Nachman Syrkin

Nachman Syrkin
Nachman Syrkin
Born	Russian: Нахман Сыркин (1868-02-11)11 February 1868 Mogilev, Russian Empire (now Belarus)
Died	6 September 1924(1924-09-06) (aged 56) New York City, U.S.
Other names	Nahman Syrkin, Nahum Syrkin
Political party	Zionist Socialist Workers Party Poale Zion
Spouse	Bassya Syrkin (née Osnos)
Children	Marie Syrkin

Nachman Syrkin (or Nahman Syrkin or Nahum Syrkin;

Nachum Syrkin was born to a

Unlike other socialist thinkers of the time, Syrkin was comfortable with his Jewish heritage and, although he does not spell it out explicitly in his essay "The Jewish Question and the Jewish Socialist State" (1898), it is clear that he had in mind the biblical emphasis on strict social justice, irrespective of wealth, power or privilege. However, he saw Zionism as a replacement for traditional Judaism:

The new, Zionist Judaism stands in complete contrast to the Judaism of exile … Zionism uproots religious Judaism in a stronger way than Reform or assimilation, by creating new standards of 'Judaism' which will constitute a new ideology that can be elevated to the status of a religion.^[2]

In "The Jewish Question and the Socialist Jewish State," Syrkin sought to reconcile his conception of socialism and his strong devotion to Zionism, arguing against what he considered bourgeois Zionists, such as Theodor Herzl, that only the Jewish working class could realize Zionism. He also argued against anti-Zionist Jewish socialists that there could be no solution to the Jewish problem without the creation of a Jewish state.^[3]

Syrkin worked to establish socialist Zionist groups throughout Central Europe. After studying and working in Germany and France and after being banned from Germany in 1904, Syrkin returned to Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1905. He took part at the 1905 Basle Seventh Zionist Congress as a delegate of the new Zionist Socialist Workers Party.^[4][5]

In 1919, Syrkin was a member of the American Jewish delegation to the