Pointing out that the situation of Jews the world over was the most difficult in history, in certain countries even rivalling their plight in the Middle Ages, Ben-Gurion demanded settlement of 1,000,000 Jewish families in Palestine.
While Jews in the Middle Ages, he declared, were unorganized the political Zionism of today through its political activities has enabled Jews of the countries in which they were oppressed to anticipate a Jewish national home in Palestine.
Ben-Gurion emphasized that of the million families that must be settled in Palestine, at least one-third must be land workers. A large proportion, he said, must be workers and artisans, not professionals and merchants.
In the course of his speech, Ben-Gurion declared that Zionism as Zionist leaders understand the movement today does not mean solving the problem of only part of the Jewish nation but solving the problem of entire Jewry.
Ben-Gurion dwelt at length upon the fate of the Jews of Soviet Russia, voicing regret that they cannot participate in the Palestine upbuilding. This upbuilding work, he stated, is being done without the assistance of the Russian Jews who had been first to promote the political Zionist movement.
The veteran laborite expressed the hope that it would not be long before the Jews of Russia are enabled to join Jews all over the world in the work.
Emphasizing that the most vital problem now confronting the Jewish upbuilding work in Palestine is how to increase the immigration of Jews into the country, he declared that of equal importance are also the acquisition of more land and the settlement of a greater number of Jews in agricultural colonies.
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.
