Ber Borochov

“ The phenomenon of the present Palestine immigration, over-flooding the facilities of organized Zionism and always meeting greater restrictions imposed on it by the present mandatory rulers of the country, is exactly the kind of stychic process anticipated by Borochov thirty years ago. Can it be denied that it is the stychic process does not imply inactivity. It is not to be confused with fatalism. ”

“ As Borochov himself repeatedly stated, processes that are taking pace in a human environment are of the organic kind. They do not exclude organized activity of individuals. Quite the contrary, this organized pioneering activity is strongly spurred by the conviction that is much more than a product of multiple individual whims, that it is basically rooted in a strong historical necessity. ”

“ Co-operative colonization is which the Jewish worker plays a very great role is also the way to a Socialist society in Palestine. While this colonization is not in itself Socialism, it does teach the Jewish proletariat the elementary lessons of self-help. ”

“ Franz Oppenheimer, a German-Jewish economist, devised a plan for co-operative colonization in Palestine, the central idea being that the members of the colony be treated as ordinary workers under the guidance of experts. When the members of the colony have undergone the necessary training, they are to manage and administrate the work themselves. ”

“ Even the official government report of Palestine refuted the charges that Jews are responsible for allegedly landless Arabs.
[16] Among the numerous schisms in the Poale Zion movement (1905-1920) one occurred on the question of participation in the Zionist Congress. The "later" Borochov was an anti-Congressist. Some self-styled Borochovists (e.g. the left Poale Zion) maintain to this very day the attitude that Socialists cannot and must not practice class collaboration. Since the Zionist Congress includes non-Socialist elements they contend that the proletariat cannot participate in it. ”

“ Our terminology must be made richer and more elastic. Formerly, we approached life in general from a naïve, abstract point of view, and only our immediate demands were prompted by purely realistic conditions. ”

“ But even in its present limited boundaries, Palestine’s twenty-seven thousand square kilometers can accommodate up to nine million people, whereas now it is even short of a half-million. It is understood, of course, that the Turkish rule and the prevailing system will cease. The War will create a change. ”

“ This thesis was accepted by certain factions in the Socialist-Zionist movement, and rejected or minimized by others. It is not the task of the editor to solve this age-old philosophical battle, which of the two — man’s will or circumstances–operates as the determining factor in our social life. ”