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ABSTRACT
The article offers an empirical foundation through which the electoral behaviour of the new Oriental immigrants into Israel during the 1950s can be interpreted, based on the assumption that their conduct was, in fact, rational. It focuses on the egalitarian wage policy in the important public sector, which led Ben-Gurion and the leaders of Israel's first ruling party, MAPAI, to a confrontation with the European academically educated middle class, and on the political–electoral strategy of MAPAI vis-à-vis the Oriental immigrants during the 1950s electoral campaigns. The article discusses three assumptions: first, that this wage policy was part of the ruling party's attempt to address the interests of the new Oriental working class; second, that this political strategy was publicly discussed, and it addressed the Oriental immigrants’ rational socio-economic calculations for the purpose of securing their political and electoral support; third, that the leaders of nascent Israel and its ruling party presented this policy as a measure towards creating a minimal socio-economic foundation for the process of nation-building during the 1950s.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. In Hebrew, the traditional Jewish term ‘Sephardim’ denotes Jews from Muslim countries in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa, as well as certain Christian countries in Southern Europe that formed part of the Ottoman Empire. In this article, I use the term ‘Oriental immigrants’.
2. A traditional Jewish phrase denoting the origin of most European Jews and their offspring.
3. Central Bureau of Statistics, 1958, Table 11. S. Amir estimates that the educational capital (index denoting average monetary investment in education) per person among 1950s immigrants was approximately 57 per cent of pre-independence immigrants’ educational capital. Moreover, the particular kind of development the State required demanded workers who were familiar with Israel's social networks and political establishment, meaning, yet again, the veterans. The Oriental immigrants had the lowest educational capital per capita. S. Amir, ‘The Increase of the Education Level Among the Jewish Population and Working Public in Israel 1950–1980’, in Collected Discussion Documents (Jerusalem: Bank of Israel Research Department, 1985), Vol.9, 85.05 (Hebrew).
4. Among scholars whose writings reflect this assumption are leading figures such as S. Eisenstadt, M. Lissak and D. Horowitz, S. Smooha and B. Kimmerling. See S. N. Eisenstadt, The Transformation of Israeli Society (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1989), pp.13–14, 140, 241–7 (Hebrew); D. Horowitz and M. Lissak, Crisis in Utopia: Israel – a Society Under Excessive Strain (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1990), pp.113–4, 178–80 (Hebrew); S. Smooha, Israel – Pluralism and Conflict (London and Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978); B. Kimmerling, Immigrants, Settlers, Natives: State and Society in Israel (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1990), pp.282–336 (Hebrew).
5. S. Svirsky and D. Bernstein, ‘The Rapid Economic Development of Israel and the Emergence of the Ethnic Division of Labour’, British Journal of Sociology XXII, No.1, March 1982; S. Svirsky, Seeds of Inequality (Tel Aviv: Breirot, 1995) (Hebrew); M. Shalev, Labor and the Political Economy in Israel (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), chap.4.
6. Examples include L. Grinberg, The Histadrut Above All (Jerusalem: Nevo, 1993) (Hebrew); Y. Gabai, Political Economy (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hame'uchad, 2009), pp.244–6 (Hebrew); J. Gal, Burden By Choice? (Sde Boker: Ben-Gurion Institute, 2002), pp.124–5 (Hebrew); S. Maryuma-Marom, ‘The Characteristics of the Welfare Policy in Israel During the 1950s and the 1960s and the Making of the Oriental Under-Class’, Theory And Criticism Vol.36 (2010), pp.113–36 (Hebrew); Y. Elmali'ach and N. Levin-Epstein, ‘Israeli Immigration and Housing: Another View of Ethnic Inequality’, Megamot Vol.39 (1998), pp.243–69 (Hebrew).
7. The first ruling party in Israel, MAPAI's name is the Hebrew acronym for Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael (Workers of Eretz Yisrael Party). For more on MAPAI, see A. Bareli, Authority and Participation in a New Democracy: Political Struggles in MAPAI, Israel's Ruling Party, 1948–1953 (Boston, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2014); P. Y. Medding, MAPAI in Israel: Political Organization and Government in a New Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972).
