CONTENTS
The idea which I develop in this pamphlet is an age-old
one: the establishment of a Jewish State.
The world resounds with outcries against the Jews, and this
is what awakens the dormant idea.
I am inventing nothing: let the reader bear this in mind
particularly and at every point of my exposition. I am inventing neither the
situation of the Jews, which has become a matter of history, nor the means to
remedy it. The material components of the edifice I am sketching are in
existence and within easy reach; any one can convince himself of that. If,
therefore, anyone should wish to designate this attempt at a solution of the
Jewish Question with a single word, it should not be called a
"fantasy" but, conceivably, a "scheme."
At the outset I must guard my plan from being treated as
a Utopia. Actually, in doing so I am only keeping superficial observers from
possibly committing a silly blunder. After all, it would be no disgrace to have
written a philanthropic Utopia. I could achieve an easier literary succes~and,
as it were, avoid all responsibility-if I presented my plan in the form of a
novel for readers who want to be entertained. But that would be the kind of amiable
Utopia that has been produced in such abundance before and after Sir Thomas
More. And I think the situation of the Jews in various countries is bad enough
to render such introductory dalliance superfluous.
To bring out the difference between my construction and a
Utopia I shall choose an interesting book of recent years, Freiland [Freeland]
by Dr. Theodor Hertzka. This is an ingenious bit of fantasy, devised by a
thoroughly modern mind schooled in the principles of political economy, and as
remote from life as the equatorial mountain on which this dream state is
located. Freiland is a complicated piece of machinery with many cogs and
wheels which even mesh; but there is nothing to indicate to me that it can be
set in motion. And even if I were to see Freeland associations come into being,
I should regard the whole thing as a joke.
The present plan, however, contains the utilization of a
driving force that exists in reality. In all modesty I am only indicating the
cogs and wheels of the machine that is to be built, referring to my limitations
and trusting that there will be mechanics more competent than I for the actual
construction.
What matters is the driving force. What is that force?
The distress of the Jews.
Who dares deny that this force exists? We shall deal with
it in the chapter on the causes of anti-Semitism.
Another known quantity is the steam power which is
generated by boiling water in a tea-kettle and which then lifts the kettle lid.
Such a tea-kettle phenomenon are the Zionist experiments and many other
organized efforts "to combat anti-Semitism."
Now I say that this force, if properly used, is powerful
enough to run a great machine and transport men and merchandise. The machine
may have whatever form one pleases.
I am profoundly convinced that I am right; I do not know
whether I shall be proved right in my lifetime. The men who inaugurate this
movement will hardly live to see its glorious conclusion. But the very
inauguration will bring a lofty pride and the happiness of inner freedom into their
lives.
To protect my plan from the suspicion that it is a
Utopia, I shall use picturesque details in my description but sparingly. As it
is, I suspect that unthinking scoffers will attempt to invalidate the whole
idea by distorting my outline. A generally intelligent Jew to whom I presented
the matter said that details of the future presented as reality were the
hallmark of a Utopia. This is a fallacy. Every minister of finance uses future
figures in his budgetary estimate - not just figures derived from the average
of previous years and the past revenues of other states, but also figures for
which there is no precedent for example, when a new tax is instituted. Only
those who have never looked at a budget will be unaware of this. But will this
cause anyone to regard a draft of a fiscal law as Utopian, even if he knows
that it will never be possible to stick to the estimate very closely?
But I expect even more of my readers. I ask the educated
readers whom I am addressing to rethink and revise many an old notion. And I am
particularly imposing upon the Jewish leaders those who have actively striven
for a solution of the Jewish Question, to the extent of asking them to look
upon their previous efforts as misguided and ineffectual.
In presenting my idea I face one danger. If I describe
all those things of the future with restraint, it will seem as though even I do
not believe that they are possible. If, on the other hand, I predict their
realization unreservedly, everything may look like a figment of my imagination.
Therefore I say clearly and emphatically: I do believe
that my scheme can be put into practice, even though I do not presume to have
found the final form the idea will take. The Jewish State is something the
world needs, and consequently it will come into being.
If only some individual pursued this idea, it would be a
rather foolish thing; but if many Jews agree to work on it simultaneously, it
is entirely reasonable, and carrying it out will present no major obstacles.
The idea depends only on the number of its adherents. Perhaps our ambitious
young people, to whom every road is even now blocked and for whom the Jewish
State reveals bright prospects of honor, freedom, arid happiness, will see to
it that this idea is disseminated.
With the publication of this pamphlet I consider my task
as completed. I shall have something further to say only if attacks from
estimable opponents force me to do so, or if it i. a matter of refuting
unforeseen objections and eliminating errors.
Is what I am saying not yet so? Am I ahead of my time?
Are the sufferings of the Jews still not great enough? We shall see.
So it depends on the Jews themselves whether this
political pamphlet is, for the time being, only a political novel. If the
present generation is still too obtuse, another, better, more advanced
generation will come along. Those Jews who want a state of their own will have
one, and deservedly so.
Men of affairs who are in the mainstream of life often
have an astonishingly slight knowledge of economics. This is the only
explanation for the fact that even Jews faithfully parrot the catchword of the
anti-Semites: we are supposed to be living off the "host nations,"
and if we had no "host nation" surrounding us, we should have to
starve. This is one of the points at which the undermining of our self-respect
through unjust accusations manifests itself. What is the truth about this
"host nation" theory? To the extent that it is not based on old,
narrow, physiocratic views, it reflects the childish misconception that in the
life of commodities the same things keep going around. We need not wake from
many years of slumbering, like Rip van Winkle, to realize that the world is
changed by the incessant production of new commodities. In our time, which is made
wonderful by technical progress, even the most stupid of men with his dim
vision sees new commodities appearing all around him. The spirit of enterprise
has created them.
Without the spirit of enterprise, labor remains
stationary and antiquated; typical of it is the labor of the farmer, who still
is at the point where his forebears were a thousand years ago. All our material
welfare has been brought about by entrepreneurs. One is almost ashamed of
writing down such a banal remark. Even if all of us were entrepreneurs - which
is what fatuously exaggerated accounts claim we are - we should not need any
"host nation." We are not dependent upon the circulation of the same
commodities, because we produce new ones.
We now have slave labor of unparalleled productivity
whose appearance in the civilized world meant fatal competition for
handicrafts; these slaves are our machines. It is true that work. men are
needed to set these machines in motion; but for such requirements we have
manpower enough - too much, in fact. Only those who are unfamiliar with the
condition 0 the Jews in many parts of Eastern Europe will dare assert that the
Jews are unfit or unwilling to perform manual labor.
But in this pamphlet I intend to offer no defense of the
Jews. It would be pointless. Everything that reason and even sentiment can say
on this subject has already been said. But it is not enough to find arguments
that reach the head and the heart; one's audience must first of all be capable
of grasping them, for otherwise one will be preaching in the wilderness. But if
the audience has advanced to such a high estate then the entire sermon is
superfluous. I believe in the ascent of man to ever higher ethical levels, but
in my estimation this rise is a desperately slow one. If we wanted to wait
until even average people became as charitably inclined as Lessing was when he
wrote his Nathan the Wise) we might have to wait beyond our lifetime,
beyond the days of our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. But
here the spirit of the age comes to our aid from a different angle.
This century has brought us a splendid renaissance
through its technical achievements; but this fabulous progress has not yet been
utilized for the benefit of humanity. The distances of the surface of the earth
have been overcome, and yet we are beset by problems of congestion. Swiftly and
safely our great steamships now rush us over hitherto unknown areas. We build
safe railroads in a mountain world which people once scaled on foot and with
trepidation. Events occurring in countries which were not even discovered when
Europe confined the Jews in ghettos are known to us within an hour. This is why
the distress of the Jews is an anachronism - and not because there was the Age
of Enlightenment a hundred years ago, something that actually existed only for
the noblest spirits.
To my mind, the electric light was certainly not invented
so that a few snobs might illuminate their sumptuous rooms, but, rather, that
we might solve the problems of mankind by its glow. One of these problems, and
not the least important, is the Jewish Question. In solving it we are working
not only for ourselves, but for many other struggling and overburdened human
beings as well.
The Jewish Question exists. It would be foolish to deny
it. It is an atavistic bit of medievalism which the civilized nations have not
been able to shake off to this day, try as they might. They did show a
magnanimous desire to do so when they emancipated us. The Jewish Question
exists wherever Jews live in appreciable numbers. Where it does not exist, it
is brought in together with Jewish immigrants. Naturally we move where we are
not persecuted; our appearance then gives rise to persecution. This is a fact
and is bound to remain a fact everywhere, even in highly developed
countries-France is a case in point-as long as the Jewish Question is not
solved politically. The unfortunate Jews are now importing anti-Semitism into
England; they have already introduced it into America.
I believe I understand anti-Semitism, a highly complex
movement. I view it from the standpoint of a Jew, but without hatred or fear. I
think I can discern in it the elements of vulgar sport, of common economic
rivalry, of inherited prejudice, of religious intolerance-but also of a
supposed need for self-defense. To my mind, the Jewish Question is neither a
social nor a religious one, even though it may assume these and other guises.
It is a national question, and to solve it we must first of all establish it as
an international political problem which will have to be settled by the
civilized nations of the world in council.
We are a people, one people.
Everywhere we have sincerely endeavored to merge with the
national communities surrounding us and to preserve only the faith of our
fathers. We are not permitted to do so. In vain are we loyal patriots, in some
places even extravagantly so; in vain do we make the same sacrifices of life
and property as our fellow citizens; in vain do we strive to enhance the fame
of our native countries in the arts and sciences, or their wealth through trade
and commerce. In our native lands where, after all, we too have lived for
centuries, we are decried as aliens, often by people whose ancestors had not
yet come to the country when our fathers' sighs were already heard in the land.
The majority can decide who the strangers are; like everything else in
relations between peoples, this is a matter of power. I do not waive any part
of our prescriptive right when I make this statement as an individual, one with
no particular authority. In the world as it is now constituted and will
probably continue to be for an indefinite period, might precedes right. So it
avails us nothing to be good patriots everywhere, as were the Huguenots, who
were forced to emigrate If only we were left in peace…
But I think we shall not be left in peace.
Oppression and persecution cannot exterminate us. No
nation in history has endured such struggles and sufferings as we have.
Invariably Jew-baiting has induced only our weaklings to become apostates. The
strong Jews defiantly return to their own when persecution breaks out. This was
readily apparent in the period immediately following the emancipation of the
Jews. Those Jews who were on a higher intellectual and material level
completely lost any sense of identification with their people. Given extended
political well-being, we assimilate everywhere; I think there is nothing
discreditable about that. Thus any statesman who wishes to have a Jewish strain
added to his nation must see to it that we remain politically secure. But not
even a Bismarck could achieve that.
For in the hearts and minds of the people there are still
deep-seated prejudices against us. Anyone who wants proof of this need only
listen to the people where they speak frankly and simply: fairy-tales and
proverbs are anti-Semitic. People everywhere are big children that can be
educated, to be sure; but even in the most favorable circumstances this
education would take such an enormous amount of time that, as I said before, we
could far sooner help ourselves by other means.
Assimilation, by which I mean not only externals in
attire, certain ways of life, cus, and speech, but also conformity in feeling
and manner-the assimilation of Jews could be accomplished everywhere only by
intermarriage. But this would have to be regarded as a necessity by the
majority; it would certainly not suffice to declare that intermarriage was
legally admissible. The Hungarian Liberals, who have recently legalized
intermarriage, labor under a remarkable misconception. The doctrinaire
character of this legislation was well illustrated by one of the first cases: a
baptized Jew married a Jewess. The fight for the present marriage laws has
greatly exacerbated the conflicts between Gentiles and Jews in Hungary, thus impeding
rather than promoting the mingling of the races. Those who really desire the
disappearance of the Jews through interbreeding can envisage only one possible
way of bringing this about. First the Jews would have to gain so much economic
power that the old social prejudices against them would be overcome. An example
is provided by the aristocracy, among which the greatest proportion of
intermarriage occurs. The old nobility has itself refurbished with Jewish
money, and in the process Jewish families are absorbed. But what form would
this phenomenon take in the middle classes, where, the Jews being a bourgeois
people, the Jewish Question is mainly concentrated? There the prerequisite
acquisition of power would be tantamount to the economic sovereignty of the
Jews, something which they are already falsely accused of. And if the present
power of the Jews elicits such cries of indignation and distress signals from
the anti-Semites, what outbursts would be produced by a further increase in
this power! Such a first step toward absorption cannot be taken, for it would
mean the subjugation of the majority by a minority that was but recently
despised, a minority that would, not possess any military or administrative
power. I therefore think that the absorption of the Jews even by way of their
prosperity is unlikely. In countries which are now anti-Semitic my views will
be shared. In other countries, where the Jews are doing well at present, my
coreligionists will presumably dispute my statements most violently. They will
not believe me until they are once again beset by Jew-baiting. And the longer
anti-Semitism lies in abeyance, the more fiercely it is bound to erupt. The
infiltration of immigrating Jews attracted by apparent security and the rising
class status of autochthonous Jews will then combine powerfully to bring about
a revolution. Nothing is plainer than this rational conclusion.
However, the fact that 1 draw this conclusion ingenuously
and guided only by the truth will probably net me the opposition and enmity of
those Jews who are in comfortable circumstances. Insofar as it is only a matter
of private interests held by people who feel endangered because they are
narrow-minded or cowardly, they might be passed over with contemptuous
laughter, for the cause of the poor and downtrodden is more important. But from
the outset I wish to keep any erroneous ideas from arising, particularly the
notion that Jewish property might be harmed if this plan ever materialized.
Therefore I shall give a detailed explanation of everything that concerns
property rights. If, on the other hand, my plan never becomes anything but a
piece of literature, things will remain as they are anyway.
A more serious objection would be that I am aiding the
anti-Semites when I say that we are a people, one people, that I am impeding
the assimilation of the Jews where it is being attempted and retroactively
endangering it where it has already taken place - to the extent that a solitary
writer like myself can impede or endanger anything.
This objection will be brought forward in France
especially. I expect it to be raised in other places as well, but I will answer
only the French Jews beforehand, because they furnish the most striking
example.
However greatly I may esteem personality-the strong
individual personality in statesmen, inventors, artists, philosophers, and
military leaders, as well as the collective personality of a historic group of
human beings which we call "nation"-however much I may esteem
personality, I still do not mourn its decline. Whoever can, will, and must
perish, let him perish. But the distinctive nationality of the Jews cannot,
will not, and need not perish. It cannot, because external foes hold it
together. That it does not want to perish it has proved through two thousand years
of enormous suffering. It need not perish; this is what I am trying to
demonstrate in this pamphlet, following many other Jews who did not abandon
hope. Whole branches of Jewry may wither and fall off, but the tree remains
alive.
If any or all of French Jewry protest against this plan,
saying that they are already "assimilated," my answer is simple: The
whole thing is none of their business. They are Israelitic Frenchmen; splendid!
But this is a private affair of the Jews.
Actually, the state-forming movement which I am here
proposing would not harm Israelitic Frenchmen any more than it would harm those
who have "assimilated" in other countries. On the contrary, it would
benefit them-yes, benefit them! For they would no longer be disturbed in their
"chromatic function," as Darwin put it. They could go ahead and
assimilate, because present-day anti-Semitism would have been checked for all
time. They would certainly be credited with being assimilated to the depths of
their souls if they remained in their present homes even after the new Jewish
State, with its superior institutions, had become a reality.
The departure of the ethnically faithful Jews would be
even more to the advantage of the "assimilated" than of the Gentile
citizens, for they would be rid of the disquieting, unpredictable, unavoidable
competition of the Jewish proletariat which is driven from place to place, from
country to country, by political pressure and economic distress. This drifting
proletariat would become stabilized. At present a number of Gentile citizens,
called anti-Semites, are able to oppose the immigration of foreign Jews. Jewish
citizens cannot do this, although they are affected far more severely, for they
are the first to feel the competition of individuals who engage in similar
branches of industry and, furthermore, import anti-Semitism or aggravate the
local variety. This is a secret sorrow of assimilated Jews which finds
expression in "philanthropic" undertakings. They organize emigration
societies for immigrating Jews. This phenomenon contains a paradox which might
be comical if it did not involve suffering human beings. Some of these
charitable institutions exist not for but against the persecuted Jews. The
poorest are to be sent away as fast and as far as possible. And thus, upon
closer examination many an apparent friend of the Jews turns out to be only an
anti-Semite of Jewish origin dressed up as a philanthropist.
But even the attempts at colonization made by truly
well-intentioned men have been unsuccessful so far, interesting experiments
though they were. I do not believe that one or another person did it only as a
pastime, that they made Jews wander the way one makes horses race. It is too
grave and too sad a matter for that. These experiments were interesting in that
they constituted on a small scale the practical forerunners of the idea of a
Jewish State. They were even useful, for the mistakes made there can serve as
lessons when the idea is put into practice on a large scale. To be sure, these
attempts have also done harm. The least of the evils, to my mind, is the
transplantation of anti-Semitism to new areas-the inevitable consequence of
such an artificial infiltration. Far worse is the fact that the unsatisfactory
results have made the Jews themselves doubt the fitness of their own human
material. However, the following simple argument will serve to dispel such
doubts among reasoning persons: What is not practical or feasible on a small
scale need not be so on a large scale. A small enterprise may result in a loss
under the same conditions that make a large one show a profit. A rivulet cannot
be naeven by canoes; the river into which it flows carries stately iron
vessels.
No man is powerful or wealthy enough to transport a
people from one domicile to another. Only an idea can achieve that. The idea of
a State probably has such a power. All through the night of their history the
Jews have not ceased to dream this royal dream: "Next year in
Jerusalem!" is our age-old watchword. Now it is a matter of showing that
the dream can be transformed into an idea that is as clear as day.
To achieve this our minds must first be turned into a tabula
rasa [clean slate], purged of many old, outworn, confused, shortsighted
notions. Dullards, for example, might imagine that our migration must proceed
from civilized regions to the desert. Not so! The migration will take place in
the mainstream of civilization. We shall not revert to a lower stage, but rise
to a higher one. We shall not move into mud huts but into more beautiful, more
modern houses which we shall build and own in safety. We shall not lose our
acquired possessions; we shall put them to use. We shall surrender our rights,
but in return for better ones. We shall not give up 6ur cherished customs; we
shall find them again. We shall not leave our old homes until the new ones are
ready. Only those will depart who are certain of improving their lot thereby:
first those who are desperate, then the poor, after them the well-to-do, and
finally the wealthy. Those who go first will have raised themselves to a higher
level by the time the members of the higher class follow. Thus the migration
will be an ascent in class at the same time.
The departure of the Jews will not leave in its wake any
economic disturbances, any crises or persecutions; instead, a period of
prosperity will begin in the countries the Jews have left. There will be an
internal migration of the Gentile citizens into the positions the Jews have
abandoned. The outflow will be a gradual one, without any upheaval, and its
very beginning will mean the end of anti-Semitism. The Jews will leave as
honored friends, and if some of them return later, they will be given the same
kind of reception and treatment at the hands of civilized nations as the
citizens of other foreign states. Nor will their exodus be a flight, but it
will be an orderly process under the control of public opinion. Not only should
the movement be inaugurated in absolute accordance with the law, but it cannot
be carried out at all without the friendly cooperation of the interested
governments, which will derive material benefits from it.
Ensuring the integrity of the idea and its vigorous
execution will require guarantees which can be supplied only by so-called
"moral" or "juridical" persons. I will distinguish between
these two designations, which are frequently confused in legal terminology. As
a "moral person," to deal with all rights outside the field of
private property, I propose to found the "Society of Jews." Next to
it there will be the "juridical person" of the "Jewish
Company," a commercial body.
Any individual who even considered undertaking such an
enormous enterprise might be a swindler or a madman. The integrity of the
"moral person" will be guaranteed by the character of its members.
The adequate capacity of the "juridical person" will be demonstrated
by its capital funds.
The above prefatory remarks were intended as a hasty
defense against the first spate of objections which the very words "Jewish
State" are bound to evoke. From this point on we shall proceed more
slowly, refuting other objections and elaborating on some points that have
already been outlined, although we shall try to avoid a ponderous tone in the
interests of a lively pamphlet. Short, aphoristic chapters will probably serve
this purpose best.
If I wish to replace an old building with a new one, I
must demolish before I construct. So I shall observe this sensible sequence. In
the first, or general, section concepts must be clarified, stifling old
misconceptions swept away, politico-economic premises established, and the plan
developed.
In the specific part, which is divided into three main
sections, the execution must be described. These three main sections are: The
Jewish Company, Local Groups, and Society of Jews. Actually, the Society is to
be created first and the Company last; but in this exposition the reverse order
is preferable, because the greatest doubts will be voiced as to the financial
feasibility, and these doubts must be dispelled at the outset.
In the Conclusion I shall have to do final battle with
the remaining objections that may be expected. I hope that my Jewish readers
will follow me patiently to the end. Some will raise their objections in
another order than that chosen for their refutation. But whoever finds his
doubts reasonably dispelled, let him embrace the cause.
In speaking here in terms of reason, I am well aware that
reason alone is not sufficient. Old prisoners do not willingly leave a prison.
We shall see whether the new blood that we need is already available-the young
people who sweep the old ones along, carry them forward on strong arms, and
translate reason into enthusiasm.
No one will deny the plight of the Jews. In all countries
where they live in appreciable numbers, Jews are persecuted to a greater or
lesser degree. The equal rights that the law may call for have almost
everywhere been nullified in practice, thereby disadvantaging the Jews. Even
moderately high positions in the army and in public and private institutions
are not open to them. Attempts are made to drive them out of business:
"Don't buy from Jews!"
Attacks in parliaments, at meetings, in the press, from
pulpits, in the street, on trips-such as exclusion from certain hotels-and even
in places of recreation increase from day to day. The forms of persecution vary
according to country and social circle. In Russia, extortionary taxes are
levied on Jewish villages; in Romania a few persons are beaten to death; in
Germany the Jews get an occasional whipping; in Austria the anti-Semites
terrorize all of public life; in Algeria there are itinerant hate-mongers; in
Paris the so-called higher society walls itself off and excludes the Jews from
its clubs. There are countless gradations. But no attempt at a doleful
enumeration of all Jewish grievances shall be made here. We will not dwell on
particular cases, however painful they may be.
It is not my intention to arouse sympathy on our behalf.
That sort of thing is dubious, futile, and discreditable. I shall content
myself with asking the Jews this: Is it not true that in countries where we
live in appreciable numbers the situation of Jewish lawyers, doctors,
technicians, teachers, and employees of all kinds is becoming ever more
intolerable? Is it not true that our entire Jewish middle class is seriously
endangered? Is it not true that the passions of the mob are being inflamed
against our wealthy? Is it not true that our poor people suffer far more than
any other proletariat?
I believe there is pressure everywhere. In the economic
upper strata of the Jews it causes discomfort; in our middle classes, a
profound, vague anxiety; in the lower classes, utter despair.
The fact of the matter is that it amounts to the same
thing everywhere, and this can be expressed by the classic Berlin cry "Juden
raus!" ("Out with the Jews!")
I shall now put the Jewish Question in its most succinct
form: Do we already have to "get out," and if so, where to?
Or, can we still remain, and if so, how long?
Let us first settle the question of remaining. Can we
hope for better days, possess our souls in patience, and wait devoutly for the
princes and peoples of this earth to be more mercifully disposed toward us? I
say that we cannot expect the current to shift. And why not? Even if we were as
close to the hearts of the princes as their other subjects, they could not
protect us. By showing the Jews too much favor, they would only endorse
anti-Semitism. And "too much" here means less than what any ordinary
citizen or ethnic group is entitled to.
Every single one of the nations in whose midst Jews live
are shamefacedly or brazenly anti-Semitic.
The common people have not, and cannot have, any historical sense. They do not know that the sins of the Middle Ages are now being visited on the nations of Europe. We are what the ghettos have made us. There is no doubt that we have attained pre-eminence in finance because we were driven into this field in the Middle Ages. The same process is now being repeated. Again they are pushing us into financial transactions, now called the stock exchange, by blocking to us all other ways of making a living. But once we are on the stock exchange, this will render us contemptible all over again. And yet we constantly produce average minds who find no outlet and thus constitute as much of a social menace as our growing wealth. Mi the educated Jews without means now embrace Socialism. Thus we are bound to become the battleground in the struggle between the classes, because we stand at the most exposed positions in both the capitalist and the Socialist camps.
The artificial methods hitherto employed to remedy the
plight of the Jews have been either too petty, like the various attempts at
colonization, or wrongly conceived, like the attempts to turn the Jews into
peasants in their present homelands.
What is accomplished by transporting a few thousand Jews to
another region? Either they prosper, and then anti-Semitism arises along with
their prosperity, or they founder immediately. We have already discussed the
previous attempts to divert impoverished Jews to other countries. Such a
diversion is clearly inadequate and pointless, if not actually injudicious.
This only postpones, drags out, and perhaps even impedes the solution.
But anyone who wishes to turn Jews into peasants labors
under a strange misconception. For the peasant is a historical category, and this
can best be seen by his attire, which in most countries is centuries-old, and
by his implements, which are exactly the same as those used in ancestral times.
His plow is still as it was then; he sows his seed from his apron, mows with
the ancient scythe, and threshes with the flail. But we know that now there are
machines for all these chores. The agrarian question, too, is merely a question
of machinery. America must conquer Europe, just as the large estates swallow up
the small ones. The peasant, therefore, is a type that is slated for
extinction. If the peasant is artificially preserved, this is due only to the
political interests that he is supposed to serve. Any attempt to create new
peasants on the old pattern is an impossible and foolish undertaking. No one is
rich or powerful enough to turn back the clock of civilization by force. The
mere preservation of obsolete cultural conditions is an enormous task, one for
which all the political resources of even an autocratic state are barely
sufficient.
Will anyone, then, expect Jews, who are intelligent
people, to agree to become peasants of the old type? That would be like saying
to a Jew: "Here's a crossbow for you; now go off to war!" What?! With
a crossbow, when the others have small arms and Krupp cannon? The Jews whom
people are trying to rusticate are perfectly right if, under the circumstances,
they do not budge. A crossbow is a beautiful weapon which puts me in an elegiac
mood when I have the time. But it belongs in a museum.
There are, to be sure, regions where desperate Jews even
go out into the fields, or at least would like to. And it turns out that these
places - such as the enclave of Hesse in Germany and some provinces in Russia -
are the very hotbeds of anti-Semitism.
For the do-gooders who send the Jews to till the soil
forget a very important person who has a great deal to say about it: the
peasant. He, too, is absolutely in the right. The tax on the land, the
possibility of crop failure, the pressure of large proprietors who produce more
cheaply, and in particular the competition from America make life difficult
enough for him. Besides, the duties on grain cannot go on mounting sky-high.
After all, factory workers cannot be allowed to starve either; in fact, since
their political influence is rising, they must be treated with increasing
consideration.
All these difficulties are well known; therefore I
mention them only in passing. I merely meant to indicate the futility of most
past attempts, deliberately made and many of them well-intentioned, to solve
the Jewish Question. Neither a diversion of the stream nor an artificial
depression of the intellectual level of our proletariat can be of avail. The
panacea of assimilation has already been dealt with.
Anti-Semitism cannot be tackled by these methods. It
cannot be eradicated until its causes are eradicated. But are these eradicable?
We are now no longer concerned with the emotional causes,
old prejudices, and evidences of narrow-mindedness, but with the political and
economic causes. Present-day anti-Semitism must not be confused with the
religious hatred of former times, although this hatred still has a religious
tinge in certain countries. The main current of the anti-Jewish movement is a
differentone today. In the chief anti-Semitic countries it is a consequence of
the emancipation of the Jews. When the civilized nations awoke to the
inhumanity of discriminatory legislation and emancipated us, this emancipation
came too late. Laws could no longer emancipate us in our old homes. Strangely
enough, we had developed into a bourgeois people in the ghetto, and we emerged
as fearful rivals to the middle class. Thus emancipation suddenly thrust us
into the circle of the bourgeoisie, and there we have had a dual pressure to
sustain-from within and from without. The Gentile bourgeoisie would probably
not be averse to tossing us to Socialism as a sacrifice, although that would
not do much good.
