Politics of the Jewish community of Salonika in the inter-war years: party ideologies and party competition

摘要

Throughout four centuries of Ottoman domination, Salonika Jews had managed toudpreserve their particular ethnic identity and to occupy an important position in theudeconomic life of the city. In 1912 Salonika was annexed to the Greek nation-state, andudonly decades later various sources of the early 1930s were emphasising the economicudand social degradation of the Jewish community. Existing bibliography has tended toudunderline almost exclusively the role of Greek politics and Greek society as the majorudexplanatory factor of the community's decline.udThis thesis challenges this approach and argues that intra-communal politicsudwithin the inter-war years had a significant share of responsibility for the crisis whichudthreatened Salonika Jews in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Indeed, Jewish politicaludelites were deeply split over issues of fundamental importance for the community,udresulting in political deadlock. Consequently, the community was caught up in fierceudideological debates and was deprived of a solid communal leadership able to steer themudthrough unsettled waters.udIn order to account for this explanation, the thesis reassesses as a first step Greekudmajority policies and argues that notwithstanding the numerous constraints which theyudimposed on the status of the Jews, the latter were left significant room in which toudinfluence their own affairs. Secondly, this thesis explores the ways in which communaludpolitical leaders responded to and made use of their 'power'. By analysing the fourudmajor Jewish political parties in the inter-war years - the Zionists, the Assimilationists-udModerates, the Radicals (Mizrahi-Revisionists) and the Communists - on the basis ofudparty competition and party ideologies which set 'Jewishness' at the centre of politicaluddiscourse, it is shown that their constant ideological struggles over this issue renderedudthem unable to build up constructive political coalitions and find answers to the pressingudeconomic and social needs faced by the community.