The Socialist Bund has lessons for today
JVL Introduction
We are pleased to publish the speech made by Julia Bard on behalf of the Jewish Socialist Group at an online teach-in. She contrasts the nationalism of zionism – and especially what it has become with the commitment of the Socialist Bund: “Wherever we live, that’s where we belong.” There is a certain , perhaps understandable, pessimism in zionism that Jews do not belong in the rest of the world and this is challenged by Julia, while being clear about oppression across the centuries.
The Jewish Socialist Group, like JVL, works in the tradition of the Bund, not to exceptionalise Jews, but as Julia puts it: “to take the struggle for justice for Jews alongside non-Jewish socialists and in solidarity with others suffering discrimination or persecution. This was not just opposition to nationalism; it was a positive assertion of both internationalism and a concept called doykayt – “here-ness” – an idea that continues to give minorities the confidence to shout the slogan from the 1970s: “We’re here to stay; here to fight.”
LL
This article was originally published by Jewish Socialist Group. Read the original here.
Wherever we live, that’s where we belong
Two months into the war in Gaza, on 29th November 2023, a group of activists and academics organised an online teach-in on Jewish Solidarity with Palestinians entitled “Anti-Zionism, Activism and Liberation for All”. Julia Bard of the Jewish Socialists’ Group was one of the speakers.
Loading article text…
Why is it “perhaps understandable” in Zionism that Jews do not belong in the rest of the world?
I think it’s always useful for us to refer back to the Bund, especially at a time like this, when socialist Jews are being accused of antisemitism for attacking Israel.
The fundamental principles of the Bund are much the same as those of JVL: the right of migrant communities to integrate but not assimilate, solidarity with other migrant communities and those of the indigenous population (however defined) that share our view of the world.
We can and should see ourselves as their successors and be proud of our common heritage – always with the oppressed, never with the oppressor!
In response to Jack T’s question above. Two millennia of persecution. In the great historian Raul Hilberg’s neat formulation of what happened in history, ‘The missionaries of Christianity had said in effect: You have no right to live among us as Jews [enforced religious conversion]. The secular rulers who followed had proclaimed: You have no right to live among us [expulsion]. The German Nazis at last decreed: You have no right to live [the ‘Final Solution]’. It seemed everything had failed, including the humanistic, universal thinking behind the Bund. I was just a kid in the 1940s but I well remember, as the reports were coming out of Belsen, how Zionism did indeed seem the only reasonable counter to a sense of nihilistic despair. It didn’t to every Jew, even then, but you know, so many things in life, especially in politics, are over-motivated, especially once the backing of imperialists was sought.
We thought ‘safety’, others saw racist oppression.
Thanks Brian Robinson. There are many groups, who throughout the ages, have suffered persecution and discrimination. Therefore I wondered if by saying it was perhaps understandable that Zionists said they didn’t belong in the rest of the world, it was giving credence to their narrative that Palestine was the rightful home of all Jews as described by Nathan Birnbaum when he clarified the meaning of Zionism.
Good point Jack T. The difference may be the New Testament and Christianity, pulpit sermons, “the Jews” as Christocides. It became a background to everything.
As a non Jew I find these articles so enlightening. Julia brought up some of the history I was not aware of such as the Junta’s role in the Argentinian disappearances. There are so many aspects like this that builds the whole picture and should be put into context however embarrassing. More examples may educate the world so the truth prevails. Similar Truths should be told in other populations such as the indigenous groups around the world and the West’s complicity.