The Function of Białystok in the Period of Forming the Jewish Workers' Movement in the Russian Empire

500 lat osadnictwa żydowskiego na Podlasiu. Materiały z konferencji międzynarodowej, Białystok, 14 - 17 września 1987 r.500 Years of the Jewish Settlement in Podlasie. Popers From the International Conference, Białystok, September 14 - 17, 1987.The process of forming the movement went through several phases from the creation of socialist circles in 1887, through Jewish workers' activities, to shaping Jewish workers' movement in the years 1893 to 1895. Jewish working class suffered in two ways: as Jews through political and national oppression and as workers through exploitation. The ideology of the movement accepted the principle of class struggle as opposed to the principle of religious and national solidarity. But the specific situation of the Jewish people made the problem of self-defence immanent to the activity of the movement. The demand to abolish the Czarist system seemed closely involved with the perspective to salve „the Jewish question". The idea was supported first of all by workers employed in workshops, and, to a lesser extent, by factory workers. Vilno was the cradle of the movement. In Białystok characteristic association occurred between the workers active in the movement and their religion. Among others, the temple was the secret meeting place of weavers (also Christians). The tradition of strikes from the mid - 1870s had an important function till the 20th century. For same time Aron Szmuel Liberman, the pioneer of Jewish socialism, lived and worked in Białystok. The observations and conclusions made in the Białystok area helped him to come up with some generalizations in his works: the need to resist nationalistic antagonisms as well as the necessity to take into account the national characteristics in the socialist activity. Some historians believe that the strike of the Jewish weavers in December 1882 was the first such event in the Russian Empire, proving the existence of labour organization among workers. In the 1890s Biały.stok was the scene of cooperation between Jewish Social Democrats and Polish Socialist Party, resulting in publishing literature in Yiddish. In 1895 a strike of Polish and Jewish workers broke out, gaining attention in the whole Empire. For a year and a half Białystok. was a seat of the Central Committee of Bund. Here, in May 1901, the fourth Congress of the party took place, putting forward, among others, the demand for national autonomy. The workers' movement in the Białystok region was an essential part of Polish as well as Jewish workers' movement. Against widespread thesis claiming that the formation of the movement was almost exclusively associated with the development of the Russian Social Democracy, the developments of the relations between Jewish workers' movement and all groups of Polish socialist and workers' movement had sometimes crucial significance.95-10