Zionism or Socialism?

As Jews we hope: firstly, that Yiddish folk-literature, which the young Jewish generation has created for the Jewish people, will continue to grow, attract more talent, and attain the same level as the finest European literatures. We hope that the Yiddish language, which is as dear and as holy to us as German is to the Germans and as Russian is to the Russians and as liturgical Hebrew is for the elderly Jew, will grow richer in words and expressions. It is for the moment still poor, rough, and brittle, because the learned Jews, the educated, and the poets and novelists write nothing in Yiddish. But as soon as the craftsmen of the language use the flame of their talent to warm and expand the Yiddish language—by pouring it into new forms, by making three new words out of one old word and doing all of this in keeping with the taste and manner of expression of the people—then the Yiddish language will become rich, flexible, and fluent, so that everything one might wish can be expressed in it.

As soon as Yiddish literature becomes rich with books in all areas of knowledge, the younger generation will not have to look for the information it needs in foreign sources. Its human feelings and wide-ranging thoughts could then be cultivated at home, in its own language. That will connect the younger generation more closely with its own people. Everything it accomplishes in art and science will be published in Yiddish, and Yiddish culture and education will grow ceaselessly. It will become a mighty force that will bind together not only the educated with the common people, but also the Jews of all lands.

Furthermore, we hope that the Jewish proletarians of all lands will join hands and organize an independent league of Jewish workers. This league will defend the interests of the Jewish masses everywhere, and it will also assist all nations where Jews live to achieve socialism and freedom more quickly. In this free socialist society the Jewish people will conduct its life as it wishes. We Jews will have our schools and intelligently organized heders. We will have our academic and technical high schools and even our own universities. If the three million Swiss can support ten universities, then the seven or eight million Jews who speak Yiddish will certainly be able to support twenty-five. In that way, the Jewish people will become one of the most educated among the nations.

In the old world the rule was: the nation is defined by its country. Therefore all nations sought to have their own country and their own state. In the new world, however, there will be this rule: the nation is defined by its culture, its education. For that reason the Jewish people, with full legal and civic equality, can continue to be dispersed among all the nations and yet remain Jews, living in peace with their neighbors and sharing the same rights, as do, for example, French speakers who live among German speakers in Switzerland.