"Theodor Herzl was born on Wednesday, May 2, 1860, in the city of\nBudapest.\n\nAlmost next door to his father's house was the liberal-reform temple.\nTo this house of worship the little boy went regularly with his father\non Sabbaths and Holy Days. At home, too, the essentials of the ritual\nwere observed. One ceremony which Theodor learned in childhood\nremained with him; before every important event and decision he sought\nthe blessing of his parents.\n\nEven stronger than these impressions, however, was the influence of\nhis mother. Her education had been German through and through; there\nwas not a day on which she did not slip into German literature,\nespecially the classics.\n\nThe Jewish world, not alien to her, did not find expression through\nher; her conscious efforts were all directed toward implanting the\nGerman cultural heritage in her children. Of even deeper significance\nwas her sympathetic attitude toward the pride which showed early in\nher son, and her skill in transferring to him her sense of form, of\nbearing, of tactfulness and of simple grace.\n\nAt about the age of twelve he read in a German book about the\nMessiah-King whom many Jews still awaited and who would come riding,\nlike the poorest of the poor on an ass. The history of the Exodus and\nthe legend of the liberation by the King-Messiah ran together in the\nboy's mind, inspiring in him the theme of a wonderful story which he\nsought in vain to put into literary form.\n\nA little while thereafter Herzl had the following dream: \"The\nKing-Messiah came, a glorious and majestic old man, took me in his\narms, and swept off with me on the wings of the wind. On one of the\niridescent clouds we encountered the figure of Moses. The features\nwere those familiar to me out of my childhood in the statue by\nMichelangelo. The Messiah called to Moses: It is for this child that I\nhave prayed. But to me he said: Go, declare to the Jews that I shall\ncome soon and perform great wonders and great deeds for my people and\nfor the whole world.\"\n\nIt may be to this period (of his _Bar Mitzvah_) of reawakened Jewish\nsensitivity, of heightened responsiveness to the expectations of his\nelders, of resurgent interest in Jewish historical studies--it may be\nto this period that the dream of a dedicated life belonged. It is\nalmost certain, too, that for the great event of the _Bar Mitzvah_ the\nold grandfather of Semlin came to Pest. About this time, again,\nAlkalai, that early, all-but-forgotten Zionist, passed through Vienna\nand Budapest on his final journey to Palestine. Whether or not each\none of these circumstances had a direct effect on the boy, the whole\ncomplex surrounds his _Bar Mitzvah_ with the suggestion of the mission\nof his life, and, certainly, occasion was given for the awakening in\nhim of the feeling of dedication to a great enterprise.\n\nThe attention, energy and time which Herzl devoted to literature, at\nfifteen, his absorption in himself, his activity in the school\nliterary society meant of course so much less given to his school\nwork. He found no time at all for science; Jewish questions likewise\ndisappeared from his interests; he was completely absorbed by German\nliterary culture. This is all the more astonishing when we reflect\nthat anti-Semitism continued to increase steadily. As a grown man\nHerzl could recall that one of his teachers, in defining the word\n\"heathen,\" had said, \"such as idolators, Mohammedans and Jews.\"\nWhether it was this incident,--as the memory of the grown man always\ninsisted--which enraged him beyond endurance, or the increasingly bad\nschool reports, or both circumstances together, the fact remains that\non February 4, 1875 Herzl left the Technical School.\n\nAt sixteen to eighteen in High School, he struggled to define the\nbasic principles of various literary art forms in order that he might\nsee more clearly what he himself wanted to say. He took an active and\neager part in the work of the \"German Self-Education Society\" created\nby the students of his school. The Jewish world, whose inferior\nposition always wounded his pride, and whose obstinate separatism\nseemed to him utterly meaningless, drifted further and further out of\nhis mind.\n\nAt eighteen, after the sudden death of his only sister, the family\nmoved to Vienna where Herzl entered the University as a law student.\nHerzl, who accounted himself a liberal and an Austrian patriot,\nplunged eagerly into the activities of a large student Cultural\nAssociation, attended its discussions and directed its literary\nevenings. He had occasion, there, to deride certain Jewish fellow\nmembers who, in his view, displayed an excessive eagerness in their\nloyalty to various movements.\n\nThis was the extent to which, in these days, he occupied himself with\nthe Jewish question--at least externally. He concerned himself little\nor not at all with the official Jewish world which was seeking to\nsubmerge itself in the surrounding world. He seldom visited the\nsynagogue.\n\nHe was an omnivorous reader. His extraordinary knowledge of books was\nevident in his conversation, for he liked to adorn his speech with\nquotations, which came readily to his memory. Herzl read Eugen\nDuehring's book _The Jewish-Problem as a Problem of Race, Morals and\nCulture_--the first and most important effort to find a \"scientific,\"\nphilosophic, biologic and historical basis for the anti-Semitism which\nwas sweeping through Europe in those days (1881). Duehring saw the\nJewish question as a purely racial question, and for him the Jewish\nrace was without any worth whatsoever. Those peoples which, out of a\nfalse sentiment of humanity, had permitted the Jews to live among them\nwith equal and sometimes even with superior rights, had to be\nliberated from the harmful intruder, had to be de-Judaized.\n\nThe reading of this book had the effect upon him of a blow between the\neyes. The observations set down in his diary burn with indignation:\n\"An infamous book.... If Duehring, who unites so much undeniable\nintelligence with so much universality of knowledge, can write like\nthis, what are we to expect from the ignorant masses?\"\n\nThis passionate reaction to Duehring's book shows us how deeply he had\nbeen moved, and how fearfully he had been shaken in his belief that\nthe Jewish question was on the point of disappearing. We shall find\nechoes of this experience in the pages of the _Judenstaat_. For the\ntime being, however, he shrank from the logical consequences of his\nreactions. His inner pride began to build itself up.\n\nThe more immediate reaction was undoubtedly a sharpened perception and\nevaluation of his fellow-members in the Fraternity. Herzl had joined\nand been active in a duelling Fraternity. Here, too, anti-Semitism was\nbreaking through; student after student expressed himself favorably\ntoward the Jew-baiting speeches of Schoenerer, who was making a\nspecial effort to win over the universities. In the Fraternity debates\nHerzl expressed himself sharply against any open or covert\nmanifestation of such sympathy. But he was already known for the\nsharpness of his tongue and the individuality of his views. Thus he\nwon to himself neither the few co-religionists who belonged to the\nFraternity nor the mass of the Germanic students.\n\nHe had learned from newspaper reports that the Wagner Memorial\nmeeting, in which his Fraternity had taken a part, had been\ntransformed into an anti-Semitic demonstration. His Fraternity had,\ntherefore, identified itself with a movement which he, as a believer\nin liberty, was bound to condemn, even if he had not been a Jew. \"It\nis pretty clear that, handicapped as I am by my Semitism (the word was\nnot yet known at the time of my entry), I would today refrain from\nseeking a membership which would, indeed, probably be refused me; it\nmust also be clear to every decent person that under these\ncircumstances I cannot wish to retain my membership.\" Herzl withdrew\nfrom the organization.\n\nOn July 30, 1884, Herzl was admitted to the bar in Vienna. His student\ndays were over. A new era opened for him, with its challenge to prove\nwhether or not there was something in him to establish and proclaim to\nthe world.\n\nIn August, he entered on his law practice in the service of the state\nand was soon transferred to the court of Salzburg. Though he may at\nthat time have been so far from Judaism that only pride and a decent\nrespect for the feelings of his parents stood between him and baptism,\nhe could not help perceiving that as a Jew he would find the higher\nlevels of the civil service hierarchy closed to him. On August 5,\n1885, he withdrew from the service, determined to seek fame and\nfortune as a writer.\n\nBrimming with hope, he set out on a journey which was to be the\nintroduction to his literary life. He visited Belgium and Holland and\nin Berlin made valuable connections and became a regular contributor\nto several important newspapers. Thus the range of his connections and\nrelationships widened from year to year, and when he travelled again\nit was an ever-widening audience that waited for his impressions and\nobservations.\n\nIn a book of reprinted feuilletons of Herzl which appeared in the\nfirst years of his success as a journalist a total of seven or eight\nlines is devoted to Jews. His impressions of the Ghetto in Rome. \"What\na steaming in the air, what a street! Countless open doors and windows\nthronged with innumerable pallid and worn-out faces. The ghetto! With\nwhat base and persistent hatred these unfortunates have been\npersecuted for the sole crime of faithfulness to their religion. We've\ntravelled a long way since those times: nowadays the Jew is despised\nonly for having a crooked nose, or for being a plutocrat even when he\nhappens to be a pauper.\" Pity and bitterness abound in these lines,\nbut they are written by a detached spectator. He did not know how much\nof the Jew there was in him even in this feeling of remoteness from a\nworld which offered him not living reality but folly.\n\nBy 1892, Herzl had achieved great success as a dramatist and as a\njournalist; his plays had been performed on the stage of the leading\ntheatre of Vienna and, to cap the climax, came an appointment to the\nstaff of the _Neue Freie Presse_, one of the most distinguished papers\non the continent.\n\nEarly in October he received a telegram from the _Neue Freie Presse_\nasking whether he would accept the post of Paris correspondent. He\nreplied at once in the affirmative, and proceeded to the French\ncapital at the end of the same month. He wrote to his parents: \"The\nposition of Paris correspondent is the springboard to great things,\nand I shall achieve them, to your great joy, my dear beloved parents.\"\n\nHerzl sustained successfully the comparison with his great models and\npredecessors. In style as well as in substance his reports and\narticles were masterpieces of their kind. He came to his task with the\nequipment of a perfect feuilletonist; his style was polished and\nmusical; he possessed in an exceptional degree the capacity to\ndescribe natural scenery in a few fine clear strokes and of hinting\nat, rather than of reproducing, a mood with a minimum of language.\nEverything was there, background, mood and development of action in\nplastic balance. It was only now, when a great opportunity provoked\nhim to the highest effort, that all the lessons of the years of his\napprenticeship built up a many-sided perfection.\n\nHe threw himself seriously and diligently into the journalistic craft.\nHe observed with close attention all that went on about him, and\nlistened with sharpened ears. But the moment had not yet come for the\nunveiling of a mission within him. He was on the way; the process of\npreparation had begun.\n\nHow, in this mood of his, could he possibly have avoided clashing with\nthe Jewish question? As far back as the time of his Spanish journey,\nwhen he had sought healing from his domestic and spiritual torments,\nthe question had presented itself to him and had cried for artistic\nexpression. His call to Paris had been a welcome pretext, perhaps,\nputting off the writing of his Jewish novel--the more so as he\nprobably was not ripe enough for such an undertaking. Now that he was\nin Paris, where his eyes were opened to the full range of the social\nprocess, he began to draw nearer in spirit to his fellow-Jews, and to\nlook upon them more warmly and with less inhibition. He found them as\ndifficult aesthetically as before, but he tried hard to grasp the\nessence of their character and substance, and to judge them without\nprejudice.\n\nWhen Herzl arrived in Paris anti-Semitism, had not--in spite of\nDrumont's exertions, and in spite of his paper, _la Libre Parole_,\nfounded in 1892--achieved the dimensions of a genuine movement, nor\nwas it destined to become one in the German sense. But it served as\nthe focus for all kinds of discontents and resentments; it attracted\ncertain serious critical spirits, too; its influence grew from day to\nday, and the position of the Jews became increasingly uncomfortable.\n\nHerzl's contact with anti-Semitism dated back to his student days,\nwhen it had first taken on the form of a social political movement. He\nhad been aware of it as a writer, though the contact had never ripened\ninto a serious inner struggle or compelled him to give utterance to\nit.\n\nNow he read Drumont, as he had read Duehring. The impression was again\na profound one. What moved him most in the work was the totality of a\nworld picture based on a considered hostility to the Jews.\n\nA ritual-murder trial was in progress in the town of Xanten, in the\nRhineland. On August 31, 1892, Herzl, dealing with this subject as\nwith all other subjects of public interest, summed up the general\nsituation in a long report entitled \"French anti-Semitism.\"\n\nBy now Herzl was no longer content with a simple acceptance of the\nfacts; he was looking for the deeper significance of the universal\nenmity directed against the Jews. For the world it is a lightning\nconductor. But so far it was only a flash of insight which ended in\nnothing more than a literary paradox. However, from now on it gave him\nno peace.\n\nAt the turn of the year 1892-93 there came a sharp clarification in\nhis ideas. He had followed closely the evasive debates in the Austrian\nReichstag--debates which forever dodged the reality by turning the\nquestion into one of religion. \"It is no longer--and it has not been\nfor a long time--a theological matter. It has nothing whatsoever to do\nwith religion and conscience,\" declared Herzl. \"What is more, everyone\nknows it. The Jewish question is neither nationalistic nor religious.\nIt is a social question.\"\n\nThen came the summer, 1894, and at its close Herzl took a much needed\nvacation. He spent the month of September in Baden, near Vienna, in\nthe company of his fellow-feuilletonist on the _Neue Freie Presse_,\nLudwig Speidel. Herzl has left a record of their conversation. What he\ngave Speidel was more or less what he had felt, many years before,\nafter his reading of Duehring. He admitted the substance of the\nanti-Semitic accusation which linked the Jew with money; he defended\nthe Jew as the victim of a long historic process for which the Jew was\nnot responsible. \"It is not our fault, not the fault of the Jews, that\nwe find ourselves forced into the role of alien bodies in the midst of\nvarious nations. The ghetto, which was not of our making, bred in us\ncertain anti-social qualities.... Our original character cannot have\nbeen other than magnificent and proud; we were men who knew how to\nface war and how to defend the state; had we not started out with such\ngifts, how could we have survived two thousand years of unrelenting\npersecution?\"\n\nAt that time Herzl came across the Zionist solution, and definitely\nrejected it. Discussing the novel _Femme de Claude_, by Dumas the\nyounger, he says of one of its characters: \"The good Jew Daniel wants\nto rediscover the homeland of his race and gather his scattered\nbrothers into it. But a man like Daniel would surely know that the\nhistoric homeland of the Jews no longer has any value for them. It is\nchildish to go in search of the geographic location of this homeland.\nAnd if the Jews really 'returned home' one day, they would discover\non the next day that they do not belong together. For centuries they\nhave been rooted in diverse nationalisms; they differ from each other,\ngroup by group; the only thing they have in common is the pressure\nwhich holds them together. All humiliated peoples have Jewish\ncharacteristics, and as soon as the pressure is removed they react\nlike liberated men.\"\n\nThe inner apotheosis was drawing nearer and nearer for Herzl. In\nOctober, 1894, Herzl was in the studio of the sculptor, Samuel\nFriedrich Beer, who was making a bust of him. The conversation turned\nto the Jewish question and to the growth of the anti-Semitic movement\nin Vienna, the hometown of both Herzl and Beer. It was useless for the\nJew to turn artist and to dissociate himself from money, said Herzl.\n\"The blot sticks. We can't break away from the ghetto.\" A great\nexcitement seized Herzl, and he left the atelier, and on the way home\nthe inspiration came on him like a hammerblow. What was it? The\ncomplete outline of a play, \"like a block of basalt.\"\n\nWith this play Herzl completed his inner return to his people. Until\nthen, with all his emotional involvement in the question, he had stood\noutside it as the observer, the student, the clarifier, or even the\ndefender. He had provided the world-historic background for the\nproblem, he had diagnosed it and given the prognosis for the future.\nNow he was immersed in it and identified with it.\n\nHe had become its spokesman and attorney, as he was spokesman and\nattorney for other victims of injustice. It was no accident that the\nhero of the play was a lawyer by vocation and avocation. For the hero\nwas Herzl himself, and the transformation which unfolded in Dr. Jacob\nSamuel was the transformation which was unfolding in Theodore Herzl.\n\nHe belongs utterly to the Jews; it is for them that he fights, and,\ndying, he still sees himself as the fighter for their future. What\nfuture Jacob Samuel foresaw for the Jews in his dying moments remained\nunclear. It would appear that Herzl himself still believed that a\ndeepening of mutual understanding between Jews and non-Jews might\nbring the solution.\n\nBut Herzl had travelled so much further by this time that he could not\nhave in mind the \"reconciliation\" which would come by the capitulation\nof baptism. Indeed, the play emphasizes as a first prerequisite in\nhuman relations the element of self-respect. \"If you become untrue to\nyourself,\" says the clever mother to the son, in the play, \"you musn't\ncomplain if others become untrue to you.\" It was like a fresh wind\nblowing suddenly through the choking atmosphere of a lightless room.\nIt was a new attitude: decent pride!\n\nIt called for a frightful effort to descend from the intoxicating\nheights of creativity to the ordinary round of work. For weeks now his\nregular employment had filled Herzl with revulsion. The first reports\nof the Dreyfus trial, which appeared while he was working on his _New\nGhetto_, therefore made no particular impression on him. It looked\nlike a sordid espionage affair in which a foreign power--before long\nit was revealed that the foreign power was Germany, acting through\nMajor von Schwartzkoppen--had been buying up through its agent secret\ndocuments of the French general staff. An officer by the name of\nAlfred Dreyfus was named as the culprit, and no one had reason to\ndoubt that he was guilty, even though Drumont's _Libre Parole_ was\nexploiting the fact that the man was a Jew.\n\nBut, after the degradation of Dreyfus, Herzl became more and more\nconvinced of his innocence. \"A Jew who, as an officer on the general\nstaff, has before him an honorable career, cannot commit such a\ncrime.... The Jews, who have so long been condemned to a state of\ncivic dishonor, have, as a result, developed an almost pathological\nhunger for honor, and a Jewish officer is in this respect specifically\nJewish.\"\n\n\"The Dreyfus case,\" he wrote in 1899, \"embodies more than a judicial\nerror; it embodies the desire of the vast majority of the French to\ncondemn a Jew, and to condemn all Jews in this one Jew. Death to the\nJews! howled the mob, as the decorations were being ripped from the\ncaptain's coat.... Where? In France. In republican, modern, civilized\nFrance, a hundred years after the Declaration of the Rights of Man.\nThe French people, or at any rate the greater part of the French\npeople, does not want to extend the rights of man to Jews. The edict\nof the great Revolution had been revoked.\"\n\nIllumined thus in retrospect, the \"curious excitement\" which gripped\nHerzl on that occasion takes on a special significance. \"Until that\ntime most of us believed that the solution of the Jewish question was\nto be patiently waited for as part of the general development of\nmankind. But when a people which in every other respect is so\nprogressive and so highly civilized can take such a turn, what are we\nto expect from other peoples, which have not even attained the level\nwhich France attained a hundred years ago?\"\n\nIn that fateful moment, when he heard the howling of the mob outside\nthe gates of the _Ecole Militaire_, the realization flashed upon Herzl\nthat anti-Semitism was deep-rooted in the heart of the people--so\ndeep, indeed, that it was impossible to hope for its disappearance\nwithin a measurable period of time. Precisely because he was so\nsensitive to his honor as a Jew, precisely because he had proclaimed,\nin the _New Ghetto_, the ideal of human reconciliation, and had taken\nthe ultimate decision to stand by his Jewishness, the ghastly\nspectacle of that winter morning must have shaken him to the depths of\nhis being. It was as if the ground had been cut away from under his\nfeet. In this sense Herzl could say later that the Dreyfus affair had\nmade him a Zionist.\n\nHe saw all about him the ever fiercer light of a blazing\nanti-Semitism. In the French Chamber of Deputies the deputy Denis made\nan interpellation on the influence of the Jews in the political\nadministration of the country. In Vienna a Jewish member of the\nReichstag rose to speak and was howled down. On April 2, 1895, were\nheld the municipal elections of Vienna, and there was an enormous\nincrease in the number of anti-Semitic aldermen. Changing plans passed\ntumultuously through his mind. He wanted to write a book on \"The\nCondition of the Jews,\" consisting of reports on all the important\nJewish colonization enterprises in Russia, Galicia, Hungary, Bohemia,\nthe Orient, and those more recently founded in Palestine, about which\nhe had heard from a relative. Alphonse Daudet, the famous French\nauthor with whom he had discussed the whole matter, felt that Herzl\nought to write a novel; it would carry further than a play. \"Look at\n_Uncle Tom's Cabin_.\"\n\nHe returned to his former plan of a Jewish novel which he had\nabandoned when he was called to his assignment on the _Neue Freie\nPresse_ in Paris. His friend Kana, the suicide, was no longer to be\nthe central figure. He was instead to be \"the weaker one, the beloved\nfriend of the hero,\" and would take his own life after a series of\nmisfortunes, while the Promised Land was being discovered or rather\nfounded. When the hero aboard the ship which was taking him to the\nPromised Land would receive the moving farewell letter of his friend,\nhis first reaction after his horror would be one of rage: \"Idiot!\nFool! Miserable hopeless weakling! A life lost which belonged to us!\"\n\nWe can see the Zionist idea arising. Its outlines are still\nindefinite, but the decisive idea is clearly visible; only by\nmigration can this upright human type be given its chance to emerge.\nIn _The New Ghetto_ Jacob Samuel is a hero because he knows how to\nchoose an honorable death. Now the death of a useful man is criminally\nwasteful. For there are great tasks to be undertaken.\n\nIn essence it is the Act and not the Word that confronts us. What last\nimpulse it was that actually carried Herzl from the Word to the Act it\nwill be difficult to tell--he himself could not have given the answer.\nLittle things may play a dramatic role not less effectively than great\nones when a man is so charged with purpose as Herzl then was.\n\nIn the early days of May, Herzl addressed to Baron de Hirsch (the\nsponsor of Jewish colonization in Argentina), the letter which opens\nhis Jewish political career. His request for an interview was granted.\nHerzl prepared an outline of his position in notes, lest he omit\nsomething important during their conversation.\n\nIn these notes he writes: \"If the Jews are to be transformed into men\nof character in a reasonable period of time, say ten or twenty years,\nor even forty--the interval needed by Moses--it cannot be done without\nmigration. Who is going to decide whether conditions are bad enough\ntoday to warrant our migration? And whether the situation is hopeless?\nAnd the Congress which you (i.e. Hirsch) have convened for the first\nof August in a hotel in Switzerland? You will preside over this\nCongress of notables. Your call will be heard and answered in every\npart of the world.\n\n\"And what will be the message given to the men assembled 'You are\npariahs! You must forever tremble at the thought that you are about\nto be deprived of your rights and stripped of your possessions. You\nwill be insulted when you walk in the street. If you are poor, you\nsuffer doubly. If you are rich, you must conceal the fact. You are not\nadmitted to any honorable calling, and if you deal in money you are\nmade the special focus of contempt.... The situation will not change\nfor the better, but rather for the worse.... There is only way out:\ninto the Promised Land.'\"\n\nWhere the Promised Land was to be located, how it was to be acquired,\nis not yet mentioned. Herzl does not seem to have thought this\nquestion of decisive significance; it was a scientific matter. It was\nthe organization of the migration which held his attention, the\npolitical preparations among the Powers, the preliminary changes to be\nbrought about among the masses by training, by \"tremendous propaganda,\nthe popularization of the idea through newspapers, books, pamphlets,\nlectures, pictures, songs.\"\n\nOn the day of his conversation with Baron de Hirsch, Herzl wrote him a\nlong letter in which he sought to supplement the information and\nimpressions which had been the result of the meeting. \"Please believe\nme, the political life of an entire people--particularly when that\npeople is scattered throughout the entire world--can be set in motion\nonly with imponderables floating high in the air. Do you know what the\nGerman Reich sprang from? From dreams, songs, fantasies, and\ngold-black bands worn by students. And that in a brief period of time.\nWhat? You do not understand imponderables? And what is religion?\nBethink yourself what the Jews have endured for two thousand years for\nthe sake of this fantasy....\n\n\"The exodus to the Promised Land presents itself as a tremendous\nenterprise in transportation, unparalleled in the modern world. What\ntransportation? It is a complex of all human enterprises which we\nshall fit Into each other like cog-wheels. And in the very first\nstages of the enterprise we shall find employment for the ambitious\nyounger masses of our people: all the engineers, architects,\ntechnologists, chemists, doctors, and lawyers, those who have emerged\nin the last thirty years from the ghetto and who have been moved by\nthe faith that they can win their bread and a little honor outside the\nframework of our Jewish business futilities. Today they must be filled\nwith despair, they constitute the foundation of a frightful\nover-educated proletariat. But it is to these that all my love\nbelongs, and I am just as set on increasing their number as you are\nset on diminishing it. It is in them that I perceive the latent power\nof the Jewish people. In brief, my kind.\"\n\nIn this letter of June 3, 1895, Herzl for the first time imparted his\nnew Jewish policy to a stranger. The writing down of his views, as\nwell as his conversation on the subject, had had a stronger effect on\nhimself than on Hirsch. He had obtained a clear vision of the new and\nrevolutionary character of his proposals. On the same day or shortly\nthereafter he began a diary under the title of _The Jewish Question_.\n\n\"For some time now, I have been engaged upon a work of indescribable\ngreatness. I do not know yet whether I shall carry it through. It has\nassumed the aspect of some mighty dream. But days and weeks have\npassed since it has filled me utterly, it has overflown into my\nunconscious self, it accompanies me wherever I go, it broods above all\nmy commonplace conversation, it peeps over my shoulder at the comical\nlittle journalistic work which I must carry out. It disturbs and\nintoxicates me.