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A JEWISH STATE 
 

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A JEWISH STATE 
 
 AN ATTEMPT AT A MODERN SOLUTION 
 OF THE JEWISH QUESTION 
 
 BY 
 
 THEODOR HERZL, LL. D, 
 
 REVISED FROM THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF MISS SYLVIE D’AVIGDOR, 
 WITH SPECIAL PREFACE AND NOTES BY 
 
 J. DE HAAS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THEj MACCABiEAN PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 1904 
 
THEODOR HERZL 
 
EDITOR’S PREFACE 
 
 Though proportionately heretofore but little read 
 
 or studied, the pages that follow this introduction 
 
 will eventually occupy a noteworthy place in Jewish 
 
 and universal history. Whilst the author, Dr. 
 
 • 
 
 Theodor Herzl, was, confessedly, not moved by the 
 novelty of the Jewish State idea, yet he was in the 
 main unconscious in the winter of 1895 of the par¬ 
 entage of his thoughts; for those who had labored 
 before him, excepting George Eliot, were compara¬ 
 tively obscure, and their words had only found ac¬ 
 ceptance amongst eclectic bands of enthusiasts in 
 Eastern Europe. It is, however, curious that 
 though argumentative, polemical or enthusiastic, 
 none of the forerunners of the Jewish State were, 
 in the real sense, visionaries; and this brochure is 
 only grandiose in the simplicity of its presentation 
 of an idea, and historic by what its publication has 
 already achieved. Though the Jewish State idea 
 may be Utopian, w T hich its advocates deny, its au¬ 
 thor sketched no Utopia, and offers no picture of an 
 ideal human future—it was sufficient for him to 
 
vi 
 
 EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 point out how the wounds of Israel might be healed 
 and to remove the chafing which the conjunction of 
 Jew and anti-Semite brings about. He offered a 
 temporal and not a spiritual salvation to a suffering 
 people, though those who regard him as thereby 
 doing an allotted task towards a destiny divinely 
 decreed, are not without reasonable justification for 
 their opinion. 
 
 The Jewish position became so critical in 1890 
 that Baron de Hirsch thought out his Argentine 
 plans, and began founding his colonies, in the pam¬ 
 pas grass districts of the Spanish American Re¬ 
 public, in order to aid the Jews to remove them¬ 
 selves from persecuted countries. 
 
 The rise of Ahlwardt in Germany, the break-np of 
 the Liberal party in Austria, and the particular 
 success of the anti-Semitic factions in Vienna, the 
 trial and sentence of Dreyfus in Paris, and the im¬ 
 mediate lowering of the position of the Jews in 
 France which followed, and for which Drumont 
 had labored partially, the failure of the Argen¬ 
 tine experiments—these facts, and others of lesser 
 and greater degree will mark out the first half of 
 the last decade of the nineteenth century as black 
 years in Jewish history. It was seeing and hearing 
 these things, as an observer rather than as a par 
 ticipant, that Theodor Herzl came to the Jewish 
 people with an old thought, “We are a people—one 
 people,” and an old corollary, “The restoration of 
 the Jewish State;” unaware that, except in a vague 
 way, there was at least fifteen years of active work, 
 and some propaganda behind him. Fearful, per- 
 
EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 vii 
 
 haps, of being regarded as a visionary, he vaguely 
 designated the land of the future Jewish State sim¬ 
 ply as “over there.” And “over there” it would 
 undoubtedly have remained had not the “Jewish 
 State” responded to a thought, definite and concise, 
 long pent up in Jewish bosoms. “Over there” must 
 be Palestine. Herzl, as a cool thinker, argued that 
 the propelling force needed to create a Jewish State 
 exists in the misery of the Jews. The volume of 
 that misery is unmistakable; but his book was 
 taken up by and his following was created out of an 
 element who, though in close touch with misery, 
 often the actual sufferers, found within themselves 
 a still greater motive power to national restoration 
 than misery: to wit, love, faith and hope, a bundle of 
 emotions wrapped in the praying shawl of the Jew; 
 and these, when spread out, make up a flag which 
 can only float in the breezes of Zion. 
 
 This “Jewish State,” therefore, went through 
 such violent natal sufferings as only great ideas 
 suffer. The very fact that on this vision of a Jew¬ 
 ish State, other visionaries wrote yet a more cloudy 
 word: Palestine, was sufficient to condemn it in 
 the eyes of most Western Jews. They had from 
 the beginning of the century, in the endeavour to 
 reconcile old Judaism with modern life, passed 
 through several phases, sometimes concurrently, 
 sometimes separated and distinct from each other, 
 —spirituality, assimilation and science (Judaism is 
 again being reduced to knowledge) in all of which 
 the Palestinian and the one people theories were 
 absent, obliterated and often forgotten. The Jews 
 
Vlll 
 
 EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 had become a religious community, and Judaism 
 a religion with an extensive ritual. As a Western 
 Jew, Herzl was a freak; liis book, except as the 
 dream of an idle moment—intolerable, and as a 
 political suggestion, unthinkable and absurd. A 
 popular verdict was that it was an “egregious blun¬ 
 der,” notwithstanding which, the masses being 
 brought into touch with the author, listened and 
 approved. For the first time in modern history the 
 Jewish masses—it was the first opportunity given 
 them—began to move of their own accord. And 
 the author of a political plan became, in a day and 
 a night, the leader of a Jewish party, which decided 
 to use modern methods to attain their goal—Pales¬ 
 tine. Rabbis might proclaim every city as Zion; 
 the rich might frown and refuse support—the mod¬ 
 ern Zionist movement “leapt full bodied into be¬ 
 ing,” and asserted its existence six months after 
 the author had spoken face to face with the “poor 
 and lowly,” who offered him at once their loyalty 
 and their enthusiasm, and who, linking his profes¬ 
 sion as writer to his doctrine as Jew, regarded him 
 as a new Ezra. 
 
 Dr. David Kaufmann, in his notable criticism of 
 “Daniel Deronda” in 1879, observed: “Feelings and 
 sentiments which are worthy to be cherished and 
 preserved in the nation’s soul against all the influ¬ 
 ences of time are wont to concentrate themselves 
 in great personalities, and to impart to them a pow¬ 
 er of attraction before which moderation and half¬ 
 heartedness flv like leaves before the storm. The 
 history of Israel presents a number of such figures. 
 
EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 ix 
 
 Ezra and Nehemiali succeed to the Prophets of the 
 Captivity; John of Giskala stands beside Judas 
 Maecabaeus; Akiba ben Joseph defends the Star- 
 Son of Bethar, and even through the darkness of 
 the middle ages the fiery pillar of Jehudah ben Levi 
 gleams forth. Shall we some day be able to say— 
 ‘and so on?’ ” The Jewish masses, whose greatness 
 is that they have miraculously conserved an ideal, 
 answered this question by their acclaiming Theodor 
 Herzl as leader of the Jewish national movement. 
 
 And from the moment he was so acclaimed, 
 the Jewish State had ceased to be a paper plan; 
 indeed, the brochure had no circulation commensu¬ 
 rate with its effect—but it had made a page of Jew¬ 
 ish history. Between the printed word and its 
 objective are eight remarkable years of history; 
 the story of the reuniting of the elements of the 
 Diaspora; the creation of a Jewish public opinion; 
 the organization of unwieldy and widely separated 
 masses, largely ignorant of the methods of modern 
 political life; political negotiations, and finally po¬ 
 litical recognition by the Great Powers of the loy¬ 
 alty, utility and representative character of the 
 movement—it is the story of another Exodus with 
 Israel still in the wilderness. 
 
 Those who read the “Jewish State” on its first ap¬ 
 pearance, either rejected its teachings, or accepted 
 them with the eye of hope. Those who will now 
 read it for the first time will probably be guided 
 by the answer that is given to the question, “What 
 has been accomplished in the direction of a ‘Jewish 
 State’ since this book—for wdiich a niche in history 
 
X 
 
 EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 is claimed—first appeared ?” And it is because of 
 
 that question that this preface has been written. 
 
 A brief chronological table will supply the outline 
 
 of the answer. 
 
 1896, April—Publication of English edition of “Jew¬ 
 ish State.” 
 
 1896, June—Dr. Herzl visits Constantinople; on re¬ 
 turn journey received at Sofia a deputation of 
 Bulgarian Jews. 
 
 1896, July—Dr. Herzl addresses East London mass 
 meeting. 
 
 1897, January—Founding of Zionist organ, “Die 
 Welt.” 
 
 1897, February—Proposal to call Congress in Mu¬ 
 nich; rabbis protest. 
 
 1897, March—Zionist Congress convened at Basle. 
 
 1897, August—First Zionist Congress held, at which 
 the national platform was adopted: 
 
 “The aim of Zionism is to create for the Jewish peo¬ 
 ple a publicly legally assured home in Palestine. 
 
 “In order to attain this the Congress adopts the fol¬ 
 lowing means: 
 
 (1) . To promote the settlement in Palestine of Jewish 
 agriculturists, handicraftsmen, industrialists and 
 those following professions. 
 
 (2) . The centralization of the entire Jewish people by 
 means of general institutions, agreeably to the laws 
 of the land. 
 
 (3) . To strengthen Jewish sentiments and national self- 
 consciousness. 
 
 (4) . To obtain the sanction of governments to the 
 carrying out of the objects of Zionism.” 
 
 1898, August—Second Zionist Congress held, at 
 which it was resolved to found Zionist bank. 
 1898, November—Dr. Herzl and Zionist deputation 
 
EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 xi 
 
 received by the German Emperor at Jerusalem. 
 
 1899, August—Third Zionist Congress held. 
 
 1900, August—Fourth Zionist Congress held in Lon¬ 
 don, and stability of Trust as a banking concern 
 assured. 
 
 1901, May—Dr. Herzl repeatedly received in audi 
 ence by the Sultan of Turkey. 
 
 1901, December—Fifth Zionist Congress held; 
 scheme of organization remodelled, and Jewish 
 National Fund founded. 
 
 1902, January—Dr. Herzl again received in audi¬ 
 ence by Sultan of Turkey. 
 
 1902, August—Dr. Herzl appears as witness before 
 British Royal Commission on Alien Immigration. 
 
 1902, August—Dr. Herzl again received in audience 
 by Sultan of Turkey. 
 
 1903, January—British Government offer, and ex¬ 
 pedition is sent to El Arisch, on the Egyptian bor¬ 
 der of Palestine. 
 
 1903, Julv—Dr. Herzl received bv M. von Plehve and 
 M. de Witte on behalf of the Russian Govern¬ 
 ment. 
 
 1903, August—Sixth Zionist Congress held, and 
 offer from the British Government to permit Jew¬ 
 ish national settlement in British East Africa. 
 
 1904, February—Dr. Herzl received in audience by 
 the King of Italy and the Pope. 
 
 Even in the bald form of a chronological table, it 
 is evident that the record of those who hearkened 
 to the “Jewish State” idea is a notable one, suffi¬ 
 cient to claim the sympathy and support of every 
 Jew and Jewess. The book was moulded into the 
 
EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 xii 
 
 platform of 1897. in the framing of which more than 
 one cautious brain had a share; and in turn the 
 question arises in how far has this program become 
 living fact. A comparison of these facts and the 
 author’s idea will show that, in as far as he shaped 
 the movement, he was most tenacious of his ideas. 
 The work lias proceeded much ou the lines he sug¬ 
 gested, this perhaps by reason of their simplicity— 
 for much that has made the Zionist movement grew 
 up and around him. Those who joined Theodor 
 Herzl in the effort to realize his plan brought with 
 them the instincts, hopes and desires of the Jewish 
 people, thoughts and ideals red with the blood that 
 gave them birth, truer and more significant of that 
 which is eternal in each people than all that the 
 study and the school room can suggest. A stu¬ 
 pendous work awaited those who proclaimed Pales¬ 
 tine, as the third part of the thought, one people— 
 national Jewish restoration. Only the most rudi¬ 
 mentary scheme of organization was established 
 in 1897, yet it called forth so much enthusiasm that 
 it has been twice revised in accordance with grow¬ 
 ing needs of a movement that actually circles the 
 globe, an organization which is at once centripetal 
 and centrifugal, and yet has in each country to cor¬ 
 respond with the social customs of the people and 
 keep within the laws that restrict international 
 and even national organization in Eastern Europe. 
 Here alone is a task for a generation, and room for 
 the brains of the most able organizers. Yet all the 
 rough work has been done, and the second clause 
 
EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 xm 
 
 of the program has been fulfilled at comparatively 
 no expense. 
 
 The self-volition of the movement checked the as¬ 
 similative thought and revived the Jewish brother¬ 
 hood idea; the “bent back” of the Jew grew straight 
 in the presence of the Jewish flag; a new poetry 
 and a new prosody, deep with the feelings that stir 
 a people, have arisen; a school of young artists have 
 given themselves over to the creation of a Jewish 
 art; others have planned an international Jewish 
 university; a cultural movement—combated for 
 the time being by the more orthodox—has spread 
 so strongly as sometimes to shake the main move¬ 
 ment from its true centre; the Hebrew tongue has 
 found need and occasion to blossom into a living 
 language; and with the national, intellectual re¬ 
 naissance—which sweeps within itself the revival 
 of conservative Jewish thought, which is the pres 
 ent phase of American Jewish life—has come a de¬ 
 sire for the development of the physical powers of 
 the Jews, so that Jewish gymnasiums and Jewish 
 gymnastic journals exist to the surprise of all those 
 w r ho know the Jew only as a brainy creature. The 
 thousand facets of a national movement have sent 
 rays of light, of hope, and of a new sense of security 
 into the lives of an erstwhile broken and dispirited 
 people. In eight short years helpless masses have 
 been so w^ell taught how human effort can accom¬ 
 plish great things that they have rejected the pos¬ 
 sibilities of immediate aid in favor of the task of 
 striving for independent movement. A distracted 
 and divided people have been so w r ell instructed in 
 
XIV 
 
 EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 the thought that the unity of Israel is greater than 
 all the differing religious, social, economic and po¬ 
 litical views of the individuals who make up a na¬ 
 tion, that the Rabbis of Eastern Europe have 
 entered in full force into the vanguard of the move¬ 
 ment. The third clause of the program has been 
 literally fulfilled, though much remains to be done. 
 
 Palestine has not been repeopled; the settlement 
 of colonists has been checked rather than assisted, 
 because the condition of settlement is governed 
 by the preamble of the platform. Nevertheless, a 
 new spirit has manifested itself in Palestine, as 
 well in the minds of those who have dealt with the 
 practical administration of the colonies, and a Zion¬ 
 ist bank has been started in Jaffa, which is already 
 giving an impetus to Palestinean trade. That which 
 interests the majority who would like to weld all 
 the details into broad achievement is contained in 
 the fourth paragraph. “The sanction of the gov¬ 
 ernments” has been gradually obtained. The Ger¬ 
 man Emperor was the first to express his “benevo¬ 
 lent attitude”; French and English ministers have 
 listened with sympathy; the King of Italy has ap¬ 
 proved; the Pope has discussed; the Sultan of Tur¬ 
 key has repeatedly sent for Dr. Herzl. The nego¬ 
 tiations were inconclusive, but since the last known 
 phase of the Constantinople pourparlers the British 
 and Russian governments publicly recognized Zion¬ 
 ism; and the latter offered to assist in the Pales¬ 
 tinian negotiations when resumed. From paper 
 plan to this stage is a remarkable achievement in 
 eight years, and the strongest opponent of the cause, 
 
EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 xv 
 
 the London Jewish Chronicle , affirmed in Septem¬ 
 ber, 1903, that in its opinion “the creation of a 
 Jewish State in Palestine is now the settled policy 
 of European statesmen, who are dealing with the 
 near Eastern question.” 
 
 Far be it from one who has abiding faith in the 
 Jewish democracy to ascribe all these things to 
 one man and one book. The living element in a 
 people has forced an old thought upon a new 
 world; and such an element, ever young in its hopes 
 and effort, will continue to force it upon the con¬ 
 sciousness of an ever new world, until one genera¬ 
 tion shall witness the triumph of this idea. Theo¬ 
 dor Herzl revived and reorganized the Jewish peo¬ 
 ple. This is his achievement and the message of 
 his book. It caught its echoes from the ages that 
 preceded its writing, and it will ring on into new 
 born days in an ever accumulating volume of sound; 
 
 the message is—the union of Israel and Zion. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Since the foregoing was written, Theodor Herzl, 
 man and leader, has passed away, and this publica¬ 
 tion of his first Zionist writing becomes a tribute 
 to his memory. His death has proved his life’s 
 work—he built beyond himself—and his demise is 
 but a consecration and a sanctification of Zionism. 
 The manner of the man, the life he led, all this is 
 written elsewhere. In these pages will be found, 
 as it were, his testament, his thought modified by 
 the conditions of its nationalization, and, it is the 
 thought, the hope, the regenerative idea, which is 
 Theodor Herzl’s bequest to Israel. 
 
 New York, Tammuz 25, 5664. JACOB HE HAAS. 
 
AUTHOR S PREFACE 
 
 The idea which I have developed in this pamphlet 
 is a very old one: the restoration of the Jewish 
 State. 
 
 The earth resounds with outcries against the 
 Jews, and these outcries have awakened the slum¬ 
 bering idea. 
 
 A 
 
 I wish it to be clearly understood from the outset 
 that no portion of my argument is based on a new r 
 discoverv. I have discovered neither the historic 
 condition of the Jews nor the means to improve 
 it. In fact, every man will see for himself that the 
 materials of the structure I am designing are not 
 only in existence, but actually ready to hand. If, 
 therefore, this attempt to solve the Jewish Ques¬ 
 tion is to be designated by a single word, let it be 
 called a “combination,” certainly not a “phantasy.” 
 
 I must, in the first place, guard my scheme from 
 being treated as Utopian by superficial critics who 
 might commit this error of judgment if 1 did not 
 to be ashamed of, if I had described a Utopia on 
 philanthropic lines; and I should also, in all proba- 
 
AUTHOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 XVII 
 
 bility, have obtained literary success more easily 
 if I had set forth my plan in the irresponsible guise 
 of a romantic tale.* But this Utopia is far less at¬ 
 tractive than any one of those portrayed by Sir 
 Thomas More and his numerous forerunners and 
 successors. And I believe that the situation of the 
 Jews in many countries is grave enough to make 
 preliminary trifling superfluous. 
 
 An interesting book—“Freiland,” by Dr. Theodor 
 Hertzka—which appeared a few years ago, may 
 serve to mark the distinction I draw between my 
 conception and a Utopian one. His is the inge¬ 
 nious invention of a modern mind thoroughly 
 schooled in the principles of political economy, and 
 is as remote from actuality as the Equatorial moun¬ 
 tain on which his dream State lies. “Freiland” is 
 a complicated piece of mechanism with numerous 
 cogged wheels catching into each other; but there 
 is nothing to prove that they can be set in motion. 
 Even supposing “Freiland societies” were to come 
 into existence, I should look on the whole thing as 
 a joke. 
 
 The scheme in question, on the other hand, in¬ 
 cludes the employment of an existent propelling 
 force. In consideration of my own inadequacy, I 
 shall content myself with indicating the cogs and 
 wheels of the machine to be constructed, and shall 
 warn them. I should obviously have done nothing 
 rety on more skilled mechanics than myself to put 
 them together. 
 
 Everything depends on our propelling force. And 
 
 * He subsequently did so in “Altneuland.” 
 
XV1U 
 
 EDITOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 what is our propelling force? The misery of the 
 Jews. 
 
 Who would venture to deny its existence? We 
 shall discuss it fully in the chapter on the causes 
 of Anti-Semitism. 
 
 Everybody is familiar with the phenomenon of 
 steam-power, generated by boiling water, lifting 
 the kettle-lid. Such tea-kettle phenomena are the 
 attempts of Zionists and of kindred associations to 
 check Anti-Semitism. 
 
 Now I believe that this pow'er, if rightly em¬ 
 ployed, is powerful enough to propel a large engine 
 and to despatch passengers and goods; the engine 
 having whatever form men may choose to give it. 
 
 I am absolutely convinced that I am right— 
 though I doubt whether I shall live to see mvself 
 proved to be so. Those who are the first to inau¬ 
 gurate this movement will scarcely live to see its 
 glorious close. But the inauguration of it is enough 
 to give them self-respect and the joy of freedom of 
 soul. 
 
