FILIP KRANTS (PHILIP KRANTZ)

FILIP KRANTS (PHILIP KRANTZ) (October 13, 1858-November 1922)

            The pseudonym for Yankev Rombro, he was born in Rodok, Ukraine.  His family moved from there to Ashmene (Ashmyany), where he studied in a Russian school and Bible with private tutors.  In 1872 he entered the Zhitomir rabbinical school, and in 1873 he switched to the Kremenchug senior high school, from which he graduated in 1879.  He went on to study at the technical institute in St. Petersburg.  He found himself in the dock for associations with the revolutionary movement, and in 1877 he spent a year in prison; in 1881 he fled to Paris because of his ties to revolutionaries who carried out the murder of Tsar Alexander II in Paris.  He was a free auditor in literature at the Sorbonne and a cofounder of the Jewish workers’ association, who conducted a campaign among the Jewish students and laborers.  His literary work began in 1880 with an article in Razsvet (Dawn).  Later, he published in other Russian Jewish periodicals: Russkiy Evrey (Russian Jew), Voskhod (Arise), Nedel׳naia khronika voskhoda (Weekly chronicle of the east), Kievskaia zarya (Kievan dawn), and the collection Palestina (Palestine).  In 1883 he moved to London, where Morris Winchevsky later invited him to contribute to his Poylisher idel (Polish Jew).  Krants contended that his Yiddish was weak, but Winchevsky still exacted Krants’s first article in Yiddish, improved its language, and published it (2,3 [1884]; second article 7,8).  The article was written under the pen name Bar-Mara.  In 1884 he was active in the International Working Men’s Educational Club (later, Berner Street Club), and in 1889 he was a delegate to the first congress of the Second International in Paris.  Krants edited Arbayter fraynt (Workers’ friend) in London (from July 15, 1885 a monthly and from December 1886 a weekly newspaper), published in partnership with the anarchists and social democrats.  According to Elye Tsherikover, Krants was “one of the first social democrats among the Jews”; he endeavored to remain neutral, but campaigning on behalf of the parliamentary elections aroused extremely strong opposition among his anarchist partners.  In 1889 he was among the leaders of London’s “Jewish Unemployed Committee.”  Krants then turned to Rabbi Adler to give a sermon in the study house concerning the unemployed, and he came there with a delegation to hear the sermon.  Although Krants had participated in the anti-religious movement, he nonetheless held that one should not without good reason ridicule religious Jews, such as by holding Yom Kippur balls and the like.  While in London, he translated Ferdinand Lassalle’s pamphlet Dos arbayter program (The Working Man’s Programme [original: Das Arbeiterprogramm]), with a preface by M. Winchevsky (London, 1889), 42 pp.  He also edited Shimen Dikshteyn’s Fun vos eyner lebt (What one lives from [original: Kto z czego zyje]) (London, 1887), 64 pp.; In early 1890 he set off for New York, invited to be the editor of the planned Arbayter tsaytung (Workers’ newspaper).  The Jewish labor leaders in New York considered Krants the most eligible candidate, because he was the editor of Arbayter fraynt which was published by socialists and anarchists, and they wanted the new newspaper also to be the organ of the entire Jewish labor movement.  Krants became editor of Arbayter tsaytung and published in it theoretical articles about socialism, labor issues, and the labor movement.  He also published his translations of Gustave Flaubert’s novel Salambo (Salammbô), Émile Gaboriau’s Der detektiv (The detective), and Alexandre Dumas’s Ayzerne maske, oder der umgliklikher prints, an historisher roman oys dem lebin fun dem keniglikhin hof in der tsayt fun ludvig dem 13ten in fraynkraykh ([Man in the] iron mask, or the unhappy prince, a historical novel from the life of the royal court in the time of Ludvig XIII of France [original: Homme au masque de fer]).  The last of these also appeared separately as a book (Vilna, 1894), 114 pp.  The translation was published under the name Yankev Podalski.  He also published a poem that is less well-known by Morris Rozenfeld, entitled “Revolutsyon” (Revolution).  He also wrote for his paper popular works by various authors, and poems and theater reviews by Sambatyon (Getsl Zelikovitsh).  In 1891 Krants departed for Chicago, and Abe Cahan took over his position.  When he returned to New York, he studied chemistry at Columbia University and went on to contribute work to Arbayter tsaytung.  