Preface
A Note on the Transliteration of Hebrew Names and the Translation of Hebrew Book Titles
Introduction: Nationalism, Socialism, and Nationalist Socialism 3
Ch. 1 The Primacy of the Nation: Aaron David Gordon and the Ethos of Nation-Building 47
The Negation of the Diaspora 47
What Is a Nation? 52
Nationalism versus Socialism: The Amelioration of Man, Nation, or Society? 59
The Right to the Land: The Power of History 68
Ch. 2 The Worker as the Agent of National Resurrection 74
The Heritage of the Second Aliyah 74
The First Stages of the Shift to the Right 80
The Elimination of the Marxist Po'alei Tzion Party 92
The Founding of Ahdut Ha'avoda 107
Experiential Socialism 121
Ch. 3 Socialism in the Service of the Nation: Berl Katznelson and "Constructive" Socialism 134
The Legend and the Reality 134
The Nation above All 146
From "Productivist" to Nationalist Socialism 153
Ch. 4 Ends and Means: The Labor Ideology and the Histadrut 178
The Bases of Power 178
Taking over the Collective Settlements: The Establishment of the Nir Company 192
The Cult of Discipline and Authority: The Destruction of Gdud Ha'avoda (the Labor Corps) 198
Ch. 5 The Triumph of Nationalist Socialism: "From Class to Nation" 217
What Is a Class? 217
The Collaboration with the Middle Classes 233
The Struggle over Workers' Education 244
Ch. 6 Democracy and Equality on Trial 264
The Hegemony of the Apparatus and the Poverty of Intellectual Life 264
Oligarchy and Conformism 270
Equality: Principle and Practice 282
The Failure of the Family Wage 290
Class Warfare in the Histadrut 306
Epilogue: From the State-in-the-Making to the Nation-State 318
Notes 347
Glossary 391
Bibliography 399
Index 409

The well-known historian and political scientist Zeev Sternhell here advances a radically new interpretation of the founding of modern Israel. The founders claimed that they intended to create both a landed state for the Jewish people and a socialist society. However, according to Sternhell, socialism served the leaders of the influential labor movement more as a rhetorical resource for the legitimation of the national project of establishing a Jewish state than as a blueprint for a just society. In this thought-provoking book, Sternhell demonstrates how socialist principles were consistently subverted in practice by the nationalist goals to which socialist Zionism was committed.
Sternhell explains how the avowedly socialist leaders of the dominant labor party, Mapai, especially David Ben Gurion and Berl Katznelson, never really believed in the prospects of realizing the "dream" of a new society, even though many of their working-class supporters were self-identified socialists. The founders of the state understood, from the very beginning, that not only socialism but also other universalistic ideologies like liberalism, were incompatible with cultural, historical, and territorial nationalism. Because nationalism took precedence over universal values, argues Sternhell, Israel has not evolved a constitution or a Bill of Rights, has not moved to separate state and religion, has failed to develop a liberal concept of citizenship, and, until the Oslo accords of 1993, did not recognize the rights of the Palestinians to independence.
This is a controversial and timely book, which not only provides useful historical background to Israel's ongoing struggle to mobilize its citizenry to support a shared vision of nationhood, but also raises a question of general significance: is a national movement whose aim is a political and cultural revolution capable of coexisting with the universal values of secularism, individualism, and social justice? This bold critical reevaluation will unsettle long-standing myths as it contributes to a fresh new historiography of Zionism and Israel. At the same time, while it examines the past, The Founding Myths of Israel reflects profoundly on the future of the Jewish State.

Zeev Sternhell is Léon Blum Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author, among works in several languages, of Neither Right nor Left and The Birth of Fascist Ideology, both published by Princeton University Press.