ZIONISM.

Theodor Herzl'and his Predecessors (§ 1).

Inception of the Movement and its Congresses (§ 2).

Zionist Organization (§ 3).

Enforced Changes of Original Purpose (§ 4).

Jewish Colonial Trust and Affiliations (§ 5).

Agricultural Colonies and Educational Work in Palestine (§ 6).

The Territorialiat Zionists (§ 7).

Zionism, the modern movement which has for its object the segregation of the Jews in a home of their own, took its rise when Dr. Theodor Herzl, a Vien

nese journalist, published Der dudenstaat (Vienna,

1896). In seeking for the cause of anti-Semitism,

which had raged in various portions of continental

Europe for some fifteen years previous, Herzl found it to be the impossibility of the Jews r. Theodor to enter completely into the social life

Herzl and of the peoples among whom they now

his Pred- live without becoming submerged. In ecessors. ,order to preserve their identity it was necessary, he argued, for the Jews to

have some definite center and home, and to effect

this purpose, a " Society of Jews " and a " Jewish

Company," similar to the English charter com

panies, were to be formed. It was immaterial to

Herzl, at this time, where this home was to be; he suggested either Argentina or Palestine. He at tacked the problem purely from an economic and political point of view; the religious sanctions, so dear to many of his fellow Jews, had not appealed to him at all. This idea of segregating the Jews was not entirely new. Judaism had, at all times, retained the hope of a restoration to the land of promise as a part of its creed; and the hope figures prominently in the prayers recited in all orthodox and conservative congregations. It had, however, remained noth ing but a pious wish, and only rarely had attempts been made to translate these hopes into deeds. Prop ositions of various kinds had been put forward in the sixteenth century, and they were renewed in the eighteenth and in the first half of the nineteenth centuries; notably in America by Warder Cresson,

a convert to Judaism, and by Major Mordecai M.

Noah. But these plans found no echo in the Jew

ish masses until the increasing pressure of anti

Semitism in eastern Europe produced a Jewish na

tional sentiment in which they took deep root. In

the'sixtiea of the nineteenth century this sentiment had been presaged by such men as David Gordon in Lyck, Hirsch Kalischer in Thorn, and Moses

Hess, the associate of Marx and Engels. They gave

the impulse to the founding of the Chovevei Zion

(" Lovers of Zion ") Societies, the chief object of

which was the colonization of Palestine by Jews..

Jewish national sentiment was also strengthened by the rise of nationalism all over Europe. The Ger mans had achieved racial solidarity by the Franco

Prussian war of 1870-71, and they were followed by Rumanians, Serbs, and Bulgarians, while the Jews alone found themselves scattered over the face of the globe without a racial or ideal center. The riots of 1880 and 1881 in Russia warned them that,

though they had achieved emancipation in most of

the culture-nations, that emancipation had been largely a mere paper one. Not only in Russia, but also in Germany, Franca, England, and America,

societies for colonization in Palestine were founded.

The first of these colonies was started in 1878, and they saw their greatest extension in the eighties and nineties of the nineteenth century.

The Jewish national movement had spread also into Austria; especially among the students at the University of Vienna. Immediately upon the publication of Herzl's pamphlet, the Zion Society of that city promised its adhesion, and Herzl was enabled to send out an invitation for the first interna,tional Jewish congress to be held in s. Inception Munich. It was this call that gave

of the prominence to the inception of the new Movement movement. Herzl had supposed that and its the Jews in all parts of the world would Congresses. rally to his assistance, and it is true that large numbers did, especially among the intellectuals. But the opposition to any attempt to put his theories into practise revealed great strength. Many of the orthodox-minded imagined that this was an attempt to "force the hand of Providence," that the religious sanctions were wanting, and that salvation for the Jew-in other words, the final ingathering-could come only with direct divine help. Others, again, feared that they might endanger their recently acquired emancipation; and it was openly said that Zionism would give a fillip to anti-Semitism. The project to hold the first congress in Munich was dropped out of deference to the opposition manifested by the Jews of that city, and the place of meeting was changed to Basel in Switzerland. There, on Aug. 29-31, 1897, 204 delegates assembled and drew up what is known as the "Basel Program," stating that the object of Zionism was " to establish for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine." Thus, the new movement attached itself to the old hope of a restoration. Since 1897, ten congresses have been held, those of 1898, 1899, 1901, 1903, 1905, and 1911 in Basel. The congress of 1900 sat in London, that of 1907 in The Hague, and that of 1909 in Hamburg.

