The Jewish Labor Bund

As a jewish anti-zionist, I first came across the Jewish Labor Bund in 2020 while exploring alternatives to mainstream zionist institutions. The Labor Bund was a socialist party which was most active in the Pale of Settlement during the early 20th century. Its focuses included general workers' rights and the fight towards socialism, protection and preparation against anti-semitism, and the celebration and maintenance of yiddishkeit (yiddish language and culture). Especially relevant to today - as young jews struggle to find their way as they shed the zionist communities we grew up in and fight for Palestinian liberation - Bundists were in direct opposition to early zionists of the same era and disputed their focus on finding a place for Jews to form their own nation-state. My mother had never heard of Bundism either but after introducing her to this discovery, she discovered her zayde (grandfather) had been registered to the local Bund in Chicago near the turn of the century. Here I plan to collect resources on the history of the Bund, as well as its modern iterations; we can't expect to create a way out of zionism unless we can image a different future and organize together.

Short personal essay on the need for a modern Bundist movement (written in 2021)

(Note: obviously, even more important right now than feelings on Jewish culture is the horror that Palestinians face at the hands of zionists every day. Moving our relatives and institutions away from zionism is only one part of the fight for Palestinian liberation, but it is a part that anti-zionist Jews must take on. However, I think the information here can be interesting to anyone with an interest in socialist and/or anti-zionist history.)

Further study:

• Revolutionary Yiddishland: A History of Jewish Radicalism
• How the Jewish Labor Bund Changed After WWII
• Treyf Podcast: The General Jewish Labor Bund pt. 1-3
• Yiddish and the Jewish Identity
• The Stars Bear Witness: The Jewish Labor Bund 1897-2017

Modern Bundist libraries and organizations:

• International Jewish Labor Bund
• Cafe Bund - organizing a multi-language Bundist library in Krakow, Poland
• Der Spekter - an online collection of Bundist perspectives, original artwork, journalism, and more.
• The Jewish Diasporist podcast