The Catholic Worker, Dorothy Day, and Exemplary Anarchism^39conclusion that the Catholic Worker’s Catholicism has—at least
in some respects—enriched rather than undermined its anarchism,
it also suggests that scholars of anarchism would do well to look
more carefully at the potential for exemplarity to influence organi-
zational structure and to serve as a binding agent within anarchist
movements and communities. Exemplarity may help to separate
authority from domination and to explain how the phenomenon
that Paul McLaughlin labels “moral authority” may indeed be
reconcilable with anarchist principles.^77
Conclusion
In this chapter, I have attempted to use the concept of exemplarity
to account for the affinity the Catholic Worker movement found
between Catholicism’s traditional celebration of saintly exempla
and anarchism, the political philosophy that best describes the
approach to organization the movement adopted internally, and
promoted externally, through its social activism. More specifical-
ly, I have endeavoured to dissipate some of the “bewilderment”
that many scholars have experienced in trying to make sense of
Dorothy Day’s “successful use of authority,” by arguing that on
the level of the movement as a whole she adopted an exemplary
model of leadership that was ultimately more decisive than her
occasionally authoritarian impulses.^78 This is not because I wish
to exonerate Day of her shortcomings—indeed, I believe that she
is open to criticism not only for overstepping her bounds with
respect to the direct influence she exerted on the movement, but
also for the example she set. In some ways, her exemplary au-
thority, quite aside from whatever direct power she possessed, also
served to close down possibilities within the movement that might
otherwise have emerged.^79 Regardless of the manner in which Day
wielded the exemplary leadership I have attributed to her, however,
examining her relationship to the broader movement—in which,
as Nancy Roberts writes, “Day’s authority was most reinforced by
the power of her own pristine example”^80 —can help us to discern
the concept of exemplarity in action and to weigh its merits.
That Day should go down as the “inventor” of Catholic rad-
icalism in the United States is instructive, for it teaches us one