K.
ZAYDEL (1879-May 9, 1953)
The pen name of Zaydel Kagan, he was
born in Bialystok, Russian Poland, into a workers’ family. He attended religious primary school, and
later on his own he studied secular knowledge and foreign languages. From the years of his youth, he was an active,
revolutionary fighter against the Tsarist government in Russia and became known
as “Zaydel the anarchist.” He led his
own faction in the anarchist camp.
Persecuted by the police, he lived illegally and later escaped from
Poland to France, Spain, England, and from there to the United States after
WWI. He settled in Philadelphia and
became one of the most active in the anarchist Jewish labor movement. He was a leader of the shoemakers’
union. He wrote articles for Arbayter fraynd (Workers’ friend) in
London, and he later published articles, memoirs, and chapters from the history
of the Jewish anarchist movement in: Fraye
arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor), Forverts
(Forward), Byalistoker shtime (Voice
of Bialystok), and Idishe bekers shtime
(Voice of Jewish bakers)—in New York. He
was also for many years a contributor to: Di
idishe velt (The Jewish world) in Philadelphia; Der idisher kuryer (The Jewish courier) in Chicago; and other
serials. He died in the Bialystok Old
Age Home in New York.
Sources:
Fraye arbeter-shtime (New York) (May
22, 1953); information from Dovid Sohn in New York.
Khayim Leyb Fuks
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