Between Hope and Struggle: The Gender Struggle and the Jewish Socialist Parties in Interwar Poland

Abstract

ABSTRACT With the reestablishment of independent Poland in 1918, women were given the right to vote. This progressive step reflected the hopes to create “a new world” within the Polish state. Two Jewish socialist parties, the Bund and Poalei Zion, were well aware of the changing political and social realities and adapted their political programs. The parties adopted a progressive approach toward women's status both in the private and the public spheres. As socialist Jewish parties, their main focus was Jewish women workers who suffered from “triple suppression” – as workers, as women and as Jews. On the surface, Jewish socialist parties demanded equal rights for all women. However, in this article I will argue that, in practice, the parties’ relation to the question of women equality was ambivalent. Notwithstanding the progressive agenda that was propagated, the traditional “sex role” of women was preserved in the parties' inner circles.