Viner, Nakhmen
December 17, 1875–
He was born in Ozorkov (Ozorków), near Lodz, Poland, into a poor family. He studied in religious primary school. In his youth he became a weaver. Over the years 1902-1906, he was active in the Polish Socialist Party (PPS [Polska Partia Socjalistyczna]) in Lodz.
In 1907 he moved to the United States, and he became a weaver in Paterson, New Jersey, where he was later active in the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World) and in an Independent Branch of the Workmen’s Circle.
He began writing poetry in 1892, and from 1919 he published poems and fables in: Industryele Arbayter Shtime (Voice of Industrial Labor), Di Tsayt (The Times), Fraye Arbeter Shtime (Free Voice of Labor), Tog (Day), and Kundes (Prankster)—in New York; Dos Naye Vort (The New Word) in Boston; and Patersoner Shtern (Paterson Star) and Nuarker Morgnsthtern (Newark Morningstar); among others.
In book form: Shtraln, Lider un Fablen (Beams [of light], Poems and Fables) (Paterson: Independent branches of Workmen’s Circle, 1924), 96 pp.
He translated from English poems by Ralph Chaplin, Joe Hill, and others—published in Der Industryale Arbayter (The Industrial Worker) in Paterson (1919).
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; K. Marmor, in Frayhayt (New York) (December 15, 1924).