Subject: JUICE Pioneers 8 - David Ben-Gurion Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 00:23:04 +0000 To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
From: JUICE Administration <juice@virtual.co.il> To: pioneers@virtual.co.il Subject: JUICE Pioneers 8 ============================================================== World Zionist Organization Jewish University in CyberspacE juice@wzo.org.il birnbaum@wzo.org.il http://www.wzo.org.il ============================================================== Course: Pioneers of Israel Lecture: 8/12 Lecturer: Doron Geller David Ben-Gurion The next two lectures will cover David Ben-Gurion and Zeev Vladimir Jabotinsky, probably the two greatest Zionist leaders of this century. The present lecture will cover David Ben-Gurion. I had planned to do both together, but that was not feasible due to its length. But I would like us to think of the next two lectures as one unit. In this fashion, we will compare and contrast the two leaders - put them head-to-head, so to speak, in order to gain a better understanding of each man's vision of the Jewish state. Each man strongly influenced the development of the Left and Right Wing political movements in Israel (today most clearly in the form of the Labor and Likud parties), and both men left an indelible imprint on their followers and political descendants. When dealing with men of such stature, inevitably one deals with a veritable inundation of material - both in English and in Hebrew (and in other languages). For a short lecture, it would be impossible to try to cover all of the interesting aspects of their lives. What I will try to do here is give an overview of their thought regarding what the state of Israel was eventually to be, and how Zionism could achieve that goal. The relevance of their respective ways of thinking is critical today, in that the unity and cohesion of the Israeli polity depends on coming to a measure of agreement. The roots of the Labor-Likud approach to the Jewish state stretch far back into the pre-state era, which is where we will begin. David Gruen was born in Plonsk, part of Russian Poland, in 1886. His father was a Zionist, and young David became a fervent Zionist from an early age. In 1906 he emigrated to Eretz-Israel, where he gave a rousing speech in perfect Hebrew soon after his arrival. The same year he Hebraicized his name to Ben-Gurion - Son of a Lion. In one essay entitled "In Judaea and Galilee", written in 1917, he explains the wonder of arriving in the homeland he had been dreaming of for years in the most moving language; "As soon as I had disembarked and got through the Turkish customs, I hurried off to Petakh Tiqvah. My friends pressed me to stay a few days in Jaffa, but I could not restrain an overmastering urge to see a Jewish village, and toward evening of the same day I reached the metropolis of our colonies. That night, my first night on Homeland soil, is engraved forever on my heart with its exaltation of achievement. I lay awake - who could sleep through his first night in the Land? The spirit of my childhood and my dreams had triumphed and I was joyous! I was in the land of Israel, in a Jewish village there, and its name was Petah Tiqvah - Gate of Hope! The howling of jackals in the vineyards; the croaking of frogs in the ponds; the scent of blossoming acacia; the murmur of the distant seas; the darkening shadows of the groves: the enchantment of stars in the deep blue; the faraway skies, drowsily bright - everything intoxicated me. I was rapturously happy yet all was strange and bewildering, as though I were errant in a legendary kingdom. Could it be? My soul was in tumult, one emotion drowned my very being: Lo, I am in the Land of Israel! And the Land of Israel was here, wherever I turned or trod. I trod its earth, above my head were skies and stars I had never before seen. All night long I sat and communed with my new heaven" Such words remind me of my own first days in Israel, which were so inspiring that they caused me to return again and again, until I settled here almost two years ago. I know this deep feeling of emotion that Ben-Gurion experienced, and thus what he writes strikes a chord at the deepest level. Even today, if you come to Israel, try to spend some time in nature, seeing the settlements and the small towns, which while only a speck on the map can give one a true feeling of the land of Israel, far more than the cities can (although in my opinion Jerusalem and Haifa have a very special ambiance to them). Ben-Gurion got involved in socialist politics quickly, but he also worked with his hands like all idealistic members of the Second Aliyah. He spent much of his first year in Judaea; in Jaffa, in the orange groves of Petakh Tikvah, the wine cellars of Rishon-le-Zion, and Kfar Saba. He was an itinerant worker; like Berl, he got up and left when the spirit moved him. He also