Baruch Charney Vladeck (Yiddish: ברוך טשאַרני וולאַדעק; born Baruch Nachman Charney; January 13, 1886 – October 30, 1938) was a Belarusian-born Jewish American labor leader, journalist and politician who was general manager of The Jewish Daily Forward from 1918 until his death in 1938. He was a member of the New York City Board of Aldermen and later the New York City Council, serving as the first majority leader of that body from January to September 1938. He was also a co-founder of the American Labor Party, serving as its leader on the City Council during his tenure.

Baruch Charney was born January 13, 1886, in Dukor, a small village near Minsk, in what is now Belarus. His parents were Zev Volf and Brokhe Tsharni (née Hurwitz). His father, a fervent Lubavitcher Hasid, died in 1889, leaving his mother a widow with five sons (he was the fourth) and a daughter. Two of his brothers also achieved renown: literary critic Shmuel Niger and Yiddish poet Daniel Charney. Baruch was self-taught, preparing for his gymnasium exams on his own. He studied Jewish and secular sciences.

Baruch Charney was first drawn to the revolutionary movement for the overthrow of the Tsarist autocracy in the early 1900s. After the Kishinev pogrom in 1903, he joined Poale Zion, a Marxist–Zionist group, and began teaching in one of their schools. He was arrested in January 1904 for conducting a radical study circle for young workers, although according to his children his offense was merely recommending Tolstoy to someone at the library. He spent eight months in jail, during which he met older, more radical socialists belonging to the General Jewish Labour Bund, and was converted to their cause. After the Bund posted his bail in September, he formally joined the group and became an organizer.

During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Charney was sent by the Bund to lead a workers' march into urban Minsk. While crossing an open plain, they were attacked by Cossacks, one of whom slashed Charney's face with a sword. Now hunted by the police in Minsk, the Bund sent Charney on a party mission to Vilna, where he earned a reputation as a skilled orator and came to be known as "the Second Lassalle". Charney was arrested a second time in 1905, but was released a few months later following the Tsar's October Manifesto and its subsequent amnesties.

Charney was sent next to Poland, narrowly avoiding capture in Lublin before suffering his third arrest in Łódź. It was during this time that he adopted the pseudonym "Vladeck" as a nom de guerre. Baruch Charney would use this as his surname for the rest of his life.

In 1907, Vladeck was named as a Bund delegate to the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in London, representing the Vitebsk district under the pseudonym "Broches". During the Congress, he met Vladimir Lenin, who deeply impressed him. Vladeck would be the only Bundist to support Lenin on policy and in his bid for the Central Committee.

The reforms brought about by the 1905 Revolution did not last, and by 1907 the Bund faced pogroms and repression. Seeing further arrest as inevitable, Vladeck decided that emigration to the United States was his most realistic option. In 1908 he left Europe for North America, landing at Ellis Island on Thanksgiving Day, soon after which he began to immerse himself in the study of American history and culture.

In America, Vladeck made use of his previous experience as a public speaker, traveling extensively for four years (sponsored by the Jewish Agitation Bureau) and giving public lectures on a variety of social, political, and economic topics. The socialist Jewish Daily Forward affectionately dubbed him "the Young Lassalle", echoing his earlier moniker. During this time, Vladeck's idealistic perception of America would be tempered by encounters with Jim Crow racism in the South and violent strikebreaking in Philadelphia.