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Abstract
In the mid-1930s the largest kibbutz movement in the world was in Poland. This article examines the formation of kibbutzim in Poland by focusing on the largest and most influential of them all, Hehalutz (The pioneer) movement in Poland. It shows how the preparation of pioneers seeking emigration to Palestine was transformed into an extension of the kibbutz movements in Palestine, and examines the implications of this development. The article examines life in a diaspora kibbutz by focusing on the Klosova kibbutz, which was one of the leading kibbutzim in Poland.
Notes
1 CitationOtiker, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 144–45. The largest kibbutz was Yagur in Palestine with 300 members upon its unification with the Haifa workers' commune in 1933; it had 448 members in 1935. CitationTzur, Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me'uhad, 146.
2 During the 1930s the kibbutz movements in Palestine grew tenfold, mostly thanks to members of pioneer movements in the diaspora who joined them. When aliyah stopped between 1939 and 1945 their growth sharply declined to only 5–20% in five years. Sarid, Be-mivhan ha-enut, 30.
3 The total number of Hehalutz members was much higher, around 90,000, including those not yet in kibbutzim. Together with affiliated youth movements like Hashomer Hatza'ir, numbers peaked well beyond 100,000. The movement was active in Poland, Galicia (separately organized in Poland), Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Netherland, Belgium, France, England, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, South Africa, United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba. In 1935, 70% were in eastern Europe, due to a sharp increase in Germany, but usually it was even higher, with some 85% in 1933, for example. CitationBasok, ed., Sefer he-Halutz, 415.
4 See The total number of Hehalutz members was much higher, around 90,000, including those not yet in kibbutzim. Together with affiliated youth movements like Hashomer Hatza'ir, numbers peaked well beyond 100,000. The movement was active in Poland, Galicia (separately organized in Poland), Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Netherland, Belgium, France, England, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, South Africa, United States, Argentina, Brazil, and Cuba. In 1935, 70% were in eastern Europe, due to a sharp increase in Germany, but usually it was even higher, with some 85% in 1933, for example. CitationBasok, ed., Sefer he-halutzibid., 417. In July 1933, Hehalutz in Poland and Galicia counted around 10,500 members in kibbutzim (7,000 in central and eastern Poland, and 3,500 in Galicia). In August 1935, numbers increased to around 12,000. See He-Atid, no. 145, 20 August 1933; Citation Duah merkaz he-Halutz ; CitationLeshchinsky, Ha-hakhsharah be-misparim; Basok, ed., Sefer he-Halutz, 415; Citation Hahlatot ve-ta'arikhim , 97–104; Otiker, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 137–50.
5 In kibbutzim affiliated with the Histadrut, excluding children and parents. The largest movement was Hakibbutz Hame'uhad, which grew from some 3,000 members to 4,300, a third of whom lived and worked in communes outside the movement's settlements. CitationNear, Ha-kibbutz veha-hevrah, 418–19.
6 Kibbutz research began in the 1940s–50s, using mainly social science methodologies focusing on the present, after the destruction of the movement in Europe. This tendency can be seen in hundreds of articles and books such as CitationRosner, “Social Research”; CitationFogiel-Bijaoui, Ba'ot mi-shtikah. Kibbutz researchers who address Hehalutz rely on secondary literature, and scholarship remains divided between movements in the diaspora and in Israel. See for example, CitationNear, The Kibbutz Movement, 97–112. An interesting exception is CitationDiamond, “Kibbutz and Shtetl,” though it relies mainly on a psychological interpretation.
7 For ideological aspects see Oppenheim, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 1:553–661, 2:88–106, 233–437, 507–14.
8 For ideological aspects see Oppenheim, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 1:52–81.
9 Joseph Trumpeldor (1880–1920) was a Zionist activist and the most decorated Jewish soldier in tsarist Russia, who fought during the Russo-Japanese War. After his immigration to Palestine he worked in agriculture. During World War I he established the Zion Mule Corps, a Jewish unit in the British army. He was killed while defending Tel-Hai against Arab attackers and became a national hero.
