Political Movements
Change came in the form of the uprooting nature of the industrial revolution and all that it spawned: mass migration in every direction, urbanization, railroad construction, factories, labor unions, and the increased prestige of Western ideas. It was in the Warsaw of poverty, dislocation, and ferment where new, alternative ideas for Jewish survival took the firmest hold. At the end of the 19th century, the city was engulfed in cultural and political change, which gradually swept thousands of Jews out of traditional Judaism and into dynamic new political movements.
In the 1880s, new organizations and political parties sprouted dramatically and each idea, whether Socialist 
, Zionist , or traditionalist, vied with the others for a more prominent role in the lives of Warsaw's Jews. There was a flurry of activity, with scores of groups and, perhaps at best, one common goal: full Jewish equal rights. With its Zionist groups for adults and youths, labor unions, moderate socialist groups, Communists, and religious Jews, Warsaw functioned as a central battleground in which each group struggled to attain 'the world's predominant Jewish worldview.'
After 1918, Jews participated in mainstream Polish politics in the newly formed Republic. The ongoing struggles of the early 20th century eventually resulted in Warsaw's kehilla yielding power to the Zionists, who then lost it in 1936 to the Bund. The Bund was an inexhaustible source of energy, organizing strikes, demonstrations, promoting of Yiddish culture, and, at times, opposition to Zionism. One key belief that the Bund and the Zionists held in common was that both sought a new language that could be used to attain practical goals, political changes, and rights for all Jews.