suffered from malaria every month without fail, but he didnt let it get him down. His letters home were always positive and optimistic. He felt that way too; he was certain beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Jewish national revival must take place in Palestine, and he planned to take a large part in it. The stridency and stubbornness which he was later renowned for was already evident in his first year in Palestine - he refused to agree that Yiddish (or any other language other than Hebrew) be used at all in party discourse and activity. This view prevailed. >From 1907-1910 Ben-Gurion worked in the fields and as a watchman in various settlements in the Galilee; Sejera, (where Ha-Shomer was originally established), Menachemia, Kinneret, and Zikhron Yaakov. He loved the Galilee. It was (and is) beautiful, wild, free, and the many settlements springing up used exclusively Jewish labor, as opposed to the older settlements in Judaea, which frequently employed cheap Arab labor. He was to become a champion of "Avoda Ivrit", or Hebrew Labor. This all-important concept was first put into practice in the settlements of the Galilee. According to his writings and his letters home, he was deliriously happy. He felt free, brave and courageous among the mountains and new settlements of the Galilee. He was intoxicated. He was living a fantasy come true; he was actualizing his dreams. He felt as if he had been born again - a feeling shared by many of his compatriots. One can feel his love for the land bursting off the page; "Beautiful are the days in our land, days flushed with light and full of luster, rich in vistas of sea and hill. But infinitely more splendid are the nights: nights deep with secrets and wrapt in mystery. The drops of burning gold, twinkling in the soft blue dome of the sky, the dim-lit purity of moonlit nights, the lucid crystal of the transparent mountain air - all is steeped in yearning, in half-felt longings, secret undertones. You are moved by urgings not of this world, in the silence you listen to the echoes of childhood; legends of ancient days and visions of the last days take shape here quietly, flooding the soul and refreshing the anguished heart with the dew of hope and longing. And if you are exiled from this Land, and stray far from its soil and skies, to wander beyond distant waters and dwell in alien places beneath a strange firmament, you will take with you the lingering memory of these nights - the birthright of your land." David took trips on horseback all over the Galilee, even as far north as Beirut. Like his friends, he was enchanted with everything. He worked hard; he planted and nurtured olive and almond trees, palm and eucalyptus, and perhaps the favorite of the Second Aliyah - the orange tree. He tried hard to love agricultural work, even though, as hard as he worked and as dedicated as he was, he was a political animal by nature and not a field-hand. But he kept at it, as Berl did. He was convinced that only by creating a Jewish worker, and a Jewish working class in Palestine, could the Jewish people be redeemed and survive in their own land. He was aflame with the idea that the socioeconomic practices of the Jews in the diaspora - petty trade, small businesses, land speculation, and stocks - not be repeated here, for it would mark the end of the Zionist enterprise before it had even begun. A people must be formed by labor, which was not an occupation of choice of the Jewish people in the diaspora. As he wrote in a 1915 essay entitled "Earning a Homeland"; "A Homeland is not given or got as a gift; it is not acquired by privilege or political contracts; it is not bought by gold or held by force. No, it is made with the sweat of the brow. The Land of Israel will be ours not when the Turks, the English, or the coming Peace Conference agrees and set their signatures to a treaty to that effect, but rather when we Jews ourselves build it. We shall never (gain possession of a Homeland) from others, but by our own labor only. And a country is built up only by halutzim, by pioneers." Thus emerged the idea of "kibbush ha-avoda", or the conquest of labor - in which any part of the land worked solely by and for Jews becomes Jewish land. Perhaps no other colonizing movement in the world ever felt that labor, rather than plain force, entitled them to ownership of the land. As sublime and panoramic a picture Ben-Gurion painted of life in the land to his family and his fellows back in Plonsk, Poland, all was not so sanguine in the Holy Land. Although David never mentions it in his memoirs, he was never accepted to Ha-Shomer, the Jewish self-defense organization set up in 1907 under the name Bar-Giora by Israel Shochat. David worked as a watchman, even got himself a Browning pistol - and in his memoirs writes proudly of fledgling Jewish efforts at self-defense in Palestine. In fact, he uses the