[2] Dolgoff was born in the shtetl of Ostrovno in Mogilev Governorate, Russian Empire (in present-day Beshankovichy Raion, Belarus),[3] moving as a child to New York City in 1905 or 1906,[3] where he lived in the Bronx and in Manhattan's Lower East Side where he died.
[3] After being expelled from the Young People's Socialist League, Sam joined the Industrial Workers of the World in 1922[4] and remained an active member his entire life, playing an active role in the anarchist movement for much of the century.
[5] Dolgoff was a member of the Chicago Free Society Group in the 1920s, Vanguard Group member and editor of its publication Vanguard: A Journal of Libertarian Communism[6] in the 1930s, and co-founded the Libertarian League in New York in 1954.
[7] He wrote articles for anarchist magazines as well as books as the editor of anthologies, some of which are listed below.
He was active in many causes, and attended groups like New York's Libertarian Book Club regularly.