Ya'akov Ze'ev Latsky (? - 1940) was a Jewish Russian political and Yiddishist activist and briefly a Minister in the Ukrainian People's Republic

Ukrainian People's Republic

The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...

 in 1918.

First a member of Herut round 1901, he joined in December 1904 the new Zionist Socialist Workers Party

Zionist Socialist Workers Party

Zionist Socialist Workers Party , often referred to simply as 'Zionist-Socialists' or 'S.S.' by their Russian initials, was a Jewish socialist territorialist political party in the Russian Empire and Poland, that emerged out of the Vozrozhdenie group in 1904. The party held its founding conference...

 to whose Central Committee he was elected in Odessa

Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

. He was closely associated with the theorist of Labour Zionism and leading advocate of Territorialist Zionism

Territorialism

Territorialism, also known as Statism , was a Jewish political movement calling for creation of a sufficiently large and compact Jewish territory , not necessarily in the Land of Israel and not necessarily fully autonomous.-Development of territorialism:Before 1905 some Zionist leaders took...

, Nachman Syrkin

Nachman Syrkin

Nachman Syrkin was a political theorist, founder of Labour Zionism and a prolific writer in Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, German and English language....

.

After the 1917 Revolution, he joined the Folkspartei

Folkspartei

The Folkspartei was founded after the 1905 pogroms in the Russian Empire by Simon Dubnow and Israel Efrojkin. The party took part to several elections in Poland and Lithuania in the 1920s and 1930s and did not survive the Shoah.-Ideology:...

. In April 1918, he was appointed Minister for Jewish Affairs in the Ukrainian People's Republic

Ukrainian People's Republic

The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...

, replacing Fareynikte

United Jewish Socialist Workers Party

United Jewish Socialist Workers Party was a political party in Poland and certain regions of the Russian Empire . Its followers were generally known simply for the first portion of the name Fareynikte - 'United'. Politically the party favored national personal autonomy for the Jewish community...

 Moishe Zilberfarb. He was succeeded by Abraham Revutzky of Poale Zion

Poale Zion

Poale Zion was a Movement of Marxist Zionist Jewish workers circles founded in various cities of the Russian Empire about the turn of the century after the Bund rejected Zionism in 1901.-Formation and early years:Poale Zion parties and organisations were started across the Jewish diaspora in the...

.

In October 1918 he was amongst the founders of an important Yiddishist publishing house Folks-Farlag, initated by intellectuals affiliated to the Folkspartei, like himself.