\"\n\nThen suddenly the storm breaks upon him. The clouds open, the thunder\nrolls and the lightning flashes about him. A thousand impressions beat\nupon him simultaneously, a gigantic vision. He cannot think, he cannot\nact, he can only write; breathless, unreflecting, unable to control\nhimself, unable to exercise the critical faculty lest he dam the\neruption, he dashes down his thoughts on scraps of paper--\"Walking,\nstanding, lying down, in the street, at table, in the night,\" as if\nunder unceasing command.\n\nAnd then doubts rise up from the depths. He dines with well-to-do,\neducated, oppressed people who confront the question of anti-Semitism\nin a state of complete helplessness: \"They do not suspect it, but they\nare ghetto-natures, quiet, decent, timid. That is what most of us are.\nWill they understand the call to freedom and to manhood? When I left\nthem my spirits were very low. Again, my plan appeared to me to be\ncrazy.\" Then at once he comes to \"Today I am again as firm as steel.\"\nHe notes the next morning. \"The flabbiness of the people I met\nyesterday gives me all the more grounds for action.\"\n\nClearer and clearer becomes the picture which he has of himself and of\nhis task in the history of his people. \"I picked up once again the\ntorn thread of the tradition of our people. I lead it into the\nPromised Land.\"\n\n\"The Promised Land, where we can have hooked noses, black or red\nbeards, and bow legs, without being despised for it; where we can live\nat last as free men on our own soil, and where we can die peacefully\nin our own fatherland. There we can expect the award of honor for\ngreat deeds, so that the offensive cry of 'Jew!' may become an\nhonorable appellation, like German, Englishman, Frenchman--in brief,\nlike all civilized peoples; so that we may be able to form our state\nto educate our people for the tasks which at present still lie beyond\nour vision. For surely God would not have kept us alive so long if\nthere were not assigned to us a specific role in the history of\nmankind.\" He adds: \"The Jewish state is a world need.\" He draws the\nlogical consequence for himself: \"I believe that for me life has ended\nand world history begun.\"\n\nHe let the first storm pass over him, yielding to its imperious will,\nmaking no effort to stem its fury lest he interrupt the inspiration.\nWhen it had had its way with him, he took hold of himself again, and\ngathered up his energies for the effort to reconstruct everything\nlogically and in ordered fashion. He was afraid that death might come\nupon him before he had succeeded in reducing to transferable form his\nhistoric vision. Thus, in the course of five days, he added to his\ndiary a sixty-five page pamphlet--in effect the outline of _Der\nJudenstaat_--which he called: _Address to the Rothschilds_.\n\nIn the address he writes, \"I have the solution to the Jewish question.\nI know it sounds mad; and at the beginning I shall be called mad more\nthan once--until the truth of what I am saying is recognized in all\nits shattering force.\"\n\nHe wrote to Bismarck asking for an interview in order to submit his\nplan for a solution to the Jewish problem but he received no reply.\n\nHe wrote to Rabbi Gudemann, Chief Rabbi of Vienna, the occasion being\nthe anti-Jewish excesses which had occurred in Vienna. \"This plan ...\nis a reserve against more evil days.\"\n\nHerzl, in his first visit to England, met and talked with Israel\nZangwill, the novelist, whom he impressed without quite winning him\nover. But Zangwill made it possible for him to meet more than a few\nprominent, influential Jews of whom he made immediate converts. None\nof them wanted to know anything about the Argentine, and on this point\nthe practical men were united with the dreamers: Palestine alone came\ninto the picture for a national concentration of the Jews.\n\nAfter his experiences in England, Herzl resolved to present his plan\nto the public at large. The _Address to the Rothschilds_ which was the\nfirst complete writing of his plan, forged in the heat of inspiration\nwas thoroughly reworked and emerged as his great book _Der\nJudenstaat_. Its title was: _The Jewish State: An Attempt at a Modern\nSolution of the Jewish Problem. Der Judenstaat_ may properly be called\nHerzl's life work; his philosophy of the world, his views on the\nstate, on the Jewish people, on science and technology, as we have\nseen them developing to this, his thirty-fifth year are concentrated\nin the book.\n\nThe \"Jewish State\" was published in an edition of three thousand. It\nwas read by small circles in various European capitals. It was sent to\nleading personalities in the press and political circles. It was soon\ntranslated into several languages. Herzl received many letters from\nauthors and statesmen in which the work was praised. But the general\nGerman press, especially the Jewish-controlled press, took a negative\nattitude. A number of journalists alluded to the adventurer who would\nlike to become Prime Minister or King of the Jews. No mention of the\n\"Jewish State\" appeared in the Neue Freie Presse, then or ever. The\nAlgemeine Zeitung of Vienna said that Zionism was a madness born of\ndespair, The Algemeine Zeitung of Munich described it as a fantastic\ndream of a feuilletonist whose mind had been unhinged by Jewish\nenthusiasm.\n\nIt was upon the Jewish masses that Herzl made a tremendous impression.\nHe dawned upon Jews of Eastern Europe as a mystic figure rising out of\nthe past. Little was known of his pamphlet, for it was kept out of the\ncountry by censorship in Russia. Only its title got their attention\nand the stories told of Herzl--the Western Jew returning to his\npeople--gripped their hearts and stirred their imagination. He was\ngreeted by one of the Galician Zionist societies as the leader who,\nlike Moses, had returned from Midian to liberate the Jews. Max Nordau,\nthat devastating critic of art and literature, was swept off his feet\nand described the pamphlet as a revelation, Richard Beer Hoffman, the\npoet, wrote to Herzl saying \"At last there comes again a man, who does\nnot carry his Judaism with resignation as if it were a burden or a\nmisfortune, but is proud to be the legal heir of an immemorial\nculture.\"\n\nIt became clear to Herzl that he would have to take an active part in\nthe task he had set forth in \"The Jewish State.\" He no longer felt\nthat he stood alone. He was not inclined to appear on a public\nplatform. He had the shyness of the man who had always written what he\nhad to say. He also felt that it would do more harm than good if his\nideas were to be obscured by his personal presence. Through\ncorrespondence he set in motion Zionist activities--in London, in\nParis, in Berlin, in the United States. The amount of letter-writing\nhe developed was enormous.\n\nHe decided that there were three tasks to be undertaken at once. The\nfirst was the organization of the Society of Jews. The second was to\ncontinue diplomatic work in Constantinople and among interested\nPowers. The third was the creation of a press to influence public\nopinion and to prepare the Jewish masses for the great migration.\n\nThrough the Rev. Hechler, a chaplain of the British Embassy in Vienna,\nwho believed in the Jewish return to the Holy Land, Herzl was\nintroduced to the Grand Duke of Baden, a Christian of great piety and\ninfluence in political circles.\n\nHerzl intended to use the influence of the Germans to affect the\nSultan and make him more sympathetic to Zionist proposals. Herzl told\nthe Grand Duke that he would like to have Zionism included within the\ncultural sphere of German interests. The Grand Duke said that the\nKaiser seemed inclined to take Jewish migration under German\nprotection. The great powers were interested in maintaining certain\nextra territorial rights within the Turkish Empire. If they had\nnationals in any part of the Empire, they claimed the right to protect\nthem over and above Turkish law. It was, therefore, not the Kaiser's\ninterest in the Jews, but in extending German jurisdiction within the\nTurkish Empire that persuaded him to suggest the adoption of Jews in\nPalestine for that purpose. Germany had a special relationship to\nTurkey. Most of the western powers were openly discussing the\nimpending partition of the Turkish Empire, but Germany was opposed to\nit.\n\nHerzl was told that the Kaiser was prepared to see him at the head of\na delegation when he visited Palestine, but Herzl was anxious to see\nthe Kaiser without delay. He suggested an audience before the trip to\nPalestine in order that the Kaiser might be in a position to discuss\nthe Jewish question with the Sultan. The Grand Duke advised Herzl to\nsee Count Philip Zu Eulenberg, the German Ambassador at Vienna. Herzl\nwas given an opportunity to see Count Eulenberg in Vienna. Herzl told\nhim that he wanted His Imperial Majesty to persuade the Sultan to open\nnegotiations with the Jews.\n\nThe Count passed Herzl over to the German Minister of Foreign Affairs,\nVon Buelow, who happened to be in Vienna at the same time. Van Buelow\nknew a great deal about the Zionist movement. He said that the\ndifficulty lay in persuading the Sultan to deal with the Jews. He felt\ncertain that the Sultan could be impressed if he was properly advised\nby the Kaiser. A week later Herzl was informed of the Kaiser's\ninclination to take the Jews of Palestine under his protection, and\nrepeated that he would like to see Herzl at the head of a delegation\nin Jerusalem, later on.\n\nHerzl was afraid of going further in this direction without having in\nexistence the financial instrument without which neither negotiations\nnor colonization could be carried on. Herzl urged David Wolffsohn and\nJacobus Kahn to proceed with the utmost speed to incorporate the\nJewish Colonial Trust. He foresaw the possibility that a demand might\nbe made at any time to show the color of his money. Although the\naffairs of the Bank were in the hands of Wolffsohn and Kahn, Herzl\nhimself worried over every detail, urging and driving and complaining\nabout the slowness of the action. On March 28, 1899 the subscription\nlists were opened. Herzl's expectations were not fulfilled. Only about\n200,000 shares had been sold, three-quarters of them in Russia. The\nBank could not be opened until it had at least 250,000 paid-up shares.\nAfter a great deal of effort, the minimum was finally obtained and the\nTrust was officially opened in time for the opening of the third\nCongress in August, 1899.\n\nHerzl addressed a mass meeting in London in October, 1899, under Dr.\nGastner's chairmanship. In his address at this meeting, Herzl said\nthat he believed the time was not far off when the Jewish people would\nbe set in motion. He asked the audience to accept his word even if he\ncould not speak more definitely. \"When I return to you again,\" he\nsaid, \"we shall, I hope, be still further on our path.\" At this\nmeeting Father Ignatius, a Catholic believer in Zionism, referred to\nHerzl \"as a new Joshua who had come to fulfill the words of the\nProphet Ezekiel.\" The effect produced upon the audience was not useful\nto Herzl's purposes at that time. He had always tried to discourage\nthe impression of himself as a Messianic figure. The meeting in London\nwas the only occasion where he lost his self-mastery in public.\n\nWhen Herzl met the Foreign Minister, Von Buelow, again, it was in the\npresence of the Reich Chancellor, Hohenlohe. At once he perceived a\ndifferent nuance in the conversation and a dissonance in comparison\nwith the conversation he had had with Count Eulenberg. He thought that\nthe Chancellor and the Foreign Minister were not in agreement with the\nKaiser and did not dare to say it openly; or, on the other hand, they\nmight be favorably inclined but would not be willing to say it to him.\n\nFinally, Herzl saw the Kaiser in Constantinople. After Herzl had\nintroduced the subject of his visit, the Kaiser broke in and explained\nwhy the Zionist movement attracted him.\n\n\"There are among your people,\" said the Kaiser, \"certain elements whom\nit would be a good thing to move to Palestine.\"\n\nHe asked Herzl to submit, in advance, the address he intended to\npresent to him in Jerusalem. When he was asked what the Kaiser should\nplace before the Sultan as the gist of the Jewish proposals, Herzl\nreplied \"a chartered company under German protection.\"\n\nHerzl met the Kaiser, as arranged, in Palestine. Herzl arrived in\nJaffa on October 6, 1898. On a Friday morning, he awaited the coming\nof the Kaiser and his entourage on the road that ran by the Colony of\nMikveh Israel. The Kaiser recognized him from a distance. He said a\nfew words about the weather, about the lack of water in Palestine, and\nthat it was a land that had a future.\n\nIn the petition Herzl later submitted to the Kaiser, many of the\npregnant passages were deleted by the Kaiser's advisers. All passages\nthat referred specifically to the aims of the Zionist movement, to the\ndesperate need of the Jewish people and asking for the Kaiser's\nprotection of a projected Jewish land company for Syria and Palestine,\nhad been removed. The audience with the Kaiser took place on Monday,\nNovember 2nd. The Kaiser thanked Herzl for the address which, he said,\nhad interested him extremely. It was the Kaiser's opinion that the\nsoil was cultivable. What the land lacked was water and shade.\n\n\"That we can supply,\" said Herzl. \"It would cost billions, but it will\nbring in billions too.\"\n\n\"Well, you certainly have enough money, more than all of us,\" said the\nKaiser.\n\nIt was a brief interview. It was vague and seemed to lead nowhere.\nHerzl was under the impression that certain influences had been\nexerted between the interview in Constantinople and the audience in\nJerusalem.\n\nWhen the official German communique was issued, the encounter with\nHerzl was hid in a closing paragraph and deprived of all significance.\nThis is how it read:\n\n\"Later the Kaiser received the French Consul, also a Jewish deputation\nwhich presented him with an album of pictures of the Jewish colonies\nin Palestine. In reply to an address by the leader of the deputation,\nHis Majesty remarked he viewed with benevolent interest all efforts\ndirected to the improvement of agriculture in Palestine as long as\nthese accorded with the welfare of the Turkish Empire and were\nconducted in a spirit of complete respect for the sovereignty of the\nSultan.\"\n\nIt was a sudden descent from hope into a closed road. Herzl refused to\nbe discouraged. It was hard for him to realize that the Kaiser's\nenthusiasm in Constantinople could have cooled off so quickly in\nJerusalem, but it seemed that there was no way to continue contact\nwith the people he had interested in Germany. He tried to pick up the\nbroken threads, but, once broken, they could not be revived. The Grand\nDuke of Baden remained ever constant and loyal, but he could do\nnothing. Herzl never saw the Kaiser again. In a letter to the Grand\nDuke, closing this chapter of Zionist history, Herzl said:\n\n\"I can only assume that a hope especially dear to me has faded away\nand that we shall not achieve our Zionist goal under a German\nprotectorate.\"\n\nAt about the same time, Herzl met Philip Michael Von Nevlinski, a\ndescendant of a long line of Polish noblemen who had entered the\ndiplomatic service and became a diplomatic agent-at-large and a French\njournalist. In the first stages, Nevlinski guided Herzl in all the\nwork he did in Constantinople. When Herzl came to Constantinople in\nJune, 1896 he was under the impression that Nevlinski had already\narranged an audience with the Sultan. It was not so easy, however. But\nwhether such an audience had been arranged or not, Herzl was able to\nmeet, a number of highly-placed Turkish officials, including the Grand\nVizier. At first, the line of action was not clear, but by now Herzl\nhad formulated his proposals to the Sultan.\n\nEver since the middle of the nineteenth century, Turkish finances had\nbeen in a shocking condition. The Empire was being badly managed. The\nSultan was regarded as \"the sick man of Europe.\" In 1891 the total\nexternal debt, including unpaid interest, reached the figure of two\nhundred and fifty-three million pounds sterling. In 1881 there was a\nconsolidation of the debt. It was reduced to one hundred and six\nmillion pounds, but the finances of Turkey were placed under the\ncontrol of a committee representing the creditors, to whom was\ntransferred certain domestic Turkish monopolies and the collection of\nseveral categories of taxes. This enabled the European powers to\nintervene in the affairs of Turkey. Only by the removal of this\nforeign tutelage could Turkey hope to regain its independence. It was\nto achieve this end, Herzl thought, that the Jews, and the Jews alone,\ncould be useful. For this service, he intended to ask for a Jewish\nState in Palestine. Herzl followed this line until finally the need\nfor refunding the Turkish debt disappeared.\n\nBut at this time Herzl was not able to obtain an audience with the\nSultan. Nevlinski reported that such an audience had been refused\nbecause the Sultan declined to discuss sovereignty over Palestine.\nDoubt was expressed as to the accuracy of the report. Whatever the\nfact may be, the first venture of Herzl in Constantinople was not\nsuccessful.\n\nHerzl moved along the lines that led to Constantinople and Berlin, but\nhe did not overlook the importance of maintaining contact with Jewish\nphilanthropies. A letter sent to the Baron de Hirsch came a day after\nhis death.\n\nHerzl went to London where matters had been arranged for him to meet\nthe leaders of British Jewry. He met Claude Montefiore and Frederick\nMocatte, representatives of the Anglo-Jewish Association. They were\nnot sympathetic. Herzl fared no better at a banquet given to him by\nthe Maccabbeans. The personal impression Herzl made was profound. But\nthere was no practical issue nor did he make any progress during the\ntime he spent in England. He got Sir Samuel Montagu and Colonel\nGoldsmith to agree to cooperate with him in an endeavor to establish a\nvassal Jewish State under the sovereignty of Turkey if the Powers\nwould agree; provided, the Baron de Hirsch Fund placed L10,000,000 at\nhis disposal for the plan; and Baron Edmund de Rothschild became a\nmember of the Executive Committee of the proposed Society of Jews.\nThese conditions were fantastic at that time and Herzl could not meet\nthem.\n\nHe went to Paris and had a talk with Baron Edmund. Baron Edmund was\nolder than Herzl and felt ill at ease in the presence of a calm critic\nof all he had done for Jewish colonization in Palestine. Herzl made\nthe impression on him of an undisciplined enthusiast. Baron Edmund did\nnot believe it possible to create political conditions favorable for a\nmass immigration of Jews. Even if that could be done, an uncontrolled\nmass immigration into Palestine would have the effect of landing tens\nof thousands of Jews to be fed and looked after by the small Jewish\ncommunity in Palestine. He clung to his idea of slow colonization\nattracting no attention and careful not to provoke hostility. Every\nreply of Herzl fell upon a closed mind. Baron Edmund's refusal to\ncooperate was decisive.\n\nThis was a decision of historic significance. It turned Herzl away\nfrom the thought that the Zionist movement should be built upon the\nsupport of Jewish philanthropy. All his hopes in this connection were\ndissolved by the contacts he had made in London and in Paris. Baron\nEdmund's refusal to cooperate carried with it the refusal of the Baron\nde Hirsch Fund and of the circle of leading Jews in London.\n\nReluctantly, Herzl came to the conclusion that there was only one\nreply to this situation. The Jewish masses must be organized for the\nsupport of the Zionist movement.\n\nThe organization he had in mind was not a popular democratic\norganization. What he meant was to assemble the upper \"cadres\" to take\ncharge of the organization of the masses for the great migration. At\nthe same time, he wanted to prove to the philanthropists that a\npopular organization was possible. He felt that they would be greatly\ninfluenced by the development of a widespread popular movement.\nWhatever his thoughts were at that time, his decision to turn to the\nJewish masses, to abandon reliance upon the wealthy led to the\norganization of the modern Zionist movement.\n\nHe organized his followers in Vienna. He was the center of a circle in\nwhich were included the men who later became the members of the first\nZionist Actions Committee. In November 1896 he, for the first time,\naddressed a public meeting in Vienna. In this address he did not use\nthe term \"The Jewish State,\" nor did he use it in most of his public\nutterances at that time. He had become cautious. He did not want to\nprejudice his political work in Constantinople.\n\nHe was still thinking of issuing a newspaper, but there were no funds\nfor that purpose. The report that he intended to issue a newspaper\ndrew the attention of a number of personalities and groups in Berlin.\nThere were the Russian Jewish students, led by Leo Motzkin, and a\ngroup called \"Young Israel,\" headed by Reinrich Loewe. A conference\nwas held on March 6 and 7, 1897, called by Dr. Osias Thon Willy Bambus\nand Nathan Birnbaum. They had come together to talk about a newspaper\nbut the First Zionist Congress was launched at this meeting Herzl's\nproposal for the calling of a General Zionist Conference in Munich was\nagreed to. In the preliminary announcement of the calling of this\nConference or Congress, Herzl said:\n\n\"The Jewish question must be removed from the control of the\nbenevolent individual. There must be created a forum before which\neveryone acting for the Jewish people should appear and to which he\nshould be responsible.\"\n\nEvery one of Herzl's ideas was met by protests and public excitement.\nThe protests were usually launched by Jews. The calling of the\nCongress aroused a great deal of indignation in conservative circles.\nThe Rabbis of Germany protested not only to the holding of the\nCongress but also the choice of Munich.\n\nThe Congress controversy persuaded Herzl to begin the publication of\nthe weekly Die Welt. The first issue appeared on June 4, 1897, Herzl\nprovided the funds. The journal was something new in Jewish life. It\nwas, in fact, the organ of the Congress. Throughout Herzl's life, Die\nWelt served as the exponent of his ideas. At first, Herzl contributed\nnumerous articles. He sent in a regular weekly review of all\nactivities connected with the movement. He was responsible for many\nunsigned articles and notices. He directed the paper in all its\ndetails, although he refused to figure as its official editor and\npublisher. The amount of work he did during the months preceding the\nCongress was amazing. He was completely absorbed in every aspect of\nthe Congress. The man of the pen revealed himself as a first-class man\nof action.\n\nOn August 29, 1897, the First Zionist Congress was assembled, not in\nMunich but in Basle, Switzerland. The majority of the delegates to the\nFirst Zionist Congress, drawn to Basle from all parts of the world,\nsaw Herzl for the first time. The total number of delegates at the\nfirst session was 197.\n\nThe first act of the Congress was the adoption of a resolution of\nthanks to the Sultan of Turkey. Then Herzl rose and walked over to the\npulpit. It was no longer the elegant Dr. Herzl of Vienna, it was no\nlonger the easy-going literary man, the critic, the feuilletonist. As\none reporter said: \"It was a scion of the House of David, risen from\namong the dead, clothed in legend and fantasy and beauty.\" The first\nwords uttered by Herzl were: \"We are here to lay the foundation stone\nof the house which is to shelter the Jewish nation.\" \"We Zionists,\" he\nstressed, \"seek for the solution of the Jewish question, not an\ninternational society, but an international discussion.... We have\nnothing to do with conspiracy, secret intervention or indirect\nmethods. We wish to place the question under the control of free\npublic opinion.\"\n\nHis First Congress address contained the ideas which he had already\nexpressed in previous speeches and articles, but there was a great\ndifference between the views in \"The Jewish State\" and the address\ndelivered at the first session of the Zionist Congress. The latter is\nthe carefully considered public statement of one who knew he\nrepresented tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of\nfollowers. His words were not those of a seer, but of a statesman.\nAlmost as profound was the effect produced. It was at this Congress\nthat the Basle Program was adopted.... \"Zionism seeks to secure for\nthe Jewish people a publicly recognized, legally secured home (or\nhomeland) in Palestine.\"\n\nThe second important task of the First Congress was the creation of an\norganization. The Congress was declared to be \"the chief organ of the\nZionist movement.\" The basis of electoral right was to be the payment\nof a shekel, which at that time was equivalent to twenty-five cents.\nThere was to be an Executive Committee with its permanent seat in\nVienna. Everything which was to unfold later in Zionism, both in the\nway of affirmative forces and inner contradictions, was already\nvisible or latent in the first Congress. There was discussion of a\nbank, of a land redemption fund to be called The National Fund, the\ncreation of a Hebrew University, and the clashes between practical and\npolitical Zionism.\n\nOn his return to Vienna, Herzl made the following entry in his diary:\n\"If I were to sum up the Basle Congress in a single phrase I would\nsay: In Basle I created the Jewish State. Were I to say this aloud I\nwould be greeted by universal laughter. But perhaps five years hence,\nin any case, certainly fifty years hence, everyone will perceive it.\nThe state exists as essence in the will-to-the-state of a people, yes,\neven in that will in a single powerful person.... The territory is\nonly the concrete basis, and the state itself, with a territory\nbeneath it, is still in the nature of an abstract thing ... In Basle I\ncreated the abstraction which, as such, is invisible to the great\nmajority.\"\n\nAll that Herzl did in the political field--his conversations in\nConstantinople, his interview with the Grand Duke of Baden in advance\nof the holding of the First Congress, was undertaken as author of a\npolitical pamphlet. He was now aware of the fact that he was called\nupon to act as President of the World Zionist Organization. It was\ndifficult to draw a line between the movement and its leader. Herzl\ninsisted that his leadership in the movement was impersonal and that\nnow its direction was vested in its instruments--the Congress and the\nActions Committee. But he had all the authority of an accepted leader.\n\nThe evolution of Herzl's conception of the Jewish problem since he saw\nthe degradation of Dreyfus can be measured by a study of the articles\nhe wrote after the First Congress. He himself was quite aware of the\ntransformation. He had seen the Jewish people face to face. \"Brothers\nhave found each other again,\" he said. He wrote with great\nappreciation of the quality of the Russian delegates. He said, \"They\npossess that inner unity which has disappeared from among the\nwesterners. They are steeped in Jewish national sentiment without\nbetraying any national narrowness and intolerance. They are not\ntortured by the idea of assimilation. They do not assimilate into\nother nations, but exert themselves to learn the best in other\npeoples. In this way they manage to remain erect and genuine. Looking\non them, we understood where our forefathers got the strength to\nendure through the bitterest times.\"\n\nImmediately after the First Congress, Herzl grappled with his second\ntask, the creation of the Jewish Colonial Bank. He wrote of the bank\nin _Die Welt_ in November, 1898, \"The task of the Colonial Bank is to\neliminate philanthropy. The settler on the land who increases its\nvalue by his labor merits more than a gift. He is entitled to credit.\nThe prospective bank could therefore begin by extending the needed\ncredits to the colonists; later it would expand into the instrument\nfor the bringing in of Jews and would supply credits for\ntransportation, agriculture, commerce and construction.\"\n\nThe seat of the bank was to be London. There were to be two billion\nshares at L1 each. The bank was to be directed by men acquainted with\nbanking affairs, but the movement would be placed in a position to\ncontrol its policy. The hopes of Herzl grew from week to week. As he\napproached the practical situation he became less and less confident\nof the cooperation of men of wealth. Differences arose in the\npreliminary discussions as to the scope of the bank. In the first\ndraft of the Articles of Incorporation the Orient alone was named as\nthe area of work for the bank. Menachem Ussishkin insisted that the\nwords \"Syria and Palestine\" should be substituted. After a great deal\nof discussion, the proposals for the formation of the bank were\nbrought to the second Zionist Congress and the Articles of\nIncorporation, as amended, were adopted by acclamation.\n\nHerzl clung to the idea which had come to him when he was thinking of\nthe Jewish State as a pamphlet, that it might be better for him to\nwrite a novel. The impulse to write such a novel became irresistible\nafter his visit to Palestine. It was to be called \"Altneuland.\" He\nbegan to write it in 1899. It was completed in April 1902, and\npublished six months later. It is remarkable that he could write such\na novel while engaged in varied political activities in\nConstantinople, in London and in Berlin; and while he had to deal with\nthe many troublesome internal Zionist problems.\n\n\"Altneuland\" was a novel with a purpose. It described the Palestine of\nthe near future as it would develop through the Zionist Movement. It\nhad the weaknesses of every propaganda novel. The entire work has\nsomething of the state about it and proceeds in the form of scenes\nrather than by way of narrative. Each type has a specific outlook.\nMost of the characters are portraits of living personalities. It was\nhis purpose to memorialize his friends and his opponents.\n\n\"Altneuland\" tells of a Jew who visits Palestine in 1898 and then\ncomes again in 1923 when he finds the Promised Land developed under\nJewish influence. Its territory lies East and West of the Jordan. The\ndead land of 1898 is now thoroughly alive. Its real creators were the\nirrigation engineers. Technology had given a new form to labor, a new\nsocial and economic system had been created which is described as\n\"mutualistic,\" a huge cooperative, a mediate form between\nindividualism and collectivism. Haifa had become a world city. Around\nthe Holy City of Jerusalem, modern suburbs had arisen, shaded\nboulevards and parks, institutes of learning, places of amusement,\nmarkets--\"a world city in the spirit of the twentieth century.\" In\nthis new land, the Arabs live side by side in friendship with the\nJews.\n\n\"Altneuland\" did not produce the effect Herzl had expected. Within the\nZionist Movement it did more harm than good. Many of Herzl's friends\nwere disappointed that the novel should have so little of the Jewish\nspirit. It ignored the Hebraic renaissance. The novel evoked the\nsharpest criticism from Achad Haam.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhile Herzl was immersed in political action, visiting European\ncapitals, carrying on correspondence with leading persons whose\ninterest in Zionism he had engaged, and submitting reports to the\nZionist Congress or to the Actions Committee, often facing critical\nsituations in his struggle with growing Zionist parties, the Zionist\nOrganization was gradually becoming an accepted institution in Jewish\nlife. It was the international sounding board for the discussion of\nthe Jewish question. The Jewish National Fund was founded at the\nFourth Congress held in London in 1900. The Jewish Colonial Trust was\nfinally established with headquarters in London.\n\nThe first Zionist party in the Congress was the Democratic faction led\nby Leo Motzkin, but soon there were added the Mizrachi party and the\nbeginnings of a labor party. Not only Dr. Nordau's stirring addresses,\nbut many controversies \"made\" Congresses. The cultural issue was a\nCongress perennial. Many discussions also took place around what was\ncalled the issue of \"practical\" and \"political\" Zionism. The Russians,\nunder the leadership of Ussishkin, were all heartily against the\n\"charter\" emphasis and drove with maddening persistence for immediate\nwork in Palestine. In the course of these debates, continued over the\nyears, the Congress became a forum for the discussion of international\nJewish problems and developed speakers and theorists of varying\ndegrees of talent. It also produced men with hobbies. The Jewish\nNational Fund and the Hebrew University was the hobby of Dr. Herman\nSchapiro. Colonization in Cyprus was the hobby of Davis Trietsch, who\ncreated many scenes on the floor of the Congress. Dr. Chaim Weizmann\nwas not only a leader of the Democratic faction, crossing swords time\nand again with Herzl, but devoted much time and thought to the idea of\na Hebrew University. The procedure of the Congress, based on\nContinental models, was gradually worked out and became fixed, and\nmany of the delegates were adepts in the art of procedural sparring.\nThe language in Congresses used during Herzl's life was German, but\ngradually the imperfect use of German by East European Zionists led to\nthe development of what was called \"Congress German.\" This was a form\nof German that was easy to use, because respect for grammar and\npronunciation was not required.\n\nDuring the Congresses Herzl maintained throughout the role of leader\nand moderator. His manner was gracious and he never lost his sense of\ndignity. He was capable of sharp retort, but always bore in mind that\nit was high duty to hold a balance and to seek compromise rather than\nsharp division. He developed it in a most remarkable way on the\nplatform. His appearances were dramatic. His interventions were\narresting. The man of the writing desk developed as one of the ablest\nin the parliamentary arts. After some of the Congresses he had to\nretire to a health resort, having exhausted his strength and bringing\non a recurrence of his heart trouble. On a number of occasions his\nclose friends feared for his life. But after a few weeks of rest he\nusually returned stronger than before and with greater determination\nto pursue his course, regardless of the consequences to himself.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAt this point it is important to refer to his family life. He had\nmarried Julie Naschauer on July 25, 1889. She was the daughter of\nwealthy parents and grew up in a conventional social circle. When she\nmarried Herzl he was already a rising young author who was highly\nregarded among those with whom she associated. He was attractive,\naristocratic in bearing, a keen conversationalist and had all the\nqualities of being a conventional partner of a conventional wife. But\nHerzl threw himself into Zionist affairs with such tremendous dynamic\nactivity and was so completely absorbed in the idea which his thinking\nhad given birth to, that except for occasional interim periods, his\nfamily played a secondary part in his life ever after he had taken up\nthe Jewish problems his special task in life. Julie Herzl also\nsuffered by reason of Herzl's devotion to his own mother. Herzl never\nrid himself of his filial dependence which made it very hard for his\nwife to understand. They had three children. In 1890 a daughter was\nborn and named Paula or Pauline. In 1891 his son, Hans, was born,\nwhose life after his father's death became a serious problem. There\nwas a third child, a daughter Margaret, known as Trude, who was born\nin May 1893. During this period there were many separations from his\nfamily. There were disagreements and reconciliations, but the cup of\nunhappiness for Julie Herzl overflowed when Herzl became the official\nleader of a public movement. From that time on her home was constantly\noverrun with unwelcome visitors. Not only did Herzl give his life to\nthe movement in the literal sense, but he gave his reserve of funds\nand sacrificed the welfare of his family for the sake of the movement\nhe had brought to life. His domestic affairs as well as his failing\nheart, made all the years of Herzl's brief Zionist life pain and\nstruggle.\n\nThe tragic position of Jews in various parts of Europe, greatly\nagitated Herzl during the time he was carrying on negotiations with\nthe Kaiser and the Sultan. He was constantly being led to the thought\nthat it would become necessary to find a temporary haven of refuge for\nJews. In 1899 a series of pogroms broke out in Galicia. In his diary\nat the time, he had references to England and Cyprus, \"we may even\nhave to consider South Africa or America.\" But he banished these\nthoughts from his mind because he knew that the Zionists would place\nserious obstacles in the way of considering any project other than\nPalestine. When his hopes with regard to Germany had collapsed,\nhowever, he thought of these alternative proposals again.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOn October 22, 1902 a Conference between Joseph Chamberlain, the\nColonial Secretary, and Herzl took place. Chamberlain had been in the\nColonial Office since 1895. He held an influential position in the\ncouncils of the British Government. He was a man of strong will and\npolitical integrity. Herzl submitted his plan for the colonization of\nCyprus and the Sinai Peninsula, which included El Arish--\"Jewish\nsettlers under a Jewish administration.\"\n\nChamberlain said that he could speak definitely only about Cyprus. The\nSinai Peninsula came under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Office. As\nfar as Cyprus was concerned, he believed that it was not promising\nbecause the Greeks and Moslems would object, and it would be his\nofficial duty to side with them. He took a more favorable view,\nhowever, of El Arish. In that connection, it was necessary for Herzl\nto talk to Lord Lansdowne of the Foreign Office. A great deal would\ndepend upon the good-will of Lord Cromer, the British Consul General\nin Egypt, and actually the Vice Regent of that country. Through the\ngood offices of Chamberlain, it became possible for Herzl to meet\nLord Lansdowne a few days later. He was well received and was\nlistened to with a great deal of attention.\n\nHerzl was asked to submit a written expose. Then he asked for\npermission to have Leopold J. Greenberg go to Egypt and confer with\nLord Cromer. Lord Lansdowne said that he would arrange for such a\nmeeting. Greenberg discussed the matter with Lord Cromer in Cairo.\nThere were objections raised by both Lord Cromer and the Egyptian\nPrime Minister on the ground that an attempted Jewish economy,\nundertaken in 1891-2 in the region of ancient Midian, had been a\npitiful failure. There had been political complications and border\ndisputes with Turkey.\n\nA definitive reply was received by Herzl on December 18, 1902 written\non behalf of Lord Lansdowne by Sir T.H. Sanderson, permanent\nUndersecretary. Lord Lansdowne had heard from Lord Cromer, who favored\nthe sending of a small commission to the Sinai Peninsula to report on\nconditions and prospects, but Lord Cromer feared that no sanguine\nhopes of success should be entertained, but if the report of the\nCommission turned out favorable, the Egyptian Government would\ncertainly offer liberal terms for Jewish colonization.\n\nOn the other hand, however, the Zionists should understand that they\nwould be expected to meet the cost of a defense corps and to guarantee\nthe administration. In Lord Cromer's opinion, the most important\nquestion was that of the rights which Herzl expected for the projected\nsettlement. He wrote: \"In your letter of the 12th ult. you remark that\nyou will become great and promising by the granting of this right of\ncolonization. Your letter does not make clear what is to be understood\nby these words, and what kind of rights the colonists will expect.\"\n\nLord Lansdowne also touched on the question of the new citizenship of\nthe settlers. Herzl had believed that he would have only Englishmen to\ndeal with, since England had become more and more the master of Egypt.\nIt was apparent, however, that the Egyptian Government also played an\nimportant part in the discussions.\n\nLord Cromer confirmed that the Egyptian Government would make it an\nessential condition that the new settlers become Turkish subjects\nbound by Egyptian law, but while the British occupation continued the\nsettlers would always be certain of fair treatment.\n\nHerzl was satisfied with this letter and described it as a historic\ndocument. The British Government had recognized Herzl as the Zionist\nleader, and the movement represented by him as a negotiating party. He\nalready saw the \"Egyptian province of Judea\" under a Jewish Governor,\nwith its own defense corps under Anglo-Egyptian officers.\n\nAs a result of the English negotiations, Lord Rothschild seemed to be\nwon over by Herzl. The old banker, who had refused two years before to\nmeet the Zionist leader, now visited him in his hotel. The next task\nbefore Herzl was the organization of the Commission. The Commission\nwas composed of the South African engineer, Kessler; the Chief\nInspector of the Egyptian Survey Department, Humphreys; Col. Goldsmith\nwas to report on the land; and Dr. Soskin was to study agricultural\npossibilities. Oscar Marmorek was to investigate building and housing\nproblems and act as General Secretary. Dr. Hillel Jaffe of the Jaffe\nHospital was to deal with the problems of climate and hygiene.\n\nThe Commission met with great difficulties. There was opposition by\nthe Turks. There was misunderstandings between Herzl and Greenberg.\nHerzl himself went to Egypt in order to bring the negotiations to a\nconclusion and to straighten out difficulties. His intervention in no\nway improved the situation. Lord Cromer had become very cool toward\nhim. He received the general report of the Commission, which observed\nthat \"under existing conditions the land is quite unsuitable for\nsettlers from European countries, but if sufficient irrigation were\nintroduced, the agricultural, hygienic and climatic conditions are\nsuch that part of the land, which is at present wilderness, could\nsupport a considerable population.\"\n\nAn application for the concession was made by Herzl on the advice of\nLord Cromer, having as his legal representative a Belgian lawyer of\nhigh standing. The Egyptian Government did not receive with favor the\noutline of the concession. Herzl was received on April 23rd by\nChamberlain, who had just returned from his African journey.\nChamberlain listened to the report given by Herzl on the work of the\nCommission. Both regarded the report as unfavorable. Then Chamberlain\nmade this remark:\n\n\"On my travels I saw a country for you, Uganda. On the coast it is\nhot, but in the interior the climate is excellent for Europeans. You\ncan plant cotton and sugar. I thought to myself, that is just the\ncountry for Dr. Herzl. But _he_ must have Palestine, and will move\nonly into its vicinity.\"\n\nThis was the first reference to Uganda which became the center of\nattention in Zionist circles.\n\nHerzl was told that the Egyptian Government would reject the plan. It\nwas found that the area would require five times as much water as had\nbeen first estimated. The Egyptian Government could not permit the\ndiversion of such a quantity of water from the Nile.\n\nAn attempt to have Chamberlain intervene with Egypt was not\nsuccessful. \"That being the case,\" said Chamberlain, \"What about\nUganda?\" Self-administration would be accorded. The Governor could\ndefinitely be a Jew. Although the matter belonged to the Foreign\nOffice, he would have it transferred under his jurisdiction in the\ncolonial office. The territory would be the permanent property of a\ncolonization company created for the purpose. After five years, the\nsettlers would be given complete autonomy. The name of the settlement\nwas to be \"New Palestine.\"\n\nHerzl pressed for a reply from the government in order that the\nproject might be presented to the Zionist Congress on August 14, 1903.\nThe official proposal came from Sir Clement Hill, permanent head of\nthe Foreign Office. In this letter it was stated that Lord Landsdowne\nhad studied the question with the interest which His Majesty's\nGovernment always felt bound to take in every serious plan destined to\nbetter the condition of the Jewish race. The time had been too short\nfor a closer examination of the plan and for its submission to the\nBritish representative for the East African (Uganda) Protectorate.\n\"Lord Landsdowne assumes,\" the letter continues, \"that the Bank\ndesires to send a number of gentlemen to the East African Protectorate\nto establish whether there is in that territory land suitable for the\npurpose in view; should this prove to be the case, he will be happy to\ngive them every assistance in bringing them together with His\nMajesty's Congress, the conditions under which the settlement could be\ncarried out. Should an area be found which the bank and His Majesty's\nrepresentative consider suitable, and His Majesty's government\nconsider desirable, Lord Lansdowne will be glad to consider favorably\nproposals for the creation of a Jewish colony or settlement under such\nconditions as will seem to the members to guarantee the retention of\ntheir national customs....\"\n\nThe document went on with an offer--subject to the consent of the\nrelevant officials--of a Jewish governorship and internal autonomy.\n\nThis was the first official proposal in connection with the Zionist\nmovement which Herzl was able to submit to a Zionist Congress. When\nthe letter of Sir Clement Hill was submitted to the Sixth Zionist\nCongress in 1903, it split the Zionist movement wide open. It arrayed\nthe overwhelming majority of Zionists in Russia against Herzl and he\nwas called upon to defend himself against a general attack which\npreceded the convening of the Congress. When the Congress was convened\nin an atmosphere of great excitement and partisan controversy, the\nUganda project was submitted in the form of an official resolution\ncalling for the appointment of a commission of nine to be sent to\ninvestigate conditions in East Africa. The final decision on the\nreport of the investigating committee was to be left to a special\nCongress. Although the vote showed a majority in favor of the official\nresolution--the tally was 295 for, 177 against, and 100 absentees--the\ndebate on the resolution revealed an overwhelming opposition to the\nproject. It was regarded as an abandonment of Palestine in favor of a\ndiversion. After the vote, the Russian delegates left the Congress in\na body. All the opposition delegates left with them and met in\nconference to discuss the situation. When Herzl heard of the deep\nfeeling that prevailed in the conference, he asked for the privilege\nof speaking to the opposition. He gave them his solemn assurance that\nthe Basle Program would be unaffected by the resolution. He swore\nfealty to the Basle Program, to Zion and Jerusalem. His speech\nrevealed the great transformation that had taken place in Herzl's\norganic relation to the Zionist movement. The opposition delegates\nfelt that in spite of Herzl's seeking alternately one or another\nsubstitute for Palestine, his heart responded without reserve to the\nappeal of Zion. The opposition reappeared in the Congress the\nfollowing day. They exacted assurances that the funds of the Jewish\nColonial Trust, of the Jewish National Fund and the Shekel Income,\nshould not be used for the commission investigating East Africa, and\nthat the commission should report to the Greater Actions Committee\nbefore it appeared to submit its report to the Congress.\n\nHerzl's experience at what is called the \"Uganda Congress\" drew him\nnearer to the older Zionists. He realized now that the ultimate goal\ncould not be reached within the near future, that Uganda was merely a\ncompromise achievement, providing the field of preparation for a\nsecond attempt to reach Zion. The Congress of 1903 was the climax of\nHerzl's career. It was, in effect, the end of his quest.\n\nLater, the East African project became a matter of lesser importance\nin the eyes of the English. The English colonists in East Africa\ndeclared their opposition to a Jewish settlement. A Zionist opposition\nwas organized, led by Menahem Ussishkin, who was not present at the\nUganda Congress. The Charkov Conference of Russian Zionists was\ncalled. Herzl was charged with having violated the Basle Program. The\nCharkov Conference disclaimed responsibility for all actions in the\ndirection of East Africa. It appointed a committee of three to\ncommunicate their demands to Herzl. They asked that he promise that he\nwould not place before the Congress any territorial projects other\nthan those connected with Palestine or Syria, and that he would take\nEast Africa off the agenda. By now Herzl would have been pleased to\nlet the East African project disappear from the agenda; it was clear\nthat the English government was not greatly interested and was seeking\na way out; but the devious route of political action, once started,\ncould not so easily be halted; Herzl found himself chained to a\npolitical reality.\n\nThroughout his Zionist life, Herzl suffered from a heart ailment\nwhich became more and more acute as he was taken up by the excitements\nand activities of the Movement. He became aware of his illness soon\nafter he had written \"The Jewish State.\" He had premonitions of the\nfatal consequences but persisted in carrying the burden of the\nMovement himself, consuming all his strength in the process. At\nintervals he was forced to take rest cures. On a number of occasions\nit was thought that he had reached the end of his strength. When he\nwas grappling with the Uganda project, York-Steiner, an intimate\nfriend, wrote of his appearance: \"The imposing figure is now stooped,\nthe face sallow, the eyes--the mirrors of a fine soul--were darkened,\nthe mouth was drawn in pain and marked by passion.\"\n\nHe was almost at the brink of the grave. In May, an alarming change\nfor the worse occurred in the condition of his heart muscles. He was\nordered to Franzienbad for six weeks, but the rest did him no good. On\nJune 3, he left with his wife and several friends for Edlach in\nSemmering. He knew that this was his last journey. Then there was a\nslight improvement and he returned to his desk. But he rapidly grew\nworse. To the faithful Hechler he said, \"Give them all my greetings\nand tell them that I have given my heart's blood for my people.\" On\nJuly 3, pneumonia set in and there were signs of approaching\nexhaustion. His mother arrived, then his two younger children, Hans\nand Trude. At five in the afternoon, his physician who had taken his\neyes off the patient for a moment, heard a deep sigh. When he turned,\nhe saw Herzl's head sunk on his breast.\n\nIn his will Herzl asked that his body be buried next to his father,\n\"to remain there until the Jewish people will carry my remains to\nPalestine.\" When the Russians entered Vienna in 1945 the remains of\nHerzl were still there.\n\n\n\n\n_The Jewish State_\n\nby\n\n_Theodor Herzl_\n\n\n\n\n_Preface_\n\n\nThe idea which I have developed in this pamphlet is a very old one: it\nis the restoration of the Jewish State.\n\nThe world resounds with outcries against the Jews, and these outcries\nhave awakened the slumbering idea.\n\nI wish it to be clearly understood from the outset that no portion of\nmy argument is based on a new discovery. I have discovered neither the\nhistoric condition of the Jews nor the means to improve it. In fact,\nevery man will see for himself that the materials of the structure I\nam designing are not only in existence, but actually already in hand.\nIf, therefore, this attempt to solve the Jewish Question is to be\ndesignated by a single word, let it be said to be the result of an\ninescapable conclusion rather than that of a flighty imagination.\n\nI must, in the first place, guard my scheme from being treated as\nUtopian by superficial critics who might commit this error of judgment\nif I did not warn them. I should obviously have done nothing to be\nashamed of if I had described a Utopia on philanthropic lines; and I\nshould also, in all probability, have obtained literary success more\neasily if I had set forth my plan in the irresponsible guise of a\nromantic tale. But this Utopia is far less attractive than any one of\nthose portrayed by Sir Thomas More and his numerous forerunners and\nsuccessors. And I believe that the situation of the Jews in many\ncountries is grave enough to make such preliminary trifling\nsuperfluous.\n\nAn interesting book, \"Freiland,\" by Dr. Theodor Hertzka, which\nappeared a few years ago, may serve to mark the distinction I draw\nbetween my conception and a Utopia. His is the ingenious invention of\na modern mind thoroughly schooled in the principles of political\neconomy, it is as remote from actuality as the Equatorial mountain on\nwhich his dream State lies. \"Freiland\" is a complicated piece of\nmechanism with numerous cogged wheels fitting into each other; but\nthere is nothing to prove that they can be set in motion. Even\nsupposing \"Freiland societies\" were to come into existence, I should\nlook on the whole thing as a joke.\n\nThe present scheme, on the other hand, includes the employment of an\nexistent propelling force. In consideration of my own inadequacy, I\nshall content myself with indicating the cogs and wheels of the\nmachine to be constructed, and I shall rely on more skilled\nmechanicians than myself to put them together.\n\nEverything depends on our propelling force. And what is that force?\nThe misery of the Jews.\n\nWho would venture to deny its existence? We shall discuss it fully in\nthe chapter on the causes of Anti-Semitism.\n\nEverybody is familiar with the phenomenon of steam-power, generated by\nboiling water, which lifts the kettle-lid. Such tea-kettle phenomena\nare the attempts of Zionist and kindred associations to check\nAnti-Semitism.\n\nI believe that this power, if rightly employed, is powerful enough to\npropel a large engine and to move passengers and goods: the engine\nhaving whatever form men may choose to give it.\n\nI am absolutely convinced that I am right, though I doubt whether I\nshall live to see myself proved to be so. Those who are the first to\ninaugurate this movement will scarcely live to see its glorious close.\nBut the inauguration of it is enough to give them a feeling of pride\nand the joy of spiritual freedom.\n\nI shall not be lavish in artistically elaborated descriptions of my\nproject, for fear of incurring the suspicion of painting a Utopia. I\nanticipate, in any case, that thoughtless scoffers will caricature my\nsketch and thus try to weaken its effect. A Jew, intelligent in other\nrespects, to whom I explained my plan, was of the opinion that \"a\nUtopia was a project whose future details were represented as already\nextant.\" This is a fallacy. Every Chancellor of the Exchequer\ncalculates in his Budget estimates with assumed figures, and not only\nwith such as are based on the average returns of past years, or on\nprevious revenues in other States, but sometimes with figures for\nwhich there is no precedent whatever; as for example, in instituting a\nnew tax. Everybody who studies a Budget knows that this is the case.\nBut even if it were known that the estimates would not be rigidly\nadhered to, would such a financial draft be considered Utopian?\n\nBut I am expecting more of my readers. I ask the cultivated men whom I\nam addressing to set many preconceived ideas entirely aside. I shall\neven go so far as to ask those Jews who have most earnestly tried to\nsolve the Jewish Question to look upon their previous attempts as\nmistaken and futile.\n\nI must guard against a danger in setting forth my idea. If I describe\nfuture circumstances with too much caution I shall appear to doubt\ntheir possibility. If, on the other hand, I announce their realization\nwith too much assurance I shall appear to be describing a chimera.\n\nI shall therefore clearly and emphatically state that I believe in the\npractical outcome of my scheme, though without professing to have\ndiscovered the shape it may ultimately take. The Jewish State is\nessential to the world; it will therefore be created.\n\nThe plan would, of course, seem absurd if a single individual\nattempted to do it; but if worked by a number of Jews in co-operation\nit would appear perfectly rational, and its accomplishment would\npresent no difficulties worth mentioning. The idea depends only on the\nnumber of its supporters. Perhaps our ambitious young men, to whom\nevery road of progress is now closed, seeing in this Jewish State a\nbright prospect of freedom, happiness and honors opening to them, will\nensure the propagation of the idea.\n\nI feel that with the publication of this pamphlet my task is done. I\nshall not again take up the pen, unless the attacks of noteworthy\nantagonists drive me to do so, or it becomes necessary to meet\nunforeseen objections and to remove errors.\n\nAm I stating what is not yet the case? Am I before my time? Are the\nsufferings of the Jews not yet grave enough? We shall see.\n\nIt depends on the Jews themselves whether this political pamphlet\nremains for the present a political romance. If the present generation\nis too dull to understand it rightly, a future, finer and a better\ngeneration will arise to understand it. The Jews who wish for a State\nshall have it, and they will deserve to have it.