The Sixth Zionist Congress was held in Basel, opening on August 23, 1903. Theodor Herzl caused great division amongst the delegates when he presented the "Uganda Scheme", a proposed Jewish colony in what is now part of Kenya.
The Sixth Zionist Congress was held in Basel, opening on August 23, 1903. Theodor Herzl caused great division amongst the delegates when he presented the "Uganda Scheme", a proposed Jewish colony in what is now part of Kenya.
Following the success of Der Judenstaat , published in 1896, [1] and the First Zionist Congress the following year, [2] Theodor Herzl had become the undisputed leader of the Zionist movement. He envisioned a mass migration of Jewish people "on a very large scale" [3] to Palestine and that the colony should be "secured by public law". For the next seven years, Herzl devoted himself to achieving this vision. His first approach was an attempt to gain Ottoman backing. He lobbied Sultan Abdul Hamid II with proposals for Jewish financial assistance. [4] In 1898 he contrived to have an interview with the Kaiser. [5] He approached British politicians with proposals for colonies in Cyprus and al Arish. [6] By 1903 none of these approaches had produced any results. In April of that year, the Jewish population of Kishinev was subjected to a 3-day pogrom fuelled by blood libel accusations. Initial Yiddish reports gave the number of dead as 120, though the final toll was much lower. [7] In August Herzl, without consulting the Zionist leadership in the Pale of Settlement, [8] journeyed to Saint Petersburg, where he had two meetings with Vyacheslav von Plehve, Czarist Minister of the Interior, regarded by many as responsible for the Kishinev atrocities. Von Plehve responded positively to the idea of mass emigration of Jews "without right of re-entry" [9] but wanted help in suppressing Jewish revolutionary activity. Herzl's meetings resulted in an official letter in which the Tzar's Government agreed to press the Sultan for a Charter allowing Zionists to colonize Palestine, agreed to finance Jewish immigration through a tax on wealthy Jews, and allow Zionist societies to function within the Tzarist Empire. [10] At the same time, nine days before the Congress, on his journey from St Petersburgh to Basel, Herzl received official confirmation of the British Government's endorsement of a proposal for a Jewish self-governing colony in East Africa. It would have the capacity for 1 million settlers - the Uganda Scheme. [11]
The Greater Actions Committee met on Friday August 21, the day before the Congress's opening ceremonies. [12] Members of the committee were pledged to secrecy. Many were shocked at the deterioration of Herzl's health. [13] The meeting began with Herzl's report on his meetings with von Plehve which had already generated opposition and criticism from Russian Zionists. His critics in the committee doubted von Plehve's promises of support and argued that the content of letter should not be revealed to the Congress. Herzl refused. This discussion was followed by Herzl's announcement of the British proposal for a Jewish colony in Africa. Herzl did not expect the degree of opposition the proposal generated, particularly from members from the Pale and Odessa. One of his aides, Alex Marmorek, called it a "death blow to Zionism." [13] The committee met again the following evening and, against strong opposition, Herzl had the Uganda Scheme made the centre piece of the Congress proceedings. [14] [15] Herzl's diary entry for August 22 ended: "Not a single moment did it occur to any of them that of these greatest of all accomplishments to date I deserve a word of thanks, or even a smile. Instead Messrs.... criticised me." [16]
Herzl's opening address presented the 592 delegates with the news of the Tsarist promises and the British proposals for a self-governing colony. “Let us save those who can be saved. [...] I do not doubt that the Congress will welcome the new offer with the warmest gratitude.” [16] Despite receiving “tumultuous” applause there was serious opposition to the Uganda Scheme, particularly from the 113 delegates from the Tzarist Empire. [17] Max Nordau opened the following session tasked with defending acceptance of the British offer. He argued that the colony should be seen a “shelter in the night” or an “overnight shelter” - Nachtasyl - a stepping stone on the way to Palestine. [18] [19] Debate was constrained by the presence of Tzarist and Ottoman spies. [20] [13] With the probability of rejection of any motion accepting the Uganda Scheme a proposal was presented to the delegates to send a fact finding mission to Africa. It passed with 295 in favour, 178 against, but with about 100 abstentions. [21] The vote was followed by extraordinary scenes: the Russian members of the Action Committee left the podium. The majority of the Russian delegates followed them out of the hall. That evening Herzl spent several hours speaking to the protesters. Despite a hostile reception he managed to persuade them to return for the remaining sessions. [22] [23] Underlining the strength of the opposition Congress passed a motion that no Zionist funds should be provided for the investigating committee. [21] [24]
Amongst those supporting the Uganda Scheme was Israel Zangwill who feared a colony in Palestine would lead to an Orthodox revival “precluding modernity”. “We could not [...] lead a modern life there.” [25] [26] Another supporter was Eliezer Ben-Yehuda who was one of the few delegates with actual experience of living in Palestine. [27] Paradoxically both the reformist Hamizrachi and the ultra orthodox Mizrachi delegates tended to support the plan. Chaim Weizmann, one of the most outspoken of the new generation of Zionists, gave a “violent speech” against, whereas his father and brother, who were also delegates, were in favour. Martin Buber was one of the minority of Western European Jews who vote against. Nachman Syrkin gave a speech criticising Herzl. The delegate from Kishnev as well as the entire Russian leadership voted against. The artist Ephraim Moses Lilien and 23 year old Vladimir Jabotinsky were also against. [28] [29] [25]
