Auto-SummaryMoses Hess, a Jewish French philosopher, is known for founding Labor Zionism and developing socialist theories of history based on racial struggle, leading to conflicts with Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Labor Zionism is the left-wing of the Zionist movement, focusing on creating a Jewish state through the efforts of the Jewish working class settling in Palestine and constructing a progressive society. The movement grew in size and influence by the 1930s, predominating in the British Mandate of Palestine and playing a leading role in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its goals included conquering guard work, labor, and the land, with slogans like Conquest of Guard work, Conquest of Labor, and Conquest of the Land. The movement aimed to increase the number of Jewish workers, improve their working and living conditions, and address the polarization of Jewish industries and agriculture caused by the Arab Revolt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Hess
Moses (Moshe) Hess (January or June 21, 1812 – April 6, 1875) was a Jewish French philosopher, most well known for his being a founder of Labor Zionism and developing socialist theories of history predicated on racial struggle, which led to him coming into conflict with Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, leading to him being criticized in The German Ideology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Zionism
Labor Zionism or Socialist Zionism[1] (Hebrew: צִיּוֹנוּת סוֹצְיָאלִיסְטִית, translit. tziyonut sotzyalistit) is the left wing of the Zionist movement. It was, for many years, the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations. It saw itself as the Zionist sector of the historic Jewish labor movements of Eastern and Central Europe, eventually developing local units in most countries with sizable Jewish populations. Unlike the "political Zionist" tendency founded by Theodor Herzl and advocated by Chaim Weizmann, Labor Zionists did not believe that a Jewish state would be created simply by appealing to the international community or to a powerful nation such as Britain, Germany or the Ottoman Empire. Rather, Labor Zionists believed that a Jewish state could only be created through the efforts of the Jewish working class settling in Palestine and constructing a state through the creation of a progressive Jewish society with rural kibbutzim and moshavim and an urban Jewish proletariat.
Labor Zionism grew in size and influence and eclipsed "political Zionism" by the 1930s both internationally and within the British Mandate of Palestine where Labor Zionists predominated among many of the institutions of the pre-independence Jewish community Yishuv, particularly the trade union federation known as the Histadrut. The Haganah – the largest Zionist paramilitary defense force – was a Labor Zionist institution and was used on occasion (such as during the Hunting Season) against right-wing political opponents or to assist the British Administration in capturing rival Jewish militants.
Labor Zionists played a leading role in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and Labor Zionists were predominant among the leadership of the Israeli military for decades after the formation of the state of Israel in 1948.
http://www.mideastweb.org/labor_zionism.htm
Goals and Slogans of Labor Zionism and Reality
Labor Zionism, which embodied, even at that early date, the vanguard of Palestinian Zionism, initially built its practical ideology around three "conquest" slogans which sounded very militaristic: Conquest of Guard work (Kibbush Hashmira), Conquest of Labor (Kibbush Ha'avoda) and Conquest of the (agricultural) Land - Kibbush Hakarkah. Many years later, Ben Gurion was to add a fourth, less successful slogan, "Kibbush Hashmamah," Conquest of the Wilderness - referring to population of the Negev.
Conquest of quarding (Kibbush Hashmira) referred to taking over the task of guarding Jewish settlements from Arab guards. The practical problem was that Arab guards did not always provide security, either because they colluded with family and friends to allow pilfering, or because their own enemies attacked settlements in order to embarrass them and take revenge. The ideological motive was self-sufficiency. For this task, the Hashomer group was organized. The carrying of weapons by Jews was controversial.
Conquest of the land (Kibbush Haqarqa) meant purchase, reclamation and settlement of lands, and also variously, settlement of the land by workers in an initial phase and its reclamation. The land purchases were done by the ICA and the Zionist organization. However, the land was often swampy, malaria infested uninhabitable and unsuitable for agriculture. Clearing rocks, setting up houses and draining swamps was difficult work carried out by the Halutzim (pioneers) of the second and third Aliya.
