Open letter of the West European Bureau of the Communist International to Communist Parties on the 1929 ‘Arab Rising’ in Palestine. Continued rejection of the Balfour Declaration, disputes with increasing numbers of Zionist settlers over access to land and Holy sites, Arab peasant displacement, and British colonial brutality all led to riots and killings between Arabs and Jews in Mandatory Palestine during August, 1929.

‘Significance of the Events in Palestine’ from the Daily Worker. Vol. 6 No. 198. October 25, 1929.

Dear Comrades,

We wish herewith to draw the attention of all parties to the very great importance of the Arabian struggle for national-revolutionary independence against British imperialism, a struggle which has taken on the form of open revolts during the last four weeks. The fact that the majority of our parties have not yet organized any campaign to enlighten the masses upon the importance of the events in Palestine and to assist the Arabian masses in their struggle against British imperialism, shows clearly that there are still elements in our ranks which fail to understand the demands of the third period.

1. Our parties have not sufficiently understood that the struggle in Palestine must be regarded from the standpoint of the general revolutionary struggle against imperialism, that it is a continuation of the same anti-imperialist movement which was powerfully expressed in the Chinese revolution, and that it is the forerunner of the coming revolution in India. The struggle in Palestine is no sporadic or isolated event, it is an integral part of the powerful revolutionary wave which is sweeping over the whole of Asia. It is therefore of first rate, importance that our parties should conduct a campaign in connection with the Arabian insurrection in Palestine, similar to the campaign conducted in connection with the Chinese Revolution.

2. In a number of parties there is an unfortunate and strong tendency to regard such events as the special field of activity of this or the other individual party. The struggle in Palestine for instance was regarded as the special purview of the British and French Communist Parties owing to the special political situation of Palestine, Syria and the other so-called Arabian mandated territory. This is a very serious error. First of all, each insurrectionary movement in each country which is exploited by imperialism is a matter of extreme importance for each worker in every capitalist country, and the insurrection in Palestine with its far-reaching consequences places responsibilities upon all parties. Secondly, British imperialism has cleverly exploited the racial and religious feelings of the Jews all over the world with the issue of the well-known Balfour Declaration of 1917 which guarantees Palestine as “the national home of the Jewish race.” With the assistance of the Zionist capitalist and fascist organizations, which represent an imperialist garrison in Palestine, the native Arabs are being systematically exploited and their lands taken possession of by Zionist groups. The insurrection of the Arabian masses against the terrible exploitation by British imperialism and by the Zionist leaders in Palestine is described by the agents of the latter as a “pogrom,” or as “religious excesses,” etc. In this way the whole of the Jewish population in Europe and the United States is being mobilized against the anti-imperialist movement in Palestine.

As there exists no country without its Jewish population, it is the duty of all parties to devote special attention to the Jewish elements in their particular countries, and to conduct an intensive campaign in order to expose the real character of Zionism and to expose the swindle of “The National Home for the Jewish Race.” The real significance of the Arabian insurrection must be made clear to the Jewish working masses, and in particular, they must be shown the fundamental difference between the imperialist-Zionist colonization of Palestine and the scheme of Jewish colonization being carried out in the Soviet Union. In this connection it must be pointed out to the Jewish masses that the only solution of the Jewish question lies in the international revolutionary working class movement. Thirdly, Palestine is an extremely important military and strategical basis for an imperialist attack upon the Soviet Union. A naval harbor is being built in Haifa, a railway line of strategical importance connects Haifa with Bagdad, the air service is being carefully organized between London, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, and India, roads are being built through the desert, pipelines are being laid to the oil field in Mosul; all these preparations are part of the great efforts being made in Iraq, on the northwest frontier of India and in Persia for the organization of war against the Soviet Union. The significance of Palestine as a basis for an attack upon the Soviet Union must therefore be made clear to the masses of the workers in Europe and in the United States.

3. With regard to the “attacks” of the Arabians upon the Jews in Palestine, it must be pointed out that the Arabian insurrectionary movement can under no circumstances be described as a pogrom. It is absurd to accuse the Arabians of “anti-semitic pogroms.” This is the accusation being raised by the Zionist imperialist agents in the press which is financed by them all over the world. First of all the Arabians themselves are Semitic, and secondly the Arabians and the Jews lived for hundreds of years in concord, even under Turkish rule. The Machiavellian policy of British imperialism, however, makes the Jews into the expropriators of the Arabians and misuses them as the advance guard of imperialist exploitation in Palestine. The fact that during the general insurrection of the Arabs, attacks have been made upon Jewish intruders and lackeys of imperialism, is not to be wondered at. It is clear also that in the general disturbances, innocent Jewish workers and peasants have suffered severely, but they are the victims of the policy of oppression and exploitation conducted by British imperialism and by the Zionist rich landowners and capitalists in Palestine, and the victims of their own illusions about “an independent Jewish state.” The truth is that the insurrectionary Arabians have attacked the Jews in Palestine, not as Jews, but as agents of British imperialism.

