Archive of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
In 1942, after 3 years with no English-language anarchist publication published in the U.S., a group of people, most of who had been associated with the youth group surrounding Vanguard, started Why?.
Founded by Audrey Goodfriend, David Koven, Sam & Esther Dolgoff, Franz Fleigler and Dorothy Rogers, Why?was initially similar in content as Vanguard, the Second World War proved to be a contentious issue among the group that published Why?. Sam and Esther Dolgoff, as well as Fliegler and his wife, Bessie, advocated critical support for the Allied war effort, while most of the rest of the group took an antiwar stance.
Initially influenced by the 'revolutionary defeatism' type of war position by the the Italian-American, and insurrectionary anarchist leaning publication, L' Adunata dei refrattari, members of the Why? group increasingly moved towards pacifism. Rejecting both the draft and the state-run labor camps for religious conscientiousness objectors, most of the men involved with the group ended up in prison or on the run.
The publication developed strong personal and political ties with Retort, another anarchist publication that leaned towards pacifism during the war years.
Why? went on to be produced until 1947, when it was replaced by Resistance.
Sources
-Anarchist voices: an oral history of anarchism in America (Abridged) edited by Paul Avrich
-Unruly equality: U.S. anarchism in the 20th century by Andrew Cornell
Comments
The Vol. 1, No. 1 (April 1942) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-Why?
-National searchlight: The great surrender by Bill Young
-Bakunin on federal union
-International searchlight : (Part I) What about Russia? by Ivan (a.k.a. Sam Dolgoff)
-Local color: On the waterfront by Lead Line (a.k.a. Franz Fleigler)
-International news
-After the war
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 1, No. 1 (April 1942).pdf
(8.04 MB)
Comments
The Vol. 1, No. 2 (May 1942) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-May Day, 1942
-Labor in retreat by W.Y.
-Old Deal and New Deal
-"Whisk-broom's" dirt
-Profits must go!
-War for justice?
-What about Russia? Part Two by Ivan (a.k.a. Sam Dolgoff)
-The dean of cant by L.L.
-Spanish chronicle
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 1, No. 2 (May 1942).pdf
(8.15 MB)
Comments
The Vol. 1, No. 3 (June 1942) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-After three years by W. O'C (a.k.a. Michael Grieg)
-The British Labor Front by Bill Young
-As the chains tighten by J.P.F.
-Toward total regimentation? by Charles Storm
-Spanish notes: Revolutionary effectiveness; Solidaridad Obrera; Contradiction
-For workers's action
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 1, No. 3 (June 1942).pdf
(3.66 MB)
Comments
The Vol. 1, No. 5 (August-September 1942) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-Anti-fascism vs. anti-fascism
-Twenty years after by B.C.
-This reconstruction business by Ethel Mannin (Reprinted from War Commentary, July 1942)
-Direct action by Michael Bakunin
-Nationalism and India by W. O'C (a.k.a. Michael Grieg)
-The great confusion by C.S. (a.k.a. Charles Storm)
-Union card for Jim Crow? by W.Y.
-Troops accused of racial bigotry?
-Notes from a Mariner
-The death of Sebastian Faure (Reprinted from L'adunata, August 8, 1942)
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Comments
An article contrasting the anti-fascism of anarchists and the anti-fascism of the Allied Forces of World War II. Originally appeared in Why Vol. 1, No. 5 (August-September 1942).
Superficially, all who oppose the regime of Hitler, Mussolini, and company, are anti-fascists. Actually, each has his own concept of what anti-fascism is.
Lord Halifax, foreign minister in the Chamberlain Cabinet, deeply religious hater of the Spanish Revolutionaries, is now an anti-fascist. Churchill, one time admirer of Mussolini, hater of labor, chief strike-breaker (1926 General Strike), defender of imperialism, is now an anti-fascist. The Polish government in exile represents the Poland of slavish repression. This Poland, which grabbed a piece of Czechoslovakia unwanted by Hitler, is now antifascist. Poor helpless Greece, where Premier Metaxas, and his puppet King George instituted a dictatorship and the suppression of the masses almost as heartless and ruthless as Hitler's, is now antifascist. The "Free French" who want to restore the same system which spawned fascism are also antifascist. So is the Mazzini "Free Italy" movement. Totalitarian Russia, pioneer of fascism, where "Liberty is a bourgoise virtue" (Lenin) and the state drains the blood of the people, is also anti-fascist. So are the other State-Socialists who aim to establish the dictatorship of the bureaucracy, the rule of the mediocre. Herbert Hoover, Wall Street, Standard Oil, who want to safeguard "Free Enterprise" (the right of the capitalist to work his slaves to death without interference) are also anti-fascists.
