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TheJewish left refers toJewish individuals or organizations that identify with or supportleft-wing orsocial liberal causes, consciously as Jews. There is no singular organization or movement that constitutes the Jewish left.
Jews have been major forces in the history of thelabor movement, thesettlement house movement, thewomen's rights movement,anti-racist andanti-colonialist work, andanti-fascist andanti-capitalist organizations of many forms inEurope, theUnited States,Australia,Algeria,Iraq,Ethiopia,South Africa,Palestine, and theState of Israel.[1][2][3][4]
Jews have a history of involvement inanarchism,socialism,Marxism, and Westernliberalism. The expression "on the left" encompasses a range of political positions. Many individuals associated with left-wing politics have been Jews born into Jewish families, with varying degrees of connection to Jewish communities,cultures, traditions, or religious practices.
Jewish leftist thought has roots in theHaskalah, led by thinkers such asMoses Mendelssohn, as well as in the support ofEuropean Jews, includingLudwig Börne, forrepublican ideals following theFrench Revolution and theNapoleonic Wars. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the movement forJewish emancipation spread acrossEurope and was closely associated with the emergence of politicalliberalism, which emphasizedEnlightenment principles ofrights andequality before the law. At the time, liberals were considered part of thepolitical left, and emancipated Jews, as they became more integrated into the political culture of their respective nations, were often associated with liberalpolitical parties. Many Jews supported theAmerican Revolution, theFrench Revolution, and theRevolutions of 1848. In England, Jews tended to support theLiberal Party, which had led the parliamentary struggle for Jewish emancipation,[5] a political dynamic described by some scholars as "the liberal Jewish compromise".[6]
During the late 19th century,industrialisation led to the emergence of a Jewishworking class in the cities ofEastern andCentral Europe, followed by the development of a Jewishlabor movement. TheJewish Labour Bund was established inLithuania, Poland, and Russia in 1897, and various Jewish socialist organizations formed across theRussian Empire'sPale of Settlement.[7] Additionally, individuals of Jewish origin participated inanarchist,socialist,social democratic, andcommunist movements, though not all explicitly identified as Jewish.[citation needed]
AsZionism developed as a political movement,Labor Zionist parties such asBer Borochov'sPoale Zion emerged. Other left-wing Jewish nationalist movements includedterritorialism, which sought ahomeland for the Jewish people but not necessarily inPalestine;Jewish autonomism, which advocated for non-territorial national rights for Jews within multinational empires; andfolkism, promoted bySimon Dubnow, which emphasized the cultural identity ofYiddish-speaking Jews.[citation needed]
As Eastern European Jews migrated West from the 1880s onward, these ideological movements took root in growing Jewish communities, including theEast End of London,Paris’sPletzl,New York City'sLower East Side,[8] andBuenos Aires. London had an active Jewish anarchist movement, in which the non-Jewish German writerRudolf Rocker was a central figure. In the United States, a significant Jewish socialist movement developed, exemplified by the Yiddish-language dailyThe Forward and trade unions such as theInternational Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and theAmalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Notable figures in these circles includedRose Schneiderman,Abraham Cahan,Morris Winchevsky, andDavid Dubinsky.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jews played a significant role in the social democratic parties ofGermany,Russia,Austria-Hungary, andPoland. HistorianEnzo Traverso has used the term "Judeo-Marxism" to describe the distinct contributions of Jewish socialists toMarxist thought. These ranged fromcosmopolitan perspectives opposingnationalism, as seen in the views ofRosa Luxemburg and, to a lesser extent,Leon Trotsky, to positions more accommodating of cultural nationalism, as represented by theAustromarxists andVladimir Medem.
As with the American Revolution of 1776, the French Revolution of 1789, and the German Revolution of 1848, many Jews worldwide welcomed theRussian Revolution, viewing the collapse of a regime associated withantisemiticpogroms as a positive development. Many believed that the newSoviet order would improve conditions for Jews in the region. Many Jews became involved incommunist parties, constituting large proportions of their membership in many countries, includingGreat Britain and the United States. Some Communist parties had dedicated Jewish sections, such as theYevsektsiya in theSoviet Union. The Soviet government implemented policies toward Jews and Jewish culture that fluctuated over time, at times promoting Jewish cultural development—such as supporting Yiddish-language scholarship and establishing theJewish Autonomous Oblast—while also engaging in antisemitic purges, including the crackdown following theDoctors' Plot.