The Zionist organization is thoroughly democratic, the supreme power residing in the congress, which is made up of representatives chosen by the various groupings of societies. As long as Herzl lived, the general direction rested in his hands, supported by a smaller "Actions-Committee," having its seat in Vienna and being elected by the congress. In addition, there is a larger "Actions-Committee," made up of representatives of the dif-

3. Zionist ferent Zionist federations in which the Organiza- societies in each country are grouped. tion. This larger committee meets regularly in the year in which no congress is held, or at the call of the smaller committee. Fed erations of Zionist .societies exist in Russia, Ger many, England, the United Staten, Canada, Aus tria, Galicia, Hungary, Switzerland,, the South Slavic lands, Rumania, Belgium, Holland, and South Africa. In addition, societies are to be found in France, Turkey, Bulgaria, Servia, Italy, Scandina via, Morocco, Egypt, the Argentine Republic, Aus tralia, and China (Shanghai). In 1905 the seat of the smaller "Actions-Committee" was transferred to Cologne, with David Wolfssohn of that city as presiding officer, and the number of members was

518

Zobah reduced to three. In 1908 a branch of the central office was opened in Berlin. In 1911 David Wolfs solm resigned; no new president was elected, the smaller "Actions-Committee" being empowered to choose its own presiding officer. The seat of the "Actions-Committee" was removed to Berlin. Comprising, as it does, Jews living in such various lands, it is natural that differences of views on economic and religious questions have found their expression in peculiar groupings. The ultra-ortho dox Zionists are represented by the "Mizrachi," who in 1909 formed a federation of their own, the statutes of the organization having been changed so as to permit all who pay 3,000 shekels to band themselves together. On the other hand, the labor members have formed a group of their own, and are known as the " Po'ale-Zion " or " Democratic Fraction." It was Herzl's idea to obtain from the late Sultan Abdul Hamid a charter which would grant certain rights and privileges to the Jews settled in Pales tine, in return for a definite sum and an annual pay ment. With this end in view, Herzl had several interviews with the sultan, which, how- q.. Enforced ever, resulted in no definite proposals Changes of being made. Two events have ren- Original dered a different orientation of Zionist Purpose. effort necessary; the death of Herzl (July 3, 1904) and the changed regime in Turkey (1908). The first deprived the movement of a trained diplomat who could lead it through the tortuous ways of political negotiations; the second made impossible the granting of a charter with any extended rights. In view of this, Zionist work has been directed toward developing the natural re sources of Palestine, and toward securing for the Jews there a preponderating influence, so as to make of it a real home which the Jews shall seek as an abiding place, and to which they may look as a spir itual center. It had been Herzl's idea that no practical work should be attempted in Palestine before the necessary legal guaranties had been secured, but even Herzl was carried off his feet by the natural impulse of Jewish sentiment; and under the pres ent changed circumstances, every effort is being bent to this practical work, and various institutions have been established to further it.

The practical organization through which the Zionists have worked, and which has taken official part in all the more important negotiations, is the "Jewish Colonial Trust," established in London in 1899. In 1910 thin institution had a capital of £446,539. Since 1903 the trust has devoted most of its capital and of its energy toward assisting active work in Palestine. In that year it founded in Jaffa the "Anglo-Palestine Company" as a Jewish banking-house. Branch offices have since then been opened in Jerusalem, Haifa, Beirut,

5. Jewish Hebron, Gaza, and Safed. This com- Colonial pany has rendered signal setvice in Trust and connection with the loan-associations Affiliations. formed to assist colonists and work men. In 1908 the " Anglo-Levantine Banking Company " was formed in Constantinople. The shares of both these daughter banks are held by the Jewish Colonial Trust. In 1904 the " ° Jew-

ish National Fund " was definitely organized; its seat is also in London, and its purpose is to acquire land in Palestine which shall remain the inalienable possession of the Jewish people. The collections, which come from the use of " National Fund Stamps," from free-will offerings, and from payments made to inscribe persons or societies in the "Golden Book," reached in 1910 the sum of $500; 000. Nearly $100,000 is added each year to this fund. It is represented in Palestine by the "Palestine administration," with its seat in Jaffa, which attends to the various undertakings in which the fund is ihtereated and acts as a bureau of information in regard to economic questions connected with Palestine. It is also charged with the supervision of the work being done by various Zionistic societies, e.g., the Society for Planting Olive-trees, the Palestine Land-Development Company (with its model farm at Kinnereth), and the Palestine Industrial Syndicate. The official organ of the Zionist movement is Die Welt, published in Cologne 1897-1911, since then in Berlin. In addition, there are some fifty other newspapers and magazines published by Zionists in various languages and in different .parts of the Jewish world.

The Jewish agricultural colonies in Palestine, while not founded officially by the Zionist body, are due largely to the efforts of individual Zionists. Financial aid to found them and see them through the first years of their existence was furnished by Baron Edmond de Rothschild of Paris. In 1899 the Rothschild colonies came under the management of the Jewish Colonization Society of London, but since then they have emancipated themselves from this control, and have become self-supporting and self-governing. In 1911 there were 6. Agri- some 39 Jewish colonies in Palestine, cultural without counting a number of smaller Colonies settlements which do not deserve the and Edu- name of colonies. Of these 17 are in cational Judea, 13 in Galilee, 8 in Samaria, and Work in 1 beyond the Jordan on the Sea of Palestine. Tiberias. These colonies contain about 8,000 inhabitants. Great attention has been paid by the Zionists to the intellectual development of the Jews in Palestine, especially to education. Many of the existing schools are due, it is true, to the initiative of non-Zionist Jewish societies, e.g, the Alliance Israelite Univeraelle in Paris, the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden in Berlin, the Chovevei Zion in Odessa, and the Jewish Colonization Society in London. But under the influence of Zionist pressure, a national Jewish character is being given to these schools, especially to those in the colonies, and Hebrew is quickly becoming the common language of instruction, as it is becoming that of intercourse among all the Jews in Palestine. Specific Zionist foundations are the Hebrew high school for boys and the Hebrew high school for girls in Jaffa, the Hebrew high school in Jerusalem, and the Hebrew technical school now in process of building at Haifa. The Bezalel School at Jerusalem deserves special mention-a technical school for the industrial arts, founded in 1905 by Boris Schatz, in which 400 persons are taught carpet-weaving, filigree work in silver, basket-making, and woodwork,

519

while at the same time they earn their livelihood in the school. To these institutions must be added the Central Jewish Library (Midrash Abrabanel), founded in 1900 by Joseph Chazanowicz of Bielostok (35,000 volumes) and the Agricultural Experiment Station founded in 1910 in the neighborhood of Haifa. These and other similar institutions have the object of making Palestine a center of Jewish activity, to which the Jew will be attracted, not in order to die there, as the pious did in former times, but to live and work. An offshoot of the Zionist movement is the so called "Territorial Organization." This grouping is the result of impatience at the failure of tta vari ous negotiations entered into by I3erz1 with the late sultan, and of the wish to relieve more speedily the increasing distress of the Jewish masses 7. The in eastern Europe than seems possible Territorial- in Palestine. In 1902 Herzl himself ist Zionists. had opened negotiations with the Anglo-Egyptian government looking to a concession of certain territories in El-Arish, between Palestine and Egypt, but these negotiations failed because that government was unwilling to allow any of the water of the Nile to be diverted from Egypt proper for the irrigation of El-Arish. In 1903 proposals were made, at the initiative of the English government, for establishing a Jewish settlement on the Guas Ngishu Plateau in the East African Protectorate. When these proposals were brought before the Sixth Zionist Congress, they were met by a most determined opposition, both the religious and the national Zionists feeling that the abandonment of Palestine as an objective, if only for a time and for specific reasons, was contrary to the deeper spirit and meaning of the Zionist move ment. But the minority did not disarm; and when the seventh congress accepted the adverse report of the commission that had been sent to East Africa, this minority formed itself into the " Jewish Terri torial Organization," with Israel Zangwill at its head. Its object is to procure some territory, no matter where, to which those Jews can go who can not or will not remain in the lands in which they live at present, and where they can form a commu nity upon an autonomous basis. This organization has grown rapidly, and has the sympathy of many Jews who do not share the national sentiment of the Zionists. But it has been quite unsuccessful in its search for such a territory-the attempts made to secure a footing in Canada, Australia,, Cyrenaica, and Mesopotamia having proved abortive. Its chief practical work has been confined to assisting organ ized immigration from eastern Europe to Galveston, Texas, and to the southern states of the American union.

Richard Gottheil.

Bibliography: Besides the files of Die Welt, the "Proto kolls" of the congresses, Publications of the Federation of American Zionists, and the present author's article in JE, xii. 66ti-686, consult: T. Herzl, Zioniatische Schriften, ed. L. Kellner, Berlin, 1905; B. Walker, The Future of Palestine, London, 1881; J. Neil, Palestine Re-Peopled, London, 1883; B. Negroni, Del ritorno degdi Ebrei nella Paleslina, Modena, 1891; J. Bahar, La Question juiroe Restons, Paris, 1897; F. Heman, Dos Erwachen der jüdi schen Nation, Basel, 1897; M. Jaffé, Die rationale Wie derqeburt der Juden, Berlin, 1897; H, Sachs% Zioniaten kongresa and Zionismus sine Gefahr7, Berlin, 1897; B. Elieaer, Die Judenfrage und der aociadiadische JudensEaat, Bern, 1895; D. Farbstein, Der Zionismus und die Judenfrage, Bern, 1898; T. Bogianekino, Del Sionnismo: osaervaziona di diritto internazionale, Bologna, 1899; C. Waldstein, The Jewish Question and the Missions of the Jews, London, 1899; D. Baron, La Question juice et as solution, Lyons 1900; M. S. Nordau, Der Zionismus, Brunn, 1902, Eng. transl., London, 1905; idem and G. Gottheil, Zionism and Anti-Semitism, New York, 1903; Sapir, Der Zionismus, Drone, 1903; H. Hoppe, Heraorragende Niehtjuden über den Zionismus, Königsberg, 1904; A. Sandier, Anthropologie and Zionismus, BrGnn, 1904; Die Stimme der Wahrheit, ed. E. Nosaig, Berlin, 1906; C. Joubert, Aspects of the Jewish Question: Zionism and Anti-Semitism, New York, 1906; S. Levy, Zionism and Liberal Judaism, London, 1911; Zeitschrift für hebräische Bibliographic, xii. 62 sqq.