BOREKH-NAKHMEN
VLADEK-TSHARNI (VLADECK, CHARNEY) (January 13, 1886-October 30, 1938)
He was born in Dukor (Dukora), Minsk
district, Byelorussia. His father
Zev-Volf Tsharni (Charney) ran a leather goods shop in town and was an ardent
Lyubavitsh Hassid; he died young (1889) from tuberculosis, and his wife Brokhe
(née Hurvits) survived him at age thirty-five with six children (one daughter
and five sons; the three younger sons were: Shmuel, later Shmuel Niger;
Borekh-Nakhmen, later B. Vladek; and the youngest son Donye, later the poet and
family chronicler Daniel Charney). Their
mother, a descendant of the Shelah Hakodesh [R. Yeshaya Hurvits], was an
intelligent and learned woman, a woman who read the prayers in the women’s
section of the synagogue and who spoke in “parables and allusions”: “her
letters were literature,” recounted Vladek of her. She continued to maintain the leather goods shop
and supported the family. She sent the
children to study with the best teacher in town and later to Minsk on Totersher
Street or in the small Totersher Synagogue there. Just like his older brother Shmuel,
Borekh-Nakhmen “ate days” (roomed and boarded with different families on
different days of the week) while studying Talmud with commentaries, later
turning his attention to secular subject matter and preparing for a high school
diploma as an external student. After
the Kishinev pogrom in 1903, he joined the first advent of the Labor Zionist
movement and administered the student group “Talmide akiva” (Students of R.
Akiva), a circle of lovers of the Hebrew language. In January 1904 he was arrested for
membership in the Labor Zionists and thrown into jial in Minsk. In the general cell for the political
prisoners, he studied arithmetic, geography, and literature with the
others. For him personally, jail served
as an excellent school; he read a great deal there, became acquainted with the
major figures in world literature, and already there became a favorite as an
idealistic leader and extraordinary speaker.
He was selected to be in charge of the politicals, and when governor of
Minsk at the time, the liberal Aleksei Musin-Pushkin, paid a visit to the jail,
Vladek made a speech with demands on behalf of the political arrestees. He was also in the leadership of a hunger strike
that the politicals declared to gain tangible support to buttress their
demands. In jail he—in part under the
influence of the Bundists Samuil Bernshteyn and Kolya Teper who were then with
him there—changed his political beliefs; he left the Labor Zionists and moved
closer to the Bund; the 200-ruble bail for his release was furnished by the
Bund. In September 1904, shortly after
being freed from jail, he formally joined the Bund, and he was promptly
introduced to the central assembly of Bundist workers’ vocations.
It so happened at that time that
there was a general strike of “shop assistants” (prikazchikes), and taking advantage of the freer political
atmosphere under Musin-Pushkin, people were called a mass meeting in a large
school, at which Vladek gave his celebrated speech which began with the words,
“Kamashi, kaloshi—khoroshii tovar” (Shoe, rubbers—good merchandise), the words
with which shop clerks entice customers into their shops. After the historic events of January 9, 1905,
the Bund in St. Petersburg attempted to lead a general strike in Minsk as well,
and they sent Vladek to get the workers at a large factory to come join
in. Not far from the tanneries in
Lyakhovka, a division of Cossacks swept down on them violently with blackjacks
and swords, and left him bloodied in the snow on the street (scars from the
blows sustained remained on his face for his entire life). The nineteen-year-old revolutionary could no
longer stay in Minsk—the police were now hunting for him—and the party sent him
on illegal propaganda work into the “district,” meaning through the towns of
Byelorussia and Lithuania. For the
greater portion of 1905, the “second Lassalle” (as people were now calling him)
cooled his heels in Vilna, as he became a legend in the city. At the time he also spent several months in the Number 14 cell in
the jail at Lukishkes Square (Lukiškių aikštė)
in Vilna. At the end of that year, he
had to flee from Vilna, and through the Polish district committee of the Bund,
he carried out revolutionary work in Warsaw, Lublin (where he was saved from
arrest and even from death thanks to his extraordinary boldness and courage),
Lodz (where he was tossed in jail and from which he was dispatched with a
procession of convicts back to the Minsk jail), and then back to Vilna. He participated in the seventh congress of
the Bund in Lemberg (August 1906). In
this Polish period, he acquired—it is unknown precisely when and how—his Polish
surname Vladek which he later, in the United States, adopted for his new family
name. In those years he was also known
by such party nicknames: B. Shvarts, Nakhmen Benedikt, and Moisey Vilner, among
others. He also took part in the London
conference of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party (May 1907) and there
supported Lenin’s Bolshevik faction.
