The Founding Myths of Israel: Nationalism, Socialism, and the Making of the Jewish State is a book by Zeev Sternhell. It was published in Hebrew in 1995, in French in 1996 and in English in 1998. The stated purpose of the book is an analysis of the ideology and actions of labor Zionism in the period before the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In that period labor Zionism's leaders dominated the institutions of the pre-'48 Palestinian Jewish community. Sternhell's thesis is that the actions and decisions of the leaders of labor Zionism were guided by a nationalist ideology, and not by a socialist ideology. In the "Introduction" and the "Epilogue" Sternhell extrapolates this attitude of the leaders to Israeli politics and argues that nationalist policies have overshadowed social and liberal policies for a long time and are still endangering Israel's ability to develop as a free and open society.
Questions that Sternhell investigates are: Was a unique synthesis between socialism and nationalism ever achieved in Palestine? Did the founders intend to create an alternative to bourgeois society, or did they renounce the social objective from the beginning as incompatible? Was equality a genuine goal, however long-term, or was it only a mobilizing myth? Was the nationalism of Labor Zionism and its practical expression, the conquering of the land, in any way special? Did it have a universalistic, humanistic and rationalistic basis that distinguished it from the nationalism flourishing in Eastern Europe? Did it ever have the potential to overcome the religious substance of Jewish nationalism, and thus establish a liberal, secular and open society, at peace with itself and its neighbours? Sternhell's answer to the first five questions is "no".
The book has received considerable attention. It was the topic of a conference at the distinguished Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem and the subject of the lead review in the weekly literary supplement of Ha’Aretz newspaper.
About the author Zeev Sternhell (1935–2020) was an Israeli historian and political theorist, famous for his analysis of the rise of Fascism. He was former head of the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an occasional columnist for Haaretz newspaper.
Introduction of the book Sternhell says Labor Zionism's ideology was dominated by nationalism and not by socialism. He introduces the term "nationalist socialism" to describe a variant of socialism of which Labor Zionism was the Jewish version. He writes: "'Constructive socialism' is generally regarded as the labor movement's great social and ideological achievement, a unique and original product, the outstanding expression of the social needs and conditions of the country. But in reality, far from being unique, constructive socialism was merely an Israelite version of nationalist socialism."p. 6-7 Socialist roots had been more important in the beginning, but the Marxists became progressively less influential and the followers of Ber Borochov, a Marxist Zionist, disbanded even before the start of the British Mandate. Aaron David Gordon's (1856–1922) teachings dominated the ideology of the Zionist labor movement throughout its existence. His ideas corresponded to the teachings of tribal nationalism in Europe. Zionism defined the Jewish people as a nation and as such was incompatible with ideologies that used other ways of categorising people. Marxism and socialism categorised people in classes, liberalism was based on the idea of man as an autonomous individual. Contrary to Marxism labor Zionism did not engage in a class struggle. It followed rather a strategy of cooperation between workers and capitalists for the benefit of the nation. All had to contribute to the ability of the nation to compete against other nations.
According to Sternhell the main objective of labor Zionism was to conquer as much land as possible. He cites Ben-Gurion, the head of the Histadrut, in December 1922, 'making a declaration of the intentions to which he adhered throughout the rest of his life': [...] The possibility of conquering the land is liable to slip out of our grasp. Our central problem is immigration ... and not adapting our lives to this or that doctrine. [...] We are conquerors of the land facing an iron wall, and we have to break through it. [...] How can we run our Zionist movement in such a way that [... we] will be able to carry out the conquest of the land by the Jewish worker, and which will find the resources to organise the massive immigration and settlement of workers through their own capabilities? The creation of a new Zionist movement, a Zionist movement of workers, is the first prerequisite for the fulfillment of Zionism. [...] Without [such] a new Zionist movement that is entirely at our disposal, there is no future or hope for our activitiesp. 21 Similarly, Katznelson said in 1927 that the Histadrut existed 'to serve the cause of conquering the land'. Thus the Zionist leadership saw the Ahdut HaAvoda party and the Histadrut as tools to reach their final goal of conquest of the land and creation of a Jewish state. It was primarily interested in effective ways of exercising power. The true nature of labor Zionism was Ben-Gurion's principle of the primacy of the nation and the supremacy of the state over civil society.
