âEretz Israel belongs to the Mapai party and the Polesâ â this is how Israeli communists spoke to Mizrachi Jews in the early 1950s, prior to the arrival of the GomuÅka Aliyah, painting the elites of Mapai as coming from a foreign, minority culture.1 Shortly afterwards, a Polish Jew, Moshe Sneh, became leader of the Israeli communists. His activity in Poland as the leader of the General Zionists, his work as a journalist, and his participation in the September campaign of the Polish Army were political and military demonstrations that were highly appreciated in Israel. His command of the Haganah in Palestine allowed him to join the Israeli establishment. In 1954 Moshe Sneh joined Maki (the Communist Party of Israel). Although he was a communist,2 he felt he was a leader of the same stature as, for example, Ben-Gurion. The acceptance of new olim in Maki and the feeling of cultural belonging they found there, beyond ideology, were the result of some Maki leaders having emerged from the community of Polish Jews. The ability to understand the experiences of Jews from the diaspora, especially those from Poland who had survived the Holocaust, meant a lot to the new olim and could play a role in them forming a connection with Makiâs community.3 The GomuÅka Aliyah presented a rare opportunity for Maki to expand its group of members, especially the Jewish sector; it could allow Maki to strengthen its Jewish grassroots communities with people from cultural and political spheres that were familiar to its leaders. At that time, it was thought that it would allow for the enlargement of the electoral base, to which â with the help of Walka [The Fight] â they wanted to stay connected.
6.1
The first large wave of active communists to arrive in Israel after the war came with the GomuÅka Aliyah. At that time, the structure of Maki was clearly divided along ethnic lines, with Jewish leaders and Arabs composing the general membership. Because of the leftist sympathies of the GomuÅka Aliyah, the Israeli communists saw it as a rare opportunity to enlarge their electorate in the upcoming election in 1959. Makiâs mobilization effort to gain support from this aliyah was greater than that of the other parties; none of the other political groups held as many conventions and meetings for Polish Jews as Maki did at that time.4 The significance of the GomuÅka Aliyah in Maki was also growing significantly due to ethnic reasons. Maki was divided into separate Arab and Jewish groups, scattered throughout various Arab towns. The decentralized structure and separation of these two ethnic groups led to intraparty rivalry between Arabs and Jews, which was further driven by inequality and class stratification between them.5 Among the rank-and-file communists, the ruptures and differences that had previously existed beneath the surface exploded in moments of crisis for the party, leading to a division into separate sections and factions. Events in the partyâs history have shown that Marxism
The partyâs goal is, as asserted in the âcongressâ speeches, âto awaken the olim from a state of apathy, torpor, helplessness, and powerlessness â to fight, to act.â A beautiful, glorious statement. There only remains the question of what language will be used to utter this magical spell that is meant to awaken from lethargy the âsleeping princessâ â the masses of olim. For slogans formulated in a stiff, Russian-sounding language
no longer resonate with us â the olim from Poland. If they suited us, we wouldnât have escaped from them by land and sea, to a completely different part of the world. ⦠These exceptionally unsuccessful formulations in the field of communist demagogy were, after all, available to us in abundance there, and perhaps even in a superior, more intelligent version.8
Maki was joined by activists hardened by work in the communist movement and shaped in the prewar Communist Party of Poland,9 faithful to Marxist ideology. Maki also gained followers because it supported anti-fascist movements. Many Polish Jews were also sympathetic to communism and Moscow due to memories of the Holocaust and the ussrâs participation in liberating them from fascist occupation. Polish Jews who joined the Israeli communists declared: âWe, a nation of ghettos and death camps, a nation of victims of fascism and Nazism, a nation of victims of Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Treblinka, know who murdered us and who liberated us. [â¦] Hundreds of thousands of Israeli citizens â victims of Nazism â realize that they survived thanks to the victory of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Army.â10 In light of the recent events of the Holocaust, the support for anti-fascist organizations seemed to be a manifestation of political realism, securing Jewish interests in a political center other than the West. In addition, Maki activists hoped that the maladjustment of the new olim and their longing for Polish culture, despite the risk of marginalization in Israel, would eventually push the olim in their direction.11 There was therefore an urgent need to establish a newspaper in Polish in order to establish contact between the party and these new olim. And so Walka was created.
6.2
The first issue of Walka was published in January 1958. It was one of many foreign-language newspapers owned by Maki. The chronology and number of Makiâs foreign-language publications can serve as a key to describing its ethnic character and the relative strength of members belonging to various groups, as well as the ethnoracial politics of the party. The ethnic identity and cultural diversity of the party can be discerned in the languages used, the strongest of which were initially Yiddish, Arabic, and Hebrew.12 In the first years after the end of World War ii, there was a strong presence of Romanian and Bulgarian press publications, corresponding to the number and organizational potential of Jews from these countries.13 However, there were no publications in Polish due to the low number of communists coming to Israel from Poland; they were not mentioned as a significant group in Shabakâs reports.14 After the arrival of the GomuÅka Aliyah, Adolf Berman, the editor of Walka, justified the need to publish it as follows: âFor a long time, the need to create this necessary platform has been growing. After all, almost one third of the population of Israel is from Poland â 150,000 Polish Jews came to Israel after World War ii. Now a progressive Polish-language newspaper is being requested by a large number of new olim who do not want to be forced to rely solely on reactionary press contending with progressive ideas and socialism.â15 Adolf Bermanâs speech urging for the creation of Walka was primarily propaganda; it did not indicate the actual reasons for the absence of Polish-language publications on the Israeli market until the mid-1950s. Most of the Jews who decided to come to Israel shortly after the end of World War ii had strong connections to Jewish culture, so they were satisfied with the Yiddish press, which was very popular at that time. The meetings of Maki leaders with party members from outside the Arab
The editor of Walka was Adolf Berman. He was an important figure in the politics of remembrance17 who was esteemed as one of the ghetto heroes.
Despite the initial reluctance of Polish Jews towards Maki, Walka gained the attention of readers from the GomuÅka Aliyah. This was largely due to the difficulties the olim faced in adapting and the fact that Walka offered an incisive assessment of Israeli reality. With the constant influx of new citizens to Israel, ethnic, class, and racial differences naturally arose, as did antagonism and dissatisfaction. The problems of overcoming the difficulties of everyday life and the lack of work and housing pushed into oblivion the anti-Semitic events that had been the cause of their departures from Poland. However, questions returned: âThey cannot in any way cope with the question that torments them â how did it happen that they left a socialist country and came to a capitalist country?â23 Makiâs political power grew out of the general privation and feeling of being lost in their new home experienced by former communist activists from Poland; while longing for their country of origin, Maki became a comforting place for them to gather. This was apparent at meetings and congresses: âThe great and impressive national congress of new olim from Poland struck all three parties of the government coalition like a hammer to the head. Over 1,000 new olim came from 55 cities, settlements, and villages, from all over the country, to the call of the Communist Party of Israel [Maki] â it gave a beautiful and worthy response to Israeli reactionaries and their âleft-wingâ allies. [â¦] The reactionaries began to sound an alarm that the communists were gaining control of the aliyah from Poland.â24 The communists tried to utilize the helplessness and powerlessness of the new olim by translating it into votes and real power. The communist party built its strength on them. Maki leaders held ideological meetings and conducted political discussions that allowed freshly arrived communists from Poland to identify with the worldview they were most familiar with,25 especially in light of the everyday difficulties they faced while settling in their new home. âThe olim came to this
They were drawn towards the Israeli communists by their ideological proximity. Due to its position on the Israeli political scene, Maki could not help them in their everyday difficulties. Maki was a legal party in Israel, gaining a small sphere of influence in the local government, the Knesset and Histadrut, but at the same time its anti-state propaganda limited the political space in which it could be accepted. Some olim, wishing to obtain state aid after their arrival â employment and housing â hid their involvement in communism or supported the Israeli communists discreetly. Israeli security forces were afraid of an increase in anti-state attitudes, and when Maki began publishing Walka, Shabak grew even more vigilant. A letter sent by Elkana Margalit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Jewish Agencyâs Propaganda Department, and then to Shabak, stated: âA communist daily newspaper, Walka, is being published. It has been said that itâs very popular among the new olim. Iâve already told you at our meetings that the Communist Party is spreading propaganda among the new olim from Poland. It seems that the matter is now very important and very urgent, so at our next meeting we need to discuss it.â27 Correspondence between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Jewish Agency, and Mapai shows, on the one hand, the way Israel was organized â a âparty stateâ â and the domination of Mapai and, on the other hand, Shabakâs reaction against the publication of Walka, which was to closely monitor it as they did other communists in Israel.
