MARSHALL PLAN, PACT WITH WEST URGED ON ISRAEL
Hollander, Louis
Marshall Plan, Pact With West Urged on Israel By LOUIS HOLLANDER Louis Hollander, General Manager of the New York Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, and'Chairvian of...
...A steady cultural exchange between the American Jewish community and the new nation would benefit both...
...With this high prospect in view, it is the urgent task of the Jewish Labor Committee to rally the entire American labor movement, both CIO and AFL, to the immediate political, economic and social aid 4)t the new democratic state of Israel—recognized but neglected by the great powers—and so enable it to attain the lofty goal that history has set for it...
...Now", Connolly has received a new snub — his expected nomination for Manhattan Borough President has been balked by Marcantonio and the Communist party...
...foi O'Dwyer later reneged on all tin promises he made to Marcantonio...
...It wav industrially and socially impossible lo absorb such groat numbers of immigrants in a single year, and on* during which a bitter and costly defensive war against lb* Arab states swallowed up much of the country's meager resources...
...The Record Speaks for Ewart Oulmer...
...THESE LEADERS ARE MOSTLY from the MAPAI, or Labor party...
...Party insiders say only a Wallace candidacy for the United States Senate could heal the breach...
...Despite the problems so far raised, it should be emphasized that Israel has given a most effective answer to the anti-Semite calumny that Jews are unwilling and unfit to work with their hands, and that their sole ambition is to be businessmen...
...Marcantonio now declares that the Mayor himself cajoled him to swing the ALP endorsement of brother Paul, and says he has recordings to prove it...
...Plan aid, this would give the American labor movement on opportunity te exert its tremendous influence in behalf of Israel...
...The Negev and other areas can be successfully settled by building villages where every farmer has his own plot of land and is the beneficiary of the products of his labor...
...This requires a new and bold approach...
...Yet, having visited the camps where the new arrivals are located, I can testify »to the impossible living conditions and lack of sanitation obtaining there...
...These farmers should be knit together by free and voluntary cooperatives for mutual help in planting and harvesting, buying and selling...
...Annette Rubinstein Connolly was further embittered whet' this little-known CP hack drew les:than one-third of the ALP's 1948 vote as Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr...
...The Daily Worker stands behind Marcantonio, while a group of so-called independent Wallaceites, including O. John Rogge, favor Connolly...
...Communist interest in boosting Harlem membersnip is only one factor in the Connolly-Marcantonio battle...
...far overshadows those reasons...
...One can safely say, without exaggeration, that the Histadrut was the builder of Israel...
...And three days laies^li finally put the finger on Connollyi...
...Only a share of those funds allocated by the U. S. for economic recovery abroad can furnish Israel with the necessary means of financing current and projected housing...
...The Tammany Hall sachems are also most interested...
...Israeli leaders could not and would not close the gates of the neV »tate on the multitudes of Jewish men and women rotting in Western European DP camps, the hundred of thousands trembling for their lives in Soviet satellite areas, and those being persecuted by the Arabs in Oriental countries...
...It seems Marcantonio, whose dealings with Tammany Hall have long extended past the bounds of his East Harlem stronghold, has crossed Connolly three times in the past year...
...On farms and agricultural settlements one finds Jewish workers—men, women, boys and girls —performing the hard tasks of farmers the world over to fill the breadbasket of Israel...
...Rubinstein...
...But Connolly had the last laugh...
...People in Israel are led to believe that Jews in the Western democracies and the United States are victims of an unceasing aijti-Semitism —including violence—and tend to overlook the accomplishments of the American Jewish community...
...THE PORT OF HAIFA, one of the largest and busiest in the Middle East, teems with Jewish longshoremen loading and unloading the heaviest cargoes...
...The primary fight being waged by Councilman Eugene P. Connolly, U it's continued, can only help the Wall Street parties to divide the ranks of progressives and to confuse the issues...
...Bella Dodd and Isadore Begun, for "white chauvinism...
...Industrial and agricultural enterprises...
...the ALP ran Dr...
...Like the American melting pot, the Israeli state is trying to merge into one nation many dissimilar types of Jews—Eastern and Western Europeans, Sephardic and Oriental— who are divided by age-old differences in background, culture and living standards...
...Wallace May Run for Senate To Heal New York Party Split By WALTER K. LEWIS NEW YORK'S COMMUNIST-RUN American Labor party is being torn by a factional feud which Henry Wallace himself may have to patch up...
...Only groups of selfless young men and women imbued with a spirit of sacrifice and ready for hard labor and primitive living could, after all these years, transform arid wastes into burgeoning fields and orchards...
...These recordings, Marcantonio prom ises, will be used in Marcanjonio's coming mayoralty race against O'Dwyei and Newbold Morris (Rep.-Llb.-Fus...
...That extraordinary organization, the Histadrut (Jewish Federation of Labor), did a remarkable job when Palestine was under the British mandate and is continuing its work in the new Israel...
