TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF HABONIM

The Labor Zionist movement made its first appearance in America over fifty-five years ago. The first members were mainly European immigrants who had accepted Poale Zionism as their ideal in life. From the very outset, they realized that the movement was confronted with the following four questions:

1. Would American Jewish life substantiate the Labor Zionist theories which they had brought with them? 

2. Would those American Jews who had left Europe before our founders had begun to teach Labor Zionism be able to accept these theories which were based on developments in Europe which they had not experienced?

3. Would American-born Jews, born and bred under conditions where persecution was not their daily bread, accept the Labor Zionist analysis of Jewish life and Jewish history? 

4. Would American-born Jews understand an idea which synthesizes in one Weltanschaung two concepts which, superficially, are in conflict—the national concept of Zionism and the international concept of socialism?

At that time we thought along these lines: Socialism alone might be understood and, therefore, be accepted by the worker in America. Zionism alone might be even more comprehensible to an American born Jew. But we were very much afraid that the synthesis of Socialist Zionism would be extremely difficult for American-born Jews to accept.

It was quite clear to the founding group of Poale Zion in America that, unless it could expect positive answers to these questions, there was no future for our movement in America. How were these questions answered during the course of the years?

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The answers to the latter two questions especially interest us in connection with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Habonim. However, since Habonim was the result of various previous efforts to establish a Poale Zion youth in America, we must look into these earlier stages so that the picture will be complete. And these earlier stages are related to the first two questions.

The answer to the first question was for the most part negative. Many of the immigrant Poale Zionists believed that American-Jewish reality did not substantiate the Poale Zion theories. These were the chaverim who had based their Poale Zionism on the theory that Jews in the Diaspora could not become workers. When they found in America a large Jewish proletariat, when in the years 1904-08 they themselves saw almost "all-Jewish" strikes, then the entire theoretical basis for their Poale Zionism disintegrated. Many of them left the movement. It is true that, many years later, the process of deproletarization set in; but this, they could not then have foreseen. At that time the process was reversed, and the number of Jewish workers in America was steadily increasing. I belonged to the group of chaverim which did not base its Poale Zionism on the theory of deproletarization. It is not, however, my task to discuss this theory. What is more important for our theme is the fact that many Poale Zionists felt that the American-Jewish reality of that time presented a negative answer to the first question.

Not only was the ideological and theoretical answer negative for many of the chaverim. For many of them American reality opened possibilities for rapid personal economic advance. These opportunities wiped out every vestige of idealism. Many other idealistic movements which originated in Europe shared the same fate. Most of the revolutionaries and idealists had been attracted to their respective movements by the glamour of underground revolutionary work in Russia of those years. In America, this glamour could not long exist. In America they concerned themselves with the problems of earning a living and furthering their careers.
Thus it happened that, although the membership lists included thousands of names—since everyone who had considered himself a Poale Zionist in Europe joined the movement whenever he settled— there were actually only a few hundred members. These were the negative answers which life in America gave to the first question.

However, this very development also brought with it a positive aspect. The majority of the immigrant Poale Zionists left the movement. Those who remained were the militant, conscientious chaverim who understood the historic-revolutionary character of Labor Zionism. Though few in number, these chaverim had both knowledge and idealism, which made of the Poale Zion an extraordinary group in American Jewish life in those years. I might point out that their personal lives were filled with deep, self-imposed moral responsibilities. This influenced many people, particularly the children of their families. A sizable number of these families had come to America with children or with younger brothers and sisters. When these children reached the age of ten-twelve, they became the first pupils in the Folk Schools established by Poale Zion and the first members of the Poale Zion youth groups.

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The answer to the second question was also mostly negative, but here, as well, there was a positive aspect.

The struggle which the Poale Zion had to wage for a position in American Jewish life is well-known. The largest number of Jewish immigrants who came to America in the last two decades of the nineteenth century and in the first decade of the twentieth century were attracted to socialism. Socialism and anarchism were then wide-spread among the immigrant Jews. Their understanding of socialism led them to disparage "Jewishness," in general, and to oppose Jewish national aspirations, in particular. Their attitude toward Zionism was simply "hatred of Zion." This is not the place to discuss the reasons— principally psychological—which led to such a development. For almost a generation, the Poale Zion was forced to conduct a sharp battle against the leaders of the Jewish socialist movement, who interpreted socialism to mean opposition to Zionism. Many workers believed that socialism and nationalism were incompatible. This misinterpretation prevailed among Jewish workers for many years. As a result of this, the answer to the second question was also negative.

