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The Making of the Israeli Far-Right
ii
The Making of the Israeli Far-Right
Abba Ahimeir and Zionist Ideology
Peter Bergamin
I.B. TAURIS
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For my teachers
vi
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Academic 9
Vienna 10
Untergang 14
Gaissinovitch and Spengler 19
Academic reception 34
First publications 37
2 Pioneer, Journalist 45
Young worker 45
Journalist 48
The turning point 54
Changes 62
Dictatorship 72
Appendix A 209
Notes 212
Bibliography 247
Index 256
Acknowledgements
A large portion of the research that I carried out for this study took place in
archives, and I am indebted to staff members at the various institutes that I
visited. I wish to thank, in particular: Mag. Barbara Bieringer at the University of
Vienna, Yishai Ben-Arieh at the Lavon Institute in Tel Aviv, Amira Stern and her
staff, especially Olga Gechman and Ira Berdan, at the Jabotinsky Institute, Tel
Aviv, and Dr Cesar Merchan-Hamman and his staff, especially Mila Zeidler and
Michael Fischer, at the Leopold Muller Memorial Library, University of Oxford.
In addition, various friends and colleagues have been very generous with
their time, and have provided valuable input into this study. In particular, I
would like to thank:
During undergraduate study at SOAS, University of London: Prof Emeritus
Colin Shindler, Prof Emeritus Tudor Parfitt, Dr Tamar Drukker and Dr Nir
Cohen; at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Prof Emeritus Gideon Shimoni,
Prof Israel Yuval, and Yonatan Kaplan.
During postgraduate study at the University of Oxford: Prof Martin Goodman,
Dr Sara Hirschhorn, Prof Alison Salvesen, Prof Glenda Abramson, Prof David
Leopold, Prof Ros Ballaster, Prof Paul Lodge, Dr Helen Lacey, Lucinda Rumsey,
Baroness Helena Kennedy, Dr Dana Mills, Dr Alex Beard, Gil Zahavi, Lova
Chechik, Will Ferris, Jack Edmunds, Christopher Parton and Rebecca Abrams.
In Jerusalem: Rabbi Ada Zavidov, Rabbi Hillel Millgram, Cantor Evan Cohen,
Avital Ben-Horin ()ז"ל, Hildi Mohr, Bianca Zaoui and Tamar Perles.
The Ahimeir family have been gracious and exceedingly generous with their time
and assistance to this study. Yaacov Ahimeir and Ze’eva Ahimeir-Zavidov were
very kind in discussing particular aspects of their father’s life. As mentioned
above, Ahimeir’s granddaughter, my dear friend Ada Zavidov, has gone above
and beyond the call of duty in the service of this project. And this study would
x Acknowledgements
I do not want to know how God created the world. I’m not interested in
this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to
know His thoughts, the rest are details.
–Albert Einstein1
In the long and varied cast list of characters who compete for privilege of place
in the recounting of Zionist history, few cut such a maligned, misunderstood
and, indeed, tragic figure as does Abba Ahimeir (1897–1962). A highly educated
cultural historian, Ahimeir gained notoriety mainly as a journalist, political
activist and – alongside the poet Uri Zvi Greenberg (1896–1981) and writer
Yehoshua Yevin (1891–1970) – leader of the ‘Maximalist’ faction of Ze’ev
Jabotinsky’s (1880–1940) Revisionist Zionist Party in British Mandate Palestine
during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Of the three Maximalist leaders, Ahimeir
was arguably the most ideologically influential, viscerally outspoken and
politically engaged. While purportedly captivated by Jabotinsky’s persona,
Ahimeir nonetheless posed, at times, a very real threat to his mentor’s leadership.
