JOURNAL OF THE IRISH LABOUR HISTORY SOCIETY

122 'SAOTHAR 13another could therefore manifest itself as a national difference when, for convenience of language, aparty section was centred on a particular national grouping. It was such a development whichoccasioned Connolly's quip. But, more to the point, one of the issues which had originally attractedConnolly to de Lean's SLP and repelled him from H. M. Hyndman' s SDF in Britain had been the latter'sresort to anti-semitism in expressing its differences with de Leon. Connolly was to denounce the SDForgan Justice for having boasted of 'dealing effectually with those malcontents who are bent uponfollowing the lead of the German-Venezuelan Jew Loeb (or de Lean) to the pit of infamy and disgrace'.9Connolly maintained that this was an example of precisely the type of anti-semitic propaganda thatJustice had pursued on the outbreak of the Boer War, and he argued:'Justice, instead of grasping the opportunity to demonstrate the unscrupulous and bloodthirsty methods ofthe capitalist class, strove to divert the wrath of the advanced workers from the capitalists to the Jews; howits readers were nauseated by denunciations of' Jewish millionaires • and 'Jewish plots'. 'Jewish-controllednewspapers', 'German Jews'. 'Israelitish schemes'. and all the stock phrases of the lowest anti-semiticpapers until the paper became positively unreadable to any fair-minded man who recognised the truth, viz.that the war was the child of capitalist greed and inspired by men with whom race or religion were mattersof no moment.' 1 0Despite the factthat the SDF had its own East London Jewish Branch organised in the middle 1890s,Justice had carried an article on the eve of the Boer War by the SDF leader H.M. Hyndman en~t1ed'The Jews' War on the Transvaal' Y This elicited a vigorous riposte from leading SDF memberTheodore Rothstein who reproached Justice with preaching from its pulpit rank anti-semitism. Its anti­Jewish propaganda might be dangerous and lead to Jew-baiting if the paper had a wide circulation inthe country. 'Happily for the case, though unhappily for the general cause', he added, 'Justice is readby a comparatively small section of the community, so that a national anti-Semitic movement is not tobe expected'.12Given the coincidence of views between Rothstein and Connolly in deploring Justice's antisemitisrri,was it possible that Rothstein might also have authored Connolly's Yiddish-languageelection appeal? A query from this writer to the former's son, Andrew Rothstein, brought a responsewhich suggested a different relative as author:'I am inclined to think that my uncle (on my mother's side) Boris Kahan, may have drafted theappeal. The reason is that he was secretary of the East London Jewish branch of the SDF in 1903 (theyheld a Paris Commune commemoration meeting in that year at which Lenin spoke), and was a guestat the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democrats in London in 1907, in the capacity of hissecretaryship. The text which you append is much more in his style than my father's! They were closefriends'PBoris Kahan had been born in Kiev in January 1877 but Tsarist oppression of both Jews andSocialists had driven this particular Jewish socialist into exile like multitudes of others.14 Having settledin the UK he became Secretary of the SDP's East London Jewish Branch at a very young age.Subsequent research among the William O'Brien Papers confirmed Andrew Rothstein's belief that ithad been Kahan who had authored the Connolly appeal.The initial request by the Irish Socialist Republican Party (ISRP) for a Yiddish-language appeal toDublin Jewish workers was unfortunately not recorded in the minutes of its executive committee. Theminutes for the meeting of 5 October, 1902, however, record that 'it was decided to payoff ale for theJewish election literature'. On 14 October it was reported back that' Jewish alc for election literature7s.7d. paid as arranged'. A week later the minutes record receipt of correspondence from 'M. Kahn[sic], sec. East London Jewish Branch, SDF ... acknowledging receipt of 7s.7d. in payment of alc andenclosing Is. (stamps sent to WR)',IS The ISRP minutes secretary had, of course, misread the,signatureof Boris Kahan in this letter addressed to Connolly, which is also contained in the O'Brien Papers.Kahan's letter stated how glad he was to receive the Workers Republic, asked for it to be sent to him