Free Voices of Labor

In honor of our Anarchist comrades who have put together a conference here in Hartford (see our calender of events) QWB submits this movie as a bit of history. You will be amazed by these wonderful freedom fighters appearing in the film. 

I was rattling around in my file cabinet today and came upon a very interesting article written by Adrienne Weller. The article is a write up about the movie, The Free Voices of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists. The write up was published in Freedom Socialist June-July 2008 and can be read here. The hour long movie is a documentary about the staff of the Yiddish language newspaper, Freie Arbeiter Stimme, and is the story of these fearless fighters for justice. View or download at www.freedocumentaries.org. On the home page just look under OUR FILMS and scroll down to Jewish Anarchists, give a click and enjoy.

The title page of free documentaries has this to say:

“The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists” traces the history of a Yiddish anarchist newspaper publishing its final issue. The story is mostly told by the newspaper’s now elderly, but decidedly unbowed staff. This is the story of one of the largest radical movements among Jewish immigrant workers in the 19th and 20th centuries and the conditions that led them to band together.

These elderly anarchist reflect on their lives spent fighting for a less centralized government, workers’ rights and above all, justice for all. In doing so, strong social bonds were formed while authorities, including managers, police and the government, put psychological and physical pressure on them.”

Thanks to Adrienne Weller for bringing this movie to our attention.