Moissaye Joseph Olgin
Encyclopedia
Moissaye Joseph Olgin was a Russia
n-born writer
, journalist
, and translator in the early 20th century. He began his career writing for the Jewish press in support of the Russian Revolution in 1910. During the First World War
, he moved to the United States
in 1915, settling in New York City
, where he continued his career in Jewish journalism. Much of his work was in support of communism
, and he was a founding member of the Workers Party
. In 1922, he founded The Morning Freiheit
, and served as its editor until his death in 1939.
near Kiev
, Ukraine
(then part of the Russian Empire
) to Chaim Aaron Novominsky and Zipa (Gelman) Novominsky, both of whom were of ethnic Jewish origins. His father worked as a lumber camp employee.
Olgin received a traditional education in Hebrew. After a short period of self-study, he began his studies at the University of Kiev in 1900.
He was sympathetic to the causes of the Russian Revolution, and first became active in the underground revolutionary movement during his studies at the University of Kiev. His writings for Jewish and revolutionary publications earned him some fame among the many Russian Jews, who were heavily oppressed by the government of Tsar Nicholas II. He took part in a Jewish revolutionary student group known as "Freiheit" (Freedom).
In 1901 Olgin was elected chairman of the Students Central Committee. The tsarist regime ordered his arrest in April 1903 on a charge of organizing Jewish self-defense groups against anticipated pogroms
.
In 1904, Olgin left the University of Kiev and went to Vilno as a member of the Vilno Committee of the Jewish Bund
. There he was arrested but released on bail. He then became a member of the editorial board of the Arbeiter Stimme (Labor’s Voice). He was the author of all the proclamations issued by the Central Committee of the Bund during the Revolution of 1905 while at the same time he prepared literary compositions for the illegal Jewish press. While editing newspapers and working with these underground organizations he also wrote books, short stories and literary essays.
In 1907, he traveled to Germany to continue his studies at the University of Heidelberg. He continued his studies there until 1910, when he returned to Russia.
Traveling in Germany at the onset of World War I
, he was unable to return to Russia, and immigrated to the United States in 1915.
,
Olgin became an American citizen in April 1920. He was a leading member of the Jewish Socialist Federation
of the Socialist Party of America
and was influential in leading the JSF out of the party at a special convention of the organization held in September 1921. Together with other defecting members of the JSF, Olgin thereafter entered the fledgling Workers Council organization, a small group of revolutionary socialists
which rejected the conspiratorial "underground" form of organization of the then extant communist movement. Olgin ceased contributing to The Forward at this same time.
In April 1922 there was launched a new Yiddish-language newspaper, the Daily Freiheit (later the Morning Freiheit
). Olgin served as first editor of this publication, a position which he retained up until the time of his death. He also contributed frequently to the Communist Party's English-language newspaper, The Daily Worker, and served as a special correspondent for the Soviet Communist Party's
daily, Pravda.
At the end of December 1922, the Workers Council group was among the organizations which were united into the Workers Party of America
(WPA), a new "legal political party" affiliated with the underground Communist Party of America, and Olgin thereby entered the formal communist movement for the first time. Olgin was named to the governing Bureau of the Jewish Federation of this new organization. Olgin was a member of the governing Central Executive Committee of the WPA and its Executive Council from the time of the organization's formation.
Olgin was a frequent candidate for political office on behalf of the Communist Party. He first ran in 1924, when he was a candidate for New York State Assembly
on the ticket of the Workers Party. He ran for U.S. Congress in 1926, 1930, and 1934, and for New York Assembly again in 1927, 1929, 1933, and 1936.
Although a bitter rival of Alexander Bittelman
in the heated factional politics of the Jewish Federation in the early 1920s, by the middle of the decade Olgin had emerged as a supporter of the political faction headed by William Z. Foster
, Earl Browder
, and his former foe.
