Arkadi Kremer
Arkadi Kremer was a Russian socialist leader known as the 'Father of the Bund'. This organisation was instrumental in the development of Russian Marxism and the Jewish labour movement.
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Early life
Arkadi Kremer was born in Švenčionys in Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (in present-day Lithuania), into a religious maskilic family. At age 12 he moved to Vilna, where he attended Realschule (Secondary School). Kremer subsequently studied at the St. Petersburg Technological Institute and the Riga Polytechnic. In the course of his studies, Kremer became involved in radical student politics and became involved in the Polish Marxist organization 'Proletariat'. He was first arrested in 1889. After some time in prison he was condemned to administrative exile and banned from St. Petersburg. By 1889, he was engaging in revolutionary activity, which ultimately led him to be incarcerated and cut off from further studies. However, in 1890, he was released from jail and banned from Saint Petersburg. As a result, Arkady traveled back to Vilna to begin his revolutionary activity there by joining revolutionary circles of Jewish workers
Political career
In Vilna, Kremer quickly became the acknowledged leader of the Vilna Group, a circle of Jewish Social-Democrats from which the Bund subsequently emerged. He aimed to expand the Jewish worker's influence in mass politics to end their struggle under capitalism led by the bourgeoisie. A part of this was the shift of language in the Vilna group from Russian to Yiddish, as 97% of Russian Jews spoke Yiddish as their first language, while only 25% were literate in Russian (according to the 1897 census). In 1897, Arkady created the General Jewish Labour Bund, which is commonly referred to as “the Bund” based on Marxist philosophies. He worked closely with Shmul Gozhansky, another revolutionary leader to change the Vilna Jewish workers circles tactics from propaganda to mass agitation. Propaganda was grounded in small scale group meetings of politically conscious workers circles, and Arkady aimed to expand the Bund to get involved in mass politics. Arkady aimed to improve Jewish worker's conditions. In the course of this struggle, they would develop a class consciousness and an understanding of the contradictions of capitalism, leading eventually to their political organization and to the overthrow of the capitalist system. Kremer argued for this tactic in the influential pamphlet On Agitation (Ob Agitatsii), produced in 1893, together with the future Menshevik leader Julius Martov. This was known as the 'Vilna Programme' and greatly influenced the Russian Marxist movement and young Marxists like Vladimir Lenin. His pamphlet harshly criticized capitalists for exploiting Jewish workers, and advocated for the destruction of capitalism. It promoted anti-capitalist and anti-zionist values.
Later life and death
When the Revolution of 1905 broke out in Russia, Kremer returned to St. Petersburg and became involved in the St. Petersburg soviet. He was arrested again in 1907, as the Revolution was winding down and the Tsar reasserted control. Released in 1908, Kremer withdrew from political activity, though he remained associated with the Bund. In 1912 Kremer emigrated to France, where he served the Bund as a foreign representative and liaison with the French Socialists. Primarily, Kremer worked as an engineer. In the bitter controversies which divided the European socialist movement with the outbreak of World War I, Kremer played a minor role, though he seems to have sided with the supporters of the Entente. In 1921, Kremer returned to Vilna, then called Wilno in newly independent Poland. Kremer taught mathematics. During his Vilna years, Kremer met and married Pati Matle Srednitskaia (or Srednicki) (1867–1943), a revolutionary activist in her own right. He and his wife Pati remained active in the Bund. Arkadii Kremer died in 1935 and was buried with great honours by the Bundists. Pati Kremer survived until 1943. She was murdered by the Nazis when they liquidated the Wilno ghetto.
