In this Book
- Jewish Radicals: A Documentary Reader
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: NYU Press
Winner of the 2013 New York Book Show Award in Scholarly/Professional Cover Design
Jewish Radicals explores the intertwined histories of Jews and the American Left through a rich variety of primary documents. Written in English and Yiddish, these documents reflect the entire spectrum of radical opinion, from anarchism to social democracy, Communism to socialist-Zionism. Rank-and-file activists, organizational leaders, intellectuals, and commentators, from within the Jewish community and beyond, all have their say. Their stories crisscross the Atlantic, spanning from the United States to Europe and British-ruled Palestine.
The documents illuminate in fascinating detail the efforts of large numbers of Jews to refashion themselves as they confronted major problems of the twentieth century: poverty, anti-semitism, the meaning of American national identity, war, and totalitarianism. In this comprehensive sourcebook, the story of Jewish radicals over seven decades is told for the first time in their own words.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- p. xi
- PART I: AWAKENINGS
- PART II: IN STRUGGLE
- 7. “Socialism Is Not a Dream” (1888)
- pp. 86-87
- 9. “The Whole City Seethed” (1892)
- pp. 91-92
- 10. Working Women Unite (1893–1894)
- pp. 93-94
- 12. The Prophet Karl Marx (c. 1910s)
- pp. 97-98
- 13. “Our Mecca” (memoir; n.d.)
- pp. 99-103
- 14. “The Right to Control Birth” (1916)
- pp. 104-108
- 18. The Meaning of Labor Day (1921)
- pp. 124-125
- 21. “Unions with Brains” (1930)
- pp. 133-134
- 22. In Defense of the Kentucky Miners (1932)
- pp. 135-136
- 23. “The Obligations of Youth Today” (1932)
- pp. 137-139
- 26. “With Nazism We All Are at War” (1942)
- pp. 146-149
- PART III: LIFE OF THE MIND
- 27. “Their Intense Desire to Study” (1893)
- pp. 153-156
- 28. The Power of Speech and Education (1893)
- pp. 157-158
- 30. A Lower East Side Vacation (1903)
- pp. 162-167
- 32. “Peripatetic Philosophers” (1910)
- pp. 174-178
- 33. Yiddish Lectures in Philadelphia (1916)
- pp. 179-182
- 37. The Aims of Workers’ Education (1926)
- pp. 194-197
- PART IV: THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
- 41. In Honor of Red Sunday (1906)
- pp. 211-213
- 45. “The New Man” (1921)
- pp. 224-227
- 46. Communism and Freedom of Speech (1925)
- pp. 228-238
- 47. A Revolutionary Returns (1929)
- pp. 239-248
- 49. “G.P.U. Intrigues in America” (1938)
- pp. 254-257
- 51. The Murder of Ehrlich and Alter (1943)
- pp. 264-267
- 52. The Soviet Union Reappraised (1956)
- pp. 268-275
- PART V: THE QUESTION OF ZIONISM
- 53. “The Whole Thing Is Ridiculous” (1906)
- pp. 279-285
- 54. “The Jewish Militant” (1906)
- pp. 286-287
- 55. Zionism and Transnationalism (1916)
- pp. 288-293
- 57. “The Pogroms in Palestine” (1929)
- pp. 298-300
- 59. “Jew and Arab” (1934)
- pp. 304-307
- Recommended Reading
- p. 333
- About the Editor
- p. 349