After 1922 there was not much discussion about ideology in labor Zionism. According to Sternhell the reason for this was that Ben-Gurion's principle of the primacy of the nation was accepted by the other leaders, and that the leaders didn't want an ideological discussion that might cause conflicts. They wanted the whole labor Zionism movement to work together towards their goal of a Jewish state.
Chapter 1 - The primacy of the Nation: Aaron David Gordon and the Ethos of Nation-Building According to Sternhell the thought of Aaron David Gordon (1856–1922) was the main inspiration for the ideology of Labor Zionism. The attitudes and policies of the founders and leaders of mainstream Labor Zionism were all in line with his ideas. Gordon was a founder and member of the Hapoel Hatzair party, that fused in 1930 with the Ahdut HaAvoda party into the Mapai party, which included all of mainstream Labor Zionism. Ahdut HaAvoda was established in 1919 by non-party people and the right wing of the Poale Zion-party under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion. Both Hapo'el Hatza'ir and the non-party people were nationalists and anti-Marxists. According to Sternhell right wing Poale Zion had very similar ideas. Sternhel refers to the founders of these parties, who subsequently became the leaders of Labor Zionism, as "the founders". They all came to Palestine during the Second Aliyah (1904–1914).
Gordon's thought can best be typified as "organic nationalism". The nation was seen as a body and this body was more important than its parts, the individuals. Individuals who did not participate in the nation were seen as parasites. As long as the Jewish people was in exile it was seen as parasitic. It lived on and followed the work and creativity of other peoples. Gordon wrote that the Jewish people was "broken and crushed ... sick and diseased in body and soul". He said that this was because "we are a parasitic people. We have no roots in the soil; there is no ground beneath our feet. And we are parasites, not only in an economic sense but in spirit, in thought, in poetry, in literature, and in our virtues, our ideals, our higher human aspirations. Every alien movement sweeps us along, every wind in the world carries us. We in ourselves are almost nonexistent."p. 48 The principle of the nation's primacy was dominant. The aim of the founders was not to save Jewish individuals, but to save the Jewish nation.
Gordon saw physical labor as the key to solve all problems of the Jewish people. It was the prerequisite for spiritual life, for the reform of Jewish individuals and for the renewal of national existence, and it was the true instrument for conquering the land and restoring it to the Jewish people.p. 64 Moreover, by working together and abandoning parasitism, the workers would "constitute a body" that would shift power from the sphere of the capitalists to that of the workers and make socialism redundant. In Gordon's opinion socialism was even detrimental, because it split the nation among class lines, it opposed personal and national renewal and it denied the primacy of the nation. Gordon wrote: "we are closer to our own 'bourgois' than to all the foreign proletariats in the world."p. 67
Gordon also held that labor gave the Jewish nation a right to the land. He wrote: "Land is acquired by living on it, by work and productivity", and "the land will belong more to the side that is more capable of suffering for it and working it".p. 68,69 After World War I he also included historical work and creativity in his claim. In 1921 he wrote: 'For Eretz Israel, we have a charter that has been valid until now and that will always be valid, and that is the Bible [... including the Gospels and the New Testament ...] It all came from us; it was created among us. [...] And what did the Arabs produce in all the years they lived in the country? Such creations, or even the creation of the Bible alone, give us a perpetual right over the land in which we were so creative, especially since the people that came after us did not create such works in this country, or did not create anything at all.'p. 71-2 According to Sternhell 'The founders accepted this point of view. This was the ultimate Zionist argument'.
Chapter 2 - The Worker as the agent of National Resurrection In a 1955 speech commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Second Aliyah Ben-Gurion reviewed the nature and achievements of the labor movement. He considered "the concept of labor as the key idea of the Jewish revival" to be the special contribution of the Second Aliyah to Zionism. The search for a way "to guarantee Jewish labor" led to the birth of communal settlements, and not any theory. According to Sternhell Ben-Gurion believed that the question of workers was not only a social but especially a national question, and that it were the Jewish workers who gave the Yishuv its live and preserved it from destruction and decay. In the speech Ben-Gurion repeatedly stressed that the building of the land had been achieved "without any preconceived theory". He considered this "independence of thought" the greatest virtue of the Second Aliyah.p. 74,75
Sternhell says the people of the Second Aliyah had a sense of chosenness among them. They went to Palestine when only a tiny minority of emigrating Jews went there, they suffered hardships, uncertainty and loneliness in the early years, but they also knew how to build a nation and were convinced that they had the right to dictate the path of those who came after them.p. 79,80