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The Jewish Socialist Workers Party ('Seimists')

This movement de- veloped from the 'Re-birth' circles of the years 1904 to 1906, its spiritual progenitor being Haim Zhitlowsky. The leaders were A. Rozin (Ben-Adir), Dr M. Zilberfarb, N. Shits and M. Ratner. Ideo- logically, this party was very close to the SR and was not convinced by a Marxist solution to the Jewish question in Russia. It saw future progress in two stages: first, a struggle for national autonomy on a federative basis, with an elected representative institution with wide powers (like the Seim) at the head of each nationality; later, they argued, it would be possible to work for a territorial concentration of theJewish people.

RELIGIOUS PARTIES

The religiously minded groups were less organized than other intellectual-political movements, but the general politicization of Jewish life, the weakening of the Kehillot structure and of the traditional religiousness, and the sharpening of internal social struggles led them to become party-political organizations.

The rudiments of political organization can be seen in the establishment of a clandestine league aiming mainly at arousing a protest movement abroad, against the anti-Jewish policy of the Russian government. This movement called itself 'Two-edged Sword' (presumably a reference to Psalm 149, verses 6-7, 'with a two-edged sword ... to wreak vengeance on the goi-im').123 This was a group of ultra- observant Jews, who also organized the 'Black Office' in Kovno to combat reformist ideas in Jewish life, general (i.e. not traditional) education, and the 'Love of Zion' movement.

A different kind of organization was produced by two sectarian movements among religious Jews: 'Biblical Spiritual Fraternity' and 'New Israel'.124 The former, established in Elizavetgrad on 2 January 1881, sought a common ground between religion, intellect, and science. Led by Yaakov Gordon, it received some government recognition and existed until 1891. The sect inclined towards a rapprochement with Christianity. It spoke of 'spiritual participation' but also of actual cooperative living in agriculture. The other sect, 'New Israel', was founded in Odessa in the same year, 1881, by Yaakov Prilutsker, a teacher, and Joseph Rabinowich, who wanted to reform the Jewish religion. In the end, most of its members went over to Russian Evangelism. The political influence of these two sects was negligible and the number of members, including their families, does not seem to have exceeded a thousand.

Religious Zionism' has been described above. Jewish religious organization in the proper sense of the term began later, during the First World War. The religious party, 'Masoret Veherut' ('Tradition and Freedom') was founded in April 1917, its centre being Moscow. The political programme demanded the 'grant of national auton- omy, the Sabbath as a day of rest, government assistance for the Kehillot'. Similar groups were created in other cities, mostly having Hebrew names with Biblical associations: 'Nezah yisrael' in Petro- grad; 'Knesset yisrael', 'Shomrei torah', 'Edat yisrael', 'Jerusalem', 'Agudat yisrael'. Fifty of these groups, representing religious Jewry, held their first congress in July 1917. Their demands included an eight-hour working day,, the right to strike, freedom of conscience, agrarian reform, and support for religious education - on the whole, demands resembling those of the Jewish socialist parties.

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The Rajk Trial, which took place in Hungary in September 1949, during which a close connection was affirmed between Zionism and the American espionage services, led to the anti-Zionist campaign being widened to include the whole of Eastern Europe, reaching a climax in the Slansky Trial in November 1952.126 In the Soviet Union itself articles began to appear in 1951, critical not only of Zionism but also of the State of Israel. Zionism as a 'reactionary national movement' was interlinked with 'Fascist methods of government and discrimination against the Arab population in Israel'.

In 1903 Herzl offered the tsarist Minister of the Interior, von Pleve (the organizer of the pogroms) the assistance of the Zionist movement in the struggle against revolutionary influences on Jewish youth.

Beginning with Herzl, the leaders of Zionism had cooperated with the reactionary authorities, such as the Sultan of Turkey and the German Kaiser. The Zionist Jabotinsky, who organized a Jewish legion for the Allies, was connected with Petlyura. In the thirties many Zionist leaders (such as Abba Eban and Reuven Shiloah) operated in the English espionage services and at the same time discussed with Mussolini the establishment of a Jewish state under the protection of Fascist Italy.

