Class, memory, and Jewish anti-Zionism

Jewish radicals have long challenged the state project built in our name

~ James Horton ~

In view of the modern genocide the Israeli state is undertaking against the Palestinian people, it may not seem advisable or desirable to look at one’s own position in relation to it. It can feel self-centred to take a moment to interrogate one’s personal history in the face of such dystopian suffering. As a Jew, though, this feels slightly different.

We’re told that the only way to establish security for Jews is through a nation-state with exclusionary policies that favour us. But should anyone, Jewish or not, pursue an interest in the history of politically active Jewish communities, they will find a richness of radical anti-nationalism—indeed, internationalism. Zionism was a story perniciously crafted by the Jewish upper classes, and its project relied on convincing working-class Jews to fight the fight and build the Jewish-only fortress on stolen land.

The history of Jewish involvement in left-wing movements is far too extensive to summarise. Emma Goldman and Rosa Luxemburg are just two of the bigger names, but there were countless Jewish shop-floor strike coordinators, unknown newspaper editors, educators and artists—people of action and people of thought, who had a titanic influence not only on the left but on political discourse at large. Milly Witkopf, for example (1877–1955), married to the more famous Rudolph Rocker, and the Jews of her ilk are frequently absent from the discussion—despite the fact they did much of the groundwork on which movements were built.

In modern times, these figures have been the target of naked smears by Zionist intellectuals and activists. The charge is often that they hold lofty “lefty” expectations (otherwise known as political principle), and care too little for the safety of the Jewish people. But for anyone with an ounce of media literacy, these smears come from the same figures who cheerlead the Netanyahu administration in its policy of ethnic cleansing—and so cannot be trusted. But for those foolish enough to take them seriously, such figures at least resemble serious political actors and must be discussed to the extent one can stomach.

Class and Zionism, then and now

The Zionist project, when distilled to its essence, is an elitist ideology. It began as a project among the Central European bourgeoisie—both Jewish and Christian—as a “solution” (always a troubling word in politics) to Jewish oppression in Europe and the US. But as scholar Albert S. Lindemann points out, Zionism chose to “solve” the problem not by fighting modern nationalism, but by following in its footsteps and crushing class solidarity.

Early Zionists collaborated with the same imperialists who had collared the social rights of Jews—men like Arthur Balfour, a vicious opponent of Jewish migration while Prime Minister (1902–1905). Chaim Weizmann, later Israel’s first president, was a known anti-Bundist, led the Zionist Federation and attacked leftist Jews whom he rightly saw as potential challengers to the nationalist fantasy he sought to realise. He and others advanced the Zionist cause with the institutional and physical backing of some of the most vile antisemites of the era.

Even down to the Language Wars—when in 1900, 8 million Jews spoke Yiddish—Zionists weren’t satisfied with this mongrel language of the working class. They saw it as synonymous with exile, failure, and persecution—not one of liberation, as Bundists did in Russia or anarchists in London. Using direct violence against their own people, including the burning of Yiddish publication houses, Zionists split the Jewish working class from their linguistic roots, seeking to homogenise them for a nationalism they would then exert on others. Today, Yiddish is considered a “dead language”, with only around a million native speakers globally.

Where does this history leave us in an era of unmasked cruelty against Palestinians? One takeaway from the growing pro-Palestinian movement in the West is that more Jews raised on the idea of Israel are revolting against it. The 2023 Al Jazeera documentary Israelism tries to understand this phenomenon—though it has attracted heavy criticism.

What Zionists push—through festivals, trips abroad, and propaganda—is that Zionism is sexy, and more importantly, necessary for Jewish security. Young Jews, mostly from New York and Los Angeles, are sponsored on trips to a land they are encouraged to inherit, with wealthy philanthropists manufacturing the same Zionist fervour they have always sought in the Jewish working class. But as before, many are slipping out from under this weight of radicalisation and standing for Palestinian self-determination.

Jewish activists and writers, doing serious work at local and national levels, often speak of the “Not In Our Name” position. Crucially, it comes with a call not only to challenge the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, but to build a new system in which oppression in all forms is no longer tolerated. Emily Apple, a Jewish woman and former editor at The Canary, said to me:

I feel really strongly about the ‘Not In Our Name’ idea. When I was growing up, the distinction between anti-Zionism and antisemitism didn’t need to be made—it was just a given. Now a lot of Jewish people have been sold a lie that isn’t in the interest of Jews or Palestinians. When I see other Jews going after radical voices that want to make change—for Palestinians, for refugees, for anyone facing oppression—it makes me feel sick.
Being Jewish for me is about my place in the world and my history. My great-great-grandparents’ generation were all refugees. When I’m engaging in campaigns, I feel that sense of responsibility really strongly.

Jewish history is inspiring. Writing and fighting in any language and on any land they stood, radical Jews fought for the emancipation of workers, the end of colonial dominion, and the liberation of people deemed unconventional. That is not just our history—it is our present. And Zionism is a colossal obstacle to its continuation.

Photo: Peter Marshall

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