Herzl, Theodor, 1860-1904; Zionism; Zionists -- Austria -- Biography
We must not imagine the departure of the Jews to be a sudden one. It
will be gradual, continuous, and will cover many decades. The poorest
will go first to cultivate the soil. In accordance with a preconceived
plan, they will construct roads, bridges, railways and telegraph
installations; regulate rivers; and build their own dwellings; their
labor will create trade, trade will create markets and markets will
attract new settlers, for every man will go voluntarily, at his own
expense and his own risk. The labor expended on the land will enhance
its value, and the Jews will soon perceive that a new and permanent
sphere of operation is opening here for that spirit of enterprise
which has heretofore met only with hatred and obloquy.
If we wish to found a State today, we shall not do it in the way which
would have been the only possible one a thousand years ago. It is
foolish to revert to old stages of civilization, as many Zionists
would like to do. Supposing, for example, we were obliged to clear a
country of wild beasts, we should not set about the task in the
fashion of Europeans of the fifth century. We should not take spear
and lance and go out singly in pursuit of bears; we would organize a
large and active hunting party, drive the animals together, and throw
a melinite bomb into their midst.
If we wish to conduct building operations, we shall not plant a mass
of stakes and piles on the shore of a lake, but we shall build as men
build now. Indeed, we shall build in a bolder and more stately style
than was ever adopted before, for we now possess means which men never
yet possessed.
The emigrants standing lowest in the economic scale will be slowly
followed by those of a higher grade. Those who at this moment are
living in despair will go first. They will be led by the mediocre
intellects which we produce so superabundantly and which are
persecuted everywhere.
This pamphlet will open a general discussion on the Jewish Question,
but that does not mean that there will be any voting on it. Such a
result would ruin the cause from the outset, and dissidents must
remember that allegiance or opposition is entirely voluntary. He who
will not come with us should remain behind.
Let all who are willing to join us, fall in behind our banner and
fight for our cause with voice and pen and deed.
Those Jews who agree with our idea of a State will attach themselves
to the Society, which will thereby be authorized to confer and treat
with Governments in the name of our people. The Society will thus be
acknowledged in its relations with Governments as a State-creating
power. This acknowledgment will practically create the State.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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