A Belated Letter on Wolfe And Political Zionism
Antonovsky, Aaron
LETTERS To the Editor A Belated Letter on Wolfe And Political Zionism From Aaron Antonovsky To tk* SHt* i You can't Tory well keep op with all you'd like to in the Array. It'a torn* S moetht...
...The key of this relationship was India, because from India had come much of their culture, and much of their economic life had been developed by ancient India...
...First, the proletaritation .of many middle class people, with a consequent development of class-consciousness, labor and Socialist activity...
...There is this tendency in every social movement...
...But much more than these simple Inaccuracies are some tendencious statement*: thus France, Great Britain and the United States participated in th* intervention in Rusaia ia 1918719 "aim-ing at roe taring capitalism" (p...
...Wolfe writes of the real struggle being "an infinitely harder one than the Liberia Palestine dream suggests.'* Liberals and Socialists since the French revolution have given us this counsel...
...This policy which disturbed their interdependence has been heartily resented ' through nearly two centuries, and since World War I, the resentment has grown into so great a flood that it can no longer be stemmed...
...By Charity Morgan...
...Panikkar reminds us that there was worked out a more or less complete and sstiafsctory relationship between the territories of Burma, India, Malaya, Java and the other islands of Southeast Asia during the period of the Orient's Golden Age, and that.this relationship endured up to the Napoleonic wars...
...By John Day...
...Morgan believea hia rich work to be he is yet too modest...
...The economic and military* successes *f Russia in the war "are explained by th* fact that "no fifth column survived" (p 40)—not did not exist bat even did not survive — a known Communist apology far "the so-called trials Th* Russian economic progress- without doubt vary Important—i* describee In soma place* in a bad advertising style...
...Now Macmillan's were confronted by poor George "Saintsbury'a communications . . . interpreted by an informal committee of the staff...
...Morgan'* book aa George Eliot felt in reading Buttons on Scott in the Macmillan series of English Men of Letters: "in s gl»* all the time...
...The history of Macmillan'a is relived with such freshness thst one feels ss if Mr...
...I realise it is not quite fair to comment on an extract...
...Meanwhile, Jews have suffered so very intensely...
...the rotten d'ftre was the natural economic interdependence of these areas which hsd existed from time immemorial, and continues to exist today...
...I would agree that Zionism does divert attention from the problems of the Diaspora in the sense of seeing a need for immigration to Palestine (from Europe, a maximum, immigration...
...248 pp...
...Morgan's vignette of its first century is of those gems which remind u* of the sense in which the trouble with tradition is not that it ia tradition, but that it isn't tradition...
...If Mr...
...Clesrly anyone who has anything to do with books will feel in reading Mr...
...Thus, oil i* •hown near Astrakhan in place of Grozny, manganese south-east of Kharkov in place of west of the Dnieper...
...That it'will have repercussions throughout the Middle East is clear...
...Thia afternoon I received a copy of the Bulletin of the American Council for Judaism of June 1ft, 1944, which contains a quote from an article by Bertram D. Wolfe in your iasue of May 27...
...Morgan's enthusiastic wisdom finds its mirthful outlet especially in his sketch of Lewi* Carroll now and) again popping up in his...
...Panik kar's study...
...Here we see the meaning of Zionism...
...LETTERS To the Editor A Belated Letter on Wolfe And Political Zionism From Aaron Antonovsky To tk* SHt* i You can't Tory well keep op with all you'd like to in the Array...
...But their interde- -pendence was forcibly disturbed, cut apart, by the revelries of the Portuguese, Dutch and English...
...A free India, free Philippine Islands, ftee Java, etc., can build a co-prosperity unit of Southeast Asia which will five contentment and a rising standard of living to the people...
...among the centers of the heavy industry art (hown Minsk and Ivanovo-Vosnesenk (the latter is actually the most important center of the Russian textile industry), but not Briansk...
...rather than the history, of a great publishing house," the British house of Msc-millan, Mr...
...CoOL and penetrating is Mr...
...Undoubtedly there is a tendency for people to find Zionism as "an easy out for their conscience...
...We are offered a view of culture from a real angle: from the standpoint of th* forces that channel it, encourage it and diffuse it...
...In a twentieth century world burdened with the "leadership" of nineteenth century minds, it is good to be reminded of those nineteenth --ntury traditions in which the hope of our twentieth century lies...
...But without a contented Asia, such cooperation cannot exist...
...The west needs Southeast Asia's nstursl resources...
...And this hot on the basis of imperialist exploitation...
...But the last census (in January 1939) showed a total of 82 cities with a population of 100,000 and among them only nine that had not a population over 30,000 at the preceding census (in December 1026) and only 14—not forty —that at that time had not a population of over 60,000...
...It is this that prompts me to write...
...A Note on the OWI War Atlas , From SOLOMON M. SCHWARZ T» th* EditorThe excellent War Atlas for Americans prepared with the assistance of the Office of War Information la worth reading for those seeking an intelligent, short, and spectacular analysis of the war...
...In aum the book ia not a history of Mscmillan's substantially, nor of those who have governed it nor fret of those who have submitted their works to it...
...New York: The Macmillan Company...
...Whenever the power that seeks to hold them has an enemy, the unfree population will unite with that enemy, as has already happened in the present conflict...
...Wolfe would forgive me, aince I will try to avoid comment on all but the points specifically and unquestionably made in the extract...
...Japan is treated particularly, with glimpses at China, Siam, Burma, Dutch East Indies and .India...
...We must simply fight againat it...
...For a gem this book is, perfectly rut, and modest as Mr...
...But what are i the consequent compensations, from the point of view of the over-all world struggle for progress...
