Zion and State: Nation, Class, and the Shaping of Modern Israel [Paperback]

Mitchell Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 1992

This study explores the struggle between left-and right-wing factions within the Zionist movement, tracing the emergence of modern Jewish nationalism from its origins in the mid-19th century, through the vision of Theodor Herzl, and up to the first 15 years of Israeli statehood. Concentrating on the 1920s and 1930s, Mitchell Cohen discusses the victory of the Zionist Labour movement over the right-wing revisionists, and shows how the growing dominance of Labour in the 1930s made the birth of the Jewish state possible. He shows how Labour's long-term policies were self-defeating, helping to foster a political culture that was more open to individuals on the right, such as Menachem Begin, and made it vulnerable to the more strident nationalism of the 1970s. When the Israel Workers' Party could not win a plurality in the World Jewish Congress after 1933, it formed coalitions with religious and bourgeois parties, which transformed it into a party that considered class, nation and state as separate entities.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Asher Cohen is Professor of History at the University of Haifa.

Product Details

• Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press; Columbia University Press Morningside ed edition (July 9, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231079419
• ISBN-13: 978-0231079419
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,653,852 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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