10 CitationTomaszewski “Between the Social and the National,” 55–70.
11 See CitationMarcus, Social and Politcal History, 389–410. According to Gurevich and Gertz, 41.5% of aliyah between 1919 and 1942 was from Poland, with some 140,000 out of a total of around 350,000 people. Gurevich and Gertz, Jewish Population, 59 (pagination according to the Hebrew edition). Other estimates are higher (47.9% in 1918–38), but these numbers include some Jewish refugees from the Ukraine and USSR, CitationBarlas, “Ha-aliyah,” 432–34.
12 For example, CitationHalamish, Be-merutz kaful, 9–26, 49–72.
13 According to one estimate, some 50,000 Hehalutz members entered Palestine by 1939, nearly half of them from Poland. CitationSarid, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 653.
14 CitationDan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 16–17. See also CitationKariv, Kehilat Sarny, 250–51.
15 On the development of kibbutz terminology see CitationNear, “Leshonot ha-shituf,” 123–46. Hashomer Hatza'ir also adopted this term during the Third Aliyah, in reference to its forming a general organization based on economic cooperation, later known as Hakibbutz Ha'artzi Hashomer Hatza'ir, which was established in 1927.
16 There was also a village of Sarny, but in 1900–02, a town was established there, on at the intersection of two important rail lines. It grew rapidly to some 14,000 inhabitants, about half of whom were Jewish. The town developed a strong Zionist tradition with a Hebrew school and Zionist youth organizations. See Kariv, Sefer yizkor le-kehilat Sarny, 27–28.
17 Baki, Citation“Akhzariyut nifla'ah,” 4–6; Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 19–23. According to some accounts the initiative came from the Sarny activists.
18 See photo from 23 November 1924, in Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, following p. 144.
19 See photo from 23 November 1924, in Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, following p. 144, 8, 20.
20 See photo from 23 November 1924, in Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, following p. 144, 20, 23.
21 See photo from 23 November 1924, in Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, following p. 144, 21–22, 25.
22 See photo from 23 November 1924, in Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, following p. 144, 28.
23 State-owned monopolies, for example, which encompassed 20% of the economy, were closed to Jews. During the 1930s the Jewish proletariat grew due to the impoverishment of the Jewish lower middle class (though these terms are problematic in the context of east European Jewry). Still, Jewish workers were employed primarily in the needle and food industries in small workshops owned by other Jewish workers, and not in large factories, even when they were owned by Jews. In 1929, for example, only 6% of the workers in large Jewish-owned factories were Jews. Marcus, Social and Political History, 239.
24 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 22, 52.
25 Ya'akov Rabinovitch, “Reshimot” (Notes), Ha-Po'el ha-Tza'ir, no. 27, 29 August 1919, 8–10.
26 CitationMendelsohn, Zionism in Poland, 329–37.
27 See CitationOppenheim, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 1:345.
28 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 30–31.
29 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 26, 29–30.
30 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 38.
31 Klosova was the largest center. Two were small communes, one in the Vilnius region (Shaharia), and another in the Bialystok region (Tel-Hai). Together with Klosova they were located in the eastern provinces of Poland where Zionism and the pioneer movement were traditionally stronger. The fourth was the Grochov farm for training pioneers on the outskirts of Warsaw, owned by Hehalutz. Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 107.
32 Israel Oppenheim, scholar of Hehalutz in Poland, described this change primarily as an ideological one, but in my opinion the organizational aspects are the key to understanding the development of Hehalutz from that moment on. See, for example, CitationOppenheim, “Gilgulei de'ot ve-idiologiyah,” 234–94. Oppenheim's descriptions of Marshak tend to rely on the popular image of his unique personality by his contemporaries in Hehalutz and Hakibbutz Hame'uhad, which he joined after arriving in Palestine in 1929. His outstanding personality, his wholehearted dedication and enthusiasm, were certainly important, but his main contribution was organizational, political, and ideological. He reconstructed hakhsharah on models borrowed from the large Ein Harod kibbutz in Palestine.
33 See for example CitationErez, ed., Igrot David Ben-Gurion, 2:107, on the first envoy to Hehalutz in 1922. The affiliation of Hehalutz with the Histadrut was finalized in 1926. Me'asef, 226.
