590

The Nation

Vol. 105, No. 2735

The Issues of the War and the Jewish Position

By

M.

I S MajestysGovernmentviews
withfavorthe
establishment in Palestine of a national home for the
Jewish people, and will useitsbestendeavorstofacilitate the achievement of this object, i t being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice
the
civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by
Jews in any other country.
InthesewordstheRight
Hon. A. J. Balfour, Secretary
of StateforForeign
Affairs,speakingfortheBritish
Government, admitstheJewish
people t o an equal status
withtheBelgians,theSerbs,the
Poles, andtheother
nationalities whose corporaterightsareinissueinthis
civil wartomakethe
world safefor democracy.They
arewords momentous forthe Jews,andmomentous
for
the world. Theymark,inmorewaysthan
one, the close
of an epoch inthehistory
of mankindinChristianEurope. Fromthe dayin theyear 339 when theEmperor
of Rome deprived his Jewish subjects
of the right to citizenship in his Christian
dominion, to the invasion of Belgium by Kultur, and beyond, Jewshave
collectively and
individuallylivedunderdisabilities
that ranged from the
rnedileval rigors of dynastic Russia and Junker-ridden Rumania to the fdding survivals
of social prejudice in England andAmerica.Indeed,
the democracy of acountry
can be accurately gauged by the attitude of its Government
and people towardstheirJewishcountrymen.
It istrue,
none the less, t h a t i n even the freest of countries certain
disabilities persist, and that anti-Jewish agitation,
onone
groundoranother,recurs
sporadically. Thatthis is natural,theverybriefhistorywhichaccruesto
democracy
inEurope makesevident.
Inlandswithfreeinstitutions
theenfranchisement of the non-Jewishmassesdates,
at
its most ancient, from the French
Revolution, and the enfranchisement of the Jew is hardly more than a
couple of
generations old. Inthe backwardstates,Jewssharethe
politicaldisabilities
of theproletarians:
a freeRussia
has meant a free Jewry, while no treaty can do anything
f o r theJews of Rumaniawithoutthe
relief of theterribly oppressed RumanianpeasantryfromtheirJunker
masters, if then.
The reason is that political establishments of the dynasticandbureaucratictype
use theJewsas
a convenient
bufferbetweenthemselves
andtherisingdiscontent
of
their peoples. Thus,whenthewarbrokeout,
seven and
more of the ten-odd million Jews in the world lived in RussiaandinAustria.
More than half of thesewere concentratedin
Poland,
Lithuania,
and
Galicia. Theirancestorshadsettledintheseregionscenturies
ago, on the
invitation of a Polishking, who needed them to build up
his Tartar-devastated country.
He had given them a charter, which
his
successors
extended
and
confirmed, and
underthischarter,whichwasignored
by participants
in the crime of the partition of Poland, but never revoked,
they lived withvaryingdegrees
of thefullnationalautonomy itgranted them.Theregionstheyinhabited
are
theeastern field of warfare. When itsfortunes revealed
totheRussian
people thetreachery of their Government,
the Government, aswasits
wont, used theJews as its
scapegoat, fathering on them all itscrimes.Their
con-

