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The organization of Socialist Revolutionaries (SR) in Vitebsk, which arose at the beginning of the twentieth century, on the eve of the first Russian Revolution, had deep ideological roots in the earlier era of the revolutionary movement. In the 1870s, at the time when Russian youth “went to the people” and carried ideas about liberation and socialism to the backward peasant masses, when the revolutionary organization “Earth and Freedom” and then the famous organization “The People's Freedom” carried out an ongoing terrorist war against the Tsarist regime–and more than a few Jewish revolutionaries were absorbed in this war–even then the districts of White Russia were affected by the movement. We do not have, to our regret, concrete facts about the influence of the “people's” ideology in Vitebsk, but it is known that in neighboring places, in Smolensk and Mogilev districts there actually were nests of the movement at that time. It is also known that in many places near Vitebsk, the government organizations stifled participants in the revolutionary movement.

In Vitebsk and in the nearby cities and towns, the activities and the ideology of the revolutionary circles also seemed to have certain influence on the local youth in the 80's and 90s of the nineteenth century. The names of Zheliabov and Peravskaya, of Hesia Helfman and Lev Hartman obsessed the revolutionary young people, who were taken with their heroism and who dreamed in the quiet streets of the Jewish

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province of a new and freer world. And without a doubt, Sh. An-ski (Shlomo Rapaport), Chaim Zhitlovski, Solomon Gurevitch, and other who later took an active role in the liberation movement, formed themselves ideologically under the workings of the “people's” tradition in the revolutionary movement, where their ideologues were Lavrov, Mikhailovsky, and others. One could actually say that this popular tradition was the first that bound together the young people of Vitebsk and the cause of Jewish youth with the new world, which stitched together liberation and social justice.

When people had not yet heard about Russian Marxism, when the ideas of the Social Democratic “Bund” had not yet been born, already in Vitebsk there was the first step of the future revolutionary movement, which had developed in the early twentieth century the Socialist Revolutionary Party. We know that at that time there were in other cities–in Vilna, where there was a Narodnik association, which included Charles Rapaport, Issay Eisenshtadt, (the future Bundist, and in Pruzhany, where the future SR Yakov Yudelevski, Chaim Zhitlovski, and An-ski had a great ideological influence on several generations of Russian and Jewish revolutionaries–the bearers of the Narodnik tradition to Vitebsk. They were direct forebears of the local movement of the Social Revolutionaries. The history of the SR movement in Vitebsk is undoubtedly bound up with the legacy that Chaim Zhitlovsky and An-ski passed on to later generations.

The first sign of this, that in Vitebsk was created an organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, appeared in the party publication “Revolutionary Russia” (no. 37, from December 1, 1903). From that people learned that the Vitebsk group of Social Revolutionaries, together with the local political Red Cross had released a joint announcement against political persecution, with a call for aid. On. January 1, 1904, in the same journal (no. 39), was published the first article from Vitebsk about the situation of local workers, whose job was conveying lumber across the Dvina. And the same article contained information about the organization and the first steps of the SR in Vitebsk.

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Zalman Skarabagotov, shot in prison in 1906		Tzipkah Safra, wounded in 1905 at a demonstration

Solomon Schiff

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“At the beginning of August, 1903”–we read in the article–“a group of Social Revolutionaries was formed in Vitebsk and began to agitate on behalf of the workers, students, and soldiers. The group organized several gatherings where speakers informed the audience about the program of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. They also organized a strike of 60 flax packers…The police and gendarmes were prepared. Spying had increased, but it brought no results. The higher powers had not forgotten us: the ‘strengthened Okhrana’ [Russian secret police] had been around for a year. And not in vain! It did not matter that our city was not large and we had almost no factories. We still had two socialist organizations: the Socialist Revolutionaries and the ‘Bund’, and a circle belonging to the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. Five hundred people were under political supervision…”

An interesting report about the activities of the Vitebsk SR members we can read in “Revolutionary Russia” (no. 41) from February 15, 1904.

Before the organization of the Socialist Revolutionaries, there existed in the city a committee from the “Bund” that worked exclusively among the Jewish workers. The Russian workers, the peasants, the students, like the rest of the community, remained totally outside the sphere of the operations of their revolutionary ideas; the Bund's literature was not directed to the needs of the non-Jewish masses. As a result, a number of people became involved with the transport of illegal literature. This was the job of the Social Democrats and SR. The SR organization also organized meetings at which were debated the programs of the aforementioned parties. To these meetings came fully aware workers from the “Bund” or workers who were aware in general. Many of these aware working Bundists thus became familiar with the program of the Socialist Revolutionaries, joined them, and laid the foundation for the Vitebsk organization.

