Dreams of Nationhood

"This work by Srebrnik (political studies, U. of Prince Edward Island, Canada) is a reconstruction of the engagement of two American Jewish Communist groups with the Soviet project of establishing a Jewish "autonomous" oblast in the Soviet Far-East over the years 1924-1951. The author offers a narrative reconstruction of how the Association for Jewish Colonization in Soviet Russia (ICOR), founded in 1924 and composed primarily of first and second generation Yiddish-speaking Jews of East European origin, and the American Committee for the Settlement of Jews in Birobidjan (Ambijan), "founded in 1934 as a popular front group catering to native-born, English-speaking, middle-class Jews," described and understood their own activities, as seen through their own written accounts and perspectives found in their newspapers' news stories, editorials, belles lettres, poems, organizational notices, advertisements, brief notices, and other materials. The focus is self-consciously narrow in that readers interested in, just for the sake of example, the histories of Birobidjan itself or communism among American Jews are referred to the already well-established literature elsewhere."

Auteur

Henry Srebrnik (PhD, University of Birmingham, England) is a Professor in the Department of Political Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada. His most recent books include Jerusalem on the Amur: Birobidzhan and the Canadian Jewish Communist Movement, 1924-1951 (McGill-Queen s University Press, 2008) and London Jews and British Communism, 1935-1945 (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 1995) He also served on the editorial team for De Facto States: The Quest For Sovereignty (London: Routledge, 2004) with Tozun Bahcheli and Barry Bartmann.

Texte du rabat

The American Jewish Communist movement played a major role in the politics of Jewish communities in cities such as Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia, as well as in many other centers, between the 1920s and the 1950s. Making extensive use of Yiddish-language books, newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets, and other materials, Dreams of Nationhood traces the ideological and material support provided to the Jewish Autonomous Region of Birobidzhan, located in the far east of the Soviet Union, by two American Jewish Communist-led organizations, the ICOR and the American Birobidzhan Committee. By providing a detailed historical examination of the political work of these two groups, the book makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of twentieth-century Jewish life in the United States.

Résumé
Making extensive use of Yiddish-language books, newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets, and other materials, this traces the ideological and material support provided to the Jewish Autonomous Region of Birobidzhan in the far east of the Soviet Union by two American Jewish Communist-led organisations.

Contenu

Abbreviations. List of Illustrations. Introduction: American Jews, Communism, the ICOR and Birobidzhan. The Formation of Ambijan. The "People's Delegation" and the Popular Front, 1935-1939. Wartime Aid to the Soviet Union: the ICOR. Wartime Aid to the Soviet Union: Ambijan. the Postwar Orphans' Campaign and the Ambijan-ICOR Merger. The Glory Years, 1946-1948. Ambijan and the Creation of Israel. The Gathering Storm: McCarthyism, Cold War, and Decline. Islands of Resistance, 1949-1950. Conclusion: From Hope to Hoax. Appendix: Paul Novick's 1936 Visit to the Jewish Autonomous Region. Appendix: George Koval. Selected Bibliography. Index.