When two thieves quarrel over booty the gangster who gets the lesser share does not thereby become an honest man. Yet, these are the people who will face each other at the peace table. The kind of peace they will make is bound to reflect their class position. Any peace made by these elements must inevitably lead to future wars since all the institutions and the abuses germinated at such a peace table, will, with slight modification, be left intact. All the roots of fascism will be fertilized and allowed to grow.
These are the anti-fascists who now control the conduct of the war. Under cover of military necessity they are entrenching themselves in such a way as to assure their continuance in power after the war is over. The bulk of the anti-fascist movement is composed of workers, peasants, and oppressed minorities. It includes all sorts of people with all sorts of views and prejudices: from devout Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Mohammedan, Budhists, to fanatical nationalists, and ardent revolutionaries. The oppressed "minorities" and the nationalists, are anti-fascists merely because they wish to be left in peace. They want to keep right on being clannish. They demand the right to sit in their Ivory Towers. The fact that churchism and nationalism are in themselves the breeding grounds of fascism does not concern them. As someone once said, "People do not wish to be free, they wish to be safe." There are, however, other anti-fascists who understand that the defeat of fascism must be accomplished radically by tearing out the root causes, the religion of statism, its corollary, nationalism, and the system of exploitation in all its manifold forms. To accomplish this, the means of life must be in the hands of the people who do the world's work. Society must be rebuilt on the solid foundations of human solidarity and freedom.
Viewed from this angle, the war against fascism cannot be successful if it is waged only to restore capitalist democracy to create a Super-State-controlled society. True anti-fascists demand a radical change. Archaic and monstrous social institutions can be swept away only by the swift current of social-revolution. The fight against fascism must, by its very nature, constitute a revolutionary act. Not just "Anti-Fascism," but Whose and Which is the question.
Comments
The Vol. 1, No. 8 (March 1943) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-North Africa: the cuckoo's nest by William Young
-The structure of man and government by Howard L'Hommedieu
-Why world government? by Ammon A. Hennacy
-Pay as you go by G.A. (a.k.a. Audrey Goodfriend)
-War in the making by Lead Line (a.k.a. Franz Fleigler)
-Plans for a New World Order by Martin Thorn
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 1, No. 8 (March 1943).pdf
(8.58 MB)
Comments
Comments
The Vol. 2, No. 1 (May 1943) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-Conscription and American fascism by Frank Lanham
-Labor conscription by September!: management journal spills the fascist beans by William Young (a.k.a. Bill Young)
-One year of publication
-The forgotten plan
-Call me Casey
-I am the people, the mob by Carl Sandburg (Reprinted from An anthology of revolutionary poetry, edited by Marcus Graham)
-Geopolitics: science of the super-state by Martin Thorn
-Cooperative workers are human, too by G.G.
-They fought: excerpts from address by Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, United States District Court, 1917
-As the chains tighten
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 2, No. 1 (May 1943).pdf
(13.82 MB)
Comments
The Vol. 2, No. 2 (June 1943) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-What about the miners? by Frank Lanham
-What do we think?
-Keep 'em sailing by x208382
-How a scissor bill fed two economists: a fantasy
-Quote
-Our Chinese allies by Jack High
-The definition of anarchism (Reprinted from Memoirs of a revolutionist by Peter Kropotkin)
-Who are the fascists? by Frank Lanham
-Notes from a U.S.M.S. school
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 2, No. 2 (June 1943).pdf
(1.74 MB)
Comments
The Vol 2, No 3 (July-August 1943) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-Spain and the world
-Reflections on an early American anarchist by J.A.W.
-Litvinov-night
-Land of the free by D.D.