\n\n\n\n\n_Chapter I. Introduction_\n\n\nIt is astonishing how little insight into the science of economics\nmany of the men who move in the midst of active life possess. Hence it\nis that even Jews faithfully repeat the cry of the Anti-Semites: \"We\ndepend for sustenance on the nations who are our hosts, and if we had\nno hosts to support us we should die of starvation.\" This is a point\nthat shows how unjust accusations may weaken our self-knowledge. But\nwhat are the true grounds for this statement concerning the nations\nthat act as \"hosts\"? Where it is not based on limited physiocratic\nviews it is founded on the childish error that commodities pass from\nhand to hand in continuous rotation. We need not wake from long\nslumber, like Rip van Winkle, to realize that the world is\nconsiderably altered by the production of new commodities. The\ntechnical progress made during this wonderful era enables even a man\nof most limited intelligence to note with his short-sighted eyes the\nappearance of new commodities all around him. The spirit of enterprise\nhas created them.\n\nLabor without enterprise is the stationary labor of ancient days; and\ntypical of it is the work of the husbandman, who stands now just where\nhis progenitors stood a thousand years ago. All our material welfare\nhas been brought about by men of enterprise. I feel almost ashamed of\nwriting down so trite a remark. Even if we were a nation of\nentrepreneurs--such as absurdly exaggerated accounts make us out to\nbe--we should not require another nation to live on. We do not depend\non the circulation of old commodities, because we produce new ones.\n\nThe world possesses slaves of extraordinary capacity for work, whose\nappearance has been fatal to the production of handmade goods: these\nslaves are the machines. It is true that workmen are required to set\nmachinery in motion; but for this we have men in plenty, in\nsuper-abundance. Only those who are ignorant of the conditions of Jews\nin many countries of Eastern Europe would venture to assert that Jews\nare either unfit or unwilling to perform manual labor.\n\nBut I do not wish to take up the cudgels for the Jews in this\npamphlet. It would be useless. Everything rational and everything\nsentimental that can possibly be said in their defence has been said\nalready. If one's hearers are incapable of comprehending them, one is\na preacher in a desert. And if one's hearers are broad and high-minded\nenough to have grasped them already, then the sermon is superfluous. I\nbelieve in the ascent of man to higher and yet higher grades of\ncivilization; but I consider this ascent to be desperately slow. Were\nwe to wait till average humanity had become as charitably inclined as\nwas Lessing when he wrote \"Nathan the Wise,\" we should wait beyond our\nday, beyond the days of our children, of our grandchildren, and of our\ngreat-grandchildren. But the world's spirit comes to our aid in\nanother way.\n\nThis century has given the world a wonderful renaissance by means of\nits technical achievements; but at the same time its miraculous\nimprovements have not been employed in the service of humanity.\nDistance has ceased to be an obstacle, yet we complain of insufficient\nspace. Our great steamships carry us swiftly and surely over hitherto\nunvisited seas. Our railways carry us safely into a mountain-world\nhitherto tremblingly scaled on foot. Events occurring in countries\nundiscovered when Europe confined the Jews in Ghettos are known to us\nin the course of an hour. Hence the misery of the Jews is an\nanachronism--not because there was a period of enlightenment one\nhundred years ago, for that enlightenment reached in reality only the\nchoicest spirits.\n\nI believe that electric light was not invented for the purpose of\nilluminating the drawing-rooms of a few snobs, but rather for the\npurpose of throwing light on some of the dark problems of humanity.\nOne of these problems, and not the least of them, is the Jewish\nquestion. In solving it we are working not only for ourselves, but\nalso for many other over-burdened and oppressed beings.\n\nThe Jewish question still exists. It would be foolish to deny it. It\nis a remnant of the Middle Ages, which civilized nations do not even\nyet seem able to shake off, try as they will. They certainly showed a\ngenerous desire to do so when they emancipated us. The Jewish question\nexists wherever Jews live in perceptible numbers. Where it does not\nexist, it is carried by Jews in the course of their migrations. We\nnaturally move to those places where we are not persecuted, and there\nour presence produces persecution. This is the case in every country,\nand will remain so, even in those highly civilized--for instance,\nFrance--until the Jewish question finds a solution on a political\nbasis. The unfortunate Jews are now carrying the seeds of\nAnti-Semitism into England; they have already introduced it into\nAmerica.\n\nI believe that I understand Anti-Semitism, which is really a highly\ncomplex movement. I consider it from a Jewish standpoint, yet without\nfear or hatred. I believe that I can see what elements there are in it\nof vulgar sport, of common trade jealousy, of inherited prejudice, of\nreligious intolerance, and also of pretended self-defence. I think the\nJewish question is no more a social than a religious one,\nnotwithstanding that it sometimes takes these and other forms. It is a\nnational question, which can only be solved by making it a political\nworld-question to be discussed and settled by the civilized nations of\nthe world in council.\n\nWe are a people--one people.\n\nWe have honestly endeavored everywhere to merge ourselves in the\nsocial life of surrounding communities and to preserve the faith of\nour fathers. We are not permitted to do so. In vain are we loyal\npatriots, our loyalty in some places running to extremes; in vain do\nwe make the same sacrifices of life and property as our\nfellow-citizens; in vain do we strive to increase the fame of our\nnative land in science and art, or her wealth by trade and commerce.\nIn countries where we have lived for centuries we are still cried down\nas strangers, and often by those whose ancestors were not yet\ndomiciled in the land where Jews had already had experience of\nsuffering. The majority may decide which are the strangers; for this,\nas indeed every point which arises in the relations between nations,\nis a question of might. I do not here surrender any portion of our\nprescriptive right, when I make this statement merely in my own name\nas an individual. In the world as it now is and for an indefinite\nperiod will probably remain, might precedes right. It is useless,\ntherefore, for us to be loyal patriots, as were the Huguenots who were\nforced to emigrate. If we could only be left in peace....\n\nBut I think we shall not be left in peace.\n\nOppression and persecution cannot exterminate us. No nation on earth\nhas survived such struggles and sufferings as we have gone through.\nJew-baiting has merely stripped off our weaklings; the strong among us\nwere invariably true to their race when persecution broke out against\nthem. This attitude was most clearly apparent in the period\nimmediately following the emancipation of the Jews. Those Jews who\nwere advanced intellectually and materially entirely lost the feeling\nof belonging to their race. Wherever our political well-being has\nlasted for any length of time, we have assimilated with our\nsurroundings. I think this is not discreditable. Hence, the statesman\nwho would wish to see a Jewish strain in his nation would have to\nprovide for the duration of our political well-being; and even a\nBismarck could not do that.\n\nFor old prejudices against us still lie deep in the hearts of the\npeople. He who would have proofs of this need only listen to the\npeople where they speak with frankness and simplicity: proverb and\nfairy-tale are both Anti-Semitic. A nation is everywhere a great\nchild, which can certainly be educated; but its education would, even\nin most favorable circumstances, occupy such a vast amount of time\nthat we could, as already mentioned, remove our own difficulties by\nother means long before the process was accomplished.\n\nAssimilation, by which I understood not only external conformity in\ndress, habits, customs, and language, but also identity of feeling and\nmanner--assimilation of Jews could be effected only by intermarriage.\nBut the need for mixed marriages would have to be felt by the\nmajority; their mere recognition by law would certainly not suffice.\n\nThe Hungarian Liberals, who have just given legal sanction to mixed\nmarriages, have made a remarkable mistake which one of the earliest\ncases clearly illustrates; a baptized Jew married a Jewess. At the\nsame time the struggle to obtain the present form of marriage\naccentuated distinctions between Jews and Christians, thus hindering\nrather than aiding the fusion of races.\n\nThose who really wished to see the Jews disappear through intermixture\nwith other nations, can only hope to see it come about in one way. The\nJews must previously acquire economic power sufficiently great to\novercome the old social prejudice against them. The aristocracy may\nserve as an example of this, for in its ranks occur the\nproportionately largest numbers of mixed marriages. The Jewish\nfamilies which regild the old nobility with their money become\ngradually absorbed. But what form would this phenomenon assume in the\nmiddle classes, where (the Jews being a bourgeois people) the Jewish\nquestion is mainly concentrated? A previous acquisition of power could\nbe synonymous with that economic supremacy which Jews are already\nerroneously declared to possess. And if the power they now possess\ncreates rage and indignation among the Anti-Semites, what outbreaks\nwould such an increase of power create? Hence the first step towards\nabsorption will never be taken, because this step would involve the\nsubjection of the majority to a hitherto scorned minority, possessing\nneither military nor administrative power of its own. I think,\ntherefore, that the absorption of Jews by means of their prosperity is\nunlikely to occur. In countries which now are Anti-Semitic my view\nwill be approved. In others, where Jews now feel comfortable, it will\nprobably be violently disputed by them. My happier co-religionists\nwill not believe me till Jew-baiting teaches them the truth; for the\nlonger Anti-Semitism lies in abeyance the more fiercely will it break\nout. The infiltration of immigrating Jews, attracted to a land by\napparent security, and the ascent in the social scale of native Jews,\ncombine powerfully to bring about a revolution. Nothing is plainer\nthan this rational conclusion.\n\nBecause I have drawn this conclusion with complete indifference to\neverything but the quest of truth, I shall probably be contradicted\nand opposed by Jews who are in easy circumstances. Insofar as private\ninterests alone are held by their anxious or timid possessors to be in\ndanger, they can safely be ignored, for the concerns of the poor and\noppressed are of greater importance than theirs. But I wish from the\noutset to prevent any misconception from arising, particularly the\nmistaken notion that my project, if realized, would in the least\ndegree injure property now held by Jews. I shall therefore explain\neverything connected with rights of property very fully. Whereas, if\nmy plan never becomes anything more than a piece of literature, things\nwill merely remain as they are. It might more reasonably be objected\nthat I am giving a handle to Anti-Semitism when I say we are a\npeople--one people; that I am hindering the assimilation of Jews where\nit is about to be consummated, and endangering it where it is an\naccomplished fact, insofar as it is possible for a solitary writer to\nhinder or endanger anything.\n\nThis objection will be especially brought forward in France. It will\nprobably also be made in other countries, but I shall answer only the\nFrench Jews beforehand, because these afford the most striking example\nof my point.\n\nHowever much I may worship personality--powerful individual\npersonality in statesmen, inventors, artists, philosophers, or\nleaders, as well as the collective personality of a historic group of\nhuman beings, which we call a nation--however much I may worship\npersonality, I do not regret its disappearance. Whoever can, will, and\nmust perish, let him perish. But the distinctive nationality of Jews\nneither can, will, nor must be destroyed. It cannot be destroyed,\nbecause external enemies consolidate it. It will not be destroyed;\nthis is shown during two thousand years of appalling suffering. It\nmust not be destroyed, and that, as a descendant of numberless Jews\nwho refused to despair, I am trying once more to prove in this\npamphlet. Whole branches of Judaism may wither and fall, but the trunk\nwill remain.\n\nHence, if all or any of the French Jews protest against this scheme on\naccount of their own \"assimilation,\" my answer is simple: The whole\nthing does not concern them at all. They are Jewish Frenchmen, well\nand good! This is a private affair for the Jews alone.\n\nThe movement towards the organization of the State I am proposing\nwould, of course, harm Jewish Frenchmen no more than it would harm the\n\"assimilated\" of other countries. It would, on the contrary, be\ndistinctly to their advantage. For they would no longer be disturbed\nin their \"chromatic function,\" as Darwin puts it, but would be able to\nassimilate in peace, because the present Anti-Semitism would have been\nstopped for ever. They would certainly be credited with being\nassimilated to the very depths of their souls, if they stayed where\nthey were after the new Jewish State, with its superior institutions,\nhad become a reality.\n\nThe \"assimilated\" would profit even more than Christian citizens by\nthe departure of faithful Jews; for they would be rid of the\ndisquieting, incalculable, and unavoidable rivalry of a Jewish\nproletariat, driven by poverty and political pressure from place to\nplace, from land to land. This floating proletariat would become\nstationary. Many Christian citizens--whom we call Anti-Semites--can\nnow offer determined resistance to the immigration of foreign Jews.\nJewish citizens cannot do this, although it affects them far more\ndirectly; for on them they feel first of all the keen competition of\nindividuals carrying on similar branches of industry, who, in\naddition, either introduce Anti-Semitism where it does not exist, or\nintensify it where it does. The \"assimilated\" give expression to this\nsecret grievance in \"philanthropic\" undertakings. They organize\nemigration societies for wandering Jews. There is a reverse to the\npicture which would be comic, if it did not deal with human beings.\nFor some of these charitable institutions are created not for, but\nagainst, persecuted Jews; they are created to despatch these poor\ncreatures just as fast and far as possible. And thus, many an apparent\nfriend of the Jews turns out, on careful inspection, to be nothing\nmore than an Anti-Semite of Jewish origin, disguised as a\nphilanthropist.\n\nBut the attempts at colonization made even by really benevolent men,\ninteresting attempts though they were, have so far been unsuccessful.\nI do not think that this or that man took up the matter merely as an\namusement, that they engaged in the emigration of poor Jews as one\nindulges in the racing of horses. The matter was too grave and tragic\nfor such treatment. These attempts were interesting, in that they\nrepresented on a small scale the practical fore-runners of the idea of\na Jewish State. They were even useful, for out of their mistakes may\nbe gathered experience for carrying the idea out successfully on a\nlarger scale. They have, of course, done harm also. The transportation\nof Anti-Semitism to new districts, which is the inevitable consequence\nof such artificial infiltration, seems to me to be the least of these\nevils. Far worse is the circumstance that unsatisfactory results tend\nto cast doubts on intelligent men. What is impractical or impossible\nto simple argument will remove this doubt from the minds of\nintelligent men. What is unpractical or impossible to accomplish on a\nsmall scale, need not necessarily be so on a larger one. A small\nenterprise may result in loss under the same conditions which would\nmake a large one pay. A rivulet cannot even be navigated by boats, the\nriver into which it flows carries stately iron vessels.\n\nNo human being is wealthy or powerful enough to transplant a nation\nfrom one habitation to another. An idea alone can achieve that and\nthis idea of a State may have the requisite power to do so. The Jews\nhave dreamt this kingly dream all through the long nights of their\nhistory. \"Next year in Jerusalem\" is our old phrase. It is now a\nquestion of showing that the dream can be converted into a living\nreality.\n\nFor this, many old, outgrown, confused and limited notions must first\nbe entirely erased from the minds of men. Dull brains might, for\ninstance, imagine that this exodus would be from civilized regions\ninto the desert. That is not the case. It will be carried out in the\nmidst of civilization. We shall not revert to a lower stage, we shall\nrise to a higher one. We shall not dwell in mud huts; we shall build\nnew more beautiful and more modern houses, and possess them in safety.\nWe shall not lose our acquired possessions; we shall realize them. We\nshall surrender our well earned rights only for better ones. We shall\nnot sacrifice our beloved customs; we shall find them again. We shall\nnot leave our old home before the new one is prepared for us. Those\nonly will depart who are sure thereby to improve their position; those\nwho are now desperate will go first, after them the poor; next the\nprosperous, and, last of all, the wealthy. Those who go in advance\nwill raise themselves to a higher grade, equal to those whose\nrepresentatives will shortly follow. Thus the exodus will be at the\nsame time an ascent of the class.\n\nThe departure of the Jews will involve no economic disturbances, no\ncrises, no persecutions; in fact, the countries they abandon will\nrevive to a new period of prosperity. There will be an inner migration\nof Christian citizens into the positions evacuated by Jews. The\noutgoing current will be gradual, without any disturbance, and its\ninitial movement will put an end to Anti-Semitism. The Jews will leave\nas honored friends, and if some of them return, they will receive the\nsame favorable welcome and treatment at the hands of civilized nations\nas is accorded to all foreign visitors. Their exodus will have no\nresemblance to a flight, for it will be a well-regulated movement\nunder control of public opinion. The movement will not only be\ninaugurated with absolute conformity to law, but it cannot even be\ncarried out without the friendly cooperation of interested\nGovernments, who would derive considerable benefits from it.\n\nSecurity for the integrity of the idea and the vigor of its execution\nwill be found in the creation of a body corporate, or corporation.\nThis corporation will be called \"The Society of Jews.\" In addition to\nit there will be a Jewish company, an economically productive body.\n\nAn individual who attempted even to undertake this huge task alone\nwould be either an impostor or a madman. The personal character of the\nmembers of the corporation will guarantee its integrity, and the\nadequate capital of the Company will prove its stability.\n\nThese prefatory remarks are merely intended as a hasty reply to the\nmass of objections which the very words \"Jewish State\" are certain to\narouse. Henceforth we shall proceed more slowly to meet further\nobjections and to explain in detail what has been as yet only\nindicated; and we shall try in the interests of this pamphlet to\navoid making it a dull exposition. Short aphoristic chapters will\ntherefore best answer the purpose.\n\nIf I wish to substitute a new building for an old one, I must demolish\nbefore I construct. I shall therefore keep to this natural sequence.\nIn the first and general part I shall explain my ideas, remove all\nprejudices, determine essential political and economic conditions, and\ndevelop the plan.\n\nIn the special part, which is divided into three principal sections, I\nshall describe its execution. These three sections are: The Jewish\nCompany, Local Groups, and the Society of Jews. The Society is to be\ncreated first, the Company last; but in this exposition the reverse\norder is preferable, because it is the financial soundness of the\nenterprise which will chiefly be called into question, and doubts on\nthis score must be removed first.\n\nIn the conclusion, I shall try to meet every further objection that\ncould possibly be made. My Jewish readers will, I hope, follow me\npatiently to the end. Some will naturally make their objections in an\norder of succession other than that chosen for their refutation. But\nwhoever finds his doubts dispelled should give allegiance to the\ncause.\n\nAlthough I speak of reason, I am fully aware that reason alone will\nnot suffice. Old prisoners do not willingly leave their cells. We\nshall see whether the youth whom we need are at our command--the\nyouth, who irresistibly draw on the old, carry them forward on strong\narms, and transform rational motives into enthusiasm.\n\n\n\n\n_II. The Jewish Question_\n\n\nNo one can deny the gravity of the situation of the Jews. Wherever\nthey live in perceptible numbers, they are more or less persecuted.\nTheir equality before the law, granted by statute, has become\npractically a dead letter. They are debarred from filling even\nmoderately high positions, either in the army, or in any public or\nprivate capacity. And attempts are made to thrust them out of business\nalso: \"Don't buy from Jews!\"\n\nAttacks in Parliaments, in assemblies, in the press, in the pulpit, in\nthe street, on journeys--for example, their exclusion from certain\nhotels--even in places of recreation, become daily more numerous. The\nforms of persecutions varying according to the countries and social\ncircles in which they occur. In Russia, imposts are levied on Jewish\nvillages; in Rumania, a few persons are put to death; in Germany, they\nget a good beating occasionally; in Austria, Anti-Semites exercise\nterrorism over all public life; in Algeria, there are travelling\nagitators; in Paris, the Jews are shut out of the so-called best\nsocial circles and excluded from clubs. Shades of anti-Jewish feeling\nare innumerable. But this is not to be an attempt to make out a\ndoleful category of Jewish hardships.\n\nI do not intend to arouse sympathetic emotions on our behalf. That\nwould be foolish, futile, and undignified proceeding. I shall content\nmyself with putting the following questions to the Jews: Is it not\ntrue that, in countries where we live in perceptible numbers, the\nposition of Jewish lawyers, doctors, technicians, teachers, and\nemployees of all descriptions becomes daily more intolerable? Is it\nnot true, that the Jewish middle classes are seriously threatened? Is\nit not true, that the passions of the mob are incited against our\nwealthy people? Is it not true, that our poor endure greater\nsufferings than any other proletariat? I think that this external\npressure makes itself felt everywhere. In our economically upper\nclasses it causes discomfort, in our middle classes continual and\ngrave anxieties, in our lower classes absolute despair.\n\nEverything tends, in fact, to one and the same conclusion, which is\nclearly enunciated in that classic Berlin phrase: \"_Juden Raus!_\" (Out\nwith the Jews!)\n\nI shall now put the Question in the briefest possible form: Are we to\n\"get out\" now and where to?\n\nOr, may we yet remain? And, how long?\n\nLet us first settle the point of staying where we are. Can we hope for\nbetter days, can we possess our souls in patience, can we wait in\npious resignation till the princes and peoples of this earth are more\nmercifully disposed towards us? I say that we cannot hope for a change\nin the current of feeling. And why not? Even if we were as near to the\nhearts of princes as are their other subjects, they could not protect\nus. They would only feel popular hatred by showing us too much favor.\nBy \"too much,\" I really mean less than is claimed as a right by every\nordinary citizen, or by every race. The nations in whose midst Jews\nlive are all either covertly or openly Anti-Semitic.\n\nThe common people have not, and indeed cannot have, any historic\ncomprehension. They do not know that the sins of the Middle Ages are\nnow being visited on the nations of Europe. We are what the Ghetto\nmade us. We have attained pre-eminence in finance, because mediaeval\nconditions drove us to it. The same process is now being repeated. We\nare again being forced into finance, now it is the stock exchange, by\nbeing kept out of other branches of economic activity. Being on the\nstock exchange, we are consequently exposed afresh to contempt. At the\nsame time we continue to produce an abundance of mediocre intellects\nwho find no outlet, and this endangers our social position as much as\ndoes our increasing wealth. Educated Jews without means are now\nrapidly becoming Socialists. Hence we are certain to suffer very\nseverely in the struggle between classes, because we stand in the most\nexposed position in the camps of both Socialists and capitalists.\n\n\nPREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT A SOLUTION\n\nThe artificial means heretofore employed to overcome the troubles of\nJews have been either too petty--such as attempts at colonization--or\nattempts to convert the Jews into peasants in their present homes.\n\nWhat is achieved by transporting a few thousand Jews to another\ncountry? Either they come to grief at once, or prosper, and then their\nprosperity creates Anti-Semitism. We have already discussed these\nattempts to divert poor Jews to fresh districts. This diversion is\nclearly inadequate and futile, if it does not actually defeat its own\nends; for it merely protracts and postpones a solution, and perhaps\neven aggravates difficulties.\n\nWhoever would attempt to convert the Jew into a husbandman would be\nmaking an extraordinary mistake. For a peasant is in a historical\ncategory, as proved by his costume which in some countries he has worn\nfor centuries; and by his tools, which are identical with those used\nby his earliest forefathers. His plough is unchanged; he carries the\nseed in his apron; mows with the historical scythe, and threshes with\nthe time-honored flail. But we know that all this can be done by\nmachinery. The agrarian question is only a question of machinery.\nAmerica must conquer Europe, in the same way as large landed\npossessions absorb small ones. The peasant is consequently a type\nwhich is in course of extinction. Whenever he is artificially\npreserved, it is done on account of the political interests which he\nis intended to serve. It is absurd, and indeed impossible, to make\nmodern peasants on the old pattern. No one is wealthy or powerful\nenough to make civilization take a single retrograde step. The mere\npreservation of obsolete institutions is a task severe enough to\nrequire the enforcement of all the despotic measures of an\nautocratically governed State.\n\nAre we, therefore, to credit Jews who are intelligent with a desire to\nbecome peasants of the old type? One might just as well say to them:\n\"Here is a cross-bow: now go to war!\" What? With a cross-bow, while\nthe others have rifles and long range guns? Under these circumstances\nthe Jews are perfectly justified in refusing to stir when people try\nto make peasants of them. A cross-bow is a beautiful weapon, which\ninspires me with mournful feelings when I have time to devote to them.\nBut it belongs by rights to a museum.\n\nNow, there certainly are districts to which desperate Jews go out, or\nat any rate, are willing to go out and till the soil. And a little\nobservation shows that these districts--such as the enclave of Hesse\nin Germany, and some provinces in Russia--these very districts are the\nprincipal seats of Anti-Semitism.\n\nFor the world's reformers, who send the Jews to the plough, forget a\nvery important person, who has a great deal to say on the matter. This\nperson is the agriculturist, and the agriculturist is also perfectly\njustified. For the tax on land, the risks attached to crops, the\npressure of large proprietors who cheapen labor, and American\ncompetition in particular, combine to make his life hard enough.\nBesides, the duties on corn cannot go on increasing indefinitely. Nor\ncan the manufacturer be allowed to starve; his political influence is,\nin fact, in the ascendant, and he must therefore be treated with\nadditional consideration.