From the 1880s through the 1940s, tens of thousands of first- and
second-generation immigrants embraced the anarchist cause after
arriving on American shores. Kenyon Zimmer explores why these
migrants turned to anarchism, and how their adoption of its ideology
shaped their identities, experiences, and actions.
Zimmer focuses on Italians and Eastern European Jews in San
Francisco, New York City, and Paterson, New Jersey. Tracing the
movement's changing fortunes from the pre-World War I era through the
Spanish Civil War, Zimmer argues that anarchists, opposed to both
American and Old World nationalism, severed all attachments to their
nations of origin but also resisted assimilation into their host
society. Their radical cosmopolitan outlook and identity instead
embraced diversity and extended solidarity across national, ethnic,
and racial divides. Though ultimately unable to withstand the
onslaught of Americanism and other nationalisms, the anarchist
movement nonetheless provided a shining example of a transnational
collective identity delinked from the nation-state and racial
hierarchies.
