“Join Tsukunft” Poster in Polish and Yiddish
Designer: H. Cyna, Warsaw, Poland, 1930s
Tsukunft )Yiddish for future( was the Jewish Labor
Bund’s youth movement.
Must Know
Tsukunft (Yiddish for future) was the youth movement of the Jewish Labor Bund in 19th century Imperial Russia and was founded in 1910.
The Jewish Labor Bund, or the Bund, was founded in Russia in 1897, and was a socialist Jewish secular party. It promoted Yiddish, automatism, and secular Jewish nationalism for Jews in Lithuania, Poland and Russia. It functioned like a union to better the lives of Jews in Eastern Europe.
Russia had the largest concentrations of Jews in the world during the 19th century. Many of the world’s intellectual Jews had/have Russian roots which they left behind due to the rise of antisemitism and eventual war in Europe.
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The General Labor Bund was driven by the Yiddish idea of doikayt (hereness), an approach that promoted staying and building a strong Jewish community rather that immigrating to another country to combat anti-semitic labor politics and struggles of Jews in Eastern Europe. They pushed for labor rights and defended Jews from anti-semitism in their local and national communities. Further in this idea, the Bund had a vision of a Jewish identity that would integrate into the local and national identities of Jews. Importantly, they opposed Zionism, instead promoting a secular version of Jewish national identities.
The Bund came to an end during the later years of World War II. In Russia the movement was obliterated by the Stalinists while in Europe it fell due to the Holocaust. After its fall, the Zionist movement took central stage, later leading to the establishment of Israel.
