## Author's preface >[!quote]- >"The idea which I have developed in this pamphlet is a very old one: the restoration of the Jewish State. >The earth resounds with outcries against the Jews, and these outcries have awakened the slumbering idea." >"Everything depends on our propelling force. And what is our propelling force? The misery of the Jews." >p. *ix* >[!quote]- Against Utopia >"... if I had described a Utopia on philanthropic lines; and I should also, in all probability, have obtained literary success more easily if I had set forth my plan in the irresponsible guise of a romantic tale. But this Utopia is far less attractive than any one of those portrayed by Sir Thomas More and his numerous forerunners and successors.", p. ix >- As the editor notes, Herzl would eventually set forth his Utopian vision in "Altneuland" >[!quote]- No insurmountable difficulties >"The plan would, of course, seem absurd if a single individual attempted to work it; but if worked by a number of Jews in co-operation, it would appear perfectly rational, and its accomplishment would present no insurmountable difficulties." >p. *x* ## Introduction >[!quote]- The Jewish question still exists >"The Jewish question still exists... It is a remnant of the Middle Ages, which civilised nations do not even yet seem able to shake it off, try as they will. They certainly showed a generous desire to do so when they emancipated us. The Jewish question exists wherever Jews live in perceptible numbers. Where it does not exist, it is carried by Jews in the course of their migrations. We naturally move to those places where we are not persecuted, and there our presence produces persecution." >p. 2 >[!quote]- Failure of assimilation >"We have honestly endeavoured everywhere to merge ourselves in the social life of surrounding communities, and to preserve only the faith of our fathers. It has not been permitted to us. In vain are we loyal patriots, our loyalty in some places running to extremes; in vain do we make the same sacrifices of life and property as our fellow citizens; in vain do we strive to increase the fame of our native land in science and art, or her wealth by trade and commerce. In countries where we have lived for centuries we are still cried down as strangers, and often by those whose ancestors were not yet domiciled in the land where Jews had already made experience of suffering. The majority may decide which are the strangers; for this, as indeed every point which arises in the commerce of nations, is a question of might." >"... it is useless for us to be loyal patriots, as were the Huguenots who were forced to emigrate. If we could only be left in peace... But I think we shall not be left in peace." >p. 3-4 >[!quote]- Affecting the assimilated >"The movement towards the organisation of the State I am proposing would, of course, harm Jewish Frenchmen no more than it would harm the 'assimilated' of other countries. It would, on the contrary, be distinctly to their advantage. For they would no longer be disturbed in their 'chromatic function', as Darwin puts it, but would be able to assimilate in peace, because Anti-Semitism, now active, would have been stopped forever. They would certainly be credited with being assimilated to the very depths of their souls, if they stayed where they were after the Jewish State, with its superior organisation, had become a reality." >p. 4 >[!quote]- Emigration societies >"The 'assimilated' give expression to this secret grievance in 'philanthropic undertakings'. They found emigration societies for wandering Jews. There is a reverse to the picture which were comic, if it did not deal with human beings. For these charitable institutions are created not for, but against, persecuted Jews - are created to despatch these poor creatures just as fast and as far as possible. And thus, many an apparent friend of the Jews turns out, on careful inspection, to be nothing more than an Anti-Semite of Jewish origin disguised in the garb of a philanthropist." >p. 5 > >[!quote]- No crises >"The departure of the Jews will involve no economic disturbances, no crises, no persecution; in fact, the countries they abandon will revive to a new period of prosperity. There will be an inner migration of Christian citizens into the positions evacuated by Jews. The outgoing current will be gradual and continuous, and its initial movement will put an end to Anti-Semitism. The Jews will leave as honoured friends, and if some of them return, they will receive the same favourable welcome and treatment at the hands of civilised nations as is accorded to all foreign visitors. Their exodus will have no resemblance to a flight, for it will be a well-regulated expedition under control of public opinion. The movement will not only be inaugurated with absolute conformity to law, but it cannot even be carried out without the friendly intervention of interested Governments, who would derive considerable benefits from it." >p. 6 ## The Jewish Question >[!quote]- Can we hope for better days? >"Can we hope for better days, can we possess our souls in patience, can we wait in pious resignation till the princes and peoples of this earth are more mercifully disposed towards us? I say that we cannot hope for a change in the current of feeling. And why not? Were we as near to the hearts of princes as are their other subjects, even so they could not protect us. They would only feed popular hatred of Jews by showing us too much favour. By 'too much', I really mean less than is claimed as a right by every ordinary citizen, and by every tribe. >Every nation in whose midst Jews live is, either covertly or openly, Anti-Semitic." >p. 8 >[!quote]- Causes of Anti-Semitism >"In the principal countries where Anti-Semitism prevails, it does so as a result of the emancipation of the Jews. When civilised nations awoke to the inhumanity of exclusive legislation and enfranchised us, our enfranchisement came too late. >"... we had, curiously enough, developed while in the Ghetto into a bourgeois people, and we stepped out of it only to enter in to fierce competition with the middle classes. Hence, our emancipation set us suddenly within this middle-class circle, where we have a double pressure to sustain, from within and from without." >[!quote]- Effects of Anti-Semitism >"The oppression we endure does not improve us, for we are not a whit better than ordinary people. It is true that we do not love our enemies; but he alone who can conquer himself dare reproach us with that fault. Oppression naturally creates hostility against oppressors, and our hostility aggravates the pressure. It is impossible to escape from this eternal round." >"We might perhaps be able to merge ourselves entirely into surrounding races, if these were to leave us in peace for a space of two generations but they will not leave us in peace. For a little period they manage to tolerate us, and then their hostility breaks out again and again. The world is provoked by our prosperity, because it has for many centuries been accustomed to consider us as the most contemptible and poverty-stricken. It forgets, in its ignorance and narrowness of heart, that prosperity weakens our Judaism and extinguishes our peculiarities. It is only pressure that forces us back to the parent stem; it is only hatred encompassing us that makes us strangers once more." >p. 10 >[!quote]- The plan >"Let the sovereignty be granted us over a portion of the globe large enough to satisfy the reasonable requirements of a nation; the rest we shall manage for ourselves." >"The Society of Jews will do the preparatory work in the domains of science and politics, which the Jewish Company will afterwards practically apply. The Jewish Company will see to the realisation of the business interests of departing Jews, and will organise commerce and trade in the new country." >"We must not imagine the departure of the Jews to be a sudden one. It will be gradual, continuous, and will cover many decades. The poorest will go first to cultivate the soil. In accordance with a preconcerted plan, they will construct roads, bridges, railways and telegraphs; regulate rivers, and build their own habitations; their labour will create trade, trade will create markets, and markets will attract new settlers; for every man will go voluntarily, at his own expense and his own risk. The labour expended on the land will enhance its value, and the Jews will soon perceive that new and permanent sphere of operation is opening here for that spirit of enterprise which has heretofore met only with hatred and obloquy." >- The **Society of Jews** would subsequently become the **Zionist movement** and the **Jewish Company** became the **Jewish Colonial Trust** >p. 11 >[!quote]- A "neutral piece of land" >"Should the Powers declare themselves willing to admit our sovereignty over a neutral piece of land, then the Society will enter into negotiations for the possession of this land. Here two territories come under consideration, Palestine and Argentina. In both countries important experiments in colonisation have been made, though on the mistaken principle of a gradual infiltration of Jews. An infiltration is bound to end in disaster. It continues till the inevitable moment when the native population feels itself threatened, and forces the Government to stop the further influx of Jews. Immigration is consequently futile unless based on an assured supremacy." >"The Society of Jews will treat with the present masters of the land, putting itself under the protectorate of the European Powers, if they prove friendly to the plan. We could offer the present possessors of the land enormous advantages; take upon ourselves part of the public debt, build new roads for traffic, which our presence in the country would render necessary, etc. The creation of our State would be beneficial to adjacent countries, because the cultivation of a strip of land increases the value of its surrounding districts in innumerable ways." >p. 12 >[!quote]- Palestine or Argentina? >"We shall take what is given to us, and what is selected by the Jewish public opinion. The Society will settle both these points." >"Supposing