Zionist-Socialist Workers Party (russian: Сионистско-социалистическая рабочая партия), often referred to simply as Zionist-Socialists or S.S. by their

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

initials, was a Jewish territorialist and

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 ...

political party 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. ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, that emerged from the ''Vozrozhdenie'' (Renaissance) group in 1904. The party held its founding conference in Odessa in 1905. In the same year the party sent delegates, among them

Nachman Syrkin , birth_date = , birth_place = Mogilev, Russian Empire (now Belarus) , death_date = , death_place = New York City, U.S. , spouse = Bassya Syrkin (née Osnos) , partner = , party = , ...

, to the Basle Seventh Zionist Congress. However, while the mainstream Zionist movement rejected the idea of a Jewish state anywhere but in

Eretz Yisrael The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Israe ...

, the Russian party favoured the idea of a Jewish territorial autonomy, outside of Palestine.Ėstraĭkh, G. ''In Harness: Yiddish Writers' Romance with Communism. Judaic traditions in literature, music, and art.'' Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2005. p. 30 Moreover, while territorial autonomy was the goal of the party, it dedicated most of its energy into revolutionary activities in Russia. Like other Russian revolutionary groups such as the

Narodniks The Narodniks (russian: народники, ) were a politically conscious movement of the Russian intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, ...

, the party was positive towards using

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

as a means of struggle against the establishment.

Jacob Lestschinsky Jakob Lestschinsky (also ''Jacob Lestschinsky'', ''Yankev Leshtshinski'', ''Yankev Leshchinski'', לשצ'ינסקי, יעקב; August 26, 1876 in Horodysche, Ukraine – March 22, 1966 in Jerusalem) was a Jewish statistician and sociologist who ...

, Volf Latsky-Bartoldi and

Shmuel Niger Shmuel Niger (also Samuel Niger, pen name of Samuel Charney, 1883-1955) was a Yiddish writer, literary critic and historian and was one of the leading figures of Yiddish cultural work and Yiddishism in pre-revolution Russia. Life Shmuel Niger was ...

were among the leading figures of the party.Frankel, Jonathan (ed.). ''The Jews and the European crisis, 1914–1921''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. p. 339 The party played an active role in the

1905 revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

. At the 7th congress of the

World Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization ( he, הַהִסְתַּדְּרוּת הַצִּיּוֹנִית הָעוֹלָמִית; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the ...

in 1905, the WZO formally rejected the ' Uganda Plan' (a proposal to resettle Jews in East Africa) after sharp debates. In response, the party and other territorialists withdrew from the WZO. The party grew rapidly, and became the second largest Jewish labour party after the Bund. The party organized 'neutral'

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s, in opposition to the Bundist unions. In the end of 1906, the party claimed a membership of 27,000. However, after 1906 the influence of the party began to decline sharply. Many leaders went into exile in Western Europe. The central organ of the party was the weekly

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 ...

newspaper '' Der nayer veg'', published from

Vilna 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 ...

1906–1907. The newspaper was closed down by the authorities in 1907. During the 1907 Stuttgart congress of the

Second International The Second International (1889–1916) was an organisation of socialist and labour parties, formed on 14 July 1889 at two simultaneous Paris meetings in which delegations from twenty countries participated. The Second International continued th ...

, 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 ...

decided to give a consultative vote to the party at the congress. The decision was, however, overturned a year later.Jacobs, Jack Lester. ''Jewish Politics in Eastern Europe: The Bund at 100''. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001. p. 185 In 1911 the Zionist Socialist Workers Party, the Jewish Socialist Workers Party and

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 ...

signed a joint appeal to the

, asking the International to recognize the national character of the Jewish people. In 1917 the party merged with the Jewish Socialist Workers Party, forming the

United Jewish Socialist Workers Party United Jewish Socialist Workers Party ( yi, פֿאַראײניקטע ייִדישע סאָציאַליסטישע אַרבעטער־פּאַרטיי, ''fareynikte yidishe sotsialistishe arbeter-partey'') was a political party that emerged in Russia ...

.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. 79.

References

{{Authority control 1904 establishments in the Russian Empire 1917 disestablishments in Russia Defunct socialist parties in Poland Defunct socialist parties in Russia Jewish political parties Jewish socialism Jewish Ukrainian history Labor Zionism Political parties disestablished in 1917 Political parties established in 1904 Political parties of minorities in Imperial Russia Political parties of the Russian Revolution Territorialism Zionism in Poland Zionism in Russia Zionist political parties in Europe Jewish groups in Poland Zionism in Ukraine Secular Jewish culture in Europe