Sejarah Zionisme, 1600-1918/Volume 2/Bab 49b

CHAPTER XLIXB.

England and Zionism—Sir B. Arnold in the Spectator—Cardinal Vaughan—Lord Rosebery—The Death of Herzl—David Wolffsohn—Prof. Otto Warburg—Zionism in the smaller states.

The Uganda scheme, which was due to the initiative of Joseph Chamberlain, led to an intimate acquaintance between the Zionist leader and this great English statesman. This project, as well as the El Arish expedition, which failed in consequence of technical difficulties, made Zionism not only a living factor in Judaism from an international standpoint, but also a political factor that was given consideration by one great Government, namely, that of England.

Subsequent events, instead of diminishing, have only more firmly increased Zionist confidence in the sympathy of English public opinion for Palestinian Zionism. There is hardly an appeal so eloquently written as Sir B. Arnold’s address, published in the Spectator, October, 1903: “You have a country, the inheritance of your fathers, finer, more fruitful, better situated for commerce, than many of the most celebrated places of the globe. Environed by the lovely shores of the Mediterranean, the lofty steppes of Arabia and of rocky Sinai, your country extends along the shores of the Mediterranean, crowned by the towering cedars of the Lebanon, the source of rivulets and brooks, which spread fruitfulness over shady dales. A glorious land! situated at the furthest extremity of the sea which connects three-quarters of the globe, over which the Phœnicians sent their numerous fleets to the shores of Britain, near to both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf: the central country of the commerce between the East and the West. Every country has its peculiarity: every people their own genius. No people of the earth have lived so true to their calling from the first as you have done. The Arab has maintained his language and his original country: on the Nile, in the deserts, as far as Sinai, and beyond the Jordan, he feeds his flocks. In the elevated plains of Asia Minor the Turkoman has conquered for himself a second country, the birthplace of the Osman: but Palestine has a thin population. For centuries the battlefield between the sons of Altai and the Arabian wilderness, the inhabitants of the West and the half-nomadic Persians, none have been able to establish themselves and maintain their nationality: no nation can claim the name of Palestine. A chaotic mixture of tribes and tongues; remnants of migrations from north and south, they disturb one another in the possession of the glorious land where your fathers for so many centuries emptied the cup of joy, and so where every inch is drenched with the blood of your heroes when their bodies were buried under the ruins of Jerusalem.”

It is obvious that these and other similar appeals and encouraging statements made a deep impression upon Zionists. This gave rise to the assumption that Zionism was merely concerned with English interest. It is needless to say that such a statement is as unfounded as the one ascribing to Zionism the pursuance of any other political interest. Zionism is a cause of humanity and justice, altogether remote from any political speculation: it can help the Jews, it can be useful to any country interested in the development of the East, it can be beneficial to all the neighbouring nations. It was only the spirit of the Bible which enabled the English people to appreciate the justice and the moral equity of the endeavour to raise up in the old land a free, united, prosperous and energetic Jewish nation, attached by the closest ties of friendship to European civilization, carrying not only into the East the civilization of the West, just as in the Middle Ages their forefathers brought the torch of culture to the West—that torch of enlightenment which they have borne aloft in their journey from the East, and which has enabled them to accomplish cultural work of their own.

Cardinal Vaughan referred in 1902 most sympathetically to Zionism in the following words: “I have always taken a great interest in the Jews, they were once the chosen people. I marvel at the strength they retain amid most unfavourable conditions. I admire their industry, their domestic virtues and their mental force, and I can only wish success to a plan which promises them such great advantages.”

Lord Rosebery pointed out, in one of his speeches, that the silent campaigns of commerce are at least as decisive of the fate of nations as the noisy operations of the battlefield. Even as the spasms and convulsions of nature, though she works through them, are less important than the slow, silent, everyday forces, so history is made less by the fire and sword of the fighters than by the humble, prosaic working-classes. The Jews were aware of the fact that not by soldiers has the great British Empire been built up, but by Trading Companies: India by the East India Company, Canada by the Hudson Bay Fur Company, South Africa by Mining Companies. The East India Company was incorporated in 1600; a few years later (1607) the earliest permanent settlement of Virginia was founded. The Pilgrim Fathers—a movement somewhat similar to Zionism—began their noble work in 1620; and West Indian colonization was inaugurated with the occupation of the Barbadoes in 1625. Half to three-quarters of a century the work went apace in North America, colony after colony was added to the British Crown. Then other regions began to attract the British, and a new era dawned with the occupation of Gibraltar in 1704.

All the great achievements of British peaceful conquests encouraged the Zionist Movement with its trusts and funds. Cecil Rhodes, with only a million pounds to start with, created Rhodesia with its 750,000 square miles. The British North Borneo Company has a capital of £800,000 and dominates over 31,000 square miles. The British East African Company, which administered 200,000 square miles, began with the same amount as the Jewish Colonial Trust, namely, £250,000.

