Forgotten Alternatives Jewish Territorialism As a Movement of Political Action and Ideology (1905-1965)
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Forgotten Alternatives Jewish Territorialism as a movement of political action and ideology (1905-1965) Laura Almagor Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Florence, 4 December 2015 1 European University Institute Department of History and Civilization Forgotten Alternatives Jewish Territorialism as a movement of political action and ideology (1905-1965) Laura Almagor Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Examining Board Professor A. Dirk Moses (EUI, supervisor) Professor Pavel Kolář (EUI) Professor David N. Myers (University of California, Los Angeles) Professor David Feldman (Birkbeck, University of London) © Laura Almagor, 2015 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Abstract Starting with the so-called Uganda Controversy of 1905, the Jewish Territorialists searched for areas outside Palestine in which to create settlements of Jews. This study analyses both Territorialist ideology, and the place the movement occupied within a broader Jewish political and cultural narrative during the first half of the twentieth century. It also shows Territorialism’s relevance beyond a specifically Jewish historical analytical framework: Territorialist thought and discourse reflected several more general contemporary geopolitical trends and practices. The most notable of these trends was inspired by the international policymakers’ (post-)colonial approach to peoplehood, territory and space, before, but also directly following the Second World War. This approach relied on notions and practices like migration, colonialism and colonisation, biopolitics, agro-industrial science, as well as "(empty) spaces" and un(der)developed territories. Studying Territorialism, therefore, helps to shed new light on both Jewish political history, and on the evolution of modern geopolitical thinking. The empirical emphasis of this study is on the second wave of Territorialism, which commenced in the mid-1930s and was mainly represented by the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonisation. This period ended sometime in the mid-1960s, with the Freeland League abandoning its Territorialist activities in favour of Yiddish cultural work. Despite this focus on the later phase of Territorialism, the Freeland League’s origins lay with Israel Zangwill’s Jewish Territorial Organisation (ITO, 1905-1925). As Zangwill’s legacy was still strongly felt in the Freeland-days, an exploration of these Territorialist origins forms part of this analysis as well. Lastly, the movement’s ideological direction was defined by a handful of intellectuals: Zangwill in the ITO-days; Ben-Adir, Joseph Leftwich, and, most importantly, Isaac N. Steinberg in the Freeland League-era. Accordingly, the lives and works of these people, as well as the archival material they left behind, are central to this dissertation. iii iv Table of Contents ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii INTRODUCTION 1 THE GENESIS OF JEWISH POLITICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY 3 LOST ATLANTIS 7 SCHOLARSHIP AND TERRITORIALISM 10 SETTING THE STAGE: JEWISH POLITICS’ BROADER NARRATIVE 11 DIASPORA NATIONALISM 14 SOCIALISM AND (AUSTRO-)MARXISM 18 BUNDISM 21 CHAPTER 1: TERRITORIALISM, AN INTRODUCTION 23 TERRITORIALISM: THE ESSENTIALS 24 PRE-HISTORY 24 DIASPORA 26 IDEALS AND PRAGMATISM 27 AUTONOMY AND NON-PARTISANSHIP 29 CONCENTRATED SETTLEMENT 32 WHERE? 33 THEMATIC FRAMEWORKS 36 THEME 1: POLITICS AND CULTURE 36 THEME 2: TRADITION AND MODERNITY 39 THEME 3: DIASPORA 43 THEME 4: PLACE, SPACE, SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE 51 THEME 5: COLONIALISM 55 THEME 6: TERRITORIALISM AND ZIONISM 63 CHAPTER 2: THE JEWISH TERRITORIAL ORGANISATION (1905-1925) 71 INTRODUCTION 71 FIRST OPTIONS EXPLORED: CYRENAICA AND MESOPOTAMIA 75 ANGOLA AND HONDURAS 77 GALVESTON 78 ITO: THE END 81 ISRAEL ZANGWILL (1864-1926) 83 MODERNITY AND TRADITION 87 DIASPORA 92 SPACE, RACE AND COLONIALISM 96 TERRITORIALISM AND ZIONISM 101 THE “ARAB QUESTION” 110 CONCLUSION 115 CHAPTER 3: THE FREELAND LEAGUE IN THE INTERWAR YEARS 117 INTRODUCTION 117 AUSTRALIA 124 MADAGASCAR 126 CHALLENGES 130 RELATED ORGANISATIONS 132 v MAIN ACTORS: JOSEPH LEFTWICH (1892-1983) 135 MAIN ACTORS: ISAAC N. STEINBERG (1888–1957) 137 POLITICS AND CULTURE 140 DIASPORA NATIONALISM 140 SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM AND LABOUR 144 YIDDISHISM 151 TRADITION AND MODERNITY 154 NATHAN BIRNBAUM 157 DIASPORA 161 GEGENWARTSARBEIT 162 ANTI-SEMITISM 163 PLACE, SPACE, SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE 166 RACE AND COLONIALISM 173 TERRITORIALISM AND ZIONISM 177 CONCLUSION 185 CHAPTER 4: THE FREELAND LEAGUE IN THE POST-WAR PERIOD 187 INTRODUCTION 