In the first half of the 20th century, several alternate plans for a Jewish homeland were proposed. For example, in 1934 a Jewish Autonomous Oblast was established in Birobijan, a remote and sparsely populated region in the Soviet Far East. An American Birobijan Committee raised funds to relocate families to the region. Chicagoans played a key role in the organization and a group of Chicago Jewish artists who identified with labor ideologies created a portfolio of prints to raise money for the cause.