Left-wing anti-Zionism - Historical Note

From the abstract of the article: "The Palestine Question in the Soviet Press in the 1920s and 1930s", Kesher No. 38 (2019):

The Soviet state and Party press invested much space in discussing events in and around Palestine. It was a major vehicle in presenting the Soviet leadership's official stance to readers in and outside the Soviet Union in all matters related to foreign policy. In the first half of the 1920s, the Soviet press reported with emphasis a "drastic turning point" in Great Britain's Middle East policy: "The general situation in the Near East has forced Britain to waive its policy of pro-Zionist bias and to tilt toward the Arabs," mainly due to "the growing strength of the [...] Arab national movement [...] in Palestine." 

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Soviet press indulged in active anti-Zionist propaganda of three main types. The first was comprised of ideological and political criticism of Zionism. Soviet publications termed Zionism the "idealistic national movement" and devoted much attention to "exposing" Zionism's class essence. Bogen called Zionism "the dream of the Jewish petite bourgeoisie, which lacks a class perspective." In the opinion of Broido, Deputy People's Commissar for Nationalities, Zionism is shunned due to the "class despair of the Jewish bourgeoisie, which was driven from its economic bastions by its powerful rivals: Russian, Polish, and American capital, etc." The "British imperialism" and "Jewish economic circles, which view Palestine as a convenient place to invest money," were considered the main pillars of the Zionist Movement. Hence the definition of Zionism as "the ally of British imperialism" and "spearhead of the capitalist colonization of Palestine." The press repeatedly spoke of the bankruptcy of Zionism. Similarly, from the second half of the 1920s (and regularly from the early 1930s onward), it commonly applied the term "Fascist" or "Social Fascist" not only to the European Social Democratic movement but to Zionism as well. Second, the Soviet press ran frequent descriptions of the horrors awaiting Jews who immigrated to the "Land of the Patriarchs." The evident purpose, quite clearly, was to reduce their numbers. 

The press described Palestine as a place where "unparalleled exploitation of workers is practiced" amid "a perceptible increase in prostitution, a phenomenon unmatched anywhere in the Jewish Diaspora." It also underscored the lack of minimum security for the immigrants, since "the British authorities have disavowed their promise due to unwillingness to offend the Arabs," whereas Zionist leaders "are afraid of making their relations with Britain, which are bad to begin with, even worse." The press made special efforts to present accounts of Jews who left Palestine for the Soviet Union. Third, the Soviet press contrasted the favorable outcomes of Soviet policy for the improvement of Jews' status in the USSR with the "failures" of Zionism. Especially noteworthy is the criticism that the Soviet newspapers brought against the Zionist Labor Movement and emphasis on the claim that "proletarian Zionism" lacks broad support among "workers of the soil and true proletarians." Conclusions were drawn from these arguments about the lack of support for Zionism among workers in Palestine (Bogen) or workers' mass abandonment of Zionist ideas (Drezen, Steinberg). Media publications posited the Soviets' Jewish resettlement projects against the Zionist programs that were geared to solve the Jewish problem. Thus, the Crimea plan sponsored by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) was termed "the bitterest fruit served up to the Zionist Congress in Vienna in 1925." 

At the outset of the Jewish resettlement project in Birobidjan (late 1920s—early 1930s), the Soviet press habitually stated that the British authorities would never allow Jewish sovereignty in Palestine. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Soviet pundits were wont to note the "perceptible change that has come about in the situation in Palestine." Thus, they spoke about the change in the composition of immigrants, "who are not only Zionist occupiers but also victims of the Fascist regime, fleeing for their lives from Germany to Palestine." The Soviet leadership viewed with concern the growing strength of anti-Jewish thinking among the Arabs, which they construed as evidence of the victory of Nazi propaganda. However, it smiled on the actions of the Arab "guerrilla fighters who are attacking the Zionist colonies, [which were] established on land confiscated [from the Arabs]." The Soviet authorities regarded the Zionist formula for the solution of the Jewish problem as "an intrigue of British imperialism," even though Jewry obviously was up against an unprecedented catastrophe. Only "the unification of the ranks of Jewish and Arab workers in Palestine and the establishment of a united front among all progressive elements" might, to the Soviet leadership's minds, solve the problem that had come about in Palestine.

I add:

An example of the convolutionism can be found in this booklet composed in 1939 by Paul Novick of the National Council of Jewish Communists

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