Isaac Nachman Steinberg (; 13 July 1888 – 2 January 1957) was a lawyer, a Left Socialist-Revolutionary, politician, People's Commissar under

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, and a leader of the Jewish Territorialist movement and writer in

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

and in exile.

Biography

Early life and first exile

Steinberg was born in Dvinsk,

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 ...

(today

Daugavpils Daugavpils (see also other names) is a state city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city derives its name. The parts of the city to the north of the river belong to the historical Latvian region ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

), into a family of orthodox

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

merchants. He was raised in a traditional religious home. In 1906, Steinberg entered

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

, where he studied law. He joined 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 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia. The party memb ...

(also known as SRs). He was arrested in 1908 and sent to

Tobolsk Tobolsk (, ) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1587, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and was the historic capita ...

province for 2 years. After exile he left for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and studied at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

, graduating with a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

Return to Russia, political career and second exile

In 1910, Steinberg returned to Russia and worked as a lawyer. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he conducted

anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...

and revolutionary work, was arrested in 1915 and exiled to the

Ufa Governorate Ufa Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire with its capital in the city of Ufa. It was created in 1865 by separation from Orenburg Governorate. On June 14, 1922 the governorate was transformed i ...

. He continued his work as a lawyer in Ufa, where he led the

Left Socialist Revolutionaries The Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries-Internationalists () was a revolutionary socialist political party formed during the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the Socialist Revolutionary Party split between those who supported the Russian Prov ...

of the Ufa province. He was elected a delegate of the City Duma, was a member of the Executive Committee of the Ufa Council of Workers and Soldiers and the All-Russian Council of Peasant Deputies; participant in the

All-Russian Democratic Conference FIle:Президиум всероссийского демократического совещания.jpg, 300px, Presidium of the All-Russian Democratic Conference (Petrograd, Alexandrinsky Theater, September 27 – October 5, 1917) The All-Ru ...

; Member of the

Provisional Council of the Russian Republic Provisional Council of the Russian Republic (, (also known as Pre-parliament) was a legislative assembly of the Russian Republic. It convened at the Marinsky Palace on October 20, 1917, but was dissolved by the Bolsheviks on November, 7/8, 1917. ...

. Steinberg condemned the uprising in Petrograd, but became part of the Ufa Provincial Commissar of Agriculture nonetheless. He was elected to the

Russian Constituent Assembly The All Russian Constituent Assembly () was a constituent assembly convened in Russia after the February Revolution of 1917. It met for 13 hours, from 4 p.m. to 5 a.m., , whereupon it was dissolved by the Bolshevik-led All-Russian Central Ex ...

on the list of Socialist Revolutionaries from the Ufa province. He soon after became a member of the Left SR central committee. From December 10, 1917 to March 1918, he was People's Commissar (

Narkom A People's Commissariat (; Narkomat) was a structure in the Soviet state (in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in other union and autonomous republics, in the Soviet Union) from 1917–1946 which functioned as the central executive ...

) of

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

's government during the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

s' short-lived coalition with the left wing of the SRs. On December 18, 1917, some members of the Constituent Assembly by Dzerzhinsky, but Steinberg released them. On December 19, 1917, he signed an “Instruction” to the

Revolutionary Tribunal The Revolutionary Tribunal (; unofficially Popular Tribunal) was a court instituted by the National Convention during the French Revolution for the trial of political offenders. In October 1793, it became one of the most powerful engines of ...

on the termination of systematic repressions against individuals, institutions and the press and sent a corresponding telegram to the Soviets at all levels. From December 1917 - January 1918, the Council of People's Commissars examined Steinberg's claims against the

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

several times. On December 31, 1917, the

Sovnarkom The Council of People's Commissars (CPC) (), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (), were the highest executive authorities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), the Soviet Union (USSR), and the Soviet republics from 1917 ...

, on his initiative, decided to delimit the functions of the Cheka under the

Petrograd Soviet The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (, ''Petrogradsky soviet rabochih i soldatskikh deputatov'') was a city council of Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), the capital of Russia at the time. For brevity, it is usually called the Pet ...

. After the scandal caused by the murder of Andrei Ivanovich Shingarev and Fyodor Kokoshkin on the night of January 6–7, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars, after hearing the report of Steinberg, instructed the NKJ to “as soon as possible verify the thoroughness of the detention of political prisoners ... all those who cannot be charged within 48 hours should be released”. According to the decision of the Soviet government, Steinberg determined the amounts that the prisoners in Kresty had to pay as a deposit before being released, as the prison doctor Ivan Manukhin testified: On January 11, at his suggestion, the

decided to investigate the activities of the

People's Commissariat A People's Commissariat (; Narkomat) was a structure in the Soviet state (in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, in other union and autonomous republics, in the Soviet Union) from 1917–1946 which functioned as the central executive ...

