The record group includes documentation of both the Labor Zionist Organization and the Labor Zionist Institute. Some of the records date back to the early 1930s with the bulk of files dating from 1970. Included are minutes, topical files, correspondence, financial records, individual branch records, publications, and miscellaneous photographs, videotapes, and sound recordings. The record group documents the social and cultural programs and activities of one segment of Southeastern Michigan's Jewish community. Documented is the organization's fund raising activities, its interaction with other area groups, and its position on national and international issues.
The Detroit branch of the Labor Zionist Organization of American (Poale Zion) was established in 1906. The underlying purpose of the organization, according to one writer, was "the inner urge for a spiritual reconstruction" that would bring about the transformation of young people "estranged from the soil and manual labor through centuries of Diaspora life, into enthusiastic workers and farmers in the land of Israel."
Prior to World War II, the Labor Zionist Organization (Poale Zion) developed a fraternal order (the Farband), the Pioneer Women's Organization, the League for Labor Palestine and the Histadrut Campaign. And through a network of Jewish Folk Schools, summer camps, and Habonim (now Habonim Dror), a progressive Zionist youth organization (founded in 1935), the children of members and friends became acquainted with the goals and ideals of labor Zionism.
According to its articles of incorporation dated 1943, the Detroit Labor Zionist Institute was created to raise and collect money "for the purpose of establishment and maintenance of a center for the cultivation, promotion and advancement of Hebrew and Yiddish culture, literature and art; to conduct schools and classes for instruction in Hebrew and Yiddish religion, education, literature and drama; and to otherwise promote, cultivate and advance the social, cultural, recreational and educational welfare of Jews in the metropolitan area of Detroit."
In 1947 Detroit became one of the first branches of the Labor Zionist Organization to establish a Central Committee, the purpose of which was (1) to execute the directives and carry out the programs of the national organization and (2) to bring together for concerted action (particularly fund raising) the divisions of the Zionist Labor Movement. These divisions included the Habonim Youth Movement, the Detroit Farband City Committee, the Detroit Council of Pioneer Women and all of the city's local branches of the Labor Zionist Organization.
In its history, the organization has undergone several name changes following mergers and restructurings and in an effort to attract new members. In 1971, the Labor Zionist Organization (Poale Zion) joined with Farband and the American Habonim Association to form the Labor Zionist Alliance; and in 2004, LZA became Ameinu.
