Workers Film and Photo League

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The Workers Film and Photo League (WFPL) was an organization of cultural workers in the United States , with connections to the Friends of Soviet Russia and thus to Willi Munzenberg's International Workers Aid .

history

From 1920 to 1930 the WFPL produced documentaries of workers' strikes and political activities, including the "Passaic Textile Strike", the "Gastonia Textile Strike" and the "National Miners Union Strike" from 1931 to 1932.

Since the WFPL was a cultural organization of the Communist Party of the USA, its newsreels were generally not shown in cinemas, but were shown within the party or at events of the "Trade Union Unity League".

In 1933 the word "Workers" was taken from the name of the organization, which became the "Film and Photo League". The Soviet department of "WIR" was abolished in 1935. The "FPL" survived for another year, but then dissolved. The photographers organized themselves in the Photo League and the filmmakers in the Frontier Film Group . As early as 1934, some filmmakers had left the FPhL and founded Nykino , which existed until 1937. Other former WFPhL members started their own production company.

Members

  • Lester Balog
  • Sam Brody
  • Robert Del Duca
  • Leo T. Hurwitz
  • Lewis Jacobs
  • Vic Kandel
  • Irving Lerner
  • Jay Leyda
  • David Platt
  • Julian Roffman
  • Leo Seltzer
  • Ralph Steiner

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