LABOR ZIONISM IN AMERICA

Labor Zionism in America began in New York in 1903 with the founding of the American branch of the Poalei Tzion organization. This was the first in a long line of such organizations and was formed by Zionist immigrants from Eastern Europe who were also embued with the socialist ideals of the "old country". They sought to combine this socialism with Zionism into a philosophy they called "socialist Zionism". Among the intellectual leaders of this movement was Nahman Syrkin, an activist from Russia who had settled in the US in 1908 and became the preeminent socialist Zionist in the United States for many years. This movement was an effort to redeem the Land of Israel through hard work and labor, ultimately creating a utopian, non-capitalist, socialist society in the Jewish homeland. Subsequently, the majority of olim from America held these views and became active in the various socialist movements in Palestine. Other like-minded organizations later followed in the US, Palestine, and Europe. Beginning in 1905, the heHalutz movement became the vanguard of this socialist aliyah. They were later joined by the Habonim.