and tactics (although such positions were far from homogenous). However, the most predominant form of anarchism (what Schmidt and van der Walt term ‘the broad anarchist tradition’) had a mass social base, one that “emphasized positive, constructive activism—organizing clubs, neighbourhoods, workers’ cooperatives, experimental schools, collective farms, mutual-aid societies, and anarcho-syndicalist labour unions.”19 Far from being allergic to organization, mass anarchists advocated a kind of organization from below, and threw themselves headfirst into the debates of the International Workingmen’s Association (IWA, or the First International). As a result, the broad anarchist tradition—which included the anarchist communism of Josephs—was firmly rooted in the workers’ movement of the 1860s. From then on, anarchism as a working class ideology became a thorn in the side of capital and the state across the globe, whether in Switzerland or Spain, Korea or Argentina—or in this case, Scotland and New Zealand.
Glasgow and its outer limits (such as Paisley) had active anarchist groups and militants whose own development had roots in the increasingly anti-parliamentary Socialist League. Spurred on by Kropotkin’s 1886 visit and the powerful words of American anarchist Lucy Parsons (1888), the local branch of the Socialist League progressively turned “in the Anarchist direction,” which—according to one of the League’s prominent figures, William Morris—gave them “an agreeable air of toleration.”20 A parting with the League took place in late 1892 or early 1893, with the anarchists finally coalescing into the Glasgow Anarchist Group in October 1893. By March 1894, a member stated that they had “five times the members we started with,” and were propagating the principles of anarchy at such a rate that anarchists were barred from speaking at Labour Party discussions.21 The Group held numerous outdoor meetings against the Boer War (1899–1902), distributed literature, and co-operated with the Paisley Group to publish the syndicalist-inspired newspaper Voice of Labour in January 1904.22
During this time Glasgow continued to be frequented by international anarchists thanks to the connections of two of the Group’s members, William and Maggie Duff. It was the Duffs who played host to another American anarchist, Voltairine de Cleyre, during her tours of Scotland in September 1897 and August/September 1903; could count anarchists such as the geographer Élisée Reclus, Goldman, and Kropotkin as friends; and penned articles in international journals such as San Francisco’s anarchist communist newspaper, Free Society.23 An anarchist bookstore in the centre of the city also helped contribute to the spread of anarchism in Glasgow, and London—a mecca of European anarchism—was a mere train ride away. London-based anarchists such as Rudolf Rocker often gave lectures in Glasgow, packing halls with discussions on the Russian pogroms and sweating in the East End.
Rocker’s connection to the Jewish anarchists of London was particularly fruitful. After moving to the city from Paris, the popular figure and captivating orator joined the Arbeter Fraynd group, a Jewish anarchist collective based in the East End that also produced a newspaper of the same name. Mainly edited by Rocker and written entirely in Yiddish, the Arbeter Fraynd covered local and international labour news, tirelessly called for unity between Jewish and English workers, and put forward the ideas and tactics of anarchism—all designed to use the immigrant worker’s Jewish identity as a springboard for solidarity and class struggle. The paper also concerned itself with combating Marxism in the Jewish labour movement, publishing twenty-five essays by Rocker alone on the subject. As a result, Rocker and the Arbeter Fraynd contained some of the earliest critiques of Marxism and historical materialism in Yiddish (a theme that would later be explored by Josephs and his Freedom Group comrades).24
As well as their newspaper, the Arbeter Fraynd collective also helped to translate anarchist books and pamphlets into the language of the Jewish immigrant. One such pamphlet was a comprehensive, twenty-two page exposition of anarchist communism in Yiddish that was later translated into German, French, and Dutch.25
Alongside the spreading of anarchist literature, the Jewish anarchists had their own hall, complete with a library, meeting spaces, and a bar. Events such as anarchist Yom Kippur balls—“featuring dancing, merry-making, and atheistic harangues”—would be organized to clash with traditional Jewish festivities, attracting the attention of non-religious Jews and the scorn of the faithful.26 As Rocker put it, “the place for believers was the house of worship, and the place for non-believers was the radical meeting.”27
