Nov 1 Blog

1.    Why did Jews support socialist movements and become involved in them?

The 19^th century was host to a long arduous battle for the abolishment of Jewish oppression. Jews began to involve themselves in politics to fight discrimination. Russia was experiencing pre-revolutionary events, that led Jews to become part of the socialist movement. In Russia the socialist Jews fought for the Pale of Settlement, which was a term given to a region of Imperial Russia that authorized Jewish residency. Overall, Jews turned to socialist movements because they saw it as a way to unify their community in order to fight discrimination.  

2.    What socialist groups did Jews found specifically for Jews, and how were they different from other socialist movements?

The Bund movement (Algemeyner arbiter bund in Poyln un Rushland) was a secular movement that originated in Russia during the late 19^th century. Their campaign was based on a goal to obtain equal civil rights for Jews. They argued for the ability of Jews to speak their own language, teach their own ideas, “and to create institutions serving a variety of national purposes.” The abolishment of discriminatory laws directed against the Jews was the primary goal of this movement. The Zionist movement was, “…a reaction of the bourgeois classes to the phenomenon of anti-Semitism and to the abnormal civil status of the Jewish people in Russia.” The goal of Zionism is to acquire a territory for the Jewish people to settle.