MARXISM AND ZIONISM: A COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP

Zionism and Marxism used to have an intricate and multifaceted relationship. While Zionist diplomats would present their movement as an antidote against Marxism before world leaders (such as Churchill), it was a combination of diverse Marxist groups that accomplished most of the initial Zionist settlement of Palestine. Collectivist ethos, assertive egalitarianism and glorification of physical labour served as main ideological pillars of the Zionist enterprise throughout the first half of its history. Marxism was a convenient tool for settling Zionist pioneers in a hostile environment. In other words, Zionism used Marxism when needed and discarded it when another ideology, National Judaism, came to provide a new conceptual rationale for colonization in the wake of the Israeli victory in 1967.

Yakov M. Rabkin is Professor of History at the Université de Montréal. His areas of interest include contemporary Jewish history and the history of science. Rabkin’s bestseller “A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism” (2006) is now available in fifteen languages. His most recent book is “What is Modern Israel?” (2016). He is also co-editor of “Demodernization: A Future in the Past” due to be published later this year.