POWSTANIE ORAZ DZIAŁALNOŚĆ ŻYDOWSKICH PARTII POLITYCZNYCH I ORGANIZACJI OBYWATELSKICH W GALICJI WSCHODNIEJ NA PRZEŁOMIE XIX i XX W.

Abstract

An indispensable component of the ethno-political mobilization of the Jews of Eastern Galicia stemmed from the search for their own national-cultural identity in the diaspora. In particular, the Zionist context became the main dominant feature of Jewish political life. The political figures of the Jewish community defended the interests of the group in various spheres of social life and did not oppose the group intentions of others. A distinctive factor that fostered the political identification and party structuring of Jews was their assessment of diversified perspectives regarding the place of residence of the ethnic group. All Jewish parties that were institutionalized in Eastern Galicia were the protectors of national-individual autonomy (i.e. the unity of representatives of the Jewish nation not according to the territorial principle, but as a result of an individual agreement without taking into account the place of residence), and the condition to receive it was affiliation to commune (kahal). The Jewish community was not left behind the structuring of the party, a condition which became the imperative of the national renaissance of the Jews. This imperative, firstly, set the tasks of rebirth of the historical homeland in Eretz-Israel, and secondly, it demanded equality for the Jews of Eastern Galicia. The noticeable factors that further separated the Jewish masses were their social ideals. Thus, it was national, social and class dilemmas that became a barrier that divided Jewish society seeking answers to numerous questions in various political camps.