Paul Avrich

Paul Avrich (August 4, 1931 February 16, 2006) was a historian of the 19th and
Paul Avrich
early 20th century anarchist movement in Russia and the United States. He taught at
Queens College, City University of New York, for his entire career, from 1961 to his
retirement as distinguished professor of history in 1999. He wrote ten books, mostly
about anarchism, including topics such as the 1886 Haymarket Riot, 1921 Sacco and
Vanzetti case, 1921 Kronstadt naval base rebellion, and an oral history of the
movement. As an ally of the movement's major figures, he sought to challenge the
portrayal of anarchists as amoral and violent, and collected papers from these figures
that he donated as a 20,000-item collection to theLibrary of Congress.

Contents
1 Early and personal life Avrich circa 1980
2 Career Born August 4, 1931
3 Works Brooklyn, New York
4 References Died February 16, 2006
5 Further reading (aged 74)
6 External links Manhattan, New
York
Occupation Historian
Early and personal life Years active 19611999
Paul Avrich was born August 4, 1931, in Brooklyn to Jewish and Ukrainian heritage, Known for History of anarchism
tracing to Odessa.[1] His parents, Rose Zapol Avrich and Murray Avrich, were a Notable work The Haymarket
Yiddish theater actress and a dress manufacturer, respectively.[2] He completed his Tragedy, Anarchist
undergraduate studies at Cornell University in 1952, and his graduate studies at Voices
Columbia University in 1961.[1] His doctoral dissertation addressed the labor
movement in the Russian Revolution. When the Soviet Union was opened to exchange students during the Khrushchev Thaw, Avrich
conducted research there. Anarchists he met through his research into the anarchist iddish
Y newspaper Freie Arbeiter Stimme sparked
his interest in the movement. He later named his cats afterMikhail Bakunin and Piotr Kropotkin. Avrich was married to wife Ina with
vrich.[2]
whom he had two daughters, Jane Avrich and Karen Avrich, and was survived by his sister Dorothy A

Career
Avrich was a historian of the 19th and early 20th century anarchist movement in Russia and the United States. He wrote ten books in
his career, mostly about anarchism, including topics such as the 1886 Haymarket Riot, 1921 Sacco and Vanzetti case, 1921 Kronstadt
naval base rebellion, and an oral history of the movement. As a teacher and historian of the anarchist movement, Avrich had
sympathy and affection for the cause and became a trusted colleague of its major figures.[2] Accordingly, he sought to communicate
to his students an affection and solidarity for anarchists "as people, rather than as militants" and challenged the perception of
anarchists as amoral and violent. He wanted his work to resurrect the thought of marginalized anarchists, who he saw as "pioneers of
Vietnam War and second-wave feminism.[1]
social justice" worth revisiting in the revival of libertarianism following the
Avrich joined Queens College as a Russian history instructor in 1961, where he remained for the duration of his career, though he
also was a member of the City University of New York Graduate Center faculty.[2] He received a Guggenheim Fellowship for
Russian history in 1967.[3] When named distinguished professor of history in 1982, his announcement quoted him: "Every good
person deep down is an anarchist." He retired in 1999. Avrich collected books, photos, and papers from key anarchists and donated a
20,000-item collection to the Library of Congress.[2] He died on February, 16, 2006, in Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital from
complications due to Alzheimer's disease.[2]

His Soviet research and documents on the suppressed Kronstadt insurrection led to several books on anarchists in the Russian
revolution, including Kronstadt, 1921. He interviewed Soviet exiles in New York, where he first met members of the Freie Arbeiter
Stimme. Avrich then moved to major figures in American anarchism, and published a book in 1980 on the Ferrer Schools inspired by
Francisco Ferrer. His 1984 book on the Haymarket Riot won the Philip Taft Labor History Book Award, and his 1991 book on Sacco
and Vanzetti presented the pair as revolutionaries rather than philosophical anarchists. Avrich's last book, in 1995, compiled 30 years
Pulitzer Prizes.[1]
of interviews across the anarchist movement. Several of his works were nominated for

Works
The Russian Anarchists(1967)[1]
Kronstadt, 1921 (1970)[1]
Russian Rebels, 16001800(1972)[1]
The Anarchists in the Russian Revolution(1973)
An American Anarchist: The Life of Voltairine de Cleyre (1978)
(1980)[1]
The Modern School Movement: Anarchism and Education in the United States
The Haymarket Tragedy (1984)[1]
Anarchist Portraits (1988)
Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background (1991)[1]
Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America (1995)[1]
Sasha and Emma: The Anarchist Odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman
(2012) [co-authored with
Karen Avrich]

References
1. Christie, Stuart (April 9, 2006)."Paul Avrich" (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/apr/10/guardianobituaries.obit
uaries). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077).
2. Brozan, Nadine (February 24, 2006)."Paul Avrich, 74, a Historian of Anarchism, IsDead" (https://www.nytimes.com/
2006/02/24/nyregion/paul-avrich-74-a-historian-of-anarchism-is-dead.html)
. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331
(https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331).
3. "Paul H. Avrich" (https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/paul-h-avrich/). John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
Retrieved June 14, 2017.

Further reading
Gruder, Vivian (May 2006). "In Memoriam: Paul Avrich (19312006)". Perspectives on History. Retrieved June 15,
2017.
, ;Oved, Ya'acov (2007). "Paul Avrich: An Historian of Anarchism / :'" .
Zmanim: A Historical Quarterly /9792 :(97) :. ISSN 1565-5261. JSTOR 23439219.

External links
Bibliography at R.A. Forum
Collection at the Library of Congress
Paul Avrich 19312006: a historian who listened to anarchist voices, in memoriam, by the Kate Sharpley Library
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_A
vrich&oldid=807182334"

This page was last edited on 26 October 2017, at 12:32.

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