Boris Yelensky Papers
Period 1925-1973
Total size 1.87 m.
Consultation Not restricted
Biography
Born in Krasnodar, Russia 1889, died in 1974; anarchist propagandist; secretary of the Anarchist Red Cross, Chicago c. 1913-1917; went to Russia after the October Revolution, active in the factory committee movement in Novorossijsk; left Russia in 1922; secretary of the Russian Political Relief Committee 1924-1925, the Chicago Aid Fund 1925-1936 (from 1932 forming a section of the Relief Fund of the International Working Men's Association (IWMA) for Anarchists and Anarcho-Syndicalists Imprisoned and Exiled in Russia) and the Alexander Berkman Aid Fund (ABAF) 1936-1957; founder and secretary of the Free Society Group (FSG) Chicago c. 1923-1957 and of many committees and funds initiated by both the FSG and the relief funds, e.g. the Maximoff Memorial Publication Committee; published in Golos Truženika Chicago, Golos Truda New York, the Yiddish Fraye Arbeter Shtime New York/Philadelphia and Freier-Gedank.
Content
Documents received and drawn up in his functions as secretary and some private letters, mainly from the period 1946-1973. Minutes of the FSG 1931-1932; cashbooks 1925-1957 of the FSG, ABAF and other organizations; appeals and financial reports of the Relief Fund of the IWMA and ABAF 1926-1958; files consisting of correspondence and some other documents, in English, Russian and Yiddish, relating to: L'Adunata dei refrattari New York 1948-1958, Delo Truda/Probuždenie 1947-1963, Jacques Doubinsky (also on behalf of the Paris Section of the ABAF) 1931-1935, 1945-1960, Joseph Cohen (also on behalf of La Pensée Libre Paris), Fraye Arbeter Shtime New York 1947-1963, Senya and Mollie Steimer 1943-1957, Francisco Ferrer Modern School 1947-1958, Freedom Press 1938-1959, Alexander Berkman 1925-1935, Emma Goldman 1936-1937, 1940, Rudolf Rocker 1931-1957, George Woodcock 1948-1957, etc., and correspondence with Jewish anarchists in Argentina and anarchist organizations in Japan; file of letters from Russian exiles 1923-1927; file on financial support for the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT)/Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) 1937-1938; files of letters from Spanish refugees and French, Italians and Germans, etc. confirming the receipt of CARE (Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) packages 1946-1949; file on relief for Bulgarian political refugees c. 1948-1959; files on the publication of translations of works by Grigorij Maksimov; typescripts of books and articles by Yelensky, including one on the Russian Revolution in Novorossijsk; autobiographical note, n.d. and biographical note on his wife `Bessie Yelensky (1891-1968)'; some handwritten manuscripts of articles by Max Nettlau and typescripts by others, including two different works (one in photocopy) on the Sunrise Cooperative Farm Community; clippings of articles by Yelensky.
Processing information
Inventory made by Rena Fuks-Mansfeld in 2008
Related material
Labadie Collection, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.
