Abstract
This paper proposes the hypothesis that the experience of migration is an important factor in making an individual an anarchist. Some scholars have advocated that anarchism emerged in some of the least industrialized countries, such as Russia, Spain, and Italy. However, there were also people who became anarchists after their immigration from non-industrialized to more industrialized countries. Some studies have stated that the social situation of the countries to which they migrated made them anarchists. However, this does not explain why some immigrants became anarchists, and others became social democrats, communists, or nationalists. Their motives to choose anarchism could be constructed through various experiences, not only after they immigrated, but also before they even decided to leave their country. Supposing the impact of these experiences on their decision to become anarchists, this paper examines the experiences of some Jewish people who became anarchists after they immigrated from Russia to the United States at the end of the 19th century until the eve of World War I. After analyzing their experiences, I deduce some of the factors that might have possibly made them anarchists: the free and private gathering space; encounters with the various people whom they could meet only in United States, but not in Russia, conversations with them in everyday life; encounters with other attractive anarchists; and their recognition of the similarity of oppression faced in the United States and Russia, by comparing the harsh persecution against anarchists in the land of “freedom” and “democracy” with the land of tyranny. Then, I analyze their personal memories of the time period in Russia before their immigration. There were some Jewish women and men who immigrated to escape from their traditional Jewish marriages or family constraints, which they called “prison” or “hell;” there were also some men who quit their religious education because they could never believe in Judaism. On acquiring such an antiauthoritarian mindset, they found anarchism to be the best school of movement in the United States. This also explains why they could actively participate in events like the “Yom Kippur Ball,” which was organized by Jewish immigrant anarchists in order to denounce the religion in general. Thus, by examining their memories and the Jewish anarchist movement, I propose my hypothesis that their experiences during the process of migration from Russia to the United States were the factors that made these individuals anarchists.