sequenttreatmentatthehands
of the simpleRussian
peasantarmiesleftnothingto
be desiredinatrocities.
The benevolent Poles added their noble bit, and the invading Germans, whose official classes are the protagonists of
an anti-Jewish philosophy, and whowere,moreover,
Playing politics with the
Poles,did not deviate from the
programme
which
has
so benefited
Belgium.
Thepresent
record of their treatment of the Jews in the invaded portions of Lithuania and Poland satisfies
even their rigorous
standards of frightfulness. So, of all the tragedies of the
war, the tragedy of the Jew has been the greatest. Enlisted
in all the armies of the fighting world, with the overwhelming bulk of them in the armies of the Entente, they were
permitted no portion in the cause for which they were pouring out their blood. That cause was peculiarly theirs. Yet
they were equally the victims of its enemies and defenders.
The position of the Jewish non-combatants in the wardevastated region was only terrible aggravation of their
position in times of peace. Wherever Jews were, they were
regarded as not quite belonging, as somehow foreign. The
aboriginal and basic cause of this regard is religious prejudice, and this prejudice derives from the peculiar position
of the Jewish people in the fundamental doctrine of Christianity. According to this doctrine the Jews had been Gods
chosen people. To them He had revealed Himself, with them
made his covenant, and t o them sent his only-begotten
son
for the redemption of sin-cursed mankind. The Jews, however,hadrejected
the God-bornMessiahandhadnailed
him to the cross. For this they were accurst by
God, cast
out beyond the pale of the society of the saved, t o live i n
disasteranddispersiontillthe
Messiahs second coming.
Every one in Europe knew this story of the Jew, from the
serfwithiron
collar roundhis neck tothe Holy Roman
Emperorwithaniron
crown on hishead.Europewas
Christian, and the story
fixed the Jews place, not only in
the religious, but in the political and social tradition of t h a t
continent. It set him beyond the law, tended t o make him
fearful, furtive, and fawning, to undermine his self-respect
anddestroyhisnervoussystem.
It madehimtheeasy
scapegoat for any malevolence any predacious power chose
to attribute t o him. By excluding the Jews from the common life of mankmd, it threw themback upon themselves
andtheir law. And their lawsavedthem.
Theintensive
elaboration of itsprescriptions,theintegration
of their
precariouscommunity,the
developmentandextension
of
their literary andphilosophic tradition gave them healthy
occupation.
Such
periods
of comparativefreedomfrom
persecutionrectified
theirintense self-consciousness with
the perspective of achievement in the Moslem and Christian
world. Without any territory definitely their own, with no
civil o r other rights before the law, without arms, or anythingbutanintense
self-consciousnessand
a loyalty t o
theirnationaltradition,theyconstituted,nevertheless,
an
imperium i n imperio.
Thisrenderedtheposition
of the individualJew peculiarly ambiguous-a
citizen of no land,yet a subject of
any ruler who chose t o claim him. In many cases he learned
t o think of himself as the scornful Christian thought of him.
He learned to resent the accident of birth into fellowship
with a peculiar people and the disabilities this birth
im-

