The Libertarian Book Club and Libertarian League were two postwar anarchist groups in New York City associated with Sam and Esther Dolgoff.

Libertarian Book Club

The Libertarian Book Club was an anarchist circle in

postwar In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...

New York City. Established by Sam and Esther Dolgoff in 1945 at the behest of Grigorii Maksimov, the group held monthly discussion fora and social events in a rented

Workmen's Circle The Workers Circle or Der Arbeter Ring ( yi, דער אַרבעטער־רינג), formerly The Workmen's Circle, is an American Jewish nonprofit organization that promotes social and economic justice, Jewish community and education, including Yiddi ...

room and served as a social center for a small, aging group of immigrant radicals whom the Dolgoffs knew from their work on '' Road to Freedom'' and ''

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

''. The Libertarian Book Club published multiple volumes and distributed domestically other major books and international publications from the anarchist movement. The publisher reprinted Steven T. Byington's English translation of

Paul Eltzbacher Paul Eltzbacher (18 February 1868 – 25 October 1928) was a Jewish German law professor. Eltzbacher was born in Cologne. From 1890 to 1895, he was a junior lawyer for the regional court districts of Cologne and Frankfurt, with a year off in 1891� ...

's '' Anarchism'' in 1960.

Libertarian League

In 1954, the Dolgoffs and anarchist Russell Blackwell formed the Libertarian League to supplement the Book Club. In their founding statement, titled "What We Stand For", the League suggested an alternative to the bipolar Cold War: a libertarian socialist society with a worldwide federation of free communities, cooperatives, and

workers' councils A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...

. Sam Dolgoff described their aims as

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence i ...

society with

anarcho-communist Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains resp ...

sympathies.The League hosted weekly political discussions and published ''Views and Comments''. Only a few members joined the league at first and though others cycled in and out, attendance at group meetings rarely went above a dozen. Notably, core members of the group were librarians and printers, decidedly more professionalized than the industrial unionism for which they advocated. ''Views and Comments'' began as a mimeographed newsletter and became a monthly journal between 20 and 40 pages. Its aesthetic predated that of the 1980s zines. Contributors were commonly anonymous or used pseudonyms, given fears stemming from McCarthyism. The League dissolved in mid-1965.

References

Bibliography

* {{Portal bar, Anarchism, New York City 1945 establishments in New York City 1954 establishments in New York City 1965 disestablishments in New York (state) Anarchism in New York (state) Defunct anarchist organizations in North America Organizations established in 1945 Organizations established in 1954 Organizations disestablished in 1965