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“I am awed by the work of archival reclamation [Tankus and Beirich] did. I can’t wait till you all get to read this book.” —Molly Crabapple
In this collection of never-before-translated Bundist writing, the largest Jewish socialist party in history explains its opposition to Zionism in its own words.
Faced with the threat of violence looming over the early twentieth century, Bundists doubled down on their politics of solidarity with all oppressed peoples, not just Jews. But as their political successes mounted, so did criticism from Zionists, who called them “traitors.” And after Zionism became hegemonic in the wake of the Holocaust, the Bund’s vast corpus of anti-Zionist writings languished untranslated in Yiddish—until now.
This volume presents texts from the most prominent leaders, orators, and thinkers of the Bund: from critical travelogues from Palestine to furious takedowns of Zionist propaganda, from eyewitness accounts of Zionist violence against Palestinians to groundbreaking visions of a future where Jews, Palestinians, and oppressed peoples everywhere could find liberation through socialism.
Bundists’ revolutionary fervor and sense of social justice can tempt us to lionize them as heroes. But here, in their own words, we come to understand them in all their cultural and historical specificity: noble and petty, inclusive and exoticizing. One thing, however, becomes absolutely clear: anti-Zionism has been at the center of Jewish politics for far longer than most people imagine.
Foreword by Nathan Tankus
Introduction by Kaleem Hawa
Translator’s Introduction by Eyshe Beirich
I. The Truth About Palestine (1925) by Victor Alter
Foreword
The Holy Land
Moses Made a Mistake
The Third Exile
The Jewish Majority in Palestine
A Look from Smorgon
An Expensive Pleasure
The Double Utopia
The Coming Messiah and the Jewish Polish Socialist Party
The Opposition, or a Storm in a Glass
My Interview with the Arabs
The End of a Dream
On Language and Historical Right
Conclusion
II. Selected Writings of Victor Alter
Tomorrow It Will Be Our Pride (1932)
On Bundist Matters (1927)
Socialism in Struggle (1927)
Jewish Blood (1929)
Egypt and India (1930)
Labor Zionists, or Eternal Court Jews (1931)
The Wind Is Blowing in Our Sails (1935)
Socialism and the Jewish Question (1937)
Reckoning with Zionist Theory (1937)
For Us, Jews (1936)
III. Selected Bundist Writings on Zionism and Palestine
Bundists, the Arabs of Warsaw (1925) by Borekh Szefner
A Difficult Confrontation with the Arabs (1929) by Yoysef Brumberg
The Destruction of Zionism (1929) by Yoysef “Khmurner” Leshtshinski
What Zionism Can Be, What Zionism May Be (1929) by Benzion “Tsivion” Hoffman
The Arabs—and What Else? (1929) by Jacob Pat
The Bankruptcy of Hebrew Education (1932) by Chaim-Shloyme Kazdan
From the Hebraist State (1932) by Yisroel Rubin
The Struggle Against Arab Labor in Palestine (1934) by Yoysef “Khmurner” Leshtshinski
Jews Are in Exile in Palestine, Too (1934) by Dovid “Aryeh” Naymark
Zionism’s Grave Found in Palestine (1934) by Dovid “Aryeh” Naymark
God Give Us a Little War (1935) by Dovid “Aryeh” Naymark
Our Hands Spilled This Blood (1938) by Dovid “Aryeh” Naymark
Zionism and Antisemitism (1938) by Henryk Ehrlich
Zionism and Anti-fascism (1938) by Henryk Ehrlich
Zionsim and the Arabs (1938) by Henryik Ehrlich
What Is the Source of Our Inspiration? (1938) by Jacob Pat