Benjamin Feigenbaum

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Benjamin Feigenbaum (August 12, 1860 – November 10, 1932) was a Polish-born Jewish socialist who became a prominent newspaper editor, translator and satirist. He helped shape Yiddish socialist journalism in London and New York, co-founded the Workmen’s Circle, and was a key figure in the American Socialist movement.

Early life
Feigenbaum was born in Warsaw to a Hasidic family and studied in a yeshiva before turning to secular ideas. A brutal incident with a Gerer rebbe helped push him toward atheism and socialism. He moved first to Belgium, where he attended his first socialist protest in Antwerp in 1884, and began contributing to local socialist papers.

London
In the late 1880s Feigenbaum moved to London to join the editorial board of Arbeter Fraynd, the Yiddish socialist newspaper there. He helped organize Yom Kippur events and became a public voice for socialist Jews in Britain.

New York
Feigenbaum moved to New York in 1891 to work on Di Arbeter Tsaytung (The Workman’s Paper) and to contribute to The Forward and Morgen Zhurnal. He became an associate editor of The Forward and helped publish Di Arbeter Tsaytung from America to Poland through connections with Jewish socialist circles. He co-founded the Workmen’s Circle and served as its first general secretary.

He was active in politics, running for the New York State Assembly seven times between 1906 and 1918 and for the State Senate once in 1912, sometimes with his son William.

Labor and politics
Feigenbaum played a significant role in workers’ struggles, including chairing a 1909 meeting that helped spark the famous shirtwaist workers’ general strike after Clara Lemlich’s call for action. He was often targeted by authorities, facing arrests and charges in several cities, though many cases were resolved in his favor.

Views on Zionism and religion
Feigenbaum rejected Zionism and the idea of Jewish diaspora as exile from Palestine. He argued that socialism, not religion or nationalism, offered true redemption for Jews, and he warned against using the Bible as propaganda for political ends.

Death and legacy
Feigenbaum died in 1932 in New York after years of illness and paralysis. He is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Queens, New York, in the Workmen’s Circle section. His writings and translations helped shape Yiddish literature and left a lasting mark on the American socialist movement and Jewish labor organizing.

Written works
Feigenbaum wrote and translated numerous works, including religious and socialist critiques, discussions of Judaism and socialism, and translations of Karl Marx-era works. Notable titles include a Hebrew-English translation of Engels and a range of original essays and books about religion, socialism and Jewish life.