Authors

Piotr Hennel¹;  ¹ University of Łódź, Poland

Discussion

The magazine Liberty, edited by Benjamin Tucker between 1881 and 1908, stands as one of the most influential radical publications in late 19th-century United States. It served as the voice of the "Boston anarchists," a milieu deeply embedded in the Anglo-Saxon intellectual traditions of New England. Simultaneously, the Russian revolutionary movement emerged as a pivotal source of ideological inspiration for the publication from its earliest days. The inaugural issue prominently featured a portrait of Sophia Perovskaya, a key conspirator in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. Yet, the focus of Liberty’s editorial interest extended beyond revolutionary assassins, whom the editors described as an "army of avenging angels." Mikhail Bakunin, in particular, was exalted as a figure of intellectual authority, valued not merely as a revolutionary leader but also as a profound philosopher.
In addition to disseminating the works of authors such as Peter Kropotkin and Nikolai Chernyshevsky, Liberty actively sought to provide material support to the Narodnik movement. The magazine's editor, Benjamin Tucker, was appointed as a delegate of the American branch of the organization Red Cross of the People’s Will, entrusted with the task of raising funds to aid persecuted dissidents. The publication of donation lists became a recurring feature in Liberty, reflecting its sustained commitment to transnational solidarity with revolutionary movements.
At the same time, Liberty sought to present its readers with a portrayal of the Russian realities faced by revolutionaries—a picture woven from the accounts of Russian émigrés and conjectures crafted by the editors, most of whom had never traveled beyond the borders of the United States or Western Europe. In addition to the struggle for the Russian revolution, the editors of Liberty gradually came to recognize the existence of another cause opposing the Tsarist rule: the Polish independence movement. Although it occupied a more peripheral position among the interests of Liberty, this movement was nonetheless woven into the broader narrative of resistance against Russian imperial tyranny.