Marxists and Zionism in the United States during the 1940s

• In Event: Socialist Revolution and Zionism between the World Wars

Abstract

In the 1940s, American Marxists embarked on a reconsideration of “the Jewish Question,” the bundle of issues having to do with anti-Semitism, the plight of Jewish refugees, and the prospect of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. It was not clear to Marxists how to respond in ways at once appropriate to the depth of crisis confronting Jews and consistent with Marxian norms of internationalism and anti-imperialism. The proposed paper examines responses by two Trotskyist parties—the Workers Party (which included prominent intellectuals, such as Irving Howe) and Socialist Workers Party—to Zionism after World War II. Each formulated substantially different positions. Displaying considerable intellectual dexterity, members of the Workers Party managed to combine opposition to Zionism as an ideology with support for the establishment of the state of Israel. The Socialist Workers Party, drawing largely from the writings of former members of Hashomer Hatzair in Europe and Palestine (Ernest Mandel, Tony Cliff [Yigal Gluckstein], and the late Abram Leon), adhered to a staunch anti-Zionist position, even though at least some party members favored the establishment of a Jewish state. Both political positions helped frame the attitudes of American Leftists toward Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict over subsequent decades.

Author

• Tony E. Michels, University of Wisconsin - Madison