Zionist organizations and the Bund in Poland cooperated with the Germans, [for a time] while after the war Zionism became the stooge of Anglo-American imperialism. Third, Zionism was said to be undermining the foundations of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union itself, as revealed during the Rajk and Slansky trials, and by the confessions of imprisoned doctors.

Fourth, to carry out its operations Zionism had established various organizations, in the guise of welfare institutions (such as the 'Joint'), and used them for espionage and subversion on behalf of the American espionage services.

Fifth, it was asserted that Israel constituted a base for imperialism in the Middle East and a support for reactionary movements. Finally, particular notice was taken of an alleged close connection between the Zionist movement and Jewish millionaires, such as the bankers Lehman, Warburg, Morgenthau, and Blaustein.

This period, then, was characterized by the correlation between an internal anti-Jewish policy and an anti-Zionist and anti-Israel policy. Attempts made to draw closer to the Arab States were not always successful - hence the Soviet preservation of neutrality in UN institutions.

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The main attack was the same as in the 1920s: Zionism was a bourgeois, reactionary nationalist movement directed against communism. [Notice how Roy Cohen types are fervently anti-Communist] Anti-communism was the watchword uniting Zionism, the Jewish bourgeoisie, clericalism and world reaction. Zionism fostered the mistaken belief in a worldwide Jewish nation.

New names were added to the list of reactionaries with whom the Zionists supposedly collaborated, such as Kerensky (head of the Pro- visional Government in Russia in 1917), the 'White' Generals Denikin and Kolchak, and the Fascists Mussolini, Hitler and [allegedly] Eichmann.

Israel's Premier David Ben-Gurion supposedly declared that Zionism inflames anti-Semitism in the world in order to increase immigration into Israel.128 Jewish organizations, such as the 'Joint', were also attacked and there were repeated references to the ties connecting Zionism and Israel with Jewish and non-Jewish capitalists throughout the world.

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More info on the infighting of Jews.

In the book 'The Jews of the Soviet Union' which details the over 22,000 Jews in the Bolshevik government, we read:

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This 'centre' or 'general' Zionism was represented by Leon Pinsker and Ahad Ha'am (Asher Ginzberg) [according to many Chabad rabbis Ginzberg was the author of the anti-Semitic Elders of Zion protocols.] Pinsker, a doctor by profession, decorated for his military services in the Crimean War, and a leader of the maskilim in Odessa, had been an enthusiastic supporter of the assimilationist solution; but for him too the pogroms of 1871 in Odessa began a process of awakening which reached its peak with the pogroms of the 1880s, and resulted in his anonymous essay, written in German, 'Auto-emancipation', pub- lished in 1882. Most of the ideas in this essay were not new but they had never been put together as clearly and systematically. His analysis of the phenomenon of anti-Semitism led Pinsker to conclude that it was a hereditary disease which could only be cured by removing its cause. The solution had to be both radical and implemented by the Jews themselves.

Of course, such an implementation without a Jewish state would lead to more pogroms. Remember too that in Bolshevik Russia a decree was put in place that stated that anyone found to hold 'anti-Semitic' views would be executed.

Just as the peoples among whom the Jews were living had secured their own national emancipation, so the Jews' national crystallization and concentration within a state of their own had to be an act of self-liberation. At this stage, Pinsker was not yet a territorialist, but became a Zionist under the influence of Lilienblum and Mandelshtam. When a large number of small local clubs or 'unions' came together, at a first 'Lovers of Zion' conference at Kattowitz in 1884, he headed the new movement.

In contrast to the 'practical Zionists' - Pinsker, Lilienblum and Ussishkin - Ahad Ha'am founded a 'spiritual Zionism' which criticized not only the Zionism of 'day-to-day action' but also Herzl's 'political Zionism'. According to Ahad Ha'am, Erez Yisrael could not offer a solution for the material problems of the Jewish people, nor was there any practical prospect of gathering all the Jews there; but Erez Yisrael could become an asylum and even a 'model', and as such, a centre of redemption for the Diaspora.

