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Important autograph letter signed by Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Zionism, regarding the movement's finances in 1938, which Jabotinsky believes will lead to its "success or failure" -- a conviction freighted with existential stakes, as Jabotinsky was simultaneously orchestrating a mass evacuation plan to save millions of Jews from the approaching catastrophe. Established by Jabotinsky in the 1920s, Revisionist Zionism was the belief that a Jewish state, supported by its own military force, should rule both sides of the Jordan River. It remains an important ideological force within Israel's conservative Likud party to this day.
Letter is undated though the content allows for precise dating of 1938, a perilous time for Jews as they suffered from systematic and escalating violence in Europe. It was in 1938 that Jabotinsky delivered his prophetic Tisha B'Av address, in which he advocated for the mass illegal immigration of 1.5 million European Jews to Palestine, arguing that the "Volcano" of anti-semitism would soon erupt and that Jews should flee for their lives while they could. Also in 1938 Jabotinsky dramatically ramped up activities of the Irgun, his paramilitary network operating in Palestine. Of course, to implement these twin objectives, Jabotinsky would certainly need money:
Jabotinsky here writes to Dr. Damm (likely Dr. Jacob Damm of Cracow), the acting director of the movement's finance department in London, stressing the extreme urgency and importance of establishing a taxation system for national offices. Jabotinsky writes that any office which doesn't participate should be excluded from the movement and be "without leadership". In the letter, Jabotinsky refers to the NZO, which broke off from the WZO in 1935, and also references the ongoing World Conference in Prague. As the NZO's World Conference took place in Prague from 31 January-4 March 1938, the only year it was held in Prague before WWII, the letter can be narrowed to this timeframe. Indeed, it was at the 1938 NZO World Conference in Prague that Jabotinsky's mass evacuation plan to Palestine was formally adopted. Though signed by Jabotinsky, letter is possibly a draft, with several lines crossed out. Translated from Yiddish-German, it reads,
''Esteemed Dr. Damm, / In the absence of Dr. Weisl, whose illness has unfortunately made it impossible for him to participate in the preparations of the Prague Forum, the Presidium is authorized to take up the plan for taxation...
The basis for the political and organizational life of our movement must be the taxation of members (comrades). There is no other basis, nor will there be one. We stand and fall with the success or failure of taxation.
In the ranks of the NZO...under the present statutes, only voluntary self-taxation is possible. But the tax must be...imposed...as an obligation through the executive body of the movement, and carried out as...a fundamental condition of membership in the World Union of Zionist Revisionists.
And the reform is urgent: the first step was already taken in Prague...Upon the morning after the meeting of the World Conference, registration lists must already be in the hands of the Finance Division of those obligated to be taxed- not yet complete...but they will already have numerous names on them.
You will therefore immediately go to all NZO and Hatzohar national offices and order them to join in the preparation of these lists, which must be brought to Prague: there in a special committee, it will be confirmed (as a beginning of network, which must in the very near future come to encompass the entirety of Hatzohar and broad swathes of the NZO) and the first orders will originate from there. In your circular to all national offices, you will make them aware...of the extreme seriousness of the required financial support: If the Prague Forum ends without a tangible basis for taxation, they will be excluded and without leadership.
Yours faithfully / V. Jabotinsky''.
Two page letter penned on a single sheet measures approximately 8.5'' x 10.5''. Tape repair on first page. Some separation at folds and minor creasing. Overall in very good condition.