United Jewish Socialist Workers Party ( yi, פֿאַראײניקטע ייִדישע סאָציאַליסטישע אַרבעטער־פּאַרטיי, ''fareynikte yidishe sotsialistishe arbeter-partey'') was a

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 ...

that emerged in

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 ...

in the wake of the 1917 February Revolution. Members of the party along with the

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 ...

participated in the government of Ukraine and condemned 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 ...

. Its followers were generally known simply for the first portion of the name ''Fareynikte'' (פֿאַראײניקטע) - 'United'. Politically the party favored

national personal autonomy The Austromarxist principle of national personal autonomy ("personal principle"), developed by Otto Bauer in his 1907 book ''Die Nationalitätenfrage und die Sozialdemokratie'' (The Nationalities Question and Social Democracy) was seen by him a wa ...

for the Jewish community.Ėstraĭkh, G. ''In Harness: Yiddish Writers' Romance with Communism. Judaic traditions in literature, music, and art.''

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

: Syracuse University Press, 2005. p. 30 The party upheld the ideas of building a secular Jewish community. Fareynikte was founded in June 1917 through the merger of two groups, the

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 social ...

(SSRP) ( Socialist-Territorialists) and the Jewish Socialist Workers Party (SERP). SERP's ideology was based particularly upon "

autonomism Autonomism, also known as autonomist Marxism is an anti-capitalist left-wing political and social movement and theory. As a theoretical system, it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism (). Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tende ...

". Note that some of the leaders from those two parties did not join Fareynikte, but rather became "Folkists" (

Folkspartei The Folkspartei ( yi, ייִדישע פֿאָלקספּאַרטײַ, , Jewish People's Party) was founded after the 1905 pogroms in the Russian Empire by Simon Dubnow and Israel Efrojkin. The party took part in several elections in Poland and ...

). Both SSRP and SERP had emerged from the Vozrozhdenie group. As of early 1918, ''Fareynikte'' was the largest Jewish autonomist political party in the independent Ukraine. The Faraynikte's program claimed "unity of the Jewish worker's class as an integral part of the 'extraterritorial' Jewish nation and international proletariat". The previous arguments in regard to the way of implementing the territorialists program have been declared as less important. The focal point of the party program a "national-individual autonomy". For a brief period the party acquired a major influence, particularly in Ukraine where it played an important role in an attempt to organize the Jewish national autonomy. In September 1917 Fareynikte petitioned to the Provisional Government to declare the equality of language. In the 1917 elections in Russia, the party obtained around 8% of the Jewish votes.Pinkus, Benjamin.
The Jews of the Soviet Union: The History of a National Minority. Soviet and East European studies
'.

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

: Cambridge University Press, 1988. p. 44 ''Fareynikt''

Moishe Zilberfarb Moishe Zylberfarb ( uk, Мо́йше Зи́льберфарб, yi, משה זילבערפֿאַרב) was a Ukrainian politician, diplomat, and public activist of Jewish descent. He was one of the authors of the Law of Ukraine about national-indi ...

was Deputy-Secretary of Jewish Affairs in the

General Secretariat of Ukraine The General Secretariat of Ukraine ( uk, Генеральний секретаріат УЦР—УНР) was the autonomous Ukrainian executive government of the Russian Republic from June 28, 1917 to January 22, 1918. For most of its existence ...

, the main executive institution of the

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...

from June 28, 1917 to January 22, 1918. ''Fareynikte'' ran some

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 ...

newspapers in Ukraine. It published the ''

Naye tsayt ''Naye tsayt'' (נײַע צײַט, 'New Times') was a Yiddish-language newspaper published from Kiev between September 1917 and May 1919. ''Naye tsayt'' was an organ of the United Jewish Socialist Workers Party (''fareynikte'').Ėstraĭkh, G. ''In ...

'' (New Time) 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 ...

September 1917-May 1919. Prior to the publishing of ''Naye tsayt'', the party published ''Der yidisher proletarier'' from Kyiv. In Poland, dissidents from the ''Fareynikte'' party joined the

Communist Party of Poland The interwar Communist Party of Poland ( pl, Komunistyczna Partia Polski, KPP) was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland a ...

.Jaff Schatz. Jews and the communist movement in interwar Poland. In: Jonathan Frankel
Dark Times, Dire Decisions: Jews and Communism. Studies in Contemporary Jewry.
Oxford University Press US, 2005, p. 20. The remainder of the party, which had taken the name Jewish Socialist Workers Party 'Ferajnigte' in Poland, merged into the

Independent Socialist Labour Party The Independent Socialist Labour Party ( pl, Niezależna Socjalistyczna Partia Pracy) was a political party in Poland. The party was founded on March 12, 1922, in Krakow. Initially the party bore the name Party of Independent Socialists (''Partia N ...

in 1922.Strobel, G. W. (1962). Arbeiterschaft und Linksparteien in Polen 1928—1938. Jahrbücher Für Geschichte Osteuropas, 10(1), 67–102. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41041893

References

{{Ukrainian Bolshevik Revolution 1917 establishments in Russia 1922 disestablishments in Poland Defunct socialist parties in Poland Defunct socialist parties in Ukraine Jewish Polish history Jewish political parties Jewish socialism Jewish Ukrainian history Labour parties in Ukraine Political parties disestablished in 1937 Political parties established in 1917 Political parties of minorities in Poland Political parties of minorities in Ukraine Political parties of the Russian Revolution Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Secular Jewish culture in Europe

See also

References