Shmuel Mikunis ( he, שמואל מיקוניס, 10 August 1903 – 20 May 1982) was a communist

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i politician and member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

from 1949 until 1974.

Biography

Born in

Polonne Polonne () is a city on the Khomora River in Shepetivka Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. Polonne hosts the administration of Polonne urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. The current estimated population is ...

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. ...

(today in

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 ...

), Mikunis

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

in 1921. He attended a polytechnic in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, and was qualified as an engineer, working for the

Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,0 ...

between 1933 and 1945. He joined the

Palestine Communist Party The Palestine Communist Party ( yi, פאלעסטינישע קומוניסטישע פארטיי, ''Palestinische Komunistische Partei'', abbreviated PKP; ar, الحزب الشيوعي الفلسطيني) was a political party in British Mandate ...

, and became secretary of its central committee in 1939. In 1944 he was elected to the Assembly of Representatives. When

Maki Maki may refer to: People *Mäki, a Finnish surname (includes a list of people with the name) *Maki (name), a Japanese given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name) Places *Maki, Ravar, Kerman Province, Iran *Maki, Rigan, Ke ...

(the Communist Party of Israel) was formed, he joined and served as its secretary until 1974. He also acted as an emissary of the party to communist countries to try to obtain weapons for the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. A member of the Provisional State Council, he was elected to the

first Knesset Constituent Assembly elections were held in newly independent Israel on 25 January 1949. Voter turnout was 86.9%. Two days after its first meeting on 14 February 1949, legislators voted to change the name of the body to the Knesset (Hebrew: כ ...

on Maki's list. He was re-elected in 1951, 1955, 1961, and 1965. In 1960s, Mikunis together with

Moshe Sneh Moshe Sneh ( he, מֹשֶׁה סְנֶה ; 6 January 1909 – 1 March 1972) was a Haganah commander and an Israeli politician. One of the founders of Mapam, he later joined the Israeli Communist Party (Maki). Biography Mosze Klaynboym (late ...

led the faction of the Communist Party that tried to distance itself from the Soviet Union's more aggressively anti-Israeli positions, affirmed the Israel's right to exist and opposed the Arab states' policies vis-a-vis Israel, as opposed to Meir Vilner's faction, that wholeheartedly accepted the pro-Soviet line. In 1965 the party finally split and the Mikunas-Sneh party was reduced to one seat in the parliamentary election due to the split (from which Rakah had been formed). Mikunis lost his seat in the 1969 elections, but re-entered the Knesset in March 1972 as a replacement for

. Towards the end of the session, Maki and the Blue-Red Movement merged into Moked and Mikunis lost his seat in the 1973 elections.

Bibliography

*''B'Saar Tkufot'' (1969)

References

External links

*
"The Peoples of Palestine Struggle for National Independence"
1948
"Israel"
(on the Suez crisis) 1957 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mikunis, Shmuel 1903 births 1982 deaths People from Volhynian Governorate Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Maki (historical political party) politicians Members of the Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine) Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951) Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955) Members of the 3rd Knesset (1955–1959) Members of the 4th Knesset (1959–1961) Members of the 5th Knesset (1961–1965) Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969) Members of the 7th Knesset (1969–1974) Moked politicians Ukrainian Jews Jewish socialists Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine