The Jewish Socialist Workers Party (, 'SERP', which means '

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting or reaping grain crops, or cutting Succulent plant, succulent forage chiefly for feedi ...

' in Russian), often nicknamed ''Seymists'', was a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. The party was founded in April 1906, emerging out of the ''Vozrozhdenie'' (Renaissance) circles. The ''Vozrozhdenie'' was a non-

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

tendency which was led by the nonmarxist thinker and politician

Chaim Zhitlowsky Chaim Zhitlowsky (Yiddish: חײם זשיטלאָװסקי; ) (April 19, 1865 – May 6, 1943) was a Jewish Socialism, socialist, philosopher, social and political thinker, writer and literary critic born in Ushachy Raion, Ushachy, Vitebsk Governora ...

. Zhitlowsky became the theoretician of the new party that advocated with the same emphasis Jewish self-reliance and socialism. Leaders of the party included Avrom Rozin ( Ben-Adir), Nokhem Shtif, Moyshe Zilberfarb and Mark Ratner. The party was close to the

Socialist-Revolutionary Party The Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR; ,, ) was a major socialist political party in the late Russian Empire, during both phases of the Russian Revolution, and in early Soviet Russia. The party members were known as Esers (). The SRs were ag ...

(PSR).Pinkus, Benjamin.
The Jews of the Soviet Union: the history of a national minority. (Soviet and East European Studies)
'.

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

: Cambridge University Press, 1988; p. 44 The party favored the idea of a Jewish National Assembly (a Seym). It envisaged a federation of nationalities in Russia, each led by an elected body of representatives with political powers inside their community. At a later stage, the Jews would seek territorial concentration.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, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

: Syracuse University Press, 2005. p. 30 The party actively supported

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

language and culture. The party published the Yiddish-language newspaper ''Folks-shtime'' ('People's Voice') from

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

and

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. The party also published the organ ''Vozrozhdenie''. During the 1906 period, the party had 3,000 of its cadres organized in paramilitary self-defense units. However, about 400 of them were killed or wounded in fighting and 1,000 arrested. In 1907 a formal alliance between SERP and the PSR was signed, making SERP a sub-section of the PSR. The alliance was however mainly the product of the relations between Zhitlowsky and Mark Ratner, and did not have full support from the SERP grassroots. Many local SERP branches wanted unity with the Marxist groups rather than the PSR. Through the link-up with PSR, SERP was included in the

Second International The Second International, also called the Socialist International, was a political international of Labour movement, socialist and labour parties and Trade union, trade unions which existed from 1889 to 1916. It included representatives from mo ...

. Just after the deal with PSR, SERP gained a consultative vote at the 1907

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

congress of the International.Jacobs, Jack Lester. ''Jewish Politics in Eastern Europe: the Bund at 100''. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001; p. 185 In 1911 SERP, Zionist Socialist Workers Party and Poalei Zion signed a joint appeal to the

International Socialist Bureau The International Socialist Bureau (French: ''Bureau Socialiste International'') was the permanent organization of the Second International, established at the Paris congress of 1900. Before this there was no organizational infrastructure to the "Se ...

, asking the International to recognize the national character of the Jewish people. In 1917 the party merged with the Zionist Socialist Workers Party, forming the United Jewish Socialist Workers Party.Schatz, Jaff. ''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. 79.

References

{{authority control Political parties of the Russian Revolution Jewish political parties Jewish socialism Political parties established in 1906 Defunct socialist parties in Russia Political parties disestablished in 1917 1906 establishments in the Russian Empire Political parties of minorities in Imperial Russia Secular Jewish culture in Russia Yiddish culture in Russia Socialist Revolutionary Party