34 CitationShva, Beni ratz, 7–15.
35 Hakibbutz Hame'uhad was established only in 1927, and was active at the time under the name Kibbutz Ein Harod, established in 1923 as a national organization of communes in agricultural settlements and communes of hired workers in cities and orchards. I use the term Hakibbutz Hame'uhad here for the sake of convenience. Among the seminar's teachers was Yitzhak Gruenbaum (1879–1970), Polish Zionist leader, member of the Polish parliament (the Sejm), and later, the first interior minister of the State of Israel. See Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 30. His participation was part of his alignment with the Socialist-Zionist camp during those years.
36 Tabenkin was part of the first delegation sent by the Histadrut for prolonged work in Hehalutz in various countries at the end of 1925. The group was composed of 12 members from various socialist settlement movements in Palestine. Tabenkin and two other members of Hakibbutz Hame'uhad were sent to Poland for a year. Two other members were sent to Germany, as Hakibbutz Hame'uhad initially concentrated its activity abroad in these countries. Tzur, Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me'uhad, 86–88.
37 Hakibbutz Hame'uhad's activity in Poland coincided with initiatives to organize hakhsharah and aliyah in kibbutzim. The formation of kibbutzim for aliyah was initiated by Hehalutz Center in mid-1925. It was intended to encourage immigrants to join the Histadrut organizations in Palestine. For example, see memoirs of the center's activist, another refugee from the USSR, who organized the first “aliyah kibbutz,” called Hakovesh, in Vilnius: CitationBankover, Sipurim, 18, 28–29. See protocol of a meeting between the secretary of the World Organization of Hehalutz and Hakibbutz Hame'uhad, 28 July 1925, Yad Tabenkin, Hakibbutz Hame'uhad Archives (hereafter YTA), 1-2/1/1B. Oppenheim describes this as an internal ideological development in Hehalutz but there is evidence showing otherwise. Oppenheim, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 1:306–70, esp. 347–58.
38 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 19–22, 25.
39 Protocols of the Ein Harod Overseas Committee, especially the meeting of the Kibbutz Secretariat on 23 July 1925. Quote from Tabenkin and Dan (Probably Hillel Dan [1900–69] who later became one of the heads of the construction cooperative “Solel Boneh”). See also a meeting with the secretary of the World Organization of Hehalutz, who recruited the delegation, held on 28 July 1925. According to his account, the existence of Hehalutz in Poland also relied on this mission. Rapidly growing, the movement hardly had local activists and needed help: “the salvation [of Hehalutz] can come from the members in Palestine.” YTA, 1-2/1/1B.
40 Shva, Beni ratz, 16–22.
41 Oppenheim, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 1:460.
42 See, for example, resolutions from the Volhynia kibbutz in Klosova, He-Atid 42, 31 August 1926, taken with the participation of members of Hehalutz headquarters and Hakibbutz Hame'uhad.
43 The envoys from Palestine wanted to establish a permanent kibbutz in Klosova and to link it to their movement at the time Benny was sent there. At a meeting of the Volhynia kibbutz held 31 August–1 September 1926 and attended by an envoy, a resolution was passed to maintain a permanent hakhsharah kibbutz in Klosova. The resolution does not reflect a general agreement since most members did not return to the kibbutz after the holidays. Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 32.
44 The envoys from Palestine wanted to establish a permanent kibbutz in Klosova and to link it to their movement at the time Benny was sent there. At a meeting of the Volhynia kibbutz, attended by an envoy, a resolution was passed to maintain a permanent hakhsharah kibbutz in Klosova. The resolution does not reflect a general agreement since most members did not return to the kibbutz after the holidays. Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 41, 73–74, 103–4. The house was inaugurated in the beginning of 1927.
45 Benny Marshak at the meeting of kibbutzim in Kajanka village (near Siemiaticze) in Polesia, August 1927. Quoted in Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 121–22.
