In describing my time in Cuba I should note that it was a period of continuity and transition towards life in Israel. In Wilkowice, my hometown in Lithuania, I had joined Hashomer Hatzair in 1922, at age 14, and I spent all my scout years in it until deciding to make aliyah, but I could not go through with this due to family reasons.

With these words David Olinsky (Ilan) begins a brief autobiographical text entitled My long road to the kibbutz, which evokes different stages of his life, and was included in Zohar Hayovel[The Splendor of the Jubilee], published by Kibbutz Beit Zera, to review its history from its inception until 1980. With remarkable power of synthesis, he manages - in two sentences - to summarize a long and intense trajectory of life which largely reflects the changes and vicissitudes of the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe during the last century. The emergence and development of Hashomer Hatzair do not differ from the beginnings of other national Jewish youth movements whose initial activities were developed, beginning in the second decade of the 20th century. They were all born and evolved under the prominent ideological and spiritual influence of Hatechia, the national revival movement, and organized Zionism. Regarding their educational perceptions and courses of action, all of them adopted the model of Wandervogel (wandering birds), from Germany and the neighboring countries, and the global Scouts Movement founded by LordRobertBadenPowell, to which we will refer later. Over time, the Jewish youth movements consolidated their activities around the Diaspora and Israel, and the majority fully identified with the principles of fulfilling Zionism: aliyah to Israel, the pioneering spirit (chalutziut) and becoming productive through physical labor. Later, some of them would be linked to the specific ideologies of different political currents and colonial movements, retaining their independence of action at both theoretical and practical educational levels.

Hashomer Hatzair can be proud of being the oldest Jewish youth movement in the world. Its origins date back to a century ago as noted in the book about Hashomer Hatzair. Its formal birth took place in Levov, Galicia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Lviv, Ukraine). There was already a Jewish scout movement,  which in 1913 adopted the name of Hashomer as a sign of its identification with the similar (eponymous) movement in Israel. These initial steps inspired parallel activities in Poland, that gained momentum during World War I until its merger with Ze’irei Zion (groups of young people involved in the study of the Hebrew language, Judaism in general and Zionism in particular) in Vienna. The unified movement was renamed Shomrim-Ze’irei Zion, prior to final selection of the name by which it is known today. The basic principles of its educational concept can be summarized clearly and concisely: “To maintain the pioneering mission of young generations of the Jewish people, whose purpose is to establish a working people living with social equality in the land of Israel, teaching national values and Zionist consciousness, developing socialist consciousness and training its members for community life; educating individuals and increasing their qualifications and skills, and preparing them for autoemancipation and life within society.” When the Movement began operating in Israel and founded the first kibbutzim, it expressed its ideological principles which no less clarity, defining the kibbutz as: 1. The pioneer cell of the new society 2. The construction tool of the Jewish working class 3. The tool to absorb a working Hebrew aliyah 4. The supporter of the class struggle

 

Returning to the beginning, David Olinsky (Wilkowice, Lithuania, 1908 - Beit Zera, Israel, 1996) arrived in Cuba against this backdrop and carrying this ideological baggage, to establish the movement on the island (Cuba). He shared these founding activities with two other young people who had similar, but not identical life stories: Mordechai (Motke) Brill and Wolf (Welfke) Rabinowicz. This group, which left its mark on the Jewish community, could well be called “The Three Musketeers” of Hashomer Hatzair in Cuba. Like the protagonists from the famous novel, they were young, enthusiastic, intrepid and determined, with a clear mission and a strong will, friends and companions for whom the phrase “one for all and all for one” was not just a motto but a way of life. Unlike the musketeers, these lads did not put their efforts into serving a king, and did not 
face intrigues or guard the honor of a queen, but devoted themselves entirely to a national cause that transcended their individual aspirations and faced many difficulties until they were able to meet their goals and turn their ideals into concrete actions. To them the command voiced in the first page of the book by Dumas was imperative: “You are young and must be brave. Go fearlessly and seek adventure.” Obviously, in this case, the adventures were of an ideological, national and social kind, rather than a swashbuckling nature, but nonetheless, they were still adventures. In the aforementioned autobiographical text, Olinsky recalls his first steps on the island:

I was in Cuba from December 1929 until September 1934. When I arrived in Cuba (where my brother in law had cousins who helped us to settle) I immediately began looking for company, a Zionist association, a youth movement - something. For several weeks I did not find any such movement. I had the address of the Zionist Union and of the Hebrew school, but there was no Zionist activity. I was invited to a Chanukah evening at the school and there I found myself with some youngsters from Lithuania and Poland. The evening was far from reflecting the spirit of the holiday and left me with a very negative impression, but I managed to convince some of the youngsters to get organized and to create a Zionist youth movement. In their 
I left my city in November 1929. I arrived in Cuba and then one day I was invited to a Chanukah party at the Zionist Union school. I attended and the entire program was in Spanish. I was not at all interested and there was no Chanukah content, but there were several youngsters of my age there, originally from Lithuania and Poland, and I began to ask them all sorts of questions. They had been in Cuba for some time and already spoke Spanish but had not enjoyed the party either. One of them had been in Beitar, another was from Lithuania, some had been in Maccabi, and several were in Hashomer Hatzair while others had not been affiliated to any movement. I told them that we should get ourselves organized. There was already a home countries these girls and boys had belonged to either Hashomer Hatzair or Beitar, so I proposed that we merge them, and so it was.

Olinsky, who shortly after his arrival in Cuba became secretary of the Zionist Union, recalled his first steps on the island several times, among them during interview with Dr. Margalit Bejarano in 1983, in which he recalled the "prehistoric" stage of the Movement. His words allow us to track the development of Hashomer Hatzair from the earliest times:
Zionist Union and I proposed to them that we create a Zionist Youth movement. One of our members was Ya'akov. He was also from Lithuania and had been a member of Beitar. Another was Shmuel Levin from Bucowiz, Lithuania. Also present was Yosef Luria who originated from Lithuania but from a different village. Yosef Liberman had come from Poland, Kowilon from Lithuania, and there were others.

These memories accurately enough mark the first attempts to group together former members of Hashomer Hatzair in their new home in Havana at the end of December 1929 or, more likely, early January 1930. However, it is important to point out that this was not yet Hashomer Hatzair but a group that brought together young people from different ideological backgrounds. There is no doubt that this voluntary and agreed cooperation between former Shomrim and Beitar members attracts attention, given the historic rivalry between the two movements, but it is understandable given the circumstances prevailing in the "here and now" of that period, where the primary objective of this Union of Young Zionists was to create a reference framework that would allow them to meet youth of their own ages and interests. We should also note that although the name of this group may be misleading due .to the semantic similarity with the Hanoar Hatzioni youth movement, it should not be identified with it.