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Stephen Naft (born Siegfried Nacht; 1878–1956), also known by the pseudonym Arnold Roller, was a writer, translator, and anarcho-syndicalist.

Life

Siegfried Nacht was born in 1878 in Vienna. He worked as an electrical engineer in cities across Europe, where he also spoke and wrote on behalf of syndicalism. Nacht traveled by foot through the Alps and Pyrenees, Spain and North Africa to spread his politics. He wrote for the anarchist press beginning in 1901, usually under the pen name Arnold Roller. Nacht published his "The General Strike and the Social Revolution" pamphlet in London in 1902. Switzerland expelled him in August 1905. He entered Tyrol, Austria.

He emigrated to the United States in 1912, where he changed his name to Stephen Naft. He naturalized in 1920. Being conversant in six languages, Naft led The American Exporter's translation bureau for ten years and served as a technical editor. Afterwards, he worked for other foreign-language news organizations in the United States and Latin America. He was an editor for the French Havas news agency in 1934–1935. During World War II, he served as a local research coordinator in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. Though he grew less political, he continued to promote anarcho-syndicalism, edited Living Age, and founded the Freedom Publishing Company in New York.

Nacht died on December 12, 1956, in a Flushing nursing home. He had been blind for the last few years of his life. His wife, Mabel Wood Naft, survived him, as did his brother, Max Nomad, who was more prominently known in the United States.

References

1. ^ "Stephen Naft Dies; Political Writer, 78". The New York Times. December 13, 1956. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 17, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
2. ^ "Naft, Stephen, 1878-1956". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on July 17, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
3. Jensen, Richard Bach (2014). The Battle Against Anarchist Terrorism: An International History, 1878–1934. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 330. ISBN 978-1-107-03405-1.
4. ^ Cazden, Robert Edgar (1970). "Freedom Publishing Co. New York". German Exile Literature in America, 1933-1950: A History of the Free German Press and Book Trade. American Library Association. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-8389-3098-4.

Further reading

• Bartov, Omer (2018). Anatomy of a Genocide: The Life and Death of a Town Called Buczacz. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-8455-1.
• Cohn, Jesse (2015). Underground Passages: Anarchist Resistance Culture, 1848–2011. AK Press. p. 76 . ISBN 978-1-84935-201-7.
• Enckell, Marianne (June 6, 2020). "NACHT Siegfried [puis NAFT Stephen; pseudonyme ROLLER Arnold]". Dictionnaire des anarchistes (in French). Paris: Maitron/Editions de l'Atelier. Archived from the original on July 17, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
• Fishman, William J. (1975). Jewish Radicals: From Czarist Stetl to London Ghetto. New York: Pantheon Books. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-394-49764-8.
• Lattek, Christine (2006). Revolutionary Refugees: German Socialism in Britain, 1840-1860. Psychology Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-7146-5100-2.
• Portmann, Werner (2008). Die wilden Schafe: Max und Siegfried Nacht ; zwei radikale, jüdische Existenzen (in German). Münster: Unrast-Verl. ISBN 978-3-89771-455-7.

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