AVROM-SIMKHE ZAKS

AVROM-SIMKHE ZAKS (October 20, 1878-September 6, 1931)

            He was born in Zhager (Žagarė), Kovno district, Lithuania.  His father R. Bentsien-Volf Zaks, best known by the name R. Velftshik (or Volftsik) Kharef (the shrewd one), was head of the yeshiva in Nay-Zhager and was a scholar and follower of the Jewish Enlightenment nonpareil.  From his earliest youth, there was inculcated in Avrom-Simkhe a love of Enlightenment religious texts and scholarly works, which he found in his father’s well-stocked library.  Until age fifteen he studied (in the Shavel [Šiauliai] yeshiva as well) the Talmud with commentaries, and then, under the influence of Hebrew literature, he began to turn his attention to secular subject matter.  In the mornings he would study Gemara and in the evenings he prepared for the baccalaureate examinations at the Shavel high school.  Around 1894 he was lured into the revolutionary movement, which at the time was flourishing among Jewish workers.  He founded study circles for political economy (in which he developed at the time a great interest) and socialism, and he translated into Yiddish for these circles Aleksandr Bogdanov’s pamphlets, entitled Di ekonomishe lere (Economic doctrine) and Di alte shklaferay (Ancient slavery), which were later published in Warsaw by “Progres” in 1902 and 1903, respectively.  In 1899 he passed the examination to become a teacher and moved to Warsaw, where in 1901 he was arrested for his socialist activities; he then spent half a year in cell at the Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel, learning a great deal and systematizing his scholarly knowledge.  After being freed from prison, he remained under police supervision in Warsaw, and in 1902 he began his literary activities in Yudishe folkstsaytung (Jewish people’s newspaper) and Froyen-velt (Women’s world), edited by M. Spektor and Kh. D. Hurvits, in which he published scholarly and journalistic treatises on social and economic issues—among them, his article “Kautski un di natsyonale frage” (Kautsky and the national question) and “Klas un natsye” (Class and ethnicity).  He published articles in other places as well: “Natsyonalizm un shovinizm” (Nationalism and chauvinism) in the collection Hilf (Relief) in 1903; “Mikhailovski un di natsyonale frage” (Mikhailovski and the national question) in Yikhezkl Vortsman’s Yudishe tsukunft (Jewish future) in London; “Natsyonalizm un natsyonen” (Nationalism and nationalities) in Avrom Reyzen’s Dos yudishe vort (The Jewish word); among others.  In the spring of 1903 he moved to Riga, married Viera (Vera) Kisin there, and together they moved to Berlin where he studied political economy and philosophy in university and natural science and agriculture at Königliche Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule (Royal Agricultural University).  He acted as correspondent (signing his name: “S.”), 1904-1905, from Berlin for Fraynd (Friend) in St. Petersburg.  In 1905 he also worked as a student agronomist in the agriculture school to educate Jewish children for colonies in Slobodka-Lesna (Słobódka Leśna), near Kolomyia, eastern Galicia.  Due to the persecutions exercised by the Prussian authorities against “foreign” students, he left Berlin in 1906 and continued his studies in Jena where he graduated as an agronomist in 1907.  He was invited to New York in 1908 to serve as editor of the scientific section of Tsukunft (Future), to which he had earlier contributed work, and after arriving in America he became editor of the socialist weekly newspaper Idishe arbeter-velt (World of Jewish labor) in Chicago; in 1911 he became editor of Tsukunft and held this post until the end of 1912, when the journal came under the control of Forverts (Forward) with which Zaks had carried on a passionate polemic through publications of the Yiddish press generally and the Yiddish workers’ press in particular.  Over the period 1912-1913, he also edited the monthly Der fraynd (The friend), organ of the Workmen’s Circle, in New York; he was a contributor to Tog (Day), 1914-1919, and in 1918 also to Herman Bernshteyn’s Haynt (Today) of which only one issued appeared.  He wrote both under his own name and under the pseudonyms: Dr. A. Vaynshtok, Sh. Zagorin, and A. Beobakhter, among others.  In addition to the abovementioned publications, his work also appeared in: Fraynd in St. Petersburg (1904-1905); Der veker (The alarm) and Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) in Vilna (1905-1906); Yudishe tsukunft in New York (1908); Der tsayt-gayst (The spirit of the times) in New York (1905-1906); Tsukunft, Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Der idisher sotsyalist (The Jewish socialist), Di naye velt (The new world) (1914-1922), Frayhayt (Freedom) (1922), and Forverts—all in New York; also in the Russian-language newspaper published abroad, Posledniya izvestiya (Latest news) in 1905.  He was also active in the American Jewish community and cultural life.  He was one of the founders in 1914 of People’s University through Correspondence in Yiddish, and in 1915 he chaired the Education Committee of Workmen’s Circle; he was a teacher of political economy, socialism, and biology at the Jewish teachers’ seminary and People’s University (also its director in the 1920s), as well as of the teachers’ course at Workmen’s Circle; he made lecture tours across the United States for Workmen’s Circle and for the Socialist Party; in 1924 he made a study trip to Western Europe and the Baltic states; from 1925 he was president of the Y. L. Perets Writers’ Association in New York, one of the initiators of the Yiddish Scientific Institute (YIVO), helped to found the Jewish Socialist Federation (later known as IKOR in America), and he was active in the Federation of American Jews of Lithuanian Descent.

