Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 44

The Executive of the World Union communicated its decision "by letter to the Zionist Executive and appended thereto its •observations on the future role of the Zionist Organisation. The Executive replied in a letter of May 10th, in which it stated : The resolution adopted by the Zionist General Council at its last session, cited by you as the reason for your action, which we greatly regret, does not indicate any fundamental change in the attitude of the Zionist Organisation towards its Revisionist members. The Zionist Organisation has always strictly upheld the principle that every Zionist, while enjoying complete personal freedom of opinion, is bound in all Zionist matters to accept and obey the decisions ■of Congress and of the bodies elected by it. The resolutions passed at the last Congress and also at the recent session of the General Council did no more than restate explicitly an obligation which is axiomatic, but which a series of regrettable offences, hitherto patiently :borne, against Zionist duty and national solidarity, make it necessary once more to emphasise. The Zionist Organisation, whose status and functions as the body representing the Zionist will of the Jewish people naturally remain unchanged, is, as it has always been, open to Zionists of all parties and shades of opinion, who whilst enjoying the same rights, are willing to undertake the same obligations as all other Zionists. 12. Efforts to mitigate Party Differences. 1. The first year of the period of this Report was full of rsharp attacks upon the Executive and conflicts of the parties among •one another. The fact that the Executive elected at the 18th Congress did not include all the groups represented in the former coalition was regarded by many in the minority parties, who had distinguished themselves in the past by a greater sense of responsibility, as an .admissible ground for throwing doubt upon the validity of the resolutions adopted by the Congress majority, for disparaging the .-authority of the Executive, undermining the official Funds and collections, threatening secession and splits, and carrying a constant fight that threatened to undermine the foundations of the Organisation. The Executive was obliged to devote its energies to a considerable extent to warding off these attacks aimed against the Organisation in general. There developed simultaneously between the individual party camps an even more dangerous active opposition which found ever new fuel in the events in Palestine, in the separatist and boycott activity of the Betar, the Petition movement of the Revisionists, the establishment of a Revisionist Trade Union, and the trial of the persons accused of the murder of Dr. Arlosoroff. This fight was not confined to polemics in newspapers and meetings but took the form of abusive criticism in the press, malicious exposure of party opponents to hostile external factors, disturbance of meetings, physical attacks upon Zionist leaders and offices, and serious clashes which aroused public attention and damaged the Zionist repute. 44