 I shall not be lavish in artistically elaborated de¬ 
 scriptions of my project, for fear of incurring the 
 suspicion of painting a Utopia. I anticipate, in 
 any case, that thoughtless scoffers w T ill caricature 
 my sketch and thus try to weaken its effect. A 
 Jew, intelligent in other respects, to whom I ex¬ 
 plained my plan, w T as of opinion that “a Utopia 
 was a project whose future details ^were repre¬ 
 sented as already extant.’’ This is a fallacy. 
 
 Every Chancellor of the Exchequer calculates in 
 
 * 
 
 his estimate with suppositious figures, and not 
 
AUTHOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 xix 
 
 only with such as are based on the average returns 
 of past years, or on previous revenues in other 
 States, but sometimes with figures for which there 
 is no precedent whatever; as, for example, in insti¬ 
 tuting a new tax. Everybody who studies a Budget 
 knows that this is the case. But even if it were 
 known that the estimate would not be rigidly ad¬ 
 hered to, would the new system of administration 
 be therefore considered Utopian? 
 
 But I am forming greater expectations of my 
 readers. I ask the cultivated men whom I am ad¬ 
 dressing to set many preconceived ideas entirely 
 aside. I shall even go so far as to ask those Jew’s 
 w r lio have most earnestly tried to solve the Jewish 
 Question, to look upon their previous attempts as 
 mistaken and futile. 
 
 I must guard against a danger in setting forth 
 my idea. If I describe future circumstances with 
 too much caution, I shall appear to doubt of their 
 possibility. If, on the other hand, I announce their 
 realisation with too much assurance, I shall appear 
 to be describing a chimera. 
 
 I will therefore clearly and emphatically state 
 that I believe in (the practical outcome of my 
 scheme, though without professing to have discov¬ 
 ered the shape it may ultimately take. The Jewish 
 State is essential to the wmrld, it will therefore be 
 created. 
 
 The plan would, of course, seem absurd if a single 
 individual attempted to work it; but if worked by 
 a number of Jews in co-operation, it would appear 
 perfectly rational, and its accomplishment' would 
 
XX 
 
 AUTHOR’S PREFACE. 
 
 present no insurmountable difficulties. The idea 
 depends only on the number of its supporters. Per¬ 
 haps those ambitious young men, to whom every 
 road of progress is now closed, seeing in this Jewish 
 State a bright prospect of freedom, happiness, and 
 honours opening to them, will ensure the propaga¬ 
 tion of the idea. 
 
 I feel that with the publication of this pamphlet 
 my task is done. I shall not again take up the pen, 
 unless the attacks of noteworthy antagonists drive 
 me to do so, or it becomes necessary to meet unfore¬ 
 seen objections and to remove errors. 
 
 Am I stating what is not yet the case? Am I 
 before my time? Are the sufferings of the Jews 
 not yet grave enough? We shall see. 
 
 Now it depends on the Jews to make of this either 
 a political pamphlet or a political romance. If the 
 pres* nt generation is too dull to understand it 
 rightly, a future, a finer, and a better generation 
 will arise to understand it. The Jews wish for a 
 btate—they shall have it, and they shall earn it 
 for themselves. 
 
V 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION . 1 
 
 THE JEWISH QUESTION . 16 
 
 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT A SOLUTION. 19 
 
 CAUSES OF ANTI-SEMITISM .. 21 
 
 EFFECTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM . 23 
 
 THE PLAN . 25 
 
 PALESTINE OR ARGENTINA? . 28 
 
 DEMAND, MEDIUM, TRADE . 29 
 
 OUTLINES . 31 
 
 NON-TRANSFERABLE GOODS . 32 
 
 PURCHASE OF LAND . 33 
 
 BUILDINGS . 35 
 
 WORKMEN’S DWELLINGS . 36 
 
 UNSKILLED LABOURERS . 37 
 
 THE SEVEN-HOURS DAY . 38 
 
 THE LABOUR TEST . 40 
 
 COMMERCE . 43 
 
 OTHER CLASSES OF DWELLINGS . 44 
 
 SOME FORMS OF RAISING NON-TRANSFERABLE 
 
 PROPERTY . 45 
 
 SECURITIES OF THE COMPANY . 48 
 
 SOME OF THE COMPANY’S FUNCTIONS . 51 
 
 PROMOTION OF INDUSTRIES ... 53 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF SKILLED LABOURERS . 55 
 
 METHOD OF RAISING CAPITAL . 55 
 
XXII 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 LOCAL GROUPS 
 
 OUR TRANSMIGRATIONS . G1 
 
 EMIGRATION IN GROUPS . G2 
 
 OUR MINISTERS . G4 
 
 RESPONSIBLE MEN OF THE LOCAL GROUPS . G5 
 
 PLANS OF THE TOWNS . GG 
 
 THE DEPARTURE OF THE MIDDLE CLASSES. G7 
 
 THE PHENOMENON OF MULTITUDES . G3 
 
 OUR INTRINSIC QUALITIES . 74 
 
 HABITS . 75 
 
 SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE 
 
 NEGOTIORUM GESTIO . 77 
 
 THE GESTOR OF THE JEWS . SI 
 
 THE OCCUPATION OF LAND . 83 
 
 CONSTITUTION . SG 
 
 LANGUAGE . 88 
 
 THEOCRACY . 83 
 
 LAWS . 90 
 
 THE ARMY . 91 
 
 THE BANNER . 91 
 
 RECIPROCITY AND CARTELS . 91 
 
 BENEFITS OF THE EMIGRATION OF THE JEWS.. 93 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 97 
 
A JEWISH STATE 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is astonishing how little insight many of the 
 men who move in the midst of active life possess 
 of the science of economics. Hence it is that even 
 Jews faithfully repeat the cry of the Anti-Semites: 
 “We depend for sustenance on the nations whose 
 guests w r e are, and if we had not hosts to support 
 us we should die of starvation.” This is a point 
 that shows liow T greatly unjust accusations may 
 weaken our self-knowledge. But what are the true 
 grounds for this statement concerning the nations 
 which take us in? Where it is not based on limited 
 physiocratic views it is founded on the childish er¬ 
 ror that commodities pass from hand to hand in 
 continuous rotation. We need not wake from long 
 slumber, like Rip van Winkle, to realize that the 
 world is considerably altered by the production of 
 new commodities. The technical progress made 
 during this wonderful era enables even a man of 
 most limited intelligence to note with his short¬ 
 sighted eyes the appearance of innumerable new 
 
2 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 commodities. The spirit of enterprise has created 
 them. 
 
 Labour without enterprise is the stationary 
 labour of ancient days; and typical of it is the work 
 of the husbandman, who stands now just where his 
 progenitors stood a thousand years ago. All our 
 material welfare has been brought about by men of 
 enterprise. I feel almost ashamed of writing down 
 so trite a remark. Even if we were a nation of 
 promoters—such as absurdly exaggerated ac¬ 
 counts make us out to be—we should not require 
 another nation to live on. We do not depend only 
 on the circulation of old commodities, because we 
 produce new ones. 
 
 We possess slaves of extraordinary strength for 
 work, whose appearance in the world has been fatal 
 to the production of hand-made goods: these slaves 
 are the machines. It is true that workmen are 
 required to set machinery in motion; but for this 
 we have men in plenty, in superabundance. Only 
 those who are ignorant of the condition of Jews in 
 many countries of Eastern Europe would venture 
 to assert that Jews are either unfit or unwilling 
 to perform manual labour. 
 
 But I do not wish to take up the cudgels for the 
 Jews in this pamphlet. It would be useless. 
 Everything rational and everything sentimental 
 that can possibly be said in their defence, has been 
 said already. New arguments in favour of a cer¬ 
 tain condition of mind or of feeling answer no pur¬ 
 pose. If one’s hearers are incapable of compre¬ 
 hending them, one is a preacher in a desert. And 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 3 
 
 if one's hearers are broad and liigh-minded enough 
 to have grasped them already, then the whole ser¬ 
 mon is superfluous. I believe in the ascent of man 
 to higher and yet higher grades of civilisation; but 
 I consider this ascent to be desperately slow. Were 
 we to wait till average humanity had become as 
 charitablv inclined as was Lessing when he wrote 
 “Nathan the Wise,” we should wait beyond our day, 
 beyond the days of our children, of our grandchil¬ 
 dren and of our great-grandchildren. But the 
 world spirit comes to our aid in another way. 
 
 This century has given the world a wonderful 
 renaissance by means of its technical acquisitions; 
 but at the same time its miraculous improvements 
 have not been employed in the service of humanity. 
 Distance has ceased to be an obstacle, yet we com¬ 
 plain of insufficient space. Our great steamships 
 carry us swiftly and surely over hitherto unvisited 
 seas. Our railways carry us safely into a moun¬ 
 tain-world heretofore tremblingly scaled on foot. 
 Events occurring in countries undiscovered when 
 Europe confined the Jews in Ghettos, are known 
 to us in the course of an hour. Hence the misery 
 of the Jews is an anachronism—not because there 
 was a period of enlightenment one hundred years 
 ago, for that enlightenment reached in reality only 
 the choicest spirits. 
 
 Now, I am of opinion that electric light was not 
 invented for the purpose of illuminating the draw¬ 
 ing-rooms of a few snobs, but rather for the purpose 
 of throwing light on some of the dark problems 
 of humanity. One of these problems, and not the 
 
4 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 least of them, is the Jewish question. In solving it, 
 we are working not only for ourselves, but for 
 
 many other over-burdened and oppressed beings 
 also. 
 
 The Jewish question still exists. It would be 
 useless to deny it. It is a remnant of the Middle 
 Ages, which civilized nations do not even yet seem 
 able to shake off, try as they will. They certainly 
 showed a generous desire to do so when they eman¬ 
 cipated us. The Jewish question exists wherever 
 Jews live in perceptible numbers. Where it does 
 not exist, it is carried by Jews in the course of their 
 migrations. We naturally move to those places 
 where we are not persecuted, and there our pres¬ 
 ence produces persecution. This is the case in 
 every country, and will remain so, even in those 
 most highly civilised—France itself being no excep¬ 
 tion—till the Jewish question finds a solution on a 
 political basis. The unfortunate Jews are now 
 carrying Anti-Semitism into England; they have 
 alreadv introduced it into America. 
 
 I believe that I understand Anti-Semitism, which 
 is really a highly complex movement. I consider 
 it from a Jewish standpoint, yet without fear or 
 hatred. I believe that I can see what elements 
 there are in it of vulgar sport, of common trade 
 jealousy, of inherited prejudice, of religious intoler¬ 
 ance, and also of pretended self-defence. I think 
 the Jewish question is no more a social than a re¬ 
 ligious one, notwithstanding that it sometimes 
 takes these and other forms. It is a national ques¬ 
 tion, which can only be solved by making it a po- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 5 
 
 litical world-question to be discussed and controlled 
 by the civilized nations of the world in council. 
 
 We are a people—One people. 
 
 We have honestly endeavoured everywhere to 
 merge ourselves in the social life of surrounding 
 communities, and to preserve only the faith of our 
 fathers. It has not been permitted to us. In vain 
 are we loyal patriots, our loyalty in some places 
 running to extremes; in vain do we make the same 
 sacrifices of life and property as our fellow citizens; 
 in vain do we strive to increase the fame of our 
 native land in science and art, or her wealth by 
 trade and commerce. In countries where we have 
 lived for centuries we are still cried down as stran¬ 
 gers, and often by those whose ancestors were not 
 yet domiciled in the land where Jews had already 
 made experience of suffering. The majority may 
 decide which are the strangers; for this, as indeed 
 every point which arises in the commerce of nations, 
 is a question of might. I do not here surrender any 
 portion of our prescriptive right, for I am making 
 this statement merely in my own name as an indi¬ 
 vidual. In the world of today, and for an indefinite 
 period it will probably remain so, might precedes 
 right. Therefore it is useless for us to be loyal 
 patriots, as were the Huguenots who were forced 
 to emigrate. If we could only be left in peace. . . . 
 
 But I think we shall not be left in peace. 
 
 Oppression and persecution cannot exterminate 
 us. No nation on earth has survived such struggles 
 and sufferings as we have gone through. Jew-bait- 
 ing has merely stripped off our. weaklings; the 
 
6 
 
 A JEWISH STATE* 
 
 strong* among us were invariably true to their race 
 when persecution broke out against them. This 
 attitude was most clearly apparent in the period 
 immediately following the emancipation of the 
 Jews. Later on, those who rose to a higher degree 
 of intelligence and to a better worldly position lost 
 their communal feeling to a very great extent. 
 Wherever our political well-being has lasted for 
 any length of time, we have assimilated with our 
 surroundings. I think this is not discreditable. 
 Hence, the statesman wiio w 7 ould wish to see a Jew¬ 
 ish strain in his nation would have to provide for 
 the duration of our political w^ell-being; and even 
 Bismarck could not do that. 
 
 For old prejudice against us still lies deep in the 
 hearts of the people. He wiio would have proofs 
 of it need only listen to the people where they speak 
 with frankness and simplicity: proverb and fairy¬ 
 tale are both Anti-Semitic. A nation is a great 
 child, which can certainly be educated; but its edu¬ 
 cation would, even in most favourable circum¬ 
 stances, occupy such a vast amount of time that we 
 could, as already mentioned, remove our ow 7 n diffi¬ 
 culties by other means long before the process was 
 accomplished. 
 
 Assimilation, w 7 hich implies, in addition to exter¬ 
 nal conformity, in dress, habits, customs, and lan¬ 
 guage, identity also of feeling and manner—assimi¬ 
 lation of Jews could only be effected by intermar¬ 
 riage. But the need for mixed marriages would 
 have to be felt by the majority; their mere recogni¬ 
 tion by law would certainly not suffice. The Hun- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 7 
 
 garian Liberals, who have just given legal sanction 
 to mixed marriages,* have made a remarkable mis¬ 
 take, which one of the earliest cases clearly illus¬ 
 trates; a baptised Jew married a Jewess. At the 
 same time the struggle to obtain the present form 
 of marriage accentuated distinctions between Jews 
 and Christians, thus hindering rather than aiding 
 the fusion of races. Those who reallv wish to see 
 • the Jews disappear through intermixture with 
 other nations can only hope to see it come about in 
 one way. The Jews must previously acquire eco¬ 
 nomic power sufficiently great to overcome all social 
 prejudice against them. The aristocracy may 
 serve as an example of this, for in its ranks occur 
 the proportionately largest numbers of mixed mar¬ 
 riages. The Jewish families which regild the old 
 nobility with their coin, become gradually absorbed. 
 But what shape would this phenomenon take in 
 the middle classes, where (the Jews being a bour¬ 
 geois people) the Jewish question is of far more 
 consequence? A previous acquisition of power 
 w r ould be synonymous with that economic suprem¬ 
 acy which Jews are already erroneously declared to 
 possess. And if the power they now possess cre¬ 
 ates rage and indignation among the Anti-Semites, 
 what outbreaks would not an increase of power 
 create? Hence the first step towards absorption 
 will never be taken, because this step would in¬ 
 volve the subjection of the majority to a heretofore 
 scorned minority, possessing neither military nor 
 administrative force of its own. T think, therefore, 
 
 * 1895. 
 
8 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 that the absorption of Jews by means of their pros¬ 
 perity is unlikely to occur. In countries which are 
 now Anti-Semitic my view will be approved. In 
 countries where Jews are now tolerated, it will 
 probably be violently disputed. My happier co¬ 
 religionists will not believe me till Jew-baiting 
 teaches them the truth; for the longer Anti-Sem¬ 
 itism lies in abeyance the more fiercely will it break 
 out. The infiltration of immigrating Jews, at¬ 
 tracted to a land by apparent security, and the 
 ascent in the social scale of rising Jews, combine 
 powerfully to bring about a revolution. Nothing 
 is plainer than this rational conclusion. 
 
 Because I have drawn this conclusion with com¬ 
 plete indifference to everything but the quest of 
 truth, I shall probably be contradicted and op¬ 
 posed by Jews who are in easy circumstances. In 
 so far as private interests alone are held by their 
 anxious possessors to be in danger, they can safely 
 be ignored, for the concerns of the poor and op¬ 
 pressed are of greater importance than theirs. But 
 I wish from the outset to prevent any misconcep 
 tion from arising, particularly the mistaken notion 
 that my project, if realised, would in the least de¬ 
 gree injure property now held by Jews. I shall 
 therefore explain everything connected with rights 
 of property very fully. Whereas, if my plan never 
 becomes anything more than a piece of literature, 
 things will merely remain as they were. 
 
 It might more reasonably be objected that I am 
 giving a handle to Anti-Semitism when I say we 
 are a people—One people; that I am hindering the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 assimilation of Jews, where it is about to be con¬ 
 summated, and endangering it where it is an ac¬ 
 complished fact, in so far as it is possible for a 
 solitary writer to hinder or endanger anything. 
 
 This objection will be especially brought forward 
 in France. It will probably also be made in other 
 countries, but I shall answer only the French Jews 
 beforehand, because these afford the most striking 
 example of my point. 
 
 However much I may worship individuality— 
 powerful personal individuality in statesmen, in¬ 
 ventors, artists, philosophers, or commanders, as 
 well as conjoint individuality in a historic group of 
 human beings, which we call a nation—however 
 much I may worship individuality, I do not regret 
 its disappearance. Whatever is unfit to survive 
 can, will, and must be destroyed. But the distinc¬ 
 tive nationality of Jews neither can, will, nor must 
 be destroyed. It cannot be destroyed, because ex¬ 
 ternal enemies consolidate it.* It will not be de¬ 
 stroyed: this it has shown during 2000 years of ap¬ 
 palling suffering. It must not be destroyed, and 
 that, as successor to numberless Jews who refused 
 to despair, I am trying once more to prove in this 
 pamphlet. Whole branches of Judaism may wither 
 and fall, but the trunk remains. 
 
 Hence, if all or any of the French Jews protest 
 
 * Answering Major Evans Gordon, before the British Royal Com¬ 
 mission on Alien Immigration in August, 1902, Dr. Herzl said: 
 “I will give you my definition of a nation, and you can add the 
 adjective ‘Jewish.’ A nation is, in my mind, a historical group of 
 men of a recognizable cohesion held together by a common enemy. 
 That is in my view a nation. Then if you add to that the word 
 ‘Jewish’ you have what I understand to be the Jewish nation. 
 
10 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 against this scheme on account of their own “as 
 simulation,” my answer is simple: The whole thing 
 does not concern them at all. They are Jewish 
 Frenchmen, well and good! This is a private affair 
 for the Jews alone. 
 
 The movement towards the organisation of the 
 State I am proposing would, of course, harm Jewish 
 Frenchmen no more than it would harm the “as¬ 
 similated” of other countries. It would, on the 
 contrary, be distinctly to their advantage. For 
 they would no longer be disturbed in their “chro¬ 
 matic function,” as Darwin puts it, but would be 
 able to assimilate in peace, because Anti-Semitism, 
 now active, would have been stopped for ever. They 
 would certainly be credited with being assimilated 
 to the very depths of their souls, if they stayed 
 where thev were after the Jewish State, with its 
 superior organisation, had become a reality. 
 
 “Assimilated” would profit even more than Chris¬ 
 tian citizens by the departure of faithful Jews; for 
 they would be rid of the disquieting, incalculable, 
 and unavoidable rivalry of a Jewish proletariat, 
 
 i 
 
 driven by poverty and political pressure from place 
 to place, from land to land. This floating prole¬ 
 tariat would become stationary. Many Christian 
 citizens—whom we call Anti-Semites—can now 
 offer determined resistance to the immigration of 
 
 foreign Jews. Jewish citizens cannot do this, al¬ 
 though it affects them far more nearly; for on them 
 tells first of all the keen competition of individuals 
 carrying on similar branches of industry, who, in 
 addition, either introduce Anti-Semitism where it 
 
INTRODUCTION, 
 
 11 
 
 does not exist, or intensify it where it does. The 
 “assimilated” give expression to this secret griev¬ 
 ance in “philanthropic undertakings.” They found 
 emigration societies for wandering Jews. There 
 is a reverse to the picture which were comic, if it 
 did not deal with human beings. For these char¬ 
 itable institutions are created not for, but against, 
 persecuted Jews—are created to despatch these 
 poor creatures just as fast and as far as possible. 
 And thus, many an apparent friend of the Jews 
 turns out, on careful inspection, to be nothing more 
 than an Anti-Semite of Jewish origin disguised in 
 the garb of a philanthropist. 
 