The aliyah in the second half of the 1950s triggered fierce rivalry between Israeli political parties for the new olim from Poland. Of course, the strongest competition was between Maki and the groups on the left side of the political spectrum that were the closest to it ideologically â Mapam, Ahdut HaAvoda, and the Bund.28 It was in response to the communistsâ Polish-language newspaper
In competition with other Polish-language press publications, Walka was in a much worse position since it was forced underground and deprived of free and widespread distribution. People were forbidden from reading Walka in
Social ostracism limited the free reception of the newspaper, which was supported by voluntary contributions from party supporters. Before the elections, there were appeals for fundraising; financial campaigns were carried out, including a press fund, with the following appeal: âThe Communist Party of Israel [Maki] is the only party in Israel that has no other means at its disposal than the support given to it by the members and supporters of the party, the working people.â36 In contrast with the powerful propaganda machine of Mapai, which could tempt people with jobs and subject communists to intimidation and surveillance, Makiâs means were very modest. Communists appealed to the unemployed37 and low-wage public sector workers to contribute to Makiâs election fund: âWe appeal to all our readers: tax yourselves liberally for the Communist Partyâs electoral fund! Provide the necessary funds for a momentous battle to defend the interests of the working class and the working people of Israel.â38
Unlike other Israeli parties, the press publication of the Israeli communists was extremely significant for their group; it was a daily ideological guide, especially for people living in difficult conditions and on the margins of society. The idea was to be well informed and to maintain close ranks and solidarity
The underground political life of the Communist Partyâs members forced them to support the sole daily platform for communication and connection between them â the press â with financial contributions. The Polish legation in Tel Aviv provided facilitation and support for the Polish Jews connected to the communist party. It took advantage of their longing for their country of origin and their attachment to their political past, and under the banner of promoting the country from which the new olim came, it built a network of contacts that could also be used by Maki. Its political branch was the Israel-Poland Friendship League.40 It used the new olim to build local branches of the league, which also became meeting places for supporters of the Israeli communist party.41 The new Polish olim were called upon to create organizational committees in all major centers, which would take the initiative to create local branches of the league.42 In the first half of 1958, branches of the league existed only in Tel Aviv and Haifa, and in the period from 1 July to 31 December 1958, they were formed in Jerusalem, Kiryat Gat, BeÊ¿er Sheva, Kiryat Chaim, Givat Olga, Holon, Beit ha-Rusi, Rishon le-Tziyon, Ezra Bitzaron, and Netanya. Additional smaller groups â âcirclesâ â were established that sympathized with Poland. Due to financial shortages, these were not formal structures within the league, but the leagueâs board of directors coordinated with them to organize talks, screen films, and lend out newspapers and books. People were attracted to the league by a feeling of âfamiliarityâ â it conveyed a sense of the old country, with its ceremonies and academies.43 Their opponents from Mapam
Due to the large number of immigrants from Poland arriving in Israel in the past two years, our party needs to carry out a special kind of propaganda and organizational work among these new members of the Israeli population. [â¦] The broad and intense activity developed
among immigrants by all the Zionist political parties publishing several newspapers in Polish, as well as the need to further develop our propaganda work, puts before us at least the task of transforming the Polish-language monthly newspaper Walka into a weekly. At the same time, weâve decided to expand the field of cultural activity of the Israeli-Polish Friendship Society,49 which is an important tool for our work among new immigrants. It is also extremely important in view of the fact that even those Polish immigrants who sympathize with our party are afraid of closer acquaintance with it because of political and economic terror. The Israeli-Polish Friendship Society could serve as a kind of substitute platform for their progressive activities. The transformation of Walka into a weekly publication will undoubtedly further increase the financial losses we face. What is more, the expansion of the cultural activity of the Israel-Poland Friendship Society is also conditioned to a large extent by the already very limited financial possibilities of this organization. Due to the importance of publishing Walka as a weekly, especially in connection with the upcoming elections to the Congress of Trade Unions and general elections to the Parliament and municipal authorities, and due to the importance of expanding the cultural activities of the Israel-Poland Friendship Society, we decided to ask you for some brotherly help for these purposes. In connection with the above, we ask you to grant us monthly aid of 1,000 Israeli lira for the weekly publication of Walka and 500 lira per month for the expansion of the cultural activities of the Israel-Poland Friendship Society.50
A very primitive printing house (in which there was only one linotype, just an old-style one, and an old printing machine). [â¦] As the printing room was quite high, a wooden gallery was built 1.5 meters from the ceiling, on which the âeditorial officeâ was set up. To enter the âeditorial officeâ directly from the printing room, very steep, wooden stairs were used. Editors had to run up and down these dangerous stairs dozens of times a day and night to deliver editorial materials for printing. Since there were no windows in the âeditorial office,â which was divided into three cubbyholes by pieces of plywood, it is easy to imagine how hot and stuffy it was during summer days, and how cold the air was that blew from the concrete ceiling during winter. The noise of the machines in the printing room and the fumes rising from it tormented the editorial team and disturbed them in their work, which required calm and intense concentration. The working conditions were also hampered by the lack of a telephone.54
The April âvespersâ came. Spring blossomed and there was the smell of orange groves. And there were the memories of past times. A decision was made to hold ceremonies once a year in honor of the victims of Nazism. This year it coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Third Reich and the opening of the embassy of the German Federal Republic in Tel Aviv. One could get dizzy from too much happiness. Everyone was glad in their own way. As happiness is an individual feeling, some were happy about the defeat of Nazism, others were happy about the fact that a new stream of money would flow from Germany into the country. [â¦] In these weeks of early spring, I usually return to the ghetto [â¦] and once again wander through the narrow streets of the northern district of Warsaw. And I look at the wall made of ordinary red bricks that separated us from the rest of the world â a world that broke away from us and remained indifferent for a few years, and silent [â¦]; everyone turned away from us, holy Jerusalem was silent, and the Vatican also said nothing. [â¦] On such April days, I live the ghetto life again. I talk to them. To those who did not survive the ghetto. And sometimes I hear their thoughts and my own memories.59
I am lying in an invalidâs bed in the hospital. I was pleasantly surprised when I read a beautiful and very interesting interview in Maariv on the 17th day of the month. [â¦] I read every word with a deep feeling of satisfaction. My wife, reading the same article, was also very proud that the Great Hero of Battles in the Warsaw ghetto is our doctor. My sick friends also read about it with admiration, and when I told them that Dr. Ryszard
Walewski is our primary doctor, that we have the honor of having him among our acquaintances, they even looked at us with adoration.60
In Israel, the political silence around the events of the Holocaust and the personal experiences of its victims provoked and mobilized the firsthand witnesses to commemorate its victims. This is what Ryszard Walewski dedicated himself to in his journalistic work.
In Walka, you can also find articles by Ewa SÅucka-Kestin, who was a teacher from Warsaw and an inspector of Jewish schools in Lower Silesia. In Israel, her articles were also published in the Yiddish-language newspaper Frei Israel, where she was the editor of the literary section. J. Lipski, meanwhile, was mostly concerned with the fate of the new olim. Many articles were reprints of articles from Makiâs Hebrew-language newspaper, Kol Ha-Am, written by Makiâs leaders â Moshe Sneh, Adolf Berman, and Shmuel Mikunis â which were also published in other foreign-language communist newspapers. Maki was very attractive to the new olim because of their ideological values, and also because of the biographies of Makiâs Polish leaders.
The presence of Walka on the market had a much greater influence than just the cultivation of opinions among Polish Jews, Makiâs supporters. It provided significant content that the Israeli Zionist parties, especially those in the ruling coalition, avoided. Certainly Walka became a forum for those who, not liking Mapai, could publish articles that did not fit into the formula of the newspapers and magazines published by the parties forming the governing coalition. It was a platform for Polish Jews, free from bias, but it should be remembered that it printed the opinions mostly of disillusioned new olim, propaganda materials from the Polish legation in Tel Aviv, and reprints from Kol Ha-Am.
6.3 Controlled Adaptation of Communists
Choosing to align with the communist group in Israel meant choosing political isolation.61 Identification with communism caused real everyday challenges in obtaining employment and often limited oneâs work options to the low-paid labor sector. It also caused problems in obtaining a flat; when one was available, most often it was in the sparsely populated regions of the country. The
The national issue was no longer clear to the new olim: âItâs very surprising to witness peopleâs silence â the same people who, in Poland, were able to justify their decision to go to Israel in an ardent and convincing manner but who now curse the psychosis of the government of that time, etc.â63 It must be remembered that the evolution of the communist party occurred in parallel with the positions taken by the ussr on Jewish and Israeli issues. One year after the creation of Israel, relations with soviet Russia were so good that Israeli communists also felt stronger in internal affairs â the partyâs interests were directly connected with Moscowâs politics. According to Yisraʾel Barzilai: âBecause âLunikâ has reached the moon, people should vote for Maki [in the elections].â64 But as time passed after the creation of the Jewish state, Israelâs relations with the ussr began to deteriorate, and Israeli communists started to be treated as agents of a foreign power. Becoming the propaganda mouthpiece of Moscow, Maki condemned itself to functioning in permanent conflict with mainstream Israeli politics, gaining the nickname âthe fifth column.â65
Mapai and its allies did everything they could to intimidate people. [â¦] When, a few days before the election, news spread that the Communist Party of Israelâs [Makiâs] list had been approved by Histadrutâs central leaders, Mapai and Mapam activists were furious and unleashed an angry campaign against the communists. The Mapai propagandists went from house to house and promised money and work â as long as people didnât vote for the communists. They threatened that they would know how everyone had voted.67
I donât know where the organ in charge of this committee is, but we feel its involvement everywhere, while visiting various institutions. It would be possible to present many facts about how the employees of Histadrut examine the beliefs of new olim. Many among the new olim who have been out of work for a long time and do not receive adequate help are finally finding out that their political beliefs are the cause of this discrimination. It must be made clear that some new olim were deceived by Israelâs legation in Poland. Before they left for Israel, they openly declared in the legation that they were members of the Polish United Workersâ Party and asked how they would be treated in Israel. I myself received the answer that I could go to Israel confidently and join the Communist Party without hesitation, that [Shmuel] Mikunis and other communists are members of the Knesset, and so on. Maybe it was naive of me to take this
answer seriously. It was only once I arrived in Israel that I became aware that the reality here is completely different. They prevent me from working and abuse me every step of the way. Iâve heard more than once: âGo to Moscow!â And I am not the only one.68
Weâre still feeling very excited after the joyful meetings during which our fellow countrymen bent over backwards to showed us kindness. After that storm, we encountered the silence of indifference. We became âhomeless.â But the entire apparatus of protectionism was put in place, and the recommendation cards started to be distributed. [â¦] As soon as the slightest possibility of employing ten people appeared on BeÊ¿er Shevaâs horizon, 30 people were sent there. One day I came back from the Labour Office, very happy to have obtained a work card. [â¦] When I arrived, I was not the first or the only one. 29 other men were waiting behind me. I didnât turn out to be among the lucky ones â those ten who had some kind of magical symbols on their cards that only the work manager understood.70
The strength of a card depended on the party, as well as on the position of the leader or activist who had issued it. You had to belong to, or at least identify
Under these conditions, in the eyes of the new olim, a normalized, regulated, socialist system with weak but stable living conditions had been established in Poland, especially as it concerned people bearing the heavy baggage of political and professional experience that could not be translated into successful adaptation â that is, obtaining work â in Israel. Moreover, the Israeli communist party was a party of elderly people; it was much more difficult to attract young people who had been swept away by the collective Zionist ethos and the challenges of building the state. Military service and involvement in the defense of the state activated young people and inspired Zionist values in them. Because of their age, among other things, communists could not find a comfortable place for themselves in a kibbutz. Recruitment for kibbutzim was very selective; they did not accept older people â that is, those over 40 years of
Recently, a man named Kalman Wyszegrodzki has been giving hideous speeches in the synagogue in which he attacks the olim from Poland for not being good Jews, for having brought âgoyâ wives with them and, of course, for being communists ⦠However, he defends the newly arrived Romanian Jews because they are âgod-fearingâ and did not bring any âgoyâ wives with them. As for the Jews from Africa and Asia, there is nothing to say about them at all because they are wild people.82
In Israel, he was suspected of being a âgoyâ at school, and he started to be bullied. The teachers themselves were the instigators of this harassment! As a result of these rumors, they started to check whether he was a âgoyâ in the manner that had been practiced by Nazi thugs on the streets of Polish cities! I would like to stress that this was last week, in the twentieth century, in a country that is considered democratic. Who carried out this âinspectionâ? A teacher â a grown woman with a ten-year-old boy! Apart from the social and political aspects, what does this kind of behavior demonstrate?83
With the growing power of the rabbinate and religious communities, the communists provided a certain functional space, the liberalism that the new olim had been expecting and an escape from nationalism.84
Polish communists in Israel felt degraded. Some were well-educated people, intellectuals who had followed the communist current in the countries of the Soviet bloc, but in Israel they found themselves on the social and political margins. Participation in the Israeli communist movement was an attempt to maintain their former political sympathies. Despite anti-Semitic events, some of the new Polish olim still maintained the âcorrectâ course dictated by Moscow. Certainly, in the case of this group, apart from the political aspects, the longing for their country of origin also contributed to their criticism of Israel.85
6.4 Israeli Communists and the International Communist Movement
Disapproval of the Israeli governmentâs foreign policy and Moshe Snehâs belief in the soviet bloc were largely antiâBen-Gurion in nature. Ben-Gurionâs departure from the prime ministerâs office in 1963 weakened Snehâs need to maintain a clear distance from the governmentâs leadership, especially since he was on good terms with Ben-Gurionâs successor, Levi Eshkol, a pragmatic politician with whom Sneh had served in the army. The politics of the countries belonging to the Soviet bloc, which allowed for greater independence during the rivalry between Moscow and Beijing from 1961 to 1963, also triggered a desire among the Israeli communists to forge their own path. This was especially true because the interests of the Soviet Union were linked to the Arab world, and thus it was becoming harder to justify supporting them in Israeli politics.
