64 Friday, October 14, 1977

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Herzl Role Recalled in Urging Perpetuation of Zionist Organization

JERUSALEM—In order ment, the Jewish Colonial
to demonstrate the exist- Trust. A detailed report on
ence of the Zionist Organi- conditions in PaleStine was
zation as a permanent presented by Leo Motzkin;
national institution, Theodor
efforts were made to recon-
Herzl insisted that the Sec- cile the views of "political
ond Congress must be held Zionists," who supported
a year after the first.
Herzl in stressing the para-
Despite many obstacles and
mount importance of obtain-
attacks, it opened according ing a "charter" from the
to schedule in Basle on Aug.
Sultan; "practical Zion-
28, 1898.
ists," who wanted to lose no
There were twice as -time in stepping up settle-
many delegates as at the
ment work; and "cultural
First Congress, and this Zionists," who upheld the
time most of them were
ideology of Ahad Ha'am.
actually elected by Jewish
Among the new delegates
communities and Zionist
were Nahman Syrkin, the
societies. Significantly,
first ideologist of Socialist
there was a large contingent
Zionism, and the 24-year-old
from Russia and Galicia,
Chaim Weizmann.
including many Orthodox
The Third Congress, held
rabbis.
in Basle on Aug. 15-18, 1899,
In his opening address,
was concerned mainly with
Herzl attacked the commu-
political activities.
nal leaders and rabbis who
The "practical Zionists"
opposed Zionism, those
did not win approval for
"who pray for Zion and
their program of immediate
attack it in the same
settlement work, and
breath," and called for an
although there was much
effort to "conquer the com-
rhetoric about the impar---
munities." Where Zionism
tance of Hebrew culture, no
was attacked by heads of
practical decisions on the
communal institutions, local subject were adopted.
Zionists must try to have
Herzl was able to report
responsible and capable
on his meetings with the
men, who supported the
Kaiser in the previous fall,
national idea, elected to
which, although they pro-
positions of authority, he
duced no practical results,
said.
were of great significance
Among the most impor-
in enhancing the prestige of
tant practical decisions was
the movement.
one to establish the finan-
While Herzl's pre-emi-
cial instrument of the move-
nance was unquestioned, the

-

congress was by no means a
rubber stamp for his deci-
sions. There was vigorous
criticism of several features
in the constitution of the
Jewish Colonial Trust, and
Motzkin objected to what he
regarded as exaggerated
claims of political suc-
cesses, which, he believed,
would distract attention
from the need for patient,
constructive work.
Permanent arrangements
were adopted for the organi-
zation of the movement: the
small "Inner Actions Corn-
rnittee" (the executive) and
the "Large Actions Com-
mittee," which would meet
between congresses. "The
congress has passed out of
its boyhood; it has entered
the stage of manhood, Herzl
noted in his diary.
The Fourth Congress
(Aug. 13-16, 1900) was held
in London as a political
demonstration, and Herzl
began his opening speech in
English. Later, speaking in
German, he declared:
"England the great, Eng-
land the free. England
whose vision embraces the
seven seas, will understand
us and our aims."
It was a quiet congress;
recording little significant
progress. Weizmann joined
in the criticism of the glow-
ing reports depicting the
growth of the movement,
and the religious delegates,

led by Rabbi Jacob Reines
(later, founder of the Miz-
rachi), demanded that the
Zionist Organization abstain
from cultural work, fearing
that nationalist or secularist
education might be a dan-
ger to religious influence.

However, the congress
fulfilled the aim of bringing
Zionism to the attention of
British public opinion. The
leading newspapers com-
mented on the movement.
and Herzl met Lord Lan-
sdowne,' the foreign secre-
tary. and the private secre-
tary of Lord Salisbury, the
prime minister.
At the Fifth Congress,

held again in Basle on Dec.
26-30, 1901, Herzl was able
to report on his audience
with the Sultan Abdul-
Hamid. Many of the dele-
gates, however, especially
the Russians, were tired of
waiting for a diplomatic
miracle and insistently
demanded more practical
work in Palestine.
For the first time, an offi-
cial oppositionist group was
organized: the Democratic
Zionist Faction, led by Mot-
zkin, Weizmann and Martin
Buber. It had been formed
largely in reaction to the
clash over cultural activi-
ties at the Fourth Congress,
and aimed at a more deeply
rooted nationalism, in line
with the ideas of Ahad
Ha'am, more democratic
control of the movement,
and a program of cultural
activity among the Jewish
people.
Although it had only 37
delegates, the faction's
influence was out of propor-
tion to its numbers, since it
was the only organized
group at the congress, and
sometimes it appeared to
dominate the proceedings.
Towards the end of the
congress, the oppossition
marched out of the hall en
bloc in protest against a
procedural decision by
Herzl, but returned and was
able to get its resolutions on
cultural activities adopted.

(In reaction against this
decision, the Mizrachi was
founded in the following
year.)
The main importance of
the congress, perhaps, lay
in its success in completing
the organizational struc-
ture. The Jewish Colonial
Trust was now open for
business and the congress
resolved on the estab-
lishment of the Jewish
National Fund for the pur-
chase of land in Palest -

It also adopted a set. of
statutes for the Zionist
Organization. A Congress
Court was formed to settle
organizational disputes, and
provision was made for the
establishment of local Zion-
ist federations. In the
future, the congress was to
meet every two years, with
a •`Jahreskonferenz,•• more
limited in size, between
congresses.

Herzl stressed the impor-
tance of the completion of
this stable structure. which
did not depend on the ele-
ment of personality. "Only
the impersonal can
endure," he said. "Today no
one among us is
indispensable. This one or
that one may fall out of the
ranks; the cause itself goes
on." He was able to attend
only one more Zionist, con-
gress, but the cause went
on.

