Hashomer Hatzair (youth movement)
International socialist Zionist youth movement that began in Galicia in 1913–16; its graduates founded the Kibbutz Artzi federation of kibbutzim and the party Mapam
For other uses, see Hashomer Hatzair.
| Hashomer Hatzair
| |
|---|---|
| Logo |  Logo of the Hashomer Hatzair World Movement |
| Type | Socialist Zionist youth movement |
| Founded | 1913 (as Hashomer, Galicia; named Hashomer Hatzair from 1916) |
| Registration ID | Non-profit (amuta) 580217053, Israel |
| Headquarters | Hatachana Street 42, Binyamina 3055101, Israel |
| Area served | Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela |
| Website | hholami.com |
Hashomer Hatzair ("The Young Guard") is a socialist Zionist youth movement. The Encyclopaedia Judaica describes it as a "Zionist-socialist pioneering youth movement whose aim is to educate Jewish youth for kibbutz life in Israel".[1] It grew out of Jewish scouting and student groups in Galicia, then a province of Austria-Hungary. The movement dates its founding to 1913, when the Galician Jewish scouts took the name Hashomer, and the merged body took the name Hashomer Hatzair in Vienna in 1916.[1][2]
Graduates of the movement founded the Kibbutz Artzi federation of kibbutzim in 1927. In 1946 they founded a party, Mifleget Po'alim–Hashomer Hatzair, which merged into Mapam in 1948.[3] The world movement's central office is in Binyamina in "Israel", and it lists activity in 19 countries.[4][5]
History
Origins
According to the movement, Henrik (Zvi) Sterner founded the first Jewish scouting organisation in Lviv, Galicia, in 1911. In 1913 the Galician Jewish scouts adopted the name Hashomer, "inspired by the organization of the same name in Palestine", and the movement later recognised 1913 as its founding year. In 1916 Hashomer united with Tze'irei Zion (Young Zionists), and the merged body was first called Hashomer–Young Zionists before adopting the name Hashomer Hatzair. The movement says that Betar, HaShomer HaDati and the Hebrew Scouts split from it.[2] The Encyclopaedia Judaica dates the merger to 1916 in Vienna, where many Jewish refugees from the east of the empire had fled during the First World War.[1]
World movement
The World Federation of Hashomer Hatzair was founded in Danzig in 1924, after branches had been set up in Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and the USSR as well as Galicia, Poland and Austria. Branches in Czechoslovakia, the United States, Canada, Belgium and Bulgaria followed by 1927. By the Fourth World Convention at Poprad in 1935, groups in Hungary, Germany, Yugoslavia, France, Britain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Egypt and South Africa had joined, and membership was 70,000. In 1930 the Third World Convention, at Vrútky, declared Kibbutz Artzi the movement's only correct path. The Russian–Latvian minority, which had not joined the federation, then seceded and formed Netzah.[1]
Settlement and Kibbutz Artzi
About 600 members settled in Palestine during the Third Aliyah (1919–23).[1] The first kibbutz of the movement, Bet Alfa, was set up in 1922.[3] At Passover 1927 members of four kibbutzim (Ma'abarot, Merhavia, Mishmar HaEmek and Ein Shemer) met at Bat Galim, at the foot of Mount Carmel, and founded "Hashomer Hatzair and The Kibbutz Artzi".[6] Kibbutz Artzi then became the framework for absorbing the movement's settlers and guiding the movement abroad.[1] It had 75 kibbutzim in 1970 and 85 in the mid-1990s, and in 2000 it united with Takam to form the Kibbutz Movement.[3]
Party politics
