BOOKS
THE FOUNDING MYTHS OF ISRAEL.
By
Ze'ev Sternhell. Princeto n
University Press. $28.95
Mos t Israeli intell ectuals loa th e the government in power, whi ch , as they
see it, may well lead th eir country towards ruin- with the ultra orthodox
undermining the democ rati c and liberal charac ter o f the country and w ith
a general decline in publi c spiri t and mo rali ty. Thus some o f them loo k
back in anger, trying to find out what went w rong in th e pas t and why.
Th eir search fo r culpri ts can be found in th e wo rk o f novelists, playwrights,
hi sto ri ans, and po liti cal sc ienti sts.
The work of Z e'ev Sternhell , Leon Blum Pro fessor at the H ebrew
University, on th e hi sto ry of modern France and fasc ism in general is well
kn own and respec ted. O ve r the last decade he has immersed himself in the
hi story of the Zioni st labo r movement. Hi s book, whil e no t in correct inas–
mu ch as th e fac ts are concern ed, leads to conclu sio ns th at are either
obvio us and have neve r been in di spute, o r are curi ously lopsided . I w rite
thi s w ith regret because I share many o f the underl ying concerns o f thi s
book and its apprehensions w ith rega rd to th e future. O ne o f Sternhell 's
obvio us conclusio ns is the fac t that, like the Russian soc iali st movement
from w hi ch it sprang, Labor Z ioni sm was no t predominantl y Marxist and
intern ati o nali st and that th e nati o nali st, o r rath er patri o ti c, mo tiva tion
played a crucial role. Their tho ught, Sternhell says, was shall ow and their
perspecti ve narrow and they ca red
Ii
ttl e, if at all , abo ut ideo logy. They were
provin cial, th e products o f th e littl e townships o f Po land and R.ussia , hud–
dl ed around th eir synagogues and ra bbinical sc hoo ls.
O ne o f the main thinkers of the Labo r movement, Berl Katznelson ,
met Rudo lf Hilferdin g in Switze rl and in 1937, and Sternhell no tes (as an
exampl e of Katznelson's ideologica l igno rance) th at he had never read
Hilferdin g's
Fill all z kapital,
one of the seminal wo rks in soc iali st th ought,
adding that " it is do ubtful w heth er any leader of th e Sociali st movement
in Europe had no t read thi s grea t book." But the book had been w ritten
in 19 10; by 1937 it was no longer of any rel evance. It is doubtful whether
anyone in the Briti sh Labour party had ever read it, o r anyone in France
except Jaures (wh o kn ew German). And o f what possible signifi cance was
thi s book for th e Pales tini an Labo r par ty in 1937? I menti on thi s in cident
in passing because it is typi ca l of th e broad ge nerali za ti o ns in thi s boo k.
WALTER LAQUEUR is th e author of
A Hisrory
C!f
~io"i.,,"
(Sc hoc kcn Books) .
CUSHING STROUT's latcst book is
.'Iaki/ I.!.! Aillerirllll "hadirioll,
publi shed by
Rutgers University Prcss. JENNY TEICHMAN ha, writtc n several books,
including
Polelll iw i Pilpm
(Ashgatc).
