Aron Isaakovich Vainshtein, (23 November 1877 – 12 March 1938) known by the ''

nom de guerre A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

'' Rakhmiel, was a Jewish socialist activist and politician in

Soviet Belorussia The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

.YIVO Encyclopedia.
Vainshtein, Aron Isaakovich
' In 1897, Vainshtein graduated from the Vilna Jewish Teaching Institute. In 1898, Vainshtein, now based in

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 official ...

, joined the General Jewish Labour Bund. He quickly emerged as the leading figure in the Warsaw Committee of the Bund. During the early period of the Bund movement, Vainshtein's Warsaw faction opposed the line of calling for Jewish national rights of John Mill's Geneva-based leadership. The fourth Bund congress in 1901 elected him to the Bund Central Committee. In 1914 he was exiled to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

, where he remained until the 1917 February Revolution. The tenth Bund congress elected him as the Chairman of the Bund Central Committee. Along with the rest of the Bund Central Committee, he shifted to

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

. He was elected as chairman of the Minsk City Duma. Inside the Bund, Vainshtein came to vacillate between centrist, rightist, and leftist positions. On the question of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

he placed himself in the centrist camp but he sided with the Bund right-wing in condemnation of the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

. As the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

emerged and with the

German Revolution of 1918–1919 The German Revolution or November Revolution (german: Novemberrevolution) was a civil conflict in the German Empire at the end of the First World War that resulted in the replacement of the German federal constitutional monarchy with a d ...

he moved to the left. As the Bund split at the April 1920 twelfth congress, Vainshtein and his sister-in-law

Esther Frumkin Esther Frumkin ( yi, עסטער פרומקין; 1880 – 8 June 1943), born Malkhe Khaye Lifshitz be, Малка Янкелеўна Ліўшыц, translit=Malka Jankyelyeǔna Liǔšyc and also known as Mariya Yakovlevna Frumkina be, Мары́ ...

led the pro-communist Kombund majority faction. During 1920 and 1921 Frumkin and Vaynsthteyn were the key leaders of the Kombund. Vainshtein served as the Kombund representative in the Military Revolutionary Committee of Belorussia from August to December 1920. In December 1920 he was named the acting chairman of the Belorussian Council of National Economy. While heading this body, he was accused by the

Yevsektsia 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 revoluti ...

(Jewish Section of the Communist Party) of implementing a petty bourgeois Bundist economic policy. Unity talks between the Kombund and the Communist Party lasted for months; in the end the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...

ordered the Bund to dissolve itself. At an Extraordinary All-Russian Bundist Conference, held in Minsk on March 5, 1921 the delegates representing some 3,000 party members debated disbanding the Communist Bund.explanatory note to , from documents archived at the Central Party Archives, Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the C.C., C.P.S.TJ. At the conference Vainshtein spoke in favour of disbanding the Kombund and merging with the Communist Party. In 1921 he was inducted into the

Central Bureau, where he remained until 1924. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic from 1921 to 1922. Between 1923 and 1930 he served on the board of the People's Commissariat of Finance of the USSR. He was a board member of

KOMZET Komzet (russian: Комитет по земельному устройству еврейских трудящихся, ) was the ''Committee for the Settlement of Toiling Jews on the Land'' (some English sources use the word "working" instead of ...

, becoming its deputy chairman in 1928. During the 1930s he headed the Moscow branch of

OZET OZET (russian: ОЗЕТ, Общество землеустройства еврейских трудящихся) was the public Society for Settling Toiling Jews on the Land in the Soviet Union in the period from 1925 to 1938. Some English sourc ...

. Vainshtein was arrested in February 1938. He reportedly committed suicide after ten days in detention.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vainshtein, Aron 1877 births 1938 deaths Belarusian Jews Bundists