            In book form, he published: Di ekonomishe lere, adapted from A. Bogdanov (Warsaw: Progres, 1902), 81 pp.; Di alte shklaferay, second volume of Di ekonomishe lere, adapted from A. Bogdanov (Warsaw: Progres, 1904), 48 pp., with a preface by A. S. Zaks; Privat-eygntum (Private property) (Warsaw: Bikher far ale, 1906), 10 pp., initially published in Yudishe folkstsaytung in Cracow (1902); Der historisher materyalizm (Historical materialism) (Vilna: Di velt, 1907), 80 pp.; Politishe ekonomye, ir entshteung un geshikhte, mit portretn fun groyse ekonomistn (Political economy, its origins and history, with portraits of great economists) (New York: Hebrew Publishing Company, 1911), 292 pp.; Di grund-printsipn fun politisher ekonomye (The basic principles of political economy) (New York: Literarishe farlag, 1914); Di lere fun sotsyalizm (The doctrine of socialism), published by the Jewish Socialist Federation in America as the first booklet of the “Workers’ Library” series (New York, 1915), 153 pp.; Der alef-beys fun sotsyalizm (The ABC of socialism) (New York: Yidishe federatsye fun der sotsyalistisher partey in amerike, 1916), 26 pp., no. 4 in the “Socialist Campaign Library,” pocketbook format; Botanik oder dos lebn fun flantsn, mit bilder (Botany or the life of plants, with pictures) (New York: Workmen’s Circle, 1916), 96 pp., second edition (New York, 1917); Politishe ekonomye, di grund-printsipn (Political economy, the basic principles), part 1 (New York: Workmen’s Circle, 1918), 107 pp., part 2 (New York, 1918), 96 pp., part 3 (New York, 1920), 320 pp.  A second, enlarged and improved, edition of this last work appeared in 1920, 320 pp. and 220 pp.; a new edition, entitled Di grund-printsipn fun politisher ekonomye, appeared as no. 3 in the “Jewish Socialist People’s Library” (St. Petersburg: Commissariat for Jewish Affairs, 1918), and it was also republished by other Soviet Jewish publishers; a fourth edition was published by “Di velt” (The world) and “Kultur-lige” (Culture league) in Vilna in 1926, 520 pp.; and a fifth edition appeared from the same publishers in 1928.  Further works include: Di parizer komune, geshikhte fun ershter regirung fun der proletarisher revolutsye (The Paris Commune, a history of the first government of the proletarian revolution) (New York: Naye velt, 1921), 207 pp.  For the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Workmen’s Circle, he wrote: Di geshikhte fun arbeter-ring, 1892-1925 (History of the Workmen’s Circle, 1892-1925) (New York, 1925), 2 vols., 900 pp.  Zaks also composed a work of semi-fictional character, entitled Khoreve veltn (Worlds destroyed), descriptions of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, Jewish customs and institutions, holidays and days of mourning, as well as celebrated representatives of traditional Judaism, such as R. Yisroel Salanter and the Kelmer Magid, among others (New York: Literarishe ferlag, 1917), 254 pp.—portions of it were published in English in American Jewish Chronicle and American Hebrew, and in Hebrew translation by M. Lipson in Haivri (The Jew) and Hatoran (The duty officer); a second edition of this work appeared in 1918, and a third enlarged edition in 1928 (313 pp.).  A series of articles by Zaks (published earlier in Tog) came out as a book entitled Der kamf af der idisher arbayter-gas (The struggle on the Jewish workers’ street) (New York, 1927), 157 pp.; and Fun emune tsu haskole, mikoyekh di ershte yugentyorn fun avrom zalmen fraydus (From belief to Enlightenment, concerning the early youth of Avrom Zalmen Fraydus) (Vienna, 1930).  In English he published (as translated by Harold Berman): Worlds That Passed (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1925), 289 pp., second edition (New York: Vanguard Press, 1927), third edition (New York, 1928) [a translation of his Khoreve veltn]; Basic Principles of Scientific Socialism (New York: The Rand School of Social Science, 1925), 201 pp.  In German: Grundlehren des wissenschaftlichen Sozialismus (Basic principles of scientific socialism) (Vienna, 1925), 132 pp.  He also placed work in Deutsche Volkszeitung (German people’s newspaper) in New York (1920-1921, 1925-1926), in Russian in Novyi mir (New world) in New York, and in English in Class Struggle and Jewish Tribune.  He also contributed pieces to: the yearbooks of the Jewish Socialist Federation in New York; Di velt un di menshheyt (The world and mankind) (New York, 1913); the collection Karl marks (Karl Marx) (New York, 1918); Moyshe kats zamlbukh (Moyshe Kats collection) (Philadelphia, 1925); and the anthology to the memory of A. Z. Fraydus (New York, 1929).

