Show Summary Details
- Title Pages
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Awakenings
- 1 “When I Went Home I Was Aflame” (memoir; c. 1925)
- 2 “I Saw a New World Opening Before Me” (memoir; 1931)
- 3 The World of Socialism and Revolution (memoir; 1963)
- 4 “Rebellion Raged within Me” (memoir; 1948)
- 5 “It Wasn’t Difficult for Me to Reject Judaism” (memoir; 1965)
- Part II In Struggle
- 6 “Strong, Firm, and Correct Propaganda” (1886)
- 7 “Socialism Is Not a Dream” (1888)
- 8 The Birth of the Knee-Pants Makers’ Union (memoir; 1924)
- 9 “The Whole City Seethed” (1892)
- 10 Working Women Unite (1893–1894)
- 11 The Attempted Assassination of Henry Clay Frick (memoir; 1912)
- 12 The Prophet Karl Marx (c. 1910s)
- 13 “Our Mecca” (memoir; n.d.)
- 14 “The Right to Control Birth” (1916)
- 15 A Personal and Confidential Letter to Louis Marshall (1917)
- 16 Gangsters and Socialists on Election Day (memoir; 1944)
- 17 “If I Were a Colored Man What Would I Do?” (1919)
- 18 The Meaning of Labor Day (1921)
- 19 An Encounter with a Klansman (memoir; n.d.)
- 20 Communist “Criminals” in Los Angeles (1929)
- 21 “Unions with Brains” (1930)
- 22 In Defense of the Kentucky Miners (1932)
- 23 “The Obligations of Youth Today” (1932)
- 24 “Some Vital Problems of Negro Labor” (1935)
- 25 “Charlatans and Gangsters and Pompous Racketeers” (1938)
- 26 “With Nazism We All Are at War” (1942)
- Part III Life of the Mind
- 27 “Their Intense Desire to Study” (1893)
- 28 The Power of Speech and Education (1893)
- 29 “For That, We Found Time” (interview; 1965)
- 30 A Lower East Side Vacation (1903)
- 31 “Jewish Working People … Have Lost All Interest in the Synagogue” (1905)
- 32 “Peripatetic Philosophers” (1910)
- 33 Yiddish Lectures in Philadelphia (1916)
- 34 “A Language That He Wants to and Must Forget” (1918)
- 35 “America’s Most Interesting Daily” (1922)
- 36 “The Strongest Weapons in the Hands of Jewish Workers” (1924)
- 37 The Aims of Workers’ Education (1926)
- 38 Sexual Relations from a Communist Standpoint (1928)
- 39 “Sow the Field of Yiddish Cultural Tradition” (1939)
- 40 “The Responsibility of English-Speaking Jewish Intellectuals” (1946)
- Part IV The Russian Revolution
- 41 In Honor of Red Sunday (1906)
- 42 Leon Trotsky on Second Avenue (memoir; 1944)
- 43 “These Glad Days of Russian Freedom” (1917)
- 44 New York Socialists Contribute to Chaos in Russia (1917)
- 45 “The New Man” (1921)
- 46 Communism and Freedom of Speech (1925)
- 47 A Revolutionary Returns (1929)
- 48 Building Communism in the Ukraine (interview, 1981–1982)
- 49 “G.P.U. Intrigues in America” (1938)
- 50 Fighting Stalinists and Chasing Girls (memoir; 1965)
- 51 The Murder of Ehrlich and Alter (1943)
- 52 The Soviet Union Reappraised (1956)
- Part V The Question of Zionism
- 53 “The Whole Thing Is Ridiculous” (1906)
- 54 “The Jewish Militant” (1906)
- 55 Zionism and Transnationalism (1916)
- 56 “Should We Change Our Stance toward Zionism?” (1918)
- 57 “The Pogroms in Palestine” (1929)
- 58 A Revolt of the Oppressed Arab Masses (1929)
- 59 “Jew and Arab” (1934)
- 60 “Give Up the Illusion of Building a Jewish Homeland” (1936)
- 61 Jewish Upbuilding Is Revolutionizing Palestine (1939)
- 62 “The Jewish Problem Will Be Solved as Soon as the Jews Again Become a Normal Nation” (1943)
- 63 The Final Emancipation of the Jews Is the Struggle for Socialism (1946)
- 64 Jewish National Aspirations Are Not a Violation of Marxist Principles (1947)
- 65 Israel and the World Struggle for Peace and Democracy (1948)
- Recommended Reading on Jewish Radicals
- Index
- About the Editor
Introduction
Introduction
The Jewish-Socialist Nexus
DOI:10.18574/nyu/9780814757437.003.0066
This introductory chapter traces the history of Jewish socialism, by first pinpointing its genesis in the 1880s with the birth of the Jewish labor movement. The movement arose from the masses of Yiddish-speaking Jews who immigrated to the United States from the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Romania between the 1880s and 1920s. Numbering more than two million, they crowded into America's major urban centers, where they encountered harsh working and living conditions. In response, many immigrants took to protest and self-organization within the backdrop of an emerging American socialist movement. The Jewish labor movement encompassed an array of trade unions, political parties, and voluntary associations centered in New York City. Within its ranks, proponents of various brands of socialism vied for popular support, though Jewish socialists of all persuasions occupied common ground in their desire to create a cooperative, egalitarian society, freed from poverty and bigotry.
Keywords: Jewish socialism, Jewish labor movement, American socialist movement, socialism, Jewish immigrants
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- Title Pages
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Awakenings
- 1 “When I Went Home I Was Aflame” (memoir; c. 1925)
- 2 “I Saw a New World Opening Before Me” (memoir; 1931)
- 3 The World of Socialism and Revolution (memoir; 1963)
- 4 “Rebellion Raged within Me” (memoir; 1948)
- 5 “It Wasn’t Difficult for Me to Reject Judaism” (memoir; 1965)
- Part II In Struggle
- 6 “Strong, Firm, and Correct Propaganda” (1886)
- 7 “Socialism Is Not a Dream” (1888)
- 8 The Birth of the Knee-Pants Makers’ Union (memoir; 1924)
- 9 “The Whole City Seethed” (1892)
- 10 Working Women Unite (1893–1894)
- 11 The Attempted Assassination of Henry Clay Frick (memoir; 1912)
- 12 The Prophet Karl Marx (c. 1910s)
- 13 “Our Mecca” (memoir; n.d.)
- 14 “The Right to Control Birth” (1916)
- 15 A Personal and Confidential Letter to Louis Marshall (1917)
- 16 Gangsters and Socialists on Election Day (memoir; 1944)
- 17 “If I Were a Colored Man What Would I Do?” (1919)
- 18 The Meaning of Labor Day (1921)
- 19 An Encounter with a Klansman (memoir; n.d.)
- 20 Communist “Criminals” in Los Angeles (1929)
- 21 “Unions with Brains” (1930)
- 22 In Defense of the Kentucky Miners (1932)
- 23 “The Obligations of Youth Today” (1932)
- 24 “Some Vital Problems of Negro Labor” (1935)
- 25 “Charlatans and Gangsters and Pompous Racketeers” (1938)
- 26 “With Nazism We All Are at War” (1942)
- Part III Life of the Mind
- 27 “Their Intense Desire to Study” (1893)
- 28 The Power of Speech and Education (1893)
- 29 “For That, We Found Time” (interview; 1965)
- 30 A Lower East Side Vacation (1903)
- 31 “Jewish Working People … Have Lost All Interest in the Synagogue” (1905)
- 32 “Peripatetic Philosophers” (1910)
- 33 Yiddish Lectures in Philadelphia (1916)
- 34 “A Language That He Wants to and Must Forget” (1918)
- 35 “America’s Most Interesting Daily” (1922)
- 36 “The Strongest Weapons in the Hands of Jewish Workers” (1924)
- 37 The Aims of Workers’ Education (1926)
- 38 Sexual Relations from a Communist Standpoint (1928)
- 39 “Sow the Field of Yiddish Cultural Tradition” (1939)
- 40 “The Responsibility of English-Speaking Jewish Intellectuals” (1946)
- Part IV The Russian Revolution
- 41 In Honor of Red Sunday (1906)
- 42 Leon Trotsky on Second Avenue (memoir; 1944)
- 43 “These Glad Days of Russian Freedom” (1917)
- 44 New York Socialists Contribute to Chaos in Russia (1917)
- 45 “The New Man” (1921)
- 46 Communism and Freedom of Speech (1925)
- 47 A Revolutionary Returns (1929)
- 48 Building Communism in the Ukraine (interview, 1981–1982)
- 49 “G.P.U. Intrigues in America” (1938)
- 50 Fighting Stalinists and Chasing Girls (memoir; 1965)
- 51 The Murder of Ehrlich and Alter (1943)
- 52 The Soviet Union Reappraised (1956)
- Part V The Question of Zionism
- 53 “The Whole Thing Is Ridiculous” (1906)
- 54 “The Jewish Militant” (1906)
- 55 Zionism and Transnationalism (1916)
- 56 “Should We Change Our Stance toward Zionism?” (1918)
- 57 “The Pogroms in Palestine” (1929)
- 58 A Revolt of the Oppressed Arab Masses (1929)
- 59 “Jew and Arab” (1934)
- 60 “Give Up the Illusion of Building a Jewish Homeland” (1936)
- 61 Jewish Upbuilding Is Revolutionizing Palestine (1939)
- 62 “The Jewish Problem Will Be Solved as Soon as the Jews Again Become a Normal Nation” (1943)
- 63 The Final Emancipation of the Jews Is the Struggle for Socialism (1946)
- 64 Jewish National Aspirations Are Not a Violation of Marxist Principles (1947)
- 65 Israel and the World Struggle for Peace and Democracy (1948)
- Recommended Reading on Jewish Radicals
- Index
- About the Editor
