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Parties and political organizations
Jewish political participation was made
possible thanks to emancipation and the formation of a
Jewish
intelligentsia. Jewish intellectuals contributed to the
development of
ideologies and inspired the foundation of mass political
parties.
Jewish activists were involved in most political parties
established
in Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century.
Towards the
end of the century, they began organizing the first Jewish
political
parties. The complicated situation of Jews in East Central
Europe meant
that their political ideas had to reflect the question of
Jewish
identity, including nationality, religion and culture. Party
activists
also had to take a position on social issues, which was
reflected in the
division of parties and political currents into left and
right.
In the 1880's, the Jewish workers' movement (primarily
associated
with socialism and Yiddishism) and Zionism took shape
simultaneously. In
the early twentieth century, Zionism was divided into left
and right,
which included a liberal center and a religious faction. The
small first
Jewish leftist groups were founded in Wilno, and modeled
themselves
after radical Russian organizations. Their activists
cooperated with the
[Russian] narodniki movement, and also contributed to the
formation of
Polish socialist groups, such as Proletariat,
Socjaldemokracja Krolestwa
Polskiego i Litwy ("Socialdemocracy of the Kingdom of Poland
and
Lithuania", SDKPiL), Polska Partia Socjalistyczna ("Polish
Socialist
Party", PPS) (socialism and Jews).
In 1897, the Bund was founded. Somewhat later, at the
initiative of
J. Pilsudski, the Jewish Organization of the PPS was
founded, which was
to counterbalance the Bund. In Galicia, as in the Russian
partition, the
Jewish workers' movement first organized [Jewish] trade
unions.
Assimilated members of the intelligentsia were also involved
in the
creation of the first leftist parties there, such as the
Polska Partia
Socjalno-Demokratyczna ("Polish Social-Democratic Party",
PPSD). In
1905-1906, the Zydowska Partia Socjalno-Demokratyczna
("Jewish
Social-Democratic Party") was founded, modeled on the Bund;
it supported
cultural and ethnic autonomy within the framework of the
Austrian
state. In 1912, the Jewish section of the PPSD merged with
it.
In the late nineteenth century, Zionism also influenced
Jewish
attitudes. The pro-Russian assimilationist movement
collapsed after the
wave of pogroms in the 1880's; at that time, many
assimilationists
became involved in the activities of Chibat Tsiyon, which
began
advocating Jewish settlement in Palestine. The Zionist
movement grew
rapidly after T. Herzl's book The Jewish State came out in
1896 (Polish
editions in 1917, 1933), and also after the first Zionist
Congress in
1897. After the Second Zionist Congress in 1898, three
districts of the
World Zionist Organization were created in Galicia: Krakow,
Lwow and
Stanislawow. In the Russian partition, the movement was
deemed a threat
to the state and was forced underground.
At the same time, a Zionist left was also forming. The
first group,
Poale Zion, was founded in 1897 in Minsk; it was then active
in the pale
of settlement, in Austria (beginning in 1904), and in the
United
States. In 1906, the All-Russian Jewish Socialist Party
Poale Zion, also
active in the Polish lands, was founded at the congress in
Poltawa
(Poltava).
A religious faction formed during the Zionist Congress
in London in
1901, making the movement more diverse. It took the name of
the
Organization of Orthodox Zionists, Mizrachi. From 1905, it
was
associated with the World Territorialist Organization, whose
members,
known as "territorialists", were very influential in the
Kingdom of
Poland. They stressed the need to create a national homeland
for the
Jews on a territory that would be internationally
guaranteed. One of the
projects under consideration was the colonization of Uganda.
The
Balfour declaration meant that the territorialists' ideas
became less
significant.
In addition to the large Jewish parties, there were also
smaller
groups operating in the Kingdom and Galicia, often of a
local nature. In
Warsaw, these included the Neo-Assimilationist party, a
liberal group.
It postulated national assimilation and treated Jews as a
religious
group. The Union of Unified Youth (Zjednoczenie
(Unification)) and the
Berk Joselewicz Scouting Union were associated with this
party. Jews
were members of Polish political parties, such as the
liberal Democratic
Party, which was active in the Kingdom of Poland at the turn
of the
century, and even National Democracy, in its early phase.
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One of the leaders of the Polish communist
movement was A. Warski (1868-1937), who in 1918 helped bring
about the
merger of SDKPiL and PPS-Left and the creation of the
Communist Party of
Polish Workers, later known as the Communist Party of
Poland. During
the First World War, Jewish political life grew livelier,
particularly
after the Germans entered the Kingdom of Poland and the
tsarist legal
restrictions were lifted. The elections in 1915 to the city
councils and
other local government offices contributed to this increased
activity.
The Zionist Organization in Poland was made legal. In 1916,
the
He-chaluts organization was founded.
The most important group founded during this period was
Agudat
Ha-ortodoksim [Hebrew, "Orthodox Union"], a
conservative-clerical party
operating within the framework of the world federation of
Agudas Isroel,
which had been in existence since 1909. The "folkists" also
became very
important (Yidishe Folks-Partay in Poylen), led by N.
Prylucki. During
the first years of the interwar period, the radical parties
were most
powerful (Bund, Poale Zion), along with the liberal
Zionists. In 1920, a
new Zionist workers' party, Hitachdut, was founded. In
elections to the
Jewish religious Communities, the Orthodox Agudas Isroel
party had
strong support.
