Ahdut HaAvoda () was the name used by a series of

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in Israel. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary List of national founders, national founder and first Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister of the State of Israel. As head of the Jewish Agency ...

. It was first established during the period of British Mandate and later became part of the

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i political establishment. It was one of the forerunners of the modern-day The Democrats.

History

File:Pre-State Zionist Workers' Parties chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250

Hapoel Hatzair Hapoel Hatzair (, "The Young Worker") was a Zionist group active in Palestine from 1905 until 1930. It was founded by A.D. Gordon, Yosef Aharonovich, Yosef Sprinzak and followed a non-Marxist, Zionist, socialist agenda. Hapoel Hatzair was a ...

rect 450 88 717 265 Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 Poalei Zion rect 152 316 373 502

HaPoel HaMizrachi File:Pre-State_Zionist_Workers'_Parties_chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250 Hapoel Hatzair rect 450 88 717 265 Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 Poalei Zion rect 152 316 373 502 HaPoel HaMizrachi rec ...

rect 552 328 884 512

Ahdut HaAvoda Ahdut HaAvoda () was the name used by a series of List of political parties in Israel, political parties in Israel. Ahdut HaAvoda in its first incarnation was led by David Ben-Gurion. It was first established during the period of Mandatory Pales ...

rect 891 301 1111 534 Poalei Zion Left rect 283 519 668 928

Mapai Mapai (, an abbreviation for , ''Mifleget Poalei Eretz Yisrael'', ) was a Labor Zionist and democratic socialist political party in Israel, and was the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the Israeli Labor Party in January ...

rect 5 665 169 1432 HaOved HaTzioni rect 697 747 918 953 Ahdut HaAvoda Movement rect 755 977 959 1234 Ahdut HaAvoda Poalei ZIon rect 775 1265 1136 1444

Mapam File:Pre-State_Zionist_Workers'_Parties_chart.png, chart of zionist workers parties, 360px, right rect 167 83 445 250 Hapoel Hatzair rect 450 88 717 265 The non-partisans (pre-state Zionist political movement), Non Partisans rect 721 86 995 243 ...

rect 966 1023 1232 1217 HaShomer Hatzair Workers' Party rect 1044 572 1228 766

HaShomer HaTzair Hashomer Hatzair (, , 'The Young Guard') is a Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. It was also the name of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party, the ...

rect 942 769 1177 919 Socialist League of Palestine rect 387 1275 734 1447

rect 365 1260 174 1447

rect 36 6 1225 81

Labor Zionism Labor Zionism () or socialist Zionism () is the left-wing, socialist variant of Zionism. For many years, it was the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations, and was seen as the Zionist faction of the historic Jewish ...

desc bottom-left

Ahdut HaAvoda

The original Ahdut HaAvoda party was founded in

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

in March 1919, while under British military administration, after a split in the

Poale Zion Poale Zion (, also romanized ''Poalei Tziyon'' or ''Poaley Syjon'', meaning "Workers of Zion") was a movement of Marxist–Zionist Jewish workers founded in various cities of Poland, Europe and the Russian Empire at about the turn of the 20th c ...

party, which had established a branch in

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria () is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Ara ...

in 1906. Ahdut HaAvoda was led by David Ben-Gurion, who had been a member of the pre-war group. The root of the division was a conflict between membership of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

and participation in the Zionist Organization (ZO). The membership of the more radical anti-ZO faction tended to come from among the newer

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

-speaking immigrants. The speaking of Yiddish became another area of disagreement with Ahdut HaAvoda having a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

-only policy. The following year, 1920, at a conference in June, the Ahdut HaAvoda decided to establish a military organisation, the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

, to replace the existing Hashomer militias. The same year, Ahdut HaAvoda and the non-Marxist

cooperated to set up the "General Organization of Hebrew Workers"—the

Histadrut Histadrut, fully the New General Workers' Federation () and until 1994 the General Federation of Labour in the Land of Israel (, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the m ...

. In November delegates were elected by 4,500 members of the various labor groups and the first congress was held in Haifa, December 1920. Ahdut HaAvoda did not have an overall majority, but with the help of Hapoel Hatzair, they dominated proceedings. Their objective was the building of a separate Jewish workers economy in Greater Israel. Ben-Gurion was living in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

at the time, but returned in 1921 to be elected the first Secretary of the Histradrut. The Haganah was placed under Histadrut jurisdiction. At the third Ahdut HaAvoda congress in 1924 at

Ein Harod Ein Harod () was a kibbutz in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. Founded in 1921, it became the center of Mandatory Israel's kibbutz movement, hosting the headquarters of the largest kibbutz organisation, HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. In 1923 part of the ...

, Ben-Gurion defeated proposals put forward by Shlomo Kaplansky that a parliament be set up in Mandate Palestine. The issue had arisen due to the British Colonial Office having presented plans for the setting up of a Legislative Council. Other important members of the first Ahdut HaAvoda were

Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Yitzhak Ben-Zvi ( ''Yitshak Ben-Tsvi''; 24 November 188423 April 1963; born Izaak Shimshelevich) was a historian, ethnologist, Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist leader and the longest-serving president of Israel. He was 1952 Israeli presidential elec ...

, and

Berl Katznelson Berl Katznelson (; 25 January 1887 – 12 August 1944) was one of the intellectual founders of Labor Zionism and was instrumental to the Israeli Declaration of Independence, establishment of the modern state of Israel. He was also the editor of ' ...

. Cooperation between Ahdut HaAvoda and Hapoel Hatzair led them to merge in 1930 to form the "Party of the Workers of the Land of Israel"—

, which was to become the dominant force in Zionist politics until the 1960s.