 But the attempts at colonisation made even by 
 really benevolent men, interesting attempts though 
 they were, have so far been unsuccessful. I do not 
 think that one man or another took up the matter 
 merely as an amusement; that they allowed poor 
 Jews to migrate, as a herd of cattle might have 
 been let go. The matter was too grave and tragic 
 for such treatment. These attempts were inter¬ 
 esting, in that they represented on a small scale 
 the practical forerunners of the idea of a Jewish 
 State. They were useful, in that out of their mis¬ 
 takes, may be gathered experience for carrying 
 them out successfully on a larger scale. They 
 have, of course, done harm also. The transporta¬ 
 tion of Anti-Semitism to new districts, which is 
 the inevitable consequence of such artificial infil¬ 
 tration, seems to me to be the least of these evils. 
 Far worse is the circumstance that unsatisfactory 
 results tend to cast doubts on the efficacy of Jewish 
 
12 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 labour. But the following simple argument will 
 remove this doubt from the minds of intelligent 
 men. What is inefficacious, and impossible to ac¬ 
 complish on a small scale, need not necessarily be 
 so on a larger one. A small enterprise may result 
 in loss under the same conditions which would 
 make a large one pay. A rivulet cannot even be 
 navigated by boats, the river into which it flows 
 carries fine iron vessels. 
 
 No human being is wealthy or powerful enough 
 to transplant a nation from one habitation to an¬ 
 other. An idea alone can compass that; and this 
 idea of a State may have the requisite power to do 
 so. The Jews have dreamt this kingly dream all 
 through tin* long nights of their history. “Next 
 year in Jerusalem” is their old phrase. Now comes 
 the opportunity to prove that the dream may be 
 converted into a living reality. 
 
 For this, many old, outgrown, confused and 
 limited notions must first be entirely erased from 
 the minds of men. Dull brains might, for instance, 
 imagine that this exodus would be from civilised 
 regions into the desert. That is not the case. It 
 will be carried out in the midst of civilisation. We 
 shall not revert to a lower stage; we shall rise to a 
 higher one. We shall not dwell in mud huts; we 
 shall build newer and more beautiful houses, and 
 possess them in safety. We shall not lose our 
 acquired possessions; we shall realise them. We 
 shall surrender our well-earned rights only for 
 greater privileges. We shall not sacrifice our be¬ 
 loved customs; we shall find them again. We shall 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 13 
 
 not leave our old home before the new is prepared 
 for ns. Those only will depart who are sure 
 thereby to improve their position; those who are 
 now desperate will go first, after them the poor; 
 next the prosperous, and, last of all, the opulent. 
 The precursors will raise themselves to a higher 
 grade, equal to that class whose representatives will 
 shortly follow. Thus the exodus will be at the 
 same time an ascent of the classes. 
 
 The departure of the Jews will involve no eco¬ 
 nomic disturbances, no crises, no persecutions; in 
 fact, the countries they abandon will revive to a 
 new period of prosperity. There will be an inner 
 migration of Christian citizens into the positions 
 evacuated by Jews. The outgoing current will be 
 gradual and continuous, and its initial movement 
 will put an end to Anti-Semitism. The Jews will 
 leave as honoured friends, and if some of them re¬ 
 turn, they will receive the same favourable wel¬ 
 come and treatment at the hands of civilised na¬ 
 tions as is accorded to all foreign visitors. Their 
 exodus will have no resemblance to a flight, for it 
 will be a well-regulated expedition under control 
 of public opinion. The movement will not only be 
 inaugurated with absolute conformity to law, but 
 it cannot even be carried out without the friendly 
 intervention of interested Governments, who would 
 derive considerable benefits from it. 
 
 Security for the integrity of the idea and the 
 vigour of its execution will be found in the creation 
 of a body corporate, or corporation. This corpora¬ 
 tion will be called “The Societv of Jews.” In addi- 
 
 t j 
 
14 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 tion to it there will be a Jewish Company, a self* 
 supporting, paying body. 
 
 An individual who attempted even to undertake 
 this huge task alone might be either an impostor or 
 a madman. The personal characters of the mem¬ 
 bers of the corporation will guarantee its integrity, 
 and the business capital of the Company will prove 
 its stabilitv. 
 
 These prefatory remarks are merely intended as 
 a hast} 7 reply to the crowd of objections which the 
 very words “Jewish State” are certain to arouse. 
 Henceforth we shall proceed more slowly to meet 
 further objections and to explain in detail what 
 has been as yet only indicated; and we shall try 
 in the interests of this pamphlet to avoid making it 
 a dull exposition. Short aphoristic chapters will 
 therefore best answer the purpose. - 
 
 If I wish to substitute a new building for an old 
 one, I must demolish before I construct. I shall 
 therefore keep to this natural sequence. In the 
 first and general part I shall explain my ideas, re¬ 
 move all prejudices, determine essential political 
 and economic conditions, and develop the plan. 
 
 In the special part, which is divided into three 
 principal sections, I shall describe its execution. 
 These three sections are: The Jewish Company, 
 Local Groups, and the Society of Jews. The So¬ 
 ciety is to be created first, the Company last; but in 
 this account the reverse order is preferable, be¬ 
 cause it is the financial soundness of the enterprise 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 15 
 
 which will chiefly be called into question, and 
 doubts on this score must be removed first. 
 
 In the conclusion, I shall try to meet every fur¬ 
 ther objection that could possibly be made. My 
 Jewish readers will, I hope, follow me patiently to 
 the end. Some will naturally make their objec¬ 
 tions in an order of succession other than that 
 chosen for their refutation. But whoever sees his 
 doubts set aside ought to give in his allegiance to 
 the cause. 
 
 Although I speak of reason, I am fully aware 
 that reason alone will not suffice. Old prisoners do 
 not willingly leave their cell. And we shall see 
 whether the young, whom we need, have grown up 
 to us; whether the young, who irresistibly draw 
 on the old, will transform rational motives into 
 enthusiasm. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION 
 
 No one can deny the gravity of the Jews’ situa¬ 
 tion. Wherever they live in perceptible numbers, 
 they are more or less persecuted. Their equality be¬ 
 fore the law, granted by statute, has become prac¬ 
 tically a dead letter. They are debarred from fill¬ 
 ing even moderately high positions, either in the 
 army, or in any public or private capacity. And 
 attempts are made to crowd them out of business 
 also. “No dealing with Jews!” 
 
 Attacks in Parliaments, in assemblies, in the 
 press, in the pulpit, in the streets, on journeys—for 
 example, their exclusion from certain hotels—even 
 in places of recreation, become daily more numer¬ 
 ous, the forms of persecution varying according to 
 the countries in which they occur. In Russia, im¬ 
 positions are levied on Jewish villages; in Rouma- 
 nia, a few human beings are put to death; in Ger- x 
 many, they get a good beating when the occasion 
 serves; in Austria, Anti-Semites exercise terrorism 
 over all public life; in Paris, they are shut out of 
 the so-called best social circles and excluded from 
 clubs. Shades of Anti-Jewish feeling are innu¬ 
 merable. But this is not to be an attempt to make 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 17 
 
 out a doleful category of Jewish hardships; it is 
 futile to linger over details, however painful they 
 may be. 
 
 I do not intend to awaken sympathetic emotions 
 on our behalf. That would be a foolish, futile, and 
 undignified proceeding. I shall content myself 
 with putting the following questions to the Jews: 
 Is it true that, in countries where we live in per¬ 
 ceptible numbers, the position of Jewish lawyers, 
 doctors, men of science, teachers, and officials of 
 all descriptions, becomes daily more intolerable? 
 True, that the Jewish middle classes are seriously 
 threatened? True, that the passions of the mob 
 are incited against our wealthy representatives? 
 True, that our poor endure greater sufferings than 
 any other proletariat? 
 
 I think that this external pressure makes itself 
 felt everywhere.. In our upper classes it causes 
 unpleasantness, in our middle classes continual and 
 grave anxieties, in our lower classes absolute 
 despair. 
 
 Everything tends, in fact, to one and the same 
 conclusion, which is clearly enunciated in that 
 classic Berlin phrase: “Juden raus!” (Out with 
 the Jews!) 
 
 I shall now put the Jewish Question in the curtest 
 possible form: Are we to “get out” now? And if 
 so, to what place? 
 
 Or, may we yet remain? And if so, how long? 
 
 Let us first settle the point of staying where we 
 are. Can we hope for better days, can we possess 
 our souls in patience, can we wait in pious resigna- 
 
18 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 tion till the princes and peoples of this earth are 
 more mercifully disposed towards us? I say that 
 we cannot hope for a change in the current of feel¬ 
 ing. And why not? Were we as near to the hearts 
 of princes as are their other subjects, even so they 
 could not protect us. They would only feed popu- 
 lar hatred of Jews by showing us too much favour. 
 By “too much,” I really mean less than is claimed 
 
 as a right by every ordinary citizen, and by every 
 tribe. 
 
 Every nation in whose midst Jews live is, either 
 covertly or openly, Anti-Semitic. 
 
 The common people have not, and indeed cannot 
 have, any historic comprehension. They do not 
 know that the sins of the Middle Ages are now 
 being visited on the nations of Europe. We are 
 what the Ghetto made us. We have doubtless at¬ 
 tained pre-eminence in finance, because mediaeval 
 conditions drove us to it. The same process is now 
 being repeated. Modern conditions force us again 
 into finance, now the stock-exchange, by keeping us 
 out of all other branches of industry. Being on the 
 stock-exchange, we are therefore again considered 
 contemptible. At the same time we continue to 
 produce an abundance of mediocre intellects which 
 finds no outlet, and this endangers our social posi¬ 
 tion as much as does our increasing wealth. Edu¬ 
 cated Jews without means are now fast becoming 
 Socialists. Hence we are certain to suffer verv 
 severely in the struggle between classes, because 
 we stand in the most exposed position in the camps 
 of both Socialists and capitalists. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. ly 
 
 f 
 
 »■ * 
 
 l 
 
 PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT A SOLUTION 
 
 The artificial means heretofore employed to over¬ 
 come the troubles of Jews have been either too 
 petty—such as attempts at colonisation, or mis¬ 
 taken in principle—such as attempts to convert the 
 Jews into peasants in their present homes. 
 
 What is the result of transporting a few thousand 
 Jews to another country? Either they come to 
 grief at once, or prosper, and then their prosperity 
 creates Anti-Semitism. We have already discussed 
 these attempts to divert poor Jews to fresh dis¬ 
 tricts. This diversion is clearly inadequate and 
 futile, if it does not actually defeat its own ends; 
 for it merely protracts and postpones a solution, 
 and perhaps even aggravates difficulties. 
 
 Whoever were to attempt a conversion of the 
 Jew into a husbandman would be making an 
 extraordinary mistake. For a peasant is a his¬ 
 torical category, as is proved by his costume, which 
 in some countries he has worn for centuries; and by 
 his tools, which are identical with those used by his 
 earliest forefathers. His plough is unchanged; he 
 carries the seed in his apron; mows with the his¬ 
 torical scythe, and threshes with the, time-honoured 
 
 flail. But we know that all this can be done bv 
 
 • 
 
 machinery. The agrarian question is only a ques¬ 
 tion of machinery. America must conquer Europe, 
 in the same way as large landed possessions absorb 
 small ones. 
 
 The peasant is consequently a type which is in 
 course of extinction. Whenever he is artificially 
 
20 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 % 
 
 preserved, it is done on account of the political in¬ 
 terests which he is intended to serve. It is absurd, 
 and indeed impossible, to make modern peasants on 
 the old pattern. No one is wealthy or powerful 
 enough to make civilisation take a single retrograde 
 step. The mere preservation of obsolete institu¬ 
 tions is a task severe enough to require the enforce¬ 
 ment of all the despotic measures of an autocrat¬ 
 ically governed State. 
 
 Are we therefore to credit Jews, who are intelli¬ 
 gent, with a desire to become peasants of the old 
 type? One might just as well say to them: “Here 
 is a cross-bow; now go to Avar!” What? with a 
 cross-bow, while the others have rifles and Maxim 
 guns? Under these circumstances the Jews are 
 perfectly justified in refusing to stir Avlien people 
 try to agrarianise them. A cross-bow is a beautiful 
 weapon, it inspires me with mournful feelings 
 when I have time to give way. But it belongs 
 rightly in a museum. 
 
 Now, there certainly are districts Avhere desper¬ 
 ate Jews go out, or at any rate are willing to go out, 
 and till the soil. And a little observation shows 
 that these districts—such as portions of Hessen in 
 Germany, and some provinces in Russia—these very 
 districts are the principal seats of Anti-Semitism. 
 
 For the world’s reformers, who send the JeAVS to 
 the plough, forget a very important person, who has 
 a decided objection to seeing them there. This per¬ 
 son is the agriculturist. And the agriculturist is 
 also perfectly justified in his objections. For the 
 tax on land, the risks attached to crops, the press- 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 21 
 
 ure of large proprietors who cheapen labour, and 
 American competition in particular, combine to 
 make his life hard enough. The duties on corn can¬ 
 not go on increasing indefinitely. Nor can the 
 manufacturer be allowed to starve; his political in¬ 
 fluence is, in fact, in the ascendant, and he must 
 therefore be treated with additional consideration. 
 
 All these difficulties are well known, therefore I 
 only referred to them cursorily. I merely wanted 
 to indicate clearly how futile had been past at¬ 
 tempts—most of them well intentionecl—to solve 
 the Jewish Question. Neither a diversion of the 
 stream, nor an artificial depression of the intellect¬ 
 ual level of our proletariat, will overcome the diffi¬ 
 culty. The supposed infallible expedient of assimi¬ 
 lation has already been dealt with. 
 
 We cannot get the better of Anti-Semitism by any 
 of these methods. It cannot die out so long as its 
 causes are not removed. Are they removable? 
 
 CAUSES OF ANTI-SEMITISM. 
 
 We shall not again touch on those causes which 
 are a result of temperament, prejudice and limited 
 views, but shall here restrict ourselves to political 
 and economic causes alone. Modern Anti-Semitism 
 is not to be confounded with the religious persecu¬ 
 tion of the Jews of former times. It does occasion¬ 
 ally take a somewhat religious bias, but the main 
 current of the aggressive movement has now 
 changed. In the principal countries where Anti- 
 
A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 22 
 
 Semitism prevails, it does so as a result of the 
 emancipation of the Jews. When civilised nations 
 awoke to the inhumanity of exclusive legislation 
 and enfranchised us, our enfranchisement came too 
 late. It was no longer possible legally to remove 
 our disabilities in our old homes. For we had, 
 curiously enough, developed while in the Ghetto 
 into a bourgeois people, and we stepped out of it 
 only to enter into fierce competition with the middle 
 classes. Hence, our emancipation set us suddenly 
 within this middle-class circle, where we have a 
 double pressure to sustain, from within and from 
 without. The Christian bourgeoisie would not be 
 unwilling to cast us as a sacrifice to Socialism, 
 though that would not greatly improve matters. 
 At the same time, the equal rights of Jews before 
 the law cannot be withdrawn where they have once 
 been conceded. Not only because their withdrawal 
 would be opposed to the spirit of our age, but also 
 because it would immediately drive all Jews, rich 
 
 and poor alike, into the ranks of the revolutionary 
 party. 
 
 Nothing effectual can really be done to our injury 
 In old days our jewels were seized. How is our 
 movable property to be got hold of now? It is 
 comprised in printed papers which are scattered 
 over the world, locked up maybe in the coffers of 
 Christians. It is of course possible to get at shares 
 and debentures in railways, banks and industrial 
 concerns of all descriptions, by taxation, and 
 where the progressive income-tax is in force, all our 
 realised property can eventually be laid hold of. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 23 
 
 • 
 
 But all these efforts cannot be directed against 
 Jews alone, and where they have nevertheless been 
 made, severe economic crises with far-reaching ef¬ 
 fects have been their immediate consequence. The 
 very impossibility of getting at the Jews nourishes 
 and embitters hatred of them. Anti-Semitism in¬ 
 creases day by day and hour by hour among the na¬ 
 tions; indeed, it is bound to increase, because the 
 causes of its growth continue to exist, and cannot 
 be removed. Its remote cause is our loss of the 
 power of assimilation during the Middle Ages; its 
 immediate cause is our excessive production of 
 mediocre intellects, who cannot find an outlet down¬ 
 wards or upwards—that is to say, no wholesome 
 outlet in either direction. When we sink, we be¬ 
 come a revolutionary proletariat, the subordinate 
 officers of the revolutionary party; when we rise, 
 there rises also our terrible power of the purse. 
 
 EFFECTS OF ANTI-SEMITISM 
 
 The oppression we endure does not improve us, 
 for we are not a whit better than ordinary people. 
 It is true that w r e do not love our enemies; but he 
 alone who can conquer himself dare reproach us 
 with that fault. Oppression naturally creates hos¬ 
 tility against oppressors, and our hostility aggra¬ 
 vates the pressure. It is impossible to escape from 
 this eternal round. 
 
 “No!” some soft-hearted visionaries will say; “no, 
 it is possible! Possible by means of the ultimate 
 perfection of humanity.” 
 
24 
 
 4 JEWISH STATE. 
 
 Is it worth while pointing out the sentimental 
 
 / 
 
 folly of this view? He who would found his hope 
 for improved conditions on the ultimate perfection 
 of humanity, would indeed be painting a Utopia! 
 
 I referred previously to our “assimiliation”; I do 
 not for a moment wish to imply that I desire such 
 an end. Our national character is too historically 
 famous, and, spite of every degradation, too fine, to 
 make its annihilation desirable. We might perhaps 
 be able to merge ourselves entirely into surround¬ 
 ing races, if these were to leave us in peace for a 
 space of two generations. But they will not leave 
 us in peace. For a little period they manage to 
 tolerate us, and then their hostility breaks out 
 again and again. The world is provoked by our 
 prosperity, because it has for many centuries been 
 accustomed to consider us as the most contemptible 
 among the poverty-stricken. It forgets, in its ig¬ 
 norance and narrowness of heart, that prosperity 
 weakens our Judaism and extinguishes our pecul¬ 
 iarities. It is only pressure that forces us back to 
 the parent stem; it is only hatred encompassing us 
 that makes us strangers once more. 
 
 Thus, whether we like it or not, we are now, and 
 shall henceforth remain, a historic group with un¬ 
 mistakable characteristics common to us all. 
 
 We are one people—our enemies have made us 
 one in our despite, as repeatedly happens in history. 
 Distress binds us together, and, thus united, we 
 suddenly discover our strength. Yes, we are strong 
 enough to form a State, and a model State. We 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 25 
 
 possess all human and material resources necessary 
 
 « 
 
 for the purpose. 
 
 This is the strictly appropriate place for an ac¬ 
 count of what has been somewhat rudely termed 
 our human material. But it would not be appre- 
 . dated till the broad lines of the plan, on which 
 everything depends, had first been marked out. 
 
 THE PLAN 
 
 The whole plan is in its essence perfectly simple, 
 as it must necessarily be if it is to come within the 
 comprehension of all. 
 
 Let the sovereignty be granted us over a portion 
 of the globe large enough to satisfy the reasonable 
 requirements of a nation; the rest we shall manage 
 for ourselves. 
 
 The creation of a new State is neither ridiculous 
 nor impossible. We have in our day witnessed the 
 process in connection with nations which were not 
 in the bulk of the middle class, but poorer, less edu¬ 
 cated, and consequently weaker than ourselves. 
 The Governments of all countries scourged by Anti- 
 Semitism will serve tlieir own interests in assist¬ 
 ing us to obtain the sovereignty we want. 
 
 The plan, simple in design, but complicated in 
 execution, will be carried out by two mediums: the 
 Society of Jews and the Jewish Company.* 
 
 The Society of Jews will do the preparatory work 
 in the domains of science and politics, which the 
 Jewish Company will afterwards practically apply 
 
 * These became subsequently the Zionist movement and the 
 Jewish Colonial Trust, Ltd., respectively. 
 
26 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 The Jewish Company will see to the realisation 
 of the business interests of departing Jews, and will 
 organise commerce and trade in the new country. 
 
 We must not imagine the departure of the Jews 
 to be a sudden one. It will be gradual, continuous, 
 and will cover many decades. The poorest will go 
 first to cultivate the soil. In accordance with a 
 preconcerted plan, they will construct roads, 
 bridges, railways, and telegraphs; regulate rivers, 
 and build their own habitations; their labour will 
 create trade, trade will create markets, and markets 
 will attract new settlers; for every man will go vol¬ 
 untarily, at his own expense and his own risk. The 
 labour expended on the land will enhance its value, 
 and the Jews will soon perceive that a new and per¬ 
 manent sphere of operation is opening here for that 
 spirit of enterprise which has heretofore met only 
 with hatred and obloquy. 
 
