Early life and career
Abba Gordin was born in 1887 in Smorgon (now inThe "Oppressed Five" referred to those categories of humanity which endured the greatest hardships under the yoke of Western civilization: "worker-vagabond," national minority, woman, youth, and individual personality. Five basic institutions – the state, capitalism, colonialism, the school, and the family – were held responsible for their sufferings. The Gordins worked out a philosophy which they called "Pan-Anarchism" and which prescribed five remedies for the five baneful institutions that tormented the five oppressed elements of modern society. The remedies for the state and capitalism were, simply enough, statelessness and communism; for the remaining three oppressors, however, the antidotes were rather more novel: "cosmism" (the universal elimination of national persecution), "gyneantropism" (the emancipation and humanization of women), and "pedism" (the liberation of the young from "the vise of slave education").As tensions mounted between Russian anarchists and Bolsheviks, Abba Gordin attempted to make peace with the Bolshevik government, founding an " Anarchist-Universalist" tendency among the anarchists that was willing to postpone the abolition of the State. A Communist Party Central Committee memo of 1921 noted that the All-Russian Section of Anarchist-Universalists was "one of the most peaceful in the Anarchist movement," as it "recognizes 'workers' parliamentarism' as represented by the Soviet government" and "finds tnecessary to participate in the work of the Soviet apparatus, to uphold the Red Army, the civil war and the dictatorship of the proletariat as the transitional form toward Anarchy." Nonetheless, both Gordin and the Anarchist-Universalists faced increasing government persecution. Observers attributed this persecution to Gordin's relative popularity among Russia's radical working class. In ''Seventy Days In Russia: What I Saw'' (1924), Angel Pestaña, recounting his visit to Moscow in 1920, notes that Abba Gordin, the "most visible spokesperson" among those anarchists who were "inclined to accept centralism and the dictatorship of the proletariat," had been imprisoned for three months in the notorious
Gordin was a worker in a munitions factory. When the elections for the Soviet of the district that his factory belonged to were held, despite the fact that the communists always allowed only their nominees on the election list for the Soviet and did not allow any of their candidates to be defeated, the workers in the factory where Gordin worked chose him instead of the communist nominee. When the votes were counted at the Soviet headquarters, and it was discovered that a communist was not selected and that Gordin was chosen instead, the Soviet exercised its veto powers and annulled the election, but only with regard to this particular delegate, and not with regard to the communists who were elected during that same proceeding.After the election was repeated with the same result and subsequently nullified three times, Gordin was jailed and the munitions factory denied representation.
Exile
Abba Gordin emigrated to the United States in 1927 where he wrote books, essays, and poems in several languages. He later established the Jewish Ethical Society. Gordin became a co-editor of the New York Yiddish-language anarchist journal ''Works
Sole authorship
In Russian
* ''Anarkhizm-universalizm: K obosnovaniyu programmy'' narchism-Universalism: On the Rationale for the Program(1920) * ''Ot yuridicheskogo anarkhizma k fakticheskomu'' rom Legal to Actual Anarchism(1920)In Yiddish
* ''Printsipn un tsvekn-derklerung fun der yidishe etisher gezelshaft'' [Statement of the Principles And Aims of the Jewish Ethical Society] (1936) * ''Idishe etik'' [Jewish Ethics] (1937) * ''Grunt-printsipn fun idishkayt'' [Founding Principles of Jewishness] (1938) * ''Idisher velt-banem'' [The Jewish World-View] (1939) * ''Di froy un di bibl'' oman And The Bible(1939) * ''Moral in Idishn lebn'' orality In Jewish Life(1940) * ''Sotsiale obergloyberay un kritik'' ocial Superstitions And Criticism(1941) * ''Di yesoydes fun der gezelshaft'' he Foundations Of Society(1942) * ''Undzer banem'' ur Conception(1946) * ''Di sotsiale frage'' he Social Question(1940) * ''Denker un dikhter (eseyen)'' hinker And Poet: Essays(1949) * ''Eseyen (diskusyes un kharakteristikes)'' ssays (Discussions And Characterisations)(1951) * ''Zikhroynes un khezsboynes (memuarn fun der rusisher revolutsye 1917–1924)''. 'Memories And Assessments: Memoirs Of The Russian Revolution''(vol. 1: 1955, vol. 2: 1957) * ''In gerangl far frayhayt bukh ayns: Rusland 1773–75, bukh tsvay: Rusland 1917–1919'' n Struggle For Freedom. Book One: Russia 1773–75, Book Two: Russia 1917–19(1956) * ''Sh. Yanovsky (1864–1939): zayn lebn, kemfn un shafn'' h. Yanovsky (1864–1939): His Life, Struggles And Works(1957) * ''Yidish lebn in Amerike (in shpigl fun F. Bimkos verk)'' ewish life In America (As Reflected In F. Bimko's Work)(1957) * ''Draysik yor in Lite un Poyln (oytobiografye)'' hirty Years In Lithuania And Poland (Autobiography)(1958) * ''Shloyme hamelekh: historisher roman'' ing Solomon: Historical Novel(1960)In English
With Wolf (Ze'ev) Gordin
In Hebrew
* ''Seferot ha-Iledim (Tarbut Akhrunah)'' 'Children’s Literature (Recent Culture)''(1907) * ''Maktav galvi el mukiri ha-Khanukka'' 'An Open Letter to the National Cherishers of Hanukkah''(1909) * ''Gan Tiatruni l’iledim 5–4 am tvi niginah'' 'Theatrical Garden for 5–4 Year Olds With Musical Notes''(1910) * ''Ha-Sderot Ha-Iledim'' 'The Order of Children''(1913)In Yiddish
* ''A megile tsu di yidn in goles'' Book for the Jews in Diaspora(1909) * ''Undzere khiburim'' (Our Treatises) (1912) * ''Fonetishe ortografye'' (Phonetic Orthography) (1913) * ''Undzer kheder'' (Our Schoolroom) (1913) * ''Der yung-mentsh oder der finf-bund: a dramatishe shir in 5 akten'' he Young Person or the Group of Five: A Dramatic Poem in Five Acts(1913) * ''Triumfedye: dramatishe shir in finf akten'' 'Triumphant: A Dramatic Comedy in Five Acts''(1914)In Russian
* ''Sistema Material’noy i Otnositel’noy Yestestvennosti'' 'The Systems of Material and Relative Naturalism''(1909) * * ''Besedy s anarkhistom-filosofom'' onversation With an Anarchist Philosopher(1918)With Hanoch Levin
* ''Smorgon, Mehoz Vilna: Sefer ’edut Ve-Zikaron'' (1965)Notes
References
* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordin, Abba 1887 births 1964 deaths American anarchists American anti-capitalists American emigrants to Israel American libertarians American male non-fiction writers American political writers Anarchist writers Burials at Kiryat Shaul Cemetery Critics of Marxism Deaths in Israel Individualist anarchists Israeli anarchists Israeli anti-capitalists Israeli libertarians Israeli male writers Israeli non-fiction writers Israeli political writers Jewish American writers Jewish anarchists Jewish Russian writers Russian anarchists Russian anti-capitalists Soviet emigrants to the United States Russian libertarians Russian male writers Russian non-fiction writers Russian political writers Yiddish-language poets