The rivalry between these groups was also manifest in their seeking recognition from the international communist community. A race began, which had its finish line in Moscow. The Kremlin did not conceal its dissatisfaction with the division of the Israeli communist community, for two basic reasons. First, this division exposed the fact that ethnic issues proved to be stronger than class ties, internationalism, or ideological cohesion. Second, Moscow feared
Rakach had a similar problem. This partyâs attitude to the Arab-Jewish conflict placed them far from mainstream Jewish society, and they definitely needed to aim their program at the Arabs. After splitting from Rakach, Maki made changes to its press publications. The frequency of the Hebrew-language publication Kol Ha-Am, the strongest newspaper of the Israeli communist community, was significantly reduced. In December 1969, it went from daily to weekly editions. With this change, circulation declined seven percent. Adding to this problem, the predominance of the Jewish content in this newspaper limited its reception among Arab party members.92 Yet the party depended on the Arab electorate for votes and it was necessary to reach it through the press. Maki liquidated those press publications that had been in favor of Vilnerâs faction, which became Rakach. This was the fate of the Romanian and Bulgarian newspapers. These groups had been highly visible and active in Maki before the division, and the liquidation of their newspapers left them disillusioned with Maki, starting a trend of people leaving Maki for Rakach and other
In the election, about 80 percent of Jewish communists voted for Maki and 20 percent voted for Rakach, while only 2.7 percent of Arab communists voted for Maki and 97.3 percent voted for Rakah. These numbers reveal that Rakach still had some substantial support from the community of Jewish communists, while the Arab community had almost wholly abandoned Maki.94 It is worth noting one more tendency revealed in the elections â Maki received 204 votes in the kibbutzim, which shows that in this sensitive Zionist segment of Israeli society, the return to âoneâs ownâ was acknowledged and well received. Before the division in the party, in the elections to the Fifth Knesset, Maki won a total of five seats, whereas in this election for the Sixth Knesset, Rakach won three seats, and Maki won only one, gradually disappearing from the political scene. Rakach gained 20 percent of the votes among the total Arab population and 0.2 percent among the total Jewish population.95 Although Rakach tried to explain its advantage over Maki by designating itself as the only true communist party, in reality its superior results can be explained by the growing Arab electorate, which Maki could not reach with its clear image as a Jewish party.96 On the other hand, a Jewish communist party did not have much chance of expanding its electorate among the Jewish population â on the left side of the political scene it had limited space in which to expand and had many competitors.97 With its ethnic label, Maki did not differ much from the former
After the partyâs split, Moshe Sneh tried to link Maki to Moscow, but eventually their interests began to diverge significantly. The ussr wanted to build its position in the region through the Arab population and states. Just before the Six-Day War, Moshe Sneh, former commandant of the Haganah, understood that the Kremlinâs politics were certainly not going to lead them to back Israelâs interests in the Middle East, its independence, or its security. For a large number of Jewish Maki members, the Six-Day War ultimately destroyed any remaining faith in communism and the ussrâs neutral and peaceful policies in the Middle East. After the Six-Day War, Moshe Sneh distanced himself from communist and internationalist ideas, returning to Jewish national interests. âMaki is inextricably linked to the Jewish nation. If it breaks away from it and from its tradition, it will cease to exist,â he said.100 A similar sentiment was expressed by the leaders of the communist movement in Poland who immigrated to Israel after the events of March 1968. âWhen, after 1967, Moshe Sneh met David Sfard101 at a traditional Shabbat dinner, they felt they were finally home â it was a natural, spontaneous reconciliation, and the bridge leading to it was the sense of belonging to the Jewish nation,â Efraim Sneh recollected.102 It was Jewry, not Zionism nor communism, that turned out to be the most important thing for them â loyalty to the nation and to other Jews, and the deepest loyalty to those who had been murdered in the Holocaust.103
6.5
Maki had always been a marginal party in Israeli politics, but by the time of the 1969 election, the party had become almost completely irrelevant. Ideological issues were perhaps the only incentive that still drew supporters to Maki at that time. Many Jews who immigrated to Israel from Poland after 1967, alienated from Jewish culture and in a completely unfamiliar political environment, clung to their memories and experiences of working in the communist movement â even after the events in Poland in March 1968 that were, on the one hand, both anti-Israel anti-Semitic, and, on the other, pro-Soviet but not pro-Arab. In the political declarations of the new Polish olim, the subject of the state resonated clearly. Political leaflets addressed to Jewish communists from Poland stated, âMaki needs our support in its fight against the anti-Israeli and false declarations of Rakach.â104 Most of the communists who had arrived in the March Aliyah belittled Rakach, denying its legitimacy as a party of international communism and characterizing its activities as mere jingoism and defense of Arab interests.105 These olim were well-educated people and experienced communist activists â âvatikim of communism,â as Raul Teitelbaum called them.106 For Maki, which experienced political failure after the Six-Day War and was marked by traces of Soviet politics, the acceptance of these new activists was a last attempt to defend its political existence.
A small group of communists from Poland came to Israel after 1969 and founded the Union of Longstanding Activists of the Revolutionary Workersâ Movement in Maki. As one of its activists wrote, the union, apart from its formal registration, was not very politically active. Its main activity was limited to publishing a bulletin in May 1969 with a title identical to the name of the union.107 The aim of the union was to attract new olim to Maki and keep
Our readers are searching for new ways to reeducate the workersâ movement, and Biuletyn wholeheartedly supports this reeducation, for it has no other means. [â¦] In our opinion, Biuletyn is the bridge between the old communists and the party that fills the vacuum after our complete break from the degraded and anti-Semitic Polish United Workersâ Party. We would also like our Biuletyn to become in the future a press organ
connecting all the communists currently banished from Poland, scattered all over the world, with our political and social center in Israel. We believe that time will heal all wounds and that the comrades will understand that Maki has nothing to do with the powerful politics of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its satellites, and they will no longer identify it with the degraded Polish United Workersâ Party.110
Biuletyn was mainly subscription-based. Its distribution followed in the footsteps of the scattered March Aliyah.111 It was intended for former âcomradesâ who had left Poland during the March Aliyah and had gone to Scandinavian countries, Western Europe, the United States, and Canada.112 Correspondence coming from outside Israel shows that it was popular among the communist émigré community in Munich, for example. âIt is passed from hand to hand. It is read by people with different views, even those who do not agree with us politically. But it is enough that they are Jews,â Leon Rajski reported.113
From a firsthand source in Poland I know that various leaders of the Polish Peopleâs Republic read Biuletyn carefully and that instructions
were sent along the border control line to intercept Biuletyn if it appeared anywhere. What were they most afraid of? Not of highlighting the position of Maki or any other faction of the workersâ movement in Israel â they were most afraid of how they would be judged by people who had been connected with the revolutionary movement in Poland for decades and these peopleâs familiarity with the way present-day Poland was being ruled, not from the formal side, but from inside. As soon as Biuletyn came to Poland, Gierek116 received it on his desk in the morning with the things that were the most interesting for the Polish United Workersâ Party highlighted in red pencil. People in Poland want to know not what the press writes about GaÅek and Werblan117 because they know that the press lies brazenly and that, depending on the need, creates new biographies. Nobody in Poland [illegible â E. K.] knows that this fancy-pants, Jew-eating Werblan was an agent of Luna Brystygier;118 I saw his file myself. ⦠These scoundrels should be beaten in the most sensitive place â this is what Gierekâs team is most afraid of! Of course, the topic of the Israeli workersâ movement is an important one, and we should devote a lot of time to it, because it isnât an isolated issue in the international movement. However, the matter I raised at the outset will not be taken care of for us by anyone, because nobody knows about it. We need Biuletyn to be quoted by the international press â then the shitheads [from] the Polish Peopleâs Republic will understand something more â that the expulsion of the âkikesâ from Poland was not a trivial matter, and that something has to be paid for it. Addressing these matters in Biuletyn, within a wider scope than before, will create a base for you that nobody has ever had before.119
When I left the party, I did not change my worldview, and I still consider myself a communist by conviction. I left the ranks of the Polish United Workersâ Party only because this party, like many other communist parties (and workersâ parties by name), has strayed far from communist principles and slogans in its practical activity. Personally, I think that many of those who have left the party (and perhaps even the vast majority) still consider themselves communists â but let them speak for themselves on this subject. I take the liberty of explaining this fundamental difference between communists and party members.121
The following appeal was made to Polish communists in the last aliyah: âWe express our gratitude to you and recognition that despite your tragic moral experiences, and the injustice and humiliation youâve suffered, youâve given wholehearted support to Maki. [â¦] At the same time, we protest and express contempt for those who, for their personal ends and benefits, identify Maki with the Polish United Workersâ Party, which has become degraded and devoid of ideology.â122 Distancing themselves from the Polish United Workersâ Party was also a protective screen for the biographies of some people, a defense against the complete failure of their involvement in communism, sometimes for their whole lives. In this way, Maki had a chance to gain their votes. For example, in Kiryat Sharet (a settlement of new olim in Holon), out of 120 people from Poland entitled to vote, 80 voted for Maki, which positively surprised even the partyâs activists.123
After the elections we return to our everyday concerns, normal activities, and peaceful reflections. None of us can break away from the past, nor can we recover from everything that has happened and what is still happening in the socialist camp. Nobody has experienced the tragedy that befell the workersâ movement after the recent anti-Semitic events in Poland as deeply as we have. We would like to stress that most of us, after our arrival in Israel, wholeheartedly supported Makiâs efforts in its struggle for a different face of socialism, but none of us wants any longer the type of system that was created there (even without anti-Semitism).124
We donât need to write to you about what kind of mood prevails among our comrades exiled from the country, or about the trials and tribulations involving passports, customs, political affiliations, etc. that theyâve gone through. [â¦] Among the comrades who are staying in ulpanim and are cut off from us, there is a pessimistic mood, and for now they do not want
to hear about us. [Jakub] Wasserszturm is currently in an ulpan, and he is completely devastated. Artur Fiszer, who has recently arrived in Israel, is in the ulpan in Ashdod and is also avoiding us. We are sure, however, that when the crisis has passed in their country and they have gotten over the shock, the ice will be broken, and they will join us. Former activists from the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland â [Józef] Goldkorn, [Ignacy] Felhendler, [Aleksander] Wolfowicz [Wulfowicz], [David] Sfard â have not been involved in our work so far, although we assume they voted for Maki. Felhendlerâs daughter was even the leader of Makiâs election commission. Goldkorn works for Letzte Nayes and, truth be told, he avoids us and, at the slightest opportunity, demonstrates his apolitical attitude. In general, journalists who, right until the last moment of their life in Poland, were standing firmly on âthe center lineâ have now suddenly fallen to the other extreme and praise everything that happens here, even though many things are bad.126
The all-encompassing apathy of the Jewish communists in Maki had a fundamental source: their activity had fallen apart when faced with the ethnic issue, had burned out, and had shifted towards the political center. It had certainly shifted more towards Israel, and thus further away from Moscow. It can be assumed that the communists from the last aliyah, banished for nationalistic reasons, yearned for social acceptance. Some people, just discovering their origins for the first time or returning to Jewishness, wanted a clear ethnic and state identity.127 An examination of Makiâs situation on the Israeli political scene shows that those who voted for Maki in the 1969 elections did not have a sense of permanent identification with it. Political life in the party was dwindling. The group of new olim â experienced communists who had been disappointed and banished by anti-Semitism from the communist âparadiseâ â was not able to reinvigorate it. Maki was losing the power to play any pragmatic role in Israeli politics and was disappearing into the shadows. Although it tried to sustain its political style and tout the partyâs unity during the elections, the
Maki lacked an electorate and had lost faith in ideology. Its political path had disappeared, and the new olim were not able to change this; the inertia of this sense of defeat was so great that they did not even care about those members among the new olim who wanted to play an active role within the party: âAlthough nobody bothers us, itâs not enough to exist and be active,â complained Leon Winiawski, seeking organizational and financial support from Maki for Biuletyn.129 Before the election, Maki allocated 1,000 lirot for the publication of Biuletyn, without committing to further payments. It was so weak that it was unable to bear even small expenses:130 âWe are so financially strained that we are never sure if we will manage to publish the next issue of Biuletyn.â131 Biuletyn had exhausted the formula of printing party membersâ memoirs, and the new olim lacked a clear plan for the future â their vision and philosophy of action were replaced by slogans expressing strength and unity. Interest in the topic of âthe Polish road to communismâ had waned. Readers of Biuletyn sent letters asking to be removed from the list of subscribers.132 The preserved copies of Biuletyn show that the newspaper was published, with some breaks, for a few more years and then ceased in the mid-1970s.