46 Benny Marshak at the meeting of kibbutzim in Kajanka village (near Siemiaticze) in Polesia, August 1927. Quoted in Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 121–22
47 N. [Nahum] Benari letter, 15 November 1927, quoted in iBenny Marshak at the meeting of kibbutzim in Kajanka village (near Siemiaticze) in Polesia, August 1927. Quoted in Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 121–22, 118–19.
48 Benny Marshak to Batya [Bendersky], March 1927, YTA, 15-121/2/4.
49 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 43, 45.
50 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 43, 82.
51 CitationTzur, “Pesach in the Land of Israel,” 84. The next haggadah available is from Ein Harod (1930) in Palestine (1930), to which Klosova was related. Interestingly, this haggadah was written after the arrival of the first Klosova pioneers in Palestine.
52 CitationTzur and Danieli, eds., Yotzim be-hodesh ha-aviv, 10–29.
53 According to one of the sick girls, Benny's future wife, who came to Klosova before him in the spring of 1926. Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 55.
54 According to one of the sick girls, Benny's future wife, who came to Klosova before him in the spring of 1926. Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 40, 44.
55 According to one of the sick girls, Benny's future wife, who came to Klosova before him in the spring of 1926. Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 40.
56 The Klosova extensions were initially parts of one commune like the Work Battalion (hence the term “company”), but were later remodeled as a union of independent communes like Hakibbutz Hame'uhad.
57 Oppenheim, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 1:467. Otiker, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 87–91.
58 N. [Nahum] Benari, “Me-nesi'otai be-Polin (From my travels in Poland),” Davar, 13 December 1927, 2–3.
59 See, for example, a visit by a Jewish member of the Sejm, historian Ignaz (Yitzhak) Shipper (1884–1943), who stayed in the kibbutz for a few days. Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 77.
60 Otiker, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 112–25.
61 CitationElihai, “Mifal ha-haksharah”; CitationOppenheim, “Ha-hakhsharah ha-kibbutzit shel Betar.”
62 See, for instance, a dispute with Gruenbaum regarding the singing of the socialist anthem “The International” in Hehalutz, He-Atid, 2 (110), 15 January 1931, 10.
63 In 1929 already 60% of hakhsharah was according to the Klosova model, and this figure would keep rising. Otiker, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 107.
64 Moshe Braslavsky, in Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 227.
65 Hershl Pinsky, in ibid., 225.
66 Hershl Pinsky, in ibid, 80.
67 Hershl Pinsky, in ibid, 56–78.
68 For an example of the life and background of a potential member from Volhynia, see an autobiography of an 18-year-old written in 1934, Yivo Archives, New York, RG 4, # 3501.
69 Otiker, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 165–71.
70 15% in Hashomer Hatza'ir in 1935, compared to 6.9% in the general Hehalutz.
71 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 27.
72 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 41, 70.
73 CitationKantor, Hayo hayah, 77–84.
74 CitationKantor, Hayo hayah, 85–88.
75 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 81.
76 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 50.
77 CitationHalter, Ha-mimrah, 62.
78 See for example autobiographies of Jewish youth, Yivo Archives, RG 4, # 3518, 3726 and 3816.
79 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 48.
80 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 68–69.
81 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 51–52.
82 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 69–71.
83 Letter from Benari, 15 November 1927, in iDan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 118–20.
84 Letter from Benari, 15 November 1927, in ibid, 109, 226.
85 Letter from Benari, 15 November 1927, in ibid, 175.
86 Letter from Benari, 15 November 1927, in ibid, 139.
87 Letter from Benari, 15 November 1927, in ibid, 68.
88 CitationCohen, Zikhronot, 14, 41.
89 CitationCohen, Zikhronot, 14, 75–76.
90 Oppenheim, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 2:141–44.
91 Gender roles in hakhsharah and the position of women in the diaspora kibbutz deserve a separate study, beyond the scope of this paper.
92 Tabenkin's oral report to Hakibbutz Hame'uhad Secretariat, 19 October 1933, YTA, 28/1/2-2. Tabenkin quotes a report on illnesses in kibbutzim by Frumka (Eshed-Asherovsky).
93 Sefer Klosova, 57.
94 Sefer Klosova, 171–72. The envoy was Haim Ben-Asher (1904–98), future member of Knesset (MK) on behalf of Mapai in the State of Israel.