His Majesty the Sultan were to give us Palestine, we could in return pledge ourselves to regulate the whole finances of Turkey. We should there form a portion of the rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilisation as opposed to barbarism." >p. 12 >[!quote]- Demand, medium, trade >"In the earliest period of European railway construction some 'experts' were of opinion that it was foolish to build certain lines, 'because there were not even sufficient passengers to fill the mail coaches.' They did not realise the truth which now seems obvious to us - that travellers do not produce railways, but, conversely, railways produce travellers, the latent demand being, of course, taken for granted." >p. 13 >[!quote]- Purchase of land >"The land which the Society of Jews will have secured by international law must, of course, be privately acquired." >"... the Company requires large strips of territory for its own needs and ours, and these it must secure by private purchase." >p. 14 > >[!quote]- Buildings > >[!quote]- Unskilled labourers >"Our unskilled labourers, who will come at first from the great reservoirs of Russia and Romania, must, of course, render each other assistance in the construction of houses." >"On the whole, I am opposed to the Truck system, but it will have to be applied in the case of these first settlers. The Company provides for them in so many ways that it may take entire charge of their maintenance." >p. 16 >- The Truck system was a method of paying wages, passed by the British Parliament under the Truck Act of 1831. The system allowed for employers to pay their workers in goods or tokens, which could only be used at shops owned by their employers. >[!quote]- The seven-hours day >"There will be fourteen hours of labour, work being done in shifts of three and a half hours. The organisation of all this will be military in character; there will be commands, promotions and pensions..." >"A sound man can do an excellent piece of work in three hours and a half. After an interval of the same length of time - which he will devote to rest, to his family, and to his education under guidance - he will be quite fresh for work again. Such labour can do wonders." >"Women will not be allowed to perform any arduous labour, nor to work overtime. Pregnant women will be relieved of all work, and will be supplied with nourishing food by the Truck. We want our future generations to be strong men and women." >p. 16-17 >[!quote]- The labour-test >"The principle is: the furnishing of every necessitous man with easy, unskilled work, such as chopping wood, or cutting faggots used for lighting stoves in Paris households. This is a kind of prison-work before the crime, done without loss of character. It is meant to prevent men from taking to crime out of want, by providing them with work and testing their willingness to do it." >"In fact, there is very little room in an old-established society for the successful application of labour-tests. But there is room in a new society! For, above all, we require enormous numbers of unskilled labourers to do the first rough work of settlement, to lay down roads, plant trees, level the ground, lay down railroads and telegraph lines, etc." >p. 17-18 >- The "labour-test" refers to a measure of the British ["poor laws"](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/1834-poor-law/) which compelled the unemployed to undergo assessments and accept unskilled labour in workhouses in exchange for assistance >[!quote]- Commerce >"The labour carried to the new country will naturally create trade. The first markets will supply only the absolute necessaries of life: cattle, grain, working clothes, tools, arms, etc." >"The army of the Company's officials will gradually introduce more refined requirements of life. (Officials include officers of our defensive forces, who will always form about the tenth part of our male colonists. They will be sufficiently numerous to quell mutinies, for the majority of our colonists will be peaceably inclined.)" >p. 18 >[!quote]- Other classes of dwellings >"The Company's architects will build for the poorer class of citizens also, being paid in kind or cash; about a hundred different types of houses will be executed, and of course, repeated. These beautiful types will form part of our propaganda." >"If rich Jews begin to rebuild their mansions in the new settlement, where they are no longer surveyed with envious eyes, it will soon becomes fashionable to live over there in beautiful modern houses." >p. 19 >[!quote]- Some forms of realising non-transferrable property >"A fifth method, and one which might be particularly profitable, I shall merely indicate, because there are at present few and feeble extant examples of its working, however ready the modern consciousness may be to adopt them. Y. & Son might sell their undertaking to the collective body of their employees, who would form a cooperative society, and might perhaps pay the requisite sum by means of a Government loan, on which there would not be heavy interest to pay." >p. 20 >[!quote]- Some of