 If we wish to found a State to-dav, we shall not 
 do it in the wav which would have been the onlv 
 
 «/ c 
 
 possible one a thousand years ago. It is foolish to 
 revert to old stages of civilisation, as many Zionists 
 would like to do. Supposing, for example, we were 
 obliged to clear a country of wild beasts, we should 
 not set about the business in the fashion of Euro¬ 
 peans of the fifth century. We should not take 
 spear and lance and go out singly in pursuit of 
 bears; we should organise a large and active hunt¬ 
 ing party, drive the animals together, and throw a 
 melinite bomb into their midst. 
 
 If we wish to conduct building operations, we 
 shall not plant a mass of stakes and piles on the 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 27 
 
 shore of a lake, but we shall build as men build 
 now. Indeed, we shall build in a bolder and more 
 stately style than was ever adopted before, for we 
 uoav possess means which men never yet possessed. 
 
 The emigrants standing lowest in the economic 
 scale will be slowly followed by those of a higher 
 grade. Those who at this moment are living in 
 despair will go first. They will be led by the medi¬ 
 ocre intellects which we produce so superabundant¬ 
 ly, and which are persecuted everywhere. 
 
 This pamphlet will open a general discussion on 
 the Jewish Question, avoiding, if possible, the crea¬ 
 tion of an opposition party. Such a result would 
 ruin the cause from the outset, and dissentients 
 must remember that allegiance or opposition are 
 entirely voluntary. Who will not come with us, 
 may remain. 
 
 Let all who are willing to join us, fall in behind 
 our banner and fight for our cause with voice and 
 pen and deed. 
 
 Those Jews who fall in with our idea of a State 
 will attach themselves to the Society, which will 
 
 •J 7 
 
 thereby be authorised to confer and treat with 
 Governments in the name of our people. The So¬ 
 ciety will thus be acknowledged in its relations 
 
 1/ o 
 
 with Governments as a State-creating power. This 
 acknowledgment will practically create the State. 
 
 Should the Powers declare themselves willing to 
 admit our sovereignty over a neutral piece of land, 
 then the Society will enter into negotiations for the 
 possession of this land. Here two territories come 
 under consideration, Palestine and Argentina. Id 
 
28 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 both countries important experiments in colonisa¬ 
 tion have been made, though on the mistaken prin¬ 
 ciple of a gradual infiltration of Jews. An infil¬ 
 tration is bound to end in disaster. It continues 
 till the inevitable moment when the native popula¬ 
 tion feels itself threatened, and forces the Govern¬ 
 ment to stop the further influx of Jews. Immigra¬ 
 tion is consequently futile unless based on an as¬ 
 sured supremacy. 
 
 The Society of Jews will treat with the present 
 masters of the land, putting itself under the pro¬ 
 tectorate of the European Powers, if they prove 
 friendly to the plan. We could offer the present 
 possessors of the land enormous advantages; take 
 upon ourselves part of the public debt, build new 
 roads for traffic, which our presence in the country 
 would render necessary, &c. The creation of our 
 State would be beneficial to adjacent countries, be* 
 cause the cultivation of a strip of land increases the 
 value of its surrounding districts in innumerable 
 ways. 
 
 PALESTINE OR ARGENTINA? 
 
 Shall we choose Palestine or Argentina?* We 
 shall take what is given us, and what is selected by 
 Jewish public opinion. The Society will settle both 
 these points. 
 
 Argentina is one of the most fertile countries in 
 the world, extends over a vast area, has a sparse 
 population and a mild climate. The Argentine 
 Republic would derive considerable profit from the 
 
 * See editor’s preface for the determining - of this issue. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 29 
 
 cession of a portion of its territory to as. The 
 present infiltration of Jews has certainly produced 
 some friction, and it would be necessary to en¬ 
 lighten the Republic on the intrinsic difference of 
 our new movement. 
 
 Palestine is our ever-memorable historic home. 
 The very name of Palestine w T ould attract our peo¬ 
 ple with a force of marvellous potency. Supposing 
 His Majesty the Sultan were to give us Palestine, 
 we could in return pledge ourselves to regulate the 
 whole finances of Turkey. We should there form 
 a portion of the rampart of Europe against Asia, 
 an outpost of civilisation as opposed to barbarism. 
 The sanctuaries of Christendom would be safe¬ 
 guarded by assigning to them'an extra-territorial 
 status, such as is well known to the law of nations. 
 We should form a guard of honour about these 
 sanctuaries, answering for the fulfilment of this 
 duty with our existence. This guard of honour 
 would be the great symbol of the solution of the 
 Jewish Question after eighteen centuries of Jewish 
 suffering. 
 
 DEMAND, MEDIUM, TRADE. 
 
 I said in the last chapter but one, “the Jewish 
 Company will organise trade and commerce in the 
 new country.” I shall here insert a few remarks on 
 that point. 
 
 A scheme such as mine is gravely imperilled by 
 the antagonistic attitude of “experts.” Now ex¬ 
 perts are often nothing more than men sunk into 
 the groove of daily routine, whence they have an 
 
30 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 extraordinarily limited view. At tlie same time, 
 their adverse opinion carries great weight, and can 
 do considerable harm to a new project, at any rate 
 till this new thing is sufficiently strong to throw 
 “experts” and their stupid notions to the winds. 
 
 In the earliest period of European railway con¬ 
 struction some “experts” were of opinion that it 
 was foolish to build certain lines, “because there 
 were not even sufficient passengers to fill the mail- 
 coaches.” They did not realise the truth which 
 now seems obvious to us—that travellers do not 
 produce railways, but, conversely, railways produce 
 travellers, the latent demand being, of course, taken 
 for granted. 
 
 The impossibility of comprehending how trade 
 and commerce are to be created in a new country 
 which has yet to be acquired and cultivated may 
 
 lu¬ 
 be classed with those doubts of “experts” concern- 
 
 ' . j . 
 
 ing the need for railways. An “expert” would ex¬ 
 press himself somewhat in this fashion: 
 
 “Granted that the present situation of the Jews 
 is in many places unendurable, and aggravated day 
 by day; granted that there exists a desire to emi¬ 
 grate; granted even that the Jews do emigrate to 
 the new country; how will they earn their living 
 there, and what will they earn? What are they to 
 live on when there? Commerce cannot be arti¬ 
 ficially organised in a day.” 
 
 To this I should reply: We have not the slightest 
 intention of organising trade artificially, and we 
 should certainly not attempt to do it in a day. 
 But, though the organisation of it may be impossi 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 31 
 
 ble, the promotion of it is not. And how is com¬ 
 merce to be encouraged? Through the medium of 
 a demand. The demand recognised, the medium 
 created, commerce will establish itself. 
 
 If there is a real and earnest demand among Jews 
 for an improvement of their status; if the medium 
 to be created—the Jewish Company—is sufficiently 
 powerful, then commerce will extend itself copious¬ 
 ly in the new country. This is, of course, an as- 
 sumption, in the same way as the development of 
 railway traffic was an assumption in the thirties. 
 Railroads were built all the same, for men's ideas 
 fortunately carried them beyond the doubts of “ex¬ 
 perts” and their mail-coaches. 
 
 OUTLINES. 
 
 The Jewish Company is partly modelled on the 
 lines of a great trading association. It might be 
 called a Jewish Chartered Company, though it can¬ 
 not exercise sovereign power, and has duties other 
 than the establishment of colonial commerce. 
 
 The Jewish Company will be founded as a joint- 
 stock company subject to English jurisdiction, 
 framed according to English laws, and under the 
 protection of England. Its principal centre will be 
 London. I cannot tell yet how large the Company’s 
 capital should be; I shall leave that calculation to 
 our numerous financiers. But to avoid ambiguity, I 
 shall put it at a thousand million marks (about 
 £ 50 , 000 , 000 ); it may be either more or less than that 
 sum. The form of subscription, which will be fur- 
 
32 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 tlier elucidated, will determine wliat fraction of the 
 whole amount must be paid in at once. 
 
 The Jewish Company is an organisation with a 
 transitional character. It is strictly a business 
 undertaking, and must be carefully distinguished 
 from the Society of Jews. 
 
 The Jewish Company will first of all see to the 
 realisation of all vested interests left by departing 
 Jews. The method adopted will prevent the occur¬ 
 rence of crises, secure every man’s property, and 
 facilitate that inner migration of Christian citizens 
 which has already been indicated. 
 
 NON-TRANSFER ABLE GOODS. 
 
 The non-transferable goods which come under 
 consideration are house property, land, and local 
 business connections. The Jewish Company will at 
 first take upon itself no more than the necessary 
 negotiations for effecting the sale of these goods, 
 These Jewish sales will not immediately produce 
 any serious fall in prices. The Company’s branch 
 establishments in various towns will become the 
 central offices for the sale of Jewish estates, and 
 will charge only so much commission on transac¬ 
 tions as will ensure their financial stability. 
 
 Now, the development of this movement may 
 cause a considerable fall in the prices of landed 
 property, and may eventually make it impossible to 
 find a market for it. At this juncture the Company 
 will enter upon another branch of its functions. It 
 will take over the management of abandoned 
 estates till such time as it can dispose of them 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 33 
 
 to greatest advantage. It will rent houses, let 
 out land on lease, and instal business managers— 
 these, on account of the required supervision, being, 
 if possible, tenants also. The Company will en¬ 
 deavour everywhere to facilitate the acquisition of 
 land by its tenants, who are Christians. It will, 
 indeed, gradually replace its own officials in the 
 European branches by Christian substitutes; law¬ 
 yers, &c.; and these are not by any means to become 
 servants of the Jews; they are intended to be free 
 controlling bodies to the Christian population, so 
 that everything may be carried through in equity, 
 fairness and justice, and without imperilling the 
 internal welfare of the people. 
 
 At the same time the Company will buy estates, 
 or, rather, exchange them. For a house it will offer 
 a house in the new country, and for land, land in the 
 new country; everything being, if possible, trans¬ 
 ferred to new soil in the same state as it was in the 
 old. And this transfer will be a great and recog¬ 
 nised source of profit to the Company. “Over 
 there” the houses offered in exchange will be newer, 
 more beautiful, and more comfortably fitted, and 
 the landed estates of greater value than those aban¬ 
 doned; but they will cost the Company compara¬ 
 tively little, because it will have bought the ground 
 at a very cheap rate. 
 
 PURCHASE OF LAND. 
 
 The land which the Society of Jews will have se- 
 cured by international law must, of course, be pri¬ 
 vately acquired. 
 
34 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 Provisions made bv individuals for their own 
 settlement do not come within the province of this 
 general account. But the Company requires large 
 strips of territory for its own needs and ours, and 
 these it must secure by private purchase. It will 
 negotiate principally for the acquisition of fiscal 
 domains, with the great object of taking possession 
 of this land “over there” without paying a price too 
 high, in the same way as it sells here without ac¬ 
 cepting one too low. A forcing of prices will be 
 impossible, because the value of the land will be 
 created by the Company through its organisation of 
 settlements, in conjunction with the supervising 
 Society of Jews. The latter will see to it that the 
 enterprise does not become a Panama, but a Suez. 
 
 The Company will sell building sites at cheap 
 rates to its officials, and will allow them to mort¬ 
 gage these for the building of their habitations, de¬ 
 ducting the amount due from their salaries, or put¬ 
 ting it down to their account as increased emolu¬ 
 ment. This will, in addition to the honours they 
 
 expect, form a kind of recompense for their ser¬ 
 vices. 
 
 All the immense profits of this speculation in land 
 will go to the Company, which is bound to receive 
 this indefinite premium in return for having borne 
 the risk of the undertaking. When the undertaking 
 involves any risk, the profits must be freely ac¬ 
 corded to those who have borne it. But under no 
 other circumstances will profits be permitted. In 
 the co-relation of risk and profit is comprehended 
 financial justice. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 35 
 
 BUILDINGS. 
 
 The Company will thus barter houses aud estates. 
 It must be plain to any one who has observed the 
 rise iu the value of land through its cultivation, that 
 the Company will gain enormously on its landed 
 property. This can best be seen in enclosed pieces 
 of land in town and country. Areas not built over 
 increase in value through surrounding cultivation. 
 The men who carried out the extension of Paris 
 made a successful speculation in land which was 
 ingenious in its simplicity; instead of erecting new 
 buildings in the immediate vicinity of the last 
 houses of the town, they bought up adjacent strips 
 of land and began to build on the outskirts of these. 
 This inverse order of construction raised the value 
 of building sites with extraordinary rapidity. 
 After having completed the outer ring, they built 
 in the middle of the town on these highly valuable 
 sites, instead of continually erecting houses at the 
 extremity. 
 
 Will the Company do its own building, or com¬ 
 mission independent architects? It can, and will, 
 do both. It has, as will be shown shortly, an im¬ 
 mense reserve of working power, which will not be 
 sweated by the Company, but, transported into 
 brighter and happier conditions of life, will work 
 at a cheap rate. Our geologists will have looked 
 to the provision of building materials when they se¬ 
 lected the sites of the towns. 
 
 What is to be the principle of construction? 
 
I 
 
 36 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 WORKMEN’S DWELLINGS. 
 
 The workmen’s dwellings (which include the 
 dwellings of all operatives) will be erected at the 
 Company’s own risk and expense. They will re¬ 
 semble neither those melancholy workmen’s bar¬ 
 racks of European towns, nor those miserable rows 
 of cabins which surround factories; they will cer¬ 
 tainly present a uniform appearance, because the 
 Company must build cheaply where it provides the 
 building materials to a great extent; but the de¬ 
 tached houses in little gardens will be united into 
 attractive groups in each locality. The natural 
 conformation of the land will rouse the ingenuity of 
 our young architects, whose ideas have not yet been 
 cramped by routine; and even if the people do not 
 grasp the whole import of the plan, they will at any 
 rate feel at ease in their loose clusters. The Tem¬ 
 ple will be visible from long distances, for our faith 
 it was that united us in old davs. There will be 
 
 c/ 
 
 light, attractive, healthy schools for children, con¬ 
 ducted on the most approved modern systems. 
 There will be continuation-schools for workmen, 
 which will educate them up to greater technical 
 knowledge and enable them to become intimate 
 with the working of machinery. There will be 
 places of amusement, for the proper conduct of 
 which the Society of Jews will be responsible. 
 
 We are, however, speaking merely of the build¬ 
 ings at present, not of what may take place inside 
 them. 
 
 I said that the Company would build workmen’s 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 37 
 
 dwellings cheaply. And cheaply, not only because 
 of the proximity of abundant building materials, 
 not only because of the Company’s proprietorship 
 of the sites, but also because of the non-payment of 
 workmen. 
 
 American farmers work on the system of mutual 
 assistance in the construction of houses. This 
 childishly amicable system, which is as clumsy as 
 the block houses erected, allows of considerable 
 amplifications. 
 
 UNSKILLED LABOURERS. 
 
 Our unskilled labourers, who will come at first 
 from the great reservoirs of Russia and Roumania, 
 must, of course, render each other assistance in the 
 construction of houses. They will be obliged to 
 build with wood in the beginning, because iron will 
 not be immediately available. Later on, the orig¬ 
 inal, inadequate, makeshift buildings will be re¬ 
 placed by superior dwellings. 
 
 Our unskilled labourers will first mutually erect 
 these shelters; and then they will earn their houses 
 as permanent possessions by means of their work— 
 not immediately, but after three years of good con 
 duct. In this way we shall secure energetic and 
 able men, and these men will be practically trained 
 for life by three years of labour under good disci¬ 
 pline. 
 
 I said before that the Company would not have 
 to pay these unskilled labourers. What will they 
 live on? 
 
 On the whole, I am opposed to the Truck system. 
 
38 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 but it will have to be applied in the case of these 
 first settlers. The Company provides for them in so 
 many ways that it may take entire charge of their 
 maintenance. In any case the Truck system will be 
 enforced only during the first few years, and it will 
 benefit the workmen by preventing their exploita¬ 
 tion by small traders, landlords, Ac. The company 
 will thus friake it impossible from the outset for 
 those of our people who are perforce hawkers and 
 pedlars here to re-establish themselves in the same 
 trades over there. And the Company will also keep 
 back drunkards and dissolute men. Then there 
 will be no payment of wages at all during the first 
 period of settlement? 
 
 Wages will be paid for overtime. 
 
 THE SEVEN-HOURS DAY. 
 
 The seven-hours day is the regular working day. 
 
 This does not imply that wood-cutting, digging, 
 stone-breaking, and a hundred other daily tasks 
 should only be performed during seven hours. In¬ 
 deed not. There will be fourteen hours of labour, 
 work being done in shifts of three and a half hours. 
 The organisation of all this will be military in 
 character; there will be commands, promotions and 
 pensions, the means by which these pensions are 
 raised being explained further on. 
 
 A sound man can do an excellent piece of work in 
 three hours and a half. After an interval of the 
 same length of time—which lie will devote to rest, 
 to his family, and to his education under guidance 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 39 
 
 —he will be quite fresli for work again. Such 
 labour can do wonders. 
 
 The seven-hours day thus implies fourteen hours 
 of joint labour—more than that cannot be put into 
 a dav. 
 
 I am convinced that it is quite possible to intro¬ 
 duce this seven-hours day with success. The at¬ 
 tempts to do so in Belgium and England are well 
 known. Some advanced political economists who 
 have studied the subject declare that a five-hours 
 day would actually suffice. The Society of Jews 
 and the Jewish Company will, in any case, make 
 new and extensive experiments which will benefit 
 the other nations of the world; and if the seven- 
 hours day proves itself practicable, it will be intro¬ 
 duced in our future State as the legal and regular 
 working day. 
 
 Meantime the Company will always allow its 
 employes the seven-hours day; and it will always be 
 in a position to do so. 
 
 The seven-hours dav will be the call of assembly 
 to our people in every part of the world. All must 
 come voluntarily, for ours must indeed be the Prom¬ 
 ised Land. 
 
 Whoever works longer than seven hours receives 
 his additional pay for overtime in cash. Seeing 
 that all his needs are supplied, and that those mem¬ 
 bers of his family who are unable to work are pro¬ 
 vided for by transplanted and centralised philan¬ 
 thropic institutions, he can put a little money by. 
 Thrift, which is already a characteristic of our peo¬ 
 ple, should be greatly encouraged, because it will, 
 
40 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 in the first place, facilitate the rise of individuals 
 to higher grades; and secondly, the money saved 
 will provide an immense reserve fund for future 
 loans. Overtime will only be permitted on a doc¬ 
 tor’s certificate, and must not exceed three hours. 
 For our men will crowd to work in the new country, 
 and the world will see then what stuff for work is 
 in us. 
 
 I shall not describe the mode of carrying out the 
 Truck system, nor, in fact, the innumerable details 
 of any process, for fear of confusing my readers. 
 Women will not be allowed to perform any arduous 
 labour, nor to work overtime. 
 
 Pregnant women will be relieved of all work, and 
 will be supplied with nourishing food by the Truck. 
 We want our future generations to be strong men 
 and women. 
 
 We shall educate children as we wish from the 
 commencement; but this I shall not elaborate 
 either. 
 
 My remarks on workmen’s dwellings, and on un¬ 
 skilled labourers and their mode of life, are no more’ 
 Utopian than the rest of my scheme. Everything I 
 have spoken of has already been put into practice 
 on a small and insignificant scale. The “Assistance 
 par le Travail,” or “labour-test,” which I studied in 
 Paris, was of great service to me in the solution of 
 the Jewish Question. 
 
 THE LABOUR-TEST. 
 
 The labour-test which is now applied in Paris, in 
 many other French towns, in England, in Switzer- 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 41 
 
 land, and in America, is a very small thing, but 
 capable of the greatest expansion. 
 
 What is the principle of the labour-test? 
 
 The principle is: the furnishing of every necessi¬ 
 tous man with easy, unskilled work, such as chop¬ 
 ping wood, or cutting faggots used for lighting 
 stoves in Paris households. This is a kind cf 
 prison-work before the crime, done without loss of 
 character. It is meant to prevent men from taking 
 to crime out of want, by providing them with work 
 and testing their willingness to do it. Starvation 
 must never be allowed to drive men to suicide; for 
 such suicides are the deepest disgrace to a civilisa¬ 
 tion which allows rich men to throw tit-bits to their 
 dogs. 
 
