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David Ben-Gurion and the British Constitutional Model

IN THIS PAPER I WILL discuss David Ben-Gurion's views on constitutional issues as they relate to his overall Zionist ideology and praxis. The double anniversary of the Zionist Movement and the State of Israel is an opportune time to examine these matters. Ben-Gurion's unsparingly critical view of Jewish character traits, traditional and modern, led him to believe that the Zionist revolution's main task was not simply to regain the ancient Land of Israel (or parts of it), but to rehabilitate the Jewish people's political behavior. He emphasized the twin needs for radical change in Jewish economic habits and a belated cultural renaissance synthesizing Jewish and nonJewish values. He stressed the urgency of amending Jewish "sovereign" behavior as well. In action and speech, Ben-Gurion reiterated the role that "organization" must hold in Zionist life: in labor relations, in the party, and in the Jewish state. His obsession with "organization" was characteristic of his generation's Eastern European origins. Indeed, Ben-Gurion was at times even compared to Lenin in creating a planned "Bolshevik" system.' I shall try to demonstrate, however, that Ben-Gurion's political model was based on the British system (with some differentiation) and not on the Soviet one. Ben-Gurion regarded the "lack of organization" as typical of Jewish separatist, schismatic tendencies. He linked them to other unflattering traits, such as group infighting, endless quarreling, and bids for personal power dressed up in moralistic terms. He abhorred the Jews' inability to control themselves in heated ideological debate and their incapacity to unite even during national emergencies. He ascribed these undesirable characteristics to an historical lack of political awareness, disgraceful according to normative Western standards. He claimed that Israel's political irresponsibility, a national propensity in Biblical times, had been further exacerbated during the two millennia-long exile and must now be redressed by the Zionist revolution.