The London Years

by Rudolf Rocker (Contributor)

The London Years is the autobiography of a remarkable man and a window into a long-forgotten world. Rudolf Rocker was a German Catholic who moved to London to became the acknowledged leader of the Yiddish-speaking Jewish anarchists. Rocker introduced this mass movement to world literature, lecturing on Shakespeare, Cervantes and Tolstoy; organised demonstrations of up to 25,000 against the contemporary Russian pogroms, edited Yiddish political and cultural journals; set up properly instituted Jewish trade unions. Rocker established the Jewish Bakers' union in a community action where housewives would only buy bread with a union label. In 1912 he organised a famous general strike of Jewish tailors which abolished the sweatshop system. This happened at a time of mass immigration by impoverished Jews, who were persecuted by a right-wing press and an 'anti-alien' movement which brought in the first anti-immigration controls. The London Years chronicles this vanished world. The Jewish anarchist movement came to an end in 1914, Rocker was arrested as an 'enemy alien' and his journals were closed down. After the war Rocker was active in the ferment of Weimer Germany before leaving for the USA where he was active in the Jewish anarchist movement until his death in 1958. In the USA Rocker was mainly involved with the Yiddish anarchist magazine Frei Arbeter Shtimme which lasted until the 1970s and whose adherents included the young Noam Chomsky.

Genres: Politics, Labor, Nonfiction, Biography

Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

An anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist of some prominence, whose politics had a major influence in the Spanish Civil War and the jewish émigré community in London, England (see The London Years). His political ideas had emerged from the failings of late 19th century Marxism/Social Democracy under the Germany's SPD, having seen firsthand the erosive influence of electoralism.

Would maintain lifelong relationships with Emma Goldman and Errico Malatesta among others.

For more, including e-texts of his works:
http://libcom.org/tags/rudolf-rocker

Reviews

[Pranjal · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you'd expect from an account of Rocker's expulsion from Germany, organizing efforts among the Jewish textile workers of London, and subsequent persecution during the First World War, the subject matter is fascinating. A memorable book about a time and a history that isn't often talked about.

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rocker is a Vorbild for me. Plus: Yiddishkeit, plus: London. So there was no way I wasn't going to be fascinated by this. Turns out it was originally written in Yiddish and then translated into English. Half the book takes place in internment camps during World War I and I found that all fascinating as well. Rocker just seems to carry so much dignity through the whole thing. I would expect an anarchist to really rail against prison conditions or in this case internment camp conditions, but he is writing really for Yiddish-speaking radicals and so I guess doesn't think it is necessary and more or less tells a taut drama with crazy old British Empire soldiers and their tropical diseases lording it over German civilians in some pretty strange places to intern people, Alexandra Palace among them. I was also surprised by some bits of Rocker's version of the Houndsditch/Pete the Painter story. Malatesta tells the cops everything he knows, for example. Rocker and Malatesta and other anarchists in England seem to have the attitude that the British Government is Liberal with a capital L and therefore better to appeal to its better nature while working to subvert it. Also surprising are the anarchists' relations with the mainstream press which at times are better than with the social democrats' party organs. He contrasts it with conditions in Russia where most of the immigrant workers that are his comrades are from and asks us to understand why the Russian anarchists are so inclined to secret conspiracies and acts of terrorism. It is interesting to consider... would the Bolsheviks have had a Cheka if they hadn't come up under the Czar's secret police?

It would be great if someone would release an English translation of Rocker's editorials in the Yiddish newspapers he edited during this period.

[Ryan Milbrath]

This book provides Rocker's autobiographical account of his anarchist organizing work in London with the Yiddish socialists and his internment during World War I. I found the book to be very good at mixing his thoughts about the current events of his time, the struggles of organizing, and the theoretical debates of the anarchist and marxist organizations of his time. I would have like to have seen more discussion concerning his theoretical debates with other anarchists like Kroptokin.



I felt the book was weak on theoretical foundations, but I expected this since it was more an autobiographical account than a work on anarcho-syndicalism. Overall an enjoyable read. However, I wouldn't recommend this book to the average student of leftist history. Given the specific person and the specific time period, many will find this dull and plodding. However, Rocker does give some quotable material in here.



Overall, well done and essential for any Rocker historian.

[Doug Brunell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another essential AK Press book for those who are interested in anarchist history or even just history itself.

Rocker worked with Jewish activists to help change society for the better, and for his views he ended up imprisoned in some horrible places. His spirits were lowered, but never broken, and his values never swayed. If you take one thing from this autobiography, let it be the fact that people in this time period had honor still. Even the people who ran the prison had honor and valued that in others. It was a different time, and we just don't have that anymore.

Rocker remained true to his values until the day he died. He was an anarchist through and through, and he made no apologies for it.

Now more than ever ...