Jewish Revolution in Belorussia

Andrew Sloin is Assistant Professor of History at Baruch College.

"Much has been written about the promises and pitfalls of Soviet nationality policies and the ways in which the Soviet state managed its multi-ethnic empire. Drawing on a wealth of previously untapped archival materials from Belorussian archives, Sloin's excellent study nonetheless fills a major lacuna. It will stand alongside some of the best scholarship in Soviet Jewish history that has been published in recent years. "—Slavonic and East European Review"In all, Sloin's useful, well-written, and well-researched book significantly advances our understanding of Jewish life in 1920s Soviet Belorussia."—Russian Review"Sloin's book contributes to our understanding of the role Jewish Communists played within the Belarusian Communist Party in this period, as well as showing how communist ideology and policy from Moscow (not always the same thing) influenced Jewish identity in Belarus."—Kritika"Sloin's book lays exceptionally fruitful ground for further rethinking of the conventional paradigms of Soviet Jewishness and the languages of early Soviet social identities in general."—Soviet and Post-Soviet Review"A remarkable social history that investigates the process of Sovietization among Jews in Belorussia through the perspective of labor and the economy. Andrew Sloin's mastery of the relevant literature and his own rigorous analysis provide firm grounding for this book."—Jeffrey Veidlinger, author of In the Shadow of the Shtetl"Readable, well-researched, firmly grounded on existing literature and on primary sources. A welcome addition to recent works on Jewish history in Belarus."—Anna Shternshis, author of Soviet and Kosher"On the whole, The Jewish Revolution in Belorussia, is an outstanding piece of sophisticated scholarship. Cogently argued and analytically astute, the book is a major contribution to our knowledge of the "Jewish Question" in the early years of the Soviet Union."—Journal of Modern History"Sloin's book is a precious addition to our developing understanding of the particular experience of Jews in the BSSR."—English Historical Review

• AcknowledgmentsNotes on Transliteration and TranslationIntroductionPart I - Revolution1. Making Jews BolshevikPart II – Capital and Labor2. Speculators, Swindlers, and Other Jews: Regulating Trade in Revolutionary White Russia3. Jewish Proletarians and Proletarian Jews: The Emancipation of Labor in NEP SocietyPart III – Political Culture and Nationality4. From Bolshevik Haskole to Cultural Revolution: Abram Beilin and the Jewish Revolution5. Bundism and the Nationalities QuestionPart IV – The Politics of Crisis6. The Politics of Crisis: Economy, Ethnicity, and Trotskyism7. Antisemitism and the Stalin RevolutionConclusionAppendix: TablesNotesBibliographyIndex