Under Kibbutz Artzi, the movement's ideology was "slanted toward Marxism" and "represented a synthesis between Zionism and socialism, between pioneering construction and class war".[1] Kibbutz Artzi joined the Socialist League in 1936. The two founded Mifleget Po'alim–Hashomer Hatzair in 1946, which united with Ahdut ha-Avodah–Po'alei Zion in 1948 to form Mapam.[3] From the 1969 elections Mapam ran within the Alignment with the Israel Labor Party. It later joined the Civil Rights Movement and Shinui in founding Meretz, and in February 1997 it ceased to exist as a separate party.[7]
Holocaust resistance
When the Second World War broke out, many members fled to Vilna to escape the invading German forces. The movement ordered some of them back into Nazi-occupied territory, where they became activists in the Jewish resistance, partisans and ghetto fighters. Mordechai Anielewicz, commander of the revolt in the Warsaw ghetto, was a member, and members of the movement were among the leaders of uprisings in other Polish ghettos.[1] Tosia Altman was a leader of the Jewish underground and an organiser of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.[8] Chajka Klinger was a leader of the resistance in Będzin.[9] Roza Robota, active in the movement in Ciechanów, helped smuggle explosives for the Sonderkommando revolt at Auschwitz-Birkenau on 7 October 1944.[10]
After 1945
After the war, surviving members took part in organising "illegal" immigration to Palestine and in work with refugee children in the displaced persons camps in Germany and Italy. The movement then centred its work on Latin America, with branches also in North America, Western Europe, South Africa and Australia. The Fifth World Convention, in 1958, was the first held in "Israel", by then the seat of the movement's headquarters. Branch offices in Paris, New York and Buenos Aires directed emissaries sent by Kibbutz Artzi.[1]
How far is it Zionist?
Fully. The movement names Zionism as one of its three pillars, with socialism and Judaism.[11]
- Its ideology page says that "Israel is the expression of Jewish self-determination". It adds: "As a Zionist movement we believe that we have a big responsibility to contribute to Aliyah by educating our Chanichim to make a conscious and personal choice about it."[11]
- Its vision statement says it "promotes education towards Zionism, Socialism and humanistic Judaism". Among the historical activities of a local branch it lists "fundraising for the Jewish National Fund".[12]
- The Encyclopaedia Judaica says the "paramount obligation" of members was aliyah and life on a kibbutz. It adds that tens of thousands were forced to leave the movement for failing to settle in "Israel" or join a kibbutz.[1]
- Noam Chomsky, recalling his time as a Zionist youth organiser, said that "a substantial part of the Kibbutz movement, for example, Hashomer Hatzair, was at least officially anti-state, calling for bi-nationalism".[13]
- Tony Cliff, a critic, wrote that in Mandatory Palestine "there is not a single instance when Hashomer Hatzair did not participate in or at least support the pickets" against the employment of Arab workers. He quoted Mordechai Bentov, "one of their leaders": "We are for maximal expansion of Jewish labour and for its control in the Jewish economy".[14]
National branches
- Current. The world movement lists activity in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Uruguay, the USA and Venezuela.[5] The country pages for Argentina, Brazil and Chile record the movement among local Zionist youth organisations.
