Poale Zion

Poale Zion (Workers of Zion). A moderate Jewish socialist movement that originated in Ukraine (Katerynoslav, Odesa, and Poltava), Vilnius, and Vitsebsk at the beginning of the 20th century and spread to the Austrian Empire, Great Britain, the United States, Palestine, and Argentina. Although it did not advocate Ukrainian independence, Poale Zion maintained strong contacts with Ukrainian activists, particularly with the Ukrainian Social Democratic Workers' party, and later entered the Central Rada and the Directory of the Ukrainian National Republic. Some of its members, such as Solomon Goldelman, were strong supporters of the Ukrainian national movement. The party split into factions after the October Revolution of 1917 and was banned by the Soviet government in 1928.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]