In Israel it was not easy to be a communist or even a Marxist: the prevailing Zionist ideology contained religious elements (Zion, Jerusalem, Eretz Israel) and, for a long time, was associated with the philanthropy of the wealthy (it existed in symbiosis with capitalism). It also caused conflicts with the Arabs, who could not be members of the Israeli Zionist parties until the 1950s. This is why Mapam could not be communist, but Maki could be anti-Zionist and Arab-Jewish. Communist propaganda often led to boycotts of Israel; unlike
6.6 The Israeli Epilogue of Po Prostu and the Bund
On 19 November 1958, the first issue of Po Prostu: Pismo MyÅli Socjalistycznej w Izraelu [Quite Frankly: A Journal of Socialist Thought in Israel] was printed. Unlike other Polish-language press publications, the header expressly identified this paper as âa dependent press organ.â134 The newspaper was financially connected with the Israeli Bund.135 Its agenda was associated with the liberal group of olim who arrived after 1956, who were seeking community in socialism. They decided to name their newspaper after a preexisting one with a powerful-sounding title: Po Prostu.136
A small group of Bund activists existed in Israel from the 1920s onwards,137 but the organization wasnât formally established until 1951. Due to its
Encouraged by a steady, albeit small, increase in interest in the Bund during the 1950s, it decided to play a more active role in the political life of Israel. After the 1955 elections, when many Bundists felt that none of the Israeli parties was expressing their interests, the Bund decided to take part in another election campaign in 1959. The partyâs leaders realized that it would be difficult for them to translate their ideology into the politics of a Zionist state, so they did not expect to obtain the required one percent of the votes that would allow them to sit in the Knesset, but they hoped to build a Bund platform, or at least to strengthen and mark their partyâs presence on the Israeli political map. The Bundâs electoral platform included four important objectives: freedom and equality of all citizens (emphasizing equal rights for the Arab community and a secular state without the dominance of religion in public space), a change in the relationship between the state and the Jewish diaspora, a synthesis of the diasporaâs cultural heritage in Israel (including a proper place for the Yiddish language), and peaceful coexistence with the neighboring Arab states.147
The Bundâs propaganda, critical of the state, sought an audience outside its movement, mainly among disappointed new Israeli citizens. In 1957 the Bund had over 1,000 members. Two years later, in the Knesset elections, it received 1,300 votes. Shortly afterwards, the Bundâs press publication Lebens Fragen had about 2,000 readers, which means that it was also attracting readers outside the Bund community (most of whom were probably also Bundists living abroad).148 Undoubtedly, the left-wing GomuÅka Aliyah might also have increased support for this party. As an antiestablishment group, the Bund gave Jewish immigrants a space to express dissatisfaction and disappointment, and looked favorably on those who wanted to return to the diaspora and affirm their ties with Jewish life there. The GomuÅka Aliyah was left-wing in character, and in the first years after they arrived these olim were so disappointed with
The person responsible for the launching of Po Prostu in Israel was Szumski, also known as Stammer or Gabriel Cichocki (in another document, his real name is given as Ryszard Ciechocki). Before he left Poland in 1957, he had supposedly been a member of the Socialist Youth Union, which may explain his attempts to establish a similar organization in Israel and his launch of Po Prostu. At the end of 1958, he appeared in the Bundâs administration office, introducing himself as a representative of the newly established socialist youth organization, determined to fight for the introduction of true socialism in Israel. At that time, the Israeli Bund was led by a former member of the Communist Party of Poland who had become a Bundist, Eihenbach, also known as Artur Artuski, who intended to run for the Knesset in the upcoming election. The general secretary of the Bund, Mordechaj KuÅnier, was also from Poland and had immigrated in 1957. Both Artuski and KuÅnier, just before the 1959 Knesset election, were pleased that there were young people in the ranks of the Bund, giving it a young and progressive image. Artuski therefore agreed to financially support the socialist youth organization and even agreed to print their materials free of charge in the Bundâs printing house. Another one of Szumskiâs successes with the Bund was to convince its leaders to edit a youth magazine in Polish â Po Prostu â which was meant to be directly connected with the Union of Socialist Youth. The leaders of the Bund not only supported the idea of publishing a new Polish-language newspaper but also made space available at their headquarters at 48 Kalischer Street in Tel Aviv. The editorial office was headed by the childrenâs book writer Jerzy Herman (the name of the editor-in-chief printed in the masthead, Witold Wolkosz, was Jerzy Hermanâs pseudonym), who was born in Kraków on 12 July 1932.149 He survived the war in Hungary (1942â45), and from there he returned to Kraków. He was a journalist and columnist; in Poland he worked in the political editorial office of Polish Radio in Kraków, and from 1955 to 1956 in the Katowice branch of Sztandar MÅodych [Banner of the Youth]. He also collaborated with the magazine WspóÅczesnoÅÄ [Contemporary Times]. He immigrated to Israel in 1957. He did not take an active part in youth organizations in Poland.150 In
Po Prostu, a symbol of the political thaw in Poland, had the power to attract readersâ attention. Po Prostu âguaranteed interestâ:153 âGoing through the drabness of my daily student routine, running along the streets of Jerusalem, rushing from a lecture to the laboratory â something pinned me to the sidewalk next to a newsstand; this âsomethingâ was like a stab in the heart, like a painful memory of something that no longer existed. ⦠Could it be that Po Prostu, published in Warsaw, had managed to escape its cage, fly hundreds of kilometers, and settle in a multilingual newsstand on Jerusalem Street to snag the attention â with its familiar green masthead â of people who remember â¦?â154 As the Polish secret services reported, the look of this newspaper had been chosen at Szumskiâs request; the masthead of the Polish newspaper Po Prostu was copied, and the introductory article of the first issue referred to the spiritual legacy and strong ideological bond between the team of the liquidated Polish Po Prostu and the socialist youth organization in Israel â the publisher of this magazine. Szumski was supposedly inspired by the Polish Po Prostu, with which â as he often emphasized â he had collaborated before leaving Poland.155 This association was exploited in order to lure readers.
On the overcrowded Israeli journalistic market, there is one more newspaper, which has a title that carries associations with a place full of memories from only two years ago. Long queues of people have formed in front of newsstands, snapping up the last copies, distributing the confiscated articles from hand to hand. However, we have not chosen this title in order to continue the existence of the former Polish Po Prostu â after all, we are not a Polish émigré newspaper. For us, this name is a symbol of a brave, uncompromising newspaper, which, we dare say, does not yet exist in Israel. We have also chosen it because, in addition to freedom of expression, the mindset in the country in which we have come to live is too similar to everything we fought against in our former homeland: bureaucracy that surpasses everything we have seen so far in this area, trade unions that effectively defend workers against the struggle for their own interests, contempt for human beings and homebred Stalinists â reversed racism and putting national considerations above social ones. Who are we, and what do we want to oppose all this with? Our newspaper is published by the Union of Young Socialists, which was founded recently. An important point is that there are many different types of socialism in the world [â¦]. So, what is our socialism like? We believe that the workersâ parties existing in the country have linked their agendas with Zionism. Whatever our attitude towards Zionism is, we believe that the very fact of linking socialism to nationalism, represented by Zionism, narrows its scope and pushes it into one of historyâs dead-ends. It forces the workersâ parties to vacillate and make compromises that do not suit us.158
Is it any wonder that those who hadnât seen Israel with their own eyes and hadnât known if they would be able to acclimatize exercised this right â and even made their departure conditional on it many times? [â¦] Today, people shudder during sleepless nights and wonder if their old hearts will withstand another khamsin [a hot, dry, gusty desert wind blowing on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea â E. K.]. Those who left first embarked upon a reconnaissance mission, leaving behind in Poland mothers, wives, and children, not infrequently Polish, and today they see that bringing them here would have been a crime due to the impossibility of providing for them.161
The title of the quoted article makes reference to the book Pasażerowie martwej wizy [Passengers of the Dead Visa] by Stefan Arski.162 It was a satire of Polish emigration, ridiculing, among other things, the âdead visasâ issued by the Polish government in London. Referencing this book, the article stated, âToday Iâm holding a dead visa issued by the homeland of Mr. Arski and its legal, not grotesque, government-in-exile.â163
The article âPasażerowie martwej wizyâ [Passengers of the Dead Visa] was also a response to an article by Janina Markiewicz in Nowiny, which stated that the GomuÅka Aliyah âarrived with the facial expressions of insulted aunts, with a negative attitude towards everything, convinced they were doing someone a favor simply by coming here, certain that nothing good could be expected from the devious scabs who had outwitted them and thwarted them from settling in one of the countries flowing with milk and honey.â164 Their Polish citizenship
The group of new immigrants who quickly changed their intent upon arrival in Israel from the âright to returnâ to a âtemporary stayâ was large. The community of journalists who worked for Po Prostu estimated that among the 30,000 people who had arrived by 1958, about 8,000 wanted to return to Poland.167 At that time it seemed like significant capital for the newspaper, while it was also a serious signal to the Israeli secret services to weaken the anti-state publishing initiatives â the communist newspaper Walka and the Bundâs Po Prostu.168 A leading hero of the community connected to Po Prostu, who was also denied the right to return to Poland, was Marek HÅasko.169 It was his work that was supposed to be the editorsâ main asset in gaining Polish readers. Marek HÅasko was a friend of the editorial team, especially Jerzy Herman. They lived together at the Hess Hotel in Tel Aviv, where they felt quite at home among the intelligentsia from Poland who had been assigned temporary rooms by the Jewish Agency. HÅasko became a symbol of people living outside the system â readers of the Israeli Po Prostu were outside of it too. He was an ideal âheroâ for Jews of Polish origin â âwithout a visaâ â stateless citizens in Israel. He also became
On the one hand, the community of people connected to Po Prostu were aware of their Jewish origins and were closely connected to Jewish culture and the diasporic past, which seemed helpful in the process of adaptation. On the other hand, however, they did not accept the new image of the Jew, in which an important element was supposed to be the ethos of the land, connected with Eretz Israel and Hebraism â âthe new Jewish nation.â Po Prostu wished to become the voice of progressive and secular communities who were familiar with Jewish culture but were not interested in joining religious groups or being part of religious life in Israel. The editorial team was in favor of supporting the heritage of the diaspora, the memory of the Holocaust and the ghetto uprising, and the history of the socialist movement.
