Joseph Baskin

Joseph Baskin (October 20, 1880 – June 26, 1952) was a Belarusian-born Jewish-American labor activist. He served as general secretary of The Workmen's Circle from 1916 until his death in 1952. Life Baskin was born on October 20, 1880, in Biala, Minsk Governorate, Russia, the son of Nachim Mendel and Rose Baskin.

The son of a poor elementary school teacher, Baskin was raised by his father's second wife following the death of his biological mother. He attended religious elementary schools in Biala, Ilya, Hute, and Dolhinov until he was twelve. When he was twelve, while still a Yeshiva student, he became an elementary school teacher for two young boys. He then went to Vilna and studied in Rabbi Yoyel's Yeshiva while working as an assistant synagogue sexton in the cobblers' synagogue. He also studied Russian and secular subjects, and under the influence of his older brother Avrom, who left the Yeshiva to become a laborer, he became a socialist supporter by the age of fifteen. He became a member of the Bund shortly after it formed in 1897, when he was seventeen. He initially engaged in cultural activities among workers and lectured women cigarette makers in secret, illegal meetings.

Baskin remained active in the local Jewish labor movement, but a work-related accident compelled him to stop working and he moved to New York City, New York, where he lived for the rest of his life. ORT, HIAS, the New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, the Congress for Jewish Culture, and the National Jewish Welfare Board. He was a founder and secretary of the Jewish Labor Committee and contributed to labor and socialist publications. He married Mary Plotkin in 1918. He was buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery.