Jewish Socialist Workers Party
Encyclopedia
Sickle
A sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a variously curved blade typically used for harvesting grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock . Sickles have also been used as weapons, either in their original form or in various derivations.The diversity of sickles that...
' in Russian), often nicknamed Seymists, was a Jewish socialist 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 the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. The party was founded in April 1906, emerging out of the Vozrozhdenie (Renaissance) circles. The Vozrozhdenie was a non-Marxist tendency which was led by the nonmarxist thinker and politician Chaim Zhitlowsky
Chaim Zhitlowsky
Chaim Zhitlowsky was a Jewish socialist, philosopher, social and political thinker, writer and literary critic born in the Russian Empire ....
. Zhitlowsky became the theoretician of the new party that advocated with the same emphasis Jewish self-reliance and socialism . Leaders of the party included A. Rozin (Ben-Adir), N. Shits, Dr. M. Zilberfarb and Mark Ratner. The party was close to the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Socialist-Revolutionary Party
thumb|right|200px|Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. The caption in red reads "партия соц-рев" , short for Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries...
(PSR).
The party favored the idea of a Jewish National Assembly (a Seym). It envisaged a federation of nationalities in Russia, each led by an elected body of representatives with political powers inside their community. At a later stage, the Jews would seek territorial concentration.
The party actively supported Yiddish language and culture. The party published the Yiddish-language newspaper Folks-shtime ('People's Voice') from Kiev
Kiev
Kiev 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....
and Vilna. The party also published the organ Vozrozhdenie.
During the 1906 period, the party had 3,000 of its cadres organized in paramilitary self-defense units. However, about 400 of them were killed or wounded in fighting and 1,000 arrested.
In 1907 a formal alliance between SERP and the PSR was signed, making SERP a sub-section of the PSR. The alliance was however mainly the product of the relations between Zhitlowsky and Mark Ratner, and did not have full support from the SERP grassroots. Many local SERP branches wanted unity with the Marxist groups rather than the PSR. Through the link-up with PSR, SERP was included in the Second International
Second International
The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...
. Just after the deal with PSR, SERP gained a consultative vote at the 1907 Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
congress of the International.
In 1911 SERP, Zionist Socialist Workers Party
Zionist Socialist Workers Party
Zionist Socialist Workers Party , often referred to simply as 'Zionist-Socialists' or 'S.S.' by their Russian initials, was a Jewish socialist territorialist political party in the Russian Empire and Poland, that emerged out of the Vozrozhdenie group in 1904. The party held its founding conference...
and Poalei Zion signed a joint appeal to the International Socialist Bureau
International Socialist Bureau
The International Socialist Bureau was the permanent organization of the Second International, established at the Paris congress of 1900. Before this there was no organizational infrastructure to the "Second International" beyond a series of periodical congresses, which weren't even given a...
, asking the International to recognize the national character of the Jewish people.
In 1917 the party merged with the Zionist Socialist Workers Party, forming the United Jewish Socialist Workers Party
United Jewish Socialist Workers Party
United Jewish Socialist Workers Party was a political party in Poland and certain regions of the Russian Empire . Its followers were generally known simply for the first portion of the name Fareynikte - 'United'. Politically the party favored national personal autonomy for the Jewish community...
.