INTRODUCTION
Boris Yelensky was born in Krasnodar,
Region of Kuban, Russia, in 1889 and died in the USA in 1974. His parents were
secular Jews, his father was a cap-maker, and did not receive a religious
education and could not speak Yiddish. He only received two years of primary
school in his youth. In 1904, when he was fifteen, he became a member of the
Russian revolutionary movement, and helped to bring food to the political
prisoners in the local prison. He was arrested in Bialystok in 1906, but was
soon released and arrived in the US in 1907, and settled in Philadelphia. In
1909, he became an active member of the Radical Library in Philadelphia, a
center of radical intellectuals. Its leader, Joseph J. Cohen, became his
teacher of Yiddish and introduced him to anarchism. From that moment onward
Yelensky dedicated his life to the anarchist movement and started to play an
important role in the Anarchist Red Cross, an international movement for the
support of anarchists prisoners in Tsarist Russia which was founded around
1905. In New York a branch was organized in 1907, and in Chicago in 1909.
Yelensky started to work for the organization in 1913. In the same year he met
and married his wife Bessie, who was deeply involved in the anarchist movement
and remained his lifelong helpmate. When the Russian Revolution broke out in
1917, all political prisoners were freed and Boris and Bessie and their
two-year old child, returned to Russia. When the Bolsheviks had taken over
absolute power in Russia, Boris was imprisoned twice, but thanks to his
American passport was soon released. The couple left for the United States in
1923. In 1924 Yelensky became secretary of the Russian Political Relief
Committee which was later called the Chicago Aid Fund. At the same time he was
an active member of the Free Society Group in Chicago, which was founded in
1923.
In the period between the two World Wars, the Russian Political
Relief Committee helped Russian anarchists in distress in several countries.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) help was extended to Spanish
syndicalist fugitives in several European and Latin-American countries. In 1936
the name of the organization was changed into Alexander Berkman Aid Fund in
honour of the the well-known anarchist leader who had died in that year.
The Fund organized and financed the publication of The Guillotine at
Work by G.P. Maximoff, the history of the persecution of anarchists,
syndicalists and other non-Bolshevik leftist groups in Russia. The book
appeared in 1940.
During World War II contacts with the comrades in
Nazi-occupied Europe broke off. Immediately after the liberation of France in
1944, Yelensky contacted his comrades in France and started to send food
parcels and other aid to them. After the fall of Nazi Germany, in 1945,
Yelensky started to locate his old comrades and by the way of the American
relief organization C.A.R.E. send parcels to needy comrades, fugitives and
survivors of the Holocaust who waited in Displaced Persons camps in occupied
Germany for emigration to a new homeland.
From 1948 onward, the
activities of the Alexander Berkman Aid Fund focused mostly on the financing of
important publications on the history of the anarchist movement, like
The World Scene from the Libertarian Point of View which was issued in
1951 by the Free Society Group of Chicago, The Political Philosophy of
Bakunin: Scientific Anarchism compiled and edited by G.P. Maximoff in
1953, and Yelensky's In the Struggle for Equality, a history of the
Anarchist Red Cross in 1958.
In the fifties of the 20th
century Yelensky was also chairman of the Workman's Circle, Chicago, a branch
of a well-known Jewish social and educational society which was founded by
East-European Jewish emigrants in the U.S. at the end of the 19th century. In
1957 Yelensky retired and moved to Miami, Florida.
There he started to
work as a secretary for the Simon Farber Memorial Fund, which was founded to
keep the memory alive of Simon Farber, a well-known anarchist worker. In spite
of many contributions to the fund, of which Nicolas Kirtzman of the
Ohio-Kentucky Regional Office of the International Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union was chairman, a biography of Farber never appeared, because Farber's
widow frustrated every effort.
He also wrote a autobiographical novel:
In the shadow of death, love and life in which he depicts his
life in Russia from 1919 until 1923 of which a typescript copy can be found in
the collection.
Yelensky, inspired by the example of Rudolf Rocker, who
he revered, offered his archive to be kept in the IISG in 1959, and the
material started to arrive in the years to come, up to his death in 1974.
INVENTORY
Correspondence
NB. Consists of letters received and sent primarily as secretary of the FSG and ABAF (occasionally, from 1957 onward, on his own behalf) concerning fundraising, relief work and publication activities.
- 1-30
-
Correspondence with groups
and individuals in the USA.
1934-1973. 30 folders.
NB. Alphabetically arranged by name.- 1
-
L'Adunata
dei refrattari, anarchist paper, New York. 1948-1958.
American ORT Federation. 1947.
Arbeter Ring (Workmen's Circle, Chicago. 1957.
Asshbaugh, Carolyn, Sac City, Iowa. 1973.
- 3
-
Beresin,
Morris, Philadelphia.
1949-1964.
NB. Includes two manuscripts, one by Morris Beresin for Yelensky's 60th birthday 1949 and one by Yelensky for Beresin's 75th birthday 1963 and some clippings in Yiddish.
- 5
-
Cernij, J.,
Detroit.