\n\nAll these difficulties are well known, therefore I refer to them only\ncursorily. I merely wanted to indicate clearly how futile had been\npast attempts--most of them well intentioned--to solve the Jewish\nQuestion. Neither a diversion of the stream, nor an artificial\ndepression of the intellectual level of our proletariat, will overcome\nthe difficulty. The supposed infallible expedient of assimilation has\nalready been dealt with.\n\nWe cannot get the better of Anti-Semitism by any of these methods. It\ncannot die out so long as its causes are not removed. Are they\nremovable?\n\n\nCAUSES OF ANTI-SEMITISM\n\nWe shall not again touch on those causes which are a result of\ntemperament, prejudice and narrow views, but shall here restrict\nourselves to political and economical causes alone. Modern\nAnti-Semitism is not to be confounded with the religious persecution\nof the Jews of former times. It does occasionally take a religious\nbias in some countries, but the main current of the aggressive\nmovement has now changed. In the principal countries where\nAnti-Semitism prevails, it does so as a result of the emancipation of\nthe Jews. When civilized nations awoke to the inhumanity of\ndiscriminatory legislation and enfranchised us, our enfranchisement\ncame too late. It was no longer possible to remove our disabilities in\nour old homes. For we had, curiously enough, developed while in the\nGhetto into a bourgeois people, and we stepped out of it only to enter\ninto fierce competition with the middle classes. Hence, our\nemancipation set us suddenly within this middle-class circle, where we\nhave a double pressure to sustain, from within and from without. The\nChristian bourgeoisie would not be unwilling to cast us as a sacrifice\nto Socialism, though that would not greatly improve matters.\n\nAt the same time, the equal rights of Jews before the law cannot be\nwithdrawn where they have once been conceded. Not only because their\nwithdrawal would be opposed to the spirit of our age, but also because\nit would immediately drive all Jews, rich and poor alike, into the\nranks of subversive parties. Nothing effectual can really be done to\nour injury. In olden days our jewels were seized. How is our movable\nproperty to be got hold of now? It consists of printed papers which\nare locked up somewhere or other in the world, perhaps in the coffers\nof Christians. It is, of course, possible to get at shares and\ndebentures in railways, banks and industrial undertakings of all\ndescriptions by taxation, and where the progressive income-tax is in\nforce all our movable property can eventually be laid hold of. But all\nthese efforts cannot be directed against Jews alone, and wherever they\nmight nevertheless be made, severe economic crises would be their\nimmediate consequences, which would be by no means confined to the\nJews who would be the first affected. The very impossibility of\ngetting at the Jews nourishes and embitters hatred of them.\nAnti-Semitism increases day by day and hour by hour among the nations;\nindeed, it is bound to increase, because the causes of its growth\ncontinue to exist and cannot be removed. Its remote cause is our loss\nof the power of assimilation during the Middle Ages; its immediate\ncause is our excessive production of mediocre intellects, who cannot\nfind an outlet downwards or upwards--that is to say, no wholesome\noutlet in either direction. When we sink, we become a revolutionary\nproletariat, the subordinate officers of all revolutionary parties;\nand at the same time, when we rise, there rises also our terrible\npower of the purse.\n\n\nEFFECTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM\n\nThe oppression we endure does not improve us, for we are not a whit\nbetter than ordinary people. It is true that we do not love our\nenemies; but he alone who can conquer himself dare reproach us with\nthat fault. Oppression naturally creates hostility against oppressors,\nand our hostility aggravates the pressure. It is impossible to escape\nfrom this eternal circle.\n\n\"No!\" Some soft-hearted visionaries will say: \"No, it is possible!\nPossible by means of the ultimate perfection of humanity.\"\n\nIs it necessary to point to the sentimental folly of this view? He who\nwould found his hope for improved conditions on the ultimate\nperfection of humanity would indeed be relying upon a Utopia!\n\nI referred previously to our \"assimilation\". I do not for a moment\nwish to imply that I desire such an end. Our national character is too\nhistorically famous, and, in spite of every degradation, too fine to\nmake its annihilation desirable. We might perhaps be able to merge\nourselves entirely into surrounding races, if these were to leave us\nin peace for a period of two generations. But they will not leave us\nin peace. For a little period they manage to tolerate us, and then\ntheir hostility breaks out again and again. The world is provoked\nsomehow by our prosperity, because it has for many centuries been\naccustomed to consider us as the most contemptible among the\npoverty-stricken. In its ignorance and narrowness of heart, it fails\nto observe that prosperity weakens our Judaism and extinguishes our\npeculiarities. It is only pressure that forces us back to the parent\nstem; it is only hatred encompassing us that makes us strangers once\nmore.\n\nThus, whether we like it or not, we are now, and shall henceforth\nremain, a historic group with unmistakable characteristics common to\nus all.\n\nWe are one people--our enemies have made us one without our consent,\nas repeatedly happens in history. Distress binds us together, and,\nthus united, we suddenly discover our strength. Yes, we are strong\nenough to form a State, and, indeed, a model State. We possess all\nhuman and material resources necessary for the purpose.\n\nThis is therefore the appropriate place to give an account of what has\nbeen somewhat roughly termed our \"human material.\" But it would not be\nappreciated till the broad lines of the plan, on which everything\ndepends, has first been marked out.\n\n\nTHE PLAN\n\nThe whole plan is in its essence perfectly simple, as it must\nnecessarily be if it is to come within the comprehension of all.\n\nLet the sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the globe large\nenough to satisfy the rightful requirements of a nation; the rest we\nshall manage for ourselves.\n\nThe creation of a new State is neither ridiculous nor impossible. We\nhave in our day witnessed the process in connection with nations which\nwere not largely members of the middle class, but poorer, less\neducated, and consequently weaker than ourselves. The Governments of\nall countries scourged by Anti-Semitism will be keenly interested in\nassisting us to obtain the sovereignty we want.\n\nThe plan, simple in design, but complicated in execution, will be\ncarried out by two agencies: The Society of Jews and the Jewish\nCompany.\n\nThe Society of Jews will do the preparatory work in the domains of\nscience and politics, which the Jewish Company will afterwards apply\npractically.\n\nThe Jewish Company will be the liquidating agent of the business\ninterests of departing Jews, and will organize commerce and trade in\nthe new country.\n\nWe must not imagine the departure of the Jews to be a sudden one. It\nwill be gradual, continuous, and will cover many decades. The poorest\nwill go first to cultivate the soil. In accordance with a preconceived\nplan, they will construct roads, bridges, railways and telegraph\ninstallations; regulate rivers; and build their own dwellings; their\nlabor will create trade, trade will create markets and markets will\nattract new settlers, for every man will go voluntarily, at his own\nexpense and his own risk. The labor expended on the land will enhance\nits value, and the Jews will soon perceive that a new and permanent\nsphere of operation is opening here for that spirit of enterprise\nwhich has heretofore met only with hatred and obloquy.\n\nIf we wish to found a State today, we shall not do it in the way which\nwould have been the only possible one a thousand years ago. It is\nfoolish to revert to old stages of civilization, as many Zionists\nwould like to do. Supposing, for example, we were obliged to clear a\ncountry of wild beasts, we should not set about the task in the\nfashion of Europeans of the fifth century. We should not take spear\nand lance and go out singly in pursuit of bears; we would organize a\nlarge and active hunting party, drive the animals together, and throw\na melinite bomb into their midst.\n\nIf we wish to conduct building operations, we shall not plant a mass\nof stakes and piles on the shore of a lake, but we shall build as men\nbuild now. Indeed, we shall build in a bolder and more stately style\nthan was ever adopted before, for we now possess means which men never\nyet possessed.\n\nThe emigrants standing lowest in the economic scale will be slowly\nfollowed by those of a higher grade. Those who at this moment are\nliving in despair will go first. They will be led by the mediocre\nintellects which we produce so superabundantly and which are\npersecuted everywhere.\n\nThis pamphlet will open a general discussion on the Jewish Question,\nbut that does not mean that there will be any voting on it. Such a\nresult would ruin the cause from the outset, and dissidents must\nremember that allegiance or opposition is entirely voluntary. He who\nwill not come with us should remain behind.\n\nLet all who are willing to join us, fall in behind our banner and\nfight for our cause with voice and pen and deed.\n\nThose Jews who agree with our idea of a State will attach themselves\nto the Society, which will thereby be authorized to confer and treat\nwith Governments in the name of our people. The Society will thus be\nacknowledged in its relations with Governments as a State-creating\npower. This acknowledgment will practically create the State.\n\nShould the Powers declare themselves willing to admit our sovereignty\nover a neutral piece of land, then the Society will enter into\nnegotiations for the possession of this land. Here two territories\ncome under consideration, Palestine and Argentine. In both countries\nimportant experiments in colonization have been made, though on the\nmistaken principle of a gradual infiltration of Jews. An infiltration\nis bound to end badly. It continues till the inevitable moment when\nthe native population feels itself threatened, and forces the\nGovernment to stop a further influx of Jews. Immigration is\nconsequently futile unless we have the sovereign right to continue\nsuch immigration.\n\nThe Society of Jews will treat with the present masters of the land,\nputting itself under the protectorate of the European Powers, if they\nprove friendly to the plan. We could offer the present possessors of\nthe land enormous advantages, assume part of the public debt, build\nnew roads for traffic, which our presence in the country would render\nnecessary, and do many other things. The creation of our State would\nbe beneficial to adjacent countries, because the cultivation of a\nstrip of land increases the value of its surrounding districts in\ninnumerable ways.\n\n\nPALESTINE OR ARGENTINE?\n\nShall we choose Palestine or Argentine? We shall take what is given\nus, and what is selected by Jewish public opinion. The Society will\ndetermine both these points.\n\nArgentine is one of the most fertile countries in the world, extends\nover a vast area, has a sparse population and a mild climate. The\nArgentine Republic would derive considerable profit from the cession\nof a portion of its territory to us. The present infiltration of Jews\nhas certainly produced some discontent, and it would be necessary to\nenlighten the Republic on the intrinsic difference of our new\nmovement.\n\nPalestine is our ever-memorable historic home. The very name of\nPalestine would attract our people with a force of marvellous potency.\nIf His Majesty the Sultan were to give us Palestine, we could in\nreturn undertake to regulate the whole finances of Turkey. We should\nthere form a portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost\nof civilization as opposed to barbarism. We should as a neutral State\nremain in contact with all Europe, which would have to guarantee our\nexistence. The sanctuaries of Christendom would be safeguarded by\nassigning to them an extra-territorial status such as is well-known to\nthe law of nations. We should form a guard of honor about these\nsanctuaries, answering for the fulfilment of this duty with our\nexistence. This guard of honor would be the great symbol of the\nsolution of the Jewish Question after eighteen centuries of Jewish\nsuffering.\n\n\nDEMAND, MEDIUM, TRADE\n\nI said in the last chapter, \"The Jewish Company will organize trade\nand commerce in the new country.\" I shall here insert a few remarks on\nthat point.\n\nA scheme such as mine is gravely imperilled if it is opposed by\n\"practical\" people. Now \"practical\" people are as a rule nothing more\nthan men sunk into the groove of daily routine, unable to emerge from\na narrow circle of antiquated ideas. At the same time, their adverse\nopinion carries great weight, and can do considerable harm to a new\nproject, at any rate until this new thing is sufficiently strong to\nthrow the \"practical\" people and their mouldy notions to the winds.\n\nIn the earliest period of European railway construction some\n\"practical\" people were of the opinion that it was foolish to build\ncertain lines \"because there were not even sufficient passengers to\nfill the mail-coaches.\" They did not realize the truth--which now\nseems obvious to us--that travellers do not produce railways, but,\nconversely, railways produce travellers, the latent demand, of course,\nis taken for granted.\n\nThe impossibility of comprehending how trade and commerce are to be\ncreated in a new country which has yet to be acquired and cultivated,\nmay be classed with those doubts of \"practical\" persons concerning the\nneed of railways. A \"practical\" person would express himself somewhat\nin this fashion:\n\n\"Granted that the present situation of the Jews is in many places\nunendurable, and aggravated day by day; granted that there exists a\ndesire to emigrate; granted even that the Jews do emigrate to the new\ncountry; how will they earn their living there, and what will they\nearn? What are they to live on when there? The business of many people\ncannot be artificially organized in a day.\"\n\nTo this I should reply: We have not the slightest intention of\norganizing trade artificially, and we should certainly not attempt to\ndo it in a day. But, though the organization of it may be impossible,\nthe promotion of it is not. And how is commerce to be encouraged?\nThrough the medium of a demand. The demand recognized, the medium\ncreated, it will establish itself.\n\nIf there is a real earnest demand among Jews for an improvement of\ntheir status; if the medium to be created--the Jewish Company--is\nsufficiently powerful, then commerce will extend itself freely in the\nnew country.\n\n\n\n\n_III. The Jewish Company_\n\nOUTLINES\n\n\nThe Jewish Company is partly modelled on the lines of a great\nland-acquisition company. It might be called a Jewish Chartered\nCompany, though it cannot exercise sovereign power, and has other than\npurely colonial tasks.\n\nThe Jewish Company will be founded as a joint stock company subject to\nEnglish jurisdiction, framed according to English laws, and under the\nprotection of England. Its principal center will be London. I cannot\ntell yet how large the Company's capital should be; I shall leave that\ncalculation to our numerous financiers. But to avoid ambiguity, I\nshall put it at a thousand million marks (about L50,000,000 or\n$200,000,000); it may be either more or less than that sum. The form\nof subscription, which will be further elucidated, will determine what\nfraction of the whole amount must be paid in at once.\n\nThe Jewish Company is an organization with a transitional character.\nIt is strictly a business undertaking, and must be carefully\ndistinguished from the Society of Jews.\n\nThe Jewish Company will first of all convert into cash all vested\ninterests left by departing Jews. The method adopted will prevent the\noccurrences of crises, secure every man's property, and facilitate\nthat inner migration of Christian citizens which has already been\nindicated.\n\n\nNON-TRANSFERABLE GOODS\n\nThe non-transferable goods which come under consideration are\nbuildings, land, and local business connections. The Jewish Company\nwill at first take upon itself no more than the necessary negotiations\nfor effecting the sale of these goods. These Jewish sales will take\nplace freely and without any serious fall in prices. The Company's\nbranch establishments in various towns will become the central offices\nfor the sale of Jewish estates, and will charge only so much\ncommission on transactions as will ensure their financial stability.\n\nThe development of this movement may cause a considerable fall in the\nprices of landed property, and may eventually make it impossible to\nfind a market for it. At this juncture the Company will enter upon\nanother branch of its functions. It will take over the management of\nabandoned estates till such time as it can dispose of them to the\ngreatest advantage. It will collect house rents, let out land on\nlease, and install business managers--these, on account of the\nrequired supervision, being, if possible, tenants also. The Company\nwill endeavor everywhere to facilitate the acquisition of land by its\ntenants, who are Christians. It will, indeed, gradually replace its\nown officials in the European branches by Christian substitutes\n(lawyers, etc.); and these are not by any means to become servants of\nthe Jews; they are intended to be free agents to the Christian\npopulation, so that everything may be carried through in equity,\nfairness and justice, and without imperilling the internal welfare of\nthe people.\n\nAt the same time the Company will sell estates, or, rather, exchange\nthem. For a house it will offer a house in the new country; and for\nland, land in the new country; everything being, if possible,\ntransferred to the new soil in the same state as it was in the old.\nAnd this transfer will be a great and recognized source of profit to\nthe Company. \"Over there\" the houses offered in exchange will be\nnewer, more beautiful, and more comfortably fitted, and the landed\nestates of greater value than those abandoned; but they will cost the\nCompany comparatively little, because it will have bought the ground\nvery cheaply.\n\n\nPURCHASE OF LAND\n\nThe land which the Society of Jews will have secured by international\nlaw must, of course, be privately acquired.\n\nProvisions made by individuals for their own settlement do not come\nwithin the province of this general account. But the Company will\nrequire large areas for its own needs and ours, and these it must\nsecure by centralized purchase. It will negotiate principally for the\nacquisition of fiscal domains, with the great object of taking\npossession of this land \"over there\" without paying a price too high,\nin the same way as it sells here without accepting one too low. A\nforcing of prices is not to be considered, because the value of the\nland will be created by the Company through its organizing the\nsettlement in conjunction with the supervising Society of Jews. The\nlatter will see to it that the enterprise does not become a Panama,\nbut a Suez.\n\nThe Company will sell building sites at reasonable rates to its\nofficials, and will allow them to mortgage these for the building of\ntheir homes, deducting the amount due from their salaries, or putting\nit down to their account as increased emolument. This will, in\naddition to the honors they expect, will be additional pay for their\nservices.\n\nAll the immense profits of this speculation in land will go to the\nCompany, which is bound to receive this indefinite premium in return\nfor having borne the risk of the undertaking. When the undertaking\ninvolves any risk, the profits must be freely given to those who have\nborne it. But under no other circumstances will profits be permitted.\nFinancial morality consists in the correlation of risk and profit.\n\n\nBUILDINGS\n\nThe Company will thus barter houses and estates. It must be plain to\nany one who has observed the rise in the value of land through its\ncultivation that the Company will be bound to gain on its landed\nproperty. This can best be seen in the case of enclosed pieces of land\nin town and country. Areas not built over increase in value through\nsurrounding cultivation. The men who carried out the extension of\nParis made a successful speculation in land which was ingenious in its\nsimplicity; instead of erecting new buildings in the immediate\nvicinity of the last houses of the town, they bought up adjacent\npieces of land, and began to build on the outskirts of these. This\ninverse order of construction raised the value of building sites with\nextraordinary rapidity, and, after having completed the outer ring,\nthey built in the middle of the town on these highly valuable sites,\ninstead of continually erecting houses at the extremity.\n\nWill the Company do its own building, or employ independent\narchitects? It can, and will, do both. It has, as will be shown\nshortly, an immense reserve of working power, which will not be\nsweated by the Company, but, transported into brighter and happier\nconditions of life, will nevertheless not be expensive. Our geologists\nwill have looked to the provision of building materials when they\nselected the sites of the towns.\n\nWhat is to be the principle of construction?\n\n\nWORKMEN'S DWELLINGS\n\nThe workmen's dwellings (which include the dwellings of all\noperatives) will be erected at the Company's own risk and expense.\nThey will resemble neither those melancholy workmen's barracks of\nEuropean towns, not those miserable rows of shanties which surround\nfactories; they will certainly present a uniform appearance, because\nthe Company must build cheaply where it provides the building\nmaterials to a great extent; but the detached houses in little gardens\nwill be united into attractive groups in each locality. The natural\nconformation of the land will rouse the ingenuity of our young\narchitects, whose ideas have not yet been cramped by routine; and even\nif the people do not grasp the whole import of the plan, they will at\nany rate feel at ease in their loose clusters. The Temple will be\nvisible from long distances, for it is only our ancient faith that has\nkept us together. There will be light, attractive, healthy schools for\nchildren, conducted on the most approved modern systems. There will be\ncontinuation-schools for workmen, which will educate them in greater\ntechnical knowledge and enable them to become intimate with the\nworking of machinery. There will be places of amusement for the proper\nconduct of which the Society of Jews will be responsible.\n\nWe are, however, speaking merely of the buildings at present, and not\nof what may take place inside of them.\n\nI said that the Company would build workmen's dwellings cheaply. And\ncheaply, not only because of the proximity of abundant building\nmaterials, not only because of the Company's proprietorship of the\nsites, but also because of the non-payment of workmen.\n\nAmerican farmers work on the system of mutual assistance in the\nconstruction of houses. This childishly amicable system, which is as\nclumsy as the block-houses erected, can be developed on much finer\nlines.\n\n\nUNSKILLED LABORERS\n\nOur unskilled laborers, who will come at first from the great\nreservoirs of Russia and Rumania, must, of course, render each other\nassistance, in the construction of houses. They will be obliged to\nbuild with wood in the beginning, because iron will not be immediately\navailable. Later on the original, inadequate, makeshift buildings will\nbe replaced by superior dwellings.\n\nOur unskilled laborers will first mutually erect these shelters; and\nthen they will earn their houses as permanent possessions by means of\ntheir work--not immediately, but after three years of good conduct. In\nthis way we shall secure energetic and able men, and these men will be\npractically trained for life by three years of labor under good\ndiscipline.\n\nI said before that the Company would not have to pay these unskilled\nlaborers. What will they live on?\n\nOn the whole, I am opposed to the Truck system,[A] but it will have to\nbe applied in the case of these first settlers. The Company provides\nfor them in so many ways, that it may take charge of their\nmaintenance. In any case the Truck system will be enforced only during\nthe first few years, and it will benefit the workmen by preventing\ntheir being exploited by small traders, landlords, etc. The Company\nwill thus make it impossible from the outset for those of our people,\nwho are perforce hawkers and peddlers here, to reestablish themselves\nin the same trades over there. And the Company will also keep back\ndrunkards and dissolute men. Then will there be no payment of wages at\nall during the first period of settlement. Certainly, there will be\nwages for overtime.\n\n\nTHE SEVEN-HOUR DAY\n\nThe seven-hour day is the regular working day.\n\nThis does not imply that wood-cutting, digging, stone-breaking, and a\nhundred other daily tasks should only be performed during seven hours.\nIndeed not. There will be fourteen hours of labor, work being done in\nshifts of three and a half hours. The organization of all this will be\nmilitary in character; there will be commands, promotions and\npensions, the means by which these pensions are provided being\nexplained further on.\n\nA sound man can do a great deal of concentrated work in three and a\nhalf hours. After an interval of the same length of time--which he\nwill devote to rest, to his family, and to his education under\nguidance--he will be quite fresh for work again. Such labor can do\nwonders.\n\nThe seven-hour day thus implies fourteen hours of joint labor--more\nthan that cannot be put into a day.\n\nI am convinced that it is quite possible to introduce this seven-hour\nday with success. The attempts to do so in Belgium and England are\nwell known. Some advanced political economists who have studied the\nsubject, declare that a five-hour day would suffice. The Society of\nJews and the Jewish Company will, in any case, make new and extensive\nexperiments which will benefit the other nations of the world; and if\nthe seven-hour day proves itself practicable, it will be introduced in\nour future State as the legal and regular working day.\n\nMeantime, the Company will always allow its employees the seven-hour\nday; and it will always be in a position to do so.\n\nThe seven-hour day will be the call to summon our people in every part\nof the world. All must come voluntarily, for ours must indeed be the\nPromised Land....\n\nWhoever works longer than seven hours receives his additional pay for\novertime in cash. Seeing that all his needs are supplied, and that\nthose members of his family who are unable to work are provided for by\ntransplanted and centralized philanthropic institutions, he can save a\nlittle money. Thrift, which is already a characteristic of our people,\nshould be greatly encouraged, because it will, in the first place,\nfacilitate the rise of individuals to higher grades; and secondly, the\nmoney saved will provide an immense reserve fund for future loans.\nOvertime will only be permitted on a doctor's certificate, and must\nnot exceed three hours. For our men will crowd to work in the new\ncountry, and the world will see then what an industrious people we\nare.\n\nI shall not describe the mode of carrying out the Truck system, nor,\nin fact, the innumerable details of any process, for fear of confusing\nmy readers. Women will not be allowed to perform any arduous labor,\nnor to work overtime.\n\nPregnant women will be relieved of all work, and will be supplied with\nnourishing food by the Truck. We want our future generations to be\nstrong men and women.\n\nWe shall educate children as we wish from the commencement; but this I\nshall not elaborate either.\n\nMy remarks on workmen's dwellings, and on unskilled laborers and their\nmode of life, are no more Utopian than the rest of my scheme.\nEverything I have spoken of is already being put into practice, only\non an utterly small scale, neither noticed nor understood. The\n\"Assistance par le Travail,\" which I learned to know and understand in\nParis, was of great service to me in the solution of the Jewish\nquestion.\n\n\nRELIEF BY LABOR\n\nThe system of relief by labor which, is now applied in Paris, in many\nother French towns, in England, in Switzerland, and in America, is a\nvery small thing, but capable of the greatest expansion.\n\nWhat is the principle of relief by labor?