FELIKS ZAKS

FELIKS ZAKS (1876-1938)

            He was a medical doctor born in Warsaw, Poland.  In 1889 he joined the Polish Socialist Party (PPS [Polska Partia Socjalistyczna]), was appointed to lead the Jewish section of the party, and founded PPS Jewish workers’ groups throughout the Polish hinterland.  Due to police persecution, he had to escape to London where he became a contributor and after 1902 the editor of the Yiddish-language PPS periodical, Der arbayter (The laborer) (1902-1904).  In those years he was also a contributor to and for a time co-editor of the quarterly Proletarishe velt (Proletarian world) in London.  He authored the polemical pamphlet against the Bund: A klorer entfer (A clear reply) (London, 1903), 16 pp., published as a supplement to Der arbayter.  He also penned the biography: Ferdinand lasal (Ferdinand Lassalle) (London, 1906), 16 pp.  He translated from Polish to Yiddish several socialist pamphlets, which were published anonymously in London and Warsaw until WWI.  He later withdrew from political activity and devoted himself to his medical practice.  He died in Warsaw.

Sources: P. Shvarts, Yuzef Pilsudski, zayn batsiung tsu der yidn-frage, un zayn kamf kegn “Bund” (1893-1905) (Józef Piłsudski, his connection to the Jewish question and his struggle against the Bund, 1893-1905) (Warsaw, 1936), see index; Y. Shatski, ed., Zamlbukh lekoved dem tsveyhundert un fuftsikstn yoyvl fun der yidisher prese, 1686-1936 (Anthology in honor of the 250^th jubilee of the Yiddish press, 1686-1936) (New York, 1937), p. 325.

Khayim Leyb Fuks