Socialist Workers' Federation
Encyclopedia
The Socialist Workers' Federation , led by Avraam Benaroya
, was an attempt at union of different nationalities' workers in Ottoman
Thessaloniki
within a single labor movement.
, a Jew from Bulgaria
, played a leading role in the creation in Thessaloniki, in May-June 1909, of the mainly Jewish Fédération Socialiste Ouvrière. His main associates were militant Sephardic Jews, A.-J. Arditti, D. Recanati and J. Hazan, as well Bulgarians, e.g. A. Tomov and Dimitar Vlahov
.
The organization took this name because, built on the federative model of the Social Democratic Party of Austria
, it was conceived as a federation of separate sections, each representing the four main ethnic groups of the city: Jews, Bulgarians
, Greeks
and Turks
. It initially published its literature in the languages of these four groups (i.e. Ladino, Bulgarian
, Greek
and Turkish
, respectively) but in practice the two latter sections were under-represented if not nonexistent. The publication's title was Journal del Labourador (Ladino) - Amele Gazetesi (Ottoman Turkish).
The democratic Fédération soon became, under Benaroya's leadership, the strongest socialist party
in the Ottoman Empire
, while the "Ottoman Socialist Party
" was essentially an intellectual club, and the other socialist parties were at the same time national parties, like the Istanbul
Greek Socialist Center, the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
or the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
. It created combative trade unions, attracted important intellectuals and gained a solid base of support among Macedonian workers while cultivating strong links with the Second International
. From 1910 to 1911 Benaroya edited its influential newspaper, the Solidaridad Obradera, printed in Ladino.
By 1910, the Fédération comprised fourteen syndicates, and in 1912 it mobilized about 12,000 workers in various demonstrations.
Unlike other parties which were organised on ethnic lines, as a cross-community group the Fédération was allowed by the Ottoman
authorities. A prominent Bulgarian member, Dimitar Vlahov
, was a socialist MP in the new Ottoman parliament
, until 1912 dominated by the Committee of Union and Progress
(CUP) party. Indeed, its leaders initially supported the Young Turks
, and Benaroya participated in the "Army of Freedom" march on Istanbul
to help put down the Countercoup
of 1909. Alarmed by the growing power of socialist groups, the CUP subsequently launched a crackdown, during which Benaroya was jailed.
In their reference book over the Balkan Jews, Esther Benbassa and Aron Rodrigues show that the internationalist socialists of the Fédération defended the Ladino language against the Zionists
, favouring Hebrew, and the Alliance Israélite Universelle
, who favoured French, thus remaining in some way close to the traditional Jewish world, they represented a form of westernization without assimilation.
, Benaroya resisted the attempts to impose ethnic divisions in the city. Opposed to the First World War, Benaroya and another Jewish socialist were exiled for two and a half years at the island of Naxos
. In contrast to most of the prominent socialists in the pre-1913 Greece who followed Eleftherios Venizelos
, Benaroya and the Fédération, adhering to its internationalist ideals, mobilized for neutrality
. As this happened to the same policy as pursued by King Constantine I of Greece
and his militaristic entourage (see National Schism), this led to the loss of support for Fédération in Macedonia
. After the departure of its Slavic element, the Fédération was numerically dominated by Jews.
From 1915 onwards the Fédération was buoyed by the popular reaction to the war. Both monarchist
and Venizelist policy actually assisted the emancipation and the radicalization of the left, and Benaroya, keeping equal distance from both established political groups, was quick to turn the situation to advantage. In the May 1915 general elections the Fédération sent two deputies representing Thessaloniki to the Greek Parliament, while it lost by only a few votes for a third seat. It already had strong links with internationalist groups and organizations all over Greece and abroad; from them the Socialist Workers' Party was to spring up in due time. However, another socialist faction, headed by the future Prime Minister Alexandros Papanastasiou
, who sided with Venizelos in foreign affairs, also had deputies elected in the same election.
Papanastasiou and other reform-minded socialists strongly supported Venizelos' liberal brand of nationalism. Benaroya and the Fédération, on the other hand, were influenced by Austromarxists
such as Victor Adler
, Otto Bauer
and Karl Renner
, who, sensitive to matters national, searched ways to utilize socialism as a cohesive force for the decrepit Habsburg Monarchy
; they elaborated the principle of personal autonomy
, according to which national consciousness should be depoliticized and become a personal matter. Modern states should be based on free association and allow self definition and self organization of ethnicities in cultural affairs, while a mixed parliament, proportionally representing all nations of the realm, should decide on economic and political questions. The Fédération traced the origins of its federative position in Balkan authors of the Enlightenment
like Rigas Velestinlis, and stressed that the forthcoming peace should exclude any change of borders or transfer of populations. The Socialist Workers' Party
, created by Benaroya's initiative near the end of the First World War, followed closely the Fédérations theses on national self-determination
, and wanted to transform the Greek state into a federation of autonomous provinces that would safeguard the rights of minorities and participate in a federative Republic of the Balkan peoples.
