A call to war against the administrative committee of the Zionist Organization of America and the Executive of the World Zionist Organization, charging them with “abandoning the principles of General Zionism and surrendering to the domination of the Labor party,” was issued yesterday by the American Group “B” of General Zionists.
The call, issued over the signatures of Isaac Allen, Jacob de Haas and Rabbi Louis I. Newman, invites Zionists everywhere “to cooperate in the formation of a bloc at the forthcoming World Zionist Congress, which will bring to an end the present intolerable dictatorship of the movement by one party.”
Serious charges are made in the declaration against the Histadruth, which the American Group “B” of General Zionists accuses, among other things of fomenting class trouble in Palestine and utilizing its control of the World Zionist Executive for partisan purposes.
The call, adopted by the American Group B of the General Zionists in the form of a Declaration of Principles of this group, reads:
“We, a group of members of the Zionist Organization of America, noting that the administrative committee of the Z. O. A. and the Executive of the World Zionist Organization, have abandoned the principles of General Zionism, and have surrendered to the domination of the Left Wing or Labor Front, herewith organized an American Group ‘B’ of the General Zionists, to preserve the Herzlian fundamentals of the Zionist movement, by the election of an Executive of the World Zionist Organization which will truly and adequately represent all elements in Zionism in the present crisis and emergency of World Jewry, and which will function in a non-partisan and impartial manner, emancipated from the dictatorship of any one group.
“We declare that the Labor Front (the Histadruth) since its assumption of power, has utilized its control of the W. Z. O. and the Jewish Agency, and their funds, for the aggrandizement and perpetuation of its party objectives, thereby hindering the adequate growth of the Yishub at a time when millions of Jews in their acute misery are looking to Eretz Yisrael for immediate settlement.
The Labor Front is hindering the needed progress of the Yishub in the following way:
(1). It is fomenting the class struggle in Palestine.
(2). It is utilizing its control over immigration certificates to exclude Zionists not accepting its party doctrines.
ABUSES CONTROL
(3). It is utilizing its control over Zionist funds to entrench its own party, and also it raises special funds in Palestine and the Diaspora to establish a bureaucracy in its own interests.
(4) The Histadruth has stepped out of its role as a labor union seeking the protection and welfare of the workers, and has arrogated to itself the functions of a political party, exalting class interests above national welfare.
(5) It is conducting a political offensive in the Diaspora, with the acquiescence of the W. Z. O., which is placing at its disposal the press and periodicals which should be devoted impartially to the interests of General Zionism.
(6) It is spreading propaganda to the effect that it is the sole champion of social justice in Palestine, and through misrepresentation is seeking to create the impression that all other elements, opposed to its bureaucracy, are reactionary.
(7) It is seeking to employ, through its control of the W. Z. O., disciplinary measures against its opponents, which tends to exclude them from participation in the Zionist Congress.
OUTLINES PROGRAM
“As against these evils and abuses, we propose the follow constructive program:
(1) Palestine must be built, not on behalf of any one class or economic group, but for the welfare of all-Israel.
(2) We heartily commend the achievements of all elements of Palestine’s immigration, but we regard accelerated mass colonization at this time as being dependent upon the successful economic settlement of middle-class Jews, who through their private investments, receiving a fair return, socially-influenced and constructively utilized to increase the opportunities for Jewish labor, and who through their organization, on the principle of class-partnership, in a balanced economic life, can upbuild the Jewish Homeland at a pace and on a scale commensurate with the needs of Jewry today.
HITS SPECULATION
(3) We condemn speculation in land, the unwarranted increase of rents and the inflation of other economic values, yet we recognize that the checking of these hurtful practices cannot be accomplished by any one particular group, but by the whole Yishub, exerting pressure upon the Palestine government, both municipal and central, to enact appropriate legislation.
(4) We recognize that social ###stice in Palestine, involving fair treatment of all elements and all classes, and a due regard for all ##terests concerned with the upbuilding of the land — agriculturalists, merchants, manufacturers, White-collar workers, commercial, professional and financial groups ###s well as manual laborers, cannot ###e achieved merely by the activity ### labor unions, through collective bargaining on behalf of wages, hours of work, working conditions and the like. It can be achieved on the required scale only through the welfare legislation of the Palestine government which controls the taxing power. We therefore demand that the Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency, in cooperation with the Yishub, bring pressure upon the government to introduce into Palestine adequate welfare legislation.
SUGGESTS MEASURES
(5) We believe that a truly representative Zionist Executive, reinforced by the moral pressure of Jewish public opinion throughout the world, could influence the Mandatory Power to adopt the following measures:
a. To facilitate the close settlement of Jews as small-holders on the land, by the grant of state lands as reserves, in accordance with the Mandate.
b. To devise an adequate governmental policy of irrigation and preparation of the soil for Jewish colonization on both sides of the Jordan.
c. To encourage Palestine industry and commerce by adequate trade treaties, the development of home and foreign markets for Palestine-made goods (Totzereth ha-Aretz), looking towards a favorable trade balance; and the creation of a taxation policy which does not discriminate against Jewish industry, commerce and agriculture.
d. To assist public peace by larger representation of Jews in the police and defense forces of the country.
e. To recognize the dire necessity of millions of Jews throughout the world, and to open the gates of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan to mass immigration.
f. To fulfil all its pledges in the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate for the creation of the Jewish National Home by enabling Jews to become the preponderating element of the population.
FREE OF CONFLICT
(6) We declare that Jewish education in Palestine must be kept free from the teaching of class-conflict and class-hatred, and must maintain deference for basic Jewish ideals of faith and practice.
(7) We believe that the official Zionist press and news agencies must be emancipated from the domination of the Labor Front, and that both in its news and editorials, should conserve the essentials of General or Herzlian Zionism.
(8) We declare our allegiance to the Zionist Congress as the supreme authority in Zionism, it being understood that the program and procedure of the Congress shall be such as will not make impossible the cooperation of any group or party in the movement.
“With these policies and principles, espousing liberalism and democracy in Zionism, we declare our determination to struggle for the redemption of the Zionist movement from autocratic and machine control; and as American Group B we call upon Zionists everywhere to cooperate in the formation of a bloc at the forthcoming World Zionist Congress which will bring to an end the present intolerable dictatorship of the movement by one party, to the injury of the Jewish people in its present extremity.”
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.
