Marxism, Zionism and the National Question
Do Marxists Have To Support The Demand For Self-Determination? (4/4)
Again, for Trotsky, this demonstrated how the national question, here, could only be addressed along with the the class struggle. It was necessary for Jews, integrated into working-class communities across the globe, to stand alongside their fellow workers, immediately in the struggle against fascism, rather than being diverted by Zionism into a reactionary, dead-end nationalist diversion that would further divide them from other workers. The example of what was happening in the division between Jewish and Palestinian workers was evidence of that, and that a progressive solution was not possible under capitalism.
“And how, you ask me, can socialism solve this question? On this point I can but offer hypotheses. Once socialism has become master of our planet or at least of its most important sections, it will have unimaginable resources in all domains. Human history has witnessed the epoch of great migrations on the basis of barbarism. Socialism will open the possibility of great migrations on the basis of the most developed technique and culture. It goes without saying that what is here involved is not compulsory displacements, that is, the creation of new ghettos for certain nationalities, but displacements freely consented to, or rather demanded by certain nationalities or parts of nationalities. The dispersed Jews who would want to be reassembled in the same community will find a sufficiently extensive and rich spot under the sun. The same possibility will be opened for the Arabs, as for all other scattered nations. National topography will become a part of the planned economy. This is the grand historical perspective that I envisage. To work for international socialism means also to work for the solution of the Jewish question.”
And, of course, the example of what was happening in Palestine again demonstrated this, as the Zionists, not only created a Jewish ghetto in which thousands of Jews would be trapped, but they did so over the bones of the indigenous Palestinian population, who were, thereby, also driven into ghettoes and reservations. This was far from any kind of progressive solution. The fact that, also, in order to oppose British imperialism, the Zionists turned to an alliance with fascism, with Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, illustrated the reactionary nature of this venture. Again, this is completely at odds with the kind of socialist solution that Trotsky outlined.
“It may be presumed that a socialist democracy will not resort to compulsory assimilation. It may very well be that within two or three generations the boundaries of an independent Jewish republic, as of many other national regions, will be erased. I have neither time nor desire to meditate on this. Our descendants will know better than we what to do. I have in mind a transitional historical period when the Jewish “question” as such, is still acute and demands adequate measures from a world federation of workers’ states.
The very same methods of solving the Jewish question which under decaying capitalism will have a utopian and reactionary character (Zionism) will, under the regime of a socialist federation take on real and salutary meaning. This is what I want to point out. How could any Marxist or even any consistent democrat object to this?”
The project of Zionism was reactionary from start to finish, not just because it offered no real solution for Jews, and the solution it offered involved its achievement over the bones of the existing Palestinian people, but also because it subjected both Jews and Palestinians to the whims and manoeuvres of the big powers.
“The attempt to solve the Jewish question through the migration of Jews to Palestine can now be seen for what it is, a tragic mockery of the Jewish people. Interested in winning the sympathies of the Arabs who are more numerous than the Jews, the British government has sharply altered its policy toward the Jews, and has actually renounced its promise to help them found their “own home” in a foreign land. The future development of military events may well transform Palestine into a bloody trap for several hundred thousand Jews. Never was it so clear as it is today that the salvation of the Jewish people is bound up inseparably with the overthrow of the capitalist system.”
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