In
the same two violent years, Vladek’s literary talents began to emerge. His first piece in Yiddish was “Der balebos
un di revolutsyonere yugend (a brif fun provints)” (The head man and the
revolutionary youth, a letter from the provinces), published in the Bundist
daily Folkstsaytung (People’s
newspaper) 20 (March 14, 1906) in Vilna—which he signed “Bontsye shvaygs
eynikl” (Bontshe Shvayg’s grandchild).
In issue no. 50 of the newspaper, his “Briv fun homel” (Letter from
Homel [Gomel]) appeared and was signed Moisey Vilner. Later that same year, he published in the
same paper “Briv fun poyln” (Letter from Poland) now using the name “Vladek”
and at the end of 1906 (no. 22) an article which he signed “Bonye Brokhes.” Under these pseudonyms Vladek wrote the
series “Funem togbukh [later, notitsn] fun a val-agitator” (From the diary
[later, notes] of an agitator at the ramparts), polemical and theoretical
articles in the newspaper, until it folded in August 1907, and in the
subsequent Bundist serial Di hofenung
(The hope) from September and thereafter.
In October this newspaper also closed down, and in one of its last
issues (no. 35), Vladek began his series “Blayfeder notitsn”—or “Blayshtift
notitsn”—(Pencil notes) concerning literature and various cultural issues, including
an article on Morris Rozenfeld. In the
Bundist weekly Der morgnshtern (The
Morningstar), which on November 16, 1907 superseded Di hofenung, now closed, was a continuation in the very first issue
of Vladek’s literary notes—an article about Avrom Reyzen’s poetry. In 1908 he resumed writing his “Pencil notes”
concerned with literary criticism, as well as other essays and articles, in
such Bundist publications as Di naye
tsayt (The new times), an anthology (volumes 1, 3, and 4), and Der tog ershaynt af shabes (The day,
published on the Sabbath), a weekly (between September and December 1908). He also made in those his first attempt at
poetry and stories in the collections published by “Di velt” (The world)
publishers in Vilna in 1907: Friling
(Spring), Herbst-bleter (Autumn
sheets), Khanike blat (Hanukkah
sheet), and Lekoved peysekh (In
honor of Passover). He also published in
H. D. Nomberg’s Literarishe flugblat
(Literary leaflet) (Warsaw, 1908) and in Romantsaytung
(Fiction newspaper) 23 (Warsaw, 1908).
Vladek
came to the United States in late 1907 and took up writing immediately for the
monthly Tsukunft (Future) in New
York, where between 1909 and 1938 (the last year of his life) he published his
best literary works, among them: the semi-fictional series “Kinder fun folk”
(Children of the people); poems; descriptions of America and travel narratives;
the play Moyshe rebeynu (Moses, our
teacher); literary critical essays on both Jewish and Gentile writers;
portraits of famous people; and political articles by the dozens. He also contributed to: the socialist weekly Der arbayter (The worker) in New York
(1909); Idishe arbayter velt (World
of Jewish labor) in Chicago (1908-1918); the anthology Troymer un virklekhkayt (Dreamer and reality) in New York (1909);
the collection Literatur (Literature)
in New York (1910); between March 1915 and November 1918 in Der idisher sotsyalist (The Jewish
socialist) and between 1915 and 1918 in Di
naye velt (The new world) (New York), he published his series “Brivlekh tsu
a fraynd” (Letters to a friend) and continued the “Pencil notes” criticism,
among other works; from time to time between 1911 and 1936, he published
articles as well in Der fraynd (The
friend), organ of the Workmen’s Circle (New York), and Minikes peysekh-blat (Minikes’s Passover sheet) (New York) in 1920,
1922, and 1930; he was an intensive contributor to Der veker (The alarm), organ of the Jewish socialist union (New
York); a number of articles as well in Fraye
arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor) in 1913 in New York; and he wrote
hundreds of articles on all significant issues, both in the Jewish and in the
general political and cultural community life for the Forverts (Forward) from 1910 until the end of his life (New
York). With the close editorial
cooperation of Kolya Teper and Leon Savidge, in 1917 Vladek published in book
form a one-volume, highly valuable anthology entitled Fun der tifenish fun hartsn, a bukh fun laydn un kamf (From the
depths of the heart, a book of suffering and struggle), drawings by S. Raskin
(New York: Miler and Hillman), 546 pp., in which he published fragments of