In October of 1903, the group put out a leaflet “To the Workers” (1000 copies) about the strikes in southern Russia. The proclamation called for a strike and for a battle against the autocracy. The SR organization led the strike. In November

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a proclamation was distributed about the organization of the Political Red Cross. The community reacted well. In the same month, a leaflet came out and was widely distributed entitled “To the Soldiers.” This one made a good impression on the soldiers and on the community. On every side this group, strengthened by students, began to agitate in the village. In addition to proclamations, the group distributed a number of brochures and 150 copies of “Revolutionary Russia.” The income amounted to 500 rubles.

In April of 1904, at a local conference, they formed the local northwest organization of the SR. The group from Vitebsk had a delegate at this conference and was part of the local organization.

In the second half of 1904, especially after the successful assassination on July 15 of the minister Plehve, the oppressor of the Jews, the Socialist Revolutionary organization became very popular. The organization grew, and its ties to Jewish and non-Jewish workers were strengthened. The SR group developed a vigorous set of activities. At the beginning of the 1905 Revolution, the Socialist Revolutionaries organized an illegal press, which often issued proclamations. In January of 1905, a hunger strike began in the Vitebsk prison. On January 4, the SR group issued a leaflet “To Everyone” (in 3,000 copies), about this hunger strike. Arrests ensued. Up to 20 people were seized and beaten by the police.

At the beginning of 1905 a Vitebsk workers union was created by the northwest organization of the party. The party published a special leaflet about this, “To all Workers.” A short time later, on the night of April 29-30, the illegal press fell into the hand of the gendarmerie and three people were arrested. In addition, a gymnasium student, Levinson, and a worker, Freidson, were arrested.

The terrorist activities of the Socialist Revolutionaries in Vitebsk particularly developed in the summer of 1905. On June 17, the fighting group of the Vitebsk committee killed the police superintendent of the second division of the city, Kodriavtzev, for savagely beating the revolutionaries who had been arrested. A special announcement about the assassination was made by the committee. On July 14, the committee published a new announcement, that according to the decision of the Vitebsk

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committee of the Socialist Revolutionaries, at 8 o'clock on the previous evening, they had shot at the gendarme leader Potrasov (“Pamele”). Potrasov was seriously wounded. The shooters went into hiding (“Revolutionary Russia,” no. 72). These terrorist actions did not displace the propagandist activities. On July 15, 1905, two proclamations were published marking the first anniversary of the assassination of Plehve–one in the name of the committee and the other in the name of the workers union of the party. In October of 1905, the committee, along with others, put out a leaflet “To Recruits,” printed at the SR press in Vitebsk.

The propaganda of the Socialist Revolutionary party and their terrorist activities in 1904 and 1905 (the assassination of Plehve and of the Grand Duke Sergey) evoked sympathy in Vitebsk from the Jewish workers and the young people. The group of Socialist Revolutionaries in Vitebsk was not large. In comparison to the “Bund” and the Social Democrats, who had deep roots in the workers movement, the SR organization was smaller and weaker. The larger organizations did not desire organizational union with the Socialist Revolutionaries. When, after the events of 1905, the idea arose of appearing together, nothing came of it. An article about this appeared in “Revolutionary Russia” (no. 73, from 1905) saying that “at one time the major organizations (the Iskravtzes, the “Bund,” and the SR) thought of organizing a joint demonstration for the first of May, but, as usual, the Social Democrats finally decided not to join any union with the ‘petty bourgeois SR.’ We could do nothing on the first of May because we did not have enough weapons.”

But there were cases when joint “actions” were conducted by the Socialist Revolutionaries and the “Bund.” They could be in Vitebsk itself or in Kreslavke. The SR organization also had its own activities in connection with the threat of pogroms: when rumors spread about a pogrom in Vitebsk, they sent a warning to the administration that they, the SR, would hold them totally responsible for a pogrom. This warning, which the SR publicized,

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A group of Socialist Revolutionaries in 1908 From right to left: Moyshele Schechmeister, Etke the Seamstress (“Bund”), Beilke Yatkun, Moysheke Danskai, Avraham Abramis (H.A. Abramson), Yisroel Vaychansky)

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Beilke Yatkun (standing) and Liuba Fradkin

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made a strong impression and attracted much sympathy. In this case, it was described in the aforementioned article, that in Vitebsko–we read–rumors spread about a pogrom. Our committee warned the administration that they would be responsible if there was a pogrom. The governor then published an announcement that he would take strong measures and would order shooting in the case of unrest, pogroms, etc.

