Bundists

Bundists are members or supporters of the General Jewish Labour Bund, a Jewish socialist political and cultural movement founded in 1897 in the Russian Empire and active across Eastern Europe and in diaspora communities. The Bund promoted a socialist program grounded in Jewish worker rights, secular Yiddish culture, and anti-ethnic-nationalist approaches, favoring cultural autonomy within multiethnic states and broad international worker solidarity. It was generally non-Zionist, stressing that Jewish emancipation would come through social and civil reforms rather than a separate Jewish state.

Organizationally, Bundists built trade unions, mutual-aid societies, educational networks, and a Yiddish-language press. They participated in elections and parliamentary activity where possible in the Russian Empire and later in Poland and Lithuania, and they aligned with other socialist movements while maintaining a distinct Jewish program and identity.

History: The Bund emerged in the late 19th century and played a major role in the Jewish labor movement, particularly during the 1905 revolution and in the early years of the 20th century. It faced repression under tsarist rule and later operated within the Second Polish Republic and other states before the Holocaust decimated many Bundist institutions in Europe. In the postwar period, Bundist groups persisted in exile in North America and elsewhere, eventually dissolving as a political force and influencing later Jewish socialist, secular, and Yiddish-cultural currents.

Legacy: Bundists contributed to the development of Yiddish culture, Jewish worker activism, and the non-Zionist strand of Jewish socialism. Their historical experience contrasts with Zionist movements and with other Jewish labor movements, shaping debates about national identity, cultural autonomy, and diaspora politics.