Shmuel Mikunis

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Shmuel Mikunis

| image = Shmuel Mikunis.jpeg

| birth_date = 10 August 1903

| birth_place = Polonne, Russian Empire

| death_date = {{death date and age|1982|5|20|1903|8|10|df=y}}

| death_place =

| suboffice1 = Maki

| office1 = Faction represented in the Knesset

| subterm1 = 1949–1969

| suboffice2 = Maki

| subterm2 = 1972–1973

| suboffice3 = Moked

| subterm3 = 1973–1974

| native_name = שמואל מיקוניס

| native_name_lang = he

}}

Shmuel Mikunis ({{langx|he|שמואל מיקוניס}}; 10 August 1903 – 20 May 1982) was an Israeli politician. He was a member of the Knesset for the Maki (1949–1969, 1972–1973) and Moked (1973–1974) parties.

Biography

Born to a Hasidic Jewish family in Polonne in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Mikunis immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1921. Two of his brothers remained in the Soviet Union and were murdered during Stalin's rule.{{Cite web |title=⁨מיקונים: "שני אח* נרצחו בימי _םטאליך ⁩ — ⁨⁨דבר⁩ 29 דצמבר 1961⁩ — הספרייה הלאומית של ישראל │ עיתונים |url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/dav/1961/12/29/01/article/100 |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=www.nli.org.il |language=he}} He attended a polytechnic in France, and was qualified as an engineer, working for the Shell Oil Company between 1933 and 1945.{{Cite web |title=⁨מקייי הקטנה וחביבה מונולוג של ש עמדת ⁩ — ⁨⁨דבר⁩ 18 אוגוסט 1967⁩ — הספרייה הלאומית של ישראל │ עיתונים |url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/newspapers/dav/1967/08/18/01/article/49 |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=www.nli.org.il |language=he}}{{Cite web |title=הקלטת ראיון עם שמואל מיקוניס |url=https://merhav.nli.org.il/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=NNL_ALEPH71277721110005171&vid=NLI&search_scope=Local&tab=default_tab&lang=iw_IL&context=L |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=merhav.nli.org.il |language=en}}

Mikunis was a member of the Palestine Communist Party. He became secretary of its central committee in 1939. In 1944 he was elected to the Jewish community's Assembly of Representatives. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he acted as an emissary to communist countries, seeking to acquire weapons. After Maki was established in 1948, Mikunis became its secretary and held this position until 1974.

A member of the Provisional State Council, he was elected to the first Knesset on Maki's list. He was re-elected in 1951, 1955, 1961, and 1965. In the 1960s, he and Moshe Sneh led a faction within Maki that sought to distance the party from the Soviet Union's anti-Israel stance. This faction defended the State of Israel's legitimacy and opposed the policies of neighboring Arab states toward Israel. In contrast, another faction, led by Meir Vilner, adhered to the Soviet line.{{Cite web|url=https://eleven.co.il/article/12764|title = Микунис Шмуэль}} In 1965 the party finally split and the Mikunas-Sneh party was reduced to one seat in the parliamentary election due to the split (from which Rakah had been formed).

Mikunis lost his seat in the 1969 elections, but re-entered the Knesset in March 1972 as a replacement for Moshe Sneh. Towards the end of the session, Maki and the Blue-Red Movement merged into Moked and Mikunis lost his seat in the 1973 elections.{{Cite web |last=zoharroy |date=2023-07-13 |title=היום לפני שבעים ושש שנים מנהיגי פק"פ הופיעו בפני ועדת אונסקו"פ |url=https://zoha.org.il/122608/ |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=זו הדרך |language=he-IL}}

A street in Tel Aviv is named after him.{{Cite web |title=שמואל מיקוניס‭ |url=https://www.google.com/maps/search/%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9C+%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%A1%E2%80%AD/@32.0602412,34.7861763,18.25z?entry=ttu |access-date=2024-06-16 |website=שמואל מיקוניס‭ |language=en}}

Bibliography

B'Saar Tkufot (1969)

References

External links

{{MKlink|id=507}}
[https://www.marxists.org/subject/jewish/mikunis-48.pdf "The Peoples of Palestine Struggle for National Independence"], 1948
[https://www.marxists.org/subject/jewish/mikunis-suez.pdf "Israel"], (on the Suez crisis) 1957

Category:1903 births

Category:1982 deaths

Category:People from Volhynian Governorate

Category:Israeli people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent

Category:Maki (historical political party) politicians

Category:Members of the Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine)

Category:Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951)

Category:Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955)

Category:Members of the 3rd Knesset (1955–1959)

Category:Members of the 4th Knesset (1959–1961)

Category:Members of the 5th Knesset (1961–1965)

Category:Members of the 6th Knesset (1965–1969)