Leon Trotsky, also 23 years old, attended in the press gallery reporting for Iskra , the Russian Socialist underground newspaper. He predicted the imminent collapse of Zionism. [30]
On 31 August, just as the Congress closed, the Ottoman ambassador to Berlin telegrammed his superiors stating that the Zionists objective was to form an independent state in Palestine and that special laws should be brought in prohibiting the purchase of land by Zionists. [31]
In December, three months after the Congress, a 24-year-old Russian student attempted to assassinate Nordau at a Parisian Hanukkah celebration. The attacker shouted “Death to the East African” as he fired his gun. [32]
In Britain opposition to the Uganda Scheme from politicians was growing and by March 1904 the proposal was put on hold. [33]
In April 1904 an opposition meeting in Vienna was organised by one of the leading Russian Zionists Menachem Ussishkin. He had not attended the Sixth Congress and was not a Herzl supporter. At the meeting Herzl acknowledged that the plans for colonies in Africa were over. [34]
Zangwill split from the Zionists and set up the Jewish Territorial Organization. [35]
Herzl died 3 July 1904.
The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. The declaration was contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The text of the declaration was published in the press on 9 November 1917.
Max Simon Nordau was a Zionist leader, physician, author, and social critic. He was a co-founder of the Zionist Organization together with Theodor Herzl, and president or vice-president of several Zionist congresses.
Chaim Azriel Weizmann was a Russian-born Israeli statesman, biochemist, and Zionist leader who served as president of the Zionist Organization and later as the first president of Israel. He was elected on 16 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952. Weizmann was instrumental in obtaining the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and convincing the United States government to recognize the newly formed State of Israel in 1948.
The Jewish aspiration to return to Zion, generally associated with divine redemption, has suffused Jewish religious thought since the destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile.
Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg, primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am, was a Hebrew journalist and essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zionist thinkers. He is known as the founder of cultural Zionism. With his vision of a Jewish "spiritual center" in Eretz Israel, his views regarding the purpose of a Jewish state contrasted with those of prominent figures within the Zionist movement such as Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism. Unlike Herzl, Ahad Ha'am strived for "a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews".
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The World Zionist Organization, or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the First Zionist Congress, which took place in August 1897 in Basel, Switzerland. The goals of the Zionist movement were set out in the Basel Program.
The Uganda Scheme was a proposal by British colonial secretary Joseph Chamberlain to create a Jewish homeland in a portion of British East Africa. It was presented at the Sixth World Zionist Congress in Basel in 1903 by Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionist movement. He presented it as a temporary refuge for Jews to escape rising antisemitism in Europe. The proposal faced opposition from both within the Zionist movement and from the British Colony.
Nahum ben Joseph Samuel Sokolow was a Zionist leader, author, translator, and a pioneer of Hebrew journalism.
Cultural Zionism is a strain of Zionism that focused on creating a center in historic Palestine with its own secular Jewish culture and national history, including language and historical roots, rather than other Zionist ideas such as Political Zionism. The founder of Cultural Zionism is Asher Ginsberg, better known as Ahad Ha'am. With his secular vision of a Jewish "spiritual center" in Eretz Israel/Palestine, he confronted Theodor Herzl. Unlike Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, Ha'am strove for "a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews".
The Jewish Territorial Organisation, known as the ITO, was a Jewish political movement which first arose in 1903 in response to the British Uganda Scheme, but only institutionalized in 1905. Its main goal was to find an alternative territory to that of Palestine, which was preferred by the Zionist movement, for the creation of a Jewish homeland. The organization embraced what became known as Jewish Territorialism also known as Jewish Statism. The ITO was dissolved in 1925.
Theodor Herzl was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist, lawyer, writer, playwright and political activist who was the father of modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the Zionist Organization and promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine in an effort to form a Jewish state. Due to his Zionist work, he is known in Hebrew as Chozeh HaMedinah, lit. 'Visionary of the State'. He is specifically mentioned in the Israeli Declaration of Independence and is officially referred to as "the spiritual father of the Jewish State".
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As an organized nationalist movement, Zionism is generally considered to have been founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897. However, the history of Zionism began earlier and is intertwined with Jewish history and Judaism. The organizations of Hovevei Zion, held as the forerunners of modern Zionist ideals, were responsible for the creation of 20 Jewish towns in Palestine between 1870 and 1897.
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