With the rise offascism in parts of Europe during the 1920s and 1930s, many Jews became active in left-wing movements, particularly Communist parties, which were at the forefront of antifascist efforts. Jewish volunteers participated in theInternational Brigades during theSpanish Civil War, including the AmericanXV International Brigade and the Polish-JewishPalafox Battalion. In Britain, Jews and leftist activists foughtOswald Mosley’sBritish Union of Fascists, including at theBattle of Cable Street in 1936. TheJewish Anti-Fascist Committee in the Soviet Union also played a role in mobilizing opposition to fascism.
DuringWorld War II, Jewish leftist groups were actively involved inresistance against Nazism. Bundists and Labor Zionists played key roles in theJewish Combat Organization and theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising.[citation needed]
Alongside movements rooted in the Jewish working class, relativelyassimilatedmiddle-class Jews in Central and Western Europe explored radicalism within Jewish tradition.Martin Buber incorporatedHasidic Jewish thought into his anarchist philosophy, whileGershom Scholem combined anarchism with his scholarship onKabbalah.Walter Benjamin was influenced by both Marxism andJewish messianism, andGustav Landauer, a religious Jew, identified as alibertarian communist.Jacob Israël de Haan merged socialism withHaredi Judaism, whileBernard Lazare, aleft-libertarian, initially embraced Zionism in 1897 but later criticized its bourgeois character in a letter toTheodor Herzl and theZionist Action Committee writing "You arebourgeois in thoughts, bourgeois in your feelings, bourgeois in your ideas, bourgeois in your conception of society."[9] In theWeimar Republic,Walther Rathenau was a prominent figure in the Jewish left.[citation needed]
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In the twentieth century, particularly after theSecond Aliyah,Labor Zionism became a significant force in theyishuvsettlement ofPalestine. It was first developed in Russia by the Marxist Ber Borochov and the non-MarxistsNachman Syrkin andA. D. Gordon. Organizations such asPoale Zion, theHistadrut labour union, and theMapai party played a central role in the establishment of theState of Israel, with Labor Zionist politicians includingDavid Ben-Gurion andGolda Meir among its founders. Thekibbutz movement also emerged as a model of collective Jewish settlement based on Labor Zionist principles.
During the 1940s, many leftists supported the idea of abinational state in Palestine rather than an exclusively Jewish state, a position advocated by figures includingHannah Arendt andMartin Buber. Since the State of Israel’s founding in 1948, the country has had an active political left, including both Zionist parties (includingThe Democrats and its predecessors) andanti-Zionist movements (such as thePalestine Communist Party andMaki). TheIsraeli Labor Party held power in the State of Israel for significant periods between 1948 and 2009.
Modern Labor Zionist organizations includeHabonim Dror, Histadrut, Na’amat,Hashomer Hatzair, theKibbutz Movement, andGivat Haviva. Labor and progressive Zionists are represented at theWorld Zionist Organization. and align with historical divisions between Poale Zion Right (which evolved into Avoda) and Poale Zion Left (which led to Hashomer Hatzair, Mapam, and Meretz).
There were historically two worldwide groupings of left-wing Zionist organizations. The World Labour Zionist Movement, associated with Labor Zionism, is a loose association, includingAvoda,Habonim Dror,Histadrut andNa'amat. TheWorld Union of Meretz, associated with what was historically known as the Socialist Zionist tendency, is a loose association of the Israeli Meretz party, theHashomer Hatzair Socialist Zionist youth movement, theKibbutz Artzi Federation and theGivat Haviva research and study center. Both movements exist as factions within theWorld Zionist Organization, as well as regional or country-specific Zionist movements; the two roughly correspond to the interwar split between the Poale Zion Right (the tradition that led to Avoda) and the Poale Zion Left (Hashomer Hatzair, Mapam, Meretz).
As the Jewish working class declined afterWorld War II, its associated institutions and political movements also diminished. In the United Kingdom, the English branch ofThe Workers Circle ceased operations in the 1950s, and Jewish trade unionism in the United States lost its influence around the same time. However, some remnants of Jewish working-class organizations continue to exist, including theJewish Labor Committee,The Forward, and The Workers Circle in the United States, theInternational Jewish Labor Bund in Australia, and theUnited Jewish People's Order in Canada.
