Thursday, July 2, 2026

I'm Looking Forward To

some used copies of Molly Crabapple's new book, Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund, to start showing up in the used bookstores because I can't afford to buy new books.   I've been reading about the Labour Bund since I started reading the lefty media in the 1960s and have found very appealing,  apart from the Marxism and anti-religion of some of its figures.   I've never been sold on Marxism, though I think as a critical thinker he was among the finest of the 19th century.   As I've pointed out before, apparently Marx wasn't that big on Marxism himself, he famously declared,  "Je ne suis pas marxiste." 

Until I can find that used copy, here's an interview of Ms. Crabapple (love that name) by Owen Jones. 


Considering how the Republican-fascists are trying to revive 1920s racist anti-immigrant laws,  notice what she says about the consequences of the infamous, racist, Darwinist 1924 law that stopped Jewish emigration to the United States just as that was becoming vitally important.   Her presentation of how the right wingers and fascists grasped onto racism as a means of them getting and increasing their power is as timely as ever. 

She says that Haymarket has a collection of Bundist writing coming out next year, another one I'll be looking for in the used book stores.  

As I've also pointed out, there are survivals of the Jewish Bund movement, such as The Workers Circle.  They say that their classes and promotion of Yiddish is the largest in the world.   And they still are fighting the good fight for equality and the rights of workers. 

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