The Jewish question in the writings of Maksymilian Horwitz

At the beginning of the 20th century, a few million Jewish community lived in the territory of pre-partition Poland, strongly internally diversified both in terms of their views and the degree of assimilation with Polish society. Therefore, the programs of political activists and political parties often addressed the issue of the so-called Jewish question. The article presents the position of Maksymilian Horwitz on this matter, who was a political activist of Jewish origin and a leading representative of the Polish and European left wing from the late 19th century to the mid-1930s. The basis of the analysis was his writings from the years 1905–1914, especially the booklet On the Jewish Question. In them, he presented the three most important political camps in Poland at that time (liberal-assimilation, national-Zionist, and socio-democratic) and their ways of solving the situation of Jews, however, in his opinion the Jewish issue could only be solved by means of a class struggle undertaken by Jewish workers in cooperation with the Polish and, in a wider perspective, international proletariat. Only a revolution could provide this social stratum with liberation and its due civil rights.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a few million Jewish community lived in the territory of pre-partition Poland, strongly internally diversified both in terms of their views and the degree of assimilation with Polish society. Therefore, the programs of political activists and political parties often addressed the issue of the so-called Jewish question. The article presents the position of Maksymilian Horwitz on this matter, who was a political activist of Jewish origin and a leading representative of the Polish and European left wing from the late 19th century to the mid-1930s. The basis of the analysis was his writings from the years 1905–1914, especially the booklet On the Jewish Question. In them, he presented the three most important political camps in Poland at that time (liberal-assimilation, national-Zionist, and socio-democratic) and their ways of solving the situation of Jews, however, in his opinion the Jewish issue could only be solved by means of a class struggle undertaken by Jewish workers in cooperation with the Polish and, in a wider perspective, international proletariat. Only a revolution could provide this social stratum with liberation and its due civil rights.