Ben Gurion Addresses Mapai Convention; Urges Unity of Labor Groups

Calling on Israeli political parties to conduct the forthcoming campaign for November’s general elections in a spirit of education in true democracy, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion tonight declared that separate labor parties in Israel must sooner or later merge.

“The time is not far off,’ he stated, “when separate labor parties will realize the vital necessity of political unity for all Israeli workers. This is also a historical necessity.”

Mr. Ben Gurion voiced these sentiments here in delivering the address which concluded the two-day convention of Israel’s dominant political party, Mapai. The parley drafted platforms for its participation in two election campaigns–the elections of Histadrut, Israel’s federation of labor, and the national balloting for Parliament.

Stressing Mapai’s Socialist ideals, Mr. Ben Gurion told the 3, 000 delegates and guests at the convention: “One characteristic of our specific approach is that, in spite of our conviction that the interests of the community are supreme, our movement has always recognized the decisive importance of the individual.”

“The community’s responsibility to the individual,” Mr. Ben Gurion continued, “is an absolute aim by itself. Therefore, we have always opposed the false theory of those who favor a totalitarian regime, who believe that a privileged minority is destined to rule, to guide, to show the majority that the majority’s duty is to follow the privileged minority.”

“This theory,” Mr. Ben Gurion went on, “always leads toward fascist dictatorship or toward communism, which calls itself by the self-contradictory name of ‘people’s democracy’.”

Mr. Ben Gurion emphasized the great part played in Israel’s achievements by the efforts of other groups and individuals, particularly by the Jews outside Israel. But, he added, “the historic truth is that the Histadrut was the first and major factor in all that has been created in this country.”

MAPAI PLATFORM LINKS WAGE INCREASES TO HIGHER OUTPUT

The Mapai platform for the Histadrut elections, presented today to the convention, stressed the need for greater output and savings and proposed that wage increases should follow an increase in national output and should be geared to the increase and in accordance with the possibilities of each branch of industry.

The platform also proposed the setting up of an industrial advisory committee for the government which would include representatives of workers, the Histadrut and other sectors in management-worker relations. Mapai Party membership figures revealed to the delegates showed that 45 percent of the members are “non-Ashkenazi”–Jews who stem from countries other than European. Fifteen percent of the members are Israeli-born.

The figures showed also that: Only 18 percent of the present members of Mapai belonged to the party before the rebirth of statehood in 1948; 45 percent of the members arrived in Israel since 1948; 40 percent are between the ages of 30 and 40; 25 percent are under 30 years old; the remainder are aged over 40.