 The labour-test thus provides every one with 
 work. But the system has a great defect: there is 
 not a sufficiently large demand for the productions 
 of the unskilled workers employed, hence there is 
 a loss to those who employ them; though it is true 
 that the organisation is philanthropic, and there¬ 
 fore prepared for loss. But here the benefaction 
 lies only in the difference between the price paid 
 for the work and its actual value. Instead of giv¬ 
 ing the beggar two sous, the institution supplies 
 him with work on which it loses two sous. But at 
 the same time it converts the good-for-nothing beg¬ 
 gar into an honest bread-winner, who has earned 
 perhaps 1 franc 50 centimes. 150 centimes for 10! 
 That is to say, the receiver of a benefaction in 
 which there is nothing humiliating has increased it 
 
42 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 fifteenfold! That is to say, fifteen thousand mill¬ 
 ions for one thousand millions! 
 
 The institution certainly loses 10 centimes. But 
 the Jewish Company will not lose one thousand 
 millions; it will draw enormous profits from this 
 expenditure. 
 
 There is a moral side also. The small labour- 
 tests which exist now preserve rectitude through 
 industry till such time as the man who is out of 
 work finds a post suitable to his capacities, either in 
 his old calling or in a new one. He is allowed an 
 hour or two daily for the purpose of looking for a 
 place, in which task the institutions assist him. 
 
 The defect of these small organisations, so far, 
 lias been that they have been prohibited from enter¬ 
 ing into competition with timber merchants, &c*. 
 Timber merchants are electors; they would protest, 
 and would be justified in protesting. Competition 
 with State prison-labour has also been forbidden, 
 for the State must have the monopoly of tending 
 and exploiting its criminals. 
 
 In fact, there is very little room in an old-estab- 
 lislied society for the successful application of 
 labour-tests. 
 
 But there is room in a new society! 
 
 For, above all, we require enormous numbers of 
 unskilled labourers to do the first rough work of 
 settlement, to lay down roads, plant trees, level the 
 ground, lay down railroads and telegraph lines, &e. 
 All this being, of course, carried out in accordance 
 with a great and previously settled plan. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 43 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 The labour carried to the new country will nat¬ 
 urally create trade. The first markets will supply 
 only the absolute necessaries of life: cattle, grain, 
 working clothes, tools, arms, &c. These we shall 
 be obliged at first to procure from neighbouring 
 States, or from Europe; but we shall make our¬ 
 selves independent as soon as possible. The Jew¬ 
 ish promoters will soon realise what prospects of 
 business the new country offers. 
 
 The army of the Company’s officials will grad¬ 
 ually introduce more refined requirements of life. 
 (Officials include officers of our defensive forces, who 
 will always form about the tenth part of our male 
 colonists. They will be sufficiently numerous to 
 quell mutinies, for the majority of our colonists 
 will be peaceably inclined.) 
 
 The refined requirements of life introduced by our 
 more prosperous officials will create a correspond¬ 
 ingly improved market, which will continue to bet¬ 
 ter itself. The married man will send for wife and 
 children, and the bachelor for parents and relatives, 
 as soon as a new home is established “over there.” 
 The Jews who emigrate to the United States always 
 proceed in this fashion. As soon as one of them has 
 daily bread and a roof over his head, he sends for 
 his people; for family ties are strong among us. 
 The Society of Jews and the Jewish Company will 
 unite in caring for and strengthening the family, 
 not only morally, but materially also. The officials 
 will receive an increase of salary on marriage, and 
 
44 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 on the birth of children, for we need all who are 
 there, and all who will follow. 
 
 OTHER CLASSES OF DWELLINGS. 
 
 I described before only workmen’s dwellings built, 
 by themselves, and omitted all mention of other 
 classes of dwellings; these I shall now touch upon. 
 The Company’s architects will build for the poorer 
 class of citizens also, being paid in kind or cash; 
 about a hundred different types of houses will be 
 executed, and, of course, repeated. These beauti¬ 
 ful types will form part of our propaganda. The 
 soundness of their construction will be guaranteed 
 by the Company, which will, indeed, gain nothing 
 by selling them to settlers at a fixed sum. And 
 where will these houses be situated? That will 
 shortly be demonstrated in the description of local 
 groups. 
 
 Seeing that the Company receives, as it were, 
 ground-rent and not house-rent, it will desire as 
 many architects as possible to build by private con¬ 
 tract. This system will introduce luxury, which 
 serves many purposes. Luxury encourages arts 
 and industries, paving the way to a future subdi¬ 
 vision of large properties. 
 
 Rich Jews who are now obliged carefully to 
 secrete their valuables, and to hold their dreary 
 banquets behind lowered curtains, will be able to 
 enjoy their possessions in peace “over there.” If 
 they co-operate in carrying out this emigration 
 scheme, their capital will be rehabilitated there, and 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 45 
 
 will have served to promote an unexampled under¬ 
 taking. If rich Jews begin to rebuild their man¬ 
 sions in the new settlement, where they are no 
 longer surveyed with envious eyes, it will soon be¬ 
 come fashionable to live over there in beautiful 
 modern houses. 
 
 SOME FORMS OF REALISING NON-TRANS 
 
 FERABLE PROPERTY. 
 
 The Jewish Company is the receiver and admin¬ 
 istrator of the non-transferable goods of the Jews. 
 
 Its methods of procedure can be easily imagined 
 in the case of houses and estates, but what methods 
 will it adopt in the transfer of businesses? 
 
 Here numberless processes may be found prac¬ 
 ticable, which cannot all be enlarged on in this out¬ 
 line. But none of them will present any great dif¬ 
 ficulties, for in each case the emigrating business 
 proprietor will settle with the Company’s officers in 
 his district on the most advantageous form of 
 liquidation. 
 
 This will most easily be arranged in the case of 
 small employers, in whose trades the personal ac¬ 
 tivity of the proprietor is of chief importance, while 
 goods and organisation are a secondary considera¬ 
 tion. The Company will provide a certain field of 
 operation for the emigrant’s personal activity, and 
 ■will substitute a piece of ground, with loan of ma¬ 
 chinery, for his goods. Jews are known to adapt 
 themselves with remarkable ease to any form of 
 earning a livelihood, and they will quickly learn to 
 carry on a new industry. In this way a number of 
 
46 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 small traders will become small landholders. The 
 Company will, in fact, be prepared to sustain what 
 appears to be a loss in taking over the non-trans- 
 ferable property of the poorest emigrants; for it 
 will thereby induce the free cultivation of tracts of 
 land, which raises the value of adjacent tracts. 
 
 In a larger business, where goods and organisa¬ 
 tion equal, or even exceed, in importance, the per¬ 
 sonal activity of the manager, whose larger connec¬ 
 tion is also non-transferable, various forms of 
 liquidation are possible. Here comes an opportu¬ 
 nity for that inner migration of Christian citizens 
 into positions evacuated by Jews. The departing 
 Jew will not lose his personal business credit, but 
 will carry it with him. The Jewish Company will 
 open a current bank account for him. And he can 
 sell the goodwill of his original business, or hand it 
 over to the control of managers under supervision 
 of the Company’s officials. The managers may rent 
 the business or buy it, paying for it by instalments. 
 But the Company acts temporarily as trustee for 
 the emigrants, in superintending, through its offi¬ 
 cers and lawyers, the administration of their af¬ 
 fairs, and seeing to the correct entry of all ac¬ 
 counts. 
 
 If a Jew cannot sell his business, will not entrust 
 it to a proxy, and does not wish to give up its per¬ 
 sonal management, he may stay where he is. The 
 Jews who stay will be none the worse off, for they 
 will be relieved of the competition of those who 
 leave, and will no longer hear the Anti-Semitic cry, 
 “No dealing with Jews!” 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 47 
 
 9 
 
 If the emigrating business proprietor wishes to 
 carry on his old business in the new country, he can 
 make his arrangements for it from the very com¬ 
 mencement. An example will best illustrate my 
 meaning. The firm X. carries on a large business 
 in fancy goods. The head of the firm wishes to emi¬ 
 grate. He begins by setting up a branch establish¬ 
 ment in his future place of residence, and sending 
 out his surplus stock. The first poor settlers will 
 be his first customers; these will be followed by 
 emigrants of a higher class, who require superior 
 goods. X. then sends out newer goods, and even¬ 
 tually despatches his newest. The branch estab¬ 
 lishment begins to pay while the principal one is 
 still in existence, so that X. ends by having two 
 paying business houses. He sells his original busi¬ 
 ness to a Christian, and goes off to manage the new 
 one. 
 
 Another and greater example: Y. & Son are 
 large coal-traders, with mines and factories of their 
 own. How is so huge and complex a property to 
 be realised? The mines and everything connected 
 with them might, in the first place, be bought up 
 by the State in which they are situated. In the 
 second place, the Jewish Company might take them 
 over, paying for them partly in land, partly in cash. 
 A third method might be the conversion of Y. & 
 Son into a limited company. A fourth, the con¬ 
 tinued working of the business under the original 
 proprietors, who would return at intervals to in¬ 
 spect their property, as foreigners, and as such, 
 under the protection of law in every civilised State. 
 
48 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 All these suggestions are carried out daily. A fifth 
 method, and one which might be particularly profit¬ 
 able, I shall merely indicate, because there are at 
 present few and feeble extant examples of its work¬ 
 ing, however ready the modern consciousness may 
 be to adopt them. Y. SC Son might sell their under¬ 
 taking to the collective body of their employes, who 
 would form a co-operative society, and might per¬ 
 haps pay the requisite sum by means of a Govern¬ 
 ment loan, on which there w T ould not be heavy in¬ 
 terest to pay. 
 
 The employes would then gradually pay off the 
 loan, which either the Government or the Jewish 
 Company, or even Y. & Son, would have advanced 
 to them. 
 
 The Jewish Company will be prepared to conduct 
 the transfer of the smallest affairs equally with the 
 largest. While Jewish emigration slowly proceeds, 
 the Company remains its great controlling body, 
 which organises the departure, takes charge of de¬ 
 serted possessions, guarantees the proper conduct 
 of the movement with its own visible and palpable 
 property, and provides permanent security for those 
 who have already settled. 
 
 SECURITIES OF THE COMPANY. 
 
 What securities will the Company offer that the 
 abandonment of countries will not cause their im¬ 
 poverishment and produce economic crises? 
 
 I have already mentioned that honest Anti-Se¬ 
 mites will combine with our officials in controlling 
 the transfer of our estates. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 49 
 
 But the State revenues might suffer by the loss 
 of a body of taxpayers, who, though little appre¬ 
 ciated as citizens, are highly valued in finance. The 
 State should therefore receive compensation for 
 this loss. This we offer indirectly by leaving in the 
 country business which we have built up by means 
 of Jewish shrewdness and Jewish industry, by let¬ 
 ting our Christian fellow citizens move into our 
 evacuated positions, and by thus facilitating the 
 rise of numbers of people to greater prosperity in 
 a manner so peaceable as has never been known 
 before. The French Revolution had a similar re¬ 
 sult, on a small scale, brought about by bloodshed 
 on the guillotine, in every province of France, and 
 on the battlefields of Europe. Moreover, inherited 
 and acquired rights were destroyed, and cunning 
 buyers only enriched themselves by the purchase of 
 State properties. 
 
 The Jewish Company will offer to the States that 
 fall under its sphere of work, direct as well as in¬ 
 direct advantages. It will give Governments the 
 first offer of abandoned Jewish property, and allow 
 buvers most favourable conditions. Governments. 
 
 •y 7 
 
 again, will be able to make use of this extensive 
 appropriation of land for the purpose of social ex¬ 
 periments and improvements. 
 
 The Jewish Company will give every assistance 
 to Governments and Parliaments in their efforts to 
 control and guide the inner migration of Christian 
 citizens. 
 
 The Jewish Company will also pay heavy duties. 
 Its central office will be in London, so as to be 
 
50 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 under the protection of a Power which is not at 
 present Anti-Semitic. But the Company requires 
 to be officially and publicly supported, and must 
 therefore be in a position to pay taxes. To this 
 end, it will establish taxable branch offices every- 
 where. Further, it will pay double duties on the 
 twofold transfer of goods which it effects. Even in 
 transactions where the Company is really nothing 
 more than a business agency, it will temporarily 
 appear as a purchaser, and will be set down as the 
 momentary possessor in the register of landed 
 property. 
 
 These are, of course, purely calculable matters. 
 
 Every place w r ill raise and discuss the question, 
 how far the Company can go without running any 
 risks of failure. And the Company itself will con¬ 
 fer freely with Finance Ministers on the various 
 points at issue. Ministers will recognise the con¬ 
 ciliatory spirit of our enterprise, and will conse¬ 
 quently offer every facility in their power for the 
 successful achievement of the great undertaking. 
 
 Further and direct profit will accrue to Govern¬ 
 ments from the transport of passengers and goods, 
 and wiiere railways are State property the returns 
 will be immediately recognisable. Where they are 
 held by companies, the Jewish Company will make 
 favourable terms for transport, in the same way as 
 does every transmitter of goods on a large scale. 
 Freight and carriage must be made as cheap as 
 possible for our people, because every traveller will 
 pay his own expenses. The middle classes will 
 travel with Cooks’ tickets, the poorer classes in emi- 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 51 
 
 grant trains. The Company might make a good 
 deal by reductions on passengers and goods; but 
 here, as elsewhere, it must adhere to its principle 
 of not trying to raise its receipts to a greater sum 
 than will cover its working expenses. 
 
 In many places Jews have control of the trans¬ 
 port; and the transport industries will be the first 
 needed by the Company, and the first to be bought 
 up by it. The original owners of these industries 
 will either enter the Company’s service, or estab¬ 
 lish themselves independently “over there.” The 
 new arrivals will certainly require their assistance, 
 and theirs being a paying profession, which they 
 may and indeed must exercise there to earn a living, 
 numbers of these enterprising spirits will depart. 
 It is unnecessary to describe all the business details 
 of this monster expedition. They must be judi¬ 
 ciously evolved out of the original plan by many 
 able and intelligent men. 
 
 SOME OF THE COMPANY’S FUNCTIONS. 
 
 One department of work will create another. 
 For example: the Company will introduce manu¬ 
 factures of goods into the settlements which will, 
 of course, be extremely primitive at their inception. 
 Outer garments, under-linen, and shoes will first of 
 all be manufactured for our own poor emigrants, 
 who will be provided with new suits of clothing at 
 the various European emigration centres. They 
 will not receive these clothes as alms, which might 
 hurt their pride, but in exchange for old garments; 
 any loss the Company sustains by this transaction 
 
52 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 being booked as a business loss. Those who are 
 absolutely without means will pay off their debt to 
 the Company by working overtime at a fair rate of 
 wages. 
 
 Existing emigration societies will be able to give 
 valuable assistance here, for they will do for the 
 Company’s colonists what they did before for de¬ 
 parting Jews; a good system of co-operation being 
 easily organised by the authorities. 
 
 The new clothing even of the poor settlers will 
 have a symbolic meaning. “You are now entering 
 on a new life.” The Society of Jews will impress 
 on them the solemnity and gravity of their under¬ 
 taking by instituting the recital of prayers, pop¬ 
 ular lectures, instruction on the object of the expe¬ 
 dition, directions on the hygienic construction of 
 their new places of residence, and encouragement 
 to work, before the departure and during the jour¬ 
 ney. On their arrival the emigrants will be wel¬ 
 comed by our chief officials with due solemnity, but 
 without foolish exultation, for the Promised Land 
 will not yet have been conquered; they will only 
 feel that, poor as they are, they are on land of their 
 own at last. 
 
 The clothing industries of the Company will, of 
 course, not produce their goods without distinct # 
 organisation. The Society of Jews will obtain from 
 the local groups an exact estimate of the number, 
 requirements, and date of arrival of the settlers, 
 and will communicate all information in good time 
 to the Jewish Company. In this way it will be pos¬ 
 sible to provide for them with every precaution. 
 

 THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 53 
 
 PROMOTION OF INDUSTRIES. 
 
 The duties of the Jewish Company and the So¬ 
 ciety of Jews cannot be kept strictly apart in this 
 outline. These two great bodies will indeed work 
 in unison, the Company depending on the moral di¬ 
 rection and support of the Society, the Society again 
 acting only with the material assistance of the Com¬ 
 pany. For example, in the management of the 
 clothing industry, the quantity produced will at first 
 be kept down so as to preserve an equilibrium be¬ 
 tween supply and demand; and wherever the Com¬ 
 pany undertakes the organisation of new industries 
 the same precautions will be exercised. 
 
 But individual enterprise must never be checked 
 by our superior force. We shall only work collec¬ 
 tively when the immense difficulties of the task de¬ 
 mand common action; we shall, wherever possible, 
 scrupulously respect the rights of the individual. 
 Private property, which is the economic basis of in¬ 
 dependence, will also be encouraged to develop 
 freely. Our unskilled labourers even will work 
 their way up to private proprietorship. 
 
 The spirit of enterprise must, indeed, be encour¬ 
 aged in every possible way. Organisation of indus¬ 
 tries will be promoted by a judicious system of 
 duties, by the employment of cheap raw material, 
 and by the institution of a Board to collect and pub¬ 
 lish industrial statistics. 
 
 But this spirit of enterprise must be wisely en¬ 
 couraged, risky speculation being as far as possible 
 avoided. Every newly established industry must 
 
54 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 be long previously advertised, so as to prevent pro¬ 
 moters, who six months later might w r ish to start 
 a similar business, from preparing for themselves 
 a financial failure. If the Company carefully pub¬ 
 lishes the designs of every new scheme, a knowledge 
 of existing industrial conditions will be obtained 
 by every one. 
 
 Promoters will further be able to make use of 
 centralised labour agencies, which will only receive 
 a commission large enough to ensure their continu¬ 
 ance. The promoter might, for example, telegraph 
 for 500 unskilled labourers for three days, three 
 weeks, or three months. The labour agency would 
 then collect these 500 unskilled labourers from 
 every possible source, and despatch them at once to 
 carry out the agricultural or industrial undertak¬ 
 ing. Gangs of workmen will thus be systematically 
 drafted from place to place like a body of troops. 
 These men will, of course, not be sweated, but will 
 work only a seven-hours day; and, in spite of their 
 change of locality, they will preserve their military 
 organisation, work out their term of service, and 
 receive commands, promotions, and pensions. In¬ 
 dependent promoters will, of course, be able to 
 obtain their workmen from other sources, but they 
 will not find it easv to do so. The Society will be 
 able to prevent the introduction of the sweating 
 system through non-Jewish workmen who would 
 work overtime, by boycotting the employers of 
 these, by controlling traffic, and by various other 
 methods. The seven-hours day must therefore be 
 adhered to, and we shall thus bring our people grad- 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 55 
 
 ually, and without coercion, to adopt the normal 
 seven-hours day. 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF SKILLED LABOURERS. 
 
 What can be done for unskilled workers can ob¬ 
 viously be more easily done for skilled labourers. 
 These will work under similar regulations in the 
 factories, and the central labour agency will provide 
 them when required. Independent operatives and 
 small employers, who must be carefully taught, on 
 account of the rapid progress of scientific improve¬ 
 ments, who must acquire technical knowledge even 
 if no longer very young men, who must study the 
 power of water, and appreciate the force of elec¬ 
 tricity—independent workers must also be discov¬ 
 ered and supplied by the Society’s agency. The 
 local group might apply, for example, to the central 
 office: “We want so many carpenters, locksmiths, 
 glaziers, &c.” The central office would publish this 
 demand, and the proper men would apply there for 
 the work. These would then travel with their fam¬ 
 ilies to the place where they were wanted, and would 
 remain there without feeling the pressure of undue 
 competition. A permanent and comfortable home 
 would thus be provided for them. 
 
 METHOD OF RAISING CAPITAL. 
 
