The Radical Jewish Tradition

The Radical Jewish Tradition recovers a neglected and suppressed history of Jewish resistance to oppression. Collected here are sto­ries of heroism and selflessness that trace their origins to resis­tance against the nineteenth-century Tsarist Empire. These radical Jews—most of them working class—found common cause with oth­er oppressed groups. They refused to be defined as victims.

This inspiring tradition was ultimately checked by the callous indif­ference of capitalist governments to refugees before the Second World War and to the Holocaust. Donny Gluckstein and Janey Stone revive this history for the benefit of a world in crisis. They consider this legacy and its impact on modern Jewish identity. At a time when a bellicose Israeli government claims to represent Jews the world over, the history of these radicals bursts the constraints placed on the historical imagination.

Here is a story central to the socialist movement as well as an ob­ject lesson for all those struggling to resist.