Here Where We Live Is Our Country: an Evening with Molly Crabapple

Founded in Vilna in 1897—the same year Theodor Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress—the Jewish Labor Bund was a revolutionary society whose tenets were socialist, secular, and staunchly anti-Zionist. From its origins in tsarist Vilna to the height of its influence in interwar Poland, Bundists fought antisemitism, nourished working-class solidarity, celebrated the Yiddish language, and built vast political and cultural networks across eastern Europe. In her new book, Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund (Penguin Random House), the artist and writer Molly Crabapple recreates the revolutionary world of the Bundists, and explores the interwoven histories of the Bund, the Russian Revolution, and the Holocaust. What can we learn, she asks, from this short-lived but influential socialist alternative to Zionism?

Join us Thursday, May 14, at BISR Central as we welcome Molly Crabapple for a wide-ranging conversation about Here Where We Live Is Our Country, featuring BISR Interim Executive Director Suzy Schneider and journalist Spencer Ackerman. Together, they will discuss the past and future of the Jewish left, the radical diasporas, the politics of assimilation, and the Bund’s cultural and intellectual legacy. What can the transnational history of the Bund teach us about working-class organization, education, and culture? How can the Bund’s radical vision of solidarity inform liberation struggles in the present?

Admission is $5 to attend, or $32 for admission and a copy of Here Where We Live Is Our Country. To purchase a ticket, please visit Taylor & Co. Books and scroll down to “Register for Upcoming Events.” Beer, wine, seltzer, and snacks will be served.

Event Schedule

Thursday, 7:00pm ET
May 14, 2026