Poale Zion פועלי ציון | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Ya'akov Zerubavel |
| Founded | Early 20th century |
| Ideology | Marxism Labor Zionism Socialism Centrist Marxism |
| Political position | Left-wing |
Poale Zion (Yiddish:פועלי ציון, alsoromanizedPoalei Tziyon orPoaley Syjon, meaning "Workers ofZion") was a movement ofMarxist–ZionistJewish workers founded in various cities ofPoland,Europe and theRussian Empire at about the turn of the 20th century after theBund rejected Zionism in 1901.[1][2][3]
The key features of the ideology of early Poale Zion were acceptance of theMarxist view of history with the addition of the role ofnationalism, which theoristBer Borochov, a leader of Poale Zion, believed could not be ignored as a factor in historical development. A Jewish proletariat would come into being in theLand of Israel, according to Poale Zion, and would then take part in theclass struggle. These views were set out in Borochov'sOur Platform, published in 1906.
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Poale Zion parties and organisations were started across theJewish diaspora in the early 20th century. A branch of Poale Zion came into existence in New York City in 1903.[4] Branches were formed in London and Leeds in 1903/04 and 1905 respectively[5][6] and on a national basis in 1906.[7] An Austrian group was formed in 1904, and published a newspaper,Yidisher Arbeyter.[8] In November 1905 the Poale Zion (Workers of Zion) Party was founded inPalestine and a month later the Socialist Jewish Labour Party (Poale Zion) was formed in theUnited States andCanada.[9] In March 1906, theJewish Social Democratic Labour Party (Poale Zion) was founded in Russia under the leadership ofBer Borochov andItzhak Ben-Zvi.,[9][10] and other groups were soon formed elsewhere in Europe. A French group was formed, under the leadership ofMarc Jarblum, which was influential on theSFIO and its leaderLeon Blum.[11] By 1907, the party had 25,000 members in Russia.[12]
With the threat ofpogroms, and meeting clandestinely, theWarsaw Poale Zion formed a commando unit (bojówka) with around sixty guns. They were used to "expropriate" funds from well-to-do citizens. In March 1906, the entire Warsaw leadership were amongst the 120 delegates arrested attending the Poale Zion conference inPoltava. Three months later eighteen gunmen raided Warsaw railway station, stealing cash and leaving "a receipt in the name of Warsaw's Poale Zion".[13]
A World Union of Poale Zion was formed. The first World Congress took place in August 1907 inThe Hague. Its second congress in 1909 inKraków emphasised practical socialist projects in Palestine, further congresses followed inVienna (1911 and 1920) andStockholm (1919).
A conference in the name of theJewish Social-Democratic Workers' Party in the Land of Israel was held inJaffa between 4–6 October 1906.[14][15] It was organised byIsrael Shochat who over the previous two years had organised an underground group of around 25 Poale Zion followers. About 60 people attended the conference and it was chaired by newly arrivedDavid Ben Gurion.[14]
As a result the following January they producedTheRamleh Program, aHebrew version of theCommunist Manifesto with the added declaration: 'the party aspires to political independence of the Jewish People in this country."[16][15] After much debate they agreed that there should be segregation of Jewish and Arab economies.[17] It was also agreed that all Poale Zion business should be conducted in Hebrew, though this was not the larger group's policy which held that proceedings should be inYiddish orLadino depending on the community. Hebrew was seen as the language of thebourgeoisie.[18] At the time there were 550 active pioneers, Jews working on the land, in the country.[17] In 1910–1911, it was decided that the organisation's journal would be published in Hebrew instead of Yiddish; it was namedAchdut (he: אַחְדוּתachdut), meaning unity.[19]
In Ottoman Palestine, Poale Zion founded theHashomer guard organization that guarded settlements of theYishuv, and took up the ideology of "conquest of labor" (Kibbush Ha'avoda) and "Hebrew labor" (Avoda Ivrit). The first formal congress of the "Jewish Social Democratic Workers' Party in the Land of Israel–Poalei Tziyon" was held in early 1907. Poale Zion set up employment offices, kitchens and health services for members. These eventually evolved into the institutions of Labor Zionism in Israel.[20]
DuringWorld War I, Poale Zion was instrumental in recruiting members to theJewish Legion.[21] Poale Zion was active in Britain during the war, under the leadership of J. Pomeranz andMorris Meyer, and influential on the Britishlabour movement, including on the drafting (bySidney Webb andArthur Henderson) of theLabour Party's War Aims Memorandum, recognising the 'right of return' of Jews to Palestine, a document which preceded theBalfour Declaration by three months.[22]
Poale Zion was torn between left-wing and right-wing factions in 1919–1920; the organization formally split at the Poale Zion fifth world congress in Vienna in 1920, following a similar division that occurred in theSecond International.[7]
The right wing was less Marxist and more nationalist, and favoured a more moderate socialist program and supported theInternational Working Union of Socialist Parties to continue the work of the Second International, essentially becoming asocial democratic party. The left-wing faction did not consider the Second International radical enough, and some accused its members of betraying Borochov's revolutionary principles[citation needed] (although Borochov had begun to modify his ideology as early as 1914, and publicly identified as a social democrat the year before his death[citation needed]).
