Left-wing Zionism and labor parties in Palestine

Left-wing Zionism designates the ensemble of labor movements that structured the yishuv around a socialist vision of Jewish national renewal. Emerging from currents such as Poalei Tzion, these movements gave rise to parties such as Ahdut HaAvoda and then Mapai, and to the powerful trade union federation Histadrut, founded in 1920. They promoted the valorization of labor, collective agriculture, and the creation of economic and social institutions controlled by the labor movement. Under the impetus of figures such as David Ben Gurion, this camp dominated the political life of the yishuv and then of the State of Israel until the 1970s. Its pioneering ethos deeply marked Israeli culture, education, and national imagination.

Sources & resources

• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan
• Jewish Virtual Library ↗