MOYSHE
KATZ (September 24, 1885-June 3, 1960)
He was born in Dokshits (Dokshytsy),
Minsk district, Byelorussia, to a father who was a tailor and was involved in
community affairs. When he was two years
old, he moved with his parents to Nikolaev, where until age nine he studied in
religious elementary school and with a private tutor, later at a Russian Jewish
state public school. As an external
student, in 1903 he graduated from the Nikolaev high school and later from a
university. From his youth he was
involved in the revolutionary movement, and he and his father were arrested
that year for belonging to an illegal Zionist educational association. After the Kishinev pogrom, he joined the
first Zionist socialist groups in southern Russia. In May 1905 he was arrested in Uman for
handling weapons for Jewish groups of self-defense against the Black Hundreds. He would later serve time for revolutionary
activities in Vilna, Warsaw, Zhitomir, Minsk, and other cities. He lived in Israel and Egypt, 1908-1910,
before returning to Russia and until late 1912 was active in party affairs in
St. Petersburg and Warsaw. In the summer
of 1913 he was forced, for political reasons, to flee Russia for the United
States, and from there in June 1917—after the February Revolution—he returned
to Russia. He settled in Kiev and until
1920 held positions in local Jewish cultural and community life. He was a founder of the Jewish Culture League
in Ukraine and representative of the Jewish division of the Kiev state
publishing house (1919); one of the spokesmen for the “United” party (Zionist
socialists and Jewish socialist workers) in Ukraine and Russia, and at the
Warsaw conference of the party in 1920 he spoke publicly against his party
uniting with Jewish Communists. That
year he again traveled to New York and approached the Forverts (Forverts), in which he published a string of articles about
Soviet Russia, but at the time of the split in the Jewish Socialist Federation
(1921), he joined the Salutski-Olgin group, and from there switched to the
Jewish Communist movement in America; he was later one of the main activists in
the field of Yiddish culture, literature, and school work. He was the creator of a number of
Communist-tinged institutions. He was
the first chairman of the leftist Yiddish writers’ union in New York—the
Proletpen—and a presidium member of IKUF (Jewish Cultural Association) and
other groups. In the middle 1920s he
returned once again to Soviet Russia and lived in Moscow from 1926 until 1933. He returned to New York in 1933 at the
invitation of Morgn-frayhayt (Morning
freedom). In May 1960 he returned again
to Moscow to see his daughter and grandchild and died a few days later.
He began writing in Russian with
several articles in the Russian Jewish weekly newspaper Budushchnost’
(Future) in St. Petersburg (1904). In
1905 he switched to Yiddish. He was one
of the main contributors to the Zionist socialist organs: Der nayer veg (The new way), Unzer
veg (Our way), Dos vort (The
word), and Profesyonele bavegung
(Trade union movement)—in Vilna; and Unzer
veg in Warsaw (1905-1907). He
published a variety of pieces in the hectographically produced weekly newspaper
Di tsayt (The times) in Cairo
(1907-1908, twenty-four issues). In 1910
he became the internal contributor for the daily newspaper Der fraynd (The friend) in Warsaw.
He contributed as well to other Yiddish periodicals which at the time
were being published in Russia. In
America he served on the editorial board of Dr. Kh. Zhitlovsky’s Dos naye leben (The new life) in New
York (1913), while at the same time serving as New York correspondent for Di yudishe fon (The Jewish banner) in
Johannesburg, South Africa, Di yudishe
velt (The Jewish world) in Vilna, and for the Russian-language Novyi golos (New voice) in St.
