Hadash

[Revy]

What do you think of this Israeli party? I know there is a person from Israel here, Yehuda Stern. So what are everyone's thoughts on it and the Israeli left in general?

[pickyourking]

Don't know anything about 'em, got any references? I can relate to them, however, being that both of our governments like to manhandle other countries.

[Yehuda Stern]

I wrote about this once before in here. I'll try to dig up my old post. Essentially, the Israeli CP split in 1965 to a pro-Zionist wing and an Arab nationalist wing, as it did in 1947-8 before. This expressed the nationalist nature of Stalinism and its inability to withstand the pressures of Israeli imperialism in times of acute crisis.

In the 1970s, the Arab nationalist wing, called Rakah (also known in English as the NCP - New Communist Party, a somewhat inaccurate translation of its Hebrew initials - Reshima Komonistit Hadasha) set up a front group for all groups supporting a two state solution and some mild reforms, called Hadash (Hazit Demokratit LeShalom VeShivyon - Democratic Front for Peace and Equality).

The front never attracted very large forces. It was essentially a way for Hadash to collect all the small groups orbiting around it (including some dubious Trotskyist groups), and the greatest trick was that although Hadash had support from wider circles than Rakah, most seats won in elections still went to CP members.

From then on it's pretty much a story of the wizard losing control of his creation. The CP today represents a more pro-Zionist trend among Israeli Palestinians and formerly radical Jewish intellectuals, while Hadash retains a somewhat Arab nationalist stance.

Both parties have little support among working class people, and most of their support comes from intellectuals and radicals. This is especially obvious in their support from Arab workers, which used to be very significant.