\n\nThe principle is: to furnish every needy man with easy, unskilled\nwork, such as chopping wood, or cutting faggots used for lighting\nstoves in Paris households. This is a kind of prison-work before the\ncrime, done without loss of character. It is meant to prevent men from\ntaking to crime out of want, by providing them with work and testing\ntheir willingness to do it. Starvation must never be allowed to drive\nmen to suicide; for such suicides are the deepest disgrace to a\ncivilization which allows rich men to throw tid-bits to their dogs.\n\nRelief by labor thus provides every one with work. But the system has\na great defect; there is not a sufficiently large demand for the\nproduction of the unskilled workers employed, hence there is a loss to\nthose who employ them; though it is true that the organization is\nphilanthropic, and therefore prepared for loss. But here the\nbenefaction lies only in the difference between the price paid for the\nwork and its actual value. Instead of giving the beggar two sous, the\ninstitution supplies him with work on which it loses two sous. But at\nthe same time it converts the good-for-nothing beggar into an honest\nbreadwinner, who has earned perhaps 1 franc 50 centimes. 150 centimes\nfor 10! That is to say, the receiver of a benefaction in which there\nis nothing humiliating has increased it fifteenfold! That is to say,\nfifteen thousand millions for one thousand millions!\n\nThe institution certainly loses 10 centimes. But the Jewish Company\nwill not lose one thousand millions; it will draw enormous profits\nfrom this expenditure.\n\nThere is a moral side also. The small system of relief by labor which\nexists now preserves rectitude through industry till such time as the\nman who is out of work finds a post suitable to his capacities, either\nin his old calling or in a new one. He is allowed a few hours daily\nfor the purpose of looking for a place, in which task the institutions\nassist him.\n\nThe defect of these small organizations, so far, has been that they\nhave been prohibited from entering into competition with timber\nmerchants, etc. Timber merchants are electors; they would protest, and\nwould be justified in protesting. Competition with State prison-labor\nhas also been forbidden, for the State must occupy and feed its\ncriminals.\n\nIn fact, there is very little room in an old-established society for\nthe successful application of the system of \"Assistance par le\nTravail.\"\n\nBut there is room in a new society.\n\nFor, above all, we require enormous numbers of unskilled laborers to\ndo the first rough work of settlement, to lay down roads, plant trees,\nlevel the ground, construct railroads, telegraph installations, etc.\nAll this will be carried out in accordance with a large and previously\nsettled plan.\n\n\nCOMMERCE\n\nThe labor carried to the new country will naturally create trade. The\nfirst markets will supply only the absolute necessities of life;\ncattle, grain, working clothes, tools, arms--to mention just a few\nthings. These we shall be obliged at first to procure from neighboring\nStates, or from Europe; but we shall make ourselves independent as\nsoon as possible. The Jewish entrepreneurs will soon realize the\nbusiness prospects that the new country offers.\n\nThe army of the Company's officials will gradually introduce more\nrefined requirements of life. (Officials include officers of our\ndefensive forces, who will always form about a tenth part of our male\ncolonists. They will be sufficiently numerous to quell mutinies, for\nthe majority of our colonists will be peaceably inclined.)\n\nThe refined requirements of life introduced by our officials in good\npositions will create a correspondingly improved market, which will\ncontinue to better itself. The married man will send for wife and\nchildren, and the single for parents and relatives, as soon as a new\nhome is established \"over there.\" The Jews who emigrate to the United\nStates always proceed in this fashion. As soon as one of them has\ndaily bread and a roof over his head, he sends for his people; for\nfamily ties are strong among us. The Society of Jews and the Jewish\nCompany will unite in caring for and strengthening the family still\nmore, not only morally, but materially also. The officials will\nreceive additional pay on marriage and on the birth of children, for\nwe need all who are there, and all who will follow.\n\n\nOTHER CLASSES OF DWELLINGS\n\nI described before only workmen's dwellings built by themselves, and\nomitted all mention of other classes of dwellings. These I shall now\ntouch upon. The Company's architects will build for the poorer classes\nof citizens also, being paid in kind or cash; about a hundred\ndifferent types of houses will be erected, and, of course, repeated.\nThese beautiful types will form part of our propaganda. The soundness\nof their construction will be guaranteed by the Company, which will,\nindeed, gain nothing by selling them to settlers at a fixed sum. And\nwhere will these houses be situated? That will be shown in the section\ndealing with Local Groups.\n\nSeeing that the Company does not wish to earn anything on the building\nworks but only on the land, it will desire as many architects as\npossible to build by private contract. This system will increase the\nvalue of landed property, and it will introduce luxury, which serves\nmany purposes. Luxury encourages arts and industries, paving the way\nto a future subdivision of large properties.\n\nRich Jews who are now obliged carefully to secrete their valuables,\nand to hold their dreary banquets behind lowered curtains, will be\nable to enjoy their possessions in peace, \"over there.\" If they\ncooperate in carrying out this emigration scheme, their capital will\nbe rehabilitated and will have served to promote an unexampled\nundertaking. If in the new settlement rich Jews begin to rebuild their\nmansions which are stared at in Europe with such envious eyes, it will\nsoon become fashionable to live over there in beautiful modern houses.\n\n\nSOME FORMS OF LIQUIDATION\n\nThe Jewish Company is intended to be the receiver and administrator of\nthe non-transferable goods of the Jews.\n\nIts methods of procedure can be easily imagined in the case of houses\nand estates, but what methods will it adopt in the transfer of\nbusinesses?\n\nHere numberless processes may be found practicable, which cannot all\nbe enlarged on in this outline. But none of them will present any\ngreat difficulties, for in each case the business proprietor, when he\nvoluntarily decides to emigrate, will settle with the Company's\nofficers in his district on the most advantageous form of\nliquidation.\n\nThis will most easily be arranged in the case of small employers, in\nwhose trades the personal activity of the proprietor is of chief\nimportance, while goods and organization are a secondary\nconsideration. The Company will provide a certain field of operation\nfor the emigrant's personal activity, and will substitute a piece of\nground, with loan of machinery, for his goods. Jews are known to adapt\nthemselves with remarkable ease to any form of earning a livelihood,\nand they will quickly learn to carry on a new industry. In this way a\nnumber of small traders will become small landholders. The Company\nwill, in fact, be prepared to sustain what appears to be a loss in\ntaking over the non-transferable property of the poorest emigrants;\nfor it will thereby induce the free cultivation of tracts of land,\nwhich raises the value of adjacent tracts.\n\nIn medium-sized businesses, where goods and organization equal, or\neven exceed, in importance, the personal activity of the manager,\nwhose larger connection is also non-transferable, various forms of\nliquidation are possible. Here comes an opportunity for that inner\nmigration of Christian citizens into positions evacuated by Jews. The\ndeparting Jew will not lose his personal business credit, but will\ncarry it with him, and make good use of it in a new country to\nestablish himself. The Jewish Company will open a current bank account\nfor him. And he can sell the goodwill of his original business, or\nhand it over to the control of managers under supervision of the\nCompany's officials. The managers may rent the business or buy it,\npaying for it by instalments. But the Company acts temporarily as\ncurator for the emigrants, in superintending, through its officers and\nlawyers, the administration of their affairs, and seeing to the proper\ncollection of all payments.\n\nIf a Jew cannot sell his business, or entrust it to a proxy or wish to\ngive up its personal management, he may stay where he is. The Jews who\nstay will be none the worse off, for they will be relieved of the\ncompetition of those who leave, and will no longer hear the\nAnti-Semitic cry: \"Don't buy from Jews!\"\n\nIf the emigrating business proprietor wishes to carry on his old\nbusiness in the new country, he can make his arrangements for it from\nthe very commencement. An example will best illustrate my meaning. The\nfirm X carries on a large business in dry goods. The head of the firm\nwishes to emigrate. He begins by setting up a branch establishment in\nhis future place of residence, and sending out samples of his stock.\nThe first poor settlers will be his first customers; these will be\nfollowed by emigrants of a higher class, who require superior goods. X\nthen sends out newer goods, and eventually ships his newest. The\nbranch establishment begins to pay while the principal one is still in\nexistence, so that X ends by having two paying business-houses. He\nsells his original business or hands it over to his Christian\nrepresentative to manage, and goes off to take charge of the new one.\n\nAnother and greater example: Y and Son are large coal-traders, with\nmines and factories of their own. How is so huge and complex a\nproperty to be liquidated? The mines and everything connected with\nthem might, in the first place, be bought up by the State, in which\nthey are situated. In the second place, the Jewish Company might take\nthem over, paying for them partly in land, partly in cash. A third\nmethod might be the conversion of \"Y and Son\" into a limited company.\nA fourth method might be the continued working of the business under\nthe original proprietors, who would return at intervals to inspect\ntheir property, as foreigners, and as such, under the protection of\nlaw in every civilized State. All these suggestions are carried out\ndaily. A fifth and excellent method, and one which might be\nparticularly profitable, I shall merely indicate, because the existing\nexamples of its working are at present few, however ready the modern\nconsciousness may be to adopt them. Y and Son might sell their\nenterprise to the collective body of their employees, who would form a\ncooperative society, with limited liability, and might perhaps pay the\nrequisite sum with the help of the State Treasury, which does not\ncharge high interest.\n\nThe employees would then gradually pay off the loan, which either the\nGovernment or the Jewish Company, or even Y and Son, would have\nadvanced to them.\n\nThe Jewish Company will be prepared to conduct the transfer of the\nsmallest affairs equally with the largest. And whilst the Jews quietly\nemigrate and establish their new homes, the Company acts as the great\ncontrolling body, which organizes the departure, takes charge of\ndeserted possessions, guarantees the proper conduct of the movement\nwith its own visible and tangible property, and provides permanent\nsecurity for those who have already settled.\n\n\nSECURITIES OF THE COMPANY\n\nWhat assurance will the Company offer that the abandonment of\ncountries will not cause their impoverishment and produce economic\ncrises?\n\nI have already mentioned that honest Anti-Semites, whilst preserving\ntheir independence, will combine with our officials in controlling the\ntransfer of our estates.\n\nBut the State revenues might suffer by the loss of a body of\ntaxpayers, who, though little appreciated as citizens, are highly\nvalued in finance. The State should, therefore, receive compensation\nfor this loss. This we offer indirectly by leaving in the country\nbusinesses which we have built up by means of Jewish acumen and Jewish\nindustry, by letting our Christian fellow-citizens move into our\nevacuated positions, and by this facilitating the rise of numbers of\npeople to greater prosperity so peaceably and in so unparallelled a\nmanner. The French Revolution had a somewhat similar result, on a\nsmall scale, but it was brought about by bloodshed on the guillotine\nin every province of France, and on the battlefields of Europe.\nMoreover, inherited and acquired rights were destroyed, and only\ncunning buyers enriched themselves by the purchase of State\nproperties.\n\nThe Jewish Company will offer to the States that come within its\nsphere of activity direct as well as indirect advantages. It will give\nGovernments the first offer of abandoned Jewish property, and allow\nbuyers most favorable conditions. Governments, again, will be able to\nmake use of this friendly appropriation of land for the purpose of\ncertain social improvements.\n\nThe Jewish Company will give every assistance to Governments and\nParliaments in their efforts to direct the inner migration of\nChristian citizens.\n\nThe Jewish Company will also pay heavy taxes. Its central office will\nbe in London, so as to be under the legal protection of a power which\nis not at present Anti-Semitic. But the Company, if it is supported\nofficially and semi-officially, will everywhere provide a broad basis\nof taxation. To this end, it will establish taxable branch offices\neverywhere. Further, it will pay double duties on the two-fold\ntransfer of goods which it accomplishes. Even in transactions where\nthe Company is really nothing more than a real estate agency, it will\ntemporarily appear as a purchaser, and will be set down as the\nmomentary possessor in the register of landed property.\n\nThese are, of course, purely calculable matters. It will have to be\nconsidered and decided in each place how far the Company can go\nwithout running any risks of failure. And the Company itself will\nconfer freely with Finance Ministers on the various points at issue.\nMinisters will recognize the friendly spirit of our enterprise, and\nwill consequently offer every facility in their power necessary for\nthe successful achievement of the great undertaking.\n\nFurther and direct profit will accrue to Governments from the\ntransport of passengers and goods, and where railways are State\nproperty the returns will be immediately recognizable. Where they are\nheld by private companies, the Jewish Company will receive favorable\nterms for transport, in the same way as does every transmitter of\ngoods on a large scale. Freight and carriage must be made as cheap as\npossible for our people, because every traveller will pay his own\nexpenses. The middle classes will travel with Cook's tickets, the\npoorer classes in emigrant trains. The Company might make a good deal\nby reductions on passengers and goods; but here, as elsewhere, it must\nadhere to its principle of not trying to raise its receipts to a\ngreater sum than will cover its working expenses.\n\nIn many places Jews have control of the transport; and the transport\nbusinesses will be the first needed by the Company and the first to be\nliquidated by it. The original owners of these concerns will either\nenter the Company's service, or establish themselves independently\n\"over there.\" The new arrivals will certainly require their\nassistance, and theirs being a paying profession, which they may and\nindeed must exercise there to earn a living, numbers of these\nenterprising spirits will depart. It is unnecessary to describe all\nthe business details of this monster expedition. They must be\njudiciously evolved out of the original plan by many able men, who\nmust apply their minds to achieving the best system.\n\n\nSOME OF THE COMPANY'S ACTIVITIES\n\nMany activities will be interconnected. For example: the Company will\ngradually introduce the manufacture of goods into the settlements\nwhich will, of course, be extremely primitive at their inception.\nClothing, linens, and shoes will first of all be manufactured for our\nown poor emigrants, who will be provided with new suits of clothing at\nthe various European emigration centers. They will not receive these\nclothes as alms, which might hurt their pride, but in exchange for old\ngarments: any loss the Company sustains by this transaction will be\nbooked as a business loss. Those who are absolutely without means will\npay off their debt to the Company by working overtime at a fair rate\nof wage.\n\nExisting emigration societies will be able to give valuable assistance\nhere, for they will do for the Company's colonists what they did\nbefore for departing Jews. The forms of such cooperation will easily\nbe found.\n\nEven the new clothing of the poor settlers will have the symbolic\nmeaning. \"You are now entering on a new life.\" The Society of Jews\nwill see to it that long before the departure and also during the\njourney a serious yet festive spirit is fostered by means of prayers,\npopular lectures, instruction on the object of the expedition,\ninstruction on hygienic matters for their new places of residence, and\nguidance in regard to their future work. For the Promised Land is the\nland of work. On their arrival, the emigrants will be welcomed by our\nchief officials with due solemnity, but without foolish exultation,\nfor the Promised Land will not yet have been conquered. But these poor\npeople should already see that they are at home.\n\nThe clothing industries of the Company will, of course, not produce\ntheir goods without proper organization. The Society of Jews will\nobtain from the local branches information about the number,\nrequirements and date of arrival of the settlers, and will communicate\nall such information in good time to the Jewish Company. In this way\nit will be possible to provide for them with every precaution.\n\n\nPROMOTION OF INDUSTRIES\n\nThe duties of the Jewish Company and the Society of Jews cannot be\nkept strictly apart in this outline. These two great bodies will have\nto work constantly in unison, the Company depending on the moral\nauthority and support of the Society, just as the Society cannot\ndispense with the material assistance of the Company. For example, in\nthe organizing of the clothing industry, the quantity produced will at\nfirst be kept down so as to preserve an equilibrium between supply and\ndemand; and wherever the Company undertakes the organization of new\nindustries the same precaution must be exercised.\n\nBut individual enterprise must never be checked by the Company with\nits superior force. We shall only work collectively when the immense\ndifficulties of the task demand common action; we shall, wherever\npossible, scrupulously respect the rights of the individual. Private\nproperty, which is the economic basis of independence, shall be\ndeveloped freely and be respected by us. Our first unskilled laborers\nwill at once have the opportunity to work their way up to private\nproprietorship.\n\nThe spirit of enterprise must, indeed, be encouraged in every possible\nway. Organization of industries will be promoted by a judicious system\nof duties, by the employment of cheap raw material, and by the\ninstitution of a board to collect and publish industrial statistics.\n\nBut this spirit of enterprise must be wisely encouraged, and risky\nspeculation must be avoided. Every new industry must be advertised for\na long period before establishment, so as to prevent failure on the\npart of those who might wish to start a similar business six months\nlater. Whenever a new industrial establishment is founded, the Company\nshould be informed, so that all those interested may obtain\ninformation from it.\n\nIndustrialists will be able to make use of centralized labor agencies,\nwhich will only receive a commission large enough to ensure their\ncontinuance. The industrialists might, for example, telegraph for 500\nunskilled laborers for three days, three weeks, or three months. The\nlabor agency would then collect these 500 unskilled laborers from\nevery possible source, and despatch them at once to carry out the\nagricultural or industrial enterprise. Parties of workmen will thus be\nsystematically drafted from place to place like a body of troops.\nThese men will, of course, not be sweated, but will work only a\nseven-hour day; and, in spite of their change of locality, they will\npreserve their organization, work out their term of service, and\nreceive commands, promotions, and pensions. Some establishments may,\nof course, be able to obtain their workmen from other sources, if they\nwish, but they will not find it easy to do so. The Society will be\nable to prevent the introduction of non-Jewish work-slaves by\nboycotting obstinate employers, by obstructing traffic, and by\nvarious other methods. The seven-hour workers will therefore have to\nbe taken, and we shall thus bring our people gradually, and without\ncoercion, to adopt the normal seven-hour day.\n\n\nSETTLEMENT OF SKILLED LABORERS\n\nIt is clear that what can be done for unskilled workers can be even\nmore easily done for skilled laborers. These will work under similar\nregulations in the factories, and the central labor agency will\nprovide them when required.\n\nIndependent operatives and small employers, must be carefully taught\non account of the rapid progress of scientific improvements, must\nacquire technical knowledge even if no longer very young men, must\nstudy the power of water, and appreciate the forces of electricity.\nIndependent workers must also be discovered and supplied by the\nSociety's agency. The local branch will apply, for example, to the\ncentral office: \"We want so many carpenters, locksmiths, glaziers,\netc.\" The central office will publish this demand, and the proper men\nwill apply there for the work. These would then travel with their\nfamilies to the place where they were wanted, and would remain there\nwithout feeling the pressure of undue competition. A permanent and\ncomfortable home would thus be provided for them.\n\n\nMETHOD OF RAISING CAPITAL\n\nThe capital required for establishing the Company was previously put\nat what seemed an absurdly high figure. The amount actually necessary\nwill be fixed by financiers, and will in any case be a very\nconsiderable sum. There are three ways of raising this sum, all of\nwhich the Society will take under consideration. This Society, the\ngreat \"Gestor\" of the Jews, will be formed by our best and most\nupright men, who must not derive any material advantage from their\nmembership. Although the Society cannot at the outset possess any but\nmoral authority, this authority will suffice to establish the credit\nof the Jewish Company in the nation's eyes. The Jewish Company will be\nunable to succeed in its enterprise unless it has received the\nSociety's sanction; it will thus not be formed of any mere\nindiscriminate group of financiers. For the Society will weigh, select\nand decide, and will not give its approbation till it is sure of the\nexistence of a sound basis for the conscientious carrying out of the\nscheme. It will not permit experiments with insufficient means, for\nthis undertaking must succeed at the first attempt. Any initial\nfailure would compromise the whole idea for many decades to come, or\nmight even make its realization permanently impossible.\n\nThe three methods of raising capital are: (1) Through big banks; (2)\nThrough small and private banks; (3) Through public subscription.\n\nThe first method of raising capital is: Through big banks. The\nrequired sum could then be raised in the shortest possible time among\nthe large financial groups, after they had discussed the advisability\nof the course. The great advantage of this method would be that it\nwould avoid the necessity of paying in the thousand millions (to keep\nto the original figure), immediately in its entirety. A further\nadvantage would be that the credit of these powerful financiers would\nalso be of service to the enterprise. Many latent political forces lie\nin our financial power, that power which our enemies assert to be so\neffective. It might be so, but actually it is not. Poor Jews feel only\nthe hatred which this financial power provokes; its use in\nalleviating their lot as a body, they have not yet felt. The credit of\nour great Jewish financiers would have to be placed at the service of\nthe National Idea. But should these gentlemen, who are quite satisfied\nwith their lot, feel indisposed to do anything for their fellow-Jews\nwho are unjustly held responsible for the large possessions of certain\nindividuals, then the realization of this plan will afford an\nopportunity for drawing a clear line of distinction between them and\nthe rest of Jewry.\n\nThe great financiers, moreover, will certainly not be asked to raise\nan amount so enormous out of pure philanthropic motives; that would be\nexpecting too much. The promoters and stock holders of the Jewish\nCompany are, on the contrary, expected to do a good piece of business,\nand they will be able to calculate beforehand what their chances of\nsuccess are likely to be. For the Society of Jews will be in\npossession of all documents and references which may serve to define\nthe prospects of the Jewish Company. The Society will in particular\nhave investigated with exactitude the extent of the new Jewish\nmovement, so as to provide the Company promoters with thoroughly\nreliable information on the amount of support they may expect. The\nSociety will also supply the Jewish Company with comprehensive modern\nJewish statistics, thus doing the work of what is called in France a\n\"societe d'etudes,\" which undertakes all preliminary research previous\nto the financing of a great undertaking. Even so, the enterprise may\nnot receive the valuable assistance of our moneyed magnates. These\nmight, perhaps, even try to oppose the Jewish movement by means of\ntheir secret agents. Such opposition we shall meet with relentless\ndetermination.\n\nSupposing that these magnates are content simply to turn this scheme\ndown with a smile:\n\nIs it, therefore, done for?\n\nNo.\n\nFor then the money will be raised in another way--by an appeal to\nmoderately rich Jews. The smaller Jewish banks would have to be united\nin the name of the National Idea against the big banks till they were\ngathered into a second and formidable financial force. But,\nunfortunately, this would require a great deal of financing at\nfirst--for the L50,000,000 would have to be subscribed in full before\nstarting work; and, as this sum could only be raised very slowly, all\nsorts of banking business would have to be done and loans made during\nthe first few years. It might even occur that, in the course of all\nthese transactions, their original object would be forgotten; the\nmoderately rich Jews would have created a new and large business, and\nJewish emigration would be forgotten.\n\nThe notion of raising money in this way is not by any means\nimpracticable. The experiment of collecting Christian money to form an\nopposing force to the big banks has already been tried; that one could\nalso oppose them with Jewish money has not been thought of until now.\n\nBut these financial conflicts would bring about all sorts of crises;\nthe countries in which they occurred would suffer, and Anti-Semitism\nwould become rampant.\n\nThis method is therefore not to be recommended. I have merely\nsuggested it, because it comes up in the course of the logical\ndevelopment of the idea.\n\nI also do not know whether smaller private banks would be willing to\nadopt it.\n\nIn any case, even the refusal of moderately rich Jews would not put an\nend to the scheme. On the contrary, it would then have to be taken up\nin real earnest.\n\nThe Society of Jews, whose members are not business men, might try to\nfound the Company on a national subscription.\n\nThe Company's capital might be raised, without the intermediary of a\nsyndicate, by means of direct subscription on the part of the public.\nNot only poor Jews, but also Christians who wanted to get rid of them,\nwould subscribe a small amount to this fund. A new and peculiar form\nof the plebiscite would thus be established, whereby each man who\nvoted for this solution of the Jewish Question would express his\nopinion by subscribing a stipulated amount. This stipulation would\nproduce security. The funds subscribed would only be paid in if their\nsum total reached the required amount, otherwise the initial payments\nwould be returned.\n\nBut if the whole of the required sum is raised by popular\nsubscription, then each little amount would be secured by the great\nnumbers of other small amounts.\n\nAll this would, of course, need the express and definite assistance of\ninterested Governments.