On the other hand, through this conflict, too, the militant spirit of the Poale Zion was sharpened and the idealism of its chaverim was strengthened. As their idealism deepened, their influence became greater upon those who were willing to listen to their ideas. The number of children and young people who w&re influenced was relatively small, but they, too, absorbed into their very souls the idealism of their parents, their older brothers and sisters, and their teachers. These younger people became the founders and leaders of the Poale Zion youth groups. The history of these groups is one of ups and downs; their activities were sometimes successful, at other times unsuccessful.

Then began a process of change which went on for many years. This process began with the outbreak of World War I in 1914, was strengthened in 1917 as a result of the Balfour Declaration, and reached a high level with the foundation of the Histadrut in Eretz Israel in 1920. During this period the position and the influence of the Labor Zionist movement was strengthened, and the opportunity arose for a more stable youth movement. The movement began to penetrate into the American Jewish community, making the establishment of Habonim possible.

Habonim, too, had its ups and downs during the course of the twenty-five years, but it has always been an important factor in America and in the Labor Zionist movement. The existence of Habonim as a vital force in America proves that American Jews can accept the Labor Zionist analysis of Jewish life.

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Tens of thousands of families became aware of the Poale Zion as a result of our intensified activities during the First World War— especially for the relief of the war sufferers and for the establishment of the American Jewish Congress. Poale Zionists were no longer considered dreamers, or ne'er-do-wells, as our opponents had named us, but as people who could do big things. In those years, American born Jewish young people who had begun to search for content in their lives began to heed the teachings of their Poale Zion parents. Poale Zion activities also came to the attention of the non-Jewish press. It cannot be said that masses of youth were attracted to our banner, but "one in a town and two in a family" became active participants in the movement.

As a result of the Balfour Declaration, large numbers of Jewish youth began to realize that historic events of great significance were taking place in Jewish life. With the formation of the Histadrut, Jewish youth realized that Poale Zionism was not only an abstract idea; that the process of the realization of Labor Zionism was beginning in earnest. The concept of pioneering and of pioneers was not strange to them—they had learned about pioneering in their studies of American history. They realized that a phase of Jewish pioneering had begun. The youth felt that an opportunity had arisen for the idealist to live a pioneering life and, at the same time, to assist in the realization of the ancient Jewish historic dream of the restoration of Zion and the hopes of humanity for social equality and freedom.

The foundations for Habonim were laid in this era. Is, then, the answer to our questions a fully positive one? Not at all. Too few answered the call in comparison to the measure of idealism which Jewish youth possessed. Jewish youth gave a great measure of its loyalty and support to false, illusory, and non-Jewish concepts. I refer specifically to the participation of Jewish youth in the Spanish Civil War. Thousands of American youths were mobilized for this conflict, many of them Jewish. It cannot be denied that the American youth who went to Spain did so out of idealistic motives. It is painful, indeed, that these young Jews did not give their energy to the cause of their own people. Therefore, our satisfaction is even greater that thousands of Jewish youth did, through Habonim, give their full measure of devotion to the Jewish national renascence. In their way they also contributed their share to the concept of the liberation of humanity through free, democratic socialism.

Since the establishment of Habonim, over one thousand of its members came to Israel to settle. Many are in Kfar Blum, Maayan Baruch, Gesher Haziv, Urim, Afikim, Ramat Yochanan, in Bet Cherut, Orot, and other kibbutzim and moshavim. These chaverim have become part of the most productive element in the land, building the healthiest economic and social positions. Each kibbutz and moshav is a stronghold of national emancipation as well as of the idea of free socialism. Hundreds of chaverim in the cities and towns of Israel contribute their American know-how and their rich intellectual achievements to the upbuilding of the state. Moreover, the thousands of chaverim who were in Habonim in America have contributed their share to the Labor Zionist idea by disseminating it among American Jewish youth. These chaverim in America and in Israel proved that the Labor Zionist idea can be accepted by American-born Jewish youth.

There is certainly much that still must be done, both in America and in Israel. Our younger chaverim in America, and the Habonim "family" in Israel, must not be satisfied with their achievements. The process of the Jewish revolution is not yet ended. The complete emancipation of mankind has surely not been achieved. All mankind— and the Jewish people, particularly—still lives under the shadow of dark, ominous clouds.

Deep joy and satisfaction certainly should be derived from the twenty-five years of Habonim history. But from this history we must derive strength for the days to come.

BARUCH ZUCKERMAN, Jerusalem, 1960