From 1892 until October 1894, he edited Di tsukunft (The future), and together with A. M. Sharkanski, Der shtodt antseyger, monatlikher zhurnal fir literatur, kunst, visenshaft un komerts (The city advertiser, a monthly journal for literature, art, science, and commerce) (New York, 1893).  From October 15, 1894, this last serial changed into a daily newspaper entitled Dos abend blatt (The evening newspaper) with Krants as editor.  The Sunday edition under its old name was edited by Cahan.  During the crisis in the Jewish sections of the Socialist Labor Party caused by the demand that the Party should have full control over Dos abend blatt, Krants remained neutral, but later, when the ultimate split transpired, he went with the “loyalists” (followers of Daniel de Leon) and remained editor of the paper.  When a subsequent split took place among the “loyalists” themselves, Krants left the newspaper (1899).  In 1900 Krants was editor for a short time of the daily Folks tsaytung (People’s newspaper), established by the group that split off—whom de Leon dubbed “Kangaroos.”  He also edited the last two issues of Di naye tsayt (The new times) (1898-1899) and contributed to the weekly Der sotsyal-demokrat (The social democrat) (New York, 1900).  In 1900 he traveled as a delegate of the Social Democratic Party to the Socialist International in Paris.  In 1904 he again became editor of Tsukunft and in 1905 left it.  In 1904 he also edited Arbayter velt (Workers’ world) of the United Jewish Trade Unions (twenty-two issues in all).  And, he contributed work to the daily newspapers: Idishe abend-post (Jewish evening mail) and Di idishe velt (The Jewish world).  When the last of these united in 1904 with Morgn zhurnal (Morning journal), Krants remained a contributor.  He also served as editor of “The International Library Publishing Co.” which published a large number of Yiddish books.  In addition, he was a speaker for immigrants at a municipal school and an instructor of chemistry at a college.  Due to family circumstances, he departed for Warsaw in late 1906.  There he accepted the invitation of the Polish Socialist Party (P.P.S.) to become editor of a planned periodical Di proletarishe velt (The proletarian world) whose first issue appeared in January 1907 in Vilna (altogether nine issues, two of them in Warsaw).  His contributors were largely American Jewish journalists: Morris Winchevsky, B. Faygenboym, Yankev Milkh, and Iser Ginzburg.  Y. L. Perets and Sh. D. Hurvits were also contributors.  At that time, Krants traveled around Russia as a correspondent for Morgn zhurnal and Der amerikaner (The American).  In his letters published in Der amerikaner (1907-1908), there is a wealth of material on a number of Jewish writers: Y. L. Perets, Yankev Dinezon, Dovid Frishman, Mortkhe Spektor, Ḥaim Naḥman Bialik, Elkhonen-Leyb Levinski, Shiye-Khone Ravnitski, Yosef Klausner, and Yude Shteynberg.  He became a particularly close friend of Dinezon whose subsequent letters to Krants were published in Der amerikaner and later (in 1919) republished in Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York.  Krants’s letters to Milkh, written from Warsaw and Odessa, may be found in the archives of YIVO in New York.  In late 1907 he returned to New York and continued to place work in: Morgn zhurnal, Tsukunft, Fraye arbeter shtime, Naye velt (New world), and Literatur un leben (Literature and life).  He was editor (1914-June 1918) of Der fraynd (The friend) of the Workmen’s Circle, and around that time he began contributing to Forverts (Forward).  Krants separately articulated his position on the Jewish problem in his pamphlets: Vos iz a natsyon—zaynen yidn a natsyon? (What is a nation—are Jews a nation?) and Klore diburim (Plain words).  In the former he wrote: “In all Jewish affairs one must count these as a sensibility of a nation.  No one know what it will be in the distant future for Jews….  Meanwhile there still exists a Jewish sense of nation which is very strong.  We thus have a right to say that a Jewish nation also exists.”  And, in Klore diburim, he wrote: “Assimilation is not only the result of the Jewish Enlightenment, of the spiritual movement, of the natural aspiration for European education, but also and perhaps mainly the result of economic causes.”  He made clear here that he was not an assimilationist, but “simply neutral toward the whole question,” but at the same time he fought against the national program of the Bund and autonomism.  His neutrality notwithstanding, Krants accomplished a great deal for Yiddish.  In addition to his journalistic work, he published popular science books which, according to Zalmen Reyzen, “played a tremendous role in the enlightenment of the Jewish folk masses.”