This was especially true within the Yishuv (the Jewish settlements in pre-state
Israel/Palestine) from 1930 onwards, when Jabotinsky’s return had been barred
by the British authorities. While too often marginalised in the past, Ahimeir’s
historical importance and ideological influence are gradually being given the
recognition that they deserve. Indeed, the distinguished historian of the Israeli
Right, Colin Shindler, contends that the title of ‘Father of the Revolt’ should be
shared equally between Jabotinsky and Ahimeir.2
* * *
This book traces Ahimeir’s ideological genesis. While his influence upon the
Zionist Right is undeniable, the lack of analysis surrounding his ideological
contribution has caused the scope and importance of this influence to be
undervalued. Thus, this study seeks to comprehensively understand Ahimeir’s
2 The Making of the Israeli Far-Right
ideological stance and its development, and to position him more accurately
within the contexts of the Zionist Right, the historical timeframe in which he was
active and the Zionist movement in general. It contends not only that Ahimeir’s
unique ideological position formed the backbone of Revisionist Maximalism
in Mandate Palestine, but that, as a Madrikh (leader) for the Revisionist Youth
Group Betar and teacher at the Betar Leadership Training School, his ideological
influence upon the Revisionist youth movement was far greater than is often
recognised.
This study will demonstrate that Ahimeir’s initial fascination with – and
tentative embrace of – Italian Fascism began three to six years earlier than is
generally believed, and that his apparent fundamental ideological shift from Left
to Right was not at all the radical move that it is considered to be. Ahimeir’s
true relationship to both of these political positions will be re-evaluated. A key
element in reassessing Ahimeir’s ideological development is an understanding
of his embrace of Spenglerian theory, which, far from being a mere research
interest, exerted a fundamental influence upon him throughout his life. Thus,
I contend that Ahimeir’s output and actions should be (re-)examined with this
consideration in mind.
Furthermore, this study will show that both Ahimeir’s loyalty to and
gradual disillusionment with various Labour Zionist organisations, including
his own party, HaPoel HaTzair (The Young Worker), were based as much on
pragmatic necessity as they were on ideology. Indeed, it will conclude that
Ahimeir’s ideological path was set already in 1924, by the time he emigrated
to British Mandate Palestine, and before he joined HaPoel HaTzair. This study
contends that the political ideologies of the Revisionist Party and its heirs owe
a greater debt to Ahimeir than is generally accepted. Furthermore, Ahimeir’s
particular case study allows scope for a more general engagement with several
intellectual-historical concepts, such as Messianism, Revolution and Fascism.
A major underlying thesis of this study concerns the challenges of writing
‘difficult history’, and the obligation to approach such a challenge in as neutral
a manner as possible. For example, the fact that, in 1924, Italian Fascism could
represent a viable and attractive political option for both its country’s Jewish
citizens, and indeed for Ahimeir, as will be demonstrated, should be understood
in its historical context, and not be analysed with a disproportionate degree of
historical hindsight. Equally, there is no escaping the fact that Ahimeir was a
controversial figure who espoused, at times, some highly controversial ideas.
Recognition of such facts should not preclude a historically accurate presentation
of his life and ideological development.
Introduction 3
For a short period of time – from 1928 to 1934 – Ahimeir was a leading figure
in the Yishuv, and his influence, and indeed personality and popularity, often
outweighed that of Revisionist Party leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky. The fact that figures
like Menachem Begin (1913-92) later minimised Ahimeir’s influence upon
them had more to do with political savvy, self-promotion and certainly self-
preservation than with historical accuracy. This study will paint a historically
more accurate picture.
* * *
A Zionist from his earliest days, Ahimeir was born Abba Shaul ben Isaac
Gaissinovitch, or Haissinovich, on 2 November 1897 in Dolghi, White Russia.
Although the family was neither particularly religious nor Zionist, Gaissinovitch
was, by the age of six, already studying under the tutelage of the young Yiddish
and Hebrew poet David Shimoni (1891–1956). In 1907, two years after the family
moved to Bobruisk, the young Gaissinovitch enrolled at the Russian Private
Gymnasium, and supplemented his curriculum with Hebrew and Talmud
study. It was during this period that he became acquainted with the future
Labour Zionist leader Berl Katznelson (1887–1944), who also lived in Bobruisk.