Olgin made several trips to the Soviet Union
. In 1937 he went to Paris
as delegation to the International Yiddish Culture Congress which founded the World Alliance for Jewish Culture (YCUF). While in Paris he addressed the Writers Congress.
, and as the American correspondent for Pravda
, he had apparently improved in health enough to appear at Madison Square Garden
, on November 13, for his first public speech in several years. Following the speech, his health again declined, and he died at his home of a heart attack on November 22, 1939.
Olgin was the author of numerous books and pamphlets in seven languages: English, Russian, German, French, Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish. It is not known whether some of these works were, in fact, translated by others. He wrote verse, essays, literary criticism and sociological studies. His books The Soul of the Russian Revolution and A Guide to Russian Literature and pamphlet Why Communism? achieved sales of nearly half a million in several languages.
Olgin translated several volumes of Lenin’s collected works from Russian into English; Friedrich Engels
’ The Peasant War in Germany
from German
into Yiddish; John Reed
’s Ten Days That Shook the World
from English into Yiddish; a volume of short stories from Polish
into Yiddish; two volumes of tales of Mendele Mocher Sforim
, the father of Jewish literature, from Hebrew into Yiddish; and Jack London
’s Call of the Wild
from English into Yiddish.
Olgin was known as one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the Stalinist current in American Communism. For example, he was the Party's expert on fighting Trotskyism (see reference to his book on that subject; below). While an editor of the Communist Yiddish daily Freiheit in 1929, he blamed the Jews of Palestine when Arab terrorists killed 67 Jews in Hebron
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...
n-born writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, and translator in the early 20th century. He began his career writing for the Jewish press in support of the Russian Revolution in 1910. During the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1915, settling in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where he continued his career in Jewish journalism. Much of his work was in support of communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, and he was a founding member of the Workers Party
Workers Party of America
The Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...
. In 1922, he founded The Morning Freiheit
Morgen Freiheit
The New York city-based Morgen Freiheit was a daily Yiddish language newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party, USA, founded by Moissaye Olgin in 1922. After the end of World War II the paper's editors developed criticisms of the Soviet Union and thereby clashed with the leaders of the...
, and served as its editor until his death in 1939.
Early life
Moissaye Joseph Olgin was born on March 24, 1878 in a shtetlShtetl
A shtetl was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until The Holocaust. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and Romania...
near 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....
, 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...
(then part of 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...
) to Chaim Aaron Novominsky and Zipa (Gelman) Novominsky, both of whom were of ethnic Jewish origins. His father worked as a lumber camp employee.
Olgin received a traditional education in Hebrew. After a short period of self-study, he began his studies at the University of Kiev in 1900.
He was sympathetic to the causes of the Russian Revolution, and first became active in the underground revolutionary movement during his studies at the University of Kiev. His writings for Jewish and revolutionary publications earned him some fame among the many Russian Jews, who were heavily oppressed by the government of Tsar Nicholas II. He took part in a Jewish revolutionary student group known as "Freiheit" (Freedom).
In 1901 Olgin was elected chairman of the Students Central Committee. The tsarist regime ordered his arrest in April 1903 on a charge of organizing Jewish self-defense groups against anticipated pogroms
Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire
The term pogrom as a reference to large-scale, targeted, and repeated antisemitic rioting saw its first use in the 19th century.The first pogrom is often considered to be the 1821 Odessa pogroms after the death of the Greek Orthodox patriarch Gregory V in Constantinople, in which 14 Jews were killed...
.
In 1904, Olgin left the University of Kiev and went to Vilno as a member of the Vilno Committee of the Jewish Bund
Bund
- Organizations :* German American Bund, a pro-Nazi pre-World War II organisation* General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia, a political party founded in the Russian Empire* General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland, a political party founded in Poland...