...But we nre no less duty bound to help the survivors of Hitler's concentration camps rehabilitate themselves ecojymv ically, than we are to assist Wrifltern Germany, Holland or Belgium...
...DESPITE THE CRIES of "white chauvinist" hurled at him, Connolly bprned up the wires between Washington and New York, trying to get Marcantonio to scrap Guinier...
...Whatever the reasons for Israeli nationalistic Israel should be an in-, tegral part of world Jewry but should not consider Itself above it There will always be more Jews outside Israel than inside...
...As things stand now, America and the Western powers appear to hove left Israel to make the supreme effort of overcoming its munifold construction problems alone...
...it intends to develop Israel a£ a democratic model ¦ for the entire Middle East...
...America, the first nation to recognize Israel, should aid the new country'* development...
...The various fund-raiting campaign* here and abroad will not suffice...
...The CP, now in the midst of a drive to revive flagging Negro support, recently expelled two veteran Commie chiefs, Dr...
...Fortunately, the present democratic government is firmly entrenched in the minds of the people and will oppose successfully any move to bring the new state into the Soviet sphere...
...From Haifa to Jerusalem and to the Negev one sees thousands of Jews cutting stone, building roads, laying water pipelines...
...The rift pits peppery Congressman Vifo Marcantonio, the ALP's state chairman, against ambitious City Councilman Eugene Connolly, former Manhattan ALP leader...
...Only small groups of highly selected young men and women can endure the prolonged self-abnegation and lack of privacy which are perforce features of the kibbutzim...
...Marcantonio arrived at one big rally during that campaign and ignored Connolly while shaking hands with Wallace, Leo Isacson and Mrs...
...Connolly retorted by pointedly walking off the platform, when Marcantonio began to speak...
...Halting the Immigration was of course unthinkable...
...For in a close race against the Republican party's popular Oren Root, the Tammany candidate could win on the basis of the difference between Connolly and the little-known Guinier...
...Without doubt, the future of Israel will be a great one...
...In Israel Jews have proved their fitness and capacity for productive lafcor...
...The only offtyfal Communist candidate in ' the forthcoming municipal election is Negro Councilman Benjamin Davis, Jr...
...This may account for the great emphasis on the central importance of Israel...
...Wherever one moves, he encounters thousands of new houses erected virtually overnight by Jewish bricklayers, carpenters and electricians...
...there, Mr...
...This article is a presentation of some of those problems anil possible solutions to them...
...The majority have fought tenaciously for years to create an independent, sovereign Jewish state', and would vigorously oppose any attempt to put Israel under the domination of Moscow...
...The small Communist party, on the other hand, is despised by the overwhelming majority of the people because of its long history of betrayal of Jewish interests and Jewish aspirations, and its members are considered quislings...
...No individual could venture into the barren, often malaria-infested valleys of Palestine and attempt to make them productive...
...This spring, when the neighboring 20th district seat fell open, Connolh again eyed the ALP nomination...
...ANOTHER COMPLEX TASK faced by Israel is the realization of a whrkeble agricultural program to raise sufficient food for her fast-growing population...
...These should be supported by tractor stations maintained by the government at strategic points...
...The commendable dictum to which the kibbutzim apparently adhered — "From each acCOMtJilf to his ability, to each according to hit need" —might have suited pott conditions...
...But I am firmly convinced that thee* brutal facts must be brought to the attention of American Jewry—and to Americans in general—to make it clear that without their aid Israel cannot begin so solve the problem of rehabilitating her new citizens in her cities and on her farms...
...I can well understand the sentimental ties which bind the present leadership with the kibbutzim, and the psychological difficulties involved in inaugurating a new agricultural policy...
...LAST PALL, the ALP passed up the eager Connolly and backed Democrat Paul O'Dwyer in the 21st Congressional district...
...Right now it looks like the American Labor party— which drew more than half a million votes for Wallace last fall—will have trouble getting up 200,000 this year...
...To the left of MAPAI stands MAPAM, which suffers from a revolutionary romanticism...
...The only result was that the Daily Worker, which used to give Connolly frequent puffs, quickly gave him the silent treatment^ But on July 17, the Commie organ made it specific, proclaiming In a two-column headline...
...The Polish Jews repatriated from Soviet Russia, and those coming from the satellite countries, have seen enough of sovkhozes and kolkhozes...
...it has established a comprehensive social security system unrivalled by any organization anywhere, and has set up an excellent chain ,of dispensaries, hospitals and first-aid stations for its members and their families...
...Basically, the greater part of MAPAM is nationalist, and above all firmly Zionist...
...ONE OF ISRAEL'S most acute prob lems is the extraordinarily large number of immigrants admitted during thr Mist year of the new state's existence — nearly a quarter of a million...
...What I saw there leads me to the firm conviction that no power on earth can take Israel away from the Jews, that the people will defend their independence with their very lives, and that the new state— given proper encouragement and assistance—will turn the Negev desert into blossoming cities and Villages and will make room for many hundreds ofthousands of newcomers...
...According to that scheme of things, the sole purpose of Jewry is to supply immigrants to Israel and the means tor settling them...