Katznelson emigrated to Ottoman-Palestine shortly thereafter, in 1909.
Catalysed by an avid interest in Hebrew literature, Jewish culture and history,
and a burgeoning identification with Socialism and Zionism, the fourteen-year-
old Abba Gaissinovitch asked his parents for permission to study at the newly
opened Herzliya Gymnasium in Tel Aviv. The Gymnasium was the first Hebrew
High School to open in Tel Aviv, and was an iconic institution. Many of the
figures who would go on to play important roles in pre- and early-state Israel
were alumni of the Gymnasium, including the future prime minister of Israel,
Moshe Sharett (1894–1965) and poet Avraham Shlonsky (1900–73). Rather
surprisingly perhaps, Gaissinovitch’s request was granted, and in October
1912, the fourteen-year-old made the journey to Ottoman-ruled Palestine. He
was chaperoned by his older sister Bluma, who shared her brother’s youthful
zeal for both Zionism and Socialism. Upon arrival, he quickly renewed his
acquaintance with Katznelson, who introduced the pair into Socialist circles.
Notably, Gaissinovitch purchased his first ‘Zionist shekel’ there in 1913, at the
ripe old age of fifteen.
The young student returned home to Bobruisk in July 1914 with the intention
of spending merely the summer vacation with his family, but the outbreak of the
First World War in September forced Gaissinovitch to remain in Russia for its
4 The Making of the Israeli Far-Right
duration. From 1916 he was active with the Bobruisk Zionist Youth Group, and
in May 1917 attended the Russian Zionist Conference in Petrograd. In July and
August of that year, Gaissinovitch went to Batumi in the northern Caucasus,
in present-day Georgia, to participate in training under the auspices of Joseph
Trumpeldor’s (1880–1920) HeHalutz (The Pioneer) organisation, an initiative
designed to prepare young agricultural ‘pioneers’ for emigration to Ottoman-
Palestine. While there, however, he contracted malaria and was forced to return
to Bobruisk.
The October Revolution erupted on 7 November 1917, and further complicated
Gaissinovitch’s extended sojourn in his native Russia. At the end of 1918, and in
a Russia now in the midst of revolutionary turmoil, Gaissinovitch matriculated
at the University of Kiev, in the faculties of History and Literature. Tragically, on
19 April 1919, his beloved younger brother Meir – a committed Bolshevik, and
officer in the Red Army – was killed in battle with Polish forces. The trauma of
his brother’s death had a profound, and lasting, impact on Gaissinovitch. Indeed,
he found it impossible to remain in Russia, and began studies at the University
of Liège in Belgium in 1920, before moving on to the University of Vienna the
following year. Chapter 1 will begin at this point in Ahimeir’s life.
* * *
Several terms are used regularly throughout this work, and although each one
will be given more extensive discussion in the chapters to follow, it is perhaps
useful at this stage to provide a basic outline of how each is understood for the
purposes of this study.
Revisionism, or Revisionist Zionism, was an ideological strain of Zionism
that was established in 1925 by Ze’ev Jabotinsky. It existed, at first (until 1935),
under the umbrella of the World Zionist Organisation. Jabotinsky’s breakaway
action was catalysed by his rejection of the 1922 Churchill White Paper,
which – through its recognition of the newly created Hashemite Kingdom of
Transjordan in a portion of the historical biblical Land of Israel – limited the
western border of any future Jewish state to the west bank of the river Jordan.
Revisionist Zionism advocated not only a return to ‘pure’ Political Zionism
as originally envisaged by Theodor Herzl, which sought the establishment of
a Jewish national home through political means (or, more specifically, that
international approval gained through diplomatic initiative should precede
practical settlement of the land), but also the establishment of a Jewish state on
both sides of the river Jordan.3
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