The Jewish Labor Bund with Dr. David Slucki
Sat, Feb 05
|Zoom
An introduction to the Bund, contemporary debates about Bundism, and more!


Time & Location
Feb 05, 2022, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. PST
Zoom
Event Description
In the third installment of the Zhargon Speaker Series (2021-2022), we will be discussing the Jewish Labour Bund with historian Dr. David Slucki, who is a professor of Jewish history at Monash University, Melbourne.
David kindly provided us with a bunch of useful sources to prepare for our conversation with him, which I divided into three sections:
1. Background: For an introduction about the history of the Bund, check out this piece by historian Joshua Meyers. Another good introduction is the three-part series done by the Treyf podcast (recommended in its own right!) about the Bund (in three parts: 1, 2, 3).
2. Some contemporary debates about Bundism, Jewish identity (in particular Jewish American identity) and anti-Zionism: A piece by Molly Crabapple about her great-grandfather the Bundist (added a PDF here for those without a subscription), and a critical response piece by author Rokhl Kafrissen. I think these two articles reflect in an interesting way some of the current discussions on the Bund and its legacy.
3. For some primary sources, check out Bundist leader Vladimir Medem on diaspora nationalism and a piece by the feminist and lesbian activist and Yiddish-English poet Irena Klepfisz on Secular Jewish Identity and Bundism (PDFs provided).
I would recommend starting with one of the sources in the background section. Dr. Slucki indicated he would be happy to have a more conversational session, so I encourage everyone to come to Saturday's talk with questions and thoughts from the readings, or just in general.
Image: Rally of the Jewish Socialist Labour Bund, 1917 (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)