Taken from “An Old New Land”, Adam Brukhis, Gefen Publishing House, 1992
Simple immigration and land purchases wasn’t enough to build a Jewish nation. Central to Herzl and the Rothschilds’ plan was a program of industrial development. With the support of the Sultan, they aimed to turn the Holy Land into the industrial heartland of the Empire.
The Rothschilds benefited greatly from a steady stream of educated Jewish immigrants from Europe, providing them with the technical know-how to build a modern industry. They established power plants, salt works, textile factories, telegraph stations, and machine shops. Following a rise in Bedouin raids on Jewish convoys, Colonel Yonatan Monash [1] oversaw the expansion of the local railway network, extending a line from Jerusalem to Eilat [2], and establishing an expanded rail depot at Lod, with facilities for the maintenance of locomotives. Jewish rail engineers also assisted in the construction of the Baghdad railway, with the hope of directly exporting local citrus products to Central Europe.
In 1903, the Russian-born scientist Moshe Novomeysky oversaw a geological survey of the Dead Sea area. Already a center for salt production, this would later be expanded into the Dead Sea Works [3], and the center for the Judean chemical industry...
Taken from “Go Out To The Fields: A History of Jewish Socialism”, Alfred Gil, University of Haifa Press, 1985
Socialism has been a part of Zionism for as long as there has been Zionism. The undisputed father of Zionist Socialism is Moshe Hess, who as early as 1862 argued for the establishment of a Jewish socialist state. Beyond being one of the earliest Zionists, Hess challenged Marx and Engels’ narrative that emphasized class and economic struggles above all, instead seeing race and nationalism as equally, if not more important [4]. This viewpoint strongly contributed to the split between early Zionist Socialism (sometimes called Hessism) and mainstream Marxist-Leninist theory, and is a clear precursor to Covenantism…
…It did not take long for socialism to become prominent in the Jerusalem Province. A large number of Ashkenazi immigrants, particularly the young ones, were Marxists of one sort or another. Many wrote passionately about the possibilities for socialism to take root in this new land.
One form of socialist activity almost unique to Judea is the kibbutz movement. Under Edmond de Rothschild’s Department of Planning, farmland was purchased (usually from absentee Arab landowners) and resold to Jewish buyers. Most of that farmland was acquired by collective settlements, known as kibbutzim. Often, these collectives were formed out of simple necessity, but many were driven by Marxist ideology, and other kibbutzim increasingly adopted Marxist ideals [5].
Unions popped up almost immediately. Several modern unions have claimed to be the first Jewish union in Judea, but in most cases, documentation is very spotty. Many early unions collapsed for one reason or another, and later unions would take their names. Early union activity was restricted largely to Ashkenazim, as Mizrahi and Sephardic immigrants often had little or no prior exposure to Marxism, and the language barrier was a major problem.
In 1901, Ber Borochov [6] founded the General Federation of Workers in the Holy Land (Algemeyn Farband fun Tuers in di Rukh Arts), commonly known as the Farband. Borochov sought to create an umbrella organization for all labor unions in the Holy Land. An avowed Marxist, Borochov initially ran into numerous problems. Unlike Dreyfus, Borochov advocated for Yiddish to be the official language of the Jewish community in Judea, but that made outreach to the Mizrahim and Sephardim all but impossible. He also hoped to bring the Arabs in, but found them unreceptive and often hostile. On February 12, 1902, the Central Committee of the voted to adopt Hebrew as their official language, arguably putting an end to the language debate, and taking the name they would be known as to history: the Histadrut [7].