term "we" interchangeably when speaking of the watchmen who gradually took over guard duties at Sejera, and then Mescha and other Jewish settlements in the Galilee and Judaea. But he was not a member. Shochat only told of the reason why Ben-Gurion was not selected 50 years later: Bar-Giora was an elite, secret organization, in the midst of an era of ideological collectivism. There was an obvious contradiction between the elitism of Ha-Shomer and the liberal and socialist (yet democratic) tendencies of the Yishuv. Theoretically, in the socialist yishuvim everyone was supposed to pull their own weight for the collective good. This included labor and later, self-defense. Shochat thought that this was quite enough to explain away the ideological discrepancy. He didnt think Ben-Gurion could accept this without a leadership role, and Shochat had no need for other leaders. David felt extremely slighted when these armed, horseback-riding men arrived in a group at Sejera, worshipping Shochat - and did not ask him to join. The women in the settlement gravitated to the aura surrounding the comradely, manly group, and David's isolation and loneliness deepened. He took part in some of the training and as we saw, engaged in guard duty. He proved his mettle more than once; in one instance, as he pursued Arab attackers, his friend Shimon Melamed was shot and killed. Shabtai Teveth writes in his biography of Ben-Gurion; "After this incident no one could doubt Davids courage under fire, and he was appointed a guard in Sejera. His credentials for Ha-Shomer were second to none; still no invitation came." It never did. This was despite the fact that Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, a prime organizer of Ha-Shomer and later president of Israel, and his future wife Rachel Yannait, "pleaded with Shochat to change his mind about David." He wouldnt. Teveth writes; "hurt beyond measure, he did not forget this insult for many years: even after he had achieved world fame, when Ben-Gurion encountered Shochat or any of his close associates, he would hiss in their faces; You didnt want me!" Stung as he was, it did not damage Davids innate belief in himself and his own ability. By 1911 he was elected as a delegate to the 11th Zionist Congress and his political career was taking off. To further it, he and a few others decided to study law at Ottoman universities in Turkey (Palestine was under Turkish rule from 1517-1917). "Their object was to establish close ties with the educated ruling circles in Turkey and join in their political struggle, thereby advancing the development of Eretz Israel as a center of the Jewish people." It is interesting to see photographs of him at the time. He was absolutely indistinguishable from a typical Turk of the day with his mustache, top hat, and dark, determined appearance. His apparently similar physiognomy (at least in the photographs) to the Turks didnt help much when World War I broke out. He was, after all, a known Zionist. Despite the fact that he adopted a fervent Ottoman patriotism and urged other Zionists to do the same, he was arrested and "accused of conspiring against Ottoman rule in order to establish a Jewish state." He was exiled to Egypt, and from there made his way to New York, where he was active on behalf of the Zionist cause from 1915-1917. He also met and married his wife Paula there. Recognizing which way the winds were blowing, he joined the Jewish Legion under the auspices of the British army in 1917 hoping to liberate Palestine. As we have seen from other lectures, however, the unit did not see much action. He did meet Berl Katznelson in the Legion, however, and the two became political allies and close friends for life. Together the two of them planned for labor unity after the war, which came to fruition with the establishment of the Histadrut in 1920. Ben-Gurion became the Secretary-General of the Histadrut soon after its establishment, and from there he was able to use his talents and put his ideas into practice. He was especially adamant that the Histadrut become the one and only organization that provided for all workers needs, and the first place new immigrants would turn when arriving in Palestine. The Histadrut did indeed gain a monopoly on the labor and employment market under Ben-Gurions direction, so much so that Jabotinsky, as leader of the non-socialist, not exclusively labor-oriented right-wing Revisionist Organization, even called for the "breaking" of the Histadrut. This didnt happen, but the two movements were to run afoul, as we will discuss further in our next lecture. >From 1935 to 1948 Ben-Gurion was chairman of the Jewish Agency, and thus responsible for the direction of all Zionist affairs. He gradually began to overshadow Chaim Weizmann, who, while a key figure in the cultivation of non-Jewish Zionists and the promulgation of pro-Zionist legislation abroad, did