Nov. 29,19171

The Nation

591

posed. When the French Revolution brought him the opporpowers areatwararemomentous.ModernEurope
betunity to enter the wider world, he was eager to abandon
ginswlththemedlzvalassumption
of theidentity
of
everythingwhichdistinguishedhlmfrom
his French or
churchandstate,thechurchusingthestatetoenforce
German or Russian or Polish neighbor, to abandon, that is,
religiousconformity.The
Middle Ages is theperlod of
thewholeculturalorganizatlon
of hls people. What is
religiouslmperlallsm.WlththeProtestantReformation
known as reform Judaism is this attempt at political and
thlsimperialism IS shattered,tobe
followed byreligious
nationalism.
States
disable
dissenters
wlth
the
infinite
social liberation by throwing over Jewishness.
It is assent
varietythattheingenuity
of thecreed-monger 1s so distotheChristianconceptionthatwhat
is Jewish is bad.
tinguishedfor.InProtestantismsectsmultlply,however,
Under its operation Jews became amateur Gentiles in the
andthealternativetotoleranceisanarchyorrebellion.
practices of life and Hebrews in the speech of those who
Hencelittle by llttletheabsolutedivorcebetweenchurch
wantedtoavoid
offence bycallingthemJews.
andstatewhichpoliticaltheoryadvocatedfromthe
beFor the last two generations, the Jews of the world have
of political pracbeen divldedintotwo
classes-the
small, well-to-do, as- glnnlng gets achieved in the compromises
tlce. Whathelpsmorethananythingelsetosecurethis
simllationistminority,anxious
toextirpateeverything
end
1s thesteadysecularization
of mankindbythe
subthat might stand between them and their ambitions in the
stitution of scientificindustrialandsstheticinterestsfor
Gentile world, and the great impoverished, persecuted, and
thereligiousones, so that finally citizenship is altogether
exploited maJority, constituting by any criterion you choose
detached
from adherence to a special confession.
a clear, defined nationality, hungry for freedom to live out
The
lost
political prerogative
of the church is, however,
its group-life in its own way, in its own land. The earliest
monopolized
by
the
nationality.
Democracy, brought
to
ideal expression of this hunger is the religion of this maEuropebytheFrenchRevolution,andthreatenedbyNajority wlth ritual and prayer directed towards the old agripoleonic imperiallsm,awakenedthesleepingnationalities
cultural economy of Zion, wheretoJehovahisinhis
own
of Europe to consciousness, the desire for unity, freedom,
good timetorestorehisscattered
people. Thelastand
andautonomy.At
first a calltoself-defenceandselfmost efficacious ideal expression of this hunger is Zionism.
respect,
as
in
the
utterances
of FichteandMazzini,the
This movement is the restatement
of the religious aspiracall tonationallty
became, undertheinfluence
of their
tion in terms, a humanistic, political, and social programme.
theorizingsuccessorsinGermany,
a call toaggression
It reenforcesthedevoutJewspowertosufferwiththe
andempireinthename
of nationalcultures.Religious
modernJewsimaginativecourageandpowerto
do. Its
imperialismwas
succeeded byculturalimperialism,with
leadershiphastwo
sources-those
Jewswhohadpassed
its extraordinaryAryanmyth,
its monstrousmissionary
throughtheassimilationiststageand
come out on the
paranoia, its demand that all mankind shall abandon their
other side, and those who had grown up within the great
own grown fruits of the spirit to live by that made in GerJewishcommunityandhadassimilatedtotheHebraic
many. From the centre there, the venomous infection spread
spirit of their inheritance the whole achievement of modern
to Russla, to Turkey, and Messrs. Roosevelt and Maxse are
civilization : Theodor Herzl, Max Nordau. Israel Zangwill,
signs that even the United States and England did not esLouis Brandeis, the Rothschilds ; Achad Haam, Tschlenow,
cape touch of it. Pan-Germanism and policies of GermaniSokolow, Wolffson, theWissotskis,the
whole line of neofication were paralleled by Pan-Slavism and policies of RusHebrew and of Yiddish poets and historians and thinkers.
sification, and so on,down the line of national hegemonies
Zlonism met, of course, with instantaneous resistance from
incentralandeasternEurope.Englandalone,thanksto
the assimilationist interests, they being terrified lest they
the character of her empire, escaped the evils
of infection,
should lose the position for which they had paid so heavily.
andtheeventualities
of thewarhaveshownhowwise
F o r Zionismasserts all theyhadbeen
at painstodeny.
herdemocraticstatesmanshiphasbeen.
Its issueshave
Regardingthefacts,
it declarestheJews
a nationality
justified her, as they have,
even more, America.
equallyentitledwithotherstolife,liberty,andthepurWhattheyhavetaughtthedemocracies
of theworld
suit of happiness.They,regardingtheirflesh-pots,deis essentiallythis:thatthereisnomorenecessary
conclared them to be
a religious sect, not otherwise different
nectionbetweennationalityandcitizenshipthanbetween
fromtheFrench,Germans,English,Russians,
or Poles
religionandcitizenship.Anationalityis
a veryintimate
amongwhomthey
live. Zionism,regardingthefacts,deform of historicandculturalcreativeassociation,related
clares that the people must for themselves establish their
to the group as personality
1s totheindividual.
To funcstatusanddestiny.Assimilationism,regarding
its social
tion effectlvely, it mustbeevenfreerandmoreself-govposition, tries to legislate for the Jewish nationality from
erned than a church. A state is
a secondary form of assowithoutand above. It confrontedtheJewishdemocratic
ciationdesignedbythosewhoparticipatein
it. I am
statesman with the H o f - J u d e , numbers with money,idealspeaking, of course, fromthedemocraticstandpoint-to
ism with an appeal to self-interest.
It fought a losing fight
securethemlife,liberty,andthepursuit
of happiness.
from the start.
Anationalityiscreative,
a state regulative. The states
So $hesituation
defined itselfwhenGermandynastic
businessistopreventtheencroachmentorpersecution
aggressionstarted
its assault upon civilization, compelof individualsandassociations
upon andbyoneanother,
ling the worlds thought to turn its attention finally upon
to keep opportunity equal, to do justice.Citizenship,thus,
theultimatecauses
at issue.Thesurvey
of thehistory
is independent of nationalityand
safeguard of it, as it
of democracy in the western world, of the rise and developis of religion,ineveryfree
land-in
Switzerland,inthe
mentandoperationthere
of theprinciple of nationality,
UnitedStates,intheBritishEmpire.
Just states,free
revealed theinterdependenceandneutralimplications
of
states,securefreedom
of nationalityasthey
do freedom
both
repeatedly
outlined
in
the
statements
of Messrs.
of worship.
Asquithand
Lloyd George
and
President
Wilson. The
Now it is freedom so understood that the Jewish people
eventsleadinguptotheends
for whichthedemocratic
havealwaysrepresented.Loyaland
devoted citizens of

