labourhub.org.uk
A History of the Jewish Labour Bund
Michael Hindley reviews Here Where We Live Is Our Country, by Molly Crabapple, published by Bloomsbury, the story of the forgotten and suppressed history of the Jewish, Socialist, Anti-Zionist Party. An estimated eight to ten million Jews worldwide can trace their origins to the long past Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which lasted from 1569 to 1795. The Common-wealth provided a safe haven for Jews, who fled or were driven from other less enlightened and tolerant parts of Europe. The Commonwealth had an elected King, who extended his royal protection to Jews. But the Commonwealth had a weak central government, which tempted its more aggressive, expansionist neighbours, who made substantial inroads into Common-wealth territory, culminating in the Commonwealth’s total collapse and annexation in 1795.