Hebrew Communists
{{about|a defunct political party|the antisemitic stereotype|Jewish Bolshevism}}
{{Infobox political party
|name = Hebrew Communists
|native_name = קומוניסטים עברים
|leader =
|founded = 1945
|dissolved = August 1949
|split = {{nowrap|Palestine Communist Party (1945)}}
|merged = Mapam (1949)
|ideology = Communism
|position = Far-left
|seats1_title = Most MKs
|seats1 = 1 (1949)
|seats2_title = {{nowrap|Fewest MKs}}
|seats2 = 1 (1949)
|country = Israel
}}
The Hebrew Communists ({{langx|he|קומוניסטים עברים}}, Komunistim Ivrim) were a short-lived political party in Mandatory Palestine and Israel.
History
In 1940 a group of friends led by {{ill|Shmuel Ettinger|he|שמואל אטינגר}} left the Palestine Communist Party to form a new party named "Emet" (Truth), whose primary goal was the establishment of a Jewish state. In 1942, after the Palestine Communist Party was legalised, Ettinger's group rejoined it. However, their reunion was short-lived, and they left the party again a year later.
A new party, the Communist Education Association, was established in 1945. Growing to around 500 members, it was renamed the Communist Union of Palestine, before becoming the Hebrew Communist Party in June 1947.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N4noUpCUfMYC&pg=PA41|author=Joel Beinin|title=Was the Red Flag Flying There? Marxist Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in Eqypt and Israel 1948–1965|year=1990|page=41|publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-07036-3 }} Later in the year the party was invited to merge into Mapam. However, the party remained independent and contested the January 1949 Constituent Assembly elections as part of the Maki-led "Communist and Independent List for Independence, Democracy and Peace",{{cite web|url=https://en.idi.org.il/media/6683/%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%AA-1-%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%99%D7%9D.pdf|title=Communist and Independent List for Independence, Democracy and Peace|website=Israel Democracy Institute|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616103114/https://en.idi.org.il/media/6683/%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%AA-1-%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%99%D7%9D.pdf |archive-date=2023-06-16 }} which won five seats.
In 1949 Maki adopted an anti-Zionist position.{{cite book|author=Baruch Kimmerling|year=1983|title=Zionism and Territory: The Socio-territorial Dimensions of Zionist Politics|page=243}} As a result, Hebrew Communists member Eliezer Preminger split from the Maki faction and created the Hebrew Communists faction on 8 June 1949.{{cite web|url=https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/mk/apps/faction/faction-lobby?KnessetID=1&FactionID=977|title=Hebrew Communists|website=Knesset}} The faction ceased to exist again on 15 August 1949 when Preminger joined Mapam.{{cite web|url=https://main.knesset.gov.il/en/mk/apps/mk/mk-positions/579|title=Eliezer Preminger: Knesset Positions|website=Knesset}} In the same month, the party was dissolved, with a party convention resolution advising members to also join Mapam.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpwjvbaLolcC&pg=PA222|author=Yaacov Ro'i|title=Soviet Decision Making in Practice: The USSR and Israel, 1947–1954|year=1980|pages=222, 229|publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-4128-3487-2 }}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Israeli political parties}}
Category:Political parties established in 1945
Category:Political parties in Mandatory Palestine
Category:Communist parties in Israel
Category:Communist parties in Mandatory Palestine
Category:Political parties disestablished in 1949
Category:Defunct political parties in Israel
Category:Jewish political parties
Category:1945 establishments in Mandatory Palestine
Category:Defunct communist parties
Category:1949 disestablishments in Israel
Category:Secular Jewish culture in Israel
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