Full
name
The General Jewish Labor Bund in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia
Short
name
Bundists
Years
of activity
1897–1921
Leaders
Victor Alter
Mikhail Liber
Raphael Abramovitch
The Bund (meaning “union” in Yiddish) was a Jewish social democratic party that operated in Russia, later in Poland and the United States. It was founded illegally in Vilna in 1897. The party united Marxist groups that were spread mainly among artisan workers. In 1898, it joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) as an autonomous part. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was the most numerous and cohesive organization of the party.
The RSDLP organizations were built on a territorial basis and united all party members who lived in a given area, regardless of nationality. The Bund demanded that the RSDLP recognize it as the only representation of Jewish workers on a national basis, and pointed out the need to create separate local organizations for Jewish party members. Also, the Bund representatives had repeatedly argued with the RSDLP leadership on the issue of Jewish cultural and national autonomy. Vladimir Lenin and other leaders of the RSDLP waged an active ideological struggle against the Bund’s position, which led to the Bund’s withdrawal from the RSDLP in 1903 (it joined the party again in 1906). Members of the Bund took an active part in the 1905–1907 revolution.
In 1917, the Bundists supported the February Revolution, which abolished all restrictions on the rights of Jews. In August 1917, after the final separation of the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, the Bund joined the Menshevik Party. The list of its leaders included the Bund chiefs, Mikhail Liber and Raphael Abramovitch. During the October Revolution, the delegation of the Bund together with the Mensheviks and socialist revolutionaries left the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets.
Abram Mutnik (“Gleb”).
Minsk. 1898 г.
SMPHR. F.IX Vs-21945
Abram Mutnik (real name: Mytnikovitch) (1868–1930),
in the early 1890s, organized Jewish workers’ circles in Vilna. He was a delegate to the Constituent Congress of the Bund (1897) and was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Bund. Mutnik represented the Bund at the 1st Constituent Congress of the RSDLP (1898).
Raphael Abramovitch.
The first quarter of the 20th century.
Raphael Abramovitch (real name: Rein) (1880–1963),
publicist, one of the leaders of the Bund and the Menshevik Party.
Victor Alter.
The first quarter of the 20th century.
Victor Alter (1890–1943),
one of the Bund leaders. In 1919–1939,
he was one of the leaders of the Bund and Jewish trade unions in Poland.
