''Proletpen'' ( yi, פּראָלעטפּען) was an organization of

Yiddish language 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 ...

writers in the

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 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Proletpen was founded on September 13, 1929 as a continuation of the '' Frayhayt'' Writers Association (which had suffered mass resignations after the newspaper ''Frayhayt'' denounced the role of Zionists in the 1929 Palestine riots). The name 'Proletpen', a Russian-style Yiddish concoction of ''proletarische pen'' ('Proletarian pen'), was projected as an

antonym In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''long'' entails that it is not ''short''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members ...

of the Yiddish PEN Club. The group was affiliated with the

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

-based

International Union of Revolutionary Writers International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. Proletpen predated the

John Reed Clubs The John Reed Clubs (1929–1935), often referred to as John Reed Club (JRC), were an American federation of local organizations targeted towards Marxist writers, artists, and intellectuals, named after the American journalist and activist John ...

, a grouping of American English-language progressive writers, by a month. Proletpen poets dealt with social issues, poverty and racism. Proletpen poets included Aaron Kurtz, A. Suhl, Martin Birnboim, I. Greenshpan, L. Miller, D. Seltzer, L. Dinski, Ber Green (A. Prince), B. Fenster, B. Friedman, I. E. Rontch, Menke Katz and Moishe Shifris. Prose writers associated with Proletpen included Leo Yurman, Chaver Paver, L. Chanukoff, Leib Sobrin, Chaim Margoles-Davidson, David Kasher and S. Deiksel. The leader of Proletpen was Alexander Pomerantz. Pomerantz spent 1933-1935 in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, and whilst in the Soviet Union he wrote a thesis in literary history on the Proletpen movement (). Proletpen was disbanded in 1938, and replaced by the

Yidisher Kultur Farband There were two American Jewish organizations colloquially known as the Farband: the Communist-oriented Yidisher Kultur Farband (Jewish Culture Association) and the Labor Zionist-oriented Yidish Natsionaler Arbeter Farband (Jewish National Workers ...

References

{{reflist 1929 establishments in the United States 1938 disestablishments in the United States Defunct socialist organizations in the United States Jewish socialism Secular Jewish culture in the United States Yiddish culture in New York City