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From The Militant, Vol. 12 No. 24, 14 June 1948, p. 4.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
The present military conflict in Palestine may serve to obscure for some the real role of Zionism in the Near East. The fact that a big labor movement forms the backbone of Zionism in Palestine has led many to regard Zionism as a progressive or even socialistic force. The record of this movement reveals the fallacy of this assumption.
The most important instrument of labor in Palestine is the “General Federation of Hebrew Workers.” This organization, commonly known as the Histadruth, is not only a trade union federation, but the most powerful economic and political force in Jewish Palestine. It is the biggest single employer of labor, and its affiliated organizations comprise agricultural and industrial cooperatives as well as transport, contracting, marketing, banking and insurance divisions. Its membership is the decisive element of the military organization, “Hagana.”
Labor Zionism and its representative organization, the Histadruth, stands in the forefront of the Zionist struggle for immigration, “conquest of labor,” “conquest of land” and boycott of the products of Palestinian Arab economy.
It has the reformist illusion that it is not only possible to build a socialist economy as an enclave within capitalism, but that a closed Jewish economy can be constructed in opposition to the surrounding Arab world. That is why Zionism is forced to rely on imperialist support and why Labor Zionism is as reactionary as Zionism in general.
Labor Zionism has taken the lead in the attempt to create a closed Jewish economy. Despite the lip service it has paid to Jewish Arab co-operation, it has fought consistently against this selfsame co-operation.
The hypocritical declarations by the Histadruth of its readiness to organize Arab workers in, its affiliated organizations were invariably coupled with, its determined efforts to dislodge them from their jobs. This “conquest of labor" policy resulted in, campaigns to bar Arab workers from Jewish economy and also dislodge them from government jobs like civil service, public works, railroads and oil installations.
Jewish workers were given special incentives, like reduced union rates, to enable them to compete with Arab workers for these jobs. The Histadruth put special pressure on Jewish foremen and supervisors. on these jobs to hire Jewish workers in preference to Arabs. In the Jewish sector, it put pressure on employers by picketing, threat of boycott, and even violence, to bar Arab workers. In the citrus industry, Jewish workers were given bonuses up to 40% of their wages to bring them up to the general Jewish wage level. This permitted the employers to hire Jewish workers while continuing to pay the low wages previously received by the Arab workers.
This discrimination against Arab labor was accompanied by boycott of the products of Palestinian Arab economy. This boycott was enforced by a pressure campaign to “Buy Hebrew Products Only” and by gangs in the market places destroying goods bought by Jewish housewives from Arab merchants.
This boycott policy was vigorously pushed despite the fact that the Jewish economy is by no means self sufficient, and has to purchase a great part of its supplies from other nations. The aim of this policy was to prop up this artificially fostered economy on which the Jewish standard of living was based. This practice of maintaining an artificial standard of living by exclusion of the Arab population has the deepest support of the Jewish workers, because their standard of living is at stake.
The higher wage level which the Arab workers have won in Palestine in comparison with other countries was achieved not with the support of Zionism, but in spite of its most violent opposition. All the different Zionist left wing-groupings, like the Hashomer Hatzair, whatever their declarations to the contrary, in practice have given wholehearted support to these reactionary, self-destructive policies.
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