For many Jewish radicals, anarchism meant a complete rejection of religion. “Just as every state, they argued, was an instrument by which a privileged few wielded power over the immense majority, so every church was an ally of the state in the subjugation of humanity.”28 Yet for some, the boundaries of anarchism and Judaism were blurred. “Anarchism, for all its international pretensions… has always been divided into national and ethnic groups,” argues Paul Avrich. This sense of ethnicity was possible because “anarchists, cherishing diversity against standardization and uniformity, have always prized the differences among peoples—cultural, linguistic, historical—quite as much as their common bonds.”29 Many Jewish anarchists embraced an atheism that retained a sense of their Jewish cultural diversity—without observing its orthodox traditionalism. For others, anarchism was the natural extension of a radical Judaism “deeply motivated by ethical questions, incensed by injustices. They carried a very Jewish sense of righteousness.”30 The “new rabbis of liberty” strove to show that, in practice, Jewish anarchism was not a contradiction in terms.31
Atheism aside, cultural and material commonalities were an important link for Jewish anarchists and their fellow workers. As well as encouraging them to question the fetters of traditionalism and to join the anarchist counter-culture, orators such as Rocker went to the workers themselves—endlessly organizing Jewish labourers knee deep in sweated shirts. A demonstration of 25,000 against the pogroms in Russia, and a nationwide conference of Jewish anarchists in December 1902, confirmed the fruits of their labour. Alongside Jewish anarchist movements in the US and elsewhere, Rocker and the Arbeter Fraynd collective had fostered the growth of a unique, widely embraced, and long-lasting Jewish anarchist identity. In the British Isles, such an identity was not restricted to London’s East End. According to Collins there were also Jewish anarchists in Glasgow itself, and as Rocker notes in The London Years, “our best centre after Leeds, was Glasgow.”32
Although Josephs does not appear in the few surviving records of the Jewish Unions and anarchist groups of the day, the prevalence of anarchism in Glasgow and the work of Rocker and the Jewish anarchists in London surely confirmed Josephs’ political outlook. The Duffs lived within walking distance of the Josephs household, and Glasgow Green, a popular open-air auditorium for socialists and anarchists of all shades, was a mere two blocks away. Yet even closer to home was Sophia’s brother, Arthur Hillman. A founding member, with Rocker, of the Workers’ Circle Friendly Society (a socialist mutual aid society designed to protect its members through times of sickness or need), a member of the Bund, and self-proclaimed anarchist, Josephs’ brother-in-law preached from a pulpit radically different than family tradition (the Hillmans having produced a long line of prominent rabbanim).33 Instead, Arthur struggled financially due to his anarchist convictions. In order to make ends meet he had a business selling ‘antique rugs’—new rugs that he would beat with dirt in order to grant them antique status!34
Another radical Bundist in the family was the cousin of Arthur and Sophia, Sidney Hillman. After being radicalised in one of the many illegal Russian study circles of the day, in 1904 Sidney led the first ever May Day march in the Lithuanian city of Kovno. For his efforts he suffered the fate of many of his comrades—imprisonment. After escaping Russia, he eventually went on to become a prominent labour leader in the New Deal era, devising America’s first system of welfare as Secretary of Labor to President Franklin Roosevelt, and a key member of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Who radicalised whom? Was Josephs the ‘bad apple’ that brought anarchism into the Hillman household, influenced by the steady stream of anarchist agitation in Glasgow? Or was his anarchism the result of personal interaction with Arthur, Sidney, and Sophia? Maybe a shared adherence to anarchism was what brought Philip and Sophia together? Either way, when Philip, Sophia, and their four girls embarked for Wellington, New Zealand aboard the Prinz Regent-Luitpold late in 1903, Josephs was a convinced revolutionary—armed with mental dynamite and transnational connections.