            In the summer of 1924 Zaks made a trip to Europe, took part in the Berlin conference aimed at founding the Yiddish Scientific Institute (YIVO), and then went on to visit Kovno, Zhager, and Riga, before spending six weeks in Soviet Russia.  On the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, an A. S. Zaks jubilee committee was formed in New York (1928-1929), which under the editorship of B. Ts. Goldberg brought out an anthology entitled Shtudyes in sotsyaler visnshaft, lekoved dem fuftsikstn geburts-tog fun a. s. saks (Studies in social science, in honor of the fiftieth birthday of A. S. Zaks) (New York: Jewish teachers’ seminary, 1930), 203 pp., with articles (about Zaks or dedicated to him) by: Dr. Y. Blokh, Y. Tverski, L. Lehrer, V. Natanson, Shmuel Niger, A. D. Fleshler, Dr. A. Koralnik, Ester Rabiner, Moyshe Shtarkman, Dr. Y. N. Shteynberg, Kh. Shoys, and Dr. F. Shneurson.  In the spring of 1931, Zaks and his wife wanted to make a second trip to Soviet Russia to acquaint themselves with the results of the new Jewish colonization, of which he was a strong advocate, but the Soviet authorities refused to give him an entry visa.  He soon thereafter died of a heart attack in his home in Jersey City.  In the summer of 1932 there was established in New York an “A. S. Zaks Memorial Committee” with the goal of publishing his unpublished writings and organizing in his memory courses on political economy, the history of socialism, and the Jewish labor movement.  The committee later brought out: (1) In kamf far a beserer velt, geklibene ksovim vegn sotsyale problemen un revolutsyonere perzenlekhkeyṭn (In the struggle for a better world, collected writings on social issues and revolutionary personalities) (New York: A. S. Zaks gezelshaft, Jewish Teachers’ Seminary, 1938), 175 pp., with prefaces by B. Ts. Goldberg (editor of the volume) and by the A. S. Zaks gezelshaft; (2) Dr. Herman Frank’s book, A. s. zaks, kemfer far folks-oyflebung (A. S. Zaks, fighter for the people’s renaissance) (New York: A. S. Zaks gezelshaft, 1945), 396 pp., which ends with the word: “The greatest praise one could say of him [A. S. Zaks]…was that always and everywhere he enhanced, with words and stories, the Jewish people’s intelligence.”

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Shtudyes in sotsyaler visnshaft lekoved dem fuftsikstn geburts-tog fun a. s. saks (Studies in social science, in honor of the fiftieth birthday of A. S. Zaks), ed. B. Ts. Goldberg (New York: Jewish teachers’ seminary, 1930), 203 pp.; Dr. Herman Frank, A. s. zaks, kemfer far folks-oyflebung (A. S. Zaks, fighter for the people’s renaissance) (New York: A. S. Zaks gezelshaft, 1945), 396 pp.; F. Krants, in Tsukunft (New York) (September 1904); M. Winchevsky, in Tsukunft (August 1908), pp. 60-64 (522-26); Ab. Kaspe, in Tsukunft (January 1912), pp. 46-48; Kaspe, in Tsukunft (February 1912), pp. 151-56; Moyshe Nadir, Mayne hent hobn fargosn dos dozike blut (My hands are covered in this blood) (New York, 1919), pp. 48-52; Arnold Kritshmar-Yizraeli, in Tsayt (New York) (November 5, 1921; January 1, 1922); Avrom Reyzen, Epizodn fun mayn lebn (Episodes from my life), parts 2 and 3 (Vilna, 1929-1935); A. Tsherikover, in Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) (March 28, 1930); Dr. A. Koralnik, in Tog (New York) (September 9, 1930; September 9, 1931); A. Almi, in Literarishe bleter (September 9, 1930); Almi, Mentshn un ideyen (Men and ideas), essays (Warsaw, 1933), pp. 249-61; Z. Reyzen, in Yivo-bleter (Vilna) 2.1-2 (1931), pp. 185-86; obituary articles in Tog (September 8-9, 1931); A. M. Morison, in Der veker (New York) (March 7, 1931); Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (September 10, 1931); Dr. Chaim Zhitlowsky, in Tog (April 9, 1931); L. Lehrer, in Tsukunft (September 1931); L. Finkelshteyn, in Tog (May 2 and September 11, 1931; September 3, 1932); M. Epshteyn, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York) (March 2, 1932); Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft (August 1933); G. Aronson, in Tsukunft (May-June 1942); N. Mishkovski, Mayn lebn un mayne rayzes (My life and my travels) (Mexico City, 1947), pp. 96-98; Y. Sh. Herts, 50 yor arbeter ring (Fifty years of the Workmen’s Circle) (New York, 1950), see index; Herts, Di yidishe sotsyalistishe bavegung in amerike (The Jewish socialist movement in America) (New York, 1954), see index; Y. N. Shteynberg, Mit eyn fus in amerike (With one foot in America) (Mexico City, 1951), pp. 108-11; Geshikhte fun der tsienistisher arbeter-bavegung in tsofn-amerike (History of the Zionist workers’ movement in North America), 2 vols. (New York, 1955), see index; Dr. Vera S. Zaks, in Der amerikaner (New York) (December 26, 1958); The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 9.

Zaynvl Diamant