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Comrades and Enemies Preferred Citation: Lockman, Zachary. Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996 1996. http://ark.cdlib.org/ ark:/13030/ft6b69p0hf/ Comrades and Enemies Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906–1948 Zachary Lockman UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley · Los Angeles · London © 1996 The Regents of the University of California For my father, Michael Lockman (1912–1994), and my daughter, Talya Mara Lockman-Fine Preferred Citation: Lockman, Zachary. Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996 1996. http://ark.cdlib.org/ ark:/13030/ft6b69p0hf/ For my father, Michael Lockman (1912–1994), and my daughter, Talya Mara Lockman-Fine Acknowledgments Many people and institutions contributed in different ways to the research, thinking, and writing that went into this book. Though I cannot hope to thank all of them properly, I would like at least to mention those who contributed most significantly and directly, though none of them bears any responsibility for my analyses or judgments in this book, or for any errors it may contain. I carried out the bulk of the archival and library research for this book in Israel. A preliminary trip was funded by a faculty research support grant from the Harvard Graduate Society, while an extended stay in 1987 was made possible by a fellowship from the Fulbright Scholar Program. A fellowship from the Social Science Research Council supported research in the United Kingdom. In Israel I spent a great deal of time at the Histadrut archives, known formally as Arkhiyon Ha‘avoda Vehehalutz, at the Makhon Lavon Leheker Tnu‘at Ha‘avoda in Tel Aviv. The Lavon Institute's staff were always helpful and efficient; I thank them, though I suspect that not all of them will be entirely happy with the fruits of my labors. The same applies to the staff of the Hashomer Hatza‘ir archives (Merkaz Te‘ud Veheker shel http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft6b69p0hf;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print (1 of 203) [6/4/2008 5:38:03 AM] Comrades and Enemies Hashomer Hatza‘ir) at Giv‘at Haviva, recently renamed Yad Me’ir Ya‘ari in honor of the movement's founder and longtime leader. Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Archives in Jerusalem very kindly gave me permission to use the photograph which appears on the cover of this book. Me’ir Lamm granted me permission to use the MAKI papers at the Hakibbutz Hame’uhad archives at Yad Tabenkin. While in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories my thinking about what I was doing benefited from conversations with many people, among them Musa Budeiri, David De Vries, Lev Luis Grinberg, Reuven Kaminer, Michael Shalev, and Salim Tamari. Simha Tzabari was particularly supportive of (and perhaps even excited about) my project, probably because I was studying a piece of the history she had lived through (and sought to shape) as a communist activist. Yosef Vashitz kindly provided me with a copy of his unpublished manuscript on Jews and Arabs in Haifa during the mandate period. I am grateful to all of them, as well as to the veterans of some of the political and social struggles discussed in this book who consented to be interviewed. A fellowship at Princeton University's Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies in 1991–92 enabled me to make many leaps forward, great and small, in the conceptualization and writing of this book. Not only was I freed of teaching responsibilities for a year, I was also immersed in an environment that was simultaneously intellectually stimulating and socially pleasant. The focus of the Center's inquiry in that period, “Colonialism, Imperialism and the Colonial Aftermath,” fit in very nicely with my own project, and I learned a lot from (and enjoyed the company of) the other fellows, the scholars who came through each week to present their work, and the many Princeton University faculty and graduate students whom I got to know (or know better). I would particularly like to thank the Center's director at the time, Natalie Zemon Davis, whose intellectual and personal example, leadership skills, and moral support helped make my year in Princeton especially productive and happy. A year's fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., enabled me to finish a first draft of this book and get a lot of other work done as well. Virtually all of my time in Washington was devoted either to writing or to caring for my daughter, and as a result I did not get to know many of my colleagues there as well as I would have liked. I regret that, but I would anyway like to thank them, the institution, and its friendly staff. I must also thank the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for a fellowship which enabled me to revise this book for publication and begin or continue work on various other projects. David Abraham, Joel Beinin, Juan Cole, Beshara Doumani, Stephen Humphreys, Rashid Khalidi, Joel Migdal, Timothy Mitchell, and Gyan Prakash were among those who read and offered useful comments on papers or articles that (after