the jewish social democratic labour party (poalei zion) was a zionist socialist political party in the russian empire and ukraine. the party was founded in 1906 in poltava. members of the party participated in the government of ukraine in 1917-20. it was part of the international poalei zion movement. due to its position towards the october revolution and being a strong supporter of the russian constituent assembly, the party was banned from most of soviets dominated by the rsdlp(b), but was not recognized illegal until 1928.