 The capital required for establishing the Com¬ 
 pany was previously put at what seemed an ab¬ 
 surdly high figure. The amount actually necessary 
 will be fixed by financiers, and will in any case be a 
 
56 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 very considerable sum. There are three wavs of 
 raising this sum, all of which the Society will take 
 under consideration. This Society, the great 
 “Gestor” of the Jews, will be formed by our best 
 and most upright men, who must not derive any 
 material advantage from their membership. Al¬ 
 though the Society cannot at the outset possess any 
 but moral authority, this authority wdll yet suffice 
 to establish the credit of the Jewish Company in 
 the nation’s eyes. The Jewish Company w T ill thus 
 be unable to undertake any business enterprise 
 which has not received the Society’s sanction; it 
 will also not be formed of any mere indiscriminate 
 group of financiers. For the Society will weigh, se¬ 
 lect and decide, and will not give its approbation 
 till it is sure of the existence of good securities for 
 the conscientious carrying out of the scheme. It 
 will not permit experiments wdth insufficient means, 
 for this undertaking must succeed at the first at¬ 
 tempt. Any initial failure w r ould compromise the 
 whole idea during many decades to come, or might 
 even make its realisation permanently impossible. 
 
 The three methods of raising capital are: (1) 
 Through “la haute finance”; (2) Through small and 
 private banks; (3) Through public subscription.* 
 
 The easiest, most rapid, and safest wmuld be by 
 “la haute finance.” The required sum would then 
 be raised in the shortest possible time by our great 
 body of financiers, after they had discussed the ad¬ 
 visability of the cause. The great advantage of 
 
 * The third was adopted. The Jewish Colonial Trust was capi¬ 
 talized at £2,000,000, in £1 shares. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 57 
 
 this method would be that it would avoid the neces¬ 
 sity of paying in the thousand millions (to keep to 
 the original cipher) immediately in its entirety. A 
 further advantage would be, that the unlimited 
 credit of these powerful financiers would be of con¬ 
 siderable value to the Company in its transactions. 
 Many latent political forces lie in our financial 
 power, that power which our enemies assert to be 
 actually and now as effective as we know it might 
 
 •0 
 
 be if we exercised it. Poor Jews feel only the 
 hatred which this financial power provokes; its use 
 in alleviating their lot as a body, they have not yet 
 felt. The credit of our great Jewish financiers 
 would have to be placed at the service of the Na¬ 
 tional Idea. But should these gentlemen, who are 
 naturally satisfied with their lot, decline to do any¬ 
 thing for their co-religionists who are unjustly held 
 responsible for the large possessions of certain in¬ 
 dividuals—should these great financiers refuse to 
 co-operate—then the realisation of this plan will 
 afford an opportunity for drawing a clear line of 
 distinction between them and the rest of Judaism. 
 
 The great financiers, moreover, will certainly not 
 be asked to raise an amount so enormous out of 
 pure philanthropy; that would be expecting too 
 much. The promoters and stock-holders of the 
 Jewish Company are, on the contrary, intended to 
 do a good piece of business, and they will be able 
 to calculate beforehand what their chances of suc¬ 
 cess are likely to be. For the Society of Jews will 
 be in possession of all documents and references 
 which may serve to define the prospects of the Jew- 
 
58 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 ish Company. The Society will also undertake 
 the special duty of investigating with exacti¬ 
 tude the extent of the new Jewish movement, 
 so as to provide the Company promoters with 
 thoroughly reliable information on the amount 
 of support they may expect. The Society will 
 also supply the Jewish Company with compre¬ 
 hensive modern Jewish statistics, thus doing the 
 work of what is called in France a “societe 
 d’etudes,” which undertakes all preliminary re¬ 
 search previous to the financing of a great under¬ 
 taking. Even so, the enterprise may not receive 
 the valuable assistance of our money magnates. 
 These might, perhaps, even try to oppose the Jewish 
 movement bv means of their secret servitors and 
 agents. Such opposition we shall meet fairly and 
 bravelv. 
 
 Supposing that these magnates are content sim 
 ply to refuse their support to the scheme: 
 
 Is it, therefore, done with? 
 
 No. 
 
 For then the money will be raised in another way 
 —by an appeal to moderately rich Jews. The 
 smaller Jewish properties would have to be united 
 in the name of the National Idea till thev were 
 gathered into a second and formidable financial 
 force. But, unfortunately, this would require a 
 great deal of financing at first—for the £50,000,000 
 would have to be subscribed in full before starting 
 work; and, as this sum could only be raised very 
 slowly, all sorts of banking business would have to 
 be done and loans made during the first few years. 
 
THE JEWISH QUESTION. 
 
 59 
 
 It might even occur that, in the course of all these 
 transactions, the ultimate object of them would be 
 forgotten; Jews would create a new and large busi¬ 
 ness, and forget all about emigration. 
 
 The notion of raising money in this way is not by 
 any means impracticable. The experiment of col¬ 
 lecting Christian money to form an opposing force 
 to great financiers has already been tried; the ex¬ 
 periment of opposing it with Jewish money has 
 merely been thought of; it is quite feasible. 
 
 But these financial quarrels would bring about 
 endless crises; the countries in which they occurred 
 would suffer severely, and Anti-Semitism would be¬ 
 come rampant everywhere. 
 
 This method is therefore not to be recommended. 
 I have merely suggested it, because it comes up in 
 the course of the logical development of the idea. 
 
 It is also doubtful whether smaller private banks 
 would be willing to adopt it. 
 
 In any case, the refusal of moderately rich Jews 
 
 would not even put an end to the scheme. A third 
 
 method of carrying it out remains to be tried. . 
 
 \ 
 
 The Society of Jews, whose members are not 
 business men, might try to found the Company on 
 a national subscription. 
 
 The Company’s capital might be raised without 
 the assistance of a syndicate, by the direct imposi¬ 
 tion of a subscription on the public. Not only poor 
 Jews, but also Christians who wanted to get rid of 
 them, would subscribe their small quota to this 
 fund. A new and peculiar form of the plebiscite 
 would thus be established, whereby each man who 
 
60 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 voted for this solution of the Jewish Question would 
 express his favourable opinion by subscribing a stip¬ 
 ulated amount. This stipulation would produce se¬ 
 curity. The funds subscribed would only be paid in 
 if their sum total reached the required amount; if 
 the tenders were not sufficiently numerous, they 
 would be returned. 
 
 But should the sum total raised all over the world 
 by a public tax reach the required amount, then 
 each little subscription would be secured by the 
 great numbers of other small subscriptions. 
 
 All this could, of course, not be done without the 
 express and definite assistance of interested Gov¬ 
 ernments. 
 
LOCAL GROUPS 
 
 OUR TRANSMIGRATION. 
 
 Previous chapters explained only how the emigra¬ 
 tion scheme might be carried out without creating 
 any economic disturbance. But so great a move¬ 
 ment cannot take place without inevitably rousing 
 many deep and powerful feelings. Old customs, old 
 memories attach us to our homes. We have cra¬ 
 dles, w r e have graves, and we alone know how Jew¬ 
 ish hearts cling to the graves. Our cradles we shall 
 carry with us—they hold our future, rosy and smil¬ 
 ing. Our beloved graves we must, alas! abandon— 
 and I think this abandonment will cost us covetous 
 people more than any other sacrifice. But it must 
 be so. 
 
 Economic distress, political pressure, and social 
 obloquy have already driven us from our homes and 
 from our graves. We Jews are even now perpet¬ 
 ually shifting from place to place, a strong current 
 actually carrying us westward over the sea to the 
 United States, where our presence is not desired. 
 And where will our presence be desired, so long as 
 w T e are a homeless nation? 
 
62 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 But we shall give a home to our people. And we 
 shall give it, not by dragging them ruthlessly out of 
 their sustaining soil, but rather by transplanting 
 them carefully to a better ground. Though we are 
 creating new political and economic relations, we 
 shall preserve as sacred all that is dear to our peo¬ 
 ple’s hearts. 
 
 Here a few r suggestions must suffice, as this part 
 of my scheme w T ill most probably be condemned as 
 visionary. Yet even this is possible and real, 
 though it now appears to be something vague and 
 aimless. Organisation will make of it something 
 
 rational. 
 
 > 
 
 EMIGRATION IN GROUPS. 
 
 Our people may emigrate in groups of families 
 and friends. Bgt no man will be forced to join the 
 particular group belonging to his former place of 
 residence. Each will be able to journey in his 
 chosen fashion as soon as he has settled his affairs. 
 Seeing that each man will pay his own expenses by 
 rail and boat, he will naturally travel by whatever 
 class suits him best. Possibly there will even be no 
 subdivision of classes on board train and boat, so as 
 to avoid making the poor, who form the great ma¬ 
 jority of passengers, feel their position too keenly 
 during their long journey. Though we are not 
 exactly organising a pleasure trip, it is as well to 
 keep them in good-humour on the way. 
 
 None wdll travel in penury; on the other hand, all 
 who desire to travel in luxurious ease will be able 
 
LOCAL GROUPS; 63 
 
 to follow tlieir bent. Even under favourable cir¬ 
 cumstances, the movement may not touch certain 
 classes of Jews for several years to come; the inter¬ 
 vening period can therefore be employed in select¬ 
 ing the best modes of organising the journeys. 
 Those who are well-off can travel in parties if they 
 wish, taking their personal friends and connections 
 with them. Jews, with the exception of the rich¬ 
 est, have, after all, very little intercourse with 
 Christians. In some countries their acquaintance 
 with them is confined to a few spongers, borrowers, 
 and dependents; of a better class of Christian they 
 know nothing. The Ghetto subsists still, though 
 its walls are broken down. - 7 - • 
 
 The middle classes will therefore make elaborate 
 and careful preparations for departure. A group 
 of travellers will be formed in each locality, large 
 towns being divided into districts, with a group in 
 each district, who will communicate by means of 
 representatives elected for the purpose. This di¬ 
 vision into districts need not be strictly adhered to; 
 it is merely intended to alleviate the discomfort and 
 home-sickness of the poor during their journey out¬ 
 wards. If they so choose, they may either travel 
 alone or attached to any local group they prefer. 
 The conditions of travel—regulated according to 
 classes—will apply to all alike. Any sufficiently 
 numerous travelling party can charter a special 
 train and special boat from the Company. 
 
 The Company’s house-agency will provide quar¬ 
 ters for the poorest on their arrival. Later on, 
 when more prosperous emigrants follow, their ob- 
 
64 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 ✓ 
 
 vious need for lodgings on first landing will have 
 been supplied by hotels built by private enterprise. 
 Some of these more prosperous colonists will, in¬ 
 deed, have built their houses before becoming per¬ 
 manent settlers, so that they will merely move from 
 an old home into a new one. 
 
 It would be an affront to our intelligence to point 
 out everything that we might do. Every man who 
 attaches himself to the National Idea will know 
 how to spread it, and how to make it actual within 
 his sphere of influence. We shall first of all ask 
 for the co-operation of our ministers. 
 
 OUR MINISTERS. 
 
 Every group will have its minister, travelling 
 with his congregation. Local groups will after¬ 
 wards form voluntarily about their minister, and 
 each locality will have its spiritual guide. Our 
 ministers, on whom we especially call, will devote 
 their energies to the service of our idea, and will 
 inspire their congregations by preaching it from the 
 pulpit. They wall T not need to address special meet¬ 
 ings for the purpose; an appeal such as this may be 
 uttered in the synagogue. And thus it must be 
 done. For we feel our historic affinity only through 
 the faith of our fathers; the very language of dif¬ 
 ferent nations has been impressed on us so deeply 
 that it seems impossible to obliterate it. 
 
 The ministers will receive communications regu¬ 
 larly from both Society and Company, and will an¬ 
 nounce and explain these to their congregations. 
 Israel will pray for us and for itself. 
 
LOCAL GROUPS. 
 
 65 
 
 RESPONSIBLE MEN OF THE LOCAL GROUPS. 
 
 0 
 
 The local groups will appoint small committees 
 of responsible men under the minister’s presidency, 
 for discussion and settlement of local affairs. 
 
 Philanthropic institutions will be transferred by 
 their local groups; each institution remaining “over 
 there” the property of the same set of people for 
 whom it was originally founded. I think the old 
 buildings should not be sold, but rather devoted to 
 the assistance of indigent Christians in the for¬ 
 saken towns. The local group will receive compen¬ 
 sation by obtaining free building sites and every 
 facility for reconstruction in the new country. 
 
 This transfer of philanthropic institutions will 
 give another of those opportunities which occur at 
 different points of my scheme, for making an ex¬ 
 periment in the service of humanity. Our present 
 unsystematic private philanthropy does little good 
 in proportion to the great expenditure it involves. 
 But these institutions can and must form part of a 
 system by which they will eventually supplement 
 one another. In a new society these organisations 
 can be evolved out of our modern consciousness, 
 and may be based on all previous socio-political ex¬ 
 periments. This matter is of great importance to 
 us, on account of our large number of paupers. The 
 weaker characters among us, discouraged by exter¬ 
 nal pressure, spoilt by the soft-hearted charity of 
 our rich men, easily sink, till they take to begging. 
 
 The Society, supported by the local groups, will 
 give the greatest attention to popular education 
 
66 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 with regard to this particular. It will create a 
 fruitful soil for many powers which now wither use¬ 
 lessly away. Whoever shows a genuine desire to 
 work will be suitably employed. Beggars will not 
 be endured. Whoever refuses to do anything as a 
 free man will be sent to the workhouse. 
 
 On the other hand, we shall not despatch the old 
 to an infirmary. An infirmary is one of the cruel¬ 
 lest charities which our stupid good-nature ever in¬ 
 vented. There our old people die out of pure shame 
 and mortification. There they are already buried 
 But we will leave to those even who stand on the 
 lowest grade of intelligence the consoling illusion 
 of their utility in the world. We will provide easy 
 tasks for those who are incapable of physical 
 labour; for we must allow for diminished vitality in 
 the poor of an already enfeebled generation. But 
 future generations shall be dealt with otherwise; 
 they shall be brought up in liberty for a life of lib¬ 
 erty. 
 
 We will seek to bestow the moral salvation of 
 work on men of every age and of every class; and 
 thus our people will find their strength again in the 
 land of the seven-hours day. 
 
 PLANS OF THE TOWNS. 
 
 The local groups will delegate their representa¬ 
 tives to select sites for towns. In the distribution 
 of land, every precaution will be taken to effect a 
 careful transfer with due consideration for acquired 
 rights. 
 
LOCAL GROUPS. 
 
 67 
 
 The local groups will have plans of the towns, so 
 that our people may know beforehand where they 
 are to go, in which towns and in which houses they 
 are to live. Comprehensible drafts of the building 
 plans previously referred to will be distributed 
 among the local groups. 
 
 The principle of our administration will be strict 
 centralisation, of our local groups complete auton 
 omy. In this way the transfer will be accomplished 
 with the minimum of pain. 
 
 I do not imagine all this to be easier than it ac¬ 
 tually is; on the other hand, people must not imag¬ 
 ine it to be more difficult than it is in reality. 
 
 i 
 
 THE DEPARTURE OF THE MIDDLE 
 
 CLASSES. 
 
 The middle classes will involuntarily be drawn 
 into the outgoing current, for their sons will be the 
 Company’s officials and employes “over there.” 
 Lawyers, doctors, scientists of every description, 
 young traders—in fact, all Jews who are in search 
 of opportunities, who now escape from oppression 
 in their native country to earn a living in foreign 
 lands—will assemble on a soil so full of fair prom¬ 
 ise. The daughters of the middle classes will have 
 married these ambitious men. One of them will 
 send for his wife to come out to him, another for his 
 parents, brothers and sisters. Members of a new 
 civilisation marry young. This can but promote 
 general morality and ensure sturdiness in the scions 
 of our race; and thus we shall have no delicate off- 
 
68 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 spring of late marriages, children of fathers who 
 spent their strength in the struggle for life. 
 
 Every middle-class emigrant will draw T more of 
 his kind after him. 
 
 The bravest will naturally get the best out of 
 the new world. 
 
 But here we seem undoubtedly to have touched 
 on the crucial difficulty of my plan. 
 
 Even if we succeeded in opening a serious general 
 discussion on the Jewish Question— 
 
 Even if this debate led us to a positive conclusion 
 that the Jewish State were necessary to the world—- 
 
 Even if the Powers assisted us in acquiring the 
 sovereignty over a strip of territory— 
 
 How are we to transport masses of Jews without 
 undue compulsion from their present homes to this 
 new country? 
 
 Their emigration is surely voluntary? 
 
 THE PHENOMENON OF MULTITUDES. 
 
 Great exertions will not be necessary to spur on 
 the movement. Anti-Semites provide the requisite 
 impetus. They need only do what they did before, 
 and then they will create a love of emigration where 
 it did not previously exist, and strengthen it where 
 it existed before. Jew r s who now remain in Anti- 
 Semitic countries do so chiefly because, even those 
 among them who are most ignorant of history, 
 know that numerous changes of residence in bygone 
 centuries never brought them any permanent good 
 Any land which welcomed the Jews to-day, and of¬ 
 fered them even fewer advantages than the future 
 
LOCAL GROUPS. 6y 
 
 Jewish State would guarantee them, would imme¬ 
 diately attract a great influx of our people. The 
 poorest, who have nothing to lose, would drag 
 themselves there. But I maintain, and every man 
 may ask himself whether I am not right, that the 
 pressure weighing on us rouses a desire to emigrate 
 even among prosperous strata of society. Now our 
 poorest strata alone would suffice to found a State; 
 for these make the most vigorous conquerors, be¬ 
 cause a little despair is indispensable to the forma¬ 
 tion of a great undertaking. 
 
 But when our desperadoes increase the value of 
 the land by their presence and by the labour they 
 expend on it, they make it at the same time increas¬ 
 ingly attractive as a place of settlement to people 
 who are better off. 
 
 Higher and yet higher strata will feel tempted to 
 go over. The expedition of the first and poorest 
 settlers will be conducted by conjoint Company and 
 Society, and will probably be additionally supported 
 by existing emigration and Zionist societies. 
 
 How may a number of people be concentrated on 
 a particular spot without being given express or¬ 
 ders to go there? There are certain Jews, bene¬ 
 factors on a large scale, who try to alleviate the 
 sufferings of their co-religionists by Zionist experi¬ 
 ments. To them this problem also presented itself, 
 and they thought to solve it by giving the emigrants 
 money or means of employment. Thus the philan¬ 
 thropists said: “We pay these people to go there.” 
 
 Such an experiment is utterly at fault, and all the 
 
 * • » ». • 
 
 money in the world will not achieve its purpose. 
 
70 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 On the other hand, the Company will say: “We 
 shall not pay them, we shall let them pay us. We 
 shall merely offer them some inducement to go.” 
 
 A fanciful illustration will make my meaning 
 more explicit: One of these philanthropists (whom 
 we will call “The Baron”) and myself both wish to 
 get a crowd of people on to the plain of Long- 
 champs, near Paris, on a hot Sunday afternoon. 
 The Baron, by promising them 10 francs each, will, 
 for 200,000 francs, bring out 20,000 perspiring and 
 miserable people, who will curse him for having 
 given them so much annoyance. Whereas I will 
 offer these 200,000 francs as a prize for the swiftest 
 race-horse—and then I shall have to put up barriers 
 to keep the people off Longchamps. They will pay 
 to go in: 1 franc, 5 francs, 20 francs. 
 
 The consequence will be that I shall get half a 
 million of people out there; the President of the 
 Republic will drive a la Daumont; and the crowds 
 will enjoy and amuse themselves. Most of them 
 will think it an agreeable walk in the open air, spite 
 of heat and dust; and I shall have made by my 
 200,000 francs about a million in entrance-money 
 and taxes on gaming. I shall get the same people 
 out there whenever I like; but the Baron will not— 
 not on any account. 
 
 I will give a more serious illustration of the phe¬ 
 nomenon of multitudes where they are earning a 
 livelihood. Let any man attempt to cry through 
 the streets of a town: “Whoever is willing to stand 
 all day long through a winter’s terrible cold, 
 through a summer’s tormenting heat, in an iron hall 
 
I 
 
 LOCAL GROUPS. 71 
 
 exposed on all sides, there to address every passer¬ 
 by, and to offer him fancy wares, or fish, or fruit, 
 will receive 2 florins, or 4 francs, or something sim¬ 
 ilar.” 
 
 How many people wmuld go to the hall? How 
 many days would they hold out when hunger drove 
 them there? And if they held out, what energy 
 would they display in trying to persuade passers-by 
 to buy fish, fruit, and fancy wares? 
 
