainted with the earlier American Republican is in large part owing to its non-class-conscious appeal at a time ideals and their possible radical implications. Thomas Paine when the industrial-labor situation increasingly required self­ and Thomas Jefferson and their ideals furnished subjects for conscious immigrant labor spokespeople and organizations. In her free thought lecture. spite of this limitation, native American anarchists, like the Anarcho-communists of European background, "assailed the She was thoroughly acquainted with notions of the rugged same evils, but in a different manner, and aimed at the same individualism of the American frontiersman and of the indom­ theoretical objective, but proposed to arrive there by different itable will of the individualist who would "move on" rather routes," according to Schuster. She further believes there is a than allow his rights to be encroached upon by neighbors or valid analogy to be made between Anne Hutchinsons's judg­ politicians who didn't mind their own business. She was susceptible to the force of this image as part of the early 2 American experience. 3 Even after her rejection of religion and her turning to free thought, her view of life was strongly tinged with a basic religious idealism, a belief that the long-suffering and compas­ that during the American colonial and pioneer period, the sionate individual "will win out," having been supported against harShness of making a life in a new land had fostered a kind of the evils of materialism, conformity, and apathy by the march of sectarian independence jealously guarded, that being thrown history. Consequently, a narrowly materialistic determination upon their own resources the settlers had been made into of the individual could never be compatible with Voltairine well-rounded and well-balanced individuals, and that this deCleyre's temperament and politics. Mere desire for material experience had also made strong such social bonds as existed in betterment would never be sufficient motivation for the the comparative simplicity of their small communities. revolutionary, who must also basically be motivated by a devotion to a vision of life beyond the self. But this old Golden Age had virtually disappeared and the new Her choice of non-resistance as a form of protest is thoroughly reality of America, she felt, was its huge manufacturing plants, American and very rooted in her religious idealism. "Non-reR­ and the terrifying and depersonalizing experience of urban istance," refusal to pay unjust taxes, refusal to military poverty and isolation. With good reason Voltairine deCleyre induction, refusal to participate in electoral practices of corrupt could testify to the latter realities in her role as English teacher governments is as American as apple pie and has been a among the urban immigrant poor of Philadelphia. Amid traditional form of protest adopted by such native American material conditions of utter deprivation, she was forced to radicals as Quakers, antinomians, transcendentalists, abolition­ choose teaching as her only means of subsistence.