MIKHL
(MIKHAIL) ZAMETKIN (1859/1960-March 7, 1935)
He was born in Odessa. His father was a hatter and had a small shop
where he sold hats that he made himself.
Ignoring his poverty, he sent his son to study in the Odessa Commercial
School. Mikhl early on joined the
revolutionary movement and in 1877-1878 was one of the twenty-eight members of
the first Odessa “kruzshok” (circle) which established an illegal school to
teach Jewish youngsters Russian and socialism.
In 1880 he was already being watched by the police, and two years later,
for political reasons, he made his way to the United States where he arrived on
August 20, 1882 at the head of the Odessa group of “Am Olam” (Eternal people)
[groups aimed at establishing agricultural colonies in the United States]; en
route they were joined by the second section of the Vilna “Am Olam” group with
Avrom Kaspe at the head. He worked for
years in New York, stitching shirts for $4-$5 each week, and he was one of the
main organizers (with Morris Hilkovitsh [Hilkvit], Louis Miller, and other
socialist pioneers who were also working in the trade at that time) of the
union of shirtmakers (one of the very first Jewish trade unions in
America). Right after arriving in New
York, he took a prominent position among the pioneers in the Jewish socialist
movement in America, and his name was linked with virtually all efforts and
experiments (political, trade union, culturally enlightened, and literary) of
that movement over the course of the 1880s and 1890s. Already in 1882 he joined the “Propaganda
Association” (which the student F. Mirovitsh had only just founded and for
which Abraham Cahan was the principal speaker); and that year he was a
cofounder of the “Self-Study Association” which, just like the “Propaganda
Association,” only existed for a short time, later of the “Russian Workers’
Association,” the “Russian Labor Lyceum,” and the “Russian Progressive
Association.” He was one of the most
beloved and influential propagandists (in Russian) of the “Jewish Workers’
Association” (founded in April 1885, just after the collapse of its
predecessor, the “Russian Jewish Workers’ Association”), which lasted until the
latter half of 1887 and played a significant political role at that time. Among the Jewish socialists and the “Am Olam”
people, Zametkin was known as a social democrat, but his views were, like other
socialists of that time, rather more hazy, and in 1886 he was part of the
“Committee of Eleven” that the socialist “Jewish Workers’ Association”
appointed to lead agitation for the candidacy of Henry George (author of Progress and Poverty, a reformer, but
not a socialist) for the position of mayor of New York City; Zametkin later
described this in his article, “Undzer ershter kompromis” (Our first
compromise), Tsayt-gayst (Spirit of
the times) in New York (August 31, 1906).
Also for a short time he belonged to the anarchist group “Pyonire
der frayhayt” (Pioneers of freedom), founded in 1886. Bit by bit, however, his ideological views
became clearer and more defined. That
same year he was one of those who influenced the “Jewish Workers’ Association” in
its decision to join the Socialist Labor Party (S.L.P.) in America, and at the
end of 1887—just after the “Jewish Workers’ Association” abolished itself—he
joined the group of Jewish socialists who organized within the S.L.P. a “Jewish
Branch” of the party (Branch #8).
Furthermore, in 1888 he was one of those who separated from the branch
and founded “Branch #17” for the Russian-speaking Jewish socialists in the
S.L.P.; Zametkin spoke and wrote throughout in Russian, only switching to
Yiddish in 1892. Following the
initiative of Branches #8 and #17, in October 1889, the United Hebrew Trades
was founded, and he was one of the most beloved and successful propagandists in
founding new unions among Jewish laborers, in New York as well as in other
cities (Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston).
In December 1889 at the joint conference of Jewish anarchists and social
democrats, with the goal of publishing together an impartial workers’ newspaper
in New York (at the historic convention which gave the final push to the
founding of two solid workers’ newspaper), Zametkin was a delegate from the
Chicago “Continued Education Association” where he participated with the
anarchists. When the social democrats
deserted the conference on the basis of a decision to publish their own
newspaper, he left with the social democrats, and nine weeks later (March 1890)
there appeared the social democratic weekly Di
arbayter tsaytung (The workers’ newspaper); Zametkin became one of its main
leaders and remained as such until 1902 when the newspaper ceased
publication. He was initially associated
with the radical wing of the newspaper and for many years wrote on serious
economic and socio-political issues—all illuminated from a Marxist standpoint. He also wrote semi-fictional stories and
allegories which always carried a socialist propagandistic character—one of
them, entitled “Un dan?” (And, then?), was published in Tsukunft (Future) in New York in 1894. He published current events articles as well
in the daily Dos abend-blat (The
evening newspaper) which the Jewish social democrats, together with the United
Hebrew Trades, published from 1894 until 1902, and in Zuntog abend-blat (Sunday evening newspaper) which was published in
1896. Zametkin also spoke and wrote on
literature. He was almost the best
Yiddish speakers on literature—mainly on Russian literature—in the early 1890s,
but the literary topics as well served only as a canvas to express social
democratic propaganda.
