Esther Vilenska: Difference between revisions
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| Image = [[Image:Esther Vilenska.jpg|150px]] |
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| Date of birth = {{birth date|1918|6|8|df=y}} |
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| Place of birth = [[Vilnius]], [[Poland]] |
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| Year of Aliyah = 1938 |
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| Date of death = {{death date and age|1975|11|8|1918|6|8|df=y}} |
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| Place of death = |
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| Knesset(s) = [[Israeli legislative election, 1951|2nd]], [[Israeli legislative election, 1955|3rd]], [[Israeli legislative election, 1961|5th]] |
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| Party = [[Maki (historical political party)|Maki]] |
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| Former parties = |
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| Gov't roles = |
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}} |
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'''Esther Vilenska''' ({{lang-he|אסתר וילנסקה}}, born born 8 June 1918, died 8 November 1975) was an [[Israel]]i [[Communism|communist]] politician, journalist and author who served as a member of the [[Knesset]] for [[Maki (historical political party)|Maki]] between 1951 and 1959 and then again from 1961 to 1965. |
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==Biography== |
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Born in [[Vilnius]] in [[Poland]] (today in [[Lithuania]]), Vilenska was active in [[Hashomer Hatzair]] in [[Vilnius]], the city in which she attended high school, before [[Aliyah|emigrating to]] [[British Mandate of Palestine|Mandate Palestine]] in 1938. She attended the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]], gaining a BA in sociology and an MA in History. |
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===Political career=== |
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Vilenska joined the [[Palestine Communist Party]] in 1940, and in 1943 was appointed editor of the newspaper Kol HaAm (lit. ''Voice of the People''), becoming chief editor in 1947. In 1944 she was elected to the House of Representatives. |
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She joined the politbureau of [[Maki (historical political party)|Maki]] when it was formed upon [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|Israeli independence]] in 1948, and in 1949 became a member of executive committee of the [[Histadrut]], a role she served in until 1973. Also in 1949 she was elected onto [[Tel Aviv]]'s city council. |
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She was elected to the [[Knesset]] in 1951, stepping down from Tel Aviv city council, serving until 1959, and then again from 1961 until 1965. Her tenure in the Knesset was marked by outspoken opposition to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, vigorous defense of civil liberties and a desire to improve economic and social conditions for women. |
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In 1973 she left Maki and founded a new party, Aki ({{lang-he|אק"י}}, an acronym for ''Opozitzia Komunistit Yisraelit'' ({{lang-he|אופוזיציה קומוניסטית ישראלית}}), lit. ''Israeli Communist Opposition''), serving as editor of its monthly paper. |
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===Journalism=== |
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In addition to her political work, Vilenska was also a widely published writer. She was a regular contributor to leftist publications around the world, including the Saturday Morning Freiheit, a [[Yiddish language]] weekly published in New York. Vilenska's articles focused on identifying trends within the Israeli left and finding solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but often delved into cultural and international issues, such as the jailing of the African-American communist activist Angela Davis. Vilenska published numerous pamphlets and several books in Hebrew, Russian, Yiddish and English. Vilenska's labor history, ''Confrontation and Unity within the Labor Movement (1889-1923)'', was published posthumously in 1976. |
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===Personal life=== |
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Vilenska met and married fellow Maki leader, [[Meir Vilner]] in the 1940s. Vilenska later married Zvi Breidstein, editor of the Maki newspaper Kol Ha'am (Voice of the People). Vilenska and Breidstein lived in the Kiryat Shalom section of [[Tel Aviv]] and had two children. They were married until Vilenska's death in 1975. |
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==Bibliography== |
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*''The Peasants Revolt in Germany: the Pioneer of Social Revolutions'' (1971) |
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*''The Socialist International and the Formation of the Comintern'' (1974) |
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*''Confrontation and Unity within the Labor Movement (1889-1923)'' (1976) |
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*''The National Question in Bolshevik Theory and Practice—until the Death of Lenin in 1924'' (1977) |
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*''Values and Struggles: A Collection of Writings, Speeches and Work Law Proposals in the Knesset'' (1977) |
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==References== |
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{{MKlink|id=394}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vilenska, Esther}} |
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[[Category:1918 births]] |
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[[Category:People from Vilnius]] |
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[[Category:Polish Jews]] |
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[[Category:Jews in Ottoman and British Palestine]] |
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[[Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni]] |
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[[Category:Israeli communists]] |
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[[Category:Israeli journalists]] |
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[[Category:Former Members of the Knesset]] |
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[[Category:Israeli non-fiction writers]] |
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[[Category:1974 deaths]] |
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[[he:אסתר וילנסקה]] |
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