Henry Ford's Anti-Semitism, The Guggenheims' Jewish Devotions
Among the Many Historic Incidents in 'Great American Families'

Gore Vidal, in an
tecting the property of the
introduction to the fascinat-
worthy for 200 years whilst
ing stories about five fami-
protecting in the Bill of
lies in this country, "Great
Rights (that sublime after-
American Families" (W. W.
thought) certain freedoms
Norton), makes these inter-
of speech and assembly
esting observations:
which are still unknown
"The inventors of the
even now to that irritable
United States decided that
fount of America's political
there would be no heredi-
and "actual being. old
tary titles in God's country.
Europe.
Although the inventors were
"The inventors under-
hostile to the idea of democ-
stood human greed and self
racy and believed pro-
interest. Combining brutal
foundly in the sacredness of
cynicism with a Puritan
property and the necessary
sense of virtue, they used
dignity of those who owned
those essential drives to
it, they' did not like the idea - power the machinery of the
of king, duke. marquess.
state. If Karl Marx had
earl. Such a system of
taken seriously the debates
hereditary nobility was
of the inventors as set forth
liable to produce aristocrats
in the Federalist papers. his
who tended to mix in poli-
vision of the good society
tics (like the egregious Lord
might have been less pure
North) instead of politically
but the harvests in the vast
responsible burghers.
Ukraine might today equal
"But the inventors were
those of smaller Iowa.
practical men and the fed-
"From the beginning,
eral constitution that they
greed and vanity and envy
assembled in 1787 was an
were accepted by the inven-
exquisite machine that: with
tors as being the human
a repair here and a twist
norm and no-one thought to
there. has gone on - pro-
change the way people

-

were. In 1796, conservative
inventor John Jay wrote:
As to political reforma-
tion in Europe or eLsewhere.
I confess that..I do not
amuse myself with dreams
about an age of reason. I
am content that little men
should be as free as big ones
and }rave and enjoy the
same rights, but nothing
strikes me as more absurd
than projects to stretch
little men into big ones, or
shrink big men into little
ones...We must take men
and measures as they are.
and act accordingly.'

—

"That is the very voice of
the American inventors:
conservative. commonsen-
sical and just — within (as
opposed to the- age of)
reason."

The great families
recorded in this large and
extensively . illustrated vol-
ume are the Adamses. the
Vanderbilts. the Fords. the
Guggenheims. the Roose-
velts and the Rockefellers.
The Guggenheims are the

industrial giants who, like
the other families, acquired
power in the land. They
were Jewish immigrants
who never forgot their back-
ground. They were at the
outset synagogue minded.
They were philanthropic.
They came to the aid of
oppressed Jews.

The Guggenheims. as
depicted here, form an
inerasable chapter from
both American and Jewish
history. Their business ven-
tures are interlinked with
the charitable. They inter-
marry. their power is no
longer supreme. but the
family history is immense.

Of special interest in this
volume also is the story of
the Fords. written by David
Caute. As in the other fam-
ily portrayals. no punches
are pulled. The complete
story of the anti-Semitism
of Henry Ford is related
here. Here is Caute's
account: -

"Ford's populism was of
the most dangerous sort:
narrow. bigoted. racist. at
root profoundly author-
itarian. We have been
unfaithful to the White
Man's traditions and privi-
leges.' he declared in the
Dearborn Independent. the
weekly paper he purchased
in 1918. 'We have permitted
a corrupt orientalism to

overspread us...' On to Ellis
Island were pressing the
anarchistic scum of foreign
lands, hordes programmed
to destroy the United States.
In May 1920_he launched in
the Independent a 91-week
campaign dedicated to
exposing the 'international
Jew'. the Protocols of the
Elders of Zion (already
exposed as a forgery) and
the fact that Jews were
responsible for Bolshevism.
Wall Street. alcohol profit-
eering, gambling. short
skirts and rolled stockings,
jazz and cheap Hollywood
movies: 'Father of Psycho-
analysis a Jew'. But when
Aaron Sapiro. a Chicago
lawyer whom the paper had
accused of attempting to
defraud American farmers
on behalf of a Jewish inter-
national syndicate, sued
Ford for defamation, Ford
settled out of court.

"In July 1927 he
'announced his high regard
for Jews, his deep regret
that they had been cruelly
slandered in his paper. and
his own absolute innocence
in the matter — his subordi-
nates, evidently had been
solely responsible...

"Forty years after Ford's
anti-Semitic campaign. his
great-grand-daughter Anne
married Giancarlo Uzielli. a
Wall Street hanker and a
Jew. The present generation

of Fords have short memo-
ries not by default, but by
intention. Sadly enough.
Ford's own anti-Semitic
feelings were shared by the
one genius to whom he
accorded lifelong admira-
tion and devotion. his erst-
while employer and fre-
quent camping companion.
Thomas Edison. Ford trans-
ported Edison's Menlo Park
laboratory, the cradle of the
light bulb and the phono-
graph. from New Jersey to
Greenfield Village, and then
named the whole $30 million
museum the Edison
Institute.

"Edison's prejudices were
gospel to Ford."

The Ford story. as related
here. substantiates the -
that one of Ford's c.
friends. Thomas Edison.
was an anti-Semite.

The other biographers of
the great families in this
imposing work are V.S.
Pritchett, Peter Conrad and
Edward Jay Epstein.

This is a powerfully com-
piled account of the
dynasties under review. The
photographs are in them-
selves an historical com-
pilation and the stories
make revealing reading as
subjects that will be dis-
cussed for a long time to
come.