Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists
Pacific Street Films • 55m
Directed by Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher • Documentary • 1980 • 55 minutes
A dramatic portrait of immigrant life in the U.S. as seen through the eyes of the sweatshop workers who made up the Jewish anarchist movement. Between 1900 and WWI they built trade unions, organized schools, sponsored lectures and discussions, as well as dances and a wide range of cultural events. The film includes interviews with participants in the movement, archival photos and newsreel footage, excerpts from oldd motion pictures, and Yiddish songs and poems.
"...nothing short of a treasure as the story of how a passion for a `mother tongue' and an anarchist vision produced a movement that had an important effect on the growth of the American labor movement." —American Anthropologist
Up Next in Pacific Street Films
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From Swastika to Jim Crow
Directed by Lori Cheatle • Documentary • 2000 • 60 minutes
In the 1930s Jewish intellectuals who escaped Nazi Germany and immigrated to the U.S. faced an uncertain future. Confronted with anti-Semitism at American universities and a public distrust of foreigners, many sought refuge in an unlikel...
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Red Squad
Directed by Steven Fischler, Joel Sucher, Howard Blatt and Francis Freedland • Documentary • 1972 • 45 minutes
An investigative (but frequently humorous) documentary on the surveillance activities of the New York City Police Department's Bureau of Special Services, known as the Red Squad.
