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1st Soviet Yiddish edition (The only earlier Yiddish edition is Vilna, 1930). Original illustrated paper wrappers, 12mo, 47pages. 14 cm. In Yiddish. Yiddish translation of "The Apostate," Jack London's denunciation of child labor, published here as No. 70 in Moscow publisher Emes' "Masn bibliotek" series. Features a portrait of Jack London on the cover. John Griffith [aka Jack] London (1876-1916) was "A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction." (Wikipedia) "Jack London's journey as a socialist and a writer is a story of dramatic ascent and tragic decline.Born in San Francisco in 1876, probably the illegitimate son of the astrologer William Chaney and the spiritualist Flora Wellman, he rose from exploited wage labourer to the most widely read writer of his generation. His socialism arose from childhood poverty, casual employment, hunger, and back-breaking labour in a cannery, jute mill, and power plant-experiencing the exploitative logic of capitalism firsthand. This education was crystallised during his time as a hobo in 1894. On what he called "The Road," travelling with Coxey's Army and enduring the horrors of the Erie County Penitentiary, London ceased to see himself as an isolated victim. In boxcars and around campfires, he recognised that most wanderers were casualties of social injustice, their numbers growing as capitalism's contradictions deepened. It was here that he first heard people discuss socialism, Karl Marx, and Frederick Engels. A committed member of the Oakland socialist local, he became a regular and unpaid lecturer, renowned for his ability to explain complex economic ideas with clarity and force. His ventures into literature became weapons for the cause. As his fame grew, London leveraged it without compromise. Elected president of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, he embarked on a nationwide lecture tour, telling audiences at Yale and Harvard that revolution was not a distant prospect but an immediate necessity. He simultaneously produced a formidable body of socialist essays, collected in The War of the Classes, alongside polemical short stories such as The Apostate, a devastating account of child labour. London was an incomparable storyteller, whose passionate engagement-whether in sympathy or outrage-spoke directly to his readers, especially ordinary people, many of whom first encountered literature through him. Their hardships were his own, and their hopes for justice his as well. His major body of work.becomes a mirror of a pivotal developmental period in the U.S. nation, establishing Jack London as a pioneering literary figure in realist U.S. prose, whose recognition and influence extend far beyond his homeland" (Farrell, "Jack London at 150: 'The Iron Heel' as the first dystopia of imperialism," 2026). SUBJECT(S): Child labor -- Fiction. Child labor. American fiction -- Translations into Yiddish. Fiction. Short stories. OCLC: 150638093. OCLC Locates only 1 copy worldwide (NLI). Some slight stains & wear to cover but otherwise in Very Good Condition. A very nice copy. (BK) (YID-48-118-S-'lexccgg).
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