The Israeli Po Prostu was particularly inconvenient for the legation of the Polish Peopleâs Republic in Tel Aviv. Even though the title Po Prostu had only symbolic meaning, in peopleâs minds it was associated with the underground movement (Radio Free Europe). Political power was imparted to it, even though the community itself was, in reality, completely helpless.171 The legation considered officially asking the Israeli government to shut down the newspaper, but it was impossible due to freedom of the press.172 It can be assumed that the unfavorable opinion of Po Prostu expressed in Nowiny-Kurier was a response to the requests of the Israeli government to maintain good relations with the legation. Another way of discrediting the newspaper was to try to eliminate it from newsstands by âsending out people who walked around to the newsagents, telling them not to sell our newspaper because it is a communist newspaper.â173 The editors tried to defend themselves against this by encouraging readers to contact them directly or even demand that the newspaper be sold at every newsstand, âbecause the newsagents are yielding to pressure and hiding our newspaper. If you, the reader, are refused the sale of
The newspaper could not offer any special political advantage to the Bund, either. In the 1959 election, the group received only 1,322 votes. The Bund made accusations of election tampering and that the votes for this party had not been counted or had been invalidated. Larger Israeli political parties exploited the weakness of Jews from Eastern Europe by offering much more than the Bund could in the sphere of sought-after goods, especially housing and jobs. The Bund was too marginalized and too antiestablishment to have enough influence to encourage people to associate with it.176 When the GomuÅka Aliyah arrived, the Israeli Bundists still hoped they would become a mass movement, but a dozen or so years later they understood that their sphere was limited solely to people who had very close ties to Bund politics and culture. Only six issues of the Israeli Po Prostu newspaper were published. However, its editors fought for its existence for two fundamental reasons: to support the Bund, its patron party, and, above all, because of the newspaperâs title. The Israeli Po Prostu ultimately had only symbolic significance; its resonance on the Israeli political scene, owing to its title, was much more profound than its real value.
Israel State Archives in Jerusalem (hereinafter: isa), file 2161/16 (lamed), a report by the Israeli secret services from a communist meeting on 30 July 1949, 9 August 1949.
S. Langnas, âDziwolÄ giâ [Freaks], Nowiny Izraelskie, no. 37 (1954): 2; âPolscy Å»ydzi w Kneset: VI Blok komunistycznyâ [Polish Jews in the Knesset: The 6th Communist Bloc], Nowiny Izraelskie, no. 149 (1953): 7.
Moshe Sneh (Mojżesz Kleinbaum) (1909â72) was born in RadzyÅ Podlaski, son of Szymon and Chawa, née Lichtensztejn; Archive of the University of Warsaw (hereinafter: auw), file 26.55, file of Mojżesz Klejnbaum; Archive of the Institute of National Remembrance (hereinafter: ainr), file 1218/10161, personal records: Sneh Moshe, card 5; E. Sheʾaltiel, Tamid be-meri: Moshe Sneh, biografiyah 1909â1948 [Always in Resistance: A Biography of Moshe Sneh, 1909â1948] (Jerusalem, 2000), 15â19.
Walka, no. 4 (1959): 2, 3.
Maki was derived from the Communist Party of Palestine, which was founded in 1923. The Jewish side maintained its dominant position in the partyâs leadership, and only when it was accepted by the Comintern did it open up to the Arab community more broadly (the Comintern hoped for a stronger Arab influence within the party). Conflicts over national interests divided party members. In 1940 a separate structure was established, called âthe Jewish section.â The actual split occurred at the end of 1943, after the Arab group left the party and formed the National Liberation League in Palestine. The creation of Israel changed the situation in the communist party. Some Arab communists became refugees in neighboring Arab countries or settled in the West Bank, and the waves of new olim coming to Israel strengthened the Jewish side of the party. In 1948 the National Liberation League joined Maki, as did the Hebrew Communist Party (Komunistim Ivriyim), to form the Jewish-Arab Communist Party. The next stage of strengthening the Jewish side, important from the point of view of the new Polish olim, was Moshe Snehâs group leaving Mapam and joining Maki in 1954. E. Rekhess, âJews and Arabs in the Israeli Communist Party,â in Ethnicity, Pluralism, and the State in the Middle East, ed. M. J. Esman and I. Rabinovich (Ithaca, 1988), 123â26; C. Herzog, The Arab-Israeli Wars: War and Peace in the Middle East from the 1948 War of Independence to the Present, updated by Shlomo Gazit, with an introduction by I. Herzog and M. Herzog (London, 2004); M. J. Cohen, The Origins and Evolution of the Arab-Zionist Conflict (Berkeley, 1987), 117â32; M. J. Cohen, Palestine and the Great Powers, 1945â1948 (Princeton, 1982), 184â200; M. Rodinson, Israel and the Arabs, trans. M. Perl and B. Pearce (New York, 1982), 7â36.
Rekhess, âJews and Arabs in the Israeli Communist Party,â 121.
isa, file 2175/2 (lamed), a report by the Israeli internal security service, 24 July 1950, 30 July 1950, and 3 July 1950; isa, file 2175/2 (lamed), a report by the Israeli internal security service, receipt date of the letter is 24 March 1950; isa, file 2161/16 (lamed), a report by the Israeli secret services from communist meetings on 30 July 1950 and 9 August 1949; isa, file 2161/16 (lamed), a report by the Israeli secret services, 4 September 1949; isa, file 2175/2 (lamed), a report by the Israeli internal security service, 12 and 24 March 1950.
P. Dubiel, âPiosenka pana Mikunisaâ [Mr. Mikunisâs Song], Po Prostu, no. 6 (1959): 1; âKonferencja nowych olim z Polskiâ [A Conference of New Olim from Poland], Walka, no. 7 (1958): 12; âKonferencja nowych olim w Jerozolimieâ [A Conference of New Olim in Jerusalem], Walka, no. 8 (1958): 12; âAkademia w Hajfieâ [The Academy in Haifa], Walka, no. 8 (1958): 12; âKonferencje nowych olim z Polski w Tel-Awiwie i w Nateniiâ [Conferences of New Olim from Poland in Tel Aviv and Netanya], Walka, no. 10 (1958): 12; âKonferencje nowych olim z Polski w Tel-Awiwie i w Nateniiâ [Conferences of New Olim from Poland in Tel Aviv and Netanya], Walka, no. 10 (1958): 12.
The Communist Party of Poland (the Communist Workersâ Party of Poland from 1919 onwards) was active from 1918 to 1925. It was a section of the Comintern and was dissolved by it in 1938.
âSÅowo do olim z Polskiâ [A Message for the Olim from Poland], Walka, no. 10 (1965): 6.
M. Vilner, âApel do nowych olim z Polskiâ [An Appeal to the New Olim from Poland], Walka, no. 11 (1958): 3, 10.
The strongest position was held by the Hebrew-language press with the newspaper Kol ha-Am [Voice of the People] and the monthly magazines Kol ha-Noʿar [Voice of the Youth], Zo ha-Derech [This is the Way], and Aloneich [Your Magazine]. In addition to these, there were also weekly newspapers in Arabic: Al-Ittichad [Unity], Al-Djadid [New], and Al-Ghad [Tomorrow]. Walka, no. 4 (1958): 5.
In Hungarian, Nepszewa [The Voice of the People]; in French, La Voix du peuple [The Voice of the People]; in Greek, Phoni Tou Laou [The Voice of the People]; in Romanian, GÅasuj poporulni [The Voice of the People]; and in Bulgarian, Narodea GÅas [The Voice of the People]. Walka, no. 4 (1958): 5.
Shabak, or Sherut ha-Bitachon ha-Klali, also known as Shin Bet, is the Israeli internal security service.
A. Berman, âZ obozem postÄpuâ [With the Camp of Progress], Walka, no. 1 (1958): 1.
The Yad Tabenkin Archive â The Research and Documentation Center of the United Kibbutz Movement (hereinafter: yta), brochure from a congress, unordered materials.
