History of Zionism
The history of Political Zionism, from the days of its founding to the present, is profoundly and inextricably intertwined with capitalism and settler colonialism. Zionism, as an ideological strain, was born as a Jewish counterpart to the European colonial conquest of Africa and Asia and the rise of ethnonationalism.
One of the most essential theoreticians of Political Zionism was Mosses Hess, a German Jewish philosopher. Mosses Hess wrote Rome and Jerusalem in 1862, which laid down the theoretical framework for Zionism. The Zionist movement was (and is) not only zealously nationalistic but also inherently rooted in imperialism and settler colonialism- much like Manifest Destiny in the United States. In "Rome and Jerusalem," Hess states
It is to the interest of France to see that the road leading to India and China should be settled by a people which will be loyal to the cause of France to the end, in order that it may fulfill the historical mission which has fallen to it as a legacy from the great Revolution (Hess, 167).
In the text, Hess goes on to praise the French incursion into Syria, claiming that such imperialist actions would greatly benefit the creation of a Jewish state. He further explains that the usage of European Imperialism will destabilize the promised land to open the region for Jewish settlement, thus creating a settler-colonial state. Hess also proclaims that this new Jewish state shall operate as a trade depot for European capital, integrating itself into preexisting colonial trade networks and thus creating huge profits for the bourgeoisie of Western nations, excluding the burgeoning comprador classes, indigenous individuals who were hired to mediate between colonizing business interests and other colonized peoples.
Mosses Hess goes to great lengths to characterize Zionism as an active colonial project, referencing "The New Eastern Question" by Ernest Laharanne. Tellingly, Hess chose to include the following quote:
For we will not be eternally engaged in war; the time must come when this wholesale massacre, usually accompanied by the booming of cannon, will be condemned by humanity, so that the nation which desires conquest in addition to commerce, will not dare to carry out its designs. We must therefore prepare and break new ground for the peaceful struggles of industry. European industry has daily to search for new markets as an outlet for its products. We have no time to lose. The time has arrived when it is imperative to call the ancient nations back to life, so as to open new highways and byways for European civilization (Hess 150).
The inclusion of that quote emphasizes the inherent colonial nature of Zionism. As Lenin states in his Theory of Imperialism:
Imperialism is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance capital is established ... in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed (Lenin 67).
According to Lenin's Theory of Imperialism, introducing new markets for already developed economies is necessary; it is the only way for overproducing capitalist nations to avoid crises of overproduction and devaluation of their product.
A secondary contributor to the ideology of Zionism is the more widely known author Theodor Herzl. Herzl is most well-known for his two books, Der Judenstaat (The Jew’s State), and Altneuland, (The Old New Land) advocating for the creation of a permanently settled Jewish colony in the Levant (the region of West Asia that includes Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria). Notedly, Hess and Herzl disagreed on which country would serve as the motherland, Hess being an eternal Francophile and Herzl being more inclined to Anglo-German cooperation. Herzl pursued a policy of trying to convert the local Ashkenazi (Eastern European & German) Jewish population away from revolutionary socialist ideology (which was quite in vogue at the time with the oppressed Jewish peasantry in Germany and the Pale of Settlement☭ in Russia) to a new ideology of ultra-ethnonationalism and hyper-capitalism. A notable example of the colonial nature of Zionism was Herzl’s letter to Cecil Rhodes, the face of British imperialism in Africa, in which he states:
You are being invited to help make history. That cannot frighten you, nor will you laugh at it. It is not in your accustomed line; it doesn't involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor, not Englishmen but Jews. But had this been on your path, you would have done it by now. How, then, do I happen to turn to you, since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial (Herzl 1194).
Thus, Zionism as an ideology is nothing but another cog in the global machine of empire, and as seen in Palestine and Lebanon, it eagerly provides the blood that is needed to keep that machine running smoothly. The Zionist ideology is one that is inherently violent and must continuously colonize in order to survive. The results of colonialism speak for themselves- just as seen in the Americas, the indigenous population will either assimilate, be subjected to genocide, or be reduced to living in concentration camps, such as the infamous American “Indian Reservations,” or arguably, Gaza itself. Fascist and hyper-capitalist movements tend to attempt to segregate those the ruling elites view as “undesirables,” just as the Nazis viewed Jewish people as “undesirable,” the US viewed and continues to view Native Americans and Black people as “undesirables,” and as the Zionist Entity views Arabs as “undesirables.” This historical truth of all hyper-capitalist and fascist movements (as the two are, practically speaking, inseparable) reveals Zionism for what it truly is- the crown jewel of the Western imperial project. The West will continue to take advantage of the political utility of Zionism in order to further its influence in the rich resource deposits of West Asia and to continue the genocidal colonization of any and all “backwards,” that is to say, non-white, cultures. This is the ultimate goal of any colonial project, and the Zionist project is certainly no exception.
Works Cited
Hess, Max. Rome and Jerusalem: A Study in Jewish Nationalism. 1862.
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich. Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. 1917.
Herzl, Theodor. The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl New York. 1960.
Endnotes
[☭] The Pale of Settlement was the name of the area in the Russian Empire where the Jewish population were permitted to live and practice their faith, they were not allowed to live or seek employment outside the Pale of Settlement. A modern analog would be the Gaza Strip or the West Bank in the Illegally Occupied State of Palestine
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