"[Jacobs’s] intellectual integrity, the cogency of his analysis,
and the thoroughness of his research make this book
an invaluable contribution to our understanding of Jewish
life and politics, indeed of life and politics in general, in
that tragic historical episode known as interwar Poland."
—Yoav Peled, Tel Aviv University
In the years between the two world wars, the Jewish community
of Poland—the largest in Europe—was the cultural heart of the
Jewish diaspora. The Jewish Workers’ Bund, which had a socialist,
secularist, Yiddishist, and anti-Zionist orientation, won a series of
important electoral battles in Poland on the eve of the Second
World War and became a major political party. While many earlier
works on the politics of Polish Jewry have suggested that Bundist
victories were not of lasting significance or attributable to outside
forces, Jack Jacobs argues convincingly that the electoral success
of the Bund was linked to the work of the constellation of cultural
and other organizations revolving around the party.
The Bund offered its constituents innovative, highly attractive,
programs and a more enlightened perspective: from new sexual
mores to sporting organizations and educational institutions.
Drawing on meticulously researched archival materials, Jacobs
shows how the growth of these successful programs translated into
a stronger, more robust party. At the same time, he suggests the
Bund’s limitations, highlighting its failed women’s movement.
Jacobs provides a fascinating account of this countercultural movement
and a thoughtful revision to the accepted view.
View other series books on Modern Jewish History
Jack Jacobs is professor of political science at the Graduate
Center, City University of New York (CUNY), and professor of government
at CUNY’s John Jay College. He is the author of On
Socialists and "The Jewish Question" after Marx and editor of
Jewish Politics in Eastern Europe: The Bund at 100.
6 x 9, 280 pages, 9 black-and-white illustrations, notes, glossary, bibliography,
Published in cooperation with The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research