- United States and Canada. The North American movement was founded in 1923. It published Young Guard and had branches in Detroit, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal and Toronto. It also helped set up Americans for Progressive Israel, which was linked to Mapam. In the early 21st century it had a few hundred members and ran camps in Liberty, New York, and Perth, Ontario.[1]
- Great Britain. The British movement was founded in the late 1930s by members among refugees from the continent and by members of He-Halutz and Habonim. It had branches in Manchester and London.[1] The North London charity Hashomer Hatzair (UK charity) says it maintains a link with the Israeli youth movement. The world movement's current list of countries does not include the United Kingdom.[5]
- South Africa. The South African movement was founded in 1935, with branches in Johannesburg and Cape Town.[1]
- Australia. The Australian movement was founded in 1953, with branches in Melbourne and Sydney.[1]
Notable members and associates
- Mordechai Anielewicz: commander of the Warsaw ghetto revolt.[1]
- Tosia Altman: leader in the Jewish underground in Warsaw.[8]
- Chajka Klinger: resistance leader in Będzin.[9]
- Roza Robota: member of the underground at Auschwitz-Birkenau.[10]
- Mordechai Bentov: described by Tony Cliff as "one of their leaders".[14]
- Chanie Rosenberg: according to Tony Cliff, she came to Palestine from South Africa as a member of Hashomer Hatzair and joined one of its kibbutzim.[14]
- Bella Abzug: she was recruited to the movement as a girl by her Hebrew school teacher.[15]
- Bernie Sanders: he told Haaretz in 1990 that he visited "Israel" in 1963 "as a guest of the leftist Zionist Hashomer Hatzair movement" and stayed at its affiliated kibbutz, Shaar Haamakim.[16]
Kibbutzim
The full list of the federation's kibbutzim is on the Kibbutz Artzi page. The sources consulted name these:
- Early settlements: Bet Alfa (1922), the first kibbutz of the movement;[3] and Ma'abarot, Merhavia, Mishmar HaEmek and Ein Shemer, whose members founded the federation in 1927.[6]
- First kibbutz of Israeli graduates: Nir David (1936).[1]
- Kibbutzim of graduates from abroad: from North America, Ein HaShofet, Kfar Menachem, Hatzor, Gal'on, Sasa and Barkai; from Britain, HaMa'pil, HaZore'a, Yasur and Zikim; from South Africa, Shuval, Barkai, Nahshon and Zikim; from Australia, Nirim.[1]
- Sha'ar HaAmakim: founded in 1935, it was the movement's affiliated kibbutz where Bernie Sanders stayed in 1963.[16]
Further reading
- Beinin, J. (1990). Was the Red Flag Flying There? Marxist Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in Egypt and Israel 1948-1965. University of California Press.
- Cohen, I. (1945). The Zionist movement. London: Frederick Muller.
- Leon, D. (1969). The kibbutz: A new way of life. Elsevier.
- Lockman, Z. (1976). The left in Israel: Zionism vs. socialism. MERIP Reports, (49), 3-18.
- Schulman, J. (2003). The life and death of socialist Zionism. New Politics, 9(3), 127-137.
See also
- Hashomer Hatzair (disambiguation)
- Hashomer Hatzair (UK charity)
- Kibbutz Artzi
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 Peretz Merhav and Joseph Israeli, Ha-Shomer Ha-Za'ir Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.), via Encyclopedia.com, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hashomer Hatzair World Movement, History hholami.com (Hashomer Hatzair-side), accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Shaked Gilboa, Ha-Kibbutz ha-Arzi ha-Shomer ha-Za'ir Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.), via Encyclopedia.com, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ Hashomer Hatzair World Movement, Home hholami.com (Hashomer Hatzair-side), accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Hashomer Hatzair World Movement, Our Global Activity hholami.com (Hashomer Hatzair-side), accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Reuters, 80 years of kibbutz life Ynetnews, 15 February 2008.
- ↑ Susan Hattis Rolef, Mapam Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.), via Encyclopedia.com, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Ziva Shalev, Tosia Altman Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, Jewish Women's Archive, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Avihu Ronen, Chajka Klinger Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, Jewish Women's Archive, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Na'ama Shik, Roza Robota Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, Jewish Women's Archive, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Hashomer Hatzair World Movement, Hashomer Hatzair's Ideology hholami.com (Hashomer Hatzair-side), accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ Hashomer Hatzair World Movement, Our vision and strategy hholami.com (Hashomer Hatzair-side), accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ Noam Chomsky, interviewed by Schivone, A portrait of Chomsky as a young Zionist chomsky.info, 7 November 2011, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Tony Cliff, A World to Win: Life of a Revolutionary, chapter 1, Marxists Internet Archive, 2000 (critical), accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ Blanche Wiesen Cook, Bella Abzug Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, Jewish Women's Archive, accessed 22 October 2026.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Mystery solved: Sanders volunteered at kibbutz Shaar Haamakim JTA, 5 February 2016, accessed 22 October 2026.