1949-1956.
Cultura Proletaria, anarchist exiles from Spain in the US, New York. 1943-1952.
- 6-7
-
Dielo Trouda Probuzhdenie,
Organ of the Federation of Russian Workers Organization in the United States
and Canada, New York, concerning relief for Russian expatriates in Germany, and
other subjects.
1946-1973.
NB. In Russian.
- 9
-
Ellington,
Richard, Oakland, CA.
1970-1973.
F.F.F. (Yidishe Anarkhistishe Federatsye), New York. 1946-1956.
Fogelson, A.W., Los Angeles. 1958-1962.
NB. In Yiddish.
- 10-12
-
Fraye Arbeter Shtime
(Freie Arbeiter Stimme - F.A.S), Yiddish anarchist weekly, New York.
1940-1971, n.d.
NB. In Yiddish and Russian.
- 13
-
Federated
F.A.S. Group, New York.
1946-1961.
Finkler, Ethel B. 1961.
Fuller, Thomas (Libertarian Research), East Orleans, Mass. 1971-1972.
Gamberg, Morris, New York. 1958-1964. (Yiddish)
- 14
-
Gedalya,
P.
1958-1959. (Yiddish)
Goldman, Joseph, Los Angeles. 1948-1964. (Yiddish)
Goodfreund, A., San Francisco. 1947-1957.
- 15
-
Gorodisky, Jonah, New York.
1970-1971. (Yiddish).
Gudell, Martin. 1958-1959.
Industrial Workers of the World, Chicago. 1958-1972.
International Solidarity Committee, New York. 1946-1947 . 1 folder.
- 16
-
Jewish
Labor Committee, New York/Chicago.
1943-1953.
Karpick, J., New York. 1971-1972. (Russian)
Katie (first name) on internal dissensions in the Free Society Group. 1963.
- 17
-
Keyser,
Dora, Los Angeles.
1946-1960.
Kisliuk, Lilian, Washington. 1948.
Kovner, Hilda, NY. 1946, 1957.
Kovalenko, Theo, Michigan. 1950-1958. (Russian).
- 18
-
Kropotkin
Literary Society, Los Angeles.
1943-1958.
Labadie Collection, University of Michigan Library, Ann Arbor. 1934-1955.
Levey, Jeanne and Jay, San Mateo, California. 1949-1959.
- 20
-
Libertarian Refugee Fund, Detroit.
1947-1962.
Libertarian Refugee Fund, Los Angeles. 1945-1957.
Libertarian Refugee Fund, New York. 1956-1958.
- 21
-
Libraries. Mainly letters addressed to J. Cherney, acknowledging receipt of
publications.
1940, 1954-1955.
Maximoff, Olga, Chicago. 1957-1958.
- 22
-
Medinich,
S., Youngstown, Ohio.
1950-1953.
Mratchny, Mark, Los Angeles and New York. 1934-1957. (Russian and Yiddish).
NB. Includes also correspondence from Berlin 1924-1925 and Windsor 1928.
Pesotta, Rose, NY. 1946, 1948.
Porozoff, A.V., Detroit. 1948-1955.
Radical Library, Philadelphia. 1943-1957.
- 25
- Rocker Publications Committee, Los Angeles. 1948-1952 and Rudolf Rocker Book Publication Committee, New York. 1950. 1 folder.
- 26
-
Rudolf
Rocker 75th Jubilee Committee, Chicago, Rudolf Rocker 80th Birthday Testimonial
Committee, New York. 1948-1958.
NB. Contains some clippings and other document concerning Rudolf Rocker.
- 28
-
Schmidt,
Judy.
1960.
Schwarz, Anna, The Modern School, Stelton, New York. 1947-1958.
Shapiro, Alexander, NY. 1936, 1943.
NB. Contains copy of a recommendation letter of P. Kropotkin 1903.
Siegel, Ada, New York. 1951-1952.
Solidaridad Internacional Antifascista (S.I.A.), New York, 1943-1946 and Spanish Refugee Aid, Inc. 1954-1956.
