Hashomer Hatzair

Hashomer Hatzair (or Hashomer Hatsair or HaShomer HaTzair) (Hebrew: "The Young Guard" or "Guardian Young") is a Zionist-socialist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia (now in Poland) and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine.

Early formation

Hashomer Hatzair came into being as a result of the merger of two groups, Hashomer ("The Guard") a Zionist scouting group, and. Ze'irei Zion ("The Youth of Zion") which was an ideological circle that studied Zionism, left wing socialism and Jewish history. Hashomer Hatzair is the oldest Zionist youth movement still in existence. Initially Marxist-Zionist, the movement was influenced by the ideas of Ber Borochov and Gustav Wyneken as well as Baden-Powell and the German Wandervogel movement. Hashomer Hatzair believed that the liberation of Jewish youth could be accomplished by aliya ("emigration") to Palestine and living in kibbutzim. After the war the movement spread to Jewish communities throughout the world as a scouting movement.

Related Topics:
Scouting - Zionism - Socialism - Jewish history - Zionist - Youth movement - Marxist - Ber Borochov - Gustav Wyneken - Baden-Powell - Wandervogel - Jew - Aliya - Palestine - Kibbutz - Scout

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Members of the movement first settled in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1919. In 1927 the four kibbutzim founded by Hashomer Hatzair banded together to form the Kibbutz Artzi federation. The movement also formed a political party under the name Hashomer Hartzair which advocated a Binational solution in Palestine with equality between Arabs and Jews. Accordingly, Hashomer Hatzair voted against the Biltmore Program in 1942.

Related Topics:
British Mandate of Palestine - 1919 - 1927 - Kibbutz - Kibbutz Artzi - Binational solution - Biltmore Program - 1942

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In 1936, Hashomer Hatzair launched a political party, the Socialist League of Palestine, to represent members and supporters of Hashomer Hatzair kibbutzim and the youth movement in the political organizations of the Yishuv (as the Jewish community in the British Mandate of Palestine was known). The Socialist League soon became known simply as Hashomer Hatzair and was the only Zionist political party to accept Arab members as equals, support Arab rights and call for a binational state in Palestine.

Related Topics:
1936 - Yishuv - British Mandate of Palestine - Binational

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