Nevertheless, the equal rights of the Jews before the law
can-not be withdrawn where they exist-not only because such a withdrawal would
run counter to modern sensibilities, but also because it would immediately
drive all Jews, rich and poor alike, into the ranks of the revolutionary
parties. Nothing effectual can really be done against us. In olden times they
took away our Jewels. How are they going to seize hold of movable property today?
It resides in printed documents locked up somewhere in the world, possibly in
Christian coffers. Of course, it is possible to get at the shares and preferred
stocks of railways, banks, and industrial concerns of all kinds by taxation,
and where there is a progressive income tax all movable property can be laid
hold of. But all such efforts cannot be directed at Jews alone, and wherever
the attempt might be made regardless, the immediate result would be a severe
economic crisis which would by no means be confined to the Jews as those first
affected. The very impossibility of getting at the Jews only makes the hatred
greater and more bitter. Among the populace, anti-Semitism increases day by day
and hour by hour, and it is bound to increase further, because the causes
continue to exist and cannot be removed.
Its catisa remota [remote cause] is the loss of
our assimilability in the Middle Ages; the causa proxima [immediate
cause], our overproduction of average intellects who have no outlet beneath
them and no chance to rise-that is, no wholesome outlet in either direction. On
the lower level we are proletarianized and become revolutionaries, the
non-commissioned officers of all revolutionary parties, and at the same time
our terrifying financial power grows on the upper level.
The pressure exerted on us does not make us any better. We
are no different from other people. It is quite true that we do not love our
enemies. But only he who is capable of conquering himself is entitled to
reproach us with that. Naturally, the pressure inspires in us hostility against
our oppressors-and our hostility in turn increases the pressure. It is
impossible to escape this vicious circle.
"No!" some soft-hearted idealists will say.
"No! It is possible - through the innate goodness of man which
needs to be brought out."
Is it really necessary for me to demonstrate what
sentimental drivel this is? Anyone who wanted to base an improvement of
conditions upon the goodness of all men would certainly be writing a Utopia!
I have already referred to our "assimilation."
I am not saying for a moment that I desire it. Our national character is too
famous in history and, despite all degradations, too noble to make its decline
desirable. But we might be able to merge with the peoples surrounding us
everywhere without leaving a trace if we were only left in peace for two
generations. But they will not leave us in peace. After brief periods of
toleration their hostility toward us erupts anew time and again. There seems to
be something provoking about our prosperity, because for many centuries the
world has been accustomed to regarding us as the most contemptible among the
poor. Yet out of ignorance or narrow-mindedness people fail to observe that our
prosperity weakens us as Jews and eliminates our peculiarities. Only pressure
attaches us to our ancient roots again; only the hatred surrounding us turns us
into strangers once more.
Thus, whether we desire it or not, we are and shall
remain a historical group of unmistakable solidarity.
We are a people - our enemies have made us one without
our volition, as has always happened in history. Affliction makes us stand by
one another, and at such times we suddenly discover our strength. Yes, we are
strong enough to form a state, and a model state at that. We have all the human
and material resources required for it.
This would actually be the proper place to speak of our
"human material," to use a somewhat crude expression. But first we
must be familiar with the main features of the plan which, after all, is the
focal point of everything.
The entire plan is in its essence perfectly simple, as it
must be if it is to be comprehensible to all.
Let sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the
earth's surface that is sufficient for our rightful national requirements; We
shall take care of everything else ourselves.
The creation of a new sovereign state is neither
ludicrous nor impossible. After all, we have seen it happen in our own
day-among nations which are not largely middle-class, as we are, but poorer,
uneducated, and therefore weaker than ourselves. The governments of the
countries scourged by anti-Semitism will be keenly interested in securing a
sovereign Status for us.
Two great agencies will be created for this task, which
is simple in design but complicated in execution: the Society of Jews and the
Jewish Company.
What the Society of Jews has prepared scientifically and
politically, the Jewish Company will put into effect.
The Jewish Company will handle the liquidation of all
business interests of departing Jews and will organize trade and commerce in
the new country.
As has already been stated, the departure of the Jews
must not be imagined as a sudden one. It will be gradual, taking decades. The
poorest will go first and make the land arable. In accordance with a
predetermined plan they will build roads, bridges, and railways, set up
telegraph installations, regulate rivers, and provide themselves with homesteads.
Their labor will bring trade, trade will create markets, the markets will
attract new settlers-for everyone will come voluntarily, at his own expense and
his own risk. The labor that we put into the soil will enhance the value of the
land. The Jews will soon realize that a new and permanent field has opened up
for their spirit of enterprise which has hitherto been met with hatred and
contempt.
Whoever wants to found a state today must not go about it
in the manner that a thousand years ago would have been the only possible one.
It is foolish to revert to old levels of civilization, which is what some
Zionists would like to do. If, for example, we were required to clear a country
of wild beasts, we would not tackle it in the fashion of fifth-century Europeans.
We would not set out individually with spears and lances to hunt bears, but
would organize a large, jolly hunting party, drive the beasts together, and
throw a melinite bomb into their midst.
If we wish to erect buildings, we shall not put up
ungainly piles at the shore of some lake; we shall build the way it is done
now. We shall build more boldly and more magnificently than has ever been done
before; for we now have means that are unprecedented in history.
The emigrants standing lowest in the economic scale will
gradually be followed by those of the next grade. Those who are now in
desperate straits will go first. They will be led by the average intellects
whom we overproduce and who are persecuted everywhere.
This pamphlet is intended to open a general discussion on
the question of Jewish migration. This does not mean, however, that it is to be
put to a vote, for that would ruin the cause from the outset. Let anyone who
does not want to go along stay behind. The opposition of individuals is
immaterial.
Let all those who wish to join us line up behind our
banner and fight for it with word, pen, and deed.
The Jews who espouse our idea of a state will rally the
Society of Jews. Thereby they will give it the authority to speak in the name
of the Jews and negotiate with governments in their behalf. To put it in the
terminology of international law, the Society will be recognized as a
state-creating power, and this in itself will mean the formation of the State.
If the Powers show themselves willing to grant the Jewish
people sovereignty over a neutral territory, the Society will negotiate for the
land to be taken. Two regions are possibilities: Palestine and Argentina.
Noteworthy experiments in colonization have been made in both places, although
they have been based on the mistaken principle of a gradual infiltration of
Jews. Infiltration is always bound to end badly. For there invariably comes a
moment when the government, under pressure of the native population-which feels
itself threatened-bars any further influx of Jews. Consequently, emigration
will be pointless unless it is based upon our guaranteed sovereignty.
The Society of Jews will negotiate with the present
authorities of the country - under the protectorate of the European Powers, if
the matter makes sense to them. We shall be able to offer the present
authorities enormous advantage - assume part of their national debt, build new
thoroughfares (which we should require ourselves), and do many other things.
But the very creation of the Jewish State will be beneficial to the neighboring
countries, because the cultivation of an area enhances the value of its
surroundings, on a large as on a small scale.
Is Palestine or Argentina preferable? The Society will
take whatever it is given and whatever is favored by the public opinion of the
Jewish people. The Society will determine both points.
Argentine is a country with some of the greatest natural
resources in the world; it extends over a vast area, is sparsely populated, and
has a temperate climate. It would be very much to the interest of the Republic
of Argentina to cede a portion of its territory to us. The present infiltration
of Jews, to be sure, has produced some ill feeling there; it would be necessary
to enlighten Argentina on the intrinsic difference of the new Jewish
immigration.
Palestine is our unforgettable historic homeland. The
very name would be a powerfully moving rallying cry for our people. If His
Majesty the Sultan were to give us Palestine, we could in return pledge
ourselves to regulate the entire finances of Turkey. For Europe we could
constitute part of the wall of defense against Asia; we would serve as an
outpost of civilization against barbarism. As a neutral state we would remain
in contact with all of Europe, which would have to guarantee our existence.
Some form of extraterritoriality under international law could be found for the
Holy Places of Christendom. We would form a guard of honor around the Holy
Places, answering for the fulfillment of this duty with our existence. This
guard of honor would be the symbol of the solution of the Jewish Question after
what were for us eighteen centuries of affliction.
In the last chapter but one I said: "The Jewish
Company will organize trade and commerce in the new country."
I think I ought to insert a few comments on this point. A
plan like the one being presented here is fundamentally endangered if the
"realists" come out against it. Realists are, as a rule, only men in
the rut of routine who are incapable of transcending a narrow circle of
antiquated notions. But their adverse opinion does carry some weight and can do
great harm to a new project-at least until the innovation is strong enough to
push the "realists" and their moldy notions aside.
When the railroad era dawned over Europe, there were
"realists" who declared that the construction of certain lines was
foolish "because not even the mail coaches have enough passengers there."
In those days people did not realize the truth, which seems like one even a
child can appreciate: that travelers do not produce railways, but, rather,
railways produce travelers-provided, of course, that a latent demand may be
assumed.
In a class with the doubts of those pre-railroad
"realists" may be placed the inability of some to imagine what trade
and commerce ought to be like among the new arrivals in a country which has yet
to be won and cultivated. A "realist," then, will express himself
somewhat as follows:
"Granted that the present situation of the Jews in
many places is untenable and is bound to get worse and worse; granted that this
gives rise to a desire to emigrate; granted even that the Jews do emigrate to
the new country-how will they make a living there and how much will they earn?
What are they going to live on? After all, the commerce of many people cannot
be artificially organized overnight."
To this I reply: There is no intention of organizing
trade artificially, least of all from one day to the next. But even if trade
cannot be organized, it can certainly be stimulated. How? Through the
instrumentality created in response to a demand. The demand must be recognized,
the instrumentality must b~ created, and then trade will come about automatically.
If there is a genuine and deep-seated demand among Jews
for an improvement in their condition, if the instrumentality for this demand,
the Jewish Company, is sufficiently powerful, then trade in the new country is
bound to be plentiful. This, of course, lies in the future, just as the
development of railway traffic was a matter of the future for people in the
1830s. The railroads were built nevertheless. Fortunately, the objections of
mail-coach realists were passed over.
The Jewish Company is conceived partly along the lines of
the great land-acquisition companies; it might be called a Jewish
"Chartered Company. However, it is not endowed with sovereign powers and
has other than merely colonial tasks.
The Jewish Company will be founded as a joint-stock
company incorporated in England, under British laws and protection. Its
headquarters will be in London. I cannot tell at this time how large the share
capital should be; our numerous financial experts will work that out. But to
avoid vague terminology I shall estimate it at a billion marks; it may have to
be either more or less than that. The form of subscription, which will be
discussed later, will determine what fraction of that amount must actually be
paid in at the start of the Company's operations.
The Jewish Company will be a transitional organization.
It is strictly a business operation which must always be carefully
distinguished from the Society of Jews.
The first task of the Jewish Company will be to liquidate
the immovable property of the emigrating Jews. This will be done in such a way
as to prevent crises, safeguard every man's interests, and permit that internal
migration of Christian fellow Citizens which has already been indicated.
The immovables concerned are buildings, land, and the
local good will of businesses. In the beginning the Jewish Company will merely
announce its readiness to act as a go-between in selling these immovables. At
first Jewish sales will take place freely and without any major drop in prices.
The Company's branch establishments in a number of cities will become the
central offices for the sale of Jewish property, and each office will charge
only as much commission on transactions as is required for its upkeep.
The development of the movement may bring about a fall in
the prices of immovable property, eventually making it impossible to sell it.
At that stage the Company will branch out in its function as a business agent.
It will manage abandoned property and watch for the right moment to sell it.
The Company will collect house rents, let out land on lease, and install
business managers-preferably also on a leasehold arrangement, to ensure careful
administration. The Company will endeavor everywhere to facilitate the
acquisition of this property by these (Gentile) lessees. In general, it will
gradually staff its European branches with Gentile clerks and free-lance agents
(lawyers, etc.), and these are in no way to become lackeys of the Jews. They
will serve as a sort of unofficial board of control of the Christian
population, making sure that everything is open and aboveboard, that things are
done honestly and in good faith, and that no impairment of the national wealth
is intended anywhere.
At the same time the Company will act as a salesman of
property or, rather, an exchanger of property. It will e~change a house for a
house, an estate for an estate-namely, "over there." Wherever possible,
everything is to be transplanted the way it was "over here." In this
a source of great and legitimate profits opens up to the Company. "Over
there" it will supply more beautiful, modern houses equipped with all
conveniences, as well as offering better estates which will nevertheless cost
the Company far less, for it will have bought the ground very cheaply.
The land that is guaranteed to the Society of Jews under
international law must, of course, be purchased under civil law as well.
The arrangements made by individuals for their own
settlement are not within the scope of this discussion. But the Company will
require large tracts of land for its own needs and ours, and it must secure the
necessary land by centralized purchase. It will mainly be a matter of acquiring
state domains now belonging to the present government of the country. The aim
will b~ to acquire land "over there" without driving prices sky-high,
just as "over here" sales will be made without causing prices to
drop. There is no need to worry about any wild rigging of the market, for the
value of the land will be created by the Company, which will direct the
settlement of the land in cooperation with the supervising Society of Jews. The
latter will also see to it that the enterprise becomes a Suez rather than a
Panama. [The reference is to the Suez Canal, whose construction was
successfully concluded in 1869, as contrasted with the Panama Canal, whose name
became a by-word for administrative corruption. As a result of the corrupt
practices of many officials of the French Panama Canal Company, Ferdinand de
Lesseps resigned and was tried in 1888, and the Company was dissolved in 1889.
- Editor]
The Company will sell its official building sites at
favorable rates and grant them long-term mortgages for the construction of
attractive homes, deducting these loans from their salaries or putting them
down as gradual increments in pay. Over and above the honors in store for them,
this will be a reward for their services.
All the enormous profits from this speculation in land
will accrue to the Company, for it is entitled to an unlimited premium for
having borne the risk, like any free entrepreneur. When an undertaking involves
risk, the entrepreneur should be encouraged to make a generous profit. But
profits are to be tolerated only under such circumstances. The correlation of
risk and premium is part of financial morality.