 We shall set about it in a different way. In 
 places where trade is active, and these places we 
 shall the more easily discover, since we ourselves 
 form channels for trade to various localities; in 
 these places ive shall build large halls, and call 
 them markets. These halls might be worse built 
 and more unwholesome than those above men¬ 
 tioned, and yet people would stream towards them. 
 But we shall use our best efforts, and we shall build 
 them better, and make them more beautiful than 
 the first. And the people, to whom we had prom¬ 
 ised nothing, because we cannot promise anything 
 without deceiving them, these brave, keen business 
 men will gaily create most active commercial inter¬ 
 course. They will harangue the buyers unweariedly; 
 thev will stand on their feet, and scarcely think of 
 fatigue. They will hurry off day after day, so as to 
 be first on the spot; they will make agreements, 
 promises, anything to continue bread-winning un¬ 
 disturbed. And if they find on Sabbath night that 
 all their hard work has produced only 1 florin 50 
 kreuzer, or 3 francs, or something similar, they tv ill 
 
72 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 jet look forward hopefully to the next day, which 
 may, perhaps, bring them better luck. 
 
 We have given them hope. 
 
 Would any one ask whence the demand comes 
 which creates the market? Is it really necessary to 
 tell them again? 
 
 I pointed out before that the labour-test increased 
 our gain fifteenfold. One million produced fifteen 
 millions; and one thousand millions, fifteen thou¬ 
 sand millions. 
 
 This may be the case on a small scale; is it so on 
 a large one? Capital surely yields a return dimin¬ 
 ishing in inverse ratio to its own growth? Inactive 
 capital yields this diminishing return, but active 
 capital brings in a marvellously increasing return. 
 Herein lies the social question. 
 
 Am I stating a fact? I call on the richest Jews 
 as witnesses of my veracity. Why do these carry 
 on so many different industries? Why do they 
 send men to work underground and to raise coal 
 amid terrible dangers for miserable pay? I cannot 
 imagine this to be pleasant, even for the owners of 
 the mines. For I do not believe that capitalists are 
 heartless, and I do not take up the attitude of be¬ 
 lieving it. My desire is not to accentuate, but to 
 smooth differences. 
 
 Is it necessary to illustrate the phenomenon of 
 multitudes, and their concentration on a particular 
 spot, by references to pious pilgrimages? 
 
 I do not want to hurt any one’s religious sensi¬ 
 bility by words which might be wrongly interpreted 
 
 I shall merely refer quite briefly to the Mahon, 
 
LOCAL GROUPS. 
 
 73 
 
 medan pilgrimages to Mecca, the Catholic pilgrim¬ 
 ages to Lourdes and to many other spots whence 
 men return comforted by their faith, and to the holy 
 Coat at Trier. Thus we shall also create a centre 
 for the deep religious needs of our people. Our 
 ministers will understand us first, and will be with 
 us in this. 
 
 We shall let every man find salvation “over there” 
 in his own particular way. Above and before all 
 we shall make room for the immortal band of our 
 Freethinkers, who are continually making new con¬ 
 quests for humanity. 
 
 No more force will be exercised on any one than 
 is necessary for the preservation of the State and 
 the upholding of its statutes; and the requisite force 
 will not be arbitrarily defined by one or more shift¬ 
 ing authorities; it will be fixed by iron laws. 
 
 Now if the illustrations I gave make people draw 
 the inference that a multitude can be only tempo¬ 
 rarily attracted to centres of faith, of business, or 
 of amusement, the reply to their objection is simple. 
 Whereas one of these objects by itself would cer¬ 
 tainly only allure the masses, all these centres of 
 attraction combined would be fully qualified per¬ 
 manently to hold and satisfy them. For all these 
 centres together form a single, great, long-sought 
 object, which our people has always longed to at¬ 
 tain, for which it has kept itself alive, for which it 
 has been kept alive by external pressure—a free 
 home! When the movement commences, we shall 
 draw some men after us and let others follow; 
 
74 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 others again will be swept into the current, and the 
 last will be thrust after us. 
 
 These last hesitating colonists will be the worst 
 off, both here and there. 
 
 But the first, who go over with faith, enthusiasm, 
 and courage, will have the best of the bargain. 
 
 OUR INTRINSIC QUALITIES. 
 
 There are more mistaken notions abroad concern¬ 
 ing Jews than concerning any other people. And 
 we ourselves have become so depressed and dis¬ 
 couraged by our historic sufferings that, parrot-like, 
 we repeat and believe these mistakes. Such a one 
 is the assertion that our love of business is extreme. 
 Now it is well known that wherever we are per¬ 
 mitted to take part in the uprising of classes, we 
 give up our business as soon as possible. The great 
 majority of Jewish business men give their sons a 
 superior education. Hence, indeed, the so-called 
 “Judaising” of good professions. But even in eco¬ 
 nomically feebler grades of society, our love of trade 
 is not so predominant as is generally supposed. In 
 the Eastern countries of Europe there are great 
 numbers of Jews who are not traders, and who are 
 not afraid of hard work either. The Society of Jews 
 will be in a position to prepare scientifically accu¬ 
 rate statistics of our human forces. The new 
 duties and prospects which the new country offers 
 to our people will satisfy our present handicrafts¬ 
 men, and will transform many present small traders 
 into manual workers. 
 
LOCAL GROUPS. 
 
 75 
 
 A pedlar who travels about the country with a 
 heavy pack on his back is not so contented as his 
 persecutors imagine. The seven-hours day will 
 convert all of his kind into workmen. They are 
 brave, misunderstood people, who now suffer per¬ 
 haps more severely than any others. The Society 
 of JeAvs Avill moreover busv itself from the outset 
 with their training as artisans. Their love of gain 
 will be encouraged in wholesome fashion. Jews are ' 
 of saving and adaptable disposition, and are pos¬ 
 sessed of strong family feeling. Such people are 
 qualified for any means of earning a living, and it 
 will therefore suffice to make small trading unre- 
 munerative, to cause even present pedlars to give it 
 up altogether. This could be brought about, for 
 example, by encouraging large trading-houses 
 which provide all necessaries of life. These gen¬ 
 eral trading-houses are already crushing small trad 
 ing in capital towns. In the land of new civilisa¬ 
 tion they will absolutely prevent its existence. The 
 establishment of these trading-houses is further 
 adAmntageous, because it makes the country imme¬ 
 diately habitable for people avIio require more re¬ 
 fined necessaries of life. 
 
 HABITS. 
 
 Is a reference to the little habits and comforts of 
 the ordinary man, in character with the serious na 
 ture of this pamphlet? 
 
 I think it is in character, and, moreover, very 
 
 important. For these little habits are the thou- 
 
 * 
 
76 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 sand and one fine delicate threads which together 
 go to make up an unbreakable rope. 
 
 Here certain limited notions must be set aside. 
 Whoever has seen anything of the world knows that 
 just these little daily customs can easily be trans¬ 
 planted everywhere. The technical contrivances of 
 our day, which this scheme intends to employ in the 
 service of humanity, have heretofore been princi¬ 
 pally used for our little habits. There are Englisu 
 hotels in Egypt and on the mountain-crests ot 
 Switzerland, Vienna cafes in South Africa, French 
 theatres in Russia, German operas in America, and 
 best Bavarian beer in Paris. 
 
 When we journey out of Egypt again, we shall 
 not leave the fleshpots behind. 
 
 Every man will find his customs again in the local 
 groups, but they will be better, more beautiful, and 
 more agreeable than before. 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND 
 JEWISH STATE 
 
 NEGOTIORUM GESTIO. 
 
 This pamphlet is not intended for lawyers. I can 
 therefore only touch cursorily, as I have so often 
 done, upon my theory of the legal basis of a State. 
 
 I must, nevertheless, lay some stress on my new 
 theory, which could be maintained, I believe, even 
 in discussion with men well versed in jurisprudence. 
 
 According to ^Rousseau’s now antiquated view, a 
 State is formed by a social contract. Rousseau 
 held that: “The conditions of this contract are so 
 precisely defined by the nature of the agreement 
 that the slightest alteration would make them null 
 and void. The consequence is that, even where 
 they are not expressly stated, they are everywhere 
 identical, and everywhere tacitly accepted and rec¬ 
 ognised,” &c. 
 
 A logical and historic refutation of Rousseau’s 
 theory was never, nor is now, difficult, however ter¬ 
 rible and far-reaching its effects mav have been. 
 The question whether a social contract with “con- 
 
78 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 ditions not expressly stated, yet unalterable/' 
 existed before the framing of a constitution, is a 
 question of little actual interest to States under 
 modern forms of government. The legal relation¬ 
 ship between government and citizen is in any case 
 clearly established now. 
 
 But previous to the framing of a constitution, 
 and during the creation of a new State, these prin¬ 
 ciples assume great practical importance. We 
 know and see for ourselves that States still continue 
 to be created. Colonies secede from the mother 
 country. Vassals fall away from their suzerain; 
 newly opened territories are immediately formed 
 into free States. It is true that the Jewish State is 
 conceived as a peculiarly modern structure on un¬ 
 specified territory. But a State is formed, not by 
 pieces of land, but rather by a number of men united 
 under sovereign rule. 
 
 Man is the human, land the objective, groundwork 
 of a State; the human basis being the more impor¬ 
 tant of the two. One supremacy, for example, 
 which has no objective basis at all is perhaps more 
 respected than any in the world, and this is the 
 supremacy of the Pope. 
 
 The theory of rationality is the one at present 
 accepted in political science. This theory suffices 
 to justify the creation of a State, and cannot be his¬ 
 torically refuted in the same way as the theory of a 
 contract. In so far as I am concerned only with 
 the creation of a Jewish State, I am well wfithin the 
 limits of the theory of rationality. But when I 
 touch upon the legal basis of the State, I have ex- 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE. 
 
 79 
 
 ceeded them. The theories of a Divine institution, 
 or of superior power, or of a contract, and the patri¬ 
 archal and patrimonial theories do not respond to 
 modern views. The legal basis of a State is sought 
 either too much within men (patriarchal theory, 
 and theories of superior force and contract), or too 
 far above them (Divine institution), or too far below 
 them (objective patrimonial theory). The theory of 
 rationality leaves this question conveniently and 
 carefully unanswered. But a question which has 
 seriously occupied doctors of jurisprudence in every 
 age cannot be an absolutely idle one. As a matter 
 of fact, a mixture of human and superhuman goes 
 to the making of a State. Some legal basis is in¬ 
 dispensable to explain the somewhat oppressive re¬ 
 lationship in which subjects occasionally stand to 
 rulers. I believe it is to be found in the “negoti- 
 orum gestio,” wherein the body of citizens represent 
 
 the dominus negotiorum, and the government rep¬ 
 resents the gestor. 
 
 The Romans, with their marvellous sense of jus¬ 
 tice, produced that noble masterpiece the negoti¬ 
 orum gestio. When the property of an oppressed 
 person is in danger, any man may step forward to 
 save it. This man is the gestor, the director of af¬ 
 fairs not strictly his own. He has received no war¬ 
 rant—that is, no human warrant—higher obliga¬ 
 tions authorise him to act. The higher obligations 
 may be formulated in different ways; firstly, for the 
 State; and secondly, so as to respond to individual 
 degrees of culture attained by a growing general 
 power of comprehension. The gestio is intended 
 
80 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 to work for the good of the dominus—the people, 
 to whom the gestor himself belongs. 
 
 The gestor administrates property of wdiicli he is 
 joint-owner. His joint proprietorship teaches him 
 what urgency would warrant his intervention, and 
 would demand his leadership in peace or war; but 
 under no circumstances is his authority valid qua 
 joint proprietorship. The consent of the numerous 
 joint-owners is even under most favourable condi¬ 
 tions a matter of conjecture. 
 
 A State is created by a nation’s struggle for ex¬ 
 istence. In any such struggle it is impossible to 
 obtain proper authority in circumstantial fashion 
 beforehand. In fact, any previous attempt to ob¬ 
 tain a regular decree from the majority would prob¬ 
 ably ruin the undertaking from the outset. For in¬ 
 ternal schisms would make the people defenceless 
 against external dangers. We cannot all be of one 
 mind; the gestor will therefore simply take the lead¬ 
 ership into his hands and march in the van. 
 
 The action of the gestor of the State is sufficiently 
 warranted if the common cause is in danger, and 
 the dominus is prevented, either by want of will or 
 by some other reason, from helping itself. 
 
 But the gestor identifies himself with the people 
 by his intervention, and is bound by the agreement 
 quasi ex contractu. This is the legal relationship 
 existing before, or, more correctly, created simul¬ 
 taneously with the State. 
 
 The gestor thus becomes answerable for every 
 form of negligence, even for the failure of business 
 undertakings, and the neglect of such affairs as are 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE. 
 
 81 
 
 intimately connected with them, &c. I shall not 
 further enlarge on the negotiorum gestio, but rather 
 leave it to the State, else it would take us too far 
 from the main subject. One remark only: “A con¬ 
 ducting of affairs with the approbation of the man 
 of business is just as effectual as if it had originally 
 been carried on by his authority.” 
 
 And how does all this affect our case? 
 
 The Jewish people are at present prevented by 
 the diaspora from undertaking the management of 
 their business for themselves. At the present time 
 thev are in a condition of more or less severe clip- 
 tress in many parts of the world. They need, above 
 all things, a gestor. 
 
 This gestor cannot, of course, be a single individ¬ 
 ual. Such a one would either make himself ridic¬ 
 ulous, or—seeing that he would appear to be work¬ 
 ing for his own interests—contemptible. 
 
 The gestor of the Jews must therefore be a body 
 corporate. 
 
 And that is the Society of Jews. 
 
 THE GESTOR OF THE JEWS. 
 
 This medium of the national movement, the na¬ 
 ture and functions of which we are at last touching 
 upon, will, in fact, be created before everything 
 else. Its formation is perfectly simple. It will 
 take shape among those energetic Jews to whom I 
 imparted my scheme in London.* 
 
 * This refers to certain members of the Maccabaeans, an organ¬ 
 ization which, three months after the publication of this pamphlet, 
 rejected his proposals. 
 
82 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 The Society of Jews is the point of departure for 
 the whole Jewish movement about to begin. 
 
 The Society will have work to do in the domains 
 of science and politics, for the founding of a Jewish 
 State, as I conceive it, presupposes the application 
 of scientific methods. We cannot journey out of 
 Mizraim to-day in the primitive fashion of ancient 
 times. We shall previously obtain an accurate ac¬ 
 count of our number and strength. The Society 
 will be the new Moses of the Jews. The undertak¬ 
 ing of that great and ancient gestor of the Jews in 
 primitive days bears much the same relation to ours 
 that an old opera bears to a modern one. We are 
 playing the same melody with many more violins, 
 flutes, harps, violoncellos, and bass-viols; with elec¬ 
 tric light, decorations, choirs, beautiful costumes, 
 and with the first singers of their day. 
 
 This pamphlet is intended to open a general dis¬ 
 cussion on the Jewish Question. Friends and ene¬ 
 mies will take part in it; but it will no longer, 1 
 hope, take the form of violent abuse or of senti¬ 
 mental vindication, but of a debate, practical, large, 
 earnest and political. 
 
 The Society of Jews will gather all available in¬ 
 formation from statesmen, parliaments, Jewish 
 communities; from speeches, letters and meetings, 
 newspapers and books. 
 
 Thus the Society will find out for the first time 
 whether the Jews really wish to go to the Promised 
 Land, and whether they ought to go there. Every 
 Jewish community in the world will send contribu- 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE, 
 
 83 
 
 tions to the Society towards a comprehensive col¬ 
 lection of Jewish statistics. 
 
 Further tasks, such as investigation by experts 
 of the new country and its natural resources, plan¬ 
 ning of joint migration and settlement, preliminary 
 work for legislation and administration, &c., must 
 be judiciously evolved out of the original scheme. 
 
 Externally, the Society will attempt, as I ex¬ 
 plained before in the general part, to be acknowl¬ 
 edged as a State-forming power. The free assent of 
 many Jews will confer on it the requisite authority 
 in its relations with Governments. 
 
 Internally, that is to say, in its relations wdth the 
 Jewish people, tlie Society will create all the first 
 indispensable institutions; it will be the nucleus out 
 of which the public organisations of the Jewish 
 State will later on be developed. 
 
 Our first object is, as I said before, supremacy, 
 assured to us by international law, over a portion 
 of the globe sufficiently large to satisfy our just 
 requirements. 
 
 What is the next step? 
 
 THE OCCUPATION OF LAND. 
 
 When nations wandered in historic days they let 
 chance carry them, draw them, fling them hither 
 and thither, and like swarms of locusts they settled 
 down indifferently anywhere. For in historic days 
 the earth was not known to man. But this modern 
 
 Jewish migration must proceed in accordance with 
 
 ► 
 
 scientific principles. 
 
84 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 Not more than forty years ago gold-digging was 
 carried on in an extraordinarily primitive fashion. 
 What adventurous days were those in California! 
 A report brought desperadoes together from every 
 quarter of the earth; they stole pieces of land, 
 robbed each other of gold, and finally gambled it 
 away, as robbers do. 
 
 And to-day! What is gold-digging like in the 
 Transvaal to-day? Adventurous vagabonds are 
 not there; sedate geologists and engineers alone are 
 on the spot to regulate its gold industry, and to 
 employ ingenious machinery in separating the ore 
 from surrounding rock. Little is left to chance 
 now. 
 
 Thus we must investigate and take possession of 
 the new Jewish country by means of every modern 
 expedient. 
 
 As soon as we have secured the land we shall 
 send over a ship, having on board the representa¬ 
 tives of the Society, of the Company, and of the 
 local groups, who will enter into possession at once. 
 
 These men will have three tasks to perform: 
 (1) An accurate, scientific investigation of all nat¬ 
 ural resources of the country; (2) The organisation 
 of a strictly centralised administration; (3) The dis¬ 
 tribution of land. These tasks intersect one an¬ 
 other, and will all be carried out in conformity with 
 the now familiar object in view. 
 
 One thing remains to be explained—namely, how 
 the occupation of land according to local groups is 
 to take place. 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE. 85 
 
 In America the occupation of newly opened terri¬ 
 tory is set about in most naive fashion. The set- 
 tiers assemble on the frontier, and at the appointed 
 time make a simultaneous and violent rush for their 
 portions. 
 
 We shall not proceed thus in the new land of the 
 Jews. The lots in provinces and towns will be sold 
 by auction, and paid for, not in money, but in work. 
 The general plan will have settled on streets, 
 bridges, waterworks, &c., necessary -for traffic. 
 These will be united into provinces. Within these 
 provinces sites for towns will be similarly sold by 
 auction. The local groups will pledge themselves 
 to carry the business through properly and will pay 
 expenses out of the funds provided for their self- 
 government. The Society will be in a position to 
 judge whether the local groups are not venturing 
 on sacrifices too great for their means. Great com¬ 
 monwealths keep up great scenes of activity. 
 Great sacrifices will thus be rewarded bv the estab- 
 
 t/ 
 
 lishment of universities, technical schools, acad¬ 
 emies, &c., and these Government institutions will 
 not be concentrated in the capital, but distributed 
 over the country. 
 
 The personal interests of the buyers, and, if neces¬ 
 sary, the local authorities, will guarantee the proper- 
 working of what has been taken over. In the same 
 way as we cannot, and indeed do not wish to, ob¬ 
 literate distinctions between single individuals, so 
 the differences between local groups will also con¬ 
 tinue to be marked. Everything will shape itself 
 quite naturally. All acquired rights will be pro- 
 
86 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 tected, and every new development will be given 
 sufficient scope. 
 
 Our people will be made thoroughly acquainted 
 with all these matters. 
 
 We shall not take others unawares or mislead 
 them, any more than we shall deceive ourselves. 
 
 Everything must be systematically settled before¬ 
 hand. I merely indicate this scheme, our acutest 
 thinkers will combine in elaborating it. Every 
 sociological and technical acquirement of our age, 
 and of the more advanced age which w T ill be 
 reached before the slow execution of my plan is 
 accomplished, must be employed for this objects 
 Every valuable invention which exists now, or lies 
 
 in the future, must be used. By these means a 
 
 % 
 
 country can be occupied and a State founded in a 
 manner as yet unknown to history, and with possi¬ 
 bilities of success such as never occurred before. 
 
 CONSTITUTION. 
 
 One of the great committees which the Society 
 will have to appoint will be the council of jurists 
 of the State. These must formulate the best, that 
 is, the best modern constitution possible. I believe 
 that a good constitution should be of moderately 
 elastic nature. In another work I have explained 
 in detail what forms of government I hold to be the 
 best. I think a democratic monarchy and an-aris¬ 
 tocratic republic are the two most superior forms 
 of a State, because in them the form of State and 
 the principle of government are opposed to one an¬ 
 other, and thus preserve a true balance of power 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE. 
 