Russian, German, French, English, Old Yiddish, and Modern Yiddish literature,
with short notes on the cited writers and famed personalities. On his fiftieth birthday in 1936, the Forward
Association in New York published (under the editorship of Yefim Yeshurin and
an editorial board consisting of A. Held, M. Denish, Y. Vaynberg, and D. Meyer)
the book, B. vladek in lebn un shafn
(The life and work of B. Vladek) (437 pp.), with an introduction by the
editors, a biography of Vladek by Y. Kesin, a bibliography of Vladek’s writings
compiled by Yefim Yeshurin, and a great number of Vladek’s works—primarily
those published in America. The
collection of his work is divided into: “Poems” (all manner of poetry and prose
poems); “Children of the people” (stories from life); “Drama” (the short
biblical drama, Moyshe rebeynu, a
historical play in five acts); “From a notebook: (feature pieces, travel
narratives, and “Letters to a friend”); “Natural wonders of America” (mainly,
descriptions of California); and “Short essays” and “Literary notes” (Critical
pieces on Perets, Dinezon, Sholem-Aleykhem, Morris Rozenfeld, Yehoash, Bialik,
Liessin, Shneur, Leivick, Bergelson, and Libin, among others). None of his newspaper articles on politics
appeared in the collection. Vladek also
edited Teater-blat (Theater
newspaper) in 1910; wrote the pamphlet Hundert
finf un tsvantsig bilyon (125 billion) (New York: Jewish propaganda
office), 48 pp.; translated [from English] Reporter
un sotsyalist (Reporter and socialist) by Alexander Jonas (New York:
Forverts, 1912), 47 pp. In his later
years, Vladek also contributed to the socialist press in English, publishing
articles and reviews in: Nation, Herald Tribune, Locomotive Engineers Journal, and others.
In
1911 Vladek married Clara Richman, a nurse at the Henry Street Settlement on
the East Side. Soon thereafter they moved
to Philadelphia, where he became in December 1912 manager of the local Forverts office. They lived there until 1916. He attended courses at the Teachers College
at the University of Pennsylvania, gained a thorough mastery of English,
American history, and literature, and worked actively in the Jewish socialist
federation, for the Workmen’s Circle, and for the Socialist Party. In 1915 he became an American citizen, and in
1916 moved to New York where he became city editor of Forverts and managed the second electoral campaign of Meyer London
for Congress that same year. In 1918 he
became the general business manager of the Forverts
and held this position until the end of his life. He forged such a successful political career,
of course, in and through the Socialist Party.
In 1917 he was for the first time elected on the Socialist ticket to the
New York Board of Aldermen (city council) from Williamsburg district in
Brooklyn. In 1918, 1920, and 1921 he was
reelected to this post. During WWI he
contributed to the People’s Relief Committee, and he would later represent
Jewish labor on the Joint Distribution Committee. In the early 1920, he stood at the forefront
of fighters against Communism in the Jewish labor movement, and after the rift
in the Socialist Party (1921) he was very active in the Jewish socialist
union. In 1924 he made a trip to Europe
and stayed a lengthy time in Poland as a guest of the organized Jewish labor
movement; in 1929 he stood at the head of a committee that led the “tools
campaign” on behalf of needy Jewish craftsmen in Europe; he later stood at the
lead of the American “ORT” (Association for the Promotion of Skilled
Trades), and chaired thereafter the Jewish labor committee of YIVO. In the 1930s, Vladek evinced a great interest
in ideas of municipal and societal housing construction, and in that field actually
acquired considerable acclaim in New York and more widely in America. He was one of the directors of the
cooperative houses of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers in the United States,
and in 1934 he was named by Mayor LaGuardia to be a member of the New York
Housing Authority, and from there a great initiative was forthcoming and
greater energy which he demonstrated in the field of public housing
construction. Vladek believed strongly
in the need for a labor party in America, and he worked hard for the establishment
of such a party; in 1937 he was elected by the Labor Party to the city
council—all the radical and socialist bodies united in the election campaign in
New York. In 1936 he made long trip
through Europe, Soviet Russia, and Israel.