Convinced of the importance of forming a new generation, Ahad Ha'am founded the 'Sons of Moses' League in 1889 on the pattern of an elitist order, moulding its members for spiritual leadership of the people. In fact, although short-lived (lasting only until 1896) and having less than 200 members, his League made a real contribution to the progress of Hebrew culture. Ahad Ha'am's criticisms of the Zionist movement led to the convening in Warsaw in 1898 of the first overall Zionist conference in Russia, which was attended by representatives of 373 clubs or unions. The heated discussions between secular and Orthodox Zionists over cultural activity at this conference, and at a second one in Minsk in 1902, helped to bring about the creation of the socialist and Orthodox Zionist movements.

Zionist-socialism

This movement first took shape among the various clubs or unions of 'Lovers of Zion'. Nahman Syrkin was its outstanding theoretician; in 1892 he published The Jewish Question and the Socialist Jewish State, written in German, in which he sought a synthesis of Zionist-national elements and socialist elements. Influence by socialist circles and using Marxist dialectics, Syrkin analysed the situation of the Jewish people: he concluded that a socialist Jewish State would be capable a priori of solving the Jewish problem and should be established in Erez-Yisrael. Syrkin published an appeal to Jewish youth in 1901, calling for the immediate creation of a mass Jewish social-democratic organization to work for the establishment of this state.

Zionist-socialist organizations named 'Workers of Zion' (Poalei- Zion) already existed in Russia at the end of the nineteenth century. The Minsk branch laid the main stress on Zionism; in southern Rus- sia the stress on the socialist component was stronger. These two branches united at Poltava in 1906 and set up the Workers' Social- Democratic Party (Poalei-Ziori) under the leadership of Ber Borochov, an original political thinker. His views were a synthesis of Marxist-Bogdanovist socialism and Zionism. He affirmed that Jewish migration would flow to Israel by a spontaneous process of natural attraction. The Zionist revolution would be carried out by the Jewish proletariat through class struggle.

Orthodox (religious) Zionism.

Rabbi Mohilever, a religious leader among the 'Lovers of Zion', proclaimed an Orthodox religious Zionism fairly early on, but an independent, organized, religious Zionist movement did not take shape till 1902, when a religious-national federation was established, calling itself 'Mizrahi' - an acronym of the Hebrew words for 'spiritual centre' - {Merkaz ruhani). Its leaders were Rabbis Reines and Yavez, who wrote the programme of the new movement, describing Zionism as a triple bond of Torah, Israel and Zion.

Before the October 1917 Revolution, the Zionist movement as a whole had around 300,000 members, distributed in 1,200 towns. In that year, the Zionist won an outstanding victory in the various elections to the Jewish Kehillot, becoming the majority of representatives of the organized Jewish public.

The zionist-socialist Workers Party (SS) [Interesting.] Though influenced by the ideas of Syrkin, and despite the addition of the word 'Zionist' to its name, this was a territorialist socialist party and not a Zionist one. It was formed in 1904 under the leadership of Yaakov Leshchinsky, V. Latski-Bartoldi, Sh. Niger, and V. Chernikhov, all of whom wanted to create a Jewish socialist party on orthodox Marxist principles.

This party fought the Bund with fierce determination, differing from it on all the basic assumptions regarding the solution of the Jewish question. According to this party, there was no possibility of normal economic development of the Jewish people in Russia, since the changes taking place in its social structure were not in the direction of proletarianization but of pauperisation of the petitbourgeois. Nor would emigration be a cure for the economic ills of the Jews, because Jewish emigrants in the countries of immigration were taken into marginal occupations. The only solution remaining, therefore, was to find a suitable territory where it would be possible to construct a new economic and social structure.

Thus, in spite of its strictly orthodox socialism, this party joined the Territorialist Organization (ITO) when the Jewish writer Zangwill founded it in England in 1907.

In the early revolutionary period, this party had enjoyed considerable influence in workers' circles through its trade-union activity. In April 1917, at the party's sixth congress, the view was expressed that a territorial solution would come about after the achievement of national autonomy in the places where Jews lived, and, when the time was ripe, there would also be a territorial concentration which would constitute a cultural centre (similar, perhaps, to the spiritual centre advocated by Ahad Ha'am). This change in policy enabled the party to join the Jewish Socialist Workers' Party in May 1917 and form the United Jewish Socialist Workers (UJSW). This new party received about 8% of all Jewish votes in the various elections that took place at the time, for both Jewish and non-Jewish bodies.