            His works include: Yetsies mitsraim, der veg un di tsayt fun der oysvanderung fun di bney yisroel oys mitsraim (The exodus [of the Jews] from Egypt, the way and the time of the wanderings of the children of Israel from Egypt), “following the unearthed ancient Egyptian writings and monuments” (New York, 1901), 68 pp.; Der mensh un zayn arbayt (Man and his labor) (New York, 1900), three volumes in one—second edition entitled Di kulturgeshikhte, der mensh un zayn arbayt (Cultural history, man and his labor) (1903), fifth edition (1903); Di geshikhte fun di groyse frantsoyzishe revolutsyon, nokh di beste un nayesṭe ṿerk un nokhforshungen (The history of the great French Revolution, following the best and newest work and research) (New York, 1903), 427 pp., third edition (Moscow, 1918); Aristotel, der prints fun di filozofn, dos leben un di lehren fun dem filozof (Aristotle, prince of the philosophers, the life and teachings of the philosopher) (New York, 1903), 32 pp.; Vos iz a natsyon—zaynen yidn a natsyon? (New York, 1903), 42 pp.; Amerika, far kolumbus, a kulturgeshikhte nokhforshung (America before Columbus. A cultural historical research) (New York, 1904), 164 pp.; Di geshikhte fun amerika, mit tseykhenungen in tekst (The history of America, with drawings in the text) (Warsaw, 1905), 71 pp.; Bar-kokhba, der heldisher kriegs fihrer un kenig fun iden in zeyer letsten groysen oyfshtand gegen roym (Bar Kokhba, the heroic leader in the war of the Jews in their last great uprising against Rome) (New York, 1905), 49 pp.; Yozefus flavyus, yoysef ben matesyohu, zayn leben un zayne shriften, dem kampf tsvishn iden un roymer un fun tsveyten khurbn yerusholaim (Flavius Josephus, Joseph ben Matityahu, his life and his writings, the battle between the Jews and Romans and the second destruction of Jerusalem) (New York, 1905), 62 pp.; Shapse tsvi, der falsher meshiekh mit zayne kabalistishe neviim (Shabbatai Tsvi, the false messiah and his cabalistic prophets) (New York, 1905), 78 pp.; Borekh spinoza, zayn lebn un zayn filozofye (Baruch Spinoza, his life and his philosophy) (New York, 1905), 64 pp.; Lessing un mendelssohn, zeyer leben un zeyer thetigkeyt (Lessing and Mendelssohn, their life and their activity) (New York, 1906), 185 pp.; Mohamed, grinder fun mohamedanizmus, zayn leben un kampf far a naye religion (Mohammed, founder of Mohamedanism, his life and struggle for a new religion) (New York, 1907), 67 pp.; Meyerbeer, der opera kenig, zayn leben (Meyerbeer, the opera king, his life) (New York, 1907), 71 pp.; Don yitskhok abrabanel un zayne zihn, zeyer leben un thetigkeyt in farbindung mit der geshikhṭe fun goles shpanyen (Don Isaac Abrabanel and his sons, their life and their connection to the history of the Spanish diaspora) (New York, 1907), 67 pp.  His judicious and later biographies of Yitsḥak Ber Levinsohn, Socrates, Voltaire, Heinrich Heine, Yehuda Halevi, Lev Tolstoy, R. Yisroel Bal-Shem-Tov, Rabbi Saadia Gaon, and the Vilna Gaon are all included in his Lebens-beshraybungen fun berihmte mener (Biographies of famous men) (New York, 1910), 3 vols.; Di tsushterung fun bastilye (The destruction of the Bastille) (Warsaw, 1906), 16 pp.; Got, religion, moral (God, religion, morality) (London, 1906), 34 pp., later edition (1907); Di familye rotshild, zeyer leben un finantsyele thetigkeyt (The family Rothchild, their life and financial activity) (New York, 1907), 61 pp.; Klore diburim tsu iden biklal un arbeyter bifrat (Plain fords for Jews generally and for workers in particular) (Vilna, 1907), 40 pp.; Gants amerika, di geshikhte fun ale lender in der nayer velt (All of America, the history of all the countries in the New World) (New York: Education Committee, Workmen’s Circle, 1915), 2 vols., second enlarged edition with supplementary material and a preface by Dr. Y. Shatski (New York, 1929), 738 pp.; Himel un erd, astronomye farn folk (Heaven and earth, astronomy for the people) (New York: Forward Association, 1918), 541 pp., 13^th printing (1929); Geshikhte fun sotsyalizm, der kamf far glaykhheyt in di gezelshaften un melukhes fun alte un naye tsayten (History of socialism, the struggle for equality in societies and states from ancient and modern times) (New York: Fraye arbeter shtime, 1920), 248 pp. (part 1, though nothing further appeared).  