95 Sefer Klosova, 43.
96 For example, iSefer Klosova, 119.
97 For example, ibid, 119.
98 For example, ibid, 34, 75–76,
99 For example, ibid, 83–84.
100 For example, ibid, 87–98.
101 Ghetto Fighters' House Archive, Kibbutz Lohamei Hageta'ot (herafter GFHA), photo 56911.
102 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 76. See his portrait on the stand of the Klosova kibbutz in Lutsk during a bazaar for the JNF, GFHA, photo 03117.
103 See his image on a poster behind a pioneer group, Keren he-Halutz, no. 1, 14 November 1924, ILPA, 4-14-1924-24; in the office of a Klosova company, GFHA, photo 11294.
104 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 32.
105 Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 41.
106 Cohen, Zikhronot, 40.
107 For example, Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 225.
108 For example, Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 144.
109 For example, Dan, ed., Sefer Klosova, 57, 61, 185.
110 There were 210,000 Jews in Palestine in mid-1933. CitationGurevich, Gertz, and Bachi, The Jewish Population of Palestine, 26.
111 Miriam Shlomovitz, letter to Lilia [Bassewitz], 6 May 1933, YTA, 2-12/3/5. She estimated the average daily income of an experienced laborer in Poland (1–2 zlotys) was equivalent to 35–70 mills of a Palestine pound (3.5–7 cents), and sometimes even less. The income of inexperienced kibbutz members was even lower, and only about a half of them had worked. In comparison, workers in low-paying jobs in agriculture in Palestine were paid 200 mills a day (3–6 times higher), and in construction in the cities 350–400 mills and more during the years of prosperity. See Shalom Zack's survey at Hakibbutz Hame'uhad Secretariat, YTA, 8/1/2-2.
112 Hakhsharah numbers include the five regional sections of Hehalutz and some 2,000 members in separate kibbutzim of youth movements (mainly Hashomer Hatza'ir and Gordonia). Otiker, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 30–35, 105–132 (esp. 125), 146. Numbers fluctuated according to the number of certificates.
113 For a typical Klosova company in the peak years, see CitationKagan, Luboml, 126–27, 222–25. (The shtetl's name in Yiddish was Libivne). Otiker, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 125–32. An average kibbutz had 25–50 members,
114 See, for example, letters of envoy Miriam Shlomovitz to Hehalutz center, 1933–1934, GFHA, 24213.
115 Miriam Shlomovitz, letter to Hehalutz, 17 January 1934, GFHA, 24213.
116 CitationShapira, Berl, 428–64.
117 Protocols of Mapai Center, 21 November 1933, Israel Labor Party Archives, Beit Berl (hereafter ILPA), 2-023-1933-5. See also Katznelson's lecture at the council of Hano'ar Ha'oved (Federation of Working Youth), 22–23 December 1933. Ba-Ma'aleh, 7 January 1934.
118 Mapai Protocols, 21 November 1933.
119 Berl Katznelson's diary, 25 September 1933–26 October 1933, ILPA, 263-1924-6-4.
120 I could not locate the full protocol of the meeting, only a small part of it which was published in Citation Sipuro shel Kibbutz Haksharah , 90–91. See also a letter from Ya'akov Eisenberg (Eshed) to Tabenkin, 17 November 1933 (copy), YTA, 15-46/99/7.
121 Letter from Ze'ev Scherf (1906–84, future Israeli MK), 10 September 1933, ILPA, 86-1920-6-4. Scherf referred also to relations between Hehalutz and the party (Poale Zion), its youth movement Freiheit, and its newspaper.
122 See, for example, report on the reception of pioneers, Batya Bendersky, Protocol of the Extended Kibbutz Secretariat (Hakibbutz Hame'uhad), 24–26 November 1933, YTA, 8/1/2-2.
123 Primarily Hehalutz Hatza'ir, Hashomer Hatza'ir, Gordonia and Freiheit.
124 Mapai Protocols, 21 November 1933.
125 Mapai Protocols, 21 November and 5 December 1933, IPLA, 2-023-1933-5; protocols of the Histadrut Executive Committee, 21 November 1933, Labor Archives, Lavon Institute, Tel Aviv; Citation Ha-ve'idah ha-revi'it , 85–112.