Petersburg and Kievskaia misl’
(Kievan thought) in Kiev. In 1914 he was
a regular contributor to Der tog (The
day) in New York. Over the years
1915-1917, he edited the weekly Unzer
vort (Our word) in New York. When he
was living in Kiev (1918-1920), he edited there the daily organ of the “United”
party—Di naye tsayt (The new times)
and the children’s magazine Shretelekh
(Elves). In 1921 he was literary editor
of Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice
of labor) in New York, and with the founding of Frayhayt (Freedom)—later, Morgn-frayhayt—in
early 1922 until his death, he published in this newspaper thousands of
articles, feature pieces, travel narratives, essays on Jewish and general
literature, translations, popular chats about history and Marxism, and
more. He was also one of the principal
contributors to; Frayhayt almanakhn (Frayhayt almanacs), the monthly journal Hamer (Hammer), Signal (Signal), Yidishe
kultur (Jewish culture), Proletarishe-dertsiung
(Proletarian education), and Zamlungen
(Collection), among others—in New York; Kultur
(Culture) in Chicago; Vokhenblat
(Weekly newspaper) in Toronto; and other Communist and pro-Communist
periodicals in the United States and other countries. In the years he lived in Russia, he was also
a regular contributor to: the Soviet Yiddish Emes (Truth) and Eynikeyt
(Unity) in Moscow; Shtern (Star) in
Kharkov-Kiev; Der apikoyres (The
heretic) in Moscow; Oktyabr (October)
in Minsk; and elsewhere. He also worked
as editor for the publishing house “Shul un bukh” (School and book) and for the
state published for the peoples of the Soviet Union. He also placed written work in: Di literarishe bleter (The literary
leaves) in Warsaw; Yidishe shriftn
(Yiddish writings), Folksshtime
(People’s voice), and Dos naye lebn
(The new life)—in Lodz-Warsaw; and Naye
prese (New press) and Parizer shriftn
(Parisian writings)—in Paris. His
translations include: poetry by Heinrich Heine and Richard Dehmel, published in
Avrom Reyzen’s Eyropeyishe literatur
(European literature) in Warsaw (1910-1913); and Baron von Münchhausen’s stories,
published in various collections. His
books include: Di idishe gmine (The
Jewish community) (Warsaw, 1911), 16 pp.; Nikolay
lenin, zayn lebn un virkn (Nikolai Lenin, his life and impact) (New York,
1920), 160 pp.; Di ershte yidishe
oytonome regirung (The first Jewish autonomous government), concerning
Birobidzhan (New York, 1934), 16 pp.; Kirovs
mord, proletarishe gerekhtikeyt kegn vays-gvardishn teror (Kirov’s murder,
proletarian justice against White Guard terror) (New York, 1934), 24 pp.; Shturm iber palestine, ver hot gebrakht tsu
di itstike gesheenishn un ver iz in zey shuldik (Storm over Palestine, who
caused the current events and who is to blame for them) (New York, 1936), 63
pp.; Der ershter mai 1937, mit vos mir
kumen tsu im un vos mir fodern (May First, 1937, what we bring to it and
what we demand) (New York, 1937), 32 pp.; Ayer
kind (Your child) (New York, 1939), 23 pp.; Der sovetn-farband un finland (The Soviet Union and Finland) (New
York, 1940), 15 pp.; Yitskhok-leybush
perets (Yitskhok-Leybush Perets) (New York, 1940), 35 pp.; Unzer sholem-aleykhem (Our
Sholem-Aleykhem) (New York, 1941), 111 pp.; A
dor, vos hot farloyrn di moyre, bleter zikhroynes fun arum 1905 (A
generation that lost its fear, memoirs from around 1905) (New York, 1956), 308
pp. Book-length translations include:
Rudyard Kipling, Vunderlekhe mayses
(Wonderful tales) (Kiev, 1919), 62 pp., second edition (Warsaw, 1921); Wilhelm
Jerusalem, Filozofye (Philosophy)
(New York, 1920), 282 pp.; D. Evald, Evolutsye
(Evolution) (New York, 1920), 339 pp.; Joseph Stalin, Der marksizm un di natsyonale frage (Marxism and the national
question), a collection of selected articles and speeches (Moscow, 1935), 293
pp. + 4 pp.; Earl Browder, Teheran, unzer
veg in krig un fridn (Teheran, our path in war and peace) (New York, 1944),
136 pp. Katz was also the author of Politish un ekonomish verter-bikhl (Short
political and economic dictionary), initially written for ORT (Association for
the Promotion of Skilled Trades) in Kiev in 1919 (Minsk, 1926), 53 pp. He was a member of the editorial board for
the Yiddish translation in six volumes of Oysgeveylte
verk fun v. lenin (Selected works of V. Lenin) (Moscow, 1933); Khurbn daytshland (The destruction of
Germany) (New York, 1938), 32 pp.; and of Sholem Levin’s Untererdishe kemfer (Underground fighters) (New York, 1946), 381
pp. His last article, written a day
prior to dis departure for Russia, concerned Sh. Halkin, published in Zamlungen (January 1961). He left behind in manuscript a series of literary
essays and translations. Among the pen
names under which he published: F. Reynland, M. Abramovitsh, M. Avitsh, Sh.
