The Jewish Social Democratic Labour Party (Poalei Zion) was a

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The party was founded in 1906 in

Poltava Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administratively ...

. Members of the party participated in the government of Ukraine in 1917-20. It was part of the international

Poalei Zion Poale Zion (also spelled Poalei Tziyon or Poaley Syjon, meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist–Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire in about the turn of the 20th century after ...

movement. Due to its position towards the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

and being a strong supporter of the

Russian Constituent Assembly The All Russian Constituent Assembly (Всероссийское Учредительное собрание, Vserossiyskoye Uchreditelnoye sobraniye) was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. It met fo ...

, the party was banned from most of Soviets dominated by the RSDLP(b), but was not recognized illegal until 1928.notes by William Chase
The Enemies within the Gates? The Comintern and the Stalinist Repression 1934-1939
,

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, 2001, in the document: Poale Zion in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
The party suffered a major split in August 1919, when a dissident group formed the

Jewish Communist Party (Poalei Zion) Jewish Communist Party (Poalei Zion) (russian: Еврейская коммунистическая партия (Поалей-Цион), ''Evreĭskaia kommunisticheskaia partiia (Poaleĭ-Tsion)'', abbreviated EKP) was a political party in Russia ...

. After the JCP(PZ) had merged into the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

in 1922, the JSDLP(PZ) changed name to the Jewish Communist Labour Party (Poalei Zion) (known by its Yiddish acronym א.ק.א.פ. (פועלי ציון)). Its Yiddish organ, '' Der proletarisher gedank'' ('Proletarian Thought'), was published from Moscow 1926-1927, replacing its Moscow central Russian organ ''Evreiskaya proletarskaya mysl'' ('Jewish Proletarian Thought', 1920-1926). The 12th conference of the party was held in Moscow March 11–18, 1926. The party opposed the policy of regionalization of the Soviet Union. The party was completely banned and dissolved in 1928 when most of its member either joined the Communist movement or quit the party.

Participation in Ukrainian politics

The party was represented in the

Central Council of Ukraine The Central Council of Ukraine ( uk, Українська Центральна Рада, ) (also called the Tsentralna Rada or the Central Rada) was the All-Ukrainian council (soviet) that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputie ...

in 1917 and in the Council of National Ministers of the Ukrainian National Republic (executive branch of the Ukrainian National Republic) the Poalist Abraham Revutsky was minister of Jewish affairs. Another Poalist, Solomon Goldelman, was deputy minister of trade and industry and of labour in the Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic (state authority created by the Ukrainian National Union on 14 November 1918).

References

{{Ukrainian Bolshevik Revolution Poale Zion Communist parties in the Soviet Union Jewish political parties Jewish socialism Labour parties Political parties established in 1906 Political parties disestablished in 1928 Secular Jewish culture in Europe Zionism in Russia Zionist political parties in Europe 1906 establishments in the Russian Empire Political parties of the Russian Revolution Political parties of minorities in Imperial Russia

Participation in Ukrainian politics

See also

References