187 SURINAM 194 DISPLACED PERSONS 196 AFTER SURINAM 199 LATIN AMERICA AND CHANGING VISIONS 201 AFTER STEINBERG 204 JEWISH POLITICS 206 THE BRITISH CONNECTION 206 TO THE UNITED STATES 208 COMMUNISM 212 DIASPORA 216 YIDDISH AND GEGENWARTSARBEIT 217 RELIGION 219 PERSISTENT ANTI-SEMITISM 221 PLACE, SPACE, SCIENCE AND TRENDS 226 AGRO-INDUSTRIAL SETTLEMENTS 228 ISAIAH BOWMAN 230 INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS 233 LOSS OF SUPPORT 236 TRENDS IN MIGRATION 237 COLONIALISM 240 DECOLONISATION AND POSTCOLONIAL REALITIES 241 TERRITORIALISM AND ZIONISM 243 ZIONIST ATTACKS 245 TERRITORIALIST COUNTERATTACKS 250 POINTS OF CONTENTION: THE JEWISH STATE 252 POINTS OF CONTENTION: THE “ARAB QUESTION” 259 CONCLUSION 264 CONCLUSION 267 BIBLIOGRAPHY 285 vi Acknowledgements While studying a transatlantic movement for a homeless people, I became somewhat transatlantic and homeless myself. This is by no means intended as a lament: my homelessness brought me to many old and new homes, in Italy, the Netherlands, Israel and the United States. But a home becomes a home also because of the people that build and inhabit it. Therefore, I commence with some words devoted to these people. I wish to thank Professor A. Dirk Moses for providing my Territorialists and myself with a home at the European University Institute in Florence. The beauty of the Tuscan context offered plenty of intellectual and emotional stimuli, as well as the occasional necessary distraction from the introspection of the Ph.D. process. I am also grateful to both Professor Moses and Professor Pavel Kolář, my second reader at the EUI, for their valuable feedback over the past four years. The EUI’s department of History and Civilization proved to be an exceptionally friendly and stimulating environment: its researchers and faculty members have demonstrated to me the breadth and depth of the historiographical field. All of this would not have been possible without the efforts of the EUI’s administration, as well as the great competence and assistance of the EUI library staff. I am, moreover, indebted to my external committee members, Professors David Feldman and David N. Myers, for taking the time to assess and comment on my work. In the case of David Myers, my gratitude also extends to the warm hospitality I received during the six months spent under his supervision as a visiting researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition to Professor Myers, Professors Sarah A. Stein and Gabriel Piterberg read and reflected on my research. Furthermore, I had the pleasure of attending various conferences, workshops, seminars and informal academic meetings around the globe. On all these occasions, I benefitted from encounters with talented scholars, researchers and students. I am truly grateful for all their critical comments and encouraging words. Shefa Siegel, Joseph McElroy, Kato Pomer-Van Leeuwen, and Karen Pomer, all in one way or another related to the protagonists of my story, were extremely kind to share with me their knowledge and memories. My archival work took place at the Central Zionist Archives and at the Israeli National Library in Jerusalem, as well as at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. I am much obliged to all the archival and library staff vii at these institutions for bringing me box after box, book after book, and even sometimes allowing me to work outside opening hours, in hidden backrooms. Jurek Dudek, Sabine Mair, Diana Natermann, and Greetje Reeuwijk commented on parts of this dissertation. Karolina Podstawa and Mansour Rachid read earlier versions of my work. I want to express my immense gratitude for this support, and even more for the love and friendship I continue to receive from these people. To all those dear friends and colleagues that remain unnamed here: you know who and what you are to me. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents, Joseph Almagor and Tiny Stanneveld, as well as my sister Eva Almagor, and Jasper Verhagen, for reasons too numerous to mention here. My father inspired the initial idea for this research project, as well as—probably unwittingly—the choice for the hopefully longer scholarly path that lies ahead of me. During the time that I was working on this project, I had to say goodbye to my grandmother, Miriam Almagor. As a “first class driver” serving with the Auxiliary Territorial Services of the British Army during the Second World War, she cruised Egypt and Libya, dined with King Farouk, and met the young future Queen Elizabeth. A life- hungry and feisty lady, with a healthy sense of (obscene) humour, Miriam knew exactly how to work her charm. The Jewish history that offers the framework for my intellectual travails also took my infant grandmother from interwar Poland to mandate Palestine. There, she belonged to the generation