Reason For Communism Essay

In order to further understand why Iraqi Jews and non-Jewish Arab Israelis were attracted to Communism, it is important to explore Communism in Israel on a base level, as well as some characteristics of the Party which made it irresistible. It should be noted the Communism was an evolving ideology in pre-1948 Israel and post-1948 Israel. There were different groups that were the official Communist parties, which changed over time. Before there were any established official Parties, there were underground Communist groups which primarily consisted of Jews. Beginning in 1923, there was the Palestinian Communist Party, or PKP, which was soon a Soviet Union approved Party. In its infancy, the PKP attracted Jews and non-Jewish Arabs, yet was a Jewish …show more content…
This split could be due to the fact that many Jewish and Arab leaders did not see the importance of creating an alliance between Jewish and Arab Communists due to their differing views of ideology (Kimmerling 183-184). This is not the first split within Communism for similar reasons, and is a pattern that is seen in the groups that followed the PKP.
The group that followed the PKP, was the first official Communist Party that followed the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. This group, the Israeli Communist Party, or Maki, was the only political party in Israel that was a Jewish-Arab party (Kimmerling 184). As it was the only-binational Jewish-Arab political party it was attractive to Iraqi Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis who felt not only a kinship with each other in a way, but felt it was the only party that could suit their political needs. Maki was also the only Arab group or party, since the creation of the State of Israel, that was able to outright challenge injustice and voice Arab concerns(Kimmerling 185). As it was the Communist Party that most new Iraqi Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis met when Israel became a state and when Iraqis immigrated there; it shaped their experiences and