Kultur Lige
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The ''Kultur Lige'' (Culture League) was a secular
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
organization established in Kiev in 1918, whose aim was to promote
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 ve ...
language literature, theater and culture.Marek Bartelik, "Early Polish modern art: unity in multiplicity, Issue 7255", Manchester University Press, 2005, p. 140

/ref> The league organized various activities, including theater performances, poetry recitals, and concerts in Yiddish with the aim of disseminating Jewish art in Eastern Europe and Russia. Among some notable members of the organization were the
scenic designer Scenic may refer to: * Scenic design * Scenic painting * Scenic overlook * Scenic railroad (disambiguation) * Scenic route * Scenic, South Dakota, United States * Scenic (horse), a Thoroughbred racehorse Aviation *Airwave Scenic, an Austrian pa ...
Boris Aronson (who later worked on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
), the artist and architect
El Lissitzky Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Ла́зарь Ма́ркович Лиси́цкий, ; – 30 December 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Эль Лиси́цкий; yi, על ליסיצקי), was a Russian artist ...
,Aviel Roshwald, Richard Stites, "European culture in the Great War: the arts, entertainment, and propaganda, 1914-1918", Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 123

/ref> the writer David Bergelson, Joshua Rubenstein, Vladimir Pavlovich Naumov, "Stalin's secret pogrom: the postwar inquisition of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Issue 4713", Yale University Press, 2001, p. 145

/ref> the sculptor Joseph Chaikov, the writer
Peretz Markish Peretz Davidovich Markish ( yi, פּרץ מאַרקיש ) (russian: Перец Давидович Маркиш) (7 December 1895 (25 November OS) – 12 August 1952) was a Russian Jewish poet and playwright who wrote predominantly in Yiddish. ...
,Jeffrey Veidlinger, "The Moscow State Yiddish Theater: Jewish culture on the Soviet stage", Indiana University Press, 2000, p. 119

/ref> the poet David Hofstein,Nora Levin, "The Jews in the Soviet Union since 1917: paradox of survival, Volume 1", NYU Press, 1990, p. 201

/ref> and artist Issachar Ber Ryback. Bergelson, Markish and Hofstein were later executed on
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
's orders during the
Night of the Murdered Poets The Night of the Murdered Poets (; yi, הרוגי מלכות פֿונעם ראַטנפאַרבאַנד, translit=Harugey malkus funem Ratnfarband, lit=Soviet Union Martyrs) was the execution of thirteen Soviet Jews in the Lubyanka Prison in Mosco ...
, in 1952. Artists like Ryback and Lissitzky who were members of the group tried to develop a distinctively Jewish form of
modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
in which abstract forms would be used as a means of expressing and disseminating
popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
. The manifesto of the group, published in November 1919, stated: :"The goal of the Kulturlige is to assist in creating a new Yiddish secular culture in the Yiddish language, in Jewish national forms, with the living forces of the broad Jewish masses, in the spirit of the working man and in harmony with their ideals of the future."Victor Margolin, "The struggle for utopia: Rodchenko, Lissitzky, Moholy-Nagy, 1917-1946", University of Chicago Press, 1997, p. 27

/ref> It also listed the "three pillars" of the Kultur Lige as Yiddish education for the people, Yiddish literature, and Jewish art.Benjamin Harshav, "The Moscow Yiddish Theater: art on stage in the time of revolution", Yale University Press, 2008, p. 6

/ref> In 1919 members of the group, Victor Alter and Henryk Berlewi, organized a major exhibition of Polish-Jewish art in Białystok under the name "First Exhibition of Jewish Painting and Sculpture". The exhibition was targeted at the Yiddish speaking Jewish community, as well as the Polish workers of the city. During the same year, the organization helped to sponsor sixty three Yiddish schools, fifty four libraries and many other cultural and educational institutions.David E. Fishman, "The rise of modern Yiddish culture", Univ of Pittsburgh Press, 2005, p. 83

/ref> In 1920 the Kiev branch of the organization was taken over by the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
and the Jewish section of the
Soviet Communist party "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first)Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...
,
Yevsektsiya A Yevsektsiya ( rus, евсекция, p=jɪfˈsʲektsɨjə; yi, יעווסעקציע) was a Jewish section of the Soviet Communist Party. These sections were established in fall of 1918 with consent of Vladimir Lenin to carry communist revolut ...
, and subjected to the bureaucracy of the Soviet state. Its
printing presses A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...
were taken away, it was denied paper for publishing and its central committee was forcefully disbanded. As a result, the
Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
branch became the main center for the organization. Afterward, the remains of the Kultur Lige in the Soviet Union continued under the auspices of the Yevsektsiya as a publishing house, mostly focusing on Yiddish textbooks for children. In Poland, the League established offices in other cities such as
Wilno Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
and
Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...
. In 1924, it began to issue the ' magazine (based on the Polish ') (''Literary News''), which became the main forum for discussions by the Yiddish intelligentsia on subjects of art, literature and theater.


References

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External links


''Kultur lige: artistic avant-garde of the 1910s and 1920s''
(''Культур-Ліга: художній авангард 1910-1920-х років : альбом-каталог''),
Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...
, Дух і Літера, 2007. 1918 establishments in Ukraine Bundism in Europe Jewish anti-Zionism in Ukraine Jews and Judaism in Kyiv Yiddish culture in Ukraine Socialism in Ukraine Secular Jewish culture in Ukraine