United Jewish Communist Workers Party

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The United Jewish Communist Workers Party was a Ukrainian political party formed on April 8, 1919. It split from the United Jewish Socialist Workers Party (Fareynikhte) after their Kiev branch adopted communism and supported the Bolshevik government at the February 25, 1919 conference. The Kiev Fareynikhte still wanted Jewish national autonomy through Jewish soviets to govern community affairs. Led by Yehuda Novakovsky and Mikhail Levitan, the new party sought unity with the Communist Bund and later a merger with the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine, with the condition that its members could join as a bloc. In late April 1919, a party conference protested what it saw as the de facto abolition of Jewish autonomy by the CP(B)U. In May 1919, the United Jewish Communist Workers Party and the Communist Bund formed a joint commission with three representatives from each side to prepare a merger. The platform, while largely aligning with communist policy, called for separate Jewish sections in the People's Commissariats for Social Welfare and Education. On May 22, 1919, they formally merged to form the Jewish Communist Union in Ukraine (Komfarband).