Starting in the 1960s, there was a renewed interest among Western Jews in Jewishworking-class culture and radical traditions. This period saw the emergence of new Jewish organizations focused on Yiddish culture, Jewish spirituality, and social justice. In the United States,New Jewish Agenda operated from 1980 to 1992 as a national, multi-issue progressive membership organization advocating for a "Jewish voice on the Left and a Left voice in the Jewish Community". In 1990,Jews for Racial and Economic Justice was founded in New York City to promote economic and social equity. In 1999, leftists in Los Angeles split from theAmerican Jewish Congress to establish theProgressive Jewish Alliance.
The majority of Jewish voters in the United States have backed theDemocratic Party's presidential candidate in every election since1924, with the exception of1980.[10][11]
In Britain, organizations such as theJewish Socialists' Group and RabbiMichael Lerner’s Tikkun continued this tradition, while more recent groups likeJewdas have adopted a more eclectic and radical approach to Jewish identity and activism.
In Belgium, theUnion des progressistes juifs de Belgique traces its origins to the Jewish Communist and BundistSolidarité movement of theBelgian Resistance and has supported causes such as theIsraeli refuseniks and the rights ofundocumented immigrants in Belgium.
South Africa's Jewish left was actively involved in left-wing causes, including the anti-apartheid movement. Several Jewish individuals were among the defendants in theRivonia Trial, includingJoe Slovo,Denis Goldberg,Lionel Bernstein,Bob Hepple,Arthur Goldreich,Harold Wolpe, andJames Kantor.
Helen Suzman was a Jewish member of theSouth African Parliament from 1953 to 1989, representing various liberal parties.
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During the first decade of the 2000s, theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict became an increasing factor in shaping the Jewish left. A new wave of grassroots leftist Jewish organizations emerged in support of Palestinian causes. Groups such asJewish Voice for Peace in the United States,Independent Jewish Voices in Canada,Independent Jewish Voices in the United Kingdom, and theInternational Jewish Anti-Zionist Network provided a renewed platform for left-wing Jewishanti-Zionism. This perspective continues to be represented in media outlets such as the AmericanMondoweiss and the CanadianTreyf podcast.[12]
Following the2014 Gaza War, some leftist Jewish organizations in the United States and Canada shifted their focus to directly challenging Zionist Jewish organizations,[13][14][15][16] such as theJewish federations, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), theAnti-Defamation League, and theCentre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, over their support for the State of Israel’s actions during the war.
While a majority of American Jews during this period continued to report feeling attached to the State of Israel, younger generations increasingly voiced criticism of the Israeli government and expressed greater sympathy forPalestinians compared to their predecessors.[17][18]
These intra-community tensions extended into domestic politics following the2016 United States presidential election.[19] Groups such asIfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice began organizing under the banner of #JewishResistance, aiming to challenge institutional Jewish support for thefirst presidency of Donald Trump and its associations withwhite nationalist figures.[20]
After the 2016 election, liberal and leftist Jewish organizations with a range of positions on Zionism experienced significant growth in the United States.[21] New Jewish initiatives emerged, includingNever Again Action, which focused on opposing the expansion of migrant detention by the United States government.[22] Several Jewish organizations, includingBend the Arc,T’ruah, JFREJ, Jewish Voice for Peace, and IfNotNow, joined these efforts under the banner of #JewsAgainstICE.[23] Other initiatives, such as the Outlive Them network,[24] Fayer,[25] and the Muslim-Jewish Anti-Fascist Front,[26] were established to address antisemitism and white nationalism.
This period also saw the rise of new leftist Jewish media outlets.Protocols, a journal of culture and politics, began publishing in 2017.[27]Jewish Currents, originally founded in 1946, was relaunched in 2018 by a new editorial team ofmillennial Jews. TheTreyf podcast, which started in 2015, documented the Jewish left’s growth in the United States during this time.
