Communist Party of Palestine

For other uses, see Palestinian Communist Party.
Communist Party of Palestine
Founded1922
Dissolved1923
Split fromJewish Communist Party
Merged intoPalestinian Communist Party
IdeologyCommunism
Political positionFar-left

The Communist Party of Palestine (Yiddish: קאָמוניסט פארטיי פון פּאַלעסטינע)[1] was a communist party in Palestine 1922-1923. It was formed through a split in the Poale Zion which led to the formation of the Jewish Communist Party and another faction forming the Palestinian Communist Party. A major difference between the two parties was the attitude towards Zionism. The Communist Party of Palestine was more staunch in its condemnation of Zionism, whereas the Palestinian Communist Party was open towards some degree of cooperation with Zionists. The Communist Party of Palestine opposed Zionist settlements in Palestine.[2]

In 1923 the two parties merged, forming the Palestine Communist Party.[2] Joseph Berger-Barzilai, co-founder of the Communist Party of Palestine, spent twenty five years in Stalin's prisons and concentrations camps after the purges in 1937.[3][4]

  1. ^ Donald F. Busky (2002). Communism in History and Theory: Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-275-97733-7.
  2. ^ a b Halliday, Fred. Early Communism in Palestine, in Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Winter, 1978), pp. 162-169
  3. ^ Deutscher, Isaac (5 January 2015). The Prophet: The Life of Leon Trotsky. Verso Books. p. 1443. ISBN 978-1-78168-721-5.
  4. ^ Wasserstein, Bernard (May 2012). On the Eve: The Jews of Europe Before the Second World War. Simon and Schuster. p. 395. ISBN 978-1-4165-9427-7.