Abraham Frumkin (; 1873 – 29 April 1940) was a Jewish author, journalist, and

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

. Born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, Frumkin was the son of Israel Dov Frumkin, a pioneer of Hebrew journalism, and the brother of Gad Frumkin, who would serve as a judge on the Supreme Court of Palestine during the British Mandate era. He spent a year in

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

as an Arabic teacher before moving to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

in 1891 to study law, but did not graduate due to lack of funds. In 1893, he went to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and came in contact with anarchist ideas for the first time. By 1894, he had returned to Constantinople with many anarchist books and propaganda material. The house of Moses Schapiro from South Russia and his wife Nastia was a space for young activists, such as himself. Schapiro, who fled from Russia because of his revolutionary activities, was inflamed by Frumkin's new ideas and went together to Paris and London. In those places, Frumkin took all the books he could get about anarchism –

Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later ...

, Reclus, Malatesta – back home. In 1896, Frumkin, still a young man, moved from Constantinople to London. He became a friend of Rudolf Rocker. In 1896, they decided to go to London to open a print shop for Yiddish anarchist booklets. Many years later, he wrote a book about this time titled ''From The Spring Period of Jewish Socialism''. Schapiro had to return to Constantinople in 1897. He left his print shop to Frumkin, who decided to publish his own little paper, ''Der Propagandist'' (11 issues) ending in 1897. After living briefly in British cities Liverpool and Leeds (1898), Frumkin stayed in Paris for one year. In 1899, he returned to America. Schapiro was later engaged in the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

and co-founded in 1922/23 the International Workers' Association in Berlin. Frumkin returned to the US, where he died April 29, 1940.

References

1872 births 1940 deaths 20th-century anarchists 20th-century Israeli Jews Anarchist writers Ashkenazi Jews from Ottoman Palestine Israeli anarchists Israeli people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Jewish anarchists Printers Writers from Istanbul Writers from Jerusalem Writers from London Writers from New York City Yiddish-language writers {{Anarchist-stub