The Jewish Problem and the Socialist Jewish State

Born in Mogilev in the Russian Empire (today Mahilyow, Belarus), Nachman Syrkin received a traditional education from tutors. After his family moved to Minsk, he finished his schooling at a Russian gymnasium. Because of his involvement with the Ḥibat Tsiyon movement and socialist groups, Syrkin was detained by tsarist authorities, although he was released when a prominent family member intervened on his behalf. He moved to Berlin around 1887 to attend university; there he helped found an academic association for Russian Jews that counted among its membership several future Zionist leaders, including Chaim Weizmann and Leo Motzkin. Syrkin received his doctorate from Zurich University for a dissertation in philosophy, and in 1897, he attended the First Zionist Congress in Basel. Following the conference, he began in earnest his lifework of reconciling Zionism and socialism theoretically, publishing pamphlets in German and Russian on the topic over the next few years. After returning to the Russian Empire for a time, Syrkin moved to the United States in 1907 where he abandoned territorialism in favor of a Palestine-centric Zionist socialism and became involved in Po’alei Tsiyon, in which he was active for the rest of his life.