Adolf Berman (1906â79) was born in Warsaw, the son of Iser Lejb and Guta, née Bernikier. His father was a merchant who owned a shop with leather goods. His mother was a homemaker; she died of cancer in 1936. Adolf had four siblings â his brother MieczysÅaw died in Treblinka, and his sister Anna Berman-WoÅek, according to Jakub Bermanâs account, died in Treblinka together with her husband and six-year-old daughter. Their father also died in Treblinka. His siblings who survived the war (both in the ussr) were his sister Irena Berman-Olecka and brother Jakub â one of the four most important people in the Polish Peopleâs Republic. Until the age of nine, Adolf studied at home, and in 1916 he entered Stefan Å»uchowskiâs grammar school in Warsaw. In 1918 he transferred to the Kreczmar Gymnasium, where, after seven years of education, he obtained his diploma. On 12 October 1925, he applied for admission to the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw, where he studied psychology and philosophy, and in 1931 he obtained a doctorate in psychology. He taught at secondary schools and published academic articles on social psychology and education. He also worked in the Department of Psychoanalysis at the University of Warsaw under Professor WÅadysÅaw Witwicki and Professor Tadeusz KotarbiÅski. He became involved in the activities of the Jewish institutions in Warsaw connected to the Center for Orphansâ Welfare (centos). From 1925 onwards, he was a member of Left-wing PoÊ¿alei Tziyon, and took care of the organizationâs publications in Yiddish and Polish. During the war, he worked as the director of centos. In the ghetto, he supported the resistance movement. He was one of the founders of the Anti-Fascist Bloc in March 1942 and the creator of its press publication Der Ruf. From 1946 to 1949, he was the chairman of the Central Committee of Jews in Poland. His left-wing and even communist views were not a sufficient guarantee, and in 1949 he was deprived of his post due to his Zionist beliefs. At the same time, he chaired the Left-wing PoÊ¿alei Tziyon Jewish Social-Democratic Workersâ Party, and then, after merging with the Right-wing PoÊ¿alei Tziyon Jewish Socialist Workersâ Party, he chaired the PoÊ¿alei Tziyon United Jewish Workersâ Party. In 1950 he immigrated to Israel and was elected to the Second Knesset. In 1954 he joined Maki and was elected a member of its Central Committee. He used pseudonyms at various times: Adam, Borowski, and Ludwik. A. Sobór-Åwiderska, Jakub Berman: Biografia komunisty [Jakub Berman: A Biography of a Communist] (Warsaw, 2009), 22; auw, file for Berman Abraham Adolf, biography, 12 September 1925; auw, file 20.114, biography of Adolf Berman, 5 October 1933; auw, certificate issued by Professor Tadeusz KotarbiÅski, Åódź, 5 December 1949; ainr, file 1268/134, personal records: Berman Adolf, cards 1â2; M. Shore, NowoczesnoÅÄ jako źródÅo cierpieÅ [Modernity as a Source of Suffering], translated into Polish by M. Sutowski (Warsaw, 2012), 63; D. Harten, ââJardeniaâ Warszawska: Wspomnienia o akademickich dziaÅaczach syjonistycznychâ [âJardeniaâ in Warsaw: Recollections of Academic Zionist Activists], Nowiny Izraelskie, no. 148 (1954): 4.
For example, communistsâ access to areas under military rule was restricted; as a member of the Haganah, Moshe Sneh was granted permission the very first time, although other Maki members were often denied access. isa, file 17004/7 (gimel, lamed), list of Makiâs members.
Diaspora Archive in Tel Aviv (hereinafter: da), file for Adolf Berman, letter from Yitzhak Grünbaum to Adolf Berman, undated; see also da, file for Adolf Berman, letter from Shmuel Eisenstadt to Adolf Berman, 15 April 1969; Prof. Eisenstadt, Walka, no. 10 (1958): 7.
âPolscy Å»ydzi w Kneset,â 7.
Jakub Berman, Deputy Prime Minister of Poland from 1954 to 1956.
âPolscy Å»ydzi w Kneset,â 7.
Vilner, âApel do nowych olim z Polski,â 3; see also S. L[angnas], âLekcja Nazaretuâ [Nazarethâs Lesson], Nowiny Izraelskie, no. 45 (1954): 2.
âNowi olim z Polskiâ [The New Olim from Poland], Walka, no. 5 (1959): 11.
isa, file 2161/16 (lamed), a report by the Israeli internal security service on what was happening in the olim camps, 5 May 1949; J. Lipski, âMiÄdzy olimâ [Among the Olim], Walka, no. 2 (1958): 6; ââPozostaliÅmy wierni wielkim ideom komunizmuâ: Spotkanie nowych olim z Polski, sympatyków KPI w okrÄgu Tel Awiw-Jaffaâ [We Have Remained Faithful to the Great Ideas of Communism: A Meeting of New Olim from Poland and the Communist Party of Israelâs Supporters in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa District], Walka, no. 4 (1958): 4.
B. Piotrowska [F. MaÅska], âSÅowa, sÅowa, sÅowa â¦â [Words, Words, Words â¦], Od Nowa, no. 11 (1959): 2.
Archive of the Labour Party in Beit Berl, file 2/949/1957/8 (9/49/57), letter from Moshe Kitron to Giora Yoseftal containing a report, 17 March 1958; Archive of the Labour Party in Beit Berl, file 2/949/1957/8 (9/49/57), letter from Elkana Margalit to the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem (about Apelbaum), 3 January 1958 (together with a press publication on the topic of Walka).
According to statistics, five district conferences were held in 1958 (for the Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Netanya-Hadera, Herzliya, and Haifa districts), with the participation of only 400 new olim from Poland, from 37 cities and settlements. In addition to the conferences, over 100 meetings of new olim from Poland took place, in roughly 40 locations. âKonferencje nowych olimâ [Conferences of New Olim], Walka, no. 1 (1959): 12; âNowi olim z Polskiâ [The New Olim from Poland], Walka, no. 5 (1959): 11; J. Temkin, ââOd Nowaâ â po staremu â¦â [Od Nowa â The Same Old Thing â¦], Walka, no. 5 (1959): 6; J. Lipski, âO âBólu sercaâ M[arka] Gefenaâ [On M[arek] Gefenâs âHeartacheâ], Walka, no. 10 (1958): 5; âJak pismo Od Nowa âuczciÅoâ RewolucjÄ PaździernikowÄ ?â [How did Od Nowa âHonorâ the October Revolution?], Walka, no. 12 (1958): 4.
ââOd Nowaâ â organ outsiderówâ [Od Nowa â An Organ of Outsiders], Walka, no. 4 (1962): 2; âRefleksje powyborcze w Kiryat-Gatâ [Post-Election Reflections in Kiryat-Gat], Walka, no. 9 (1959); âNowi olim z Polskiâ [The New Olim from Poland], Walka, no. 5 (1959): 4; âDwulicowoÅÄ Mapamâ [Mapamâs Double Standards], Walka, no. 5 (1959): 11; M. Lam, âMapamowska dwulicowoÅÄ i obÅuda na Åamach âOd Nowaââ [Mapamâs Double Standards and Hypocrisy in Od Nowa], Walka, no. 5 (1959): 4; âRedakcji âOd Nowaâ â ku rozwadzeâ [The Od Nowa Editorial Team â Towards Prudence], Walka, no. 6 (1964): 2; âO postawie âOd Nowaâ â raz jeszczeâ [Od Nowaâs Stance â Once Again]â Walka, no. 7 (1964): 2; ââOd Nowaâ â na bezdrożach szowinizmuâ [Od Nowa â In the Wilderness of Chauvinism], Walka, no. 11 (1964): 2; âTrucizna w âOd Nowaââ [Poison in Od Nowa], Walka, no. 10 (1962): 2; ââOd Nowaâ i historia 3 listówâ [Od Nowa and the Story of Three Letters], Walka, no. 3 (1961): 2; âCzym âOd Nowaâ karmi swoich czytelników?â [What Does Od Nowa Feed to Its Readers?], Walka, no. 3 (1961): 2; ââOd Nowaâ potÄpia strajkâ [Od Nowa Condemns the Strike], Walka, no. 4 (1961): 2.
âJak pismo âOd Nowaâ âuczciÅoâ RewolucjÄ PaździernikowÄ ? [How Did Od Nowa âHonorâ the October Revolution?], Walka, no. 12 (1958): 4; ââPo Prostuâ organ zależny [Po Prostu â A Dependent Press Organ], Walka, no. 12 (1958): 4; âCo wynikÅo z âmaÅżeÅstwaâ âKurier â Nowinyââ [What Has Resulted from the âMarriageâ of Kurier and Nowiny], Walka, no. 12 (1958): 4.
ââOd Nowaâ â na bezdrożach anty-komunizmuâ [Od Nowa â In the Wilderness of Anti-Communism], Walka, no. 6 (1960): 2.
âCo wynikÅo z âmaÅżeÅstwaâ âKurier â Nowiny,ââ 4.
Lipski, âO âBólu sercaâ M[arka] Gefena,â 5.
Walka, no. 5 (1959): 8.
ââDemokratyczne wyboryâ w Kiryat Gatâ [âDemocratic Electionsâ in Kiryat Gat], Walka, no. 7 (1959): 5.
âFundusz wyborczy KPIâ [The Communist Party of Israelâs Election Fund], Walka, no. 5 (1959): 12; see also âApel KC Komunistycznej Partii Izraelaâ [An Appeal from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Israel], Walka, no. 6 (1958): 3.
A. Berman, âNowi olim z Polski w obliczu wyborów do Histadrutuâ [The New Olim from Poland Faced with the Election to Histadrut], Walka, no. 5 (1959): 1.
âFundusz wyborczy KPIâ [The Communist Party of Israelâs Election Fund], Walka, no. 5 (1959): 12.
Walka, no. 8 (1959): 12.
âApel do nowych olimâ [An Appeal to the New Olim], Walka, no. 3 (1958): 5.
âOddziaÅ Ligi w Kiryat Gatâ [The Branch of the League in Kiryat Gat], Walka, no. 10 (1958): 12.
âApel do nowych olim,â 5.
âZebrania Ligi Przyjaźni Izrael â Polskaâ [Meetings of the Israel-Poland Friendship League], Walka, no. 7 (1958): 12; âKonferencja nowych olim w Jerozolimieâ [A Conference of the New Olim in Jerusalem], Walka, no. 8 (1958): 12; âAkademia w Hajfieâ [The Academy in Haifa], Walka, no. 8 (1958): 12; âKonferencje nowych olim z Polski w Tel-Awiwie i w Nateniiâ [Conferences of the New Olim from Poland in Tel Aviv and Netanya], Walka, no. 10 (1958): 12; Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw (hereinafter: amfa), folder 21, file 711, bundle 50, report from the period of 1 July to 31 December 1958 sent from the legation of the Polish Peopleâs Republic in Tel Aviv to the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, 19 December 1958, cards 5â8.
Russian: propaganda slogans and clichés.
Piotrowska [MaÅska], âSÅowa, sÅowa, sÅowa â¦,â 2.
amfa, folder 21, file 711, bundle 50, report from the period of 1 July to 31 December 1958 sent from the legation of the Polish Peopleâs Republic in Tel Aviv to the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, 19 December 1958, cards 5â8.
amfa, folder 21, file 724, bundle 51, letter from the legation of the Polish Peopleâs Republic in Tel Aviv to the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, 27 February 1959.
amfa, folder 21, file 712, bundle 50, report from the period of 1 August 1959 to 1 March 1960 sent from the legation of the Polish Peopleâs Republic in Tel Aviv to the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, 19 December 1958, cards 5â8.
