National-Cultural Autonomy and 'Neutralism': Vladimir Medem's Marxist Analysis of the National Question, 1903-1920.

This article examines the views of Vladimir Medem (1879-1923) —a major leader and theorist of the Jewish Labour Bund in Tsarist Russia and, after 1918, in independent Poland— on the ‘national question’, as he presented them in internal discussions within the Bund and in his theoretical works. It demonstrates that Medem’s goal was not just to outline a political program for the Bund but to establish the foundations for a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the nation from a social democratic perspective. Strongly opposed to nationalism in all its manifestations, Medem put forward, as an alternative to the nation-state (demanded by all nationalist movements), a model of a ‘state of nationalities’ in which citizenship would be nationally neutral and granted equally to the members of all nationalities. At the same time, Medem proposed that the state must take an active role in protecting national minorities by granting each of them a national-cultural autonomy with a limited jurisdiction over cultural matters (and only those matters). Medem’s analysis of the national question and the Bund’s program of national-cultural autonomy (like the similar views formulated by Austro-Marxist theorists Karl Renner and Otto Bauer) deserve special attention, I argue; as a form of ‘multiculturalism avant la lettre’, they may offer insights relevant to today’s increasingly diverse and multicultural societies

Creating a Historical Narrative for a Spiritual Nation: Simon Dubnow and the Politics of the Jewish Past

Simon Dubnow (1860–1941) was a towering intellectual figure in the history of East European Jewry in the half-century before the Second World War. His influence was manifested mostly in two areas: as the preeminent Jewish historian of his generation and as the main theorist of Jewish diaspora nationalism (Folkism) and intellectual leader of the Folkspartey in Russia (1907-1917). This article examines the relation between the two aspects of Dubnow’s career and legacy. As a historian, Dubnow developed a method for the study of Jewish history he called ‘historism’. Politically, Dubnow was an atypical nationalist, in that he did not demand territorial independence for his people but only the recognition of Jews as a nation with autonomous status within the states where they already lived. I show how Dubnow’s Jewish nationalism and his political views derived, to a large extent, from his historical theory and analysis, and in turn, how his historical interpretations were often informed by his ideological preconceptions. By analyzing and juxtaposing his historical and theoretical works, I argue that the writing of history was for Dubnow a means to achieve his more ambitious goal: to change the future of Jewish society and, by extension, the countries where the Jews lived.Simon Dubnow (1860–1941) a été une figure intellectuelle marquante de l’histoire de la communauté juive de l’Europe de l’Est dans la première moitié du vingtième siècle. Son influence s’est particulièrement fait sentir dans deux domaines. Il a d’abord été l’historien juif le plus important de sa génération. Il a ensuite été le principal théoricien du nationalisme de la diaspora juive et le leader intellectuel du Folkspartei en Russie (1907-1917). Cet article examine la relation entre ces deux aspects de sa carrière et de son héritage. Comme historien, Dubnow a développé une méthode pour étudier l’histoire juive, qu’il a appelée (en anglais) “historism”. Politiquement, il a promu un nationalisme atypique puisqu’il n’a jamais réclamé l’indépendance d’un territoire national pour son peuple, mais seulement la reconnaissance des Juifs comme formant une nation avec un statut autonome à sein des États où ils étaient déjà installés. Cet article explique comment le nationalisme juif de Dubnow et ses vues politiques dérivaient en grande partie de sa théorie et de son analyse historiques et, parallèlement, comment ses interprétations historiques ont souvent été influencées par ses préconceptions idéologiques. L’auteur soutient qu’en analysant et en juxtaposant les travaux historiques et théoriques de Dubnow, on peut voir comment l’écriture de l’histoire était pour lui un moyen d’atteindre un objectif plus ambitieux, celui de modifier l’avenir de la société juive et, par extension, celui des pays où ils vivaient

Yidisher sotsializm: The origin and contexts of the Jewish Labor Bund's national program.

This dissertation examines the Jewish Labor Bund's debates and programmatic statements regarding the 'national question', analyzes the relation between the Bund's national program and European social democracy, and considers how the Bund put its national program into practice in a range of political, cultural and recreational activities in interwar Poland. The Bund's national program was an attempt to reconceptualize national relations, especially within the state, according to socialist (but non-Bolshevik) principles. This program openly challenged nationalism and the nation state and championed the rights of the different nationalities (not only Jews) within each state. Its main tenet was that the Jews of Russia, and later Poland, as well as the other national minorities, must be granted a limited 'national-cultural autonomy'. It also stressed that the solution to the Jews' problems must be found in the places where they already lived and not through emigration (doykayt). Whereas the existing historiography often presents a simplified version of Bundism or stresses the Bund's failure to achieve its aims, this dissertation attempts to understand the Bund's aspirations and activities in their own terms. The first chapters discuss the internal debates that led the Bund to adopt its national program and reconstruct the intellectual background that resulted in the Bund's particular synthesis and views. I give particular attention to the work of key theorists that had an impact on the development of the Bund's program, among them the 'founding fathers' of Marxism (Marx, Engels and Kautsky), Austro-Marxist theorists (Karl Renner and Otto Bauer), Bundist theorists (such as Vladimir Medem and Beynish Mikhalevitsh), and ideological rivals within the Marxist movement with whom the Bund maintained fierce debates in the process of developing its national and political identity (Rosa Luxemburg and the Bolsheviks Lenin and Stalin). In the later chapters I explore the extent to which the Polish Bund in the interwar period endeavored to apply its national program and unique synthesis of socialism, internationalism, and Jewish identity in the development of a complex subculture of working-class, secular Yiddishist institutions, and I show how this network constituted an impressive 'national-cultural autonomy in the making'.Thesis (Ph.D.)--New York University, 2005.School code: 0146