STRENGTH OF JEWS INTERNATIONALISM BAND PERFORMANCES.

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 138, 7 December 1935, Page 28

STRENGTH OF JEWS

INTERNATIONALISM

BAND PERFORMANCES.

POSITION IN THE WORLD

HOMELESS PEOPLE

The nineteenth Zionist Congress at Lucerne was attended by 450 delegates representing more than 900,000 members of the Zionist organisation in about fifty different countries, says "The Spectator." The movement has increased its membership since Germany adopted her relentless policy towards the Jews, and the political organisation which was founded thirtyeiglit years ago with the object of securing a national home in Palestine now finds its attention directed to the defence of Jewish interests in all parts of the world. Not that Palestine becomes less important. It has become more important in view of the crowds of exiles who can no longer secure domicile in countries which once freely admitted them, and can acquire a new citizenship in no country if not in the Palestine national home.

For nearly two thousand years the Jews have been without a country or separate nationality. Efforts have been made, sometimes by Governments, sometimes by hostile populations, to exterminate them; but they have survived. They have refused to be assimilated by. other peoples,, and have clung to their own religion and social habits. Though obstinately tenacious of their own customs and characteristics, and convinced of a racial mission bequeathed to them by their ancestors, they have not of their own will separated themselves from the interests of countries which gave them citizenship; indeed,. wherever it has been permitted, as in Britain, they have thrown themselves with zeal into the pblitiqal, social, and artistic interests of their adoptive nation. No one would suggest that a Disraeli or a Rothschild was lacking in patriotism; and Jews have been appointed without the least misgiving to hold the offices of . Viceroy,- Governor-General, -and Lord Chief Justice. No ? responsible person has ever dared to suggest that such men stood for any interest but the... interest of the country that appointed them. • L , RESERVATIONS. .Whilst almost everyone, in such a country as Britain, admits the industry, the talent,. the public spirit, and patriotism which have again, and again distinguished members of the Jewish race, none the less it would be idle to deny that even among peoples who most respect the Jews there are certain, mental reservations about them, when they are considered as a race, a certain uneasiness in the attitude to them; whilst in other countries, conspicuously Germany, there is bitter animosity amounting to violen* hatred. How are we to account for this? Is it simply that they are Semites living among Aryans, and that instinctive race prejudice works the mischief? That this explanation is inadequate becomes clear when we recall such facts as that in Russia, before the revolution, there was no intolerance "towards other Oriental peoples, but repeated persecution of the Jews. We must look for the explanation not in any single factor, but in many —their religion, their racial persistence, their lack of country, and their economic actiyities. Their claim to religious superiority exposed them to persecution as it exposed the early Christians under the Roman, Empire. Their clannishness and family cooperation made them formidable. Driven from one country to another by persecution, they arrived as landless men, forced to earn their living by their wits. And therefore in many parts of the world they have never been known as cultivators of the soil, sharing the hard.work;of the land with farmers and peasants, but chiefly as townsmen, bringing with them skill in; trades. - . ■ , , CAME POOK. •The influx of Jews ; into. England from' Poland and Germany was continuing in the half-century before the war. They arrived poor, and often almost, destitute, and they were accused of providing the human material for the sweated trades of the East End: of- ■London-T-particularly the cabinetmaking, ' tailoring, and boot-and-shoe trades. And it is true that for a short time newcomers were willing to work for any miserable wage that they could: get, arousing the anger of trade unionists. But not for long. They soon-learned to look after themselves, to; earn good wages, and to set up their own businesses; and it is fair to recognise that to the hard work, enterprise, and cleverness of immigrant Jews London owes many important industries which contribute to its prosperity. In all periods of history their thrift has made them objects of envy. They saved, money, lent it at interest, and they have been, held up to execration as Shylocks exacting their pound of flesh. Some of them made fortunes as financiers and bankers, and in this they were aided by their family connections in other cities and in other i countries. The wheels of inter- '• national banking went smoothly when the heads of banking houses in so j many countries were Jews. But when the time came that High finance con- - tinued to flourish while industry was ■ languishing, a cry went up that the Jews were conspiring to hold the world under a stranglehold of finance. INTERNATIONALISTS. But though Jewish bankers must share the responsibility with other bankers and with Governments for .a conservative policy which has tended to discourage production, it is fair to point out that their racial associations have not made them supporters of that economic nationalism which has done most of the mischief. In. an age : of 'nationalism run mad they are by instinct' ami interest internationalists, working, necessarily for co-operation between nations, and concerned in the main in the preservation of peace, i Circumstances,- including perhaps their : own character, have conspired to pro-' ; vent the Jews from becoming a single nation with a country of their own; j and one may possibly be disturbed by I the thought of so industrious, so reI sourceful, so determined and obstinate j a people constituting a Separate Power ■ working for its own hand; and note • that' in scattering this unyielding j people over the . face of the world ; Providence has distributed among ail ' nations the leaven of their tremendous energy, restless brains, artistic enthusiasm, and ' economic purposiveness. Today, pooling these qualities in their powerful Zionist organisation, which is becoming a State outside the States, they are setting themselves to solve their latest problem—that of their r newly-dispossessed ones, who have neither country nor citizenship.

' The band of the Ist -Battalion the Wellington Regiment will give a performance at Karori Park, and the Ist Battalion Pipe and Drum Band will play at Oriental Bay band rotunda tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m.

Four extra men are to bo engaged to assist the Upper Hutt Borough Council's staff between now and Christmas in keeping the borough streets and footpaths clegn. The wage .will be 14s a day* y ■' __