The Company, then, will exchange houses and estates. It
will and must make a profit on the land. This will be plain to anyone who has
anywhere or at any time observed the rise in the value of land through
arrangements for its cultivation. This can best be seen in the case of enclosed
pieces of land in town and country. Plots that are not built up increase in
value through being ringed by developed areas. A land speculation brilliant in
its simplicity was accomplished by the men who carried out the extension of
Paris: instead of erecting new buildings immediately adjacent to the last
houses of the city, they bought up the neighboring plots of land and started
building on the outer edge of these. This inverse order of construction raised
the value of building sites with extraordinary rapidity, and after having
completed the outer ring, they confined their activities to the center of the
city, building on these more valuable lots instead of continually erecting
houses on the outskirts of the city.
Will the Company do its own building or give assignments
to independent architects? It can and will do both. As will shortly become
apparent, it will have a tremendous reserve of workers who, far from being
exploited financially in usurious fashion, are to enjoy happy and bright living
conditions and yet will not prove costly. Our geologists will have looked into
the availability of building material when they selected the sites of the
towns.
What, then, is to be the principle of construction?
The workers' dwellings (which include the homes of all
manual laborers) are to be erected by the Company itself. I am certainly not
thinking of the dismal workmen's barracks of European towns nor of the
miserable shanties that are lined up around factories. Our workmen's homes must
also present a uniform appearance, to be sure, because the Company can build
cheaply only if it produces the materials in large quantities - but these
detached houses with their little gardens shall be combined into attractive
groups in each locality. The natural qualities of the surroundings will inspire
the happy genius of our young architects which has not yet been sapped by routine,
and even though the people may not understand the great outlines of the plan,
they will at any rate feel comfortable in this uncrowded arrangement. The
Synagogue will be visible from afar, since the old faith is the only thing that
has kept us together. And there will be attractive, bright, healthy schools for
children, equipped with all modern teaching aids. There will be continuation
schools for craftsmen which will offer advanced training for higher fu,
enabling simple workers to acquire technical training and become familiar with
the principles of engineering. Also, there will be places of popular amusement,
with the Society of Jews supervising their moral standards.
But we are now concerned only with the buildings, not
with what may take place inside them.
I said that the Company would build workers' dwellings
cheaply-not only because there will be an abundance of building materials, or
because the land will be owned by the Company, but also because the Company
will not need to pay the laborers for building.
Farmers in America have a system of mutual assistance in
the construction of their houses. This childlike, amicable system, which is as
unsophisticated as the blockhouses thus erected, can be greatly refined.
Our unskilled laborers, who will come at first from the
great reservoirs of Russia and Romania, will also have to build one another's
houses. In the beginning we shall have no steel of our own, so that we too
shall be obliged to build with wood. Later on this will change, and then the
original makeshift buildings will be replaced by better ones.
Our unskilled laborers will first erect shelters for one
another - and of this they will be informed in advance. In return for their
labor they will become the owners of these houses - not immediately, to be
sure, but after three years of good conduct. In this way we shall secure
industrious, skillful people; and a man who has worked for three years under
good discipline is trained for life.
I said before that the Company would not have to pay
these unskilleds." Well, what will they live on?
Generally speaking, I am opposed to the truck system, but
in the case of those first settlers it should be applied. The Company will take
care of them in so many ways that it might as well supply their daily needs. In
any case, the truck system is to be in effect only during the first few years,
and it will be a boon to the workmen, because it will protect them from being
exploited by small tradesmen, innkeepers, etc. The Company will thus make it
impossible from the outset for the less fortunate among us to take up their
accustomed peddling over there - an occupation which only historical necessity
has forced them into here. And the Company will keep a tight rein on drunkards
and dissolute men. So there will be no wages at all during the first period of
settlement?
There will be - for overtime.
The seven-hour day will be the standard working day.
This does not mean that each day there will be only seven
hours of wood-cutting, digging, stone-carting, and a hundred other tasks. No,
indeed. There will be fourteen hours of labor, but one group of workers will
relieve another after a shift of three and a half hours. The organization of
this will be quite military-with ranks, promotions, and pensions. The source of
these pensions will be discussed later.
In three hours and a half a healthy man can do a great
deal of concentrated work. After a recess of three and a half hours - devoted
to rest, to his family, to his education under guidance-he will be quite fresh
again. Such labor can work wonders.
The seven-hour day! It makes possible a total of fourteen
working hours - more than that cannot be put into a day.
Furthermore, I am convinced that the seven-hour day is
entirely feasible. The experiments in Belgium and England are familiar. Some
advanced social thinkers even go so far as to claim that a five-hour day would
be quite sufficient. Anyway, the Society of Jews and the Jewish Company will
gather an abundance of empirical data in this field, new data which will
benefit the other nations of the world as well, and if the seven-hour day
proves to be practicable, our future State will introduce it as the legal,
regular working day.
In any event, the Company will always grant its workers a
seven-hour day, and it will always be able to do so.
But we need the seven-hour day as a worldwide rallying
cry for our people, all of whom are to come voluntarily. Ours must truly be the
Promised Land …
A man who works more than seven hours will receive
additional pay for overtime in cash. Since all his needs will be su~ plied and
any members of his family who are unable to work will be provided for by the
transplanted and centralized charitable institutions, he will be able to save
some money. Thrift, which is already a characteristic of our people, should be
encouraged, because it will facilitate the rise of individuals to higher strata
and provide us with a tremendous reserve fund for future loans.
Overtime on a seven-hour day must not exceed three hours,
and a medical examination will be required for it. For in the new life our men
will flock to work, and only then will the world see what an industrious people
we are.
At this time I shall not describe the set-up of the truck
system for the pioneers (vouchers, etc.) nor any number of other details, lest
I confuse my readers. Women will not be allowed to do any hard work or to work
overtime. Pregnant women will be exempted from work and supplied with extra
food by the truck. For we will need sturdy offspring in the future. We shall
raise our children from the very beginning just as we want them. I shall not go
into this here.
What I said before in connection with the workers'
dwellings about the "unskilleds" and their mode of living is no more
Utopian than all the rest. Everything already exists - only on an infinitely
small scale, unnoticed, unappreciated. In the solution of the Jewish Question
the assistance par le travail, which I learned to know and understand in
Paris, has been of great service to me.
The system of work relief that is now in existence in
Paris, various French cities, in England, in Switzerland, and in America is a
pitiably small thing, but it can be turned into something very great.
What is the principle of assistance par le travail?
The principle is to furnish every needy man with
unskilled work - easy chores requiring no training, such as chopping wood,
cutting the margotins used for lighting stoves in Paris households. It
is a kind of prison labor before the crime, i.e., one that involves no
dishonor. Now no one need commit a crime out of want if he is willing to work.
Hunger must no longer be a reason for committing suicide. As it is, suicides
are among the worst stigmata of a civilization in which dogs are thrown tidbits
from the tables of rich men.
Work relief thus gives work to everyone. But does it have
a market for its products? It does not-at least, not an adequate one-and this
is the defect of the present system. This assistance always works at a
loss. It is prepared for one, to be sure, for it is a charitable institution.
Here the charity consists in the difference between the cost of production and
the price received for the product. Instead of giving a beggar two sous, the
institution gives him work on which it loses two sous. However, the shabby
beggar who has become a respectable workman earns one franc fifty centimes. One
hundred and fifty centimes for ten! This means that the donation, about which
there no longer is anything humiliating, has been increased fifteenfold, that
one billion has been turned into fifteen!
The assistance loses the ten centimes, of course.
The Jewish Company, however, will not lose its one billion, but will make
enormous profits.
There is a moral side as well. Even the small-scale work
relief already in existence achieves moral rehabilitation through industry,
until such time as the unemployed person has found a position commensurate with
his abilities, either in his old line of work or in a new one. Each day he has
a few hours available for job-hunting, and the assistance has a placement
service.
The trouble with the present small-scale institution is
that it must not compete with lumber dealers and the like. Lumber dealers are
voters; they would raise an outcry, and justifiably so. Nor may the work relief
compete with the prison labor of the state, for the state must keep its
criminals occupied and fed.
In an old society it will be hard to find a for the assistance
par le travail.
But there is a place for it in our new one!
Above all, we shall need enormous numbers of unskilled
laborers for our first pioneering efforts - building roads, de-foresting,
digging up the ground, constructing railroads, setting up telegraph
installations, etc. All this will be done in accordance with a great,
predetermined plan.
In transferring our labor to the new country we shall
also bring along commerce. At first, to be sure, the market will cover only the
bare necessities of life: cattle, grain, working clothes, tools, arms - to
mention but a few things. Initially we shall buy these things in neighboring
states or in Europe, but as soon as possible we shall go into business for
ourselves. Jewish entrepreneurs will soon realize what business prospects are
opening up to them.
The mass of Company officials will gradually introduce
more refined requirements. (Among the officials I include the officers of our
security forces, which are to consist of about one-tenth of the male immigrants
at any given time. This should be sufficient to quell disturbances by the
disorderly, for most people are law-abiding).
The more refined requirements of our well-situated
officials will create a continuously growing market for finer things. As soon
as they have homes over there, the married men will send for their families,
single people for their parents, brothers, and sisters. Today we observe this
process among Jews who emigrate to the United States. Just as soon as a man is
sure of his daily bread he sends for his relatives, for family ties are quite
strong among Jews. The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company will work
together to strengthen and nurture the family even more. I am not referring to
the moral aspects, for these are obvious, but to material things. The officials
will receive allowances for wife and children. We shall need people-all who are
there and all who will follow.
I interrupted the main thread of this presentation after
discussing the Company's building of workers' dwellings. Now I shall return to
other classes of dwellings. The Company's architects will build for the lower
middle class as well, for payment in kind or cash. The Company will have its
architects design arid reproduce about a hundred types of houses. These
attractive models will at the same time be part of our promotion. Each house
will have its fixed price, and the quality of its workmanship will be
guaranteed by the Company, which will handle construction on a non-profit
basis. And where will these buildings be put up? That will be shown in the section
dealing with Local Groups.
Since the Company does not wish to make a profit on
construction but only on the land, it will be very pleased to have as many
independent architects as possible build by private contract. This will enhance
the value of landed property and bring luxury into the country-something that
we need for various purposes, particularly for art, industry, and, on a
long-range basis, for the break-up of the large fortunes.
Yes, the rich Jews who are now obliged to secrete their
valuables timidly and to give their dreary parties behind drawn curtains will
be able to enjoy their possessions freely over there. If this emigration comes
about with their help, capital will be rehabilitated in our new State, for it
will have demonstrated its usefulness in an unparalleled undertaking. Once the
wealthiest Jews in the new country begin to rebuild those mansions of theirs
which are now looked at askance in Europe, it will soon become fashionable to
move into sumptuous houses on the other side.
The Jewish Company is planned as the receiver or
administrator of the immovable property of the Jews.
These functions can easily be imagined in the case of
houses and pieces of land; but how does it work in the case of businesses?
Here there will be numerous procedures. In fact, they
can-not even be envisaged in outline form. And yet this will present no
difficulty, for in each individual case the owner of a business, when he
voluntarily decides to emigrate, will reach an agreement with the Company's
branch office in his area on the form of liquidation most advantageous to him.
The transfer of property will be easiest to arrange in
the case of small businessmen, in whose establishments the proprietor's own
activity is the main thing, while the small inventory or equipment is of
secondary importance. The Company will provide an assured field of operations
for the emigrant's own activity, and whatever material goods he owns can be
replaced on the other side with a plot of land and machinery on credit. Our
resourceful people will quickly learn their new jobs; Jews are known to adapt
themselves quickly to any form of earning a livelihood. In this way many
merchants can be turned into retailers within an agricultural framework. The
Company can even agree to sustain an apparent loss in taking over the immovable
property of the poorer emigrants, for it will thereby obtain the free
cultivation of tracts of land, raising the value of its other tracts.
In medium-sized businesses, where the inventory equals or
even exceeds in importance the personal participation of the proprietor and
where his credit is a major imponderable factor, various forms of liquidation
are conceivable. In addition, this is one of the principal opportunities for
the internal migration of Gentiles [into positions evacuated by Jews]. A
departing Jew will not lose his personal credit, but will take it along and put
it to good use in establishing himself in the new country. The Jewish Company
will open a current account for him. He can sell his old business or turn it
over to managers under the supervision of Company officials. The managers may
rent the business or prepare for its acquisition by paying for it in
installments. Through its supervisors and lawyers the Company will see to it
that the business is properly administered and that payments are properly
made. In this it will act as trustee for the absentee owners. If a Jew cannot
sell his business, does not entrust it to a proxy, and yet does not wish to
relinquish it, he will simply stay where he is. Even the Jews who stay will not
worsen their present position; they will be relieved of the competition of
those who leave, and anti-Semitism with its "Don't buy from Jews!"
will have ceased.
If the emigrating business proprietor wishes to carry on
the same business in the new country, he can make arrangements for this from
the very beginning. Let us illustrate this by an example. Firm X carries on a
large dry-goods business. The proprietor wishes to emigrate. First he sets up a
branch in his future place of residence and stocks it with his discontinued
items. His first customers on the other side will be the poor early settlers.
Gradually new people will come over who require more in the way of fashion. X
then sends out more modern items and, finally, high-fashion merchandise. The
branch establishment will be lucrative even while the parent firm is still in
existence, so that X will end up having two going concerns. He will sell
his original business or turn its management over to his Gentile
representative, while he goes off to take charge of his new business.
An example on a larger scale: Y & Son have an
extensive coal business with mines and factories. How is such a huge compound
of properties to be liquidated? In the first place, the coal mines and
everything connected with them might be bought up by the state in which they are
located. In the second place, the Jewish Company might acquire them, paying for
them partly in land in the new country, partly in cash. A third possibility
would be the founding of a separate joint-stock company, "Y &
Son." A fourth method might be the unchanged continued operation of the
business - the difference being that the proprietors who have emigrated and
occasionally return to inspect their property would be foreigners, although
they would be entitled to the full protection of the law in civilized countries.