Conquest of Labor (Kibbush Ha'avoda) was central to both Poalei Tziyon and Achdut Ha'avoda. Poalei Tziyon's party periodical carried the slogan, "The necessary condition for the realization of Zionism is the conquest of all occupations in the country by Jewish Labor. In its ideological meaning, "conquest of labor" referred to return of Jews to productive labor. While Jews could not be a normal nation without blacksmiths and milkmen and tinsmiths and construction workers, the most urgent emphasis was placed on agricultural labor. In its practical meaning, conquest of labor referred in particular to finding work places for inexperienced Jewish workers who could not compete in the plantations sponsored by the Baron Rothschild. The specter of Jews becoming colonial landowners and exploiters of natives was anathema to the labor movement. Clearly, it would never be possible to build a Jewish proletariat and peasantry on this basis. As Ben Gurion told Musa Alami in 1934:
“We do not want to create a situation like that which exists in South Africa, where the whites are the owners and rulers, and the blacks are the workers. If we do not do all kinds of work, easy and hard, skilled and unskilled, if we become merely landlords, then this will not be our homeland” (David Ben-Gurion to Palestinian nationalist Musa Alami 1934), quoted in Shabtai Teveth, Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs: From Peace to War, London: Oxford University Press, 1985, p. 140).
The martial ring of these slogans is misleading, as no violence was envisioned or intended by the people who used them.
The idea of the 'conquest of labour' was central to Hapoel Hatzair policy.: it was imperative to increase the number of Jewish workers as much and as quickly as possible and to improve their working and living conditions. It was absolutely essential, furthermore, for the new immigrants to gain a firm foothold in agriculture. The parasitims of Jewish existence in the diaspora had shocked them into embracing Zionism and they feared that any backsliding, any compromise in this respect, would fatally affect the future of the Jewish national renaissance. Yet the 'conquest of labor as they interpreted it was not meant to harm anyone. It is difficult to imagine men and women less warlike than A. D. Gordon, Yosef Aronowitz, Yosef Sprinzak and the other leaders of Hapoel Hatzair. Unlike the Poale Zion, they refused to participate in the foundation of Hashomer, the defense organization, because it smacked, however, faintly, of militarism. (Walter Laqueur, A History of Zionism, New York, Schocken, 2003, p 285)
By accident or deliberately, the "conquest" slogans are today often used out of context to argue that the Labor Zionist movement was trying to conquer the land by force and dispossess Arabs. That was not the case. It seemed logical and fair, that if Arabs hired Arab watchmen, Jews would hire Jewish watchmen, and if Arabs hired Arabs to pick oranges, Jews should hire Jews. Likewise, the task of subjugating the mostly barren lands they had purchased seemed to be essential if the Jews were to create a successful community in Palestine. As the lands that were "conquered" were often not cultivated and could not be cultivated without much preparation, and the inhabitants received compensation that would enable them to purchase other land, there did not seem to be any "actual dispossession."
The slogans were used by sides in different debates that took place within the Zionist movement and took on new meanings. "Conquest of the land" was used by some of the early Degania settlers to justify their idea that they would settle in to a newly purchased area, prepare it for agriculture and remain there for a year to "conquer" it, and then move on, giving way to permanent settlers. In the early days, "Conquest of Labor" referred exclusively to becoming agricultural workers in the plantations underwritten by the Baron Rothschild, and conquest of the land referred to settlements run by workers. Thus, in a dispute with Joseph Vitkin (or Witkin), Joseph Ahronowitz, who opposed the idea of independent workers' settlements, insisted that "conquest of labor" was more important than "conquest of the land." (Laqueur, A History of Zionism, New York, Schocken, 2003, p. 287).
Though by the 1930s there was a large and growing Jewish working class in Palestine, there were still sizeable numbers of Arab workers in Jewish owned industries and especially in agriculture. Overall, about 14% of the labor force employed in Jewish enterprises was Arab. "Conquest of Labor" was an accomplished fact and not a real issue any more. However, the Arabs themselves accomplished the segregation of Jewish industries in the 1930s. The general strike that was begun during the Arab Revolt suddenly removed Arab labor from Jewish industries. Even when the strike ended, Arabs would not come back to work for Jews in any reliable way, even when they were wanted. The polarization produced by the Arab revolt ended dramatically reduced Arab participation in Jewish industries and agriculture, but it did not end it.
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