Banner of the Poale Zion Movement
Russia, 1917
Painted silk
Gift of Nathan Ferman
Must Know
The banner is in hebrew and Russian and advertises the Poale Zion movement/group.
Poale Zion was a movement of Jewish workers, translating to Workers of Zion from hebrew. It was a movement of Marxist-Zionist Jews in various European cities as well as in the Russian Empire. Following the rejection of the Zionism by the Bund (General Jewish Labour Bund), Poale Zion was established in early 20th century by Jewish workers who believed in the idea of manifesting the Jewish identity in a country of its own and pushed for the establishment of the Land of Israel. They were motivated by socialist and Zionist ideas.
More Info
Poale Zion was a movement that begun across the Jewish diaspora. Notable branches or Poale Zion groups were established in New York, London, Austria, Russia and even Palestine. The first Poale Zion World Congress took place in August 1907 in The Hague, the Netherlands. More congresses happened in Krakow, Vienna and Stockholm where practical socialist projects in Palestine were deliberated.
Several important Youth movements, such as the Marxist Hashomer Hatzair and socialist Habonim Dror, have emerged out of the Poale Zion movement. They were all pushed by the idea of establishing a strong Jewish identity and community.
The movement was a catalyst that inspired the European fight for Jewish rights and a Jewish state and was a part of a larger Labor Zionism that was growing at the time. It marked the beginning of union between the left-wing, socialist Zionist movement and the Jewish labor movements of the time around Eastern and Central Europe. Labor Zionists believed that a Jewish state could be established through the efforts of the working class and by creating a labor Jewish society that would settle in the land of Israel. Important people within the Labor Zionist movement included Moses hess, Ber Borochov, David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir.