the Company's functions >"On their arrival the emigrants will be welcomed by our chief officials with due solemnity, but without foolish exultation, for the Promised Land will not yet have been conquered; they will only feel that, poor as they are, they are on land of their own at last." >p. 22 >[!quote]- Method of raising capital >"The three methods of raising capital are: (1) Through "la haute finance"; (2) Through small and private banks; (3) Through public subscription" >p. 24 >"Not only poor Jews, but also Christians who wanted to get rid of them, would subscribe their small quota to this fund." >"All this could, of course, not be done without the express and definite assistance of interested Governments." >- Editor's note: The third was adopted and the Jewish Colonial Trust was capitalised at £2 million, in £1 shares ## Local Groups >[!quote]- Our transmigration >"Our cradles we shall carry with us - they hold our future, rosy and smiling. Our beloved graves we must, alas! abandon - and I think this abandonment will cost us covetous people more than any other sacrifice. But it must be so." >"And where will our presence be desired, so long as we are a homeless nation? But, we shall give a home to our people. And we shall give it, not by dragging them ruthlessly out of their sustaining soil, but rather by transplanting them carefully to a better ground." >p. 26 >[!quote]- Responsible men of the local groups >"We will provide easy tasks for those who are incapable of physical labour; for we must allow for diminished vitality in the poor of an already enfeebled generation. But the future generations shall be dealt with otherwise; they shall be brought up in liberty for a life of liberty. We will seek to bestow the moral salvation of work on men of every age and of every class; and thus our people will find their strength again in the land of the seven-hours day." >p. 28 >[!quote]- The phenomenon of multitudes >"Great exertions will not be necessary to spur on the movement. Anti-Semites provide the requisite impetus. They need only do what they did before, and then they will create a low of emigration where it did not previously exist and strengthen it where it existed before. Jews who now remain in Anti-Semitic countries do so chiefly because, even those among them who are most ignorant of history, know that numerous changes of residence in bygone centuries never brought them any permanent good." >"But when our desperadoes increase the value of the land by their presence and by the labour they expend on it, they make it at the same time increasingly attractive as a place of settlement to people who are better off." >p. 30 >[!quote]- Interesting prediction >"When the movement commences, we shall draw some men after us and let others follow; others again will be swept into the current, and the last will be thrust after us. These last hesitating colonists will be worst off, both here and there. But the first, who go over with faith, enthusiasm, and courage, will have the best of the bargain." >p. 32 ## Society of Jews and Jewish State >[!quote]- The "Promised Land" >"We know and see for ourselves that States still continue to be created. Colonies secede from the mother country. Vassals fall away from their suzerain; newly opened territories are immediately formed into free States. It is true that the Jewish State is conceived as a peculiarly modern structure on unspecified territory. But a State is formed, not by pieces of land, but rather by a number of men united under sovereign rule." >- Herzl frequently refers to the Jewish State as being formed on the "Promised Land", even before it has been decided where the state ought to be >p. 33 >[!quote]- The Occupation of Land >"When nations wandered in historic days they let chance carry them, draw them, fling them hither and tither, and like swarms of locusts they settled down indifferently anywhere. For in historic days the earth was not known to man. But this modern Jewish migration must proceed in accordance with scientific principles." >"One thing remains to be explained - namely, how the occupation of land according to local groups is to take place. >In America the occupation of newly opened territory is set about in most naïve fashion. The settlers assemble on the frontier, and at the appointed time make a simultaneous and violent rush for their portions. >We shall not proceed thus in the new land of the Jews." >p. 36 >[!quote]- Constitution >"I think a democratic monarchy and an aristocratic republic are the two most superior forms of a State, because in them the form of State and the principle of government are opposed to one another, and thus preserve a true balance of power. I am a staunch supporter of monarchical institutions, because these allow of a consistent policy, and represent the interests of a historically famous family born and educated to rule, whose desires are bound up with the preservation of the State. But our history has been too long interrupted for us to attempt direct continuity of ancient constitutional forms without exposing ourselves to