There was also a renewed interest in Jewishanarchism within the United States. This resurgence was supported by new publications, such as Kenyon Zimmer’sImmigrants Against the State (2015), and the reissuing of documentaries likeThe Free Voice of Labor, which chronicles the final days of theFraye Arbeter Shtime.[28] In January 2019,YIVO hosted a conference on Yiddish anarchism inNew York City, which attracted over 450 attendees.[29] Following this event, a national Jewish anarchist convergence was organized in Chicago.[30]
A new wave of the resurgence of Jewish left-wing activism emerged in late 2023, coinciding with theIsraeli invasion of the Gaza Strip following theOctober 7 attacks.[31][32] According toJay Ulfelder, this period marked "the largest and broadest pro-Palestinian mobilization in U.S. history".[33] This movement included the largest recorded Jewish American demonstration in support of Palestine[34] and the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration in U.S. history, theNational March on Washington: Free Palestine. Several new Jewish leftist organizations and coalitions were established, including Jews Say No to Genocide (Toronto),[35][36] the Tzedek Collective (Victoria, British Columbia),[37][38] Gliklekh in Goles (Vancouver),[39] Shoresh (United States),[40][41] andRabbis for Ceasefire (United States),[42][43] while existing anti-Zionist Jewish groups, such as Jewish Voice for Peace, experienced significant membership growth.[44]
During this period, traditionally liberal Zionist Jewish groups generally adopted positions supporting the State of Israel.[45] Groups such asJ Street and theAnti-Defamation League opposed calls for a ceasefire and expressed support for continued Israeli military operations inGaza, leading to internal dissent and staff resignations.[46][47][48][49] By January 2024, J Street had advocated for a qualified end to Israel's military campaign,[50] while the Anti-Defamation League maintained its opposition to anti-Zionist and other Jewish leftist groups calling for a ceasefire, characterizing some as "hate groups" and collaborating with law enforcement to oppose the2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses.[51][52][53][54]
The Progressive Israel Network, a coalition of ten liberal and progressive Zionist Jewish organizations—includingAmeinu,Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North America, Hashomer Hatzair, The Jewish Labor Committee, J Street, theNew Israel Fund,Partners for Progressive Israel,Reconstructing Judaism, and T'ruah—was established in 2019.[55] Many of these organizations experienced internal debate regarding their positions on Israel in the years leading up to the war in Gaza.[56][57][58][59] Following the onset of Israeli military operations in Gaza, staff members from nearly all Progressive Israel Network organizations signed an open letter advocating for a ceasefire.[47][60][61] Several of these groups participated in the 2023March for Israel during the war under the banner of a "Peace Bloc". Reporting on the event forJewish Currents, journalist Mari Cohen observed that by "attending the November 14th March for Israel and refusing to call for a ceasefire, many progressive Jewish groups have cast their lot with the Jewish mainstream".[45]
Jewish groups on the left includeIndependent Jewish Voices,Jewdas, theJewish Socialists' Group,Jewish Voice for Labour andJews for Justice for Palestinians. TheJewish Labour Movement is affiliated to theLabour Party.
In Israel’sKnesset, left-wing political parties and blocs have participated in elections with varying degrees of success. Over time, these parties have undergone changes, with some merging, others dissolving, and new parties emerging.
Israeli social liberal, Labor Zionist, and left-wing parties have included:
Notable figures associated with these parties have includedAmir Peretz,Meir Vilner,Shulamit Aloni,Uri Avnery,Yossi Beilin,Ran Cohen,Matti Peled,Amnon Rubinstein,Dov Khenin andYossi Sarid.
The Israeli left has also played a role in social movements, including the2011 Israeli social justice protests and the2023 Israeli judicial reform protests. Activists from the 2011 protests, particularly those affiliated with Hadash, establishedStanding Together in 2015.
British Jews have played a significant role in left-wing politics in the United Kingdom, particularly within theLabour Party and, to a lesser extent, theLiberal Democrats.
During the period when theLiberal Party was a main party for British leftists, multiple Jewish politicians attained high office.Herbert Samuel served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1930 to 1935, whileRufus Isaacs became the only British Jew to be created a Marquess. Other notable Jewish Liberal politicians in the 19th and early 20th centuries includedLionel de Rothschild, the first Jewish Member of Parliament, as well asSir David Salomons,Sir Francis Goldsmid,Sir George Jessel,Arthur Cohen,The Lord Swaythling,Edward Sassoon,The Lord Hore-Belisha,Edwin Montagu,Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln, andThe Lord Wandsworth.
As the Liberal Party declined in the early 20th century, the Labour Party emerged as the main party of the left. Jewish individuals were active in Labour, includingLeonard Woolf andHugh Franklin. Many Jewish MPs, such asBarnett Janner,Sir Percy Harris, andHarry Nathan, transitioned from the Liberal Party to Labour. Academics and intellectuals such asHarold Laski,Nicholas Kaldor,Victor Gollancz, andKarl Mannheim contributed to the ideological foundations of British socialism. Notable early Labour politicians includedLewis Silkin, a minister inClement Attlee’s government,Sydney Silverman, who played a key role in the abolition ofcapital punishment in Britain, andManny Shinwell, a leader of theRed Clydeside movement and laterSecretary of State for War.