, the Bolsheviks

Pyotr Krasikov Pyotr Ananyevich Krasikov (; 17 October Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 5 October1870 – 20 August 1939) was a Russians">Russian revolutionary and Soviet statesman, as well as a jurist ...

and Mechislav Kozlovsky were accused by Steinberg of illegal activities. During a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars in February, Lenin presented the draft of a decree, " The Socialist Fatherland in Danger!". In it, there was a clause calling for the execution "on the spot", meaning a loose category of criminals defined as "enemy agents, speculators, burglars, hooligans, counter-revolutionary agitators, ndGerman agents". Steinberg expressed objection because a "cruel threat ... with far reaching terroristic potentialities." He stated "Lenin resented my opposition in the name of revolutionary justice. So I called out in exasperation, "Then why do we bother with a Commissariat for Justice? Let's call it frankly the 'Commissariat for Social Extermination' and be done with it!" Lenin's face suddenly brightened and he replied, "Well put ... that's exactly what it should be ... but we can't say that". On February 18, 1918, he released Vladimir Burtsev from prison. In March–April 1918, Steinberg confronted

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (; ; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed Iron Felix (), was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka a ...

. In the spring of 1918 he saved Prince George Lvov, who was about to be executed by the Ural Bolsheviks under Filipp Goloshchekin, with Steinberg ordering Lvov's release along with two other prisoners under a written undertaking not to leave Yekaterinburg. On March 15, 1918, he resigned his post and left the SNK in protest against the

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

. On March 19, as part of the southern delegation of the Left SR Central Committee, he went to

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

to organize partisan detachments. From there he went to the south of the country, visited

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

, and took part in the

All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets The All-Ukrainian Congress of Soviets (, ) was the supreme governing body of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1917–38. From 1922 to 1938 the Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR, modeled on the 1918 Russian Constitution, mandated tha ...

Yekaterinoslav Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

. Steinberg was elected to the All-Ukrainian Central Committee of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries. Together with

Boris Kamkov Boris Davidovich Kamkov (; June 3, 1885 – August 29, 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, a leader of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, and a member of the Council of People's Commissars. He was killed during the Great Purge. Early years Boris ...

and Vladimir Karelin, he became the organizer of the Main Military Headquarters of the Left SRs in

Taganrog Taganrog (, ) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don (river), Don River. It is in the Black Sea region. Population: Located at the site of a ...

. In the spring of 1918, he actively participated in the Second Congress of the Left SRs. He delivered a speech approving the withdrawal of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries from the SNK and warned of the danger of the Soviet bureaucracy. He was arrested by the Cheka on February 10, 1919 and spent four and a half months in custody. In 1923, having been warned that he was in danger of assassination, Steinberg again moved to

and took his young family to live with him in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Here he joined the

International Working Union of Socialist Parties The International Working Union of Socialist Parties (IWUSP; also known as the 2½ International or the Vienna International; , IASP) was a political international for the co-operation of socialist parties. History The IWUSP was founded on 27 Feb ...

(Vienna International), after which the All-Russian Central Executive Committee deprived him of Soviet citizenship.

Freeland League

After the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

came to power in 1933, Steinberg, his wife and three children settled in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. There, he was one of the co-founders of the Freeland League, which attempted to find a safe haven for European Jews fleeing

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. The League selected the

Kimberley region of Western Australia The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on ...

as a place to purchase agricultural land where 75,000

Jewish refugees This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews. Timeline The following is a list of Jewish expulsions and events that prompted significant streams of Jewish refugees. Assyrian captivity ...

from Europe could be resettled. This effort became known as the Kimberley Plan, or Kimberley Scheme.Steinberg, Isaac Nachman (1888–1957)
by Beverley Hooper, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 16, Melbourne University Press, 2002, pp 298–299. Online Ed. published by Australian National University Steinberg based his campaign on the officially declared need to populate northern Australia. On 23 May 1939 he arrived in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and by early 1940 gained substantial public support, but also encountered opposition. Steinberg left

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in June 1943 to rejoin his family in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. On 15 July 1944 he was informed by the Australian Prime Minister

John Curtin John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having been most ...

that the Australian government would not "depart from the long-established policy in regard to alien settlement in Australia" and could not "entertain the proposal for a group settlement of the exclusive type contemplated by the Freeland League". Steinberg continued his efforts in spite of setbacks. In 1946, the Freeland League started negotiations with the Surinamese and Netherlands governments about the possible resettlement of 30,000 Jewish displaced persons from Europe in the

