The first congress did not separate without having created a lasting
organization. It elected a "Great Committee of Action," in which all
countries with a somewhat considerable Jewish population are
represented, and which in its turn selected a smaller "permanent
committee" with its headquarters in Vienna, under the presidency of
Dr. Herzl. It was followed in the three ensuing years by three
further congresses, in 1898 and 1899, again in Basel, and in 1900 in
London. The number of the delegates rose in 1898 to two hundred and
eighty, in 1899 to three hundred and seventy, and in 1900 to four
hundred and twenty. At every succeeding congress the regulations for
election were more strictly enforced, the mandates more closely
examined, and at the present moment the congress, which has become a
permanent institution of the Zionist Jewdom, and which met for the
fifth time in December, 1901, again in Basel, can with justice claim
to be the real representative of one hundred and eighty thousand
electors.
He who desires to know what the Jews who have been represented at the
congress have done up to the present time to realize the programme of
Zionism drawn up by the first congress, has only to compare the
various points of this programme with the facts we are going to
record.
"(1.) The well-regulated promotion of the settlement of Palestine by
Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and manufacturers."
Zionism rejects on principle all colonization on a small scale, and
the idea of "sneaking" into Palestine. The Zionists have therefore
devoted themselves preeminently to a zealous and tireless advocacy of
the uniting of the already existing Jewish colonies in Palestine with
those who until now have given them their aid and who of late have
inclined towards the withdrawal of their support from them. The
Zionists have also prepared the way for founding factories in the Holy
Land, which will give employment to the Jewish workmen there, and have
assured, by according a yearly subvention, the future existence of the
model Hebraic school in Jaffa, which was about to close its doors for
want of funds. They take care that the existing and promising
beginnings of a Jewish colonization shall be looked after and
maintained till the movement will be possible on a large scale.
"(2.) The organization and knitting together of the whole Jewish
community by the means of proper local and general institutions in
accordance with the law of the different countries."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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