All of these practices are ephenomena. A fifth and particularly fruitful and
splendid method I shall refer to only in passing, because the existing examples
of it are few and feeble, no matter how ready the modern mind may be to accept
it. Y & Son could turn over their business to the collective body of their
employees for a consideration. The employees would form a cooperative with
limited liability, and with the aid of the public treasury, which does not
charge a usurious interest, they might be able to pay the requisite sum to Y
& Son. The employees would then gradually pay off the loan given them by
either the public treasury, the Jewish Company, or even the firm itself.
The Jewish Company will liquidate the smallest as well as
the largest businesses. And while the Jews emigrate peacefully and establish
their new homes, the Company will act as the great body corporate which
organizes the departure, supervises the property left behind, guarantees with
its visible, tangible assets that all transactions will proceed in good order,
and provides constant security for those who have already emigrated.
In what way will the Company guarantee that the
abandonment of countries will not cause their impoverishment and produce
economic crises?
It has already been stated that respectable anti-Semites,
while preserving their independence which is of value to us, are to participate
in the project as popular supervisory authorities, as it were.
But the state, too, has fiscal interests which might be
harmed. It will lose a group of tax payers who may be little appreciated as
citizens but are highly valued from a financial point of view. The state must
be given compensation for this loss. Actually, we shall offer one indirectly:
by leaving in the country businesses which we have built up with our Jewish
acumen and our Jewish industry, by letting our Gentile fellow citizens move
into the positions we have evacuated, thus enabling the masses to rise to
prosperity with unprecedented peacefulness. The French Revolution had a similar
result, on a small scale, but it took torrents of blood on the guillotine, in
every province of France, and on the battlefields of Europe. Then, too,
inherited and acquired rights had to be destroyed, and only those grew rich who
shrewdly bought up state properties.
The Jewish Company will offer direct advantages as well
to the states which come within its sphere of activity. Governments everywhere
can be assured of being able to purchase abandoned Jewish property on favorable
terms. The governments, for their part, will be able to use this amicable
expropriation on a large scale for certain social improvements.
The Jewish Company will give assistance to governments
and parliaments which desire to direct the internal migration of Gentile
citizens.
The Jewish Company will also pay heavy taxes.
Its central office will be in London, for it must be
under the legal protection of a great Power which is not at present
anti-Semitic. But if the Company is supported officially and semi-officially,
it will everywhere provide a broad tax base. It will set up taxable branch
establishments everywhere; also, it will offer the advantage of a twofold
transfer of property-which means a double payment. Even in transactions where
the Company is merely a real-estate agency it will temporarily have the
semblance of a purchaser. Although it does not wish to own property, the
Company will momentarily appear as the owner in the register of landed
property.
These are, of course, mere matters of bookkeeping. In
each particular place it will have to be considered and decided how far the
Company can go without jeopardizing its own existence. It will freely confer
with Finance Ministers on these points. The Ministers will clearly recognize
its good intentions and will everywhere offer those concessions which are
demonstrably necessary for the successful accomplishment of the great
undertaking.
Another direct benefit lies in the transport of freight
and passengers. This is immediately evident where railroads are state property.
Where they are operated by private interests, the Company will, like any major
shipper, receive favorable terms. Naturally, it will have to let our people
travel and ship their belongings as cheaply as possible, because everyone will
be making the trip at his own expense. The middle classes will use Cook's
system, while stage coaches will be available for the poorer classes. The
Company might make a great deal of money by discounts on passengers and
freight; but here, too, its guiding principle must be to cover only its working
expenses.
In many places the transport business is in Jewish hands.
The shipping agencies will be the first needed by the Company and the first
liquidated by it. The original owners of these businesses will either enter the
Company's service or establish themselves independently on the other side.
There will be a demand for freight agents at the places of arrival, and since
this is an excellent business and people not only may but should make money
there right away, there will be no lack of enterprising spirits. There is no
need to elaborate on the business details of this mass expedition. They should
grow rationally out of the purpose at hand, and many able minds shall and will
work out the best procedure.
Many activities will be interconnected. Just one example:
The Company will gradually go into the manufacture of goods in the settlements
which will be primitive in the beginning. Clothing, linen, shoes, etc. will at
first be mass-produced for our own poor emigrants, for they will be provided
with new clothes at the European places of departure. They will not receive
these clothes as alms, for they must not be humiliated, but will simply have
their old things exchanged for new ones. Any loss sustained by the Company in
this will be put down as a business loss. Those who are completely destitute
will receive these clothes as a loan from the Company which they will pay off
on the other side by working overtime; they will be exempted from this if their
conduct warrants it.
In these matters, incidentally, the existing emigration
societies will have a chance to be of assistance. Everything they have done up
to now for departing Jews they shall henceforth do for the colonists of the
Jewish Company. The forms of such cooperation will be easily found.
Even the new clothing of the poor emigrants should have a
symbolic meaning: "You are now starting a new life!" The Society of
Jews will see to it that long before the departure and also during the journey
a solemn and festive mood is maintained by means of prayers, popular lectures,
information on the purpose of the expedition, hygienic regulations for their
new places of residence, and guidance in regard to their future work. For the
Promised Land is the land of labor. Upon their arrival the emigrants will be
welcomed by our chief officials with due solemnity but without foolish
jubilation, for the Promised Land has yet to be won. But these poor people
should already see that they are at home.
The Company's manufacture of clothes for the poor
emigrants will not, of course, proceed without proper planning. The Society of
Jews will obtain information about the number of emigrants, the date of their
arrival, and their requirements from the Local Groups and must communicate all
this in good time to the Jewish Company. In this way it will be possible to
make the proper arrangements for them in advance.
The tasks of the Jewish Company and the Society of Jews
cannot be kept strictly apart in this outline. Actually, these two great bodies
will have to work together constantly. The Company will remain dependent on the
moral authority and support of the Society, just as the Society will not be
able to dispense with the material assistance of the Company. For example, the
systematic organization of the clothing industry will be a first modest attempt
to avoid crises of overproduction. This procedure shall be followed in all
areas in which the Company assumes an industrial function.
Buunder no circumstances must the Company use its
superior power to stifle individual enterprise. We shall be collectivists only
where the enormous difficulties of the task require it. In general we will
cherish and protect the individual and his rights. Private property, as the
economic basis of independence, shall develop with freedom and respect among
us. After all, we shall give our very first "unskilleds" a chance to
become proprietors.
The spirit of enterprise shall be encouraged in every
way. The establishment of industries will be promoted by a sensible tariff
policy, by the supply of cheap raw material, and by the creation of a bureau
which will gather and publish industrial statistics.
This spirit of enterprise can be stimulated in a sound
way, avoiding haphazard speculation. The establishment of a new industry will
be announced a sufficient time in advance, so that an entrepreneur who six
months later may hit on the idea of starting a similar business will be spared
failure and financial ruin. Since the Company is to be informed of the purpose
of any new establishment, information on business prospects will be available
to anyone at any time.
In addition, industrialists will have centralized labor
at their disposal. An entrepreneur will apply to an employment office which
will charge him only a fee required for its operating expenses. An
industrialist might, for instance, telegraph that he needs the next day five
hundred "unskilleds" for three days, three weeks, or three months.
The next day the required five hundred will arrive at his agricultural or
industrial establishment; the labor agency will have collected them from every
available source. The haphazard movements of migratory workers will thus be
refined along military lines, becoming a purposeful institution. No slave labor
will be supplied, of course, but only men who work seven hours a day, who
preserve their organization, and despite changes of locality get credit for
seniority along with their regular ranks, promotions, and pensions. A free
entrepreneur may obtain his workmen from other sources as well if he so
desires, but he will not find it easy to do so. The Society will be able to
prevent the introduction of non-Jewish wage slaves by boycotting uncooperative
industrialists, obstructing transportation, and that sort of thing. The seven-hour
workers will therefore have to be taken, and in this way we shall achieve the
regular seven-hour working day almost painlessly.
It is clear that what can be done with the
"unskilleds" will be even easier in the case of skilled workers.
Piece workers in factories can be subject to the same regulations, and the
central labor agency will provide them.
As for the independent artisans, the small master
craftsmen whom we want to take good care of with a view to the future progress
of technology, whom we want to provide with technical information even if they
are no longer young, to whom water power and electric light are to be made
available-these independent craftsmen, too, shall be sought out and provided by
the central agency of the Society. A Local Group will apply to the central
office, stating that so-and-so-many carpenters, locksmiths, glaziers, etc. are
needed. The office will make this known and the people will come forward. They
and their families will move to the places where they are needed and establish
their residence there, without being crushed by random competition. A
permanent, good home will have been created for them.
An amount that sounds fantastic has been mentioned as the
capital required for establishing the Jewish Company. The actual amount needed
will have to be determined by financial experts, and it will certainly be an
enormous sum. How is it to be raised? There are three methods which the Society
will take under consideration. The Society, this great "moral
person," the gestor of the Jews, will consist of our best and most
upright men who cannot and must not derive any financial gain from the
undertaking. Although in the beginning the only authority of the Society will
be a moral one, this authority will suffice to establish the credit of the
Jewish Company in the eyes of the Jewish people. The Jewish Company will have
prospects of commercial success only if it has the Society's stamp of approval,
so to speak. Thus no random group of financiers will be able to band together
to form the Jewish Company. The Society will investigate, select, and decide,
and it will approve of the establishment only after it has been furnished with
all necessary securities for the conscientious execution of the plan.
Experiments with insufficient means must not be made, for this enterprise must
succeed at the very first attempt. Failure would compromise the whole idea for
decades to come and might even render it permanently impossible.
The three methods of raising capital are: 1) through big
banks; 2) through smaller banks; 3) through public subscription.
The easiest, fastest, and surest method would be for the
big banks to found the Company. The existing great financial groups could raise
the necessary funds in a very short time by merely consulting together. This
would have the great advantage that it would not be necessary to pay in the
whole billion (to stick to the original figure) all at once. A further
advantage would be that the credit of these powerful financial groups would
also accrue to the enterprise. A great many unutilized political forces lie
dormant in the financial power of the Jews. The enemies of Jewry picture this
power as being as effective as it might be but actually is not. Poor Jews feel
only the hatred that this financial power arouses; they do not get the
benefits, the alleviation of their sufferings, which might be produced. The
credit policy of the great Jewish financiers ought to be placed in the service
of the National Idea. But if these gentlemen, who are quite satisfied with
their lot, do not feel impelled to do something for their fellow Jews who are
unjustly held responsible for the great fortunes of some individuals, then the
realization of this plan will afford an opportunity for drawing a clear line of
demarcation between them and the rest of Jewry.
The big banks, incidentally, will not be called upon to
provide such an enormous amount out of charitable motives; that would be
foolish presumptuousness. Rather, the founders and stockholders of the Jewish
Company should make a good profit, and they will be able to calculate in
advance what their chances are. For the Society of Jews will be in possession
of all documents and aids by which the prospects of the Jewish Company may be
gauged. The Society of Jews will in particular have made a close study of the
scope of the new Jewish movement, and it will be able to give the founders of
the Company perfectly reliable information on the degree of participation it
may expect. By supplying the Company with comprehensive modern statistics on
the Jews, the Society will be doing the work of a societe d’etudes [study
commission] of the kind that is appointed in France before the financing of a
very big enterprise is undertaken.
Even so, the scheme may not receive the precious approval
of the Jewish money magnates. They may even try to oppose our Jewish movement
by using their secret lackeys and agents. Such opposition, like any other that
is forced upon us, we shall meet with relentless firmness.
Perhaps the money magnates will content themselves with
disposing of the matter with a smile of rejection.
Does that mean that it is finished?
It does not.
Then we shall turn to the second method of raising money,
an appeal to the moderately rich Jews. In the name of the National Idea the
smaller Jewish banks would have to be united against the big bankers, forming a
second formidable financial force. The trouble with this would be that at first
it would all be nothing but a financial transaction, for the billion would have
to be subscribed in full before we would be allowed to start operations; and
since this money would become available only gradually, there would be sorts of
banking transactions and loans during the first few years. It might even come
about that in this way the original purpose would gradually be forgotten; the
moderately rich Jews would have found a new and large business, and the
migration of the Jews would bog down.
The idea of raising money in this way is anything but
fantastic; that much is known. There have already been several attempts to
muster Catholic money against the big banks; that one could also oppose them
with Jewish money has not been considered until now.
But what crises all this would produce! The countries in
which such conflicts occurred would suffer, and anti-Semitism would be bound to
become rampant.
Therefore I do not like the thought of this, and I only
mention it because it lies within the logical development of the idea.
Nor do I know whether smaller banks will take up my idea.
In any case, even if the moderately rich reject the
scheme, it is not done for. In fact, then it would begin in earnest.
For then the Society of Jews, which will not be composed of
businessmen, might try to found the Company through popular subscription.
The Company's capital could be raised by announcing a
public subscription directly, without a syndicate of big or small banks acting
as an intermediary. Not only poor Jews but also Gentiles who wanted to get rid
of the Jews would participate in this method of raising funds in very small
amounts. It would be a new and original kind of plebiscite whereby everyone who
wished to vote for this form of solving the Jewish Question could express
himself by subscribing a certain sum conditionally. The condition would
constitute his security. The full sum would be payable only if the entire
amount had been subscribed; otherwise the initial payment would be returned.
But if the whole of the required sum is raised by
worldwide popular subscription, then each individual small amount will be
guaranteed by the countless other small amounts.
This would, of course, require the express and firm
assistance of interested governments.
So far it has only been shown how the emigration may be
carried out without an economic upheaval. But such an emigration also involves
many deep and powerful emotions. There are old customs and memories which bind
all of us to certain places. We have cradles and we have graves, and it is well
known what graves mean to Jewish hearts. Our cradles we shall take along; in
them there slumbers our future, rosy and smiling. Our beloved graves we shall
have to leave behind; I think this is what we covetous people will find it
hardest to part from, but it will have to be.
Economic distress, political pressure, and social hatred
are already driving us from our homes and from our graves. We Jews are even now
constantly moving from one country to another; a strong current even carries us
across the sea to the United States, where we are not liked either. Where will
people want us as long as we have no homeland of our own?
But we will give the Jews a homeland-not by forcibly
uprooting them from their soil, but by lifting them out carefully, roots and
all, and transplanting them in better ground. Just as we want to create new
economic and political conditions, we intend to keep sacred all emotional
attachments to the past. This theme can only be briefly touched upon, for at
this point the danger is greatest that my plan will be considered overly
romantic.
