Tze'irei Zion ( he, צעירי ציון, "Youth of Zion", sometimes spelled as Zeire Zion) was a socialist Zionist youth movement in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

in the first half of the 20th century that branched into

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 ...

. The movement originated at the very beginning of the 20th century 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. ...

. ''The Jews of Kishinev'', translation of ''Yehudei Kishinev'', Tel Aviv, 195
p._122,_Section_"Tze'irei_Zion_[Youth_of_Zion
.html" ;"title="outh of Zion">p. 122, Section "Tze'irei Zion [Youth of Zion
">outh of Zion">p. 122, Section "Tze'irei Zion [Youth of Zion
/ref> The name is also translated as Young Zionists.A. Ludsk
The Young Zionists (Zeirei Zion)
from ''The Encyclopaedia of the Jewish Diaspora'', vol.2: Brest Lit(owsk) (''Brisk de-Lita: Encycolpedia Shel Galuyot'', Jerusalem, 1958), pp. 467-476 Initially Tze'irei Zion was opposed by more radical Zionist and socialist activists from Socialist Revolutionary Party and Bund (Russia), Bund, who viewed the movement as "reactionary". Among the major cities with cells of the movement were Chișinău (then known as Kishinev), Warsaw, Vilnius (then also known as Vilna), and Odessa, all initially within the Russian Empire and later in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, Lithuania and Poland as well after the collapse of the Empire after the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. During the 1905

Kishinev Pogrom The Kishinev pogrom or Kishinev massacre was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Kishinev (modern Chișinău, Moldova), then the capital of the Bessarabia Governorate in the Russian Empire, on . A second pogrom erupted in the city in Octobe ...

Tze'irei Zion issued a circular in which it called on the Jewish youth to organize self-defense units. During the

Second Aliyah The Second Aliyah ( he, העלייה השנייה, ''HaAliyah HaShniya'') was an aliyah (Jewish emigration to Palestine) that took place between 1904 and 1914, during which approximately 35,000 Jews immigrated into Ottoman-ruled Palestine, most ...

, many of the members of the movement emigrated to Palestine. In 1920 there was a major split in the movement due to the difficult circumstances during the Third Conference of the movement in Kharkov, which happened a week after Poland invaded Ukraine and captured Kiev, due to which a significant number delegates could not attend. The delegates who were present decided to cooperate with

Bolshevik Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

and established the (1920-1926). It operated legally in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, until the clamp-down and emigration of nearly all members to Palestine and joined

Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda ( he, אַחְדוּת הַעֲבוֹדָה, lit. ''Labour Unity'') was the name used by a series of political parties. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period ...

. Another part joined the

Hapoel Hatzair Hapoel Hatzair ( he, הפועל הצעיר, "The Young Worker") was a Zionist group active in Palestine from 1905 until 1930. It was founded by A.D. Gordon, Yosef Aharonovich, Yosef Sprinzak and followed a non-Marxist, Zionist, socialist agenda ...

Zionist group and operated illegally in the Soviet Union.מפלגת ציונים סוציאליסטיים
fro
תנועות מחתרת ציוניות בברה"מ
by Yaakov Bar-Haim, 1972 A similar left-right split happened in 1923 among the members of the movement which stayed in Poland after the Russian Revolution.

Notable members

Aharon Becker Aharon Becker ( he, אהרן בקר, 21 December 1905 – 24 December 1995) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1955 and 1974. Biography Born in Kobryn in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus), Becker was educ ...

* Max Lazerson *

Yisrael Bar-Yehuda Yisrael Bar-Yehuda ( he, ישראל בר-יהודה, 15 November 1895 – 15 May 1965) was a Zionist activist and Israeli politician. Biography Born Yisrael Idelson in Konotop, in the Chernigov Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Sum ...

Yitzhak Coren Yitzhak Coren ( he, יצחק קורן, born 11 March 1911, died 22 June 1994) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Mapai and the Alignment. Biography Born in Chişinău in the Russian Empire (now in Moldova), Core ...

Yosef Sprinzak Yosef Sprinzak ( he, יוֹסֵף שְׁפְּרִינְצָק; ) was a leading Zionist activist in the first half of the 20th century, an Israeli politician, and the first Speaker of the Knesset, a role he held from 1949 until his death in 1959. ...

References

{{authority control Jewish socialism Zionist organizations Zionism in Europe Zionist youth movements Youth organizations based in Europe