Avraam Benaroya
Avraam Eliezer Benaroya was a Bulgarian Narrow socialist, leader of the workers' movement in the Ottoman Empire and founder of the Communist Party of Greece....
, was an attempt at union of different nationalities' workers in Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
within a single labor movement.
The Federation in the Ottoman Empire
Idealistic and pragmatist at the same time, Avraam BenaroyaAvraam Benaroya
Avraam Eliezer Benaroya was a Bulgarian Narrow socialist, leader of the workers' movement in the Ottoman Empire and founder of the Communist Party of Greece....
, a Jew from Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, played a leading role in the creation in Thessaloniki, in May-June 1909, of the mainly Jewish Fédération Socialiste Ouvrière. His main associates were militant Sephardic Jews, A.-J. Arditti, D. Recanati and J. Hazan, as well Bulgarians, e.g. A. Tomov and Dimitar Vlahov
Dimitar Vlahov
Dimitar Yanakiev Vlahov was a revolutionary from the region of Macedonia and member of the left wing of the Macedonian-Adrianople revolutionary movement...
.
The organization took this name because, built on the federative model of the Social Democratic Party of Austria
Social Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...
, it was conceived as a federation of separate sections, each representing the four main ethnic groups of the city: Jews, Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
, Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
and Turks
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
. It initially published its literature in the languages of these four groups (i.e. Ladino, Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, respectively) but in practice the two latter sections were under-represented if not nonexistent. The publication's title was Journal del Labourador (Ladino) - Amele Gazetesi (Ottoman Turkish).
The democratic Fédération soon became, under Benaroya's leadership, the strongest socialist party
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, while the "Ottoman Socialist Party
Ottoman Socialist Party
The Ottoman Socialist Party was the first Turkish socialist political party founded in the Ottoman Empire in 1910.-First period as Ottoman Socialist Party :...
" was essentially an intellectual club, and the other socialist parties were at the same time national parties, like the Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
Greek Socialist Center, the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
Social Democrat Hunchakian Party
The Social Democrat Hunchakian Party , is the oldest of the Armenian political parties and was the first Socialist party in the Ottoman Empire and in Persia...
or the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
Armenian Revolutionary Federation
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation is an Armenian political party founded in Tiflis in 1890 by Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, and Simon Zavarian...
. It created combative trade unions, attracted important intellectuals and gained a solid base of support among Macedonian workers while cultivating strong links with the Second International
Second International
The Second International , the original Socialist International, was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. At the Paris meeting delegations from 20 countries participated...
. From 1910 to 1911 Benaroya edited its influential newspaper, the Solidaridad Obradera, printed in Ladino.
By 1910, the Fédération comprised fourteen syndicates, and in 1912 it mobilized about 12,000 workers in various demonstrations.
Unlike other parties which were organised on ethnic lines, as a cross-community group the Fédération was allowed by the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
authorities. A prominent Bulgarian member, Dimitar Vlahov
Dimitar Vlahov
Dimitar Yanakiev Vlahov was a revolutionary from the region of Macedonia and member of the left wing of the Macedonian-Adrianople revolutionary movement...
, was a socialist MP in the new Ottoman parliament
Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)
The Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire began shortly after Sultan Abdülhamid II restored the constitutional monarchy after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. The period established many political groups...
, until 1912 dominated by the Committee of Union and Progress
Committee of Union and Progress
The Committee of Union and Progress began as a secret society established as the "Committee of Ottoman Union" in 1889 by the medical students İbrahim Temo, Abdullah Cevdet, İshak Sükuti and Ali Hüseyinzade...
(CUP) party. Indeed, its leaders initially supported the Young Turks
Young Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
, and Benaroya participated in the "Army of Freedom" march on Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
to help put down the Countercoup
Countercoup (1909)
The Countercoup of 1909 was an attempt to dismantle the Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire and replace it with a monarchy under Sultan Abdul Hamid II...
of 1909. Alarmed by the growing power of socialist groups, the CUP subsequently launched a crackdown, during which Benaroya was jailed.
In their reference book over the Balkan Jews, Esther Benbassa and Aron Rodrigues show that the internationalist socialists of the Fédération defended the Ladino language against the Zionists
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
, favouring Hebrew, and the Alliance Israélite Universelle
Alliance Israélite Universelle
The Alliance Israélite Universelle is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world...
