Born in Belarus, Syrkin joined Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) in high school. He was one of the earliest proponents of Labor Zionism, which called for the establishment of a socialist-Jewish state in the Land of Israel. He promoted the idea in an 1898 article in the Austrian Socialist: “The Jewish Question and the Socialist Jewish State.” He criticized most streams of Zionism but proposed the Jewish National Fund at the Second Zionist Congress.
Photo: Central Zionist Archives