And yet this, too, is possible and real, though it now
occurs in actuality in a tangled and ineffectual form. Organization can turn it
into something rational.
Our people are to emigrate in groups of families and
friends. No one will be forced to join the group departing from his present
locality. Everyone may go the way he wants -to after he has settled his
affairs. After all, everyone will be paying his own way, in whatever class of
railroad and ship he chooses. It is possible that our trains and boats will
have only one class. On such long trips the poor are bothered by differences in
wealth. And even though we are not taking our people across for entertainment,
we still do not wish to spoil their good humor on the way.
No one will travel under conditions of hardship, but
everything in the way of elegant comfort will be available. People will make
arrangements far in advance - even in the most favorable circumstances it will
be years before the movement gets rolling among the individual propertied
classes - and the well-to-do will form traveling parties. All personal
connections will be taken along. We know that, with the exception of the
wealthiest, Jews have almost no social relations with Gentiles. In some
countries those Jews who do not support a few dinner-table parasites, spongers,
and flunkeys have no Gentile acquaintances whatever. The ghetto continues to
exist within.
Therefore, those of average means will make prolonged and
careful preparations for departure. Every locality will form a group. In large
cities there will be several district groups which will communicate by means of
elected representatives. There is nothing obligatory about this division into
districts; it is actually intended only as an aid to those less well-to-do and
to obviate discomfort and homesickness during the trip. Everyone is free to
travel alone or to join any Local Group whatever. The conditions will be the
same for all travelers of a particular class. If a traveling party is large
enough, the Company will give it a special train and thereafter a special boat.
Suitable living accommodations for the poorer people will
be provided by the Company's housing office. Later on, when the more prosperous
emigrate, their easily foreseeable lodging needs will have encouraged private
enterprise to build hotels. Besides, the well-to-do emigrants will have built
their houses beforehand, so that they need only move from an abandoned old home
into a finished new one.
There is no need for us to assign tasks to our intelligentsia.
Every man who rallies behind the National Idea will know how to propagate it
and translate it into action in his own circle. We shall make a special appeal
for the participation of our spiritual leaders.
Each group will have its Rabbi who will travel with his
congregation. All groupings will be voluntary. A Local Group will have a Rabbi
as its nucleus; there will be as many such groups as there are Rabbis. For the
Rabbis will be the first to understand us, to be enthusiastic about the cause,
and they will impart their enthusiasm to the others from their pulpits. There
will be no need to call any special assemblies with a lot of blather. The
appeal will be included in the religious service, and properly so. We recognize
our historic identity only by the faith of our fathers, because we have long
since inextinguishably absorbed the languages of various nationalities.
The Rabbis will then regularly receive the announcements
of the Society and the Company, and they will share them with, and explain them
to, their congregations. Israel will pray for us and for itself.
The Local Groups will appoint small committees of
representatives under the chairmanship of the Rabbis. The committees will
discuss and decide all practical issues in accordance with local needs.
Charitable institutions will be freely transferred by the
Local Groups. Endowed institutions will remain with their original Local Group
on the other side. The buildings should not be sold, in my opinion, but donated
to needy Gentiles in the cities concerned. When land is distributed over there,
the Local Groups will receive credit for this in the form of free building
sites and special consideration in construction.
The transfer of charitable institutions will provide
another of those opportunities which occur at a number of different points in
this plan to make an experiment in the service of humanity. Our present
disorganized system of private philanthropy does little good in proportion to
the expenditure involved. These institutions can and must be organized in such
a way that they will supplement one another. In a new society these
institutions can be set up in accordance with modern ideas and on the basis of
all available socio-political experience. This matter is of great importance to
us, since we have a large number of paupers. The weaker characters among us,
disheartened by external pressure and spoiled by the flabby charity of our rich
men, easily degenerate to beggary.
The Society, supported by the Local Groups, will give its
full attention to educating the people in this respect. A fertile soil will be
created for many energies that are now withering away uselessly. Whoever is
willing shall be suitably employed. Beggars will not be tolerated. Anyone who
refuses to work of his own free will is going to be put in a workhouse.
On the other hand, we shall not relegate our old people
to homes for the aged. Such homes are one of the most cruel forms of charity
that our fatuous benevolence has devised. In a home for the aged an old person
dies of shame and grief. Actually, he is buried alive there. But we will leave
even those on the lowest level of intelligence the comforting illusion of
usefulness till the end of their lives. Those incapable of physical labor shall
be given light tasks. We must take into account the atrophied arms of an
already enfeebled generation. But future generations shall be brought up
differently: in freedom for freedom.
We shall seek for all ages, for all walks of life, the
moral blessings of labor. Thus will our people regain its skill in the land of
the seven-hour working day.
The Local Groups will delegate their authorized
representatives to select sites for towns. In the distribution of land every
precaution will be taken to ensure a gentle transplantation and the
preservation of all rightful claims.
The Local Groups will have plans of the towns. Our people
will know beforehand where they are going, in what towns and in what houses
they will live. The building plans and the clear illustrations which are to be
distributed among the Local Grouphave already been mentioned.
Just as strict centralization will be the principle of
our administration, the principle for the Local Groups will be full autonomy.
Only in this way can the transplanting be accomplished painlessly.
I do not imagine all this to be easier than it actually
is; on the other hand, people should not imagine it to be harder.
The middle classes will automatically be drawn along by
our movement. Some will have their sons on the other side, as officials of the
Society or employees of the Company. Lawyers, doctors, engineers of every
description, young businessmen-in fact, all Jews in search of opportunity who
are now fleeing oppression in their native lands to make a living in other
parts of the world-will assemble on a soil so full of promise. Others will have
daughters married to such up-and-coming men. Then one of our young people will
send for his fiancee, another for his parents, brothers, and sisters. In a new
civilization people marry young. This can only benefit general morality, and we
shall have sturdy offspring-not those delicate children of fathers who have
married late, having already spent their energies in life's struggles.
Every middle-class emigrant will pull others of his kind
along.
Naturally, the best of the new world will belong to the
most courageous.
Here, to be sure, seems to lie the greatest difficulty of
the plan.
Even if we succeed in initiating a serious worldwide
discussion of the Jewish Question -
Even if this discussion leads to the most unequivocal
conclusion that the Jewish State is a world necessity -
Even if we acquire sovereignty over some territory
through the support of the Powers -
How do we get the Jewish masses to move from their
present homes to this new country without coercion?
For do we not always envisage their emigration as a
voluntary one?
Great exertion will hardly be necessary to stimulate the
migration. The anti-Semites are already taking care of this for us. They need
only do what they are doing now, and the desire of the Jews to emigrate will
arise where it does not exist and intensify where it is already present. If
Jews now remain in anti-Semitic countries, they do so chiefly because even
those among them who are ignorant of history know that the numerous changes of
residence over the centuries have not brought us any lasting benefits. If today
there were a country where the Jews were welcomed and offered even fewer
advantages than will be assured when the Jewish State comes into being, that
country would immediately attract a great influx of Jews. The poorest, who have
nothing to lose, would drag themselves there. But I maintain, and everyone will
know for himself whether this is true or not, that as a result of the pressure
weighing upon us there is a desire to emigrate even among our prosperous
classes. Actually, our poorest strata alone would suffice to found a State; in
fact, they are the most suitable human material for acquiring a land, because a
little bit of desperation is necessary for great ventures.
But as our "desperadoes" raise the value of the
land by their arrival and their labor, they will gradually entice people of
greater means as well to follow them.
Higher and yet higher strata will become interested in
going across. The expedition of the first and poorest settlers will be directed
jointly by the Society and the Company, and in this they will probably be
supported by the existing emigration and Zion societies.
How can a multitude be directed to a particular spot
without being given a command?
There are certain Jewish philanthropists on a grand scale
who wish to alleviate Jewish suffering through Zionistic experiments. These
benefactors have already had to face this problem, and they thought they were
solving it when they provided the emigrants with money or means of employment.
Thus a philanthropist would say, "I shall pay these people to go there."
That is dead wrong, and all the money in the world cannot
pay for it.
The Company, by contrast, will say: "We shall not
pay them; we shall make them pay. Only, we are going to offer them
something."
I will illustrate this by means of a humorous example.
One of those philanthropist - let us call him "The Baron" - and I
would like to assemble a crowd of people on the plain of Longchamps near Paris
on a hot Sunday afternoon. By promising them 10 francs each, the Baron will
bring out 20,000 perspiring, miserable people who will curse him for having
inflicted this drudgery upon them.
I, on the other hand, shall offer the 200,000 francs as a
prize for the swiftest race horse-and then I shall put up barriers to keep the
people off the Longchamps course. Those who want to get in have to pay: 1
franc, 5 francs, 20 francs.
The upshot will be that I shall get half a million people
out there; the President of the Republic will drive up a la Daumont[The
expression "a la Daumont" originated during the period of the French
Restoration and referred to driving in state after the manner of the Duc
d'Aumont, the initiator of the four-horse carriage in which the horses were led
by two postillions]; and the people will have a good time entertaining
one another. Most of them will find the exercise in the open air a pleasure in
spite of the heat and the dust, and for my 200,000 francs I shall have
collected a million in admissions and betting taxes. I can get those same
people out there again any time I want to; but the Baron cannot-not at any
price.
Let me give a more serious illustration of the same
phenomenon in an economic situation. Try to get someone to shout this in the
streets of a city: "Whoever is willing to stand all day long, in the
bitter cold of winter or the burning heat of summer, in an iron hall exposed on
all sides and there to accost every passer-by and offer him junk, or fish, or
fruit, will receive two florins, or four francs, or anything he pleases."
How many people do you suppose will go to that hall? If hunger
drove them there, how many days would they stand it? And if they did hold out,
how much eagerness would they display in trying to persuade the passers-by to
purchase fruit, fish, or junk?
We shall go about it in a different way. In places where
trade is active-and these places we can discover all the more easily because we
shall channel trade in any direction we please - we shall build large halls and
call them markets. These halls could be worse built and more unhealthy than
those I have mentioned, and yet people would flock to them. But we shall make
them better and more attractive, applying our best efforts. And the people, to
whom we have promised nothing, because we cannot promise them anything without
deceiving them, these good, enterprising people will create an atmosphere of
fun and do a thriving business. They will tirelessly harangue the buyers; they
will stand on their feet and scarcely think of fatigue. They will not only rush
there every day so as to be the first on the job, but they will form unions,
combines, all sorts of things, just so they can continue this gainful
employment undisturbed. And even if it turns out at the end of a day that all
their honest work has netted them only a florin-and-a-half, or three francs, or
whatever, they will still look forward hopefully to the next day, which may be
better for them.
We shall have given them hope.
Would anyone like to know where we are going to get the
demand which is needed for the markets? Is it really necessary to spell this
out?
I demonstrated earlier that the assistance par le
travail will produce a fifteenfold return: fifteen millions for one
million; fifteen billions for one billion.
Well, is this just as true on a large scale as it is on a
small one? Does not capital yield a return that diminishes in inverse ratio to
its own growth? That is true of inactive capital, capital that has gone into
hiding, but not of the active kind. In fact, that kind of capital yields a
tremendously increasing return in large amounts. Indeed, this is the crux of
the social question.
Am I stating facts? I call on the ricJews to attest to
it. Why do they engage in so many industries? Why do they send men to work
underground and bring up coal for meager wages and amidst terrible dangers? I
cannot imagine this to be pleasant, even for the owners of the mines. For I do
not believe, and do not pretend to believe, that capitalists are heartless. My
desire is not to agitate, but to reconcile differences.
Do I need to illustrate the phenomenon of masses and the
ways of attracting them to any desired spot by discussing religious
pilgrimages, too?
I do not wish to offend anyone's religious sensibilities
by words which might be misinterpreted.
I merely cite in passing what the pilgrimage to Mecca
means in the Mohammedan world, or what Catholics feel for Lourdes and countless
other places. including the Holy Coat of Trier [The Holy Coat of Trier is a
treasured relic in the Cathedral of this city. It is a seamless garment
supposed to have been worn by Jesus, and, when exhibited in 1844 and 1891 (and
again in 1933), it attracted vast crowds of pilgrims] from which people return
home comforted by their faith.
Thus we too shall create goals for the deep religious
needs of our people. Our clergymen will be the first to understand us and go
along with us.
We shall let everyone find salvation over there in his
own way. That includes, and very particularly, our beloved freethinkers, our
immortal army which is conquering more and more new territory for mankind.
No more force will be applied against anyone than is
necessary for the preservation of the State and public order. And the force
required will not be arbitrarily determined by whatever person or persons
happen to be in authority at a given time, but will reside in iron-clad laws.
Now, if it be inferred from my illustrations that the
masses can be attracted to such centers of faith, of business, or of amusement
only temporarily, the rebuttal is simple. One of these objects can only attract
the masses, but all of the centers combined are designed to hold them and give
them permanent satisfaction. For all these centers together constitute a great,
long-sought entity, one for which our people has never ceased to yearn, for
which it has kept itself alive, for which it has been kept alive by external
pressure: a free homeland! Once the movement comes into being, we shall pull
some along with us and let others follow; still others will be swept along, and
the last will be pushed after us.
These, the hesitating laggards, will be the worst off,
both here and on the other side.
But the vanguard, those who go over with faith,
enthusiasm, and courage, will have the best places.
There are more misconceptions in circulation about the
Jews than about any other people. And our age-old sufferings have made us so
depressed and so discouraged that we ourselves parrot and believe these
canards. One of them is that Jews have an immoderate love of business. Now, it
is well known that wherever we are permitted to share in the rise of classes we
quickly give up trading. By far the great majority of Jewish businessmen send
their sons to the universities; hence the so-called "Judaization" of
all professions. But even in the lower economic strata our love of business is
by no means as great as is supposed. In the countries of Eastern Europe there
are large masses of Jews who are neither traders nor afraid of hard work. The
Society of Jews will be in a position to prepare scientifically accurate
statistics of our manpower. The new tasks and prospects that await our people
in the new country will satisfy our present craftsmen and transform many of
those who are now small tradesmen into manual workers.
