regained its status as the representative of the Jewish working class both within the Bialystok City Council and its Jewish community. The Bundist leaders spoke out forcefully against anti-Semitism, and as a result the Bund in Bialystok proved itself the strongest and most influential Jewish political party. It was always a pleasure for me to work with Bundist leaders. Although they were laborers with- out special education, they were capable of grasping the most complicated issues. They truly had common sense and a keen intelligence, characteristic of many of their peers. Raised in the Bundist traditions, they understood -how to respond with realism to circumstances of the moment combined with a long-range view of the future. They were also guided by an almost romantic love for the socialist ideal. These qualities enabled them to DOWID KLEMENTYNOWSKI oppose the Communist craze successfully on the Jewish scene and assume the number one position in Jewish communal life. When World War II broke out in 1939, destroying the Kehilla in Bialystok, the Bund once again became the recognized leader of the Jewish working masses. Jewish trade unionists in Bialystok were heavily influ- enced politically by the Bund, which filled the adminis- tration of the unions with its spokesmen. During the last May Day celebration in Bialystok in 1939, many of the unions marched together behind the Bundist leadership. Tragically, it was not then known that in the Kremlin a shameful Hitler-Stalin pact was being prepared that would in several months lead to World War II, the catastrophe that brought ruin to the thousand-year-old Jewish experience in Poland. THE LABOR ZIONIST MOVEMENT Lie other cities and towns in Russia and Poland, Bia- lystok had its fair share of Labor Zionists (Poale Zion). Young textile workers of Chasidic or Mitnagdic backgrounds, virtually all of them raised in the cheder where they received a Jewish nationalistic education, and whose fathers were more or less connected with the Poale Zion (literally, Workers of Zion), formed clubs that worked on behalf of the Jewish National Fund. They also distributed Jewish New Year cards within the city before Rosh Hashanah and generally helped the movement for Jewish self-emancipation. This group was the avant garde of Labor Zionists everywhere, par- ticularly in Bialystok. The Bundists, who several years earlier were suc- cessful in organizing the Jewish working masses in Bia- lystok, generally looked down on the Labor Zionist movement. To be sure, we suffered no small anguish from their attitude, considering it terribly insulting. We exerted every effort to attract many more members with sincerity and ingenuity to the Poale Zion. The Labor Zionists were motivated by Jewish nationalistic resentment against the political and eco- nomic oppressors — the ruling Czarist regime, which propagated anti-Semitism and hooliganism — and sen- sitivity to the interests of workers and factory owners. In order to function effectively, we recognized early on the need to coordinate our efforts and to unite into a workable organization. How to achieve this solidarity was disputed among the leading Jewish intelligentsia within the Labor Zion- ist movement between 1901 and 1906. Many points of view were offered, each neighborhood arguing for its approach, each town championing its own program. 24 Many heated debates arose among the best of friends over how to resolve the issue of a Jewish home- land, the problems of the working class, and how to mount the revolutionary effort in bringing down the oppressive Czarist government. Not only were there intramural conflicts among various Labor Zionist groups, but, in addition, there was a severe schism separating the Labor Zionists, the Bund and the anar- chists. These rifts took place in Bialystok and reflected the difficulties afflicting all of Eastern European Jewry. Ultimately, the problem of adapting revolutionary socialism to Zionism was solved, and in Bialystok the first proclamation was issued in January 1905 recogniz- ing the local Labor Zionist organization. With this offi- cial status granted by the Labor Zionists in Russia, our Bialystok party began to 1661 מס‎ a par with the Bund, that we were truly active revolutionaries and Zionists seeking to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Labor Zionists in Bialystok began an intensive propaganda campaign among the Jewish youth. Public assemblies in various batei midrashim were conducted; the leader of the Bialystok party, Jankl Janowski, a fine speaker with a sharp mind, led these meetings. The party also gathered smaller groups of young Jewish boys and girls, teaching them history, political econ- omy, current events, Zionism, discussing the question of labor strikes, etc. Conducting these lectures were: Lipa Sukenik, Josef Antokolski, Chajkel Oldak, Maks Chmelnik, Dowid Klementynowski, Ana _ Alperin, Chaszke Fajnsod and Awrom Liberman.

We had a particularly great influence on the workers and the better educated, mediating disputes between management and labor, purchasing and distri- The Bialystoker Memorial Book