At the time of the rift in the
S.L.P. in January 1897, he left with the opposition (Ab. Cahan, Louis Miller,
Morris Wintshevsky, and others), and when it was decided to publish the Forverts (Forward) (first issue
appearing April 22, 1897), he and Cahan traveled across the country to collect
money for the newspaper. He later became
Cahan’s right-hand man at the newspaper, and, when Cahan resigned several
months later from his editorial post, Zametkin assumed this position and over
the years 1900-1901 he shared the editor’s chair with Louis Miller. In those years, he wrote a great deal for the
newspaper, and he remained a regular contributor for decades afterward. He was also editor of the weekly Der sotsyal-demokrat (The social
democrat), which the “Kangaroos” (members of the second opposition who split
off from the S.L.P. in 1899) began to publish in New York on October 7,
1900. In searching for a national
expression for the Jewish socialist movement in America, which transpired among
the ranks of the members—this time from the Socialist Party (S.P., led by
Eugene Debs) over the course of the first decade of the twentieth
century—Zametkin took up a sharply negative position which he expressed in his
writing for Forverts, Tsayt-gayst (a weekly put out by the Forverts), Tsukunft, and elsewhere.
When a debate began (following the founding of the “Jewish Agitation
Bureau” in 1905) over the need for a national conference of Jewish socialists,
which would create a purely Jewish socialist federation, he ridiculed (in a
long article in Tsayt-gayst, January
25 and February 1, 1907) the “solitariness” which is no more than “an illness
which can and must be cured,” because “only what is polluted must be kept in
quarantine, only lepers are kept outside the camp,” while the healthy ones do
not separate themselves from anyone.
Zametkin’s socialism, in his speech and his writing, was cosmopolitan,
although over the course of fifty years he spoke only to Jewish workers. He also did translations from Russian,
English, and French which appeared in various publications. Among his books: A Russian Shylock, a play in four acts (New York, 1906), 135 pp.; a
translation of Émile Zola’s La Bête
humane (The human beast) as Di
tsveyfisike khaye (The biped animal), together with his wife, the writer
Adela Kiyen (New York: Forverts Publ., 1911), 554 pp.; translation of Allan L.
Benson’s Sotsyalizmus un zayn rikhtige
badaytung (Socialism and its proper meaning [original: Socialism Made Plain]) (New York: Forverts Publ., 1917), part 1,
133 pp., part 2, 128 pp.; N. Chernishevski’s novel, Vos tut men? (What is to be done? [original: Chto delat’]), together with Adela Kiyen (New York: Literarisher
Publ., 1917), part 1, 255 pp., part 2, 288 pp.—the name of the translator is
not indicated in the book, but Zalmen Reyzen deduced as much in his Leksikon (in the biographies for M.
Zametkin and Adela Kiyen).
He was active as a speaker,
lecturer, and writer until 1925, when a severe illness over a long period of
time interrupted his activities. He was
so weak the last ten years of his life that he could scarcely move. He was living in the Bialystoker Home for the
Aged on East Broadway. Lonely and
desolate (his wife predeceased him), he died on March 7, 1935. He remains were cremated—one day later. His daughter is the American Anglophone
writer Laura Z. Hobson.
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Y.
Entin, “M. Zametkins ‘a rusishe shaylok’” (M. Zametkin’s “A Russian Shylock”), Tsukunft (New York) (August 1906); H.
Burgin, 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), see index; B. Vaynshteyn, Fertsik yor in der idisher arbeter bavegung, bletlekh erinerungen (Forty years in the Jewish labor movement, pages of
experiences) (New York: Der Veker, 1924), pp. 51, 76, 81, 95, 115, 122-23, 133,
142, 187, 192, 201-3; Vaynshteyn, Di
idishe yunyons in amerike, bleter geshikhte un erinerungen (The Jewish
unions in America, pages from history and experience) (New York: United Hebrew
Trades, 1929), see index; Y. Kapelyov, Amol
in amerike (Once upon a time in America) (Warsaw, 1928), pp. 140, 143, 252;
Ab. Cahan, Bleter fun mayn leyn
(Pages from my life), vol. 2 (Vilna-Warsaw, 1928), p, 439; Moyshe Shtarkman, in
Yivo-bleter (Vilna) 4.4-5 (1932), pp.
354-87; A. Zeldin, in Tog (New York)
(June 11, 1932); Liliput, in Forverts
(New York) (March 8, 1935) (also an editorial in the same issue); L.
Finkelshteyn, in Der tog (March 11,
1935); Y. Milkh, Di antshteyung fun “forverts” (The rise of the Forverts)
(New York, 1936), pp. 35-38; Dr. B. Hofman, Fuftsik yor kloukmakher-yunyon (Fifty
years of the cloak makers’ union) (New York, 1936), . 84, 117, 122; Gr.
Aronson, in Tsukunft (May-June 1942),
pp. 278-79; Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft
(May-June 1942), p. 316; E. Shulman, Geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur in amerike (History of Yiddish literature in America) (New York,
1943), pp. 64, 136; Geshikhte fun der yidisher arbeter-bavegung in di fareynikte
shtatn (History of the Jewish
labor movement in the United States), vol. 2 (New York, 1945), see index; H.
Vigderson, in Forverts (August 17,
1952); Y. Sh. Herts, Di yidishe sotsyalistishe bavegung in amerike
(The Jewish socialist movement in America) (New York, 1954), see index; L.
Kobrin, Mayne
fuftsik yor in amerike (My fifty years in America) (Buenos Aires,
1955), pp. 164-69.
Yitskhok Kharlash
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