Summary
The organisation formed in May 1930 by the merger of the two Po’alei Tziyon Smol factions’ separate Arab-Jewish solidarity initiatives, to push the Histadrut to take a more active stance toward Arab workers (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, lines 2254-2258).
Details
- Each Smol faction, in collaboration with nonparty liberal intellectuals and academics, had on May 1, 1930 announced a separate organisation to promote Arab-Jewish workers’ solidarity; a week later the two merged under the name one of them had taken, Ahavat Po’alim (“Workers’ Brotherhood”) (Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, lines 2254-2256).
- Its first membership meeting recognised both the Arab working masses’ full right to free social and national development and the right of unlimited Jewish immigration — a formulation whose immigration plank, Lockman notes, inevitably infringed the Arab rights it recognised — while it also publicly protested British restrictions on Jewish immigration and called on the Histadrut to admit Arab members (lines 2256-2258).
- In mid-July 1930 the mandatory government dissolved it, regarding Smol-sponsored initiatives as Bolshevist and strongly anti-imperialist; rumours the Histadrut leadership had secretly requested the suppression were vigorously denied by the Histadrut and no evidence has surfaced (lines 2258-2260).
Related pages
Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948, Po’alei Tziyon Smol, Histadrut, Hashomer Hatza’ir, George Nassar