The Anarchist Rabbi
Director Adam Kossoff
Countries United Kingdom
Duration 44 min
Synopsis
The Anarchist Rabbi, an essayistic documentary, follows in the footsteps of Rudolf Rocker, an anarchist who campaigned with London's East End Jewish migrants 100 years ago. Steven Berkoff narrates Rocker's ghost who has returned to re-visit the places that were significant to him and turn of the 20th century anarchism. Although not Jewish, Rocker, a prominent German anarcho-syndicalist, lived in London's East End, campaigning with migrant Jews against the sweatshop system and learning Yiddish when invited to edit the famous Arbeter Fraint, the international anarchist newspaper. As an enemy alien he and his wife were imprisoned during World War 1 and finally deported in 1918. The film finally proposes that urban development reinforces the status-quo and class interests.
The Anarchist Rabbi, an essayistic documentary, follows in the footsteps of Rudolf Rocker, an anarchist who campaigned with London's East End Jewish migrants 100 years ago. Steven Berkoff narrates Rocker's ghost who has returned to re-visit the places that were significant to him and turn of the 20th century anarchism. Although not Jewish, Rocker, a prominent German anarcho-syndicalist, lived in London's East End, campaigning with migrant Jews against the sweatshop system and learning Yiddish when invited to edit the famous Arbeter Fraint, the international anarchist newspaper. As an enemy alien he and his wife were imprisoned during World War 1 and finally deported in 1918. The film finally proposes that urban development reinforces the status-quo and class interests.