Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 9: Jews, Poles, Socialists: The Failure of an Ideal(9 Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry)

‘The less antisemitism exists among Christians, the easier it will be to unite the social forces . . . and the sooner workers’ solidarity will emerge: solidarity of all who are exploited and wronged . . . Jew, Pole, Lithuanian.’ Józef Pilsudski, 1903 The Socialist ideals of brotherhood, equality, and justice have exercised a strong attraction for many Jews. On the Polish lands, Jews were drawn to Socialism when the liberal promise of integration into the emergent national entities of east and central Europe as Poles or Lithuanians or Russians of the Hebrew faith seemed to be failing. For those Jews seeking emancipation from discrimination and the constraints of a religious community, Socialism offered a tantalizing new route to integration in the wider society. Some Jews saw in Socialism a secularized version of the age-old Jewish messianic longing, while others were driven to the Socialist movement by poverty and the hope that it would supply their material needs. But in Poland as elsewhere in Europe, Socialism failed to transcend national divisions. The articles in this volume of Polin investigate the failure of this ideal and its consequences for Jews on the Polish lands, examining Socialist attitudes to the ‘Jewish question’, the issue of antisemitism, how the growth of Socialism affected relationships between Poles and Jews, and the character of Jewish Socialist groups in Poland. The result is a significant contribution to the history of Jews in Poland. It also sheds light on the history of Socialism in east-central Europe and the complexity of national problems there. Editors and contributors: Israel Bartal, Daniel Blatman, Alina Cala, Stephen D. Corrsin, David Engel, Sylvia Barack Fishman, Gershon Hundert, Ross Kessel, Shmuel Krakowski, Dov Levin, Pawel Machcewicz, Stanislaw Meducki, Erica Nadelhaft, Magdalena Opalska, Richard Pipes, Antony Polonsky, Dina Porat, Teresa Prekerowa, Michal Sliwa, Janusz Sujecki, Jerzy Tomaszewski, Barbara Wachowska.

Table of Contents:
Note on Transliteration, Names, and Place Names Abbreviations Introduction ANTONY POLONSKY Part I Jews, Poles, Socialists: The Failure of an Ideal Jewish Socialists in the Kingdom of Poland ALINA CALA The Jewish Problem in Polish Socialist Thought MICHAL SLIWA The Relation of the Polish Socialist Party: Proletariat to the Bund and the Jewish Question, 1900–1906 JANUSZ SUJECKI The Jews, the Left, and the State Duma Elections in Warsaw in 1912: Selected Sources translated by STEPHEN D. CORRSIN Jews and the Russian Revolution: A Note RICHARD PIPES The Bund in Poland, 1935–1939 DANIEL BLATMAN Lodz Remained Red: Elections to the City Council of 27 September 1936 BARBARA WACHOWSKA The Jews of Vilna under Soviet Rule, 19 September–28 October 1939 DOV LEVIN The Polish Underground and the Extermination of the Jews SHMUEL KRAKOWSKI The Jewish Underground and the Polish Underground TERESA PREKEROWA The Pogrom in Kielce on 4 July 1946 STANISLAW MEDUCKI Antisemitism in Poland in 1956 PAWEL MACHCEWICZ Part II New Views Dov of Bolechów: A Diarist of the Council of Four Lands in the Eighteenth Century ISRAEL BARTAL A Peaceable Community at Work: The Chevrah of Nasielsk ROSS KESSEL Zionist Pioneering Youth Movements in Poland and their Attitude to Erets Israel during the Holocaust DINA PORAT Resistance through Education: Polish Zionist Youth Movements in Warsaw, 1939–1941 ERICA NADELHAFT The Second Competition of Scholarly Works on Polish–Jewish Themes ALINA CALA Part III Reviews REVIEW ESSAY History, Drama, and Healing: On the Television Play A i B, by Harvey Sarner DAVID ENGEL Inside, Outside: Interpreting Jewish Difference SYLVIA BARACK FISHMAN BOOK REVIEWS BIBLIOGRAPHY OF POLISH–JEWISH STUDIES, 1993 Notes on Contributors Notes on Translators Glossary Index

About the Author :
Author of The Jews in Poland and Russia, 3 vols. (Littman Library, 2010–12), also published in an abridged version: The Jews in Poland and Russia: A Short History (2014). In 2012, The Jews in Poland and Russia was awarded the Pro Historia Polonorum prize of the Polish Senate for the best book on the history of Poland in a non-Polish language written in the previous five years. Holds honorary doctorates from the University of Warsaw (2010) and the Jagiellonian University (2014). In 2011 he was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Polonia Restituta and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Independent Lithuania. Israel Bartal is Professor Emeritus of Jewish History and the former dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Gershon Hundert is Professor of History and holds the Montreal Jewish Community Chair in Jewish Studies at McGill University. Magdalena Opalski is Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Central/East European and Russian Area Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa. Jerzy Tomaszewski is Professor of History in the Institute of Political Science at the University of Warsaw, and Director of the Mordecai Anieliewicz Centre for the Study of the History and Culture of Polish Jews.