Hal Brook 1972

Institute for Palestine Studies
University of California Press
The Class Origins of Zionist Ideology

Author(s): Stephen Halbrook
Source: Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Autumn, 1972), pp. 86-110
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Institute for Palestine Studies
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THE CLASS ORIGINS
OF ZIONIST IDEOLOGY
STEPHEN HALBROOK *
A frequenttendencyofcontemporaryZionist writinghas been to minimize

the colonialist and class featuresof the Zionist movementprior to the creation
of the State of Israel. These interrelatedfeaturesneverthelessemerge clearly
in the works of the original Zionist leaders, and are very prominentin the
writingsof Theodore Herzl, founderof organized Zionism. When, forinstance,
Herzl requested Cecil Rhodes in 1902 to throwhis authoritybehind the pro-
ject forJewish settlementin Palestine, it was in these terms that his letter
presented Zionist aspirations to the English colonialist:
You are being invited to help make history.That cannot frightenyou,
nor will you laugh at it. It is not in your accustomed line; it doesn't
involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor, not Englishmen but Jews. But
had this been on your path, you would have done it by now.
How, then, do I happen to turn to you, since this is an out-of-the-way
matterfor you? How indeed? Because it is somethingcolonial.'
In addition to his willingnessto identifyZionism with the cause of white
settlerdom,a strikingtheme to be found in Herzl's writingis the orientation
of the proposed Jewish state to the requirementsof private capital. Among
his proposals was one urging the creation of a Jewish company which would
"organize trade and commerce in the new country."2This company would
be funded and controlledby Jewish financial and banking groups,who could
expect substantial returnsfortheirendeavours:
The easiest, fastest,and most certain method would be for the great
banks to found the Company. The present great financial groups could
raise the necessaryfundsin a shorttime by merelyconsultingtogether...
The credit of our great financierswould have to be placed at the service
of the National Idea...
* Dr. Stephen Halbrook is a memberof the Departmentof Philosophy,College of

Artsand Sciences,Tuskegee Institute,Alabama.
1 T. Herzl, The Complete Diariesof Theodore Herz (New York: Herzl Pressand Thomas
Yoseloff,1960), III, pp. 1194. Hereaftercited as Diaries.
2 Ludwig Lewisohn (ed.), Theodor Herzl (Cleveland: World PuD. Co, 1955), p. 252.
ZIONIST IDEOLOGY 87
The great financiers,moreover, will certainly not be asked to raise an

amount so enormous out of pure philanthropic motives; that would be
expecting too much. Rather may the promotersand stockholdersof the
Jewish Company look forward to considerable profit,and they will be
able to calculate beforehand what their chances of success are likely to
be.3
In Herzl's vision,these profitswould be astronomical: "One millionwould
produce fifteenmillions; and one billion, fifteenbillions."4 "All the immense
profitsof this speculation in land will go to the Company, forit is entitled to
such an unlimitedpremium,like any entrepreneur,in returnforhaving borne
the risk."5
It was somewhat symbolic that the original draftof The JewishStatewas
entitled An Addressto theRothschilds6 and intended for the private use of the
Rothschild family.7For the Zionist programmefromits outsetaimed at forging
an alliance of interestswith differentsections of the world's political and
economic elite. The precise manner in which this elite could expect to gain
from the process of Jewish colonization in Palestine can be best perceived
throughan examination ofthe thinkingthatformedthe basis of Zionistideology
and exercised a deep influence on the outlook of the movement's leading
figures.
PRECURSORS OF HERZL
Prior to Herzl, the most important Zionist writerwas Moses Hess who
foundedZionistideologyin RomeandJerusalem (1862). Originallyan adherent
of socialistand anarchistviews,Hess repudiatedmostof these8 and devoted
his energies to Jewish nationalism. While officialZionism was later initiated
by Theodore Herzl, virtuallythe whole theoreticalprogrammeof both
classicaland modernZionismcan be foundin Hess.
In Romeand Jerusalem,Hess develops in great detail the plans he and
Frenchimperialistwriterswere makingforthe formationof a Jewishstate
in Palestine,advocating"thefoundingofJewishcoloniesin the land of their
3 Ibid., p. 274.
4 Ibid., p. 284.
5 Ibid., p. 258.
6 ArthurHertzberg(ed.) TheZionistIdea (NY: Antheneumand the JewishPub. Soc.
of America, 1969), p. 203.
7 Lewisohn (ed.), op. Cit., p. 55; Lotta Levensohn, Outline of ZionistHistory(NY:
Scopus Pub. Co., 1941), p. 31
8 In his so-called radical days Hess had, in fact, previouslypublished a work The
EuropeanTriarchy(1841) which is an argumentfor an alliance of England, France and
Germanyto "civilize" the world. See Moses Hess, RomeAndJerusalem (NY: Bloch Pub.
Co., "The JewishBook Concern," 1918 and 1945), pp. 20-21.
88 JOURNAL OF PALESTINE STUDIES
ancestors,to which enterpriseFrance will undoubtedly lend a hand."9 After

praising the recent French incursion into Syria, he discusses the Suez
Canal and Eurasian railroad projects,which signifiedthat "our lost fatherland
[will] be rediscoveredon the road to India and China that is now being built
in the Orient. Do you still doubt that France will help the Jews to found
colonies which may extend from Suez to Jerusalem, and from the banks of
the Jordan to the Coast of the Mediterranean?" If so, Hess recommends The
NewEasternQuestion(1860) by ErnestLaharanne, who was the privatesecretary
of Napoleon III during the period of growingFrench imperialism in Syria.10
This agent of Napoleon advocated supportofJewishcolonization ofPales-
tine by "the effortsof internationalJewish bankers" or by a general subscrip-
tion paid by all Jews." He went on to clarifythe interestsEuropean imperial-
ism as a whole had in the seizure of Palestine:
What European power today would oppose the plan that theJews, united
througha Congress,should buy back theirancient fatherland?Who would
object if theJews flungto the decrepitold Turkey a fewhandfulsofgold,
and said to her: "Give me back my home and use this money to conso-
lidate the other parts of your totteringempire?"
No objections would be raised to the realization of such a plan, and Judea
would be permitted to extend its boundaries from Suez to the harbour
of Smyrna, including the entire area of the western Lebanon range....
European industryhas daily to search for new markets as an outlet for
its products. We have no time to lose. The time has arrived when it is
imperative to call the ancient nations back to life, so as to open new
highways and byways for European civilization.12
Hess wholly endorses Laharanne's reasoning, and extends the analysis
furtherin a note. Afterextolling French conquests in Egypt, Syria, and other
areas in the East, Hess writes:
After the work on the Suez Canal is completed the interestsof world
commerce will undoubtedly demand the establishment of depots and
settlementsalong the road to India and China, settlementsof such a
characteras will transformtheneglectedand anarchic stateofthe countries
lying along this road into legal and cultivated States. This can occur
only under the military protection of the European powers. Sagacious
French diplomacy has always planned to annex the Orient to the precincts
of culture. Undoubtedly, envy, which has caused the French to oppose the
liberation of Italy, will also affectthe French Oriental policy withdesires
forconquest and domination.
9 Ibid., pp. 129-30. Hess expressedhis general imperialistsympathieswith comments

like: "But the soldiersof civilization,the French, are graduallysweepingaway the domi-
nance of the barbarians' on Frenchimperialpolicies.Ibid., p. 68.
10 ArthurHertzberg(ed.), op. cit.,pp. 621-52.
11 Quoted in Hess, p. 133.
12 Ibid., pp. 135-6.
ZIONIST IDEOLOGY 89
But this was not objectionable, Hess concludes the note, because the Ideal
must be based on material interests,and anyone who argues to the contrary
is a hypocrite.'3
In the text Hess continues,addressinghimselfto Jews:
A great calling is reservedfor you: to be a living channel of communi-
cation between threecontinents.You should be the bearers of civilization
to the primitivepeople of Asia.... You should be the mediators between
Europe and farAsia, open the roads that lead to India and China - those
unknownregionswhich mustultimatelybe thrownopen to civilization.'4
"Civilization," in fact, was a euphemism for European domination
by force. The inhabitants of the regions concerned, those "wild Arabian
hordes and the African peoples" living in a land which "no one should
inherit but the Jews" would not be consulted beforehand, and the settlers
would need to be imposed upon them: "a police systemmust be established
by this [Colonizing] Society, to protect the colonists fromthe attacks of the
Bedouins.. "15
Hess wrote at a time when it appeared that France would actually settle
Jews in Palestine.'6 Why theJews? "It is to the interestof France to see that
the road leading to India and China should be settledby a people which will
be loyal to the cause of France to the end... But is there any other nation more
adapted to carry out this mission than Israel... ?"'7 Apart fromJewish
religious links with Palestine, and mutual cultural and racial affinities,
economic benefitswould accrue to both parties in the imperialist-colonialist
alliance. "For Jewish colonization on the road to India and China, thereis
no lack, eitherof Jewishlabourers or of Jewish talent and capital. Let only
the germ be planted under the protectionof the European powers," - i.e.,
othersas well as France, forHess noted proposals similar to Laharanne's by
U.S., German, and English writers8 - "and the tree of a new life will
spring forthby itselfand bear excellent fruit.""'"If the Jews, with the help
of France, should originate a mass migration of their oppressed brethren
into the Orient, it will take place only because the Jewish colonists will find
a better field for gaining a livelihood, and Jewish labour receive at least
as much legal protection as it enjoys in the Occident."20 Hess agreed that
13 Hess, op. cit., pp. 227-9.

14 Ibid., p. 139.
15 Ibid., p. 154.
16 Leonard Stein, TheBalfourDeclaration
(NY: Simon and Schuster,1961), p. 11.
17 Hess, p. 148.
18 Ibid.,pp. 132 and 142.
19 Ibid., p. 150.
20 Ibid., p. 227.
the firststep would be a company for Jewish colonization to which settlers

would pay ground rent and perhaps loan interest.21
A class analysis of the ideology propagated by Hess would reveal three
basic intereststo gain. One would be the upper bourgeoisie of the European
imperialist states, whose commercial interestswould benefit from a Jewish
state in the Orient. Anotherwas the Jewish workerswho, taking advantage of
and aiding in the conquest of Palestine, would constitutea workers'aristocracy
and receive short run privileges. A third was the Jewish bourgeoisie, who
would gain not only in a general way fromthe emigration to Palestine of the
troublesomeEast European Jews who bred real or pretended anti-Semitism
and most of whom Hess promised would emigrate,22but also in particular by
having theirinvestmentsmade safe in part by the programmeHess advocated.
For although Hess praised the working man, and sometimes made mystical
references to socialist principles, he attacked socialist revolutionaries and
defended the idea of class collaboration. "A common, native soil is a primary
condition,ifthereis to be introduced among theJews betterand more progres-
sive relations between Capital and Labour."23 In other words, he recognized
the realityof class struggleamong Jews and desired to palliate it. "On the com-
mon ground of Jewish patriotism,all Jewish classes will meet, orthodox and
progressive,rich and poor." Hess "heartily subscribed in all detail" to the
conclusions reached by a Jewish counterpartto Laharanne, one of which was
that the Palestine colonization movementwould be run by "a number of men
who possess great influenceor rule, by virtue of theirwealth, men like Monte-
fiore,Albert Cohn, Rothschild, Fould, and others... A large number of the
rich and respectedJews of all parts of the world will undoubtedlyjoin them."24
Hess was to Marx as Weizmann later was to Trotsky: all were Jewish
but the Zionists and socialists attacked each other on the question of class
versus racial struggle.Hess reversedthe Marxist view that racism was a cover
for class interestsand advocated a view of historyin which "the race struggle
is the primal one, and the class strugglesecondary."25Attackingmonogenism,
he claimed that the races are primal and essentiallydifferentand that racial
characteristicsare genetic and freeof environmentalinfluence.26He mystically
referredto "racial instinct" and "the pure German race," argued for the
21Ibid., p. 154.
22Eg., Ibid., p. 133, n. 9. The desire to divertEast European Jews to Palestine was
to assume especially large proportionsas a motive for Western middle class Zionism
towards the end of the nineteenthcenturywith the greatJewish migrationsfrom the
Russian Empire.
23 Ibid., p. 146.
24 Ibid., pp. 153-4.
25 Ibid., p. 199.
26 Ibid., pp. 162 ff.
ZIONIST IDEOLOGY 91
"Jewish cult," and saw a natural antagonism between German and Jew.27
(Apart fromdivertingattention away from the clash of class interests,this
kind of thinkingonly added coal to the fire of Gobineau, Richard Wagner,
and Georg von Schoenerer.)
Hess was not the only precursor of later Zionism. There was Rabbi
Yehudah Alkalai, who as early as 1834 proposed Jewish colonization of
Palestine and who later urged that the Jews "conquer the Holy Land by the
might of their sword." "Much of his pleading was addressed to the Jewish
notablesofthe Westernworld, men like the English financierMoses Montefiore
and the French politician Adolph Cr6mieux...'28 Similar elitism was shown
by the rich Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, whose firstexpression of Zionism
consistedof a letterin 1836 to the head of the Berlin branch of the Rothschild
family.As a representativeof the Jewish upper bourgeoisie, he saw that the
Eastern Jews were "taken care of" by persuading a group to buy land for
colonization near Jaffain 1866 and by inducing the Alliance Israelite Univer-
selle to found an agriculturalschool therein 1870.29"Alkalai, Kalischer, and
Hess are an overtureto the historyof Zionism," but in this century"Hess, in
particular,is ever more greatlyadmired."30Excepting Herzl, Hess is perhaps
the most important Zionist ideologist. (This ignores culturalZionism -as
indeed thiswhole paper does -where such figuresas Asher Ginzberg and the
poets Bialik and Tchernichovskystand out; but politicalZionism was created
by Hess and Herzl.)
HERZL
The most importantfigurein the study of classical Zionism is Theodore
Herzl, the greatest Zionist ideologist and the founderof the organized world
Zionist movement. Herzl, the son of a rich banker-broker,became a Zionist
in 1894. Believing that Zionism was in the best interestsof the Jewish upper
bourgeoisie, he attempted to woo Baron Maurice de Hirsch and, afterbeing
unsuccessful,put his hopes in the Rothschilds,to whom he addressed the first
version of The JewishState. Herzl felt that these great leaders of the Jewish
upper bourgeoisie were the logical ones to turn to, in part because theywere
already supporting colonization of Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe
in Palestine and Argentina. The class strugglesand class alliances of which
Zionism is the reflectionare revealed most comprehensivelyin The Jewish
State. In fact, the work lends itselfso well to class analysis because Herzl's
methods consisted in openly spelling out how his plans would react on each
27 Ibid., pp. 35, 50, 127, and 111.

28 Hertzberg, p. 104.
29
Ibid., pp. 109-l1.
30 Ibid., p. 32.
class involved. The followingare the class intereststo which Herzl promised
vast gains:
First, the economic interestsof the European upper bourgeoisie, which
were integral to the imperialist policies practised by the European powers.
In what is perhaps the most revealing passage of the book, Herzl writes:
"If His Majesty the Sultan were to give us Palestine, we could in return
undertake the complete management of the finances of Turkey. We should
thereforma part of a wall of defencefor Europe in Asia, an outpost of civiliza-
tion against barbarism. We should as a neutral state remain in contact with all
Europe, which would have to guarantee our existence."31Explicit here is a
triplepower alliance: a deal with the Turkish imperialistswhich would "give
us" Palestine (what the indigenous inhabitants thought was unimportant)
in exchange forJewish bourgeois management of Turkish tax exploitation;
the new state would serve as a base forthe European imperial powers against
the "barbaric" Asians, in returnfor which these powers would prop up the
Zionist colonizers. This explains why Herzl wanted the Jewish question "to
be discussed and settled by the civilized nations of the world in council" and
why "the movementwill not only be inaugurated in absolute accordance with
the law, but it can nowise be carried out withoutthe friendlyco-operation of
the interested governments,who will derive substantial benefits."32Herzl
specifically promised the European upper bourgeoisie a huge new market:
"The states would have a furtherbenefitin the enormous increase of their
export trade; for since the emigrantJews 'over there' would for a long time
to come be dependent on European products, they would necessarily have
to importthem."33
Second, the specificallyJewishupper bourgeoisie,led by theRothschilds.
A Zionist colony would benefitthem in two ways. One was that it would act
as a lhome for the Eastern Jewish emigrants who allegedly provoked anti-
Semitism, therebypreventingthe Jewish bourgeoisiefromfullyassimilating,
i.e., fromtakingtheir place as inconspicuous membersof the European ruling
classes. Besides decreasing anti-Semitismon the part of those the emigrants
competed with in the economy,the solution of theJewishupper bourgeoisie to
the problem, namely colonization, would also do a service to the non-Jewish
bourgeoisie because it meant divesting Europe of a fertilesource of revolu-
tionaries. Early in the work Herzl complains that the poor Jews "become a
revolutionaryproletariat,the corporals of everyrevolutionaryparty," and that
''we continue to produce an abundance of mediocre intellectualswho findno
outlet, and this endangers our social position as much as does our increasing
31 Lewisohn,pp. 254-5.
32
Ibid., pp. 238 and 244.
33 Ibid., p. 298.
ZIONIST IDEOLOGY 93
wealth. Educated Jewswithoutmeans are now rapidly becomingsocialists."34

Thus the desperate and the intellectualswould be the firstto go to Palestine.35
Referringto the admittedexploitationof miserableworkmenby big capitalists,
Herzl reveals his intentions: "My desire is not to agitate, but to reconcile
differences."36Herzl did not believe these interests had been reconciled
because colonization had not been extensiveenough. His object was to colonize
on a largerscale, and to transplantthe people on thisscale a powerfulidea was
necessary: '"The State Idea surely has that power."37 If the representatives
of big Jewish finance capital like de Hirsch and Rothschild initiallyfeltun-
comfortablewith such a fantasticidea, it was because they were not as sure
of its realization as the dreamer Herzl. But in retrospectit was Herzl who
had the most foresiglht.
However, it was not only for this reason that he scorned "the fear
that if the presentplan is realized, it could in any way damage propertyand
interestsnow held by Jews," and that he wrote in referenceto the rich Jews
that it "would, rather, be distinctlyto their advantage."38 For over and
over he reiteratesthe huge fortunesto be gained by Jewishbig financecapital.
Firsttherewould be theJewishCompany, patternedafterthe classic imperialist
model. "The Jewish Company is conceived partly on the model of the great
land-developmentcompanies. It mightbe called a JewishCharteredCompany.
The Jewish Company will be set up as a joint-stock company, incorporated
in England, under British laws and protection."39The company would be
controlled by the leading Jewish financierswho would be rewarded, Herzl
promised, with huge returnson investments.40Nothing would escape the
dominationofthisfinancialelite. "The JewishCompany will be the liquidating
agent forthe businessinterestsof departingJews, and will organize trade and
commerce in the new country."'4'This domination would be guaranteed by
finance capital's political control; Herzl argues for "a tight, centralized
administration"- "I incline to an aristocraticrepublic" -in short: "Politics
mustworkfromthe top down."42
A third class Herzl speaks of is composed of the capitalists who would
emigrateto Palestine,which included some upper bourgeois (excluding finance
capital) and many middle bourgeois. Besides some of the above benefitswhich
34 Ibid.,pp. 250 and 247.

35 Ibid.,p. 253.
6 Ibid., p. 284.
37 Ibid.,pp. 242-3.
38 Ibid.,pp. 241-2.
39 Ibid., p. 256.
40 Ibid., p. 284.
41 Ibid., p. 252.
42 Ibid., pp. 292-4.
would be applicable here, Herzl names others. He argues for a great new
entrepreneurialenterpriseforthese classes,which were eitherbeing forcedinto
bankruptcyby the rise of monopoly capitalism or were simplysearchingfor
bold new businessventures."Rich Jews... will be able to enjoy theirpossessions
in peace, 'over there.'If theyco-operate in carryingout thisemigrationscheme,
their capital will be rehabilitated and will have served to promote an un-
exampled undertaking." Herzl goes into great detail to prove that theprofits
of emigrantswill surelyrise. "When we bring labour to the new country,we
simultaneously create trade.... Jewish entrepreneurswill soon realize the
business prospects that the new country offers."43The colony would offer
long terminvestmentsand an exclusive national market.
The establishmentof industrieswill be promoted by a judicious system
of duties, by the supply of cheap raw material, and by the creation of a
bureau to collect and publish industrialstatistics....Industrialists will be
able to apply to centralizedlabour agencies...Partiesof workmenwill thus
be systematicallydraftedfromplace to place like a body of troops.44
The workmenreferredto would consistnot onlyofunskilledbut also skilled
'labour and even those who were formerlypettybourgeois,a class Herzl hoped
would be forced to give up their trades in the face of Zionist monopolies and
join the proletariat.45Herzl was an ideologistof the middle and especially the
upper bourgeoisies;he expressedthe interestsof the pettybourgeois littlemore
than he did the proletariat.The chronologicalorder of emigrationhe expected
was in inverseorder to the gain each respectiveclass would obtain: "those who
are now desperate will go first ["Only desperate men make good
conquerors"46],afterthem the poor, next the well-to-do, and last of all the
wealthy."47Each class would exploit, and reap the gains from,the class that
preceded it. Massive resourcesof unskilled labour "will come at firstfromthe
great reservoirsof Russia and Romania"; they would be disciplined to the
tune of not permittingthemto own fora period of years the houses they built,
of being paid in kind and not money,etc.; "the organization of all thiswill be
militaryin character,with ranks,promotions,and pensions."48
The poorest will go firstand cultivate the soil. They will constructroads,
bridges,railways,and telegraphinstallations,regulaterivers,and provide
themselveswith homesteads,all according to predeterminedplans. Their
labour will create trade, trade will create markets, and markets will
attractnew settlers-foreveryman will go voluntarily,at his own expense
43 Ibid., pp. 264-8.

44 Ibid., p. 272.
45 Ibid., p. 286.
46 Ibid., p. 302.
47 Ibid., p. 244.
48 Ibid.,pp. 260-1, and 264 and 282.
ZIONIST IDEOLOGY 95
and his own risk. The labour invested in the soil will enhance its value.
The Jews will soon perceive that a new and permanentfrontierhas been
opened up forthat spiritof enterprisewhich has heretoforebroughtthem
only hatred and obloquy.49
The nationalist and racial superstructurein TheJewishStatecertainlydoes
not obscure its class base. Nationalism and racial ideology were not simply
added to give the argumentan air of bourgeois respectability,but served very
definiteeconomic functionsin themselves.Herzl's insistenceon theJews being
"Ein Volk" ("One People") servedto obscure theJewishbourgeois exploitation
of theJewishworkingclasses as well as provided fuel forthe anti-Semiteswho
hoped to divert the working classes in general from class struggle to racial
struggle.50
Herzl of course identifiedwith Hess on the question of imperialismamong
others. As he wrote in 1899: "Who knows whether I would have dared to
issue my book if the significantworks of the German Hess and the Russian
Pinskerhad been known to me ?"51 While Herzl did not stress the imperialist
nature of Zionism at length in The JewishStatebecause it was so obvious, the
historyof therestof his lifeis thehistoryof Zionism dealing with one imperial-
ist power afteranother. Beforehis early death, Herzl had personallydealt with
the Grand Duke of Baden, the Grand Vizier of Turkey,Ferdinand of Bulgaria,
the Kaiser Wilhelm, the Sultan Abdul Hamid, Joseph Chamberlain and other
English diplomats,the Russian ministersWitte and von Plehve, Oscar Straus,
the American ambassador to Turkey, the King of Italy, and Pope Pius X.52
Zionism grew out of the historical age of European colonialism and
imperialism,and it was in this context that Herzl thought and acted. In the
early years he dealt extensivelywiththeTurkishimperialists,and amplifiedhis
proposal in The JewishStatethat the Zionists would help in a financialway to
prevent the totteringTurkish empire fromcollapsing in returnfor Palestine.
Herzl proposed that Jewish bankers fund the state debts of the Sultan, and
attempted to interestRothschild and others in the idea. At the firstZionist
49 Ibid., pp. 252-3.

50 It was significant that Herzl's classic converted Adolph Eichmann "promptly and
foreverto Zionism." For this and the manner in which the Zionists and Jewish big bourgeoisie
collaborated with Eichmann against the Jewish masses, see Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in
Jerusalem(NY: Viking Press, 1963), pp. 36-7 and generally.
51 "Zionism," in Lewisohn, pp. 324-5. Leo Pinsker's Auto-Emancipation(1882) is not
nearly as important as the work of Hess and Herzl. His solution was the same: to rid the
world of the troublesome Eastern Jews, Palestine was to be colonized; leadership would be in
the hands of the Jewish big bourgeoisie ("our greatest and best forces-men of finance, of
science, and of affairs,statesmen and publicists"), who would go through the proper czarist
channels and obtain the support of the Western governments to form the colony. Hertzberg,
pp. 196-7. His racism is particularily blatant in speaking of the "Chosen People"; "unlike the
Negroes, they belong to an advanced race ..." Ibid., p. 187.
52 Lewisohn, p. 70.
Congress in 1897 he said: "The financial help which the Jews can give to
Turkey is by no means inconsiderable and would serve to obviate many an
internal ill fromwhich the countryis now suffering."53 One of these ills was to
be the growingdiscontentoftheArabs, who wishedto be freeofthe Sultan. "Yet
the Turkish Empire was to be interestedin Jewishsettlementson thispremise:
with theJews a new and completelyloyal factorwould be introducedinto the
Near East; alnd a new loyal element would certainlyhelp to keep down the
greatest of the menaces that threatened the Imperial Government from all
sides, the menace of an Arab uprising. Therefore when Herzl, during these
negotiations,received cables fromstudentsof various oppressed nationalities
protestingagainst agreementswith a governmentwhich had just slaughtered
hundredsof thousandsof Armenians,he only observed: 'This will be usefulfor
me witl-h the Sultan.' 54 Herzl's collaborator, the wealthy businessman Max
Nordau, continued these same policies after Herzl's death in 1904; thus, at
the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905, he made "a direct offerto turn the
Zionist settlementinto a bastion for the Turkish government,against the
inhabitants of the country." In Nordau's own words, the Zionist colonists in
Palestine and Syria "will resistany attack on the authorityof the Sultan and
defendthis authoritywith all its might."55
Herzl also attemptedto interestGerman imperialismin Zionist colonies.
As early as 1895 he began wooing the empire builderBismarck,whose advice
and aid Herzl craved. "Bismarck is now thetouchstoneand cornerstoneof the
plan," he wrote.56His intermediarywith the German state was the Kaiser's
uncle, the Grand Duke of Baden, a ferventadvocate of Zionism. To him Herzl
expounded thewhiteman's burden and argued thatthe Zionistswould colonize
Palestine "as representativesof Western civilization."57 "It is clear that the
settlementof a neutral people on the shortestroad to the East can be of
immenseimportanceforthe German Orient policy. And what people is meant
by that? That people which...is compelled nearly everywhereto join the
revolutionaryparties."58 In other words, the German state had a dual in-
terestin Zionism: to preventrevolutionand create loyal colonizers.
Perhaps the most revealing activities of Herzl were his dealings with
British imperialism. To the Fourth Zionist Congress in 1900 he declared:
"England, mightyEngland, free England, with its world-embracingoutlook
54Hannah Arendt,"Zionism Reconsidered" in Michael Selzer (ed.), ZionismRecon-
sidered(NY: Macmillan, 1970), p. 236.
55 Avnery,p. 51.
56 Diaries,I, p. 126. See also I, 115-20 and II, 438.
57 Ibid.,p. 343.
58 Issuesof theMideastCrisis (NY: Merit Pub., n.d.),
Quoted in PeterBuch, Bturning
p. 9.
ZIONIST IDEOLOGY 97
rand world-embracingmilitarypower and economic interests!],will under-

stand us and our aspirations.With England as a startingpoint we may be sure
that the Zionist idea will soar furtherand higherthan ever before."59Within
a few months,he was concentratingtremendous effortson gaining British
imperialismas an ally. In 1902 he recordsin his diary: "The figuresin mychess
game now are Cecil Rhodes (with whom I am to meet afterhis returnfrom
Scotland); Roosevelt, the new President (through Gotthiel); the King of
England (throughtheBishop ofRipon); the Czar (throughGeneral von Hess);
etc."60 Herzl made several attemptsto meet with Cecil Rhodes, the conqueror
of large parts of Africa,61who advocated war as a method for keeping the
workingclass in the motherlandfromrevolting.Herzl begged Rhodes to give
Zionismtheweightof his authorityas well as to investin it,forwhich he would
"have the satisfactionof making a good profit."62This, however,turned out
to be just another abortive hope, for Rhodes died before anythingcould be
accomplished.
But Rhodes did leave the legacy of his strategyof conquest forHerzl, who
accordingly began advocating the colonization by Jews of existing British
colonial areas to act as stepping stones to Palestine itself,which the Sultan
had refusedto give him: "We would rally on Cyprus and one day go over to
Eretz Israel and take it by force."63Before long he added al-Arish and the
Sinai Peninsula to the list. October 22, 1902 foundHerzl planning withJoseph
Chamberlain, the colonial secretarywhose name is legendaryin Britishim-
perialism. Herzl recorded the conversation:
Then I came to speak about the territorywhich I wanted from England:
Cyprus, al-Arish, and the Sinai Peninsula.... He was prepared to help
if he could; he liked the Zionist idea; etc. In fact,if I could show him a
spot in the English possessionswhere there were no white people as yet,
we could talk about that.
The present inhabitants of these three countries would be made to leave,
and then the Zionists could prepare forthe attack. "Only now did he under-
stand me completely,my desireto obtain a rallyingpoint fortheJewishpeople
in the vicinityof Palestine." England would give the Zionists the lands. "In
returnshe would reap an increase in power and the gratitudeof ten million
Jews."64Chamberlain was enthusiastic,and the two, as Herzl writes,secretly
"I Lewisohn,p. 330.

60 Diaries,III, p. 1179.
61 See above, p. 86 forsome of Herzl's correspondence
to Rhodes.
62 Diaries,III, pp. 1193-4.
63 Ibid., p. 1023.
64 Ibid., IV, pp. 1360-3.
IPS - 7
agreed to conceal the fact that Herzl was planning a Jameson raid of Rhodes'
fame to conquer Palestine.65
Throughout these and othertalks,Herzl reiteratesthe identityof interests
between imperialism and Zionism, arguing that Britishsupport of his plans
would ensure pro-British fifthcolumnists as well as markets. "In some
short years the Empire would be richer by a rich colony," and, he adds, in
referenceto the Jews: "at one stroke England will get ten million secret
subjects," "ten million agents for her greatness and her influence," who
would also cater to the English market.66Afterit was found impractical to
colonize al-Arish and Sinai on a large scale, Chamberlain suggesteda colony
in Uganda, which he apparently hoped would supply English commerce and
industrywith sugar and cotton.67Even more importantwould be its role as a
base of Britishpower in rebellious East Africa.Not only had therebeen trouble
there since the protectoratebegan in 1894, which was intensifiedby the revolt
led by Mwanga in 1897, but the people were restlessin the adjacent areas:
insurrectionbegan in the Sudan also in 1897; the Kikuyu peasants of Kenya,
the forerunnersof Mau Mau, repeatedlyrebelled; and therewas some turmoil
as well as German competition in Tanzania, Rwanda and the Congo. The
conquest of East Africawas not complete until 1906, and only thenwas security
gained for such items as the investmentsof the Imperial British East Africa
Company, Britishcontrol of the lower sources of the Nile, the corridorto the
fertilecountry around Lake Victoria, the railroad line, and forced labour.
In sum, the Britishwere interestedin the possibilityof white Jews settlingin
Uganda for the same reason as they helped white South Africans to settle
there; and that is the same reason why they hoped the Zionists would at a
futuretimesettlein Palestine. And it was at Herzl's proddingthat Chamberlain
could see the role of Zionism in this light.68While Britishcolonialists had
argued in the nineteenthcenturyfor white Jewish colonization in strategic
militaryand economic areas populated by non-whites,it was now Herzl who
carried the torch. One indicator of this out of many was the letterhe wrote to
Lord Rothschild of England: "you may claim high credit fromyour govern-
ment if you strengthenEnglish influenceeast of the Mediterranean by a great
colonization of our people at a middle point of Egyptian and Indo-Persian
interests."69
Of course, Herzl could not give up the dream of Palestine even if granted
Uganda, for the onus of development was to be borne by the Eastern Jewish
65Ibid.,pp. 1368-9.
66Ibid.,pp. 1366-7.
67 Ibid., p. 1473.
68 Thus, Herzl's
promisethat a conquered Palestinewould be in the Britishsphereof
influence.Ibid.,p. 1474.
69 Ibid.,
p. 1309.
ZIONIST IDEOLOGY 99
poor, who, it was believed, could be mobilized only on a religious basis and
could be used only if the Zionist plans were associated with the so-called Holy
Land. But Uganda, as well as othercountries,could be colonized and employed
as rallying points for the final objective, the conquest of Palestine. Herzl
revealed these ambitions in a letterto Nordau in 1903:
Let us seize the opportunityofferedus to become a miniature England.
Let us begin by acquiring our own colonies. On the strengthof our
situatedbetween
colonies we shall conquer our homeland. Let the territory
Kilimanjaro and Kenya become the firstcolony of Israel.... we will estab-
lish new 'reserves of power' in Mozambique, Congo, and Tripolitania
with the help of the Portuguese,Belgians, and Italians.70
The leaders of Zionism had no orientationtowards the masses, and based
themselveson diplomacy, i.e., elitistdecisions made by big powers. In Herzl's
attitudesthiselitisttendency,and thecontemptforthemasseswhichit reflected,
expresseditselfin regard to the verysolution of the "Jewishproblem," which
Herzl believed should be resolved through an aristocraticJewishstate. This
explains why he deplored mass action on the part of the oppressed Jews of
the East-i.e., popular revolution-and, working hand in hand with the
Russian government,advocated the Zionist solution of emigrationto prevent
revolution. The Eastern Jews were notorious revolutionaries,and one of the
ultimate reasons Herzl had in creating and organizing Zionism was to
channel such tendencies.
Herzl's resortto colonization to diverttheJewishproletariatand intellec-
tuals frominsurrectionhad already been expressed in The JewishState.In an
article writtenin 1897 he reiteratedthis by pointing out that "the Jews will
serve as volatile revolutionarymaterial just as long as the Jewish Question is
not solved along lines suggested by us."'71 Both Herzl and Nordau repeated
thissame idea a fewweeks later at the FirstZionist Congressas well as succeed-
ing congresses.72The clearest revelationof Zionism as a counter-revolutionary,
Jewish as well as non-Jewishbourgeois ideology, came with Herzl's dealings
with the anti-Semitic czarist ministersWitte and von Plehve, who organized
the Kishinev pogromsin 1902. It was withthe proposal of turningthe exploited
Jews fromrevolution that Herzl went to see von Plehve in 1903.73Witte and
von Plehve also wanted theJews to emigrateto preventrevolution,and Herzl
made a secretagreementto use Zionism to co-optJewishrevolutionariesin return
forczarist support of Zionist colonization in Palestine. Von Plehve wanted to
70 A. Chouraqui, TheodoreHerzl, ed. du Seuil, Paris, 1960, pp. 310-1; as quoted in

Lobel, "Palestineand theJews,"in Ahmad El Kodsy and Eli Lobel The Arab Worldand Israel
(NY: MonthlyReview Press,1970), p. 116.
71 JosephAdler, The Herzl Paradox (NY: Hadrian Press and Herzl Press, 1962), p. 33.
72 Thus Hertzberg,p. 240 and Lewisohn,p. 319.
73 Hertzberg,pp. 48-9.
get rid of all Jews but the bourgeois ones ;74 his part of the deal was to sanction
mass migration,to pressure the Sultan, and to aid in the establishmentof a
Russian branch of theJewish Colonial Trust Company.75 The czarist govern-
ment agreed to support Zionism "provided it retains the quiet and lawful
character which has hithertodistinguished it."76 A few days after his visit
Herzl wroteto von Plehve that "if a settlementof theJewishpeople took place
in Palestine,theradical elementswould be forcedto take partin the movement...
The frustrationof these hopes would upset the whole situation... the revolu-
tionaryparties would gain everythingthat Zionism, representedby my friends
and me, lost."77 In short,a central element of Zionist ideology was counter-
revolution,and one of its concernswas to protectthe power of theJewish and
non-Jewishupper and middle bourgeoisiesall over the world and particularly
in Russia.
This certainlyholds in bold reliefHertzberg's admission in referenceto
the conflictbetween theJewish bourgeoisie (allied with the religiousscholars)
and the masses: "this too little studied class war is a root cause of much of
modern Jewish historyand the tensions that resulted from it have not yet
vanished."78 This conflictbecame increasinglyintensifiedafterthe birth of a
Jewishproletariatin the East in the beginningof the nineteenthcentury.After
the firstthree quarters of that century this class became more and more
destitute,and its ranks were joined by the Jewish petty bourgeoisie, which
could not endure the competitionto which its small artisan type industries
which produced consumers' goods were subjected. Because of such economic
factorsas well as the factsthat theJews had to endure oppression as a special
minority,that there was a large Jewish intelligentsia,and that Jews were
highlyurbanized, there was a larger proportionofJews than non-Jewsin the
revolutionaryparties. Rather than believe the Zionist myththatgentileshave
anti-Semitic genes, these revolutionaries knew that the czarist government
was the main instigatorof anti-Semitismand were sure that the masses would
have no incentive to fall for anti-Semitismonce they had all togetherseized
the means of production from the landlords and big capitalists, thereby
eliminating the economic competition which divided Jews from non-Jews.
This pointed to one objective: the revolutionary overthrow of the czar.
It was in the class interestof the Jewish and non-Jewishworkers,peasants,
petty bourgeoisie, and intellectuals to rise up together and crush their
oppressors.
74 Diaries,IV, p. 1535.
75 Lewisohn,p. 81.
76 Ibid., p. 340.
77 Lobel,p. 115.
ZIONIST IDEOLOGY 101
Particularlyafter1881 Jews began large scale migrationwestward,which

alarmed the Jewish bourgeoisie there. "The well-known,and soon notorious,
participation ofJews in preparingfora revolutionin Russia was, if anything,
even morefrightening to thewesternJewishbourgeoisie"79-not only because
of the anti-Semitism it supposedly prompted but also because they would
stand to lose by a popular revolution in Russia. It has been seen that Herzl
consciously used Zionism to serve the interestsof the Jewish bourgeoisie in
thisconnection. Zionism developed out of many factorsin the concretecondi-
tions of the nineteenthcentury,factorswhich included not only the colonialist
imperative but also the perhaps less obvious intereston the part of the ruling
classes to nip revolutionin the bud. Zionism performedthis functionwell in
some cases; for instance, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, originally an adherent of the
Narodniks and the bombthrowingNihilists,was converted by Zionist rhetoric,
and eventually ended up in Palestine.80 A similar process happened with
Moshe Leib Lilienblum, who exchanged belief in class strugglefor a role as
one of Herzl's most active supporters in Russia.81 Another example was
Joseph Hayyim Brenner. Nevertheless,the Jewish masses were not converted
by Zionism, and only a veryfewbelieved in the words of men like Leo Pinsker.
An insignificantnumber went to Palestine, and theywere saved fromcollapse
oiily by Rothschild's efforts.82
Zionism, then,did not spring fromthe Jewishmasses: initially sponsored
mainly by non-Jewishagents of imperialism,83it was developed by represen-
tativesof the bourgeoisie such as Herzl. It was an ideology importedfromthe
West,whereJews tended to be merchantsor bankers,into the East, where the
great majorityofJewswere manual workers.Far fromarisingfromthe depths
of the people, Zionism was an ideological tool of the Western bourgeois Jews
in theirdealings with the East, and it is no accident that"the great majorityof
Eastern European Jews were, up to the outbreak of the second World War,
opposed to Zionism.... The most fanatical enemies of Zionism were precisely
the workers,those who spoke Yiddish, those who considered themselvesJews;
they were the most determinedopponents of the idea of an emigration from
Eastern Europe to Palestine... Among the Jews of Eastern Europe the feeling
that only the overthrowof Tsardom by way of revolution could relieve the
79 Ibid., p. 41.
80 Ibid., pp. 159-60.
81 Ibid., pp. 167-8; see also 172-4.
82 Hans Kohn,
"Zion and the Jewish National Idea," in Selzer, p. 182.
83
Apart from men like Laharanne quoted earlier, early pre-Zionist proponents of
Jewish colonization in Palestine included Lord Palmerston and Lord Shaftesbury in 1840,
and many British enthusiasts, such as Sir Laurence Oliphant. See, e.g., Levensohn, p. 62;
Uri Avnery, Israel WithoutZionists (Lor don: Macmillan, 1968), pp. 56-57; Alan Taylor,
"Zionism and Jewish History," Journalof PalestineStudies,I, 2 (Winter 1972), pp. 38-39.
discriminationand oppression to which they were subjected, became almost

universal; and Jews played a very prominentpart in the revolutionarymove-
ment."84 Thus there were Trotsky and Rosa Luxemburg, Kamenev and
Zinoviev, Martov and Dan, and many less well known socialists, anarchists,
and populistsofvarious types.The Jewishworkingclasses were not convertedto
Zionism; they recognized where their long run interestslay. They supported
the Bolsheviks,the S.R.s, or at least the Bund, all of which saw Zionism as a
bourgeois ideology: fewindeed lent theirsanction to a movementthat worked
with the czar and his pogrom-instigatorsto preventrevolution.85
The Eastern Jews who migrated to the West also opposed Zionism and
many chose the revolutionarypath in the convictionthat both anti-Semitism
and Zionism divertedpettybourgeois and workeranti-capitalistconsciousness
away from revolution. A detailed history of the revolutionary activities
of theJewish emigrantsin London who worked in sweatshops or were unem-
ployed is given in the autobiographyofRudolph Rocker, who was the dominat-
ing figureamong the masses of these workersin the years 1893-1917.86Rocker
discussesthe activitiesof Aaron Lieberman, who in the early seventiesbecame
the firstto organizeJewishworkersin both Russia and England. In a manifesto
in Hebrew he wrote: "Human brotherhoodknows no division according to
nations and races; it knows only useful workersand harmfulexploiters." To
theJewishupper bourgeoisie he implored: "It is your fault that we have been
exposed to calumny. International speculators, who have dragged our name
throughthe mud, you do not belong to us!" He agitated forclass war against
them as well as against the rabbis who defended them by preaching submis-
sion.87 He laid the rudimentsfor the work of Rocker, under whose guidance
a large Jewishtrade union movementwas organized in the East End. Everyone
of the unions was organized by the ceaseless initiativeof theJewishanarchists.88
"The mass meetings of the Federation of Jewish Anarchists in the Great
Assembly Hall in Mile End and in the wonderland in Whitechapel were
attended by thousands of people, five,six, seven thousand."89
The WesternJewishbourgeoisie viewed such developmentswith horror,
and their spokesmen in the synagogues and the press constantlydenounced
these rebellious class enemies. It was no wonder that Herzl declared at the
84 Issac Deutscher, The Non-Jezvish Jew and OtherEssays (London: Oxford University
Press, 1968), pp. 61 and 66-7.
85 On the extreme hostility between the Bund and the Zionists, see Richard J.H.
Gottheil, Zionism (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1914), pp. 172-6.
86 See particularily the epilogue by Sam Dreen, who was one of these emigrants, in
Rocker, The London Years (London: Robert Anscombe and Co., 1956), p. 359.
87 Ibid., pp. 113-9.
88 Ibid., p. 28.
89 Ibid., p. 53. In the US the Jewish anarchist Emma Goldman was having comparable
successes agitating the Jewish emigrants.
Fourth Zionist Congress in 1900 that "our brethrenhere would fear fortheir
privileged economic condition if this countrywere to become a refugeforour
desperate Jews."90 Zionism was born in the midst of this class war between
theJewishbourgeoisieand proletariatand "the Zionistshad no followingof any
consequence at that time in the Jewish workingclass movement."9' Further-
more, the anti-Zionist tradition among the whole Jewish proletariat in the
West continued formany years.92
So-called Labour Zionism,founded by Syrkin,Aaron David Gordon, and
especially Ber Borochov, never posed a real thirdchoice in the place of revo-
lution or (bourgeois) Zionism. It accepted all the racial elementsof Zionism
proper, and can only be considered as a special ideology within the Zionist
contextto meet the particular interestsof the membersof the middle and petty
bourgeoisies and the labour aristocracywho personallycarryout the work of
colonization. A self-avowed Marxist, Borochov strongly attacked Lenin,
anarchism,and even the Bund. Herzl was the "unrecognized ancestor" of the
Marxist school of Zionism; Borochov "proceeded frompremises expressedin
consciouslyproletarian,socialist terminology, but he really adds up to the same
thing."93In his classic Our Platform(1906), Borochov writes that "the Jewish
middle and petty bourgeoisie, with no territoryand no market of its own, is
powerless against" the menace of national competition- this was the age of
monopolization and the fall of the pettybourgeoisie to the ranks of the prole-
tariat. "Lacking any means of support in their strugglefor a market, they
tend to speak of an independentpolitical existenceof a Jewishstate where they
would play a leading political role."94
In other words, just as the Jewish upper bourgeoisie needed a foreign
market (e.g., forthe export of capital), theJewish middle bourgeoisie needed
a domestic market. They would have theirown national territory,cheap raw
materials, vast resourcesof labour (the Eastern Jews), and profitableinvest-
ments.In thissituationthe pettybourgeois could perhaps be kept fromhaving
to join the workingclass, but it is not hard to recognize that in this specific
area the middle bourgeoisie would be the chief beneficiary.Finally, Jewish
labour would be able to escape the competition of non-Jewishworkers,who
were willing to work for lower wages, and to forma workers' aristocracyin
Palestine, where they would suppress competition from Arab labour.
Following the example used in the imperialistcountries,theJewishbourgeoisie
would be perfectlywilling to grantJewish workersprivileges so as to make
90 Lobel, p. 111.
91 by theZionistwhointroducesRocker'sbook,p. 29.
Rocker,p. 163. This is confirmed
92 Thus Stein, p. 69.
93 Hertzberg,p. 50.
94 Ibid.,pp. 361-3.
them loyal. Zionism operated on a class alliance whereby each Jewish class
would have the rightto exploit the one beneath it; as it turnedout in practice,
only the Arab workerswould be at the bottom. It was thus possible for the
backbone of Zionist colonization to proceed fromthe effortsofJewishworkers.
The practitioners of Labour Zionism have certainly assisted in the
establishment of this framework.The firstthing done by Ben Gurion, a
Labour Zionist par excellence, when he went to Palestine in 1906, was to
organize an armed force to protectJewish colonies. In 1922 he formed the
Histadruth, a racist trade union organization (Arabs were excluded)
which was modelled on Herzl's plans. It was due to policies such as thisthat
Karl Kautsky could write of Zionist colonization as early as 1921: "Little
more attentionwas paid to the Arabs than was paid to the Indians in North
America."95
One functionLabour Zionism played was to co-opt Jewish workersfrom
revolutionarypolitics and to guide them in the interestsof the Jewish upper
bourgeoisie,which, in spite of Borochov's denials, was one of the major classes
the ideology of Zionism served. It was no accident that Zionist colonization
really was initiated by Jewish big finance capitalists. In 1882 Rabbi Samuel
Mohilever convertedBaron Edmond de Rothschild to the idea that poor Jews
should be settledin Palestine; "Rothschild remained, until his death in 1934,
the greatest single benefactor of the Zionist work there."96 The financial
magnates had both general class aims (prevent revolution,reduce anti-Semi-
tism so they could be inconspicuous members of the European ruling classes,
etc.) as well as particular financial goals in calling for and supporting the
emigrationor deportationofJewishworkersfromthe East and even the West.
In both Europe and Russia the Rothschildshad vast investments;consequently
theystood to lose by popular revolutionin eitherarea. Furthermore,theJewish
masses interferedwith their investmentactivities,especially in the financial
marketof Russia, where the czarist state used the Russian Jews to pressurethe
Jewish bankers. This was particularly a problem from 1891, when huge
profitableloans were being made by the Rothschilds to Russia at a time when
they could less than ever affordinterferencearising fromthe Eastern Jews.97
It is not surprisingthat in the same year the Jewish Colonization Society
(ICA) was formedby the financierBaron de Hirsch; it gave a huge endowment
to settle Eastern Jews in safe, faraway lands like Argentina, which supple-
mented the settling Rothschild had already been carrying out in Palestine.
They were perfectlywilling to deal with their class allies representedby the
95 Kautsky,AretheJewsa Race? (NY: InternationalPublishers,1926), p. 209.

96 Hertzberg,p. 401; see also p. 403.
97 Cf. Count Egon Caesar Corti, TheReignoftheHouseofRothschild
(NY: Cosmopolitan
Book Corp., 1928), II, pp. 412-3; Lobel, pp. 106-10.
czarist state in order to enhance theiralready legendarywealth; they had no

qualms about sacrificingthe interestsof the Jewish masses for profit.War-
shawsky, the noted Russian Jewish capitalist, pretended that the czar was
really tolerant and that all the trouble stemmed fromthe "ignorance of the
Jewishmasses"; de Hirsch offeredfifty million francsto "educate" theseJews,
"provided the schools would be under the administration of the Russian
government."98
Colonization would not only solve the Jewish problem but also would
make a profitable venture for the Jewish financial magnates. Rothschild
"wished to amalgamate the emigrationof East EuropeanJews withthe colonial
interestsof French imperialism," and "used his financialpower in the Ottoman
treasuryin order to prepare a new sphere of influencefor French interests,
employingJewish immigrantsas settlers."99He was accused of "playing a
political game for France," and his own colonists,who oftenrevolted against
his autocratic administrationwhich dictated what crops to grow (all of which
Rothschild bought), charged him with "seeking to enslave the colonists and
to extortprofitsforhimself."100He investedmillionsof francsin the colonies,
which he regarded as his personal possessions;thathe turnedover management
of his huge settlementsto the ICA in 1899 and to the PalestineJewish Coloni-
zation Association afterWorld War I changed nothing,for he continued to
dictate to theJewishsettlersbehind the scenes.101
It is clear that Zionism suited the needs of the Jewishupper bourgeoisie,
and it was natural that Herzl should appeal firstto de Hirsch and Rothschild
to help him found a Jewish state. True, theyinitiallyrejected someof Herzl's
considerationson the formationof this state. Neverthelessone findsin Roth-
schild's colonization schemes the rudimentsof the exclusive racist state which
later became Israel. He drove the fellahinofftheirland, and became indignant
when he suspected that one of his colonies hired Arab labour.102"He even
made sure that the colonies he bought clustered strategicallyacross Judea,
Samaria and Galilea, to serve as strongholdsin time of need. The time of need
came, four decades later. ...The Arab armies can deem themselveslucky that
there weren't more such non-Zionists as he.'103 While initially he was re-
luctant to support the idea of a Jewish state, later Rothschild declared "that
he was convertedto political Zionism and that he regretshis failureto agree to
98 David Druck,BaronEdmond
Rothschild
(NY: HebrewMonotypePress,1829),p. 112.
99 Israeli Socialist Organization,"The Other Israel" (1966) in John Gerassi (ed.),
TheComing oftheNewInternational (NY: WorldPub., Co., 1971), pp. 218-9.
100Druck,,pp. 20 and 178-9; Litvinoff,To theHouseof theirFathers(NY: Frederick
A. Praeger, 1965), p. 120.
101Druck,pp. 185-6; Levensohn,pp. 23-6.
102 Israeli SocialistOrganization,p. 219.
103 FredericMorton,TheRothschilds (NY: Atheneum,1962),p. 207.
Herzl's plans.''l04 But why did Baron Edmond and many other membersof
the Jewish bourgeoisie fail to support political Zionism fullyprior to World
War I, especiallyifZionism was the ideologyin best accord withtheirinterests?
The main reason was simply that they originallyhad unfounded doubts
about how much Zionism was reallyin theirinterests.They had to be convinced
thatZionism did not mean to displace theJewishupper bourgeoisieto an under-
developed countrywhere they would lose their places as top members of the
European ruling classes and the opportunitiesfor mammoth investmentsthis
position yielded. To dispel this illusion, Zionist advocates emphasized again
and again that their "final solution" was mainly for the Eastern masses and
that theJewishbourgeoisiewould not be pressuredto emigrateto Palestine.'05
Another reason was that these rentiersand coupon clippers were afraid to
take risksthat entailed leaps in the dark (reflectedin the Rothschilds' emphasis
on investingin safe governmentsecurities), as the immediate formationof a
Jewish state entailed. But by World War I this had changed. The World
Zionist Organization, led by the Jewish bourgeoisie, had not only endured
two decades of survival but had become powerful. Externally, the world's
major imperialistpower had promised its full support to Zionism, leaving the
Jewish upper bourgeoisie with no doubts at all. Consequently the House of
Rothschildled the way in clamouringforthe fullZionist programme,exerting
all the pressure that the world's most powerful clique of finance capitalists
could muster.'06 Zionism was recognized by the Rothschilds as their own
ideology. "Without me, Zionism wouldn't have succeeded," said Baron
Edmond Rothschild, "but without Zionism my work would have been
struck to death.'')07
That Zionism expressed the interestsofJewishfinancecapital headed by
the Rothschildsdid not negate the fact that Zionism also was an ideology of
world imperialism. Besides the Jewish big finance capitalists and the Jewish
upper and middle bourgeoisie representingindustrial capital who would
operate in their particular market, the Jewish and non-Jewishbourgeoisie
involved in industry and in merchandise in the old country would also
gain by colonization of Palestine, via new markets,raw material sources, etc.
Zionist colonialism has thereforealways been tied most stronglyto world
imperialism, which was led by Britain until World War II. From the
beginningtheJewishsettlementswere bound economically to Britain,growing
oranges and barley for the British market and importing cotton and iron
goods fromBritain.
104 Druck,p. 154.

105 E.g., Hertzberg, p. 85.
106 Cf. Stein,pp. 182-6 and 402.
107 Morton, p. 205.
All the great imperialistpowersfavouredZionism, but that Britishimper-

ialism was finallychosen as the foremostally of Zionism was due in part to
the role played by Chaim Weizmann, the strong man of the world Zionist
movementfordecades. As early as the age of twelve Weizmann believed that
Britishimperialism would create the Zionist state.'08The manner in which he
clashed as a studentin 1898 with Lenin, Plekhanov, and "the arrogant Trot-
sky"'09 was a prelude to his lifelong battle against revolution to preserve
the power of theJewish and non-Jewishbourgeoisie. His best friendswere top
Britishofficersand politicians and richJews."10A chemist,he penetrated this
elite by agreeing with Churchill to make 30,000 tons of aceton forexplosivesin
the firstwar of competingimperialisms,a job he repeated forthe US as well
as Britainin the second such war.111He referredto "the Britishwhose Empire
is built on moral principles" and took as his colonizing model the French in
Tunisia."12 During World War I, Weizmann, Justice Brandeis (who later
convinced PresidentWilson that Zionism was in the interestsof US imperial-
ism), and othersformeda British-Palestinecommittee"under whose auspices
a weekly journal, Palestine,was published in order to make clear what
advantages would accrue to Great Britain's imperial interestsfromsupport of
Zionist aims.'"113 A frequent contributorto the journal was the military
expert for the Guardian,Herbert Sidebotham, who argued in these terms:
The only possible colonistsof Palestine are theJews. Only theycan build
up in the Mediterranean a new domination associated with this country
fromthe outset in Imperial work, at once a protection against the alien
East and a mediator between it and us, a civilization distinctfromours
yet imbued with our political ideas... [We believe:] That the buffer-state
in Southern Syria might be expected to workwithequal effectiveness as in
India, and with greater smoothness.That a buffer-statein Syria would
remove many of the stock objections to an extension of our militarylia-
became a dominion or genuine colony
bilities and that if this buffer-state
it would be a source of great strengthto us in the Eastern Mediterranean,
both politicallyand ultimatelymilitarily;and finallythat the onlypossible
colonizers on a great and worthyscale in Palestine are the Jews.114
The other imperialist powers also recognized that Zionism would be in
their interests.Kurt Blumenfeld,a high Zionist leader in the Berlin Central
108Isaiah Berlin,Chaim Weizmann(NY: Farrar,Straus and Cudahy, 1958), pp. 41-2.

109 qf Chaim Weizmann (Philadelphia: The Jewish
Trial and Error: The Auttobiography
PublicationSocietyofAmerica, 1949), pp. 50-1.
10 E.g., Berlin, pp. 19 and 51-3.
1"I Litvinoff,p. 120; Stein,pp. 117-8.
112 Hertzberg,p. 585; Trial and Error,pp. 191 and 244.
113 Levensohn, p. 63.
114 Sidebotham,England and Palestine (London: Constable and Co., 1918), p. 186. See
also Stein,pp. 135 and 563.
Office,argued in 1915 in these terms:"The Jews... were the natural intermed-

iaries between Germany and the East, and the Jews who settled in Palestine
would thusforma bastion of German influencein thatpart of the world. Given
theirchance, theycould be relied upon to spread German culture,and promote
German economic penetration, throughout the Turkish Empire." German
propaganda began advocating Zionism.115Karl Ballod in his Paldstinaraised
Zionist hopes by showing "the advantages offeredby Zionism to the Central
Powers.'"116 Even afterthe Britishmade the BalfourDeclaration, both German
and Austrianforeignofficescontinued to woo Zionism.117The French govern-
ment too sympathized with Zionism, and proposed to found a Jewish state in
al-Hasa in Arabia in spite of its promise of Arab liberation.118
To rally the Arabs to their side so as to obtain the economic and other
strategicadvantages theywanted, Britishimperialism,by correspondencesuch
as the Hussein-McMahon agreements,and throughagitatorslike "Lawrence
of Arabia," promised the Arabs national independence.119The British were
soon reneging on their previous agreementwith the Arabs through the secret
Sykes-Picot agreement wherein France and Britain decided to partition and
rule some ofthe same areas theyhad promisedliberationto,includingPalestine.
The Bolshevikspublished this along with the other secret treaties they found
in the czar's vaults, therebyexposing the imperialist plans. But the deceptive
reassurances of the British lulled the Arabs, who helped them to defeat
the Turks.
The Balfour Declaration revealed the true plans of British imperialism
in Palestine: the creation of a Zionist state. As the textsays, it is a "declaration
of sympathywithJewishZionist aspirations," which can only indicate that the
imperialists and the Zionists had the same interests.The firstphrase in the
text bears this out, in spite of the fact that "homeland" was substitutedfor
"state" in the finaldraft to deceive the Arabs. The second phrase, promising
the continued existenceof "the civil and religiousrightsof existingnon-Jewish
communitiesin Palestine," did not appear in Balfour's original draftof August
1917, indicatingthat it was added to lend a flavourof respectabilityof no more
real value than the earlier promises of Arab national liberation; conspicuous
forits lack of mentionof any national rightsof the Arabs, the phrase had to be
115 Stein, pp. 211-3 and 216.

116 Kautsky,pp. 195 and 210.
117 Litvinoff,p. 136; Levensohn,p. 65.
118
See Montagu's secret memorandum,British Record Office, Cab. No. 24/28,
reprinted in Edwin Montagu and theBalfour Declaration (NY: Arab League, n.d.), p. 17.
119Lawrence later wrote: "I was rousingthe Arabs on false pretences....I exploited
theirhighestideals and made theirlove of freedomone more tool to make England win."
Cf. R. Palme Dutt, "Whitherthe Middle East?" LabourMonthly, July 1967, pp. 289 and
292-3.
added to quieten the Arabs, who constituted91 % of the population, as much

as possible. The third phrase, which promised the continued existence of
"the rightsand political status enjoyed by Jews in any othercountry," was a
reassurance to the Jewish middle class who had feared that the existence of
Zionism would pressurethem to leave the countrieswhere theypresentlyheld
privilegedpositions.Nor was thisfact the onlyindicatorof thebourgeoisnature
of Zionism: perhaps even more significantwas that the Declaration was
addressed to Lord Lionel Rothschild, who was then the high priest of big
Jewishfinancecapital (the English Rothschildsby now were the mostimportant
of all branches of the House of Rothschild). 20 Condemning this veiled
attempt to annex Palestine, a Jewish worker at the British Socialist Party
conferenceat Easter, 1918 exclaimed: "The conversion of Palestine into a
Jewish State would mean that the Jews would be used as a tool by the
capitalists all over the world."121
One motive of the advocates of Zionism was to preventrevolution,and
thisreappears in the case of the Balfour Declaration, which was issued between
the February and October Revolutions. As one old Zionist explains it:
Considering how Czarist Russia [which had been friendlyto Zionism,
especially from 1915] had treated its Jews, it is a little surprisingthat it
should have struckBalfour as an 'extraordinaryphenomenon' that many
Jews were active, and some were conspicuous,in the revolutionarymove-
ments. But Balfour's remarkthat 'these are the reasons which make you
and me such ardent Zionists,' is significant.The eventsof 1917 made it
natural to turn to Zionism as a stabilizingforcein theJewishworld, and
to value it forits power, if given its chance, to provide an antidote to the
destructivemania of Jews in rebellion against their lot by offeringthem
a healthy outlet for their frustratedenergies. This was part of the case
forZionism as presented at the Peace Conferenceby Weizmann, who in
February 1919 told the Council of Ten that 'the solution proposed by the
Zionist Organization was the only one which would in the long run bring
peace and at the same time transformJewish energyinto a constructive
forceinsteadofitsbeingdissipatedin destructivetendenciesor bitterness.'122
This rhetoricabout revolution being destructivewas somewhat ironical
coming froma man who was crucial in making thousands of tons of explosives
which were used in World War I. In fact, one reason the Zionists hated the
Bolsheviks so much was because the latter favouredwithdrawal fromthe im-
perialist war, peace without annexations, and national self-determination,
which would make it impossible for the Zionists to take Palestine from the
Arabs.123
120 Corti,p. 414.

121
AndrewRothstein,"Wars and Principles,"Labour AIonthly,Aug. 1967, p. 342.
122 Stein, pp. 161-2.
123 Ibid.,p. 340.
By the timeof the BalfourDeclaration, all the essentialsof Zionist ideology

had been formed,including its strategyand even many tactical guidelines.
With the war at an end, all that remained forthe Britishimperialistsand their
Zionist allies to do was to carryout theirplans. The League of Victors granted
in the Mandate the rightof unlimited economic exploitationto the Britishand
the Zionist Organization. The massive inflowofJewishprivate capital began,
and it was profitablyinvested.'24The Zionist Socialists drove the Arabs from
the labour market.125No class alliance could be forged between the Arab
workersand peasants and the Zionist workersfor the same reason that the
original white settlersof North America refusedto ally with the native Ameri-
cans. Each time the Arab masses rose in protestor in rebellion, in 1920-1,
1929, 1933, and 1935-9, the privileged Jewish working class sided with the
imperialists. The history of Zionism in the Arab world had already been
predetermined, although the Zionist leadership of the British Mandate
period had to wait until 1948 before Herzl's vision could be fulfilled.
124 E.g., Hans Kohn, Nationalism and Imperialismin the Hither East (London: George
Routhledgeand Sons, 1932), p. 152.

125 The Zionists neverthelessused Arabs to carryout tasks such as drainingswamps
which presentedhealth risksfor Jews. See Jessie Sampter (ed.), Modern Palestine (NY:
Hadassah, The Women's ZionistOrganizationofAmerica,1933), p. 109.

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Institute for Palestine Studies

University of California Press

The Class Origins of Zionist Ideology

A frequenttendencyofcontemporaryZionist writinghas been to minimize

* Dr. Stephen Halbrook is a memberof the Departmentof Philosophy,College of

The great financiers,moreover, will certainly not be asked to raise an

ancestors,to which enterpriseFrance will undoubtedly lend a hand."9 After

9 Ibid., pp. 129-30. Hess expressedhis general imperialistsympathieswith comments

13 Hess, op. cit., pp. 227-9.

the firststep would be a company for Jewish colonization to which settlers

27 Ibid., pp. 35, 50, 127, and 111.

wealth. Educated Jewswithoutmeans are now rapidly becomingsocialists."34

34 Ibid.,pp. 250 and 247.

43 Ibid., pp. 264-8.

49 Ibid., pp. 252-3.

rand world-embracingmilitarypower and economic interests!],will under-

"I Lewisohn,p. 330.

70 A. Chouraqui, TheodoreHerzl, ed. du Seuil, Paris, 1960, pp. 310-1; as quoted in

Particularlyafter1881 Jews began large scale migrationwestward,which

discriminationand oppression to which they were subjected, became almost

successes agitating the Jewish emigrants.

95 Kautsky,AretheJewsa Race? (NY: InternationalPublishers,1926), p. 209.

czarist state in order to enhance theiralready legendarywealth; they had no

104 Druck,p. 154.

All the great imperialistpowersfavouredZionism, but that Britishimper-

108Isaiah Berlin,Chaim Weizmann(NY: Farrar,Straus and Cudahy, 1958), pp. 41-2.

Office,argued in 1915 in these terms:"The Jews... were the natural intermed-

115 Stein, pp. 211-3 and 216.

added to quieten the Arabs, who constituted91 % of the population, as much

120 Corti,p. 414.

By the timeof the BalfourDeclaration, all the essentialsof Zionist ideology

Routhledgeand Sons, 1932), p. 152.

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