This name was used mistakenly in the letter. The society was connected with the ruling party. After 1953 Maki separated from the society and established its own organization, but the name of the former organization is still used in the text.
amfa, folder 21, file 724, bundle 51, letter from Shmuel Mikunis (Central Committee of the Communist Party of Israel) to the Central Committee of the Polish United Workersâ Party, 21 December 1958; amfa, folder 21, file 724, bundle 51, letter concerning subsidies for the league and Walka, 5 February 1959.
amfa, folder 21, file 724, bundle 51, letter concerning subsidies for the league and Walka, 5 February 1959; see also amfa, folder 21, file 724, bundle 51, letter from Shmuel Mikunis (Central Committee of the Communist Party of Israel) to the Central Committee of the Polish United Workersâ Party, 21 December 1958. Shmuel Mikunis (1903â82) was from Ukraine, from which he emigrated in 1921, and was a member of the First through Seventh Knessets (1951â74) in Israel. From 1939 onwards, he was a member of the Palestinian Communist Party, secretary of its Central Committee, and secretary of Maki (1947â74).
amfa, folder 21, file 724, bundle 51, a secret telegram from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw to the legation of the Polish Peopleâs Republic deputy in Tel Aviv, 11 February 1959.
amfa, folder 21, file 724, bundle 51, letter from the Polish legation in Tel Aviv to the Department of Press and Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, 24 January 1959.
C. Breitstein, ââKol Ha-Amâ â âGÅos Luduââ [Kol Ha-Am â The Voice of the People], Walka, no. 2 (1962): 3.
The Union of Authors and Stage Composers, which manages copyrights.
yta, letter from Adolf Berman to ZAiKS, 2 July 1967.
Certificate of change of surname and first name issued by the Mayor of the Capital City of Warsaw as Head of the General Administration, ii Level, 14 July 1949, copy in the authorâs collection; auw, file WHum/kem 1829, 23.655, biography of Ryszard Walewski, 14 September 1933.
Ryszard Walewski (known as âFakirâ and âDr. Ryszard-Szpitalnyâ during his involvement in the Polish Workersâ Party) was born into a wealthy family in Kalisz on 17 August 1906. His father, Leon, owned a lace factory in Kalisz and several properties. In February 1925 Ryszard Walewski graduated from the junior high school for boys run by the Society for the Propagation of Education and Technical Knowledge among Jews in Åódź. After passing the extended matriculation exam in mathematics and sciences in May and June 1926, he chose to study at the University of Warsaw. He graduated in 1932 with a Masterâs Degree in history. He entered the Faculty of Medicine at the same university. After the outbreak of the war, when the Nazi authorities forbade Jews from studying at universities, he went to Lwów, where he completed his medical studies on 21 March 1940. After his return to Warsaw, he was taken to the ghetto. He took part in organizing its defense and undertook initiatives to join two military organizations: Å»ydowska Organizacja Bojowa (The Jewish Combat Organization) and Å»ydowski ZwiÄ zek Wojskowy (The Jewish Military Union). He took an active part in the battles in the Warsaw ghetto. In 1942, during the liquidation of the ghetto in Otwock, the Nazis transported his mother and sister to Treblinka, where they both died. In July 1943, he made it to the Aryan side, hiding in sewers and abandoned houses. He left Poland for Israel in November 1957 with his wife Stefania, whom he had married while still in the Warsaw ghetto, and his son Krzysztof (whose name was changed to Avi in Israel). Ryszard lived with his family in Ramat Aviv, which was nicknamed âGomuÅkowoâ by the Polish olim. In early February 1958, the headquarters of Kupat Holim (the healthcare fund) assigned him to a medical clinic in Ramla, but he was soon transferred to a temporary job in Nahalat Yehuda and then BeÊ¿er YaÊ¿akov.
An excerpt of a letter from Ryszard Walewski to Basia Raiewski (in Bolivia), 7 June 1965, materials from the authorâs collection.
Letter from Yitzhak Rimon to Ryszard Walewski, 19 March 1965, materials from the authorâs collection.
H. Kaufman, âList do towarzysza Olka z Warszawyâ [Letter to Comrade Olek from Warsaw], Walka, no. 2 (1958): 6.
âOdpowiedź p. Olkowiâ [An Answer for Olek], Walka, no. 3 (1958): 8.
Piotrowska [MaÅska], âSÅowa, sÅowa, sÅowa â¦,â 2.
I. Barzilai, âKtóż, jeÅli nie Wy, poda nam dÅoÅ? Krajowy Zjazd Olim z Polskiâ [Who, If Not You, Will Extend a Hand to Us? The National Congress of Olim from Poland], Od Nowa, no. 39 (1959): 2.
L[angnas], âLekcja Nazaretu,â 2.
âNowi olim piszÄ : Bolesny problemâ [The New Olim Are Writing: A Painful Problem], Walka, no. 12 (1958): 8.
ââDemokratyczne wyboryâ w Kiryat Gatâ [âDemocratic Electionsâ in Kiryat Gat], Walka, no. 7 (1959): 5.
âNowi olim piszÄ ,â 8.
isa, file 2175/2 (lamed), a report by the Israeli internal security service on a meeting with new olim, 24 July 1950.
E. SÅucka-Kestin, âTylko pierwsze 70 latâ [Only the First 70 Years], Walka, no. 11 (1958): 9, 10.
ââKfar Sabaâ â âRejon rozwojowyââ [âKfar Sabaâ â âA Developing Regionâ], Walka, no. 4 (1959): 10; âGÅos ma Ber Szewaâ [BeÊ¿er Sheva Has a Voice], Walka, no. 2 (1959): 8.
âListy do redakcjiâ [Letters to the Editor], Walka, no. 2 (1959): 8.
isa, file 2175/2 (lamed) (2/10 [bet/mem/bet]), report by the Israeli Police, 24 March 1950.
Walka, no. 4 (1959): 2, 3.
âApel KC Komunistycznej Partii Izraelaâ [Appeal from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Israel], Walka, no. 6 (1958): 3.
F. ToruÅczyk and F. Ben, âÅ»ydzi polscy w nowej ojczyźnieâ [Polish Jews in Their New Homeland], Kultura 11, no. 133 (1958): 84â92.
âOdpowiedź p. Olkowi,â 8; Kaufman, âList do towarzysza Olka,â 6.
Lipski, âMiÄdzy olim,â 6; Lipski, âNowi olim a rzeczywistoÅÄ izraelskaâ [New Olim and Israeli Reality], Walka, no. 1 (1958): 4.
S. Maron, The Kibbutz as an Alternate Way (Yad Tabenkin, 1973), 2â5.
isa, file 36661/2/1 (mem/het/haf), a report by the Israeli internal security service, 13 March 1950.
Maron, Kibbutz as an Alternate Way, 11.
âOlim z Keisaria protestujÄ â [Olim from Caesarea Are Protesting], Walka, no. 3 (1959): 8.
âNazistowskie metodyâ [Nazi Methods], Walka, no. 4 (1958): 4.
âBolesny problemâ [A Painful Problem], Walka, no. 9 (1958): 6.
ToruÅczyk and Ben, âÅ»ydzi polscy w nowej ojczyźnie,â 92.
isa, file 3553/21 (chet, tzadi), a report by Shabak titled âCo siÄ dzieje w Maki od 1 vii â 1 ix 1965â [What Has Been Happening in Maki from 1 July to 1 September 1965], 6 September 1965.
âJednoÅÄ KPI zachowana!â [The Communist Party of Israelâs Unity Has Been Maintained], Walka, no. 7 (1965): 1.
âJednoÅÄ KPI zachowana!,â 1; S. Mikunis, âZjazd przeÅomowyâ [A Decisive Congress], Walka, nos. 8â9 (1965): 1.
isa, file 3553/21 (tzadi, chet), a report titled âCo siÄ dzieje w Maki od 1 wrzeÅnia do 1 grudnia 1965â [What Has Been Happening in Maki from 1 September to 1 December 1965], 7 December 1965.
âSpotkanie delegacji KPI i KPZR w Moskwieâ [A Meeting of Delegations from the Communist Party of Israel and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow], Walka, no. 12 (1965): 1; âO jednolity front miÄdzy KPI a Mapamâ [A United Front between the Communist Party of Israel and Mapam], Walka, no. 12 (1965): 2; âZaproszenie do Moskwyâ [An Invitation to Moscow], Od Nowa, no. 16 (1963): 2; âSpotkanie delegacji KPI i KPZR w Moskwie,â 1.
isa, file 3553/21 (tzadi, chet), a report titled âCo siÄ dzieje w Maki od 1 wrzeÅnia do 1 grudnia 1965â [What Has Been Happening in Maki from 1 September to 1 December 1965], 7 December 1965.
âNowy Komitet Centralny KPIâ [The New Central Committee of the Communist Party of Israel], Walka, nos. 8â9 (1965): 1.
isa, file 3553/21 (tzadi, chet), a report titled âCo siÄ dzieje w Maki od 1 wrzeÅnia do 1 grudnia 1965â [What Has Been Happening in Maki from 1 September to 1 December 1965], 7 December 1965; yta, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
âRozbijacka grupa Wilnera-Tubi â od porażki do porażkiâ [Vilner-Tubiâs Destructive Group: From One Defeat to Another], Walka, nos. 8â9 (1965): 2.
âGrupa Wilner-Tubi otrzymaÅa 0,2 proc. GÅosów wÅród ludnoÅci żydowskiejâ [The Vilner-Tubi Group Received 0.2 Percent of Votes Among the Jewish Population], Walka, no. 12 (1965): 2.
âGrupa Wilner-Tubi,â 2; M. Sneh, âOcena wyborów do Knesetuâ [An Assessment of the Knesset Elections], Walka, no. 12 (1965): 2.
âTrybuna Ludu o XV Zjeździe KPIâ [Trybuna Ludu at the 15th Congress of the Communist Party of Israel], Walka, nos. 8â9 (1965): 2; âSÅowo do olim z Polski,â 1; âMasowe spotkanie krajowe olim z Polskiâ [A Mass National Meeting of Olim from Poland], Walka, no. 10 (1965): 2, 6.
Rekhess, âJews and Arabs in the Israeli Communist Party,â 130â31.
Rekhess, âJews and Arabs in the Israeli Communist Party,â 128â38; isa, file 3553/21 (tzadi, chet), a report titled âCo siÄ dzieje w Maki od 1 wrzeÅnia do 1 grudnia 1965â [What Has Been Happening in Maki from 1 September to 1 December 1965], 7 December 1965.
âBiuletyn ZwiÄ zku DÅugoletnich DziaÅaczy Rewolucyjnego Ruchu Robotniczegoâ [Bulletin of the Union of Longstanding Workersâ Movement Activists], 30 March 1972, 1.
A Yiddish-language writer. In Poland, he served as the vice-president of the Union of Jewish Writers and Journalists. He was a member of the Central Committee of Jews and supported the communist government in Poland. In 1969 due to anti-Semitic events, he left Poland for Israel.
Interview with Ephraim Sneh, 20 June 2010, materials in the authorâs collection.