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[A] The practice of paying the workman's wages in goods instead of\nmoney.\n\n\n\n\n_IV. Local Groups_\n\nOUR TRANSMIGRATION\n\n\nPrevious chapters explained only how the emigration scheme might be\ncarried out without creating any economic disturbance. But so great a\nmovement cannot take place without inevitably rousing many deep and\npowerful feelings. There are old customs, old memories that attach us\nto our homes. We have cradles, we have graves, and we alone know how\nJewish hearts cling to the graves. Our cradles we shall carry with\nus--they hold our future, rosy and smiling. Our beloved graves we must\nabandon--and I think this abandonment will cost us more than any other\nsacrifice. But it must be so.\n\nEconomic distress, political pressure, and social obloquy have already\ndriven us from our homes and from our graves. We Jews are even now\nconstantly shifting from place to place, a strong current actually\ncarrying us westward over the sea to the United States, where our\npresence is also not desired. And where will our presence be desired,\nso long as we are a homeless nation?\n\nBut we shall give a home to our people. And we shall give it, not by\ndragging them ruthlessly out of their sustaining soil, but rather by\ntransplanting them carefully to a better ground. Just as we wish to\ncreate new political and economic relations, so we shall preserve as\nsacred all of the past that is dear to our people's hearts.\n\nHence a few suggestions must suffice, as this part of my scheme will\nmost probably be condemned as visionary. Yet even this is possible and\nreal, though it now appears to be something vague and aimless.\nOrganization will make of it something rational.\n\n\nEMIGRATION IN GROUPS\n\nOur people should emigrate in groups of families and friends. But no\nman will be forced to join the particular group belonging to his\nformer place of residence. Each will be able to journey in his chosen\nfashion as soon as he has settled his affairs. Seeing that each man\nwill pay his own expenses by rail and boat, he will naturally travel\nby whatever class suits him best. Possibly there will even be no\nsubdivision for classes on board train and boat, so as to avoid making\nthe poor feel their position too keenly during their long journey.\nThough we are not exactly organizing a pleasure trip, it is as well to\nkeep them in good humor on the way.\n\nNone will travel in penury; on the other hand, all who desire to\ntravel in luxurious ease will be able to follow their bent. Even under\nfavorable circumstances, the movement may not touch certain classes of\nJews for several years to come; the intervening period can therefore\nbe employed in selecting the best modes of organizing the journeys.\nThose who are well off can travel in parties if they wish, taking\ntheir personal friends and connections with them. Jews, with the\nexception of the richest, have, after all, very little intercourse\nwith Christians. In some countries their acquaintance with them is\nconfined to a few spongers, borrowers, and dependents; of a better\nclass of Christian they know nothing. The Ghetto continues though its\nwalls are broken down.\n\nThe middle classes will therefore make elaborate and careful\npreparations for departure. A group of travellers will be formed in\neach locality, large towns being divided into districts with a group\nin each district, who will communicate by means of representatives\nelected for the purpose. This division into districts need not be\nstrictly adhered to; it is merely intended to alleviate the discomfort\nand home-sickness of the poor during their journey outwards. Everybody\nis free to travel either alone or attached to any local group he\nprefers. The conditions of travel--regulated according to\nclasses--will apply to all alike. Any sufficiently numerous travelling\nparty can charter a special train and special boat from the Company.\n\nThe Company's housing agency will provide quarters for the poorest on\ntheir arrival. Later on, when more prosperous emigrants follow, their\nobvious need for lodgings on first landing will have to be supplied by\nhotels built by private enterprise. Some of these more prosperous\ncolonists will, indeed, have built their houses before becoming\npermanent settlers, so that they will merely move from an old home\ninto a new one.\n\nIt would be an affront to our intelligent elements to point out\neverything that they have to do. Every man who attaches himself to the\nNational Idea will know how to spread it, and how to make it real\nwithin his sphere of influence. We shall first of all ask for the\ncooperation of our Rabbis.\n\n\nOUR RABBIS\n\nEvery group will have its Rabbi, travelling with his congregation.\nLocal groups will afterwards form voluntarily about their Rabbi, and\neach locality will have its spiritual leader. Our Rabbis, on whom we\nespecially call, will devote their energies to the service of our\nidea, and will inspire their congregations by preaching it from the\npulpit. They will not need to address special meetings for the\npurpose; an appeal such as this may be uttered in the synagogue. And\nthus it must be done. For we feel our historic affinity only through\nthe faith of our fathers as we have long ago absorbed the languages of\ndifferent nations to an ineradicable degree.\n\nThe Rabbis will receive communications regularly from both Society and\nCompany, and will announce and explain these to their congregations.\nIsrael will pray for us and for itself.\n\n\nREPRESENTATIVES OF THE LOCAL GROUPS\n\nThe local groups will appoint small committees of representative men\nunder the Rabbi's presidency, for discussion and settlement of local\naffairs.\n\nPhilanthropic institutions will be transferred by their local groups,\neach institution remaining \"over there\" the property of the same set\nof people for whom it was originally founded. I think the old\nbuildings should not be sold, but rather devoted to the assistance of\nindigent Christians in the forsaken towns. The local groups will\nreceive compensation by obtaining free building sites and every\nfacility for reconstruction in the new country.\n\nThis transfer of philanthropic institutions will give another of those\nopportunities, which occur at different points of my scheme, for\nmaking an experiment in the service of humanity. Our present\nunsystematic private philanthropy does little good in proportion to\nthe great expenditure it involves. But these institutions can and must\nform part of a system by which they will eventually supplement one\nanother. In a new society these organizations can be evolved out of\nour modern consciousness, and may be based on all previous social\nexperiments. This matter is of great importance to us, on account of\nour large number of paupers. The weaker characters among us,\ndiscouraged by external pressure, spoilt by the soft-hearted charity\nof our rich men, easily sink until they take to begging.\n\nThe Society, supported by the local groups, will give greatest\nattention to popular education with regard to this particular. It will\ncreate a fruitful soil for many powers which now wither uselessly\naway. Whoever shows a genuine desire to work will be suitably\nemployed. Beggars will not be endured. Whoever refuses to do anything\nas a free man will be sent to the workhouse.\n\nOn the other hand, we shall not relegate the old to an almshouse. An\nalmshouse is one of the cruelest charities which our stupid good\nnature ever invented. There our old people die out of pure shame and\nmortification. There they are already buried. But we will leave even\nto those who stand on the lowest grade of intelligence the consoling\nillusion of their utility in the world. We will provide easy tasks for\nthose who are incapable of physical labor; for we must allow for\ndiminished vitality in the poor of an already enfeebled generation.\nBut future generations shall be dealt with otherwise; they shall be\nbrought up in liberty for a life of liberty.\n\nWe will seek to bestow the moral salvation of work on men of every age\nand of every class; and thus our people will find their strength again\nin the land of the seven-hour day.\n\n\nPLANS OF THE TOWNS\n\nThe local groups will delegate their authorized representatives to\nselect sites for towns. In the distribution of land every precaution\nwill be taken to effect a careful transfer with due consideration for\nacquired rights.\n\nThe local groups will have plans of the towns, so that our people may\nknow beforehand where they are to go, in which towns and in which\nhouses they are to live. Comprehensive drafts of the building plans\npreviously referred to will be distributed among the local groups.\n\nThe principle of our administration will be strict centralization of\nour local groups' autonomy. In this way the transfer will be\naccomplished with the minimum of pain.\n\nI do not imagine all this to be easier than it actually is; on the\nother hand, people must not imagine it to be more difficult than it is\nin reality.\n\n\nTHE DEPARTURE OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES\n\nThe middle classes will involuntarily be drawn into the outgoing\ncurrent, for their sons will be officials of the Society or employees\nof the Company \"over there.\" Lawyers, doctors, technicians of every\ndescription, young business people--in fact, all Jews who are in\nsearch of opportunities, who now escape from oppression in their\nnative country to earn a living in foreign lands--will assemble on a\nsoil so full of fair promise. The daughters of the middle classes will\nmarry these ambitious men. One of them will send for his wife or\nfiancee to come out to him, another for his parents, brothers and\nsisters. Members of a new civilization marry young. This will promote\ngeneral morality and ensure sturdiness in the new generation; and thus\nwe shall have no delicate offspring of late marriages, children of\nfathers who spent their strength in the struggle for life.\n\nEvery middle-class emigrant will draw more of his kind after him.\n\nThe bravest will naturally get the best out of the new world.\n\nBut there we seem undoubtedly to have touched on the crucial\ndifficulty of my plan.\n\nEven if we succeeded in opening a world discussion on the Jewish\nQuestion in a serious manner--\n\nEven if this debate led us to a positive conclusion that the Jewish\nState were necessary to the world--\n\nEven if the Powers assisted us in acquiring the sovereignty over a\nstrip of territory--\n\nHow are we to transport masses of Jews without undue compulsion from\ntheir present homes to this new country?\n\nTheir emigration is surely intended to be voluntary.\n\n\nTHE PHENOMENON OF MULTITUDES\n\nGreat exertions will hardly be necessary to spur on the movement.\nAnti-Semites provide the requisite impetus. They need only do what\nthey did before, and then they will create a desire to emigrate where\nit did not previously exist, and strengthen it where it existed\nbefore. Jews who now remain in Anti-Semitic countries do so chiefly\nbecause even those among them who are most ignorant of history know\nthat numerous changes of residence in bygone centuries never brought\nthem any permanent good. Any land which welcomed the Jews today, and\noffered them even fewer advantages than that which the Jewish State\nwould guarantee them, would immediately attract a great influx of our\npeople. The poorest, who have nothing to lose would drag themselves\nthere. But I maintain, and every man may ask himself whether I am not\nright, that the pressure weighing on us arouses a desire to emigrate\neven among prosperous strata of society. Now our poorest strata alone\nwould suffice to found a State; these form the strongest human\nmaterial for acquiring a land, because a little despair is\nindispensable to the formation of a great undertaking.\n\nBut when our \"desperados\" increase the value of the land by their\npresence and by the labor they expend on it, they make it at the same\ntime increasingly attractive as a place of settlement to people who\nare better off.\n\nHigher and yet higher strata will feel tempted to go over. The\nexpedition of the first and poorest settlers will be conducted by\nCompany and Society conjointly, and will probably be additionally\nsupported by existing emigration and Zionist societies.\n\nHow may a number of people be directed to a particular spot without\nbeing given express orders to go there? There are certain Jewish\nbenefactors on a large scale who try to alleviate the sufferings of\nthe Jews by Zionist experiments. To them this problem also presented\nitself, and they thought to solve it by giving the emigrants money or\nmeans of employment. Thus the philanthropists said: \"We pay these\npeople to go there.\"\n\nSuch a procedure is utterly wrong, and all the money in the world will\nnot achieve its purpose.\n\nOn the other hand, the Company will say: \"We shall not pay them, we\nshall let them pay us. We shall merely offer them some inducements to\ngo.\"\n\nA fanciful illustration will make my meaning more explicit: One of\nthose philanthropists (whom we will call \"The Baron\") and myself both\nwish to get a crowd of people on to the plain of Longchamps near\nParis, on a hot Sunday afternoon. The Baron, by promising them 10\nfrancs each, will, for 200,000 francs, bring out 20,000 perspiring and\nmiserable people, who will curse him for having given them so much\nannoyance. Whereas I will offer these 200,000 francs as a prize for\nthe swiftest racehorse--and then I shall have to put up barriers to\nkeep the people off Longchamps. They will pay to go in: 1 franc, 5\nfrancs, 20 francs.\n\nThe consequence will be that I shall get the half-a-million of people\nout there; the President of the Republic will drive up \"a la Daumont\";\nand the crowds will enjoy and amuse themselves. Most of them will\nthink it an agreeable walk in the open air in spite of heat and dust;\nand I shall have made by my 200,000 francs about a million in entrance\nmoney and taxes on gaming. I shall get the same people out there\nwhenever I like but the Baron will not--not on any account.\n\nI will give a more serious illustration of the phenomenon of\nmultitudes where they are earning a livelihood. Let any man attempt to\ncry through the streets of a town: \"Whoever is willing to stand all\nday long through a winter's terrible cold, through a summer's\ntormenting heat, in an iron hall exposed on all sides, there to\naddress every passer-by, and to offer him fancy wares, or fish, or\nfruit, will receive two florins, or four francs or something similar.\"\n\nHow many people would go to the hall? How many days would they hold\nout when hunger drove them there? And if they held out, what energy\nwould they display in trying to persuade passers-by to buy fish, fruit\nand fancy wares?\n\nWe shall set about it in a different way. In places where trade is\nactive, and these places we shall the more easily discover, since we\nourselves direct trade withersoever we wish, in these places we shall\nbuild large halls, and call them markets. These halls might be worse\nbuilt and more unwholesome than those above mentioned, and yet people\nwould stream towards them. But we shall use our best efforts, and we\nshall build them better, and make them more beautiful than the first.\nAnd the people, to whom we had promised nothing, because we cannot\npromise anything without deceiving them, these excellent, keen\nbusiness men will gaily create most active commercial intercourse.\nThey will harangue the buyers unweariedly; they will stand on their\nfeet, and scarcely think of fatigue. They will hurry off at dawn, so\nas to be first on the spot; they will form unions, cartels, anything\nto continue bread-winning undisturbed. And if they find at the end of\nthe day that all their hard work has produced only 1 florin, 50\nkreutzer, or 3 francs, or something similar, they will yet look\nforward hopefully to the next day, which may, perhaps, bring them\nbetter luck.\n\nWe have given them hope.\n\nWould any one ask whence the demand comes which creates the market? Is\nit really necessary to tell them again?\n\nI pointed out that by means of the system \"Assistance par le Travail\"\nthe return could be increased fifteenfold. One million would produce\nfifteen millions; and one thousand millions, fifteen thousand\nmillions.\n\nThis may be the case on a small scale; is it so on a large one?\nCapital surely yields a return diminishing in inverse ratio to its own\ngrowth. Inactive and inert capital yields this diminishing return, but\nactive capital brings in a marvellously increasing return. Herein lies\nthe social question.\n\nAm I stating a fact? I call on the richest Jews as witnesses of my\nveracity. Why do they carry on so many different industries? Why do\nthey send men to work underground and to raise coal amid terrible\ndangers for meagre pay? I cannot imagine this to be pleasant, even for\nthe owners of the mines. For I do not believe that capitalists are\nheartless, and I do not pretend that I believe it. My desire is not to\naccentuate, but to smooth differences.\n\nIs it necessary to illustrate the phenomenon of multitudes, and their\nconcentration on a particular spot by references to pious pilgrimages?\n\nI do not want to hurt anyone's religious sensibility by words which\nmight be wrongly interpreted.\n\nI shall merely refer quite briefly to the Mohammedan pilgrimages to\nMecca, the Catholic pilgrimages to Lourdes, and to many other spots\nwhence men return comforted by their faith, and to the holy Hock at\nTrier. Thus we shall also create a center for the deep religious needs\nof our people. Our ministers will understand us first, and will be\nwith us in this.\n\nWe shall let every man find salvation \"over there\" in his own\nparticular way. Above and before all we shall make room for the\nimmortal band of our Freethinkers, who are continually making new\nconquests for humanity.\n\nNo more force will be exercised on any one than is necessary for the\npreservation of the State and order; and the requisite force will not\nbe arbitrarily defined by one or more shifting authorities; it will be\nfixed by iron laws.\n\nNow, if the illustrations I gave make people draw the inference that a\nmultitude can be only temporarily attracted to centers of faith, of\nbusiness, or of amusement, the reply to their objection is simple.\nWhereas one of these objects by itself would certainly only attract\nthe masses, all these centers of attraction combined would be\ncalculated permanently to hold and satisfy them. For all these centers\ntogether form a single, great, long-sought object, which our people\nhas always longed to attain, for which it has kept itself alive, for\nwhich it has been kept alive by external pressure--a free home! When\nthe movement commences, we shall draw some men after us and let others\nfollow; others again will be swept into the current, and the last will\nbe thrust after us.\n\nThese last hesitating settlers will be the worst off, both here and\nthere.\n\nBut the first, who go over with faith, enthusiasm, and courage will\nhave the best positions.\n\n\nOUR HUMAN MATERIAL\n\nThere are more mistaken notions abroad concerning Jews than concerning\nany other people. And we have become so depressed and discouraged by\nour historic sufferings that we ourselves repeat and believe these\nmistakes. One of these is that we have an immoderate love of business.\nNow it is well known that wherever we are permitted to take part in\nthe rising of classes, we give up our business as soon as possible.\nThe great majority of Jewish business men give their sons a superior\neducation. Hence, the so-called \"Judaizing\" of all intellectual\nprofessions. But even in economically feebler grades of society, our\nlove of trade is not so predominant as is generally supposed. In the\nEastern countries of Europe there are great numbers of Jews who are\nnot traders, and who are not afraid of hard work either. The Society\nof Jews will be in a position to prepare scientifically accurate\nstatistics of our human forces. The new tasks and prospects that await\nour people in the new country will satisfy our present handicraftsmen,\nand will transform many present small traders into manual workers.\n\nA peddler who travels about the country with a heavy pack on his back\nis not so contented as his persecutors imagine. The seven-hour day\nwill convert all of his kind into workmen. They are good,\nmisunderstood people, who now suffer perhaps more severely than any\nothers. The Society of Jews will, moreover, busy itself from the\noutset with their training as artisans. Their love of gain will be\nencouraged in a healthy manner. Jews are of a thrifty and adaptable\ndisposition, and are qualified for any means of earning a living, and\nit will therefore suffice to make small trading unremunerative, to\ncause even present peddlers to give it up altogether. This could be\nbrought about, for example, by encouraging large department stores\nwhich provide all necessaries of life. These general stores are\nalready crushing small trading in large cities. In a land of new\ncivilization they will absolutely prevent its existence. The\nestablishment of these stores is further advantageous, because it\nmakes the country immediately habitable for people who require more\nrefined necessaries of life.\n\n\nHABITS\n\nIs a reference to the little habits and comforts of the ordinary man\nin keeping with the serious nature of this pamphlet?\n\nI think it is in keeping, and, moreover, very important. For these\nlittle habits are the thousand and one fine delicate threads which\ntogether go to make up an unbreakable rope.\n\nHere certain limited notions must be set aside. Whoever has seen\nanything of the world knows that just these little daily customs can\neasily be transplanted everywhere. The technical contrivances of our\nday, which this scheme intends to employ in the service of humanity,\nhave heretofore been principally used for our little habits. There are\nEnglish hotels in Egypt and on the mountain-crest in Switzerland,\nVienna cafes in South Africa, French theatres in Russia, German operas\nin America, and best Bavarian beer in Paris.\n\nWhen we journey out of Egypt again we shall not leave the fleshpots\nbehind.\n\nEvery man will find his customs again in the local groups, but they\nwill be better, more beautiful, and more agreeable than before.\n\n\n\n\n_V. Society of Jews and Jewish State_\n\nNEGOTIORUM GESTIO\n\n\nThis pamphlet is not intended for lawyers. I can therefore touch only\ncursorily, as on so many other things, upon my theory of the legal\nbasis of a State.\n\nI must, nevertheless, lay some stress on my new theory, which could be\nmaintained, I believe, even in discussion with men well versed in\njurisprudence.\n\nAccording to Rousseau's now antiquated view, a State is formed by a\nsocial contract. Rousseau held that: \"The conditions of this contract\nare so precisely defined by the nature of the agreement that the\nslightest alteration would make them null and void. The consequence is\nthat, even where they are not expressly stated, they are everywhere\nidentical, and everywhere tacitly accepted and recognized,\" etc.\n\nA logical and historic refutation of Rousseau's theory was never, nor\nis now, difficult, however terrible and far-reaching its effects may\nhave been. The question whether a social contract with \"conditions not\nexpressly stated, yet unalterable,\" existed before the framing of a\nconstitution, is of no practical interest to States under modern forms\nof government. The legal relationship between government and citizen\nis in any case clearly established now.\n\nBut previous to the framing of a constitution, and during the creation\nof a new State, these principles assume great practical importance. We\nknow and see for ourselves that States still continue to be created.\nColonies secede from the mother country. Vassals fall away from their\nsuzerain; newly opened territories are immediately formed into free\nStates. It is true that the Jewish State is conceived as a peculiarly\nmodern structure on unspecified territory. But a State is formed, not\nby pieces of land, but rather by a number of men united under\nsovereign rule.\n\nThe people is the subjective, land the objective foundation of a\nState, and the subjective basis is the more important of the two. One\nsovereignty, for example, which has no objective basis at all, is\nperhaps the most respected one in the world. I refer to the\nsovereignty of the Pope.\n\nThe theory of rationality is the one at present accepted in political\nscience. This theory suffices to justify the creation of a State, and\ncannot be historically refuted in the same way as the theory of a\ncontract. Insofar as I am concerned only with the creation of a Jewish\nState, I am well within the limits of the theory of rationality. But\nwhen I touch upon the legal basis of the State, I have exceeded them.\nThe theories of a divine institution, or of superior power, or of a\ncontract, and the patriarchal and patrimonial theories do not accord\nwith modern views. The legal basis of a State is sought either too\nmuch within men (patriarchal theory, and theories of superior force\nand contract), or too far above them (divine institution), or too far\nbelow them (objective patrimonial theory). The theory of rationality\nleaves this question conveniently and carefully unanswered. But a\nquestion which has seriously occupied doctors of jurisprudence in\nevery age cannot be an absolutely idle one. As a matter of fact, a\nmixture of human and superhuman goes to the making of a State. Some\nlegal basis is indispensable to explain the somewhat oppressive\nrelationship in which subjects occasionally stand to rulers. I believe\nit is to be found in the _negotiorum gestio_, wherein the body of\ncitizens represents the _dominus negotiorum_, and the government\nrepresents the _gestor_.\n\nThe Romans, with their marvellous sense of justice, produced that\nnoble masterpiece, the _negotiorum gestio_. When the property of an\noppressed person is in danger, any man may step forward to save it.\nThis man is the _gestor_, the director of affairs not strictly his\nown. He has received no warrant--that is, no human warrant; higher\nobligations authorize him to act. The higher obligations may be\nformulated in different ways for the State, and so as to respond to\nindividual degrees of culture attained by a growing general power of\ncomprehension. The _gestio_ is intended to work for the good of the\n_dominus_--the people, to whom the _gestor_ himself belongs.\n\nThe _gestor_ administers property of which he is joint-owner. His\njoint proprietorship teaches him what urgency would warrant his\nintervention, and would demand his leadership in peace or war; but\nunder no circumstances is his authority valid _qua_ joint\nproprietorship. The consent of the numerous joint-owners is even under\nmost favorable conditions a matter of conjecture.\n\nA State is created by a nation's struggle for existence. In any such\nstruggle it is impossible to obtain proper authority in circumstantial\nfashion beforehand. In fact, any previous attempt to obtain a regular\ndecision from the majority would probably ruin the undertaking from\nthe outset. For internal schisms would make the people defenceless\nagainst external dangers. We cannot all be of one mind; the _gestor_\nwill therefore simply take the leadership into his hands and march in\nthe van.\n\nThe action of the _gestor_ of the State is sufficiently warranted if\nthe common cause is in danger, and the _dominus_ is prevented, either\nby want of will or by some other reason, from helping itself.\n\nBut the _gestor_ becomes similar to the _dominus_ by his intervention,\nand is bound by the agreement _quasi ex contractu_. This is the legal\nrelationship existing before, or, more correctly, created\nsimultaneously with the State.\n\nThe _gestor_ thus becomes answerable for every form of negligence,\neven for the failure of business undertakings, and the neglect of such\naffairs as are intimately connected with them, etc. I shall not\nfurther enlarge on the _negotiorum gestio_, but rather leave it to the\nState, else it would take us too far from the main subject. One remark\nonly: \"Business management, if it is approved by the owner, is just as\neffectual as if it had originally been carried on by his authority.\"\n\nAnd how does all this affect our case?\n\nThe Jewish people are at present prevented by the Diaspora from\nconducting their political affairs themselves. Besides, they are in a\ncondition of more or less severe distress in many parts of the world.\nThey need, above all things a _gestor_. This _gestor_ cannot, of\ncourse, be a single individual. Such a one would either make himself\nridiculous, or--seeing that he would appear to be working for his own\ninterests--contemptible.\n\nThe _gestor_ of the Jews must therefore be a body corporate.\n\nAnd that is the Society of Jews.