Jewish Communist Party (Poalei Zion)
Encyclopedia
This article is about a party in Russia. For the party in Palestine see Socialist Workers Party (Palestine)
Jewish Communist Party (Poalei Zion) , abbreviated EKP) was a political party
in Russia
1919-1922. The party was formed at a conference of communist dissident fractions of the Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party (Poalei Zion)
, held in Gomel August 10-15, 1919. It was affiliated to the Jewish Communist Union (Poalei Zion)
.
The party was represented in the Council for Propaganda and Action of the Peoples of the East of the Communist International through Zajma Ostrovsky, who participated in the 1920 Baku Congress of the Peoples of the East.
In its later phase the party passed through severe internal disputes.
In 1922 the party merged into the All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) and many of its members became involved in the Yevsektsiya
or Jewish Section of the party.
after the arrival of the 11th Soviet Red Army
. The Jewish population of the city grew considerably in those years because of the pogrom
s committed by the White Army in Ukraine
Belarus
and Russia
that led many Jews to find shelter in Azerbaijan
, a country without an antisemitic tradition. The fact that the Jewish population had grown up to 13,700 persons helped the EKP (as well as the Communist Bund
, the Yevsektsiya
and the Zionist parties) to enlarge its membership in the area. The EKP promoted many cultural activities and struggled for the eliminination of illiteracy, in particular among the Mountain Jews
. In 1921 the betsalel circles were opened in Baku. In those places it was possible to organize literature
and Jewish drama
courses.
and a Politburo
. The organ of the Central Committee of EKP was Nakanune ('Накануне'). In Ukraine
, the party Central Committee had a Right-bank
Bureau (Pravbirou) and a Left-bank
Bureau. The Belorussian
EKP was headed by a Chief Committee. Moreover, the party had a Caucasus
Regional Committee. The youth wing of the party was called Jewish Communist Youth Union
.
EKP maintained a party school in Kharkov, named after Ber Borochov
.
Socialist Workers Party (Palestine)
Socialist Workers Party was a political party in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1919–1922. Its followers were known as Mopsim....
Jewish Communist Party (Poalei Zion) , abbreviated EKP) was a political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
1919-1922. The party was formed at a conference of communist dissident fractions of the Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party (Poalei Zion)
Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party (Poalei Zion)
The Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party was a Zionist socialist political party in the Russian Empire. The party was founded in 1906. It was part of the international Poalei Zion movement. The party was illegal until 1917....
, held in Gomel August 10-15, 1919. It was affiliated to the Jewish Communist Union (Poalei Zion)
Jewish Communist Union (Poalei Zion)
Jewish Communist Union , Komverband was the name taken by the Left World Union of Poalei Zion in 1921. Komverband had members in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Italy, Poland and other countries. In 1922 Komverband shifted its headquarters from Vienna to Danzig, in preparation for a party...
.
History
The II All-Russian conference of the EKP was held in July 1920 in Kharkov. The IV Congress of was held in August 1921 and the III All-Russian conference was held 1-2 December 1922 in Moscow.The party was represented in the Council for Propaganda and Action of the Peoples of the East of the Communist International through Zajma Ostrovsky, who participated in the 1920 Baku Congress of the Peoples of the East.
In its later phase the party passed through severe internal disputes.
In 1922 the party merged into the All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) and many of its members became involved in the Yevsektsiya
Yevsektsiya
Yevsektsiya , , the abbreviation of the phrase "Еврейская секция" was the Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party. Yevsektsiya was established to popularize Marxism and encourage loyalty to the Soviet regime among Russian Jews. The founding conference of Yevsektsiya took place on October 20,...
or Jewish Section of the party.
In Baku
The EKP occupied a strong position in BakuBaku
Baku , sometimes spelled as Baki or Bakou, is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. It is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, which projects into the Caspian Sea. The city consists of two principal...
after the arrival of the 11th Soviet Red Army
11th Soviet Red Army
The 11th Army of the Red Army was a unit of the then newly created Soviet armed forces. It was formed by the Bolsheviks on October 3, 1918 from the Red Northern Caucasus Army. In February 1919 it was dissolved and was again deployed in March 1919 as a subdivision of the Caspian-Caucasian Front...
. The Jewish population of the city grew considerably in those years because of the pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s committed by the White Army in Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
that led many Jews to find shelter in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, a country without an antisemitic tradition. The fact that the Jewish population had grown up to 13,700 persons helped the EKP (as well as the Communist Bund
Communist Bund (Russia)
The Communist Bund was a Jewish political party in Soviet Russia. It was formed as the Russian Bund was split at its 12th conference in Gomel in April 1920...
