Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists tells the story of Jewish immigrants in the U.S. who made up the Jewish Anarchist movement that began around 1900 and saw peaks and nadirs of relevance up until the 1970s. The film focuses on the surviving generation of these immigrant Anarchists who published the Frei Arbeiter Stimme (Free Voice of Labor), which was America’s oldest continuously published Yiddish and Anarchist newspaper until it folded in 1977. The newspaper, however, is merely a through-line with which the documentary presents the stories of a Jewish Anarchist community that built trade unions, created schools, and shaped cultural events.<

Metrograph presents this documentary—which features an impeccable new 4K restoration created by the Harvard Film Archive and IndieCollect under the supervision of the filmmakers—at a particularly fitting time in American history. The phrase “required viewing” is certainly a bit overplayed, but Free Voice of Labor: The Jewish Anarchists certainly feels like it fits the bill. In a time where basic rights and freedoms are seemingly constantly under attack, particularly towards immigrants and minorities of this country, Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher’s straightforward documentary serves not only as a compelling portrait, but also a call to arms. It’s not hard to see the work of these Jewish immigrants and connect it to Antifa today and the modern fight against authoritarianism and corporate interests.