he Library >f California, Los Angeles he gift of Mrs. Cummings, 1963 SOCIAL Z OCIAL ZIONISM (Selected Essays) BY BERNARD A. ROSENBLATT Author of "The Social Commonwealth" New York THE PUBLIC PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. 1919 Copyright, 1919, by the Public Publishing Co. All Rights Reserved PS To ^j My Wife and Companion in Zionism j GERTRUDE O Known to Young Zionists as "Cousin Judith" 30S6146 INTRODUCTION By JUDGE JULIAN W. MACK THE restoration of Palestine as the national homeland of the Jewish people is rapidly ap- proaching realization. For centuries, pious Jews have prayed for it; for decades, Jewish pioneering colonists have striven for it; for the past twenty years, Jews everywhere have banded together in the Zionist Organization to achieve it. The im- pelling forces were diverse: the religious, racial, philanthropic, and economic predominated. But the rapid growth of the Zionist movement in recent years is due, perhaps, in largest measure to the added hope and belief that in a Palestine with an eventual Jewish majority, and therefore in a re- vived Jewish civilization, the social visions of the people of Israel would be translated into law and practice: that the Jewish people chosen as ever for service, would thereby be enabled again to offer to the world an example of social justice, the finest fruit of a nation's creative power. The Pittsburgh Program represents in part this social view: the author of Social Zionism, as one of its makers, is especially fitted to expound its prin- ciples, especially insofar as they relate to land and taxation. JULIAN W. MACK. INTRODUCTION By MKS. JOSEPH FELS T is most encouraging to those who are hoping * and striving for real social progress to see a serious effort made by publicists to adapt modern science to human nature. This is particularly true in regard to the restoration of Palestine. It was not enough for land reformers to say that the earth belongs to the human race, that each person has the same right to its use as all others. That might be justice, but it does not accord with human nature. The idea of ownership is too deep rooted to be lightly set aside. Men and women wish to own land, to hold the title to it, to sell it, or to bequeath it. They would own land as they own a house, or furniture, or the clothing on their back. The problem has been to find a way to harmonize the right of all men to all land, and at the same time, to secure the right of the individual to a par- ticular piece of land. The author of this booklet seems to me to have found the way by organizing the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., a company for land purchase and development in Palestine, based upon a program of social justice. The reader who examines the appendix will see how long a time it has taken for the author's social program to meet with popular approval. But the splendid Pittsburgh Program, adopted by the Amer- ican Zionists in June, 1918, has placed these ideas within the realm of practical achievement. Stu- dents of social science the world over are beginning to take a keen interest in the experiment of a Jew- ish Palestine. Those of us who know and under- stand Jewish idealism have the right to hope and to expect that the Land of Israel will do its "bit" towards practical enactment of the laws of social justice. MRS. JOSEPH FELS. Introduction. IN the city of Pittsburgh, on June 25, 1918, the Zionists of America, in convention assembled, adopted a program for the future Jewish State in Palestine, which bids fair to be as epoch- making as was the first declaration of Zionism, known as the Basle Platform. As the latter ex- presses the political aspect of Zionism, even so does the Pittsburgh Program enunciate the social basis of Zionism a striving for social justice that has characterized the Jewish race throughout the centuries, from the days of the prophets of Israel even to our own times. The Basle Platform is the declaration of independence proclaimed by that group within the Jewish race who had determined to build a Jewish State. The Pittsburgh Program gives us a picture of the kind of state for which the Zionists are striving. The Pittsburgh Program, indeed, has world wide significance. Its result may prove to be of benefit not to ourselves alone, but to all the world. In 10 SOCIAL ZIONISM making Palestine a laboratory for momentous experiments in the quest for social justice, we are dedicating the future Jewish State to a world purpose, even as Moses transformed our ancestors into a "chosen people," who, from the vantage ground of the Holy Land, were to bring the message of divine justice to the world. There, in concrete experience, shall we realize the message of the prophets of Israel, as proclaimed in the ancient Jewish state, for in this final Jewish state we shall develop a model community based on Social Justice. Can there be a higher or nobler mission? The Pittsburgh Program, unanimously adopted, reads as a prophecy of the future Commonwealth in Zion: 1. Political and civil equality irrespective of race, sex, or faith of all the inhabitants of the land. 2. To insure in the Jewish national home in Palestine equality of opportunity, we favor a policy which, with due regard to existing rights, shall tend to establish the ownership and control of the land and of all natural resources, and of all public utilities by the whole people. 3. All land, owned or controlled by the whole people, should be leased on such condi- INTRODUCTION 11 tions as will insure the fullest opportunity for development and continuity of posses- sion. 4. The co-operative principle should be ap- plied as far as feasible in the organization of all agricultural, industrial, commercial, and financial undertakings. 5. The fiscal policy shall be framed so as to protect the people from the evils of land speculation and from every other form of financial oppression. 6. The system of free public instruction which is to be established, should embrace all grades and departments of education. 7. The medium of public instruction shall be Hebrew, the national language of the Jewish people. The second, third and fourth principles com- prise a declaration of Social Zionism, as a com- plement to the Political Zionism of the older days. The Pittsburgh Program is the excuse as well as the justification for this little volume. The author first used the phrase "Social Zionism" in an article appearing in the "Collegiate Zionist" in July, 1910. Since that day such phrases as the "Zion Common- wealth," "Jewish Industrial Army," and many other * 12 SOCIAL ZIONISM expressions used by the author for the past ten years, indicative of the social element in Zionism, have become the general property of Jewish nation- alists. Yet these phrases are not mere catch names for subjects of essays and speeches. They represent a well defined theory of social action with respect to Zionism. This theory is the basis of all the chap- ters of this book, which are reproductions, in whole, or in part, of various essays and articles published during a period of nine years (1910 19). Only a few words and phrases have been changed, or omit- ted, in several instances where the old word or phrase might prove misleading at the present time. It follows, therefore, that some of the illustrations and allusions in the various chapters may not seem timely, or the most appropriate, in view of the rapid changes that have occurred during the last few years; yet this disadvantage is more than offset by the opportunity that it offers the reader to trace the development of a social theory in Zionism, culminat- ing in the adoption of the Pittsburgh Program. This volume may, therefore, serve as an introduction to the study of certain planks in the Pittsburgh Pro- gram and its implication. What is this social theory what does the Social Zionist want? INTRODUCTION 13 A Social Zionist is one whose idealism is not satisfied merely with the creation of a Jewish state, but who is determined to build a model state in the Holy Land freed from the economic wrongs, the social injustices and the greed of modern-day in- dustrialism. While he may not be prepared to en- dorse the full program of any particular radical school, yet he purposes to utilize the truths of all schools in building the new Commonwealth in Zion. Not so long ago, the champions of protective tariffs and government subsidies in the United States had the temerity to oppose all radical measures of social reform, on the ground that we must "let-well-enough-alone," and that extensive "State Interference" was a dangerous philosophy, since such paternalism would destroy the individual liberty that has come down to us as an heirloom from the fathers who framed the constitution. Gradually, our views on state interference are being transformed. The state is no longer regarded merely as a legal system with a police force, as an appendix, to enforce the decrees of the courts. Men know now that the state can be utilized as a power for the self-development of society as well as for the self-realization of the individual. They are con- vinced that the state, by regulating and controlling 14 SOCIAL ZIONISM our industrial system, may offer far more liberty than we have to-day. Herbert Spencer pictures the happy freedom of the savage, who owes no alle- giance to Parliament, with its statutes and its sense- less interference in the activities of the individual citizen. But a careful critic reminds us that the poor Englishman, living under a government ruled by many volumes of the revised statutes, has far more liberty than the Australian Bushman or the Savage of the South Seas, forever in fear of starvation and murder. Not by casting off all the bounds of law, but by increasing state activity for the protection of our economic life and for increasing our common- wealth, can we approach true liberty. And so we are learning that poverty, unemployment and all the conditions that are unfavorable to the physical development of man are limitations upon true lib- erty. They are forces of coercion that set bounds to the self-development of the individual, for they deny to him the opportunities for physical and mental growth. Yet, from one point of view, there is a strong objection that may be urged against extensive state interference. It is the argument that has been used repeatedly against Socialism, when we are told that INTRODUCTION 15 socialists would substitute simply the coercion of majority rule for the tyranny of captains of indus- try. Fundamentally, this argument is the stronghold of Anarchism, which denies the right of coercion to any group of people, however large. The philosophy of Anarchism, however grot- esque its manifestation among ignorant devotees of high sounding phrases, at least has one strong logical basis. Thoreau and Tolstoi both repudiated the right of taxation on the part of the state; and, undoubtedly, from the point of view of logic, they were correct in the deduction that they could not justly be forced to pay taxes to a state to which they had refused to swear allegiance and whose benefits they were willing to forego. The logical Anarchist will say: I was brought into the state by birth and was made a member of the community without my consent. Must I then forever be denied the right to shift for myself? Must I remain an un- willing subject of a state whose advantages I do not seek? Have you the right to force me to pay taxes to support an institution from which I am only too willing to withdraw? Social Zionism presents a simple program. It requires that the "Social Commonwealth in Zion" shall be a voluntary institution. The New Zion must 16 SOCIAL ZIONISM have a voluntary co-operative association to safe- guard the economic interests of the people. This co-operative association might take the form of a Jewish Industrial Army, wherein citizens might en- list as "soldiers in industry," and receive in addition to a "living wage," a share in the profits of this co- operative institution. But no one would be com- pelled to spend his life-time in such an industrial army, for each would be free to withdraw and en- gage in any industry, even in competition with the Industrial Army. This will give us an interplay between the forces of co-operation and individual initiative that might prove to be of great value. It would not abolish competition, but limit its scope and raise its plane. The state would say to the citizen: you must not barter your body and soul for the bread and clothing that nature requires, even as we refuse to sanction a contract for indi- vidual slavery. The Co-operative Industrial Army, will, automatically, establish a minimum wage, for then no one will be so foolhardy as to work for smaller wages, that will not secure for him at least the necessaries of life. At the same time, by national control over the land of Palestine, the Jewish state will be able to regulate the economic system even outside of the INTRODUCTION 17 Co-operative Industrial Army. Through the instru- mentality of the Industrial Army we shall establish for labor a minimum wage, while through state control of the land, we shall be able to regulate the maximum price for food, clothing and shelter. These two complementary programs will automatically regulate the industrial system of the new Jewish state, and will guide us along the road to "Social Justice." Such a co-operative army, and state control over the land of Palestine would form the pillars upon which would be erected an industrial democ- racy in the Holy Land. "And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; "And they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. "They shall not build, and another inhabit, "They shall not plant, and another eat; "For as the days of a tree shall be the days of My people, "And Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands" (ISAIAH, Chapter 65 Verses 21, 22) Social Zionism. CHAPTER 1. THE ROLE OF NATIONALISM IN HISTORY * WE hear so much of the "Brotherhood of Man," and we listen so often to discourses on the "Unity of Mankind," "Universal Peace," and on other prospects of the distant future, that we are often apt to forget the most important force of the living present. In the national will to live there ex- ists, to-day, a force which has exerted an influence upon civilization so profound, that these grand universal dreams seem but as side-issues when com- pared with this invincible yearning. This desire for nationality, aided by the songs of the minstrel and the gifted words of the poet, has its foundation in science. The Biologist tells us that every climate produces its characteristic trees and *) See Appendix A. 20 SOCIAL ZIONISM fruits; that while we may introduce foreign seeds into new localities, the result will depend, to a very large extent, on the new environment the nature of the soil and climate, and the competition of other plants. In short, while we may transplant seeds to new lands, we can do so only within well-defined limits. Furthermore, in nature before the hand of man interferes we find the fir tree in one local- ity, the maple tree in another well-defined territory, and the sugar-cane in another environment, entirely distinct from the former. In animal life we find the same situation. The lion of Africa and the tiger of India have certain well-defined kingdoms of their own, distinct and separate from the quarters of the polar bear and the domestic horse and cow. Within certain limits we may acclimatize them, but they show a strong tendency to revert to the life of their ancestors. 1. The Primary Environment of Man By the use of clothing, houses for shelter and the thousands of inventions that minister to the needs of mankind, the highest class of animals have learned to adapt themselves to diverse environ- ments. Yet, even man, the heir of the ages, is re- stricted to a relatively small portion of the earth's THE ROLE OF NATIONALISM IN HISTORY 21 surface. Furthermore, the places that men occupy are apportioned among various races the white man cannot live and thrive in the tropics, and the Esquimaux perish in the mild and inviting climate of California. England has conquered a vast empire in the East, yet the sons of Britain fail to bring forth a second generation to inherit the riches of India. America has pacified the Philippine Islands, after a large expenditure of blood and money, yet, unlike the conquests in California and Texas, these islands in the Pacific will never be populated by the Anglo- Saxon and kindred races. But these are the restrictions of the primary environment which nature imposes. There is an- other environment, made by man himself, and which may be called the secondary environment, exerting, in the history of the human race, a far larger influence. 2. The Secondary Environment More than three thousand years ago, tribes of Semites, while wandering in the desert for forty years, were welded together into one nation by the genius and strength of a statesman-prophet. He gave them laws that made them a chosen people separate and distinct from the surrounding nations. 22 SOCIAL ZIONISM After a thousand and five hundred years of national existence, while heroes fought, priests prayed and prophets preached, the children's children of these wanderers were solidified into a race with a distinct inheritance. The destruction of their sacred temple and the devastation of their country once and again failed to exterminate that race, and for more than eighteen centuries they have been subjected to the fires of persecution and the torments of intolerance. Yet have they preserved a unity of type which everyone instinctively recognizes in the Jew. About the time that the Israelites succumbed to the mighty onslaughts of Rome, tall, light-haired barbarians were harassing her armies on the north- ern fringe of her vast domains, on the banks of the Rhine and the Danube. Indeed, in a battle that is numbered among the decisive facts in history at Teutoberg Forest these barbarians stayed the arm of the Eternal City, and the Germans were per- mitted full scope for self-development, unhindered by the enervating luxuries of Italy. Through tur- moil and violence, through struggle and achieve- ment, these barbarians began to solidify into the German nation. Five centuries after Arminius annihilated the Roman legions in the German forests, kinsmen of THE ROLE OF NATIONALISM IN HISTORY 23 the hardy warriors who followed him embarked in their little ships to conquer the island of Great Brit- ain. Marauding bands harassed the coast, and, penetrating the interior, subdued the original inhab- itants, reducing them to serfdom. Under Canute the Dane and William the Conquerer, these kindred races began to assimilate with the Celts of Britain to form the nation of Englishmen, and during the following centuries their grandchildren conquered new lands, until the sun does not set on British soil. They were the pioneers who created new Englands in Canada, Australia, and South Africa, and who laid the foundation of the American Republic. Now, we can understand how the Israelites might have been able to occupy Great Britain, and how the Germans might have patiently listened to the teachings of Moses in the deserts of Sinai, and how the English might have struggled for centuries in the disputes between the Empire and Papacy. In short, there is no insuperable logical difficulty in supposing that the primary environment might have fallen to the lot of any of these nations. But the secondary environment created by man the environment of Israel with its priests, prophets and warrior kings (who wrote psalms in the intervals of the Lord's battles) , the environment of the Teutons 24 SOCIAL ZIONISM as they struggled in disunion, for generations, be- fore they succeeded in establishing the German na- tion, the environment of the English sea robbers, while they conquered Britain and while their sons sang with pride "Britannia Rules the Waves," as they conquered the world's fairest provinces these conditions were chiefly instrumental in forming the Hebrew, the German and the Englishman, even as the primary environment, belonging to all of them, made them White Men instead of Esquimaux, Cau- casians instead of Negroes. In short, while human- ity is limited by a primary environment consisting of soil, climate and physical situation, man is ever evolving a secondary environment consisting of past experiences, present conditions and ideals, and aspi- rations for the future, which tend to differentiate one group of people from another. History, when read aright, stands as an ever willing witness to sanctify this secondary man- created environment. From the earliest days, there have been dreamers and conquerors who, each in his way, sought to reduce all mankind to one race to consolidate all peoples into one grand hodge- podge of humanity. The civilization that grew up on the banks of the Nile struggled for centuries with the inhabitants on the banks of the Tigris and THE ROLE OF NATIONALISM IN HISTORY 25 Euphrates, but neither Egypt nor Assyria nor Baby- lonia could establish a world-empire. The genius of Cyrus enabled Persia to approach the limits of a world-empire, but it crumbled before the onslaughts of the Greeks under the boy-genius of Macedon. Alexander the Great dreamed of making a Greek world-empire, that would be the melting-pot for all nations. And yet, only twenty years after he had completed his splendid conquests, the Empire of Alexander was torn asunder into rival kingdoms. Rome profited from the mistakes of all her prede- cessors, and the Queen City sought to incorporate all foreign races as her own children, so as to assim- ilate the entire world into the all-inclusive Roman citizenship. Yet, the period of the Roman Empire was followed by the days of Feudalism, when almost every hamlet was a distinct nation and every rob- ber-baron an independent king. Gradually, the Kingdoms of Western Europe were formed, but neither Charlemagne in the West nor the Omars in the East, fighting with the fanat- icism of the followers of the Prophet, could create, over incongruous populations, lasting empires. The dying notes of the greatest attempt to create a world-empire still ring in our ears, for it is hardly a century since the greatest military genius of all 26 SOCIAL ZIONISM time, backed by the enthusiasm of a great nation, went forth to realize the dream in which Alexander and Caesar had failed. Had Napoleon the Great been as keen in history as in politics and war, he would have concluded that to amalgamate all na- tions into one world-nation is an impossible task. 3. Cosmopolitanism and Internationalism Is there no fundamental principle at the basis of all this history - - some great tendency which limits the conqueror and baffles the plans of those who dream dreams of world-nations? I submit that it is the secondary environment to which we referred, the artificial environment which man creates, which forms the basis for nationality the national lan- guage, the national traditions, the racial type of physique and mind, the national charateristics and the resulting culture, and, finally, the national religion. We may agree that this secondary environment has hitherto thwarted the plans of world-empire, yet we may justly ask: is it right, is it good, that nationalism should have triumphed and should con- tinue to triumph over the dreams of Universal Brotherhood? There have been numerous theorists and statesmen who have philosophized about the THE ROLE OF NATIONALISM IN HISTORY 27 "barriers" of nationalism, and have condemmed the unreasoning prejudices of the mob that prevented the rapid development of a world-empire. In the Golden Age of Athens, a powerful sect labored for the realization of a cosmopolitan empire in which all would be Athenian citizens with equal rights. They called themselves the Stoics. While we must admire their sincerity and strength of char- acter, their broad-minded outlook on nearly every subject, I want to point out one prejudice which should call into question the premise of which they were so proud. In Athens, we recall, only pure blooded Athenians had full political rights, while foreigners were classified as barbarians, to whom was offered little more besides trading privileges. The first Stoics were nearly all descendants of these barbarians, being the offspring of Athenians who had been corrupted (as the Greeks believed) by intermarriage with foreigners. Their children saw the gates of advancement closed upon them by un- fair laws, while they fully realized that, in talents and riches, they were not inferior to the old, native stock. It was only natural for them to evolve a cos- mopolitan philosophy that would include them in the scheme of life. I do not wish to be understood to imply that the Stoics sought, in a selfish spirit, 28 SOCIAL ZIONISM to utilize philosophy and logic for their own pur- pose; but we may conclude that dreams of cosmo- politanism, of the virtual equality and unity of all races, were unconsciously accepted by these step- sons of Athens, because their condition placed them in a receptive mood for such a philosophy. For the sake of brevity we must omit mention of the many other dreams of Universalism, but we cannot overlook the new philosophy of Cosmopoli- tanism that grew out of Socialism. The economic principles underlying the Socialist movement are endorsed by many radical thinkers who have no sympathy with the vagaries of "class war" to the exclusion of all racial and national ideals. Indeed, this old, simonpure Socialist view, is being rejected by the Socialists themselves in Germany and France, and will, undoubtedly, be repudiated by American Socialists. The founders of modern Socialism, Karl Marx and Lassalle, were Jews by race members of a nation that has had to endure German Anti- Semitism for many centuries. They were regarded as members of an outcast people, and, with their keen minds, the old philosophy of the Stoics ap- pealed to them as fair and logical. There are no nations, they reasoned, and governments are only instruments, artificially created by the ruling THE ROLE OF NATIONALISM IN HISTORY 29 classes, for the oppression of the workers. Let us pull down all these barriers and make one united nation, in which there will be no distinction between German, Frenchman, Jew and Turk. When this formula of Socialism became clear, radical thinkers like Mazzini withdrew from their ranks, because Italy was an ideal which he would not exchange for all the dreams of communism. In one of his most famous speeches, he declared: "Love your country. Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart, blushing, whis- pered the first words of love; it is the house that God has given you, that by striving to perfect your- selves therein, you may prepare to ascend to Him. It is your name, your glory, your sign among the peoples. Give to it your thought, your counsels, your blood." And then: "Love humanity. You can only ascertain your mission from the aim set by God before humanity at large. God has given you your country as your cradle, and humanity as mother; you cannot rightly love your brethren of the cradle if you love not the common mother. Beyond the Alps, beyond the sea, are other peoples now fight- ing, or preparing to fight, the holy fight of inde- 30 SOCIAL ZIONISM pendence, of nationality, of liberty; other peoples striving by different routes to reach the same goal." Mazzini, the poet-orator, saw clearly the scope and value of nationalism, and we of to-day are put- ting into scienific expression the ideals of Mazzini, the Italian, of Gambetta, the Frenchman, of Hess, the German most of them of Jewish blood. The theory which is now being clothed in scientific for- mula has no quarrel with Nationalism. On the con- trary, it is based on the historic claims that Nation- alism has been of large value in every upward step of civilization. It is the theory of Internationalism as opposed to the theory of Cosmopolitanism. While the latter assumes that the future will bring forth a world-empire formed by the mixture of hetero- geneous nations and races, Internationalism holds forth the prospect of a noble synthesis of nations a grand harmony in the world symphony, in which every nation will lend its distinctive note to blend with the music of all. Not to destroy nations would be its aim, but to glorify all races of mankind. In- stead of a kingdom or World Republic composed of individuals of a uniform type, we Internationalists have the vision of a great United States of the World, in which every State with its own peculiar people, language, character and culture would THE ROLE OF NATIONALISM IN HISTORY 31 unite with all the others in the ever-lasting war for righteousness and social justice. 4. Nationalism and Internationalism We do not say to the Chinaman: come with us, intermarry with our people, and then we shall evolve a uniform type, thoroughly assimilated, in which prejudice can have no place. We do not invite the extermination of races and the self-effacement of nationalitites in order to secure toleration and re- spect. But we say to Chinaman, Russian, Negro, Italian, German, Frenchman and Jew: develop to the utmost limit your distinctive traits, your char- acteristic culture, and solve your own peculiar prob- lems religious, social and political in your own peculiar way, unhindered by the interference of other nations. But over and above the ties of patriotism, which bind you to your native land and the heritage of your forefathers, is the claim of humanity, which can be satisfied only when all the inhabitants of every nation become brothers, in sister states, of the United States of the World. Then, in this higher unity, which permits large scope for the development of each nationality, with its characteristic physical type, language and cul- 32 SOCIAL ZIONISM ture, we shall achieve the "Brotherhood of Man," the "Sisterhood of States" and "Universal Peace." Need I indicate the application of these prin- ciples to the Jewish question? To us Zionists it is sufficiently clear that we Jews are entitled to rep- resentation not only in the "Brotherhood of Man," but, as an entity, in the "Sisterhood of States." The striking tendency in modern history is the growth of Empires, Federal Governments and Con- federations, in which ample opportunity is offered for autonomous states and national self-develop- ment. We Zionists demand that in the World Re- public of the future the Jews shall take their stand not merely as so many million individuals, without union or common traditions, purposes and ideals, but as an integral sister state, with a prospect for the "self-realization of Israel." To all the Jews of the diaspora, such a Jewish Commonwealth would be the nucleus for a Jewish Renaissance, that will usher in the New Jerusalem. CHAPTER 2. I.*) oA SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN Z.ION ASocial Commonwealth is an organization of a social group in which each individual citi- zen is assured of sufficient satisfaction of the physical needs of existence and of an economic sur- plus that makes possible the attainment of higher ideals. The leaders in modern thought have come to realize that there are certain physical conditions indispensable to true liberty. Just in so far as a dweller of a city slum has been deprived of oppor- tunities which he might have had under a better social system, he is not free he is the slave of the Social System of his day. The frugal and industri- ous employee in the sweatshop, who must run his machine or face his starving family, is not legally a slave. That has been abolished since the American civil war; but, chained to his environment, a serf to his machine, he is, in fact, a slave. The negro slaves of half a century ago worked in healthful fields, received rations, and rude huts ) See Appendix B. 34 SOCIAL ZIONISM for shelter. The wage slaves of our city slums to- day, probably exceeding in number the negroes before the Civil War, should be thankful for the im- munities which they enjoy and of which the down- trodden negro was deprived. Yet, for the fields of cotton have been substituted unhealthful factories; for the rations and the hut of the negro a pittance of wages. The submerged tenth are not free, unless freedom be compatible with slavery. They lack op- portunity and the power to change then- position the essential ingredients of liberty. Dependent on others for mere physical existence, how can they be free in the higher things of life? 1. The Physical Basis of Ideals A scholastic philosopher of the Mediaeval Church might have made some important deduc- tions from certain acts of Jehovah as recorded in the Old Testament. When the Children of Israel went forth from Egypt, they wandered for forty years in the Desert, supported directly from the bounty of the Lord. The All- Wise understood that a nation of slaves can be converted into freemen only after they have become independent of the tyr- anny of physical want. In His beneficent wisdom, A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 35 He sent them manna from the Heavens to satisfy the craving for food, so that the Chosen People might have the leisure and the inclination to pursue higher things. God knew that, in itself, the Exodus did not convert slaves into freemen; that Liberty means more than emancipation, more than the mere negative process of breaking old chains. True liberty is a positive concept, and only after the brethren of Moses had been freed from the inexorable physical needs were they really free to follow the laws of the Almighty. Therefore, might the church philosopher justly conclude: "We mortals should profit from the deeds of the Eternal. The supreme function of gov- ernment, as revealed to us through the works of the Lord, should be to endeavor continually and per- sistently to provide for the physical wants of the citizens." Only after we have removed the despot- ism of physical needs can we succeed in building a higher self, a better and nobler type of man. In our own days, it was a scientist, and not a scholastic philosopher, who advanced an analogous theory. Professor Patten (of the University of Pennsylvania) announced, as the mandate of sci- ence, that true freedom is incompatible with ex- treme poverty. To him the most hopeful sign of civilization is the fact that mankind to-day has a 36 SOCIAL ZIONISM greater amount of capital, a larger surplus with which to satisfy physical needs, than in former ages. Civilization and progress are the superstructures resting on the foundation of this economic surplus. The beauties of art and the wonders of science are possible in so far as we are freed from the deaden- ing power of physical needs. In accordance with this logical proposition, the aim of society should ever be to increase the economic surplus, ever to endeavor to relieve the individual citizen from the tyranny of physical want. In the province of art, religion, mor- als and taste the State should give the individual all freedom; but, in order to promote this freedom and make of it more than a mere hollow phrase, it must be the main function of the government to increase the economic surplus in the nation and to secure the independence of the citizen from the material needs of existence. Solely from the point of view of utility, must Socialism and "Laissez- faire" be judged. That economic system is just, equitable and desirable which will enable the nation to realize a larger economic surplus, so distributed as to open larger opportunities for the fulfilment of the higher desires and motives as art, morals, etc. in the life of the individual. A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 37 2. The Question of State Interferenc^ This brings up, directly, the question of state interference the most difficult problem of consti- tutional law, the question that continually vexes the mind of the political philosopher. The question how far the state ought to interfere with the conduct of the individual citizen, how far it should limit the scope of his interests, is the supreme problem in Political Science. But with the opening of the in- dustrial revolution in the latter half of the Eigh- teenth Century ,it has become also the most com- plicated political and social problem of modern times. Throughout the Nineteenth Century, the theory of "Laissez-faire" struggled with the Social- ist ideal of a regulated commonwealth, and, in the first decade of the Twentieth Century, such ques- tions as Railroad Rate Regulation, the Conservation of Natural Resources and the proper control of Pub- lic Utilities prove that questions of state interfer- ence are uppermost in the minds of men. Indeed, the history of the last century and a half shows repeated efforts made, in decade after decade, to define the scope of state interference. Each age endeavors to settle this question accord- ing to its own light, only to find it reversed in the 38 SOCIAL ZIONISM succeeding years. For, state interference must ever remain a problem for each generation to solve anew, guided by its own light, under the peculiar conditions of the times. There is no charmed circle around individual rights which may not be crossed by state interference. Liberty is not a static term but a dynamic concept "A path of progress." Individual liberty is not a negative term but a posi- tive power, and the state may do much to enhance that power by enlarging opportunities and removing the burdens from the less fortunate in the struggle for existence. In any existing society, it is next to impossible to determine, impartially, the question of state in- terference. Is any particular extension of govern- ment endeavor in the United States beneficial to the people and conducive to true individual liberty ? The moment the question is put we have the diverse answers not only of unprejudiced scientists, but also the insidious attempts to befog the issue on the part of certain classes, commonly called the "special interests." A complete program of social reform, affecting the amelioration of the condition of the poorer classes and involving fundamental changes in the social order, must meet the powerful opposition of vested interests. Recall the "June days," of 1848, A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 39 in Paris, and the establishment of the French Re- public, in 1871, to understand how difficult in mod- ern states is the task of the social reformer. In short, wherever and whenever any steps in social evolution tend to jeopardize the profits or the privi- leges of the so-called upper classes there is a con- flict which retards social progress. 3. Building the House of Israel The case is different with a proposed state. You will find no strong opposition party to a scheme for an Industrial Democracy in some far-off land. The self-interest of the captains of industry is not affected, and, ac- cordingly such an experiment is regarded merely as a harmless Utopia. For example, the Zionist movement has created the Jewish National Fund, which, carried to its logical conclusion, means the approval of the principle of nationalization of the Jewish land. Yet we hear nothing but praise for the National Fund, simply because there are no large vested interests in the soil of Palestine. Among the many disadvantages of expatriation from the Jewish land, there is at least one advantage, namely, that, in constructing our state, we may avoid the clash be- tween the selfish interests and the public welfare, and 40 SOCIAL ZIONISM build our community in a true scientific spirit, divorced from the greed of materialism. The outrages committed in the name of liberty, the wrongs perpetrated under the guise of frater- nity, are not the necessary concomitants of Revolu- tion. They are merely the manifestations of the spirit of destruction which usually precedes the period of construction in every revolution. Any fun- damental reform in modern states means first a tearing down of old institutions before the rearing of the new. It is the resistance of the old, and not so much the innovation itself, that makes any revolu- tion so difficult. But in establishing a new commonwealth, the struggle over the old intrenched political and social .system is eliminated. Where others have had to destroy and rebuild, we shall have only to build. Like a man with no piece of land to call his own, we are "a people of air": but when we secure the plot upon which to build the House of Israel, we shall not be compelled to tear to the ground our former habitation. Profiting by the experiences of former ages and diverse nations, we shall be free to erect a Home for the Jewish people a house that shall be artistic and stable, good to behold and a glory to inhabit. A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 4i Our critics may bid us wait until we shall have obtained the land before making plans and speci- fications for the structure to be erected, but the shrewd investor never buys before ascertaining how the land may be utilized. Furthemore, it will appear that the success of our movement depends, in a large measure, on a thorough understanding of the kind of state we shall build. Do we desire that it should rest upon the shifting sands of petty politics? Then our task may be very difficult and at the same time of doubtful value. If our aim is to create a social-moral community of Jews a true common- wealth in Palestine, then our task is simpler, and our structure will abide. The lessons of history and the experiences of other nations may teach us how to build, on a foundation of solid rock, a house of many beauties, towering to the skies. The architect, in constructing a mansion, acquaints himself not only with the tastes of his patron, but also with the works of the great masters and the teachings of experience. So must the great statesman the builder of states profit by the experiences of by- gone ages and by the history of nations. 4. The Social Period in History The French Revolution is regarded, justly, as the turning point in modern history, when a new 42 SOCIAL ZIONISM element , hitherto ignored, manifested itself in human society. Previous to the French Reolvution, the political aspect of history was predominant. The French Revolution emphasized the social aspect. With the wonderful growth of industry and science, with the development of Socialism and the human- itarian movements for the amelioration of the con- dition of the poor, the social aspect has become increasingly important, until to-day the political ele- ment is subordinated to the social element In his- tory. Indeed, an examination of the lives of the vast majority of the citizens of any country, will show how insignificant politics is by the side of business and social intercourse. If the voter devotes part of one day each year to politics, by far the largest share of his energy and brain power is expended upon the satisfaction of the material needs of life. Even politics itself is being transformed from questions of sovereignty and political rights to those of social reform and the regulation of wealth. England is more interested in the Lloyd-George Budget than in party politics, and even "Votes for Women" are being demanded, because, so we are told, women take a greater interest in the protection of the working class, the abolition of child labor and the increase of education for the young. In A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 43 short, we are viewing our political system as an adjunct of our social system as a sort of safety valve to regulate the engine of social progress. Let me not be misunderstood. I am not urging that economic welfare is more important than the achievements in Arts and Science. But we must all agree tliat irrespective of the question of relative importance, material welfare must, ordinarily, pre- cede development in the higher walks of life. The necessary foundation upon which the beautiful superstructure of enlightment may be reared is economics. In short, we are living in a commercial age, when politics is subordinated to the interests of industry. A community freed from economic despot- ism is the only community of free men. We are ready to take the next step in social evolution from the political democracy to the industrial democracy. The Zionist movement is particularly fortunate in that it has been born in a period of transition from the political to the economic democracy. The efforts of the Poale Zion, of so-called "Practical Zionism," and, finally, the co-operative farming schemes in Palestine have disposed us to a favor- able consideration of Social Zionism. 44 SOCIAL ZIONISM II.*) History tells us that our goal is attainable. The obstacles that may be encountered, at the out- set, cannot be greater than the difficulties of the English East India Company when it commenced the stupendous task of conquering an empire. Be- ginning with two or three trade outposts, in India, in the middle of the eighteenth century, it suc- ceeded, within the short space of half a century, in acquiring supreme commercial and political power over a population of many millions. The East India Company relied exclusively upon commercial con- cessions and built the grand structure of a British Empire in India upon the basis of trade and in- dustry. Unfortunately for its own good name, it was later transformed into a political instrument, and lost the profits and the honors that would have fallen to its share. Our task is much simpler. We are not seeking for sovereign power over alien peoples. We are not striving for the plunder of prostrate provinces nor for political control over immense territories. We are laboring to rejuvenate ) See Appendix C. A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 45 a nation, not to rule over subject races. Let us keep well within the limits of social and economic activities and we may profit from the experience of the Great English East India Company. The program of Social Zionism can be achieved through the instrumentality of an American corporation, to be organized for the economic and social development of Palestine. The capital secured from American Jews for such a company would not be a heavy charge on Palestinian development, for shares of the company would be sold not for speculative profits in the interests of its subscribers, but, primarily, for the upbuilding of a Jewish Commonwealth. There are already several examples in the Zionist Movement of business corporations, organized, primarily, not for profit-making, but for service in Palestine. The Palestine Land Develop- ment Company, as an illustration, provides that the voting control shall be vested in a number of "Founders' Shares," which are held by prominent Zionists, who act practically as the trustees, so as to make sure that the company shall not become a scheme merely for securing profits. This provision compels a consideration of the broader Jewish interests, while shrewd business management is encouraged, because of the profits that might 46 SOCIAL ZIONISM accrue to individual shareholders. In like manner, provision might be made, whereby the voting control of the American Palestine Company would vest in the World Zionist Organization or its American branch, while the business interests would be safe- guarded by the provision that the shareholders would participate in the profits. Such an "American Palestine Company" should restrict its activities entirely to economic enterprises in the Land of Israel and eschew all purely political projects. It might well begin its operations for extensive land purchases in Palestine and the fostering of a system of far reaching co-operation in the marketing of the agricultural products of the Jewish farmers of Palestine. But in order to secure lasting and beneficent results, we must look upon the plan of co-operative farm-colonies as the beginning, and not as the end of our social structure. It must be the foundation stone, not the tower, of the "House of Israel." With the organization of a co-operative society of farmers, we can take the next step in social evolution. We can utilize the farmers' organization as the corner-stone of a social commonwealth consisting of men who shall be free in their industrial life, as well as in their social activities. A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 47 How can this be accomplished? We would first transform this co-operative organization of farmers into an industrial and financial agency for the up- building of a Hebrew Social Commonwealth. The change may seem simple, but its effects would be revolutionary. Instead of restricting itself to the sale of certain products and the purchase of machinery, the co-operative association would undertake also activities: (1) for the manufacture of certain articles that could, with profit, be pro- duced in Palestine; (2) for the development of commerce and of transportation facilities; and finally, (3) for the development of public utilities on a large scale. 5. A Social Commonwealth What are to be the chief policies of the Com- pany in the upbuilding of a social commonwealth? The first principle should be the introduction, in some form, of the Jubilee year, as an integral part of our system. No single provision of our ancient law has been praised so much as this simple regula- tion, prohibiting the alienation of real property. The conservative economist unites with the radical advocate of the "Single Tax" in approving the old Hebrew Law which compelled the restitution of 48 SOCIAL ZIONISM lands to the original owner every fiftieth year. Any Hebrew commonwealth would be false to its own past if it failed to incorporate the spirit of such a law as the foundation-stone of its polity. No individual should be permitted to own land as personal property. There should be only estates in land, limited, in the case of agricultural lands, so as to be restricted to farming uses only, and in the case of all other lands, to leases not exceeding seven years. At the expiration of each lease, the paramount owner the Company would either lease the lands to the same or other residents or retain them for its own use. Any farmer, who is the present owner of the land he occupies, would be permitted to join the association on surrendering his lands to the Company, and he would be paid therefor in shares of the Company, according to the assessed value of the lands. Furthermore, he would be permitted to remain in undisputed possession of his estate, contingent on the payment of a portion of his annual produce from the lands so occupied by him. Farms which the Company might purchase (or secure under long term leases from the Jewish National Fund) would be utilized in apportioning small farms among competent Jew- ish laborers, who would pay a certain portion of the A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 49 produce as an annual tax. This would be, in essence, an income tax as well as a "single tax" on land, since the occupant would pay rent pro- portionate to his income and a tax on the value of his occupied land. One important provision would follow, as a corollary, namely, that land not profitably utilized by the occupant would revert to the Company. We now come to the cardinal feature that will transform the mere co-operative agricultural as- sociation into a large industrial corporation for the upbuilding of a social commonwealth. The Company will act not only as an agency for farmers but also as a financial and industrial instrument for the development of the lands under its control. The Company should enact, as one of its by-laws, a measure restricting the occupation and develop- ment of lands by individuals for any other purpose than farming. Thus, mining lands, city dwellings, as well as lands and buildings to be used for manufacture and commerce should not be permit- ted to remain in the hands of private individuals for the purpose of speculation, but must be either owned and operated by the Company itself or leased to individuals, at public auction, for terms not exceeding seven years. By this method, individual 50 SOCIAL ZIONISM initiative would not be excluded from economic activity, while the unearned increment of land values, due to the growth of population and wealth, would fall to the share of the Company. The latter would engage in many and diverse activities, not to the exclusion of, but in competition with individual initiative. The guiding principle of all industrial activity of the company should be not monopolization, but rather concentration. It should not attempt to de- stroy all vestiges of the competitive system in industry and commerce, but rather to permit such individual enterprises even in competition with the efforts of the Company. Whenever the Company shall conclude that it can, with profit to itself and with advantage to the community at large, under- take a certain business -- whether it be the manu- facture of shoes, the transportation of goods by land or sea, the export of fruits or any other economic activity - - it should not be hindered by any false cry of Socialism or Communism. We can have no valid objection to the multifarious activities of the Company, for it shall not aim at complete monopolization of industry. The individual will not become a mere cog in a socialist wheel. On the contrary, the competition of individuals residing in A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 51 the district would tend to keep the company in a state of efficiency, and there would always be ample opportunity for individual activity in lines demand- ing certain personal qualifications as the editor of a newspaper or a magazine, the actor, the artist, the orator and, in general, any individual with peculiar aptitude for his calling, whether in a bus- iness, trade or profession. Furthermore, the Company would promote the growth of a society which would encourage the ac- cumulation of surplus capital, since the share- holders of the Company would profit from its successful ventures, and these shareholders might differ widely in the amount of their investments. In this connection, we should provide that, after the first one million dollars ($1,000,000) of shares, none but residents on its lands might be share- holders of the Company, so as to restrict the profits to those most interested in the development of the country. The amount of authorized capital stock of the Company should be very large (ten million or twenty million dollars), so as to offer opportuni- ties for every resident to invest his savings in the stock of the Company. (The Jewish Colonial Trust and sympathetic Jews outside of Palestine might aid the Company by subscribing to its bonds.) 52 SOCIAL ZIONISM We shall create an organization wherein the individual will work independently as a farmer, while all will unite in a large corporation for the purpose of mutual aid, of manufacture and commerce. It might be urged that such a system would result in making wage-slaves of the factory hands and of the merchant clerks, while the farmers would form an aristocracy, analogus to the feudal lords of old. But such a view neglects the important consideration that nearly all industry is now under the control of consolidated wealth, and if we are re- stricted to a choice of masters, in preference to absentee millionaires, it might be advisable to se- lect farmers, who have a deep interest in the wel- fare of their neighbors. Furthermore, each worker will have an equal opportunity with the farmer to purchase shares in the Company, and may, there- fore, become one of the masters of the corporation on a par with the tiller of the soil. The advantage of such a corporation, organized for industry and commerce as well as for agri- cultural co-operation, is evident. It will enable us to construct, a community that might be economically self-sufficient that will be more than a mere hinterland for Europe. We might be able to develop A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 53 certain manufactures and make Palestine the great trade centre to which its geographic position en- titles it. In all such commercial and industrial efforts, a large corporation will have a tremendous advantage over an aggregation of competing indi- viduals, and will increase enormously the financial powers of the commonwealth. 6. Profit Sharing in Palestine Finally, we must devise a thorough-going profit sharing system, if we are to develop a true common- wealth. The term "commonwealth" has been so frequently misused that, in everyday speech, it has become synonymus with state and government. It is high time to revive its old significance the common-wealth, or the wealth that is common to all members of the community the rights, privileges, and duties of free men to lead a life of self-realization, in economics as well as in politics, in material welfare even as in religious opinions. Many are the plans that might be suggested for the purpose of securing to the workers a just share of the profits of their industry, but perhaps the simple plan presented below would prove just and adequate. 54 SOCIAL ZIONISM Whenever all the profits of the Company (after deducting a certain portion for a replacement fund) should amount to two per cent, or less, on the capi- tal stock, then all of such profits must be divided among the shareholders. Furthermore, seventy-five per cent of all profits between two per cent and four per cent, fifty per cent of all profits between four per cent and six per cent, and twenty-five per cent of all profits above six per cent should be apportioned as dividends in proportion to the shares held by each resident. The remainder of the dividends, consisting of twenty-five per cent, of all profits between two and four per cent., of fifty per cent, of all profits between four and six per cent., and of seventy-five per cent, of all profits above six per cent should be concen- trated in a "Profit Sharing Fund." This fund would be utilized for educational work, sanitary improve- ments and healthful recreation for the entire com- munity, and any surplus would be divided, in equal shares, among the adult residents of the district whether men or women, farmers or employees of the Company (in its manufacturing plants or in its commercial ventures). The Company might devise a careful insurance plan whereby it would accumu- late these small annual dividends as insurance A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 55 premiums (instead of apportioning them among the residents), so as to provide for "old age pensions," "sick relief," etc. The plan outlined above furnishes sufficient guaranties for the protection of the investor and the shareholder, while it combines a just method of profit sharing with adequate provision for educa- tion and health. 7. Eugenics aud Zionism The word "resident" has been used in this discussion, with a special and important meaning. The Company would, of course, have the power and discretion of selecting the residents to be settled upon its lands, and it should utilize this selective process with a definite end in view and for a specific purpose. A great deal has been written during the last few years upon the subject of "Eugenics," although many of the miraculous re- sults attributed to the scientific breeding of human beings may prove of small value after a close ex- amination of the facts. Yet none can deny that we are entering upon a period in the world's history when a man has ceased to acquiesce in any chance development or "natural evolution." He is becom- ing purposive in this political and social science, 56 SOCIAL ZIONISM even as the chemist who compounds a new sub- stance or the architect who constructs a new build- ing. Man is learning how to plan his own evolution and to be the master-builder of future generations. Many things are still hidden by the veil of the future, and we cannot compose formulae that will assure us of a race of supermen. But we can do a great deal towards eliminating disease and physical weak- ness, towards encouraging health, physical strength and moral efficiency. We can promote the growth of a nobler type of man and a more efficient society, by eliminating the weak and the vicious, the feeble and the criminal, as factors in the propagation of mankind. What possibilities for good might fall to the lot of the Company if it can suplement the process of "natural selection" by a scientific selection of the residents and occupants of its lands ! It might properly provide a physical, mental and moral test as a prerequisite for admission to permanent resi- dence in its district. Indeed, it might institute an elaborate system for recruiting the best portion of the Jewish population as a nucleus for the future Hebrew Commonwealth. For example, the Company may conclude that, with the lands at its disposal, it can support, at the outset, two thousand farmers, A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 57 while as many more laborers might find profitable employment in the manufacturing and commercial enterprises which it can safely undertake. (Esti- mating five persons to a family, we would have a population of about twenty thousand inhabitants). Now all these persons, and so many more as possible, should be selected on the basis of mental, moral and physical fitness, for we want to plant upon the soil of the Holy Land a Social-Moral Com- munity of Judeans. It would be unprofitable, at this time, to enter into a discussion of the details of such "entrance examinations," but we should bear in mind the principle underlying such a suggestion, namely, that we can devise a plan offering us an opportunity of establishing in the Chosen Land a chosen people a race gathered from all the four corners of the earth in accordance with the traditions of Ancient Israel, and selected on a basis that must meet with the unqualified approval of the best modern scien- tists and philosophers. 8. A Social-Moral Community of Judeans Our Commonwealth shall be a true Common- Wealth. All the members will be landlords because all will be tenants of a company in which each will 58 SOCIAL ZIONISM have his appropriate share. The Company will evolve a Democratic community, and the emphasis will be placed upon equality of opportunity rather than upon absolute equality. There will be no attempt to limit the production or accumulation of wealth, no attempt to restrict the high level of economic achievement, but rather an earnest effort to raise the plane of all industry and limit the level below which the struggle for existence cannot sink. Thus, the Company will insure employment and a living wage to its residents and it can do this because it will introduce as residents only so many as it can profitably engage in its various economic activities. Furthermore, we shall have created in Palestine a huge co-operative association for the purpose of securing commercial concessions and of upbuilding a Social Commonwealth resting upon the firm basis of economic independence. It will not be tributary to the commercial nations of the world or the money-kings of Western Europe and America. It will be able to construct a "self-sufficient" economic unit in Zion a Commonwealth that will produce the necessaries for its own existence, and exchange articles with foreign nations only on terms mutually advantageous. It will be treated as an equal among A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 59 the nations in commercial intercourse, and not as a "dumping ground for surplus products" or as a colonial dependency, to be exploited by captains of industry. We shall not permit it to sink to the level of a Congo Free State, a Hotentot dependency or a Persian "sphere of influence," but we shall raise it to the height of an autonomous Hebrew Common- wealth. 9. The Social Contract It has become fashionable, nowadays, to laugh to scorn the social contract theory of Rousseau and his followers, and to assume that government must, of necessity, be independent of contractual obliga- tions on the part of the subjects. It is true that modern governments are not the creatures of a contractual relation, but is it not possible to estab- lish a community under a social contract of the aggregate individuals? The government of to-day, as far as most of its subjects are concerned, is an involuntary superstructure far from the ideal "consent of the governed," but there is always the possibility of a great community formed as a volun- tary organization and resting on the consent of the members. At present, men are held within the political state, irrespective of their opinions, and, 60 SOCIAL ZIONISM naturally, the conservative element in the popula- tion must ever look with suspicion upon any ex- tension of state activity and authority over the fields formerly left free for individual initiative. There will always remain a strong opposition party so long as the state is viewed as an organism which may grow by feeding upon individual liberty. We Zionists have the possibility of creating in Palestine a voluntary organization, free from the difficulties of the problem of state interference. Such a community would depend not upon political coercion, but on commercial benefits and moral values. This plan offers the possibility of a large Jewish settlement, where, separated from the conflicting political formulae about state interference, we can create a Jewish colony, of an industrial army, working as a co-operative association for the evolu- tion of a high social order. Finally, the Jewish army of pioneers should rest on a voluntary basis, the colonists should be selected for membership on the principle of mental and moral fitness, and with due regard to the needs of the industries to be estab- lished. A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 61 It would be a fruitless task, at this time, to trace, step by step, the progress of such a model community, because these are matters incapable of scientific accuracy. However, we may illustrate the course of social reform by suggestions of social experiments along the following lines: 1. Co-operative farming schemes for collective buying and selling. 2. Common ownership of the land of the district. 3. In short, acting with the other Jewish national agencies, the Company, should undertake all matters of great public interests, not necessarily to the exclusion of, but in competition with, indi- vidual initiative. The reader may say: This is a vision of a dreamer a mere picture of some far off land in the distant future. A dream it well may be, but the dream will come true if we can find among our people a Disreali, who will do for Palestine and the Jews what the Earl of Beaconsfield has done for England and Englishmen. But our Disreali must have a larger heart than the "Hebrew hypnotist" who ruled Britannia he must be more than a supremely clever politician. He must be a true D'Israeli (of Israel), and he should voice the grow- 62 SOCIAL ZIONISM ing sentiment of social justice and depend for ulti- mate success upon economic achievements and social reforms. He must do the work that Lord Cromer has done in Egypt -- the pioneer work of introducing civilization and culture; and he must follow in the footsteps of a Lloyd-George, who realized that the supreme achievement of the mod- ern world is Democracy. Can we produce such a statesman? Herzl, in his "Altneuland," drew the picture of such a nation-builder - - David Litvak - - who, in the near future, would lead to victory the liberal hosts of social reform against the intrenched powers of conservatism. The little outcast of Russia, whom he had befriended in the streets of Vienna, had grown to the full height of a great leader for social justice in the land of the Prophets. David Litvak had become the voice of Israel in its struggle for a higher morality, for a better social system. Will Herzl's dream come true? Shall we bring forth a David Litvak - - the new leader to complete the work of Herzl the statesman-archi- tect who will transform political Zionism into Social Zionism? As Moses placed his hands upon Joshua as a symbol of the transfer of Jewish leadership, even so did Herzl put the stamp of approval upon A SOCIAL COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 63 the ideal David Litvak, whom the founder of Zionism had never seen. Will David Litvak lead us into the "Promised Land," which the author of the "Judenstatt" and "Altneuland" could view only from foreign soil? I firmly believe that the ultimate triumph of Zionism depends upon the rise of a new leader a man with the brains of a Disreali and the heart of a David Litvak. We Jews have enough orators and philosophers, but our great need to-day is a supreme statesman, a modern Maccabee, a man of iron -- who can go to Palestine, and there, not amidst the fruitless enthusiasm of conventions in far off lands, but with that cold enthusiasm born of a life dedicated to a single purpose, there, in the land of our forefathers, lay the foundations of the Jewish Commonwealth. Ibsen, in his great drama, "The Master Builder," depicts a strong personality gifted with the mystical power of having his purposes realized by thinking and devoutly wishing for their fulfillment. Were I so fortunately endowed, I would wish into existence a Jewish master-builder, the statesman-architect, to complete the work of Herzl and to build the first true Comonwealth. 64 SOCIAL ZIONISM JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRIM CHAPTER 3. I.* JUDAISM cannot be confined within the narrow bounds of a religion, as ordinarily defined. It differs from Catholicism and Protestantism. It is unlike any other religious creed, for Judaism is far more than a mere faith, supple- mented by rules and regulations for the observance of prayers and holidays. Indeed, in its genesis and history, Judaism is a peculiar religion even as the Jews are a peculiar people. In our own day, religion has become such a necessary convenience for easing the conscience and "uplifting" the soul, that Juda- ism cannot be classified as a religion at all, without doing violence to its full significnce. Judaism is a whole system of law the Jewish Law of Life in which the attempt is made to regulate the whole life-conduct of the individual, with the avowed pur- pose of building his character, shaping his activi- ties and promoting the community life of the people who follow its precepts. In modern life, religion *) See Appendix D. JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRIN 65 is assigned to an honored but restricted sphere of influence, with an injunction not to wander into secular fields. But in Jewish history there is no sharp line of distinction between the re- ligious and the secular, for the very simple reason that the whole life of the Jew is viewed as religious. The Orthodox Jew is commanded by his re- ligion to wash before each meal, to prepare his food in accordance with the rules and regulations pre- scribed by the Rabbis, and, in his prayers, to repeat that, in the future, "from Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." These rules and Jewish rites cannot be construed as religious precepts unless included in the word "religion" is the whole "conduct" of man his hab- its, his relation to his fellowmen and the aspirations for community life in the future. The major part of the intricate pages of the Talmud is devoted to discussions and debates, not over metaphysical concepts of the Godhead, and "faith" and "creed," but to an explanation and elucidation of the rela- tionship between man and man the laws of mar- riage and divorce, contractual rights, torts, criminal law and the rights of property. Judaism may be compared to Catholicism and Protestantism only 66 SOCIAL ZIONISM if we add to these religious institutions all the codes of civil and criminal law of the states in which Cath- olics and Protestants reside, and supplement such statutes by all the decisions of the appelate courts in such countries. If the Catholic Church of Medi- eval Europe, in its struggle with the Holy Roman Empire, had succeeded in abolishing all political lines in Europe, so that all Christians would have become the citizens of a Catholic Empire, with the Pope as the temporal as well as the spiritual head, we might then have had a religion comparable to Judaism a secular religion. As a matter of fact. Judaism, in the olden days, was inextricably bound up with a government and territorial interests in the Holy Land. Despite the loss of statehood and the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. Juda- ism has succeeded in surviving as a whole system of law, without, however, the coercive power of the State. 1. Judaism as the Common Law of the Jews. In a very real sense, Judaism is the "Common Law" of the Jews. Students of English and Amer- ican legal history appreciate the full significance of such a "Common Law," developed slowly, through many ages, by the decisions of Judges, each judg- JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRIN 67 ment resting upon the precedents of earlier opin- ions, and deriving its binding force mainly from the sanction of the community in support of its own recognized customs, and the accepted "rules of right" of the common people. The Common Law of the Anglo-Saxons represents a gradual growth of precedents upon precedents, showing the constant harmonization between law and the customs, prac- tices and conditions of each age. In this respect, Jewish Law or Judaism bears a close analogy to the Common Law, and when we review the efforts of famous judges to ascertain the opinions of Coke, of Mansfield and of Marshall we are constantly re- minded of the great Rabbis who seek for their sanction in views of Hillel, Jochanan Ben Zaccai and Akiba. In this larger sense, Judaism is not a religion, or not merely a religion, but a legal system. And yet, for centuries, because of unfavorable external conditions, the Jewish people has been unable to continue the normal development of the Jewish Common Law known as Judaism. Picture to your- self the condition of English Law if its develop- ment had ceased with the legal opinions of Lord Mansfield! And yet, there has been no appreciable development in Jewish Law for centuries its nor- 68 SOCIAL ZIONISM mal course having been interrupted since the com- pilation of the Talmud. The vast majority of Jews, mindful of the tradi- tions that are part and parcel of Judaism, and re- sponsive to the whole trend of Jewish history, see in Judaism a whole theory of life and a comple- mentary system of laws to regulate such life. Such a religion cannot be contrasted with "secular," for both the religious and secular activities of Jews constitute part of the wide domain of Judaism. 2. "Conduct" and the Hebraic Spirit Matthew Arnold correctly interpreted the He- braic spirit by insisting that "conduct" represents the Hebrew concept of life, and the apostle of cul- ture was constrained to admit that "conduct" com- prises three-quarters of all life activity. It is just this "conduct" that is the keynote to a proper un- derstanding of the Hebrew spirit and Jewish life throughout the ages. The supreme question which prompts the answering words of the prophets of Israel, invokes the reasoning power of the Talmud- ists of the olden days, and arrests the attention of the Rabbis of our own time is not what does a man believe, not what is his creed, but what does he do; what are his habits and conduct in everyday life. JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRIN 69 Because Judaism is largely a system of laws of conduct, intended to regulate the life-activity of its members, it is necessary that some authoritative body should exist, at all times, to interpret these laws and to modify these living rules in accord- ance with the ever-changing conditions of a world in evolution. In early Hebrew history, the prophets, speaking in the name of the Lord, proclaimed in a Hebrew Commonwealth, the "rule of right," and thereby afforded an opportunity for harmonizing the Jewish Law with the proper demands of each generation. At a later period, the Talmudists partly through the Sanhedrin met, discussed, and analyzed Jewish rules of life-conduct, "in the light of reason," adopting new regulations and modifying old rules, in conformity with the just needs of each age. During many centuries, however, Judaism has been deprived of such a law-making and law-inter- preting body. As an inevitable result, there hao been a stagnation of certain Jewish rules of life- conduct, against which both Reform Judaism and modern Conservative Judaism is a protest. Unless a Jewish law-making and law-interpreting institution is re-established, we shall be forced, in order to escape from the bounds of a stagnant religion, to 70 SOCIAL ZIONISM accept a milk and water Judaic creed which re- stricts its activity within the narrow spheres of Sab- bath sermons and Sunday speeches, bolstered up by an arrogant theory of a Jewish mission a mis- sion which serves to relieve the responsibilities of many Jews of our day, since the Bible of our an- cestors has already so effectively conveyed, to all races, the lofty message of Monotheism. 3. Zionism and "Jewish Law Zionism accepts the principle that no Jew is justified in abrogating Jewish Law to suit his in- dividual convenience, and that Judaism must be modified and interpreted by the Kehillah (the Com- munity) of Israel, through a recognized institution, similar to the ancient law-making and law-inter- preting body known as the Sanhedrin. Some of the best thinkers among Reform Jews are Zionists, largely because they recognize the importance of the creation of a Hebrew Commonwealth, for har- monizing Jewish Law and regulating Jewish life- conduct. Unfortunately, some Jewish preachers have confounded themselves by a high sounding, but meaningless phrase, "Berlin is our Jerusalem," or "Washington is our Zion." Politically, of course, JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRIN 71 Washington is the capital of all Jews, who owe al- legiance to the stars and stripes, even as it is for Catholics, Presbyterians, and Christian- Scientists. The Jews of America, as of all other countries out- side of the Land of Israel, cannot, of course, in any true sense of the term, be regarded as a part of this Jewish-Palestinian and Hebrew speaking na- tion, and the failure to recognize this fact is a fundamental fallacy of those who delude themselves with the ghosts of "hyphenism," "double national- ity," and "under two flags." But all the Jews throughout the world will be bound to Hebrew speaking Israel in Zion by the potent factors of religion and a common race history. Palestine may never hold within its boundaries more than a few million Jews perhaps only a small minority of the Jewish people; but that minority will speak the Hebrew tongue, will live in a Jewish environment, and will be engaged in the holy task of rebuilding the Motherland of Judaism. In short, a Jewish nationality in the Land of Israel the establishment of a Jewish people on the soil of the Holy Land is an essential part of Judaism. It is proclaimed by the prophets, accepted by the Rabbis throughout the ages, and has become a fundamental law in Jewish life. 72 SOCIAL ZIONISM Historically, the idea of a Sanhedrin is subordi- nate only to that of the Holy Land in the life of the Jewish people. The Sanhedrin was the parliament where Jewish religious and communal questions were debated and Jewish law determined and en- forced. During normal Jewish life in Palestine, the seventy-one men who composed the Sanhedrin per- formed functions analogous to the combined activi- ties of an English Parliament and a College of Car- dinals. Since Judaism signifies more than Jewish religion more than a mere creed with its rules for religious observance since Judaism has always implied a whole system of the Jewish Laws of Life, it was necessary that some authoritative body should promulgate laws and regulations and secure their observance, not perhaps by the force of arms, but by the equally potent "Arguments of Rabbis" and the reasoning of the Talmudists. The Zionists were the first to realize that the loss of the Jewish Sanhedrin during the many centuries of life in the Diaspora was nearly as great a blow to Jew- JEWISri LAW AND A SANHEDRIN 73 ish unity as the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. The Zionists, probably, committed a political blunder in failing to reproduce, as nearly as possi- ble, the constitution and attributes of the ancient Sanhedrin, for it would have given to Zionism the strength and value of a traditional Jewish tribunal. Perhaps, the Zionist leaders felt that inasmuch as they did not represent all the Jews, they could not, rightfully, appropriate this old Jewish institution. In any event, now we have the right, and the oppor- tunity, to establish a Sanhedrin, which will remain as a permanent feature of Jewish life and a living symbol of Judaism. 4. The Requisites for a Sanhedrin Such a Sanhedrin must be a democratic insti- tution, and its members, or delegates, must be truly representative of the Jewish people. Furthermore, it must have power and since military force is out of the question, it should have large financial re- sources in order to be able to carry out large measures of constructive philanthropy and bene- ficent reform. Above all, it must be a continuous body, with a permanent basis for its existence. In- deed, the value of the Zionist Congress, as an insti- 74 SOCIAL ZIONISM tution, is greatly diminished by the ephemeral char- acter of its meetings. History has proven that a permanent and continuous body usually evolves harmonious policies, which serve as effective instru- ments for great accomplishment. Thus, the Roman Senate, with its permanent tenure, wielded extra- ordinary influence in the development of the Roman State. Even so, the United States Senate, largely because it is a continuous body (only one-third of its membership being replaced every two years), with a set of traditions which makes it a permanent institution, has acquired power and influence which each House of Representatives, with its two years' existence, has been unable to rival. 5. The Plan for a Sanhedrin Let a Membership Corporation be organized, entitled, "Electors of the Sanhedrin," open to all Jews and Jewesses, of legal age and of good moral character. As a matter of course, every elector would have but one vote for each delegate to ba elected to the Sanhedrin. The test of Democracy, however, would require us to go farther. It would be manifestly unfair that all such electors should pay equal dues, because such a principle would work a hardship on our poorer brethren, who might. JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRIN 75 thereby, be prevented from entering the association. Furthermore, experience has taught us that the in- come from dues, no matter how large the annual payments may be, is usually insufficient for any large undertaking. We might acccept the good old Jewish rule of a tax of ten per centum (10%) of the annual income, even as the tithes, in the olden days, were reserved for the Levites and the Priests. "And all the tithes of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord." (Leviticus, Chapter XXVII,. 30). Although the principle of the income tax is now accepted as just and proper, yet such a heavy tax would not be tolerated, and its enforcement and collection would be difficult, if not impossible. In another and much simpler way, we might secure a voluntary tax, just and equitable in its nature, which would undoubtedly give us sufficient revenue for all the purposes of a great Sanhedrin. Any Jew or Jewess, applying for admission as an elector of the Sanhedrin, would be required to enter into a contract with the latter body, provid- ing that the elector would agree to pay, as a con- sideration for admission, ten per centum of the net value of all his property, on the day of his death. In effect, this would be an inheritance tax. As most 75 SOCIAL ZIONISM of the governments of the world have evolved fairly efficient machinery for the valuation and collec- tion of "death dues," the Sanhedrin would have an assurance that this "inheritance tax by agreement" would be collected. (Provision might be made that a committee of arbitration, consisting of an ap- praiser appointed by the Sanhedrin and another appraiser selected by the estate of the deceased elector, with a third impartial arbiter chosen by the first two, should determine, by majority vote, the proper and just dues under the contract; and that unless this amount be ascertained and paid over within six months from the time of death, the legal rate of interest would be charged thereafter on the amount finally fixed.) Some such method for the payment of dues must be accepted in order to safeguard the democ- racy of the Sanhedrin, and, at the same time, secure for it large sums of money, as the basis for future power and usefulness. The provision for the pay- ment of one-tenth of the value of an elector's es- tate, at the time of death, is eminently fair, because no one can estimate, at the time of his entrance, the material value of such elector to the Sanhedrin. Oftimes, a very poor but young and able recruit may prove to be of much more material value, in JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRIN 77 the long run (after a successful career), than some rich old man. Furthermore, an agreement to con- tribute one-tenth of "all that one possesses" at the time of death, whatever that sum may be, will ap- peal to all men as a proper and legitimate charge for admission as an elector of the Sanhedrin the test of his interest in Jews and Judaism. (It might be advisable to exempt from this voluntary tax the first one thousand dollars ($1,000) of the estate, in case a widow survives the elector, and a further sum of five hundred dollars ($500) for each child that survives.) These regulations would make the Sanhedrin both a democratic and a powerful body. Its con- tinuity can be assured by a system of election of its seventy delegates whereby ten will be chosen every year, by the equal vote of all electors, each dele- gate to hold office for a period of seven years. Thus, only one-seventh of the membership of the San- hedrin would be renewable every year after the first seventy members shall have been selected (and arranged by lot into seven groups, corresponding to the number of years for which each shall hold of- fice) by the organizers of the "Electors of the San- hedrin." 78 SOCIAL ZIONISM The Sanhedrin, as a permanent body, would meet every year, in the city of Jerusalem, beginning its regular sessions on the first day of Nisan (two weeks prior to Passover). Its first duty each year would be to select, by majority vote, as its seventy- first member, a Nasi (or presiding officer), who must be a regular elector of the Sanhedrin (but need not be a delegate to the Sanhedrin). The Nasi would hold office for a period of one year (un- til the election of his successor or his re-election at the following regular annual meeting of the San- hedrin) . He would have the power to fill all vacan- cies in the office of delegates to the Sanhedrin, and all resolutions of the Sanhedrin would require th approval of the Nasi, except that by the affirmative vote of fifty delegates to the Sanhedrin any meas- ure might be passed over his veto. 6. Powers and Duttts of the Sanhedrin Assured of its permanency, its financial strength and the support of the Jewish masses, be- cause of its democratic character, the Sanhedrin would become the great unifying force in Jewry, not only representative of the present generation, but also responsive to the ideals of Judaism throughout the ages to the traditions of the past JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRIN 79 and the spiritual hopes for the future. It could un- dertake tasks of large significance. It could guard the interests of Jews and Judaism throughout the world. If Zionism can win the approval of a major- ity of the delegates, the Sanhedrin might undertake active work in the upbuilding of a "Jewish Home- land in Palestine." Indeed., the Sanhedrin would of- fer the best opportunity for testing the real strength of Zionism, and all other movements, among the Jewish people. Established, as the Sanhedrin would be, not merely on an ecclesiastical basis nor yet upon any chauvinistic basis of mere nationalism, but on the basis of Jewish Law founded on the raco-religious character of Israel, it could not fail to win the approval of all right thinking Jews. In principle, it might operate as a Kehillah for the Jews of the World (even as the New York Kehillah amis to represent the Jews of New York City), but with this essential difference: The Jewish Sanhedrin, un- like most of our institutions, would not be com- pelled to rely upon the financial support of a few Jewish philanthropists, to the detriment of its de- mocratic character. The Sanhedrin would secure Its funds from the voluntary tax on all its electors, each of whom have an equal voice and vote in the selection of the seventy delegates. 80 It is important to point out that upon the ini- tiation of any Jew or Jewess as an elector of the Sanhedrin, there would immediately arise a legal and binding contract, which would be terminable only by death, when ten per centum (10%) of the net estate of the elector would become the prop- erty of the Sanhedrin. Every elector would, there- fore, be a permanent addition to the moral value and the material force of the institution. Further- more, it is reasonable to assume that the funds which the Sanhedrin may secure will be very large, so that it may eventually play the role of a rich father to Jewish charity and constructive philan- thropy, and may become the protector of Jewish interests the world over. Perhaps the ideal condi- tion would be attained when the Sanhedrin would become the conscious unifying force between the various Kehiilahs of the large Jewish centres of the world. The Sanhedrin, representative of all Jews, would distribute a large portion of its funds among the Kehiilahs, and the latter would assume the re- sponsibility for local Jewish needs. The Kehillah would thereby be raised to the position of a large and powerful institution in Jewish life, for it would nave the power and the means to undertake im- portant duties and exercise valuable rights. JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRI^ 81 It is not for us, at this time, to point out the tasks which such a Sanhedrin might undertake, nor can we gauge its possibilities for useful work in the future. It is sufficient for us to know that we shall have created an institution which can grow with the needs of each age and fulfill the demands that will be made upon it for the protection of our less fortunate brethren and the preservation, pro- motion and development of Judaism. 7. e lhe "Elector of the Sanhedrin." All societies and charitable organizations suf- fer from the inability to maintain the quality and quantity of their membership, and a large propor- tion of the funds that are intended to be applied t > philanthropic endeavor are, necessarily, utilized for the collection of dues and for propaganda pur- poses to secure new members, in place of those who resign or remain continually in arrears in dues. Nearly all our voluntary organizations rest upon the shifting sands of uncertain membership. At- tempts have been made to obviate this difficulty by the organization of insurance and benefit "orders" and "lodges." These large fraternal societies, how- ever, are always subject to the danger of subordi- 82 SOCIAL ZIONISM nating considerations of large consequence to the petty rounds of duty involved in the promotion of the insurance and benefit features, and very often idealism is lost in the scramble for "sick benefits," "cemetery rights" and "death dues." We propose to reverse the process to insure our electors for life affiliation with the Sanhedrin. Instead of grant- ing insurance benefits, we will demand, as a leg- ally contractual right, the payment of a voluntary tax from the estate of the deceased elector. Once a Jew is admitted as an Elector of the Sanhedrin, he will remain such for life, bound to the organization not by the promise of benefits and insurance, but by the terms of a contract entered into ior the benefit of Jewry and the insurance of Judaism. The Sanhedrin might develop into the eilective religious assemblage of the Jews. It might become the direct heir to the glories and traditions of the Sanhedrin of old. It would then become the sym- bol of the Kehillah the living witness of a united Jewry. Members of our race from the four corner* of the earth would learn to look with pride upon this Parliament in the land of our fore-fathers, and quote with renewed fervor the words: "From Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." JEWISH LAW AND A SANHEDRIN 83 With the upbuilding of the Sanhedrin, we shall bring back into Jewish life revivified and strength- ened by modern methods and the spirit of democ- racy the oldest institution in Jewish Polity: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the People, and officers over them; and bring them into the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. "And I will come down and talk with thee there; and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them ; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear ft not thyself alone." (Numbers, Chapter XI, 16, 17.) A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY IN THE COMMONWEALTH CHAPTER 4.* NOW, when Palestine is on the front page of American newspapers, and when statesmen gravely consider the claims for the estab- lishment of a Jewish nation in the land of Israel, it is high time to prepare ourselves for the work which we shall be called to do in the land of our fore- fathers, after the war. How shall we prepare? The safest guide for the future is the experience of the past, and an examination of Zionist history must prove to be of extraordinary value at this time. History can be viewed from two angles the biographical and the social. Carlyle has presented, in masterly fashion, the biographical view of his- tory, where heroes and hero-worship constitute the prime factors in the progress of civilization. Such a theory finds ready acceptance among young stu- *) See Appendix F. i* A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY 85 dents, for the task is simplified when we are per- mitted to credit such an epoch-making event as the establishment of American Independence to George Washington, or the downfall of the Empire of Na- poleon the Great to the skill and wisdom of the vic- tors of Waterloo the English Wellington and me Prussian Blucher. Furthermore, the biographical explanation of history fires the imagination, for youth is ever confident that it can do what "other great men have done." Careful historians, however, have concluded that the biographical view of history is merely a single aspect, which, in itself, would give a false picture of our past. The social aspect the view that large groups of people who are guided by some thought, ideal or material reason are the true mak- ers of history, and that the masses have shaped the past, and will continue to shape the future, far more than any great individuals have been able to do this is the truth which modern historians are successfully conveying to us. In short, American Independence should be traced to the spirit of the descendants of the May- flower and the courage of the freeman who settled Virginia; and Napoleon Bonaparte was beaten in the "Battle of the Nations," when the national spirit 86 SOCIAL ZIONISM of Spain, of Germany and of England overthrew the "Child of Destiny." The French Revolution was the creation not of a Mirabeau, a Robespierre, or even of a Rousseau and Voltaire; it was the direct result of all French thinking and French history. And even so, while we Jews have made Herzl the personification of modern Zionism, the Zionist movement is really the result of Jewish life from the days that the Romans defiled the Temple even unto the latest Passover, when we repeated for the two thousandth time: "L'Shona Habaah B'Jeru- sholaim." Modern Zionism was founded not by the publi- cation of the "Judenstatt" for the Auto-Emancipa- tion of Pinsker preceded Herzl's book not even at the conferences with Kings, Emperors and Popes, which Herzl's wonderful energy made possible. Modern Zionism was born when the Jewish people first responded, in 1897, to Herzl's call for a Zionist Congress. Herzl's greatest work as historians will undoubtedly view it is the establishment of the Zionist Congress as the articulate voice of that portion of the Jewish people which resolved to live on, in spite of all the tempting invitations to commit suicide. A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY 87 Be it remembered, however, that it was not simply Herzl's call for a Congress that made Zion- ism possible. The birth of the Zionist movement must date from the time when the Jewish people re- sponded to such a call. And the response was the direct result of Jewish history from the days of Moses, David and the Maccabees even until the days of the Russian Pogroms and the Dreyfus trial. The response to the call for a Zionist Congress wab an answer not only to Herzl's Judenstatt, but also to Pinsker's Brochure, to "Rom und Jerusalem" of Moses Hess, to the pioneer work of the Bilu and to the Jewish prayer book. 1. The Chovevti Upon the formal organization of the Zionist movement at the first congress, it was found that very valuable Zionist work had already been done in Palestine. The Chovevei Zion our "Lovers of Zion" had succeeded in creating in our ancestral land, a body of pioneers, who had fought with the soil, for nearly two decades, and had conquered; our advance guard in Zion had already established the Jamestown and the Plymouth of the future Jew- ish Commonwealth. Scant attention has been paid, hitherto, to those brave spirits, who with their 8 SOCIAL ZIONISM health, and often with their lives, have laid the foundation-stones of the House of Israel. The fu- ture historian, however, will be able to place a pro- per estimate upon the life-work of our Palestine pioneers and it will be far above the high-sound- ing resolutions of Conventions and Congresses. In- deed, the time is approaching, even now, when we shall be compelled to admit the importance of the labors of our forerunners in Zion. Let us, in imagination, bridge over the horrors of the Great War, and take a glimpse at the council- table where the terms of peace let us hope a last- ing peace will be formulated. Belgium will pre- sent her just claims for rehabilitation; Serbia, now crushed to earth, will press her demands for terri- tory and independence; little Montenegro will de- mand reparation; and Poland, rejuvenated, will, by consent of all, join the galaxy of nations. Let us hope that the Zionist organization and its sympa- thizers will plead the cause of Israel in that critical time. But even if we shall be the chosen spokesmen of the Jewish people, what shall our represenatives say? Will they ask for the establishment of a Ju- daea in Palestine because, forsooth, we have strong Zionist organizations in Europe and America? If A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY 89 so, the diplomats of Europe will have the right to answer our request with the question: "Do you want us to hand over a territory to Jewish absentee landlords, who reside in the old Russian Pale and in the large cities of Europe and America?" Even the frank diplomatic representatives of America may say: "We cannot delegate the government of a territory to those who have not yet taken physical possession of the land which they claim as their own even as we shall not restore Poland to the Poles who reside in America, but only to the Poles who have continued to live in their ancestral land." And then our spokesmen will have but one an- swer. They will proudly point to the hundred thou- sand Jews who constitute our advance-guard in the Land of Israel. They will speak of the fifteen thou- sand Jewish colonists who comprise our agricul- tural army for the redemption of the soil of Palestine. At that time, our pioneers in Palestine will cease to be recipients of favors at our hands, and will prove to be our benefactors, for they will save, for our children and children's children, the Land of Israel. On that occasion, one Jew in Pales- tine will be worth a whole Zionist Society in Amer- ica. The hundred thousand Jews in Palestine will 90 SOCIAL ZIONISM mean more for the Jewish nation than a million Jews in Poland. The Chovevei Zion were the first to recognize the political value of taking physical possession of the soil of Palestine, and so the Cho- vevei Zion and those who advocated practical work in Palestine, were, in fact, also political Zionists. If all the Jews had realized the full significance of the work of the Chovevei Zion, it is probable that we would now have half a million Jewish settlers in the Holy Land. As a result, instead of one hun- dred thousand Jews, as at the present time, or less than one-fifth of the total population of Palestine, we would constitute a majority of the population. We would then have, the right not only moral, but political right to demand "Home Rule for Pales- tine," a Jewish Palestine. Let us make no further mistake. Let us become real political Zionists, and recognize the overwhelming truth that has been staring us in the face since 1882 that we shall have a Jewish nation in Palestine as soon as we constitute a majority of the population. It is a sim- ple formula, but it cannot be side-tracked by polit- ical manoeuvres, for it is the supreme political de- mand in modern Jewish history. By all means let us utilize, to the full, political advantages which will offer us opportunities for the establishment of A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY 91 a Jewish state, but let us always remember that Palestine shall become ours, in fact, only when we shall constitute a preponderant majority in the land. There are 600,000 people in Palestine at the present time, of whom over 100,000 are Jews. If the Jews should increase their numbers to 1,000,000, the future Palestine will belong to us, irrespective of the machinations of intriguing diplomats and in spite of the dreams of conquest of Kings, Emperors, and militarists. 2. Conquest by Settlement One of the most outstanding facts in history is the relative insignificance of military conquest upon the fortunes of nations. Alexander the Great, in a spectacular career of twelve years, conquered the Persian Empire, yet the whole imperial structure was shattered within a few decades after his death. Only Greek philosophy, language and culture sur- vived, as a modifying factor upon Oriental civiliza- tion. England and France struggled for an Empire in North America, but, fundamentally, it was not English arms, but English colonization of a vast and uninhabited territory, that made possible the United States and Canada. In the case of India, 92 SOCIAL ZIONISM which, unlike North America, has been for ages a thickly populated country, the struggle for control between England and France left little impress upon Hindoo civilization. India is as unlike England to- day, as it would have been unlike the French nation, had France been the conqueror in the eighteenth century . The fact is that the preponderant majority of the population of any country virtually fashions that nation, determining its character and culture, with but little regard to the formulas of politicians or the intrigues of diplomats. We are liable to confuse political forms with territorial and national facts: Poland really exists, and must continue to exist, as long as the vast majority of the population of a certain district are Poles. Ireland exists, and must continue to exist, as long as the Irish constitute the large quantity in the Emerald Isle. Belgium lives no matter how many foreign armies may occupy her soil so long as her people constitute the major fraction in the land. And in all such cases, where the internal and vital sign of nationality exists, namely, actual phys- ical possession of the territory by a large majority of the people that claim it, there is always the probability, nay, the certainty, that political inde- pendence will follow as a necessary external evi- 93 dence of national life. The birth rate upon the national soil is of far more vital consequence than the death rate in victorious battles upon conquered territory. Judaea was not conquered when Nebuchad- nezar destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem. Judaea continued to live until Gedaliah was slain, and his followers deserted the land of their fathers. Our ancestors set aside the fast of Gedaliah as a re- membrance of the great loss to the Jewish nation, for they too appreciated the truth that not mere political subjection, but absence from the land, was the great Jewish tragedy. Similarly, the Jewish nation was not destroyed when Titus took posses- sion of the smouldering ruins of Jerusalem, but we have been in a state of "suspended animation" from the days when, after the Bar Kochba Rebellion, we ceased to be the dominant population in Pales- tine. The nations are proclaiming the rights of "small nationalities," and our claim to recognition cannot be ignored when we constitute the prepon- derant majority in the land of our forefathers. We must adopt one Zionist watchword: "Coloniza- tion." Let us become the majority population in the land, and we shall thereby acquire a first mort- gage on Palestine, which can be paid off only by 94 SOCIAL ZIONISM the establishment of a Jewish Commonwealth IH Erez Israel. From such a point of view, the work of th Chovevei Zion, the Bilu, the Menucha V'Nachla, the co-operative settlements like Merchavla, th Achoozahs and the Zion Commonwealth in this country constitute a most important branch of Zionist endeavor. While most of us have philoso- phized and talked, our pioneers in Palestine wer engaged in the actual work of upbuilding the Hous of Israel. The Jewish future is dependent, almost entirely, upon the work already done, and the work that we shall do, in Palestine, after the war. At the Zionist Convention in Philadelphia, in June, 1916, I pointed out that we must determine npon a definite and coherent program of "preparedness for after the war." To-day, we can formulate such a program which can be put into effect as soon as peace is declared. Militaristic governments have laboriously worked out plans of campaign which the general staff might undertake, immediately upon the declaration of war. Israel's mission is peace; yet we may profit from the lessons of effi- cient war machines. Let our general staff our Zionist Administration formulate plans for a A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY 95 peaceful industrial army that shall labor to redeem Palestine for us and our children. 3. e The Zton Commonwealth and Jewish Colonization Such a program is now being realized, step by tep, by the Zion Commonwealth (which has re- ceived the official sanction of the Zionist Organiza- tion of America). It is the latest form of organization in Palestine, and therefore is the nat- ural heir to all the experiences of Palestine coloni- aation in the last forty years. It can borrow from all the plans that have been successful, and it has the opportunity to profit from the mistakes of the past. The Zion Commonwealth has adopted much from the Menucha V'Nachla and the Achoozah, in addition to the social program which presents its distinctive contribution to Palestine colonization. One defect in the plans and work of Jewish colonization in Palestine must be eliminated with- out delay, in order to assure a Jewish Palestine. In the past, no provision was made against such use of the land of Palestine as might be detrimental to the rapid development of a preponderant Jewish population in the Land of Israel. It has been de- monstrated that Jewish farmers in Palestine are often tempted, for economic reasons, to employ 96 SOCIAL ZIONISM non-Jewish laborers, who, with their low standard of living, can underbid the Jew. As a result, we might have witnessed the growth of a Jewish bour- geois farmer class, holding title to large farming estates and employing a numerous body of non- Jewish laborers, who, by their mere numbers, would be the real masters of the country. Such a danger- ous condition was modified, to some extent, by the migration of Yemenite Jews (from southern Arabia) into Palestine, who, because of their meagre requirements, are able to compete with non-Jewish labor. But the whole number of Yemenite Jews is not large enough to solve the problem, and it still remains the most important question in Jewish colonization. The co-operative colony at Merchavia, under the plans formulated by Franz Oppenheimer is an effort in the right direction, but it is, as yet, only an experiment. Furthermore, its ultimate suc- cess is limited because of the adoption of an ideal- istic co-operative form of society, where individual initiative is neglected. The serious problem of securing a Jewish labor supply upon farms owned by Jews of assuring a Jewish Palestine has been faced by the Zion Com- monwealth. Proper provision is made for indi- vidual initiative among those who will settle upon A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY 97 lands purchased by the Zion Commonwealth, since each member will receive a farming estate (in pro- portion to the amount of money paid into the com- mon fund), which land he will operate as his indi- vidual possession. However, all such farming lands are held subject to the necessary communal rules and regulations, adopted from time to time, by the directors of the Zion Commonwealth and by the of- ficers, selected by the members resident in Pales- tine. Such a democratic form of government will appreciate the supreme importance of developing a reliable Jewish labor force, and we may be as- sured that proper provision will be made for the full utilization of Jewish farm labor. The growth of an independent farmer class is encouraged by the social program of the Zion Commonwealth, wherein provision is made for lifting the burden of taxation from the small farmer and placing it upon the high land values created by the growth of the community. For that purpose, ten per cent, of all the land purchased by the Zion Commonwealth is reserved to the whole association, with the object of establishing thereon such industrial plants, vil- lages and townships as may be necessary and prof- itable. The community will, therefore, be able to secure a large income in the shape of ground rent, 98 SOCIAL ZIONISM as the landlord of the valuable sites in the com- munity, exclusive of farming estates. Such an in- come as a landlord will probably soon be sufficient to enable the community to reduce, to a minimum, the taxation of farm lands thus shifting the heavy burden of taxation from the shoulders of the poor. One of the most important aspects of the Zion Commonwealth is the appeal which it makes to those who never expect to become actual settlers in the land of our forefathers, but who, neverthe- less, have a craving for some piece of land in Pales- tine, which they might call their own for a "Chalek In Erez Israel." The Achoozahs and other Pales- tine colonization companies have restricted their appeal, hitherto, to those who have looked forward to actual physical settlement upon the soil of the Holy Land, and have neglected that large class of Jews, constituting, probably, the majority among our people, who are ready and willing to invest in Palestine land, but who cannot, for personal rea- sons, become actual settlers upon the lands which they purchase. The Zion Commonwealth aims to enlist the support of all who are interested in a "Jewish Palestine," even as in the days of Ezra, those who remained in Babylon contributed heavily towards the establishment of the second Temple. Under the terms of the contract between the Zion Commonwealth and its individual members, each owner of agricultural land, who does not take actual possession of his estate, may lease his holdings to the general association, which undertakes to oper- ate such land for his benefit. In view of the fact that a large number of members of the Zion Com- monwealth will not be resident occupants of their lands, the general association will always have large estates which it may utilize for the develop- ment of an independent Jewish laboring class on some fair basis of co-operation as the backbone of a Jewish Palestine. 4. A Jewish Industrial Army I have therefore proposed the organization of an agricultural and industrial co-operative associa- tion a sort of Jewish Industrial Army as an as- sociate company to the Zion Commonwealth, the chief function of which will be to develop those lands of the Zion Commonwealth which will not be occupied by individual members. This Jewish In- dustrial Army will utilize the labor of Yeminite Jews and of Russian, Roumanian and Galician Jew- ish emigrants upon the lands purchased by their more fortunate brethren in America. While the 100 SOCIAL ZIONISM Zion Commonwealth is an organized propaganda for the Jewish settlement of Palestine, through a land buying medium, the Jewish Industrial Army will be a huge labor union, with the aim of creating, in Palestine, a preponderant majority of Jewish farm laborers and artisans. The plans for the Jew- ish Industrial Army have not yet been worked out in detail, but, for our present purpose, it is sufficient to indicate the lines along which it must grow. As soon as peace is established, we shall call for volunteers to the Jewish Industrial Army for pioneer work in Palestine. We shall borrow from the warring nations all the valuable elements that fashioned their extraordinary armies the disci- pline, the obedience, the self-sacrifice and the single-minded purpose. We shall then take these elements of human fire and transform them from the terrible thunderbolt, which one army hurls at an opposing force, into a concentrated power for the struggle against obstinate nature. Our Jewish soldiers of industry will convert the sword into a ploughshare, and, with the labor of their hands, they shall fasten the hold of our people upon the soil of our ancestors. The European catastrophe has created the very condition whereby such an army can be readily organized. There will be hun- A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY itil dreds of thousands of our soldier-brethren who will return from the wars to the smouldering ruins of their villages, and to homes bereft of parents, wives, and children. Thousands of these will welcome an association whereby their lives will be made fruitful in a peaceful struggle of our people for a future home in Palestine. And if we shall offer to these soldiers of misfortune not only an ideal for which they may strive and labor, but also the assurance of a comfortable existence in the Holy Land, we shall create a Jewish Industrial Army that might rival, in numbers, our man contribution to the World War. Indeed, we have already made a beginning by despatching a medical unit to Palestine recruited by the Zionist Organization, from among Amer- ican citizens. We have been prepared, therefore, to take a momentous step the recruiting of a pioneer industrial army for Palestine. This is not the time to formulate the details of such an organization. It will suffice, for the pres- ent, to confine ourselves to the main outlines. Let the Zionist Organization of America issue a call for volunteers from among those Jews who are ready to do yeoman service in Erez Israel. Let us ask for enlistments for a period of two years, as soldier- workers in an industrial army for Palestine. Let us 102 SOCIAL ZIONISM select an American Palestine commission (consist- ing of 7 or 9 members) who will serve as the Execu- tive Commmittee for this army as the "general staff," who will select the subordinate captains, lieu- tenants, etc. While the organization and the method of activity would be in accordance with military disci- pline, the subject matter and the plan of work would be industrial. This army would be utilized to rebuild the devastated portions of the cities of Palestine, to plant trees for the reforestation of Palestine, to construct roads, and, most important of all, to undertake systematic agricultural activity with a view of raising a large food supply foi the members of the industrial army as well as for the other inhabitants of Palestine. It is obvious that for such work women will be as valuable as men, and our industrial army would, therefore, ad- mit men and women (between the ages of 18 and 40) who will have passed the necessary physical test. We might send the advance guard of this army when our volunteers will number at least 500, and we shall continue to increase this force from time to time as occasion requires. We shall not place any restriction upon the kinds of work in which our A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY 103 army will engage, for that must be determined di- rectly by its "general staff." The army, however, should work only upon lands belonging to the Zion Commonwealth. (It will be necessary, as part of this plan, to undertake a large campaign for land purchase through the Zion Commonwealth as the representatives of the Zionist Organization of America.) The Zionist Organization of America would guarantee to each soldier in this pioneer industrial army the necessary food and shelter during the period of his enlistment and a small minimum wage, with the understanding, however, that he would participate in the future profits that the industrial army might secure. Furthermore, this industrial army, while it might begin its work as a temporary expedient incidental to the Great War, ought to sur- vive as a permanent feature in the future Jewish state. All those, of course, who might desire to withdraw at the end of the term of their enlistment would be free to do so, but for those who desire to continue their association, the term of enlistment would be regarded merely as preparatory work, and full voting rights with participation in profits should be offered to those who determine to remain in- definitely as members of the Industrial Army. 104 SOCIAL ZIONISM Such a co-operative Industrial Army may be utilized, ultimately, for the introduction of a better and nobler social system. Beginning with the prin- ciple of a minimum wage for its workers, and the division of the surplus profits among its members, It might make proper provision for old and retired workers, for pensions, for free medical service, and for all other features that together constitute a true co-operative commonwealth. We have offered up to the Angel of Death hun- dreds of thousands of our brethren on the battle- fields of Europe, for the realization of the Interna- tional ideal of Democracy. Let us take the remnant of this army and offer it to the Angel of Life in Palestine, and Jewish nationalism must triumph. Let- us build up a Jewish Industrial Army with a membership of only ten per cent of our man-con- tribution to the World War, and the House of Israel is re-established. A Jewish Industrial Army in Palestine, organ- ized on the principle of voluntary enlistment and co-operation, would assure us a preponderant Jew- ish population in a single generation. Such an army of a hundred thousand "soldiers in industry," in the great struggle of man against nature in the battle of the Jew for the peaceful conquest of the A JEWISH INDUSTRIAL ARMY 105 land of his fathers might serve as the model for the nations in the long drawn-out battle for social justice. It might be the impetus for the regenera- tion of modern society. It would form the basis for a new and higher kind of a state, in which politics would be subordinated to social welfare, and laws of social justice would take the place of political chicanery and diplomatic embroilments. Whatever be the political shell within which Palestine might be enclosed by the peace terms, we might be able to recreate Jewish national life and Jewish cultural values through the social, economic and industrial forces evolved by the Zion Commonwealth and the Jewish Industrial Army. By all means, let us have favorable political conditions in Palestine such conditions are the prime requisites for Jewish prog- ress; but the rest depends not upon the good will of the nations of the world and not upon our good resolutions here, but almost exclusively upon what we Jews shall do in Palestine, and not merely for Palestine. The Jewish Industrial Army and the Zion Commonwealth will conquer for us the land of our forefathers by the long established principle of peaceful penetration. At the same time, it may give us the opportunity through which the Jew can translate into modern terms the message of the 106 SOCIAL ZIONISM prophets of Israel. It will demonstrate, in a con- crete way, the Jewish contribution to the world, "And the nations shall see thy righteousness," O Zion, "And men shall call thee by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall pronounce." (Isaiah, Chap. XLJI.) CHAPTER 5. THE ZIONIST STATE AND THE LAND PROBLEM 1. Her?/ and Social Zionism THE Balfour Declaration endorsing the estab- lishment of a Jewish State in Palestine under the auspices of Great Britain, and the subse- quent capture of Jerusalem by the British forces on December 10, 1917, have brought to the fore- front the pure political Zionism as first enunciated by Herzl. These epoch-making events have caused us, for the time being, to look with eyes of pity upon these poor benighted "Chovevei Zion" who placed their reliance upon colonies in Palestine and upon Jewish immigration to Erez Israel, instead of fixing their attention upon the grand political ef- forts of Herzl and his followers. When with these *) See Appendix Q. 108 SOCIAL ZIONISM are contrasted the truly extraordinary results achieved during the last year through political activity, we might indeed be tempted to regard all previous practical work in Palestine as unnecessary, or worse, since the very existence of the Jewish col- onies caused the loss of many Jewish lives in the Palestinian war zone. Such a view, in which the old controversy be- tween Political Zionism and Practical Zionism is revived to the disparagement of the latter, is false simply because it presents only a half truth. It is a fact that if we had only three Jewish colonies in Palestine, instead of over forty, our loss in man power would be less but our right to Palestine would be commensurately smaller. We cannot rest our claim to the old Jewish land solely upon the rights which accrue to us as the descendants of Ancient Israel. Rights grow rusty with age, and an effective moral statute of limitations runs against old wrongs that fail to be emphasized from generation to generation. The whole truth would make us realize that our past practical efforts in Palestine the successful Jewish colonies consti- tute the foundation of our political structure. The present Jewish population of Palestine, small as it is, strengthens immeasurably our ancient rights ZIONIST STATE AND THE LAND PROBLEM 109 to the land, and every Jew in the Land of Israel to-day is an extra argument for the Jewish Redemp- tion of Palestine. The hundred thousand Jews in Palestine present a fact of impressive "practical" politics. Perhaps, the same truth can be visualized from another angle. 'Because we have only one hundred thousand Jews in Palestine, among five hundred thousand non-Jews, the British Declaration signi- fies only a splendid opportunity, which, however, the Jews of the world must utilize, by converting our present minority into a Jewish majority in Palestine. Until we have a predominant majority of Jews in Palestine, the land is only potentially ours and Great Britain has the difficult task of acting as trustee for us until we shall have taken possession of the land of Israel. If we are "practical politicians" we will recog- nize that "possession is nine-tenths of the law," and, indeed, our practical efforts in Palestine were really political efforts in the highest sense of that word. This is evidenced by the fact that no matter how many Jewish lives might have been lost, Pales- tine to-day would be irrevocably Jewish, if the statistics of Palestine were reversed if among a population of five hundred thousand Jews there 110 SOCIAL ZIONISM would be scattered one hundred thousand non-Jews. In that case, the British Declaration would be the Jewish Declaration of Independence, since the popu- lation of Palestine, with the financial help of the Jews of the world, could safely assume, immedi- ately, the role of a Jewish Republic. From that point of view, our practical work in Palestine is the only sure foundation for our political efforts and represents our greatest contribution towards the ultimate establishment of the Jewish State. And yet, Herzl was right in his opposition to small scale colonization. Some of his followers have endeavored to twist his message into a mere politi- cal formula. Herzl, however, was not a crafty poli- tician, but a social prophet, and it is high time that we begin to appreciate the "Social Zionism" of the author of the Judenstatt and Altneuland. Social Zionism comprehends both Practical and Political Zionism, and supplements the two by the concept of a Jewish Commonwealth in Zion which would serve as a model for the nations in the age-long battle for social Justice. To assure the triumph of Social Zionism it is essential that Palestine should not copy all the "vested wrongs" of modern society. If the Jews would to-day constitute a majority of the popula- ZIONIST STATE AND THE LAND PROBLEM 111 tion of Palestine, we might have had a Jewish Re- public, but with no distinct contribution to offer to the world, at the outset. It was necessary that the land should lie fallow, so that when we begin to build the structure of the Jewish Common- wealth we can be free to fit the stones of the House of Israel with Justice and Righteousness. 2. Land Value Taxation Let us examine specific facts. The land ques- tion is perhaps the most important social and eco- nomic problem of the present day. As civilization progresses, there is a large increase in population and wealth, and these, in turn, add enormously to land values. So long as raw land is permitted to be held by individuals as private property, we are practically placing in the hands of landlords the power of taxation, since they are permitted to levy upon persons and business activities a tax, in the form of ground rent, commensurate with the neces- sity for the use of such land. Now the landlord may be a child, an insane person confined in an asylum, or even a criminal serving a jail sentence so that he could not personally render any service which would help to make his land valuable yet, in any case, the guardian of this defective person 112 SOCIAL ZIONISM would collect rents not for services rendered, but simply as a tax upon those who might desire to use certain pieces of land to which the owner holds legal title. Thus, tribute is levied by our landlords for every child that is born, for every immigrant who comes to our shores, and for every invention that the age brings forth, because every increase in population and wealth, and very improvement in science and industry, automatically increases land values. It is obvious that if the legal title to all the land would be in the hands of the community the State or Nation the rents or taxes for the use of this land would come into the public treasury. In that event, the income would be utilized for the equal benefit of all, instead of being reserved for the sole advantage of a relatively small class of land owners. For example, the rocky island of Manhattan is the most valuable portion of the City of New York, the raw land (exclusive of any building or improvements, which are separately as- sessed) being valued at close to four billions of dollars. Three hundred years ago this island was purchased from the Indians for trinkets worth $24. Had the early Dutch settlers realized the advantage of holding legal title (as public property) to the 21ONIST STATE AND THE LAND PROBLEM 113 land of this island, the City of New York to-day would be an enormously rich landlord, and the rent- als from ground rent would be shared equally by all residents. An economist has estimated that by simply reserving ownership to the land values of Manhattan (not including Brooklyn, or the other boroughs) the City of New York, without any extra effort on its part, would secure such a large annual income that it would be able to distribute, as a bonus, to every family in the City of New York, over four dollars per week. Such a public income would enable us to abolish poverty. However, it is a difficult task to revoke the mistakes of the past. Should the present citizens of New York attempt to undo the work of the founders of New Amsterdam and redeem the land of Manhattan, as public property, they would be met by the stern argument of "confiscation" of present legal rights and by the strong opposition of intrenched wealth. (It might even be found less expensive to repurchase t^e land of Manhattan at the assessed value, rather than engage in a long drawn out political battle, probably lasting over a generation, when the camp lign contributions alone might, in the long run, oqual the present land values.) Fortunately, no ; uch condition faces us 114 SOCIAL ZIONISM in Palestine. We are almost in a condition of estab- lishing our New Amsterdam at the present time, so that we may profit from the mistakes of the past. There is no large vested interest in Palestine which would oppose our efforts, and to-day we can pur- chase lands, in the name of the Jewish State, which will prove to be of incalculable value in the future. Whether we recognize it or not, it is a fact that from day to day we are fashioning our future Jewish State. The question of social justice can- not be postponed, as has often been proposed, until after we have a full fledged national government in Palestine. It might then be too late to reform our social structure without a costly revolution that may bring into question the very existence of the Jewish State. Every Jew who migrates to Pales- tine brings stones out of which will be erected the House of Israel, and the completed structure will reflect our various ideals and our labors. If we permit ourselves to be swayed solely by political considerations, and neglect the opportunity to rear in Palestine a Jewish state that may serve as a model for all nations as a living illustration of a regime of social justice we will be adjudged, by future generations of Palestine Jews, as guilty of ZIONIST STATE AND THE LAND PROBLEM 115 the greatest crimes in social life the failure to realize the unique opportunities of our own time. Now, the fundamental question in political life is taxation. From the days when the Patricians and Plebeians fought over the share which each should contribute to the Roman State, down to the time when the English Parliament crippled the Gov- ernment of Charles I by refusing to vote funds necessary for the conduct of public affairs, taxation has been used as a means both of upliftment as well as degradation. Through a cleverly devised so-called "protective" tariff, we can cast the burden of government on the poor, while through income and inheritance taxes we might "confiscate" the wealth of the rich. "Taxation without Representa- tion" was the primary cause for the establishment of the United States, even as the financial bank- ruptcy of France in 1789, as a result of an unjust and inefficient system of taxation, was the great incentive towards the French Revolution. If the past is any guide to the future, the prosperity and progress of Palestine will depend, largely, upon a just and equitable system of taxation. Such taxa- tion must be based upon the theory of benefits con- ferred by, and advantages gained through, the Government any other kind of taxation, which is 116 SOCIAL ZIONISM not primarily concerned with benefits but is based s'mply on the coercive power of the State, is unjust and represents a legalized robbery of the people. Prom such an analysis we must conclude that a proper basis of taxation must be such that the Gov- ernment will take for taxation purposes just that increase in value which the Government itself adds, by virtue of the benefits which it confers namely, the police and fire protection, schools, etc. Concretely, if Great Britain should immediately assume the guardianship of Palestine (as trustee for the future Jewish Government), the land of Palestine will immediately increase in value to an enormous extent. This increase would be due solely to the conviction that under British control life and property would be safeguarded and the economic development of the country would be as- sured. Now this increase in land values would be the direct benefit conferred by the new government, without any help whatsoever from the present-day land owners. Therefore, in logic and in justice, this increase in land values ought to be appropriated by the government in the shape of a special land value tax. To achieve such a program of just taxa- tion, the commission which is to administer Pales- tine should be given the right expressly to assess ZIONIST STATE AND THE LAND PROBLEM 117 and value all plots of land as of August 1, 1914 (immediately before the Great War) . Tne Palestine commission, and, thereafter, its successor, the Gov- ernment of Palestine, would then prooceed to im- pose an annual land value tax upon all the plots of land under its control, whereby excess unearned value which might have been added to such land since August 1, 1914, exclusive, of course, of all improvements made by the owner or the tenant, would go into the treasury of the Government. This would result in giving to the Government the values which society itself (as distinguished from the individual land owners) is creating from day to day, while reserving the rights of the land own- ers to the values which they held in the best days that Palestine has known in Modern times. Such a system of taxation would eliminate land specula- tion, since all excess unearned values would go to the Government instead of to land speculators. In order to understand the full effects of such a system of taxation, let us examine the picture that Palestine might present to us if we failed to adopt land value taxation. Present land owners of Pales- tine, who, in the main, have done little to develop the country, would reap a golden harvest from the establishment of a new government; and with the 118 SOCIAL ZIONISM influx of Jews, land values would go sky-high, so that every Jew who migrated to Palestine from Russia, Roumania, or America a pioneer in the Jewish Renaissance would be compelled to pur- chase lands at inflated values or pay exhorbitant rents, thereby helping to develop a class of absentee Palestinian landlords, who would be spending their incomes (obtained from Palestinian workers), and idling their time in the luxurious capitals of the world. In effect it would be enacting a law for the restriction of Jewish immigration into Palestine, since it would make it difficult for poor Jews to secure land or living quarters on fair terms. Now there is no reason why we should pour wealth into the hands of those who happen to hold title to lands in Palestine when the increased value will be due not to labor on the part of the landlords, but to the new government which Zionists will have estab- lished. We should reserve all the rights to the land owners as such land values existed on August 1, 1914, but every increase in land value since that date must, in justice, go to the Government which is making possible such increase. Furthermore, since the Government must have taxes to support it, we will be confronted with the alternative of taking it from the land which the Government has ZIONIST STATE AND THE LAND PROBLEM 119 itself increased in value, or through other methods of taxation (like taxes on sugar, coffee ,tea, income tax, customs dues, etc.). In the latter case, we can appreciate the injustice of such action if we realize that it would mean that the working men and women would have to carry the burden of Govern- ment in addition to paying for the increased land values which they, and the Government, have made possible. On the other hand, if taxation be raised from the unearned land values, no one would be disturbed in the possession of their lands, but all land owners would pay taxes, annually, equivalent to the annual rental upon the increased land values (exclusive of buildings and improvements) since August 1, 1914. This is only another way of saying that the money secured through increased land values will be util- ized for the equal benefit of all (in the shape of police protection, schools, municipal theatres, etc.), instead of being diverted for the exclusive benefit of a landlord calss. Finally, since the excess land values beyond that as assessed on August 1, 1914, would be vir- tually owned by the State, through its power of taxation, it is obvious that whenever the State should find it necessary to secure possession of 120 SOCIAL ZIONISM certain plots of land (by exercising the power of eminent domain) it will have a fixed price which it should pay to the land owners (besides, of course, paying for all buildings and improvements), namely, the value of the land as assessed on August 1, 1914. This system of taxation will give us an instru- ment for the Jewish resettlement of Palestine, which will prove to be of incalculable value, while at the same time it will insure control over public utilities through the power which it will exert over land values. This plan will not deprive any present- day landlords in Palestine of any rights, and yet, it will give to the future inhabitants of the Holy Land the profits equivalent to the increase in land values which they, by their presence and work, will have made possible. 3. The Zjon Commonwealth and Land Purchase Intimately connected with the land problem is the question of colonization. It is incumbent on the Zionist organization to develop comprehensive plans for the Jewish colonization of Palestine. No system of taxation, however just and beneficent, will immediately place thousands of Jews on the soil of Palestine, although such taxation may prove ZIONIST STATE AND THE LAND PROBLEM 121 to be a most valuable adjunct towards towards the Jewish Redemption of Palestine. For such a re- demption we need (1) land, and (2) settlers. A system of taxation as outlined above will enable us to secure the land at reasonable prices, since the valuation will be made as of August 1, 1914, instead of upon the inflated values of the future. Never- theless, it is necessary to accumulate a large fund for the purpose of acquiring Palestinian lands even at this fair price. The Jewish National Fund, which purchases land and holds title in the interest of the entire Jewish Nation, is, unfortunately, restricted in its activities, because it must depend for its income upon small individual contributions. We must rein- force the million and one-half dollars of the Jewish National Fund by an institution which will make a direct appeal to each individual Jew for the pur- chase of a plot of land in Palestine. The problem has been, hitherto, how to enlist the financial sup- port of thousands of individual Jews (each of whom would secure his farming estate in Palestine), ana yet preserve the larger Jewish national interests of our future state. This problem has been success- fully met by the organization of the Zion Common- wealth, Inc., which undertakes to buy and develop farming lands for its members and at the same time 122 SOCIAL ZIONISM restricts such lands for farming purposes only, while it reserves the ownership of all city, town and indus- trial lands to the community as a whole. Under the Zion Commonwealth plan, the community likewise has the right to repurchase such lands (from any of its members) as may be necessary or desirable for city or industrial purposes, paying therefor only the actual agricultural value. The Zion Commonwealth, therefore, might be made the instrument for social justice in the land of Israel. Let the Zionist organization undertake land purchase in Palestine, through the Zion Common- wealth, on a much larger scale than the Jewish National Fund can do, at the present time. With a fund sufficiently large we can secure all the desir- able lands in Palestine, and, at the same time, insure for the Jewish settlers all the future profits from city and industrial lands. Since the largest increase in land values accrue from such lands, and since no man can determine with certainty the future growth of any city or locality, the Zion Common- wealth will prove to be of inestimable value in the Jewish Redemption of Palestine, since, through its agency, city and industrial lands (as distinguished from agricultural lands held by individuals) become public property, and the large rentals from such ZIONIST STATE AND THE LAND PROBLEM 123 lands will fall to the public in the shape of ground rents. 4. Political and Social Zionism Just because of the marvelous success of Zion- ism along political lines, the Zionist Organization is charged with new duties and responsibilities. As long as political Zionism continued to be a thing of the future, we might have been persuaded by those who asked us to postpone the consideration of the character of the Jewish State to a more favorable time. But now that we are on the eve of realiza- tion of tho two thousand-year-old dream of the Ghetto, it behooves us to heed the voices that have been demanding a clear formulation of the social policies of the Zionist state. Morality is the keynote to the Hebraic char- acter, and history has shown that this national genius of the Jew can be evolved only on his own soil. The Land of Israel and the Children of Israel seem to be the only elements of a wonderful com- pound. The first Hebrew state gave to the world the concept of Monotheism and the fundamental principles of morality, embellished by the thoughts of prophets and the rhetoric of poets. From the second Hebrew state, the world received Christian- 124 SOCIAL ZIONISM ity to civilize it and prepare it for still greater ad- vances. But, since the Jew has been torn from his soil, his spiritual growth has been curtailed; he has been denied the full expression of his genius. And the Land of Israel seems to be linked in a common destiny with the Children of Israel. Let but her sons and daughters return, and you will behold the "Holy Land" once more as the Motherland of those eternal principles of morality and religion, making the final Hebrew state not a political abstraction, but a "Social Commonwealth in Zion," to serve as a model for the nations. Recall the cities of the Old Testament, where the criminal, free from the taint of wilful wrong, might flee for safety. We hope to build a nobler city of refuge, a home not for the criminal, but for the genius of our people not to exist as prisoners until the death of the High Priest, but to live the life of super-men in a Social Commonwealth of Israel. CHAPTER 6. A JEWISH COMMONWEALTH IN Z/OAT RESOLVED, that the American Jewish Con- gress instruct their delegation to Europe to co-operate with the representatives of other Jewish Organizations and specifically with the World Zionist Organization, to the end that the Peace Conference may recognize the aspirations and historic claims of the Jewish people with regard to Palestine, and declare that in accordance with the British Government's declaration of November 2nd, 1917, endorsed by the Allied Governments and the President of the .United States, there shall be established such political, ad- ministrative, and economic conditions in Palestine as will assure, under the trusteeship of Great Britain, acting on behalf of such League of Nations as may be formed, the development of Palestine into a Jewish Commonwealth, it being clearly under- stood that nothing shall be done which shall preju- dice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights 126 SOCIAL ZIONISM and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. Adopted at the first American Jewish Con- gress, December 17, 1918. In an article appearing in the Maccabaean magazine for October, 1910, I had the good fortune to use the phrase which is the title of this essay I believe, for the first time in the history of Zionism. At a later date, in August, 1914, a small group of Zionists who were interested in the land problem of Palestine, organized a corpo- ration, which we called the "Zion Commonwealth," and which is merely the abbreviated form of the above title. In interpreting the phrase "A Jewish Common- wealth," as endorsed by the first American Jewish Congress, we may utilize the knowledge gained through the use of this phrase during the last eight years. What is the meaning of the word "Com- monwealth"? What does a "Jewish Common- wealth" signify? The word "Commonwealth" came into cur- rent use in the days of Oliver Cromwell, about the middle of the seventeenth century. Charles I was succeeded by a government known as the English "Commonwealth," with Oliver Cromwell as the A JEWISH COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 127 "Protector." "Commonwealth" was used by the English people of Cromwell's time in the sense of common weal or common welfare, i. e., the state was to be the guardian of the common welfare rather than the instrument of kings, with their theory about divine right. The word "Commonwealth/' however, has a significance beyond the mere philalogical connota- tion of the word. It has a meaning that has been made by history, and perhaps the concrete applica- tion of the word by the makers of political history is more important for our consideration. Now, firstly, "Commonwealth" is never used as the name for a monarchial state it refers always to a Republican form of government. Whether it be the Commonwealth of Cromwell, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, under the Puritans, the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania, under the Protectorate of William Penn and his successors, or the present-day Commonwealth of Australia, the reference Is al- ways to a state that is also a Republic, resting upon the basis of "consent of the governed." But Com- monwealth signifies more than Republic. A Re- public may be also an Aristocratic Republic ruled by a few noble and wealthy families, like the Re- publics of Venice and Florence, in Medieval Italy. 128 SOCIAL ZIONISM A Commonwealth signifies in its historical uses a Democratic Republic, wherein the people have self- government. Indeed, in each of the two conspicu- ous examples of Commonwealths in American his- tory Massachusetts and Pennsylvania a charter was issued by the King of Great Britain, whereby the rights and privileges of the population were safeguarded, just as in a written constitution. It was only when the charter of Massachusetts was revoked that a royal governor was placed over the Bay State. Of the thirteen colonies in America, the crown colonies were never called Commonwealths, that name being applied, usually, to governments operating under charters and "Protectors." So also in the case of the Commonwealth of Australia, the rights of the people are determined by the act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which estab- lished the Australian Commonwealth which act may be construed as the fundamental law, the charter, or the constitution of Australia. We may conclude, therefore, that a Common- wealth has at least two distinct characteristics: (1) It is a government in which the people, as a whole, in contradistinction to any single class or group, constitute the ultimate power in the state a Democoratic Republic. A JEWISH COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 129 (2) It embraces a system of fundamental laws or a constitution, sometimes called a charter, which protects all the people against any illegal acts oi' the constituted authorities and which safeguards the liberty of the individual citizen. A "Protector" is, usually, the guardian of the charter of the Commonwealth. In the case of the English Commonwealth, Cromwell was the "Pro- tector"; in the case of Pennsylvania, William Penn and his successors were the protectors ; while in the case of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Eng- lish Parliament is, necessarily, the "Protector." In the resolution adopted by the American Jew- ish Congress, "trustee" is used in place of "Pro- tector." Now, in law, the word "trustee" has a fairly definite meaning. It is the designation of one who is holding something (which is not his own property) for someone, who gets the benefit of the property so held. Furthermore, a trusteeship lasts for a certain period of time although it may not be measurable in a definite number of years as for example, during the lifetime of the individual for whose benefit the trust is created, or until the time that the individual in question may be able to carry out a certain project. To apply these gen- eral principles in interpreting our concrete case, we 130 SOCIAL ZIONISM may say that Great Britain is to become the trustee for the Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine, acting as the Trustee of the Commonwealth, until the beneficiary , the Jewish people in Palestine, may be able to receive the full benefits of the trust until the "infant Republic" can stand on its own feet. Furthermore, a trustee is responsible not only to the individual for whose benefit he is holding the property, but also to the courts of justice, or a court of arbitration, to whom he must account for the proper execution of the trust. In this case, "such League of Nations as may be formed" is the High Court of Justice and Arbitration to whom Great Britain will agree to render the account of her stewardship. Over a year ago, I pointed out the implications of such a trusteeship in the following words: "The Balfour Declaration is not only an im- portant political event, but also a fact of extra- ordinary economic and social significance. Great Britain practically undertakes to act as trustee of Palestine for the Jewish nation to act as its fost.er- parent until our people are strong enough to make Palestine their own. For the British Declaration cannot be construed to signify that henceforth Israel is to wander in a happy fools' paradise. The A JEWISH COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 131 British Declaration is simply a splendid and unique opportunity, but it remains for the Jews of the world to utilize this opportunity. "Great Britain might have declared its inten- tions simply to establish Palestine as a small buffer state under its protection, and in that event we might have had a free Palestine without a Jewish nation in Palestine, for the great majority of the inhabitants of the Holy Land to-day are non-Jews, who, by their mere numbers, would control the political structure and mould the character of the state. In view of that fact, England has taken an important forward step she proposes to make Pal- estine not merely an insignificant buffer state, but a Homeland for the Jewish Nation" And even as a high-minded judge is loathe to appoint more than one trustee for the execution of a trust, since in numerous counsellors there is strife and dissension, even so the Jewish people ask for only one trustee to carry out the decree of justice, in the creation of the Jewish Commonwealth. Hav- ing found a "good and faithful servant" a nation that has proven itself the greatest and best col- onizer in history it is altogether fitting and proper that the Jewish people should select Great Britain as the trustee for its precious inheritance the Land 132 SOCIAL ZIONISM of Israel, Excepting the Jews, the English are the most biblical of all the peoples of the earth, and fate itself decrees that the latter shall stand as the guardian over the heritage of the "People of the Book." The beneficiary of this high trust is the Jewish people, since it is specifically stated that a Jewish Commonwealth is to be established not a mere Palestinian Commonwealth, nor a Commonwealth in Palestine. The latter would be open to miscon- struction and misinterpretation; but a Jewish Com- monwealth in Zion can mean only one thing, namely: that "with due regard to the rights of the existing inhabitants," which, of course, all Zionists are desirous and anxious to safeguard, there shall be re-established in Palestine, the Jewish nation, as of old. It is perhaps not out of place to mention that the first and second Hebrew states, from the days of Joshua until the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, have been usually translated into English by the word "Conmmonwealth." May we add that in accordance with the above definition of that word, the God of Israel was the "Protector" of the Com- monwealth, and his covenant with the People of Israel was the Charter of the Commonwealth. Pick- A JEWISH COMMONWEALTH IN ZION 133 Ing up the broken thread of our history, we shall re-establish the Commonwealth for the third time, still under the wings of the ancient "Protector," but, also with the addition of the modern conception of a faithful trustee. This trustee is to be named in the holy covenant of the peoples of the world, when they establish the League of Nations and this trus- tee, Great Britain, will deliver to us the title deed to the House of Israel. The founder of modern Zionism dreamed of a charter which would establish, once and for all, the rights of the Jewish people to their land. Herzl had a vision of "a scrap of paper" which would trans- form the "Promised Land" into a Jewish Paradise. We shall behold the vision which was denied to our great leader. A Commonwealth implies a charter and the charter will be granted by the nations of the world, so that the dream of Herzl shall be realized. APPENDICES APPENDIX A. Chapter 1 is the reproduction of an article which appeared in The Maccabaean Magazine of March, 1913. It was first delivered as a lecture before the Collegiate Zionist League, in the City of New York, in December, 1912. APPENDIX B. Part 1 of Chapter 2 is a reproduction (except for minor omissions) of an article appearing in The Macca- baean Magazine of October, 1910. APPENDIX C. Part 2 of Chapter 2 is largely a reproduction of a lecture delivered before the Collegiate Zionist League, in the City of New York, on May 19, 1912, which was after- wards published in The Maccabaean Magazine of June and August, 1912. The following is an excerpt from an article written by the author, appearing in The Menorah Journal for August, 1918, entitled "How Large a Population Can Palestine Support ?" It shows the possible future develop- ment of Palestine as a centre for commerce and industry "The most careful estimates have shown that Pales- tine has an area of not less than thirteen thousand square APPENDICES 135 miles or almost one-and-a-half times the size of the State of Massachusetts. This conclusion is based upon the fol- lowing lines as the boundaries of Palestine : on the west, the Mediterranean Sea; on the east, a line near the Mecca (Pilgrims) Railway; on the north, a line south of the city of Sidon, running eastward to the Mecca Railway, and skirting Damascus to the south; and on the south, the Arabian Desert, the Gulf of Akaba and the present Egypt- ian boundary (which leaves the Mount Sinai Peninsula as part of British Egypt). We are, therefore, making no claim for Palestine as it existed in the days of King Solomon, when the eastern border reached to the Euphrates River (which would make Palestine include an area far larger than our estimate). We are basing our estimate on the ancient Palestine, east and west of the Jordan, giving to it, however, a proper southern boundary, which offers access to the Red Sea. "We shall not attempt to demonstrate, however, that Palestine may become a country filled with factories and labor unions although the production of cotton and wool, which can be carried on in Palestine on a large scale, would give the opportunity for the development of a large clothing industry that might fill the demands of the vari- ous Mediterranean countries, even as the Jewish clothing workers of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Cleve- land are supplying the clothing for a vast majority of the people of the United States. We should rather fix our attention upon the prospect of creating in Palestine a vast emporium for trade and exchange between the East and the West a sort of Jewish Department Store, having 136 SOCIAL ZIONISM as its customers the Western nations and the races of the Orient. The geographical position of Palestine, as the connecting link between three continents, as the natural highway between Europe, Asia and Africa, is sufficient compensation for the lack of such minerals as coal and iron. Geography has made Palestine the "jumping-off place" for the trade between the East and the West, oper- ating, at the same time, as the wall which separates the Mediterranean Sea, from the Indian Ocean, and the path- way between Egypt and India, between London and Capetown. "The Jew is perhaps the best fitted, by his character and training, for playing the part of an intermediary between the diverse civilizations which stretch away from Palestine, and he alone can convert Palestine into a great commercial (and, ultimately, cultural) exchange. With harbors at Haifa, Jaffa and Gaza on the Mediterranean Sea, and Akaba on the gulf leading to the Red Sea, Palestine should become the junction station for Medi- terranean and Oriental trade. On the one hand, Haifa is the shortest distance between Bagdad and the Medi- terranean Sea; on the other hand, the port of Akaba would enable the Jews of Palestine to trade directly with India and China, without the necessity of using the Suez Canal. "The map itself proves to us that we need have no concern for the future of a Jewish Palestine. Haifa, as a city of trade and commerce, might easily have a popu- lation of a million or more. Akaba, Jaffa, Gaza, Jerusa- lem and the cities east of the Jordan created by the APPENDICES 137 trade route between Bagdad and the Mediterranean Sea, aided by the fertile lands of the Hauran might give us a population of over four millions. If we add to this an agricultural population of 1,200,000 Jews and 600,000 non-Jews, Palestine would have a total population of nearly 6,000,000 (or nearly ten times its present popu- lation) . "The estimate here presented is conservative, for we have shown merely that in a district larger than Holland (and more fertile than Holland), we shall be able to place a population not so large as that of the Netherlands, in spite of the superior geographical position of the ancient country of the Jews." In a memorandum prepared by the author and pre- sented to the Honorable Louis D. Brandeis 'by Nahum Sokolow, in March, 1913, the proposed company for Pal- estine activity is called the "American Palestine Com- pany." APPENDIX D. Part 1 of Chapter 3 is the reproduction of an article appearing in The Maccabaean Magazine of September, 1916. APPENDIX E. Park 2 of Chapter 3 is the reproduction of an article .appearing in The Maccabaean Magazine of March, 1916. It was written at the time that the movement for the hold- ing of an American Jewish Congress was in its critical period. Both part 1 and part 2 of Chapter 3, while not 138 SOCIAL ZIONISM an integral part ofany social program in Zionism, are yet essential, as indicative of the religious and moral implica- tions that are sometimes ignored in a purely political program. APPENDIX F. Chapter 4 is the reproduction of an article appearing in The Maccabaean Magazine of June, 1917. It was first delivered as a lecture before the Hadassah Zionist Society of Baltimore, Md., on May 6, 1917. (In addition, a small part of this article is reproduced from an article appearing in The Maccabaean Magazine of June, 1918, and entitled "A Jewish Industrial Army for Palestine/') The following is taken from the Constitution of the Zion Commonwealth, which aims to establish Jewish col- onists in Palestine on the basis of a just land system : Article I. PUBPOSE. We, the members and shareholders of the Zion Com- monwealth, Inc., have organized and established this Com- pany for the purpose of aiding in the settlement of Jews in Palestine, and of securing for our members and their descendants rights, interests and privileges in lands occu- pied by the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., to the end that social justice, in harmony with the ideals of the prophets of Israel, may be the cornerstone of the Jewish Common- wealth in Zion. APPENDICES 139 Article II. MEMBEESHIP. Every Jew or Jewess, twenty-one years of age and upwards, is eligible to membership, but the applicant must first be approved by a majority of the members of the Board of Directors, and must subscribe to and pay for one share of the stock of the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., and must subscribe to one or more Land Cetrificates of the Zion Commonwealth Land Fund. The participation of shareholders and members in the affairs of the Zion Com- monwealth, Inc., shall be regulated by Article 8 of the Certificate of Incorporation, as follows : "Eighth. The shareholders in this corporation shall have one vote each irrespective of the number of shares held by them ; and at all meetings of share- holders, whether annual or special, no member present shall be permitted more than one vote on all meas- ures presented before the meeting and one vote for each member of the Board of Directors to be elected." Article IV. THE LAND CEBTIFICATE TRUST FUND. A "Land Certificate Fund" is hereby established for the purpose of collecting, preserving, accumulating and investing all moneys paid in installments under the Land Certificate Agreements between the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., and its members. The trustes of this fund shall con- sist of five members, one of whom shall be the treasurer of the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., and the remaining four 140 SOCIAL ZIONISM trustees shall be elected for a period of two years (two chosen every year to hold office for two years) by the holders of the par value of two hundred and fifty dollars [$250] ) giving the right to one vote for each trustee. The election of trustees, exclusive of the Treasurer of the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., shall be held immediately following the annual meeting of the shareholders of the Zion Com- monwealth, Inc., and under the rules and regulations provided by the Board of Directors. The chairman of the Board of Trustees shall be selected by the Trustees each year. Article V. BIGHTS AND DUTIES OF TRUSTEES. It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees to keep safely all funds entrusted to its care and to invest and re-invest such funds here and abroad; to authorize and approve such expenditures as may be necessary for propa- ganda purposes and in the investigation, purchase, occu- pation and development of land in Palestine (and terri- tory adjacent thereto) and to deliver to each member of the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., who shall have duly paid up all the required installments under any Land Certificate Agreement, a deed certifying that such member is entitled to the use, benefit and advantage of the surface value of a certain piece of cultivated agricultural land (specified in the deed), reserving to the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., the commercial, industrial and mineral interests in said land. No money may be expended out of the Land Certificate Fund unless formally approved in writing by at least three ^ c * ^ APPENDICES 141 trustees, and after request for such appropriation is first presented by the Board of Directors. Article VI. COMMUNAL LAWS. Not less than ten (10%) per cent, of all lands pur- chased by, or for the benefit and advantage of, the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., shall be set aside as Communal Lands and held perpetually and as an inalienable estate by the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., to be utilized for com- mercial, industrial and mineral purposes and the estab- lishment and development of villages, towns and cities. Portions of these communal lands may be leased to mem- bers, but only upon the payment of certain rentals, an- nually assessed, on the unimproved value of such leased plots (as ground rents). The rents, profits and income derived therefrom shall be utilized for, and devoted to, communal purposes and public improvements. Article VII. BOARD OF SHOFTIM. The Board of Shoftim shall act as the general arbi- tration court for the members of the community and resi- dents of the territory of the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., and to such Board shall be referred all matters of dispute arising under Land Certificates, the lands allotted to members, and controversies among residents of such Zion Commonwealth territory and between members and the Board of Directors of the Zion Commonwealth, Inc. The Board of Directors shall make proper provision, from time 142 SOCIAL ZIONISM to time, for representation, on the Board of Shoftim, of the interests of landholders who are non-residents of the various communities of Zion Commonwealth, Inc. The Board of Shoftim shall annually assess the value of all the real estate in the districts comprising the territory of the Zion Commonwealth, making separate records for every dunam (approximately 14 of on acre), as follows: (a) Eeal estate, exclusive of improvements; (b) Improvements upon land, exclusive of the land values; and (c) Agricultural values of all lands, exclusive of im- provements. Article VIII. PUBLIC RIGHTS IN LAND. With the consent of the Board of Directors of the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., the Board of Shoftim may resolve to utilize for commercial, industrial or mineral purposes, provided such resolution be approved at a popu- lar referendum by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, the lands allotted to members or portions of such lands, which must be not less than one dunam (14 of an acre) or a multiple thereof. The person whose lands are thus taken for public purposes must receive immediately, in legal tender of the United States of America, or its equivalent value in local currency, the amount fixed at the annual assessment last preceding as the agricultural value of the land so appropriated by the Zion Common- wealth, Inc., besides the value of improvements upon such lands, as estimated by the Board of Shoftim. Any mem- APPENDICES 143 her whose lands shall have been appropriated on the plan here prescribed shall be entitled to receive other lands for agricultural purposes, at the assessed value thereof, as soon as practicable. The lands alloted to members may be sold, conveyed, mortgaged, leased, sub-leased, transferred, assigned or pledged to the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., but no sale, de- vise or transfer of any lands to any person, corporation or association shall be valid when objection thereto is made, within thirty days thereafter, by the Board of Shoftim of the Zion Commonwealth and sustained by a three-fourths majority of the votes cast at a popular ref- erendum, held under rules and regulations provided by the Board of Shoftim. Whenever such sale, devise or transfer is set aside, such lands may be purchased by the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., at the assessed agricultural value, in like manner as if same were to be utilized for commercial, industrial and mineral purposes. Each mem- ber or his successors shall have the privilege, at the begin- ning of each fiscal year (as established by the Board of Directors), to lease his agricultural holdings to the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., for a term of years, under condi- tions prescribed by the Board of Directors. The Zionist Congress, through the Jewish National Fund, or any other agency, duly authorized by the Zionist Congress, shall have the exclusive right to purchase, at any time, all the lands of the Zion Commonwealth, Inc., in any one or more communities under the jurisdiction of the Board of Shoftim. The purchase price shall be fixed by the majority vote of an arbitration board, consist- 144 SOCIAL ZIONISM ing, in each instance, of three members chosen by the Board of Shoftim, an equal number of members selected by the prospective purchaser and one or more impartial members selected by those first chosen. APPENDIX G. Chapter 5 is a reproduction of an article appearing in The Zion Commonwealth Bulletin of January, 1918, part of which also appeared in The Public for June 8, 1918. APPENDIX H. Chapter 6 is a reproduction of an article appearing in The Maccabaean Magazine of January, 1919. The following syllabus, prepared by the author for The Menorah Journal of December, 1918, may be instruc- tive as an illustration of the social tendency in Zionism : THE NEW PALESTINE. I. PROSPECTS AND POLICIES. A. Palestine as a Jewish State under British Protection. (1) The Balfour Declaration of November, 1917, is part of a larger policy whereby Arabia, Ar- menia, and Judea will form a triumvirate of nationalities, serving as a connecting link be- tween the Orient and the Occident, and a bridge between British Egypt and British India. (2) Palestine must come under British protection, since from the military as well as the political point of view it is the buffer state of Egypt. APPENDICES 145 (a) Lord Cromer realized the significance of Palestine and favored the Zionist pro- gram. (b) Palestine must not be under joint control of various nations (condominium) since this may prove to be a fruitful source of future difficulties. (c) Zionists aim to make Palestine a self-gov- erning dominion (arid, for the present, in the British family of nations, like Canada, Australia, or South Africa). (3) The English are the only "Bible" people in Europe, and would co-operate in Palestine Ee- storation as a holy duty. (a) Cromwell admitted Jews into England be- cause Puritan England revered the Bible. (b) The English and Jews are both "shop- keepers," who carry their Shakespeare or their Bible in their right hand. B. Palestine as a Jewish Homeland. (1) A land of refuge for the Jews of Eastern Europe, (a) Jews of Eussia, Poland, Galicia and Eoumania comprise the majority of the Jews of the world and constitute a dis- tinct nation, irrespective of the condi- tion of their brethren in Western Europe or America. 146 SOCIAL ZIONISM (b) The uncertain future of the Jews in East- ern Europe demands a place of refuge under the Jewish flag. (2) Palestine as a Homeland for the Hebraic spirit. (a) Many Jews, from East and West, will meet in Palestine to continue the thread of Jewish history that has been cut since the days of Titus. (b) Judaism is in danger without a central rallying-point. (c) Jerusalem will be to Judaism what Eome is to Catholicism. C. Palestine as the Land of Jewish Immigration. (1) The future of Palestine depends upon economic penetration by the Jewish people, (a) Jews will constitute the majority in Pales- tine within a single generation. (2) The varied training and experiences of the Jews in different countries will make possible the development of Palestine as a great commer- cial state. (a) The geographical position of Palestine as a connecting link between three conti- nents gives the opportunity for making the Land of Israel the great emporium of the East and the West. II. EDUCATION AND KELIGION. A. Education will be in Hebrew, and free in all branches, schools and grades. (1) This was the unanimous decision of the delegates APPENDICES 147 to the Pittsburgh Zionist Convention (June, 1918) representing the Zionists of America. (a) Such a policy is in line with Jewish his- tory and ideals for centuries. (b) This policy will make for the development of a true democracy, in politics and so- ciety. B. Judaism will be separate and distinct from the Jewish State in Palestine. (1) Freedom of religion will be guaranteed. (a) This principle was unanimously adopted at the Pittsburgh Zionist Convention (June, 1918). (2) Judaism as a voluntary institution in a Jewish environment will have great opportunity for growth. (3) Legal and economic factors will give opportunity for the development of the Jewish religion. (a) Examples: Saturday "blue" laws, Jewish holidays as legal holidays, the control of the packing industry by the Govern- ment, in accordance with Jewish religi- ous rites. III. STATUS OF NON-JEWISH POPULATION. A. -Equal rights for all Palestinians. (1) This principle was adopted by the Zionists of America in convention assembled (Pittsburgh Platform, June, 1918). 148 SOCIAL ZIONISM (a) This principle will be applied so that citi- zenship and voting rights will be granted irrespective of race, sex, or creed. B. Palestine will be a Jewish State only in the sense that a majority of the population will be Jewish. (1) The principle of democratic rule and equal rights, as developed in America and England, will be applied. IV. POSSIBILITIES OF LEADERSHIP IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION. A. The Jew as a social force in history. (1) The Prophets of Israel as the preachers of polit- ical, social and economic democracy. (2) The Rabbis as the teachers in a democratic school of Jewish students. (3) The Jewish figures in political history almost in- variably the leaders in Liberalism, Labor and Socialism. (a) Examples: Karl Marx, Lassalle, Hess, Lasker, Bernstein, Joseph Pels, Bran- deis, Gompers. (b) Even unreasonable extremists like Trotsky show only the necessary evil involved in this Jewish tendency towards social justice. B. Jewish co-operative efforts in Palestine. (1) Prom the outset, Jewish colonization in Pales- tine was marked by important contributions in the field of co-operative enterprise. APPENDICES 149 (a) Co-operative Loan Societies among the colonists were of great value in the up- building of the settlements. (b) Co-operative selling societies of orange growers practically controlled the orange output of Palestine. (c) Co-operative vine growers' associations, co- operative watchmen's societies, etc., to make Palestine the great experiment station in a system of "voluntary socialism." (d) Merchavia and other labor co-operative col- onies are new developments, deserving of observation and study. (2) The Jewish National Fund purchases land in Pal- estine, in trust for the Jewish people. (a) This will make it possible to vest in the Jewish people the ownership and control of large tracts of land in Palestine, cre- ating a national domain, which may be a great factor in the future of Palestine. (3) Present colonization plans call for a large meas- ure of co-operative effort. (a) The Zion Commonwealth organized in the United States for co-operative land pur- chase and agricultural development in Palestine has developed a program for the collective ownership of city land, in- dustrial plots, and sub-soil deposits. 150 SOCIAL ZIONISM C. The Zionists are planning for the establishment of a model commonwealth. (1) Herzl was interested not only in Political Zion- ism, but also in "Social Zionism." (a) The "Judenstatt" deals with the future labor problem in Palestine. (b) "Altneuland" is the picture of a social Utopia. (2) The Pittsburgh Platform, unanimously adopted by the American Zionists in convention assem- bled, in June, 1918, reaffirms the social philos- ophy of Zionism. (a) The land of Palestine will be owned by all the people, and leased to individuals, so as to assure continuity of possession. (b) Co-operative enterprise will be encouraged, as far as possible, without crushing in- dividual initiative. V. RELATIONS TO DIASPORA JEWEY. A. The racio-religious connection between Palestine Jews and their brethren outside of Palestine. (1) This relationship is established in Jewish history. (a) In the Maccabean era, there was a large community of Jews in Egypt who were intimately connected with Palestinian Jewry. (b) During the Talmud era, there was a large community of Jews in Babylonia which was bound up with Jewish life in Pales- tine. APPENDICES 151 (2) The Sanhedrin, representing the Jews of the world as a religious body, will meet periodically in Palestine. (a) This Sanhedrin would represent the unity of Israel as a racio-religious group, but would have no political power. (b) The Sanhedrin will give opportunity for the development of Judaism as a sys- tem of religious laws, based on tradi- tion, yet subject to legislative changes. (c) This would give us a Judaism which would build upon its traditions, and yet enable us to respond to the spirit of the ages, as reflected in a Jewish environment in Palestine. The Sinai Press, Inc. 176 Park Roiv, New York City UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY . V A- Hrs UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 001225917 2