UVa-Wise professor’s new book ‘Beer and Revolution’ examines German anarchist culture

Not all anarchists are created equal, according to a new book by Tom Goyens, an assistant professor of history at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise.

In his book “Beer and Revolution: The German Anarchist Movement in New York City, 1880-1914,” Goyens examines the often misunderstood anarchist movement among German immigrants in New York City around the beginning of the 20th century.

“My aim in this book is to counter the prevailing myth that all anarchists are violent, unsettled bomb throwers relishing destruction without contributing to society,” Goyens said. “These immigrant radicals were much more concerned with forging a self-sufficient subculture in which they could celebrate and practice their own creed while persuading others of the benefits of an anarchist philosophy.”

Goyens’ book highlights the German anarchists’ participatory, grassroots approach to politics and the anarchists’ use of social spaces like saloons, lecture halls, and picnic areas, which they transformed into their own alternative spaces.

“These anarchists always valued a ‘bottoms-up’ political activism,” Goyens said. “This stems from their criticism of coercive authority and domination, which they saw as harmful and unnecessary.”

“Beer and Revolution” is available in the UVa-Wise Campus Bookstore and at national booksellers such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

A native of Belgium, Goyens has written several encyclopedia articles on labor and radical history and has published articles in “Social Anarchism: A Journal of Theory and Practice” and in the Belgian journal “Bread and Roses: Journal for the History of Social Movements.”

Goyens also has presented papers on immigrant anarchism at the Modern Language Association Conference, the North American Labor History Conference and the International American Studies Conference in Leiden, The Netherlands. In February, he will present a paper focusing on “social space and the practice of anarchist history” at the European Social History Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

Goyens says his next project likely will be an examination of French and Belgian radical coal miners in Pennsylvania from 1890 to 1914. He also hopes to write a biography of Johann Most, the most famous anarchist in American around the turn of the 20th century.

Goyens earned his bachelor’s degree in history, a postgraduate degree in American Studies and his Ph.D. in history, all at the University of Leuven in Belgium.

Posted January 7, 2008