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Moreover, historic antagonism between the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim and Mizrahim should be considered, as these groups have very different histories, and they've clashed in the 20th century, it would seem. And now, any critics of the Zionist movement are shut down, where possible, by a number of supportive groups.

Very true, but Zionism and racism remains embedded in these ethnic groups.

It's very interesting, and very difficult for me to understand or trace. Your comments about the Jewish infighting in 1930s help. Perhaps Polish, and formerly Prussian, Jews were also part of this infighting.

I think there were elements of nationalism in this infighting. 125,000+ Jews fought on the frontlines for the Reich and there were many Jews who Hitler knew were Jews, but appointed them anyway; some even receiving bravery medals and holding high positions in the army This is an out of place statistic if I ever saw one.

I recall the Haavara agreement, though will now read more about the reasons for it's cancellation in 1939.

Schacht in "The Magic of Money' claims he was the mainspring behind the Haavara agreement. He writes that Hitler went along with such transfers up until a certain point, no more than 20,000 reached Palestine (not 60,000) before Hitler stopped the Haavara altogether. Keep in mind well over 100,000 Jews emigrated to Israel prior to Hitler even partaking in politics. So, the claim that Hitler created Israel or Hitler was the reason that Israel exists today is an overused fallacy. If the Nazis hadn't come to power Zionists would still have been fighting for control of Palestine and Jews would still have been emigrating to Israel.

Also, for reference, search Silver Thoughts, this women went to the Holocaust Archives and turned up some amazing photos of the death camps all the way through the war, photos that show Jews in 1944 playing soccer and swimming in a pool right near and during the time when they were allegedly being gassed in the millions. Her research was banned everywhere and all she did was show thousands of dated publicly available photos that the Holocaust museum decided not to show for display. Funny enough, they were sure to display the allied bombing of a transfer camp where every captive died, wrongly claiming the dead were gassed and then thrown in ovens by the Germans.

Moreover, Hitler threw Schacht in Dachu, believing him to be a spy for the allies. He appointed Walther Funk, Feder's pupil, in his place.

Curiously, in the beginning years of the Reich Feder was demoted and replaced by Schacht.

It seems this was good for the German export economy, though only 60,000 Jews moved to Palestine during the 6 years of the agreement. In any event, I've found thaat historians can discuss the history of WWII tanks at length but have not read or understood what happened with the Ashkenazim and fellow Jews during 1933-39. Cheers

Because coming to terms with what happened to the Ashkenazim would seriously put a dent in the Holocaust industry racket which is designed to siphon money from nation-states, even places like Belgium for as long as possible.

I should note that ‪there is now such elements as Anti-Zionist Zionists (regardless of ethnicity or religion) who are a real issue in the Western so-called “pro-Palestinian” movement in order to police so-called anti-Semitism‬ and steer them towards blaming “Goyim” for Israeli crimes.

Max Blumenthal, a progressive Zionist war-hawk is such an example of this where he attacks anyone who questions the official story of 9/11 and tried to singlehandedly destroy Alison Weir's career of 'IfAmericansknew.org.'

He is a classic example of Ethnomasochism when claiming to racialise others as white. I've seen it too often not to take notice of it.

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The Haredi talmudic mafia is a real issue today. As these are the Jews, Zionist or not, with extreme racist tendencies and an obscene amount of wealth. They are the ones working to fire Cuomo and Chuck Schumer is working hard to further their goals.

In fact, they want to see Cuomo in jail.

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Indeed, infighting among Jewish groups in the '30s, and earlier, is something we rarely hear about, and perhaps one sees this continuing today in racist publications of Steven Pinker (re. the Ashkenazim, attributing to genes what sometimes can instead be cronyism, among other factors) and in concerns among more liberal Jews for the abuses of the Zionists in the US.

Yes, there does appear to be racist elements in the right-wing largely atheistical Zionist community as well as in hassidic orthodox Judaism. I've already shown elsewhere that many of the founding fathers of the KKK and racist elements in the south were wealthy Jews. I've only really found humanist Jews to be inviting, interesting people. Characters such as Israel Shahak and Edward Said are good people. Though I pray they find Christ.

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And it's funny the ADL, a defamation league, its Manhattan office is a school named after KKK member Simon Baruch. I don't recall any ADL protest?

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