. There he was arrested but released on bail. He then became a member of the editorial board of the Arbeiter Stimme (Labor’s Voice). He was the author of all the proclamations issued by the Central Committee of the Bund during the Revolution of 1905 while at the same time he prepared literary compositions for the illegal Jewish press. While editing newspapers and working with these underground organizations he also wrote books, short stories and literary essays.
In 1907, he traveled to Germany to continue his studies at the University of Heidelberg. He continued his studies there until 1910, when he returned to Russia.
Traveling in Germany at the onset of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he was unable to return to Russia, and immigrated to the United States in 1915.
Career
Shortly after arriving in the United States, Olgin became a regular contributor to the Jewish daily newspaper The ForwardThe Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
,
Olgin became an American citizen in April 1920. He was a leading member of the Jewish Socialist Federation
Jewish Socialist Federation
The Jewish Socialist Federation was a secular Jewish Yiddish-oriented organization founded in 1912 which acted as a language federation in the Socialist Party of America . Many of the founding members of the JSF had previously been members of the Bund in Eastern Europe and sought to bring Bundist...
of the Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
and was influential in leading the JSF out of the party at a special convention of the organization held in September 1921. Together with other defecting members of the JSF, Olgin thereafter entered the fledgling Workers Council organization, a small group of revolutionary socialists
Revolutionary socialism
The term revolutionary socialism refers to Socialist tendencies that advocate the need for fundamental social change through revolution by mass movements of the working class, as a strategy to achieve a socialist society...
which rejected the conspiratorial "underground" form of organization of the then extant communist movement. Olgin ceased contributing to The Forward at this same time.
In April 1922 there was launched a new Yiddish-language newspaper, the Daily Freiheit (later the Morning Freiheit
Morgen Freiheit
The New York city-based Morgen Freiheit was a daily Yiddish language newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party, USA, founded by Moissaye Olgin in 1922. After the end of World War II the paper's editors developed criticisms of the Soviet Union and thereby clashed with the leaders of the...
). Olgin served as first editor of this publication, a position which he retained up until the time of his death. He also contributed frequently to the Communist Party's English-language newspaper, The Daily Worker, and served as a special correspondent for the Soviet Communist Party's
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
daily, Pravda.
At the end of December 1922, the Workers Council group was among the organizations which were united into the Workers Party of America
Workers Party of America
The Workers Party of America was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from the last days of 1921 until the middle of 1929. As a legal political party the Workers Party accepted affiliation from independent socialist groups such as the African Blood Brotherhood,...
(WPA), a new "legal political party" affiliated with the underground Communist Party of America, and Olgin thereby entered the formal communist movement for the first time. Olgin was named to the governing Bureau of the Jewish Federation of this new organization. Olgin was a member of the governing Central Executive Committee of the WPA and its Executive Council from the time of the organization's formation.
Olgin was a frequent candidate for political office on behalf of the Communist Party. He first ran in 1924, when he was a candidate for New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
on the ticket of the Workers Party. He ran for U.S. Congress in 1926, 1930, and 1934, and for New York Assembly again in 1927, 1929, 1933, and 1936.
Although a bitter rival of Alexander Bittelman
Alexander Bittelman
Alexander "Alex" Bittelman was a Russian-born Jewish-American communist political activist, Marxist theorist , contributed a more complex analysis , and writer. A founding member of the Communist Party of America, Bittelman is best remembered as the chief factional lieutenant of William Z...
in the heated factional politics of the Jewish Federation in the early 1920s, by the middle of the decade Olgin had emerged as a supporter of the political faction headed by William Z. Foster
William Z. Foster
William Foster was a radical American labor organizer and Marxist politician, whose career included a lengthy stint as General Secretary of the Communist Party USA...
, Earl Browder
Earl Browder
Earl Russell Browder was an American communist and General Secretary of the Communist Party USA from 1934 to 1945. He was expelled from the party in 1946.- Early years :...
, and his former foe.
Olgin made several trips to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. In 1937 he went to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
as delegation to the International Yiddish Culture Congress which founded the World Alliance for Jewish Culture (YCUF). While in Paris he addressed the Writers Congress.
