Customer Reviews

Every Individual, a King: The Social and Political Thought of Ze'Ev Vladimir Jabotinsky

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ze'ev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky (1880-1940) was a Revisionist Zionist leader, author, orator, soldier, and founder of the Jewish Self-Defense Organization in Odessa. He also helped form the Jewish Legion of the British army in World War I.

The author writes in the Preface to this 1993 book, "after presenting Jabotinsky's general theoretical thought and its analsys, the book will not only explore his Zionist thought, but will also attempt to examine the extent to which it conforms with his general philosophy... I chose to include many excerpts from Jabotinsky's writings, not only in order to base my words on them, but also to enable the reader to obtain at least a taste of Jabotinsky's writing."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Jabotinsky's message was clear: majority decision on a matter of principle---for example, the decision of whether or not to call a strike---was not binding upon the minority. On the contrary, the minority had 'a sacred right' to decide for itself whether or not the strike was justified." (Pg. 39)
"Jabotinsky's elitist outlook ... when accompanied by his firm belief that each person must be regarded as unique, leads to elitist conclusions: above and beyond the equality of all people qua people, each of whom is a king, there are those whose value exceeds that of others; there are kings and there are kings." (Pg. 46)
"According to this argument, if the national movement chose Uganda, a Jewish state would not arise in Uganda because it would fail to attract the masses. Thus any territory other than the Land of Israel would not be a second-best alternative---it would be no alternative at all." (Pg. 126)
"The fact that the Jewish people were warped by their life in the exile was reflected in their external appearance, their behavior, and their thought." (Pg. 140)
"Jabotinsky's view of the Arabs, as people with an inferior culture---that same 'Eastern' culture that was inferior for reasons he explained in his general thought---and as natives who were indeed connected to the Land of Israel, but who did not constitute a living nation, changed fundamentally in his later thought... Over time ... Jabotinsky changed his attitude to the Arabs living there, and began to consider them a 'living nation' with nationalist ambitions..." (Pg. 222-223)
"Turning the Arabs into a national minority by creating a Jewish majority in the Land of Israel was moral, said Jabotinsky. It is true that both nations laid claim to the same territory, but ... The moral claim of the Jewish people was stronger than that of the Arabs." (Pg. 227)