This dissertation situates anarchist propaganda and Progressive America in a global scale to reassess the historical significance of anarchism in the early twentieth century. Delving into the multiform propaganda of Emma Goldman’s anarchist monthly Mother Earth, it captures an important transfiguration of anarchist communism from a labor-based socioeconomic movement to an inclusive radical culture. The magazine, I argue, forged a new intellectual force and contributed to a wide reception of anarchism without committing to the stateless anarchy. I introduce the concept of space, the “Mother Earth counterfamily,” the “propaganda quartet,” the transnational network, and the non-anarchist public to grasp the magazine’s versatile operation and its lasting intellectual effect. While Goldman remains the primary actor in this dissertation, this dissertation draws a clear picture of the cooperation, as well as tension, within members of Mother Earth’s inner circle. I also incorporate multiple perspectives that illustrate the cacophonous views from the anarchist ranks, as well as from various non-anarchist audiences and presses. My five chapters respectively delve into the headquarters’ culture, nationwide propaganda efforts, transnational networks, sex radicalism, and the interplay of free-speech and anti-militarist campaigns in Mother Earth’s anarchist project. These underexplored themes reveal the mechanism that the inner circle used to win intellectual audiences and facilitate a social revolution. I map out the local, national, and international activities of Mother Earth’s manifold propaganda to reveal a growing anarchist sphere, which extended to Europe, Latin America, Japan, China, Africa, and Australia.
This dissertation demonstrates that the greatest contribution of Mother Earth was its success in appealing to anti-authoritarian impulses among white middle-class intellectuals, rather than in mobilizing a politically-charged anarchist movement. The scope of Mother Earth’s propaganda transcended anarchist circles, the ranks of labor, and the Western Hemisphere. Its members’ words and deeds helped create a pervasive radical culture, which also expanded the interactions of America and the world. As a formidable minority among the American left, these anarchists encouraged a highly diverse audience to develop the power to think and the desire to rebel. Their anarchist messages proved to be far-reaching among leftists beyond both Progressive America and their era