It is true that the Zionist Palestinian scheme presented other difficulties, but where was any great work undertaken which did not present difficulties? Is not the whole history of the Jews a struggle for existence amid the greatest of difficulties? The Jews in their normal condition were an agricultural people. During the centuries of depression and persecution they had to abandon their old vocation. Dispersed throughout all countries, yet fugitives from every land, the Jews, who could call no place their home, had to turn to commerce or to handicraft for a means of livelihood, and were thus able to carry about with them everywhere that kind of labour power that they knew to be realizable everywhere. Yet, inexorable necessity as it was, it was a breaking with the nation’s own self. And is the present situation without its difficulties? Let those answer who know something of the hardships, the privations, the squalor, the wretchedness amid which three-quarters of the Jewish people live throughout their lives. And, as to financial means, even under present circumstances it is necessary for the continuance of the present misery, to collect millions and millions, whereby indescribable energies are wasted—without any real help being given.

Inspired by these ideas, and with this object in view, the propaganda was continued when suddenly, in 1904, the Zionist Organization sustained the greatest loss ever experienced by any Organization. Herzl had worked too hard; his exertions, his experiences and his emotions had been such as to exhaust the strength of this strongest of physical and intellectual giants. It was too much for one human being to bear; nature was unduly taxed and he broke down. On the 3rd of July, 1904, Herzl breathed his last in the villa “Home, Sweet Home” at Reichenau, on the Semmering Mountain, south of Vienna. His memory will be cherished for ever by the Jewish people.

David Wolffsohn (1856‒1914), the Zionist representative and worker, who had distinguished himself since the very beginning of the movement, succeeded Herzl. David Wolffsohn’s career was eminently that of a self-made man of the kind that old Dr. Smiles would have delighted to portray. A man of attractive and imposing appearance, of a loving disposition and mild grace, and with a real sense of Jewish humour, rare gifts of adaptability and extraordinary capacity for managing and leading forward in active work, he was a splendid type of a self-made man. But, from a Zionist point of view, he was more than that: he was Herzl’s great friend and confidant. His autobiography is given in Appendix LXXXIII.

David Wolffsohn, practically chosen by the Actions Committee and all Zionist authorities, took over the leadership of the Zionist Organization, during the interim between Herzl’s death and the Seventh Congress in 1906. He had first intended to transfer the headquarters to Berlin, but afterwards decided to give Cologne, the city of his home, the preference. He was assisted in this important and responsible work by two distinguished Zionists: Professor O. Warburg of Berlin and M. Jacobus Kann of the Hague. The activities of Professor Warburg have been described elsewhere in this volume: they tended in the direction of colonization, and were almost wholly concentrated upon this domain. M. Jacobus Kann, a member of an old and highly respected banking firm in Holland, was more interested in the financial institutions of the organization. He joined the Zionist Organization at the very beginning and has served the Zionist cause whole-heartedly and devotedly, particularly in the founding of the Jewish Colonial Trust, the Anglo-Palestine Company and all the other financial institutions. He travelled in Palestine, wrote a book (Erez Israel) dealing with his impressions, and is also active in the Zionist work in his own country.

Holland has a well-organized and active Zionist Organization, to which great impetus was given by the Eighth Congress at The Hague, 1909. M. de Liema, Professor Orenstein, Dr. Edersheim, M. Cohen, M. Pool and many others are among the prominent leaders. They take a very active part in the general organization work and in that of the Jewish National Fund, the headquarters of which at present are at The Hague. The Dutch Zionist Federation has an excellent weekly paper, Het Judischer Wachter, which has appeared regularly for several years, and contains much information concerning Zionist and Jewish matters as well as other excellent articles and contributions. It is worthy of note that Zionism in Holland has had for several years now a Zionist University Movement—with some good publications—which was started by Orenstein, Edersheim and others. Mention of Holland reminds one that a place of honour in Zionist history belongs to Belgium, and particularly to Antwerp, which has been for several years a first-class Zionist centre. Messieurs Jean Fischer, Oscar Fischer, S. Tolkowsky, Dr. Wulf, Ruben Cohn, the late Mehrlender, Grunzweig and many others, occupying important positions in the general Zionist Organization, made Zionism a living force in Belgian Jewry. M. Jean Fischer is a member of the Actions Committee and of the great financial institutions of Zionism: he and his friends have taken an important part in colonization undertakings in Palestine of which the devoted pioneer M. S. Tolkowsky is the representative at Rechoboth. M. Fischer visited Palestine and wrote a book containing his observations. Belgian Zionists had also a paper of their own, L’Esperance (Ha-Tikvah), which brought very valuable contributions and information.

In connection with Zionism the smaller countries of Central and Southern Europe, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries also deserve special mention. Switzerland, the land of the Zionist Congresses, has a good organization, of which Dr. Camille Levy, Dr. Felix Pinkus, M. Levy are the most notable. They were always very active in propaganda, had their delegates at the Congresses and always made their regular contributions. Denmark and Sweden have now had for some years a good Zionist Organization, and, of late, are developing great activity, owing to the Zionist Office which has been established at Copenhagen. Roumania and Bulgaria are still more important as great centres of Zionist activity. Roumania was almost equal to Russia in the Chovevé Zion movement. Now, M. Pineles, M. Schein, M. Schwarzfeld, the learned and well-known Dr. Nacht and Dr. Nemirower, with many other leaders are at work in that country.