Jewish and Russian Revolutionaries Exiled to Siberia 1901-1917 (review)

108 SHOFAR Summer 1995 Vol. 13, No.4 of optimism. Stalin's antisemitism did not prevail. "That time is gone," Vaksberg concludes, "and it will not return." Let's hope he is right. Edward Drachman Department of Political Science SUNY at Geneseo Jewish and Russian Revolutionaries Exiled to Siberia 1901-1917, by Philip Desind. Lewiston, NY: Edward Mellen Press, 1991. 494 pp. $139.95. Philip Desind has compiled a book which should be very interesting for the general, non-specialist reader. Compiled is the proper term, because Mr. Desind has written about one-half of the book. The rest consists of Desind's English translation of the Yiddish essay by Israel Pressman that won first prize in a 1943 YlVO contest featuring the theme, "Why I left my homeland and what I accomplished in America." The Yiddish text is included in the book as is a long essay by Desind on the lives of the two Russian Orthodox Izmailovich sisters who became Socialist Revolutionaries and whose lives briefly crossed Pressman's, and that of Maria Spiridonova, one of the great heroines of the Russian revolutionary movement. Desind presents voluminous notes on both essays as well as on various aspects of Russian Jewish history. Pressman's autobiography provides a glimpse into the life of the impoverished Jewish working class of White Russia and Lithuania at the turn of the century. The back-breaking labor for long hours and low wages is depicted here, as are the special burdens placed on Jewish mothers who fed and clothed large families on the most meager of incomes. Pressman quickly learned the tricks of the poor. He ate herring not only because it was cheap but because it forced him to drink large quantities of water, which stifled his hunger. Given the harsh working conditions in the Pale of Settlement and the pervasive antisemitism, it was no wonder that thousands of Jewish youngsters entered the ranks of the revolutionary movement. Pressman joined the Bund and like hundreds of his comrades was arrested and sent into exile in Siberia. It is his description of Siberian exile that is perhaps the most interesting section of the book. Pressman quickly observed what other exiles and perceptive travelers noted: Siberia was different. The peasants were far better off than the average Russian peasant and displayed an initiative, cooperation, and open-mindedness that were not seen else- Book Reviews 109 wherein the empire. Absent from Siberia were the right-wing extremism and antisemitism that plagued the rest of the country. Pressman describes the life of a political exile who was not in prison but was allowed to work in remote Siberian towns and villages. He even received an eight-ruble-a-month subsidy from the government for lodging and was treated with respect not only by the townspeople-political exiles had status in pre-revolutionary Russia-but also by local police and government officials. Pressman was a free man who happened to be in exile. The reader of this account cannot help but make comparisons with the way Soviet authorities dealt with their opponents. These thoughts are reinforced by the second essay, Desind's discussion of the two Socialist Revolutionary Izmailovich sisters, daughters of a Russian general. Their lot was harder than Pressman's: one was killed after an assassination attempt on a Russian admiral and the other was sent to prison in Siberia. The latter and the comrades who accompanied her also experienced the relative benignity ofTsarist Russia. They had a good relationship with their guards, had the right to smoke, a privilege denied to criminals, were allowed access to books, and were received warmly and openly by the inhabitants and prisoners in the village ofAkatui who sang the Marseillaise in greeting. The warden of the prison asked the women if their accommodations were suitable and offered additional help. One should not make light of the punishment meted out to revolutionaries in Tsarist Russia. After all, they were torn from family and careers, scorned by relatives, and forced to lived in primitive conditions. The treatment received at the hands of police and soldiers was not always as described in these essays. Maria Spiridonova, who traveled with Sanya Izmailovich to...