...I am well aware of the internal and external reasons that have prevented the Israeli government from applying for Marshall Plan aid bitherto, but the urgent problem of settling new tens of thousands on the land and of absorbing Many more in new muduitres...
...The governmental tractor stations could offer the substantial benefits of modern agricultural machinery which smaller farmers and their cooperatives could not otherwise obtain, while leaving them free and independent in their actions...
...The Histadrut is not merely a trade union federation imhjied with high labor ideals — it hat formed cooperatives and industrial enterprises, built kibbutzim, and evolved a bus and taxi transportation network...
...On the other hand, there is no ,r%ason why Israel should not be admitted into the Marshall Plan...
...Out of its ranks emerged the able, intelligent and hard-working members who lead the government and are forging the new nation of Israel...
...In the beginning this farm of colonization was inevitable...
...But one room for a family, a clean shirt every Friday and the raising of children under a communal roof is a communism of a levelling sort, and contradicts human nature...
...Zionist practice of dwelling upon the misfortunes of Jews in the Diaspora and ignoring their social and cultural achievements...
...Were Israel to apply for Marshal...
...Only a few are professional communists who infiltrated into the party to cause trouble...
...Israel will need a minimum ol $300,000,000 annually in the next three year* to house and craale tmploymeni for vait numbers of immigrant* ¦fill flowing in...
...Having just returned from an extensive study of conditions in this new state which is rapidly becoming a bulwark of democracy in the Middle East, I am convinced that many of its economic problems can be speeded toward a solution only by receiving funds from the Marshall Plan...
...World opinion, Impressed with this achieve- t ment, is unfamiliar with the dire hardship faced by most of the new arrivals...
...But the communes cannot solve the needs of an increasing population...
...Too, Israel is destined to lead her neighboring peoples along the path of democracy, freedom and social advancement...
...The kibbutzim, or communes, founded by the Labor Zionists have been highly praised...
...The Communist party would like to make Israel a Soviet satellite...
...Hollander met and discussed with Israeli government and labor leaders many of the problems the new stute is experiencing...
...The atmosphere created denies the vital importance of this, country's 5,000,000 Jews and places Israel in the center of Jewish life as its supreme creation...
...And for Manhattan Borough President, to Connolly's chagrin, the Commies have given the nod to Ewart Guinier, Negro leader of the Communist-dominated United Public Workers (CIO...
...WHILE THE ISRAELI have done an excellent job of keeping us informed on developments in the new state, the Israeli press continues the old...
...To expect new Israeli to flock to the communes is, in my opinion, like suggesting that the vast numbers who settled the American Far West in the early 1900's should have done so in the manner of the covered-wagon pioneers...
...romped to victory...
...However, a study of the limitations of the kibbutzim, and an acquaintance with the people in the camps, convinces me that the great majority even of those willing* to settle on the land will stubbornly refuse to do so through the kibbutzim...
...Israel's government cannot bo blamed for that* appalling conditions...
...It is my opinion that the leaders of Israel and the Histadrut will have to adopt a more realistic attitude in their agricultural policy...
...With Connolly threatening to become a "Manhattan Tito," ALP'ers see a Wallace race for the Senate as the party's only hope to stay together and poll a respectable vote...
...That American Jewry has done much to favorably influence American attitudes toward Israel, and that Jewish labor leaders were instrumental in arousing, the sympathy of the labor movement here— which also was a factor in determining American policy—is scarcely recognized in Israel...
...They offer no incentive...
...The spectacle of these sufferers coming to Israel in the hope of realizing their passionate longing for a happy and productive life, only to find themselves once again helpless and miserable, lodged in overcrowded barracks and tents, without any immediate hope of sinking roots- in the new and cherished soil, Is starkly tragic...
...Israel's extreme nationalism is understandable...
...The mayor's brother lost, nevertheless, in this traditionally Democratic territory to RepublicanLiberal Jacob K. Javits...
...Such a plan would provide the necessary incentive for peqple to settle on the land, at the same time retaining that cooperative spirit so vital for farmers working a difficult soil...
...Marshall Plan, Pact With West Urged on Israel By LOUIS HOLLANDER Louis Hollander, General Manager of the New York Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, and'Chairvian of the New York State CIO, has just returned from a six-week tour of /sr»«ff One of a delegation of five from the Jewish Labor Committee, ivhich went to lirtHf, to dtdicaU a labor cultural center erected by the Committee and to study condition...
...Bui Marcantonio had promised Tammanj not to siphon oh" too many votes frotr Tiger stalwart Benjamin Shalleck...
...Only a colonization program based on fulljndividual initiative plus cooperative endeavor can solve the food problems of the new state...
...The fact Is that the Israeli government, the Histadrut (Jewish Federation of Labor), and other agencies cannot cope with the complex factors accompanying this migratory tidal wave...
...ISRAEL SHOULD IMMEDIATELY ALIGN ITSELF with the Western democracies and should apply for Marshall Plan aid...
Vol. 32 • July 1949 • No. 31