8. The General Hebrew Workers’ Association, known generally – and hereinafter – as the ‘Histadrut’, was established in December 1920 as the main socio-economic and cultural organization of the Zionist labour movement. It included trade associations, social and cultural services, cooperatives, communes and economic enterprises. It developed into an arena of mostly socialist-Zionist political parties and conducted periodic elections among party lists for its general Congress. MAPAI has dominated the Histadrut since the 1930s.
9. Y. Weiss, Wadi Salib: A Confiscated Memory (Tel Aviv: Van Leer Institute & Hakibbutz Hame'uchad, 2007) (Hebrew).
10. See, for example, E. Ben-Rafael, Ethnicity and Society in Israel, in S. Stempler (ed.), People and State: The Israeli Society (Tel Aviv: Misrad Habitachon, 1989), p.89–90 (Hebrew).
11. This is a central argument in Y. Shapiro, The Road to Power: Herut Party in Israel (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1991). See also U. Cohen and S. Hirsh, ‘The Character of the Orientals in the Writing of Yonathan Shapiro’, Alpa'yim Vol.24 (2002), pp.174–9 (Hebrew).
12. E. Shohat, ‘Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Jewish Victims’, Social Text No.19/20 (Autumn 1988), pp.1–35.
13. For a current discussion of the impact of national identity on the political orientation of Oriental Israelis, see N. Leon, The Turban and the Flag: Counter-Nationalism Among Mizrachi Haredis (Jerusalem: Van Leer Institute, 2016) (Hebrew).
14. A. Bareli and U. Cohen, The Academic Middle-Class Rebellion: Socio-Political Conflict over Wage Gaps in Israel, 1954–1956 (Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, forthcoming); Idem., ‘Distributive Justice and a Rising Middle Class: Conflict Between MAPAI and White-Collar Professionals Before the 1955 General Elections in Israel’, Israel Affairs Vol.14, No.2 (April 2008), pp.255–76; Idem., ‘The Middle Class Versus the Ruling Party During the 1950s in Israel: The “Engine-Coach Car” Dilemma’, Middle Eastern Studies Vol.44, No.3 (May 2008), pp.489–510.
15. Hebrew acronym for Mifleget Ha'Poalim Ha'Meuchedet (the United Workers Party), one of the two small parties of the Zionist labour movement alongside MAPAI.
16. main.knesset.gov.il/mk/elections/Pages/ElectionsResults1.aspx.
17. MAPAI Centre, 27 January 1949, Labour Party Archive (Hereinafter ‘LPA’) 2-23-1949-51.
18. Ibid.
19. MAPAI Centre, 16 March 1949, LPA 2-23-1949-51.
20. Ibid.
22. MAPAI Centre, 13 August 1951, LPA 2-23-1951-57.
23. On the party's expansion, see A. Bareli, Authority and Participation in a New Democracy: Political Struggles in MAPAI, Israel's Ruling Party, 1948–1953 (Boston, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2014), chap.2.
25. MAPAI Centre, 8 August 1955, LPA 2-23-1955-66.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid. The immigration from Muslim countries gradually resumed, with immigration from Morocco beginning in 1954.
28. Ibid. See also MAPAI Centre, 17 August 1955, 22 August 1955, 6 September 1955, LPA 2-23-1955-66.
30. MAPAI Centre, 11 November 1959, LPA 23-1959-76.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.
33. In a previous article, I elaborated on this from a different point of view: A. Bareli, ‘Mapai and the Oriental Jewish Question in the Early Years of the State’, Jewish Social Studies: History, Culture, Society Vol.16, No.1 (Fall 2009), pp.54–84.
34. On this resistance, see D. Hacohen, ‘Immigration Policy in the First Decade of Statehood: The Attempts to Limit the Immigration and Their Outcomes’, in Idem (ed.), Immigration to Israel: Myth and Reality (Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center, 1998), pp. 285–316 (Hebrew). See also Idem., Mass Immigration and Its Absorption into Israel, 1948–1953 (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 1994) (Hebrew).