Zionist parties were very successful in the elections to
the Sejm in
1922, gaining twenty-four seats (out of a total of
thirty-five 35
Jewish MPs); in the Senate, they had 7 of 12 [Jewish] seats.
Jewish
members of parliament formed the Jewish Caucus, which
cooperated with
the Block of Ethnic Minorities. Internal conflicts within
the parties
and Jewish groups led to a split in the vote, which in turn
meant fewer
MPs were returned to the Sejm and Senate sessions that
followed. Many
Zionists, representatives of Agudas Isroel, and Bund members
took part
in city councils.
The political situation began to change during the
1930's. A new
right-wing Zionist fraction took shape-the Revisionist
Zionists, who in
1935 founded the New Zionist Organization (Nowa Organizacja
Syjonistyczna (NOS). It criticized the World Zionist
Organization for
being too eager to compromise with the British Mandate
authorities in
Palestine.
After the Depression, leftist influence-both Zionist and
Bundist-began to grow. In elections to the Jewish religious
Communities
in 1938, the Bund was very successful in many cities. This
sparked
protests among Orthodox activists, who had previously held
the dominant
position in the Communities. The state authorities, however,
used these
protests as a pretext to declare the elections invalid and
appoint
boards in Warsaw and other places instead.
During the Second World War, all the Jewish parties and
associations
in German-occupied areas were disbanded, and their property
confiscated
by the Third Reich. Most of the political structures ceased
to exist as
a result of arrests, mass deportations, emigration of some
of the
leadership, or their escapes to the east.
Those who remained took up work in the ghetto
underground. At first,
self-help programs were the focus, such as providing extra
food and
engaging in civil resistance. Underground newspapers were
also published
(approximately fifty different titles just in Warsaw),
secret schools
were organized, and cultural and academic life was
supported. As early
as 1940, the Jewish Military Union was founded, made up of
revisionists.
It was the youth organizations that took the political
initiative in
the ghettos, however. These included Ha-shomer Ha-tsair,
Dror, Ha-noar
Ha-tsiyoni, He-chaluts, and Tsukunft, which prepared people
for armed
resistance. When the liquidation of the ghettos began, these
efforts
were rendered superfluous: many activists were sent to
camps, where they
perished. In the autumn of 1942, the Jewish National
Committee was
founded; somewhat later, the Jewish Coordination Commission
(Zydowska
Organizacja Bojowa, Jewish Combat Organization) was
established, uniting
most of the political parties in an effort to organize armed
resistance
in the ghettos.
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As a result, on April 19, 1943, an uprising
broke out in the Warsaw ghetto (which was the first armed
resistance
against the Germans in occupied Europe). There were also
other uprisings
and armed actions in ghettos in Bialystok, Wilno, Krakow,
Czestochowa,
Bedzin, Tarnow, Krzemieniec and Nieswiez.
In Soviet-occupied territories, political parties ceased
functioning. Most of the leaders of Zionist and Bundist
organizations
were arrested and imprisoned or sent to camps (such as W.
Alter and H.
Erlich). Some were also deported.
After the Sikorski-Majski treaty, there were ineffective
attempts
made to rebuild independent political life, taking advantage
of the
Polish Embassy that was opened in the Soviet Union. In
January 1943, the
Union of Polish Patriots (Zwiazek Patriotow Polskich, ZPP)
was founded,
which was completely subordinated to the Soviet authorities.
In 1944,
an Organizational Committee of Polish Jews headed by E.
Sommerstein was
created in the USSR under the aegis of the ZPP. It
participated in
negotiations regarding repatriation, and helped make it
possible for
Jewish citizens of prewar Poland to be included in the
repatriation.
In Lublin in 1944, some of the prewar Jewish parties
renewed their
activities. Bund started its activities again in September
1944, and was
the first to express its willingness to cooperate with the
new
authorities. In the Polish National Council (Krajowa Rada
Narodowa),
there were three Jewish representatives: M. Szuldenfrei,
representing
the Bund; Sommerstein form Ichud, and A. Berman, from Poale
Zion-Left.
In November 1944, the Central Committee of Jews in Poland
(Centralny
Komitet �yd�w w Polsce [CKZP]) was created following a
decision by the
Polish National Libration Committee. It was to include
[representatives
of] all legally existing Jewish parties.
By 1950, eleven Jewish parties existed, of which eight
were legal:
Bund, Poale Zion-Left, Poale Zion-Right, Ha-shomer Ha-tsair,
Hitachdut,
He-chaluts, Mizrachi and Ichud. Jewish communists were
granted limited
organizational independence, thanks to the Jewish Faction of
the Polish
Workers' Party (PPR), created under the aegis of the CKZP.
Agudas
Isroel, the revisionists (prewar NOS) and the Jewish
Democratic Party
(the prewar Yidishe Folks-Partay) were operating illegally.
The Zionist
parties wielded the most influence in Jewish society; of
these, the
liberal Ichud was particularly strong, having 8,000 members
in 1947,
while the Bund had only 1,500 members. The existence of
independent
parties was tolerated until 1949. The Jewish fraction of the
PPR lost
its organizational independence. The Bund was disbanded on
January 16,
1949. Next, the communist authorities set about liquidating
Zionist
parties, setting dates for their disbandment. (Mizrachi was
to disband
by December 1, 1949; Hitachdut by December 20, 1949; Ichud
by January 1,
1950; and Poale Zion by February 1, 1950.) Jewish parties in
Poland
ceased to exist, and most of their leadership emigrated in
fear of
persecution.
(G.Z./CM)
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