The Anarchist Soviet Bulletin was a periodical published in New York, NY from April 1919-August 1920. While this digitized record is incomplete, according to Anarchist Periodicals Published in the United States: 1833-1955 by Ernesto A. Longa, the periodical "appears to have ceased publication for a few
months between its December 1919 and April 1920 issues,". Additionally, issue numbering abruptly jumps from Volume 1, Issue 10 in April 1920 to Volume 2, Issue 14 for the May 1920 issue.
Longa notes that, while he was unable to find an editor listed on the periodical itself, historian Paul Avrich (in Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America), based on interviews with anarchists from the period, attributes editorship to Marcus Graham. In Partisans of Freedom: A Study in American Anarchism, historian William O. Reichert notes that Graham was imprisoned on Ellis Island for issuing the Anarchist Soviet Bulletin.
This periodical's title is, by today's standard, somewhat of an oxymoron, given the eventual anarchist disillusionment and rejection of the Soviet project (by 1925, both Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman had published book-length works on their disillusionment with the Soviet government). This periodical, then, is a testament to the hope American anarchists once put in the Bolsheviks, as well as the degree to which American anarchists were connected to international struggles during this period.
Comments
My knowledge of the course of
My knowledge of the course of the 1917 Revolution and the Soviet government after it, as well as anarchisms relationship to it, is a little bit rudimentary, so if I botched anything up in my historical note in the description feel free to tweak it or let me know.
Looks really interesting! Are
Looks really interesting! Are you going to attach issues of it here?
These are pretty hard to come
These are pretty hard to come by. I’ve found some copies through booksellers but they were crazy expensive.
So, you had the young Jewish
So, you had the young Jewish immigrant garment workers Mollie Steimer, Ethel Bernstein, Arthur Katzes, William Winter and Marus Graham who issued the publication. They were all in their 20s.
See "Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech"
By Richard Polenberg. A thick volume, but well worth the read.
Mention is also made in "Unruly Equality: U.S. Anarchism in the Twentieth Century"
By Andrew Cornell. He lists Graham as the papers editor. As do most other sources I've seen.
Their group was the "American Anarchist Federated Commune Soviets"
See also the witch hunt NY State document," (vol. III-IV) Constructive movements and measures in America by New York (State). Legislature. Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate Seditious Activities, Clayton Riley Lusk" (Lusk Commission), Pages 1366-1370. Although the Lusk Commission documents are full of lots of misinformation, etc, there's enough interesting and enough factual information in it to make it work a look.