-Carpetbagging in steel by Frank Lanham
-We will not be lead! by Howard Johnson
-Exit Mussolini
-Obituary: demise of the Third International
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Comments
The Vol. 2, No. 4 (September 1943) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-Allied intervention, inc. by Vida
-Law and justice by G.A. (a.k.a. Audrey Goodfriend)
-No defense! by D.K. (a.k.a. David Koven)
-The automotive union: from sit-down to Roland Jay by Frank Lanham
-The Italian scene: is fascism crumbling? by Max Sartin
-Postwar planning
-Quote
-Tsk! Tsk!: what will Murray say? by D.K. (a.k.a. David Koven)
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 2, No. 4 (September 1943).pdf
(5.56 MB)
Comments
The Vol. 2, No. 6 (January-February 1944) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-Another link in the chain by Vida
-"Suffer little children" by D.K. (a.k.a. David Koven)
-What are we worth? by G.A. (a.k.a. Audrey Goodfriend)
-The necessity of community by George G. Ausden
-Anarchism by Peter Kropotkin (Reprinted from Encyclopedia Brittanica)
-Education: tool of a free society by J.A.W.
-Bronson Alcott: pioneer of progressive education by C.B.
-Planning for control
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Comments
Comments
The Vol. 3, No. 1 (April-May 1944) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-In memorium, May 1, USA
-Labor in the post-war world by Charles Storm
-To the boiling point by Lead Line (a.k.a. Franz Fleigler)
-They call it free enterprise by Max Sartin
-Anarchism by Peter Kropotkin (Reprinted from Encyclopedia Brittanica)
-Off the press
-Ralph Bourne: idealist by W. O'C (a.k.a. Michael Grieg)
-And it came to pass by Lead Line (a.k.a. Franz Fleigler)
-War and ideals by C.B.
-Elizabeth Byrne Ferm by Alexis Ferm
-Do we want work? by Eddie Shaw (Reprinted from War Commentary)
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 3, No. 1 (April-May 1944).pdf
(5.19 MB)
Comments
The Vol. 3, No. 2 (June-July 1944) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-The cesspool of law by A.D. Adams
-The great design by Charles Storm
-The tyrants' war by Max Sartin
-A new prison: a short story by W.O.C. (a.k.a. Michael Grieg)
-Towards anarchy by Frederick Lohr (Reprinted from War Commentary)
-Anarchist chronicle
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 3, No. 2 (June-July 1944).pdf
(5.14 MB)
Comments
The Vol. 3, No. 3 (August 1944) issue of Why?, an anarchist publication produced out of New York City from 1942-1947.
Contents include:
-Who are the guilty? by W.O'C (a.k.a. Michael Grieg)
-Philadelphia: ignorant and discontented by Vida
-As we go to press...
-The air is not free by W.O'C (a.k.a. Michael Grieg)
-Sacco and Vanzetti: two anarchists by G.A. (a.k.a. Audrey Goodfriend)
-Labor's weapons by D.K. (a.k.a. David Koven)
-A bright tomorrow by A.D. Adams
-Towards anarchy by Frederick Lohr (Reprinted from War Commentary)
-Between the lines
-A new declaration of independence by Emma Goldman (Reprinted from Mother Earth Vol. 4, 1909-1910)
This issue scanned for libcom.org and purchased from funds donated by our users.
Attachments
Why Vol. 3, No. 3 (August 1944).pdf
(5.57 MB)
Comments
Have 8 more issues scanned.
Have 8 more issues scanned. Will upload as the week goes on. Switched to black and white because it is a lot faster and since this publication is entirely text, not much is lost.
Scanned the rest of the
Scanned the rest of the issues I have and wrote a short intro.
David Koven, who was part off
David Koven, who was part off this publishing group, was a "silent" member of WSA. In all the years he was a member, I never knew about his back story.
syndicalist wrote: David
syndicalist
That's interesting considering that Why was a split from the more "orthodox" anarcho-syndicalist Vanguard.
Perhaps he was "home sick".
Perhaps he was "home sick". No clue. At the time he joined, we were very active, published a sorta regular publication (ideas&action) and maybe attracted to the seriousness and quality of our efforts. Maybe cause we knew many old timers and he was comfortable with that. Really hard to say. I basically remember (or think I do) the few letters being "hello, thanks for keeping me posted" sorta letters. And few at that. One of those mysteries well never have can answer to, I suppose.