592

The Nation

whateverstatetheyllvedin,theyhavealsoremained,
masse, a self-reverentnationalcommunity,anhistoric
organizationtrueto
its tradltions of spiritandvision.
Theyarehistorysgreatestandoldestincarnation
of the
casus belli. Their record of significant contribution to the
economic andpolltlcalliberation
of the peoples of Europe
derivesdirectlyfromtheirownnationalconstitutionand
the life it enjoined, and it 1s a record made in the process
of theirundergoing a hundredBelgiantragedies.For
a
millennium and a half the whole of Europe has waged war
uponthem,bitterandrelentless.Theyhavesuffered
it
withoutresistance,andtheyhavesurvived.Theyarethe
living refutation of the whole Teutonic philosophy of militaryenterprise.Enoughfoodtokeeplifetogetherand
tonourishthecominggeneration,
a system of education,
perseveranceintheendeavors
of peace, loyaltytothe
spiritualforms of the group-life-these,
notwar,givea
culture life, and cause
it to prevail. What the Jewish nationality has ever asked for,
hence, has been, not the sovereigntythatconstitutes
a state,butfreedomtoachieve
those excellences appropriateto
its nature,andthrough
this achievement to make its contribution to the free-trade
of the spirit among nationalities that we call civilization.
Zion~sm.saysMr.JustlceBrand&,
seeks to estabhsh In
Palestine, for such Jews as
choose to go and remain there, and
for their descendants, a legally secured
home, where they may
live togetherandlead
a Jewish life,wheretheymayexpect
ultimately t o constitute a majority of the population, and may
look forward t o what we shouldcall homerule.The
Zionists
seek to establish this home in Palestine because they are convinced thattheundynglongmg
of JCWS forPalestme
1s
fact of deepestsignificance; that it is a manifestationinthe
struggleforexistence
by anancient people which hadestablished its right t o live-a people whose three thousand years of
civilizationhas
produced a faith,culture,andindividuality
which enable them t o contribute largely in the future, as they
had in the past, t o the advance of civilization; and that it is not
a right merely, but a duty of the Jewish nationality to survive
and develop. They believe that there only canJewishlife
be
fullyprotectedfromtheforces
of disintegration; that there
alone can the Jewish spirit reach
its full and natural development; and that by securing for those Jews who wish to settle in
Palestme the opportunity to do so, not only those Jews, but all
other Jews will be benefited and that the long perplexing Jewish Problem will, a t last, find solution.

