It is astonishing how little insight into the science of
economics many of the men who move in the midst of active life possess. Hence
it is that even Jews faithfully repeat the cry of the Anti-Semites: "We
depend for sustenance on the nations who are our hosts, and if we had no hosts
to support us we should die of starvation." This is a point that shows
how unjust accusations may weaken our self-knowledge. But what are the true
grounds for this statement concerning the nations that act as
"hosts"? Where it is not based on limited physiocratic views it is
founded on the childish error that commodities pass from hand to hand in
continuous rotation. We need not wake from long slumber, like Rip van Winkle,
to realize that the world is considerably altered by the production of new
commodities. The technical progress made during this wonderful era enables
even a man of most limited intelligence to note with his short-sighted eyes
the appearance of new commodities all around him. The spirit of enterprise has
created them.
Labor without enterprise is the stationary labor of ancient
days; and typical of it is the work of the husbandman, who stands now just
where his progenitors stood a thousand years ago. All our material welfare has
been brought about by men of enterprise. I feel almost ashamed of writing down
so trite a remark. Even if we were a nation of entrepreneurs--such as absurdly
exaggerated accounts make us out to be--we should not require another nation
to live on. We do not depend on the circulation of old commodities, because we
produce new ones.
The world possesses slaves of extraordinary capacity for
work, whose appearance has been fatal to the production of handmade goods:
these slaves are the machines. It is true that workmen are required to set
machinery in motion; but for this we have men in plenty, in super-abundance.
Only those who are ignorant of the conditions of Jews in many countries of
Eastern Europe would venture to assert that Jews are either unfit or unwilling
to perform manual labor.
But I do not wish to take up the cudgels for the Jews in
this pamphlet. It would be useless. Everything rational and everything
sentimental that can possibly be said in their defense has been said already.
If one's hearers are incapable of comprehending them; one is a preacher in a
desert. And if one's hearers are broad and high-minded enough to have grasped
them already, then the sermon Is superfluous. I believe in the ascent of man
to higher and yet higher grades of civilization; but I consider this ascent to
be desperately slow. Were we to wait till aver age humanity 'had become as
charitably inclined as was Lessing when he wrote "Nathan the Wise,"
we should wait beyond our day, beyond the days of our children, of our
grandchildren, and of our great-grandchildren. But the world's spirit comes to
our aid in another way.
This century has given the world a wonderful renaissance by
means of its technical achievements; but at the same time its miraculous
improvements have not been employed in the service of humanity. Distance has
ceased to be an obstacle, vet we complain of insufficient space. Our great
steamships carry us swiftly and surely over hitherto unvisited seas. Our
railways carry us safely into a mountain-world hitherto tremblingly scaled on
foot. Events occurring in countries undiscovered when Europe confined the Jews
in Ghettos are known to us in the course of an hour. Hence the misery of the
Jews is an anachronism -- not because there was a period of enlightenment one
hundred years ago, for that enlightenment reached in reality only the choicest
spirits.
I believe that electric light was not invented for the
purpose of illuminating the drawing-rooms of a few snobs, but rather for the
purpose of throwing light on some of the dark problems of humanity. One of
these problems, and not the least of them, is the Jewish question. In solving
it we are working not only for ourselves, but also for many other
over-burdened and oppressed beings.
The Jewish question still exists. It would be foolish to
deny it. It is a remnant of the Middle Ages, which civilized nations do not:
even yet seem able to shake off, try as they will. They certainly showed a
generous desire to do so when they emancipated us. The Jewish question exists
wherever Jews live in perceptible numbers. Where it does not exist, it is
carried by Jews in the course of their migrations. We naturally move to those
places where we are not persecuted, and there our presence produces
persecution. This is the case in every country, and will remain so, even in
those highly civilized--for instance, France--until the Jewish question finds
a solution on a political basis. The unfortunate Jews are now carrying the
seeds of Anti-Semitism into England; they have already introduced it into
America.
I believe that I understand Anti-Semitism, which is really
a highly complex movement. I consider it from a Jewish standpoint, yet without
fear or hatred. I believe that I can see what elements there are in it of
vulgar sport, of common trade jealousy, of inherited prejudice, of religious
intolerance, and also of pretended self-defense. I think the Jewish question
is no more a social than a religious one, notwithstanding that it sometimes
takes these and other forms. It is a national question, which can only be
solved by making it a political world-question to be discussed and settled by
the civilized nations of the world in council.
We are a people--one people.
We have honestly endeavored everywhere to merge ourselves
in the social life of surrounding communities and to preserve the faith of our
fathers. We are not permitted to do so. In vain are we loyal patriots, our
loyalty in some places running to extremes; in vain do we make the same
sacrifices of life and property as our fellow-citizens; in vain do we strive
to increase the fame of our native land in science and art, or her wealth by
trade and commerce. In countries where we have lived for centuries we are
still cried down as strangers. and often by those whose ancestors were not yet
domiciled in the land where Jews had already had experience of suffering. The
majority may decide which are the strangers; for this, as indeed every point
which arises in the relations between nations, is a question of might. I do
not here surrender any portion of our prescriptive right, when I make this
statement merely in my own name as an individual. In the world as it now is
and for an indefinite period wilt probably remain, might precedes right. It is
useless, therefore, for us to be loyal patriots, as were the Huguenots who
were forced to emigrate. If we could only be left in peace. . . .
But I think we shall not be left in peace.
Oppression and persecution cannot exterminate us. No nation
on earth has survived such struggles and sufferings as we have gone through.
Jew-baiting has merely stripped off our weaklings; the strong among us were
invariably true to their race when persecution broke out against them. This
attitude was most clearly apparent in the period immediately following the
emancipation of the Jews. Those Jews who were advanced intellectually and
materially entirely lost the feeling of belonging to their race. Wherever our
political well-being has lasted for any length of time, we have assimilated
with our surroundings. I think this is not discreditable. Hence, the statesman
who would wish to see a Jewish strain in his nation would have to provide for
the duration of our political well-being; and even a Bismarck could not do
that.
For old prejudices against us still lie deep in the hearts
of the people. He who would have proofs of this need only listen to the people
where they speak with frankness and simplicity: proverb and fairy-tale are
both Anti-Semitic. A nation is everywhere a great child, which can certainly
be educated; but its education would, even in most favorable circumstances,
occupy such a vast amount of time that we could, as already mentioned, remove
our own difficulties by other means long before the process was accomplished.
Assimilation, by which I understood not only external
conformity in dress, habits, customs, and language, but also identity of
feeling and manner--assimilation of Jews could be effected only by
intermarriage. But the need for mixed marriages would have to be felt by the
majority; their mere recognition by law would certainly not suffice.
The Hungarian Liberals, who have just given legal sanction
to mixed marriages, have made a remarkable mistake which one of the earliest
cases clearly illustrates; a baptized Jew married a Jewess. At the same time
the struggle to obtain the present form of marriage accentuated distinctions
between Jews and Christians, thus hindering rather than aiding the fusion of
races.
Those who really wished to see the Jews disappear through
intermixture with other nations, can only hope to see it come about in one
way. The Jews must previously acquire economic power sufficiently great to
overcome the old social prejudice against them. The aristocracy may serve as
an example of this, for in its ranks occur the proportionately largest numbers
of mixed marriages. Jewish families which regild the old nobility with money
become gradually absorbed. But what form would this phenomenon assume in the
middle classes, where (the Jews being a bourgeois people) the Jewish question
is mainly concentrated? A previous acquisition of power could be synonymous
with that economic supremacy which Jews are already erroneously declared to
possess. And if the power they now possess creates rage and indignation among
the Anti-Semites, what outbreaks would such an increase of power create? Hence
the first step towards absorption will never be taken, because this step would
involve the subjection of the majority to a hitherto scorned minority,
possessing neither military nor administrative power of its own. I think,
therefore, that the absorption of Jews by means of their prosperity is
unlikely to occur. In countries which now are Anti-Semitic my view will be
approved. In others, where Jews now feel comfortable, it will probably be
violently disputed by them. My happier coreligionists will not believe me till
Jew-baiting teaches them the truth; for the longer Anti-Semitism lies in
abeyance the more fiercely will it break out. The infiltration of immigrating
Jews, attracted to a land by apparent security, and the ascent in the social
scale of native Jews, combine powerfully to bring about a revolution. Nothing
is plainer than this rational conclusion.
Because I have drawn this conclusion with complete
indifference to everything but the quest of truth, I shall probably be
contradicted and opposed by Jews who are in easy circumstances. Insofar as
private interests alone are held by their anxious or timid possessors to be in
danger, they can safely be ignored, for the concerns of the poor and oppressed
are of greater importance than theirs. But I wish from the outset to prevent
any misconception from arising, particularly the mistaken notion that my
project, if realized, would in the least degree injure property now held by
Jews. I shall therefore explain everything connected with rights of property
very fully. Whereas, if my plan never becomes anything more than a piece of
literature, things will merely remain as they are. It might more reasonably be
objected that I am giving a handle to anti-Semitism when I say we are a
people--one people; that I am hindering the assimilation of Jews where it is
about to be consummated, and endangering it where it is an accomplished fact,
insofar as it is possible for a solitary writer to hinder, or endanger
anything. This objection will be especially brought forward in France. It will
probably also be made in other countries, but I shall answer only the French
Jews beforehand, because these afford the most striking example of my point.
However much I may worship personality-powerful individual
personality in statesmen, inventors, artists, philosophers, or leaders, as
well as the collective personality of a historic group of human beings, which
we call a nation--however much I may worship personality, I do not regret its
disappearance. Whoever can, will, and must perish, let him perish. But the
distinctive nationality of Jews neither can, will, nor must be destroyed. It
cannot be destroyed, because external enemies consolidate it. It will not be
destroyed; this is shown during two thousand years of appalling suffering. It
must not be destroyed, and that, as a descendant of numberless Jews who
refused to despair, I am trying once more to prove in this pamphlet. Whole
branches of Judaism may wither and fall, but the trunk will remain.
Hence, if all or any of the French Jews protest against
this scheme on account of their own "assimilation," my answer is
simple: The whole thing does not concern them at all. They are Jewish
Frenchmen, well and good! This is a private affair for the Jews alone. The
movement towards the organization of the State I am proposing would, of
course, harm Jewish Frenchmen no more than it would harm the
"assimilated" of other countries. It would, on the contrary, be
distinctly to their advantage. For they would no longer be disturbed in their
"chromatic function," as Darwin puts it, but would be able to
assimilate in peace, because the present Anti- Semitism would have been
stopped for ever. They would certainly be credited with being assimilated to
the very depths of their souls, if they stayed where they were after the new
Jewish State, with its superior institutions, had become a reality. The
"assimilated" would profit even more than Christian citizens by the
departure of faithful Jews; for they would be rid of the disquieting,
incalculable, and unavoidable rivalry of a Jewish proletariat, driven by
poverty and political pressure from place to place, from land to land. This
floating proletariat would become stationary. Many Christian citizens--whom we
call Anti-Semites -n now offer determined resistance to the immigration of
foreign Jews. Jewish citizens cannot do this, although it affects them far
more directly; for on them they feel first of all the keen competition of
individuals carrying on similar branches of industry, who, in addition, either
introduce Anti-Semitism where it does not exist, or intensify it where it
does. The "assimilated" give expression to this secret grievance in
"philanthropic" undertakings. They organize emigration societies for
wandering Jews. There is a reverse to the picture which would be comic, if it
did not deal with human beings. For some of these charitable institutions are
created not for, but against, persecuted Jews; they are created to despatch
these poor creatures just as fast and far as possible. And thus, many an
apparent friend of the Jews turns out, on careful inspection, to be nothing
more than an Anti-Semite of Jewish origin, disguised as a philanthropist.
But the attempts at colonization made even by really
benevolent men, interesting attempts though they were, have so far been
unsuccessful. I do not think that this or that man took up the matter merely
as an amusement, that they engaged in the emigration of poor Jews as one
indulges in the racing of horses. The matter was too grave and tragic for such
treatment. These attempts were interesting, in that they represented on a
small scale the practical fore-runners of the idea of a Jewish State. They
were even useful, for out of their mistakes may be gathered experience for
carrying the idea out successfully on a larger scale. They have, of course,
done harm also. The transportation of Anti-Semitism to new districts, which is
the inevitable consequence of such artificial infiltration, seems to me to be
the least of these evils. Far worse is the circumstance that unsatisfactory
results tend to cast doubts on intelligent men. What is impractical or
impossible to simple argument will remove this doubt from the minds of
intelligent men. What is unpractical or impossible to accomplish on a small
scale, need not necessarily be so on a larger one. A small enterprise may
result in loss under the same conditions which would make a large one pay. A
rivulet cannot even be navigated by boats, the river into which it flows
carries stately iron vessels.
No human being is wealthy or powerful enough to transplant
a nation from one habitation to another. An idea alone can achieve that and
this idea of a State may have the requisite power to do so. The Jews have
dreamt this kingly dream all through the long nights of their history.
"Next year in Jerusalem" is our old phrase. It is now a question of
showing that the dream can be converted into a living reality.
For this, many old, outgrown, confused and limited notions
must first be entirely erased from the minds of men. Dull brains might, for
instance, imagine that this exodus would be from civilized regions into the
desert. That is not the case. It will be carried out in the midst of
civilization. We shall not revert to a lower stage, we shall rise to a higher
one. We shall not dwell in mud huts; we shall build new more beautiful and
more modern houses, and possess them in safety. We shall not lose our acquired
possessions we shall realize them. We shall surrender our well earned rights
only for better ones. We shall not sacrifice our be loved customs; we shall
find them again. We shall nor leave our old home before the new one is
prepared for us Those only will depart who are sure thereby to improve their
position; those who are now desperate will go first after them the poor; next
the prosperous, and, last of all the wealthy. Those who go in advance will
raise themselves to a higher grade, equal to those whose representatives will
shortly follow. Thus the exodus will be at the same time an ascent of the
class.
