The Carpathian region was an area with excellent characteristics for the growth of particularly turbulent Jewish politics: most Jews were poor and underprivileged; most Jews were not assimilated, yet some, at least, had a certain openness to the world around them; the ruling power in the region changed after the First World War. Indeed, the area served as a fertile ground for the development of an extensive Jewish partisanship. To this must be added Czechoslovakia’s being a relatively stable and multi-party democracy.
Jewish politics were, of course, intertwined with general politics in Carpatho-Rus from the very beginning. Thus, internal struggles in the Jewish world created rather strange coalitions between Jewish and non-Jewish parties. The unsuccessful attempt by Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapira of Munkács to establish an independent Orthodox bureau in the Carpathian region, apart from the Slovakian Bureau, provoked a struggle between him and the Zionists over the influence on the Jews of the region. This struggle led him to an alliance with the leaders of the Agrarian Party of Carpatho-Rus, which was a powerful party. In addition, the party was in charge of the Ministry of Interior and could, therefore, decide on this issue. Apparently, the prominent anti-Semitism of this party and its economic policy objecting Jewish interests did not really bother Rabbi Shapira when his political power was on the agenda.
In spite of Rabbi Shapira’s struggle against the Zionists, in 1922 the United Jewish Party was established in Carpatho-Rus, and a year later it achieved considerable success in the municipal elections. In Munkács, 13 representatives of this party were elected to the city council. This achievement should not be underestimated, especially in view of the variety of Jewish parties in the region and the various political tendencies of many Jews. Therefore, the “Jewish Autonomous Party” (Autochtonpartei) called on Jews to renounce the Jewish elite with only personal interests, and vote for autonomy for the Carpathians, and for coexistence with all other nationalities in the region. The Jewish section of the Communist Party went out of its way in an uncompromising attack against the United Jewish Party. Its leaders were accused with great acrimony that all their work was done in order to get rich at the expense of the poor and to improve their personal standing (the Yiddish expression for this was summarized in a pamphlet that read as follows: “Zei meinen nit di Agode nar di kneidlach” – “They are not there for the cause, but for the dumplings”). The United Jewish Party, of course, wasn’t silent in these struggles. It focused mainly on the fact that only it would be able to faithfully represent the Jews as a sector, yet it clarified that it was willing to cooperate fully with all the various elements in the region – perhaps also in response to the propaganda of the “Jewish Autonomous Party”. Many of its propaganda posters called on the Jews to vote only for Jews. A particularly harsh attack was directed against assimilated Jews that established a separate party called the “Rights Party.” In addition, the “Jewish Peasant Party”, which was in fact part of the Agrarian Party, also operated in the region.
Toward the general elections in 1925, the intra-Jewish conflict intensified. Rabbi Shapira’s yeshiva in Munkács joined the propaganda posters festival and sharply attacked the members of the “Jewish Party”, who were called in a poster “… the most famous sect that… everyone should join a mitzva war against.” As an alternative, the Jewish public was asked to vote, of course, for “The Agrarian Party.” Even the establishment of the Jewish Republican Party, circa 1928, was an attempt to reduce the power and influence of the “Jewish Party.” Nevertheless, in a proclamation by this party, headed by Sander Karra, one of Rabbi Shapira’s men, other Jewish political forces were also the focus of a rather harsh attack – mainly the Belzer Hassidim. A similar style prevailed in the writings of Rabbi Shapira during the general elections of 1935, when the Jewish public was required to vote against “… the Zionists, the converts and the Epicureans of Israel … to stand in the breach and protest with real devotion!” The Jewish Party named all the Jewish members of anti-Semitic parties “soul traders” (“neshome haendler”). It also emphasized that their interests are private and they lack the will or the ability to act for the Jewish community – something that only the Jewish Party genuinely wants and is capable of. “It is a shame,” the party’s proclamation added, “that these people call themselves Jews.” However, the posters were separate of parliamentary practice, since the “Jewish party” was forced in the general elections of 1929 to join a common bloc with the parties of the Polish minority – in order to ensure Jewish representation in Prague that year. In the general elections of 1935, the “Jewish party” was also forced to form a bloc with the Social Democratic Party to get a mere two seats in the Czechoslovak parliament.
The elected representatives of the “Jewish Party” focused their efforts and public activity, mainly on six issues:
The members of the party made sure to establish a lively presence among the Jews of the Carpathians, to respond to requests and demands on various subjects, and to hold mass conferences of party supporters. However, the struggle of the “Jewish party” over the Jewish public in Carpatho-Rus was, in many ways, a nearly lost battle. The attempt to create a democratic culture in the Jewish community administration could not have succeeded within less than a generation’s time, when many members of the communities were still captivated by the rabbis’ charms and were, in effect, under their full authority. The struggle against the law of rest on Sundays, the harsh poverty of the Jews of the region and the citizenship law were subjects that were not fully resolved, and therefore did not allow the party leaders to bring real results to the public. However, towards the end of the 1930s, some of the problems addressed by the Jewish party were about to be solved, especially the recognition and official support of the Jewish education system in the Carpathian state.
Nonetheless, political events in the international arena soon brought an end to these hopes.