, the Yevsektsiya
Yevsektsiya
Yevsektsiya , , the abbreviation of the phrase "Еврейская секция" was the Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party. Yevsektsiya was established to popularize Marxism and encourage loyalty to the Soviet regime among Russian Jews. The founding conference of Yevsektsiya took place on October 20,...
and the Zionist parties) to enlarge its membership in the area. The EKP promoted many cultural activities and struggled for the eliminination of illiteracy, in particular among the Mountain Jews
Mountain Jews
Highland Jews, Mountain Jews or Kavkazi Jews also known as Juvuro or Juhuro, are Jews of the eastern Caucasus, mainly of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. They are also known as Caucasus Jews, Caucasian Jews, or less commonly East Caucasian Jews, because the majority of these Jews settled the eastern part...
. In 1921 the betsalel circles were opened in Baku. In those places it was possible to organize literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and Jewish drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
courses.
Organization
The party was led by a Central CommitteeCentral Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
and a Politburo
Politburo
Politburo , literally "Political Bureau [of the Central Committee]," is the executive committee for a number of communist political parties.-Marxist-Leninist states:...
. The organ of the Central Committee of EKP was Nakanune ('Накануне'). In Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, the party Central Committee had a Right-bank
Right-bank Ukraine
Right-bank Ukraine , a historical name of a part of Ukraine on the right bank of the Dnieper River, corresponding with modern-day oblasts of Volyn, Rivne, Vinnitsa, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad and Kiev, as well as part of Cherkasy and Ternopil...
Bureau (Pravbirou) and a Left-bank
Left-bank Ukraine
Left-bank Ukraine is a historic name of the part of Ukraine on the left bank of the Dnieper River, comprising the modern-day oblasts of Chernihiv, Poltava and Sumy as well as the eastern parts of the Kiev and Cherkasy....
Bureau. The Belorussian
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
EKP was headed by a Chief Committee. Moreover, the party had a Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
Regional Committee. The youth wing of the party was called Jewish Communist Youth Union
Jewish Communist Youth Union
Jewish Communist Youth Union was the youth wing of the Jewish Communist Party in Russia. The first All-Russian convention of the organisation took plavce 23-27 January 1920 in Moscow. The All-Russian conference of the organisation took place 1-4 September 1920 in Kharkov.The organisation...
.
EKP maintained a party school in Kharkov, named after Ber Borochov
Ber Borochov
Dov Ber Borochov was a Marxist Zionist and one of the founders of the Labor Zionist movement as well as a pioneer in the study of Yiddish as a language....
.
Local organs of the party
- MinskMinsk- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
: Budil'nik (in Yiddish) - PoltavaPoltavaPoltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
: Ekapistskaia khronika (in Yiddish) - KievKievKiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
: Kommunisticheskaia mysl΄ (in Yiddish) - MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
: Kommunisticheskaia mysl΄ (in Yiddish) - Nezhin: Kommunisticheskoe slovo (organ of the Pravbiuro)
- YaroslavYaroslavYaroslav is a Slavic given name, and it may refer to:*Yaroslav I the Wise , Grand Prince of Kiev. Son of Vladimir the Great*Yaroslav II of Kiev , son of Iziaslav II of Kiev...
: Na strazhe - Avangard (organ of the Chief Committee of the Belorussian EKP)
- Molot (organ of the Chief Committee of the Belorussian EKP)
See also
- Jewish Communist Labour Party (Poalei Zion)Jewish Communist Labour Party (Poalei Zion)The Jewish Communist Labour Party was the new name, from 1922 to its dissolution in 1928, of the Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party , a Zionist socialist political party founded in 1906, part of the international Poalei Zion movement.The JSDLP had suffered a major split in August 1919, when a...
- Jewish Communist Union (Poalei Zion)Jewish Communist Union (Poalei Zion)Jewish Communist Union , Komverband was the name taken by the Left World Union of Poalei Zion in 1921. Komverband had members in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Italy, Poland and other countries. In 1922 Komverband shifted its headquarters from Vienna to Danzig, in preparation for a party...
- Jewish Communist Party — Poalei Zion, section of the Palestine Communist Party
- Mifleget Poale Zion VeHaHugim HaMarksistim beEretz YisraelMifleget Poale Zion VeHaHugim HaMarksistim beEretz YisraelMifleget Poale Zion VeHaHugim HaMarksistim beEretz Yisrael was the youth group of a faction of Poale Zion, the labour Zionist movement, in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s, which later merged into the Revolutionary Communist League...
- Poale ZionPoale ZionPoale Zion was a Movement of Marxist Zionist Jewish workers circles founded in various cities of the Russian Empire about the turn of the century after the Bund rejected Zionism in 1901.-Formation and early years:Poale Zion parties and organisations were started across the Jewish diaspora in the...