Johann Most and the German Anarchists

This essay tells the story of the first instance of a revolutionary anarchist movement in New York City, and the role of radical immigrant Johann Most in shaping and dividing the movement. This urban, immigrant movement pioneers several features that will be part of various subsequent movements and expressions of anarchism in the city. For example, Germans grounded their community in beerhalls and other meeting places in specific neighborhoods. They built cultural and recreational spaces and groups as if to live anarchism now, while advocating for it in public. The German anarchists also maintained an international profile through periodicals, and experienced the downside of ethnic insularity. Most added an ideological element when he advocated social revolution, propaganda by deed, and arming the working classes. The image of the anarchist bomb thrower was born and lingers to this day in the minds of mainstream observers.