Beyond the ‘people’s community’: the anarchist movement from the fin de siècle to the First World War in Germany

Abstract

This article interrogates the position of the anarchist movement towards state authorities and the mainstream society from fin de siècle to the end of the First World War in Germany. Looking both at its ideological contents and propagandistic means, the article interprets anarchism as a movement beyond the sphere of ‘legitimate politics’. During the late 19th century, the movement was perceived and represented as a both criminal and insane organisation that aimed at political murderer and social upheaval. With the early twentieth century, especially the anti-militarist aspect of the anarchist ideology arose the suspicion of the security organs. With the outbreak of war in August 1914, anarchist press largely fall prey to a rigorous censorship. Under military rule, many activists were imprisoned and others conscribed to the army, leading to the quasi extinction of the movement by the end of the conflict.