Shmuel Mikunis, veteran Israeli Communist Party leader who represented the party in many Knessets, died yesterday at the age of 79. Mikunis came to Palestine from Russia in 1921 at the age of 18. He was among the founders of the Ohel Workers Theater and acted with the group for several years.
He studied civil engineering in Paris between 1930 and 1933 and worked in his new profession upon his return to Tel Aviv. He joined the then illegal Palestine Communist Party in 1936, becoming its secretary.
Mikunis was a member of the People’s Council (the pre-Knesset assembly) and represented the party in the first eight Knessets. He was head of the Israel Communist Party when it split in 1966, with most of its Arab members and some of its Jewish adherents breaking away to found the pro-Moscow Communist list. During the war of Independence Mikunis was instrumental in helping the young state obtain arms from the Communist bloc.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
