Appealing for party discipline and warning against factional dissension within the ranks of the Palestine Jewish Labor Party, David Ben-Gurion today delivered a two-hour address at the opening session of the party’s conference in which he expressed his opposition to any new partition plan for Palestine, strongly defended the demand for the establishment of a Jewish Commonwealth, and criticized the democratic countries for “doing so little” to rescue the Jews from occupied Europe.
The conference was opened with the singing of the “Internationale,” just replaced by Moscow as the official Soviet anthem, and with the Hebrew labor song “Teohzaknah.” Following Ben-Gurion’s address it was decided to bar the press from the discussions on the internal strife in the party.
“I will not be revealing any secrets when I state that I was an ardent supporter of the partition plan which was suggested for Palestine before the outbreak of the war,” Ben-Gurion said. “And should the circumstances of 1939 return, I would probably still support this plan. But the situation has changed. The urgent need for immediate salvage of the remnants of European Jewry requires a different approach to the solution of the Jewish problem.”
The speaker then attacked those who “besmirch” the Biltmore Declaration which demands the establishment of a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine. He charged the opponents of the Biltmore Declaration with favoring the partitioning of Palestine even at the present time.
CALLS FOR END TO DIFFERENCES WITHIN JEWISH LABOR IN PALESTINE
Referring to the struggle within the Labor Party, Ben-Gurion condemned those who are supporting a “regime of factions.” He demanded strong internal discipline. “If there are any divergencies in our ranks, let us bring them before the single judge – the entire working class,” he said.
Pointing out that 100,000 organized Jewish workers participated in the last election of the Histadruth, the Palestine Jewish Labor Federation, and that 75,000 of them backed the present leadership of the Jewish Labor Party, Ben-Gurion stated: “The rule of the majority might be inconvenient for some, but every majority decision inconveniences somebody. Our main task at present is the life-and-death struggle for the Jewish nation. Let us drop petty quarrels and remain united around our main aim.”
Zalman Rubashev, editor of the labor paper “Davar,” eulogized “the known, unknown, active and passive Jewish heroes who gave their lives to glorify the Jewish name, the weak who fought against the strong and revolted in the ghettos knowing in advance that the struggle was lost.” He also delivered a eulogy for the Jewish soldiers who have fallen on all fronts.
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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.
