WHAT MADE THE YISHUV VIABLE?

INSTITUTIONS

YISHUV

• THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN MANDATORY PALESTINE 1922-1948

• GREW FROM ABOUT 80,000 TO 650,000

• LABOR ZIONISM

• REVISIONIST ZIONISM

• GENERAL ZIONISM

WHY DID THE FIRST ALIYA FAIL?

• JEWS PREFERRED AMERICA– IT HAD HIGHER WAGES– IT ATTRACTED MORE JEWS

• JEWISH IMMIGRANTS LIVED IN CITIES

• ARAB LABOR WAS MORE COST-EFFECTIVE THAN JEWISH LABOR

• POLITICS DID NOT MAKE SOCIETY

JEWISH LABOR UNECONOMIC IN THE ORANGE GROVES

WHY DID THE SECOND ALIYA SUCCEED?

• A CONVENTIONAL EXPLANATION LOOKS TO THE JEWISH AGENCY “VIRTUAL GOVERNMENT”

• BUT THERE WAS NO HOMOGENOUS ZIONIST MOVEMENT

• A DEEPER LOOK FOCUSES ON LABOR ZIONISM

WHAT WAS THE 2ND ALIYA?

• MOVEMENT OF ZIONIST IMMIGRANTS FROM 1905-1915

• LED THE “YISHUV” INTO STATEHOOD

• PROMINENT AND DOMINANT LEADERS: DAVID BENGURION, YITZHAK BEN ZVI,

• “SOCIALISTS” WHO PUT POLITICS IN COMMAND

• POLITICAL ICONOGRAPHY

THEODOR HERZL

CHAIM WEIZMANN

• PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL WITH US PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN

DAVID BEN-GURION

BERL KATZNELSON

• LABOR ZIONIST IDEOLOGIST

INNOVATIONS OF LABOR ZIONISM

• HISTADRUT

• KIBBUTZIM & JEWISH NATIONAL FUND

• HAGANA

• HEBREW

HISTADRUT• GENERAL ORGANIZATION OF JEWISH WORKERS

IN ERETZ YISRAEL FOUNDED IN HAIFA IN 1920.• GENERAL SECRETARY WAS DAVID BEN-GURION• CLASSICAL ZIONISM WAS MIDDLE CLASS BUT IN

PALESTINE IT WAS COLECTIVIST• HISTADRUT PIONEERED A DUAL ECONOMY

EMPLOYED STRIKES, POLITICAL POWER OVER JEWISH AGENCY SPENDING, AND INVESTMENT OF ITS OWN RESOURCES (HEVRAT OVDIM AND SOLEL BONEH)

• CONTROL OF HISTADRUT ENSURED THAT MANY NEW IMMIGRANTS WERE TIED TO LABOR.

HISTADRUT AS A POLITICAL CENTER

• HISTADRUT WAS THE NUCLEUS OF THE STATE BECAUSE– IT WAS AN ARENA FOR POLITICAL

COMPETITION– IT HELD RESOURCES FOR DISTRIBUTION– IT CONTROLLED ITS OWN MILITARY

FORCE– IT COULD DISCIPLINE OTHER SECTIONS

OF THE YISHUV

THE KIBBUTZ

• THE KIBBUTZ WAS A COLLECTIVE FARM

• MEMBERS LIVED COMMUNALLY

• MEMBERS SHARED THE PROFITS

• MEMBERS HAD NO INDIVIDUAL PROPERTY

ICONOGRAPHY OF THE KIBBUTZ

• HAPPY HEALTHY KIBBUTZNIKS

• QUASI-PEASANT KIBBUTZNIKS

• COMMUNAL KIBBUTZNIKS

• PROGRESSIVE WOMEN KIBBUTZNIKS

WHAT ABOUT THE JEWISH NATIONAL FUND?

• BOUGHT LAND USING DONATIONS FROM ABROAD

• HELD LAND AS A “CORPORATION”

• MADE “SOCIALIST” I.E., NON-MARKET DECISIONS ABOUT PURCHASE AND USE

• NEVER SOLD LAND

ESDRAELON/JEZREEL WAS THE SITE OF MUCH JEWISH

AGRICULTURE

WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT?

• THE KIBBUTZ PROVIDED THE ZIONISM WITH TERRITORIAL EXTENSION

• BY REPLACING FOR-PROFIT AGRICULTURE THE KIBBUTZ ALSO CREATED JEWISH PEASANTS

• THE KIBBUTZ PROVIDED THE IMAGE OF A HEROIC ZIONIST PIONEER AND PROVIDED THE MANPOWER FOR THE NUCLEUS OF THE PROTO-ARMY.

WHAT WAS HAGANA?

• A MILITIA ATTACHED TO HISTADRUT• 1907 BEN GURION AND BEN TZVI FOUNDED THE

BAR GIORA AND BY 1914 FIELDED FOUR SQUADS• 1920 ACHDUT HAAVODA PARTY ORGANIZED

DIRECTLY UNDER THE POLITICAL CONTROL OF THE HISTADRUT LEADERSHIP

• HAGANA EMERGED FROM THE REALITY OF RURAL SELF-HELP BUT ITS STRUCTURE DERIVED FROM EUROPEAN SOCIALIST VIEWS OF THE STATE

• 1936 HAGANA HAD 3,000 MEN AT ARMS AND A CLEAR “DUAL POWER” IN PALESTINE EXISTED.

THE ICONOGRAPHY OF HAGANA

• THE SOLITARY GUARDIANS

• A SOCIETY IN ARMS: WOMEN TOO

• TRAINED TO FIGHT AS WELL AS DRILL`

HEBREW

• YIDDISH WAS THE COMMON LANGUAGE OF EUROPEAN JEWS

• HEBREW CREATED A COMMON CULTURE

• HEBREW ALSO FORCED THEM TO CUT TIES WITH THEIR PAST

• BIBLICAL (CLASSICAL) HEBREW HAD TO BE MADE VERNACULAR (NATIONAL)

THIRD ALIYA

• BETWEEN 1920 AND 1925

• SECOND GENERATION OF PRE-STATE LEADERS

• STILL ONLY ABOUT 35,000 JEWS CAME IN THAT WAVE.

LARGE-SCALE IMMIGRATION IN THE LATE 20s AND 30s

• INCREASED IMMIGRATION TO PALESTINE BECAUSE:

• 1924 CLOSURE OF THE US

• GROWTH OF STATE-SPONSORED ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE

• 60,000 CAME IN THE FOURTH ALIYA AND 190,000 JEWS CAME BETWEEN 1932 AND 1936

REINFORCEMENT OF LABOR ZIONISM

• HISTADRUT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE ABSORPTION OF JEWISH IMMIGRANTS

• MOST WERE URBAN RESIDENTS WHO DEPENDED ON THE DUAL ECONOMY FOR EVEN MINIMAL SURVIVAL

LESS GLAMOROUS FACTORY WORKERS

LUNCH TIME LECTURES

NEEDED URBAN SERVICES