Ahrne Thorne, a Yiddish writer and editor long associated with the Jewish anarchist movement, died here December 13 just 13 days short of his 81st birthday.
Thorne’s 40-year involvement with the Freie Arbeiter Stimme (Free Voice of Labor), the Jewish anarchist journal, began with his contribution of articles in the 1930’s, continued with his assumption of the position of assistant editor in 1952 and editor in 1975, and ended when the paper closed in 1977 after 87 years of publication.
Born to a Hasidic family in Lodz, Poland, Thorne became involved with anarchism in Paris and then emigrated to Toronto, where he became a comrade of anarchist Emma Goldman.
After moving to New York in 1940, he worked as a printer for Yiddish publications before assuming editorial positions at the Freie Arbeiter Stimme. He also wrote for the Jewish Daily Forward and several Yiddish and English-language periodicals here and abroad, including Dos Freie Vort, an anarchist paper in Buenos Aires, and Problemen, its counterpart in Tel Aviv.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.