The departure of the Jews will involve no economic
disturbances, no crises, no persecutions; in fact, the countries they abandon
will revive to a new period of prosperity. There will be an inner migration of
Christian citizens into the positions evacuated by Jews. The outgoing current
will be gradual, without any disturbance, and its initial movement will put an
end to Anti-Semitism. The Jews will leave as honored friends, and if some of
them return, they will receive the same favorable welcome and treatment at the
hands of civilized nations as is accorded to all foreign visitors. Their
exodus will have no resemblance to a flight, for it will be a well-regulated
movement under control of public opinion. The movement will not only be
inaugurated with absolute conformity to law, but it cannot even be carried out
without the friendly cooperation of interested Governments, who would derive
considerable benefits from it.
Security for the integrity of the idea and the vigor of its
execution will be found in the creation of a body corporate, or corporation.
This corporation will be called "The Society of Jews." In addition
to it there will be a Jewish company, an economically productive body.
An individual who attempted even to undertake this huge
task alone would be either an impostor or a madman. The personal character of
the members of the corporation will guarantee its integrity, and the adequate
capital of the Company will prove its stability.
These prefatory remarks are merely intended as a hasty
reply to the mass of objections which the very words "Jewish State"
are certain to arouse. Henceforth we shall proceed more slowly to meet further
objections and to explain in detail what has been as yet only indicated; and
we shall try in the interests of this pamphlet to avoid making it a dull
exposition. Short aphoristic chapters will therefore best answer the purpose.
If I wish to substitute a new building for an old one, I
must demolish before I construct. I shall therefore keep to this natural
sequence. In the first and general part 1 shall explain my ideas, remove all
prejudices, determine essential political and economic conditions, and develop
the plan.
In the special part, which is divided into three principal
sections, I shall describe its execution. These three sections are: The Jewish
Company, Local Groups, and the Society of Jews. The Society is to be created
first, the Company last; but in this exposition the reverse order is
preferable, because it is the financial soundness of the enterprise which will
chiefly be called into question, and doubts on this score must be removed
first.
In the conclusion, I shall try to meet every further
objection that could possibly be made. My Jewish readers will, I hope, follow
me patiently to the end. Some will naturally make their objections in an order
of succession other than that chosen for their refutation. But whoever finds
his doubts dispelled should give allegiance to the cause.
Although I speak of reason, I am fully aware that reason
alone will not suffice. Old prisoners do not willingly leave their cells. We
shall see whether the youth whom we need are at our command--the youth, who
irresistibly draw on the old, carry them forward on strong arms, and transform
rational motives into enthusiasm.
No one can deny the gravity of the situation of the Jews.
Wherever they live in perceptible numbers, they are more or less persecuted.
Their equality before the law, granted by statute, has become practically a
dead letter. They are debarred from filling even moderately high positions,
either in the army, or in any public or private capacity. And attempts are
made to thrust them out of business also: "Don't buy from Jews!"
Attacks in Parliaments, in assemblies, in the press, in the
pulpit, in the street, on journeys--for example, their exclusion from certain
hotels--even in places of recreation, become daily more numerous. The forms of
persecution varying according to the countries and social circles in which
they occur. In Russia, imposts are levied on Jewish villages; in Rumania, a
few persons are put to death; in Germany, they get a good beating
occasionally; in Austria, Anti-Semites exercise terrorism over all public
life; in Algeria, there are traveling agitators; in Paris, the Jews are shut
out of the so-called best social circles and excluded from clubs. Shades of
anti-Jewish feeling are innumerable. But this is not to be an attempt to make
out a doleful category of Jewish hardships.
I do not intend to arouse sympathetic emotions on our
behalf. That would be foolish, futile, and undignified proceeding. I shall
content myself with putting the following questions to the Jews: Is it not
true that, in countries where we live in perceptible numbers, the position of
Jewish lawyers, doctors, technicians, teachers, and employees of all
descriptions becomes daily more intolerable? Is it not true, that the Jewish
middle classes are seriously threatened? Is it not true, that the passions of
the mob are incited against our wealthy people? Is it not true, that our poor
endure greater sufferings than any other proletariat? I think that this
external pressure makes itself felt everywhere. In our economically upper
classes it causes discomfort, in our middle classes continual and grave
anxieties, in our lower classes absolute despair.
Everything tends, in fact, to one and the same conclusion,
which is clearly enunciated in that classic Berlin phrase: "Juden Raus"
(Out with the Jews !)
shall now put the Question in the briefest possible form:
Are we to "get out" now and where to?
Or, may we yet remain? And, how long?
Let us first settle the point of staying where we are. Can
we hope for better days, can we possess our souls in patience, can we wait in
pious resignation till the princes and peoples of this earth are more
mercifully disposed towards us? I say that we cannot hope for a change in the
current of feeling. And why not? Even if we were as near to the hearts of
princes as are their other subjects, they could not protect us. They would
only feel popular hatred by showing us too much favor. By "too
much," I really mean less than is claimed as a right by every ordinary
citizen, or by every race. The nations in whose midst Jews live are all either
covertly or openly Anti-Semitic.
The common people have not, and indeed cannot have, any
historic comprehension. They do not know that the sins of the Middle Ages are
now being visited on the nations of Europe. We are what the Ghetto made us. We
have attained pre-eminence in finance, because mediaeval conditions drove us
to it. The same process is now being repeated. We are again being forced into
finance, now it is the stock exchange, by being kept out of other branches of
economic activity. Being on the stock exchange, we are consequently exposed
afresh to contempt. At the same time we continue to produce an abundance of
mediocre intellects who find no outlet, and this endangers our social position
as much as does our increasing wealth. Educated Jews without means are now
rapidly becoming Socialists. Hence we are certain to suffer very severely in
the struggle between classes, because we stand in the most exposed position in
the camps of both Socialists and capitalists.
PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT A SOLUTION
The artificial means heretofore employed to overcome the
troubles of Jews have been either too petty -- such as attempts at
colonization -- or attempts to convert the Jews into peasants in their present
homes. What is achieved by transporting a few thousand Jews to another
country? Either they come to grief at once, or prosper, and then their
prosperity creates Anti-Semitism. We have already discussed these attempts to
divert poor Jews to fresh districts. This diversion is clearly inadequate and
futile, if it does not actually defeat its own ends; for it merely protracts
and postpones a solution, and perhaps even aggravates difficulties.
Whoever would attempt to convert the Jew into a hushandman
would be making an extraordinary mistake. For a peasant is in a historical
category, as proved by his costume which in some countries he has worn for
centuries; and by his tools, which are identical with those used by his
earliest forefathers. His plough is unchanged; he carries the seed in his
apron; mows with the historical scythe, and threshes with the time-honored
flail. But we know that all this can be done by machinery. The agrarian
question is only a question of machinery. America must conquer Europe, in the
same way as large landed possessions absorb small ones. The peasant is
consequently a type which is in course of extinction. Whenever he is
artificially preserved, it is done on account of the political interests which
he is intended to serve. It is absurd, and indeed impossible, to make modern
peasants on the old pattern. No one is wealthy or powerful enough to make
civilization take a single retrograde step. The mere preservation of obsolete
institutions is a task severe enough to require the enforcement of all the
despotic measures of an autocratically governed State.
Are we, therefore, to credit Jews who are intelligent with
a desire to become peasants of the old type? One might just as well say to
them: "Here is a cross-bow: now go to war!" What? With a cross-bow,
while the others have rifles and long range guns? Under these circumstances
the Jews' are perfectly justified in refusing to stir when people try to make
peasants of them. A cross-bow is a beautiful weapon, which inspires me with
mournful feelings when I have time to devote to them. But it belongs by rights
to a museum. Now, there certainly are districts to which desperate Jews go
out, or at any rate, are willing to go out and till the soil. And a little
observation shows that these districts -- such as the enclave of Hesse in
Germany, and some provinces in Russia -- these very districts are the
principal seats of Anti-Semitism.
For the world's reformers, who send the Jews to the plough,
forget a very important person, who has a great deal to say on the matter.
This person is the agriculturist, and the agriculturist is also perfectly
justified. For the tax on land, the risks attached to crops, the pressure of
large proprietors who cheapen labor, and American competition in particular,
combine to make his life hard enough. Besides, the duties on corn cannot go on
increasing indefinitely. Nor can the manufacturer be allowed to starve; his
political influence is, in fact, in the ascendant, and he must therefore be
treated with additional consideration.
All these difficulties are well known, therefore I refer to
them only cursorily. I merely wanted to indicate clearly how futile had been
past attempts -- most 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, will overcome the difficulty. The
supposed infallible expedient of assimilation has already been dealt with. We
cannot get the better of Anti-Semitism by any of these methods. It cannot die
out so long as its causes are not removed. Are they removable?
CAUSES OF ANTI-SEMITISM
We shall not again touch on those causes which are a result
of temperament, prejudice and narrow views, but shall here restrict ourselves
to political and economical causes alone. Modern Anti-Semitism is not to be
confounded with the religious persecution of the Jews of former times. It does
occasionally take a religious bias in some countries, but the main current of
the aggressive movement has now changed. In the principal countries where
Anti-Semitism prevails, it does so as a result of the emancipation of the
Jews. When civilized nations awoke to the inhumanity of discriminatory
legislation and enfranchised us, our enfranchisement came too late. It was no
longer possible to remove our disabilities in our old homes. For we had,
curiously enough, developed while in the Ghetto into a bourgeois people, and
we stepped out of it only to enter into fierce competition with the middle
classes. Hence, our emancipation set us suddenly within this middle-class
circle, where we have a double pressure to sustain, from within and from
without. The Christian bourgeoisie would not be unwilling to cast us as a
sacrifice to Socialism, though that would not greatly improve matters.
At the same time, the equal rights of Jews before the law
cannot be withdrawn where they have once been conceded. Not only because their
withdrawal would be opposed to the spirit of our age, but also because it
would immediately drive all Jews, rich and poor alike, into the ranks of
subversive parties. Nothing effectual can really be done to our injury. In
olden days our jewels were seized. How is our movable property to be got hold
of now? It consists of printed papers which are locked up somewhere or other
in the world, perhaps in the coffers of Christians. It is, of course, possible
to get at shares and debentures in railways, banks and industrial undertakings
of all descriptions by taxation, and where the progressive income-tax is in
force all our movable property can eventually be laid hold of. But all these
efforts cannot be directed against Jews alone, and wherever they might
nevertheless be made, severe economic crises would be their immediate
consequences, which would be by no means confined to the Jews who would be the
first affected. The very impossibility of getting at the Jews nourishes and
embitters hatred of them. Anti-Semitism increases day by day and hour by hour
among the nations; indeed, it is bound to increase, because the causes of its
growth continue to exist and cannot be removed. Its remote cause is our loss
of the power of assimilation during the Middle Ages; its immediate cause is
our excessive production of mediocre intellects, who cannot find an outlet
downwards or upwards -- that is to say, no wholesome outlet in either
direction. When we sink, we become a revolutionary proletariat, the
subordinate officers of all revolutionary parties; and at the same time, when
we rise, there rises also our terrible power of the purse.
EFFECTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM
The oppression we endure does not improve us, for we are
not a whit better than ordinary people. It is true that we do not love our
enemies; but he alone who can conquer himself dare reproach us with that
fault. Oppression naturally creates hostility against oppressors, and our
hostility aggravates the pressure. It is impossible to escape from this
eternal circle.
"No!" Some soft-hearted visionaries will say:
"No, it is possible! Possible by means of the ultimate perfection of
humanity."
s it necessary to point to the sentimental folly of this
view? He who would found his hope for improved conditions on the ultimate
perfection of humanity would indeed be relying upon a Utopia ! referred
previously to our "assimilation". I do not for a moment wish to
imply that I desire such an end. Our national character is too historically
famous, and, in spite of every degradation, too fine to make its annihilation
desirable. We might perhaps be able to merge ourselves entirely into
surrounding races, if these were to leave us in peace for a period of two
generations. But they will not leave us in peace. For a little period they
manage to tolerate us, and then their hostility breaks out again and again.
The world is provoked somehow by our prosperity, because it has for many
centuries been accustomed to consider us as the most contemptible among the
poverty-stricken. In its ignorance and narrowness of heart, it fails to
observe that prosperity weakens our Judaism and extinguishes our
peculiarities. It is only pressure that forces us back to the parent stem; it
is only hatred encompassing us that makes us strangers once more. Thus,
whether we like it or not, we are now, and shall henceforth remain, a historic
group with unmistakable characteristics common to us all.
We are one people--our enemies have made us one without our
consent, as repeatedly happens in history. Distress binds us together, and,
thus united, we suddenly discover our strength. Yes, we are strong enough to
form a State, and, indeed, a model State. We possess all human and material
resources necessary for the purpose.
This is therefore the appropriate place to give an account
of what has been somewhat roughly termed our "human material." But
it would not be appreciated till the broad lines of the plan, on which
everything depends, has first been marked out.
THE PLAN
The whole plan is in its essence perfectly simple, as it
must necessarily be if it is to come within the comprehension of all.
Let the sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the
globe large enough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation; the rest
we shall manage for ourselves.
