The Beginnings of the Jewish Social Democratic Workers Party, Po‘ale Tsiyon

Yaakov Zerubavel

1921

The first Po‘ale Tsiyon group in Poltava was born out of the theoretical battle between Zionism and the journal Iskra [the organ of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party]. Up until 1905, [Dov Ber] Borochov still represented General Zionism. Earlier, in Yekaterinoslav, he had worked as a member of the broad social-democratic organization with…

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Throughout his career in the Labor Zionist movement, Yaakov Zerubavel wrote personal and historical documents about Jewish left-wing parties, noting their evolution from the Russian Empire to the Mapam Party in the state of Israel. His work provides intimate biographical accounts of the early leaders of the Po‘ale Tsiyon (Workers of Zion) organization, including Ber Berochov. The founding period alluded to in the title of this work traces the growth of the workers’ organization from a clandestine cell to a recognized political party.

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Creator Bio

Yaakov Zerubavel

1886–1967

Yaakov Zerubavel (also Vitkin) was a journalist, editor, activist in the Po‘ale Tsiyon movement, and founder of the Mapam Party in Israel. Born in Poltava, Ukraine, Zerubavel was a fervent Yiddishist who sought to keep the language current in Israel. After living in Vilna and Lvov, and serving as editor of the Yidisher arbeter, he moved to Palestine in 1910, was arrested by Ottoman authorities during World War I, and spent time in the United States and Russia before returning to Palestine in 1935, where he served on the executive of the trade union organization Histadrut.

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