How indeed should these new Zionists remember him, seeing that they know
nothing at all of Pinsker as the author of the theory of political
Zionism? And whence should they know of him, if their leaders have never
yet told them, explicitly or by implication, in print or on the
platform, in Zionist Congresses or outside them, who was the true author
of that theory, the real if unacknowledged fountain from which all who
came after him have drunk?[31] Pinsker’s pamphlet in the original German
is already out of print and rare. While a stream of new pamphlets,
mostly poor and tasteless _rechauffés_, is daily poured forth and spread
among the people with the assistance of the Zionist organisation and
with the concurrence of its leaders, for propaganda purposes, this
pamphlet of Pinsker’s, which is uniquely capable of attracting
intelligent Jews in every country to the Zionist idea, has not been
honoured with a new edition to this day;[32] and many of the new
Zionists, especially in the West, have never seen it, nor even heard of
its value.[33] All that they hear is that there were Zionists even
before Herzl, but they were poor, simple-minded dreamers, who—incapable
of comprehending a great political idea—thought to solve the Jewish
problem by founding a few colonies in Palestine and supporting them with
halfpence; and as for Pinsker—well, he was the leader of these poor
visionaries.[34]
I doubt whether the time has yet come to restore to Pinsker the place of
honour in the Zionist movement that belongs to him of right. We are in
the thick of the tumult and the shouting, and as yet there is no room
for a true and unbiassed judgment. That must be left for later history,
for the time when “the tumult and the shouting dies,” and the influence
of personality and fleeting circumstance gives place to a national
_motif_ more general in scope and more permanent in character. But as
the memory of Pinsker is now in the public mind—be it but for a
moment—we may not improperly take advantage of the opportunity to recall
the message which Pinsker brought to his people, but for which he has
not yet received the credit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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