We, Traitors (Bundist Writings on Zionism, Palestine, and Socialism)

“I am awed by the work of archival reclamation [Tankus and Beirich] did. I can’t wait till you all get to read this book.” —Molly Crabapple

In this collection of never-before-translated Bundist writing, the largest Jewish socialist party in history explains its opposition to Zionism in its own words.

Faced with the threat of violence looming over the early twentieth century, Bundists doubled down on their politics of solidarity with all oppressed peoples, not just Jews. But as their political successes mounted, so did criticism from Zionists, who called them “traitors.” And after Zionism became hegemonic in the wake of the Holocaust, the Bund’s vast corpus of anti-Zionist writings languished untranslated in Yiddish—until now.

This volume presents texts from the most prominent leaders, orators, and thinkers of the Bund: from critical travelogues from Palestine to furious takedowns of Zionist propaganda, from eyewitness accounts of Zionist violence against Palestinians to groundbreaking visions of a future where Jews, Palestinians, and oppressed peoples everywhere could find liberation through socialism. 

Bundists’ revolutionary fervor and sense of social justice can tempt us to lionize them as heroes. But here, in their own words, we come to understand them in all their cultural and historical specificity: noble and petty, inclusive and exoticizing. One thing, however, becomes absolutely clear: anti-Zionism has been at the center of Jewish politics for far longer than most people imagine.