Saramacca District Saramacca is a district of Suriname, in the north. Saramacca's capital city is Groningen, with other towns and cities including Batavia, Kampong Baroe, Uitkijk, Maho and Boskamp. Saramacca has a population of 17,480 and an area of 3,636 km ...

of Surinam. A delegation of the League headed by Steinberg, accompanied by Henri B. van Leeuwen and N. Fruchtbaum, visited Surinam in April 1947. In August 1948, the Surinamese parliament decided 'to suspend the discussions until the complete clarification of the international situation'. The negotiations were never resumed. Steinberg was a prolific Yiddish writer, editor and prominent cultural activist, who played an important role in the development of the Yiddishist movement. Steinberg was an Orthodox Jew; it is rumored that during his short tenure as Commissar of Justice he refused to work on

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

, much to Lenin's dismay. Isaac Steinberg died in New York in 1957. His son was the distinguished art historian Leo Steinberg.

Political views

Steinberg's political views were essentially

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 ...

, although he defined himself as a Left Eser or Left

Narodnik The Narodniks were members of a movement of the Russian Empire intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, Narodnism or ,; , similar to the ...

. Russian Left Esers proposed a radically decentralized federation of worker

syndicates A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Fren ...

, councils and cooperatives whose delegates are chosen by direct democracy and could be revoked at any moment. Unlike many anarchists, Steinberg believed that it is possible and necessary to form a political party whose task would be the destruction of the state from within. He also noted, like some contemporary anarchists, that even an established syndicalist federation would not be completely free of elements or "crystals" of organized power. According to Steinberg, even a relatively free and stateless social system has to acknowledge the existence of some reminiscent government-like structures within itself, in order to decentralize or dismantle them and further "anarchize" the society. Steinberg viewed anarchism as an underlying principle, spirit, and drive of revolutionary socialism, rather than as a concrete political program with an ultimate goal. Therefore, he refrained from equating his syndicalist ideas with "anarchism", because such an equation, in his view, would have compromised the very subtle and perpetual nature of anarchist principles.אין קאַמף פֿאַר מענטש און ייִד, Buenos Aires, 1952 Steinberg was a leader of the Jewish Territorialist movement. He worked hard to establish a Jewish self-managed territory, but did not support the idea of the Jewish

nation-state A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are (broadly or ideally) con ...

and was highly critical of

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

movement politics. After the establishment of the

State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, he supported the idea of creating a binational federation in Israel/Palestine and, at the same time, continued his efforts to establish a compact self-ruled Jewish settlement somewhere outside the Middle East.

Works

* "Нравственный лик революции" ("''Moral Face of the Revolution''"), Berlin, 1923 * ("''Memoirs of People's Commissar''"), Warsau, 1931 * ''Gewalt und Terror in der Revolution. (Oktoberrevolution oder Bolschewismus)'', Berlin 1931 (2nd edition Berlin 1974, 3rd edition Bremen 2024, with new german subtitle: Das Schicksal der Erniedrigten und Beleidigten in der russischen Revolution) * "''Spiridonova: Revolutionary Terrorist''". Translated and edited by Gwenda David and Eric Mosbacher. London, 1935 * ("Lived and dreamed in Australia"), Melbourne, 1943 * ''Australia: The Unpromised Land'' (London, 1948) * ("''With one foot in America: People, Events and Ideas''"), Mexico, 1951 * ("''In Struggle for Man and Jew''"), Buenos Aires, 1952 * ''In the Workshop of the Revolution'', New York, 1953

Notes

References

External links

Isaac Steinberg Archive
at marxists.org
Guide to the Papers of Isaac Nachman Steinberg
at the YIVO Institute, New York, NY
YIVO Encyclopedia Entry
Safe Haven. Records of the Jewish Experience in Australia. (The National Archives of Australia) {{DEFAULTSORT:Steinberg, Isaac 1888 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century anarchists 20th-century Russian Jews American anarchist writers American male non-fiction writers American Orthodox Jews American people of Latvian-Jewish descent Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews Cultural activists Jewish American non-fiction writers Jews from the Russian Empire Latvian anarchists Latvian Orthodox Jews Left socialist-revolutionaries Members of the Provisional Council of the Russian Republic Orthodox Jewish anarchists Orthodox Jewish socialists People from Dvinsky Uyezd People's commissars and ministers of the Soviet Union Russian Constituent Assembly members Russian syndicalists Soviet emigrants to the United States Soviet expatriates in Australia Soviet expatriates in Canada Soviet Jews Writers from Daugavpils Yiddish-language writers