# Proletpen

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***Proletpen*** (Yiddish: פּראָלעטפּען) was an organization of [Yiddish language](/source/Yiddish_language) writers in the [New York City](/source/New_York_City), [United States](/source/United_States). Proletpen was founded on September 13, 1929 as a continuation of the *[Frayhayt](/source/Morgen_Freiheit)* Writers Association (which had suffered mass resignations after the newspaper *Frayhayt* denounced the role of Zionists in the [1929 Palestine riots](/source/1929_Palestine_riots)).[1] The name 'Proletpen', a Russian-style Yiddish concoction of *proletarische pen* ('Proletarian pen'), was projected as an [antonym](/source/Opposite_(semantics)) of the [Yiddish PEN Club](/source/Yiddish_PEN_Club).[1][2] The group was affiliated with the [Moscow](/source/Moscow)-based [International Union of Revolutionary Writers](/source/International_Union_of_Revolutionary_Writers).[3] Proletpen predated the [John Reed Clubs](/source/John_Reed_Clubs), a grouping of American English-language progressive writers, by a month.[1]

Proletpen poets dealt with social issues, poverty and racism.[4] Proletpen poets included Aaron Kurtz, Yuri Suhl, Martin Birnboim, Yosl Greenshpan, L. Miller, David Seltzer, Leyb Dinski, Ber Green (A. Prince), B. Fenster, B. Friedman, Isaac E. Rontch, [Menke Katz](/source/Menke_Katz) and Moishe Shifris. Prose writers associated with Proletpen included Leon Yurman, Chaver Paver, L. Chanukoff, Leib Sobrin, Chaim Margoles-Davidson, David Kasher and S. Deiksel.[5]

The leader of Proletpen was Alexander Pomerantz.[2] Pomerantz spent 1933-1935 in [Kyiv](/source/Kyiv), and whilst in the Soviet Union he wrote a thesis in literary history on the Proletpen movement (*Proletpén. Etyudn un materyaln tsu der geshikhte fun dem kamf far proletarisher literatur in Amerike*).[2]

Proletpen was disbanded in 1938, and replaced by the [Yidisher Kultur Farband](/source/Yidisher_Kultur_Farband).[2]

## References

1. Gennady J. Estraikh (2005). [*In Harness: Yiddish Writers' Romance With Communism*](https://books.google.com/books?id=oVQKYbTFpPsC&pg=PA97). Syracuse University Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-8156-3052-4.

1. Amelia Glaser; David Weintraub; Yankl Salant (1 August 2005). [*Proletpen: America's Rebel Yiddish Poets*](https://books.google.com/books?id=IWOpkIQVYdwC). Univ of Wisconsin Press. pp. 16, 21. ISBN 978-0-299-20803-5.

1. Hasia R. Diner & Gennady Estraikh (12 August 2013). [*1929: Mapping the Jewish World*](https://books.google.com/books?id=wTsnAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA47). NYU Press. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-8147-2020-2.

1. Sorrel Kerbel (23 November 2004). [*The Routledge Encyclopedia of Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century*](https://books.google.com/books?id=wywsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT72). Taylor & Francis. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-135-45606-1.

1. Isaac Landman (1942). [*The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia ...: An Authoritative and Popular Presentation of Jews and Judaism Since the Earliest Times*](https://books.google.com/books?id=9pwYAAAAIAAJ). Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Incorporated. p. 134.

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