As the worker succeeded the trader, so the political extremist comes to the fore in this period, as the radical in religious matters did in the former. Many of the “intellectuals” sympathized with the revolutionary movement in Russia, and were infected by the Socialistic virus which is the bane of that movement and has made its success well nigh impossible. While the German or Austrian revolutionary of the “forties” or “fifties” wanted nothing for his fatherland which the people of the United States did not already enjoy, the Russian theorist was dreaming of a social revolution and of fantastic victories for the peasantry and the proletariat which should put Russia far in advance of the civilization of the “rotten West.” There was plenty of opportunity under the freedom of speech and of the press prevailing in this country “to continue the struggle against capital” among the sweat-shop workers. For a while the Socialist agitator became the most active leader among the immigrant masses; the “maskilim,” or half-Germanized, Hebrew scholars were forced into the background, and the large Orthodox majority confined itself to the ever-increasing number of synagogues and kept quiet, as usual. But as the years went by and the immigrants of the beginning of the period became more Americanized and more conservative, it became clear that radicalism was a passing phase in the development of the Russian-Jewish immigrant, that the largest number outgrow it in several years at the utmost, and that the extreme movements depend almost entirely on the new arrivals who are attracted by its novelty, and on those who cater to them. Excepting what may be described as a pronounced tendency to Socialism in the Yiddish sensational press――differing in degree more than in kind from the general press of that type――the Socialist movement has not held its own proportionally among the Russian immigrants, and the fears of some of their friends that the neighborhoods where the noisy agitation was carried on would develop into politically Socialistic strongholds, were dispelled almost before the first decade of this period was over. CHAPTER XXX. COMMUNAL AND RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES AMONG THE NEW COMERS. Congregational and social activities among the new comers―― Ephemeral organizations――The striving after professional education――Synagogues as the most stable of the new establishments――“Landsleut” congregations――The first efforts to consolidate the Orthodox community of New York――The Federation of Synagogues――Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph――Other “chief rabbis” in Chicago and Boston――Prominent Orthodox rabbis in many cities――Dr. Philip Klein――The short period in which the cantor was the most important functionary in the Orthodox synagogue―― Synagogues change hands, but are rarely abandoned.