Three factions within the left-wing Socialist Mapam Party today issued program manifestos in advance of the forthcoming intra-party elections. All three groups attacked the Communist Party of Israel.
The largest group within the party–Hashomer Hatzair–called for continuation of the struggle to achieve recognition by the “international revolutionary camp” of the Zionist solution of the Jewish problem. The Hashomer Hatzair, which attacked the local Communists’ “infiltration” of the Mapam, also called for a merger on an international scale with the “camp led by the Soviet Union.”
The Achdut Avoda, second largest group in the party, insists in its election program that Jewish socialism can be attained only through “gathering in the exiles” as long as the “Jewish national future cannot be solved within the borders of the socialist countries.” This faction’s program rejects a merger with the “international revolutionary camp” but pledges “loyalty” to it and asserts its complete neutrality even in a major international conflict.
The left Poale Zion asserts that concessions by the Mapam on ideological and political principles of the party will not “speed recognition by the revolutionary camp, but would, on the contrary, destroy forever the chances of recognition of political Zionism.” The program of this faction does not clearly state whether it is neutral to the Eastern Bloc or whether it identifies itself with it.
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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.