, birth_date = , birth_place =

Mogilev Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bor ...

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. ...

(now

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

) , death_date = , death_place =

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, U.S. , spouse = Bassya Syrkin (née Osnos) , partner = , party = , children =

Marie Syrkin Marie Syrkin (March 23, 1899 – February 2, 1989) was an American writer, translator, educator, and Zionist activist.Fowler, Glenn (February 3, 1989).Marie Syrkin, 89; Author and Teacher Promoted Zionism" ''New York Times''. Biography Born in Be ...

, known for = , alias = Nahman Syrkin, Nahum Syrkin , website = Nachman Syrkin (or ''Nahman Syrkin'' or ''Nahum Syrkin''; russian: Нахман Сыркин; 11 February 1868 – 6 September 1924) was a political theorist, founder of

Labor Zionism Labor Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת סוֹצְיָאלִיסְטִית, ) or socialist Zionism ( he, תְּנוּעָת הָעַבוֹדָה, label=none, translit=Tnuʽat haʽavoda) refers to the left-wing, socialist variation of Zionism. ...

and a prolific writer in the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

Biography

Nachum Syrkin was born to a

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas o ...

family in

(now

). He was influenced by

Hovevei Zion Hovevei Zion ( he, חובבי ציון, lit. ''hose who areLovers of Zion''), also known as Hibbat Zion ( he, חיבת ציון), refers to a variety of organizations which were founded in 1881 in response to the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian ...

and

socialism 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 ...

in his youth and dedicated himself to synthesizing the two concepts. In this task he was joined by Ber Borochov. Syrkin's daughter

Marie Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tr ...

was a noted writer, educator and American Zionist activist.

Zionist career

Syrkin was one of the leaders of the

socialist Zionist Labor Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת סוֹצְיָאלִיסְטִית, ) or socialist Zionism ( he, תְּנוּעָת הָעַבוֹדָה, label=none, translit=Tnuʽat haʽavoda) refers to the left-wing, socialist variation of Zionism. ...

faction at the

First Zionist Congress The First Zionist Congress ( he, הקונגרס הציוני הראשון) was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization (ZO) held in Basel (Basle), from August 29 to August 31, 1897. 208 delegates and 26 press correspondents attende ...

in 1897 and was an early proponent of the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

. He was also the first person to propose that

olim Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

form collective settlements. Unlike other socialist thinkers of the time, Syrkin was comfortable with his Jewish heritage and, although he does not spell it out explicitly in his essay "The Jewish Question and the Jewish Socialist State" (1898), it is clear that he had in mind the

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

emphasis on strict

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

, irrespective of wealth, power or privilege. However, he saw Zionism as a replacement for traditional Judaism:

The new, Zionist Judaism stands in complete contrast to the Judaism of exile … Zionism uproots religious Judaism in a stronger way than Reform or assimilation, by creating new standards of 'Judaism' which will constitute a new ideology that can be elevated to the status of a religion.

Syrkin worked to establish socialist Zionist groups throughout

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

. After studying and working in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and after being banned from Germany in 1904, Syrkin returned to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

after the

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

. He took part at the 1905 Basle Seventh Zionist Congress as a delegate of the new

Zionist Socialist Workers Party Zionist-Socialist Workers Party (russian: Сионистско-социалистическая рабочая партия), often referred to simply as Zionist-Socialists or S.S. by their Russian initials, was a Jewish territorialist and sociali ...

.Comrades and Enemies - Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906–1948
by Zachary Lockman In 1919, Syrkin was a member of the American Jewish delegation to the

Versailles Peace Conference The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

. He was also a leading figure in the World Poale Zion conference that year and was given the task of visiting Palestine to develop a plan for

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

settlement. He intended to relocate to Palestine, but died of a heart attack in 1924 in

Legacy

In 1951, his remains were buried in the Kibbutz Kinneret beside the other founders of Labour Zionism.

Kfar Sirkin Kfar Sirkin or Kefar Syrkin ( he, כְּפַר סִירְקִין) is a moshav in central Israel. Located south-east of Petah Tikva, it falls under the jurisdiction of Drom HaSharon Regional Council. In it had a population of . History Kfar Sirk ...

, founded in 1933 close to

Petach Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Jews of the Old Yishuv, and became a permanent set ...

, is named for him.

Published works (English)

*''Essays on socialist Zionism'' (New York, Young Poale Zion Alliance of America, 1935, 64p). Includes: **''The Jewish Question and the Jewish Socialist State'' (1898) **''National independence and international unity'' (1917)

References

External links

The Jewish Problem and the Socialist Jewish State, Nachman Syrkin 1898
(excerpts)

a
MidEastWeb for Coexistence
{{DEFAULTSORT:Syrkin, Nahum 1868 births 1924 deaths People from Mogilev People from Mogilyovsky Uyezd (Mogilev Governorate) Hovevei Zion Jews from the Russian Empire Belarusian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Zionist Socialist Workers Party politicians Poale Zion politicians