The creation of a new State is neither ridiculous nor
impossible. We have in our day witnessed the process in connection with
nations which were not largely members of the middle class, but poorer, less
educated, and consequently weaker than ourselves. The Governments of all
countries scourged by Anti-Semitism will be keenly interested in assisting us
to obtain the sovereignty we want.
The plan, simple in design, but complicated in execution,
will be carried out by two agencies: The Society of Jews and the Jewish
Company.
The Society of Jews will do the preparatory work in the
domains of science and politics, which the Jewish Company will afterwards
apply practically.
The Jewish Company will be the liquidating agent of the
business interests of departing Jews, and will organize commerce and trade in
the new country.
We must not imagine the departure of the Jews to be a
sudden one. It will be gradual, continuous, and will cover many decades. The
poorest will go first to cultivate the soil. In accordance with a preconceived
plan, they will construct roads, bridges, railways and telegraph
installations; regulate rivers; and build their own dwellings; their labor
will create trade, trade will create markets and markets will attract new
settlers, for every man will go voluntarily, at his own expense and his own
risk. The labor expended on the land will enhance its value, and the Jews will
soon perceive that a new and permanent sphere of operation is opening here for
that spirit of enterprise which has heretofore met only with hatred and
obloquy.
If we wish to found a State today, we shall not do it in
the way which would have been the only possible one a thousand years ago. It
is foolish to revert to old stages of civilization, as many Zionists would
like to do. Supposing, for example, we were obliged to clear a country of wild
beasts, we should not set about the task in the fashion of Europeans of the
fifth century. We should not take spear and lance and go out singly in pursuit
of bears; we would organize a large and active hunting party, drive the
animals together, and throw a melinite bomb into their midst.
If we wish to conduct building operations, we shall not
plant a mass of stakes and piles on the shore of a lake, but we shall build as
men build now. Indeed, we shall build in a bolder and more stately style than
was ever adopted before, for we now possess means which men never yet
possessed.
The emigrants standing lowest in the economic scale will be
slowly followed by those of a higher grade. Those who at this moment are
living in despair will go first. They will be led by the mediocre intellects
which we produce so superabundantly and which are persecuted everywhere.
This pamphlet will open a general discussion on the Jewish
Question, but that does not mean that there will be any voting on it. Such a
result would ruin the cause from the outset, and dissidents must remember that
allegiance or opposition is entirely voluntary. He who will not come with us
should remain behind.
Let all who are willing to join us, fall in behind our
banner and fight for our cause with voice and pen and deed.
Those Jews who agree with our idea of a State will attach
themselves to the Society, which will thereby be authorized to confer and
treat with Governments in the name of our people. The Society will thus be
acknowledged in its relations with Governments as a State-creating power. This
acknowledgment will practically create the State.
Should the Powers declare themselves willing to admit our
sovereignty over a neutral piece of land, then the Society will enter into
negotiations for the possession of this land. Here two territories come under
consideration, Palestine and Argentine. In both countries important
experiments in colonization have been made, though on the mistaken principle
of a gradual infiltration of Jews. An infiltration is bound to end badly. It
continues till the inevitable moment when the native population feels itself
threatened, and forces the Government to stop a further influx of Jews.
Immigration is consequently futile unless we have the sovereign right to
continue such immigration.
The Society of Jews will treat with the present masters of
the land, putting itself under the protectorate of the European Powers, if
they prove friendly to the plan. We could offer the present possessors of the
land enormous advantages, assume part of the public debt, build new roads for
traffic, which our presence in the country would render necessary, and do many
other things. The creation of our State would be beneficial to adjacent
countries, because the cultivation of a strip of land increases the value of
its surrounding districts in innumerable ways.
PALESTINE OR ARGENTINE?
Shall we choose Palestine or Argentine? We shall take what
is given us, and what is selected by Jewish public opinion. The Society will
determine both these points.
Argentine is one of the most fertile countries in the
world, extends over a vast area, has a sparse population and a mild climate.
The Argentine Republic would derive considerable profit from the cession of a
portion of its territory to us. The present infiltration of Jews has certainly
produced some discontent, and it would be necessary to enlighten the Republic
on the intrinsic difference of our new movement.
Palestine is our ever-memorable historic home. The very
name of Palestine would attract our people with a force of marvelous potency.
If His Majesty the Sultan were to give us Palestine, we could in return
undertake to regulate the whole finances of Turkey. We should there form a
portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as
opposed to barbarism. We should as a neutral State remain in contact with all
Europe, which would have to guarantee our existence. The sanctuaries of
Christendom would be safeguarded by assigning to them an extra-territorial
status such as is well-known to the law of nations. We should form a guard of
honor about these sanctuaries, answering for the fulfillment of this duty with
our existence. This guard of honor would be the great symbol of the solution
of the Jewish question after eighteen centuries of Jewish suffering.
DEMAND, MEDIUM, TRADE
I said in the last chapter, "The Jewish Company will
organize trade and commerce in the new country." I shall here insert a
few remarks on that point.
A scheme such as mine is gravely imperiled if it is opposed
by "practical" people. Now "practical" people are as a
rule nothing more than men sunk into the groove of daily routine, unable to
emerge from a narrow circle of antiquated ideas. At the same time, their
adverse opinion carries great weight, and can do considerable harm to a new
project, at any rate until this new thing is sufficiently strong to throw the
"practical" people and their mouldy notions to the winds.
In the earliest period of European railway construction
some "practical" people were of the opinion that it was foolish to
build certain lines "because there were not even sufficient passengers to
fill the mail-coaches." They did not realize the truth -- which now seems
obvious to us -- that travelers do not produce railways, but, conversely,
railways produce travelers, the latent demand, of course, is taken for
granted.
The impossibility of comprehending how trade and commerce
are to be created in a new country which has yet to be acquired and
cultivated, may be classed with those doubts of "practical" persons
concerning the need of railways. A "practical" person would express
himself somewhat in this fashion:
"Granted that the present situation of the Jews is in
many plates unendurable, and aggravated day by day; granted that there exists
a desire to emigrate; granted even that the Jews do emigrate to the new
country; how will they earn their living there, and what will they earn? What
are they to live on when there! The business of many people cannot be
artificially organized in a day.
To this I should reply: We have not the slightest intention
of organizing trade artificially, and we should certainly not attempt to do it
in a day. But, though the organization of it may be impossible, the promotion
of it is not. And how is commerce to be encouraged? Through the medium of a
demand. The demand recognized, the medium created, it will establish itself.
If there is a real earnest demand among Jews for an
improvement of their status; if the medium to be created -- the Jewish Company
-- is sufficiently powerful, then commerce will extend itself freely in the
new country.
OUTLINES
The Jewish Company is partly modeled on the lines of a great
land-acquisition company. It might be called a Jewish Chartered Company,
though it cannot exercise sovereign power, and has other than purely colonial
tasks.
The Jewish Company will be founded as a joint stock company subject to
English jurisdiction, framed according to English laws, and under the
protection of England. Its principal center will be London. I cannot tell yet
how large the Company's capital should be; I shall leave that calculation to
our numerous financiers. But to avoid ambiguity, I shall put it at a thousand
million marks (about £50,000,000 or $200,000,000); it may be either more or
less than that sum. The form of subscription, which will be further
elucidated, will determine what fraction of the whole amount must be paid in
at once.
The Jewish Company is an organization with a transitional character. It is
strictly a business undertaking, and must be carefully distinguished from the
Society of Jews.
The Jewish Company will first of all convert into cash all vested interests
left by departing Jews. The method adopted will prevent the occurrences of
crises, secure every man's property, and facilitate that inner migration of
Christian citizens which has already been indicated.
NON-TRANSFERABLE GOODS
The non-transferable goods which come under consideration are buildings,
land, and local business connections. The Jewish Company will at first take
upon itself no more than the necessary negotiations for effecting the sale of
these goods. These Jewish sales will take place freely and without any serious
fall in prices. The Company's branch establishments in various towns will
become the central offices for the sale of Jewish estates, and will charge
only so much commission on transactions as will ensure their financial
stability.
The development of this movement may cause a considerable fall in the
prices of landed property, and may eventually make it impossible to find a
market for it. At this juncture the Company will enter upon another branch of
its functions. It will take over the management of abandoned estates till such
time as it can dispose of them to the greatest advantage. It will collect
house rents, let out land on lease, and install business managers -- these, on
account of the required supervision, being, if possible, tenants also. The
Company will endeavor everywhere to facilitate the acquisition of land by its
tenants, who are Christians. It win, indeed, gradually replace its own
officials in the European branches by Christian substitutes (lawyers, etc.);
and these are not by any means to become servants of the Jews; they are
intended to be free agents to the Christian population, so that everything may
be carried through in equity, fairness and justice, and without imperiling the
internal welfare of the people.
At the same time the Company will sell estates, or, rather, exchange them.
For a house it will offer a house in the new country; and for land, land in
the new country; everything being, if possible, transferred to the new soil in
the same state as it was in the old. And this transfer will be a great and
recognized source of profit to the Company. "Over there" the houses
offered in exchange will be newer, more beautiful, and more comfortably
fitted, and the landed estates of greater value than those abandoned; but they
will cost the Company comparatively little, because it will have bought the
ground very cheaply.
PURCHASE OF LAND
The land which the Society of Jews will have secured by international law
must, of course, be privately acquired. Provisions made by individuals for
their own settlement do not come within the province of this general account.
But the Company will require large areas for its own needs and ours, and these
it must secure by centralized purchase. It will negotiate principally for the
acquisition of fiscal domains, with the great object of taking possession of
this land "over there" without paying a price too high, in the same
way as it sells here without accepting one too low. A forcing of prices is not
to be considered, because the value of the land will be created by the Company
through its organizing the settlement in conjunction with the supervising
Society of Jews. The latter will see to it that the enterprise does not become
a Panama, but a Suez.
The Company will sell building sites at reasonable rates to its officials,
and will allow them to mortgage these for the building of their homes,
deducting the amount due from their salaries, or putting it down to their
account as increased emolument. This will, in addition to the honors they
expect, will be additional pay for their services.
All the immense profits of this speculation in land will go to the Company,
which is bound to receive this indefinite premium in return for having borne
the risk of the undertaking. When the undertaking involves any risk, the
profits must be freely given to those who have borne it. But under no other
circumstances will profits be permitted. Financial morality consists in the
correlation of risk and profit.
BUILDINGS
The Company will thus barter houses and estates. It must be plain to any
one who has observed the rise in the value of land through its cultivation
that the Company will be bound to gain on its landed property. This can best
be seen in the case of enclosed pieces of land in town and country. Areas not
built over increase in value through surrounding cultivation. The men who
carried out the extension of Paris made a successful speculation in land which
was ingenious in its simplicity; instead of erecting new buildings in the
immediate vicinity of the last houses of the town, they bought up adjacent
pieces of land, and began to build on the outskirts of these. This inverse
order of construction raised the value of building sites with extraordinary
rapidity, and, after having completed the outer ring, they built in the middle
of the town on these highly valuable sites, instead of continually erecting
houses at the extremity.
Will the Company do its own building, or employ independent architects! It
can, and will, do both. It has, as will be shown shortly, an immense reserve
of working power, which will not be sweated by the Company, but, transported
into brighter and happier conditions of life, will nevertheless not be
expensive. Our geologists will have looked to the provision of building
materials when they selected the sites of the towns.
What is to be the principle of construction?
WORKMEN'S DWELLINGS
The workmen's dwellings (which include the dwellings of all operatives)
will be erected at the Company's own risk and expense. They will resemble
neither those melancholy workmen's barracks of European towns, nor those
miserable rows of shanties which surround factories; they will certainly
present a uniform appearance, because the Company must build cheaply where it
provides the building materials to a great extent; but the detached houses in
little gardens will be united into attractive groups in each locality. The
natural conformation of the land will rouse the ingenuity of our young
architects, whose ideas have not yet been cramped by routine; and even ii the
people do not grasp the whole import of the plan, they will at any rate feel
at ease in their loose clusters. The Temple will be visible from long
distances, for it is only our ancient faith that has kept us together. There
will be light, attractive, healthy schools for children, conducted on the most
approved modern systems. There will be continuation-schools for workmen, which
will educate them in greater technical knowledge and enable them to be come
intimate with the working of machinery. There will be places of amusement for
the proper conduct of which the Society of Jews will be responsible.
We are, however, speaking merely of the buildings at present, and not of
what may take place inside of them.
I said that the Company would build workmen's dwellings cheaply. And
cheaply, not only because of the proximity of abundant building materials, not
only because of the Company's proprietorship of the sites, but also because of
the non-payment of workmen.
American farmers work on the system of mutual assistance in the
construction of houses. This childishly amicable system, which is as clumsy as
the block-houses erected, can be developed on much finer lines.
UNSKILLED LABORERS
Our unskilled laborers, who will come at first from the great reservoirs of
Russia and Rumania, must, of course, render each other assistance, in the
construction of houses. They will be obliged to build with wood in the
beginning, because iron will not be immediately available. Later on the
original, inadequate, makeshift buildings will be replaced by superior
dwellings.
Our unskilled laborers will first mutually erect these shelters; and then
they will earn their houses as permanent possessions by means of their work --
not immediately, but after three years of good conduct. In this way we shall
secure energetic and able men, and these men will be practically trained for
life by three years of labor under good discipline. I said before that the
Company would not have to pay these unskilled laborers. What will they live
on?