Death and legacy
Following his trip to Paris, Olgin's health began to decline. After almost two years’ illness, during which Olgin continued his work for the Freiheit, as well as for the Daily WorkerDaily Worker
The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, some attempts were made to make it appear that the paper reflected a...
, and as the American correspondent for Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
, he had apparently improved in health enough to appear at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, on November 13, for his first public speech in several years. Following the speech, his health again declined, and he died at his home of a heart attack on November 22, 1939.
Olgin was the author of numerous books and pamphlets in seven languages: English, Russian, German, French, Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish. It is not known whether some of these works were, in fact, translated by others. He wrote verse, essays, literary criticism and sociological studies. His books The Soul of the Russian Revolution and A Guide to Russian Literature and pamphlet Why Communism? achieved sales of nearly half a million in several languages.
Olgin translated several volumes of Lenin’s collected works from Russian into English; Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
’ The Peasant War in Germany
The Peasant War in Germany
The Peasant War in Germany by Friedrich Engels, 1850, is an account of 16th century uprisings.This book was written by Friedrich Engels in London, during the summer of 1850, following the revolutionary uprisings of 1848-1849. The book draws a parallel between the uprisings of 1848-1849 and the...
from German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
into Yiddish; John Reed
John Reed
-Arts, letters, and entertainment:* John Reed , New York novelist and author* John Reed , actor and singer with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company* John Reed , Australian critic and art patron...
’s Ten Days That Shook the World
Ten Days that Shook the World
Ten Days that Shook the World is a book by American journalist and socialist John Reed about the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 which Reed experienced firsthand. Reed followed many of the prominent Bolshevik leaders, especially Grigory Zinoviev and Karl Radek, closely during his time in Russia...
from English into Yiddish; a volume of short stories from Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
into Yiddish; two volumes of tales of Mendele Mocher Sforim
Mendele Mocher Sforim
Mendele Mocher Sforim , December 21, 1835 = January 2, 1836 , Kapyl — November 25, 1917 = December 8, 1917...
, the father of Jewish literature, from Hebrew into Yiddish; and Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
’s Call of the Wild
Call Of The Wild
-Track listing:All songs written by Ted Nugent, except where indicated:#"Call of the Wild" – 4:51#"Sweet Revenge" – 4:06#"Pony Express" – 5:21#"Ain't It the Truth" – 4:57#"Renegade" – 3:33...
from English into Yiddish.
Olgin was known as one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the Stalinist current in American Communism. For example, he was the Party's expert on fighting Trotskyism (see reference to his book on that subject; below). While an editor of the Communist Yiddish daily Freiheit in 1929, he blamed the Jews of Palestine when Arab terrorists killed 67 Jews in Hebron
Selected works
- The Soul of the Russian Revolution. New York: Henry Holt, 1917.
- A Guide to Russian Literature (1820-1917). New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920.
- The Socialist Party, Last Bulwark of Capitalism. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1932.
- Capitalism Defends Itself through the Socialist Labor Party. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1932.
- Why Communism? Plain Talks on Vital Problems. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1933.
- Maxim Gorky: Writer and Revolutionist. New York: International Publishers, 1933.
- The Way Out: A Program for American Labor. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1934.
- Trotskyism: Counter-Revolution in Disguise. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1935.
- Life and Teachings of Friedrich Engels. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1935.
- Lenin and the Bolsheviki. New York: Revolutionary Workers League, 1936. — Reprinted from Asia, vol. 17, no. 10 (December 1917).
- That Man Browder: Communist Candidate for President. New York: Workers Library Publishers, 1936.
External links
- Moissaye Olgin Internet Archive at Marxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet ArchiveMarxists Internet Archive is a volunteer based non-profit organization that maintains a multi-lingual Internet archive of Marxist writers and other similar authors...
. Retrieved November 2, 2009.