Was the Red Flag Flying There? Marxist Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in Eqypt and Israel 1948-1965
Was the Red Flag Flying There? examines the Palestinian/Arab-Israeli conflict through the lens of Marxist politics. Joel Beinin asks how the proposal to partition Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state—a solution endorsed by international consensus in 1947-49—became an obscure and even unthinkable option by the mid-1960s. As the most consistent adherents of the two-state solution both before and after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the Marxists serve as the focal point...
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"Illuminating. . . . The entire field of modern Middle Eastern Studies still has remarkably little closely researched social history of this sort. Beinin's study adds to the work recently published by revisionist Israeli historians, debunking the dominant view of the origin and early history of the Palestine conflict and extending the revision into the 1950s and early 1960s. His explanation of the different political paths that were taken, turned back from, and lost sight of is an important—indeed vital—contribution to contemporary scholarly and political understanding."—Timothy Mitchell, New York University
List of TablesxiList of AbbreviationsxiiiAcknowledgmentsxviiI.Introduction1Comparing Egypt and Israel5Revisionist History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict7Was MAPAM a Marxist Party?15Nations, the Construction of Hegemony, and Political Discourse17Structure of the Book19Narration and Politics21II.The Creation of Israel: Zionism as Anti-Imperialism24The Unification of the Marxist-Zionist Left25MAPAM and the 1948-49 War31The Palestine Communist Party's Road to Binationalism40The Communist Educational Association41The Palestinian Arab Intelligentsia and the National Liberation League42Two Paths to Endorsing Partition of Palestine43Toward the Communist Party of Israel48The Palestine Question and the Egyptian Communists55The Marxist Left After Partition63III.The Political Economy of Hegemony66Labor and Capital in the Zionist Movement67The Seamen's Strike and Israel's International Orientation73Confirmation of MAPAI Hegemony76Deradicalization and Depoliticization of the Kibbutzim79The Old Regime and the Egyptian National Movement84The Coup of July 23, 195286The Revolutionary Command Council and the Working Class88The Workers' Movement and the 1956 War91Guided Capitalism93The Communist Intelligentsia's Accommodation with Nasserism97Arab Socialism99IV.A Window of Opportunity? 1949-1955102The Jewish Question in Egyptian Communism103The Rise of the Indigenous Intelligentsia110"The Question of Yunis"113Was There a "Zionist Deviation" in the DMNL?114A MAPAM-MAKI United Front?117Elections to the Constituent Assembly (First Knesset)120Marxism Engaged in a Jewish Problematic122The Rise and Decline of the Left in MAPAM125The Left Socialist Party134Defense of the Rights of the Arab Minority137V.Internationalism in Practice Relations Between the Egyptian and Israeli Marxists144The International Peace Movement145The Rome Group and DMNL-MAKI Contacts148Yusuf Hilmi's Peace Initiative153VI.The Consolidation of Nationalist Politics: 1955-1958160The Illusion of Success162Bandung and the Czech Arms Deal164The Suez/Sinai War and MAPAM's Capitulation172The Nasserist-Communist Alliance177Unification of the Egyptian Communist Movement185The Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and National Communism190MAKI's Arab Period193VII.The Triumph of Nationalism: 1959-1965204Breakup of the Nasserist-Communist Alliance205Dissolution of the Egyptian Communist Parties208Nasserism, MAPAM, MAKI, and the Palestinian Arab Citizens of Israel212Defeat of the Left in the 1959 Knesset Elections218A New Beginning--or the Beginning of the End?223MAKI and Jewish National Communism231Toward the Split in MAKI235Decline of MAKI's Influence in the Jewish Working Class239Mobilization of the Palestinian Arab Citizens of Israel243VIII.Conclusion246Marxism, Zionism, and Arab Nationalism248Political Discourse and Political Action253Epilogue: Toward a Palestinian State and Beyond255Notes259Chronology293Glossary295Bibliography297Index309
