Dreams of Nationhood

Henry Srebrnik began his research of the place of Birobidzhan in the ideological space of American Jews over a decade ago. I believe I have read the majority of his publications on this fascinating and little-known topic, and this new book, Dreams of Nationhood, is the best among them. -- Gennady Estraikh, New York University, author of In Harness: Yiddish Writers' Romance with Communism Dreaming of a better world during the Depression and World War II, American Jews and some non-Jewish activists supported the building of a Jewish refuge in the Soviet Union called Birobidzhan. Henry Srebrniks well-researched book, Dreams of Nationhood, shows readers that although short-lived, the American campaign for Birobidzhan was more widespread and important than anyone today might believe. Its most important supporters were leftist, Communist activists in such groups as ICOR and Ambidjan. However, Srebrnik painstakingly shows that in the 1930s and 1940s, Birobidzhan was discussed in polite company as a real alternative to Palestine. The book features Communist activists like Moishe Olgin and B.Z. Goldberg, as well as some unusual suspects including senators, pastors, well-known rabbis, and Albert Einstein. Srebrnik forces the reader to ask whether this is a story of willful ignorance on the part of the Americans, who did not understand the violence of Stalins Soviet Union, or whether the idea of utopia simply captivated a group of people far away from the turmoil of 1930s and 1940s Europe?" -- David Shneer, University of Colorado at Boulder, author of Yiddish and the Creation of Soviet Jewish Culture "Henry Srebrniks book, Dreams of Nationhood: American Jewish Communists and the Soviet Birobidzhan Project, 1924-1951, is a richly detailed study of a fascinating, often neglected chapter in the history of the Jewish communist movement in the United States. In this meticulously researched book, Srebrnik thoroughly chronicles the world of the Jewish communist and pro-Soviet subculture that was established in the United States in 1920s until its demise in the early 1950s, drawing from an array of primary and archival sources in order to provide the reader with a sense of the lived experience of the adherents and participants of the Jewish communist movement. Srebrniks in-depth account conveys a sense of the utopian ideals that drove many Jews, communist and non-communist, as well as many non-Jewish supporters, to look to the Siberian province of Birobidzhan as a territorial solution to the Jewish national problem. His main accomplishment, perhaps, is the extent to which he shows just how active and persistent this movement was in its support for the creation of a Jewish national home in Birobidzhan. Srebrniks scholarship sheds new light on our understanding of the Jewish communist movement in North America and the larger network of supporters of the Soviet Union in the years before the Cold War." -- Matthew Hoffman, Associate Professor, Judaic Studies & History, Franklin & Marshall College "Two organizations in the United States devoted themselves body and soul to Birodzhan's success -- The Association for Jewish Colonization in the Soviet Union, which appealed to first- and second-generation working-class Jews of eastern European origin, and the American Committe for the Resettlement of Jews in Birobidjan, which catered to native-born middle class Jews.The two groups merged in 1946, but disbanded five years later amidst the raging Cold War and increased evidence of state-sponsored anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. Henry Srebrnik, a Canadian scholar, has written an original and absorbing book about their rise and fall. Dreams of Nationhood: American-Jewish Communists and the Soviet Birobidzhan Project, 1934-1951, published by Academic Studies Press, is the first volume of its kind." -- Sheldon Kirshner, The Times of Israel, 5 Feb 2017 "This work by Srebrnik (politic

Henry Srebrnik (PhD, University of Birmingham, England) is a Professor in the Department of Political Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada. His most recent books include Jerusalem on the Amur: Birobidzhan and the Canadian Jewish Communist Movement, 1924-1951 (McGill-Queens University Press, 2008) and London Jews and British Communism, 1935-1945 (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 1995) He also served on the editorial team for De Facto States: The Quest For Sovereignty (London: Routledge, 2004) with Tozun Bahcheli and Barry Bartmann.

Abbreviations List of Illustrations Introduction: American Jews, Communism, the ICOR and Birobidzhan The Formation of Ambijan The ""People's Delegation"" and the Popular Front, 1935-1939 Wartime Aid to the Soviet Union: the ICOR Wartime Aid to the Soviet Union: Ambijan the Postwar Orphans' Campaign and the Ambijan-ICOR Merger The Glory Years, 1946-1948 Ambijan and the Creation of Israel The Gathering Storm: McCarthyism, Cold War, and Decline Islands of Resistance, 1949-1950 Conclusion: From Hope to Hoax Appendix: Paul Novick's 1936 Visit to the Jewish Autonomous Region Appendix: George Koval Selected Bibliography Index