On the whole, I am opposed to the Truck system,[the practice of paying the
workman's wages in goods instead of money.] but it will have to be applied in
the case of these first settlers. The Company provides for them in so many
ways, that it may take charge of their maintenance. In any case the Truck
system will be enforced only during the first few years, and it will benefit
the workmen by preventing their being exploited by small traders, landlords,
etc. The Company will thus make it impossible from the outset for those of our
people, who are perforce hawkers and peddlers here, to reestablish themselves
in the same trades over there. And the Company will also keep back drunkards
and dissolute men. Then will there be no payment of wages at all during the
first period of settlement. Certainly, there will be wages for overtime.
THE SEVEN-HOUR DAY
The seven-hour day is the regular working day.
This does not imply that wood-cutting, digging, stonebreaking, and a
hundred other daily tasks should only t performed during seven hours. Indeed
not. There will t fourteen hours of labor, work being done in shifts of three
and a half hours. The organization of all this will be military in character;
there will be commands, promotions and pensions, the means by which these
pensions are provided being explained further on.
A sound man can do a great deal of concentrated work in three and a half
hours. After an interval of the same length of time -- which he will devote to
rest, to his family and to his education under guidance -- he will be quite
fresh for work again. Such labor can do wonders. The seven-hour day thus
implies fourteen hours of joint labor -- more than that cannot be put into a
day.
I am convinced that it is quite possible to introduce the seven-hour day
with success. The attempts to do so in Belgium and England are well known.
Some advance political economists who have studied the subject, declare that a
five-hour day would suffice. The Society of Jew and the Jewish Company will,
in any case, make net and extensive experiments which will benefit the other
nations of the world; and if the seven-hour day prove itself practicable, it
will be introduced in our future State as the legal and regular working day.
Meantime, the Company will always allow its employee the seven-hour day;
and it will always be in a position to do so.
The seven-hour day will be the call to summon our people in every part of
the world. All must come voluntarily, for ours must indeed be the Promised
Land. ..
Whoever works longer than seven hours receives his additional pay for
overtime in cash. Seeing that all his needs are supplied, and that those
members of his family who are unable to work are provided for by transplanted
and centralized philanthropic institutions, he can save a little money.
Thrift, which is already a characteristic of our people, should be greatly
encouraged, because it will, in the first place, facilitate the rise of
individuals to higher grades; and secondly, the money saved will provide an
immense reserve fund for future loans. Overtime will only be permitted on a
doctor's certificate, and must not exceed three hours. For our men will crowd
to work in the new country, and the world will see then what an industrious
people we are.
I shall nut describe the mode of carrying out the Truck system, nor, in
fact, the innumerable details of any process, for fear of confusing my
readers. Women will not be allowed to perform any arduous labor, nor to work
overtime.
Pregnant women will be relieved of all work, and will be supplied with
nourishing food by the Truck. We want our future generations to be strong men
and women.
We shall educate children as we wish from the commencement; but this I
shall not elaborate either.
My remarks on workmen's dwellings, and on unskilled laborers and their mode
of life, are no more Utopian than the rest of my scheme. Everything I have
spoken of is already being put into practice, only on an utterly small scale,
neither noticed nor understood. The "Assistance par le Travail,"
which I learned to know and understand in Paris, was of great service to me in
the solution of the Jewish question.
RELIEF BY LABOR
The system of relief by labor which is now applied in Paris, in many other
French towns, in England, in Switzerland, and in America, is a very small
thing, but capable of the greatest expansion.
What is the principle of relief by labor?
The principle is: to furnish every needy man with easy, unskilled work,
such as chopping wood, or cutting faggots used for lighting stoves in Paris
households. This is a kind of prison-work before the crime, done without loss
of character. It is meant to prevent men from taking to crime out of want, by
providing them with work and testing their willingness to do it. Starvation
must never be allowed to drive men to suicide; for such suicides are the
deepest disgrace to a civilization which allows rich men to throw tid-bits to
their dogs.
Relief by labor thus provides every one with work. But the system has a
great defect; there is not a sufficiently large demand for the production of
the unskilled workers employed, hence there is a loss to those who employ
them; though it is true that the organization is philanthropic, and therefore
prepared for loss. But here the benefaction lies only in the difference
between the price paid for the work and its actual value: Instead of giving
the beggar two sous, the institution supplies him with work on which it loses
two sous. But at the same time it converts the good-for-nothing beggar into an
honest breadwinner, who has earned perhaps 1 franc 50 centimes. 150 centimes
for 10! That is to say, the receiver of a benefaction in which there is
nothing humiliating has increased it fifteenfold! That is to say, fifteen
thousand millions for one thousand millions !
The institution certainly loses 10 centimes. But the Jewish Company will
not lose one thousand millions; it will draw enormous profits from this
expenditure .
There is a moral side also. The small system of relief by labor which
exists now preserves rectitude through industry till such time as the man who
is out of work finds a post suitable to his capacities, either in his old
calling or in a new one. He is allowed a few hours daily for the purpose of
looking for a place, in which task the institutions assist him.
The defect of these small organizations, so far, has be that they have been
prohibited from entering into competition with timber merchants, etc. Timber
merchants are electors; they would protest, and would be justified in
protesting. Competition with State prison-labor has al been forbidden, for the
State must occupy and feed criminals.
In fact, there is very little room in an old-establish society for the
successful application of the system "Assistance par le Travail."
But there is room in a new society.
For, above all we require enormous numbers of unskilled laborers to do the
first rough work of settlement, to lay down roads, plant trees, level the
ground, construct railroads, telegraph installations, etc. All this will be
carried out in accordance with a large and previously settled plan.
COMMERCE
The labor carried to the new country will naturally create trade. The first
markets will supply only the absolute necessities of life; cattle, grain,
working clothes, tools, arms -- to mention just a few things. These we shall
obliged at first to procure from neighboring States, or from Europe; but we
shall make ourselves independent as soon as possible. The Jewish entrepreneurs
will soon realize the business prospects that the new country offers.
The army of the Company's officials will gradually introduce more refined
requirements of life. (Officials include officers of our defensive forces, who
will always form about a tenth part of our male colonists. They will be
sufficiently numerous to quell mutinies, for the majority of our colonists
will be peaceably inclined.)
The refined requirements of life introduced by our officials in good
positions will create a correspondingly improved market, which will continue
to better itself. The married man will send for wife and children, and the
single for parents and relatives, as soon as a new home is established
"over there." The Jews who emigrate to the United States always
proceed in this fashion. As soon as one of them has daily bread and a roof
over his head, he sends for his people; for family ties are strong among us.
The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company will unite in caring for and
strengthening the family still more, not only morally, but materially also.
The officials will receive additional pay on marriage and on the birth of
children, for we need all who are there, and all who will follow.
OTHER CLASSES OF DWELLINGS
I described before only workmen's dwellings built by themselves, and
omitted all mention of other classes of dwellings. These I shall now touch
upon. The Company's architects will build for the poorer classes of citizens
also, being paid in kind or cash; about a hundred different types of houses
will be erected, and, of course, repeated. These beautiful types will form
part of our propaganda. The soundness of their construction will be guaranteed
by the Company, which will, indeed, gain nothing by selling them to settlers
at a fixed sum. And where will these houses be situated? That will be shown in
the section dealing with Local Groups.
Seeing that the Company does not wish to earn anything on the building
works but only on the land, it will desire as many architects as possible to
build by private contract. This system will increase the value of landed
property, and it will introduce luxury, which serves many purposes. Luxury
encourages arts and industries, paving the way to a future subdivision of
large properties
Rich Jews who are now obliged carefully to secrete their valuables, and to
hold their dreary banquets behind lowered curtains, will be able to enjoy
their possessions in peace "over there." If they cooperate in
carrying out this emigration scheme, their capital will be rehabilitated and
will have served to promote an unexampled undertaking. If in the new
settlement rich Jews begin to rebuild their mansions which are stared at in
Europe with such envious eyes, it will soon become fashionable to live over
there in beautiful modern houses.
SOME FORMS OF LIQUIDATION
The Jewish Company is intended to be the receiver and administrator of the
non-transferable goods of the Jews.
Its methods of procedure can be easily imagined in the case of houses and
estates, but what methods will it adopt in the transfer of businesses?
Here numberless processes may be found practicable, which cannot all be
enlarged on in this outline. But none of them will present any great
difficulties, for in each case the business proprietor, when he voluntarily
decides to emigrate, will settle with the Company's officers in his district
on the most advantageous form of liquidation.
This will most easily be arranged in the case of small employers, in whose
trades the personal activity of the proprietor is of chief importance, while
goods and organization are a secondary consideration. The Company will provide
a certain field of operation for the emigrant's personal activity, and will
substitute a piece of ground, with loan of machinery, for his goods. Jews are
known to adapt themselves with remarkable ease to any form of earning a
livelihood, and they will quickly learn to carry on a new industry. In this
way a number of small traders will become small landholders. The Company will,
in fact, be prepared to sustain what appears to be a loss in taking over the
non-transferable property of the poorest emigrants; for it will thereby induce
the free cultivation of tracts of land, which raises the value of adjacent
tracts.
In medium-sized businesses, where goods and organization equal, or even
exceed, in importance, the personal activity of the manager, whose larger
connection is also non-transferable, various forms of liquidation are
possible. Here comes an opportunity for that inner migration of Christian
citizens into positions evacuated by Jews. The departing Jew will not lose his
personal business credit, but will carry it with him, and make good use of it
in a new country to establish himself. The Jewish Company will open a current
bank account for him. And he can sell the goodwill of his original business,
or hand it over to the control of managers under supervision of the Company's
officials. The managers may rent the business or buy it, paying for it by
installments. But the Company acts temporarily as curator for the emigrants,
in superintending, through its officers and lawyers, the administration of
their affairs, and seeing to the proper collection of all payments.
If a Jew cannot sell his business, or entrust it to a proxy or wish to give
up its personal management, he may stay where he is. The Jews who stay will be
none the worse off, for they will be relieved of the competition of those who
leave, and will no longer hear the Anti-Semitic cry: "Don't buy from
Jews!"
If the emigrating business proprietor wishes to carry on his old business
in the new country, he can make his arrangements for it from the very
commencement. An example will best illustrate my meaning. The film X carries
on a large business in dry goods. The head of the firm wishes to emigrate. He
begins by setting up a branch establishment in his future place of residence,
and sending out samples of his stock. The first poor settlers will be his
first customers; these will be followed by emigrants of a higher class, who
require superior goods. X then sends out newer goods, and eventually ships his
newest. The branch establishment begins to pay while the principal one is
still in existence, so that X ends by having two paying business-houses. He
sells his original business or hands it over to his Christian representative
to manage, and goes off to take charge of the new one.
Another and greater example: Y and Son are large coal-traders, with mines
and factories of their own. How is so huge and complex a property to be
liquidated' The mines and everything connected with them might, in the first
place, be bought up by the State, in which they are situated. In the second
place, the Jewish Company might take them over, paying for them partly in
land, partly in cash. A third method might be the conversion of "Y and
Son" into a limited company. A fourth method might be the continued
working of the business under the original proprietors, who would return at
intervals to inspect their property, as foreigners, and as such, under the
protection of law in every civilized State. All these suggestions are carried
out daily. A fifth and excellent method, and one which might be particularly
profitable, I shall merely indicate, because the existing examples of its
working are at present few, however ready the modern consciousness may be to
adopt them. Y and Son might sell their enterprise to the collective body of
their employees, who would form a cooperative society, with Limited liability,
and might perhaps pay the requisite sum with the help of the State Treasury,
which does not charge high interest.
The employees would then gradually pay off the loan, which either the
Government or the Jewish Company, or even Y and Son, would have advanced to
them.
The Jewish Company will be prepared to conduct the transfer of the smallest
affairs equally with the largest. And whilst the Jews quietly emigrate and
establish their new homes, the Company acts as the great controlling body,
which organizes the departure, takes charge of deserted possessions,
guarantees the proper conduct of the movement with its own visible and
tangible property, and provides permanent security for those who have already
settled.
SECURITIES OF THE COMPANY
What assurance will the Company offer that the abandonment of countries
will not cause their impoverishment and produce economic crises?
I have already mentioned that honest Anti-Semites, whilst preserving their
independence, will combine with our officials in controlling the transfer of
our estates. But the State revenues might suffer by the loss of a body of
taxpayers, who, though little appreciated as citizens, are highly valued in
finance. The State should, therefore, receive compensation for this loss. This
we offer indirectly by leaving in the country businesses which we have built
up by means of Jewish acumen and Jewish industry, by letting our Christian
fellow-citizens move into our evacuated positions, and by this facilitating
the rise of numbers of people to greater prosperity so peaceably and in so
unparallelled a manner. The French Revolution had a somewhat similar result,
on a small scale, but it was brought about by bloodshed on the guillotine in
every province of France, and on the battlefields of Europe. Moreover,
inherited and acquired rights were destroyed, and only cunning buyers enriched
themselves by the purchase of State properties.
The Jewish Company will offer to the States that come within its sphere of
activity direct as well as indirect advantages. It will give Governments the
first offer of abandoned Jewish property, and allow buyers most favorable
conditions. Governments, again, will be able to make use of this friendly
appropriation of land for the purpose of certain social improvements.
The Jewish Company will give every assistance to Governments and
Parliaments in their efforts to direct the inner migration of Christian
citizens.
The Jewish Company will also pay heavy taxes. Its central office will be in
London, so as to be under the legal protection of a power which is not at
present Anti-Semitic. But the Company, if it is supported officially and
semi-officially, will everywhere provide a broad basis of taxatian. To this
end, it will establish taxable branch offices everywhere. Further, it will pay
double duties on the two-fold transfer of goods which it accomplishes. Even in
transactions where the Company is really nothing more than a real estate
agency, it will temporarily appear as a purchaser, and will be set down as the
momentary possessor in the register of landed property.
