BUND AND THE USE OF TERRORISM IN POLITICAL STRUGGLE (1897–1907)

Abstract

The subject of this article is the views of the General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia (Bund) on the use of terrorist methods in the political struggle. An analysis of the evolution of party’s views on this issue is carried out on the basis of personal testimonies from members of the Bund, as well as documents of the Police Department. Chronologically, the article covers the period from the creation of the Bund to the end of the revolution of 1905. During this period, the revival of terrorism in the Russian political arena was taking place: the escalation of socio-economic and ethnic conflicts under the conditions of an autocratic monarchy had an inevitable consequence the surge of violence. The Bund, on the one hand, the Social-Democratic Party, and on the other — the leading political force of nationality discriminated against in the empire, faced on difficult choice. Official party resolutions condemned terrorism, since this method left the masses passive. The struggle against the existing regime in this case was conducted only by individual heroes. At the same time, attempts by the government to maintain the authority of the autocratic monarchy among the society were completed by the search for enemies, convenient to see in the Jews, especially given their low integration into the imperial society. Therefore, a situation need self-defense: at the initiative of the Bund the paramilitary formations are founded. In 1905 this formations played a role in ending of the pogrom wave, that rocked by the cities and towns of the West and South-West provinces of the Russian Empire.