The Doctrine of Beitar

55

No one ignores the fact that even in Eretz Israel, the interest of the worker does not go hand in hand with that of his employer; the first strives to earn as much as possible, the second wants to pay as little as possible, just like in Italy or France. But what happens in Italy or France is of no concern at all to the worker, whether the industrialist is able to pay a high sum or not — in Eretz Israel it is not so; if the worker is a Zionist, he is forbidden to agree to the destruction of the factory, because by this the prospects of colonization will be lost. And conversely: an industrialist, if he is a Zionist, is forbidden to agree that in his enterprise, with respect to the Jewish worker, working conditions will prevail that are unbearably difficult. Because by this the enterprise will lose all its colonization value. In other words: higher and stronger than any class war, the common and supreme interest of establishing the Hebrew state rules and paves its will in Eretz Israel. Therefore, a "class war" is not possible here,– that is, a fight, whose whole essence is that one side threatens to destroy the other by means of a strike and the other side threatens to destroy the first by means of a lockout. In Eretz Israel, such conflicts must find their solution in one and only one way, which is mandatory national arbitration.

It is self-evident that as long as such an institution for national arbitration does not exist, a strike can sometimes be the only means of achieving absolutely just corrections from a miserly employer. But the Revisionist must never forget that there is a solidarity of all workers as long as it does not interfere with the higher solidarity of all the builders of the state of the Jews. The Revisionist must beware of a certain danger, which threatens to turn the Hebrew worker in Eretz Israel into a slave, suffering from a low standard of living and without the ability to educate his children: and seeing that arbitration institutions do not yet exist in the country and the only means of protecting just working conditions is, to our regret, only the strike, he is forbidden to interfere with such a strike — and by the way, even our most bitter opponents will not be able to accuse us that Jews interfered except in a strike that is just and purely economic. But this does not mean that every strike is "holy." To our regret, many completely unjustifiable strikes are held in Eretz Israel for no reason, that is to say: to interfere with the establishment of the Hebrew state. This is mainly that type of strike by means of which the "Histadrut" tries to secure for itself its exclusive physical rule, sole rule over the Hebrew worker, and to oppress him, etc.