Freie Arbeiter Stimme
Encyclopedia
The Freie Arbeiter Stimme ( The Free Voice of Labor) was the longest-running anarchist
periodical in the Yiddish language, founded initially as an American counterpart to Rudolf Rocker
's London-based Arbeter Fraynd (Workers' Friend). The early Yiddish spelling, פֿרייע אַרבייטער שטיממע (Fraye Arbayter Shtimme), reflects the early 20th century fashion to Germanize certain Yiddish words. Over the years, the title was changed to the native Yiddish pronunciation, פֿרייע אַרבעטער שטימע (Fraye Arbeter Shtime).
Publication began in 1890 and continued under the editorial of Saul Yanovsky
until 1923. For a period the paper was under the editorial of Mark Mratchny, an exiled Ukrainian anarchist and former editor of Nabat (The Alarm), the organ of the anarchist Nabat Federation during the Makhnovist-Bolshevik
peace agreement. The paper ran for 87 years until it finally was forced to stop publication in 1977 under the editorial of Ahrne Thorne due to the declining and aging population of both Yiddish speakers and anarchists in the United States
.
Contributors have included David Edelstadt
, Abba Gordin, Rudolf Rocker
, Moishe Shtarkman, and Saul Yanovsky. The paper was also known for publishing poetry by di Yunge, Yiddish poets of the 1910s and 1920s.
: The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists (1980). The movie contained a short interview with a very young Joe Conason
. Paul Avrich
was a consultant on the film. , AK Press
has begun distributing it as part of a double DVD release entitled Anarchism in America
.
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
periodical in the Yiddish language, founded initially as an American counterpart to Rudolf Rocker
Rudolf Rocker
Johann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
's London-based Arbeter Fraynd (Workers' Friend). The early Yiddish spelling, פֿרייע אַרבייטער שטיממע (Fraye Arbayter Shtimme), reflects the early 20th century fashion to Germanize certain Yiddish words. Over the years, the title was changed to the native Yiddish pronunciation, פֿרייע אַרבעטער שטימע (Fraye Arbeter Shtime).
Publication began in 1890 and continued under the editorial of Saul Yanovsky
Saul Yanovsky
Saul Yanovsky was an American Jewish anarchist and activist. He is best remembered as the editor of the periodicals Freie Arbeiter Stimme , Di Abend Tsaytung and Di Fraye Gezellstaft .- References :...
until 1923. For a period the paper was under the editorial of Mark Mratchny, an exiled Ukrainian anarchist and former editor of Nabat (The Alarm), the organ of the anarchist Nabat Federation during the Makhnovist-Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
peace agreement. The paper ran for 87 years until it finally was forced to stop publication in 1977 under the editorial of Ahrne Thorne due to the declining and aging population of both Yiddish speakers and anarchists in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Contributors have included David Edelstadt
David Edelstadt
David Edelstadt was a Jewish-Russian-American anarchist poet of Yiddish language.- Biography :...
, Abba Gordin, Rudolf Rocker
Rudolf Rocker
Johann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
, Moishe Shtarkman, and Saul Yanovsky. The paper was also known for publishing poetry by di Yunge, Yiddish poets of the 1910s and 1920s.
The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists
The newspaper's story has been memorialized in a documentary by Steve Fischler and Joel Sucher of Pacific Street FilmsPacific Street Films
Pacific Street Films is a documentary film production company founded in Brooklyn, New York in 1969 by anarchists Joel Sucher and Steven Fischler...
: The Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists (1980). The movie contained a short interview with a very young Joe Conason
Joe Conason
Joe Conason is an American journalist, author and political commentator. He writes a column for the weekly New York Observer newspaper, for Salon.com and has written a number of books, including Big Lies , which addresses what he says are myths spread about liberals by conservatives.-Life and...
. Paul Avrich
Paul Avrich
Paul Avrich was a professor and historian. He taught at Queens College, City University of New York, for most of his life and was vital in preserving the history of the anarchist movement in Russia and the United States....
was a consultant on the film. , AK Press
AK Press
AK Press is a worker-managed independent publisher and book distributor that specialises in radical left and anarchist literature. It is collectively owned and operated.-History:...
has begun distributing it as part of a double DVD release entitled Anarchism in America
Anarchism in America (film)
Anarchism in America is a 1983 documentary, directed by Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher, and produced by Pacific Street Films. It has been re-released by AK Press to DVD. The film begins by explaining the filmmakers' interest in anarchism based on their involvement in the group Transcendental...
.
External links
- Anarchism in America/Free Voice of Labor, AK Press re-release DVD