Among Krants’s essays, it is worth mentioning: a piece in Russian in Voskhod (1899-1900) on Yiddish literature in America; “Di idishe shprakh un literatur, ihre shrayber un lezer” (The Yiddish language and literature, its writers and readers), in which he deals with the matter of terminology in Yiddish, Literatur un leben (New York) 2 (1914); and a long work concerning the Yiddish press, in Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) in New York (March 20, 1910).  He also used the pen names: Politikum and Dr. Y. Rombert.  In his preface to Krants’s Geshikhte fun gants amerika (History of all of America) (New York, 1929), Y. Shatski wrote that “Krants manifests in this book considerable knowledge and critical sense….  I am convinced that the author…was sufficiently conscientious that he consulted such works and periodicals which only a specialist need do, and in writing a popular history of America one can with a pure conscience delight in going through….  Every professor of American history would feel content if he could write such a popular and fine book as Krants has written.”  With certain reservations, one can say the same of Krants’s other writings.  He was in his day among the few trained Yiddish journalists.  If he did not become a first-rank writer and scholar, it was only because he had to conform to his times and environment.  He could not concentrate on one field, because he had to write on numerous matters.  He popularized and adapted history, cultural history, and natural science; he wrote about the development of the social sciences, history, and socialism, about countries and people; and he composed biographies of well-known personalities.  Nonetheless, though, he dealt with all this with great seriousness and exhaustiveness.  He died in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; K. Forenberg, in Evreiskaia entsiklopediya, vol. 13; Herts 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; M. Baranov, M. Winchevsky, and B. Faygenboym, in Tsukunft (New York) 1, 2 (1923); Bernard 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. 125, 129-30, 157ff; Avrom-Simkhe Zaks, Di geshikhte fun arbeter-ring, 1892-1925 (History of the Workmen’s Circle, 1892-1925) (New York, 1925), see index; Abe Cahan, Bleter fun mayn leben (Pages from my life), vol. 3 (New York, 1926), pp. 19-22, 30, 32ff, vol. 4 (New York, 1928), pp. 257, 328-29; Morris Winchevsky, Gezamlte verk (Collected works), vol 10 (New York: Frayhayt, 1927), pp. 144-45, 192-95; Moyshe Shtarkman, Filozofishe shriftn (Philosophical writings), vol. 3 (Vilna, 1929), pp. 57-82; Shtarkman, Geklibene shriftn (Selected writings), vol. 1 (Tel Aviv, 1979), pp. 102, 118, 128-34ff, vol. 2 (New York, 1980), pp. 63-70, 130-33; Elye (Elias) Shulman, Tsu der geshikhte fun der yidishe prese in amerike (On the history of the Yiddish press in America) (New York, 1934), pp. 27-39; Shulman, Geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur in amerike (History of Yiddish literature in America) (New York, 1943), pp. 56, 64, 66-67, 71-72; Elye Tsherikover, ed., Geshikhte fun der yidisher arbeter-bavegung in di fareynikte shtatn (The history of the Jewish labor movement in the United States), vol. 2 (New York: YIVO, 1945), see index; Zoza Shaykovski, Antisemitizm in der frantsoyzisher arbeter-bavegung (Anti-Semitism in the French labor movement) (New York, 1948), p. 115; Moses Rischin, The Promised City, New York Jews, 1870-1914 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1962), see index; V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, A History of Russian Jewish Literature (Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1979), see index (under the name “Rombro”).

Elye (Elias) Shulman