Many shtetls in the Pale were arenas for political, ideological and social
competition among three groups: the Hasidim, the Zionists and the "Bund" (Der
Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeter Bund, or General Union of Jewish Workers), a group
driven by the young Jewish intelligentsia who sought to make cause with a new
Jewish working class that was woefully underpaid, overworked and discriminated
against. It was Zionism that prevailed in Rokitno (Rokytne) in northwestern
Ukraine, which had formerly been part of the Russian Empire and later Poland.

The "The Origins of the Zionist Movement" >from Rokitno's Yizkor book traces the
history of this struggle.

URL: https://www.facebook.com/JewishGen.org/posts/1596222360399913

Bruce Drake
Silver Spring, MD

Researching: DRACH, EBERT, KIMMEL, ZLOTNICK
Towns: Wojnilow, Kovel