Ahdut HaAvoda Movement

On 20 May 1944 a group known as ''Faction B'' (, ''Sia'a Bet'') split from Mapai adopting the Ahdut HaAvoda name from fourteen years earlier (, ''HaTnu'a LeAhdut HaAvoda''). This group was pro-Soviet, and rejected any territorial compromise. Many of its members came from

HaKibbutz HaMeuhad {{refimprove, date=April 2025 HaKibbutz HaMeuhad ({{langx, he, הקיבוץ המאוחד, , The United Kibbutz) was a union of kibbutzim. It had been formed in 1927 by the union of several kibbutz bodies and was associated with Ahdut HaAvoda party. ...

, the Mapai kibbutz organization. They held a majority of the senior posts in the Haganah and in particular in the

Palmach The Palmach (Hebrew: , acronym for , ''Plugot Maḥatz'', "Strike Phalanges/Companies") was the elite combined strike forces and sayeret unit of the Haganah, the paramilitary organization of the Yishuv (Jewish community) during the period of th ...

. Key leaders were

Yisrael Galili Yisrael Galili (; 10 February 1911 – 8 February 1986) was an Israeli politician, government minister and member of Knesset. Before Israel's independence in 1948, he served as Chief of Staff of Haganah, the main Zionist political violence, Zion ...

and Yigal Allon. Others with close ties were David Elazar, Yitzhak Hofi, Avraham Adan and

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

Ahdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement

In 1946 the Ahdut HaAvoda Movement merged with Poale Zion Left to form the Ahdut HaAvoda Poale Zion Movement (, ''HaTnu'a LeAhdut HaAvoda Poale Zion''). Two years later the party merged with the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party to form

. Most senior Haganah commanders were Mapam members, including the head of the National Command Israel Galili who was one of Mapam's leaders. The Palmach was also dominated by Mapam with its commanding officer, Yigal Allon, and five brigade commanders being members. With the creation of Israel's national army this led to conflict with Ben Gurion. In 1953, after a series of confrontations, two of the four Area Command commanders and six of the twelve brigade commanders resigned. Those members of Mapam who remained, Yitzhak Rabin,

Haim Bar-Lev Haim "Kidoni" Bar-Lev (; 16 November 1924 – 7 May 1994) was a military officer during Israel's pre-state and early statehood eras and later a government minister. Biography Born Haim Brotzlewsky in Vienna and raised in Zagreb, Bar-Lev made al ...

and David Elazar, had to endure several years in staff or training post before resuming their careers.Peri, page 62.

Ahdut HaAvoda – Poale Zion

On 23 August 1954 Moshe Aram, Yisrael Bar-Yehuda, Yitzhak Ben-Aharon and

Aharon Zisling Aharon Zisling (), also spelled Aharon Cizling, (26 February 1901 – 16 January 1964) was an Israeli politician and minister and a signatory of Declaration of Independence (Israel), Israel's declaration of independence. Biography Born in Mins ...

broke away from Mapam to re-establish Ahdut HaAvoda – Poale Zion. However, they were not recognised by the

speaker of the Knesset The speaker of the Knesset (, ) is the presiding officer of the Knesset, the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Speaker also acts as President of Israel when the President is incapacitated. The current speaker is Amir Ohana, who ...

as an independent party. The new party also launched a newspaper, '' LaMerhav'', which became a daily publication in December that year, and was published until merging into ''

Davar ''Davar'' (, lit. ''Speech, Word'') was a Hebrew-language daily newspaper published in the British Mandate of Palestine and Israel between 1925 and May 1996. A similarly named website was launched in 2016, under the name ''Davar Rishon'' as an ...

'' in May 1971. The 1955 elections were fought as Ahdut HaAvoda and the party won 10 seats, making them the fifth largest in the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

. They formed part of both of Ben-Gurion's governing coalitions during the third

. Party member

Nahum Nir Nahum Nir-Rafalkes (; 17 March 1884 – 10 July 1968) was a Zionist activist, Israeli politician and one of the signatories of the Israeli declaration of independence. He was the only Speaker of the Knesset not to have been a member of the rul ...

was appointed Knesset speaker (the only time a speaker has not been a member of the largest party), Bar-Yehuda was made Minister of Internal Affairs, and Moshe Carmel became Minister of Transportation. However, the party were ultimately responsible for bringing down the government in 1959 when they and fellow coalition partners Mapam voted against the government on the issue of selling arms to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

but refused to leave the coalition. In the 1959 elections the party was reduced to seven seats. They again joined the coalition government until its collapse in 1961, with Ben-Aharon becoming Minister of Transportation. The 1961 elections saw them gain one seat, and become part of all three coalition governments of the fifth Knesset with Yigal Allon becoming Minister of Labour and Ben-Aharon, Bar-Yehuda and Carmel all acting as Minister of Transportation during the session. For the 1965 elections, the party allied with Mapai to form the Labor Alignment, which won 45 seats. On 23 January 1968, the party merged with

and Rafi to form the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (), commonly known in Israel as HaAvoda (), was a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (political party), Rafi. Unt ...

and ceased to exist as an individual entity.

Leaders

Election results

References

External links

Ahdut HaAvoda - Poalei Zion
Knesset website {{Authority control Political parties established in 1919 Defunct political parties in Israel Political parties in Mandatory Palestine Political parties disestablished in 1968 Zionist political parties in Israel Labor Zionism Zionism in Mandatory Palestine Socialist parties in Israel 1919 establishments in British-administered Palestine 1968 disestablishments in Israel Poale Zion Left-wing nationalist parties Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew