The Anvil attracted the essentially forgotten voices of the 1930s: those who had no relief and thus turned to communism. A strong leftist publication, The Anvil and its editors did not take a definitive political stance, but its contributors were strongly proletarian. Many glorified the Soviet Union and advocated its extension into American through a communist party and leftist society. Conroy did not propose a militant changeover, but he did create a forum which in turn served as a strong propagandist outlet for writers to advocate proletarian values. Though not every writer desired a new Soviet Union in America, nearly every piece in The Anvil preached the value of a leftist system in America.

The Anvil did not receive contributions from canonical authors (excluding a small number of prose pieces and poems by Langston Hughes). However, it did offer the working class of America a chance to speak their minds. The result was often technically crude, hence the magazine’s motto, “We prefer crude vigor to polished banality.” Louis Adamic captured the true purpose of The Anvil when he described Jack Conroy as "one of the leaders in the movement which aim[ed] to demonstrate ‘that the life of common workers and the stench of their sweat and toil are as authentic literary material as the vicissitudes of society.”

Compiled by David Tulis (Class of '05, Davidson College)