Anarcho-syndicalists, Mystical Anarchists and Individualists: Conceptual History of the Russian Anarchist Emigration Press in the USA in the 1920s–1930s

The aim of this article is to provide a historical and philosophical analysis of the key aspects of the interaction of Russian anarchist émigré periodicals in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. By reconstructing the conceptual history of three magazines (Delo Truda, Probuzhdenie, and The Clarion), the author shows how strong the ideological differences were between the publishing groups of anarchists who left Russia after the start of large-scale political repression. The article argues that it was precisely in the Russian anarchist diaspora when it became clear that the previous intellectual attitudes, which had been relevant in 1905 and 1917, became irrelevant by the mid-1920s. The author insists that émigré anarchists in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s still believed in the power of ideas, that concepts and ideological constructs in themselves possessed power and could take hold of the masses. The article examines the views of different émigré groups: anarcho-syndicalists, mystical anarchists and individualist anarchists.