much revision) eventually became part of this book, or on the manuscript as a whole. I owe special thanks to Joel Beinin, for his friendship, his consistent support through difficult times, and his intellectual and political insights, but also because he understands perhaps better than anyone how my personal history intersects with the history this book explores. David Landes and the late Albert Hourani were always encouraging. I would also like to thank everyone at the University of California Press who worked on this book, especially Lynne Withey, Tony Hicks, and Douglas Abrams Arava, as well as my copy editor, Usha Sanyal, whose touch was both light and deft. I met Melinda Fine, who would eventually do me the honor of marrying me, at an early stage of the process that culminated in this book. She has thus accompanied it through most of its long gestation and deserves credit for helping to bring it to birth. In our years together we have experienced not a few trials and tribulations and lived in far too many different places. Melinda has had to put up with a lot for my sake; I hope she knows that I have always been, and remain, deeply grateful for her abiding love, her patience, and her faith in me and in us. This book is dedicated to two members of my family, one recently departed and the other a recent addition. My father, Michael Lockman, died in February 1994, as the manuscript of this book was approaching completion. In his eighty-one years he experienced some of the most terrible things that human beings can inflict on one another, but also much joy and satisfaction. Had he lived to read this book he might well have disagreed with much of it, but I believe that his love for me, and his faith in me, were such that he would have made the effort to understand what it was I was trying to do, and why. One of the blessings which my father received toward the very end of his life was the birth of his first granddaughter (and my first child), Talya Mara Lockman-Fine. Though that was surely not the intention of the granting institutions, various fellowships allowed me to spend a great deal of time with Talya during her first two years of life. That certainly slowed completion of this book, but I am and will always be thankful for that extraordinary experience, and for her presence in my life. Perhaps by the time she is an adult the two peoples of Palestine/Israel will live in peace and justice. Abbreviations http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft6b69p0hf;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print (2 of 203) [6/4/2008 5:38:03 AM] Comrades and Enemies • • • Bibliographical Citations AA Arkhiyon Ha‘avoda Vehehalutz, Makhon Lavon Leheker Tnu‘at Ha‘avoda (Histadrut archives), Tel Aviv AH Arkhiyon Abba Hushi, Haifa University Library CC Central Committee (hamerkaz, hava‘ad hamerkazi, al-lajna al-markaziyya, al-hay’a al-markaziyya) CID Criminal Investigations Division, Palestine Police CO Colonial Office papers, Public Records Office, London CoC Coordinating Committee (hava‘ada hamerakezet) of EC/H, minutes and correspondence at AA CZA Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem EC/H Executive Committee of the Histadrut (hava‘ad hapo‘el), minutes and correspondence at AA EC/KA Executive Committee of Hakibbutz Ha‘artzi, minutes and correspondence at HH FO Foreign Office papers, Public Records Office, London HH Arkhiyon Hashomer Hatza‘ir, Merkaz Te‘ud Veheker shel Hashomer Hatza‘ir (Hashomer Hatza‘ir archives), Giv‘at Haviva HH/AC Aharon Cohen papers, at Hashomer Hatza‘ir archives ISA Israel State Archives (Ganzakh Hamedina), Jerusalem S/EC/H Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Histadrut (mazkirut hava‘ad hapo‘el), minutes and correspondence at AA TUC Trades Union Congress archives, London Organizations and other Terms AHC Arab Higher Committee AURW Arab Union of Railway Workers AWC Arab Workers' Congress AWS Arab Workers' Society COLA cost of living allowance (added to basic wage) CRL Consolidated Refineries, Limited (Haifa) ETZEL Irgun Tzva’i Le’umi (National Military Organization) IPC Iraq Petroleum Company IU International Union of Railway, Postal and Telegraph Workers MAPAI Mifleget Po‘alei Eretz Yisra’el (Party of the Workers of the Land of Israel) MAPAM http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft6b69p0hf;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print (3 of 203) [6/4/2008 5:38:03 AM] Comrades and Enemies Mifleget Hapo‘alim Hame’uhedet (United Worker's Party) NLL National Liberation League NURPTW National Union of Railway, Postal and Telegraph Workers PAWS Palestinian Arab Workers' Society (Jam‘iyyat al-‘Ummal al-‘Arabiyya al-Filastiniyya) PCP Palestine Communist Party PLL Palestine Labor League (Ittihad ‘Ummal Filastin, Brit Po‘alei Eretz Yisra’el) RWA Railway Workers' Association SWP Socialist Workers' Party URPTW Union of Railway, Postal and Telegraph Workers http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft6b69p0hf;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print (4 of 203) [6/4/2008 5:38:03 AM] Comrades and Enemies Palestine in the British Mandate period (1920-48): places mentioned in the book.