Creator Bio
Abraham Cahan
1860–1951
Born near Vilna, Abraham Cahan received a traditional Jewish education, but while studying at a teacher-training institute, he lost his religious faith and embraced socialism. He immigrated to New York City in 1882 to avoid arrest for radical political activities. He became a journalist, contributing to Russian-, Yiddish-, and English-language newspapers. From 1903 to 1946, he edited Forverts. During his years in America, his socialism lost its radical edge, and he became an opponent of communist influence in the labor movement and a supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was also an accomplished novelist and short-story writer in English.
Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator
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Pages from My Life
[ . . . ] In time, I lost my shyness. I became a “big shot” in one of the Am Olam groups. In our debates it became clear to me that it was still a beautiful idea to start colonies in which we…
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The Rise of David Levinsky
Sometimes, when I think of my past in a superficial, casual way, the metamorphosis I have gone through strikes me as nothing short of a miracle. I was born and…
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How Should Yiddish Be Written?
Ever since the written word in Russia became a bit freer, the country has released a torrent of Yiddish publications of every sort. Various publishing houses have appeared, and every one of them is…
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The Russian Jew in America
The Jewish population in the United States has grown from a quarter of a million to about one million. Scarcely a large American town but has some Russo-Jewish names in its directory, with an educated…