The Maccabaean

The following article on the Zionist Congress was written for the Jewish Comment by Mr. Paul Goodman, the author of "The Synagogue and the Church," and a well-known English Zionist. It was published before the date of Congress was fixed by the Actions Committee:

Once more we are approaching a Zionist Congress, and it is none too early to take stock of the achievements of the last two years and of the prospects of the immediate future. The Zionist Congress is beyond doubt the most vital and interesting event in the Jewish life of to-day, and, whatever one's attitude towards the Nationalist movement, there is no gathering within Jewry which even approximately quickens Jewish thought and feeling to the same extent as the great conclave to which thousands and tens of thousands of the Jewish people are now, or soon will be, looking forward with the keenest anticipations. For some short years the Congress had been encircled by the halo of Theodor Herzl, but with his departure some hoped and many feared that all would be darkness again. But it is part of the imperishable achievements of Herzl that, in spite of many vicissitudes, his work lives after him, in continued active vigor.

The outstanding event in Zionist political history has happened since the last Congress. When the Zionists met at The Hague, in 1903, Palestine formed a part of the dominions of an Oriental autocrat, who, at the Yildiz Kiosk, defied his own people no less than the Powers of Europe, and, in spite of the declared benevolence of the Sultan of Turkey toward the Jews,

there was admittedly but the faintest hope that during his lifetime Zionism would have reached even an appreciable advance in its ideal. Abdul Hamid could truly say: "La Turquie, c'est moi!" It is, however, part of the strength and vitality of the Zionist idea that it is not subject either to the whims of individuals or to the vicissitudes of time, in so far as the hope in its ultimate realization is concerned. This has particularly manifested itself in the relations of Zionism toward the ruler of Palestine. It was felt by the whole-hearted Zionist that, whatever the decision of the Sultan in regard to the prospects of Jewish self-government in Palestine, the Zionist hopes were as indestructible as the Jewish people itself. Hence, all that was required was to maintain in full the Zionist tenacity of purpose and to bide our time.

A time has arrived in the affairs ot Zionism which may prove epoch-making in the progress of the movement, and the ninth Congress will be meeting under the propelling influence of a new situation. Whatever results the Turkish Revolution will, in the distant future, have on the realization of the Zionist program, is on the knees of the gods. It is, in the first place, still an open question whether the revolution will achieve its object by surmounting the numerous difficulties in the way. and the second point of serious import lies in the possible development of the State idea in the reconstructed Turkish Empire. Authorities differ in the prognostications on these two problems, but the balance of opinion is very decidedly in favor of the permanent character of the Turkish revival)