3 November 2014

National Zionism and Bundism - Not Contradictory but Complimentary: A reply







The Jewish Bundist Movement was originally formed in 1897 it formed around the same year of the World Zionist Congress who according to the original Bund was aiding in the spread of anti-Semitic propaganda. This has caused a huge split between Zionism, who is seen as an enemy to the Jewish world, and the Bundists, who was fighting for Jewish culture. This leads me to my reply to this post on our blog


http://socialistworkerspartyengland.blogspot.com/2014/10/national-zionism-and-bundism-not.html     


At first glance I can see how the SWPE's NatZionism could be complementary since in Jewish tradition they can't return to Palestine till the coming of the Messiah. They can employ Bundism for the time being and during the Messianic age employ NatZionism. But the issue comes to the very nature of Zionism itself which from the very birth has always been antagonistic to the Jewish religion itself while Bundism was not and fostered unity amongst Judaism in general. This antagonism will exist even with the NatZionist theory as long as they reject the Yiddish language, doikayat, and the Jewish culture as the heart of the Jewish people there can be no co-existence between the Bund and any form of Zionism. 

I don't really see it as a middle way between assimilation and Zionism and it sure isn't anything like multiculturalism. If anything it is a fourth-way which allows Jews to exist within society and contribute. The early Jewish Labour Bund wanted to create their own society that didn't effect the non-Jewish society. They wanted to segregate Jews from the rest of society in my opinion this is more desirable than effecting the autonomy of a whole civilisation of people as Zionism has done. It will on,y require the creation of Autonomist Jewish Communes like the early Zionist Kibbutzim. 


Here are some links so that the readers can learn more about the Bundist movement: 


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundism

http://www.bundism.net

http://bundist-movement.org


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