Following the World War II, the Labour Party formed a government, and several newly elected Jewish MPs were associated with the socialist left, influenced by events such as theBattle of Cable Street. These includedHerschel Austin,Maurice Edelman, andIan Mikardo, as well asPhil Piratin, one of the fourCommunist Party MPs in British history. Jewish MPs elected in the 1940s and 1950s who later held ministerial positions inHarold Wilson’s governments of the 1960s and 1970s includedThe Lord Barnett,Edmund Dell,John Diamond,Reg Freeson,The Baroness Gaitskell,Myer Galpern,Gerald Kaufman,The Lord Lever of Manchester,Paul Rose,The Lord Segal,The Baroness Serota,The Lord Sheldon,John andSamuel Silkin,Barnett Stross, andDavid Weitzman. Another Jewish Labour politician of this era,Leo Abse, played a notable role in the decriminalization of homosexuality and liberalisation to divorce laws.Robert Maxwell, a Labour MP in the 1964–66 Wilson government, eventually became a leading newspaper publisher when his holding company purchasedMirror Group Newspapers in 1984.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Labour Party experienced internal divisions, including conflicts over theMilitant tendency, aTrotskyist group led byTed Grant, and the split that led to the formation of theSocial Democratic Party (SDP). The SDP formed anAlliance with the Liberal Party (who had two Jewish MPs,The Lord Carlile of Berriew andClement Freud) and later to unite as the Liberal Democrats. Some Jewish Labour MPs, such asNeville Sandelson andRobert Skidelsky, joined the SDP, while others, includingHarry Cohen,Alf Dubs,Millie Miller,Eric Moonman, andDavid Winnick, remained in Labour.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, with the shift away from the socialist left of the party, and duringTony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party, notable senior Jewish politicians includedPeter Mandelson, one of the architects of "New Labour",Peter Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith,The Lord Beecham, andThe Lord Gould of Brookwood. Mandelson, party fund-raiserThe Lord Levy andJack Straw (who is of partial Jewish ancestry), were accused byTam Dalyell, MP, of being a "cabal of Jewish advisers" around Blair.[62] Several of Blair's Ministers and Labour backbenchers were Jewish or partially Jewish, includingBarbara Roche,Dame Margaret Hodge,Fabian Hamilton,Louise Ellman,The Baroness King of Bow, andGillian Merron. Labour donors during the 1990s and 2000s who were Jewish includedDavid Abrahams,The Lord Bernstein of Craigweil,Richard Caring,Sir Trevor Chinn,Sir David Garrard,The Lord Gavron,Sir Emmanuel Kaye,Andrew Rosenfeld,The Lord Sainsbury of Turville, andBarry Townsley. Several of these were caught up in theCash for Honours scandal.[citation needed]
Under the government of Blair's successor,Gordon Brown, brothersDavid Miliband andEd Miliband became members of the Cabinet. Their father was the Marxist academicRalph Miliband. The brothers differed in their view of the party's future direction, and they fought a bitterleadership election against each other in 2010.Ed Miliband won the election and became the first Jewish leader of the Labour Party. One of Miliband's Shadow Cabinet members,Ivan Lewis, as well as advisersDavid Axelrod,Arnie Graf, andThe Lord Glasman are all Jewish.
Recent Jewish Labour politicians includeWilliam Bach,The Lord Bassam of Brighton,Michael Cashman,The Lord Grabiner,Ruth Henig,Margaret Hodge,The Lord Kestenbaum,Jonathan Mendelsohn,Janet Neel Cohen,Meta Ramsay,Ruth Smeeth,Alex Sobel,Catherine Stihler,Andrew Stone,Leslie Turnberg, andRobert Winston.
Since the foundation of the Liberal Democrats, several Jews have achieved prominence:David Alliance,Luciana Berger, the aforementioned Alex Carlisle,Miranda Green,Olly Grender,Sally Hamwee,Evan Harris,Susan Kramer,Anthony Lester,Jonathan Marks,Julia Neuberger,Monroe Palmer,Paul Strasburger, andLynne Featherstone, who became a Minister in theCameron–Clegg coalition.
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