anarchist

(noun)

Adherents of the political philosophy which holds the state—or indeed all authority and hierarchical organization in human relations—to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful. Anarchists were a vocal, if underground, presence in American politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Related Terms

Examples of anarchist in the following topics:

  • Anarchism

    • Anarchists in the United States, who fought within and alongside labor unions for workers rights, helped stage a demonstration in Chicago in 1886 that resulted in a deadly bombing.
    • The International Workingmen's Association, often called the First International, was an international organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist political groups and trade union organizations that were based on the working class and class struggle.
    • The next day, May 4, anarchists staged a rally at Chicago's Haymarket Square.
    • Eight anarchists, directly and indirectly related to the organizers of the rally, were arrested and charged with the murder of the deceased officer.

  • Red Scare

    • This concern was further inflamed following an anarchist bomb plot in 1919 to the point at which revolution and Bolshevism became the general explanation for all challenges to the social order used to excuse even such simple expressions of free speech as the display of certain flags and banners.
    • The raids were intended to round up and rid the nation of radical leftists, especially anarchists.
    • While both anarchists and communists were suspected, no one was indicted for the bombing.
    • The anti-immigrant, anti-anarchist Sedition Act of 1918 was approved in Congress to protect wartime morale by deporting people with undesirable politics.
    • A Red Scare depiction of a "European Anarchist" attempting to destroy the Statue of Liberty.

  • The Haymarket Affair

    • Eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy and seven were sentenced to death in the aftermath of the Haymarket Affair.
    • In the internationally publicized legal proceedings that followed, eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy , although the prosecution conceded that none of the defendants had thrown the bomb.

  • Toward Permanent Unions

    • As strikers rallied against the McCormick plant, a team of political anarchists, who were not Knights, tried to piggyback support among striking Knights workers.
    • The anarchists were blamed, and their spectacular trial gained national attention.
    • The Knights of Labor were seriously injured by the false accusation that the Knights promoted anarchistic violence.

  • Labor and Domestic Tensions

    • The Knights avoided violence but their reputation collapsed in the wake of the Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago in 1886, when anarchists bombed the policemen dispersing a meeting.

  • The Wobblies

    • The IWW was founded in Chicago in June 1905 at a convention of two hundred socialists , anarchists , and radical trade unionists from all over the United States who were opposed to the policies of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
    • The Wobblies' motto was " an injury to one is an injury to all ", which improved upon the 19th century Knights of Labor 's creed, "an injury to one is the concern of all. " In particular, the IWW was organized because of the belief among many unionists, socialists, anarchists and radicals that the AFL not only had failed to effectively organize the U.S. working class, as only about 5% of all workers belonged to unions in 1905, but also that it was organizing according to narrow craft principles which divided groups of workers.

  • Progressives and the Working Class

    • The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was founded in Chicago in 1905, at a convention of anarchist and socialist union members who were opposed to the policies of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

  • Socialism and the Unions

    • The IWW was founded in Chicago in June 1905 at a convention of two hundred socialists, anarchists, and radical trade unionists from all over the United States who were opposed to the policies of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
    • In particular, the IWW was organized because of the belief among many unionists, socialists, anarchists and radicals that the AFL not only had failed to effectively organize the U.S. working class, as only about 5% of all workers belonged to unions in 1905, but also that it was organizing according to narrow craft principles which divided groups of workers.

  • War Propaganda

    • First Red Scare depiction of a "European Anarchist" attempting to destroy the Statue of Liberty.

  • The Transfer of Power between the Federalists and the Republicans

    • "Two political Sects have arisen within the U.S. the one believing that the executive is the branch of our government which the most needs support; the other that like the analogous branch in the English Government, it is already too strong for the republican parts of the Constitution; and therefore in equivocal cases they incline to the legislative powers: the former of these are called federalists, sometimes aristocrats or monocrats, and sometimes Tories, after the corresponding sect in the English Government of exactly the same definition: the latter are still republicans, Whigs, Jacobins, anarchists, disorganizers, etc. these terms are in familiar use with most persons. "