Moisei Grigorevich Rafes (b. 1883, d. 1942) was a prominent politician of the Ukrainian People's Republic

Ukrainian People's Republic

The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...

 as the Bundist representative. After 1919 an official of the Bolshevik Party until the victory of Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

, when he was imprisoned.

Rafes was a member of the 1917 Russian Constituent Assembly

Russian Constituent Assembly

The All Russian Constituent Assembly was a constitutional body convened in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. It is generally reckoned as the first democratically elected legislative body of any kind in Russian history. It met for 13 hours, from 4 p.m...

 and also of the Ukrainian Central Rada

Tsentralna Rada

The Tsentralna Rada or Central Rada at first was the All-Ukrainian council that united political, public, cultural, professional organizations. Later after the All-Ukrainian National Congress that council became the revolutionary parliament of Ukraine...

; he was even a member, as general controller, of the General Secretariat of Ukraine

General Secretariat of Ukraine

The General Secretariat of Ukraine was the main executive institution of the Ukrainian People's Republic from June 28, 1917 to January 22, 1918.It closely related to the today's Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine...

 (the chief executive body of the Ukrainian National Republic from 28 June 1917 to 22 January 1918). He was succeeded at this post by another Bundist, Aleksandr Zolotarev.

When tensions within the Bund heightened, due to the pro-Bolshevik leaning of a part of the leadership, Moisei Rafes was the leader of the centrist wing of the Bund, while Mikhail Liber

Mikhail Liber

Mikhail Isaakovich Liber .M.I. Liber, sometimes known as 'Mark Liber', was a leader of the General Jewish Workers' Union . He also played a role in the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party and among the Mensheviks...

 and Benjamin Kheifetz led the rightists.

However, Rafes led the scissionist Kombund

Communist Bund (Ukraine)

The Communist Bund was a Jewish Communist political party in Ukraine and Bielorussia, formed after a split in the General Jewish Labour Bund . In late 1918 Bund branches in cities like Bobruisk, Ekaterinoburg and Odessa formed 'leftwing Bund groups'...

 group in Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 in February 1919, later joined by similar groups in Yekaterinoslav

Dnipropetrovsk

Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...

, Kharkov

Kharkiv

Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

 and Poltava

Poltava

Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....

, but the Kombund lasted only till May 1919, when it merged into the Ukrainian Communist Union, 'Komfarband'. These moves were apparently motivated by the large-scale pogrom

Pogrom

A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...

s committed by all the armies present in Ukraine at the time, except the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

. After the refusal of the Soviet authorities to authorize the formation of a distinct Jewish Communist Party, Rafes, like other former Bundists Esther Frumkin, Alexander Chemerinsky and Rakhmiel Veinshtain, finally joined the upper echelons of the Yevsektsiya

Yevsektsiya

Yevsektsiya , , the abbreviation of the phrase "Еврейская секция" was the Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party. Yevsektsiya was established to popularize Marxism and encourage loyalty to the Soviet regime among Russian Jews. The founding conference of Yevsektsiya took place on October 20,...

, the Jewish section of the Soviet Communist party

Communist Party of the Soviet Union

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...

 (CPSU).

Moisei Rafes was at the head of the artistic section of Sovkino

Sovkino

Sovkino was a studio in what now is Ukraine. It was built to compete with Disney over the market of animated movies in the 1930s.Sovkino was also a name of Lenfilm in 1926—1930....

and a member of the Sovkino board in the late 1920s and through 1930.

Sources