CREDO FOR LIVING

When I stop to analyze this war and the reason we're fighting it, I shudder to think how far the average American is from civilization. All he wants is his own security and his own "freedom." He hasn't even stopped to think that freedom for everyone means anarchy, a form of society which he believes to be very bad, although secretly he'd like it for himself. But real freedom means bondage. It means an organized society, integrated, planned, so that everyone will have certain basic rights: the right to seek the truth, to speak one's mind, to learn, to worship as he sees fit; the right to vote; the right to a subsistence wage. This last may be the most important, for it means satisfying the animal needs of man; and it is only after these needs of man are satisfied that he can rise above the animal stage into what we consider civilization. And yet this essential right, the right to subsistence, is not accepted by many Americans today.

The trouble lies in the fact that people are prone to accept terms and ideas, dogmas, without analyzing them thoroughly. Free enterprise means that every man is allowed to be employed as he sees fit, that competition will make for better production—you know the old line. But that doesn't take human character into account; it doesn't consider the fact that, given this "freedom," one man will make economic slaves of thousands within a few years. Unionism becomes a necessity, not a luxury—though of course there were unscrupulous individuals who saw in the strength of the union an opportunity to gain personal strength, and they took it.

It's inevitable that, as society becomes more complex, more government control is necessary. When a business man is in control of thousands of employees, he has no legal responsibilities to them other than those forced upon him in recent years by labor legislation.

Which concept holds true in civilized society: that the man who risks finances is entitled to the profits, or every human being is entitled to a subsistence wage? I'm prone, of course, to accept the latter; as a matter of fact, I fail to understand how any intelligent person can accept the former concept at the expense of the latter.
Socialism, to my mind, is not dictatorship of the proletariat or another group. It is bureaucracy, to be sure. But is bureaucracy in itself bad? Doesn't it exist even in business under other names? We in Habonim find it necessary to establish bureaus which we call committees. Bureaucracy in itself is neither good nor bad; it depends upon the forces using it.

I am a socialist, yes—in the sense that I want to see a humane civilized world, democratic both politically and economically. I believe that government control is necessary in order to accomplish this— at least until we reach a point in civilization where society is much more advanced than it is today. I do not believe that government control subdues initiative, creative genius, ambition, or human progress in general. I am no political economist, but I say that this can be worked out without having dictatorship of the proletariat or of any single group. The Histadrut, as small as it is, is living proof of this.

Zionism is not just an outlet for my socialism. The two go together. I believe in the self-determination of the Jewish people as the only possible means of our survival, and I believe that it can best be accomplished by pooling our efforts. The early kvutzot grew out of necessity, as did many cooperatives throughout the world. There, in Eretz Israel, it was a natural form; and where it was imposed artificially, it often failed.

Zionism for me is not merely an escape from the reality of reaction and the lack of thinking which are prevalent in this country. I think many American Jews who have heretofore not been conscious of their nationality will suddenly become aware of it against their wishes. What "can't happen here" will happen at least to a small extent, and those of us who have been doing something positive about it before this will probably have to do more later.

The term aliya in itself means not just migration, but ascent. For me it is just this; it will be ascent from a country where the dollar is the main value and competition the challenge to man to a society where cooperation and progress are the essential elements. For me, there is no choice. To enjoy life in this country, I would have to shut my eyes and ears to what was going on around me and this I can't do. My place is in Eretz Israel with my people.

Naturally, I hope that I'll be able to come back safely and put into practice those things in which I believe and about which I've spoken and written to you and the others so much. But in case I don't, it's all right too. After all, we're all only little cogs in a machine; and if some of us have to fall by the wayside in order that the machine should continue to run smoothly, it's worthwhile. After all, it's the machine that counts, not the little cogs.

I guess I haven't done much in my short life so far. I haven't learned very much—just enough to realize that I still have a great deal to learn. But if I've served as a stimulus to even a few kids to try to reach higher, to bring some good into the world, then I think my life so far has been worthwhile. I only hope I'll get a chance to make it more so in the future.

DANNY GINSBURG