35. D. Ben-Gurion, ‘Stories of the Nation and Its Missions’, speech at movement rally, 10 April 1955, in idem, Hazon Vederech (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1962), Vol.5, pp.159, 161–2, 187 (Hebrew).
36. D. Ben-Gurion, ‘Five Useful Facts’, speech at the Kirya, 24 May 1955, in idem., Hazon Vederech, (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1962), Vol.5, p.187 (Hebrew).
37. D. Ben-Gurion, ‘Stories of the Nation and Its Missions’, Speech at movement rally, 10 April 1955, in idem., Hazon Vederech, (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1962), Vol.5, p.159 (Hebrew).
38. A typical example can in fact be found in Ben-Gurion's essay ‘Netzach Yisrael’: idem., ‘Netzach Yisrael’, in Netzach Yisrael (Anthology) (Tel Aviv: Ayanot), p.148 (Hebrew).
39. Idem., ‘Unity and Development’, Second Knesset Meeting, in idem, Hazon Vederech (Tel Aviv: Am Oved), Vol.4, p.213 (Hebrew).
40. Y. Gotthelf, ‘The State, Society and the Histadrut’, in Y. Gotthelf and Z. Arad (eds.), Moed (Tel Aviv: Mifalei Hinuch Ve'tarbut, The General Hebrew Workers’ Histadrut in Eretz Yisrael, 1960), p.16 (Hebrew).
41. ‘The Intellectual Workers in the State and the Labour Movement’, symposium, 30 April 1955, LPA 2-14-1955-16; ‘The Intellectual Workers – Their Struggle for Security and Economic Independence,’ symposium, 9 July 1955, LPA 2-14-1955-17 (Hebrew).
42. Ibid., p.68.
43. Ibid., p.69.
44. Ibid.
45. ‘The Intellectual Workers – Their Struggle for Security and Economic Independence‘, symposium, 9 July 1955, LPA 2-14-1955-17.
46. Y. Rimer, Fritz Peretz Naphtali – a Social Democrat in Two Worlds (Jerusalem: The Zionist Library, 1996) (Hebrew).
47. ‘The Intellectual Workers – Their Struggle for Security and Economic Independence‘, 9 July 1955, LPA 2-14-1955-17, p.11.
48. State Commissioner David Rosolio, Committee Protocol, 27 December 1954, The Labour Movement Archives at Lavon Institute (henceforth: LMA); Folder: IV-250-36-1-2328; Division: Jerusalem Workers Council, 1954–1955.
49. Dr Mann of the Hadassah Hospital delegation, idem., 5 April 1955.
50. For details on the crisis, see the articles by Avi Bareli and Uri Cohen referenced in note 14.
51. Herut Central Committee, 27 January 1956, Jabotinsky Institute Archives, 4/2-1; The Progressive Party's Executive Committee along with Ha'oved Ha'tzioni, 10 March 1955, Massuah Archives, (AR-14-010-06) 10 6 m; Dr N. Kaplinski, ‘The Physicians as Human Beings’, Ha'oved Ha'tzhioni (May–June 1954), Vol.7–8, pp.12–4 (Hebrew).
52. Ben-Gurion's Diary, 30 July 1955, Ben-Gurion Archives (hereinafter BGA).
53. For the Guri Committee recommendations, see LMA, IV-250-36-1-2328. For a discussion of its recommendations and their approval, see the protocols from government meetings on 12 June 1955, 14 June 1955, 11 August 1955, 21 August 1955, 21 August 1955, 11 September 1955, 19 September 1955, State Archive (hereinafter SA).
54. LMA, IV-250-36-1-2328. For more on this topic, see ‘The Guri Committee Will Submit Uniform Recommendations to the Government Today: Grade 1 Wages Will Increase by 125, Grade 6 – 20 I£’, Ma'ariv, 8 August 1955 (Hebrew).
55. LMA, IV-250-36-1-2328. For more on this topic, see ‘Demanding New Wages as of April’, Ma'ariv, 22 August 1955 (Hebrew).