not hold sway over the Palestinian yishuv as Ben-Gurion so obviously did. As the de facto leader of the Palestinian Jewish yishuv, Ben-Gurion exerted an enormous influence over the development of the yishuv and after 1948, the state of Israel. Because of the decisive impact he had on Israeli state formation, it is worthwhile taking a look at the basic premises of what he thought the Jewish state should aspire to be. Ben-Gurion was a product of his times and as an immigrant in the midst of the Second Aliyah, he shared with his pioneering comrades a virtual veneration of the concept of labor as a rejuvenating force in the new life the Jews were building in Palestine. This is expressed in numerous speeches he gave and articles he wrote. Basically, he saw Zionism as a social revolution among the Jewish people. From a people of petty traders, scholars, and businessmen would emerge a nation of workers, connected to their land and finding inner meaning and satisfaction by means of this connection. This is not very different from the thought of A.D. Gordon, Berl Katznelson, Meir Yaari, and many other Labor Zionists. They all felt that the Jews of the galut (the diaspora) had to be transformed into a proud and state-bearing people. This is why he was so disappointed by the results of the First Aliyah (1881-1903). Those such as the Bilu came with the intention of promulgating Hebrew Labor but ended up employing Arabs at a far more economical rate. This was anathema to him. The national foundations had to be rebuilt upon a radical reshaping of traditional Jewish class and economic structure, with the intention of "implanting (the Jews) on the land, integrating them into primary production in agriculture, in industry and handicraft - and making them economically independent and self-sufficient." Naturally the question of the Arabs was a major factor in his thinking. In terms of labor, it could not be avoided. It made much more economic sense to employ Arabs. But Ben-Gurion was quite worried - correctly, it would seem - that a Jewish land-owning and Arab working class would emerge, and thus a class struggle would be added on to a brewing national and religious confrontation. Agricultural settlements, worked exclusively by Jewish Labor, had to be established all over the land. Only by working the land could one reclaim it. Moreover, the transition from an urban or semi-urban people in the diaspora to a farm and locally based community would further implement the radical reformation of the Jewish people. The importance he attached to this concept is exemplified by his own move to the Negev, to Sde Boker, in his retirement. Ben-Gurion emphasized again and again that the land was big enough for both peoples, and that the Arabs would not be displaced by Jews. Zionism was a movement that would bring benefit to both peoples, he insisted. He wrote in 1918; "By no means and under no circumstances are the rights of these inhabitants to be infringed upon - it is neither desirable nor conceivable that the present inhabitants be ousted from the land. That is not the mission of Zionism. The demand of the Jewish people is really nothing more than the demand of an entire nation for the right to work. However, we must remember that such rights are already possessed by the inhabitants already living in the country. Both the vision of social justice and equality of all peoples that the Jewish people has cherished for three thousand years require absolutely and unconditionally that the rights and interests of the non-Jewish inhabitants of the country be guarded and honored punctiliously." This was written in 1918, however, and thus before the brutal and violent Arab riots of 1920 and 1921. But even in 1928, after 7 years of relative calm, Ben-Gurion could say in a similar vein: "According to my moral outlook we do not have the right to harm a single Arab child, even if by dint of such harm we should achieve all that we desire. Our work cannot be built upon the rights of someone else." At the same time he would aver that "the Arabs do not have the right to deprive us of our rights." The main right Ben-Gurion posited was the right of unlimited Jewish immigration into Palestine. This was a right that no Arab leader would ever publicly agree to after World War I, so there was bound to be a conflict no matter how moral Ben-Gurion or the other socialist Zionists viewed the Zionist enterprise. After the riots of 1929 Ben-Gurion recognized that there was a conflict of interests here and publicly expressed his recognition of this fact more and more frequently. After the Arab riots and revolt beginning in 1936 (which lasted until 1939), Ben-Gurion was increasingly convinced that an inevitable conflict existed between the Jewish and Arab peoples. As he told Judah Magnes, a leader of the ultra left-wing and dovish movement Brith shalom, "The difference between me and you is that you are ready to sacrifice immigration for peace, while I am not, although peace is dear to me." Ben-Gurion always saw the attainment of a Jewish majority in Palestine as a basic need for a sense of security and authority. In his view, no concession could be made regarding Jewish immigration. He made this quite clear in his many discussions with Arab leaders; Arab civil rights and a certain autonomy could be granted to the Arabs, but the Jews would never concede on their right to immigrate to and live in Eretz-Israel. "We will put it clearly: come what may, we will not budge from here. No attack or obstruction will weaken the efforts of the Jewish people to settle once again in its land." At the same time, he would say "we recognize your needs, and we know of your nationalist aspirations. We wish to find a way to further our common interests as sons of one homeland." By the 1930s these words could no longer be heard. As Shabtai Teveth avers, the Arabs wanted neither the honey nor the sting of Zionist settlement. While Jewish settlement in Palestine undoubtedly raised the material level of the Arabs, they felt such settlement was destined to uproot them from their land. Thus one Arab leader told Ben-Gurion; "I prefer to leave Palestine desolate for another 100 years and develop it ourselves." Ben-Gurion could respect that from an Arab point of view. But from a Jewish point of view he saw things very differently. Not only was land of Israel the focus of Jewish religious and national aspirations for 2000 years in the diaspora. As the Nazi era approached and took hold, a dark cloud of foreboding hung over Europes Jews and Ben-Gurion (and many others) saw an independent Jewish state as an absolute physical necessity. Moreover, as disappointed by a Jewish state as the Arabs might be, they had many more while the Jews did not have even one of their own. In his own words; "If your formula posits that Eretz Israel is of equal value for both Jews and Arabs, then you are missing the point and distorting the truth. The Arab nation possesses many extensive countries, the area of which in Asia alone amounts to a third of all Europe. The economic, cultural, and national existence of the Arab nation, its independence and sovereign existence is not connected with or dependent upon Eretz Israel. This is not the case with the Jewish nation. For the entire Jewish nation throughout its generations and dispersions this has been the one and only country with which its historic fate and destiny as a nation has been bound up." By dint of this millennia-long attachment to the land, for which Jews had undergone unspeakable sufferings in order to maintain this connection, gave them the right, the strength, and the motivation to rebuild their national life here - and only here. But Ben-Gurion had to take it into account that the Arabs did not see things that way. Clearly the Arabs had no need or desire for a large and dominant Jewish population in Palestine. Thus he increasingly relied on the British to help the Zionists fulfill their goals. The British were not the best of partners; soon after the Mandate and after each successive outbreak of Arab violence, they limited the scope of Zionist activity and aspirations in Palestine. But in Ben-Gurions view there was no other power to take Britains place until the Jews were strong enough to stand on their own. That is why even after the British issued their ignominious (from a Jewish point of view) White Paper of 1939, severely limiting the immigration of Jews into Palestine on the eve of the Holocaust, Ben-Gurion still did not call for a break. After all, the British were fighting the Nazis as well, even as the British stymied rescue efforts of Jews trying to escape Europes shores for Palestine. He even cooperated with the British in hunting down the dissident Irgun and Stern Gang, who were involved with revolt and reprisals against British rule and Arab terrorism. This created much bad blood between the Right and the Left, but soon after the war Ben-Gurion authorized a political and military struggle against continuing British rule in Palestine. He prepared and helped pave the way for Israels victory in the War of Independence in 1948-1949. He integrated all dissident organizations - forcibly, if necessary - into the general framework of the Israeli Army. His voice was decisive in all aspects of the war. Against five Arab armies, Israel won. Ben-Gurion saw the pioneering experiment in Palestine as a morally just movement of historical necessity from the start. From the day he arrived in Palestine in 1906 he was certain of the necessity of a Jewish state as a haven and a focus of national pride and solidarity for the whole Jewish people. He was convinced - as were many other Zionists - that the Diaspora had a grim future in store for it, and events proved him and other Zionists right beyond the shadow of a doubt. While he was convinced of the nature of anti-semitism as an independent force, he also saw the Jews as bearing much of the responsibility for their social and economic abnormality. He was so convinced of the necessity for a social as well as a national revolution because he viewed anti-semitic claims against the economic practices of the Jews as basically correct: Jews did not like physical labor and thus were not attached to their land. Their choice of occupations in Eastern Europe (generally on the fringes of the economy) in his view not only guaranteed their pariah status but also caused to Jews to view themselves as sneaking around and living by deception in order to survive. The Zionist Movement - based on agricultural settlements in the Land of Israel - was to change all that. Jews would actively become part of and attached to the land their forefathers had prayed to for generations. Jews would take life into their own hands and create a healthy Jewish society where Jews could proudly point to the fruits of their labor and truly call this land a land of their own. Ben-Gurion was no militarist. He was much more concerned with Jews achieving normalcy in their own state. Once he became aware of Arab opposition to Zionist goals, he assured the Arabs and the world in numerous public statements that the Jewish settlement in Eretz-Israel would only bring benefit to both peoples. There is some discrepancy between his public statements, which emphasized the potential for cooperation, and his private thoughts, which seemed to show an early recognition of the implacable nature of Arab opposition to Zionist goals. After Arab riots became more frequent and more violent, Ben-Gurion became convinced of an eventual all-out conflict between the two peoples and he prepared for it. He also perceptibly shifted from being a Socialist and Zionist to a more nationalist Zionist, who saw the saving of the Jews and the creation of a Jewish state as the paramount issue, rather than emphasizing the social revolution among the Jewish people. He was always aware of the precarious nature of the Jewish people even in the land of Israel, surrounded by hostile neighbors. From the beginning he saw the cultivation of at least one major ally crucial to Israels survival. He went to Istanbul to study law and cultivate good relations with the Ottoman Turks, who ruled Palestine until 1917. After that he relied on the British to help fulfill Zionist goals. During World War II he began to shift his focus to the United States, which bore fruit after the war. But in the final analysis, Ben-Gurion always knew that the Jews would have to depend on themselves alone. Ben-Gurion was always concerned with the eventual fate of the Jewish people without a state to protect them and defend their interests. And he was convinced that only in the Land of Israel - as the focus of religious and national aspirations for millennia - could Jews truly feel a sense of ownership and what the philosopher Isaiah Berlin called (in the Hebrew translation in Haaretz) "tkhushat bayit" - a sense of place, of being at home. But Ben-Gurion was also acutely aware of the urgency and importance of time. It was imperative that the Jews have a state for themselves, but it couldnt be declared before the Jews were fully ready to defend it. The discrepancy between necessity and the Jewish ability to carry it out always burdened him deeply. That is why Shabtai Teveth calls his biography of Ben-Gurion The Burning Ground - in Ben-Gurions view the future of the Jewish people as a living, historical force would be solely measured on the success or failure of the Zionist movement. As Amos Oz depicts it in one of his novels, the leaders of the Labor movement saw Jewish history running up against an impassable stone wall. The Nazi menace was closing in on them, the Arab world was united in its opposition to a Jewish state, and the British tightened their grip on Jewish immigration in the hour of the Jewish peoples most dire need. With this triangular force militating against Jewish aspirations, the world locked its gates to Jewish immigration. Ben-Gurion and the others saw this impassable stone wall. They looked at it, measured it, and broke through to the other side. Behind them lay a pile of rubble. Ahead of them lay the creation of their dreams - the hills, fields, mountains and valleys of the state of Israel, with a Jewish army to protect and defend it. And at its helm, hands held firmly on the rudder, stood the man who arguably had done more than anyone else to see it through - the lion of Judah, a hero of modern Israel - David Ben-Gurion. Bibliography 1). Shlomo Avinery 2). David Ben-Gurion - Rebirth and Destiny of Israel 3). Encyclopedia Judaica 4). Yaacov Shimoni - The Zionist Ideology 5). Shabtai Teveth - Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs 6). Shabtai Teveth - The Burning Ground