Poale Zion Left, which supported theBolshevik revolution, continued to be sympathetic toMarxism andCommunism, and attended the second and third congresses of theCommunist International in a consultative capacity.[23] They lobbied for membership, but their attempts were unsuccessful, as the internationalist communist movement underLenin andTrotsky was opposed to Zionist nationalism. TheComintern advised individual members of Left Poale Zion to join their national Communist parties as individuals; at their 1922Danzig conference, these terms were rejected by the party. The Comintern declared it an enemy of the workers' movement.[23]
Poale Zion Left opposed the decision by Poale Zion to rejoin the WorldZionist Organization, viewing it as essentiallybourgeois in character, and viewed theHistadrut asreformist and non-socialist. Aside from differing attitudes towardsZionism andStalinism, the two wings of Poale Zion parted ways overYiddish and Yiddish culture.[24] The Left was more supportive of the latter, similar to the members of theJewish Bund, while the Right bloc identified strongly with the emergingmodern Hebrew movement in the early 20th century.[25]
InPalestine, the major leaders of Poale Zion since their immigration in 1906 and 1907 had beenDavid Ben-Gurion, who joined a local Poalei Tziyon group in 1904 whilst living inWarsaw, andYitzhak Ben-Zvi, a close friend of Borochov and an early member of thePoltava group. After the split the twoBenim ("the Bens") continued to control and direct Poale Zion Right in Palestine.[citation needed]
The party in Palestine split into right and left wings at its February 1919 conference.[citation needed] In October 1919, a faction of the Left Poale Zion foundedMifleget Poalim Sozialistiim (Socialist Workers Party) which became theJewish Communist Party in 1921, split in 1922 over the Zionist issues, with one faction taking the namePalestine Communist Party and the more anti-Zionist faction becoming theCommunist Party of Palestine.[26] The former retained its links to Poale Zion Left. These two factions reunited as thePalestine Communist Party in 1923 and become an official section of theCommunist International. Another faction of Poale Zion Left, aligned with thekibbutz movementHashomer Hatzair, founded in Europe in 1919, became theMapam party. Poale Zion Right, under Ben Gurion's leadership, formedAhdut HaAvoda in March 1919. In January 1930 it merged with another party to becomeMapai, predecessor of the modernDemocrats.[citation needed]
The Poale Zion Left continued as a separate party and ran in the1931 Assembly of Representatives election, led by1931 Assembly of Representatives election and electing one member to the assembly. In the1944 Assembly of Representatives election it ran as part of theLeft Bloc with theHashomer Hatzair Workers Party on a joint slate that elected 21 representatives.
In 1946 the Poale Zion Left merged with theAhdut HaAvoda Movement to form theAhdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement (Hebrew:התנועה לאחדות העבודה פועלי ציון,HaTnu'a LeAhdut HaAvoda Poale Zion). Two years later the party merged with theHashomer Hatzair Workers Party to formMapam. Most senior Haganah commanders were Mapam members, including the head of the National CommandIsrael Galili who was one of Mapam's leaders. The Palmach was also dominated by Mapam with its commanding officer,Yigal Allon, and five brigade commanders being members.[27] With the creation of Israel's national army this led to conflict with Ben Gurion. In 1953, after a series of confrontations, two of the four Area Command commanders and six of the twelve brigade commanders resigned. Those members of Mapam who remained,Yitzhak Rabin,Haim Bar-Lev andDavid Elazar, had to endure several years in staff or training post before resuming their careers.[28]
In Russia, the Poale Zion Left participated in theBolshevik Revolution and organized a brigade of Poale Zion activists[29] nicknamed the "Borochov Brigade" to fight in theRed Army. The party remained legal until 1928 when it was liquidated by theNKVD. Most other Zionist organizations had been closed down in 1919, but Poale Zion Left remained untouched because it was recognized as a Communist party. In 1919, the Communists of Poale Zion Left split to form theJewish Communist Party which ultimately joined theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union, leading to a sharp loss of membership in Russia.[citation needed] While the Bund was forcibly disbanded in 1921, Poale Zion andHechalutz were allowed to operate freely in the Soviet Union until 1928.[30]
In Poland, for a brief period following World War I, both factions of Poale Zion were reported as legal and functioning political parties. The Polish Left party was the largest Left Poale Zion party in the world. It worked closely with the Bund in developing Yiddish schools in Poland and supporting secular Yiddish culture, although they had political differences (e.g., the Bund was more supportive of the Polish Socialist Party than LPZ).[31] As part of the large-scale ban on Jewish political parties in post-World War II Poland by theCommunist leadership, both Poale Zion groups were disbanded in February 1950.[32]