56. ‘State Physicians Threaten Resignation in Protest against Guri Committee Report – Executives Inclined to Accept the Committee's Conclusions’, Ma'ariv, 9 August 1955 (Hebrew); ‘“Too Little Too Late”: State Workers’ Response to Guri Committee Recommendation’; “We Hope This Is Not the Final Word”, they say’, Ma'ariv, 9 August 1955 (Hebrew).
57. ‘Physicians Decide to Wait Two Weeks’, Ma'ariv, 17 August 1955 (Hebrew).
58. ‘Physicians Resume Work – Engineers and Chemists on Strike’, Ma'ariv, 21 September 1955 (Hebrew); ‘Engineers Resume Work’, Ma'ariv, 28 September 1955 (Hebrew).
59. Ben-Gurion's Diary, 20 September 1955, BGA.
60. See MAPAI's finance committee discussions on 21 November 1955 (LMA 2-932-1955-109), and the limited committee discussions regarding wage policy on 25 October 1954. The party's position eventually determined the government's position. For more on this topic, see Ben-Gurion's Diary, 13 December 1955, BGA; government meetings on the afternoons of 1 January and 6 February 1956, SA.
61. G. K. Ingham, Strikes and Industrial Conflict (London: Macmillan, 1974).
62. A. Ben-Porat, Divided We Stand: Class Structure in Israel from 1948 to the 1980s (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1989), pp.101–29; idem., State and Capitalism in Israel (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993); D. L. Johnson (ed.), Class and Social Development: A New Theory of the Middle Class (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1982); A. Sturmthal (ed.), White-Collar Trade Unions (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1966).
63. ‘8,000 White-Collar Workers Go on Strike Today’, Ha'aretz, 7 February 1956 (Hebrew); ‘University Faculty Members Are Joining’, Davar, 7 February 1956 (Hebrew); ‘The National Engineers’ Assembly Declares a Strike: Ministers Refuse to Meet Convention Representatives’, Ha'aretz, 7 February 1956 (Hebrew).
64. A. Bareli and U. Cohen, The Academic Middle-Class Rebellion: Socio-Political Conflict over Wage Gaps in Israel, 1954–1956 (Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, forthcoming), chap. 6.
65. Knesset minutes, Vol.19, 6 February 1956, p.971.
66. Knesset minutes, Vol.20, 14 February 1956, p.1063.
67. ‘No Resolution Reached with White-Collar Workers’, Ha'aretz, 19 February 1956 (Hebrew).
68. See Eshkol's report on the negotiations, at the government meeting on 6 February 1956, SA.
69. See the discussion and conclusions during the government meeting on 19 February 1956, and the pre-emptive discussion on 12 February 1956, SA. ‘The Strike Has Ended’, Ha'aretz, 20 February 1956 (Hebrew); ‘A Final Agreement on White-Collar Workers’ Pay Raise’, Ha'aretz, 22 February 1956 (Hebrew). Hence, a hospital director, for instance, who earned 228 I£ and whose basic wage would increase to 490 I£ under the government's previous commitments, would only earn 402 I£ in 1956 under the new agreement, allocated as 421 I£ in four payments as of 1957, and 629 I£ in six payments during 1958. A first-rate engineer whose wage should have increased from 213 I£ to 415 I£, would earn 348 I£ in 1956 and receive 325 I£ in four payments in 1957, and 485 I£ in six payments in 1958.
70. P. Lavon, Society of Labour (Tel Aviv: Tarbut Vechinuch, 1968), pp.191–2 (Hebrew).
71. A. Bareli, Authority and Participation in a New Democracy: Political Struggles in MAPAI, Israel's Ruling Party, 1948–1953 (Boston, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2014), chaps.2–3.
72. For discussion on this term, see U. Cohen and N. Leon, The Herut Movement's Centre and the Mizrachim, 1965–1977: From a Hierarchical to a Competitive Partnership (Policy Paper, Jerusalem: The Israel Democracy Institute, 2011), p.88 (Hebrew).
73. The widespread and prominent visibility of these topics in the press is discussed in A. Bareli and U. Cohen, The Academic Middle-Class Rebellion: Socio-political Conflict over Wage-Gaps in Israel, 1954–1956 (Leiden and Boston, MA: Brill, forthcoming).