Zion and State: Nation, Class, and the Shaping of Modern Israel

by Mitchell Cohen

Overview

Zion and State explores the origins of the struggle between the left and right in Israel and the Zionist movement. Mitchell Cohen traces the emergence of Jewish nationalism and modern Jewish political ideologies in the late nineteenth century, the birth of Zionist political parties at the time of Theodor Herzl, and the genesis of Israeli politics through the first fifteen years of Jewish statehood.

Analyzing the political battles of the 1920s and 1930s, Cohen shows how the Zionist Labor movement led by David Ben-Gurion defeated the challenge of the right-wing Revisionist Zionists led by Vladimir Jabotinsky, demonstrating how the growing dominance of Labor made the birth of Israel possible. At the same time, the author argues that once in power, the labor movement's long-term policies were ultimately self-defeating and helped to lay the groundwork for its own undoing in the 1970s. This new and expanded edition of Zion and State includes a new preface and a new essay, "Between Revolution and Normalcy."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231079419
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	07/16/1992
Edition description:	Columbia University Press morningside ed
Pages:	338
Product dimensions:	0.73(w) x 6.00(h) x 9.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Mitchell Cohen is Professor of Political Science at Bernard M. Baruch College and at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. He is presently coeditor of Dissent.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Morningside Edition
Preface: The Vision of Zion and the Realities of Statehood
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliterations and Abbreviations
Part I. Foundations
1. Nations
2. Historical Crucible
3. Kernel and Shell
Part II. Struggle
4. From a Working Class to a Working Nation
5. Labour’s Road to Dominance I
6. Labour’s Road to Dominance II
7. Jabotinsky and the Challenge from the Right I
8. Jabotinsky and the Challenge from the Right II
9. Terms of Conflict
10. Consolidations
Part III. Statehood
11. Mamlakhtiyut I: Of Golden Calves and Messiahs
12. Mamlakhtiyut II: From Am Oved to Am M amlakhti
Conclusion: The Zionist Hedgehog and the Zionist Fox
Appendix: Between Revolution and Normalcy: Social Class in Zionist Political Thinking
Notes
Bibliography
Glossary
Index

Editorial Reviews

Incisive and fascinating.

The Nation

[Zion and State] pulses with intellectual energy and stimulating material.

Times Higher Education Supplement

An excellent and arresting account of Zionism from its origins through the Ben-Gurion period. . . . This provocative and thoughtful book is essential reading.

Middle East Review

A comprehensive and detailed account.

Current History

A major historical work, possessing trenchancy of thought, sweep of dimension, elegance of style, and felicity of insight . . . powerfully argued and persuasively articulated.

Judaism