HA-OVED HA-ẒIYYONI

HA-OVED HA-ẒIYYONI (Heb. הַעוֹבֵד הַצִּיוֹנִי "The Zionist Worker"), Israel labor movement founded as a *Histadrut faction at Ra'anannah on Nov. 22–23, 1935, by pioneer immigrants of General Zionist Youth from Eastern Europe, many of them members of kibbutzim. In Ereẓ Israel, these pioneers belonged to the General Zionist Organization but opposed its policy of boycotting the Histadrut. They worked inside the General Zionist movement to ensure its classless character and inside the Histadrut, which they regarded as the home of all trends in Jewish labor, to oppose class tendencies and the adoption of socialist symbols. There was much controversy on this subject inside the General Zionist movement, especially during the five years between a first gathering at Petaḥ Tikvah in 1930 and the foundation conference in 1935. Ha-Oved ha-Ẓiyyoni worked for the implementation of the principle of Jewish labor as an essential element in the upbuilding of the nation but not as a matter for class conflict. It established and built kibbutzim and moshavim for the implementation of the pioneering Zionist idea but not as instruments for socialism and demanded the establishment of nonparty labor exchanges allocating work on the basis of individual rights and qualifications.

After 1948, Ha-Oved ha-Ẓiyyoni helped to establish the Progressive Party and became part of its successor, the *Independent Liberal Party. It established six kibbutzim (in the framework of the movement of Ha-No'ar ha-Ẓiyyoni), 13 moshavim, five moshavim shittufiyyim, and five youth villages. In the Histadrut, it favored workers' participation in management and profits. It supported the maintenance of a pluralistic economy, with encouragement for all sectors. In the 1969 Histadrut elections it received 5.69% of the vote. Later on the movement was united with Ḥever ha-Kevuzut.

[Moshe Kol]