4. There is a certain tendency amongst some comrades to be misled by the plausible arguments of the so-called Communist section of the Poale Zion which declares that it is more revolutionary than any other organization because it conducts a struggle both against the Arabian Muftis (religious leaders) and Affendis (rich landowners) on the one hand and against the Zionist capitalists on the other. It must be pointed out here that this “Poale Zion” declares itself in favor of Jewish emigration to Palestine on the ground that the Jewish workers of Europe and the United States are more progressed, better organized and more revolutionary than the Arabians, and that they therefore represent a strong revolutionary element in Palestine. This argument is misleading. Jewish emigration to Palestine is only possible under the conditions which British imperialism has created there. The conditions under which the Jewish workers now live in Palestine can only lead to antagonism between the Jewish and Arabian workers, and to the creation of a Jewish aristocracy of labor which will assist in crushing all revolutionary movement with the assistance of British imperialism. It is the duty of all our parties to fight against the Jewish emigration to Palestine and to expose the imperialist character of the activity of the Poale Zion.

5. When we make it clear that the Arabian struggle is a struggle against imperialism and against Zionism as the instrument of imperialism, we must also point out that there are economic and social forces at the back of the general insurrectionary movement of the Arabians. There is a widespread discontent amongst the peasants of all the Arabian countries. The movement is developing into an agrarian revolution which will sweep away the imperialists, the Zionists and the Arabian rich landowners as well. The Arabian rich landowners are exploiting the general dissatisfaction of the masses in order to place themselves at the head of the anti-imperialist movement and to misuse it in their own class interest. The Arabian rich landowners are struggling against British imperialism and against the Zionist rich land-owners and capitalists for the right to exploit and oppress the Arabian masses. At the same time the Arabian rich landowners are the deadly enemies of the agrarian revolution of the Arabian masses. For this reason they directed the anger of the Arabian masses during the insurrection against the Jews, giving this anger religious forms in order to prevent the insurrection developing into an agrarian revolution. The task of our Party in Palestine is to make it clear to the Arabian workers and peasants that the Muftis and Effendis are reactionary leaders who will not and cannot conduct any serious struggle against British imperialism; that they are opposed to the agrarian revolution and that all they want is to exploit the mass movement for their own interests; that the struggle against British imperialism and against the Zionist intruders must be developed into an agrarian revolution; that this struggle must be organized by revolutionary peasant committees in the villages, and that a united front must be formed between the Arabian and Jewish workers and peasants in Palestine, against British imperialism, against the Zionist bourgeoisie and against the Arabian rich land-owners, in order to overthrow the system of exploitation both of the imperialists and Zionists on the one hand and of the Arabian rich land-owners on the other, and to establish in its place a free workers’ and peasants’ government as a first step towards a general Arabian Federation of Workers’ and Peasants’ Republics.

6. In carrying out this campaign in support of the Arabian national and agrarian revolutionary movement, special attention must be paid to the merciless exposure of the imperialist role of the MacDonald government, the British labor party, the British independent labor party, the Second (labor and socialist) International and the Amsterdam International (IFTU).

With regard to the role played by the MacDonald government in order to maintain and extend the great system of British imperialist exploitation in the colonial countries, there exist a great number of proofs which can be presented to the European workers. The treachery of the MacDonald government in 1924, with regard to China, India, Egypt, etc., must be recalled and presented to the workers together with a whole series of imperialist actions committed by the present labor government: In India, the great Meerut process, the Lahore conspiracy, the daily arrests of revolutionaries and the shooting down of strikers; in Egypt, the swindle agreement, which is directed towards strengthening Great Britain’s control over the Suez Canal and over the national resources of Egypt and the Sudan; and in conclusion, the deliberate provocation of conflicts between the Arabs and the Zionists in which the latter were the aggressors and were armed by the British government. The MacDonald government eagerly seized the opportunity which had itself created, of sending troops, warships, airplanes, armored cars, tanks etc. to Palestine. MacDonald will continue to utilise the opportunity in order to station a strong British garrison permanently in Palestine with the pretext of “protecting Jewish life and property” against the Arabians. Henderson declared in Geneva that under the MacDonald government a change would take place in the mandate policy and that all possible steps would be taken in order to maintain “law and order.” Leading members of the MacDonald cabinet have received the fascist Zionist leaders who have uninterrupted entry to the MacDonald ministers. It must be pointed out that leading members of the British labor party MacDonald, Henderson, Snowden and his wife are foundation members of the Jewish Agency and that the British labor party supports the Zionist movement, knowing perfectly well that it is an instrument of British imperialism.

The MacDonald government is doing everything possible in order to turn, Palestine from a “Mandate Territory” into an open colony of the British Empire, under the title of the “Seventh Dominion.” The chief supporters of this scheme in Great Britain are the members of the labor party, Colonel Josiah Wedgewood, Commander Kenworthy and Drummond Shields, the under secretary of state for India.

The left wing social-democrats in the British independent labor party demand in their official organ, “The New Leader,” that the, MacDonald government should strengthen the police force in Palestine in order “to protect the Jews.”

It must also not be forgotten that, despite the antagonism and conflicting interests of British and French imperialisms, the two are working together in order to crush the Arabian national-revolutionary movement which is active in all Arabian countries, Palestine, Syria, Transjordania and Iraq. It is the duty of the international proletariat, and in particular of all sections of the Communist International to support the Arabian national-revolutionary movement with all possible means,

With fraternal greetings,

THE W. E. B. OF THE C. I.

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1929/1929-ny/v06-n198-NY-oct-25-1929-DW-LOC.pdf