At the time he was having trouble with his eyes and was threatened with
going blind. In the final two years of
his life, his energy flowed over everywhere; he was tied to every democratic
Jewish organization that was engaged in relief work, and this ultimately destroyed
his strength. He had a heart attack
while working at the Forverts office
on Friday, October 28, 1938, and on Sunday, October 30 he died. Hundreds of thousands of mourners came to his
funeral, November 2, 1938. The Yiddish
press throughout the world and the English press in the United States dedicated
lengthy articles and detailed descriptions of his life.
Sources:
The literature on Vladek is rich, but more than anything else, it is spread
throughout journals, newspapers, and books.
We have assembled here a small but important portion therein:
“Biblyografye fun vladeks shriftn” (Bibliography of Vladek’s writings),
compiled by Yefim Yeshurin, in B. vladek
in lebn un shafn (The life and work of B. Vladek) (New York, 1936), pp.
426-37; Y. Kisin, “B. vladeks byografye” (Biography of B. Vladek), in B. vladek in lebn un shafn, pp. 13-52; B. vladek in der opshatsung fun zayne fraynd
(B. Vladek in the judgment of his friends) (New York: Forward Association,
1936), 173 pp. in Yiddish, 50 pp. in English, with articles and poems from
nearly fifty writers; Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon,
vol. 1; Z. Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun
yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 1; John Herling, in American Jewish Yearbook, vol. 41
(Philadelphia, 1939), pp. 79-93; Algernon Lee, in Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 10 (New York, 1943), pp.
429-30; V. Medem, Fun mayn lebn (From
my life), vol. 2 (New York, 1923), p. 203; B. Mikhalevitsh, Zikhroynes fun a yidishn sotsyalist (Memoirs
of a Jewish socialist), vol. 3 (Warsaw, 1929), p. 137; D. Tsharni (Charney), Barg aroyf (Uphill) (Warsaw, 1934), see
index; Charney, Vilne (Vilna) (Buenos
Aires, 1951), pp. 53-54, 66-75, 78-81, 91; Charney, “Kh’bakum plutsling fun
yener velt a bintl brif fun der mamen” (I’m suddenly getting a bundle of
letters from my mother from the other world), Der tog (New York) (August 7, 1954); Charney, A litvak in poyln
(A Lithuanian Jew in Poland) (New York, 1955), pp. 74, 93-111, 139-40; Vilne (Vilna), anthology edited by Y.
Yeshurin (New York, 1935), see index; A. Liessin, “Borekh vladek” (Borekh
Vladek), an obituary poem, Tsukunft (New York) (November 1938); Zalmen
Reyzen and Y. Tshernikhov, in Vilner tog (Vilna) (November 2 and 4,
1938); Tsukunft (December 1938), dedicated to Vladek’s memory; N. B.
Minkov, in Kultur un dertsiung (New York) (December 1938); Y. Borukhov
(Y. Kharlash), in Foroys (Johannesburg) (November-December 1938); H.
Avramovitsh, in Der veker (New York) (December 1, 1939); Moyshe Shtarkman,
in Hadoar (New York) (4 Sivan [= May 23], 1947); Tsukunft
(December 1948)—three articles on Vladek; Sh. Mendelson, in Shloyme
mendelson, zayn lebn un shafn (The life and work of Shloyme Mendelson) (New
York, 1949), pp. 402-5; G. Medem, A lebnsveg (A life) (New
York, 1950), pp. 149-50; 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; Herts, Di geshikhte fun bund in
lodz (The history of the Bund in Lodz) (New York, 1958), see index; Y. N.
Shteynberg, Mit eyn fus in amerike
(With one foot in America) (Mexico City, 1951), pp. 19, 29, 64-70, 147-51; F.
Kurski, Gezamlte shriftn (Collected
writings) (New York, 1952), see index; A. Liessin, Zikhroynes un bilder (Memories and images) (New York, 1954), pp.
295-311; Y. Y. Sigal, in Keneder odler
(Montreal) (March 26, 1954); B. Y. Byalostotski, Kholem un var (Dream
and reality) (New York, 1956), pp. 418-27; D. Shedletski, in Der veker (November 1, 1958); R.
Abramovitsh, in Forverts (New York)
(November 11, 1958); Kh. Gotesfeld, in Forverts
(January 27 and February 5, 1959); Y. Shlosberg, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (New York) (July 18, 1959).
Yitskhok Kharlash
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