Interview with Ephraim Sneh, 20 June 2010, materials in the authorâs collection.
yta, files of the Union of Longstanding Activists of the Workersâ Movement (hereinafter: ulawm), electoral documents. The text comes from a leaflet: âDo Towarzyszy i sympatyków! Do wszystkich olim z Polski!â [To Comrades and Supporters! To All Olim from Poland!], Biuletyn ZwiÄ zku DÅugoletnich DziaÅaczy Rewolucyjnego Ruchu Robotniczego [Bulletin of the Union of Longstanding Activists of the Workersâ Movement].
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
Interview with Raul Teitelbaum, December 2013, materials in the authorâs collection.
There are two different names for this union mentioned in documents: ZwiÄ zek DÅugoletnich DziaÅaczy Ruchu Robotniczego (Union of Longstanding Activists of the Workersâ Movement) and ZwiÄ zek DÅugoletnich DziaÅaczy Rewolucyjnego Ruchu Robotniczego (Union of Longstanding Activists of the Revolutionary Workersâ Movement). It was likewise with the bulletin it published: on the masthead you can find both Biuletyn ZwiÄ zku DÅugoletnich DziaÅaczy Rewolucyjnego Ruchu Robotniczego [Bulletin of the Union of Longstanding Activists of the Workersâ Movement] and Biuletyn ZwiÄ zku DÅugoletnich DziaÅaczy Rewolucyjnego Ruchu Robotniczego [Bulletin of the Union of Longstanding Activists of the Revolutionary Workersâ Movement].
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, 10 November 1969.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from PiÄ tkowski to the editors of Biuletyn, 2 December 1969.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, 10 November 1969.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Jerzy Giedroyc with a request to send him Biuletyn, 1 June 1970; letter from the editors of Biuletyn to Jerzy Giedroyc, 14 July 1970.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Rajski to Jakub SzleÅski, 1 September 1971; yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Jakub SzleÅski to the editors of Biuletyn, 11 May 1971; yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Jakub Vilner to the editors of Biuletyn, 5 July (year illegible); yta, files of the ulawm, letter from the president of the Association of Polish Combatants in Italy to the editors of Biuletyn, 7 February 1970.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter sent from Metz by Karol Meler to Leon Rajski and made available to the editors of Biuletyn, 11 August 1969.
J. Giedroyc, Autobiografia na cztery rÄce [An Autobiography for Four Hands], ed. K. Pomian (Warsaw, 2006), 149.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Jerzy Giedroyc to the editors of Biuletyn, 1 June 1970.
Edward Gierek was the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workersâ Party.
Andrzej Werblan (born 30 October 1924) was a historian, Polish communist activist, member of the Sejm of the Polish Peopleâs Republic, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm, and member of the State Council. In March 1968 he often spoke publicly about the harmful influence of Jews on the Polish communist movement.
Julia Brystiger (variously spelled Brystygier, Brystyger, Bristiger, Brüstiger, Briestiger), née Prajs, also known by the pseudonyms âLunaâ and âKrwawa Lunaâ (1902â75), was a communist activist, member of the Union of Polish Patriots, and member of the National Council. From December 1944 onwards, she worked in the Ministry of Public Security. In 1945 she became the acting director, and then the director of Department V of the Ministry of Public Security. She was famous for her sadistic torture of prisoners, especially young ones. She left the ministry on 16 November 1956.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Adam Kornecki to the editors of Biuletyn, 16 July 1975.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969; yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Rajski to Felicja Rosset, 19 February 1971.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Felicja Rosset to the editors of Biuletyn ZwiÄ zku DÅugoletnich DziaÅaczy Rewolucyjnego Ruchu Robotniczego, undated.
yta, files of the ulawm, leaflet titled âDo Towarzyszy i sympatyków! Do wszystkich olim z Polski!â [To Comrades and Supporters! To All Olim from Poland!].
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
After leaving Poland, a former security service officer named Adam Kornecki wrote from Frankfurt to Leon Rajski: âAs you can see, I read and write in Yiddish. I receive Jewish newspapers from America, Israel, and France, as well as books. But no matter how often I read the books I want to read, go to the films I want to watch, go to the meetings I want to attend, and say whatever I want, no one kicks me out of the party for it or takes away my job. I feel like Iâve won the lottery.â yta, letter from Adam Kornecki to Leon Rajski, 1 December 1972.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Winiawski to Idel Korman, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Leon Rajski to Jakub SzleÅski, 1 September 1971.
yta, files of the ulawm, letter from Marian Borensztein to the editors of Biuletyn, 18 November 1968.
Archive of the Knesset in Jerusalem, minutes from a meeting of the Knesset, 27 February 1952.
Po Prostu: Pismo MyÅli Socjalistycznej w Izraelu (hereinafter: Po Prostu) no. 1 (1958): 1.
For more on the Bund, see Bund: 100 lat historii 1897â1997 [The Bund: 100 Years of History, 1897â1997], ed. F. Tych and J. Hensel (Warsaw, 2000).
Po Prostu [Quite Frankly] was a social and literary magazine published in Warsaw by the Polish Youth Association, which became a symbol of the political thaw in Poland in the years 1955 and 1956.
Bencl Calewicz, who immigrated from BiaÅystok to Eretz Israel in 1922, was surrounded by small groups of Bundists in Israel. He settled in Tel Aviv with his wife, Itke. Using his experience from the period when he had been active in BiaÅystok, he established the Union of Bakers in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem. On the basis of this organization, he conducted many strikes in defense of closed bakeries and shortening the work day to eight hours. His house on Basel Street was a common meeting place for Bundists and many literary people. Another address in Tel Aviv frequented by Bundists was the house of Avram and Geni Rinkewicz, who emigrated from WÅocÅawek in 1932. During World War ii, many Bundists came to Palestine with General Andersâs Army. This is how Jerzy Gliksman, brother of the Bund leader Viktor Alter, arrived in Palestine. Another important figure for the later fate of the Bund in Israel was Oscar Artuski, who joined the Bund in Poland in 1935 and was then active in the Israeli Bund. After the war ended, many Bundists left Israel and returned to the diaspora. The activity of the Bundists in Israel was focused on mutual aid, and they were also very active in the sphere of culture. In February 1951, the first plenary meeting of the partyâs founders took place and it was decided to give an organized form to their activity. The Israeli Bundists wanted to take part in the struggle for Bundist and Yiddish culture and to influence political life. D. Slucki, The International Jewish Labor Bund after 1945: Toward a Global History (New Brunswick, 2012), 192â95; D. Blatman, âThe National Ideology of the Bund in the Test of Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, 1933â1947,â in Jewish Politics in Eastern Europe: The Bund at 100, ed. J. Jacobs, with an introduction by F. Tych (New York, 2001), 197â210; D. Engel, The Bund after the Holocaust: Between Renewal and Self-Liquidation, in Jacobs, Jewish Politics in Eastern Europe, 213â24; J. D. Zimmerman, Poles, Jews, and the Politics of Nationality: The Bund and the Polish Socialist Party in Late Tsarist Russia, 1892â1914 (London, 2004), 3â7.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 174.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 173.
Quoted after Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 185.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 174.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 189.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 196.
Quoted after Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 189, 197.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 189, 197.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 189, 197.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 189, 197.
ainr, file 01237/394/J, Herman Jerzy, copy of a note titled âKosa,â Tel Aviv, 4 May 1959.
ainr, file 01237/394/J, Herman Jerzy, report, 19 October 1960.
ainr, file 01237/394/J, Herman Jerzy, passport questionnaire, 23 January 1957.
ainr, file 01237/394/J, Herman Jerzy, note, 6 August 1960.
ââPo Prostuâ strachâ [Fear, Po Prostu], Po Prostu 15 iii, no. 5 (1959): 4, 7: âThe authors of these new attacks on our magazine are not very creative in their search for titles of their works and their tedious use of the phrase âquite frankly.ââ
âI do nas piszÄ studenciâ [And Students Are Writing to Us], Po Prostu, no. 1 (1959): 5.
ainr, file 01237/394/J, Herman Jerzy.
âW mieszkaniu powieszonego nie mówi siÄ o sznurku â Niewolnicy masochizmu czy niewolnicy banków? â odpowiedzi panom Klugmanowi i Hartenowiâ [In the Home of a Hanged Man Nobody Mentions Rope â Slaves of Masochism or Slaves of Banks? Some Answers to Mr. Klugman and Mr. Harten], Po Prostu, no. 1 (1959): 4.
ainr, file 01237/394/J, Herman Jerzy, copy of a note titled âKosa,â Tel Aviv, 4 May 1959 (a letter sent by one of the editors of Po Prostu), the author of this letter writes, âThe magazine that I edit â¦â.
âDlaczego wÅaÅnie âPo Prostuâ?â [Why Po Prostu?], Po Prostu, 19 xi, no. 1 (1958): 1.
âDlaczego wÅaÅnie âPo Prostuâ?,â 1.
ââPo Prostuâ organ zależny [Po Prostu â A Dependent Press Organ], Walka, no. 12 (1958): 4.
âPasażerowie martwej wizyâ [Passengers of the Dead Visa], Po Prostu, 19 xi, no. 1 (1958): 1.
Stefan Arski, Pasażerowie martwej wizy [Passengers of the Dead Visa] (Warsaw, 1953).
Arski, Pasażerowie martwej wizy.
âPasażerowie martwej wizyâ [Passengers of the Dead Visa], Po Prostu, no. 1 (1959): 1.
ââPo Prostuâ organ zależny,â 4.
Po Prostu, no. 1 (1959): 1.
âPasażerowie martwej wizyâ [Passengers of the Dead Visa], Po Prostu, 19 xi, no. 1 (1958): 1.
âPasażerowie martwej wizyâ [Passengers of the Dead Visa], Po Prostu, 19 xi, no. 1 (1958): 1.
He published a short story titled âÅliczna dziewczynaâ [A Lovely Girl] in Po Prostu, 19 xi, no. 1 (1958): 4; ainr, file 1585/7768, citizenship oversight of the Ministry of the Interior in 1970, correspondence.
âWszystko o Marku HÅasceâ [Everything about Marek HÅasko], Po Prostu, 19 xi, no. 1 (1958): 5.
amfa, folder 21, file 711, bundle 50, report for the period from 1 July to 31 December 1958 sent from the legation of the Polish Peopleâs Republic in Tel Aviv to the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw, 19 December, 1958, card 12; amfa, folder 21, file 712, bundle 50, report from the legation of the Polish Peopleâs Republic in Tel Aviv sent to the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw for the period from 1 January to 31 July 1959, 6 August 1959; ainr, file 01649/175/J microfilm, Gefen Maurycy, cards 71, 73, 74.
ainr, file 01649/175/J microfilm, Gefen Maurycy, cards 71, 73, 74.
âW mieszkaniu powieszonego nie mówi siÄ o sznurku,â 4.
Po Prostu, no. 2 (1959): 1.
Po Prostu, no. 2 (1959): 1.
Slucki, International Jewish Labor Bund, 200â201.