Trio of Palestine Labor Leaders Cheered at Convention of Palestine Workers; British Labor Party Pled

Three of the most untiring of Palestinian workers came to the United States for the convention of the American National Labor committee for the Jewish workers in Palestine, and met at the opening of the convention in a hall crowded with more than eight hundred representatives of labor organizations. Shirt-sleeved youths hanging over the balcony, and grizzled gray-haired labor organizers greeted the veteran chalutzim with prolonged cheers. More than the cabled reassurances from the British Labor party itself, more than the message of commendation from the president of the American Federation of Labor, was the effect of the presence of those three workers who could tell their fellow-workers exactly what was happening in Palestine.

As one of the men, I. H. Goldberg, representing the Cap and Millinery Workers’ Union said, “No amount of politics and of all the paper in the world can build Palestine. It takes labor.”

Joseph Baratz, a “plain dirt farmer” from the colony of Digania, incidentally one of the founders of Digania, and secretary of the agricultural organization of Palestine, proved to be a gentle-looking, soft-voiced man with the angular movements of a farmer, and the gentle look in his eyes. “Comrades, the simple truth is that when the White Paper came out we over there didn’t know what to do. Our hands and feet wouldn’t move to work. Worse than the fever of malaria, worse than the exhaustion after terrible stretches of work under heat, is the feeling of loneliness, the feeling of being deserted. That was the feeling we had then.

MUCH WORK TO BE DONE

“Let us remind you that even under present political conditions—which certainly must be bettered—there is much work to be done. We have in Jewish hands 150,000 dunams of land that lie waste because there is not enough capital and man-power among the Jews in Palestine to cultivate that land. We have thousands of good Jewish workers waiting to come to Palestine, and haven’t the means to bring them. At this moment, the Arabs are in a panic to sell Jews land for which they themselves have no use.”

David Ben-Gurion, general secretary of the Histadruth, impressive for his large head and shock of up-standing white hair, long revered in Palestine as a leader of labor, said, “There is much talk of men who gave up careers to come to work in Palestine. They gave up nothing. They chose the highest career—that of taking upon themselves the responsibility for the fate of their people.” He then refuted many charges in the White Paper, chiefly those contending that Jews had dispossessed Arabs, or caused Arab unemployment.

HANNAH CHIZIK GETS OVATION

An ovation greeted Hannah Chizik, woman worker from Palestine. Hannah Chizik is the organizer and leader of one of the girl’s farms in Palestine. She is a member of one of the most heroic and pioneer families. One brother was killed in the 1929 riots, dying as the hero of Chuldah. A sister was killed in the Tel Hai riots. Another sister died of malaria. Brought here to talk for the Pioneer Woman’s Organization, she said, “This year we have a new message for you Americans. We no longer ask you to collect money, to hold meetings, and discuss Palestine. Now we are making room in our settlements for you. We want you to come there and work with us.”

The cable from the British Labor party to the convention said, “We are profoundly disturbed that our Jewish friends in Palestine and abroad should even for a moment doubt our sympathy with their ideal to establish a Jewish National Homeland in Palestine. It is precisely the purpose of the British Labor Government to provide for the orderly and consistent development of Palestine, including the close settlement of the land to its utmost capacity; to avoid unintentional injustice to the non-Jewish sections of the community, and at the same time to secure a broader and a more certain basis for the growth of the Jewish national home. We are delighted to have the assurance that the economic emancipation and social elevation of the Arab masses are coming from the efforts of Jewish labor in Palestine.”

SHIPLACOFF PRESIDES

Abraham L. Shiplacoff, chairman of the National Labor Committee, presided at the opening of the convention, which was addressed by David Pinski, noted playwright, Julius Hochman of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union, Berl Locker, general secretary of the Poale Zion, Dr. David Rebelsky of the Zeiri Zion, Isaac Hamlim, secretary of the National Labor Committee, and others.

A message from William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, said, “We rejoice that you are incorporating the ideals of organized labor in your plans for the Jewish commonwealth.”

Sessions of the convention were held all day Saturday, with a great meeting Saturday evening at Carnegie Hall. The Saturday sessions included discussions of the Arab Jewish problem, and reports on the actual progress of work in Palestine.