Meir Vilner, 84; Led Communist Party in Israel for Decades
Meir Vilner, 84, a longtime Communist Party leader in Israel and the last living signer of that country’s Declaration of Independence, died Thursday of natural causes in Jerusalem, his son, Doron Vilner, announced.
Born in the Polish city of Vilna, Vilner went to Israel in 1938 to study history at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he became involved with the then-underground Communist Party of Palestine.
Vilner served as secretary-general of Israel’s Communist Party from 1965 to 1988. He led it through various transformations, from the Communist Party of Israel finally to the creation of Hadash: the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality.
Tamar Gozansky, a former leader of Hadash, said Vilner was instrumental in getting the party to adopt a platform in 1965 saying any solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must consider the rights of both peoples.
In 1967, Vilner was stabbed by a member of the right-wing Herut party who objected to the Communists’ opposition to Israel’s conquest of the West Bank.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
