The Black Sheep: the Revisionist Union and the Zionism of the Interwar Era

Abstract

The early Revisionist movement had a number of specifics that distinguished it from the rest of the contemporary Zionist spectrum as well as from the post-independence Israeli right. Established by a group of Russian-Jewish émigrés, the Revisionist Union considered the post-1922 settlement in Palestine to be a failure. Though focused on Palestine, the activists themselves were usually based in the diaspora and disseminated much of their output in non-Jewish languages. Merciless criticism and mockery of Zionist officialdom were interwoven with practical proposals challenging the settlement methods and showing a preference for private capital initiatives, an urban-based economy and small-scale, export-oriented intensive farming. The activists made no secret of their ultimate goal (i.e. a Jewish majority in the country) and the primacy of the national interest, yet their version of ethnic nationalism included liberal notions and was also inspired by certain progressive reforms that had taken place in post-WWI East Central Europe.