The Vanguard Group was an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

political group active during the 1930s, which published the periodical '' Vanguard: Journal of Libertarian Communism'', led by

Sam Dolgoff Sam Dolgoff (10 October 1902 – 15 October 1990) was an anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist from Russia who grew up and lived and was active in the United States. Biography Dolgoff was born in the shtetl of Ostrovno in Mogilev Governorate, ...

(aka Sam Weiner, editor of ''Vanguard''). Vanguard was for a time, during the 1930s, the leading English-language anarchist youth organization in

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History

In 1927, the Rising Youth Group was founded in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

by Sara and Elizabeth Goodman, two young

Jewish anarchist This is a list of Jewish anarchists. Individuals See also * Jewish anarchism Notes References * * * * * * * Further reading * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Jewish Anarchists Jewish * Anarchists Anarchism is a political ...

s frustrated with the older generation. By 1929 the group had dissolved and were succeeded by the

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-based Friends of Freedom, which became the Vanguard Group in 1932. Despite this new group's inheritance of its predecessor's frustration with their elders, the articles published in their periodical still bore a resemblance to those being published by '' Road to Freedom'' and they were themselves inspired by older Jewish anarchist theoreticians such as

Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born anarchist political activist and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the ...

and

Rudolf Rocker Johann Rudolf Rocker (March 25, 1873 – September 19, 1958) was a German anarchist writer and activist. He was born in Mainz to a Roman Catholic artisan family. His father died when he was a child, and his mother when he was in his teens, so he ...

. The group desired to approach anarchism from less theoretical and more concrete terms, dedicated to developing a positive program to display anarchism as a viable force for social change. An

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 ...

group, it aimed to construct a nationwide specific anarchist federation that could gain the support of both workers and intellectuals in order to prepare for a

social revolution Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political syst ...

. It supported a

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with other progressive organizations such as the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

and the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. A split in the organization was caused by one of its leading figures

Mark Schmidt Mark Schmidt (born February 12, 1963) is an American college basketball coach and the current men's basketball head coach at St. Bonaventure University. He took the job at the start of the 2007–08 season after holding the same position at Robe ...

, who advocated for uniting with the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

and even supported the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...

. Schmidt's theses was opposed by young members of the organization, particularly by

Paul Avrich Paul Avrich (August 4, 1931 – February 16, 2006) was a historian of the 19th and early 20th century anarchist movement in Russia and the United States. He taught at Queens College, City University of New York, for his entire career, from 1961 ...

and Abe Bluestein, the latter of whom broke off from the organization to found the Challenge Group. Schmidt increasingly gravitated towards

Stalinism Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...

, defending the Soviet Union and even surveilling the remaining group's members, including

, who had previously sided with Schmidt. This led to some older anarchists branding the Vanguard Group as "anarcho-Bolsheviks". The Vanguard Group had dissolved by the time of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

entry Entry may refer to: *Entry, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States *Entry (cards), a term used in trick-taking card-games *Entry (economics), a term in connection with markets * ''Entry'' (film), a 2013 Indian Malayalam fil ...

into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Jewish anarchists, including Rudolf Rocker who had himself fled

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, largely supported the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size ...

out of an

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

conviction. While some members of the Vanguard Group even went as far as to join the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

to fight in the war, others quit the group due to their

anti-militarist Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (esp ...

opposition to the war, joining the Why? Group in 1942.

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book, author-link=Paul Avrich, last=Avrich, first=Paul, title=Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America, year=2005, orig-year=1995, location=

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, publisher=

AK Press AK Press is a worker-managed, independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. Operated out of Chico, California, the company is collectively owned. History AK was founded in Stirling, Sc ...

, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8z8mdUYp-6gC, isbn=1904859275, oclc=475176999 1932 establishments in New York (state) 1939 disestablishments in New York (state) Anarchism in New York (state) Defunct anarchist organizations in North America Organizations established in 1932 Organizations disestablished in 1939