From: "List Moderator" <anarchism-AT-sympatico.ca>
Date: 27 Aug 2010 03:57:48 UTC   (06:57:48 AM in author's locale)
To: <ra-l-AT-univ-montp3.fr>

I'm pretty sure this is a parody written (in Yiddish) by the Jewish socialist Morris Winchevsky, mentioned in William J. Fishman's 'East End Jewish Radicals,' p. 150. Winchevsky founded the East End paper Arbayter Fraynd, which by 1887 was dominated by an anarchist faction. Yiddish radical parodies of Jewish liturgy were common, and Jewish anarchists in London and New York produced annual publications on Yom Kippur and Passover filled with them.

Best,

Kenyon Zimmer

> Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:05:18 -0400
> From: anarchism-AT-sympatico.ca
> Subject: [liste ra-len] (en) Jewish anarchist credo?
> To: ra-l-AT-univ-montp3.fr
> CC: ra-len-AT-univ-montp3.fr
>
> From: "Jesse Cohn" <jcohn-AT-pnc.edu>
>
> Hello everyone—
>
> I have come across a most interesting reference, in an essay on Spanish
> anarchist history, to what appears to have been a half-parodic and
> half-serious Jewish anarchist credo, a list of 13 articles of faith
> (parallel to Maimonides' list of 13 tenets of the Jewish faith) that was
> purportedly written by some comrades in London's East End, published in
> Spanish translation as "Un credo judío. Los trece articulos de la fe", en
> _El Socialismo_, Cádiz, 1.VIII.1887, p. 8. I'll append the list below.
> What I would like to know is where I might find the original article (in
> English? in Yiddish, perhaps? In some other language?) that was so
> translated. Any clues?
>
>
> —Jesse.
>
> 1. Creo firmemente que todos los hombres nacen libres y que tienen derecho
> de gozar de libertad toda la vida.
> 2. Creo firmemente que el hombre que se enriquece con el trabajo ajeno es
> ladrón.
> 3. Creo firmemente que la miseria no desaparecerá de la tierra hasta que no
> se haya organizado el trabajo en común, hasta que no se obligue a cada uno a
> trabajar según su fuerza y a consumir según sus necesidades.
> 4. Creo firmemente que el hombre seguirá siendo esclavo mientras permita que
> uno gobierne a muchos y que unos pocos legislen y hagan leyes para los más.
> 5. Creo firmemente que la ignorancia prevalecerá sobre el conocimiento, y la
> oscuridad sobre la luz, mientras que los hombres no se instruyan y eduquen
> con arreglo a sus capacidades.
> 6. Creo firmemente que los hombres de una religión perseguirán tu los de
> otras, mientras existan la miseria y la desgracia, y mientras este la
> mayoría del género humano, como hoy sucede, afecta de ceguera.
> 7. Creo firmemente que existirá la guerra y los hombres morirán a millares
> en el campo de batalla en tanto que prevalezca la fuerza y un país se
> utilice de la ruina de otro.
> 8. Creo firmemente que las mujeres no serán más que las esclavas y juguetes
> de los hombres, mientras que dependan de ellos y no disfruten el producto de
> su propio trabajo.
> 9. Creo firmemente que el trabajo, que es el que suministra lo necesario
> para satisfacer todas las necesidades del hombre, será por todos despreciado
> mientras que los obreros trabajen para llenar la bolsa de los que no hacen
> nada.
> 10. Creo firmemente que los asesinos, ladrones y criminales de todas clases
> no desaparecerán en tanto los siga engendrando la miseria.
> 11. Creo firmemente que los hombres se devorarán unos a otros hasta que
> llegue el día, ya cercano, en que una nueva luz ilumine a la humanidad y los
> trabajadores se levanten como un solo hombre para arrojar el yugo del
> capital y confundir a los que los oprimen.
> 12. Creo firmemente que las inteligencias honradas pueden hacerlo todo; y
> que el reinado de la razón se halla próximo, haciendo que los hombres vivan
> como hermanos, y todas las naciones formando una familia.
> 13. Creo firmemente que el fin de lo presente vendrá pronto y en nuestros
> dias.
>
> Rough translation:
>
> 1. I firmly believe that all men are born free and have the right to enjoy
> freedom for their entire lives.
> 2. I firmly believe that the man who is enriched by the work of others is a
> thief.
> 3. I firmly believe that poverty shall not disappear from the earth until
> labor is organized in common, until each is obliged to work according to his
> strength and to consume according to his necessities.
> 4. I firmly believe that man remains a slave as long as he allows one to
> rule many and a few to legislate and make laws for the many.
> 5. I firmly believe that ignorance will prevail over knowledge, and darkness
> over light, for as long as men are not instructed and educated according to
> their capabilities.
> 6. I firmly believe that men one one religion shall persecute those of
> others for as long as there is misery and misfortune, and for as long as the
> majority of mankind, as it is today, is stricken with blindness.
> 7. I firmly believe that there shall be war and that thousands of men shall
> die on the battlefields for as long as force prevails and one nation profits
> from the ruin of another.
> 8. I firmly believe that women are nothing but slaves and playthings of men,
> as long as they are dependent on them and do not enjoy the products of their
> own labor.
> 9. I firmly believe that labor, which supplies all that is necessary to meet
> all human needs, will be despised by all workers as long as they labor to
> fill the purses of those who do nothing.
> 10. I firmly believe that the murderers, thieves and criminals of all kinds
> will not disappear while still generating the misery.
> 11. I firmly believe that men shall devour one another until the day comes,
> and soon, when a new light shall shine on humanity and the workers shall
> rise up as one man to throw off the yoke of capital and confound the
> oppressors.
> 12. I firmly believe that honest minds can do everything, and that the reign
> of reason is at hand, making men live as brothers, and all nations forming a
> family.
> 13. I firmly believe that the end of this will come soon and in our day.
>
> And then I thought that, one day,
> maybe, there'ld be a human society
> in a world which is beautiful, a society
> which wasn't just disgust.
>
> —Kathy Acker, _Empire of the Senseless_
>

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