Politicsשמואל מיקוניס

Samuel Mikunis

Shmuel Mikunis was an Israeli communist politician who led Maki and served in the Knesset from 1949 to 1969 and again from 1972.

1903 to 1982Leading the Israeli Communist PartyThe 1965 Maki splitFounding the Ohel theater

Born: 10 August 1903, Polonne
Died: 20 May 1982, Tel Aviv
Occupation: politician, actor, engineer
Party: Maki

Samuel Mikunis was born in 1903 in Polonne

Mikunis was born in Polonne in the Russian Empire to a Hasidic family. He was active in the Zionist pioneer movement Hechalutz and immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1921.

He first worked as a laborer and was among the founders of the Ohel theater, where he acted from 1925 to 1930. He then studied at a polytechnic in France and qualified as an engineer. From 1933 to 1945 he worked for the Shell oil company, building roads and army bases in the Negev.

He joined the Palestine Communist Party and became secretary of its central committee in 1939. He was elected to the Assembly of Representatives in 1944. During the War of Independence he went on missions to communist countries to obtain weapons, and he served as secretary of Maki until 1974.

He was elected to the first Knesset in 1949. In the 1960s he and Moshe Sneh led a faction that distanced Maki from the Soviet anti-Israel line, and the party split in 1965. He lost his seat in 1969 and returned in 1972 in place of Sneh.

After losing his seat in the 1973 elections, he left Moked in 1974 and joined the Israeli Communist Opposition. He died in 1982, and a street in Tel Aviv bears his name.