\n\n\nTHE GESTOR OF THE JEWS\n\nThis organ of the national movement, the nature and functions of which\nwe are at last dealing with, will, in fact, be created before\neverything else. Its formation is perfectly simple. It will take shape\namong those energetic Jews to whom I imparted my scheme in London.[B]\n\nThe Society will have scientific and political tasks, for the founding\nof a Jewish State, as I conceive it, presupposes the application of\nscientific methods. We cannot journey out of Egypt today in the\nprimitive fashion of ancient times. We shall previously obtain an\naccurate account of our number and strength. The undertaking of that\ngreat and ancient _gestor_ of the Jews in primitive days bears much\nthe same relation to ours that some wonderful melody bears to a modern\nopera. We are playing the same melody with many more violins, flutes,\nharps, violoncellos, and bass viols; with electric light, decorations,\nchoirs, beautiful costumes, and with the first singers of their day.\n\nThis pamphlet is intended to open a general discussion on the Jewish\nQuestion. Friends and foes will take part in it; but it will no\nlonger, I hope, take the form of violent abuse or of sentimental\nvindication, but of a debate, practical, large, earnest, and\npolitical.\n\nThe Society of Jews will gather all available declarations of\nstatesmen, parliaments, Jewish communities, societies, whether\nexpressed in speeches or writings, in meetings, newspapers or books.\n\nThus the Society will find out for the first time whether the Jews\nreally wish to go to the Promised Land, and whether they must go\nthere. Every Jewish community in the world will send contributions to\nthe Society towards a comprehensive collection of Jewish statistics.\n\nFurther tasks, such as investigation by experts of the new country and\nits natural resources, the uniform planning of migration and\nsettlement, preliminary work for legislation and administration,\netc., must be rationally evolved out of the original scheme.\n\nExternally, the Society will attempt, as I explained before in the\ngeneral part, to be acknowledged as a State-forming power. The free\nassent of many Jews will confer on it the requisite authority in its\nrelations with Governments.\n\nInternally, that is to say, in its relation with the Jewish people,\nthe Society will create all the first indispensable institutions; it\nwill be the nucleus out of which the public institutions of the Jewish\nState will later on be developed.\n\nOur first object is, as I said before, supremacy, assured to us by\ninternational law, over a portion of the globe sufficiently large to\nsatisfy our just requirements.\n\nWhat is the next step?\n\n\nTHE OCCUPATION OF THE LAND\n\nWhen nations wandered in historic times, they let chance carry them,\ndraw them, fling them hither and thither, and like swarms of locusts\nthey settled down indifferently anywhere. For in historic times the\nearth was not known to man. But this modern Jewish migration must\nproceed in accordance with scientific principles.\n\nNot more than forty years ago gold-digging was carried on in an\nextraordinarily primitive fashion. What adventurous days were those in\nCalifornia! A report brought desperados together from every quarter of\nthe earth; they stole pieces of land, robbed each other of gold, and\nfinally gambled it away, as robbers do.\n\nBut today! What is gold-digging like in the Transvaal today?\nAdventurous vagabonds are not there; sedate geologists and engineers\nalone are on the spot to regulate its gold industry, and to employ\ningenious machinery in separating the ore from surrounding rock.\nLittle is left to chance now.\n\nThus we must investigate and take possession of the new Jewish country\nby means of every modern expedient.\n\nAs soon as we have secured the land, we shall send over a ship, having\non board the representatives of the Society, of the Company, and of\nthe local groups, who will enter into possession at once.\n\nThese men will have three tasks to perform: (1) An accurate,\nscientific investigation of all natural resources of the country; (2)\nthe organization of a strictly centralized administration; (3) the\ndistribution of land. These tasks intersect one another, and will all\nbe carried out in conformity with the now familiar object in view.\n\nOne thing remains to be explained--namely, how the occupation of land\naccording to local groups is to take place.\n\nIn America the occupation of newly opened territory is set about in\nnaive fashion. The settlers assemble on the frontier, and at the\nappointed time make a simultaneous and violent rush for their\nportions.\n\nWe shall not proceed thus to the new land of the Jews. The lots in\nprovinces and towns will be sold by auction, and paid for, not in\nmoney, but in work. The general plan will have settled on streets,\nbridges, waterworks, etc., necessary for traffic. These will be united\ninto provinces. Within these provinces sites for towns will be\nsimilarly sold by auction. The local groups will pledge themselves to\ncarry the business property through, and will cover the cost by means\nof self-imposed assessments. The Society will be in a position to\njudge whether the local groups are not venturing on sacrifices too\ngreat for their means. The large communities will receive large sites\nfor their activity. Great sacrifices will thus be rewarded by the\nestablishment of universities, technical schools, academies, research\ninstitutes, etc., and these Government institutes, which do not have\nto be concentrated in the capital, will be distributed over the\ncountry.\n\nThe personal interest of the buyers, and, if necessary, the local\nassessment, will guarantee the proper working of what has been taken\nover. In the same way, as we cannot, and indeed do not wish to\nobliterate distinctions between single individuals, so the differences\nbetween local groups will also continue. Everything will shape itself\nquite naturally. All acquired rights will be protected, and every new\ndevelopment will be given sufficient scope.\n\nOur people will be made thoroughly acquainted with all these matters.\n\nWe shall not take others unawares or mislead them, any more than we\nshall deceive ourselves.\n\nEverything must be systematically settled beforehand. I merely\nindicate this scheme: our keenest thinkers will combine in elaborating\nit. Every social and technical achievement of our age and of the more\nadvanced age which will be reached before the slow execution of my\nplan is accomplished must be employed for this object. Every valuable\ninvention which exists now, or lies in the future, must be used. By\nthese means a country can be occupied and a State founded in a manner\nas yet unknown to history, and with possibilities of success such, as\nnever occurred before.\n\n\nCONSTITUTION\n\nOne of the great commissions which the Society will have to appoint\nwill be the council of State jurists. These must formulate the best,\nthat is, the best modern constitution possible. I believe that a good\nconstitution should be of moderately elastic nature. In another work I\nhave explained in detail what forms of government I hold to be the\nbest. I think a democratic monarchy and an aristocratic republic are\nthe finest forms of a State, because in them the form of State and the\nprinciple of government are opposed to each other, and thus preserve a\ntrue balance of power. I am a staunch supporter of monarchial\ninstitutions, because these allow of a continuous policy, and\nrepresent the interests of a historically famous family born and\neducated to rule, whose desires are bound up with the preservation of\nthe State. But our history has been too long interrupted for us to\nattempt direct continuity of ancient constitutional forms, without\nexposing ourselves to the charge of absurdity.\n\nA democracy without a sovereign's useful counterpoise is extreme in\nappreciation and condemnation, tends to idle discussion in Parliaments,\nand produces that objectionable class of men--professional politicians.\nNations are also really not fit for unlimited democracy at present, and\nwill become less and less fitted for it in the future. For a pure\ndemocracy presupposes a predominance of simple customs, and our customs\nbecome daily more complex with the growth of commerce and increase of\nculture. \"_Le ressort d'une democratic est la vertu_,\" said wise\nMontesquieu. And where is this virtue, that is to say, this political\nvirtue, to be met with? I do not believe in our political virtue;\nfirst, because we are no better than the rest of modern humanity; and,\nsecondly, because freedom will make us show our fighting qualities at\nfirst. I also hold a settling of questions by the referendum to be an\nunsatisfactory procedure, because there are no simple political\nquestions which can be answered merely by Yes and No. The masses are\nalso more prone even than Parliaments to be led away by heterodox\nopinions, and to be swayed by vigorous ranting. It is impossible to\nformulate a wise internal or external policy in a popular assembly.\n\nPolitics must take shape in the upper strata and work downwards. But\nno member of the Jewish State will be oppressed, every man will be\nable and will wish to rise in it. Thus a great upward tendency will\npass through our people; every individual by trying to raise himself,\nraising also the whole body of citizens. The ascent will take a normal\nform, useful to the State and serviceable to the National Idea.\n\nHence I incline to an aristocratic republic. This would satisfy the\nambitious spirit in our people, which has now degenerated into petty\nvanity. Many of the institutions of Venice pass through my mind; but\nall that which caused the ruin of Venice must be carefully avoided. We\nshall learn from the historic mistakes of others, in the same way as\nwe learn from our own; for we are a modern nation, and wish to be the\nmost modern in the world. Our people, who are receiving the new\ncountry from the Society, will also thankfully accept the new\nconstitution it offers them. Should any opposition manifest itself,\nthe Society will suppress it. The Society cannot permit the exercise\nof its functions to be interpreted by short-sighted or ill-disposed\nindividuals.\n\n\nLANGUAGE\n\nIt might be suggested that our want of a common current language would\npresent difficulties. We cannot converse with one another in Hebrew.\nWho amongst us has a sufficient acquaintance with Hebrew to ask for a\nrailway ticket in that language? Such a thing cannot be done. Yet the\ndifficulty is very easily circumvented. Every man can preserve the\nlanguage in which his thoughts are at home. Switzerland affords a\nconclusive proof of the possibility of a federation of tongues. We\nshall remain in the new country what we now are here, and we shall\nnever cease to cherish with sadness the memory of the native land out\nof which we have been driven.\n\nWe shall give up using those miserable stunted jargons, those Ghetto\nlanguages which we still employ, for these were the stealthy tongues\nof prisoners. Our national teachers will give due attention to this\nmatter; and the language which proves itself to be of greatest utility\nfor general intercourse will be adopted without compulsion as our\nnational tongue. Our community of race is peculiar and unique, for we\nare bound together only by the faith of our fathers.\n\n\nTHEOCRACY\n\nShall we end by having a theocracy? No, indeed. Faith unites us,\nknowledge gives us freedom. We shall therefore prevent any theocratic\ntendencies from coming to the fore on the part of our priesthood. We\nshall keep our priests within the confines of their temples in the\nsame way as we shall keep our professional army within the confines of\ntheir barracks. Army and priesthood shall receive honors high as their\nvaluable functions deserve. But they must not interfere in the\nadministration of the State which confers distinction upon them, else\nthey will conjure up difficulties without and within.\n\nEvery man will be as free and undisturbed in his faith or his\ndisbelief as he is in his nationality. And if it should occur that men\nof other creeds and different nationalities come to live amongst us,\nwe should accord them honorable protection and equality before the\nlaw. We have learnt toleration in Europe. This is not sarcastically\nsaid; for the Anti-Semitism of today could only in a very few places\nbe taken for old religious intolerance. It is for the most part a\nmovement among civilized nations by which they try to chase away the\nspectres of their own past.\n\n\nLAWS\n\nWhen the idea of a State begins to approach realization, the Society\nof Jews will appoint a council of jurists to do the preparatory work\nof legislation. During the transition period these must act on the\nprinciple that every emigrant Jew is to be judged according to the\nlaws of the country which he has left. But they must try to bring\nabout a unification of these various laws to form a modern system of\nlegislation based on the best portions of previous systems. This might\nbecome a typical codification, embodying all the just social claims of\nthe present day.\n\n\nTHE ARMY\n\nThe Jewish State is conceived as a neutral one. It will therefore\nrequire only a professional army, equipped, of course, with every\nrequisite of modern warfare, to preserve order internally and\nexternally.\n\n\nTHE FLAG\n\nWe have no flag, and we need one. If we desire to lead many men, we\nmust raise a symbol above their heads.\n\nI would suggest a white flag, with seven golden stars. The white field\nsymbolizes our pure new life; the stars are the seven golden hours of\nour working-day. For we shall march into the Promised Land carrying\nthe badge of honor.\n\n\nRECIPROCITY AND EXTRADITION TREATIES\n\nThe new Jewish State must be properly founded, with due regard to our\nfuture honorable position in the world. Therefore every obligation in\nthe old country must be scrupulously fulfilled before leaving. The\nSociety of Jews and the Jewish Company will grant cheap passage and\ncertain advantages in settlement to those only who can present an\nofficial testimonial from the local authorities, certifying that they\nhave left their affairs in good order.\n\nEvery just private claim originating in the abandoned countries will\nbe heard more readily in the Jewish State than anywhere else. We shall\nnot wait for reciprocity; we shall act purely for the sake of our own\nhonor. We shall thus perhaps find, later on, that law courts will be\nmore willing to hear our claims than now seems to be the case in some\nplaces.\n\nIt will be inferred, as a matter of course, from previous remarks,\nthat we shall deliver up Jewish criminals more readily than any other\nState would do, till the time comes when we can enforce our penal code\non the same principles as every other civilized nation does. There\nwill therefore be a period of transition, during which we shall\nreceive our criminals only after they have suffered due penalties.\nBut, having made amends, they will be received without any\nrestrictions whatever, for our criminals also must enter upon a new\nlife.\n\nThus emigration may become to many Jews a crisis with a happy issue.\nBad external circumstances, which ruin many a character, will be\nremoved, and this change may mean salvation to many who are lost.\n\nHere I should like briefly to relate a story I came across in an\naccount of the gold mines of Witwatersrand. One day a man came to the\nRand, settled there, tried his hand at various things, with the\nexception of gold mining, till he founded an ice factory, which did\nwell. He soon won universal esteem by his respectability, but after\nsome years he was suddenly arrested. He had committed some\ndefalcations as banker in Frankfort, had fled from there, and had\nbegun a new life under an assumed name. But when he was led away as\nprisoner, the most respected people in the place appeared at the\nstation, bade him a cordial farewell and _au revoir_--for he was\ncertain to return.\n\nHow much this story reveals! A new life can regenerate even criminals,\nand we have a proportionately small number of these. Some interesting\nstatistics on this point are worth reading, entitled \"The Criminality\nof Jews in Germany,\" by Dr. P. Nathan, of Berlin, who was commissioned\nby the \"Society for Defense against Anti-Semitism\" to make a\ncollection of statistics based on official returns. It is true that\nthis pamphlet, which teems with figures, has been prompted, as many\nanother \"defence,\" by the error that Anti-Semitism can be refuted by\nreasonable arguments. We are probably disliked as much for our gifts\nas we are for our faults.\n\n\nBENEFITS OF THE EMIGRATION OF THE JEWS\n\nI imagine that Governments will, either voluntarily or under pressure\nfrom the Anti-Semites, pay certain attention to this scheme, and they\nmay perhaps actually receive it here and there with a sympathy which\nthey will also show to the Society of Jews.\n\nFor the emigration which I suggest will not create any economic\ncrises. Such crises as would follow everywhere in consequence of\nJew-baiting would rather be prevented by the carrying out of my plan.\nA great period of prosperity would commence in countries which are\nnow Anti-Semitic. For there will be, as I have repeatedly said, an\ninternal migration of Christian citizens into the positions slowly and\nsystematically evacuated by the Jews. If we are not merely suffered,\nbut actually assisted to do this, the movement will have a generally\nbeneficial effect. That is a narrow view, from which one should free\noneself, which sees in the departure of many Jews a consequent\nimpoverishment of countries. It is different from a departure which is\na result of persecution, for then property is indeed destroyed, as it\nis ruined in the confusion of war. Different again is the peaceable\nvoluntary departure of colonists, wherein everything is carried out\nwith due consideration for acquired rights, and with absolute\nconformity to law, openly and by light of day, under the eyes of the\nauthorities and the control of public opinion. The emigration of\nChristian proletarians to different parts of the world would be\nbrought to a standstill by the Jewish movement.\n\nThe States would have a further advantage in the enormous increase of\ntheir export trade; for, since the emigrant Jews \"over there\" would\ndepend for a long time to come on European productions, they would\nnecessarily have to import them. The local groups would keep up a just\nbalance, and the customary needs would have to be supplied for a long\ntime at the accustomed places.\n\nAnother, and perhaps one of the greatest advantages, would be the\nensuing social relief. Social dissatisfaction would be appeased during\nthe twenty or more years which the emigration of the Jews would\noccupy, and would in any case be set at rest during the whole\ntransition period.\n\nThe shape which the social question may take depends entirely on the\ndevelopment of our technical resources. Steampower concentrated men in\nfactories about machinery where they were overcrowded, and where they\nmade one another miserable by overcrowding. Our present enormous,\ninjudicious, and unsystematic rate of production is the cause of\ncontinual severe crises which ruin both employers and employees. Steam\ncrowded men together; electricity will probably scatter them again,\nand may perhaps bring about a more prosperous condition of the labor\nmarket. In any case our technical inventors, who are the true\nbenefactors of humanity, will continue their labors after the\ncommencement of the emigration of the Jews, and they will discover\nthings as marvellous as those we have already seen, or indeed more\nwonderful even than these.\n\nThe word \"impossible\" has ceased to exist in the vocabulary of\ntechnical science. Were a man who lived in the last century to return\nto the earth, he would find the life of today full of incomprehensible\nmagic. Wherever the moderns appear with our inventions, we transform\nthe desert into a garden. To build a city takes in our time as many\nyears as it formerly required centuries; America offers endless\nexamples of this. Distance has ceased to be an obstacle. The spirit of\nour age has gathered fabulous treasures into its storehouse. Every day\nthis wealth increases. A hundred thousand heads are occupied with\nspeculations and research at every point of the globe, and what any\none discovers belongs the next moment to the whole world. We ourselves\nwill use and carry on every new attempt in our Jewish land; and just\nas we shall introduce the seven-hour day as an experiment for the good\nof humanity, so we shall proceed in everything else in the same humane\nspirit, making of the new land a land of experiments and a model\nState.\n\nAfter the departure of the Jews the undertakings which they have\ncreated will remain where they originally were found. And the Jewish\nspirit of enterprise will not even fail where people welcome it. For\nJewish capitalists will be glad to invest their funds where they are\nfamiliar with surrounding conditions. And whereas Jewish money is now\nsent out of countries on account of existing persecutions, and is sunk\nin most distant foreign undertakings, it will flow back again in\nconsequence of this peaceable solution, and will contribute to the\nfurther progress of the countries which the Jews have left.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[B] Dr. Herzl addressed a meeting of the Maccabean Club, at which\nIsrael Zangwill presided, on November 24th, 1895.\n\n\n\n\n_VI. Conclusion_\n\n\nHow much has been left unexplained, how many defects, how many harmful\nsuperficialities, and how many useless repetitions in this pamphlet,\nwhich I have thought over so long and so often revised!\n\nBut a fair-minded reader, who has sufficient understanding to grasp\nthe spirit of my words, will not be repelled by these defects. He will\nrather be roused thereby to cooperate with his intelligence and energy\nin a work which is not one man's task alone, and to improve it.\n\nHave I not explained obvious things and overlooked important\nobjections?\n\nI have tried to meet certain objections; but I know that many more\nwill be made, based on high grounds and low.\n\nTo the first class of objections belongs the remark that the Jews are\nnot the only people in the world who are in a condition of distress.\nHere I would reply that we may as well begin by removing a little of\nthis misery, even if it should at first be no more than our own.\n\nIt might further be said that we ought not to create new distinctions\nbetween people; we ought not to raise fresh barriers, we should rather\nmake the old disappear. But men who think in this way are amiable\nvisionaries; and the idea of a native land will still flourish when\nthe dust of their bones will have vanished tracelessly in the winds.\nUniversal brotherhood is not even a beautiful dream. Antagonism is\nessential to man's greatest efforts.\n\nBut the Jews, once settled in their own State, would probably have no\nmore enemies. As for those who remain behind, since prosperity\nenfeebles and causes them to diminish, they would soon disappear\naltogether. I think the Jews will always have sufficient enemies, such\nas every nation has. But once fixed in their own land, it will no\nlonger be possible for them to scatter all over the world. The\ndiaspora cannot be reborn, unless the civilization of the whole earth\nshould collapse; and such a consummation could be feared by none but\nfoolish men. Our present civilization possesses weapons powerful\nenough for its self-defence.\n\nInnumerable objections will be based on low grounds, for there are\nmore low men than noble in this world. I have tried to remove some of\nthese narrow-minded notions; and whoever is willing to fall in behind\nour white flag with its seven stars, must assist in this campaign of\nenlightenment. Perhaps we shall have to fight first of all against\nmany an evil-disposed, narrow-hearted, short-sighted member of our own\nrace.\n\nAgain, people will say that I am furnishing the Anti-Semites with\nweapons. Why so? Because I admit the truth? Because I do not maintain\nthat there are none but excellent men against us?\n\nWill not people say that I am showing our enemies the way to injure\nus? This I absolutely dispute. My proposal could only be carried out\nwith the free consent of a majority of Jews. Action may be taken\nagainst individuals or even against groups of the most powerful Jews,\nbut Governments will never take action against all Jews. The equal\nrights of the Jew before the law cannot be withdrawn where they have\nonce been conceded; for the first attempt at withdrawal would\nimmediately drive all Jews, rich and poor alike, into the ranks of\nrevolutionary parties. The beginning of any official acts of injustice\nagainst the Jews invariably brings about economic crises. Therefore,\nno weapons can be effectually used against us, because these injure\nthe hands that wield them. Meantime hatred grows apace. The rich do\nnot feel it much, but our poor do. Let us ask our poor, who have been\nmore severely proletarized since the last removal of Anti-Semitism\nthan ever before.\n\nSome of our prosperous men may say that the pressure is not yet severe\nenough to justify emigration, and that every forcible expulsion shows\nhow unwilling our people are to depart. True, because they do not know\nwhere to go; because they only pass from one trouble into another. But\nwe are showing them the way to the Promised Land; and the splendid\nforce of enthusiasm must fight against the terrible force of habit.\n\nPersecutions are no longer so malignant as they were in the Middle\nAges? True, but our sensitiveness has increased, so that we feel no\ndiminution in our sufferings; prolonged persecution has overstrained\nour nerves.\n\nWill people say, again, that our enterprise is hopeless, because even\nif we obtained the land with supremacy over it, the poor only would go\nwith us? It is precisely the poorest whom we need at first. Only the\ndesperate make good conquerors.\n\nWill some one say: Were it feasible it would have been done long ago?\n\nIt has never yet been possible; now it is possible. A hundred--or even\nfifty years ago it would have been nothing more than a dream. Today it\nmay become a reality. Our rich, who have a pleasurable acquaintance\nwith all our technical achievements, know full well how much money can\ndo. And thus it will be; just the poor and simple, who do not know\nwhat power man already exercises over the forces of Nature, just these\nwill have the firmest faith in the new message. For these have never\nlost their hope of the Promised Land.\n\nHere it is, fellow Jews! Neither fable nor deception! Every man may\ntest its reality for himself, for every man will carry over with him a\nportion of the Promised Land--one in his head, another in his arms,\nanother in his acquired possessions.\n\nNow, all this may appear to be an interminably long affair. Even in\nthe most favorable circumstances, many years might elapse before the\ncommencement of the foundation of the State. In the meantime, Jews in\na thousand different places would suffer insults, mortifications,\nabuse, blows, depredation, and death. No; if we only begin to carry\nout the plans, Anti-Semitism would stop at once and for ever. For it\nis the conclusion of peace.\n\nThe news of the formation of our Jewish Company will be carried in a\nsingle day to the remotest ends of the earth by the lightning speed of\nour telegraph wires.\n\nAnd immediate relief will ensue. The intellects which we produce so\nsuperabundantly in our middle classes will find an outlet in our first\norganizations, as our first technicians, officers, professors,\nofficials, lawyers, and doctors; and thus the movement will continue\nin swift but smooth progression.\n\nPrayers will be offered up for the success of our work in temples and\nin churches also; for it will bring relief from an old burden, which\nall have suffered.\n\nBut we must first bring enlightenment to men's minds. The idea must\nmake its way into the most distant, miserable holes where our people\ndwell. They will awaken from gloomy brooding, for into their lives\nwill come a new significance. Every man need think only of himself,\nand the movement will assume vast proportions.\n\nAnd what glory awaits those who fight unselfishly for the cause!\n\nTherefore I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring\ninto existence. The Maccabeans will rise again.\n\nLet me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who wish for a\nState will have it.\n\nWe shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully\nin our own homes.\n\nThe world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth,\nmagnified by our greatness.\n\nAnd whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare, will\nreact powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity."