Three arguments for the postponement of the Congress had been brought forward in London- the difficult financial position of the Zionist Organisation, making it essential to start a big new fund-raising campaign; the impossibility of the American members of the Jewish Agency being present at a February Congress; and the need of waiting for the result of the negotiations between the British Government and the Jewish Agency in order to enable the Congress to declare its stand towards the British policy, Dr. Nahum Goldmann said, in speaking on the recent London session of the Actions Committee and the present political position of the Zionist movement, at a meeting arranged here by the Berlin Zionist Organisation.
The representatives of the Radical Zionists in the Actions Committee, he went on, had taken into account the reasons in favour of a postponement of the Congress, but in view of the danger threatening the Organisation because of the failure to clear up the internal Zionist situation, and the continued internal conflict, they had voted against postponement. There was no truth, however, he declared, in the reports which had appeared in the Press to the effect that there was a decision of the Radical Executive, that if the Actions Committee postponed the Congress, he (Dr. Goldmann) would have to leave the Political Commission. A resolution in this sense had been adopted only by the Polish Radical Zionist Organisation, Al Hamishmar, But the leader of the Al Hamishmar, Deputy Gruenbaum, too, had in view of the political situation approved his (Dr. Goldmann’s) continued membership of the Commission until the Executive of the Radical Zionists adopted a final decision on the subject.
With regard to the negotiations between the British Government and the Jewish Agency, Dr. Goldmann said that it must be placed on record that the Government had now made a very important approach towards the Jewish point of view. It was to be expected that the first part of the negotiations would be concluded with a victory for the Jewish cause. In the second part of the negotiations, they would have to make efforts particularly in the direction of getting certain changes introduced in the Palestine Administration which would guarantee the further development of the Jewish National Home. What was most important of all, Dr. Goldmann said, is to put an end to the internal conflict in the Organisation.
NEW POLITICAL SITUATION MAKES IT POSSIBLE AND DESIRABLE TO FORM BIG COALITION AT NEXT CONGRESS EMBRACING ALL GROUPS EXCEPT BRITH SHALOM AND SECTION OF REVISIONISTS DR. GOLDMANN SAYS: DEMAND WILL HAVE TO BE PUT TO DR. WEIZMANN’S PATRICTISM NOT TO STAND AS CANDIDATE: MR. LICHTHEIM FOR REVISIONISTS INSISTS ALL GROUNDS FOR POSTPONEMENT WERE KNOWN AT NOVEMBER ACTIONS COMMITTEE MEETING WHICH NEVERTHELESS DECIDED TO HAVE FEBRUARY CONGRESS: SAYS IMPORTANCE OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT SHOULD NOT BE OVER-ESTIMATED: COULD ONLY BE DIPLOMATIC SUCCESSES HAVING LITTLE IMPORTANCE IN SHOPING POSITION IN PALESTINE: SECESSION FROM ZIONIST ORGANISATION THREATENED BY REVISIONISTS GIVES BEST HOPE OF PEACE ALFRED SERGER OF POALE ZION SAYS
The new political situation, Dr. Goldmann said, makes it appear possible and desirable that there should be a big coalition formed at the next Congress, embracing all groups with the exception of the Brith Shalom and a section of the Revisionists. Dr. Weizmann’s patriotism would have to rise to his not standing as a candidate at the next Congress in order to avoid another source of conflict between the parties.
Mr. Richard Lichtheim who followed Dr. Goldmann, speaking in the name of the Revisionists, said that all the grounds for a postponement of the Congress had already been known at the November session of the Actions Committee, and in spite of them it had been decided to hold the Congress in February. The Radicals, he contended, had strengthened the present leadership, especially by Deputy Gruenbaum’s readiness to enter the Weizmann Executive. The successes attending the negotiations between the Government and the Jewish Agency should not be given overmuch importance, he said. They could only be diplomatic successes which would have little influence in shaping the postion in Palestine.
Mr. Alfred Berger, of the Poale Zion, sharply opposed Mr. Lichtheim. It was strange, he said, that it should be the Revisionists who always laid particular stress upon diplomatic relations who were now trying to diminish in advance the value of any successes that might be attained by the negotiations. The Revisionist secession from the Zionist Organisation which was threatened, he said, would perhaps calm down matters.
Dr. Goldmann, in winding up the discussion, declared that there had never been any question of Deputy Gruenbaum entering the present Executive. Outside the plenary meeting of the Actions Committee, there had been negotiations turning on the resignation of the present Executive, and the formation of a new Executive, but they had been unsuccessful.
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