The SR had a strong ideological influence among Vitebsk's intelligentsia thanks to the fact that Vitebsk had long been associated with Dr. Chaim Zhitlovsky, Sh. An-ski, and Solomon Gurevitsh, later an editor of the “Smolensk Messenger”). The Yiddish literature that An-ski and others created abroad also came to Vitebsk. In hindsight it is also important to note that some SR leaders (like Dr. Zhitlovsky, Mark Ratner, and others) belonged to the group “Vazrazhdenia” [Revivals], out of which grew, a little later, a Jewish socialist workers party (the “Serpovtzes” or “Seimovtzes”}, which had a good organization in Vitebsk and was politically close to the SR. It is interesting that the Seimovzes in 1906 conducted negotiations to form a standing bloc with the SR, and the latter used that to strengthen its standing among the Jewish workers circles in Vitebsk.

H.A. Abramson (Avraham Abramis), who took part in the work of Vitebsk since his early years, provides interesting details about the SR's work in Vitebsk after 1905. This was in 1906-1907. Along with many others, he landed in the Vitebsk prison, where he remained for 8 months.

H.A. Abramson relates that right after that, when Stolypin's government had dissolved the Second Duma, on June 3, 1907, there were mass arrests in Vitebsk among the SR members. About 150 people ended up behind bars. Almost everyone who had been involved in the first movement before 1904-1907 was arrested. Nevertheless, those arrested continued their efforts in the city and maintained connections with those who remained free.

In those years, among the leaders of the organizations were: Yegor Ravitsch, a well-known agitator and propagandist; Solomon Schiff; Samuel Ginzburg, who later became a “maximalist”

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the brothers Ivanitzky, Pavel and Dimitri; Mikhail Zeitlin; Villiam Pruss, a teacher's son who worked with relief organizations; Chaim Diatkin; Dvora'ke Shaikin; Simma Gurevitsh; Voizansky, who led the circle of students; the Armenian Edward Keptshiansk, who worked among the soldiers; Moyshe Sheinzon, whose party name was “Kuropatkin” Yosef Globus, and others. Standing out among the workers were Moysheke Bellok-Beller (the “Dvinsker”); Poyshke the Tailor; Ziske the Shoemaker; Nisan the Launderer; Zalman Skorobognatov, also a launderer (shot in the Vitebsk prison); Feivush Dolnik; Leibke Beznosov (who aided refugees during the First World War); the carpenter Hirshke Levin and his wife Beilke Yatkun; Yisroel Vykonsky, who worked in Zemstve; Leibke Liesin; Etke the Clerk; Sarah'ke the Pursemaker; Feigl Arlinson; and Moysheke Shterling. In the years 1906-1907, the SR had great influence in the military ranks of the city, among the Christian shoemakers and locksmiths, among the railroad workers, and it conducted extensive work among the students.

Hirschel Levin, who has long resided in America, offered several interesting insights about the SR's work in Vitebsk, especially between 1906 and 1908. He remembers Mrs. Redemeister, who worked for the Political Red Cross and greatly aided the SR. He also remembers how the SR used Offin's printshop on Bolshoya Magalevskaya in order to print announcements and other publications. The most important role in his recounting is taken by the SR activist Beilke Yatkin, who later became his wife. (She died in America in 1950.). During the course of several years, Beilke Yatkin, together with Liuba Fradkin (who also died recently in America), led the most dangerous conspiratorial work in the SR's illegal printshop. This printshop had to go from city to city, along with its dedicated workers: from Vitebsk to Smolensk, and then to Gorky and Gomel. At that time, Smolensk was the central spot for Vitebsk, because Yevgeny Ratner lived there, and the committee was in constant contact with him.

According to other sources, we should make note of a couple of names of SR activists: Tzippa Safra, who was wounded in a demonstration in 1905, and Abke Halbreich, who in 1905

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took a shot at the gendarme “Pamele”. More than once there was information in the press about the agitation of the Vitebsk SR in the village. We will only cite the Bundist “Our Tribune” (no. 4. From January 3, 1907) about the intensive agitation among the peasantry that was led by the Vitebsk SR organization.

In the following years, as is known, the SR movement throughout Russia received a blow from the well-known Azef Affair. It resulted also in the exile of the Vitebsk SR. At the time of the Third Duma, the workers were apathetic. In Vitebsk, few workers and members of the intelligentsia remained to uphold the SR traditions in the city, to make alliances with Trudoviks in Petersburg, to take part in the new forms of legal and semi-legal workers communities (sick banks, professional unions, Jewish institutions). The time for a new revival in the organization of the SR in Vitebsk first came after the February Revolution of 1917.

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