Gezerd

Last updated
Gezerd
FounderSender Burstin
FoundedMay 1930 (1930-05)
DissolvedMarch 1944
Succeeded by Jewish Progressive Council
(de facto)
Jewish Council to Combat Fascism and Anti-Semitism
(de facto)
HeadquartersMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
NewspaperThe Gezerd Tribune (1931) [1]
Dos Naye Vort / The New Word (1937) [1]
Membership~100 (c.1931)
"Several Hundred" (Mid 1933)
Ideology
International affiliation OZET (parent)

The Gezerd [lower-alpha 1] was a Communist organisation of Australian Jews that promoted the settlement of Jews in Eastern Siberia, along with pro-Soviet positions. It was active in Melbourne and Sydney. [2] The organisation was co-founded by the recent Polish Jewish immigrant & Bundist Sender Burstin. [3] In its early years it cooperated strongly with the Jewish Labour Bund in Australia; including the formation of a Joint Culture Committee, [2] however the two organisations split over the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact along with the expelling of Sender Burstin as a "Social-Fascist". [2] [4] [5] The organisation supported the activities of the Soviet Komzet in trying to build an alternative Jewish Homeland in Birobidzhan, working as a local wing of the public relations organisation OZET for this purpose. [4] Towards these ends, it raised some £50 (Australian) within its first year to help with the settlement there, along with a microscope and an x-ray in 1934. [2] The group also maintained strong ties with the Communist Party of Australia, although never formally joined or affiliated with the organisation. [2] Beyond its support of Soviet policies, the group also engaged in yiddish culture events; including founding a "Culture House" in Carlton in 1938 and running a Yiddish theatre troupe between 1932 and 1937, [5] [6] efforts to support the integration of migrants (such Australian history and English language lessons), and events around international policy; especially the rise of fascism. [2] It also supported the international boycott of German goods, and organised meetings against the political violence of the Nazi Regime against "Jews, Catholics, workers, and intellectuals". [4] [7] The group put itself at odds with the traditional Anglo-Jewery of Australia, positioning itself against Religious and ideologically Conservative elements of Australian Jewery: being described as an 'undesirable foreign element' by Newman Rosenthal, right-leaning editor of the Australian Jewish Herald newspaper. [2] [5] The organisation continued despite the liquidation of the Soviet OZET in 1938, apparently not aware of this event. [2]

Contents

The aforementioned issues regarding the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact would cause a decline in membership and public support from which the organisation would never recover. [2] With the banning of the CPA by Prime Minister Menzies in 1940, the organisation went voluntarily underground for roughly 15 months. [2] It re-emerged following the German Invasion of the Soviet Union, however this could not abate its decline. [2] The organisation would dissolve in May 1944. [5]

See also

Notes

  1. Short for: Gezelshaft far aynordnen oyf Erd arbetnidke Yidin in F.S.S.R, Yiddish: געזעלשאפט פאר איינארדענען ארבעטנדיקע יידן אויף ערד אין פ.ס.ס.ר
    English: Society for Settling Toiling Jews on the Land in the USSR

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References

  1. 1 2 "Yiddish Newspapers and Journals". Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation. Retrieved 2023-08-11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rechter, David (1991-06-13). Frankel, Jonathan (ed.). "The Gezerd Down Under". Contemporary Jewry . Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 7: 275–280. ISBN   978-0-19-536198-8.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. "Sender Burstin (1903-1986)". Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  4. 1 2 3 Mendes, Philip (2009-02-19). "From Warsaw to Melbourne: Conflict between the Jewish Labour Bund and The Communists". Melbourne Jewish Museum via Bund Archive.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Turnbull, Malcolm J (1999). Safe haven: Records of the Jewish experience in Australia (PDF) (2nd ed.). National Archives of Australia. pp. 122–123. ISBN   0 642 34413 2.
  6. ROZENSTEIN, CHAIM. YIDDISH THEATRE IN AUSTRALIA (PDF). Monash.
  7. "Jews Protest Against Pogroms". Workers' Weekly. 1933-04-14. Retrieved 2023-08-11.