A peddler who travels about the country with a heavy pack
on his back does not feel as happy as his persecutors imagine. The seven-hour
day can convert all these people into workmen. They are good, misunderstood
people, who may now be suffering more than anyone else. The Society of Jews
will, incidentally, concern itself from the outset with their training as
artisans. Their profit motive will have to be stimulated in a wholesale manner.
Jews are thrifty, resourceful, and imbued with a strong sense of family. Such
men are suited for any gainful employment, and merely making small trading
unremunerative will be sufficient to cause even those now active as peddlers to
give up this occupation. This could be brought about, for example, by
encouraging large department stores which carry all conceivable items. Even now
such stores crush small trading in the large cities; in a new civilization they
would prevent it from arising altogether. The establishment of these stores
would have the further advantage of making the country immediately habitable
even for people accustomed to a higher standard of living.
Is a reference, even a passing one, to the little habits
and conveniences of the common man in keeping with the serious nature of this
pamphlet?
I believe it is. In fact, it is very important. For these
little habits are like a thousand fine threads; each of them is thin and
fragile, but together they make up an unbreakable cable.
Here, too, narrow preoccupations must be swept away.
Whoever has seen anything of the world knows that precisely these small
everyday habits can even now be easily transplanted everywhere. Indeed, the
technical achievements of our time, which this plan would like to employ in the
service of humanity, have heretofore been used chiefly for those little habits.
There are English hotels in Egypt and on the mountain peaks of Switzerland,
Viennese cafes in South Africa, French theaters in Russia, German opera houses
in America, and the best Bavarian beer in Paris.
When we journey out of Mitzraim [Egypt] again, we
shall not leave the fleshpots behind.
Everyone can and will find his little habits again in the
Local Groups, but they will be better, finer, and more pleasant.
This pamphlet is not intended for legal specialists. I
can therefore touch only cursorily, as on so many other things, upon my theory
of the legal basis of a state.
Nevertheless, I must put some stress on my new theory
which will probably hold up even in a discussion among legal scholars.
According to Rousseau's now antiquated view, a state is
based on a social contract. Rousseau wrote: "The conditions of this
contract are so precisely defined by the nature of the agreement that the
slightest alteration would make them null and void. The consequence is that even
where they are not expressly stated they are everywhere identical and
everywhere tacitly accepted and recognized …”
A logical and historical refutation of Rousseau's theory
has never been difficult, however frightful and fruitful the effects of that
theory may have been. The question whether a social contract with
"conditions not expressly stated, yet unalterable" existed before the
framing of a constitution is of no practical interest to modern constitutional
states. In any case, the legal relationship between government and citizen is
now clearly established.
But prior to the framing of a constitution, and during
the creation of a new state, these principles are of practical importance also.
We know and see for ourselves that new states can still come into being.
Colonies secede from the mother country; vassals break away from their
suzerain; newly opened territories are immediately established as free states.
The Jewish State, to be sure, is envisaged as a very special new formation on
an as yet undetermined territory. But a state is formed not by an area of land,
but by a number of men united under one sovereignty.
The people is the subjective, the land is the objective
basis of a state, and of these two the subjective basis is the more important.
There is, for example, one sovereignty without any objective basis which is, in
fact, the most respected on earth: the sovereignty of the Pope.
The theory of rationality is one currently accepted in
political science. This theory suffices to justify the creation of a state and,
unlike the contract theory, it cannot be historically refuted. Insofar as this
pamphlet is concerned with the creation of the Jewish State, it is based
entirely on the theory of rationality. However, this theory evades the legal
basis of the state. The theories of a divine institution, or of superior power,
or of a contract, the patriarchal and patrimonial theories are not in
accordance with modern views. The legal basis of a state is sought either too
much within men (patriarchal theory, theories of higher power and contract), in
a pure realm above them (divine institution), or below them (objective
patrimonial theory). The theory of rationality leaves this question
conveniently or cautiously unanswered. Yet a question which has so seriously
occupied the greatest philosophers of law in every age cannot be an absolutely
idle one. As a matter of fact, in a state we find a mixture of human and
superhuman elements. Some legal basis is indispensable for dealing with the
oppressive relationship in which subjects occasionally stand to rulers. I
believe it is to be found in the negotiorum gestio) with the body of
citizens constituting the dominus negotiorum and the government
representing the gestor.
The wonderful legal sense of the Romans produced a noble
masterpiece in the negotiorum gestio. When the property of an
incapacitated person is in danger, anyone may step forward and save it. This
man is the gestor, the director of someone else's affairs. He has
received no warrant-that is, no human warrant. His warrant derives from a
higher necessity. For the purposes of the state this higher necessity may be
formulated in different ways, and its formulation may also differ in accordance
with the intellectual capacity found at different levels of culture. The aim of
the gestio is the welfare of the dominus) the people, of whom the
gestor himself is one.
The gestor administers a property of which he is a
co-owner. His part ownership acquaints him with the emergency situation which
demands his intervention, his leadership in war and peace; but his co-ownership
certainly does not mean that he delegates any valid authority to himself. Even
under the most favorable circumstances he can only presume the consent of the
innumerable other part owners.
A state comes into being through a nation's struggle for
existence. In such a struggle it is impossible to obtain the proper authority
in any formal way. Indeed, any undertaking for the common weal would be wrecked
at the outset if one first attempted to obtain a regular majority decision.
Partisanship within would render the people defenseless against the danger from
without. All heads cannot be put under the same hat, as the German saying goes.
That is why the gestor simply puts on the hat and leads the way.
Action by the gestor of the state is sufficiently
warranted if the common cause is in danger and the dominus is prevented
from helping itself-by lack of will or some other reason.
But through his intervention the gestor becomes
liable to the dominus in a manner similar to a contractual obligation-quasi
ex contractu. This is the legal relationship existing before, or, more
correctly, created simultaneously with, the state.
The gestor then becomes liable for every form of
negligence, including the non-completion of assignments undertaken, the neglect
of such affairs as are intimately connected with them, etc. I shall not enlarge
on the negotiorum gestio here nor apply the concept to the state; this
would take us too far from the actual subject. Let me make just one more point:
"Business transactions, if approved by the owner, are just as effective as
if originally carried on by his order."
And what does all this mean to us?
At present the Jewish people is prevented by the Diaspora
from conducting its own political affairs. Yet it is in a condition of more or
less severe distress in a number of places. It needs, above all things, a gestor.
This gestor, to be sure, cannot be one individual.
Such a one would seem either ridiculous or, because he would appear to be out
for his own advantage, contemptible.
The gestor of the Jews must be a "moral
person" in every sense of the word.
And that is the Society of Jews.
This organ of the National Movement, whose nature and
functions we are only now discussing, will actually come into being before
anything else. Its formation is extremely simple. This "moral person"
will arise out of the circle of valiant English Jews whom I informed about my
plan in London. [Herzl here refers to his visit to London which took place in
the second half of November 1895, during which he was received with sympathy
and was promised support by several leading British Jews. Cf. The Complete
Diaries of Theodor Herzl, New York, 1960, Vol.1, pp.276-84.]
The Society of Jews will be the center of the incipient
Jewish movement.
The Society will have scientific and political tasks. The
founding of the Jewish State, as I envisage it, presupposes modern, scientific
methods. If we journey out of Egypt today, this cannot be done in the simple
fashion of ancient times. We shall first obtain an idea of our numbers and our
strength in a different way. The Society of Jews is the new Moses of the Jews.
The undertaking of that old, great gestor of the Jews in primitive times
is to ours as some beautiful old Singspiel is to a modern opera. We
shall play the same melody with many, many more violins, flutes, harps,
violincellos, and strong basses, with electric lights, scenery, choruses,
magnificent costumes, and star singers.
This pamphlet is intended to initiate a general
discussion of the Jewish Question. Friend and foe will take part in it, but no
longer, I hope, in the form of sentimental defense and vulgar invective. Let
the debate be objective, grand, serious, and political.
The Society of Jews will collect all pronouncements of
statesmen, parliaments, Jewish communities, and organizations which are made
oraor in writing, at meetings or in news-papers and books.
Thus the Society will learn and determine for the first
time whether the time has come when the Jews want to, or have to, migrate to
the Promised Land. Fr9m Jewish communities all over the world the Society will
receive the materials for a comLrehensive collection of Jewish statistics.
Subsequent tasks, such as expert investigation of the new
country and its natural resources, the uniform plan for the migration and the
settlement, preliminary work on legislation and administration, etc. will be
developed logically in line with the objective.
Externally, the Society, as I have already explained in
the general section, must attempt to be recognized as a state-forming power.
From the free assent of many Jews it can derive the authority required to deal
with the governments concerned.
Internally - that is to say, in its relations with the
Jewish people - the Society will create the institutions that are indispensable
in the early period - the germ cell, to use a scientific term, from which the
public institutions of the Jewish State are to develop later.
Our first object is, as has already been stated,
sovereignty assured by international law over an area that is adequate for our
rightful needs.
What must be done next?
When peoples migrated in ancient times, they let
themselves be carried along, pulled, tossed about by historical chance. Like
swarms of locusts they alighted wherever their random course took them. For in
ancient times the globe was not known to man.
The new migration of the Jews must proceed in accordance
with scientific principles.
As recently as some forty years ago, gold mining was
carried on in a curiously naive manner. How adventurous things were in
California! There a rumor made desperadoes come running from all over the
world; they looted the earth, stole the gold from one another, and then gambled
it away in an equally predatory fashion.
But today! Take a look at gold mining in the present-day
Transvaal. Gold mining is no longer run by romantic rogues, but by sober-minded
geologists and engineers. Ingenious machines separate the gold from the
auriferous rock. Little is left to chance.
And so the new Jewish land must be explored and taken
possession of with all modern aids.
As soon as we have secured the land, a ship will sail to
take possession of it.
This ship will carry representatives of the Society, the
Company, and the Local Groups.
These pioneers will have three tasks: first, the exact
scientific investigation of all natural properties of the land; second, the
establishment of a tightly centralized administration; third, the distribution
of land. These tasks complement one another and are to be carried out in
accordance with the objective which is by now sufficiently familiar.
Only one thing remains to be clarified-namely, how the
occupation of the land by Local Groups should proceed.
In America the occupation of a newly opened territory
still takes place in a rather naive manner. The settlers gather at the border
and at the appointed hour make a simultaneous and violent dash for it.
It cannot be done that way in the new land of the Jews.
Plots in the provinces and towns will be auctioned off-not for money, but for
achievements. It will have been established according to the general plan which
roads, bridges, dams, etc. are necessary for traffic. These will be grouped
according to provinces. Within each province the sites for towns will be
auctioned off in a similar manner. The Local Groups will assume the
responsibility of carrying this out in an orderly fashion, and they will defray
the costs from local assessments. After all, the Society will be in a position
to know in advance whether or not the Local Groups are undertaking too great a
sacrifice. The big communities will get a lot of elbow-room for their
activities. Greater sacrifices will be rewarded by certain concessions:
Universities, technical schools, academies, research institutes, etc. and those
government institutions which do not have to be located in the capital will be
dispersed throughout the country.
The proper execution of what is undertaken will be
guaranteed by the personal interest of the buyers and, if need be, by local
assessments. For just as we cannot, and do not wish to, abolish differences
among individuals, differences among the Local Groups will continue. Everything
will fall into place in a natural way. All acquired rights will be protected,
every new development will get sufficient scope.
Our people will be fully informed of all these matters.
Just as we will not take others by surprise or cheat
them, we shall not deceive ourselves either.
Everything will be systematically worked out in advance.
In the elaboration of this plan, which I am capable only of suggesting, our
keenest minds will participate. Every achievement in the fields of social
science and technology of our own age and of the even more advanced age which
will dawn over the protracted execution of the plan must be utilized for the
cause. Every happy invention which is already available or will become
available must be used. Thus the land can be occupied and the State founded in
a manner as yet unknown to history, with unprecedented chances of success.
One of the great commissions to be appointed by the
Society will be the council of state jurists. This body will have to create as
good a modern constitution as can be devised. I believe that a good
constitution ought to be moderately flexible. In another work I have stated
what forms of government I hold to be the best [Herzl here refers to his book Das
Palais Bourbon: Bilder aus dern franzosischen Parlamentsleben (The Palais
Bourbon: Pictures from French Parliamentary Life), which was published in 1895
in Leipzig, and in which he clearly expressed his preference for an
aristocratic form of government.]. I consider a democratic monarchy and an
aristocratic republic to be the finest forms of state. The form of a state and
the principles of its government must be in an opposition which provides a
balance. I am a staunch advocate of monarchic institutions, because they make
possible a stable policy and represent the interests of a historically
illustrious family, one born and educated to rule-interests that are bound up
with the preservation of the state. But our history has been too long
interrupted for us to attempt to resume this institution. The very attempt
would bring upon us the curse of ridicule.
Democracy without the salutary counterpoise of a monarch
is extreme in its approval and disapproval, tends to idle parliamentary babble,
and produces that repulsive class of men, the professional politicians. Nor are
the present-day nations suited to unlimited democracy, and I believe they will
become ever less fit for it. For pure democracy presupposes a very simple
morality, and our morality is becoming ever more complex with the advance of
commerce and civilization. "Le ressort d'une democratie est la vertu"
[The concern of a democracy is virtue], said wise Montesquieu. And where will
you find this virtue-political virtue, I mean? I have no faith in the political
virtue of our people, because we are no different from the rest of modern men
and because freedom would at first make our heads swell. I consider government
by referendum inadequate, for in politics there are no simple questions which
can be answered merely by Yes or No. Also, the masses are more prone even than
parliaments to be misled by fantastic ideas and to lend a willing ear to every
ranting demagogue. Neither internal nor external policy can be formulated in
popular assembly.
Politics must work from the top down. This does not mean
that anyone will be put in bondage in the Jewish State, for every Jew will be
able to rise, and everyone will want to. Thus a powerful upward surge is bound
to move through our people. Every individual will think he is only raising
himself, and yet the entire community will be raised thereby. This rise must be
cast in moral forms which will be beneficial to the State and will serve
theNational Idea.
Therefore I am thinking of an aristocratic republic. This
is also in keeping with the ambitious spirit of our people which has now
degenerated into fatuous vanity. Many of the institutions of Venice come to
mind; but all that caused the ruin of that city must be avoided. We shall learn
from the historical mistakes of others, just as we shall learn from our own.
For we are a modern nation and wish to become the most modern. Our people, to
whom the Society is presenting the new country, will also gratefully accept the
new Constitution given by the Society. But wherever resistance may appear, the
Society will break it. It cannot permit its work to be disturbed by obtuse or
malicious individuals.
Someone may think that difficulties will arise from the
fact that we no longer have a common language. After all, we cannot converse
with one another in Hebrew. Who among us knows enough Hebrew to ask for a
railroad ticket in that language? We have no such people. Yet it is really a
very simple matter. Everyone will retain his own language, the beloved homeland
of his thoughts. Switzerland offers conclusive proof that linguistic federalism
is possible. Even on the other side we shall remain what we are now, just as we
shall never cease to love nostalgic ally the native lands which we were forced
to leave.
We shall give up the stunted, broken-down jargons, those
ghetto languages which we now employ. They were the stealthy tongues of
prisoners. Our educators will give due attention to this matter. The language
which proves to be of the greatest utility for general intercourse will
establish itself naturally as our principal tongue. Our peoplehood is indeed
peculiar and unique. Actually, the faith of our fathers is the only thing by
which we still recognize that we belong together.
Shall we, then, end up by having a theocracy? No! Faith
unites us, knowledge makes us free. Therefore we shall permit no theocratic
velleities on the part of our clergy to arise. We shall know how to restrict
them to their temples, just as we shall restrict our professional soldiers to
their barracks. The army and the clergy shall be honored to the extent that
their noble functions require and deserve it. But they will have no privileged
voice in the State which confers distinction upon them, for otherwise they
might cause trouble externally and internally.
Every man will be as free and as unrestricted in his
belief or unbelief as he is in his nationality. And should it happen that men
of other creeds and other nationalities come to live among us, we shall accord
them honorable protection and equality before the law. We have learned
tolerance in Europe. I am not saying this sarcastically. Present-day
anti-Semitism can only in a very few places be taken for the old religious
intolerance. For the most part it is a movement among civilized nations whereby
they try to exorcise a ghost from out of their own past.
When the idea of a State approaches realization, the
Society of Jews will have a council of jurists do preliminary work on
legislation. During the transition period the underlying principle can be that
every immigrant Jew is to be judged according to the laws of the country which
he has left. Legal uniformity should be striven for as soon as possible. The
laws must be modern, and here too only the best should be employed. Ours might
become a model code, permeated by all the just social demands of the day.
The Jewish State is envisaged as a neutral country. It
will require only a professional army - albeit one equipped with every
implement of modern warfare - to preserve order externally as well as
internally.
We have no flag. We need one. Anyone who wants to lead
many men must raise a symbol over their heads.
I am thinking of a white flag with seven gold stars. The
white field signifies our new, pure life; the stars are the seven golden hours
of our working day. For the Jews will move to the new land under the banner of
labor.
The new Jewish State must be founded in a respectable
manner. After all, we are mindful of our future honor in the eyes of the world.
For that reason all obligations in our old places of
residence must be scrupulously fulfilled. The Society of Jews and the Jewish
Company will grant cheap passage and all settlement benefits only to those who
produce an official certificate from the local authorities saying "Affairs
left in good order."
Every private claim originating in the abandoned
countries will be heard more readily in the Jewish State than anywhere else. We
shall not even wait for reciprocity, but shall act purely for the sake of our
honor. Thus our own claims will later get more consideration from courts of law
than may now be the case in some places.
From the foregoing remarks it is self-evident that we
shall extradite Jewish criminals more readily than any other state, until such
time as we can enforce our penal code in accordance with the same principles as
all other civilized nations. Thus a period of transition is envisaged during
which we shall receive Jewish criminals after they have taken their punishment.
But once they have paid all penalties, they will be accepted without
restrictions; the criminals among our people shall start a new life, too.
Thus emigration may become for many Jews a crisis with a
happy outcome. The bad external circumstances which have ruined many a
character will be removed, and it will be possible to save many who are lost.
Here I should like briefly to relate a story which I came
across in an account of the gold mines of Witwatersrand. A man came to the Rand
one day, settled down, tried several things, not including gold mining, finally
started an ice factory which prospered, and soon won universal esteem. Years
later he was suddenly arrested. He had perpetrated fraud as a banker in
Frankfurt, then had escaped and started a new life under an assumed name. But
when he was taken away as a prisoner, the most respected people turned up at
the station and bade him a cordial "Farewell-until we meet again!"
For he was going to return.
How much this story tells! A new life can regenerate even
criminals. And we have a proportionately very small number of these. Compare on
this point an interesting statistical study, Die Kriminalitat der Juden in
Deutschland [The Criminality of Jews in Germany] by Dr. P. Nathan (Berlin),
[Paul Nathan (1857.1927) was a German-Jewish politician, writer and editor, who
authored numerous books on Jewish problems. His book, Die Krimina1itat der Juden in
Deutschland, was published in 1896. He was a
co-founder of the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden, and an untiring
fighter against anti-Semitism.] commissioned by the Committee for Defense
Against Anti-Semitic Attacks and based on official reports. To be sure, like
many another "defense" this pamphlet, which teems with figures,
proceeds from the erroneous assumption that anti-Semitism can be refuted by rational
arguments. We are presumably as much hated for our merits as for our faults.
I imagine that governments will pay some attention to
this plan, either voluntarily or under pressure from their anti-Semitic
citizens, and it may even be that here and there the plan will be received with
a sympathy which will also be accorded to the Society of Jews.
For the Jewish emigration that I have in mind cannot
create any economic upheavals. Instead, such crises are as bound to arise
everywhere in the wake of Jew-baiting would be prevented by the realization of
this plan. A great period of prosperity would begin in those countries which
are now anti-Semitic. For, as I have repeatedly stated, there will be an
internal migration of Gentile citizens into the positions slowly and
systematically evacuated by the Jews. If we are not merely suffered, but
actually assisted, to do this, the movement will have a fructifying effect
everywhere. Another narrow view which must be abandoned is that the departure
of many Jews is bound to bring about the impoverishment of the countries
involved. It is different from a departure resulting from Jew-baiting; then, to
be sure, property is destroyed, as it is in the confusion of a war. Quite
another thing is the peaceful, voluntary departure of colonists, when
everything can be done with due consideration for acquired rights and in
absolute conformity with the law, freely and openly, by the light of day, in
full view of the authorities and under the supervision of public opinion. The
emigration of Gentile proletarians to other parts of the world would be brought
to a standstill by the Jewish movement.
The states would have the further benefit of a tremendous
increase in their export trade; for since the emigrant Jews on the other side
would be dependent on European products for a long time to come, they would
necessarily have to import them. The Local Groups would create an equitable
adjustment; the customary needs would have to be met by the customary sources
for a long time yet.
One of the greatest benefits would probably be the easing
of the social question. Social discontent might be put at rest for some time -
perhaps for twenty years, possibly even longer, but certainly throughout the
entire period of the Jewish migration.
The shape which the social question may take depends only
on the development of our technical resources. Steam power has concentrated men
around machines in factories where they are squeezed together and make one
another miserable. Production is enormous, indiscriminate, unplanned, and every
moment this brings about serious crises which ruin the workers along with the
management. Steam has crowded men together; the utilization of electricity will
presumably disperse them again and may improve the conditions under which they
work. In any case, the technical inventors, those true benefactors of mankind,
will continue their labors after the migration of the Jews starts and hopefully
will invent such wonderful things as before - no, ever more wonderful ones.
The word "impossible" already seems to have
disappeared from the language of technology. If a man who lived in the last
century returned to earth, he would find our whole life full of
incomprehensible magic. Wherever we modern men appear with our contrivances, we
transform the desert into a garden. To build a city it now takes us as many years
as it required centuries at an earlier stage of history; America offers
countless examples of this. The obstacle of distance has been overcome. The
storehouse of the modern spirit already contains immeasurable riches. Every day
this wealth increases; a hundred thousand minds think and search at every point
of the globe, and what one discovers belongs to the whole world the next
moment.
In the Jewish Land, we ourselves should like to make use
of all new experiments in pioneer fashion.
Just as we shall institute the seven-hour day as an
experiment for the good of humanity, we will lead the way in all humanitarian
activities and build the new land as a land of experiment and a model country.
After the departure of the Jews, the enterprises which
they have created will remain where they are. Nor will the Jewish spirit of
enterprise be lacking wherever it is welcome. Jewish investors will continue to
invest their liquid funds where they are familiar with local conditions. And
whereas Jewish capital, because of persecution, is now sent abroad to be
invested in the remotest of ventures, our peaceful solution will make it return
and contribute to the further prosperity of the countries in which Jews used to
live.
How much remains to be discussed, how many defects,
harmful superficialities, and useless repetitions there still are in this
pamphlet which I have so long considered and so frequently revised!
A fair-minded reader, one who also has enough insight to
grasp the spirit of my words, will not be repelled by these defects. He will,
instead, be stimulated to bring his sagacity and his energy to bear on a
project which is not one man's alone, and to improve it.
Have I explained obvious things and overlooked important
reservations?
I have tried to refute some objections; I know that there
will be others, many of them, both high-minded and base ones.
One of the high-minded objections is that the distress of
the Jews is not the only problem in the world. But I think that despite this we
ought to start removing a little misery, be it only our own for the time being.
It might further be said that we should not create new
distinctions between people, that we ought not to raise fresh barriers but make
the old ones disappear instead. I say that those who think along these lines
are lovable romantics; but the idea of a fatherland will go on flourishing long
after the dust of their bones will have been blown away without a trace.
Universal brotherhood is not even a beautiful dream. Conflict is needed for the
utmost exertion of a man's personality.
But how will this work? The Jews would probably have no
more enemies in their own State, and since prosperity would weaken them and
make them decline, would this not spell the final doom of the Jewish people? I
believe that the Jews, like every other nation, will always have enough
enemies. But once they are settled on their own soil, they can never again be
scattered all over the world. The Diaspora cannot be revived unless all of
civilization collapses, and only a simpleton can fear that. Our present-day
civilization has expedients enough to defend itself.
The base objections are innumerable, just as there are
more ignoble people than noble ones. I have tried to knock out some of the
narrow-minded notions. Anyone who wishes to rally behind the white flag with
the seven stars must assist in this campaign of enlightenment. Perhaps it will
be necessary first to do battle with certain evil, narrow-minded, short-sighted
Jews.
Will it be said that I am supplying the anti-Semites with
ammunition? How so? Because I admit the truth? Because I do not maintain that
there are none but excellent men among us?
Will it be said that I am pointing out a way in which we
could be harmed? This I deny most categorically. What I am proposing can be
carried out only with the free consent of a majority of Jews. It can be done
against the will of some individuals, even despite the opposition of groups of
Jews who today are most powerful, but never, absolutely never, can a state act
against all the Jews. The Jews' equal rights before the law cannot be rescinded
once they have been granted, for the very first attempts would immediately
drive all Jews, rich and poor alike, into the ranks of the revolutionary
parties. The very beginnings of official injustice toward the Jews invariably
produce economic crises. Thus there is really very little that can effectively
be done against us, unless people are prepared to hurt themselves. Yet hatred
grows and grows. The rich do not feel it much. But our poor! Just ask our poor,
who have been more dreadfully proletarianized since the resurgence of
anti-Semitism than ever before.
Will some of our well-to-do say that the pressure is not
yet great enough to justify emigration, and that even the forcible expulsions of
Jews have shown how reluctant our people are to depart? True, because they do
not know where to go! Because they only pass from one misery to another. But we
shall show them the way to the Promised Land. And the wonderful force of
enthusiasm will have to wrestle with the terrible force of habit.
Persecutions are no longer as vicious as they were in the
Middle Ages? True, but our sensitivity has increased, so that we feel no
diminution in our suffering. Prolonged persecution has overstrained our nerves.
And will some people say that the venture is hopeless,
because even if we obtain the land and the sovereignty only the poor people
will go along? They are the very ones we need first! Only desperate men make
good conquerors.
Will anybody say, Oh yes, if it were possible it would
have been done by now?
It was not possible before. It is possible now. As
recently as a hundred, even fifty years ago it would have been a dream. Today
it is all real. The rich, who have an epicurean acquaintance with all technical
advances, know very well what can be done with money. And this is how it will
be: Precisely the poor and plain people, who have no idea of the power that man
already exercises over the forces of Nature, will have the greatest faith in
the new message. For they have never lost their hope of the Promised Land.
Here it is, Jews! No fairy tale, no deception! Everyone
may convince himself of it, for every man will carry over with him a little
piece of the Promised Land: one in his brain, another in his brawn, a third in
the possessions he has acquired.
Now, all this may seem to be a long-drawn-out affair.
Even in the most favorable circumstances it might be many years before the
founding of the State is under way. In the meantime, Jews will be ridiculed,
offended, abused, whipped, plundered, and slain in a thousand different
localities. But no; just as soon as we begin to implement the plan,
anti-Semitism will immediately grind to a halt everywhere. For it is the
conclusion of peace. When the Jewish Company has been formed, this news will be
carried in a single day to the remotest ends of the earth with the lightning
speed of our telegraph wires.
And relief will ensue instantly. The average minds which
we overproduce in our middle classes will find an outlet in our organizations
as our first technicians, officers, professors, officials, jurists, physicians.
And so the movement will continue, rapidly but yet without any upheaval.
Prayers will be offered up in the temples for the success
of our undertaking. But in the churches as well! It will relieve an old
pressure, one under which all have suffered.
But first there must be light in men’s minds. The idea
must spread to the remotest miserable hamlets where our people live. They will
awaken from their torpor. For all our lives will have a new substance. Everyone
need think only of himself for the movement to become a tremendous one.
And what glory awaits the selfless fighters for the
cause!
That is why I believe that a wonderful breed of Jews will
spring up from the earth. The Maccabees will rise again.
Let me repeat my opening words once more: The Jews who
want a State of their own will have one.
We are to live at last as free men on our own soil and
die peacefully in our own homeland.
The world will be freed by our freedom, enriched by our
riches, and made greater by our greatness.
And whatever we attempt there only for our own welfare
will spread and redound mightily and blessedly to the good of all mankind.