, who favoured French, thus remaining in some way close to the traditional Jewish world, they represented a form of westernization without assimilation.
The Federation and the labour movement in Greece
In the aftermath of the incorporation of Thessaloniki into the Greek state during the Balkan WarsBalkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
, Benaroya resisted the attempts to impose ethnic divisions in the city. Opposed to the First World War, Benaroya and another Jewish socialist were exiled for two and a half years at the island of Naxos
Naxos (island)
Naxos is a Greek island, the largest island in the Cyclades island group in the Aegean. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture....
. In contrast to most of the prominent socialists in the pre-1913 Greece who followed Eleftherios Venizelos
Eleftherios Venizelos
Eleftherios Venizelos was an eminent Greek revolutionary, a prominent and illustrious statesman as well as a charismatic leader in the early 20th century. Elected several times as Prime Minister of Greece and served from 1910 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1932...
, Benaroya and the Fédération, adhering to its internationalist ideals, mobilized for neutrality
Neutral country
A neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
. As this happened to the same policy as pursued by King Constantine I of Greece
Constantine I of Greece
Constantine I was King of Greece from 1913 to 1917 and from 1920 to 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and led the Greek forces during the successful Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, in which Greece won Thessaloniki and doubled in...
and his militaristic entourage (see National Schism), this led to the loss of support for Fédération in Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
. After the departure of its Slavic element, the Fédération was numerically dominated by Jews.
From 1915 onwards the Fédération was buoyed by the popular reaction to the war. Both monarchist
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
and Venizelist policy actually assisted the emancipation and the radicalization of the left, and Benaroya, keeping equal distance from both established political groups, was quick to turn the situation to advantage. In the May 1915 general elections the Fédération sent two deputies representing Thessaloniki to the Greek Parliament, while it lost by only a few votes for a third seat. It already had strong links with internationalist groups and organizations all over Greece and abroad; from them the Socialist Workers' Party was to spring up in due time. However, another socialist faction, headed by the future Prime Minister Alexandros Papanastasiou
Alexandros Papanastasiou
Alexandros Papanastasiou was a Greek politician, sociologist and Prime Minister.- Early years :Papanastasiou was the son of Member of Parliament Panagiotis Papanastasiou. He spent part of his childhood in Kalamata and Piraeus...
, who sided with Venizelos in foreign affairs, also had deputies elected in the same election.
Papanastasiou and other reform-minded socialists strongly supported Venizelos' liberal brand of nationalism. Benaroya and the Fédération, on the other hand, were influenced by Austromarxists
Austromarxism
Austromarxism was a Marxist theoretical current, led by Victor Adler, Otto Bauer, Karl Renner and Max Adler, members of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria during the late decades of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the First Austrian Republic...
such as Victor Adler
Victor Adler
----Victor Adler was an Austrian Social Democratic leader.Born in Prague, Adler received a university degree in Vienna in 1881. He founded the Socialist movement in Austria and created the Marxist journals Gleicheit in 1886 and Arbeiter-Zeitung in 1889...
, Otto Bauer
Otto Bauer
Otto Bauer was an Austrian Social Democrat who is considered one of the leading thinkers of the left socialist Austro-Marxist tendency...
and Karl Renner
Karl Renner
Karl Renner was an Austrian politician. He was born in Untertannowitz in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and died in Vienna...
, who, sensitive to matters national, searched ways to utilize socialism as a cohesive force for the decrepit Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
; they elaborated the principle of personal autonomy
National personal autonomy
The Austromarxist principle of national personal autonomy , developed by Otto Bauer in his 1907 book Die Nationalitätenfrage und die Sozialdemokratie was seen by him a way of gathering the geographically divided members of the same nation, "organize nations not in territorial bodies but in simple...
, according to which national consciousness should be depoliticized and become a personal matter. Modern states should be based on free association and allow self definition and self organization of ethnicities in cultural affairs, while a mixed parliament, proportionally representing all nations of the realm, should decide on economic and political questions. The Fédération traced the origins of its federative position in Balkan authors of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
like Rigas Velestinlis, and stressed that the forthcoming peace should exclude any change of borders or transfer of populations. The Socialist Workers' Party
Socialist Workers' Party (Greece)
The Socialist Workers Party of Greece is an affiliate of the International Socialist Tendency . It is the second largest organisation in IST behind the Socialist Workers Party of Britain....
, created by Benaroya's initiative near the end of the First World War, followed closely the Fédérations theses on national self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
, and wanted to transform the Greek state into a federation of autonomous provinces that would safeguard the rights of minorities and participate in a federative Republic of the Balkan peoples.