InAustria, the left faction was led byMichael Kohn-Eber, who joined theAustrian Communist Party in 1938. The right faction also remained active until 1938.[8]
The first Poale Zion group in America was established in 1903. In 1915 it was estimated they had fewer than 3,000 members.[33] After the First World War, the American party was led by veteran socialist Zionist thinkerNachman Syrkin.[30] In America, the right faction was dominant, and initiated theNational Labor Committee for Palestine, raising money for the Histadrut.[7]
Manya Shochat, one of the Poale Zion leaders in Palestine, toured the United States in 1920. Writing toRachel Ben Zvi she estimated there were “maybe” 2,000 members of Poale Zion in the whole country, with 180 of them in New York. She comments “The entire movement here is worthless.”[34]
Poale Zion in Britain formally affiliated to theBritish Labour Party in 1920.[30] Its original affiliate status with the Labour Party in 1920 was as The Jewish Socialist Labour Party (Poale Zion).[35]
Globally, Poale Zion, under the leadership ofShlomo Kaplansky, was involved in the 1921 formation of the centristInternational Working Union of Socialist Parties,[36] then between 1923 and 1930 the World Union of Poalei Zion (i.e., the PZ right) joined theLabour and Socialist International (as its Palestine section).[37] As of 1928, it claimed to have 22,500 members in branches around the world; 5,000 in Poland and the United States, 4,000 in Palestine, 3,000 in Russia, 1,000 in Lithuania, Romania, Argentina and the United Kingdom, 500 in Latvia and another 1,000 scattered across countries such as Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, France and Brazil. The general secretary of the World Union of Poalei Zion at the time wasBerl Locker. The World Union had a women's wing, the Women's Organization for the Pioneer Women in Palestine.[38]
In 1932, Poale Zion's world federation merged withHitahdut Olamit, the World Union ofHapoel Hatzair andZeirei Zion, to createIhud Olami, the World Union of Zionists–Socialists.[39] During this period several well-known Zionist leaders and politicians were active in Poale Zion, including Ben-Gurion, Ben-Zvi, kibbutz movement leaderYitzhak Tabenkin,Jewish Agency Executive member Shlomo Kaplansky, and future Israeli politiciansMoshe Sharett andDov Hoz.
The Holocaust-era Jewish resistance groupŻOB was formed from a coalition includingHashomer Hatzair,Dror,Bnei Akiva, theJewish Bund, various JewishCommunist groups, and both factions of Poale Zion. Poale Zion was also active in theAnti-Fascist Bloc.
Several notable Jewish resistance fighters during theHolocaust, particularly those involved in theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising, were members of Poale Zion. They include:
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After World War I,David Ben-Gurion integrated most of Poale Zion Right inPalestine into hisAhdut HaAvoda party, which becameMapai by the 1930s. The Poale Zion Left merged with the kibbutz-basedHashomer Hatzair Workers Party of Palestine and the urban-basedSocialist League of Palestine to formMapam in 1948, which in the 1990s merged with two smaller parties,Ratz andShinui, to formMeretz. In 1946, a split in Mapai led to the creation of another small party,Ahdut HaAvoda – Poale Zion, which united with Mapam in 1948. In 1954, a small group of Mapam dissidents left the party, again assuming the Ahdut HaAvoda – Poale Zion name. That party eventually became part of theAlignment in a 1965 merger with Mapai (and later includedRafi and Mapam). In 1992, the Alignment became theIsraeli Labor Party. In 2024, the Israeli Labor Party and Meretz merged to formThe Democrats.[40]
Several youth movements emerged out of Poale Zion: the MarxistHashomer Hatzair (the largest, with 70,000 members on the eve of the Holocaust), the socialistHabonim Dror, the Left Poale Zion'sYugent, and Zeirei Zion.[41]
In North America, Poale Zion founded theHeHalutz movement, theFarband andHabonim Dror, and later the Labor Zionist Organization of America, which merged with other groups into the Labor Zionist Alliance, which rebranded itself in 2007 asAmeinu. US Poale Zion published a Yiddish newspaper, theYidisher Kempfer, and an English journal,Jewish Frontier, edited byHayim Greenberg andMarie Syrkin.[42]
In Britain, Poale Zion rebranded itself in 2004 as theJewish Labour Movement.
Internationally, the Poale Zion right is represented within theWorld Zionist Organization by theWorld Labour Zionist Movement; the group "to the left" of the WLZM within the WZO is Mapam's successor, the World Union ofMeretz. Meretz succeeded Mapam as a member of theSocialist International[43] and, since 2013, is also a member of theProgressive Alliance.[44]
| Election year | Number of seats |
|---|---|
| 1917 | 0 / 767 |
Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union
| Election year | Number of seats |
|---|---|
| 1922 | 2 / 2,214 |
Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine)
| Election year | Number of seats |
|---|---|
| 1931 | 1 / 71 Poale Zion Left |
| 1944 | 21 / 173 Left Bloc (coalition ofHashomer Hatzair and Poale Zion Left) |
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