In the vicinity of Minsk a
Junior Republic was organized, and in many cities art and choral
societies were formed.[16]
The desire for self-help and the tendency towards organization, to which
Zionism gave an impetus, was rapidly reflected in every sphere of
Russo-Jewish activity. In a series of works and articles, Jacob Wolf
Mendlin, who studied under Lassalle, pointed out the importance of the
co-operative system. Accordingly, a union was organized by the Jewish
salesmen in Warsaw. In 1897 a conference of Jewish workingmen was held
in that city and Der allgemeine juedische Arbeiterbund in Littauen,
Polen, und Russland (Federation of Jewish Labor Unions in Lithuania,
Poland, and Russia) was perfected. It published three papers as its
organs, Die Arbeiterstimme, Der juedischer Arbeiter, and, in Switzerland,
Letzte Nachrichten. Soon workmen's associations and artisans' clubs
appeared wherever there was a sufficient number of Jewish tailors,
hatters, bookbinders, etc., for the purpose of increasing and improving
the value of their production, and to do away with middlemen and
money-lenders. They organized a tailors', dyers', and shoemakers' union
in Kharkov, and a carpenters' union in Minsk, for mutual support in the
struggle for existence, and for the construction of sanitary
workingmen's houses.
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