Solomon, Sydney, New York. 1950-1952.
Sosnovsky, Anna, Los Angeles. 1940-1949 (-1958).
NB. Includes some correspondence with the family about burying of her ashes in the Waldheim Cemetery.
Strauss, M., New York. 1962-1963.
- 30
-
Why? A Bulletin of Free Inquiry (D. Agostinelli), New
York.
1946-1947.
Wieck, David. 1971.
Workers' Circle for Freeland, New York. 1950.
Workmens' Circle , Chicago, Michigan and New York. 1939, 1942, 1954-1955.
Yellin, B., Elsinore CA. 1957-1964.
Miscellaneous letters, including some personal correspondence and papers. 1947-1971 and n.d.
- 31-51
-
Correspondence with groups
and individuals outside the USA.
1925-1972. 21 folders.
NB. alphabetically arranged by name.- 31
-
Abad de
Santillán, Buenos Aires. 1950.
Anarchist Federation of Britain, London. 1948-1949.
Association Internationale des Travailleurs (A.I.T.) (John Andersson), Stockholm. 1939, 1947-1948.
NB. Includes letters of some other persons.
- 33
-
Berneri,
Giovanna.
1945-1950, 1956.
NB. Contains also letters from some other Italian anarchists.
Česnik-family, in German DP-camps. 1949-1952.
NB. Includes also correspondence concerning the immigration of Tatiana and Victoria Česnik.
Canipa, Marry, Essex. 1971-1972.
NB. See also inv.nrs. 42-43.
- 36
-
Commision
d'Aide Antifascistes de Bulgarie, Paris.
1947-1959.
NB. Includes also some other correspondence concerning support for Bulgarian antifascists.
- 37
-
Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo-MLE, Organization of Spanish anarchist
exiles in France, Toulouse-Paris,
1947-1960.
Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo-MLE Federacion de Masseube. 1946-1948.
NB. Includes also correspondence with some other Spanish refugees.
- 40
-
Farlag
Dovid Edelshat (Moyshe Feldman), Buenos Aires.
1948-1955.
(Yiddish)
Fauchois, R., Paris. 1957.
Fédération Anarchiste Française, Paris. 1945.
Föderation Freiheitlicher Sozialisten, Darmstadt. 1948-1955.
Fraye Arbeter Shtime, Paris Group. 1951. (Russian).
- 44
-
Goldman,
Emma.
1936-1940.
Gorodisky, Jona, Buenos Aires. 1959-1972. (Yiddish).
Hamburg, S., Haifa. 1960-1961.
- 45
-
Hirschauge, L. and D., Tel Aviv.
1950-1954.
Hope, Robert, Glasgow. 1955.
IISH, Amsterdam. 1959.
Lamberet, R., Paris. 1956-1961.
Li Pei Kan, Shanghai. 1949.
- 46
-
Lewin,
Anna, Paris.
1848-1956. (Russian and Yiddish).
Libertarian Socialist Institute, Bombay. 1947-1956.
Montseny, Federica (Solidarité Internationale Antifaciste), Toulouse. With lists of addresses of needy comrades. 1946-1960.
Munoz, V. Montevideo. 1968-1972.
- 47
-
Nettlau,
Max.
1935.
NB. Addressed to Fedoreshen.
Petersen, C.H., Denmark. 1952.
Relgis, Eugen, Montevideo. 1950.
Relief Fund of the IWMA for Anarchists and Anarco-Syndicalists Imprisoned and Exiled in Russia, Paris. 1931-1959.
NB. See also inv.nrs. 36-37.
Rezanovich, H., Montreal. 1946-1947.
Rocker, Rudolf (Relief Fund of the IWMA for Anarchists and Anarco-Syndicalists Imprisoned and Exiled in Russia), Berlin. 1930-1933.
- 48
-
Rudolf
Rocker Book Committee, London.
1950 (?). (Yiddish).
Solidaridad Anarquista Internacional, Buenos Aires. 1949-1950.
Solidarité Internationale Antifasciste, Paris and Toulouse. 1946-1951.