Andinthecourse
of a generationtheyhavelaidin
Palestinethefoundationforthe
excellences theyhopeto
attain.Inthisland,desolatethroughneglect,theyhave
built,againsttheresistance
of natureand of man,with
great devotionandhardship,fortyprosperous,self-governingagricultural colonies ; fortheslums
of itscities
they had begun to substitute modern sanitary dwellings
;
for disease,hygieneandhospital service; for
a mediwal
and restricted educational system, a radically modern
one,
from kindergarten to university, and to be directed by the
society of teachers,
not
trustees,
nor
Aldermen.
Their
chiefinstruments-theJewishNationalFund,theJewish
Colonial Trust,theAnglo-Palestine
Company-are
constituted uppn the principle of democratic control of the fiscal
andindustrialmachinery
of thenation,andtheiruse
aimed always to eliminate as nearly as might be the avoidableinjusticeswhicharethesocialproblems
of modern
states.Thewarhasendangeredthis
whole achievement.
It has brought death and starvation to Palestine
also, and
hasthereunderminedthecredituponwhichthework
is done. Yet so completelydid the fiscal instruments of
Zionism have the confidence of the non-Jewish as well as
the Jewish population of Palestine that its paper was pre-

[Vol. 105, NO.2736

ferredabove all others,eventhat

of the Government. It
and the other instltutlons are under English charter. They
havebeenshaken,butbytremendousefforttheZionists
havekeptthemfromshattering.
Theassociation
of ZionismwithEnglanddatesfrom
its
very
beginnmgs.
The
English
mind
understands
nationality. Its statesmanshiphasbeensympathetictowards the Zionist programme from the days
of Joseph Chamberlain on. Mr. Balfours declaration
is but the most recent
stepinthefulfilment
of theEnglishdesire
t o helpright
thegreatest of historicwrongs.
It is asteptaken,the
Zionist Organization confidently infers, with the approval
of all the Entente Powers, and will have the unquestioned
support and approbation of the Government of the United
States. The statement
is issued,moreover, at the moment
when theagitation of anti-JewishJewsagainstZionism
ismostintense,and
is thedlrect
effect of negotiations
of more than two years between the Zionist Organization
and the British Government.
It is a first step in the candidanddisinterestedapplication
of theprinciple of nationality to the solution of international problems.
Of those,theJewishproblem
is t h e oldest. Its solutionthroughZionismbytheconcentration
of a freeand
self-governingandcreativecommonwealth
of Jews in the
Palestinian homeland rests upon the fact that the existence
of such a commonwealthwillabolishtheambiguity
of
theJewishpositionelsewhere.AJew
will beabletosay
withreferenceto
a definitepoliticalJewish
entity-I
belong there or I do notbelongthere.IftheBelgian,
Servian,Russian,oranynationalitydoesnotconstitute
a problem as do theJews,
it is becausethesepeoples
actually inhabit as maJorities politically definite areas universallyacknowledged to be theirhomelands.The
definition by public law
of the ancient home of the Jewish people as their actual centre of life will work the same effect
for the Jews. This
is the intention of Mr. Balfours statement. By virtue
of it, the Jewish people appears, f o r the
first time since the destruction
of Jerusalem by Titus, as
arecognizedequalin
the family of nationalities, acknowledged assuchbytheforemostdemocraticcommonwealth
in the world. By virtue
of i t a n evil thing has gone out
of Europe,neverto
come back. Its implicationsarenot
merely the conditions and purposes of the war. Its implicationsare science, industry,democracy,thewholegrowth
of thattorturousand
bloody liberation of themasses of
men from their oppressors in which consists the humanization of mankind.

Winter Twilight
NOVEMBER)
By BLISS CARMAN

OW Winter at the end of day

Along the ridges takes her way,

Uponhertwilightroundtolight
The faithful candles of the night.
As quiet as a nun she goes
Withsilverlampinhand,to

close

Thesilentdoors
of duskthatkeep
The hours of memoryand sleep.