These are, of course, purely calculable matters. It will have to be
considered and decided in each place how far the Company can go without
running any risks of failure. And the Company itself will confer freely with
Finance ministers on the various points at issue. Ministers will recognize the
friendly spirit of our enterprise, and will consequently offer every facility
in their power necessary for the successful achievement of the great
undertaking.
Further and direct profit will accrue to Governments from the transport of
passengers and goods, and where railways are State property the returns will
be immediately recognizable. Where they are held by private companies, the
Jewish Company will receive favorable terms for transport, in the same way as
does every transmitter of goods on a large scale. Freight and carriage must be
made as cheap as possible for our people, because every traveller will pay his
own expenses. The middle classes will travel with Cook's tickets, the poorer
classes in emigrant trains. The Company might make a good deal by reductions
on passengers and goods; but here, as elsewhere, it must adhere to its
principle of not trying to raise its receipts to a greater sum than will cover
its working expenses.
In many places Jews have control of the transport; and the transport
businesses will be the first needed by the Company and the first to be
liquidated by it. The original owners of these concerns will either enter the
Company's service, or establish themselves independently "over
there." The new arrivals will certainly require their assistance, and
theirs being a paying profession, which they may and indeed must exercise
there to earn a living, numbers of these enterprising spirits will depart. It
is unnecessary to describe all the business details of this monster
expedition. They must be judiciously evolved out of the original plan by many
able men, who must apply their minds to achieving the best system.
SOME OF THE COMPANY'S ACTIVITIES
Many activities will be interconnected. For example: the Company will
gradually introduce the manufacture of goods into the settlements which will,
of course, be extremely primitive at their inception. Clothing, linens, and
shaes will first of all be manufactured for our own poor emigrants, who will
be provided with new suits oi clothing at the various European emigration
centers. They will not receive these clothes as alms, which might hurt their
pride, but in exchange for old garments: any loss the Company sustains by this
transaction will be booked as a business loss. Those who are absolutely
without means will pay off their debt to the Company by working over-time at a
fair rate of wage.
Existing emigration societies will be able to give valuable assistance
here, for they will do for the Company's colonists what they did before for
departing Jews. The forms ofsuch cooperation will easily be found.
Even the new clothing of the poor settlers will have the symbolic meaning.
"You are now entering on a new life." The Society of Jews will see
to it that long before the departure and also during the journey a serious yet
festive spirit is fostered by means of prayers, popular lectures, instruction
on the object of the expedition, instruction on hygienic matters for their new
places of residence, and guidance in regard to their future work. For the
Promised Land is the land of work. On their arrival, the emigrants will be
welcomed by our chief officials with due solemnity, but without foolish
exultation, for the Promised Land will not yet have been conquered. But these
poor people should already see that they are at home.
The clothing industries of the Company will, of course, not produce their
goods without proper organization. The Society of Jews will obtain from the
local branches information about the number, requirements and date of arrival
of the settlers, and will communicate all such information in good time to the
Jewish Company. In this way it will be possible to provide for them with every
precaution.
PROMOTION OF INDUSTRIES
The duties of the Jewish Company and the Society of Jews cannot be kept
strictly apart in this outline. These two great bodies will have to work
constantly in unison, the Company depending on the moral authority and support
of the Society, just as the Society cannot dispense with the material
assistance of the Company. For example, in the organizing of the clothing
industry, the quantity produced will at first be kept down so as to preserve
an equilibrium between supply and demand; and wherever the Company undertakes
the organization of new industries the same precaution must be exercised.
But individual enterprise must never be checked by the Company with its
superior force. We shall only work collectively when the immense difficulties
of the task demand common action; we shall, wherever possible, scrupulously
respect the rights of the individual. Private property, which is the economic
basis of independence, shall be developed freely and be respected by us. Our
first unskilled laborers will at once have the opportunity to work their way
up to private proprietorship.
The spirit of enterprise must, indeed, be encouraged in every possible way.
Organization of industries will be promoted by a judicious system of duties,
by the employment of cheap raw material, and by the institution of a board to
collect and publish industrial statistics.
But this spirit of enterprise must be wisely encouraged, and risky
speculation must be avoided. Every new industry must be advertised for a long
period before establishment, so as to prevent failure on the part of those who
might wish to start a similar business six months later. Whenever a new
industrial establishment is founded, the Company should be informed, so that
all those interested may obtain information from it.
Industrialists will be able to make use of centralized labor agencies,
which will only receive a commission large enough to ensure their continuance.
The industrialists might, for example, telegraph for 500 unskilled laborers
for three days, three weeks, or three months. The labor agency would then
collect these 500 unskilled laborers from every possible source, and despatch
them at once to carry out the agricultural or industrial enterprise. Parties
of work-men will thus be systematically drafted from place to place like a
body of troops. These men will, of course, not be sweated, but will work only
a seven-hour day; and, in spite of their change of locality, they will
preserve their organization, work out their term of service, and receive
commands, promotions, and pensions. Some establishments may, of course, be
able to obtain their workmen from other sources, if they wish, but they will
not find it easy to do so. The Society will be able to prevent the
introduction of non-Jewish work-slaves by boycotting obstinate employers, by
obstructing traffic, and by various other methods. The seven-hour workers will
therefore have to be taken, and we shall thus bring our people gradually, and
without coercion, to adopt the normal seven-hour day.
SETTLEMENT OF SKILLED LABORERS
It is clear that what can be done for unskilled workers can be even more
easily done for skilled laborers. These will work under similar regulations in
the factories, and the central labor agency will provide them when required.
Independent operatives and small employers, must be carefully taught on
account of the rapid progress of scientific improvements, must acquire
technical knowledge even if no longer very young men, must studp the power of
water, and appreciate the forces of electricity. Independent workers must also
be discovered and supplied by the Society's agency. The local branch will
apply, for example, to the central office: "We want so many carpenters,
locksmiths, glaziers, etc." The central office will publish this demand,
and the proper men will apply there for the work. These would then travel with
their families to the place where they were wanted, and would remain there
without feeling the pressure of undue competition. A permanent and comfortable
home would thus be provided for them.
METHOD OF RAISING CAPITAL
The capital required for establishing the Company was previously put at
what seemed an absurdly high figure. The amount actually necessary will be
fixed by financiers, and will in any case be a very considerable sum. There
are three ways of raising this sum, all of which the Society will take under
consideration. This Society, the great "Gestor" of the Jews, will be
formed by our best and most upright men, who must not derive any material
advantage from their membership. Although the Society cannot at the outset
possess any but moral authority, this authority will suffice to establish the
credit of the Jewish Company in the nation's eyes. The Jewish Company will be
unable to succeed in its enterprise unless it has received the Society's
sanction; it will thus not be formed of any mere indiscriminate group of
financiers. For the Society will weigh, Select and decide, and will not give
its approbation till it is sure of the existence of a sound basis ior the
conscientious carrying out of the scheme. It will not permit experiments with
insufficient means, for this undertaking must succeed at the first attempt.
Any initial failure would compromise the whole idea for many decades to come,
or might even make its realization permanently impossible.
The three methods of raising capital are: (1) Through big banks; (2)
Through small and private banks; (3) Through public subscription.
The first method of raising capital is: Through big banks. The required sum
could then be raised in the shortest possible time among the large financial
groups, after they had discussed the advisability of the course. The great
advantage of this method would be that it would avoid the necessity of paying
in the thousand millions (to keep ta the original figure), immediately in its
entirety. A further advantage would be that the credit of these powerful
financiers would also be of service to the enterprise. Many latent political
forces lie in our financial power, that power which our enemies assert to be
so effective. It might be so, but actually it is not. Poor Jews feel only the
hatred which this financial power provokes; its use in alleviating their lot
as a body, they have not yet felt. The credit of our great Jewish financiers
would have to be placed at the service of the National Idea. But should these
gentlemen, who are quite satisfied with their lot, feel indisposed to do
anything for their fellow-Jews who re unjustly held responsible for the large
possessions of certain individuals, then the realization of this plan will
afford an opportunity for drawing a clear line of distinction between them and
the rest of Jewry.
The great financiers, moreover, will certainly not be asked to raise an
amount so enormous out of pure philanthropic motives; that would be expecting
too much. The promoters and stock holders of the Jewish Company are, on the
contrary, expected to do agood piece of business, and they will be able to
calculate beforehand what their chances of success are likely to be. For the
Society of Jews will be in possession of all documents and references which
may serve to define the prospects of the Jewish Company. The Society will in
particular have investigated with exactitude the extent of the new Jewish
movement, so as to provide the Company promoters with thoroughly reliable
information on the amount of support they may expect. The Society will also
supply the Jewish Company with comprehensive modern Jewish statistics, thus
doing the work of what is called in France a "societé d'études,"
which undertakes all preliminary research previous to the financing of a great
undertaking. Even so, the enterprise may not receive the valuable assistance
of our moneyed magnates. These might, perhaps, even try to oppose the Jewish
movement by means of their secret agents. Such opposition we shall meet with
relentless determination.
Supposing that these magnates are content simply to turn this scheme down
with a smile:
Is it, therefore, done for?
No.
For then the money will be raised in another way -- by an appeal to
moderately rich Jews. The smaller Jewish banks would have to be united in the
name of the National Idea against the big banks till they were gathered into a
second and formidable financial force. But, unfortunately, this would require
a great deal of financing at first -- for the £50,000,000 would have to be
subscribed in full before starting work; and, as this sum could only be raised
very slowly, all sorts of banking business would have to be done and loans
made during the first few years. It might even occur that, in the course of
all these transactions, their original object would be forgotten; the
moderately rich Jews would have created a new and large business, and Jewish
emigration would be forgotten.
The notion of raising money in this way is not by any means impracticable.
The experiment of collecting Christian money to form an opposing force to the
big banks has already been tried; that one could also oppose them with Jewish
money has not been thought of until now. But these financial conflicts would
bring about all sorts of crises; the countries in which they occurred would
suffer, and Anti-Semitism would become rampant.
This method is therefore not to be recommended. I have merely suggested it,
because it comes up in the course of the logical development of the idea.
I also do not know whether smaller private banks would be willing to adopt
it.
In any case, even the refusal of moderately rich Jews would not put an end
to the scheme. On the contrary, it would then have to be taken up in real
earnest.
The Society of Jews, whose members are not business men, might try to found
the Company on a national subscription.
The Company's capital might be raised, without the intermediary of a
syndicate, by means of direct subscription on the part of the public. Not only
poor Jews, but also Christians who wanted to get rid of them, would subscribe
a small amount to this fund. A new and peculiar form of the plebiscite would
thus be established, whereby each man who voted for this solution of the
Jewish Question would express his opinion by subscribing a stipulated amount.
This stipulation would produce security. The funds subscribed would only be
paid in if their sum total reached the required amount, otherwise the initial
payments would be returned.
But if the whole of the required sum is raised by popular subscription,
then each little amount would be secured by the great numbers of other small
amounts.
All this would, of course, need the express and definite assistance of
interested Governments.
OUR TRANSMIGRATION
Previous chapters explained only how the emigration scheme might be carried
out without creating any economic disturbance. But so great a movement cannot
take place without inevitably rousing many deep and powerful feelings. There
are old customs, old memories that attach us to our homes. We have cradles, we
have graves, and we alone know how Jewish hearts cling to the graves. Our
cradles we shall carry with us -- they bold our future, rosy and smiling. Our
beloved graves we must abandon -- and I think this abandonment will cost us
more than any other sacrifice. But it must be so.
Economic distress, political pressure, and social obloquy have already
driven us from our homes and from our graves. We' Jews are even now constantly
shifting from place to place, a strong current actually carrying us westward
over the sea to the United States, where our presence is also not desired. And
where will our presence be desired, so long as we are a homeless nation?
But we shall give a home to our people. And we shall give it, not by
dragging them ruthlessly out of their sustaining soil, but rather by
transplanting them Carefully to a better ground. Just as we wish to create new
political and economic relations, so we shall preserve as sacred all of the
past that is dear to our people's hearts.
Hence a few suggestions must suffice, as this part of my scheme will most
probably be condemned as visionary. Yet even this is possible and real, though
it now appears to be something vague and aimless. Organization will make of it
something rational.
EMIGRATION IN GROUPS
Our people should emigrate in groups of families and friends. But no man
will be forced to join the particular group belonging to his former place of
residence. Each will be able to journey in his chosen fashion as soon as he
has settled his affairs. Seeing that each man will pay his own expenses by
rail and boat, he will naturally travel by whatever class suits him best.
Possibly there will even be no subdivision for classes on board train and
boat, so as to avoid making the poor feel their position too keenly during
their long journey. Though we are not exactly organizing a pleasure trip, it
is as well to keep them in good humor on the way.
None will travel in penury; on the other hand, all who desire to travel in
luxurious ease will be able to foliow their bent. Even under favorable
circumstances, the movement may not touch certain classes of Jews for several
years to come; the intervening period can therefore be employed in selecting
the best modes of organizing the journeys. Those who are, well off can travel
in parties if they wish, taking their personal friends and connections with
them. Jews, with the exception of the richest, have, after all, very little
intercourse with Christians. In some countries their acquaintance with them is
confined to a few spongers, borrowers, and dependents; of a better class of
Christian they know nothing. The Ghetto continues though its walls are broken
down.
The middle classes will therefore make elaborate and careful preparations
for departure. A group of travellers will be formed in each locality, large
towns being divided into districts with a group in each district, who will
communicate by means of representatives elected for the purpose. This division
into districts need not be strictly adhered to; it is merely intended to
alleviate the discomfort and home-sickness of the poor during their journey
out- wards. Everybody is free to travel either alone or attached to any local
group he prefers. The conditions of travel -- regulated according to classes
-- will apply to all alike. Any sufficiently numerous travelling party can
charter a special train and special boat from the Company.
The Company's housing agency will provide quarters for the poorest on their
arrival. Later on, when more prosperous emigrants follow, their obvious need
for lodgings on first landing will have to be supplied by hotels built by
private enterprise. Some of these more prosperous colonists will, indeed, have
built their houses before becoming permanent settlers, so that they will
merely move from an old home into a new one.
It would be an affront to our intelligent elements to point out everything
that they have to do. Every man who attaches himself to the National Idea will
know how to spread it, and how to make it real within his sphere of influence.
We shall first of all ask for the cooperation of our Rabbis.
OUR RABBIS
Every group will have its Rabbi, travelling with his congregation. Local
groups will afterwards form voluntarily about their Rabbi, and each locality
will have its spiritual leader. Our Rabbis, on whom we especially call, will
devote their energies to the service of our idea, and will inspire their
congregations by preaching it from the pulpit. They will not need to address
special meetings for the purpose; an appeal such as this may be uttered in the
synagogue. And thus it must be done. For we feel our historic aanity only
through the faith of our fathers as we have long ago absorbed the languages of
different nations to an ineradicable degree.
The Rabbis will receive communications regularly from both Society and
Company, and will announce and explain these to their congregations. Israel
will pray for us and for itself.
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE LOCAL GROUPS
The local groups will appoint small committees of representative men under
the Rabbi's presidency, for discussion and settlement of local affairs.
Philanthropic institutions will be transferred by their local groups, each
institution remaining "over there" the property of the same set of
people for whom it was originally founded. I think the old buildings should
not be sold, but rather devoted to the assistance of indigent Christians in
the forsaken towns. The local groups will receive compensation by obtaining
free building sites and every facility for reconstruction in the new country.
This transfer of philanthropic institutions will give another of those
opportunities, which occur at different points of my scheme, for making an
experiment in the service of humanity. Our present unsystematic private
philanthropy does little good in proportion to the great expenditure it
involves. But these institutions can and must form part of a system by which
they will eventually supplement one another. In a new society these
organizations can be evolved out of our modern consciousness, and may be based
on all previous social experiments. This matter is of great importance to us,
on account of our large number of paupers. The weaker characters among us,
discouraged by external pressure, spoilt by the soft-hearted charity of our
rich men, easily sink until they take to begging.
The Society, supported by the local groups, will give greatest attention to
popular education with regard to this particular. It will create a fruitful
soil for many powers which now wither uselessly away. Whoever shows a genuine
desire to work will be suitably employed. Beggars will not be endured. Whoever
refuses to do anything as a free man will be sent to the workhouse.
On the other hand, we shall not relegate the old to an almshouse. An
almshouse is one of the cruelest charities which our stupid good nature ever
invented. There our old people die out of pure shame and mortification. There
they are already buried. But we will leave even to those who stand on the
lowest grade of intelligence the consoling illusion of their utility in the
world. We will provide easy tasks for those who are incapable of physical
labor; for we must allow for diminished vitality in the poor of an already
enfeebled generation. But future generations shall be dealt with otherwise;
they shall be brought up in liberty for a life of liberty.
We will seek to bestow the moral salvation of work on men of every age and
of every class; and thus our people will find their strength again in the land
of the seven-hour day.
PLANS OF THE TOWNS
The local groups will delegate their authorized representatives to select
sites for towns. In the distribution of land every precaution will be taken to
effect a careful transfer with due consideration for acquired rights.
The local groups will have plans of the towns, so that our people may know
beforehand where they are to go, in which towns and in which houses they are
to live. Comprehensive drafts of the building plans previously referred to
will be distributed among the local groups.
The principle of our administration will be strict centralization of our
local groups' autonomy. In this way the transfer will be accomplished with the
minimum of pain.
I do not imagine all this to be easier than it actually is; on the other
hand, people must not imagine it to be mare difficult than it is in reality.
THE DEPARTURE OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES
The middle classes will involuntarily be drawn into the outgoing current,
for their sons will be officials of the Society or employees of the Company
"over there." Lawyers, doctors, technicians of every description,
young business people -- in fact, all Jews who are in search of opportunities,
who now escape from oppression in their native country to earn a living in
foreign lands -- will assemble on a soil so full of fair promise. The
daughters of the middle classes will marry these ambitious men. One of them
will send for his wife or fiance to come out to him, another for his parents,
brothers and sisters. Members of a new civilization marry young. This will
promote general morality and ensure sturdiness in the new generation; and thus
we shall have no delicate offspring of late marriages, children of fathers who
spent their strength in the struggle for life.
Every middle-class emigrant will draw more of his kind after him.
The bravest will naturally get the best out of the new world.
But there we seem undoubtedly to have touched on the crucial difficulty of
my plan.
Even if we succeeded in opening a world discussion on the Jewish Question
in a serious manner --
Even if this debate led us to a positive conclusion that the Jewish State
were necessary to the world --
Even if the Powers assisted us in acquiring the sovereignty over a strip of
territory --
How are we to transport masses of Jews without undue compulsion from their
present homes to this new country?
Their emigration is surely intended to be voluntary.
THE PHENOMENON OF MULTITUDES
Great exertions will hardly be necessary to spur on the movement.
Anti-Semites provide the requisite impetus. They need only do what they did
before, and then they will create a desire to emigrate where it did not
previously exist, and strengthen it where it existed before. Jews who now
remain in Anti-Semitic countries do so chiefly because even those among them
who are most ignorant of history know that numerous changes of residence in
bygone centuries never brought them any permanent good. Any land which
welcomed the Jews today, and offered them even fewer advantages than that
which the Jewish State would guarantee them, would immediately attract a great
influx of our people. The poorest, who have nothing to lose would drag
themselves there. But I maintain, and every man may ask himself whether I am
not right, that the pressure weighing on us arouses a desire to emigrate even
among prosperous strata of society. Now our poorest strata alone would suffice
to found a State; these form the strongest human material for acquiring a
land, because a little despair is indispensable to the formation of a great
undertaking.
But when our "desperados" increase the value of the land by their
presence and by the labor they expend on it, they make it at the same time
increasingly attractive as a place of settlement to people who are better off.
Higher and yet higher strata will feel tempted to go over. The expedition
of the first and poorest settlers will be conducted by Company and Society
conjointly, and will probably be additionally supported by existing emigration
and Zionist societies.
How may a number of people be directed to a particular spot without being
given express orders to go there! There are certain Jewish benefactors on a
large scale who try to alleviate the sufferings of the Jews by Zionist
experiments. To them this problem also presented itself, and they thought to
solve it by giving the emigrants money or means of employment. Thus the
philanthropists said: "We pay these people to go there."
Such a procedure is utterly wrong, and all the money in the world will not
achieve its purpose.
On the other hand, the Company will say: "We shall not pay them, we
shall let them pay us. We shall merely offer them some inducements to
go."
A fanciful illustration will make my meaning more explicit: One of those
philanthropists (whom we will call "The Baron") and myself both wish
to get a crowd of people on to the plain of Longchamps near Paris, on a hot
Sunday afternoon. The Baron, by promising them 10 francs each, will, for
200,000 francs, bring out 20,000 perspiring and miserable people, who will
curse him for having given them so much annoyance. Whereas I will offer these
200,000 francs as a prize for the swiftest racehorse -- and then I shall have
to put up barriers to keep the people off Longchamps. They will pay to go in:
1 franc, 5 francs, 20 francs.
The consequence will be that I shall get the half-a-million of people out
there; the President of the Republic will drive up "a la Daumont";
and the crowds will enjoy and amuse themselves. Most of them will think it an
agreeable walk in the open air in spite of heat and dust; and I shall have
made by my 200,000 francs about a million in entrance money and taxes on
gaming. I shall get the same people out there whenever I like but the Baron
will not -- not on any account.
I will give a more serious illustration of the phenomenon of multitudes
where they are earning a livelihood. Let any man attempt to cry through the
streets of a town: "Whoever is willing to stand all day long through a
winter's terrible cold, through a summer's tormenting heat, in an iron hall
exposed on all sides, there to address every passer-by, and to offer him fancy
wares, or fish, or fruit, will receive two florins, or four francs or
something similar."
How many people would go to the hall? How many days would they hold out
when hunger drove them there? And if they held out, what energy would they
display in trying to persuade passers-by to buy fish, fruit and fancy wares?
We shall set about it in a different way. In places where trade is active,
and these places we shall the more easily discover, since we ourselves direct
trade withersoever we wish, in these places we shall build large halls, and
call them markets. These halls might be worse built and more unwholesome than
those above mentioned, and yet people would stream towards them. But we shall
use our best efforts, and we shall build them better, and make them more
beautiful than the first. And the people, to whom we had promised nothing,
because we cannot promise anything without deceiving them, these excellent,
keen business men will gaily create most active commercial intercourse. They
will harangue the buyers unweariedly;they will stand on their feet, and
scarcely think of fatigue. They will hurry off at dawn, so as to be first on
the spot; they will form unions, cartels, anything to continue bread-winning
undisturbed. And ii they find at the end of the day that all their hard work
has produced only 1 florin, 50 kreutzer, or 3 francs, or something similar,
they will yet look forward hopefully to the next day, which may, perhaps,
bring them better luck.
We have given them hope.
Would any one ask whence the demand comes which creates the market? Is it
really necessary to tell them again?
I pointed out that by means of the system "Assistance par le
Travail" the return could be increased fifteenfold. One million would
produce fifteen millions; and one thousand millions, fifteen thousand
millions.
This may be the case on a small scale; is it so on a large one`i Capital
surely yields a return diminishing in inverse ratio to its own growth.
Inactive and inert capital yields this diminishing return, but active capital
brings in a marvellously increasing return. Herein lies the social question.
Am I stating a fact? I call on the richest Jews as witnesses of my
veracity. Why do they carry on so many different industries! Why do they send
men to work underground and to raise coal amid terrible dangers for meagre
pay? I cannot imagine this to be pleasant, even for the owners of the mines.
For I do not believe that capitalists are heartless, and I do not pretend that
I believe it. My desire is not to accentuate, but to smooth differences.
Is it necessary to illustrate the phenomenon of multitudes, and their
concentration on a particular spot by references to pious pilgrimages?
I do not want to hurt anyone's religious sensibility by words which might
be wrongly interpreted.
I shall merely refer quite briefly to the Mohammedan pilgrimages to Mecca,
the Catholic pilgrimages to Lourdes, and to many other spots whence men return
comforted by their faith, and to the holy Hock at Trier. Thus we shall also
create a center for the deep religious needs of our people. Our ministers will
understand us first, and will be with us in this.
We shall let every man find salvation "over there" in his own
particular way. Above and before all we shall make room for the immortal band
of our Freethinkers, who are continually making new conquests for humanity.
No more force will. be exercised on any one than is necessary for the
preservation of the State and order; and the requisite force will not be
arbitrarily defined by one or more shifting authorities; it will be fixed by
iron laws.
Now, if the illustrations I gave make people draw the inference that a
multitude can be only temporarily attracted to centers of faith, of business,
or of amusement, the reply to their objection is simple. Whereas one of these
objects by itself would certainly only attract the masses, all these centers
of attraction combined would be calculated permanently to hold and satisfy
them. For all these centers together form a single, great, long-sought object,
which our people has always longed to attain, for which it has kept itself
alive, for which it has been kept alive by external pressure -- a free home!
When the movement commences, we shall draw some men after us and let others
follow; others again will be swept into the current, and the last will be
thrust after us.
These last hesitating settlers will be the worst off, both here and there.
But the first, who go over with faith, enthusiasm, and courage will have
the best positions.
OUR HUMAN MATERIAL
There are more mistaken notions abroad concerning Jews than concerning any
other people. And we have become so depressed and discouraged by our historic
sufferings that we ourselves repeat and believe these :mistakes. One of these
is that we have an immoderate bye oi business. Now it is well known that
wherever we are permitted to take part in the rising of classes, we give up
our business as soon as possible. The great majority of Jewish business men
give their sons a superior education. Hence, the so-called "Judaizing"
of all intellectual professions. But even in economically feebler grades of
society, our love of trade is not so predominant as is generally supposed. In
the Eastern countries of Europe there are great numbers of Jews who are not
traders, and who are not afraid of hard work either. The Society of Jews will
be in a position to prepare scientifically accurate statistics of our human
forces. The new tasks and prospects that await our people in the new country
will satisfy our present handicraftsmen, and will transform many present small
traders into manual workers.
A peddler who travels about the country with a heavy pack on his back is
not so contented as his persecutors imagine. The seven-hour day will convert
all of his kind into workmen. They are good, misunderstood people, who now
suffer perhaps more severely than any others. The Society of Jews will,
moreover, busy itself from the outset with their training as artisans. Their
love of gain will be encouraged in a healthy manner. Jews are of a thrifty and
adaptable disposition, and are qualified for any means of earning a living,
and it will therefore suffice to make small trading unremunerative, to cause
even present peddlers to give it up altogether. This could be brought about,
for example, by encouraging large department stores which provide all
necessaries of life. These general stores are already crushing small trading
in large cities. In a land of new civilization they will absolutely prevent
its existence. The establishment of these stores is further advantageous,
because it makes the country immediately habitable for people who require more
refined necessaries of life.
HABITS
Is a reference to the little habits and comforts of the ordinary man in
keeping with the serious nature of this pamphlet?
I think it is in keeping, and, moreover, very important. For these little
habits are the thousand and one fine delicate threads which together go to
make up an unbreakable rope.
Here certain limited notions must be set aside. Whoever has seen anything
of the world knows that just these little daily customs can easily be
transplanted everywhere. The technical contrivances of our day, which this
scheme intends to employ in the service of humanity, have heretofore been
principally used for our little habits. There are English hotels in Egypt and
on the mountain-crest in Switzerland, Vienna cafes in South Africa, French
theatres in Russia, German operas in America, and best Bavarian beer in Paris.
When we journey out of Egypt again we shall not leave the fleshpots behind.
Every man will find his customs again in the local groups, but the; will be
better, more beautiful, and more agreeable than before.
NEGOTIORUM GESTIO
This pamphlet is not intended for lawyers. I can therefore touch only
cursorily, as on so many other things, upon my theory of the legal basis of a
State.
I must, nevertheless, lay some stress on my new theory, which could be
maintained, I believe, even in discussion with men well versed in
jurisprudence.
According to Rousseau's now antiquated view, a State is formed by a social
contract. Rousseau held that: "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," etc.
A logical and historic refutation of Rousseau's theory was never, nor is now,
difficult, however terrible and far-reaching its effects 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 States under modern forms of government. The legal
relationship between government and citizen is in any case clearly established
now.
But previous to the framing of a constitution, and during the creation of a
new State, these principles assume great practical importance. We know and see
for ourselves that States still continue to be created. Colonies secede from
the mother country. Vassals fall away from their suzerain; newly opened
territories are immediately formed into free States. It is true that the
Jewish State is conceived as a peculiarly modern structure on unspecified
territory. But a State is formed, not by pieces of land, but rather by a
number of men united under sovereign rule.
The people is the subjective, land the objective foundation of a State, and
the subjective basis is the more important of the two. One sovereignty, for
example, which has no objective basis at all, is perhaps the most respected
one in the world. I refer to the sovereignty of the Pope.
The theory of rationality is the one at present accepted in political science.
This theory suffices to justify the creation of a State, and cannot be
historically refuted in the same way as the theory of a contract. Insofar as I
am concerned only with the creation of a Jewish State, I am well within the
limits of the theory of rationality. But when I touch upon the legal basis of
the State, I have exceeded them. The theories of a divine institution, or of
superior power, or of a contract, and the patriarchal and patrimonial theories
do not accord with modern views. The legal basis of a State is sought either
too much within men (patriarchal theory, and theories of superior force and
contract), or too far above them (divine institution), or too far below them
(objective patrimonial theory). The theory of rationality leaves this question
conveniently and carefully unanswered. But a question which has seriously
occupied doctors of jurisprudence in every age cannot be an absolutely idle
one. As a matter of fact, a mixture of human and superhuman goes to the making
of a State. Some legal basis is indispensable to explain the somewhat
oppressive relationship in which subjects occasionally stand to rulers. I
believe it is to be found it; the negotiorum gestio, wherein the body
of citizens represents the dominus negotiorum, and the government
represents the gestor.
The Romans, with their marvellous sense of justice, produced that noble
masterpiece, the negotiorum gestio. When the property of an oppressed
person is in danger, any man may step forward to save it. This man is the gestor,
the director of affairs not strictly his own. He has received no warrant --
that is, no human warrant; higher obligations authorize him to act. The higher
obligations may be formulated in different ways for the State, and so as to
respond to individual degrees of culture attained by a growing general power
of comprehension. The gestio . is intended
to work for the good of the dominus -- the people, to whom the gestor
himself belongs.
The gestor administers property of which he is joint-owner. His joint
proprietorship teaches him what urgency would warrant his intervention, and
would demand his leadership in peace or war; but under no circumstances is his
authority valid qua joint proprietorship. The consent of the numerous
joint-owners is even under most favorable conditions a matter of conjecture.
A State is created by a nation's struggle for existence. In any such struggle
it is impossible to obtain proper authority in circumstantial fashion
beforehand. In fact, any previous attempt to obtain a regular decision from
the majority would probably ruin the undertaking from the outset. For internal
schisms would make the people defenceless against external dangers. We cannot
all be of one mind; the gestor will therefore simply take the
leadership into his hands and march in the van.
The action of the gestor . of the State is
sufficiently warranted if the common cause is in danger, and the dominus .
is prevented, either by want of will or by some other reason, from
helping itself.
But the gestor becomes similar to the dominus by his intervention, and
is bound by the agreement quasi ex contractu. This is the legal
relationship existing before, or, more correctly, created simultaneously with
the State.
The gestor .. thus becomes answerable far
every form of negligence, even for the failure of business undertakings, and
the neglect of such affairs as are intimately connected with them, etc. I
shall not further enlarge on the negotiorum gestio, but rather leave it
to the State, else it would take us too far from the main subject. One remark
only: "Business management, if it is approved by the owner, is just as
effectual as if it had originally been carried on by his authority."
And how does all this affect our case?
The Jewish people are at present prevented by the Diaspora from conducting
their political affairs themselves. Besides, they are in a condition of more
or less severe dis- tress in many parts of the world. They need, above all
things a gestor . This gestor . cannot,
of course, be a single individual. Such a one would either make himself
ridiculous, or -- seeing that he would appear to be working for his own
interests -- contemptible.
The gestor of the Jews must therefore
be a body corporate.
And that is the Society of Jews.
THE GESTOR OF THE JEWS
This organ of the national movement, the nature and functions of which we
are at last dealing with, will, in fact, be created before everything else.
Its formation is perfectly simple. It will take shape among those energetic
Jews to whom I imparted my scheme in London [Dr. Herzl addressed a meeting of
the Maccabean Club, at which Israel Zangwill presided, on November 24th,
1895].
The Society will have scientific and political tasks, for the founding of a
Jewish State, as I conceive it, presupposes the application of scientific
methods. We cannot journey out of Egypt today in the primitive fashion of
ancient times. We shall previously obtain an accurate account of our number
and strength. The undertaking of that great and ancient gestar of the Jews in
primitive days bears much the same relation to ours that some wonderful melody
bears to a modern opera. We are playing the same melody with many more
violins, flutes, harps, violoncellos, and bass viols; with electric light,
decorations, choirs, beautiful costumes, and with the first singers of their
day.
This pamphlet is intended to open a general discussion on the Jewish
Question. Friends and foes will take part in it; but it will no longer, I
hope, take the form of violent abuse or of sentimental vindication, but of a
debate, practical, large, earnest, and political.
The Society of Jews will gather all available declarations of statesmen,
parliaments, Jewish communities, societies, whether expressed in speeches or
writings, in meetings, newspapers or books.
Thus the Society will find out for the first time whether the Jews really
wish to go to the Promised Land, and whether they must go there. Every Jewish
community in the world will send contributions to the Society towards a
comprehensive collection of Jewish statistics.
Further tasks, such as investigation by experts of the new country and its
natural resources, the uniform planning of migration and settlement,
preliminary work for legislation and administration, etc., must be rationally
evolved out of the original scheme.
Externally, the Society will attempt, as I explained before in the general
part, to be acknowledged as a State-forming power. The free assent of many
Jews will confer on it the requisite authority in its relations with
Governments.
Internally, that is to say, in its relation with the Jewish people, the
Society will create all the first indispensable institutions; it will be the
nucleus out of which the public institutions of the Jewish State will later on
be developed.
Our first object is, as I said before, supremacy, assured to us by
international law, over a portion of the globe sufficiently large to satisfy
our just requirements.
What is the next step?
THE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND
When nations wandered in historic times, they let chance carry them, draw
them, fling them hither and thither, and like swarms of locusts they settled
down indifferently anywhere. For in historic times the earth was not known to
man. But this modern Jewish migration must proceed in accordance with
scientific principles.
Not more than forty years ago gold-digging was carried on in an
extraordinarily primitive fashion. What adventurous days were those in
California! A report brought desperados together from every quarter of the
earth; they stole pieces of land, robbed each other of gold, and finally
gambled it away, as robbers do.
But today! What is gold-digging like in the Transvaal today? Adventurous
vagabonds are not there; sedate geologists and engineers alone are on the spot
to regulate its gold industry, and to employ ingenious machinery in separating
the ore from surrounding rock. Little is left to chance now.
Thus we must investigate and take possession of the new Jewish country by
means of every modern expedient.
As soon as we have secured the land, we shall send over a ship, having on
board the representatives of the Society, of the Company, and of the local
groups, who will enter into possession at once.
These men will have three tasks to perform: (1) An accurate, scientific
investigation of all natural resources of the country; (2) the organization of
a strictly centralized administration; (3) the distribution of land. These
tasks intersect one another, and will all be carried out in conformity with
the now familiar object in view.
One thing remains to be explained -- namely, how the occupation of land
according to local groups is to take place.
In America the occupation of newly opened territory is set about in naive
fashion. The settlers assemble on the frontier, and at the appointed time make
a simultaneous and violent rush for their portions.
We shall not proceed thus to the new land of the Jews. The lots in
provinces and towns will be sold by auction, and paid for, not with money, but
in work. The general plan will have settled on streets, bridges, waterworks,
etc., necessary for traffic. These will be united into provinces. With- in
these provinces sites for towns will be similarly sold by auction. The local
groups will pledge themselves to carry the business property through, and will
cover the cost by means of self-imposed assessments. The Society will be in a
position to judge whether the local groups are not venturing on sacrifices too
great for their means. The large communities will receive large sites for
their activity. Great sacrifices will thus be rewarded by the establishment of
universities, technical schools, academies, research institutes, etc., and
these Government institutes, which do not have to be concentrated in the
capital, will be distributed over the country.
The personal interest of the buyers, and, if necessary, the local
assessment, will guarantee the proper working of what has been taken over. In
the same way, as we cannot, and indeed do not wish to obliterate distinctions
between single individuals, so the differences between local groups will also
continue. Everything will shape itself quite naturally. All acquired rights
will be protected, and every new development will be given sufficient scope.
Our people will be made thoroughly acquainted with all these matters.
We shall not take others unawares or mislead them, any more than we shall
deceive ourselves.
Everything must be systematically settled beforehand. I merely indicate
this scheme: our keenest thinkers will combine in elaborating it. Every social
and technical achievement of our age and of the more advanced age which will
be reached before the slow execution of my plan is accomplished must be
employed for this object. Every valuable invention which exists now, or lies
in the future, must be used. By these means a country can be occupied and a
State founded in a manner as yet unknown to history, and with possibilities of
success such as never occurred before.
CONSTITUTION
One of the great commissions which the Society will have to appoint will be
the council of State jurists. These must formulate the best, that is, the best
modern constitution possible. I believe that a good constitution should be of
moderately elastic nature. In another work I have explained in detail what
forms of government I hold to be the best. I think a democratic monarchy and
an aristocratic republic are the finest forms of a State, because in them the
form of State and the principle of government are opposed to each other, and
thus preserve a true balance of power. I am a staunch supporter of monarchial
institutions, because these allow of a continuous policy, and represent the
interests of a historically famous family born and educated to rule, whose
desires are bound up with the preservation of the State. But our history has
been too long interrupted for us to attempt direct continuity of ancient
constitutional forms, without exposing ourselves to the charge of absurdity.
A democracy without a sovereign's useful counterpoise is extreme in
appreciation and condemnation, tends to idle discussion in Parliaments, and
produces that objectionable class of men -- professional politicians. Nations
are also really not fit for unlimited democracy at present, and will become
less and less fitted for it in the future. For a pure democracy presupposes a
predominance of simple customs, and our customs become daily more complex with
the growth of commerce and increase of culture. "Le ressort d'une
democracie est la vertu," said wise Montesquieu. and where is this
virtue, that is to say, this political virtue, to be met with? I do not
believe in our political virtue; first, because we are no better than the rest
of modern humanity; and, secondly, because freedom will make us show our
fighting qualities at first. I also hold a settling of questions by the
referendum to be an unsatisfactory procedure, because there are no simple
political questions which can be answered merely by Yes and No. The masses are
also more prone even than Parliaments to be led away by heterodox opinions,
and to be swayed by vigorous ranting. It is impossible to formulate a wise
internal or external policy in a popular assembly.
Politics must take shape in the upper strata and work downwards. But no
member of the Jewish State will be oppressed, every man will be able and will
wish to rise in it. Thus a great upward tendency will pass through our people;
every individual by trying to raise himself, raising also the whole body of
citizens. The ascent will take a normal form, useful to the State and
serviceable to the National Idea.
Hence I incline to an aristocratic republic. This would satisfy the
ambitious spirit in our people, which has now degenerated into petty vanity.
Many of the institutions of Venice pass through my mind; but all that which
caused the ruin of Venice must be carefully avoided. We shall learn from the
historic mistakes of others, in the same way as we learn from our own; for we
are a modern nation, and wish to be the most modern in the world. Our people,
who are receiving the new country from the Society, will also thankfully
accept the new constitution it offers them. Should any opposition manifest
itself, the Society will suppress it. The Society cannot permit the exercise
of its functions to be interpreted by short-sighted or ill-disposed
individuals.
LANGUAGE
It might be suggested that our want of a common current language would
present difficulties. We cannot converse with one another in Hebrew. Who
amongst us has a sufficient acquaintance with Hebrew to ask for a railway
ticket in that language! Such a thing cannot be done. Yet the difficulty is
very easily circumvented. Every man can preserve the language in which his
thoughts are at home. Switzerland affords a conclusive proof of the
possibility of a federation of tongues. We shall remain in the new country
what we now are here, and we shall never cease to cherish with sadness the
memory of the native land out of which we have been driven.
We shall give up using those miserable stunted jargons, those Ghetto
languages which we still employ, for these were the stealthy tongues of
prisoners. Our national teachers will give due attention to this matter; and
the language which proves itself to be of greatest utility for general
intercourse will be adopted without compulsion as our national tongue. Our
community of raceis peculiar and unique, for we are bound together only by the
faith of our fathers.
THEOCRACY
Shall we end by having a theocracy? No, indeed. Faith unites us, knowledge
gives us freedom. We shall therefore prevent any theocratic tendencies from
coming to the fore on the part of our priesthood. We shall keep our priests
within the confines of their temples in the same way as we shall keep our
professional army within the confines of their barracks. Army and priesthood
shall receive honors high as their valuable functions deserve. But they must
not interfere in the administration of the State which confers distinction
upon them, else they will conjure up difficulties without and within.
Every man will be as free and undisturbed in his faith or his disbelief as
he is in his nationality. And if it should occur that men of other creeds and
different nationalities come to live amongst us, we should accord them
honorable protection and equality before the law. We have learnt toleration in
Europe. This is not sarcastically said; for the Anti-Semitism of today could
only in a very few places be taken for old religious intolerance. It is for
the most part a movement among civilized nations by which they try to chase
away the spectres of their own past.
LAWS
When the idea of a State begins to approach realization, the Society of
Jews will appoint a council of jurists to do the preparatory work of
legislation. During the transition period these must act on the principle that
every emigrant Jew is to be judged according to the laws of the country which
he has left. But they must try to bring about a unification of these various
laws to form a modern system of legislation based on the best portions of
previous systems. This might become a typical codification, embodying all the
just social claims of the present day.
THE ARMY
The Jewish State is conceived as a neutral one. It will therefore require
only a professional army, equipped, of course, with every requisite of modern
warfare, to preserve order internally and externally.
THE FLAG
We have no flag, and we need one. If we desire to lead many men, we must
raise a symbol above their heads.
I would suggest a white flag, with seven golden stars. The white field
symbolizes our pure new life; the stars are the seven golden hours of our
working-day. For we shall march into the Promised Land carrying the badge of
honor.
RECIPROCITY AND EXTRADITION TREATIES
The new Jewish State must be properly founded, with due regard to our
future honorable position in the world. Therefore every obligation in the old
country must be scrupulously fulfilled before leaving. The Society of Jews and
the Jewish Company will grant cheap passage and certain advantages in
settlement to those only who can present an official testimonial from the
local authorities, certifying that they have left their affairs in good order.
Every just private claim originating in the abandoned countries will be
heard more readily in the Jewish State than anywhere else. We shall not wait
for reciprocity; we shall act purely for the sake of our own honor. We shall
thus perhaps find, later on, that law courts will be more willing to hear our
claims than now seems to be the case in some places.
It will be inferred, as a matter of course, from previous remarks, that we
shall deliver up Jewish criminals more readily than any other State would do,
till the time comes when we can enforce our penal code on the same principles
as every other civilized nation does. There will therefore be a period of
transition, during which we shall receive our criminals only after they have
suffered due penalties. But, having made amends, they will be received without
any restrictions whatever, for our criminals also must enter upon a new life.
Thus emigration may become to many Jews a crisis with a happy issue. Bad
external circumstances, which ruin many a character, will be removed, and this
change may mean salvation to many who are lost.
Here I should like briefly to relate a story I came across in an account of
the gold mines of Witwatersrand. One day a man came to the Rand, settled
there, tried his hand at various things, with the exception of gold mining,
till he founded an ice factory, which did well. He soon won universal esteem
by his respectability, but after some years he was suddenly arrested. He had
committed some defalcations as banker in Frankfort, had fled from there, and
had begun a new life under an assumed name. But when he was led away as
prisoner, the most respected people in the place appeared at the station, bade
him a cordial farewell and au revoir -- for he was certain to return.
How much this story reveals! A new life can regenerate even criminals, and
we have a proportionately small number of these. Some interesting statistics
on this point are worth reading, entitled "The Criminality of Jews in
Germany," by Dr. P. Nathan, of Berlin, who was commissioned by the
"Society for Defense against Anti-Semitism" to make a collection of
statistics based on official returns. It is true that this pamphlet, which
teems with figures, has been prompted, as many another "defence," by
the error that Anti-Semitism can be refuted by reasonable arguments. We are
probably disliked as much for our gifts as we are for our faults.
BENEFITS OF THE EMIGRATION OF THE JEWS
I imagine that Governments will, either voluntarily or under pressure from
the Anti-Semites, pay certain attention to this scheme, and they may perhaps
actually receive it here and there with a sympathy which they will also show
to the Society of Jews.
For the emigration which I suggest will not create any economic crises.
Such crises as would follow everywhere in consequence of Jew-baiting would
rather be prevented by the carrying out of my plan. A great period of
prosperity would commence in countries which are now Anti- Semitic. For there
will be, as I have repeatedly said, an internal migration of Christian
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 generally beneficial effect. That is a narrow view, from which one
should free oneseli, which sees in the departure of many Jews a consequent
impoverishment of countries. It is different from a departure which is a
result of persecution, for then property is indeed destroyed, as it is ruined
in the confusion of war. Different again is the peaceable voluntary departure
of colonists, wherein everything is carried out with due consideration for
acquired rights, and with absolute conformity to law, openly and by light of
day, under the eyes of the authorities and the control of public opinion. The
emigration of Christian proletarians to different parts of the world would be
brought to a standstill by the Jewish movement.
The States would have a further advantage in the enormous increase of their
export trade; for, since the emigrant Jews "over there" would depend
for a long time to come on European productions, they would necessarily have
to import them. The local groups would keep up a just balance, and the
customary needs would have to be supplied for a long time at the accustomed
places.
Another, and perhaps one of the greatest advantages, would be the ensuing
social relief. Social dissatisfaction would be appeased during the twenty or
more years which the emigration of the Jews would occupy, and would in any
case be set at rest during the whole transition period.
The shape which the social question may take depends entirely on the
development of our technical resources. Steampower concentrated men in
factories about machinery where they were overcrowded, and where they made one
another miserable by overcrowding. Our present enormous, injudicious, and
unsystematic rate of production is the cause of continual severe crises which
ruin both employers and employees. Steam crowded men together; electricity
will probably scatter them again, and may perhaps bring about a more
prosperous condition of the labor market. In any case our technical inventors,
who are the true benefactors of humanity, will continue their labors after the
commencement of the emigration of the Jews, and they will discover things as
marvellous as those we have already seen, or indeed more wonderful even than
these.
The word "impossible" has ceased to exist in the vocabulary of
technical science. Were a man who lived in the last century to return to the
earth, he would find the life of today full of incomprehensible magic.
Wherever the moderns appear with our inventions, we transform the desert into
a garden. To build a city takes in our time as many years as it formerly
required centuries; America offers endless examples of this. Distance has
ceased to be an obstacle. The spirit of our age has gathered fabulous
treasures into its storehouse. Every day this wealth increases. A hundred
thousand heads are occupied with speculations and research at every point of
the globe, and that any one discovers belongs the next moment to the whole
world. We ourselves will use and carry on every new attempt in our Jewish
land; and just as we shall introduce the seven-hour day as an experiment for
the good of humanity, so we shall proceed in everything else in the same
humane spirit, making of the new land a land of experiments and a model State.
After the departure of the Jews the undertakings which they have created
will remain where they originally were found. And the Jewish spirit of
enterprise will not even fail where people welcome it. For Jewish capitalists
will be glad to invest their funds where they are familiar with surrounding
conditions. And whereas Jewish money is now sent out of countries on account
of existing persecution and is sunk in most distant foreign undertakings, it
will flow back again in consequence of this peaceable solution, and will
contribute to the further progress of the countries which the Jews have left.
How much has been left unexplained, how many defects, how
many harmful superficialities, and how many useless repetitions in this
pamphlet, which I have thought over so long and so often revised!
But a fair-minded reader, who has sufficient understanding
to grasp the spirit of my words, will not be repelled by these defects. He
will rather be roused thereby to cooperate with his intelligence and energy in
a work which is not one man's task alone, and to improve it.
Have I not explained obvious things and overlooked
important objections?
I have tried to meet certain objections; but I know that
many more will be made, based on high grounds and low.
To the first class of objections belongs the remark that
the Jews are not the only people in the world who are in a condition of
distress. Here I would reply that we may as well begin by removing a little of
this misery, even if it should at first be no more than our own.
It might further be said that we ought not to create new
distinctions between people; we ought not to raise fresh barriers, we should
rather make the old disappear. But men who think in this way are amiable
visionaries; and the idea of a native land will still flourish when the dust
of their bones will have vanished tracelessly in the winds. Universal
brotherhood is not even a beautiful dream. Antagonism is essential to man's
greatest efforts. But the Jews, once settled in their own State, would
probably have no more enemies. As for those who remain behind, since
prosperity enfeebles and causes them to dimin ish, they would soon disappear
altogether. I think the Jews will always have sufficient enemies, such as
every nation has. But once fixed in their own land, it will no longer be
possible for them to scatter all over the world. The diaspora cannot be
reborn, unless the civilization of the whole easth should collapse; and such a
consummation could be feared by none but foolish men. Our present civilization
possesses weapons powerful enough for its self-defence.
Innumerable objections will be based on low grounds, for
there are more low men than noble in this world. I have tried to remove some
of these narrow-minded notions; and whoever is willing to fall in behind our
white flag with its seven stars, must assist in this campaign of
enlightenment. Perhaps we shall have to fight first of all against many an
evil-disposed, narrow-hearted, short-sighted member of our own race.
Again, people will say that I am furnishing the
Anti-Semites with weapons. Why so? Because I admit the truth? Because I do not
maintain that there are none but excellent men amongst us?
Will not people say that I am showing our enemies the way
to injure us? This I absolutely dispute. My proposal could only be carried out
with the free consent of a majority of Jews. Actidn may be taken against
individuals or even against groups of the most powerful Jews, but Governments
will never take action against all Jews. The equal rights of the Jew before
the law cannot be withdrawn where they have once been conceded; for the first
attempt at withdrawal would immediately drive all Jews, rich and poor alike,
into the ranks of revolutionary parties. The beginning of any official acts of
injustice against the Jews invariably brings about economic crises. Therefore,
no weapons can be effectually used against us, because these injure the hands
that wield them. Meantime hatred grows apace. The rich do not feel it much,
but our poor do. Let us ask our poor, who have been more severely psoletarized
since the last removal of Anti-Semitism than ever before.
Some of our prosperous men may say that the pressure is not
yet severe enough to justify emigration, and that every forcible expulsion
shows how unwilling our people are to depart. True, because they do not know
where to go; because they only pass from one trouble into another. But we are
showing them the way to the Promised Land; and the splendid force of
enthusiasm must fight against the terrible force of habit.
Persecutions are no longer so malignant as they were in the
Middle Ages? True, but our sensitiveness has increased, so that we feel no
diminution in our sufferings; prolonged persecution has overstrained our
nerves.
Will people say, again, that our enterprise is hopeless,
because even if we obtained the land with supremacy over it, the poor only
would go with us? It is precisely the poorest whom we need at first. Only the
desperate make good conquerors.
Will some one say: Were it feasible it would have been done
long ago?
It has never yet been possible; now it is possible. A
hundred -- or even fifty years ago it would have been nothing more than a
dream. Today it may become a reality. Our rich, who have a pleasurable
acquaintance with all our technical achievements, know full well how much
money can do. And thus it will be: just the poor and simple, who do nor know
what power man already exercises over the forces of Nature, just these will
have the firmest faith in the new message. For these have never lost their
hope of the Promised Land.
Here it is, fellow Jews! Neither fable nor deception! Every
man may test its reality for himself, for every man will carry over with him a
portion of the Promised Land -- one in his head, another in his arms, another
in his acquired possessions.
Now, ail this may appear to be an interminably long affair.
Even in the most favorable circumstances, many years might elapse before the
commencement of the foundation of the State. In the meantime, Jews in a
thousand different places would suffer insults, mortifications, abuse, blows,
depredation, and death. No; if we only begin to carry out the plans,
Anti-Semitism would stop at once and for ever. For it is the conclusion of
peace.
The news of the formation of our Jewish Company will be
carried in a single day to the remotest ends of the earth by the lightning
speed of our telegraph wires.
And immediate relief will ensue. The intellects which we
produce so superabundantly in our middle classes will find an outlet in our
first organizations, as our first technicians, officers, professors,
officials, lawyers, and doctors; and thus the movement will continue in swift
but smooth progression.
Prayers will be offered up for the success of our work in
temples and in churches also; for it will bring relief from an old burden,
which all have suffered.
But we must first bring enlightenment to men's minds. The
idea must make its way into the mast distant, miserable holes where our people
dwell. They will awaken from gloomy brooding, for into their lives will come a
new significance. Every man need think only of himself, and the movement will
assume vast proportions.
And what glory awaits those who fight unselfishly for the
cause!
Therefore I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will
spring into existence. The Maccabeans will rise again.
Let me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who wish
for a State will have it. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil,
and die peacefully in our own homes.
The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our
wealth, magnified by our greatness.
And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own
welfare, will react powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity.
