Labor Zionist leader. As a boy in Russia, he was active in the Hibbat Zion movement. He saw Socialist Zionism as a modern expression of the Hebrew prophets’ teachings of justice for all men. Syrkin became one of the earliest founders of the Labor Zionist party (See Labor Zionism). Returning to Russia, he took part in the 1905 revolution against the oppressive, corrupt Tsarist govern_ment. He came to America in 1908, where he continued his Zionist work, and also became active in the American Jewish Congress. After World War I, he helped organize the Jewish delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference, and served as one of its delegates. A biography of Syrkin was published in 1960 by his daughter Marie Syrkin, a noted Zionist writer.