# American Anarchists: The Original Domestic Extremists

An episode of [History Unplugged Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1237796990), 19 Aug 2025, 40 min.

Audio: https://s.gum.fm/s-62a121b02a6f7798fef24ea9/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/5e27a451-e6e6-4c51-aa03-a7370003783c/f29261d0-2b21-4ca3-8530-b192014643e7/5c47127f-9b35-4823-9d22-b32800dbbc47/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=f2485583-8f85-4713-b316-b19201465f8d

In the early twentieth century, anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman championed a radical vision of a world without states, laws, or private property. Militant and sometimes violent, anarchists were heroes to many working-class immigrants. But to many others, anarchism was a terrifyingly foreign ideology. Determined to crush it, government officials launched a decades-long “war on anarchy,” a brutal program of spying, censorship, and deportation that set the foundations of the modern surveillance state. The lawyers who came to the anarchists’ defense advanced groundbreaking arguments for free speech and due process, inspiring the emergence of the civil liberties movement. Today’s guest is Michael Willrich, author of “American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle between Immigrant Radicals and the US Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century.” We look at this tumultuous era and parallels with contemporary society. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.