Borochov became highly influential in the
Zionist movement because he explained
nationalism in general, and Jewish Nationalism in particular, in terms of Marxist class struggle and
dialectical materialism. He saw himself as a
Marxist, and he laid out his philosophy in his first major work, published in 1905,
The National Question and the Class Struggle, in which he criticized
capitalism. In "Our Platform," Borochov attempted to answer the questions, "What is the Jewish national question?" and "What is its meaning for the Jewish working class, and how does it propose to solve it?" Borochov predicted that nationalist forces would be more important in determining events than economic and class considerations, especially as concerned the Jews. Borochov argued that the
class structure of European Jews resembled an inverted class pyramid where few Jews occupied the productive layers of society as workers. The Jews would migrate from country to country as they were forced out of their chosen professions by a "stychic process" which would ultimately force migration to
Palestine, where they would form a
proletarian basis in order to carry out Marxist
class struggle. In his last recorded speech, he said: Many point out the obstacles which we encounter in our colonization work. Some say that the Turkish law hinders our work, others contend that Palestine is insignificantly small, and still others charge us with the odious crime of wishing to oppress and expel the Arabs from Palestine...When the waste lands are prepared for colonization, when modern technique is introduced, and when the other obstacles are removed, there will be sufficient land to accommodate both the Jews and the Arabs. Normal relations between the Jews and Arabs will and must prevail.However, in previous writings, Borokhov imagined that the Arab inhabitants of Palestine would disappear through assimilation with the economically and culturally more advanced European settlers. In the long run, Borochov predicted that "the inhabitants of Eretz Yisra’el will adapt themselves to the economic and cultural type that seizes a dominant economic position in the country. The natives of Eretz Yisra’el will assimilate economically and culturally with whoever brings order to the country, whoever undertakes the development of the forces of production of Eretz Yisra’el." His conclusion: "It is the Jewish immigrants who will undertake the development of the forces of production of Eretz Yisra’el, and the local population of Eretz Yisra’el will soon assimilate economically and culturally to the Jews." Describing the Arab population of Palestine as living under primitive standards of civilization and economics, Borochov asserted that Jewish immigration will bring "progressive methods of labor, a higher standard of living, and a higher scale of wages." == Influence ==