- 52-66
-
Other correspondence.
1924-1963. 15 folders.
NB. Includes letters of political prisoners, refugees and other anarchist comrades and groups concerning mainly the relief work.
Arranged alphabetically by country.- 52
- Argentina. The Asociacion Racionalista Judia and other Libertarian Jewish groups in Buenos Aires. 1944-1964.
- 55-59
-
Germany.
1946-1950.
NB. Arranged alphabetically by city.- 55
-
Berlin.
NB. Correspondents include Franz Barwich and Fritz Linow.
Bremen.
NB. Correspondents include Bernhard and Erna Koch and Ita Busch.
Duisburg. 1947-1948.
- 56
-
Düsseldorf.
NB. Correspondents include Julius Nolden and Otto Gollin.
Frankfurt a.M. 1947-1949, 1957.
NB. Correspondents include Georg Hepp and M. Gundermann.
- 57
-
Freiburg.
NB. Correspondents include Sepp Frey, Arthur Neudeck and Karl Stecker.
Köln.
NB. Correspondents include Hans and Grete Saballa.
Chicago Aid Fund and Alexander Berkman Aid Fund
Administrative documents
- 67
- Appeals for help to prisoners in the Soviet Union and refugees in Europa and other countries. With circulars concerning the activities of the Chicago Aid Fund and the Alexander Berkman Aid Fund. 1925-1958 and n.d. 1 folder.
- 75
- Correspondence concerning medical help for G.P. Maximoff. With lists of contributions. 1941-1942. 1 folder.
Publication initiatives
- 79
- Reports on the publication and distribution of books of Sholem Schwarzbard. With some correspondence. 1933-1934. 1 folder.
- 80
- Documents concerning the publication of the book of G.P. Maximoff The guillotine at work , including the agreement for publication, reviews and correspondence concerning orders, delivery and receipt. 1939-1957. 1 folder.
- 81-86
-
Documents concerning the
book of G.P. Maximoff on Bakunin, The Political Philosophy of Bakunin:
scientific anarchism . 1947-1957. 6 folders.
- 81
- Correspondence on behalf of the Maximoff Publication Committee. With financial reports on donations. 1947-1953, 1955.
- 87-88
- Documents concerning the booklet The World Scene from the Libertarian Point of View , published for the 25th anniversary of the Free Society Group of Chicago. 1948-1952. 2 folders.
Manuscripts and typescripts
Writings by Boris Yelensky
- 96-101
-
Typescripts of books.
1969. 6 folders.
NB. For the manuscript and typescripts of In the struggle for equality see inv.nrs. 90-92.
- 102-104
-
Articles and other
writings. 3 folders.
- 102
-
The beautiful dream: On the 50th anniversary of the Russian revolution
. With the Spanish translation. 1967.
Bessie Yelensky (1891-1968) . With the Spanish translation. 1968.
Boris Yelensky , some biografhical sketches on his own life. 1970.
A brief history of the Makhnovist movement 1917-1921 . N.d.
- 103
-
The great Russian social revolution of 1917 . (Manuscript in
Russian) N.d.
The great terror . (By Berl Kavkazer). 1969.
Olga Freidlin-Maximoff . (Copy) N.d.
Open letter to the editors of Freedom . 1972.
El Periodo de Krensky en 1917 . (In Spanish). N.d.
A romantic dream of a constructive idea? 1968.
Rodolf Rocker 1873-1958 . (in Russian) 1958.
Writings by others
NB. Arranged alphabetically by author.
See also inv.nr. 88.
- 105
-
Abrams,
Irving S., The Haymarket tragedy , and an untitled article
over the anarchist movement in Chicago from 1912 to 1920.
Axler, B., 20th anniversary of the Alexander Berkman Aid-Fund .
Beresin, M., Boris Yelensky. On his 60th birthday anniversary , 1959 1 folder.
- 106
- Cohen, Joseph J., In Quest of Heaven: The Story of the Sunrise Co-operative Farm Community 1957. 1 folder.