126 This is due to the political and ideological relations between the various elements in the Histadrut, which are beyond the scope of this paper. Generally speaking Hakibbutz Ha'artzi (Hashomer Hatza'ir) and Hever Hakvutzot (affiliated with Gordonia) had other perceptions of their relations with the Histadrut and Mapai and were interested in helping only their own youth movements and not the general section of Hehalutz. See Oppenheim, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 2:233–95, 316–437.
127 See for example a very harsh description in a private letter by one envoy. She describes the pranks played on new members as “sadism.” The “cleaning” of their possessions was no longer done covertly but by the entire kibbutz in front of the miserable member. They collectively examined their belongings, including toothbrush, soap, razor blades, which thereafter “disappeared,” leaving new members completely stripped of their possessions. The following day members would wear all their clothes. It was their only chance to wear new clothes as the general property was treated so badly that clothes were quickly torn and destroyed. If the newcomer objected he was told he should now be a “kibbutznik,” and his personal needs were totally dismissed with insults and ridicule. Miriam Shlomovitz to Lilia [Bassewitz], 6 May 1933, YTA, 2-12/3/5.
128 The word seems to be derived from a tune called “The Beggars' Dance” from the famous Yiddish play The Dybbuk, by S. Ansky.
129 Tabenkin demanded as many as 40–50 envoys. Meeting of the kibbutz secretariat, 19 October 1933, YTA, 8/1/2-2. Leaders of Hakibbutz Hame'uhad wanted to impose a unification of the general kibbutzim of Hehalutz with those of Hashomer Hatza'ir and Gordonia, hoping the activists of these movements would thus help organize the rest of the organization.
130 His speech was published in Mibifnim 2, pt. 1, December 1933, 22–28 (reprinted edition).
131 His speech was published in Mibifnim 2, pt. 1, December 1933, 22–28 (reprinted edition)
132 Protocols, 24–25 November 1933, YTA, 8/1/2-2, p. 25.
133 Protocols 12–19.
134 Protocols, 25–30. For Hakibbutz Hame'uhad's perspective on the matter see CitationKaneri, Tabenkin, 335–54. Kaneri ignores the issue of imposing kibbutz life in Hehalutz and adopts the movement's position in the conflict with Katznelson.
135 Protocol of the secretariat of Hano'ar Ha'oved, 18 February 1934, on a meeting with Hakibbutz Hame'uhad Secretariat, Labor Archives, Lavon Institute, IV-213-1-17-C. Tabenkin suggested establishing the center upon his return from Poland several months earlier. Meeting of the kibbutz secretariat, 19 October 1933, YTA, 8/1/2-2. Hakibbutz Hame'uhad apparently formed its center after the second session of the fourth convention of the Histadrut in January 1934, where Katznelson presented his program for the Youth Center to the public, following power struggles between the various kibbutz movements over the control of youth movements in Palestine. Hano'ar Ha'oved, which was affiliated to the Histadrut, was desperate for help and guidance but could not get it from the Histadrut and strengthened its ties with Hakibbutz Hame'uhad. See also Hano'ar Ha'oved protocols from 21 December 1933, 15 January 1934 with kibbutz members (same file), and the secretariat's diary, Labor Archives, Lavon Institute, IV-213-1-19.
136 Letter to Katznelson, 15 April 1935, IPLA, 4-6-1920-86.
137 Shapira, Berl, 455–64. After the center's failure Katznelson shifted his focus to the political aspects of the relations between the Histadrut, Mapai and Hakibbutz Hame'uhad.
138 CitationKafkafi, Emet o emunah, 56–57. The split began in 1942.
139 Pseudonym of Moyshe Bunem Yustman (1889–1942), a leading journalist and publicist.
140 Oppenheim, Tnu'at he-Halutz, 2:438–76, esp. 468–71.
141 For further reading see CitationSarid, Be-mivhan ha-enut.
142 Halter, Ha-mimrah, 63.