Auction 69 Part 1 Rare and Important Items
Dec 3, 2019 (your local time)
Israel
 8 Ramban St, Jerusalem.

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LOT 129:

Draft of an Article by David Ben-Gurion, 1944 – Addressing the Danger the Jews of the World Face in Light of the ...

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Draft of an Article by David Ben-Gurion, 1944 – Addressing the Danger the Jews of the World Face in Light of the Destruction of European Jewry, the Clerks' Union, Jewish Labor, and the Need to Establish a Jewish State in Palestine
"BeYom HaPekuda" [On the Crucial Day], a draft of an article by David Ben-Gurion, which is based on a lecture to the members of the Clerks' Union (Histadrut HaPekidim). Part of the draft was typewritten (with corrections and additions handwritten by Ben-Gurion) and part was handwritten by him. [Palestine, 1944].
The draft, which is based on a fiery speech delivered by Ben-Gurion to members of the Clerks' Union, addresses the danger faced by all Jews despite the upcoming end of World War II, and the necessity of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine.
At the beginning, Ben-Gurion writes: "These days two things have happened: one somewhere in Germany, and the other in Chicago, USA. What happened in Germany shows the end of the war [possibly, he is referring to the Normandy landings]. What happened in North America, at the conference of the Democratic Party… is especially important to the Jewish nation. In that conference a special Jewish clause was brought up demanding the opening of the gates of Palestine to Jewish immigration and the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. These two events are encouraging, yet must not deceive us that we are close to our goals. The war has still not ended… the terrible danger faced by the remnants of Israel is not over. And the state as well is still not wrapped in a box".
Later, Ben-Gurion emphasizes over and over again that the Holocaust of European Jews might lead to repeated attempts to solve the "Jewish Problem" by means of destruction and addresses the Jewish communities around the world (USA, England, Russia, Egypt and Iraq) and the threat posed to their existence – "What happened now in Europe – the physical fact that six million Jews were killed – might take its toll on the millions that remained as well. Until recently, no one could imagine that a possible solution for the Jewish problem could be destruction… however, after it was done by Hitler and done in an extent unparalleled in history, a psychological, political and educational fact has been determined not only among the Nazis; knowingly and unknowingly, many gentiles think that at last there is an absolute solution to the damn Jewish Problem, which is so bothersome, the solution of destruction".
At the end, Ben-Gurion states: "I want each and every member to bring from here to their family members and acquaintances and every person of the Yishuv the feeling of anxiety felt by the remnants of Israel, so that on the crucial day, all the workers and citizens of the Yishuv will demand the great Zionist demand: 'Palestine as a Jewish State!'".
Part of the draft (the part handwritten by Ben-Gurion) appeals directly to those who attended the lecture – members of the Clerks' Union – and describes in detail their place and contribution to a laboring Jewish society, corresponding with the socialist-Zionist vision: "The Jewish clerk in Palestine is also on an essential national and social mission. If he adheres to workers in general and the historical vision throbbing within him, the Zionist-socialist vision of the workers of Palestine – his power and weight will increase […] the clerk's work in stores, in factories, in the office… when it fits in, out of a mutual relationship and mutual responsibility, with the work of the worker in the field, in the workshop, at the port, and with the work of the scientist in the lab and the teacher at school – constitutes the foundation of our independence and the support of our strength".
Ben-Gurion also explains the significance of Jewish labor as the basis of a free and sovereign society in Palestine: " Man's freedom, the worker's freedom and the freedom of the nation will be achieved when labor will not be the means by which man controls man, a nation controls a nation and a class controls a class – and on the contrary, when labor controls the nation, creative labor, freeborn, which is not subject to external authority but makes man a master of his fate, of nature, of external powers. Each field has an essential role in this process of liberating the working man and the enslaved nation and ensuring their independence and freedom".
This draft is composed of four typewritten leaves, with corrections and additions handwritten by Ben-Gurion (and several comments in a different hand) and two leaves handwritten by him.
A final version of the article was published in 1944 in an issue of the journal "Shurot, Pinkas LeInyanei Pkidim" (Lines, a Notebook for the Matters of Clerks). This version contains most of the corrections added by Ben-Gurion to the typewritten leaves; however, the part that is handwritten by Ben-Gurion was mostly omitted. The article was reprinted in the book "BeIkvei HaMesimot" by Akiva Govrin (Tel Aviv: "Am Oved", 1974) – see enclosed material.
Four typewritten leaves, approx. 29 cm; two handwritten leaves (three written pages), 20X24.5 cm. Good overall condition. Fold lines and creases. Stains. Small tears. Filing holes to all leaves. Open tears with black stains to margins of typewritten leaves (as a result of fire), slightly affecting the text.

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