"What is responsible for the difference between the various societies which give rise to the whole national question and its concomitant struggles? " Dov Ber Borochov (1881 - 1917) was a Marxist Zionist and one of the founders of the Labor Zionist movement as well as a pioneer in the study of Yiddish as a language. He was born in the town of Zolotonosha, Russian Empire (currently in Ukraine). As an adult he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party but was expelled for his Zionist beliefs. Subsequently, he helped form the Poale Zion party and devoted his life to promoting the party in Russia, Europe, and America. When the Russian social democrats came to power, Borochov returned to Russia in March 1917 to lead the Poale Zion and organize Jewish brigades for the Red Army. He became ill and died there of pneumonia in December 1917.