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Rafail Abramovic Papers

Rafail Abramovic Papers
http://www.iisg.nl/archives/en/files/a/10738543full.php

Period (1904-) 1922-1939
Total size 1.4 m.
Consultation Not restricted
Biography

AbramoviÄ? Rafail A. Pseudonym of Rafail Abramovic Rein; born in
Dvinsk, Russia 1880, died in New York 1963; had to leave Russia in
1902 because of his activities for the 'Bund'; returned in 1904; one
of the leaders of the Menshevik faction of the Rossijskaja
Social-DemokratiÄ?eskaja RaboÄ?aja Partija (RSDRP); arrested in 1911
and
exiled, later escaped abroad; returned to Russia in 1917; arrested in
1918 and narrowly escaped the death sentence through the intervention
of Friedrich Adler and others; left Russia for Berlin in 1920; member
of the Menshevik Delegation Abroad; edited SocialistiÄ?eskij Vestnik
with Julij Martov; delegate of the Menshevik party to the Labour and
Socialist International (LSI/SAI) until 1940; emigrated to the USA;
one of the organizers of the Union for the Liberation of the Peoples
of Russia in 1949.
Content

Correspondence by AbramoviÄ?, partly in Yiddish, with Friedrich Adler
1929-1931, 1933-1936, Alexander Berkman 1933-1934, Fedor Dan
1933-1936, Karl Kautsky 1934-1935, Otto Leichter 1934, Emile
Vandervelde 1934 and others; conference papers of and notes on
meetings of the Bureau and of the Executive of the LSI 1929-1939;
documents of the LSI/SAI Colonial Commission 1926-1928 and Minorities
Commission 1928-1929; file relating to the attitude of the Ukrainian
Social Democratic Party and of the LSI/SAI towards the pogroms in the
Ukraine from 1918 to 1920, 1926-1928; file relating to the Section
Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière 1933-1939; file relating to
Unser Gedank c. 1931; manuscripts of articles; notes; personal
documents; press clippings from the Jewish Daily Forward 1926-1932;
miscellanea.

Papers of AbramoviÄ?' son Mark Rein (1909-1937): correspondence
1931-1936, Der rote Winkel. Gruppenzeitung der SAJ Berlin Westen II
1927-1929, and personal documents.

Papers of Wulf Drabkin: correspondence and personal documents
1904-1916.
Processing information

List made by Hermien van Veen in 1995, 1998
Alternate Form of Material

14 security microfilms.
INTRODUCTION

The true name of Rafail A. AbramoviÄ? was Rafail AbramoviÄ? Rein. He
was
born in Dvinsk, Latvia, Russia, in 1880.

In 1902 he had to leave Russia because of his activities for the
'Bund', but returned in 1904. In 1906 he became a member of the
Central Committee (CC) of the Rossijskaja Social-DemokratiÄ?eskaja
RaboÄ?aja Partija (RSDRP), at first as a representative of the 'Bund'.
In 1911 he was arrested but escaped and fled abroad. He returned to
Russia in 1917. In July 1918 he was arrested and narrowly escaped the
death sentence through the intervention of prominent Bolsheviks and
Friedrich Adler. He left Russia for Berlin in 1920 and was a member of
the RSDRP Delegation Abroad. With Julij Martov he founded and edited
the SocialistiÄ?eskij Vestnik. Until 1940 he was delegate of the RSDRP
to the Labour and Socialist International (LSI/SAI), serving for many
years on its executive committee. In 1940 he emigrated to the USA. He
died in New York in 1963.

AbramoviÄ?'s son Mark Rein was born in Vilna, Lithuania, in 1909. He
was active in the RSDRP Youth League and the Sozialistische Arbeiter
Jugend (SAJ). He became a member of the group Neu Beginnen. In 1937 he
was kidnapped and murdered in Barcelona, apparently by Spanish agents
of the Soviet secret police.
The archive

In 1933 AbramoviÄ? had to leave library and archive in Berlin, fleeing
from Hitler. 11 March 1935 Mark Rein wrote to the IISH on behalf of
his father to thank Professor Posthumus for his efforts to rescue his
father's papers. In 1936 the IISH sent to AbramoviÄ? a list of books
and periodicals received (IISH archive).

It seems to be quite haphazardly which papers of AbramoviÄ? have been
preserved. Folder 1 of his correspondence, e.g., contains letters from
the first quarter of 1930 only, and just a few letters from the end of
1929. And virtually no correspondence of 1932 has been preserved. Part
of the papers are in Yiddish, which made it too complicated to arrange
all correspondence alphabetically. Correspondents include Friedrich
Adler, J.W. Albarda, Alexander Berkman, G.O. Binštok, F.I. Dan, A.A.
Jugov , Karl Kautsky, O. Leichter, Emile Vandervelde, and many others.

Apart from papers from Mark Rein the collection also contains some
documents from the Bundist Wulf Drabkin.

In 1998 a security microfilm of the archive was completed. A list of
these films has been added in an annex to this list.

The archive measures 1.4 metres.
For the rest go to;
http://www.iisg.nl/archives/en/files/a/10738543full.php