Y. L. DRAGUNSKI

Y. L. DRAGUNSKI (1869-February 20, 1923)

            He was born in Homel (Hamel, Gomel), Byelorussia.  He received both a Jewish and a general education.  From his early years, he was active in the socialist movement, initially with Iskra (Spark) and later with the Bund where he served as leader in the Homel district.  He played a major role in organizing Bundist self-defense in Homel.  He was arrested on many occasions and thrown into Tsarist prisons.  He lived for a time in Lodz, and from there he emigrated to the United States where he was active in the socialist movement.  He was also one of the pioneers of the Workmen’s Circle Schools in New York and secretary of the National School Commission of the Workmen’s Circle.  He first published articles in the Russian-language press in Homel and Lodz.  In the United States, he was on the editorial board (with Y. B. Beylin, Yankev Levin, and Y. Shteynboym) of the journal Kinderland (Children’s land) in New York (1921-1922), in which he also published his translation of Edmondo de Amicis’s Dos tog-bukh fun a shul-yingl (The diary of a school boy [original: Cuore (Heart)]).  He also wrote under the pen names: Leo, L. Abramovitsh, and Yeled, among others.  He died in New York.

Source: Der fraynd (New York) (March 1923).