The jewish question in the concept of socialist zionism by Moses Hess

Abstract

The famous German revolutionary activist and publicist of Jewish origin Moses (Moritz) Hess (1812–1875) left a noticeable mark in the history of the formation of the ideology of Zionism, being one of the first to formulate the socialist principles of the future Jewish state. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that the concept of socialist Zionism, which M. Hess substantiated in the 1860s, was several decades ahead of the development of the ideology of Zionism itself, and also at the beginning of the 20th century determined the emergence of the ideas of Jewish socialism, which were reflected in the activities of the relevant revolutionary parties, especially in the Russian Empire (Poalei Zion, Zionist Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Jewish Workers Party, Tseirei Zion and others). Considering the importance of the conceptual ideas of M. Hess in the further development of the ideology of Jewish nationalism and socialism, it is worth analyzing the evolution of the ideas of M. Hess and determining his views on the solution of the Jewish question in the Western European countries of that time. The conclusions state that the emancipation policy applied by Western European states to the Jewish population in the first half of the 19th century, according to Hess, could not solve the Jewish question. Emancipation only created tension in the relations between Jews and non-Jews, because the latter chose the national principle of development. The non-Jewish society of Western Europe generally excluded Jews from its ideology of national culture. Hess rightly noted the contradictions of the policy of emancipation, which was based on the civilization ideas of the Great French Revolution, but was carried out under the condition of the national elevation of the European peoples. However, in the agrarian societies of Eastern Europe, the above-mentioned phenomena did not acquire the character of an open confrontation between Jews and non-Jews due to the weakly developed national factor and the noticeable influence of traditions. It was the last circumstance that inspired Hess in his concept of socialist Zionism. The religious idea of the collective immortality of the Jewish people should soon be embodied in «earthly Jerusalem», that is, in Jewish statehood on the territory of Palestine. However, the future Jewish republic, according to Hess’s ideas, will certainly be socialist, because the traditional society of Jews, especially in Eastern Europe, was socialist, that is, collectivist. The historical significance of Hess’s ideas was that he was one of the first Western European thinkers to warn of the dangers of the policy of emancipation of the Jewish people, which hid the threat of assimilation on the one hand, and racial anti-Semitism on the other hand. In the second half of the 19th century anti-Semitism in the countries of Western Europe became a noticeable factor not only in the development of national movements, but also influenced the ideological and political debate within socialist groups and parties, whose leaders were forced to take into account the national characteristics of the revolutionary struggle for the ideals of social justice. If we evaluate the concept of Hess through the prism of the revolutionary processes in the development of the Jewish people of Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, we can state that his ideas turned out to be a true prophecy, and the creation of the Jewish state in the middle of the same century was a natural result of the complex process of the national revival of the Jewish people.

Keywords

• Moses Hess
• Jewish question
• socialism
• Zionism
• Jewish identity crisis