Socialism

Matzpen co-founder Moshé Machover, London, July 11, 2008. (Hossam el-Hamalawy/CC BY 2.0)

The last first Israeli anti-Zionist

Sixty years after co-founding the radical leftist group Matzpen, Moshé Machover reflects on the organization’s enduring legacy, the internal splits that led to its demise, and its lessons for today's anti-Zionist left.

By Ben Reiff November 24, 2022

Members of the Israeli Socialist Left (SHASI) march in Tel Aviv on May Day, May 1, 1990. (Courtesy of the Kaminer family)

Splintered but not broken: A history of Israel’s independent left

From class struggles to women's rights to fighting occupation, Israel's 'independent left' was never a cohesive social movement. Yet its impact is being felt to this day.

By Matan Kaminer and Joel Beinin May 28, 2020

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. (Chris McAndrew/CC BY 3.0)

Yes, Corbynism poses a threat — but not to Britain’s Jews

Smearing Jeremy Corbyn as an anti-Semite has become a popular hobby among members of the British establishment — perhaps because what he stands for is a direct threat to their ideological and economic interests. By Matan Kaminer Last week, Haaretz columnist Anshel Pfeffer accused UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of being both anti-Semitic and stupid. He is wrong…

By +972 Magazine July 30, 2018

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Yitzhak Luden stands in the Yiddish community center
(photo: Alon Aviram) 14th November 2012

Remember the Jewish Labor Bund?

The Bund was a Jewish socialist, revolutionary party in Eastern Europe dedicated to class struggle. It is all but forgotten in modern day Israel, but a few members are still around to tell the story. By Alon Aviram A piano played and a middle-aged woman stood in the middle of the room singing classical Yiddish…

By +972 Magazine November 25, 2012

Tents city camp, Jaffa, Israel, 7/8/2011 (ActiveStills)

Tent protests resurrect healthy Israeli social dynamics

Recent weeks have shown a spectacular change in our sense of community, a return to forgotten values and the introduction of new ones. Will any of this last? In 1989, my father was appointed Israel Government Radio’s correspondent in Washington DC, and my family left for a three year sojourn in America. It was very…

By Yuval Ben-Ami August 12, 2011

Demonstrators at the massive housing/social protest rally wait for the parade outside McDonald's. 30 July, 2011 (Photo: Dahlia Scheindin)

Social/housing protesters won’t defeat capitalism

My friend Boaz Gaon wrote a beautiful longing prayer for the day after the citizen uprising around the country, outlining a progressive’s fantasy (posted on the Hebrew women-issues web-zine Saloona). In his day-after scenario, cultural and intellectual professions will earn dignified salaries, the money-based professions will be out of fashion – non-materialism will prevail: An…

By Dahlia Scheindlin August 3, 2011