Abramson, A. Mitsri, A Diletant, and A Zamler.
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Yoysef
Nayman (Olgin), in Tsukunft (New York)
(April 1915); Dr. A. Ginzburg, in Di
tsayt (New York) (1920); Y. Leshtshinski, in Forverts (New York) (October 23, 1931); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog (New York) (July 7, 1933); Shmuel
Niger, in Tog (February 26, 1935); R.
Yuklson, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York)
(July 17, 1935); D. Tsharni (Daniel Charney), in Tsukunft (October 1935); Y. Anilovitsh, Shriftn far psikhologye
un pedagogik (Writings on psychology and pedagogy), vol. 2 (Vilna: YIVO,
1940), p. 325; M. Sh. Shklarski, in Yorbukh
tsh״g (Yearbook for 1942/1943) (New York, 1943); H. Vaynraykh, Blut af der zun (Blood on the sun) (New
York, 1950), p. 46; Sh. Grodzenski, in Idisher
kemfer (New York) (April 8, 1949); B. Kleyn, in Folksshtime (Warsaw) (May 22, 1954); Dr. A. Mukdoni, In
varshe un in lodzh (In Warsaw and in Lodz) (Buenos Aires, 1955),
pp. 180, 273; Geshikhte fun der
tsienistisher arbeter-bavegung fun tsofn-amerike (History of the Zionist
labor movement in North America), vols. 1 and 2 (New York, 1955), see index;
Sh. Shtern, in Morgn-frayhayt (March
15, 1955; March 15, 1959); Sh. Almazov, in Morgn-frayhayt
(December 15, 1955); Y. B. Beylin, in Yidishe
kultur (New York) (January 1956); Morgn-frayhayt
(June 26, 1960), dedicated to the memory of Moyshe Katz; N. Mayzil, B. Grin,
and Mirl Katz, in Yidishe kultur
(August-September 1960); Meylekh Epshteyn, in Tsukunft (September 1960); E. Almi, in Fraye arbeter-shtime (New York) (October 15, 1960); Moyshe kats bukh (Volume for Moyshe
Katz) (New York, 1963), p. 355.
Khayim Leyb Fuks
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 311; Chaim Beider, Leksikon
fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish
writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York:
Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 321-22]
Please, correct one of Moyshe Katz's pen names was " F. Reyland" and not " F. Raynland". Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Done.
ReplyDeleteI just Found this site, Moyshe Katz was my Zayde (grandfather). His book A dor, vos hot farloyrn di moyre is available as a free PDF from the Yiddish Book Center Bikher.org. A translation into English that my Father did is available from Blue Thread press, jewishcurrents.org.
ReplyDeleteMy Wife and I are active in the Boston Workmen's Circle and try to work as my Zayde did to make a better world.
Thank you for your work
Thank you, Mike, for the work you and your wife do.
ReplyDelete