The Jewish History Stolen By Zionists w/ Molly Crabapple | MR Live

The Jewish Labor Bund, founded in 1897, envisioned a future where Jews could live 'beautiful, free, and dignified lives' in Eastern Europe, their ancestral home for a thousand years. They sought to overthrow the Tsar, establish democratic socialism, and ensure cultural autonomy for Jews and other ethnic groups, with services and culture available in their native languages (like Yiddish). This was a direct rejection of both assimilation and the Zionist idea of emigration, emphasizing solidarity across different groups within a just society.

Molly Crabapple details the Bund's belief that 'you can have a multicultural, multi-racial democratic socialism' and that 'you don't have to change who you are' (38:25). They saw themselves as a key part of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, advocating for autonomous organizations for all ethnic groups.

The Bund viewed Zionism as ethically reprehensible, initially dismissing it as a 'scam' by Jewish bosses and later as a 'handmaiden of British imperialism.' They were disgusted by Zionist collaboration with the British occupation of Palestine and the displacement of Palestinian farmers. Critically, Zionists, including some right-wing factions, accepted weapons, money, and military training from the anti-Semitic Polish government in the 1930s, a government that was simultaneously funding terrorist youth groups to attack Jewish shops and demanding the expulsion of Polish Jews to Madagascar.

Crabapple states Bundists found Zionism to be 'submission to the same bigots who were always marching around screaming Jews to Palestine' (57:07). She details how the Polish government, which was 'murdering Polish Jews,' provided 'weapons, money, and military training to the three Zionist paramilitaries' (58:31) in Palestine.

In inter-war Poland, the Bund created an 'alternate world' with vast networks of mutual aid, including youth groups, women's movements, labor unions, summer camps, theater troops, and sanatoriums for slum children. Crucially, they also maintained a militia for self-defense, similar to the Black Panther Party, to protect their communities from state-backed anti-Jewish violence. This commitment to armed self-defense and community support was a core tenet of their socialist vision.

Crabapple compares the Bund to the Black Panther Party, noting both groups created 'vast networks of mutual aid' and were 'so committed to the idea of self-defense through force of arms if necessary' (52:38). She describes the Bund's militia defending their world from 'savage racism that's backed by the state' (55:07).

After the Holocaust, which decimated the Bund, the Zionist movement actively worked to suppress and 'colonize' the history of Jewish life in the diaspora. They promoted a narrative that depicted diaspora Jews as weak victims awaiting salvation by a 'big strong Israeli Zionist,' effectively erasing the Bund's legacy of militant resistance, cultural vibrancy, and anti-Zionist struggle. This historical revisionism served to legitimize Zionism as the sole viable path for Jewish survival and identity.

Crabapple asserts that Zionism 'stole our history. They colonized our history and they made it seem that everything that happened in the diaspora was just the story of weak Jews being murdered because they were weak and that the only salvation for us was to be a big strong Israeli Zionist bravely and strongly oppressing Arabs. And this is a lie' (1:21:43).