The history of Zionist Ideology, including its classical and philosophical origins and its modern forms, was covered in the first part of this article. However, it is crucial that we delve deeper into the role of Labor Zionism. This article aims to analyze how Labor Zionism, a significant strand of Zionist Ideology, exemplifies the theory of 'Labor Aristocracy' found in Marxist theory.
The History of Labor Zionism
Labor Zionism can be quickly summarized as an extremely contradictory ideology inherently at odds with itself, claiming to hold the following tenets simultaneously: extreme racialized nationalism and “socialism,” class antagonism and class collaborationism, “liberation” and imperialism, and so on. Nachman Syrkin, Aaron David Gordon, and Ber Borochov founded Labor Zionism in order to co-opt the overwhelming popularity of revolutionary politics in Jewish communities to further the colonial mission of Zionism.
To quote Stephan Halbrook's article “The Class Origins of Zionist Ideology,"
It accepted all the racial elements of Zionism proper and can only be considered as a special ideology within the Zionist context to meet the particular interests of the members of the middle and petty bourgeoisies and the labour aristocracy who personally carry out the work of colonization. (Halbrook 103)
Halbrook goes on to clarify,
[Labor] Zionism operated on a class alliance whereby each Jewish class would have the right to exploit the one beneath it; as it turned out in practice, only the Arab workers would be at the bottom. (Halbrook 104)
Again, Halbrook states plainly,
One function Labour Zionism played was to co-opt Jewish workers from revolutionary politics and to guide them in the interests of the Jewish upper bourgeoisie, which, in spite of Borochov's denials, was one of the major classes the Ideology of Zionism served. (Halbrook 104)
As Halbrook argues, the true aim of Labor Zionism was not the emancipation of the Jewish people and the workers of the world but instead the recreation of Capital's relation to the proletariat into petite bourgeoisie, allowing for the exploitation of the indigenous Arab population by the new bourgeoisie class, which is the textbook definition of the theory of "labor aristocracy" as popularized by Vladimir Lenin and further supported by Enver Hoxha.
According to Steven A. Glazer, in “Language of Propaganda: The Histadrut, Hebrew Labor, and the Palestinian Worker,” the ideological strand of Labor Zionism was built on the focus of one of Zionism's central pillars, the conquest of labor. The study goes into deep linguistic research about how the archetypal "leftist" Labor Zionist and the Histadrut, the Hebrew Labor Federation, maintained and upheld systems of propaganda that demonized the Palestinian (and to a slightly lesser degree, Arab) population and fought for discrimination and fewer rights for workers. During the time of the initial formation of Labor Zionism, the language used by the Histadrut was often hyper-militant and apocalyptic, to the point of being more in line with modern-day Neo-Nazi messaging boards than the pro-worker rhetoric typically used in leftist movements. The language used by the Histadrut is significant because it drops the pretense of Labor Zionism being an emancipatory ideology and instead makes it clear that it is an organization of Jewish supremacy and colonial enforcement.
Thus, Labor Zionism is and always has been an inherently colonial (and therefore anti-leftist) ideology. While socialism proposes the improvement of the worker’s situation through a democratic dictatorship of the proletariat, Labor Zionism follows in the footsteps of fascist "thinkers” like Mussolini in its support of class collaboration. Labor Zionism certainly improved the lot of some workers- at the terrible expense of others, specifically Arab workers. The domination of the Arab population by the Zionist Entity leads to the satiation of the people’s hunger for prosperity through violent means rather than through cooperation between the global proletariat. “Labor” Zionism is and always has been “socialist” in the same way that the National “Socialist” German “Workers” Party was in Germany- in name only. True socialist internationalism remains the only path to prosperity for all workers, despite the false promises of reactionary bourgeoise puppets that dominate the proletariat for their own gain!
Sources
Halbrook, Stephen. “The Class Origins of Zionist Ideology.” Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, Oct. 1972, pp. 86–110, https://doi.org/10.2307/2535975.
Glazer, Steven A. “Language of Propaganda: The Histadrut, Hebrew Labor, and the Palestinian Worker.” Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. 36, no. 2, 1 Jan. 2007, pp. 25–38, https://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2007.36.2.25.
Lenin, Vladimir. Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. 1917. London, Penguin, 2010.
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