HERTS BURGIN (SHMUEL) (August-September 1870- November 4,
1949).
Born in Motol (Motal), Vilna region, after his bar mitzvah he
studied with Rameyle’s circle in Vilna.
He later graduated from Tsunzer’s Russian Jewish school, and in 1892
from the Jewish Teachers’ Institute. In
1897 he became a teacher in Riga and at the same time one of the pioneers of
the local workers’ movement. He began
his literary activity as a correspondent for Voskhod (Sunrise) in Russian. In 1899 a polytechnical institute came to
Riga, and he was excluded from entering because of his participation in student
unrest. In 1903 he was sent for five
years to eastern Siberia. He escaped, from
there abroad, however, and at the end of 1903 he arrived in New York, where he
began to contribute to Aleksandrov’s Fraye shtunde (Free hour) with
translations from Hebrew. From 1906 he
contributed, with occasional breaks, to Forverts (Forward) and Tsukunft
(Future) until around 1925. He wrote as
well for other Yiddish magazines and for the local Russian press. Simultaneously, he published correspondence
pieces in Russian newspapers in Moscow and Odessa. He edited socialist periodicals. In 1913, at the invitation of a committee of the
United Jewish Unions, which were then celebrating twenty-five years of their
existence, he wrote Di geshikhte fun der yidisher arbayter-bavegung in
amerike, rusland un England (The history of the Jewish labor movement in
America, Russia, and England) (New York, 1915), 935 pp. He was a member of the national executive and
education committee of the Workmen’s Circle, and he later became one of the
leaders of the left wing of the Socialist Party. Later still he entered the Communist Party
and contributed numerous articles to Frayhayt (Freedom), later known as Morgn-frayhayt
(Morning freedom). He also contributed
to Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture) in New York. Among his pseudonyms: H. B-n, H. B.,
Ben-ester, S. Pevzner, A. Moloter, D. Molot, Sebezh, Imyarek, Yanka, and
others. In manuscript there is a new,
complete text of his Di geshikhte fun der yidisher arbayter-bavegung in
amerike, rusland un England. Other
books by him include: Di trosts un zeyer badaytung (The trusts and their
significance) (Philadelphia, 1909), 64 pp.; Lerbukh fun arifmetik
(Arithmetic textbook) (New York, 1919), 317 pp.
Translation: Lenin, Arbeter un frayhayt (Workers and freedom),
together with M. Osherovitsh (New York, 1919), 270 pp., second printing
(1921). He edited: Tsaygayst
(Spirit of the times) (New York, 1906); Novyi mir (New World), in
Russian (New York, 1911); the Communist weekly Der kamf (The struggle),
together with F. Gelibter); Funken (Sparks), Proletarye
(Proletariat), Emes (Truth), and Iskra (Spark, in
Russian), all in New York, 1919-1921.
Frontispiece of Burgin’s
“History of the
Jewish Labor Movement in America, Russia, and England”
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog
(November 15, 1934); Morgn-frayhayt (November 5, 1949); B. Y. Beylin, Morgn-frayhayt
(November 5, 1949); Yidishe kultur (December 1949).