the charge of absurdity." >p. 37 >[!quote]- Democracy >"A democracy without a sovereign's useful counterpoise is extreme in appreciation and condemnation tends to idle discussion in Parliaments, and produces that objectionable class of men, professional politicians. Nations are also really not fit for unlimited democracy at present, and will become less and less fitted for it in the future. For a pure democracy presupposed a predominance of simple customs, and our customs become daily more complex with the growth of commerce and increase of culture. *'Le ressort d'une démocratic est la vertu'* \[The driving force of a democracy is virtue], said wise Montesquieu. And where is this virtue, that is to say, this political virtue, to be met with? I do not believe in our political virtue; firstly, because we are no better than the rest of modern humanity; and secondly, because freedom will make us show our fighting qualities at first. I also hold a settling of questions by the public voice to be a foolish proceeding, because there are no simple political questions which can be settled by Ayes and Noes. The masses are also more prone even than Parliaments to be led away by heterodox opinions, and to be swayed by vigorous ranting. It is impossible to formulate a wise internal or external policy in a popular assembly." >"Politics must take shape in the upper strata and work downwards. But no member of the Jewish State will be oppressed, every man will be able and desirous to rise in it. Thus a great upward tendency will pass through our people, every individual by trying to raise himself, raising also the whole body of citizens." >p. 37-38 >[!quote]- Language >"It might be suggested that our want of a common current language would present difficulties. We cannot converse with one another in Hebrew. Who amongst us has a sufficient acquaintance with Hebrew to ask for a railway-ticket in that language? Such a thing cannot be done. Yet the difficulty is very easily circumvented. Every man can preserve the language in which his thoughts are at home. Switzerland affords a conclusive proof of the possibility of a federation of tongues." >p. 38 >- Editor's note: "The author changed this view when the feasibility of Hebrew as a living language was demonstrated to him." >[!quote]- Theocracy >"Shall we end by having a theocracy? No indeed. Faith unites us, knowledge gives us freedom. We shall therefore prevent any theocratic tendencies from coming to the fore on the part of our priesthood. We shall keep our priests within the confines of their temples in the same way as we shall keep our volunteer forces within the confines of their barracks." >"Every man will be as free and undisturbed in his faith or his disbelief as he is in his nationality. And if it should occur that men of different creeds and different nationalities came to live amongst us, we should accord them honourable protection and equality before the law." >p. 38 >[!quote]- The Army >"The Jewish State is conceived as a neutral one. It will therefore require only an army of volunteers, equipped, of course, with every requisite of modern warfare, to preserve order internally and externally." >p. 39 >[!quote]- The Banner >"I would suggest a white banner, bearing seven golden stars. The white field symbolising our pure new life; the seven stars, the seven golden hours of our working day. For we shall march into the Promised Land carrying the badge of labour." >p. 39 >[!quote]- "Universal brotherhood" >"It might be further said that we ought not to create distinctions between people; we ought not to raise fresh barriers; we should rather make the old disappear. But men who think in this way are amiable visionaries; and the idea of a native land will still flourish when the dust of their bones will vanished tracelessly in the winds. Universal brotherhood is not even a beautiful dream. Antagonism is essential to man's greatest efforts. >But the Jews, once settled in their own State, would probably have no more enemies, and since prosperity enfeebles and causes them to diminish, they would soon disappear altogether. I think the Jews will always have sufficient enemies, much as every other nation has. But once fixed on their own land, it will no longer be possible for them to scatter all over the world... Our present civilisation possesses weapons powerful enough for its self-defence." >p. 42 >[!quote]- Conclusion >"Let me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews wish to have a State, and they shall have one. >We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own home. >The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. >And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare will react with beneficent force for the good of humanity." >p. 44 ## Links A Jewish State: An Attempt at a Modern Solution of the Jewish Question By Theodor Herzl, first published in 1896 Revised from the English translation of Miss Sylvia D'Avigdor, with special preface and notes by Jacob de Haas Link: https://ia801303.us.archive.org/4/items/cu31924028579781/cu31924028579781.pdf