...How much the more then, when Zionism is not a diversion, but the most realistic fight for putting the Jews, as a nation among nations, in a better world for mankind, should progressive critics of Zionism hesitate...
...The "clever" style, with its quick generalisations, and perhaps exaggerations, leaves .the reader wondering if itii judgments are too quick, if its lucidity is superficial...
...The direct solution of Asia's problem* becomes one of how to use this rising tide, rather than how to curb'It - -¦„' . f.Vag, V Mr...
...One example may be sufficient "Over forty cities—each with a population of over lOOjOOO—have grown up in th* SoVict Union in the past fifteen years" (p...
...from America, a voluntary one...
...Wolfe have some humility in the face of 4,000,000 dead Jews before offering ua criticism and an infinitely hard struggle...
...Books Rising Orient By MANORAMA MODAK THE FUTURE OF SOUTHEAST ASIA —PANIKKAR...
...But it took some 130 years for one country in the world ever to pass a law against anti-Semitiam...
...At other times, it means staying with your people...
...On the foundations of a contented people can jo built a larger co-prosperity sphere which will include the west Southeast Asia needs western capital...
...Morgan hsd witnessed the whole century of which he writes...
...3.00...
...We are given, too, fhe melancholically triumphant sketch of Ralph Hodgson, the criticism at once sharp nd sympathetic of the "complicate^ tnd yet childlike spirit" of Hugh Walpole...
...As "a note on the personality...
...Secondly, industrialisation of Palestine, destruction of the Arab feudal regime, stimulating the growth of an A rah proletariat...
...either people, Jews or Arab*, over the other...
...Morgan is too good an historian to write like one...
...Panikkar prescribes a division of India into Moslem and Hindu India with joint commissions for internal developments, defense and foreign policy to be the joint concern of both Hindu and Moslem India, along with Great Britain...
...Wolfe would pay less attention to political slogans and more to social realities, he would understand the problem of Palestine bettor...
...The common interest developed between the Jewish and Arab masses of fighting British imperialism, for workers' rights, for exploitation of the country's possibilities for the benefit of the people . . . these are the inevitable results of Zionist activity in Palestine...
...19 th Century Charm By ABBOT SHEROWER THE- HOUSE OF MAC MILL AN (1843-19431...
...Mainland India and island India have been economically complementary through the - ages, and continue to be so...
...Is there any Injustice for the Arabs involved here...
...Their "rst talk was to determine in what language, ancient or modern, each sentence was written,1, and then to decipher if Now we are'given Thomas Hardy as an example of "a plain relationship between an author who knows hia mind and a publisher who know* his business...
...rather is it that they are traditions whose quality is common to the humanity whence they spring...
...3.00...
...It'a torn* S moetht aince I've aeon an iaaue of The New Leader...
...Even the Portuguese had maintained India as the center of their eastern empire...
...Wolfe would study the history of political Zionism, he will see that it has, in the Diaspora, played the very opposite role: that it has always Seen in the forefront in Jewish life in the struggle against reaction, whatever form it may have taken...
...I know little of the Garvey movement, but I do know that if Mr...
...Asia Unbound—Sydney Gretnbit /\n easily-read survey of ISO years . of relationship between the east and west...
...To be sure the book is nothing so austere as thia might suggest...
...Nationalism, autonomy of cultural groups, free to direct their own affairs, is a world force, a ' Weltanschauung here to stay for at least the next era...
...But I believe Mr...
...While 'in way* disagreeing with Miss Syrkin's ideas, I am quite sure that neither she nor any other responsible Zionist—certainly none of the Labor Zionists—will ever accept the violation of democratic principles involved in domination of...
...Zionism is based on the needs of the Jewish masses—it must, therefore, include this itru~ against reaction...
...in essence it is, with its aenae of living proportions, a history of all of these...
...Even if Zionism and Palestine were a diversion, but gave some sort of Immediate answer, ¦hnuld not Mr...
...I wonder if Mr...
...detailed wilfulness" with his "queer love of telling a lion how to roar and a cat how to lap milk" in the form of "so many letters about printing and binding and prices that he had little time left to write the books themselves...
...These are few, but of great importance...
...At times it necessitate* the going to Palestine as a vanguard, far pioneer activities...
...But the part devoted to Russian front contains some errors that must be corrected...
...Kirst as to his assertion that Zionism ("political Zionism") does divert attention and feeling from the fight for admission here and restoration of rights in Kurope...
...His courteous humor gives it the charm of a memoir...
...Nor .is it that they are traditions of the nineteenth century...
...To the westerner his book is a fresh consideration of the problem^ of Asia: it ia high time that the west consider what easterners have to say about their own area...
...The impression is given that the Soviets have built 40 new cities —which is not true...
...The map on page 83 doe* not show correctly the location of Russian induatrial centers...
...Nevertheless the author at times steps out of his caustic mood, and treats Burma and Siam with warm sympathy...
...Just as Socialist* - M support the FEPC, for example, v. Mile recognising that it is not the long-range, basic solution, so Zionists 1 ¦¦.ve supported it, realising that it is not th* final answer...
...Panikkar givey much attention to his belief that without freedom for its national entities, there can never be peace in Asia...
...The key was India...
...Wolfe knows that many of the leaders of the revolts in the Warsaw ghetto and in many other ghettoes of Poland were young Zionists . .. some of whom had had the chance of going to Palestine, but turned it down for certain death, in order that they stag with the Jewish masses...
...How freedom can be obtained by the unite of Southeast Asia is discussed in separate chapters of this book...
...For India Mr...
Vol. 27 • July 1944 • No. 30
