Denunciation of Nazi persecution of Jews and criticism of the British administration in Palestine were voiced tonight by Vladimir Jabotinsky, president of the World Union of Zionist Revisionists, addressing the opening session last night of the constituent congress of the new Zionist Organization.
The congress, initiated by the Revisionists, right-wing Zionists who split away from the main body, opened in the Vienna Concert Hall in the presence of several thousand youths and 310 delegates from 34 countries.
The session opened in the blue-and-white bedecked hall with a fanfare of bugles after which the Austrian anthem and the Hatikvah, Zionist anthem, were sung. Jabotinsky greeted the delegates in various languages and then handed over the chairmanship to Jacob De Haas, veteran New York Zionist.
The delegates were greeted by representatives of the Austrian government and the Vienna Jewish Community. The British government, which holds the Palestine mandate, was not represented.
De Haas drew a parallel between the present time and 39 years ago when he participated in the preparation of the manifesto for the first congress which founded the Zionist Organization. He declared that the condition of the Jews, which necessitated the Zionist movement then, is infinitely worse now.
There are obstacles in the way of the new organization, he asserted, but expressed the conviction that it will win the way for
“renewal of the destiny of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan.”
Earlier in the day Jabotinsky was the center of a demonostration when he emerged from the Leopoldstadt Synagogue after morning services. An enthusiastic crowd escorted him to his hotel.
In his address tonight he declared that he spoke in the name of 700,000 electors.
The Revisionist leader emphasized the “tragic failure of emancipation” and the growth of anti-Semitism throughout the world. He stressed the need for fighting for Jewish rights.
He scored the British administrative system in Palestine, declaring it is far from being in accordance with the aim of the League of Nations Mandate. He assailed the Palestine government’s immigration policy and asserted that the congress will demand unrestricted Jewish immigration into Palestine.
The new organization, Jabotinsky asserted, will definitely oppose the government’s plan for a representative legislative council in Palestine and characterized the project as “treachery to the Jewish people,” warning that it will “transform Palestine into a witch’s cauldron not far from Suez.”
He announced that there would later be presented to the congress a ten-year plan for securing a Jewish majority on both sides of the Jordan by settling one and a half million Jews., Acceptance of the plan by the authorities, he said, would be secured by “mobilization of world conscience.”
The new organization, Jabotinsky asserted, will seek not only to build Palestine, but to liquidate the Diaspora. Declaring that the aim of the organization is “the high Zionism,” he explained that the “high Zionism” does not mean the solution of the Diaspora problem by the mere creation of a model state in Palestine, but by the liquidation of the Diaspora with a return of the Jews to their homeland.
The Jewish State, he declared, is not the end but only the first step, the second being the return of the people, which will be the solution of the Jewish problem. The third step, he said, will be the final one and will aim at the creation of a national center of culture, radiating its influence all over the world.
Jabotinsky pointed out that without a land reserve, without Transjordan, it would be impossible to create agricultural settlements. At present, he said, Palestine’s production consists chiefly of building, but the problem of how the people living in these houses can earn a livelihood remains unsolved.
He demanded the promotion of private capital and private initiative in Palestine which, he said, provides 80 per cent of Palestine’s finances, instead of treating them with “insolent antagonism” and the creation of “artificial class war.”
The Revisionist leader urged education under religious influence and the settlement of labor disputes by courts instead of by strikes.
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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.
