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NON-PROLETARIANIZATION THEORIES OF THE JEWISH WORKER (1902 TO 1939)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2022

Nicolas Vallois
Nicolas Vallois*
Affiliation:
Nicolas Vallois: CRIISEA, Université de Picardie Jules Verne. Email: nicolas.vallois@u-picardie.fr
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Abstract

In the early twentieth century, an economic doctrine known as “non-proletarianization theory” became influential among left-wing Zionists in Russia. According to this theory, Jewish workers were unable to “proletarianize”—that is, to integrate large-scale industry; hence, Jewish territorial autonomy was required, whether in Palestine or elsewhere. This article analyzes this theory’s historical development, focusing on the works of three authors: Haim Dov Horovitz, Yakov Leshchinsky, and Ber Borochov. I claim that discussions of Jewish non-proletarianization can be considered a specific and coherent intellectual tradition in the history of economic thought. I also discuss these theories’ relation to the anti-sweatshop campaign of the Progressive Era, particularly John R. Commons’s writings on Jewish immigrants that were recently debated in this journal.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , December 2022 , pp. 527 - 555
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the History of Economics Society

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Robert Brym, Gur Alroey, Gennady Estraikh, Axelle Neyrinck, Cléo Chassonnery-Zaïgouche, François Allisson, the two anonymous referees, and participants at the 2020 REhPERE seminar. Remaining errors are my own.

References

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