 87 
 
 I am a staunch supporter of monarchical institu¬ 
 tions, because these allow of a consistent policy, 
 and represent the interests of a historically famous 
 family born and educated to rule, whose desires are 
 bound up with the preservation of the State. But 
 our history has been too long interrupted for us to 
 attempt direct continuity of ancient constitutional 
 
 forms without exposing ourselves to the charge of 
 absurdity. 
 
 A democracy without a sovereign’s useful coun¬ 
 terpoise is extreme in appreciation and condemna¬ 
 tion, tends to idle discussion in parliaments, and 
 produces that objectionable class of men, profes¬ 
 sional politicians. Nations are also really not fit 
 for unlimited democracy at present, and will be¬ 
 come less and less fitted for it in the future. For a 
 pure democracy presupposes a predominance of 
 simple customs, and our customs become daily more 
 complex with the growth of commerce and increase 
 of culture. “Le ressort d’une democratic est la 
 vertu,” said wise Montesquieu. And where is this 
 virtue, that is to say, this political virtue, to be met 
 with? I do not believe in our political virtue; first- 
 ly, because we are no better than the rest of modern 
 humanity; and, secondly, because freedom will 
 make us show our fighting qualities at first. I also 
 hold a settling of questions by the public voice to 
 be a foolish proceeding, because there are no simple 
 political questions which can be settled by Ayes 
 and Noes. The masses are also more prone even 
 than parliaments to be led away by heterodox opin¬ 
 ions, and to be swayed by vigorous ranting. It is 
 
88 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 impossible to formulate a wise internal or external 
 policy in a popular assembly. 
 
 Politics must take shape in the upper strata and 
 work downwards. But no member of the Jewish 
 State will be oppressed, every man will be able and 
 desirous to rise in it. Thus a great upward ten¬ 
 dency will pass through our people, every individ¬ 
 ual, by trying to raise himself, raising also the 
 whole body of citizens. The ascent will take a 
 moral form, useful to the State and serviceable to 
 the National Idea. 
 
 Hence I incline to an aristocratic republic. This 
 would satisfy the ambitious spirit in our people, 
 which lias now degenerated into foolish arrogance. 
 Many of the institutions of Venice pass through my 
 mind; but all that in them caused the ruin of 
 Venice must be carefully avoided. We shall learn 
 from the historic mistakes of others, in the same 
 way as we learn from our own; for we are a modern 
 nation, and wish to be the most modern in the 
 world. Our people, who are receiving the new 
 country from the Society, will also thankfully ac¬ 
 cept the new constitution it offers them. Should 
 they, however, show signs of rebellion they will be 
 promptly crushed. The Society cannot permit the 
 exercise of its functions to be interrupted by short¬ 
 sighted or ill-disposed individuals. 
 
 LANGUAGE. 
 
 It might be suggested that our want of a common 
 current language would present difficulties. We 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE. 
 
 89 
 
 ♦ 
 
 cannot converse with one another in Hebrew. Who 
 amongst us has a sufficient acquaintance with He¬ 
 brew to ask for a railway-ticket in that language? 
 Such a thing cannot be done.* Yet the difficulty is 
 very easily circumvented. Every man can preserve 
 the language in which his thoughts are at home. 
 Switzerland affords a conclusive proof of the possi¬ 
 bility of a federation of tongues. We shall remain 
 in the new country what we now are here, and we 
 shall never cease to cherish the memory of the na¬ 
 tive land out of wffiich we have been driven. 
 
 We shall give up using those miserable, stunted 
 jargons, those Ghetto languages which we still em¬ 
 ploy, for ours was the stealthy speech of prisoners. 
 Our national teachers will give due attention to this 
 matter; and the language which proves itself to be 
 of greatest utility for general intercourse will be 
 adopted without compulsion as our national tongue. 
 Our communal tie is peculiar and unique, for we are 
 bound together only by the faith of our fathers. 
 
 THEOCRACY. 
 
 Shall we end by having a theocracy? No indeed 
 Faith unites us, knowledge gives us freedom. We 
 shall therefore prevent any theocratic tendencies 
 from coming to the fore on the part of our priest¬ 
 hood. We shall keep our priests within the con¬ 
 fines of their temples in the same way as w^e shall 
 keep our volunteer forces within the confines of 
 
 * The author changed this view when the feasibility of Hebrew 
 as a living language was demonstrated to him. 
 
90 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 their barracks. Army and priesthood shall receive 
 honours as high as their valuable functions deserve. 
 But they must not interfere in the administration 
 of the State which confers distinction upon them, 
 else they will conjure up difficulties without and 
 within. 
 
 Every man will be as free and undisturbed in his 
 faith or his disbelief as he is in his nationality. 
 And if it should occur that men of different creeds 
 and different nationalities came to live amongst us, 
 we should accord them honourable protection, and 
 equality before the law. We learnt toleration in 
 Europe. This is not sarcastically said; for the 
 Anti-Semitism of to-day could in very few r places 
 be taken for old religious intolerance. It is for 
 the most part a movement among civilised nations 
 by which they try to chase away the spectres of 
 their own past. 
 
 LAWS. 
 
 When the idea of a State begins to approach real¬ 
 isation, the Society of Jews will appoint a council 
 of jurists to do the preparatory work of legislation. 
 During the transition period these must act on the 
 principle that every emigrant Jew is to be judged 
 according to the laws of the country which he has 
 left. But they must try to bring about a uni¬ 
 fication of these various laws to form a modern svs- 
 
 •/ 
 
 tern of legislation based on the best portions of pre¬ 
 vious systems. This might become a typical codi¬ 
 fication, responsive to all the just social claims of 
 the present day. 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE. 
 
 91 
 
 THE ARMY. 
 
 The Jewish State is conceived as a neutral one. 
 It will therefore require only an army of volun¬ 
 teers, equipped, of course, with every requisite of 
 modern warfare, to preserve order internally and 
 externally. 
 
 THE BANNER.* 
 
 We have no banner, and we need one. If we de¬ 
 sire to lead men forward, we must raise an emblem 
 above their heads. 
 
 I would suggest a white banner, bearing seven 
 golden stars. The white field symbolising our pure 
 new life; the seven stars, the seven golden hours 
 of our working-day. For we shall march into the 
 Promised Land carrying the badge of labour. 
 
 RECIPROCITY AND CARTELS. 
 
 The Jewish State must be properly founded, with 
 due regard to our future honourable position in the 
 world. Therefore every obligation in the old coun¬ 
 try must be scrupulously fulfilled before leaving. 
 The Society of Jews and Jewish Company will 
 
 grant cheap passage and certain advantages in set¬ 
 tlement to those only who can present an official 
 testimonial from their local authorities, certifying 
 that they have left their affairs in good order. 
 
 E^ery just private claim originating in the aban¬ 
 doned countries will be heard more readily in the 
 
 whiTe hl with d fhe Sh d eld°ff U David th h Congress - ' The blue and 
 
 was designed in 1880. ’ ^ as been generally accepted, and 
 
92 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 Jewish State than anywhere else. We shall not 
 wait for reciprocity; we shall act purely for the 
 sake of our own honour. We shall thus perhaps 
 find, later on, that strange law courts will be more 
 willing to hear our claims than now seems to be 
 the case in some places. 
 
 It will be inferred, as a matter of course, from 
 foregone remarks, that we shall deliver up Jewish 
 criminals more readily than any other State would 
 do, till the time comes when we can enforce our 
 penal code on the same principles as every other 
 civilised nation does. There will therefore be a 
 period of transition, during which we shall receive 
 our criminals only after they have suffered due pen¬ 
 alties. But, having made amends, they will be re¬ 
 ceived without any restrictions whatever, for our 
 criminals also must enter upon a new life. 
 
 Thus emigration may become to many Jews a 
 crisis with a happy issue. Bad external circum¬ 
 stances, which ruin many a character, will be re¬ 
 moved, and this change may mean salvation to 
 manv who are lost. 
 
 e/ 
 
 Here I should like briefly to relate a story I came 
 across in an account of the gold mines of Wit- 
 watersrand. One day a man came to the rand, set¬ 
 tled there, tried his hand at various things, with 
 the exception of gold-mining, till he founded an ice 
 factory, which did well. He won universal esteem 
 by his respectability, till one day he was suddenly 
 arrested. He had committed some defalcations as 
 banker in Frankfort, had fled from there, and had 
 begun a new life under an assumed name. But 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE. 
 
 93 
 
 when he was led away as prisoner, the chief local 
 dignitaries appeared at the station, bade him a cor¬ 
 dial farewell, and au revoir!—for he was certain 
 to return. 
 
 What does not this story reveal! A new life can 
 regenerate even criminals, and we have a propor¬ 
 tionated small number of these. Some interesting 
 statistics on this point are w^orth reading, entitled, 
 “The Criminality of Jews in Germany,” by Dr. P. 
 Nathan, of Berlin, who was commissioned by the 
 “Society for Defence against Anti-Semitism” to 
 make a collection of statistics based on official re¬ 
 turns. It is true that this pamphlet, which teems 
 with figures, arises, as does many another “de¬ 
 fence,” out of the error that Anti-Semitism can be 
 subdued by reasonable arguments. We are proba- 
 blv disliked as much for our gifts as we are for our 
 faults. 
 
 ♦ - 
 
 BENEFITS OF THE IMMIGBATION OF THE 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 I imagine that Governments will, either volun¬ 
 tarily or under pressure from the Anti-Semites, pay 
 certain attention to this scheme; and they may per¬ 
 haps actually receive it here and there with a sym¬ 
 pathy which they will also show to the Society of 
 Jews. 
 
 For the emigration wffiicli I suggest will not cre¬ 
 ate any economic crises. Such crises as would fol¬ 
 low everywhere in consequence of Jew-baiting 
 would rather be prevented by the carrying out of 
 
94 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 my plan. A great period of prosperity would com¬ 
 mence in countries which are now Anti-Semitic. 
 For there will be, as I have repeatedly said, an in¬ 
 termigration of Christian citizens into the positions 
 slowly and systematically evacuated by the Jews. 
 If we are not merely suffered, but actually assisted 
 to do this, the movement will have a generally bene¬ 
 ficial effect. That is a narrow view which sees in 
 the departure of many Jews a consequent impover¬ 
 ishment of countries. Different is a departure 
 which is a result of persecution, for here property 
 is indeed destroyed, as it is ruined in the confusion 
 of war. Different again is the peaceable voluntary 
 departure of colonists, wherein everything is car¬ 
 ried out with due consideration for acquired rights, 
 and 5 with absolute conformity to law, openly and 
 by light of day, under the supervision of authority 
 and the control of public opinion. The emigration 
 of Christian proletariats to different parts of the 
 world would be definitely brought to a standstill by 
 the Jewish movement. 
 
 The States would have a further advantage in 
 the enormous increase of their export trade; for, 
 since the emigrant Jews “over there” would depend 
 for a long time to come on European productions, 
 the States would necessarily have to provide them. 
 The local groups would keep up a just balance, and 
 the customary needs would have to be supplied for 
 a long time at the accustomed places. 
 
 Another, and perhaps one of the greatest advan¬ 
 tages, would be the ensuing social relief. Social 
 
SOCIETY OF JEWS AND JEWISH STATE. 
 
 95 
 
 dissatisfaction would be appeased during the twen¬ 
 ty or more years which the emigration of the Jews 
 would occupy, and would in any case be set at rest 
 during the whole transition period. 
 
 The shape which the social question may take 
 depends entirely on the development of our tech¬ 
 nical contrivances. Steam-power concentrated men 
 in factories about machinery, where they were over¬ 
 crowded, and where they made one another miser¬ 
 able by overcrowding. Our present enormous, in¬ 
 judicious and unsystematic rate of production is 
 the cause of continual severe crises which ruin both 
 managers and employes. Steam crowded men to¬ 
 gether; electricity will probably scatter them again, 
 and may perhaps bring about a more prosperous 
 condition of the labour market. In any case, our 
 scientific discoverers, who are the true benefactors 
 of humanity, will continue their labours after the 
 commencement of the emigration of the Jews, and 
 they will discover things as marvellous as those we 
 have already seen, or indeed more wonderful even 
 than these. 
 
 The word “impossible” has ceased to exist for our 
 men of science. Were a man who lived in the last 
 century to return to the earth, he would find the life 
 of to-day full of incomprehensible magic. Wher¬ 
 ever we moderns appear with our inventions, we 
 transform the desert into a garden. To build a 
 city takes in our time as many years as it formerly 
 required centuries; America offers endless examples 
 of this. Distance has ceased to be an obstacle. 
 The spirit of our age has gathered fabulous treas- 
 
96 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 ures into its storehouse. Every day this wealth 
 increases. A hundred thousand heads are occu¬ 
 pied with speculations and research at every point 
 of the globe, and the discovery of one becomes, ere 
 long, the property of the whole world. We our¬ 
 selves will use and carry on every new attempt in 
 our Jewish State; we shall introduce the seven- 
 hours day as an experiment for the good of human¬ 
 ity; and we shall proceed in everything else in the 
 same humane spirit, making of the new land a land 
 of experiments and a model State. 
 
 The undertakings made by the Jews will remain, 
 after their managers’ departure, where they origi¬ 
 nally were founded. And the Jewish spirit of en¬ 
 terprise will not even fail there where people wel¬ 
 come it. For Jewish capitalists will be glad to 
 invest their funds where they are familiar with sur 
 rounding conditions. And whereas Jewish money 
 is now sent out of countries on account of existing 
 persecutions, and is sunk in most distant foreign 
 undertakings, it will flow back again in consequence 
 of this peaceable solution, and will help further to 
 raise the status of the countries which the Jews 
 have left. 
 
• V 
 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 How much has been left unexplained, how many 
 defects, how many regrettable signs of careless¬ 
 ness, how many useless repetitions, in the pamphlet 
 which I have so long considered and so carefully 
 revised! 
 
 But a fair-minded reader, who has sufficient un- 
 derstanding to grasp the spirit of my words, will 
 not be repelled by these defects. He will rather 
 be roused thereby to devote his intelligence nnd 
 energy to the improvement of a work which is not 
 one man’s task alone. 
 
 Have I not explained obvious things and over¬ 
 looked important considerations? 
 
 I have tried to meet certain objections; but 1 
 know that many more will be made, based on high 
 grounds and low. 
 
 To the first class of objections belongs the re¬ 
 mark, that the Jews are not the only people in the 
 world who are in a condition of distress. Here I 
 would reply that we may as well begin by removing 
 some of this misery, even if it should at first be no 
 more than our own. 
 
98 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 It might further be said that we ought not to 
 create distinctions betweenjpeople; we ought not to 
 raise fresh barriers; we should rather make the old 
 disappear. But men who think in this way are 
 amiable visionaries; and the idea of a native land 
 will still flourish when the dust of their bones will 
 have vanished tracelessly in the winds. Universal 
 brotherhood is not even a beautiful dream. An¬ 
 tagonism is essential to man’s greatest efforts. 
 
 But the Jews, once settled in their own State, 
 would probably have no more enemies, and since 
 prosperity enfeebles and causes them to diminish, 
 they would soon disappear altogether. I think the 
 Jews will alwavs have sufficient enemies, much as 
 
 7 
 
 every other nation has. But once fixed on their 
 own land, it will no longer be possible for them to 
 scatter all over the world. The diaspora cannot 
 take place again, unless the civilisation of the 
 wdiole earth is destroyed; and such a consumma¬ 
 tion could be feared by none but foolish men. Our 
 present civilisation possesses weapons powerful 
 enough for its self-defence. 
 
 Innumerable objections will be based on low 
 grounds, for there are more low men than noble in 
 this world. I have tried to remove some of these 
 narrow-minded notions; and whoever is willing to 
 fall in behind our white flag with its seven golden 
 stars must assist in this campaign of enlighten¬ 
 ment. Perhaps we shall have to fight first of all 
 against many an evil-disposed, narrow-hearted, 
 short-sighted member of our own race. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 99 
 
 Again, people will say that I am furnishing the 
 Anti-Semites with weapons. Why so? Because I 
 admit the truth? Because I do not maintain that 
 there are none but excellent men amongst us? 
 
 Again, people will say that I am showing our 
 enemies the way to injure us. This I absolutely 
 dispute. My proposal could only be carried out 
 with the free consent of a majority of Jews. Indi 
 viduals or even powerful bodies of Jews might be 
 attacked, but Governments will take no action 
 against the collective nation. The equal rights of 
 Jews before the law cannot be withdrawn w-here 
 they have once been conceded; for the first attempt 
 at withdrawal would immediately drive all Jews, 
 rich and poor alike, into the ranks of the revolu 
 tionary party. The first official violation of Jewish 
 liberties invariably brings about an economic crisis 
 Therefore no weapons can be effectually used 
 against us, because these cut the hands that wield 
 them. Meantime hatred grows apace. The rich 
 do not feel it much, but our poor do. Let us ask 
 our poor, who have been more severely persecuted 
 since the last renewal of Anti-Semitism than ever 
 before. 
 
 Our prosperous men may say that the pressure is 
 not yet severe enough to justify emigration, and 
 that every forcible expulsion show r s how unwilling 
 our people are to depart. True, because they do 
 not know where to go; because they only pass from 
 one trouble into another. But we are showing 
 them the way to the Promised Land; and the splen- 
 
100 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 did force of enthusiasm must fight against the ter 
 rible force of habit. 
 
 Persecutions are no longer so malignant as they 
 were in the Middle Ages. True, but our sensitive 
 ness has increased, so that we feel no diminution ia 
 our sufferings; endless persecution has overstrained 
 our nerves. 
 
 Will people say, again, that our enterprise is 
 hopeless, because even if we obtained the land with 
 supremacy over it, the poor only would go with us? 
 It is precisely the poorest whom we need at first 
 Only desperadoes make good conquerors. 
 
 Will some one say, Were it feasible, it would have 
 been done long ago? 
 
 It has never yet been possible; now it is possible 
 A hundred, or even fifty years ago, it would have 
 been nothing more than a dream. To-day it may 
 become a reality. Our rich, who have a pleasurable 
 acquaintance with all our technical acquisitions, 
 know full well how much money can do. And thus 
 it will be: just the poor and simple, who do not 
 know what power man already exercises over the 
 forces of nature, just these will have firmest faith 
 in the new message; for these have never lost their 
 hope of the Promised Land. 
 
 Here it is, fellow-Jews! Neither fable nor fraud! 
 Every man may test its reality for himself, for 
 every man will carry with him a portion of the 
 Promised Land—one in his head, another in his 
 arms, another in his acquired possessions. 
 
 Now all this may appear to be an interminably 
 long affair. Even under favourable circumstances 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 101 
 
 many years might elapse before the commencement 
 of the foundation of the State. Meantime, Jews in 
 a hundred different places would suffer insults, 
 mortification, abuse, blows, depredation and death. 
 Not so, the initial steps towards the execution of 
 the plan would stop Anti-Semitism at once and for 
 ever. Ours is a treaty of peace. 
 
 The news of the formation of our Jewish Com¬ 
 pany will be carried in a single day to the remotest 
 ends of the earth by the lightning speed of our 
 telegraph wires. 
 
 And immediate relief will ensue. The mediocre 
 intellects which we produce so superabundantly in 
 our middle classes will find an outlet in our first 
 organisations, as our first scientists, officers, pro¬ 
 fessors, officials, lawyers, and doctors, and thus the 
 movement will continue in swfift but smooth pro¬ 
 gression. 
 
 Prayers will be offered up for the success of our 
 work in temples and in churches also; for it will 
 bring ease from a burden which has long weighed 
 on all men. 
 
 But we must first bring enlightenment to men’s 
 minds. The idea must make its way into the most 
 distant, miserable holes where our people dwell. 
 They will awaken from gloomy brooding, for into 
 their lives will come a new significance. If every 
 man thinks only of himself, what vast proportions 
 the movement will assume! 
 
 And what glory awaits those who fight unselfishly 
 for the cause! 
 
102 
 
 A JEWISH STATE. 
 
 Therefore I believe that a wondrous generation 
 of Jews will spring into existence. The Macca- 
 baeans will rise again. 
 
 Let me repeat once more my opening words: The 
 Jews wish to have a State, and they shall have one. 
 We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, 
 
 and die peacefully in our own home. 
 
 % 
 
 The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched 
 by our w T ealth, magnified by our greatness. 
 
 And whatever we attempt there to accomplish 
 for our own welfare will react with beneficent force 
 for the good of humanity. 
 

 
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