Matzpen: Revolutionary anti-Zionism in Israel

Doug Enaa Greene writes on Matzpen: Revolutionary anti-Zionism in Israel.

Before moving onto Matzpen's analysis of Zionism, I'd like to discuss its views on the Israeli working class, both Jews and Palestinians. As Marxists, Matzpen shared the very fundamental idea that the working class is the key force for revolutionary change in society. Yet that still leaves us to ask: what role, if any, did Matzpen see Jewish workers playing in the struggle? To answer this question, Matzpen posed the following questions: How did Zionist colonisation shape the consciousness and organisation of Jewish workers? What effect did imperialism play in the formation of Jewish workers?

Matzpen's views were elaborated most succinctly in a 1969 article entitled The Class Structure of Israel, by Moshe Machover and Akiva Orr. The three factors that the article sees as most decisive in shaping Israeli society and its working class are the following:

1. In the late 1960s, Israel was composed largely of Jewish immigrants or children of immigrants. Immigrants saw their arrival in Israel as a chance for upward social advancement and to better their station in life through hard work. Many immigrants to Israel were more likely to identify their social position by geographic or ethnic origin, which was a major barrier to the formation of revolutionary class consciousness.

2. Second, and probably most importantly, Israel is not just a nation of immigrants but of settlers and colonisers who dispossess, expel and occupy Palestine. Jewish labour unions, kibbutzim and land purchases (or theft) were thus predicated on the overriding objective of expelling the indigenous population and establishing a supremacy of the Jewish settlers. Israeli Jewish workers along with capitalists had very much to gain from the national oppression and expulsion of Palestinians. The struggle between indigenous Palestinians and Zionist settlers is still ongoing and it shapes all of Israeli society.

Yet in Israel, there is class differentiation between an Israeli bourgeoisie, along with a privileged European-Ashkenazi Jewish workers, and poorer Mizrahim Jews lacking union protection and social services. However, all Jews in Israel, no matter how poor, are considered citizens and receive privileges as compared to the richest Palestinian, since they are part of the Zionist “Jewish State” and support racist measures. They rally to the government during wars or other national “emergencies”.

Below the Israeli Jewish population are the Palestinians in the occupied territories and in Israel, who make up 20% of the population. In Israel's pre-1967 borders, Palestinians are a reserve army of labour, receive poor wages, lack of union protection, social benefits, health care, lack of access to land and education compared to Israeli Jews. Palestinians are also second-class citizens and considered a fifth column in Israel (until 1966 Palestinians were under military rule). They are denied both democratic and national rights as Palestinians by the Israeli state, which declares itself to be a Jewish state.

3. Privileges for Jews are maintained by way of Israel's connections with imperialism through capital investment, subsidies and billions in military aid. This aid, distributed by the state and the official trade unions, went to pay for social programs, housing, financing employment, and maintaining the standard of living for Israeli Jews. Thus Israel is a society that has a standard of living far beyond what is produced.

At the time Matzpen made its analysis, the number of immigrants in Israel had declined and more people had been born there. Second, in the early 1970s Israel's state sector controlled more than 50% of the economy. Since the 1980s, there has been a major wave of privatisation from kibbutzim to welfare, which has produced a highly unequal income distribution.

However, neoliberalism has not fundamentally altered the attitudes of Israeli Jews in regards to Zionism. For example, during 2011 protests, inspired by the Arab Spring, in favour of social justice, Palestinian demands and issues were largely absent. During the recent Gaza war nearly 90% of Israeli Jews supported the government's wanton slaughter of Palestinians.

Whatever class differences Israeli Jews may have, as part of an oppressor nationality that uses state power to enforce an apartheid system, they band together in the face of the Palestinian and Arab “threat”. The conclusion that Matzpen offered in this regard is still valid:

In the context of Israeli society it means that as long as Zionism is politically and ideologically dominant within that society, and forms the accepted framework of politics, there is no chance whatsoever of the Israeli working class becoming a revolutionary class. The experience of 50 years does not contain a single example of Israeli workers being mobilised on material or trade-union issues to challenge the Israeli regime itself; it is impossible to mobilise even a minority of the proletariat in this way. On the contrary, Israeli workers nearly always put their national loyalties before their class loyalties.

Emphasis Mine

This is true of all settler societies such Australia, USA, and Canada. Workers are comforted in their aspirational ideas of advancemnet through the Capitalist system despite the rigours of neo-liberalism.

And as recent news has shown, the workers will take the side of the oppressors when it comes to police brutality and state torture. Indeed, all workers nearly always put their national loyalties before their class loyalties.

A hundred years ago, the Second International collapsed as socialist parties rushed to support their country's entry into the First World War. All of that internationalism of the Socialists came to nought in face of the Capitalists' call to arms.

This is still true today as the Australian governments promote the ideal of ANZAC legend to foster militarism among the young. Capitalists know that this is a proven way of keeping the workers under control through the mythology of patriotism.