The Histadrut’s efforts to organize workers ran into another, more traditional form of opposition: their employers. The Rothschilds, who owned many of the new industrial projects, were strongly opposed, as the Histadrut’s ultimate aims would have deprived them of their property. Dreyfus was dismissive of the Histadrut as “rabble-rousers”, and quietly drew up plans for Guard intervention to stop any major strikes. However, Herzl, while no Marxist himself, was sympathetic to at least some of their demands. In particular, he was attracted by the potential of the kibbutz movement, and favored state operation of natural resources. Herzl met with Borochov in July of 1902, and subsequently issued a series of edicts establishing workers’ rights in the Holy Land, including an eight-hour work day, overtime pay, and the right of unions to organize collectively. He refused to mandate collectivization of all businesses, as that would drive away investors, including the Rothschilds, but he did privately encourage Borochov to use union dues to buy shares in companies. Borochov was particularly successful in the machine shops, many of which became worker-run cooperatives with outside investors as minority shareholders…
Taken from “House of the Red Shield”, Israel Rubin, Tel Yafa University Press, 1989
On March 4, 1904, Governor Theodore Herzl died of cardiac sclerosis [8]. This was a body blow for the Zionist movement, as Herzl had served as both the leader of the Zionist Organization and Governor of Jerusalem. It also left open the matter of the succession. David Wolffson, Director of Commerce and a longstanding associate of Herzl, was favored by many within the Zionist Organization. However, Edmond de Rothschild was the more senior member of the Jerusalem government. Ultimately, the decision was made not in Jerusalem, but Constantinople, when on July 18, 1904, Edmond de Rothschild was named Governor of Jerusalem by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The following year, Governor de Rothschild was subsequently elected as the new President of the Zionist Organization, after agreeing to appoint Wolffson as the new Director of Settlement. [9]
Taken from “Go Out To The Fields: A History of Jewish Socialism”, Alfred Gil, University of Haifa Press, 1985
…The death of Herzl and the ascension of Rothschild was seen as an ill turn by the Histadrut, given the Rothschilds’ opposition to unions and Marxism. Some feared that Governor de Rothschild would try to roll back the reforms Herzl had agreed to. There was even an abortive effort at the 1905 World Zionist Congress to elect Borochov as the new President of the Zionist Organization. While that attempt failed, Borochov’s second-place showing raised his prestige in the Zionist community, and he was attracting increasing support.
In truth, the Histadrut was in a powerful position. Thanks to their ongoing efforts to buy majority shares in unionized businesses, they directly controlled (via union leaders) a significant percentage of the Jewish labor force. The Histadrut also operated a number of schools, charities, and even a synagogue in Jerusalem. Furthermore, Edmond de Rothschild had warmed somewhat towards the Histadrut based on the social benefits brought by Herzl’s moderate policies. He even appointed A.D. Gordon, one of the most prominent members of the Histadrut, as Deputy Director of Education, on the proviso that the Histadrut’s schools be brought into the state-run system. Shrewdly, he also appointed Mohammed Tahir al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem, as Director of Education, to ensure that the Arab schools received equal support. The Mufti had long been an opponent of Zionism, but found the offer of Rothschild funding for Islamic schools to be irresistible, and worked well with Gordon.
[1] While Dreyfus’ account uses his English name, Monash Hebraicized his name ITTL.
[2] ITTL, Eilat is not a separate city from Aqaba, but simply the Hebrew name for Aqaba. Arabic maps ITTL continue to refer to the city as Aqaba, just as they call Jerusalem “Al-Quds”.
[3] As IOTL, only Novomeysky’s survey happens eight years earlier.
[4] This is all OTL.
[5] The kibbutz movement is getting something of an early start – IOTL the first kibbutz was founded in 1909.
[6] IOTL, Borochov is considered the founder of the Labor Zionist movement. He emigrated to Palestine in 1906. I’ve brought him in a bit earlier.
[7] IOTL, the Histadrut wasn’t founded until 1920 (and its full name was slightly different). The key difference here is a much larger Second Aliyah and a wider range of organized labor. This Histadrut is also more explicitly Marxist.
[8] This is a few months before his historic death.
[9] IOTL, Wolffson succeeded Herzl as President of the Zionist Organization.