Judge Mack, in his keynote address before the Z. O. A. Reorganization Conference in Washington Sunday, declared:
"We have gathered together here today to take counsel with one another as members of the Zionist Organization of America, how best to formulare and to effectuate those changes in the administration and in the activities of that organization that the Zionist ideals in and for Palestine may the more speedily be realized.
"The members of the Z. O. A. can make their views and wishes effective only at the annual convention through their delegates thereto to be elected. If in recent years the administration of the Z. O. A. especially in its pulications had been conducted impartially with a view to securing a full and frank discussion of all problems of interest to the members, this conference, preliminary to the convention, might have been unnecessary; the ever growing discontent might then have found expression; the means of remedying the conditions that gave rise to it might have been brought to the attention of the members, and the basic objectives of our movement might have found formulation.
"The primary essential to that frank discussion which alone can effectuate the much needed reforms in our work is a convention in June of wisely selected but uninstructed delegates, delegates not handpicked by this or that official of the organization pledged to him and to his personal advancement but men and women free from any ties except those of conscience and the welfare of Zionism. Texas has already set the example in its recent State gathering. We must see to it that every State and district is awakened to an appreciation of this fundamental need.
"We have not been called here to instigate discontent with the present administration. The existing sentiment is deep and wide enough to require no stimulation; it found expression in no uncertain terms a week ago at Hadassah’s conference. And here, as there, you will in the course of these sessions hear the details that caused this shout of discontent.
"From us, as from them, must come proposals for such changes as will restore the confident spirit of our people. To carry through any real reforms will, however, require incessant work to the end that the remedies may become known to the rank and file of Zionists, the men and women by whose votes the convention delegates will be chosen; work that those delegates may be fitly selected. Contempt for existing conditions must no longer lead to abstention from organization, if it does, the machinery of petty politics and selfish ambitions will control.
"Personally I have come out slowly and painfully to the conclusion that it is my duty to participate so far as my other duties permit it, in a struggie such as this. For several years after the Cleveland 1921 convention. I believed that my associates and I could best serve the Zionist cause, which is the cause of the Jewish people and of Palestine, by complete abstention from any interference in the administration of the Zionist Organization. We had stood for principles which we believed were right, principles which. I say it almost regretfully, have proven by the sad march of events, to have been right We were outvoted; other principles prevailed. It was but right that those who won should be allowed to go ahead unhampered. We who remained Zionists but could not share in the Z. O. A. work, attempted to find other lines for our Zionist activities. But as our interest is in the principles and their realization in action, not in persons or personal ambitions, we gladly surrendered even these activities when others capable of enlisting larger forces were eagerly ready to take over and carry out our proposals.
"In the course of time it seemed to many, though not to all of us, that the Zionist Organization of America which had become the major partner of the World Zionist Organization was yielding some of its heresies and adopting what we had believed to be the sound policies. Thereupon the cohesion of our group was broken and more of them, some hesitatingly, some earnestly, joined in the daily tasks of the Z. O. A. Thus ended in 1924, some of the conflicts of 1921.
"From about the beginning of 1926 however, dissatisfaction began to spread, and that too not so much through members of the old opposition who for the most part were not particularly well informed, as primarily through staunch supporters of the present administration. Their criticism and demands found an echo in Palestine and other lands. Throughout the United States, the cry for a change awakened ever increasing numbers of old time Zionists.
"The discontent was not due primarily to the appreciation of the correctness of the principles which some of us advocated in 1921,–but to dissatisfaction in Israel with the administration’s method of conducting its own preferred policies. It was felt that the policy pursued in Palestine was spelling disaster there, and it was foreseen that the Palestinian ?anger would ## the American movement to the point of so weakening the response to the public appeal for funds as further to imperil the Palestine situation.
"Further, it was entirely clear that mounting facilities in America necessarily deprived Palestine of proper support; that wrong, and at times an-authorized financial operations here in relation to Palestinian matters were indeed procally the primary cause of the breakdown in Palestine itself.
"The substantiation of these charges would of course suffice to warrant a complete housecienning–for even the general belief in them has hit hard the progressive development of Palestine. One does not, however, lightly attack a Zionist administration. We are all willing to suffer many wrongs for some good. That is why in 1927 we were not ready for action. Perhaps we should have been, for rumors were already receiving confirmation.
The Atlantic City convention of 1927 brought us some much needed light. It revealed a good deal of the financial mismanagement, it made evident the depths of the discontent, it provided a certain indictment of the administration on many counts. There was nevertheless a natural hesitation to purge the organization. It has carried on for some years, and had many honest devoted supporters. It was believed that open and frank criticism of the administration, the acknowledged powerful position of the women in the Z. O. A. the non-election of some who typified the administration’s devotion to petty local politics, would remedy the situation. It was not a care, but a remedy. The administration was in a sense put on probation.
"Six months later it became imperative to consider the necessity of effecting a complete change. Why! Secause the administration leaders had not seriously accepted the warning which they received at Atlantic City. Under pressure, some of their financial difficulties, particularly in relation to affairs in Palestine were checked. That there has been little if any change of heart or gain in understanding, that there was merely a yielding to daily pressure in one direction and a nervous attempt to frustrate the demand for order and system, seems clear from the filling of vacancies on the administrative committee with partisan followers. The condition that prevailed prior to Atlantic City was as nearly as possible restored. The administration was thinking and is thinking primarily of control in the United States: of machine politics; of its ability to control and hold power. The political means, not the ultimate end–the weifare of Palestine– is its fundamental consideration, and those who think in these terms should yield office in the Zionist movement. Organization is essential, but solely because through organization Palestine can best be helped.
"The fact that the Executive Committee lent itself to such manoeuvers merely indicates how far the organization has been swung away from its real objective.
"I do not attempt to fathom the basic cause of the widespread feeling of disappointment and demoralization in Zionist ranks, whether it is in U. P. A. campaign expenditures, in Z. O. A. organization expenditures, the use of funds on the New Palestine, the frenzied finance of the American Zion commonwealth, the emigration from Palestine, or one of many other things. Each of us has his own views and his own explanation of the dominant cause or causes; all of them, no doubt, are contributing influences.
"Your presence here and the eagerness of the response to the call for this conference from all sections of the country attest to the indestructible deep rooted zeal for Palestine’s restoration. A demoralized Zionism must be overcome. A demoralized organization spells ruin financially; but what is more vital, it tends to lower spiritually and morally, our high aims. Such a condition must be ended through unselfish devotion to our ideals and a firm determination that they can and must be realized. Only by worthy means, can the goal be reached. To that end, the first step is the securing of a really representative delegation to the June convention; the second, the formulation at that convention of a program which shall recreate our movement, guide it soundly and safely and restore the confidence of the Jewish people here and elsewhere in our high cause."
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
