From Conflict to Cooperation: the Bund and the Polish Socialist Party, 1897–1939

Throughout the history of Poland, elements of Polish and Jewish cultures merged in many fields. There were groups of Jews and Poles, originally mutually antagonistic, who changed their attitudes and greatly improved their relations. A history of the relationship between the Bund and the PPS is a fine illustration of this phenomenon. Initially, before the 1920s, Bund–PPS relations were antagonistic or even hostile. In the late 1920s and the early 1930s, the relationship between the two parties fluctuated between initial forms of cooperation and the old conflicts. Finally, the late 1930s showed that in spite of many setbacks and the heavy burden of the past, cooperation was possible between Polish and Jewish socialists. In the 1870s, the Jewish workers of the Russian Empire, persecuted and exploited, began to join revolutionary groups and to organize them- selves. In 1874, the first Jewish socialist circle was established in Vilna. In the 1880s, the Jewish workers formed the first illegal semi-trade unions and socialist groups studying Marxism. By 1890, a large Jewish socialist Vilna-grupe was created, held its first May Day rallies, began to publish underground pamphlets, and had discussed long-term programs.